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June 10, 2025 12 mins
Brendan Haywood, analyst and a broadcaster for NBA TV joins the show to talk all things NBA ahead of game three of the NBA Finals on Thursday. Marc and Christopher hit the text line and read back messages from listeners, and wrap the show with Ian Furness as he shares what he has planned on his show. 
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And Lebron James, a guy who's an NBA World champion
with the Dallas Mavericks and he played close to a
decade and a half in the league out of the
University of North Carolina.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
No stranger to the show.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Brendan Haywood be Wood, did Oklahoma City kind of just
go back into that phone booth like everyone thought they
would before the collapse in Game one? And has this
series completely changed to where that could be all she
wrote for Indiana? Or do the Pacers have a shot
going back at home?

Speaker 3 (00:36):
I mean, the Pacers definitely have a shot. I mean,
when you look at the fact that the series is tied,
you're going home. Rick Carlisle's an excellent coach. Trust me,
He's gonna throw some wrinkles in there, look in to
maybe throw some zone in a little bit early in
the game to try to throw off SGA's rhythm.

Speaker 4 (00:51):
So the Pacers do have a shot. But if you
watch these two teams.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Matchup in the regular season, and you watch their two
matchups so far on the Finals, you basically seen the
OKAC thunder dominate the Pacers for all four games except
for the last point three seconds of Game one, and
That is what's problematic for the Indiana Pacers is that
they have way more questions than answers. Right now, okay,

(01:19):
so can get whatever they want to in the pick
and roll vers Miles Turner. Watch what happens when SGA's
in the pick and roll verse Miles Turner. He splits them,
goes around them one on one, he fries them. They
got like they can get that any time they want to.
If that's not working, they put Halliburton in the pick
and roll and SGA starts to pick on him. That
can they don't even want that. Switch Halliburton is showing
and getting back a lot. Sometimes they get mixed up

(01:40):
in the coverages and then when they try to double
or load up on SGA, he makes the extra pass
and that's where you get guys like Caruso and Wiggins
getting these extra these wide open shots on the weak side.
And quite frankly, I just really don't know how the
Pacers switched that or turn that around. So I'll be

(02:02):
interested to see what Rick Carlile does. But man like, offensively,
I like what the I like what okay she's doing.
And defensively they're keeping the Pacers out of the paint
and once they turned up and took away to some
of those not those wide open three point looks.

Speaker 4 (02:17):
From game one, it.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Was a rap Brendan Haywood here on MJ and the Midday.
You know, in the first two games the ratings have
been somewhat historically low. Do you think this is just
the combination of two small markets or is this just
the fact that, you know, the casual or non casual
fan aren't really familiar with Tyree Salibert and even the

(02:40):
guy who just won the MVP and Shay gillis Alexander,
and it's gonna take time for those guys to become
consistent brand names.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
I think it's I don't think it's about the small market.
We've had small market teams. Okay, she's been in the
finals before, Yeah, with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden.
I don't know the numbers, but uh, I'm sure that
that wasn't a really really.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
You look at who they were playing that year though,
the Beatles.

Speaker 4 (03:07):
Yeah, this is this is true. The thing.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
The thing is this, Okay, I don't know what the market,
what the numbers were when Lebron James was in Cleveland.
But the fact of the matter is it wasn't he
could beat Lebron, could be in Cleveland, He's Lebron. Yes,
everybody wants to watch. So it didn't matter if he
was in Miami. It didn't matter if he was.

Speaker 4 (03:29):
Cleveland and Cleveland, it didn't matter if he played on Mars.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
We would be tuning in to watch Lebron James play
basketball and this next wave of superstars. For some reason,
we really haven't been able to find that guy that
captivates the casual NBA fan like a Lebron, like a
Steph Curry has done. Those guys, Those guys have carried
this league for the last decade. And that next guy,

(03:54):
even though we have guys that their game says they
should be that guy, the casual fan hasn't, hadn't hasn't
gravitated towards the Tatums and the ant Man's and the.

