Bucks Panic Meter, Melo vs. George Karl, Post-ASG Risers ft. Amin Elhassan | Episode 15 | BULLY BALL
February 20, 2024 • 44 mins
This week on BULLY BALL, the duo of Rachel and Boogie is joined once again by the great, Amin Elhassan. The crew recaps a wild All-Star Weekend and what changes they would fix to make it. Plus, they discuss the Bucks struggles, teams that could make an end-of-season run, and the feud between Melo & George Karl.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (02:09):
Man ever since I've been retired. The truth is I've
been staying busy. I'm working on becoming a multi sport athlete.
Any day, anytime. I'm the amateur best in the world.
I've even become a Papa shot king. I gotta stay
competitive for the kids.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
I'm not stoppable ball mag Come on now, who won't smoke?
I've been staying in shake.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
And with everything I got going on, I've been really
trying to stay on top of my social media game. Wait,
am alive?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Didn't mean to do that again.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
You know I love the grill and I'll become a
master of the culinary arts.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Man, what's next?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
You know what?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
I think?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I'm a start my all the show.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Welcome to Bullyball, presented by DraftKings. I'm Rachel Nichols. That
is always as to Marcus Cousins. And look who we
got in the building today. A mean l hass and
welcome my friend.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
I'm still alive. My voice is a little shot, but
I'm still alive.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Well, all three of us were in India this weekend,
so we're all a little worse for wear. Everybody everyone
kind of some slack here today. I do want to
start with All Star weekend. Some good things. Look, let's
talk about Stephan Sabrina for just a second. This was organic.
It felt amazing. The moment was incredible. I was lucky
enough to be in the building so I didn't have
(03:51):
to hear Kenny Smith ruined the moment on top of
what was going on, which was great. I thought it
was phenomenal that they both put themselves out there like that.
I mean, I know most of the other players in
that building would not have done that, frankly, and the
fact they're already talking about next year maybe bringing in
Caitlyn Clark and Klay Thompson in and making it a
double thing or something like that, I thought it was incredible.
(04:14):
We love that, right, book, I do, man.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
I think that was an incredible, you know deal. Definitely
the highlight of the weekend, which is kind of a
good thing and bad thing to be said, but like
I said, I think that was a really dope thing.
It definitely added some excitement to the weekend. It was something,
it was something different that we hadn't seen before. And obviously,
I think when it comes to fixing that issue of
(04:40):
you know, actually making the weekend competitive, yeah, bring in
the girl and give her a chance to kick your
ass and we gonna definitely see guys come out there
and compete, and that's what we got to see. So
hopefully we might have to start adding some females to
the mix in general, just to excite, uh, you know,
put a little more energy into too the weekend.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
So if you want to improve something, bring a woman in.
That's all I'm saying. Go ahead me No.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
At this point, I'm excited about any star that wants
to come and play hard. You're a star, you want
to play hard, that's it is sold. You come right
away because we'll get to it. But we need to
get some of these guys out.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Of here, all right, We'll get to it. Get to it.
So what are you your problems? Besides the weather? I mean,
went on a weekend long Twitter die trib about the weather.
But besides the weather, what do you want to get
to about what's wrong with All Star Weekend.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
That's a conversation I'll have with the commissioner directly. But
as far as the All Star Weekend and imost, I'm
going to start with Sunday because Sunday is the biggest problem.
We had a game where we had three total fouls.
If you added up every foul by every person.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
And gave it a one.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Dude, he still wouldn't be in foul trouble even in
the first half of a game. Right, Three total fouls,
three total shot box guys openly walking through the motions,
Guys telling you in their comments to the media, I
don't care, it's not important, it's not a big deal.
I'm just like, look, people, I hate when people say, oh,
(06:09):
the eighties in the night. You don't have to go
that far back, DeMarcus. When you played in the All
Star Game, y'all played hard. Kobe Duwayne Wade, Carmelo, Anthony Lebron.
Speaker 6 (06:20):
All of these guys played hard in an.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
All Star game. They put on a show. Did they
die for loose balls and have flagrant fouls?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
No?
Speaker 4 (06:26):
But you didn't also just say, all right, go ahead,
just lay it up. Okay, I'm gonna throw a full
court he gonna lay it up over there. And the
problem with all of these guys is they don't understand
that it's messing with the money. It's not about paying
them extra money. It's about, Hey, TNT pays a lot
of money for this thing, and we're up against a
(06:48):
new media deal, and that money feeds br which feeds
the salary cap, which feeds what the max salaries are.
So if TNT or whoever gets the rights next year
to say I don't want to do this anymore, well,
I don't want to pay that much. That affects everybody,
brings the money down, So I just don't work.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
So far from that happening. I mean, that's the problem
is there's not a connection there because you know, the
next media deal, the money is going to go up.
It's going to go up. Whether it goes up, yes,
it's going to go I'm willing to sit here and
say that they will make more money from the next
media right steel than they did from the last one.
And like until that connection actually gets made, Like I
don't see that. I don't see that, Hey, it's going
to mess with our money. I don't see that actually
(07:27):
sinking in. Why would it. It's not messing with anyone's money.
Speaker 6 (07:30):
Is there my fault? Book?
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Let me ask you this, because you're a name that
I brought up in this way. Is there a way
we get like recently retired players and people from the
Players Association to convince guys to hey man, this is serious.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
Well, I think that's the problem right there. As a competitor,
you know, as an All Star, all of these things
come with a responsibility. So and that responsibility is to
go out there and compete, like simple as that. So
the fact that you have to be convinced that's a
problem like that doesn't make sense. This is your job.
This is what you do on an everyday basis. This
(08:08):
is your occupation. So when you clock into your occupation,
you should be a professional about it.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
And that's just going out there, playing harder, competing.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
Like you said, it shouldn't be guys out there diving
on the floor and things that and that just because
nobody wants to get hurt in a game.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
That really doesn't matter.
Speaker 5 (08:22):
But it does matter to these fans, it does matter
to the league, It does matter for everybody else that's
coming behind us.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
It does matter.
Speaker 5 (08:30):
But at the same time, everybody wants to leave with
their health and all of that. So obviously you want
to create some type of a balance. But just as
far as putting on a good show, just being competing
at some type of a level, give me more than
sixty percent, you know what I mean. I feel like
that's our responsibility. So the fact that you're asking, can
we convince them that's the issue right there, Like it
(08:52):
shouldn't even have to come to that.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
It's not like people didn't try. Right going into this game,
Adam Silver talked about how it was going to be
more competitive. Joe Dumars go and talk to several of
the players about how important it was to the league
and to the TV rights and everything else for us
to be competitive. Guys told me they were talking on
the bench that, like Trey Young said that he and
Donnam Mitchell we're talking on the bench afterward about how
it could be more competitive, and yet it's not actually happening.
(09:16):
And there's you know, some people have come up with
with tweaks, right. Bill Simmons came out and said that,
you know, we shouldn't have a three point line in
the All Star contest, just to get everybody back to
sort of you know, play and playing more competitive ball.
Because it's true. I had guys say to me afterward,
Like Paul George said to me afterward, He's like, look,
we're not playing foll We're not picking guys up from
ninety feet and Dame's hitting these shots from from half
court and what are you supposed to do to defend
(09:37):
that in an All Star Game. I get that, and
the skill level there is super high. But yes, the
idea of maybe removing the three point line, you know,
for me, my little tweak like that would be like,
let's require all first year All Stars to be in
the dunk contest. If it's your first year in the
All Star Game, you have to be in the dunk contest.
And I understand that dunkin's hard on the body, but
these are younger going to be younger players with that rule,
(09:57):
So I don't know. That's my crazy rule I do.
The biggest issue though, is priorities. This is where the
NBA has to decide what is most important to them
because being an All Star weekend, what appears to be
most important is sponsorship opportunities. Right, it's the sponsors. It
is a weekend that the league has turned into for
the sponsors to have great tickets to the game. The
(10:19):
sponsors have these players running around and doing ten obligations
over a twenty four hour period. I'm not saying they're
too tired to play basketball. I don't buy that. I'm
just saying that it is message to them over and
over through the weekend that the game is an afterthought.
It's literally the last thing out of fifteen things that
they are being asked to do. If you are deciding
that sponsors are the most important part of the weekend,
(10:40):
the building is going to be absolutely dead like it
was on Sunday. People are not going to give players
and yell at them and give them a hard Can
you imagine if a Rocker Park crowd was in there
and guys didn't bother defending. Can you imagine how the
fans would get on these players and embarrass them and
make them want to compete harder, of course, but instead.
Speaker 7 (10:56):
It was just I mean, there is a point I
looked at at the lower bowl in the first half
and there was maybe a quarter of the seats for empty,
and you're looking at that being like, okay, again, it's
up to the players to play.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
I am not shifting responsibility. I am just saying that
you create an environment that feels bigger or smaller, and
it feels smaller with all these sponsors. And it comes
back to again priorities. It's like the sixty five game
rule and how do we get load management to stop?
The priority for each owner is winning a championship, which
is fair, which is fine, But that is the reason
why owners complain in the boardroom about load management the
(11:30):
TV deal and then tell their own teams, hey, it's
okay if you load manage because I want my guys
fresh for the playoffs. You have to decide what's most important.
