Nick Wright reacts to the media frenzy surrounding his comments on Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift, explaining how his statement on the Chiefs' star has been completely misrepresented. Next, Nick recaps his weekend sitting courtside for the Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies game and chatting with LeBron James after the game. Then, Nick discusses the Golden State Warriors taking on LeBron, Luka Doncic, and the Lakers. Nick breaks down the NBA Playoff race as well as Stephen Curry and Nikola Jokic’s dominant performances from earlier in the week. Next, Nick reacts to Russell Westbrook's nightmare finish to Timberwolves-Nuggets as well as Ja Morant's latest antics in the Warriors-Grizzlies game. Later, Nick makes his predictions for the Final Four and where he wants to see Duke Blue Devils star Cooper Flagg be drafted in the NBA. Finally, as always, Nick and Damonza answer your questions. #Volume #Herd
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome in. We'll driving Nick Great Episode three point fifteen.
After a eventful and somewhat exhausting weekend from New York
to Memphis to Vegas, landed back here yesterday morning. That's
why we were not able to be on the air Tuesday.
Little programming note, however, a couple programming notes. Actually, let
(00:25):
me see if I can straighten this out a bit
for you guys. There we go. That should be better.
My apologies. Tomorrow morning. A bonus show to make up
for Tuesday, talk Lakers, Warriors, Instant Reaction, anything that should
be up and live first thing in the morning, and
if you're on the West Coast, probably while you're still sleeping,
so that'll come tomorrow Tuesday, our annual way too early
(00:50):
NFL over Under show. Normally we would have done that
this past Tuesday, however, we weren't on the air, and
so our friends at DraftKings have released the full slate
of NFL team win totals, so we will take our
first bite at that on Tuesday. However, we got to
get right into it. I thought I knew where we'd
(01:12):
be starting the show, given you know, the Internet over
the weekend, But then the Internet over the last forty
eight hours, I was involved in a different piece of
the internet. So that's in what missed the cut, But
it didn't actually miss the cut. So here's what missed
the cut. Demons. Great to see you, Tyreek Hills Stokes
(01:33):
trade rumors again, whatever he wants the attention. I love Tyreek,
but we know what's going on. Greatest player in Syracuse
basketball history, one of the greatest Olympians ever, one of
the best pure scores of his era, a no doubt
first ballot Hall of Famer, Carmelo Anthony. And then there's
this the headline from People magazine. Dude trap Vis Kelsey
(02:00):
and his quote sports friend have beef. So I was
playing Demonse in a poker game in Vegas when this
got sent to me, and now it's everywhere on the internet,
and I cannot believe I need to address this. I mean,
(02:20):
it's on People, it's on I think, that's Al Jazeera,
it's on US Weekly. It's so I am so incredibly
oddly frustrated by this because I think it is so
recklessly unfair to Travis Kelcey. So let me reset exactly
(02:44):
what happened, not restate, not clarified, because everything that I said,
Demanse was totally one hundred percent clear the recreation of
this in the headlines. I didn't misspeak, I didn't misrepresent
has but the headlines to me are so this is
what happened. So New Heights with Travis and Jason Kelsey
(03:06):
shouted me out after I invited myself on their show
to be their salary cap expert. Right, that's that's what happened.
And Travis said, I offten love Nick Wright, and I said,
as an aside, I was like, you know, I actually
haven't spoken a lot to Travis since he and Taylor
(03:28):
got together. With the timeline being I said, we don't
really talk during the seasons. We always, you know, we
have a kind of annual event of being able to
get together at the Chief's Super Bowl Parade, But two
years ago at the parade was cut short by a
(03:49):
tragic shooting, and this year the parade was canceled by
the Philadelphia Eagles. So those two times we didn't talk.
And then the one off seat where that you know,
where normally there might be and again I Travis, I
am dear friends with Adam Lefko, who is an actual
(04:11):
dear friend of Travis's. They I think one was at
the other's. Yeah, I think left I think Travis was
at left Goo's wedding. When the when Travis and Taylor
were in New York City for a Yankee game and
they did a live shot at Travis and Taylor, I'm like, Hey,
that's Lefto and his wife sitting with them. They're dear friends.
(04:33):
Trav and I have a great relationship, but we don't
hang out. We you know, I don't. We've never talked
on the phone, might text or DM occasionally, but I
leave him alone during the season and then the last
offseason he was the busiest man in the world. So
that's what I said. So I said, yea, So this
(04:54):
being like represented so unfairly up to an including in
the Times of India that as if Travis has cut
off people in his life or gott in Hollywood. It's
just total horseshit.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I feel, like you said, I've been passing as well,
Like I remember when you said it, like I remember
the tone and everything.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
It's definitely a reach.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
You know, Listen, anyone, if I felt like I had
screwed up, I would apologize. But anyone that watched the
show or saw it got the exact right read of it.
Where I feel badly is I don't expect, certainly Taylor
(05:41):
or Tailor's people to watch the show. They're welcome to,
and I don't expect Travis to watch this show. And
if it's represented as if someone is trying to you'd
be like like, oh, we used to be super close.
And then this guy like, that's not what it was
at all, And so I got I know that this
(06:02):
was I think the producers when they first like brought
it to my attention and pitched me on it. I
probably the tone of this was supposed to be this
is hilarious, and it would be if I knew all
the parties involved. Also we're on the exact same page.
But I just I do feel that it is a
(06:23):
level of fame. When I texted Wild's the People headline
after Daniel texts it to me, and I said, I
really think Taylor Swift might be the most famous person
in the world. Like, I truly think she might be
(06:44):
the most famous person in the world if just someone
at my level whatever that is of notoriety having an
aside about her boyfriend friend and the last time we talked,
if that touch is enough if her fame gravity is
(07:10):
so great that People magazine and the Times of India
are like, this will get us some foot traffic on
the website. It's incomprehensible that level of fame. And so
maybe maybe there maybe when you're that level of famous,
you're just used to things being so kind of out
(07:31):
you know, misrepresented her out of whack, but it is
that was an insane and an insane realization of the
reach that a true global icon has, of which Taylor
(07:52):
Swift is. So there's the not even clarification, but the
true story. And then you got a question for me.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, do you think you're gonna start a rebranding now
in light of these events?
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Because I was called not my name but his sports friend.
What's right with sports friend? Okay? I mean yeah, I
mean that's the other thing. It's also a kind of
confusing headline because it would it would appear like if
you just read the headline, it sounds like they're talking
about another professional athlete rather than me, because sports friend,
(08:26):
I would think that you're talking another professional athlete. So
that was, you know, one kind of brush with the
media machine associated with the world's most famous people. Odd
forty eight hours because it was my second brush with
that of the week and demons go ahead.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, so over the weekend you saw Memphis and Lakers
face off. You happen to be court side. Bakers showed out,
they got the dub. But the bigger piece of this
story was like what happened after the game.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
So you're okay, yeah, we can play it if you're
just listening on YouTube, or if you're just listening to
the podcast and not watching on YouTube. What you're seeing
right now is the like NBA cameras close up of
Lebron and I dapping up after the game. And then
my favorite part is your mom just standing there like
fixing her hair like that cut out the full video
(09:21):
which somebody got from the crowd, which includes the Lebron
hug to your mom, which is just one of the
coolest things you know ever. And also you know who
I thought about when I saw that this video because
this happened Saturday night and it all these videos came
out Sunday, you know what I mean. I didn't publish
(09:44):
any of these, I didn't amplify, but it somebody somebody
put out this far form video Sunday morning. And then
the other videos came out and caught fire. I gotta
tell you, and I know this is not what probably
is smart podcasting. They're like, you're bearing the lead, but
I don't care. I what I thought about when Lebron
(10:06):
went in for the hug to your mom right after
a hard fought basketball game and she reciprocated and gave
him the hug. I only thought about.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
You, thank you, thank you. Oh my god. Yes, yes,
I was litering.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
To Somebody brought this up at work and I was like,
my mom would never hug me if I was in
that state.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Ever, go ahead, what do you know?
Speaker 1 (10:33):
I agree with you. This isn't a hypothetical. We saw
it happen a hundred times. A hundred times Demonse had
an awesome either AU or high school basketball game, or
when we came out to San Diego and watched you
play in college and you had your career high twenty
(10:54):
nine or whatever.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
It was not a full like that.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Maybe a side one maybe.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Maybe That's all I could think about was you. I
was like, oh man, this is unbelievable, and it's so
funny that you said the same thing. Okay, So I
don't even know what or how people and then I
want to talk about the actual game, even though no,
I don't think anybody cares about it right now? What
(11:24):
are how people want me to say about this? Like
I what did I say the other week? One of
the benefits and this is not my quote, obviously one
of the benefits, and never lying is never having to
remember anything. I have never once ever misrepresented in over
(11:48):
or under exaggerating my relationship with Lebron. It's always been
well I should, I mean relationships of all, but it's
the audience has kind of been on the journey. I
consider Maverick Lebron's right hand man and one of the
(12:10):
smartest business people I've ever met, a good good friend
because of my really and I have a something of
a business and something of a personal relationship with Rich.
Because of those relationships, I have a secondary relationship with
(12:36):
Lebron where you know, the occasionally were in the same circle,
very occasionally. It's happened a couple times, and so it was.
I said on this show repeatedly when I knew we
(12:58):
were going to Memphis, and when I knew that I
had gotten, and when I knew I had gotten when
I purchased the courtside seats that that interaction was certainly
on the board. Now it was going to be one
hundred percent conditional on the Lakers winning, because anybody that's
(13:18):
watched Lebron throughout his career knows if they win, he'll
he usually has a postgame interview, he'll linger a bit
on the court, and if he has friends or colleagues
or whomever courtside other pro athletes, he'll stop by dap
them up. If they lose, it's straight to the locker room. Now,
what didn't get caught was the pregame interaction when I
(13:42):
was standing with John Morant's dad, T and Lebron came
over and said hello to both of us, and then
he and Tea had a brief conversation. I don't know
what it was about. It was private, but I don't.
I don't. I was not as shocked by that as
I think the audience was. The Internet, I should say,
(14:06):
and this is where maybe my ego can get the
best of me. I was a little offended is too
strong of a word. I'll go nonplussed by the number
of people who were asserting what a life changing event
this this was for me or the oh Man finally,
(14:30):
you know, after all those years of good pr finally
gets his acknowledgement. That's not what it is either, However,
I do. I am a die hard sports fan. It
is why I do what I do for my entire life.
The NBA, up until really Mahomes got drafted, it was
(14:52):
the NBA was a clear number one in my personal
sports fandom, with the NFL a all by itself but
a clear number two. The last half decade of the
NFL has kind of changed it to where now if
I'm asked, I say, the NFL regular season is my favorite.
The NBA playoffs are my favorite. Like my favorite sport
(15:14):
to watch over the course of the year is the NFL.
My favorite two months of the year of the NBA playoffs.
But with all that said, I for the majority of
my life my favorite sport in the world was the NBA.
My favorite athlete ever is Lebron and so yeah, it's
super dope that he and I have even that level
(15:38):
of I don't know if you want to call it
relationship whatever it is, mutual acknowledgment respect. I'd call it
mutual respect, Yeah, is how I would is the way
I would put it. And I also think for him.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
It was.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Bent. It was good timing in that because of everything
that he has been involved in in the last month,
it was a reminder to the audience. I don't I'm
not anti all an everyone in the media. Yeah, I'm
(16:18):
you know what I mean, I'm not. I don't think
that everybody. It's there's certain there's one person in particular,
and then maybe a handful of unnamed but we know
who they are retired athletes in the media that I
have a problem with. But otherwise, you know what I mean,
Like there can be a level of and the other
thing about Lebron's relationship with the media is if you
(16:40):
ever see any of his pregame interviews, which are almost
always done with the local media that covers the Lakers
and then whatever team they're playing, he has seemingly real,
not just cordial, but incredibly friendly relationships with a lot
(17:01):
of those guys. Mike Trudell, who covers the Lakers. There
was the video of him giving Trudell a hard time
because he was wearing I think a man you sweatshirt,
and Lebron owned is a Liverpool guy because he either
owns or owned a piece of it. He had when
he was with the Calves. Maybe still a really good
relationship with Ali Clifton will host road tripping with Channing
(17:22):
Frye and Richard Jefferson. So I think that's all there.
But yeah, so I knew once that clip, once the
first like far away clip came out, I knew this
was going to be something that in some capacity was
going to be addressed. But I was probably not as
shocked by as everyone else. What I really was thrilled, though, Demons,
(17:46):
even though I knew you probably would take it personally
as you should have that Lebron who has met your
mother once before, recognized her the and you know, acknowledged her.
So that part, that part was pretty cool. And then
we can get to the game.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Go ahead to though, wait so wait or do you
want to get to the game or do we There's
actually one more piece of video that we have not shown.