Speaker 4 (04:05):
SGAs and guys like that.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Just yet, Brendan Haywood here on MJ in the midday
Sports Radio ninety three to three kJ R FM, Who's
stock have you looked at and throughout the playoffs and
and let's just go with these two teams that a
guy who's really taken a step to the next level
in these playoffs, and even if their teams no longer

(04:28):
in it, who would you say that?

Speaker 2 (04:29):
All right, this guy's gone next level?

Speaker 4 (04:33):
Next level guys.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
Obviously with what we're seeing from Halliburton with all the
clutch shots, Yep, he's proven he can hit shots in
the clutch. He's like before people kind of questioning how
good is he really, some people even saying he was overrated.
Now we understand he's probably underrated. Yep, so he's definitely
taking a step I think even Sga as great as
he is, picking that that like now, it's like, yo,

(05:00):
when we talk about the best players in the game,
it's me and Jokic, and if I win the championship,
we're gonna have to say it's me and so like,
it's just that, so even he's taking a step up,
not to anybody else that really I would say brunting
like because brunt he just hit so many shots.

Speaker 4 (05:17):
Yeah. I know they didn't win.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
But man like, and I know for people that he's
ball Dominic, YadA, YadA, YadA, whatever. Brunton is super cold
and he has proven that he can hit clutch shots.
He can have incredible playoff series. So I think those
would be the three guys that stand out to me.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
Brendon, when you look at what Tom Thibodeaux accomplished in
his five years with the Knicks. He went to the
playoffs four to five years, he went to the Eastern
Conference Finals for the Knicks for the first time in
twenty five years, and then for his efforts in tremendous accomplishments,
he gets fired. Is that just basically James Dolan or

(05:58):
and but not to shed too many tears for Tom
Thibodeau because he's, you know, gonna basically make thirty million
dollars to not coach the Knicks of a contract that
hasn't even kicked in yet. But is that just the
harsh reality of pro sports? Where I mean, the Knicks
haven't you know, been at this point since the dawn
of the New Millennium and y two k and yet

(06:20):
Tibbs gets shown the door and they don't have a
backup plan right now.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
They don't have a guy. I thought it was gonna
be Mike Malone.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
Maybe they're talking, i you know, allegedly to Jason Kidd,
But why would you fire a guy like Tom Thibodau.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
I don't get it.

Speaker 4 (06:36):
I'm not saying that he shouldn't have fired.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
When any times something like this happens, there's obviously enough player,
there's enough people in the front office that don't like you,
there's enough people ownership that don't like you. There's enough key,
high level players on the team they don't like you.
That's that's been when you have that level of success
and you get fired. When they went in there, they
talked to the guys, album didn't.

Speaker 4 (06:54):
Have you back?

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (06:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:56):
Then on top of that, when when the front office
and ownership talk, some of the things that the front
office thought, like, hey, maybe we should be playing Landry
Shamo throughout the course of the regular season instead of
just waiting till we're about to be eliminated from the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (07:09):
Some of the pushback and the way that he does
things and.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
The personality might have forced him into this situation. The
fact of the matter is, in today's game, it's about relationships.
You need to have relationships in the front office. You
need to have relationship with the players, you need to
have relationships with ownership. That's not timpt to stripp You
got a relationship guy like you know what I'm saying,
He is not that guy, and it just looked like

(07:34):
a situation where, you know, he did well, there are
a lot of people around him that just get really
voted with him.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, I certainly didn't.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
Okay, see if they win this one, Brendan Haywood, could
you see this being the dawn of a new dynasty
in the NBA as they are set up with now,
it's gonna be tough to keep all these guys under
the first Aprin, second Apron and all that, because you
know SGA is about to get the super Max contract,

(08:03):
the biggest contract in NBA history this summer, and then
Jalen Williams is going to be coming up, and then
chet Homegren. But do you see if Sam Presty, but
they're loaded with first round picks, they got like nine
of them over the next three years or whatever. Could
this be what Golden State was for the better part
of half a decade plus?