And I don't think the league as a whole, from
players to the league office to the sponsors on down,
has put a competitive All Star game is their actual
highest priority. All these other things are taking a front seat.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Damn, you hit it on the head right. You hit
it on the head right.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
You just have to decide what's most important.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
I couldn't agree more. I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
And we've spoken on this briefly before where it's also
where we do have to create a balance for these
All Star guys, and hey, hey, if it comes to
a situation to where you know, we don't want the
All Stars to have to do all the because at
the end of the day, this is a business. We
do need these All Stars and superstar players and NBA
(12:26):
guys in general.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
We need them to network and push these sponsors. We
need all of that.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
Like all of this matters, but in this case, it
has to be some type of a balance to where
these all Stars can get the rest that's necessary. Maybe
it's an idea where we bring in other NBA guys
that didn't make All Star or a borderline All Star,
and they're the ones that's connecting throughout the weekend, networking
with these sponsors, and we do get these All Stars
(12:51):
the opportunity to get some rest. Or maybe it's cutting
half to where it's a little bit of the All Stars,
a little bit of the guys that were borderline, you
know what I mean. So it has to has to
be some type of a balance in order to get
the perfect, you know, solution at the end.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
It is so I agree with you one hundred percent, Rachel.
Speaker 6 (13:10):
It's there's you know, economics.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
There's a way to handle this.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
If I have If I'm selling one hundred tickets for
five dollars a pop, they sell out real quick, right,
So what do I do. I raise the price to
the point where like, okay, now people are waiting and seeing.
Speaker 6 (13:26):
So it's the same thing here.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
If there are so many sponsors and they're all willing
and they all want All Stars there, then it's on
the league to raise the price for those sponsors you
want to you want to get Kawhi Leonard in here
is going to cost this much versus some of the
younger All Stars will cost this much. But Rachel and Boogie,
I want to I want to put a spotlight on
someone else who has some control in this situation that
(13:49):
we haven't talked about, and it's the coaches, because in
every one of these disappointing All Star games, there are
players that do take it seriously and at least give
some effort.
Speaker 6 (13:58):
I thought Damian Lillard did, Danna Sano did down clearly,
Devin Booker right.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
So what I want to see from the coaches is, hey,
I know Luca was a starter. If he's doing that,
sit his ass down, put book in the game.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Your rival is going to be playing your minutes, and
you gotta sit your ass down here and play eight
or nine minutes for the game. And let's see if
you like All Start Weekend as much and if not,
don't be an All Star. I mean this as someone
who loves Luka Doncic's game. I think he's incredible. I
think it's only a matter of time before he becomes
an MVP and a champion in this league. But what
(14:34):
he did on Sunday night, Doug, I don't want that.
If that's how you're gonna be, just sit down, it's cool.
You don't want to play, Just don't play. Play the
guys who want to play. And I think the coaches
have some responsibility in that. In that regard, I agree
with that.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
No, no doubt. And by the way, all this concern
about injuries, I do want to say this, and you
had a lot of guys after say well, hey, at
least no one got hurt. We wouldn't want anyone to
get hurt. You guys, I mean, maybe you have better
memories than me. The only injury significant in an All
Star Game I can remember, and obviously I don't go
back more than you know twenty five years here is
Dwayne Wade broke Kobe's nose, right, and that's the only
(15:08):
one I can remember. And like that wasn't something that
hampered Kobe for the rest of the calendar. Gear I mean,
I just I don't know. I think that the fear
of being injured in All Star Game is a little
overwrought to the point where it's kind of an excuse
for everything, and look, we had a guy at the
Super Bowl who got injured walking on the field, so
there's always going to be some fluke stuff somewhere. But
(15:29):
I think that's an overwrought concern as well. I do
want to move on. You mentioned the coaches. You mentioned
Damian Lillard dame owned All Star. I mean, I mean
he won MVP, he won the three point Contest, he
had a great outing. Doc Rivers. I don't know. He
hasn't had that many wins with the Bucks, but he
won the All Star Game with the team that was
considered the less stacked team. Still, things not going well
(15:52):
in Milwaukee fired each well when the Bucks fired Adrian Griffin. Guys,
I just want to remind you of the numbers that
Griff have put together a thirty and thirteen start to
the season. They are now three and seven in their
first ten games under Doc. There's been a lot of
criticism of Doc Rivers, both you know, online but also
I mean, you know, in a lot of player circles
(16:13):
and a lot of sort of behind the scenes stuff.
There's been a lot of well what did you expect?
Kind of thing. I did speak to Doc at All
Star and I want you, guys, to listen to what
he told me about. It wasn't just the Bucks who
wanted him. Guys, so Milwaukee's getting getting criticism right now,
But he said this, I.
Speaker 8 (16:30):
Had committed to taking a year off. I had two
other teams that had already called doing the season, and
we wouldn't even take the interview. And you know, this
one came about, and I thought that, you know, just
the fact that it was the teams you know from
(16:50):
where I went to school at and the type of team,
the starter, like this is the all star starter.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
We just did forty minutes.
Speaker 8 (17:03):
I told all the guys that we have to beat
and I'm playing them all forty minutes in the game
of borrow.
Speaker 6 (17:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (17:07):
So yeah, it was just it was a lot. And yeah,
it was like I was joking. They put me on
a clock. It's not like I had a week to decide.
So it was a tough one.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Can I ask who the other two teams were?
Speaker 3 (17:18):
No?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
No, try, it was good.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
That was a good try.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
Okay, all right, so two teams want to go, So Bookie,
we got to guess.
Speaker 6 (17:27):
We gotta do some some guesswork here. You won't go first?
Or should I go first?
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (17:34):
You go ahead, you go first, all right, I'm guessing
the guy that just got fired would be one of them.
So I would say Brooklyn would be one of those
situations where they hit up Doc and said, what do
you think?
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Okay, I agree, I can see that scenario. I'm gonna
say the Lakers.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
It's been speculation since he said I'm gonna.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Say the Lakers for sure.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
I don't think aud and prying around, and you know,
they kind of they kind of get off on knowing
that they did things under the radar, like you know
what I mean, So they liked the element of surprise.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
So I can definitely see the Lakers being that other team.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Well, the Bucks are the ones who got him. And
let me tell you how it's going. They lost right
before the break to a Memphis team. This was the
game they had before the All Star break. Memphis was
starting starting two guys on ten day contracts starting, and
by the way, I think one of them had just
gotten there like two days earlier, so like not even
like guys on like multiple back to back ten days
who had you know, been in with the system or anything.
(18:39):
Started two players who are on ten days. Jannis afterward
had a lot to say. Here was his quote. He said,
we have to want it. Man, Enough with the talking,
enough with the our shit don't stink mentality. Do we
really want it? Are we putting in the work? And
then he said, guys are tired. That's an excuse, new coach,
that's an excuse, the system, excuse, new defense, excuse, he
(19:00):
goes all of it, excuse. So, but what is your
worry level for the Bucks right now they're sitting in
third in the East.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
It definitely should be, you know, some concern, nothing nothing severe,
because these are all very fixable, you know problems. I
agree with Janni's like, at some point the players have
to you know, self reflect and look at themselves.
Speaker 8 (19:26):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
The coach isn't playing the game. Uh, the players are. Uh,
it's no excuse. You can't blame the coach. You can't
blame the system, you can't blame it. This is a
team with two guys on ten day contracts, and not
to ever knock any you know guy at this level
with their abilities, but we're talking about a team that's.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Starting starting, yes, talking.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
About five NBA starters to all stars against a team
that's just trying to stay afloat and hopefully sell some
tickets and get their star player back next year. Like,
it's two different scenarios, So it's no excuse to ever
drop games like that. It does happen, but in their
situation where they're trying to write this ship right before
the playoffs, it's no excuse for that. There's got to
(20:13):
be a lot more urgency with this team. You kind
of watch them and you know, outside of Dame and
Janni's being the stars that they are, like, you could
just see the problems within that the chemistry isn't quite there.
You can tell that some guys don't really enjoy playing
one another. You could tell that guys aren't happy for
the next guy. We've seen a few clips from Big
(20:35):
feather Brook Lopez where he's kind of, you know, giving
Dame some grief about shot selection and things of that nature.
Those all signs that this team isn't together, that there
isn't camaraderie and they're not all on the same page.
But like I said, these are things that are fixable.
You can't continue to blame the coach for even though
his shit stinks too. But this is on the players
(20:58):
to get correct, like effort, you know, energy and playing
where urgency doesn't come from the coach. That comes from
the players. Players set that standard. That's something you have
to come out and do every single night. Players set
that standard, not the coach.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Yeah, and I think you know, first of all, I
keep thinking about the guy who signed a ten day
two days earlier.
Speaker 6 (21:18):
Was what plays was he running?
Speaker 4 (21:19):
He's just floppy and horns right every time now because
he can't even he can't tell me you knew the
play calls At that point, I think there's there's on
both sides.
Speaker 6 (21:31):
Like Boogie said, On the.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
One hand, no disrespect to young guys or ten day
guys or whatever, but you got two All Stars and
a guy who finished second or third Defensive Player of
the Year voting last year. You got enough to win
against a team that's going straight to secaucas for the
lottery machine.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Right.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
On the other hand, this game, I'll be honest, fans
don't understand the need for structure.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
We're never just rolling the ball out and playing pick.
There's structure.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
There's got to be systems, how we know how we're defending,
who's helping who, Where am I supposed to be when
the ball's over there versus when it's over here, right,
and then offensively a hierarchy.
Speaker 6 (22:12):
And getting guys going.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
And I think one of the biggest things we've all
noticed about the Bucks is you have a great finisher
in Giannie, you got a great perimeter player in Dame.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
Why do they never have any action together? Why is
it like they're running two different things separate from one another.
And I think that comes down to you got to
have a system and a playbook in place.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
It doesn't have to be complicated, it doesn't have to
be the old Flip Saunders encyclopedia where it's like a
thousand pages, but you got to have something so that
when we go out there, the guys know, hey, this
is what we're doing. Our first option out of this
is this, Our second option is this, our third option
is this, And if that fails, then Dame makes something happen,
(22:59):
or Gianni's makes of that happened. It feels like they
get to that fourth emergency object a lot faster than
they should.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Well we'll see. I mean, look, one of the things
Doc said about coaching in the All Star Game is
you know he was I will give him credit. He
has said over and over and over again, Hey, this
is Griff's award. I don't see why I'm here. This
doesn't make sense. They should have given it to someone else.