It actually has audio. We're gonna show you guys.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, no, no, no,
is this the one? Is this the one your mom
sent to the group, to our family group chat.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
It's a little yeah, one hundred percent, it's a little
bit more up close.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Okay, So let me give all right, before we play this,
all right, this is this is borderline is the wrong word,
but it's fine. But I also, if we're going to
play this, I want to I want to give the
full background here. So there were two guys and you
(18:50):
see it in the In fact, I don't know before
we do it, producers tell me, can we play the
vo close shot again? Because I want to give these
guys credit. So it was a father and son that
were sitting next to us courtside, and you see the
father has his phone out and he's trying to grab
(19:13):
a picture with his son and Lebron. Uh, and it
doesn't happen. The child, no, not the small child. Black
guy with the blue hat and his son right next
to you see that there, not the little little kid,
not the redhead. It's black father and son right next
to your mom. So that guy had his camera out
(19:35):
recording in case, you know what I mean, he was
able to get a picture with his son and Lebron.
He did didn't end up happening. I then asked him
because of the hug with your mom and Lebron, I
was like, hey, can you send me that video later?
You know what I mean? I think it'd be super
(19:56):
dope to have and so he said yes, And is
that actually a pain for him? I think he had
to send it me a drop boxer for so long.
So I want to shout him out because his name
is shown Hornbuckle and his son is Tristan Hornbuckle. Uh
and there on Instagram at shown Hornbuckle and at Tristant
(20:17):
Hornbuckle too. But so this one is dope because there
is audio and because you hear what Lebron says to
your mom, So go ahead and play that, then we'll
talk about the game. So I don't know how well
(20:49):
that played on the podcast, but it is such pairing
if you're listening on the podcast, it's worth going back
to YouTube. Bron and I dapt I thing kind of
motion like, hey, there's there's my wife who again they've
met once before, and his total like disposition changes from
(21:12):
like you know, the the what's the word kind of
like affirmative DAP to just like, oh, great to see you,
and then drops a hey their sweetheart as are a hug,
which maybe led to you know what we were discussing earlier.
So that was dope. That was what le see.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
The look on ye.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
That that was that was dope, and you're and now,
I mean, your mom can send that to her grandmother,
who's ninety one years old and the biggest Lebron fan
in the world was.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Probably a little annoyed too.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
The oh yeah, yeah, absolutely, oh yeah, because well it
doesn't matter the there was Lakers thunder. Maybe this is
john because of what happened between Lebron and stephen A.
That there's I assume there's cameras on Lebron at all
times every game, but maybe it's like, you know, pre
(22:13):
and postgame more now posts that because Lakers thunder in
LA the day after Thanksgiving, the exact same interaction that
happened this week between Lebron and I happened there at Staples,
(22:33):
except it was longer, with a longer conversation, and there's
no video of it anywhere. And so but the reason
I the reason I bring that up is that happened
about sixty feet from where your grandmother was sitting. She
was in like row three, a section over, and then
(22:57):
I walked back to the seats and she was not joking, adamant,
why didn't you bring him over here?
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Well so yeah, so, but so that was that was
that busy weekend, fun weekend, I.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Do you want to talk about? Vegas?
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Went to Vegas to do some commentary for the World
Poker Tours squid Hunt, which is coming out here in
a few months, and while I was there lived a
poker player's dream, which is got invited into the big,
big mixed game in Bobby's Room and Bobby's Room which
(23:44):
is the world's most famous poker room inside the Belagio,
and then ended up wrapping the World Poker Tour stuff
in time on Tuesday to where the same guys who
were playing in that mixed game, we're playing the exact
same format on stream at the pokerhost studio at Aria
(24:06):
and I played in it. And this is again I
know some of my poker stuff. You know, the audience
doesn't understand this. They really, if you're not a poker player,
won't understand because the mixed games that we played were
just stick with me here for a second, but doogie
but doucey drama, ha, deuce to seven, single draw, duce
(24:29):
to seven, triple draw, uh big oh, and one other
one I can't even remember what it was. Ras. So
here's what was so cool for me about that demanse,
and it was the limits were two hundred four hundred.
But again it's a limit game. So like if you're
playing a two hundred four hundred no limit game, you're
(24:50):
gonna not feel comfortable if you're not sitting with In
the two hundred four hundred no limit holding cash games,
you probably need at least two hundred thousand dollars in
front of you to feel comfortable, and probably more. The
two hundred four hundred limit games, you could sit with
(25:11):
ten grand and feel comfortable, and twenty is plenty. So
they just play very differently. Because no limit you can
bet any amount at any time. Limit games, if it's
two hundred four hundred, the most you can ever bet
on a single one bet is four hundred dollars. Again,
that part doesn't matter, But here's I'm just giving you
guys the full context of it. Here's why it was
(25:32):
so cool. Those games that I just described to you,
six of the seven as of Sunday night, I had
played in my poker career zero hands of never played
any of them. However, because I'm such a poker nerd
(25:56):
and because I really care about learning the games, I
have watched the best in the world play them on
stream hundreds of hours. So it was a real test
case of how much can like studying learning prepare you
(26:18):
to actually do. Because normally someone first time they'd been
playing wouldn't be playing two hundred four hundredy'd be playing
three dollars, six dollars whatever. But I felt like, no,
I know how to play all these games. And I
gotta tell you, I think I played great. We'll see
it when the stream comes out. I won money. I
(26:39):
like for the one percent listening Diard poker nerds that'll
get this. I got Pad's poker Patrick Lennard, who is
one of the best poker players in the world, to
break an eight induced to seven triple draw with a
check Ray's bluff. That was the single best move anyone
(27:00):
at the table made all night. And it was and
I made, you know, a few thousand dollars profit and
more than held my own. And so again, I think
I made a ton of mistakes throughout the course of
the night, but that was fine. It was my first
time doing it, but it was not a it was
(27:24):
it was it went great. So that was that was
as thrilling as anything that happened this week, and playing
in Bobby's room than playing with those guys. Shout out
one of the guys that was in the game, David Baker.
He's the two time winner or one time winner of
the Super Contest. And then one another thing. He's one
of the best NFL handicappers in the world. He won
(27:47):
the Westgate Super Contest years ago. And he was in
the game. Nacho Barbero was in the live game, not
the streamed game. A bunch of guys. There were three
knicks at the table. Shout out to the other knicks.
Everyone was great. And so oh and the guy's whose
game it was Crazy Mike. It was the Crazy Mike mix.
And so shout out to all those guys. It was awesome.
(28:08):
I had such a great time. Okay, now thirty minutes
into the show to the actual basketball, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Yeah, do you want to you don't want to talk
about the game right the Memphis.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
No, because we're gonna get to Memphis and later. Yep.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Yeah. So Jokic has been cooking. He put up sixty
one against Minnesota the other day. It's his highest scoring
triple double.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
And to acknowledge he's the best basketball player he's ever
seen besides besides himself. Yeah, but the big story of
that game was Russ kind of choking there at the end.
He got the steals, smoked the layup, and then fouled
the three point shooter at the end.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
And then last night smoked another layout Yeah with a
few minutes left, and they needed that. They lost to
the Spurs. So we'll get to Joker in a second.
I don't I don't take joy in being right on this,
(29:16):
But of course we were going. Anyone that has spent
a season watching late stage Russell Westbrook play for teams
with championship aspirations, all of them knew, and all of
them thought it would be different for them until they
(29:37):
realize it's not. I was one of those people once.
So here's the deal. Russell Westbrook over the last nearly
full decade has been totally unable to contribute to winning basketball,
(29:58):
and four contenders have been like, we can change him,
and all four contenders were wrong. So he he leaves
the Thunder and they pair him with James Harden for
a Rockets team that thinks they can win the championship
(30:22):
just a year and a half removed from winning sixty
five games and taking the Durant Warriors to a game
seven in the conference finals, and it of course goes terribly.
They divorce after one year. He's brutal in the playoffs,
and then he goes to the one place, the one
(30:44):
place that the Russell Westbrook experience made sense was Washington
because Washington's like, hey, man, car keys are yours? We
would just love to win forty games, and Russ delivers
averages another triple doubles. It's all Russ all the time,
gets him into the playoffs, and then in those playoffs
(31:07):
you're gonna be like, oh, what did you do? In
the playoffs? He averaged the triple double. In the playoffs,
he shot thirty three percent from the floor and they
lost in five. Then the Lakers were like, we can
change him, and the Lakers missed the playoffs the one
year he's there in full, have to get off him
(31:32):
and promptly make the conference finals without him. The Clippers,
we can change him. And with the Clippers they're like, oh,
he's better here. He's accepted his role, and in his
one full season with the Clippers, they make the playoffs,
(31:52):
and in those playoffs he plays nineteen minutes a game,
averages six points on twenty six percent from the field,
twenty three percent from three and they move off him,
and then the Nuggets, we can change him. It'll be
(32:13):
different here. And the playoffs are approaching, and you got
a little sneak preview of what to expect. And again,
I take no pleasure in this because I have such
respect for Russell's career and the way he approaches playing
(32:33):
hard at all times. What I do take a little
pleasure in is Nuggets fans who got a little chesty
at the beginning of the year. Demon's a lot of like,
do a Twitter search for these three nouns Yokich, Lebron,
(32:54):
Russ and see how many tweets pop up from November
and December along the lines of, oh, why couldn't Lebron
get out of Russ? What Joker is?
Speaker 3 (33:08):
Well?
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Why oh oh oh, you know, Russ got blamed for
everything in LA but put him with a guy like Joker,
and look, guys, this train is never late. It's never late.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Russ also has like lost a lot of his athleticism,
and I think that's kind of like, oh, that's obvious
he's getting older. But like on that layup that he smoked,
I was telling Daniel like a few years ago, Russell
was dunk in that.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Man, I just yes, that's exactly right. By the way,
that's the that's another time where the exact take you
gave was the exact take. And this is a compliment
that Brew gave yesterday, oh, which is yeah, that that was.
It might have been wild one of them, but either way,
it was that used to be a dunk and it's
(33:58):
not anymore here on this one. And so uh and
it there what it in life? What awesome is what
all what often is your greatest asset becomes your great liability.
Russ going one speed at all times, Russ, you know,
(34:22):
playing a certain way. Russ's relentlessness is what made him him,
and now it's what makes him a total liability to
winning basketball. Also, by the way, that yeah, to winning basketball.
And it's a disase it The Nuggets aren't deep enough
(34:47):
to be able to just put them on ice. But man,
oh man, like, I I don't know, I don't know
how you can put him in critical playoff games. And
here's the other piece of it. I thought of that sequence, Demanse,
the missed layup was the least of the problems. Missed
(35:08):
layups happened. I thought it was a bigger problem that
after missing the layup in a one point double overtime
game with ten seconds left, he stood under the basket,
arms up, whining for a beat, which then allowed the
Timberwolves to get the advantage. And obviously the worst part
(35:31):
of the play was not only did he foul a
three point shooter, he fouled a three point shooter demonse
on a fake contest. There was like there was that
that wasn't one of those Oh man, I I almost
locked it and instead I hit him. No, I mean
it was a fake contest. And then I don't know
(35:55):
if you saw Rob Prez's video then when he's lead
even the court with the fan, yeah, I mean, buddy, like.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
I feel the russ is. It's unfortunate. Man, Why do
you need the camera on the man's face for so
long when they make a mistake.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Well, that's like the drama. I mean, that's how I mean.
I get that.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
It's like, this is a guy who messed up. But yeah,
he's gonna stop chirping the fans. You you screw it up,
and the fans are gonna.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Right like now, listen if it comes out the fan,
you know, dropped a slur then, of course whatever, but
I but my feeling was it wasn't that.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
Going up there just off of Westbrick.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Yes, Westbrook, exactly exactly, And so like it's it's a
tough now, our resident Nuggets fan, Daniel, I still believe
in Russ. Good luck with that man again Westbrook. This decade,
this decade, guys, it's twenty twenty five, this decade in
(37:05):
the playoffs, thirty seven percent from the field, twenty seven
percent from three, three and a half turnovers a game
in thirty one minutes. Can't win that way, you just can't.
And so rough Spot, I know you have some follow
ups here, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
Well, yeah, even with Russ, with Russ playing the way.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
He is, could you still consider counting out the Denver
Nuggets with Jokics being on the team.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
No, So listen, that's the shame of it is Jokic
has one of the greatest games in NBA history and
it gets squandered. Now again, I I saw Luca last
year have a seventy three, ten and seven and then
(37:55):
all year long before or fifth in the standings and
be ineligible for MVP. So I'm not doing another MVP thing.
