August 26, 2023 • 43 mins
Where else can you get a full FIBA World Cup preview and a US Open tennis preview in the same show? Only here on the latest edition of The Saturday Stein Line, which features host Marc Stein interviewing reigning French Open doubles champion Austin Krajicek and his coach Philip Farmer as well as Stein visiting with his 97.1 The Freak teammates Ben Rogers and Skin Wade.
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Ag LF for Worst Dallas. It'snot meant to hit intelligent people. Ninety
seven one The Freak. Welcome tothe Saturday Stein Line with Mark Stein,
presented by Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles. On ninety seven one The Freak,
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the official home to all Dallas Nevericksgames, hosted by legendary NBA reporter and
publisher of his substack, The SteinLine. Here's Mark Stein. Friends.
Hello, once again, welcome into another edition of the Saturday Stein Line,
presented by Pannini Trading Cards and Collectibles. Mark Stein here with you from
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Manhattan. This week. I'm atthe US Open, which I as I
revealed on the Ben and Skin Showthe other day, this is really and
truly my favorite sporting event to attendin the United States. I went for
the first time when I was stillin high school, absolutely fell in love
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with it. It is one ofmy fall traditions to sneak here to the
East Coast see at least some ofit. We've got last. We've got
lots lots of basketball talk to come, I assure you, as usual on
these Saturday noon hours when we gettogether Feeble World Cup, lots of World
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Cup talk in today's show. OnThursday night, I broke the news of
a Luca don Chich contract extension withJordan Brand, his shoe endorser contract extension
through twenty twenty nine. Earlier inthe week, I reported about Javail McGhee
and the Mavericks plans to wave McGheebefore August thirty feet, that's next week.
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They want to wave and stretch theremaining two seasons on McGee's contract.
They want to stretch that over thenext five years, stretching the salary cap
hit over that half decade, sothey only incur a payroll cost of two
plus million over the next five seasons. We're going to get into all that
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today, but I have to sayit's particularly good timing to be where I
am for a couple of reasons.For starters somehow, don't ask me to
explain this, because US open conditionstypically quite toasty, sticky, not welcoming
for players to play here. There'sa lot of noise and usually temperatures that
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aren't very comfortable. But it hasbeen so nice, nearly thirty degrees cooler
in the city for me than itis back home in Dallas. It's wild
to step outside the hotel, andyou feel a breeze and it's high seventies.
It gets hotter than that on thecourt, but it's nowhere near the
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levels, and I'm sorry for smellingit out this way, nowhere near the
stifling, smothering, soul wrecking heatand humidity like I know we have in
North Texas right now. The otherreason my timing is good, there's some
studio maintenance going on this weekend.We got all kinds of fancy new stuff
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in here that's way beyond my paygrade or technical ability to know how to
use. But it meant that thisshow had to be prerecorded, so that
means I do not I will admitupfront, I do not have live reaction
for you this afternoon to Slovenia's firstgame in the Feeble World Cup earlier today
against Venezuela, or the United Statesopener against New Zealand, which was believe
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on ESPN two. I will assumethat these two teams that hold the greatest
interest for our listeners, for youguys, the USA, and of course
Luca led Slovenia, Luca Dontich ledSlovenia. I'm going to assume both won
their openers I can't tell you thiswithout reservation. I'm really psyched for this
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tournament, and I suspect that manyof you who regularly listen to this show,
I suspect you are too. Ilove international basketball. I've covered tons
of it throughout my career. I'vehad the good fortune of going to three
of these World Cups. Two thousandtwo in Indianapolis, two fourteen in Spain,
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maybe the best assignment of my career, thirty plus days in Spain,
twenty nineteen in China. I've alsocovered three Olympics, two thousand in Sydney,
two twelve in London, twenty sixteenin Rio. And when NBA addicts
like us, when we are inthe middle of these long summers, when
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free agency is far in the rearview mirror, and when NBA training camps
are still more than a month away, it's a godsend to have an event
like the Feeble World Cup pop upand help us get through. Now.