So I appreciate that he kept saying that, and he
said he wanted to use the week. Well, he said
he wants to use the week to play golf, but
also to be able to sort of, you know, look
(23:29):
at the team. You know, he came into the job
running and that he wanted to be able to sit
down and take the week and look at the team
and kind of come up with some of this stuff.
So I'm sure he will still do that too. I'm
sure he will also still play golf. But it does
beg the larger question of, you know, what mobility is
there in the East. We have already seen, right Cleveland
(23:49):
come up to that number two spot in the East.
Take you know, Milwaukee was was really wedged in there,
but now Cleveland has come up in there. And by
the way, the Sixers also clearly have lost seven of
ten going into the break because of the beat injury,
and they are definitely trying to make a go of
it and be competitive until he gets back, if and
when he can come back, but they're not the team
that they were, So there is mobility in that Eastern Conference.
(24:11):
I want to know who you guys think We've got
about a third of this season to go. Who do
you guys think is in the position in the Eastern
Conference to climb into the standings. With Milwaukee not quite
sure who they are and the Sixers obviously having the
injury problems they've.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
Had, I mean, the team that sticks out to me
just right off top is the Miami Heat. We know
for a fact that they're a second half team. They've
shown They've shown these patterns over and over again. This
is usually the time of year with Jimmy Butler starts
to we start seeing the big games from Jimmy. He
(24:45):
is going through you know, his personal family issues right now,
but I'm sure once he's passed that he gets back
to this, gets back to basketball. You know, he'll be
locked in, ready to finish out the season that we're
accustomed to see seeing from him. So the Miami Heat
stick out right away from me on top. With the
addition of you know, Terry Rozier, who hasn't quite found
(25:08):
his rhythm with this team yet, but I think he
was the perfect piece to go along with this team.
So we can see this team, you know, make some
noise in the second half and definitely move up the rankings.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Well that Rosier, I mean, I don't know what's going
to happen with his injury. They says spring me. It's
week to week. I don't know. I mean, if he's
out for a long time, obviously that's going to be
an issue. But I agree. I mean, they're a potential
mover for sure.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
Yeah, And the beauty of Indiana me of Miami, is
that they have a next man up mentality, and so
there are guys that are not like unaccustomed to being
called upon it. Now, Okay, now you're playing major minutes.
They're ready and they they've got enough there to keep
it going until they can get everyone healthy. But as
you can probably tell, the other team I was going
(25:52):
to say, is Indiana, and I think you know something.
Speaker 6 (25:55):
They did a really big move by getting.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
Pascal Siakam in there, but it just coincided with Tyre's
Halliburton getting hurt, and so they weren't really quite all
healthy and all together all at the same time for
an extending amount of time. Even when Halliburton came back,
he's on a minute restriction and all that. Now, if
you had a little bit of a break, he's going
to be one hundred percent. I'm excited to see what
the Indiana Pacers can do with a full strength roster.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean I think there's some of that
stuffs up for grabs, and seating in the East is
going to be important. I know the East doesn't look
as stacked as the West in terms of maybe how
much of a thicket and competitive going through the early
rounds of the playoffs are going to be. But what
seating you get is definitely going to be a factor
in the East because you don't want to face some
of those teams at the bottom, and you know, if
you only have to go through one of them to
(26:42):
get to the one of the other big sort of
boys on the block to get through the conference finals,
I think that will make a big difference. I want
to look at the West too, though, because guys, the
West is insane. I mean, we have had guys bunched,
teams bunched, you know, in the top four have basically
been been trading places for a while and completely you know,
half a game, a point point point oh of a game,
you know, different from each other, and then at the
bottom too. The Mavericks, who I think were even out
(27:04):
of the playing at one point or at the bottom
of the play in are now the seventh seed. They've
won sixth straight going into All Star. They have the
tenth easiest strength of schedule going forward. The Warriors eight
of ten that they won going into All Star and
had like a weird loss in there too where Klay
Thompson kind of has had a brain freeze, so that
easily could have been nine out of ten. Los Angeles
the Lakers have won six out of seven going into
(27:26):
All Stars. So like, you've got you've got teams on
the come up and they're getting squeaked. I mean, there's
so much going on in there. What do you guys think?
I mean, I mean, what's your look going into this?
Speaker 4 (27:36):
Well, first of all, I feel bad for Minnesota and
Oklahoma City, two young teams that are have been playing
great all year long, and their reward is you're gonna
have to play one are these teams that comes out
of the play and that's not going to be your
typical seven or eight seed I'm going to go against.
I'm going to go against with the mat, the mat
(27:56):
says the Warriors have the easiest scheduled remaining strength to schedule,
and obviously I have a lot of respect for everyone there,
but I'm gonna go against math and I'm gonna say
the Phoenix Suns who have the toughest schedule remaining, but
I think they're healthy. And then also the addition of
Royce O'Neil. I thought before they did that deal, they
had a lot of guys that were masquerading as rotation
(28:17):
players that weren't really rotation NBA players. These were guys
that were there and playing because they didn't have a
whole lot of depth. I think the second half of
the season, with everyone healthy and you add Royce O'Neill
as another guy who can come off your bench, you
can rely on to play some tough defense, to hit
some three pointers.
Speaker 6 (28:36):
I think that's going to help them.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
So that's the team that see rising the most in
the second half of the season.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
I'm gonna have to land with the Mavericks. I think
they made some really really good moves at the deadline.
The addition to PJ Washington, the big fella Washington Gaffer.
I think Gafford is a more experienced version of the
young guy they having Lively, So I think that was
a perfect move for them. A lob threat, a guy
(29:06):
that can protect the rim, get up and down the floor,
you know, his game. Compliments Luke and Kyrie will and
to add you know, a stretch forward PJ Washington who
shoots it at a very high clip, can put the
ball on the floor a little bit, can make plays,
you know, for that Dallas offense, and also is another
compliment piece to Luca and Kyrie. So I think they
(29:27):
made some brilliant moves at the deadline. I think this
team will only get better. You know, Kyrie did miss
some time, so he'll be getting back into the swing
of things. And I think it's just enough amount of
time left in the season for this team to really
find their strive and you know, going to the playoffs
with some confidence.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
So I'm gonna roll with the Mavericks.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Well, they're on a good role. We had a great
final kick set up here for some teams. There's gonna
be some very competitive games in this final part of
the season. I'm psyched about that. All right, it is
time for Oh yes, DraftKings, I will take that bet.
Let's look at the odds for Defensive Player of the Year.
Up on the DraftKings Board, go Bear heavy favorite again
(30:07):
to win the award. This would be his fourth time
that would tie the great Ben Wallace for the most ever.
So He's at minus six point fifty. Jared Allen is
at plus one thousand, Wemby's at plus two thousand. Chet
is at plus twenty five hundred, So the gap is
huge there. Wemby, I just want to point this out.
He's leading the league in blocks, He's fourth and defensive rating.
(30:30):
So I know Gobert is the heavy favorite. But if
you want to put down money that will actually get
you money, I don't know if you go with Wemby.
The last team with a sub five hundred record to
have a Defensive Player of the Year was the Spurs.
That was eighty six with Alvin Robertson. But I don't
know what, buggy, where would you go? Would you take
the bet on Wemby or someone else too? Just is
(30:50):
Gobert and that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
I'm rolling with Wemby. I'm gonna take the bet on Wemby.
Speaker 5 (30:55):
And the reason I said that is, you know, this
is a young up and common superstar for this league.
The product is going to be pushed. He's just and
not to take away from any of his talent, he's
he's that good of a young player that he's even
in this conversation as a rookie. Obviously you know the
company around him and where the where the team is at,
(31:18):
where the team is at at this point the season
isn't in favor of him winning, but you can't take
away the impact that he brings every night. You can't
take away his abilities, and you know, the way he's
producing at this young age, like he has to be
credited for what he's doing. And I would not be
surprised to see, you know, Rookie of the Year Defensive
(31:39):
Player of the Year in the same season for Winby.
I think he's that good. I think I think he's
that talented. I think he ran away with the Rookie
of the Year at this you know, at this point
in the season.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
So it just makes sense for me. It makes sense
for me.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
And.
Speaker 5 (31:58):
I wouldn't be I wouldn't be a afraid to say
he wins it this year. So that's my choice.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Rachel.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
You asking me who I think is gonna win it
or who I think should win it?
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Because I'm asking you, would you put your money down?
Would you put your hard earned cash down on anyone
but Rudy Gobert to win DPOY.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
So if it's me betting my money, it's because I'm
trying to predict what the voters, of which I am.
Speaker 6 (32:23):
Not one, are going to do.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
And I think they're just going to look at Minnesota
is the best team, and they've had the best defense
one and two all year long, and their best defensive
player is Rudy Gobert, and that's what they're gonna pick.
Speaker 6 (32:36):
Do I agree? No, But I'm not trying to lose
money and be right. I'd rather rather maake.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
What do you think if you were voting, what would
you what would vote? Who would you vote for?
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Him? On?
Speaker 6 (32:45):
So and I thought about this a boogie before before
we started.
Speaker 4 (32:49):
A lot of the names I want to vote for
are disqualified because the sixty.
Speaker 6 (32:52):
Five game rules. So Joel Embiid was the name. He's out.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
I can't vote for him. Evan Mobley is a guy,
and then we then to Jared Allen. I think Evan
Motway has been a bigger force on the defensive end
for Cleveland than even Jared Allen has been, but again
he doesn't qualify. So now I'm left with guys that
I don't know that they're the.