Shay's team might win seventy games, He's gonna win the
scoring title. He's were we are if we want a
retro act. Here's the deal, Nugget fans. If you make
(38:16):
up this petition, I'll sign it. If you would like
to retroactively give last year's MVP to Luca so Joker
can win this year, I'm all for it. But last
year the argument against Luca was Jokers team has the
(38:36):
best record, even if he's averaging. You know, Jokers averaging
damn near. His numbers are great, even if they're not
quite as good as Luca's, but it's contributing to winning more.
And last year Joker was the better defender than Luca.
It's gotta be Joker and Luca in with four first
place votes. You can't then use all of your Joker
(39:00):
arguments from last year this year and not end up
with Shay. The logical consistency of the last two years,
voting will would either go Luca last year, Joker this year,
or Joker last year Shay this year. Joker already won
last year, so it's Shay's now. Is Joker the best
(39:23):
player in the league? Yes, is Joker the only person.
And this is what Nuggets fans should take pride in.
Is Joker the only person you could put on that
Nuggets team and they would have any chance of winning
the championship. Yes, he's the only guy in the league,
and they do have a chance. Not a good chance,
(39:45):
but they do have a chance. The standings are we
gonna get to the standings later in the show. No,
So I'll do it here. Those two losses, however, because
they lost the last night, now they sat everyone. By
the way, I should have put this out. Our friends
(40:05):
at DraftKings might have been annoyed me, but I should
have put it out. I gave it to Hubbs yesterday
at one pm. The money line for the Spurs were
ten point dogs and they were plus three eighty on
the money line, and I said to Hubbs, I was like,
(40:28):
this line is acting like Joker is gonna play. I
don't think he is. He's played fifty three minutes the
night before, like and Joker then got announced is out.
The line dropped to damn near a pickham and the
Spurs won. So shout out to anyone who sniped that,
(40:51):
because that, to me, I just couldn't be We knew
Jamal Murray wasn't gonna be playing. I couldn't believe it.
But here's the standings implication. Denver's now the four again.
Some time left, not a lot though, five games left
Houston sitting at twenty seven losses the Lakers, and at
(41:12):
this point in the season, guys just count losses. You
can make up wins, you can't make up losses, So
don't talk about games back any of that. Count the losses.
That's what matters. Oklahoma City pretty comfortable with twelve losses, unbelievable.
Houston's at twenty seven and clinched their playoff spot last night.
(41:36):
The Lakers are at twenty nine, the Nuggets are at thirty,
the Warriors are at thirty one, Minnesota is at thirty two,
and the two play in teams that are good the
Clippers and grit well, I don't know if they're good,
but that are above five hundred. The Clippers and Grizzlies
are at thirty two. So Houston safe from the play
(42:05):
in barring well, no safe from the plane entirely because
they clinched their division. That keep you safe from the plane,
I'm pretty sure it does. But here's what I will
say about Houston. Houston's next five or last final five Demanse, Thunder, Warriors, Clippers, Lakers, Nuggets.
(42:30):
So anybody that has some doubts is Houston. Well it's
all the teams they could play in Round one of
the playoffs, except for the Thunder obviously can't play them.
But yeah, I mean we're gonna find out over these
next five. The Lakers right now would give anything demonse
to freeze the standings because well, yeah, Denver Golden State
(42:57):
play each other in Round one and the winner plays
Oklahoma City. If you froze the standings, the Lakers side
of the bracket would be Minnesota and then Houston or
I guess maybe the Clippers, like the Lakers would love
(43:19):
that road. I don't know that they'll get it, but
it would absolutely love that road. You too, the Daniel
asking if I would you know, like to face the
size of the Timberwolves. I again, the West is a
monster and there's no you know, no easy outs right
(43:41):
now except for Memphis. But they're you know, Memphis is
gonna in my opinion, up the eight seed. So you're
not gonna be able to get Memphis. And yeah, I
would take my chances. I don't want to face any
of the I don't want to face Denver or Golden
State immediately, and I love the idea of being on
(44:02):
the opposite side of OKC. Like again there. I think
the Lakers can win the whole thing, but it doesn't
mean all paths are created equal. Here's I'll tell you
who Denver doesn't want to face. Denver be fine with
the Warriors. I think they've beaten the Warriors nine straight games.
Denver doesn't want to face Minnesota, who has now beating
them six games in a row, swept them this season,
(44:27):
and then beat them game six and seven of the
playoffs last year.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
Would you give them beef? Doubt they if they were
in a series year taking Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
I take it you have to pick Minnesota, all right?
Those one six straight, they've won six straight against them.
All right, Let's talk Lakers Warriors.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
Yeah, so Steph is looking good. He's had a few
games back since his injury. The other day he dropped
fifty two. I had twelve three pointers. So the Warriors
are looking pretty good, which is bad for your Lakers,
who they played at night, and they could also be
potentially playing them in the playoffs. Ye, how do you
feel the Lakers got them? But they're coming off of
a lot of rest.
Speaker 1 (45:03):
Yeah, So I think the Warriors are everyone's making this
Warriors eighteen and two with Jimmy eighteen and five since
the trade about Jimmy, it's about what it's Let Steph
go back to being Steph. Before the Jimmy trade was
(45:28):
twenty two a game. Since the Jimmy trade's at twenty
eight a game. On better efficiency popped off for fifty
two the other night. I if you are getting close
to prime Steph, you're a threat when you have And
it's also a reminder if you have one of the
(45:48):
greatest players of all time, you have an obligation to
always be all in. You can't throw seasons away because
you might go another fifty years in your franchise and
not have a player nearly as good as Steph Curry. Now,
I think both teams desperately need this game, which is
(46:10):
what makes it so fascinating because of what I was
saying about the standings the Lakers. If the Lakers win
all of a sudden, they have twenty nine losses, Golden
State has thirty two, and by the way, the Lakers
have the tiebreaker over everyone beneath them in the standings,
every single team. So you would a win tonight for
(46:34):
the Lakers essentially eliminates any concern of falling into the
play in And it doesn't lock up a top four seed,
but it essentially does. And if for the Warriors, if
they lose, they're at thirty two losses. Memphis and the
Clippers have thirty two losses, they're the seven and the eight.
(46:57):
Minnesota's thirty two losses, they're at six. But the flip
side of that applies as well. Golden State wins Demanse,
the Lakers are at thirty losses, Golden State's at thirty one,
and Golden State could potentially forget hitting in the play
in end up with home court in Round one. I
(47:22):
the Lakers this year, it's one of the honest things. Ever,
they are dominant against the Western Conference, So the Lakers
in the Thunder have almost the same record against the West.
Think about that. So the Thunder are thirty five and
(47:43):
eleven against the West, which means they are thirty five
and eleven twenty nine and one. No, is that right?
Speaker 3 (47:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (47:57):
Twenty nine and one against the East. The Thunder twenty
nine and one against the East, thirty five and eleven
against the West. The Lakers are thirty two and thirteen
against the West, the second best record of the Thunder
by a mile in the Western Conference. Thirty two and
thirteen the Lakers are against the West, which means the
(48:22):
flip side to that is they are fourteen and sixteen
against the East.
Speaker 3 (48:29):
Role this year. Say it again, they're bad on the
road this year?
Speaker 1 (48:33):
Correct?
Speaker 3 (48:34):
Really?
Speaker 1 (48:34):
Oh yeah, so the Lakers have been an awesome home team,
a bad road team. But you're West and East. You
pay you know, you play half your games against the
East at home, half on the road. So the Lakers
are at home. They need it. They're playing a good team.
(48:56):
I like the Lakers. The tricky thing to the Lakekers
is for when you look at their final five games,
you can't do what you can do with most of
the good teams, which is be like, oh, oh, and
the Lakers don't have five left. Hold on, Lakers have
seven left. That's right, because they have the fire games. Yeah,
(49:17):
but regardless most teams you'd be like, oh, well, chalk
up a win against the Pelicans and Blazers. Lakers liable
to lose to any bad team, but they also are
excellent against the good teams. Uh so I'm really excited
to see the night it Also, it could be a
(49:38):
playoff preview. If it is, I hope it's not Round one,
not because the Lakers would have, you know, couldn't beat
the Warriors. But I just don't want a guarantee that
one of the two is out of there. And round one.
There is a team that I am certain is out
of there and round one. It's the team I saw
(50:00):
in person on Saturday. Go ahead, demanse.
Speaker 2 (50:03):
Yeah, so they've been struggling over the last few weeks.
They've won two of their last ten games. The Grizzlies.
Speaker 3 (50:13):
Nine games left to go.
Speaker 2 (50:14):
They fired their head coach, and now they're at risk
of falling into the play and Jahn Morant's holding up
the finger guns. I think they're doing an investigation on
him right now. But yeah, let's talk about the state
of the Grizzlies.
Speaker 1 (50:27):
Okay, so just literally a minute ago, Shams tweeted, let
me read it to you exactly. Uh sorry, hold on,
NBA issued warnings but no further penalties to Grizzlies, Jamorant
and Buddy healed along with the teams for the gestures.
(50:48):
League ruled the celebrations were not intended to be violent
in nature, but inappropriate and should refrain. All right. I
want to make this clear. I don't care about the
gun part of this. That's a different discussion. The pantomiming
guns and the it that distracts from the point. Here's
(51:09):
what I care about, demands any type of taunt or
celebration when there's ten seconds left in a game, your
team needed that. You let the other team's guys score
fifty and you just lost to continue a four game
losing streak, days after you fired your coach, and you're
being a goofball. That's what I care about there. I
(51:34):
And like I said, I talked to Tea at the
Grizzlies game. I like Josh Dad. I like him historically,
I've liked John. John this offseason needs to decide who
do I want to be in this league? Because you've
(51:56):
gone from your numbers have gotten worse over each of
the last four years, your health has gotten worse over
each of the last four years. Your team has gotten
worse over each of the last four years. You just
fired your coach and you're out here being a goofball,
(52:16):
like and that was go ahead.
Speaker 2 (52:18):
So you're talking about John Ranty in the face of
the league a year ago, correct, like maybe maybe a
little over a year.
Speaker 1 (52:25):
Yeah, gun stuff, but yes, of course. And and even
when the stupid gun stuff was happening, nobody questioned his
skill how good he was? Right, So like that's the nobody.
Nobody was wondering how great he is. He's never got
(52:47):
better as a shooter. In fact, he maybe has gotten
worse from three misses forty of the games with injury.
Doesn't seem to take winning seriously, the hell's going on?
Twenty five years old? And the to me, the most
(53:08):
notable piece of the entire incident between he and healed
was the look on Steph Curry's face, because Steph Curry's
face was like a look of honestly, like a disappointed parent,
(53:31):
like what are you doing? Like like, what what are
you doing? The the reason I'm saying I'm not focused
on the gun piece.
Speaker 3 (53:42):
Of it is.
Speaker 1 (53:44):
If the if the Grizzlies had just hit free throws
to go up seven with ten seconds left and John
did that celebration, I would feel totally differently, which means
I know. For me, it's not about the gun piece
of it, and again gun in quotes finger guns like
it's about being ready to party when your team's falling apart.
(54:11):
It's pro sports man, it's the playoff push. You just
fired your coach. You just it was four straight losses
against the four teams most likely to stand between you
and a championship. They lost to the Thunder, then they
lost to the Lakers, Then they lost to the Celtics,
then they lost to the Warriors, and you're being a goofball.
Speaker 3 (54:37):
Like.
Speaker 1 (54:37):
I just I don't like it. I don't like it
at all. Finals are here, and the only thing for
sure is it's the last time you're gonna have a
chance to bet on college basketball this season. It's been
an amazing ride to get here, an unprecedented run to
(54:58):
this point, with four of the four best teams, including
four of the best teams in recent college basketball history,
getting there. Maybe there will finally be a shocking outcome,
or maybe we're just going to keep seeing the best
show you why they're the best. More on that in
a second. Get in on all the action, expected and
(55:20):
unexpected with DraftKings Sportsbook with live betting, exclusive content, promos
and barlays. DraftKings is the ultimate college basketball destination four March.
Ready to make your first bet, check out the matchups,
and pick a team to win. It's that simple me personally.
You guys know, I was in on Tennessee. It didn't
(55:43):
work out. Now we pivot. We got it, We pivot.
Thus far, this has been a tournament where the best
team wins. The best team is Duke. I personally like
Duke minus five and a half tonight at even money.
It's not tonight this weekend. I also personally like Duke
(56:05):
to win the championship at even money. So Duke minus
five and a half in their game on Saturday at
even money, Duke plus one hundred to win the whole
thing at even money. Better late than never. It's what
I'm going with now that Tennessee's gone. Lines and odds
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(57:37):
slash b ball. All right, demanse, let's rapid fire through
the rest of these if we can.
Speaker 3 (57:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (57:47):
Aaron Rodgers was seen working out with his new teammate
DK Metcalf in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (57:51):
Are you excited to see that Tatum next year? Nah?
I'm kidding.