Speaker 3 (08:25):
I think it's way too hard to say that. Okay,
We've seen a lot of We've seen a lot of
teams come and go. Remember when everybody thought Denver was
going to be a dynasty.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
I was one of them. Yes, Yeah, Yeah, me too. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
So when you look at dynasties, look at when you
look at let's say you look at the Bulls dynasty,
you knew you had Jordan, you have Pipped. When you
look at the Lakers, you knew you had Shaq, you
had Kobe. Well, I look at Okac even Golden State,
you had Clay, you had Stephan, then you had Clay,
Steph and Durant. You have the stars with other eyes.

(09:00):
You know you can depend on the clutch moments. I
won't say that Okase can't be a dynasty, but they
cannot be a dynasty until Jayleen Williams J Dub plays
consistent playoff level basketball.

Speaker 4 (09:13):
And that is that's what's called. That's why, that's what's
holding me back. If J Douve was playing like.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
Like a true number two, if it was like, yo,
I know what I'm getting from Batman and Robin is
right here, I would say yes, But we haven't seen that.
Flashback last year when Okay she lost to Dallas. J
dob got missing, Hey, you got you get taken the
seven games by Denver. What was one of the main
reasons J doub got missing?

Speaker 4 (09:36):
You lose game one?

Speaker 3 (09:38):
J Dub got missing your number. Hey Man, Batman gotta
have Robin. You know they got Batman, but sometimes J
Dub gets missing, which is why I can't say they're
destined to be a dynasty.

Speaker 4 (09:51):
He's a young player, so they could be.

Speaker 3 (09:54):
But I'm not gonna put the stamp on him yet
until I see him step up the same way like, hey,
we had the Miami he we know we got Lebron
and we got d Wade and we got Boshed, Like
we know we got these guys that we can depend on.

Speaker 4 (10:07):
Jdubb. I'm still trying to figure it.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
He's still figuring it out in the playoffs. When he
figures it out, they will be a dynasty infield. Then
there will be a very good team that can be
knocked off.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
I would be remiss if i'd ask you about this,
Brendan Haywood, Now that it is, you know, officially legal
that colleges can pay athletes directly, and you know without nil,
notwithstanding that they can do that, do you look back
at your time be like, hey man, I missed a
golden opportunity. I think a couple of people I named

(10:40):
was Tim Tebow, right, Christian.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
Lightner, Reggie Bush.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
Even though Reggie got some menil money before nil was
a thing. Johnny Manzel, he did as well. But do
you look at and you just say, hey, man, I
was a McDonald's all American. I could have gotten really
paid back if this was me over the course of
the last decade.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
I mean, obviously you look back and you think that
you could have made some more money.

Speaker 4 (11:06):
At the end of the day, I did pretty well.

Speaker 1 (11:07):
From no, no, yeah, you got to the league. You
got to the league, so that's all.

Speaker 4 (11:11):
Yeah, I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

Speaker 3 (11:12):
But to your point, a guy like Tim Tebow might
have been, like, it's one of the biggest paydays. You
imagine Tim Tebow like now like that, that would be crazy.
Johnny Manziel like So for guys that that didn't have
long careers.

Speaker 4 (11:27):
I could definitely see it.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
For a god like myself, yeah, I would have had
a couple of I would have had a couple more
m's beside my name, But it wouldn't have changed my
It wouldn't have changed the direction of my life at all.

Speaker 4 (11:37):
But for some of these guys that really would.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
Have it's just crazy to look at now and just
seeing how now there's talk that maybe the SEC and
Big ten seceed from the NC Double A and go
do their own thing. And if they do that, man, wow,
the NC Double A is going to be in major
trouble because those two conferences hold that. It's almost like
be would. It's almost like Apple and Amazon, you know

(12:02):
what I mean. And if Apple and Amazon said, no,
we're gonna do our own thing, We're not gonna you know,
we're not gonna hire any you know, like we're just
gonna operate over a year while the rest of the
world is over there. That changes the complexion and landscape
of everything.

Speaker 4 (12:19):
Yeah, it really does. It really does when you talk
about the SEC. I mean, especially for what the SEC
is from a football.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
Even basketball is number one.

Speaker 1 (12:27):
Right, Listen, the ACC sucks in everything now, everything.

Speaker 2 (12:32):
It does, it does.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
They should all right, I mean, come on, they should
only have two teams the tournament.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
You're alma materate no business being in that tournament.
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