Speaker 6 (33:15):
Best defensive player of the in the league, but I
do know.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
They make a massive defensive impact, and kind of like
what we talked about before the show Boogie, I know
they're gonna be on the floor in clutch times, in
a playoff situation.
Speaker 6 (33:31):
They will be out there.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Man.
Speaker 6 (33:36):
So the two guys I'm gonna say.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
The two guys I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say Derek
White for the Celtics. I think he does an excellent
job on the best offensive wing player in the league
every single night, and he's able to hold his own
offensively as well, which I'm still kind of amazed at
what kind of player he's become on the offensive end.
Speaker 6 (33:56):
The other name I'm gonna say.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
And obviously they're going to need to win a lot more,
but they also have an elite defense is Bam out
of bio. I don't think he gets enough credit for
being the center of not just the center and position,
but the center of a defense that makes up for
a lot of other people's deficiencies out there, and the
fact that the heat.
Speaker 6 (34:16):
With all the injuries they've had.
Speaker 4 (34:17):
They think only Memphis has had more games lost injury
than Miami this year.
Speaker 6 (34:22):
For them to still be competitive.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
Still be about five hundred and still be a top
ten defense, A lot of that is BA out of bio,
So you know, what, the hell with it.
Speaker 6 (34:29):
BAM's my pick.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
There you go, there you go. I got to get
to doom Scroll because you know, here at Bully Bow
we keep track of all the socials and all the
petty and all the little backs and for us, so
you don't have to We just come here every week
we will catch you up on how petty everyone is being.
And I'm telling you that George Curl and Carmelo Anthony
are really laying it down for us on doom Scroll
(34:52):
this week. Mellow recently stated on his podcast he was
talking to Dwayne Wade. He said a deal was basically
done for him to go to the Lakers in twenty eleven.
The deal was Mello and Nynae for Odum and by them.
He said that George Carl nicked the deal because he
did not want Melo to be competing against him George
(35:12):
in the Western Conference. So we'll start there. We've got
more George Carl and Mellow to come here. But just
even on this one trade, I guess, Boogie, how good
do you think that Laker team would be? Because I'm
not sure that Melo and Kobe would have co existed
that great. What do you think?
Speaker 5 (35:30):
I think it could have been something special, especially coming
off you know, they were on the downside of you know,
winning at that point with Lamar Oldham the big fellow
Andrew buying them so kind of bringing in that spark,
a younger spark, and I think even more talent. It's
hard to sit here and say that team wouldn't have
been dangerous impossible.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
I think it would have been dangerous. I just think
that Chris Paul possibility is the one to me that
was always like man CP and Kobe that fit and
all of that. I don't know what, but you think
Mellow and Kobe would would have been able to work
out who shot win and all that stuff.
Speaker 5 (36:04):
You got two dynamic offensive guys like Mellow and Kobe
on the same team. Like it's obviously it's a hypothetical
thing because it didn't happen, and I can speak in
hypothetical terms. If that does work and they do figure
out how to make it work. That's a very, very,
very scary team and could possibly result in multiple championships.
(36:27):
So I'm kind of sad that it didn't happen because
I would have loved to have been able to see
that and see how I play it out. But obviously
we're speaking hypothetical, so all I can say is I
think that would have been a very dangerous team.
Speaker 4 (36:42):
Yeah, I would say that when you involved. First of all,
the Lakers are coming off with two championships, so I
think Carmelo would walk in, to be honest with you, Rachel,
with a level of maybe just take it down a
notch in terms of humility, because hey man, you walking
into a the team that's been dominating this league, be
(37:03):
the best player in the league at that point, and
see obviously Phil Jackson at that time has still looked
at as a guy who knows how to get the
most out of people. I think the triangle offense would
have helped Carmelo still get his shots but also kind
of play within the flow. We saw him play really
well in New York in the triangle at times, so
(37:23):
I don't I think doing that with Again, you gotta
remember the two bigs would have been Gasol and n Nay.
Speaker 6 (37:31):
Both of those guys are good passers.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
High IQ guys can do the high low thing and
then defensively really good moving their feet, so they'd help
Carmelo in that way.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
I think, honestly.
Speaker 4 (37:43):
And then the last part is maybe Kobe gets to
age a little bit more gracefully as opposed to if
you look at that last stage of his career, he
was pushing hard, hard, hard because he had no help.
Speaker 6 (37:53):
You got Carmelo. Now it's like I get to.
Speaker 4 (37:56):
Maybe be a little Olympic Kobe to his Olympic mellow,
focus on some of other things, elongate my career and
we keep winning.
Speaker 6 (38:04):
Now in terms of.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
In terms of George saying no to the deal, Oh man,
I'm gonna tell y'all a little story.
Speaker 6 (38:14):
It's a quick story. This thing kills me.
Speaker 4 (38:18):
When I was in Phoenix, we were trying to acquire
a player.
Speaker 6 (38:21):
Should I say names? Should I just keep it?
Speaker 1 (38:24):
This has been a lunch time, you can, okay.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
Travis Deaner. Travis Deaner was the point guard that Marquette
when Dwayne Wade was there, and he was a decent
little guard. He could shoot he pushed tempo or whatever.
Speaker 6 (38:36):
But he was not like a world beater or whatever.
Speaker 4 (38:39):
Travis Deaner was on an expiring contract in Orlando, getting
zero burned, zero play. We wanted a backup for Steve.
We said that this kid looks like he could run
a lot of stuff that we run. Throw him a
second round pick, which is a lot for a guy
who never plays and is going to leave at the
end of the year. Orlando said no. And the reason
why I was because they they felt that if they
(39:04):
traded Travis Diener to us in our system, he was
gonna look great, and then they would look silly for
having not played him. And they'd rather not get an
extra asset for a guy they have no plans for
than to allow him to be successful make them look silly.
In the same way for George, you don't like Mello,
(39:26):
you don't think he's a winner, you say all these things,
So why would you say no to him playing on
another team? Why are you so worried that someone else
can get more out of him than you could? And
that's the part that always kills me in this league.
It's like, if you think he's so good, then players
ask why are you trying to trade him?
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Yeah, I mean, look, look, the Mellow George Carl thing
wasn't good in the moment. It hasn't been in since.
It's flared up again over the last couple of weeks,
which is sort of unexpected. But last week, Mello was
telling a story on his pot about Carl calling him overrated.
Poor Deth of shrimp catches strays in that story, I
feel bad for him. Carl responds to him on Twitter.
(40:06):
He calls Mellow overrated again as a response to the
story about him calling Mellow overrated. And then yesterday, Uh,
George continued the smoke toward Mellow. He tweeted out a
picture of Jokic, he wished him a happy birthday. He
called Nikola Jokic the greatest players who ever wear number
fifteen in Denver Hoop's history, which we of course know
Mellow War fifteen, and then he tagged Mellow in the post.
(40:27):
I mean, book you played for George? You you can
chime in here.
Speaker 5 (40:33):
Where do I start, Rachel, It's like dealing with a
bitter baby mother.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
Right, I'm gonna put it like this.
Speaker 5 (40:49):
We're all you know in this, in this game, in
this in this occupation.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
We're all flawed. We have our we have our good qualities,
we have our bad qualities.
Speaker 5 (40:58):
So through it all, you of you know, you try
to make the best STU, which every player tries, every
coach tries. In this situation, you have a Hall of
Fame coach. On the other hand, you have a Hall
of fame, a first ballot Hall of Fame player. Neither
accomplish the ultimate goal. So I'm not really understanding how
(41:19):
one can say the other is overrated when y'all both
accomplished and didn't accomplish the same exact things, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 3 (41:30):
So that's where it's. Hey, man, just ride off in the.
Speaker 5 (41:32):
Sunset, brother, Like George, you had your career, Like it's
over right off in the sunset, like to still be
living in the past. Like and it's and it's and
it's constantly it's it's like every year it's something he
has something to say about somebody right off in the sunset, George,
Like you know your time is coming gone. It happens
(41:54):
that every player ride off in the sunset, bro. And
you know, I wish you nothing but peace and happiness,
but it's given bitter and miserable bro, like it really is.
And I'm not even you know, I'm not saying these
things to start a war with George or anything like that.
I mean, i could put my petty boots on the
go all day with this dude, but I'm not really interested.
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Like I'm really not.
Speaker 5 (42:17):
And I got plenty stories out I can validate exactly
how Melow, There's plenty of that. But George, just ride
off in the sunset. Bro, Please please for your family,
for your own sake, for your own happiness, just right
off in the sunset.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
That's all I got, I'd say.
Speaker 4 (42:35):
I think when we're so far removed from it, like
it gets a point where, like Boogie said, who cares, man,
just be cool, Like it's okay to say, man, we really.
Speaker 6 (42:47):
Butted heads back then.
Speaker 4 (42:49):
But now we're both done with our careers, we're looking
back at it and say, you know what, we accomplished
some things. They went to a conference finals, They pushed
the Lakers to six games, They won a.
Speaker 6 (43:01):
Bunch of games. Why remember the bad things as opposed
to just celebrate and remember the good times?
Speaker 1 (43:08):
Exactly see, and in that note of peace and harmony
and love for your fellow man, we will wrap things
up today. I'm glad we solve the all star problem. Gentlemen,
Thank you for doing that so many other things. I mean,
it's always so fun to have you with us. You
will be doing that more often throughout the season in
the playoffs. And all you friends out there, you can
(43:29):
catch all the episodes of Bullyball on the DraftKings Network.
That's really fun. All the Smoke Productions YouTube channel of course,
and wherever you get your podcasts, please rate, review us,
give us those five stars. We will be back next week.