Speaker 2 (57:56):
He hasn't signed yet. What's going on with Aaron Rodgers?
What's going on there? Guy's taking his time.
Speaker 1 (58:03):
I don't understand why the Steelers. Here's the deal. I
understood why the Steelers were letting him dictate the terms
when he had a bunch of options. He could go
to New York. Maybe Minnesota was interested. He's out of options.
The Giants signed two quarterbacks, Minnesota's not signing him, Tennessee's
drafting their quarterback. Pittsburgh, you're the Pittsburgh Steelers. Call Aaron's
(58:33):
agent and say, we need to know within the week
or we're out. The leverage has shifted back to you.
He wants to play for you, So why hasn't he signed.
My guess is he doesn't want to either he doesn't
want to be on the hook for the full off
(58:54):
season program, or more accurately, he wants to be able
to potentially pressure you into not spending your first round
pick on a quarterback, be it Shador if he slips,
or Jackson Dart if you love him and he thinks
if he hasn't signed yet but has made it clear,
oh I'm going to sign that. You guys won't draft
(59:16):
a quarterback because it could upset it. Don't let him
run things. He has nowhere else.
Speaker 3 (59:22):
To go, and if they do draft a quarterback. What's
he gonna do.
Speaker 1 (59:28):
If he if he hasn't signed yet, then maybe he
just won't sign. Okay, you know what I mean? Like
maybe then he will you know, retire or wait for
to see if there's an injury somewhere or whatever it is.
But you can't let a guy who's never played for
you and hasn't been in good for been good in
four years dictate your draft plans and your offseason plans.
(59:49):
The damn owner of the team came out yesterday and said, yeah,
we thought it'd be done by now. I've never seen
a team that has no history with a player when
the player is not still awesome jump through these hoops.
It's just baffling to me, all right.
Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
Next, Jerry Jones still hasn't come to closing a deal
on Michael Parson's actually taking a shot at his agent
during the process. He said, the agent is not a
factor here or is something to worry about. And I
don't know his name, and so my point is, I'm
not trying to demean him in any way. But this
isn't about an agent. Why would Jerry Jones say something
of this sort.
Speaker 1 (01:00:31):
So here's the deal, and I actually think this is
a real story, because there's only two possible truths here. Okay,
(01:00:52):
one truth is he forgot the agent's name or doesn't
know it, David mulla Getta. If that is the case,
David's not an obscure agent. He negotiated with Sean Watson deal.
He negotiated Malik Hooker, who's a cowboy, his deal. If
(01:01:12):
your general manager does not know the agent's name for
your best player, then it's time to take the car
keys away from him. And people are like, oh, well,
he wasn't He definitely knows his name. Okay, that's fine.
That's door number two. Door number two is he does
(01:01:33):
know his name, and he's being unnecessarily and intentionally disrespectful
and combative with someone you have to work with. That
ain't good either, you know what I mean. Like, either
he's telling the truth and that's a problem, or he's
(01:01:53):
just saying it to piss the guy off and that's dumb.
Like there's there's no there's no win, there no win whatsoever.
And it really Jerry Jones, for a long time was
one of the best things that Cowboys had going for them.
(01:02:16):
He has quickly become their single biggest impediment to winning,
and for a franchise with that history and a brand
of that caliber, it's just it's just unfathomable that they
are the worst run team in the league, but right
now they appear to be the worst run team in
(01:02:36):
the league.
Speaker 3 (01:02:38):
Let's seem like a gay.
Speaker 1 (01:02:42):
Yeah, I mean it doesn't. It's just an Yeah. I
certainly didn't seem like you know that we'd be going
to the same parties. All right, let's do mock drafts.
Speaker 2 (01:02:53):
Demonse, Uh so, yeah, you're one of the top mof
mock drafters last year. You haven't said too much about
it this year. Do you have a mock draft for
the folks out there Monday?
Speaker 1 (01:03:04):
First things, First, mock draft one point zero. I think
I had the world's eighteenth most accurate mock draft last year.
Speaker 3 (01:03:14):
Wow, yeah, I remember eighteen. I didn't know that was the.
Speaker 1 (01:03:18):
Might have been twenty one, it was somewhere. It wasn't
in the top fifteen, but it was in the top
twenty five. I remember that. I'll have to look it up.
Speaker 3 (01:03:26):
Double digits.
Speaker 1 (01:03:28):
Yeah, it was. There were I mean there were hundreds
and hundreds done by media member Schrager crushed. Schrager had
the most accurate. Uh so, yeah, Monday on the TV show,
the first mock draft gets revealed.
Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
All right, next, all right, so yeah, Cooper Flags looked
like the real deal throughout the tournament and obviously throughout
his short college career.
Speaker 3 (01:03:50):
He'll be eighteen when he hits the NBA. Do you
think that he's.
Speaker 2 (01:03:54):
Gonna be a real deal or he's going to be
more of a bust or flame out?
Speaker 3 (01:03:57):
I mean, obviously not a bust, but well, no.
Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
You can't say obviously. I mean, the only way you
can be a bus is if you're a super high
draft pick, and the only be a super high draft
picks if people think you're gonna be awesome. But no,
I think he's good. I am not. So you guys know,
I'm not, you know, watching a ton of college basketball
during the regular season, and so I hadn't It's not
(01:04:21):
that I hadn't seen Cooper Flag, but I had, you know,
not watched him as closely as the people who are
college basketball diehards. To me, he's been better than advertised.
I thought his game against Arizona was spectacular, and you
guys just hurting the DraftKings read I'm in on Duke
I mean, he has just been. He's so far and
(01:04:43):
away the best player in college basketball. And here's the
crazy thing, Demonse, he doesn't turn nineteen until December, so
he's gonna be the same age. He's gonna be the
age Lebron was when he came into the league. Like
he reclassified so he should be a high school senior.
(01:05:04):
But he's a college freshman. He's tall, he's strong, shoots
it well enough good, IQ can defend. No, no, no, I
now do I think he's gonna be like a super uperstar.
We gotta wait and see that. But he is the
no doubt obvious number one pick. All right, let's go
to the final four. Before we get to the listener questions.
Speaker 2 (01:05:26):
Uh So Saturday, Florida and Auburn face off before Duke
and Houston face off in the final four.
Speaker 3 (01:05:31):
Do you have any predictions for this?
Speaker 1 (01:05:34):
I'd like Houston to win because I like Kelvin Samson
and you know we used to live there. But the
tournament has been chalk, and I am going to stick
with chalk. Duke over Florida and then Duke wins it all.
Speaker 3 (01:05:50):
What is Duke Kevin? I think I've been hearing it
all week.
Speaker 2 (01:05:53):
I've not asked anybody when you say chalk the context
clues meaning that it's linear, like what is it?
Speaker 3 (01:06:00):
Like? What does it mean?
Speaker 1 (01:06:01):
Same favorites? Wind?
Speaker 3 (01:06:02):
Okay, chalk means.
Speaker 1 (01:06:05):
It goes the way. I don't know, so a good
I've always no, that's that you're thinking of?
Speaker 3 (01:06:12):
What?
Speaker 1 (01:06:12):
Yeah, it's got none to do with that. I I
don't know. Let's find out together. Why Why is a
favorite winning called chalk? Daniel says it's horse racing, but
I want to know the So here we go from
(01:06:34):
vocabulary dot com. The history of chalk dates back to
the old days of horse racing, when bookmakers would set
the odds for each horse by riding them on a
chalkboard at on track gambling stations. The odds would change
during the pre race betting period depending on the amount
wagered on each horse, so the book makers would often
(01:06:55):
need to erase the post odds and chalk up new
ones uh before beginning of the race. The bookies at
the track had to be skillful with the chalk to
keep their slate boards up to date with las ods.
In reporting on horse racing around the turn of the
twentieth century, sports journalists often referred to bookmakers with such
flowery appellations as the lively Nights of the Chalk and blackboard,
(01:07:21):
or more simply knights of the chalk. Chalk gradually came
to stand for the bookmakers and their odds making through
the process through the process of matonomy, defined by the
Visual Thesaurus as substituting the name of an attribute or
(01:07:41):
feature for the name of the thing itself. For instance,
a racing column in the October fifteenth, nineteen oh three
Atlantic Constitution reported the first race. The chalk figures made
it look like five injuries and six favorites for the event.
Those who followed the odds put up by the bookmakers
could thus stay loyal to the chalk and bet on
(01:08:03):
the favored horses, or they could look for an entrant
with long odds that could potentially get a bigger payout.
A quote from April twenty seven to nineteen oh seven
Washington Post encapsulates the ambivalence that betters felt toward the
chalk of the bookies. Chalk scares many a turf speculator.
Let him pick a horse to win, and if he
(01:08:24):
thinks he ought to be the favorites and the bookies
laid a big price against him. Nine times out of ten,
the horse won't be played.
Speaker 3 (01:08:32):
All right, listeners, I made a mistake.
Speaker 1 (01:08:35):
No, I'm fascinated by this. Uh and all right, so
now we know. So that's great, so that I respect
that you weren't afraid to ask the question. Um, and
I've always known what chalk meant. I didn't know it.
That's where it came from. So chalk just means all
(01:08:58):
the favorites winning. So when you're filling out a bracket,
picking all one seats make the final four as a
chalk bracket. It happened though this year, the first time
it happened since two thousand's fault. Yeah, let's see what
happens next year on it. All right, Let's do a
few listener questions before we get out of here.
Speaker 2 (01:09:18):
Logan, Nick, why do you still not have an NBA
Awards vote? What is the process in order to get
a vote? And do you think you could get one
in the future. You seem like you'd be a pretty
good voter.
Speaker 1 (01:09:28):
I would have thought, so, I don't know, And so
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (01:09:37):
Maybe it's your relationship with Lebron.
Speaker 1 (01:09:40):
No, I don't I don't know who the It's fine.
I really really wanted one a few years ago, and
I tried to get one and I didn't. I think
Kendrick Perkins got it instead, and I it just is
what it is. So Zach Lowe gave his away, or
(01:10:02):
gave his back. Shout out to Zach by the way
for being back. Shout out to Simmons, congrats to him
for getting Zach with the ringer. Oh, speaking of awards voters,
there there's a young woman who covers the Lakers who
I've never met, but she she asks Lebron some of
(01:10:26):
the most kind of the question she asked Lebron leads
to some of his best answers. She asked him a
few weeks ago, if you guys saw the viral clip
of someone asking Lebron about why he's compared basketball to
music or jazz, and then he went on a nice
(01:10:46):
little soliloquy about how basketball is like listening to jazz
or different music. And then just the other day, she
asked him about why it was important for him to
bring back mine the game, and he gave a really
interesting answer. Her name, and I apologize if I'm mispronounced,
it is Claire Delone. She just tweeted she got an
(01:11:08):
Awards vote, So that's awesome. Like, those are people that
are at games and watching games and really covering teams.
I'm totally cool with them having Awards votes. I listen.
I shouldn't act like I'm not cool with other people.
I since they have expanded the pool to include people
(01:11:31):
that talk about the sport, commentators and stuff, I would
have liked to have gotten one. I don't have one.
It's fine, Bru's got one and Brew, you know, so
first things first is covered. But Brew has one from
back his days, you know, as a writer, and he's
had one forever. All right, let's do a couple more.
Speaker 2 (01:11:50):
Uh, Brandon, do you think we'll look back on Giannis
like we do Wilt, as in, how did someone so
dominant not win more titles?
Speaker 1 (01:11:57):
Well, Joanna's got a long ways to go to we
think of him as Wilt, But I do think Giannis,
you know, Dame's injury in the Buck's future, like Giannis's
ability to compete for championships despite being one of three
best players in the league is very murky in the
short term.
Speaker 2 (01:12:14):
Next, Uh, Jacob Santa Cruz local here, Nick, what is
your favorite food spot in Santa Cruz. Would you would
you love to try out a new spot. My suggestion
to you is see bright DELI love your brother.
Speaker 1 (01:12:27):
Well, thank you, Jacob. I don't know much about Santa Cruz.
People have seen me wear the Santa Cruz hoodie. It's
because Demands's sister, our older daughter. My older daughter goes
to U see Santa Cruz. But I you know, I've
only been. I haven't spent a ton of time out there,
just you know, moving her into college, picking her up
stuff like that. So I don't know, but I will
try seabright Delhi, all right? Last one?
Speaker 2 (01:12:50):
Uh bear if nick I was in New York City
a couple of weeks ago and I got to and
I got to stop by Trentage. Nice to see entrepreneurial
ship runs in the family.
Speaker 1 (01:12:58):
Yeah, shout out to Trentage. Danielle Store is doing great.
Former home of this podcast. All right, great job, everybody.
I gotta get to TV again. Reminder we'll do a
quick show tomorrow morning recapping Lakers Warriors. So set you know,
subscribe like rate review. That really helps. By the way,
(01:13:19):
I don't know if you've looked demon say let me
try to pull it up real quick quick. We are
approaching two. We're at one hundred and ninety four thousand
and change, so almost two hundred thousand subscribers. It'd be
sick if we could somehow get to two hundred thousand,
you know, early in the NBA playoffs and then maybe
pop a big number during a playoff reaction show. Add
(01:13:40):
some subscribers, so subscribe on YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, all that stuff.
See you guys on TV in a few hours. What's right,
Welcome in. We'll driving Nick Great Episode three point fifteen.
After a eventful and somewhat exhausting weekend from New York
to Memphis to Vegas, landed back here yesterday morning. That's
why we were not able to be on the air Tuesday.
Little programming note, however, a couple programming notes. Actually, let
(00:25):
me see if I can straighten this out a bit
for you guys. There we go. That should be better.
My apologies. Tomorrow morning. A bonus show to make up
for Tuesday, talk Lakers, Warriors, Instant Reaction, anything that should
be up and live first thing in the morning, and
if you're on the West Coast, probably while you're still sleeping,
so that'll come tomorrow Tuesday, our annual way too early
(00:50):
NFL over Under show. Normally we would have done that
this past Tuesday, however, we weren't on the air, and
so our friends at DraftKings have released the full slate
of NFL team win totals, so we will take our
first bite at that on Tuesday. However, we got to
get right into it. I thought I knew where we'd
(01:12):
be starting the show, given you know, the Internet over
the weekend, But then the Internet over the last forty
eight hours, I was involved in a different piece of
the internet. So that's in what missed the cut, But
it didn't actually miss the cut. So here's what missed
the cut. Demons. Great to see you, Tyreek Hills Stokes
(01:33):
trade rumors again, whatever he wants the attention. I love Tyreek,
but we know what's going on. Greatest player in Syracuse
basketball history, one of the greatest Olympians ever, one of
the best pure scores of his era, a no doubt
first ballot Hall of Famer, Carmelo Anthony. And then there's
this the headline from People magazine. Dude trap Vis Kelsey
(02:00):
and his quote sports friend have beef. So I was
playing Demonse in a poker game in Vegas when this
got sent to me, and now it's everywhere on the internet,
and I cannot believe I need to address this. I mean,
(02:20):
it's on People, it's on I think, that's Al Jazeera,
it's on US Weekly. It's so I am so incredibly
oddly frustrated by this because I think it is so
recklessly unfair to Travis Kelcey. So let me reset exactly
(02:44):
what happened, not restate, not clarified, because everything that I said,
Demanse was totally one hundred percent clear the recreation of
this in the headlines. I didn't misspeak, I didn't misrepresent
has but the headlines to me are so this is
what happened. So New Heights with Travis and Jason Kelsey
(03:06):
shouted me out after I invited myself on their show
to be their salary cap expert. Right, that's that's what happened.
And Travis said, I offten love Nick Wright, and I said,
as an aside, I was like, you know, I actually
haven't spoken a lot to Travis since he and Taylor
(03:28):
got together. With the timeline being I said, we don't
really talk during the seasons. We always, you know, we
have a kind of annual event of being able to
get together at the Chief's Super Bowl Parade, But two
years ago at the parade was cut short by a
(03:49):
tragic shooting, and this year the parade was canceled by
the Philadelphia Eagles. So those two times we didn't talk.
And then the one off seat where that you know,
where normally there might be and again I Travis, I
am dear friends with Adam Lefko, who is an actual
(04:11):
dear friend of Travis's. They I think one was at
the other's. Yeah, I think left I think Travis was
at left Goo's wedding. When the when Travis and Taylor
were in New York City for a Yankee game and
they did a live shot at Travis and Taylor, I'm like, Hey,
that's Lefto and his wife sitting with them. They're dear friends.
(04:33):
Trav and I have a great relationship, but we don't
hang out. We you know, I don't. We've never talked
on the phone, might text or DM occasionally, but I
leave him alone during the season and then the last
offseason he was the busiest man in the world. So
that's what I said. So I said, yea, So this
(04:54):
being like represented so unfairly up to an including in
the Times of India that as if Travis has cut
off people in his life or gott in Hollywood. It's
just total horseshit.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I feel, like you said, I've been passing as well,
Like I remember when you said it, like I remember
the tone and everything.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
It's definitely a reach.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
You know, Listen, anyone, if I felt like I had
screwed up, I would apologize. But anyone that watched the
show or saw it got the exact right read of it.
Where I feel badly is I don't expect, certainly Taylor
(05:41):
or Tailor's people to watch the show. They're welcome to,
and I don't expect Travis to watch this show. And
if it's represented as if someone is trying to you'd
be like like, oh, we used to be super close.
And then this guy like, that's not what it was
at all, And so I got I know that this
(06:02):
was I think the producers when they first like brought
it to my attention and pitched me on it. I
probably the tone of this was supposed to be this
is hilarious, and it would be if I knew all
the parties involved. Also we're on the exact same page.
But I just I do feel that it is a
(06:23):
level of fame. When I texted Wild's the People headline
after Daniel texts it to me, and I said, I
really think Taylor Swift might be the most famous person
in the world. Like, I truly think she might be
(06:44):
the most famous person in the world if just someone
at my level whatever that is of notoriety having an
aside about her boyfriend friend and the last time we talked,
if that touch is enough if her fame gravity is
(07:10):
so great that People magazine and the Times of India
are like, this will get us some foot traffic on
the website. It's incomprehensible that level of fame. And so
maybe maybe there maybe when you're that level of famous,
you're just used to things being so kind of out
(07:31):
you know, misrepresented her out of whack, but it is
that was an insane and an insane realization of the
reach that a true global icon has, of which Taylor
(07:52):
Swift is. So there's the not even clarification, but the
true story. And then you got a question for me.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, do you think you're gonna start a rebranding now
in light of these events?
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Because I was called not my name but his sports friend.
What's right with sports friend? Okay? I mean yeah, I
mean that's the other thing. It's also a kind of
confusing headline because it would it would appear like if
you just read the headline, it sounds like they're talking
about another professional athlete rather than me, because sports friend,
(08:26):
I would think that you're talking another professional athlete. So
that was, you know, one kind of brush with the
media machine associated with the world's most famous people. Odd
forty eight hours because it was my second brush with
that of the week and demons go ahead.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, so over the weekend you saw Memphis and Lakers
face off. You happen to be court side. Bakers showed out,
they got the dub. But the bigger piece of this
story was like what happened after the game.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
So you're okay, yeah, we can play it if you're
just listening on YouTube, or if you're just listening to
the podcast and not watching on YouTube. What you're seeing
right now is the like NBA cameras close up of
Lebron and I dapping up after the game. And then
my favorite part is your mom just standing there like
fixing her hair like that cut out the full video
(09:21):
which somebody got from the crowd, which includes the Lebron
hug to your mom, which is just one of the
coolest things you know ever. And also you know who
I thought about when I saw that this video because
this happened Saturday night and it all these videos came
out Sunday, you know what I mean. I didn't publish
(09:44):
any of these, I didn't amplify, but it somebody somebody
put out this far form video Sunday morning. And then
the other videos came out and caught fire. I gotta
tell you, and I know this is not what probably
is smart podcasting. They're like, you're bearing the lead, but
I don't care. I what I thought about when Lebron
(10:06):
went in for the hug to your mom right after
a hard fought basketball game and she reciprocated and gave
him the hug. I only thought about.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
You, thank you, thank you. Oh my god. Yes, yes,
I was litering.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
To Somebody brought this up at work and I was like,
my mom would never hug me if I was in
that state.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Ever, go ahead, what do you know?
Speaker 1 (10:33):
I agree with you. This isn't a hypothetical. We saw
it happen a hundred times. A hundred times Demonse had
an awesome either AU or high school basketball game, or
when we came out to San Diego and watched you
play in college and you had your career high twenty
(10:54):
nine or whatever.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
It was not a full like that.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Maybe a side one maybe.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Maybe That's all I could think about was you. I
was like, oh man, this is unbelievable, and it's so
funny that you said the same thing. Okay, So I
don't even know what or how people and then I
want to talk about the actual game, even though no,
I don't think anybody cares about it right now? What
(11:24):
are how people want me to say about this? Like
I what did I say the other week? One of
the benefits and this is not my quote, obviously one
of the benefits, and never lying is never having to
remember anything. I have never once ever misrepresented in over
(11:48):
or under exaggerating my relationship with Lebron. It's always been
well I should, I mean relationships of all, but it's
the audience has kind of been on the journey. I
consider Maverick Lebron's right hand man and one of the
(12:10):
smartest business people I've ever met, a good good friend
because of my really and I have a something of
a business and something of a personal relationship with Rich.
Because of those relationships, I have a secondary relationship with
(12:36):
Lebron where you know, the occasionally were in the same circle,
very occasionally. It's happened a couple times, and so it was.
I said on this show repeatedly when I knew we
(12:58):
were going to Memphis, and when I knew that I
had gotten, and when I knew I had gotten when
I purchased the courtside seats that that interaction was certainly
on the board. Now it was going to be one
hundred percent conditional on the Lakers winning, because anybody that's
(13:18):
watched Lebron throughout his career knows if they win, he'll
he usually has a postgame interview, he'll linger a bit
on the court, and if he has friends or colleagues
or whomever courtside other pro athletes, he'll stop by dap
them up. If they lose, it's straight to the locker room. Now,
what didn't get caught was the pregame interaction when I
(13:42):
was standing with John Morant's dad, T and Lebron came
over and said hello to both of us, and then
he and Tea had a brief conversation. I don't know
what it was about. It was private, but I don't.
I don't. I was not as shocked by that as
I think the audience was. The Internet, I should say,
(14:06):
and this is where maybe my ego can get the
best of me. I was a little offended is too
strong of a word. I'll go nonplussed by the number
of people who were asserting what a life changing event
this this was for me or the oh Man finally,
(14:30):
you know, after all those years of good pr finally
gets his acknowledgement. That's not what it is either, However,
I do. I am a die hard sports fan. It
is why I do what I do for my entire life.
The NBA, up until really Mahomes got drafted, it was
(14:52):
the NBA was a clear number one in my personal
sports fandom, with the NFL a all by itself but
a clear number two. The last half decade of the
NFL has kind of changed it to where now if
I'm asked, I say, the NFL regular season is my favorite.
The NBA playoffs are my favorite. Like my favorite sport
(15:14):
to watch over the course of the year is the NFL.
My favorite two months of the year of the NBA playoffs.
But with all that said, I for the majority of
my life my favorite sport in the world was the NBA.
My favorite athlete ever is Lebron and so yeah, it's
super dope that he and I have even that level
(15:38):
of I don't know if you want to call it
relationship whatever it is, mutual acknowledgment respect. I'd call it
mutual respect, Yeah, is how I would is the way
I would put it. And I also think for him.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
It was.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Bent. It was good timing in that because of everything
that he has been involved in in the last month,
it was a reminder to the audience. I don't I'm
not anti all an everyone in the media. Yeah, I'm
(16:18):
you know what I mean, I'm not. I don't think
that everybody. It's there's certain there's one person in particular,
and then maybe a handful of unnamed but we know
who they are retired athletes in the media that I
have a problem with. But otherwise, you know what I mean,
Like there can be a level of and the other
thing about Lebron's relationship with the media is if you
(16:40):
ever see any of his pregame interviews, which are almost
always done with the local media that covers the Lakers
and then whatever team they're playing, he has seemingly real,
not just cordial, but incredibly friendly relationships with a lot
(17:01):
of those guys. Mike Trudell, who covers the Lakers. There
was the video of him giving Trudell a hard time
because he was wearing I think a man you sweatshirt,
and Lebron owned is a Liverpool guy because he either
owns or owned a piece of it. He had when
he was with the Calves. Maybe still a really good
relationship with Ali Clifton will host road tripping with Channing
(17:22):
Frye and Richard Jefferson. So I think that's all there.
But yeah, so I knew once that clip, once the
first like far away clip came out, I knew this
was going to be something that in some capacity was
going to be addressed. But I was probably not as
shocked by as everyone else. What I really was thrilled, though, Demons,
(17:46):
even though I knew you probably would take it personally
as you should have that Lebron who has met your
mother once before, recognized her the and you know, acknowledged her.
So that part, that part was pretty cool. And then
we can get to the game.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Go ahead to though, wait so wait or do you
want to get to the game or do we There's
actually one more piece of video that we have not shown.