Have fun, have a good break, everybody, take some time
off me, introduce yourself to your family. Did do whatever
you might not do when you are usually spending all
(43:49):
night watching basketball games. We'll see you next week when
the games start again. Bye bye, gentlemen.
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Speaker 2 (02:09):
Man ever since I've been retired. The truth is I've
been staying busy. I'm working on becoming a multi sport athlete.
Any day, anytime. I'm the amateur best in the world.
I've even become a Papa shot king. I gotta stay
competitive for the kids.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
I'm not stoppable ball mag Come on now, who won't smoke?
I've been staying in shake.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
And with everything I got going on, I've been really
trying to stay on top of my social media game. Wait,
am alive?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Didn't mean to do that again.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
You know I love the grill and I'll become a
master of the culinary arts.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Man, what's next?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
You know what?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
I think?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I'm a start my all the show.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Welcome to Bullyball, presented by DraftKings. I'm Rachel Nichols. That
is always as to Marcus Cousins. And look who we
got in the building today. A mean l hass and
welcome my friend.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
I'm still alive. My voice is a little shot, but
I'm still alive.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Well, all three of us were in India this weekend,
so we're all a little worse for wear. Everybody everyone
kind of some slack here today. I do want to
start with All Star weekend. Some good things. Look, let's
talk about Stephan Sabrina for just a second. This was organic.
It felt amazing. The moment was incredible. I was lucky
enough to be in the building so I didn't have
(03:51):
to hear Kenny Smith ruined the moment on top of
what was going on, which was great. I thought it
was phenomenal that they both put themselves out there like that.
I mean, I know most of the other players in
that building would not have done that, frankly, and the
fact they're already talking about next year maybe bringing in
Caitlyn Clark and Klay Thompson in and making it a
double thing or something like that, I thought it was incredible.
(04:14):
We love that, right, book, I do, man.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
I think that was an incredible, you know deal. Definitely
the highlight of the weekend, which is kind of a
good thing and bad thing to be said, but like
I said, I think that was a really dope thing.
It definitely added some excitement to the weekend. It was something,
it was something different that we hadn't seen before. And obviously,
I think when it comes to fixing that issue of
(04:40):
you know, actually making the weekend competitive, yeah, bring in
the girl and give her a chance to kick your
ass and we gonna definitely see guys come out there
and compete, and that's what we got to see. So
hopefully we might have to start adding some females to
the mix in general, just to excite, uh, you know,
put a little more energy into too the weekend.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
So if you want to improve something, bring a woman in.
That's all I'm saying. Go ahead me No.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
At this point, I'm excited about any star that wants
to come and play hard. You're a star, you want
to play hard, that's it is sold. You come right
away because we'll get to it. But we need to
get some of these guys out.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Of here, all right, We'll get to it. Get to it.
So what are you your problems? Besides the weather? I mean,
went on a weekend long Twitter die trib about the weather.
But besides the weather, what do you want to get
to about what's wrong with All Star Weekend.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
That's a conversation I'll have with the commissioner directly. But
as far as the All Star Weekend and imost, I'm
going to start with Sunday because Sunday is the biggest problem.
We had a game where we had three total fouls.
If you added up every foul by every person.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
And gave it a one.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Dude, he still wouldn't be in foul trouble even in
the first half of a game. Right, Three total fouls,
three total shot box guys openly walking through the motions,
Guys telling you in their comments to the media, I
don't care, it's not important, it's not a big deal.
I'm just like, look, people, I hate when people say, oh,
(06:09):
the eighties in the night. You don't have to go
that far back, DeMarcus. When you played in the All
Star Game, y'all played hard. Kobe Duwayne Wade, Carmelo, Anthony Lebron.
Speaker 6 (06:20):
All of these guys played hard in an.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
All Star game. They put on a show. Did they
die for loose balls and have flagrant fouls?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
No?
Speaker 4 (06:26):
But you didn't also just say, all right, go ahead,
just lay it up. Okay, I'm gonna throw a full
court he gonna lay it up over there. And the
problem with all of these guys is they don't understand
that it's messing with the money. It's not about paying
them extra money. It's about, Hey, TNT pays a lot
of money for this thing, and we're up against a
(06:48):
new media deal, and that money feeds br which feeds
the salary cap, which feeds what the max salaries are.
So if TNT or whoever gets the rights next year
to say I don't want to do this anymore, well,
I don't want to pay that much. That affects everybody,
brings the money down, So I just don't work.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
So far from that happening. I mean, that's the problem
is there's not a connection there because you know, the
next media deal, the money is going to go up.
It's going to go up. Whether it goes up, yes,
it's going to go I'm willing to sit here and
say that they will make more money from the next
media right steel than they did from the last one.
And like until that connection actually gets made, Like I
don't see that. I don't see that, Hey, it's going
to mess with our money. I don't see that actually
(07:27):
sinking in. Why would it. It's not messing with anyone's money.
Speaker 6 (07:30):
Is there my fault? Book?
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Let me ask you this, because you're a name that
I brought up in this way. Is there a way
we get like recently retired players and people from the
Players Association to convince guys to hey man, this is serious.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
Well, I think that's the problem right there. As a competitor,
you know, as an All Star, all of these things
come with a responsibility. So and that responsibility is to
go out there and compete, like simple as that. So
the fact that you have to be convinced that's a
problem like that doesn't make sense. This is your job.
This is what you do on an everyday basis. This
(08:08):
is your occupation. So when you clock into your occupation,
you should be a professional about it.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
And that's just going out there, playing harder, competing.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
Like you said, it shouldn't be guys out there diving
on the floor and things that and that just because
nobody wants to get hurt in a game.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
That really doesn't matter.
Speaker 5 (08:22):
But it does matter to these fans, it does matter
to the league, It does matter for everybody else that's
coming behind us.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
It does matter.
Speaker 5 (08:30):
But at the same time, everybody wants to leave with
their health and all of that. So obviously you want
to create some type of a balance. But just as
far as putting on a good show, just being competing
at some type of a level, give me more than
sixty percent, you know what I mean. I feel like
that's our responsibility. So the fact that you're asking, can
we convince them that's the issue right there, Like it
(08:52):
shouldn't even have to come to that.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
It's not like people didn't try. Right going into this game,
Adam Silver talked about how it was going to be
more competitive. Joe Dumars go and talk to several of
the players about how important it was to the league
and to the TV rights and everything else for us
to be competitive. Guys told me they were talking on
the bench that, like Trey Young said that he and
Donnam Mitchell we're talking on the bench afterward about how
it could be more competitive, and yet it's not actually happening.
(09:16):
And there's you know, some people have come up with
with tweaks, right. Bill Simmons came out and said that,
you know, we shouldn't have a three point line in
the All Star contest, just to get everybody back to
sort of you know, play and playing more competitive ball.
Because it's true. I had guys say to me afterward,
Like Paul George said to me afterward, He's like, look,
we're not playing foll We're not picking guys up from
ninety feet and Dame's hitting these shots from from half
court and what are you supposed to do to defend
(09:37):
that in an All Star Game. I get that, and
the skill level there is super high. But yes, the
idea of maybe removing the three point line, you know,
for me, my little tweak like that would be like,
let's require all first year All Stars to be in
the dunk contest. If it's your first year in the
All Star Game, you have to be in the dunk contest.
And I understand that dunkin's hard on the body, but
these are younger going to be younger players with that rule,
(09:57):
So I don't know. That's my crazy rule I do.
The biggest issue though, is priorities. This is where the
NBA has to decide what is most important to them
because being an All Star weekend, what appears to be
most important is sponsorship opportunities. Right, it's the sponsors. It
is a weekend that the league has turned into for
the sponsors to have great tickets to the game. The
(10:19):
sponsors have these players running around and doing ten obligations
over a twenty four hour period. I'm not saying they're
too tired to play basketball. I don't buy that. I'm
just saying that it is message to them over and
over through the weekend that the game is an afterthought.
It's literally the last thing out of fifteen things that
they are being asked to do. If you are deciding
that sponsors are the most important part of the weekend,
(10:40):
the building is going to be absolutely dead like it
was on Sunday. People are not going to give players
and yell at them and give them a hard Can
you imagine if a Rocker Park crowd was in there
and guys didn't bother defending. Can you imagine how the
fans would get on these players and embarrass them and
make them want to compete harder, of course, but instead.
Speaker 7 (10:56):
It was just I mean, there is a point I
looked at at the lower bowl in the first half
and there was maybe a quarter of the seats for empty,
and you're looking at that being like, okay, again, it's
up to the players to play.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
I am not shifting responsibility. I am just saying that
you create an environment that feels bigger or smaller, and
it feels smaller with all these sponsors. And it comes
back to again priorities. It's like the sixty five game
rule and how do we get load management to stop?
The priority for each owner is winning a championship, which
is fair, which is fine, But that is the reason
why owners complain in the boardroom about load management the
(11:30):
TV deal and then tell their own teams, hey, it's
okay if you load manage because I want my guys
fresh for the playoffs. You have to decide what's most important.
And I don't think the league as a whole, from
players to the league office to the sponsors on down,
has put a competitive All Star game is their actual
highest priority. All these other things are taking a front seat.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Damn, you hit it on the head right. You hit
it on the head right.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
You just have to decide what's most important.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
I couldn't agree more. I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
And we've spoken on this briefly before where it's also
where we do have to create a balance for these
All Star guys, and hey, hey, if it comes to
a situation to where you know, we don't want the
All Stars to have to do all the because at
the end of the day, this is a business. We
do need these All Stars and superstar players and NBA
(12:26):
guys in general.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
We need them to network and push these sponsors. We
need all of that.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
Like all of this matters, but in this case, it
has to be some type of a balance to where
these all Stars can get the rest that's necessary. Maybe
it's an idea where we bring in other NBA guys
that didn't make All Star or a borderline All Star,
and they're the ones that's connecting throughout the weekend, networking
with these sponsors, and we do get these All Stars
(12:51):
the opportunity to get some rest. Or maybe it's cutting
half to where it's a little bit of the All Stars,
a little bit of the guys that were borderline, you
know what I mean. So it has to has to
be some type of a balance in order to get
the perfect, you know, solution at the end.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
It is so I agree with you one hundred percent, Rachel.