It actually has audio. We're gonna show you guys.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, no, no, no,
is this the one? Is this the one your mom
sent to the group, to our family group chat.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
It's a little yeah, one hundred percent, it's a little
bit more up close.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Okay, So let me give all right, before we play this,
all right, this is this is borderline is the wrong word,
but it's fine. But I also, if we're going to
play this, I want to I want to give the
full background here. So there were two guys and you
(18:50):
see it in the In fact, I don't know before
we do it, producers tell me, can we play the
vo close shot again? Because I want to give these
guys credit. So it was a father and son that
were sitting next to us courtside, and you see the
father has his phone out and he's trying to grab
(19:13):
a picture with his son and Lebron. Uh, and it
doesn't happen. The child, no, not the small child. Black
guy with the blue hat and his son right next
to you see that there, not the little little kid,
not the redhead. It's black father and son right next
to your mom. So that guy had his camera out
(19:35):
recording in case, you know what I mean, he was
able to get a picture with his son and Lebron.
He did didn't end up happening. I then asked him
because of the hug with your mom and Lebron, I
was like, hey, can you send me that video later?
You know what I mean? I think it'd be super
(19:56):
dope to have and so he said yes, And is
that actually a pain for him? I think he had
to send it me a drop boxer for so long.
So I want to shout him out because his name
is shown Hornbuckle and his son is Tristan Hornbuckle. Uh
and there on Instagram at shown Hornbuckle and at Tristant
(20:17):
Hornbuckle too. But so this one is dope because there
is audio and because you hear what Lebron says to
your mom, So go ahead and play that, then we'll
talk about the game. So I don't know how well
(20:49):
that played on the podcast, but it is such pairing
if you're listening on the podcast, it's worth going back
to YouTube. Bron and I dapt I thing kind of
motion like, hey, there's there's my wife who again they've
met once before, and his total like disposition changes from
(21:12):
like you know, the the what's the word kind of
like affirmative DAP to just like, oh, great to see you,
and then drops a hey their sweetheart as are a hug,
which maybe led to you know what we were discussing earlier.
So that was dope. That was what le see.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
The look on ye.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
That that was that was dope, and you're and now,
I mean, your mom can send that to her grandmother,
who's ninety one years old and the biggest Lebron fan
in the world was.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Probably a little annoyed too.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
The oh yeah, yeah, absolutely, oh yeah, because well it
doesn't matter the there was Lakers thunder. Maybe this is
john because of what happened between Lebron and stephen A.
That there's I assume there's cameras on Lebron at all
times every game, but maybe it's like, you know, pre
(22:13):
and postgame more now posts that because Lakers thunder in
LA the day after Thanksgiving, the exact same interaction that
happened this week between Lebron and I happened there at Staples,
(22:33):
except it was longer, with a longer conversation, and there's
no video of it anywhere. And so but the reason
I the reason I bring that up is that happened
about sixty feet from where your grandmother was sitting. She
was in like row three, a section over, and then
(22:57):
I walked back to the seats and she was not joking, adamant,
why didn't you bring him over here?
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Well so yeah, so, but so that was that was
that busy weekend, fun weekend, I.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Do you want to talk about? Vegas?
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Went to Vegas to do some commentary for the World
Poker Tours squid Hunt, which is coming out here in
a few months, and while I was there lived a
poker player's dream, which is got invited into the big,
big mixed game in Bobby's Room and Bobby's Room which
(23:44):
is the world's most famous poker room inside the Belagio,
and then ended up wrapping the World Poker Tour stuff
in time on Tuesday to where the same guys who
were playing in that mixed game, we're playing the exact
same format on stream at the pokerhost studio at Aria
(24:06):
and I played in it. And this is again I
know some of my poker stuff. You know, the audience
doesn't understand this. They really, if you're not a poker player,
won't understand because the mixed games that we played were
just stick with me here for a second, but doogie
but doucey drama, ha, deuce to seven, single draw, duce
(24:29):
to seven, triple draw, uh big oh, and one other
one I can't even remember what it was. Ras. So
here's what was so cool for me about that demanse,
and it was the limits were two hundred four hundred.
But again it's a limit game. So like if you're
playing a two hundred four hundred no limit game, you're
(24:50):
gonna not feel comfortable if you're not sitting with In
the two hundred four hundred no limit holding cash games,
you probably need at least two hundred thousand dollars in
front of you to feel comfortable, and probably more. The
two hundred four hundred limit games, you could sit with
(25:11):
ten grand and feel comfortable, and twenty is plenty. So
they just play very differently. Because no limit you can
bet any amount at any time. Limit games, if it's
two hundred four hundred, the most you can ever bet
on a single one bet is four hundred dollars. Again,
that part doesn't matter, But here's I'm just giving you
guys the full context of it. Here's why it was
(25:32):
so cool. Those games that I just described to you,
six of the seven as of Sunday night, I had
played in my poker career zero hands of never played
any of them. However, because I'm such a poker nerd
(25:56):
and because I really care about learning the games, I
have watched the best in the world play them on
stream hundreds of hours. So it was a real test
case of how much can like studying learning prepare you
(26:18):
to actually do. Because normally someone first time they'd been
playing wouldn't be playing two hundred four hundredy'd be playing
three dollars, six dollars whatever. But I felt like, no,
I know how to play all these games. And I
gotta tell you, I think I played great. We'll see
it when the stream comes out. I won money. I
(26:39):
like for the one percent listening Diard poker nerds that'll
get this. I got Pad's poker Patrick Lennard, who is
one of the best poker players in the world, to
break an eight induced to seven triple draw with a
check Ray's bluff. That was the single best move anyone
(27:00):
at the table made all night. And it was and
I made, you know, a few thousand dollars profit and
more than held my own. And so again, I think
I made a ton of mistakes throughout the course of
the night, but that was fine. It was my first
time doing it, but it was not a it was
(27:24):
it was it went great. So that was that was
as thrilling as anything that happened this week, and playing
in Bobby's room than playing with those guys. Shout out
one of the guys that was in the game, David Baker.
He's the two time winner or one time winner of
the Super Contest. And then one another thing. He's one
of the best NFL handicappers in the world. He won
(27:47):
the Westgate Super Contest years ago. And he was in
the game. Nacho Barbero was in the live game, not
the streamed game. A bunch of guys. There were three
knicks at the table. Shout out to the other knicks.
Everyone was great. And so oh and the guy's whose
game it was Crazy Mike. It was the Crazy Mike mix.
And so shout out to all those guys. It was awesome.
(28:08):
I had such a great time. Okay, now thirty minutes
into the show to the actual basketball, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Yeah, do you want to you don't want to talk
about the game right the Memphis.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
No, because we're gonna get to Memphis and later. Yep.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Yeah. So Jokic has been cooking. He put up sixty
one against Minnesota the other day. It's his highest scoring
triple double.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
And to acknowledge he's the best basketball player he's ever
seen besides besides himself. Yeah, but the big story of
that game was Russ kind of choking there at the end.
He got the steals, smoked the layup, and then fouled
the three point shooter at the end.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
And then last night smoked another layout Yeah with a
few minutes left, and they needed that. They lost to
the Spurs. So we'll get to Joker in a second.
I don't I don't take joy in being right on this,
(29:16):
But of course we were going. Anyone that has spent
a season watching late stage Russell Westbrook play for teams
with championship aspirations, all of them knew, and all of
them thought it would be different for them until they
(29:37):
realize it's not. I was one of those people once.
So here's the deal. Russell Westbrook over the last nearly
full decade has been totally unable to contribute to winning basketball,
(29:58):
and four contenders have been like, we can change him,
and all four contenders were wrong. So he he leaves
the Thunder and they pair him with James Harden for
a Rockets team that thinks they can win the championship
(30:22):
just a year and a half removed from winning sixty
five games and taking the Durant Warriors to a game
seven in the conference finals, and it of course goes terribly.
They divorce after one year. He's brutal in the playoffs,
and then he goes to the one place, the one
(30:44):
place that the Russell Westbrook experience made sense was Washington
because Washington's like, hey, man, car keys are yours? We
would just love to win forty games, and Russ delivers
averages another triple doubles. It's all Russ all the time,
gets him into the playoffs, and then in those playoffs
(31:07):
you're gonna be like, oh, what did you do? In
the playoffs? He averaged the triple double. In the playoffs,
he shot thirty three percent from the floor and they
lost in five. Then the Lakers were like, we can
change him, and the Lakers missed the playoffs the one
year he's there in full, have to get off him
(31:32):
and promptly make the conference finals without him. The Clippers,
we can change him. And with the Clippers they're like, oh,
he's better here. He's accepted his role, and in his
one full season with the Clippers, they make the playoffs,
(31:52):
and in those playoffs he plays nineteen minutes a game,
averages six points on twenty six percent from the field,
twenty three percent from three and they move off him,
and then the Nuggets, we can change him. It'll be
(32:13):
different here. And the playoffs are approaching, and you got
a little sneak preview of what to expect. And again,
I take no pleasure in this because I have such
respect for Russell's career and the way he approaches playing
(32:33):
hard at all times. What I do take a little
pleasure in is Nuggets fans who got a little chesty
at the beginning of the year. Demon's a lot of like,
do a Twitter search for these three nouns Yokich, Lebron,
(32:54):
Russ and see how many tweets pop up from November
and December along the lines of, oh, why couldn't Lebron
get out of Russ? What Joker is?
Speaker 3 (33:08):
Well?
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Why oh oh oh, you know, Russ got blamed for
everything in LA but put him with a guy like Joker,
and look, guys, this train is never late. It's never late.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Russ also has like lost a lot of his athleticism,
and I think that's kind of like, oh, that's obvious
he's getting older. But like on that layup that he smoked,
I was telling Daniel like a few years ago, Russell
was dunk in that.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Man, I just yes, that's exactly right. By the way,
that's the that's another time where the exact take you
gave was the exact take. And this is a compliment
that Brew gave yesterday, oh, which is yeah, that that was.
It might have been wild one of them, but either way,
it was that used to be a dunk and it's
(33:58):
not anymore here on this one. And so uh and
it there what it in life? What awesome is what
all what often is your greatest asset becomes your great liability.
Russ going one speed at all times, Russ, you know,
(34:22):
playing a certain way. Russ's relentlessness is what made him him,
and now it's what makes him a total liability to
winning basketball. Also, by the way, that yeah, to winning basketball.
And it's a disase it The Nuggets aren't deep enough
(34:47):
to be able to just put them on ice. But man,
oh man, like, I I don't know, I don't know
how you can put him in critical playoff games. And
here's the other piece of it. I thought of that sequence, Demanse,
the missed layup was the least of the problems. Missed
(35:08):
layups happened. I thought it was a bigger problem that
after missing the layup in a one point double overtime
game with ten seconds left, he stood under the basket,
arms up, whining for a beat, which then allowed the
Timberwolves to get the advantage. And obviously the worst part
(35:31):
of the play was not only did he foul a
three point shooter, he fouled a three point shooter demonse
on a fake contest. There was like there was that
that wasn't one of those Oh man, I I almost
locked it and instead I hit him. No, I mean
it was a fake contest. And then I don't know
(35:55):
if you saw Rob Prez's video then when he's lead
even the court with the fan, yeah, I mean, buddy, like.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
I feel the russ is. It's unfortunate. Man, Why do
you need the camera on the man's face for so
long when they make a mistake.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Well, that's like the drama. I mean, that's how I mean.
I get that.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
It's like, this is a guy who messed up. But yeah,
he's gonna stop chirping the fans. You you screw it up,
and the fans are gonna.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Right like now, listen if it comes out the fan,
you know, dropped a slur then, of course whatever, but
I but my feeling was it wasn't that.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
Going up there just off of Westbrick.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Yes, Westbrook, exactly exactly, And so like it's it's a
tough now, our resident Nuggets fan, Daniel, I still believe
in Russ. Good luck with that man again Westbrook. This decade,
this decade, guys, it's twenty twenty five, this decade in
(37:05):
the playoffs, thirty seven percent from the field, twenty seven
percent from three, three and a half turnovers a game
in thirty one minutes. Can't win that way, you just can't.
And so rough Spot, I know you have some follow
ups here, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
Well, yeah, even with Russ, with Russ playing the way.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
He is, could you still consider counting out the Denver
Nuggets with Jokics being on the team.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
No, So listen, that's the shame of it is Jokic
has one of the greatest games in NBA history and
it gets squandered. Now again, I I saw Luca last
year have a seventy three, ten and seven and then
(37:55):
all year long before or fifth in the standings and
be ineligible for MVP. So I'm not doing another MVP thing.
Shay's team might win seventy games, He's gonna win the
scoring title. He's were we are if we want a
retro act. Here's the deal, Nugget fans. If you make
(38:16):
up this petition, I'll sign it. If you would like
to retroactively give last year's MVP to Luca so Joker
can win this year, I'm all for it. But last
year the argument against Luca was Jokers team has the
(38:36):
best record, even if he's averaging. You know, Jokers averaging
damn near. His numbers are great, even if they're not
quite as good as Luca's, but it's contributing to winning more.