Speaker 6 (13:10):
It's there's you know, economics.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
There's a way to handle this.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
If I have If I'm selling one hundred tickets for
five dollars a pop, they sell out real quick, right,
So what do I do. I raise the price to
the point where like, okay, now people are waiting and seeing.
Speaker 6 (13:26):
So it's the same thing here.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
If there are so many sponsors and they're all willing
and they all want All Stars there, then it's on
the league to raise the price for those sponsors you
want to you want to get Kawhi Leonard in here
is going to cost this much versus some of the
younger All Stars will cost this much. But Rachel and Boogie,
I want to I want to put a spotlight on
someone else who has some control in this situation that
(13:49):
we haven't talked about, and it's the coaches, because in
every one of these disappointing All Star games, there are
players that do take it seriously and at least give
some effort.
Speaker 6 (13:58):
I thought Damian Lillard did, Danna Sano did down clearly,
Devin Booker right.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
So what I want to see from the coaches is, hey,
I know Luca was a starter. If he's doing that,
sit his ass down, put book in the game.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Your rival is going to be playing your minutes, and
you gotta sit your ass down here and play eight
or nine minutes for the game. And let's see if
you like All Start Weekend as much and if not,
don't be an All Star. I mean this as someone
who loves Luka Doncic's game. I think he's incredible. I
think it's only a matter of time before he becomes
an MVP and a champion in this league. But what
(14:34):
he did on Sunday night, Doug, I don't want that.
If that's how you're gonna be, just sit down, it's cool.
You don't want to play, Just don't play. Play the
guys who want to play. And I think the coaches
have some responsibility in that. In that regard, I agree
with that.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
No, no doubt. And by the way, all this concern
about injuries, I do want to say this, and you
had a lot of guys after say well, hey, at
least no one got hurt. We wouldn't want anyone to
get hurt. You guys, I mean, maybe you have better
memories than me. The only injury significant in an All
Star Game I can remember, and obviously I don't go
back more than you know twenty five years here is
Dwayne Wade broke Kobe's nose, right, and that's the only
(15:08):
one I can remember. And like that wasn't something that
hampered Kobe for the rest of the calendar. Gear I mean,
I just I don't know. I think that the fear
of being injured in All Star Game is a little
overwrought to the point where it's kind of an excuse
for everything, and look, we had a guy at the
Super Bowl who got injured walking on the field, so
there's always going to be some fluke stuff somewhere. But
(15:29):
I think that's an overwrought concern as well. I do
want to move on. You mentioned the coaches. You mentioned
Damian Lillard dame owned All Star. I mean, I mean
he won MVP, he won the three point Contest, he
had a great outing. Doc Rivers. I don't know. He
hasn't had that many wins with the Bucks, but he
won the All Star Game with the team that was
considered the less stacked team. Still, things not going well
(15:52):
in Milwaukee fired each well when the Bucks fired Adrian Griffin. Guys,
I just want to remind you of the numbers that
Griff have put together a thirty and thirteen start to
the season. They are now three and seven in their
first ten games under Doc. There's been a lot of
criticism of Doc Rivers, both you know, online but also
I mean, you know, in a lot of player circles
(16:13):
and a lot of sort of behind the scenes stuff.
There's been a lot of well what did you expect?
Kind of thing. I did speak to Doc at All
Star and I want you, guys, to listen to what
he told me about. It wasn't just the Bucks who
wanted him. Guys, so Milwaukee's getting getting criticism right now,
But he said this, I.
Speaker 8 (16:30):
Had committed to taking a year off. I had two
other teams that had already called doing the season, and
we wouldn't even take the interview. And you know, this
one came about, and I thought that, you know, just
the fact that it was the teams you know from
(16:50):
where I went to school at and the type of team,
the starter, like this is the all star starter.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
We just did forty minutes.
Speaker 8 (17:03):
I told all the guys that we have to beat
and I'm playing them all forty minutes in the game
of borrow.
Speaker 6 (17:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (17:07):
So yeah, it was just it was a lot. And yeah,
it was like I was joking. They put me on
a clock. It's not like I had a week to decide.
So it was a tough one.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Can I ask who the other two teams were?
Speaker 3 (17:18):
No?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
No, try, it was good.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
That was a good try.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
Okay, all right, so two teams want to go, So Bookie,
we got to guess.
Speaker 6 (17:27):
We gotta do some some guesswork here. You won't go first?
Or should I go first?
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (17:34):
You go ahead, you go first, all right, I'm guessing
the guy that just got fired would be one of them.
So I would say Brooklyn would be one of those
situations where they hit up Doc and said, what do
you think?
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Okay, I agree, I can see that scenario. I'm gonna
say the Lakers.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
It's been speculation since he said I'm gonna.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Say the Lakers for sure.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
I don't think aud and prying around, and you know,
they kind of they kind of get off on knowing
that they did things under the radar, like you know
what I mean, So they liked the element of surprise.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
So I can definitely see the Lakers being that other team.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Well, the Bucks are the ones who got him. And
let me tell you how it's going. They lost right
before the break to a Memphis team. This was the
game they had before the All Star break. Memphis was
starting starting two guys on ten day contracts starting, and
by the way, I think one of them had just
gotten there like two days earlier, so like not even
like guys on like multiple back to back ten days
who had you know, been in with the system or anything.
(18:39):
Started two players who are on ten days. Jannis afterward
had a lot to say. Here was his quote. He said,
we have to want it. Man, Enough with the talking,
enough with the our shit don't stink mentality. Do we
really want it? Are we putting in the work? And
then he said, guys are tired. That's an excuse, new coach,
that's an excuse, the system, excuse, new defense, excuse, he
(19:00):
goes all of it, excuse. So, but what is your
worry level for the Bucks right now they're sitting in
third in the East.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
It definitely should be, you know, some concern, nothing nothing severe,
because these are all very fixable, you know problems. I
agree with Janni's like, at some point the players have
to you know, self reflect and look at themselves.
Speaker 8 (19:26):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
The coach isn't playing the game. Uh, the players are. Uh,
it's no excuse. You can't blame the coach. You can't
blame the system, you can't blame it. This is a
team with two guys on ten day contracts, and not
to ever knock any you know guy at this level
with their abilities, but we're talking about a team that's.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Starting starting, yes, talking.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
About five NBA starters to all stars against a team
that's just trying to stay afloat and hopefully sell some
tickets and get their star player back next year. Like,
it's two different scenarios, So it's no excuse to ever
drop games like that. It does happen, but in their
situation where they're trying to write this ship right before
the playoffs, it's no excuse for that. There's got to
(20:13):
be a lot more urgency with this team. You kind
of watch them and you know, outside of Dame and
Janni's being the stars that they are, like, you could
just see the problems within that the chemistry isn't quite there.
You can tell that some guys don't really enjoy playing
one another. You could tell that guys aren't happy for
the next guy. We've seen a few clips from Big
(20:35):
feather Brook Lopez where he's kind of, you know, giving
Dame some grief about shot selection and things of that nature.
Those all signs that this team isn't together, that there
isn't camaraderie and they're not all on the same page.
But like I said, these are things that are fixable.
You can't continue to blame the coach for even though
his shit stinks too. But this is on the players
(20:58):
to get correct, like effort, you know, energy and playing
where urgency doesn't come from the coach. That comes from
the players. Players set that standard. That's something you have
to come out and do every single night. Players set
that standard, not the coach.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Yeah, and I think you know, first of all, I
keep thinking about the guy who signed a ten day
two days earlier.
Speaker 6 (21:18):
Was what plays was he running?
Speaker 4 (21:19):
He's just floppy and horns right every time now because
he can't even he can't tell me you knew the
play calls At that point, I think there's there's on
both sides.
Speaker 6 (21:31):
Like Boogie said, On the.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
One hand, no disrespect to young guys or ten day
guys or whatever, but you got two All Stars and
a guy who finished second or third Defensive Player of
the Year voting last year. You got enough to win
against a team that's going straight to secaucas for the
lottery machine.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Right.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
On the other hand, this game, I'll be honest, fans
don't understand the need for structure.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
We're never just rolling the ball out and playing pick.
There's structure.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
There's got to be systems, how we know how we're defending,
who's helping who, Where am I supposed to be when
the ball's over there versus when it's over here, right,
and then offensively a hierarchy.
Speaker 6 (22:12):
And getting guys going.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
And I think one of the biggest things we've all
noticed about the Bucks is you have a great finisher
in Giannie, you got a great perimeter player in Dame.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
Why do they never have any action together? Why is
it like they're running two different things separate from one another.
And I think that comes down to you got to
have a system and a playbook in place.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
It doesn't have to be complicated, it doesn't have to
be the old Flip Saunders encyclopedia where it's like a
thousand pages, but you got to have something so that
when we go out there, the guys know, hey, this
is what we're doing. Our first option out of this
is this, Our second option is this, our third option
is this, And if that fails, then Dame makes something happen,
(22:59):
or Gianni's makes of that happened. It feels like they
get to that fourth emergency object a lot faster than
they should.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Well we'll see. I mean, look, one of the things
Doc said about coaching in the All Star Game is
you know he was I will give him credit. He
has said over and over and over again, Hey, this
is Griff's award. I don't see why I'm here. This
doesn't make sense. They should have given it to someone else.
So I appreciate that he kept saying that, and he
said he wanted to use the week. Well, he said
he wants to use the week to play golf, but
also to be able to sort of, you know, look
(23:29):
at the team. You know, he came into the job
running and that he wanted to be able to sit
down and take the week and look at the team
and kind of come up with some of this stuff.
So I'm sure he will still do that too. I'm
sure he will also still play golf. But it does
beg the larger question of, you know, what mobility is
there in the East. We have already seen, right Cleveland
(23:49):
come up to that number two spot in the East.
Take you know, Milwaukee was was really wedged in there,
but now Cleveland has come up in there. And by
the way, the Sixers also clearly have lost seven of
ten going into the break because of the beat injury,
and they are definitely trying to make a go of
it and be competitive until he gets back, if and
when he can come back, but they're not the team
that they were, So there is mobility in that Eastern Conference.
(24:11):
I want to know who you guys think We've got
about a third of this season to go. Who do
you guys think is in the position in the Eastern
Conference to climb into the standings. With Milwaukee not quite
sure who they are and the Sixers obviously having the
injury problems they've.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
Had, I mean, the team that sticks out to me
just right off top is the Miami Heat. We know
for a fact that they're a second half team. They've
shown They've shown these patterns over and over again. This
is usually the time of year with Jimmy Butler starts
to we start seeing the big games from Jimmy. He
(24:45):
is going through you know, his personal family issues right now,
but I'm sure once he's passed that he gets back
to this, gets back to basketball. You know, he'll be
locked in, ready to finish out the season that we're
accustomed to see seeing from him. So the Miami Heat
stick out right away from me on top. With the
addition of you know, Terry Rozier, who hasn't quite found
(25:08):
his rhythm with this team yet, but I think he
was the perfect piece to go along with this team.
So we can see this team, you know, make some
noise in the second half and definitely move up the rankings.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Well that Rosier, I mean, I don't know what's going
to happen with his injury. They says spring me. It's
week to week. I don't know. I mean, if he's
out for a long time, obviously that's going to be
an issue. But I agree. I mean, they're a potential
mover for sure.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
Yeah, And the beauty of Indiana me of Miami, is
that they have a next man up mentality, and so
there are guys that are not like unaccustomed to being
called upon it. Now, Okay, now you're playing major minutes.
They're ready and they they've got enough there to keep
it going until they can get everyone healthy. But as
you can probably tell, the other team I was going
(25:52):
to say, is Indiana, and I think you know something.
Speaker 6 (25:55):
They did a really big move by getting.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
Pascal Siakam in there, but it just coincided with Tyre's
Halliburton getting hurt, and so they weren't really quite all
healthy and all together all at the same time for
an extending amount of time. Even when Halliburton came back,
he's on a minute restriction and all that. Now, if
you had a little bit of a break, he's going
to be one hundred percent. I'm excited to see what
the Indiana Pacers can do with a full strength roster.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean I think there's some of that
stuffs up for grabs, and seating in the East is
going to be important. I know the East doesn't look
as stacked as the West in terms of maybe how
much of a thicket and competitive going through the early
rounds of the playoffs are going to be. But what
seating you get is definitely going to be a factor
in the East because you don't want to face some
of those teams at the bottom, and you know, if
you only have to go through one of them to
(26:42):
get to the one of the other big sort of
boys on the block to get through the conference finals,
I think that will make a big difference. I want
to look at the West too, though, because guys, the
West is insane. I mean, we have had guys bunched,
teams bunched, you know, in the top four have basically
been been trading places for a while and completely you know,
half a game, a point point point oh of a game,
you know, different from each other, and then at the
bottom too. The Mavericks, who I think were even out
(27:04):
of the playing at one point or at the bottom
of the play in are now the seventh seed. They've
won sixth straight going into All Star. They have the
tenth easiest strength of schedule going forward. The Warriors eight
of ten that they won going into All Star and
had like a weird loss in there too where Klay
Thompson kind of has had a brain freeze, so that
easily could have been nine out of ten. Los Angeles
the Lakers have won six out of seven going into
(27:26):
All Stars. So like, you've got you've got teams on
the come up and they're getting squeaked. I mean, there's
so much going on in there. What do you guys think?
I mean, I mean, what's your look going into this?
Speaker 4 (27:36):
Well, first of all, I feel bad for Minnesota and
Oklahoma City, two young teams that are have been playing
great all year long, and their reward is you're gonna
have to play one are these teams that comes out
of the play and that's not going to be your
typical seven or eight seed I'm going to go against.
I'm going to go against with the mat, the mat
(27:56):
says the Warriors have the easiest scheduled remaining strength to schedule,
and obviously I have a lot of respect for everyone there,
but I'm gonna go against math and I'm gonna say
the Phoenix Suns who have the toughest schedule remaining, but
I think they're healthy. And then also the addition of
Royce O'Neil. I thought before they did that deal, they
had a lot of guys that were masquerading as rotation
(28:17):
players that weren't really rotation NBA players. These were guys
that were there and playing because they didn't have a
whole lot of depth. I think the second half of
the season, with everyone healthy and you add Royce O'Neill
as another guy who can come off your bench, you
can rely on to play some tough defense, to hit
some three pointers.
Speaker 6 (28:36):
I think that's going to help them.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
So that's the team that see rising the most in
the second half of the season.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
I'm gonna have to land with the Mavericks. I think
they made some really really good moves at the deadline.
The addition to PJ Washington, the big fella Washington Gaffer.
I think Gafford is a more experienced version of the
young guy they having Lively, So I think that was
a perfect move for them. A lob threat, a guy
(29:06):
that can protect the rim, get up and down the floor,
you know, his game. Compliments Luke and Kyrie will and
to add you know, a stretch forward PJ Washington who
shoots it at a very high clip, can put the
ball on the floor a little bit, can make plays,
you know, for that Dallas offense, and also is another
compliment piece to Luca and Kyrie. So I think they
(29:27):
made some brilliant moves at the deadline. I think this
team will only get better. You know, Kyrie did miss
some time, so he'll be getting back into the swing
of things. And I think it's just enough amount of
time left in the season for this team to really
find their strive and you know, going to the playoffs
with some confidence.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
So I'm gonna roll with the Mavericks.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Well, they're on a good role. We had a great
final kick set up here for some teams. There's gonna
be some very competitive games in this final part of
the season. I'm psyched about that. All right, it is
time for Oh yes, DraftKings, I will take that bet.
Let's look at the odds for Defensive Player of the Year.
Up on the DraftKings Board, go Bear heavy favorite again
(30:07):
to win the award. This would be his fourth time
that would tie the great Ben Wallace for the most ever.
So He's at minus six point fifty. Jared Allen is
at plus one thousand, Wemby's at plus two thousand. Chet
is at plus twenty five hundred, So the gap is
huge there. Wemby, I just want to point this out.
He's leading the league in blocks, He's fourth and defensive rating.
(30:30):
So I know Gobert is the heavy favorite. But if
you want to put down money that will actually get
you money, I don't know if you go with Wemby.
The last team with a sub five hundred record to
have a Defensive Player of the Year was the Spurs.
That was eighty six with Alvin Robertson. But I don't
know what, buggy, where would you go? Would you take
the bet on Wemby or someone else too? Just is
(30:50):
Gobert and that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
I'm rolling with Wemby. I'm gonna take the bet on Wemby.
Speaker 5 (30:55):
And the reason I said that is, you know, this
is a young up and common superstar for this league.
The product is going to be pushed. He's just and
not to take away from any of his talent, he's
he's that good of a young player that he's even
in this conversation as a rookie. Obviously you know the
company around him and where the where the team is at,
(31:18):
where the team is at at this point the season
isn't in favor of him winning, but you can't take
away the impact that he brings every night. You can't
take away his abilities, and you know, the way he's
producing at this young age, like he has to be
credited for what he's doing. And I would not be
surprised to see, you know, Rookie of the Year Defensive
(31:39):
Player of the Year in the same season for Winby.
I think he's that good. I think I think he's
that talented. I think he ran away with the Rookie
of the Year at this you know, at this point
in the season.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
So it just makes sense for me. It makes sense
for me.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
And.
Speaker 5 (31:58):
I wouldn't be I wouldn't be a afraid to say
he wins it this year. So that's my choice.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Rachel.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
You asking me who I think is gonna win it
or who I think should win it?
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Because I'm asking you, would you put your money down?
Would you put your hard earned cash down on anyone
but Rudy Gobert to win DPOY.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
So if it's me betting my money, it's because I'm
trying to predict what the voters, of which I am.
Speaker 6 (32:23):
Not one, are going to do.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
And I think they're just going to look at Minnesota
is the best team, and they've had the best defense
one and two all year long, and their best defensive
player is Rudy Gobert, and that's what they're gonna pick.
Speaker 6 (32:36):
Do I agree? No, But I'm not trying to lose
money and be right. I'd rather rather maake.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
What do you think if you were voting, what would
you what would vote? Who would you vote for?
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Him? On?
Speaker 6 (32:45):
So and I thought about this a boogie before before
we started.
Speaker 4 (32:49):
A lot of the names I want to vote for
are disqualified because the sixty.
Speaker 6 (32:52):
Five game rules. So Joel Embiid was the name. He's out.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
I can't vote for him. Evan Mobley is a guy,
and then we then to Jared Allen. I think Evan
Motway has been a bigger force on the defensive end
for Cleveland than even Jared Allen has been, but again
he doesn't qualify. So now I'm left with guys that
I don't know that they're the.
Speaker 6 (33:15):
Best defensive player of the in the league, but I
do know.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
They make a massive defensive impact, and kind of like
what we talked about before the show Boogie, I know
they're gonna be on the floor in clutch times, in
a playoff situation.