And last year Joker was the better defender than Luca.
It's gotta be Joker and Luca in with four first
place votes. You can't then use all of your Joker
(39:00):
arguments from last year this year and not end up
with Shay. The logical consistency of the last two years,
voting will would either go Luca last year, Joker this year,
or Joker last year Shay this year. Joker already won
last year, so it's Shay's now. Is Joker the best
(39:23):
player in the league? Yes, is Joker the only person.
And this is what Nuggets fans should take pride in.
Is Joker the only person you could put on that
Nuggets team and they would have any chance of winning
the championship. Yes, he's the only guy in the league,
and they do have a chance. Not a good chance,
(39:45):
but they do have a chance. The standings are we
gonna get to the standings later in the show. No,
So I'll do it here. Those two losses, however, because
they lost the last night, now they sat everyone. By
the way, I should have put this out. Our friends
(40:05):
at DraftKings might have been annoyed me, but I should
have put it out. I gave it to Hubbs yesterday
at one pm. The money line for the Spurs were
ten point dogs and they were plus three eighty on
the money line, and I said to Hubbs, I was like,
(40:28):
this line is acting like Joker is gonna play. I
don't think he is. He's played fifty three minutes the
night before, like and Joker then got announced is out.
The line dropped to damn near a pickham and the
Spurs won. So shout out to anyone who sniped that,
(40:51):
because that, to me, I just couldn't be We knew
Jamal Murray wasn't gonna be playing. I couldn't believe it.
But here's the standings implication. Denver's now the four again.
Some time left, not a lot though, five games left
Houston sitting at twenty seven losses the Lakers, and at
(41:12):
this point in the season, guys just count losses. You
can make up wins, you can't make up losses, So
don't talk about games back any of that. Count the losses.
That's what matters. Oklahoma City pretty comfortable with twelve losses, unbelievable.
Houston's at twenty seven and clinched their playoff spot last night.
(41:36):
The Lakers are at twenty nine, the Nuggets are at thirty,
the Warriors are at thirty one, Minnesota is at thirty two,
and the two play in teams that are good the
Clippers and grit well, I don't know if they're good,
but that are above five hundred. The Clippers and Grizzlies
are at thirty two. So Houston safe from the play
(42:05):
in barring well, no safe from the plane entirely because
they clinched their division. That keep you safe from the plane,
I'm pretty sure it does. But here's what I will
say about Houston. Houston's next five or last final five Demanse, Thunder, Warriors, Clippers, Lakers, Nuggets.
(42:30):
So anybody that has some doubts is Houston. Well it's
all the teams they could play in Round one of
the playoffs, except for the Thunder obviously can't play them.
But yeah, I mean we're gonna find out over these
next five. The Lakers right now would give anything demonse
to freeze the standings because well, yeah, Denver Golden State
(42:57):
play each other in Round one and the winner plays
Oklahoma City. If you froze the standings, the Lakers side
of the bracket would be Minnesota and then Houston or
I guess maybe the Clippers, like the Lakers would love
(43:19):
that road. I don't know that they'll get it, but
it would absolutely love that road. You too, the Daniel
asking if I would you know, like to face the
size of the Timberwolves. I again, the West is a
monster and there's no you know, no easy outs right
(43:41):
now except for Memphis. But they're you know, Memphis is
gonna in my opinion, up the eight seed. So you're
not gonna be able to get Memphis. And yeah, I
would take my chances. I don't want to face any
of the I don't want to face Denver or Golden
State immediately, and I love the idea of being on
(44:02):
the opposite side of OKC. Like again there. I think
the Lakers can win the whole thing, but it doesn't
mean all paths are created equal. Here's I'll tell you
who Denver doesn't want to face. Denver be fine with
the Warriors. I think they've beaten the Warriors nine straight games.
Denver doesn't want to face Minnesota, who has now beating
them six games in a row, swept them this season,
(44:27):
and then beat them game six and seven of the
playoffs last year.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
Would you give them beef? Doubt they if they were
in a series year taking Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
I take it you have to pick Minnesota, all right?
Those one six straight, they've won six straight against them.
All right, Let's talk Lakers Warriors.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
Yeah, so Steph is looking good. He's had a few
games back since his injury. The other day he dropped
fifty two. I had twelve three pointers. So the Warriors
are looking pretty good, which is bad for your Lakers,
who they played at night, and they could also be
potentially playing them in the playoffs. Ye, how do you
feel the Lakers got them? But they're coming off of
a lot of rest.
Speaker 1 (45:03):
Yeah, So I think the Warriors are everyone's making this
Warriors eighteen and two with Jimmy eighteen and five since
the trade about Jimmy, it's about what it's Let Steph
go back to being Steph. Before the Jimmy trade was
(45:28):
twenty two a game. Since the Jimmy trade's at twenty
eight a game. On better efficiency popped off for fifty
two the other night. I if you are getting close
to prime Steph, you're a threat when you have And
it's also a reminder if you have one of the
(45:48):
greatest players of all time, you have an obligation to
always be all in. You can't throw seasons away because
you might go another fifty years in your franchise and
not have a player nearly as good as Steph Curry. Now,
I think both teams desperately need this game, which is
(46:10):
what makes it so fascinating because of what I was
saying about the standings the Lakers. If the Lakers win
all of a sudden, they have twenty nine losses, Golden
State has thirty two, and by the way, the Lakers
have the tiebreaker over everyone beneath them in the standings,
every single team. So you would a win tonight for
(46:34):
the Lakers essentially eliminates any concern of falling into the
play in And it doesn't lock up a top four seed,
but it essentially does. And if for the Warriors, if
they lose, they're at thirty two losses. Memphis and the
Clippers have thirty two losses, they're the seven and the eight.
(46:57):
Minnesota's thirty two losses, they're at six. But the flip
side of that applies as well. Golden State wins Demanse,
the Lakers are at thirty losses, Golden State's at thirty one,
and Golden State could potentially forget hitting in the play
in end up with home court in Round one. I
(47:22):
the Lakers this year, it's one of the honest things. Ever,
they are dominant against the Western Conference, So the Lakers
in the Thunder have almost the same record against the West.
Think about that. So the Thunder are thirty five and
(47:43):
eleven against the West, which means they are thirty five
and eleven twenty nine and one. No, is that right?
Speaker 3 (47:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (47:57):
Twenty nine and one against the East. The Thunder twenty
nine and one against the East, thirty five and eleven
against the West. The Lakers are thirty two and thirteen
against the West, the second best record of the Thunder
by a mile in the Western Conference. Thirty two and
thirteen the Lakers are against the West, which means the
(48:22):
flip side to that is they are fourteen and sixteen
against the East.
Speaker 3 (48:29):
Role this year. Say it again, they're bad on the
road this year?
Speaker 1 (48:33):
Correct?
Speaker 3 (48:34):
Really?
Speaker 1 (48:34):
Oh yeah, so the Lakers have been an awesome home team,
a bad road team. But you're West and East. You
pay you know, you play half your games against the
East at home, half on the road. So the Lakers
are at home. They need it. They're playing a good team.
(48:56):
I like the Lakers. The tricky thing to the Lakekers
is for when you look at their final five games,
you can't do what you can do with most of
the good teams, which is be like, oh, oh, and
the Lakers don't have five left. Hold on, Lakers have
seven left. That's right, because they have the fire games. Yeah,
(49:17):
but regardless most teams you'd be like, oh, well, chalk
up a win against the Pelicans and Blazers. Lakers liable
to lose to any bad team, but they also are
excellent against the good teams. Uh so I'm really excited
to see the night it Also, it could be a
(49:38):
playoff preview. If it is, I hope it's not Round one,
not because the Lakers would have, you know, couldn't beat
the Warriors. But I just don't want a guarantee that
one of the two is out of there. And round one.
There is a team that I am certain is out
of there and round one. It's the team I saw
(50:00):
in person on Saturday. Go ahead, demanse.
Speaker 2 (50:03):
Yeah, so they've been struggling over the last few weeks.
They've won two of their last ten games. The Grizzlies.
Speaker 3 (50:13):
Nine games left to go.
Speaker 2 (50:14):
They fired their head coach, and now they're at risk
of falling into the play and Jahn Morant's holding up
the finger guns. I think they're doing an investigation on
him right now. But yeah, let's talk about the state
of the Grizzlies.
Speaker 1 (50:27):
Okay, so just literally a minute ago, Shams tweeted, let
me read it to you exactly. Uh sorry, hold on,
NBA issued warnings but no further penalties to Grizzlies, Jamorant
and Buddy healed along with the teams for the gestures.
(50:48):
League ruled the celebrations were not intended to be violent
in nature, but inappropriate and should refrain. All right. I
want to make this clear. I don't care about the
gun part of this. That's a different discussion. The pantomiming
guns and the it that distracts from the point. Here's
(51:09):
what I care about, demands any type of taunt or
celebration when there's ten seconds left in a game, your
team needed that. You let the other team's guys score
fifty and you just lost to continue a four game
losing streak, days after you fired your coach, and you're
being a goofball. That's what I care about there. I
(51:34):
And like I said, I talked to Tea at the
Grizzlies game. I like Josh Dad. I like him historically,
I've liked John. John this offseason needs to decide who
do I want to be in this league? Because you've
(51:56):
gone from your numbers have gotten worse over each of
the last four years, your health has gotten worse over
each of the last four years. Your team has gotten
worse over each of the last four years. You just
fired your coach and you're out here being a goofball,
(52:16):
like and that was go ahead.
Speaker 2 (52:18):
So you're talking about John Ranty in the face of
the league a year ago, correct, like maybe maybe a
little over a year.
Speaker 1 (52:25):
Yeah, gun stuff, but yes, of course. And and even
when the stupid gun stuff was happening, nobody questioned his
skill how good he was? Right, So like that's the nobody.
Nobody was wondering how great he is. He's never got
(52:47):
better as a shooter. In fact, he maybe has gotten
worse from three misses forty of the games with injury.
Doesn't seem to take winning seriously, the hell's going on?
Twenty five years old? And the to me, the most
(53:08):
notable piece of the entire incident between he and healed
was the look on Steph Curry's face, because Steph Curry's
face was like a look of honestly, like a disappointed parent,
(53:31):
like what are you doing? Like like, what what are
you doing? The the reason I'm saying I'm not focused
on the gun piece.
Speaker 3 (53:42):
Of it is.
Speaker 1 (53:44):
If the if the Grizzlies had just hit free throws
to go up seven with ten seconds left and John
did that celebration, I would feel totally differently, which means
I know. For me, it's not about the gun piece
of it, and again gun in quotes finger guns like
it's about being ready to party when your team's falling apart.
(54:11):
It's pro sports man, it's the playoff push. You just
fired your coach. You just it was four straight losses
against the four teams most likely to stand between you
and a championship. They lost to the Thunder, then they
lost to the Lakers, Then they lost to the Celtics,
then they lost to the Warriors, and you're being a goofball.
Speaker 3 (54:37):
Like.
Speaker 1 (54:37):
I just I don't like it. I don't like it
at all. Finals are here, and the only thing for
sure is it's the last time you're gonna have a
chance to bet on college basketball this season. It's been
an amazing ride to get here, an unprecedented run to
(54:58):
this point, with four of the four best teams, including
four of the best teams in recent college basketball history,
getting there. Maybe there will finally be a shocking outcome,
or maybe we're just going to keep seeing the best
show you why they're the best. More on that in
a second. Get in on all the action, expected and
(55:20):
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and barlays. DraftKings is the ultimate college basketball destination four March.
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and pick a team to win. It's that simple me personally.
You guys know, I was in on Tennessee. It didn't
(55:43):
work out. Now we pivot. We got it, We pivot.
Thus far, this has been a tournament where the best
team wins. The best team is Duke. I personally like
Duke minus five and a half tonight at even money.
It's not tonight this weekend. I also personally like Duke
(56:05):
to win the championship at even money. So Duke minus
five and a half in their game on Saturday at
even money, Duke plus one hundred to win the whole
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(57:37):
slash b ball. All right, demanse, let's rapid fire through
the rest of these if we can.
Speaker 3 (57:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (57:47):
Aaron Rodgers was seen working out with his new teammate
DK Metcalf in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (57:51):
Are you excited to see that Tatum next year? Nah?
I'm kidding.
Speaker 2 (57:56):
He hasn't signed yet. What's going on with Aaron Rodgers?
What's going on there? Guy's taking his time.
Speaker 1 (58:03):
I don't understand why the Steelers. Here's the deal. I
understood why the Steelers were letting him dictate the terms
when he had a bunch of options. He could go
to New York. Maybe Minnesota was interested. He's out of options.
The Giants signed two quarterbacks, Minnesota's not signing him, Tennessee's
drafting their quarterback. Pittsburgh, you're the Pittsburgh Steelers. Call Aaron's
(58:33):
agent and say, we need to know within the week
or we're out. The leverage has shifted back to you.