Speaker 6 (33:31):
They will be out there.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Man.
Speaker 6 (33:36):
So the two guys I'm gonna say.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
The two guys I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say Derek
White for the Celtics. I think he does an excellent
job on the best offensive wing player in the league
every single night, and he's able to hold his own
offensively as well, which I'm still kind of amazed at
what kind of player he's become on the offensive end.
Speaker 6 (33:56):
The other name I'm gonna say.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
And obviously they're going to need to win a lot more,
but they also have an elite defense is Bam out
of bio. I don't think he gets enough credit for
being the center of not just the center and position,
but the center of a defense that makes up for
a lot of other people's deficiencies out there, and the
fact that the heat.
Speaker 6 (34:16):
With all the injuries they've had.
Speaker 4 (34:17):
They think only Memphis has had more games lost injury
than Miami this year.
Speaker 6 (34:22):
For them to still be competitive.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
Still be about five hundred and still be a top
ten defense, A lot of that is BA out of bio,
So you know, what, the hell with it.
Speaker 6 (34:29):
BAM's my pick.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
There you go, there you go. I got to get
to doom Scroll because you know, here at Bully Bow
we keep track of all the socials and all the
petty and all the little backs and for us, so
you don't have to We just come here every week
we will catch you up on how petty everyone is being.
And I'm telling you that George Curl and Carmelo Anthony
are really laying it down for us on doom Scroll
(34:52):
this week. Mellow recently stated on his podcast he was
talking to Dwayne Wade. He said a deal was basically
done for him to go to the Lakers in twenty eleven.
The deal was Mello and Nynae for Odum and by them.
He said that George Carl nicked the deal because he
did not want Melo to be competing against him George
(35:12):
in the Western Conference. So we'll start there. We've got
more George Carl and Mellow to come here. But just
even on this one trade, I guess, Boogie, how good
do you think that Laker team would be? Because I'm
not sure that Melo and Kobe would have co existed
that great. What do you think?
Speaker 5 (35:30):
I think it could have been something special, especially coming
off you know, they were on the downside of you know,
winning at that point with Lamar Oldham the big fellow
Andrew buying them so kind of bringing in that spark,
a younger spark, and I think even more talent. It's
hard to sit here and say that team wouldn't have
been dangerous impossible.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
I think it would have been dangerous. I just think
that Chris Paul possibility is the one to me that
was always like man CP and Kobe that fit and
all of that. I don't know what, but you think
Mellow and Kobe would would have been able to work
out who shot win and all that stuff.
Speaker 5 (36:04):
You got two dynamic offensive guys like Mellow and Kobe
on the same team. Like it's obviously it's a hypothetical
thing because it didn't happen, and I can speak in
hypothetical terms. If that does work and they do figure
out how to make it work. That's a very, very,
very scary team and could possibly result in multiple championships.
(36:27):
So I'm kind of sad that it didn't happen because
I would have loved to have been able to see
that and see how I play it out. But obviously
we're speaking hypothetical, so all I can say is I
think that would have been a very dangerous team.
Speaker 4 (36:42):
Yeah, I would say that when you involved. First of all,
the Lakers are coming off with two championships, so I
think Carmelo would walk in, to be honest with you, Rachel,
with a level of maybe just take it down a
notch in terms of humility, because hey man, you walking
into a the team that's been dominating this league, be
(37:03):
the best player in the league at that point, and
see obviously Phil Jackson at that time has still looked
at as a guy who knows how to get the
most out of people. I think the triangle offense would
have helped Carmelo still get his shots but also kind
of play within the flow. We saw him play really
well in New York in the triangle at times, so
(37:23):
I don't I think doing that with Again, you gotta
remember the two bigs would have been Gasol and n Nay.
Speaker 6 (37:31):
Both of those guys are good passers.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
High IQ guys can do the high low thing and
then defensively really good moving their feet, so they'd help
Carmelo in that way.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
I think, honestly.
Speaker 4 (37:43):
And then the last part is maybe Kobe gets to
age a little bit more gracefully as opposed to if
you look at that last stage of his career, he
was pushing hard, hard, hard because he had no help.
Speaker 6 (37:53):
You got Carmelo. Now it's like I get to.
Speaker 4 (37:56):
Maybe be a little Olympic Kobe to his Olympic mellow,
focus on some of other things, elongate my career and
we keep winning.
Speaker 6 (38:04):
Now in terms of.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
In terms of George saying no to the deal, Oh man,
I'm gonna tell y'all a little story.
Speaker 6 (38:14):
It's a quick story. This thing kills me.
Speaker 4 (38:18):
When I was in Phoenix, we were trying to acquire
a player.
Speaker 6 (38:21):
Should I say names? Should I just keep it?
Speaker 1 (38:24):
This has been a lunch time, you can, okay.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
Travis Deaner. Travis Deaner was the point guard that Marquette
when Dwayne Wade was there, and he was a decent
little guard. He could shoot he pushed tempo or whatever.
Speaker 6 (38:36):
But he was not like a world beater or whatever.
Speaker 4 (38:39):
Travis Deaner was on an expiring contract in Orlando, getting
zero burned, zero play. We wanted a backup for Steve.
We said that this kid looks like he could run
a lot of stuff that we run. Throw him a
second round pick, which is a lot for a guy
who never plays and is going to leave at the
end of the year. Orlando said no. And the reason
why I was because they they felt that if they
(39:04):
traded Travis Diener to us in our system, he was
gonna look great, and then they would look silly for
having not played him. And they'd rather not get an
extra asset for a guy they have no plans for
than to allow him to be successful make them look silly.
In the same way for George, you don't like Mello,
(39:26):
you don't think he's a winner, you say all these things,
So why would you say no to him playing on
another team? Why are you so worried that someone else
can get more out of him than you could? And
that's the part that always kills me in this league.
It's like, if you think he's so good, then players
ask why are you trying to trade him?
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Yeah, I mean, look, look, the Mellow George Carl thing
wasn't good in the moment. It hasn't been in since.
It's flared up again over the last couple of weeks,
which is sort of unexpected. But last week, Mello was
telling a story on his pot about Carl calling him overrated.
Poor Deth of shrimp catches strays in that story, I
feel bad for him. Carl responds to him on Twitter.
(40:06):
He calls Mellow overrated again as a response to the
story about him calling Mellow overrated. And then yesterday, Uh,
George continued the smoke toward Mellow. He tweeted out a
picture of Jokic, he wished him a happy birthday. He
called Nikola Jokic the greatest players who ever wear number
fifteen in Denver Hoop's history, which we of course know
Mellow War fifteen, and then he tagged Mellow in the post.
(40:27):
I mean, book you played for George? You you can
chime in here.
Speaker 5 (40:33):
Where do I start, Rachel, It's like dealing with a
bitter baby mother.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
Right, I'm gonna put it like this.
Speaker 5 (40:49):
We're all you know in this, in this game, in
this in this occupation.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
We're all flawed. We have our we have our good qualities,
we have our bad qualities.
Speaker 5 (40:58):
So through it all, you of you know, you try
to make the best STU, which every player tries, every
coach tries. In this situation, you have a Hall of
Fame coach. On the other hand, you have a Hall
of fame, a first ballot Hall of Fame player. Neither
accomplish the ultimate goal. So I'm not really understanding how
(41:19):
one can say the other is overrated when y'all both
accomplished and didn't accomplish the same exact things, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 3 (41:30):
So that's where it's. Hey, man, just ride off in the.
Speaker 5 (41:32):
Sunset, brother, Like George, you had your career, Like it's
over right off in the sunset, like to still be
living in the past. Like and it's and it's and
it's constantly it's it's like every year it's something he
has something to say about somebody right off in the sunset, George,
Like you know your time is coming gone. It happens
(41:54):
that every player ride off in the sunset, bro. And
you know, I wish you nothing but peace and happiness,
but it's given bitter and miserable bro, like it really is.
And I'm not even you know, I'm not saying these
things to start a war with George or anything like that.
I mean, i could put my petty boots on the
go all day with this dude, but I'm not really interested.
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Like I'm really not.
Speaker 5 (42:17):
And I got plenty stories out I can validate exactly
how Melow, There's plenty of that. But George, just ride
off in the sunset. Bro, Please please for your family,
for your own sake, for your own happiness, just right
off in the sunset.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
That's all I got, I'd say.
Speaker 4 (42:35):
I think when we're so far removed from it, like
it gets a point where, like Boogie said, who cares, man,
just be cool, Like it's okay to say, man, we really.
Speaker 6 (42:47):
Butted heads back then.
Speaker 4 (42:49):
But now we're both done with our careers, we're looking
back at it and say, you know what, we accomplished
some things. They went to a conference finals, They pushed
the Lakers to six games, They won a.
Speaker 6 (43:01):
Bunch of games. Why remember the bad things as opposed
to just celebrate and remember the good times?
Speaker 1 (43:08):
Exactly see, and in that note of peace and harmony
and love for your fellow man, we will wrap things
up today. I'm glad we solve the all star problem. Gentlemen,
Thank you for doing that so many other things. I mean,
it's always so fun to have you with us. You
will be doing that more often throughout the season in
the playoffs. And all you friends out there, you can
(43:29):
catch all the episodes of Bullyball on the DraftKings Network.
That's really fun. All the Smoke Productions YouTube channel of course,
and wherever you get your podcasts, please rate, review us,
give us those five stars. We will be back next week.
Have fun, have a good break, everybody, take some time
off me, introduce yourself to your family. Did do whatever
you might not do when you are usually spending all
(43:49):
night watching basketball games. We'll see you next week when
the games start again. Bye bye, gentlemen.
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