He wants to play for you, So why hasn't he signed.
My guess is he doesn't want to either he doesn't
want to be on the hook for the full off
(58:54):
season program, or more accurately, he wants to be able
to potentially pressure you into not spending your first round
pick on a quarterback, be it Shador if he slips,
or Jackson Dart if you love him and he thinks
if he hasn't signed yet but has made it clear,
oh I'm going to sign that. You guys won't draft
(59:16):
a quarterback because it could upset it. Don't let him
run things. He has nowhere else.
Speaker 3 (59:22):
To go, and if they do draft a quarterback. What's
he gonna do.
Speaker 1 (59:28):
If he if he hasn't signed yet, then maybe he
just won't sign. Okay, you know what I mean? Like
maybe then he will you know, retire or wait for
to see if there's an injury somewhere or whatever it is.
But you can't let a guy who's never played for
you and hasn't been in good for been good in
four years dictate your draft plans and your offseason plans.
(59:49):
The damn owner of the team came out yesterday and said, yeah,
we thought it'd be done by now. I've never seen
a team that has no history with a player when
the player is not still awesome jump through these hoops.
It's just baffling to me, all right.
Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
Next, Jerry Jones still hasn't come to closing a deal
on Michael Parson's actually taking a shot at his agent
during the process. He said, the agent is not a
factor here or is something to worry about. And I
don't know his name, and so my point is, I'm
not trying to demean him in any way. But this
isn't about an agent. Why would Jerry Jones say something
of this sort.
Speaker 1 (01:00:31):
So here's the deal, and I actually think this is
a real story, because there's only two possible truths here. Okay,
(01:00:52):
one truth is he forgot the agent's name or doesn't
know it, David mulla Getta. If that is the case,
David's not an obscure agent. He negotiated with Sean Watson deal.
He negotiated Malik Hooker, who's a cowboy, his deal. If
(01:01:12):
your general manager does not know the agent's name for
your best player, then it's time to take the car
keys away from him. And people are like, oh, well,
he wasn't He definitely knows his name. Okay, that's fine.
That's door number two. Door number two is he does
(01:01:33):
know his name, and he's being unnecessarily and intentionally disrespectful
and combative with someone you have to work with. That
ain't good either, you know what I mean. Like, either
he's telling the truth and that's a problem, or he's
(01:01:53):
just saying it to piss the guy off and that's dumb.
Like there's there's no there's no win, there no win whatsoever.
And it really Jerry Jones, for a long time was
one of the best things that Cowboys had going for them.
(01:02:16):
He has quickly become their single biggest impediment to winning,
and for a franchise with that history and a brand
of that caliber, it's just it's just unfathomable that they
are the worst run team in the league, but right
now they appear to be the worst run team in
(01:02:36):
the league.
Speaker 3 (01:02:38):
Let's seem like a gay.
Speaker 1 (01:02:42):
Yeah, I mean it doesn't. It's just an Yeah. I
certainly didn't seem like you know that we'd be going
to the same parties. All right, let's do mock drafts.
Speaker 2 (01:02:53):
Demonse, Uh so, yeah, you're one of the top mof
mock drafters last year. You haven't said too much about
it this year. Do you have a mock draft for
the folks out there Monday?
Speaker 1 (01:03:04):
First things, First, mock draft one point zero. I think
I had the world's eighteenth most accurate mock draft last year.
Speaker 3 (01:03:14):
Wow, yeah, I remember eighteen. I didn't know that was the.
Speaker 1 (01:03:18):
Might have been twenty one, it was somewhere. It wasn't
in the top fifteen, but it was in the top
twenty five. I remember that. I'll have to look it up.
Speaker 3 (01:03:26):
Double digits.
Speaker 1 (01:03:28):
Yeah, it was. There were I mean there were hundreds
and hundreds done by media member Schrager crushed. Schrager had
the most accurate. Uh so, yeah, Monday on the TV show,
the first mock draft gets revealed.
Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
All right, next, all right, so yeah, Cooper Flags looked
like the real deal throughout the tournament and obviously throughout
his short college career.
Speaker 3 (01:03:50):
He'll be eighteen when he hits the NBA. Do you
think that he's.
Speaker 2 (01:03:54):
Gonna be a real deal or he's going to be
more of a bust or flame out?
Speaker 3 (01:03:57):
I mean, obviously not a bust, but well, no.
Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
You can't say obviously. I mean, the only way you
can be a bus is if you're a super high
draft pick, and the only be a super high draft
picks if people think you're gonna be awesome. But no,
I think he's good. I am not. So you guys know,
I'm not, you know, watching a ton of college basketball
during the regular season, and so I hadn't It's not
(01:04:21):
that I hadn't seen Cooper Flag, but I had, you know,
not watched him as closely as the people who are
college basketball diehards. To me, he's been better than advertised.
I thought his game against Arizona was spectacular, and you
guys just hurting the DraftKings read I'm in on Duke
I mean, he has just been. He's so far and
(01:04:43):
away the best player in college basketball. And here's the
crazy thing, Demonse, he doesn't turn nineteen until December, so
he's gonna be the same age. He's gonna be the
age Lebron was when he came into the league. Like
he reclassified so he should be a high school senior.
(01:05:04):
But he's a college freshman. He's tall, he's strong, shoots
it well enough good, IQ can defend. No, no, no, I
now do I think he's gonna be like a super uperstar.
We gotta wait and see that. But he is the
no doubt obvious number one pick. All right, let's go
to the final four. Before we get to the listener questions.
Speaker 2 (01:05:26):
Uh So Saturday, Florida and Auburn face off before Duke
and Houston face off in the final four.
Speaker 3 (01:05:31):
Do you have any predictions for this?
Speaker 1 (01:05:34):
I'd like Houston to win because I like Kelvin Samson
and you know we used to live there. But the
tournament has been chalk, and I am going to stick
with chalk. Duke over Florida and then Duke wins it all.
Speaker 3 (01:05:50):
What is Duke Kevin? I think I've been hearing it
all week.
Speaker 2 (01:05:53):
I've not asked anybody when you say chalk the context
clues meaning that it's linear, like what is it?
Speaker 3 (01:06:00):
Like? What does it mean?
Speaker 1 (01:06:01):
Same favorites? Wind?
Speaker 3 (01:06:02):
Okay, chalk means.
Speaker 1 (01:06:05):
It goes the way. I don't know, so a good
I've always no, that's that you're thinking of?
Speaker 3 (01:06:12):
What?
Speaker 1 (01:06:12):
Yeah, it's got none to do with that. I I
don't know. Let's find out together. Why Why is a
favorite winning called chalk? Daniel says it's horse racing, but
I want to know the So here we go from
(01:06:34):
vocabulary dot com. The history of chalk dates back to
the old days of horse racing, when bookmakers would set
the odds for each horse by riding them on a
chalkboard at on track gambling stations. The odds would change
during the pre race betting period depending on the amount
wagered on each horse, so the book makers would often
(01:06:55):
need to erase the post odds and chalk up new
ones uh before beginning of the race. The bookies at
the track had to be skillful with the chalk to
keep their slate boards up to date with las ods.
In reporting on horse racing around the turn of the
twentieth century, sports journalists often referred to bookmakers with such
flowery appellations as the lively Nights of the Chalk and blackboard,
(01:07:21):
or more simply knights of the chalk. Chalk gradually came
to stand for the bookmakers and their odds making through
the process through the process of matonomy, defined by the
Visual Thesaurus as substituting the name of an attribute or
(01:07:41):
feature for the name of the thing itself. For instance,
a racing column in the October fifteenth, nineteen oh three
Atlantic Constitution reported the first race. The chalk figures made
it look like five injuries and six favorites for the event.
Those who followed the odds put up by the bookmakers
could thus stay loyal to the chalk and bet on
(01:08:03):
the favored horses, or they could look for an entrant
with long odds that could potentially get a bigger payout.
A quote from April twenty seven to nineteen oh seven
Washington Post encapsulates the ambivalence that betters felt toward the
chalk of the bookies. Chalk scares many a turf speculator.
Let him pick a horse to win, and if he
(01:08:24):
thinks he ought to be the favorites and the bookies
laid a big price against him. Nine times out of ten,
the horse won't be played.
Speaker 3 (01:08:32):
All right, listeners, I made a mistake.
Speaker 1 (01:08:35):
No, I'm fascinated by this. Uh and all right, so
now we know. So that's great, so that I respect
that you weren't afraid to ask the question. Um, and
I've always known what chalk meant. I didn't know it.
That's where it came from. So chalk just means all
(01:08:58):
the favorites winning. So when you're filling out a bracket,
picking all one seats make the final four as a
chalk bracket. It happened though this year, the first time
it happened since two thousand's fault. Yeah, let's see what
happens next year on it. All right, Let's do a
few listener questions before we get out of here.
Speaker 2 (01:09:18):
Logan, Nick, why do you still not have an NBA
Awards vote? What is the process in order to get
a vote? And do you think you could get one
in the future. You seem like you'd be a pretty
good voter.
Speaker 1 (01:09:28):
I would have thought, so, I don't know, And so
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (01:09:37):
Maybe it's your relationship with Lebron.
Speaker 1 (01:09:40):
No, I don't I don't know who the It's fine.
I really really wanted one a few years ago, and
I tried to get one and I didn't. I think
Kendrick Perkins got it instead, and I it just is
what it is. So Zach Lowe gave his away, or
(01:10:02):
gave his back. Shout out to Zach by the way
for being back. Shout out to Simmons, congrats to him
for getting Zach with the ringer. Oh, speaking of awards voters,
there there's a young woman who covers the Lakers who
I've never met, but she she asks Lebron some of
(01:10:26):
the most kind of the question she asked Lebron leads
to some of his best answers. She asked him a
few weeks ago, if you guys saw the viral clip
of someone asking Lebron about why he's compared basketball to
music or jazz, and then he went on a nice
(01:10:46):
little soliloquy about how basketball is like listening to jazz
or different music. And then just the other day, she
asked him about why it was important for him to
bring back mine the game, and he gave a really
interesting answer. Her name, and I apologize if I'm mispronounced,
it is Claire Delone. She just tweeted she got an
(01:11:08):
Awards vote, So that's awesome. Like, those are people that
are at games and watching games and really covering teams.
I'm totally cool with them having Awards votes. I listen.
I shouldn't act like I'm not cool with other people.
I since they have expanded the pool to include people
(01:11:31):
that talk about the sport, commentators and stuff, I would
have liked to have gotten one. I don't have one.
It's fine, Bru's got one and Brew, you know, so
first things first is covered. But Brew has one from
back his days, you know, as a writer, and he's
had one forever. All right, let's do a couple more.
Speaker 2 (01:11:50):
Uh, Brandon, do you think we'll look back on Giannis
like we do Wilt, as in, how did someone so
dominant not win more titles?
Speaker 1 (01:11:57):
Well, Joanna's got a long ways to go to we
think of him as Wilt, But I do think Giannis,
you know, Dame's injury in the Buck's future, like Giannis's
ability to compete for championships despite being one of three
best players in the league is very murky in the
short term.
Speaker 2 (01:12:14):
Next, Uh, Jacob Santa Cruz local here, Nick, what is
your favorite food spot in Santa Cruz. Would you would
you love to try out a new spot. My suggestion
to you is see bright DELI love your brother.
Speaker 1 (01:12:27):
Well, thank you, Jacob. I don't know much about Santa Cruz.
People have seen me wear the Santa Cruz hoodie. It's
because Demands's sister, our older daughter. My older daughter goes
to U see Santa Cruz. But I you know, I've
only been. I haven't spent a ton of time out there,
just you know, moving her into college, picking her up
stuff like that. So I don't know, but I will
try seabright Delhi, all right? Last one?
Speaker 2 (01:12:50):
Uh bear if nick I was in New York City
a couple of weeks ago and I got to and
I got to stop by Trentage. Nice to see entrepreneurial
ship runs in the family.
Speaker 1 (01:12:58):
Yeah, shout out to Trentage. Danielle Store is doing great.
Former home of this podcast. All right, great job, everybody.
I gotta get to TV again. Reminder we'll do a
quick show tomorrow morning recapping Lakers Warriors. So set you know,
subscribe like rate review. That really helps. By the way,
(01:13:19):
I don't know if you've looked demon say let me
try to pull it up real quick quick. We are
approaching two. We're at one hundred and ninety four thousand
and change, so almost two hundred thousand subscribers. It'd be
sick if we could somehow get to two hundred thousand,
you know, early in the NBA playoffs and then maybe
pop a big number during a playoff reaction show. Add
(01:13:40):
some subscribers, so subscribe on YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, all that stuff.
See you guys on TV in a few hours. What's right,
Host
Nick Wright
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