I know the hours for this tournamentare early because these games are all being
played in Asia, in Indonesia andJapan and the Philippines. So when you
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live in Dallas, when you livein the DFW area, if you live
in the Central time zone. You'relooking at three am tipoffs and three thirty
tipoffs and four am tipoffs, Andas always with a tournament like this,
there's gonna be lots of talk aboutwho isn't playing. There's no Nicola Yokis
for Serbia, no Janis Anteekumpo forGreece, no Demonte Sibonis for Lithuania.
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And Team USA. This is obviouslya B or even C team for the
United States, which only has threecurrent All Stars on it. Anthony Edwards,
Tyrese Haliburton, Jaren Jackson Junior BrandonIngram does have an All Star appearance
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on his resume. I think JayalenBrunson, who you guys all know very
well. I think Jalen's a futureAll Star. But a much stronger and
much starrier team will be sent byUSA Basketball to next Summer's Olympics in Paris.
We know that. All that said, though, I still say there's
a lot to see here now,some things that I think you should be
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keeping your eye on. Beyond thelocal fascination with Luca and Slovenia. There
are fifty five current NBA players inthis tournament, so somewhere between ten to
twelve percent of the active NBA populationis going to be on the floor here
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fifty five that's an NBA league recordtotal. Plus you've got about forty more
players, more than forty actually withsome NBA experience. So I'm not going
to sit here and try to pretendthat this is going to be the best
basketball in the world. But it'squality stuff, and it's high frequency.
Eight games a day from now untilSeptember third. You've got to deal with
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the rest day on September fourth,but then two more games a day from
September fifth through the tenth again forhoopeds, trying to fill the void until
September twenty nine, when the Maverickshold media day before their first practice on
September thirty. If this is welcomestuff, thirty two thirty two teams in
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the field rather than just twelve thatyou see in men's and women's Olympic basketball.
A few more things that you shouldtake note of. The Americans draw
is really favorable. France, Australia, Canada, Germany, and Spain.
Those are the teams most widely regardedas threats that could stun the United States
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on a good day. On abad Day for the Americans and again the
United States trying to avenge or makeup for a humbling, humbling seventh place
finish in China in twenty nineteen.But none of those teams I just named,
none of them can face Team USAbefore the semi finals if the Americans
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win their first six games as expected. So this US team, they've got
no excuses. They are the favoritesand they are supposed to win this thing.
Something else you'll want to watch Canada. Canada's talent is tantalizing. If
Canada had its full strength team,we would be talking about Shay Giljis,
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Alexander and Jamal Murriott, guard AndrewWiggins, RJ Barrett, Benedict Maturin attacking
from the wing. You got luDort and Dylan Brooks to lead the d
fence, Kelly Olnok and Dallas's ownDwhite Pow on the front line with floor
spacing, rim diving, respectively.Now Canada does not have all of those
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players. No Andrew Wiggins, noJabal Murray, no matter in the outstanding
rookie last season from Indiana. Sothe other problem the Canadians have they're in
They're in close proximity in the drawto France and Spain one France, Spain
and Canada. One of those teamsis not going to reach the final eight
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and that will be a shock becauseof the quality those teams possess. And
that's that's one of the big storylinesto follow in this tournament. And that
leads us to Luca and Slovenia becausethey face similar challenge. They face similar
issues and challenges that the Canadians face. Just like that France, Spain Canada
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trio where only two can reach thequarterfinals, it's the same deal for Slovene,
Australia, Germany and Slovenia. Onlytwo of those teams can get to
the quarterfinals. And like I said, we will get into more of this
in the third segment when I replaymy chat with Ben and Skin from the
Thursday nooner. But you know theSlovenia. For Slovenia, the issue is
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Luka Donci is the best player inthe tournament. On my scorecard, yes
I have him ahead of Sga,but Luca's got a far more inexperienced team
around him in this World Cup campaignthan he's used to. No Vlatko Chanchar
from the Denver Nuggets because of injury. No Edo Murisch because of injury.
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No Goran Dragics who is now retiredfrom international play. So if Luca gets
Sloveni to the quarterfinals, seriously,hats off to him, that will be
a major, major achievement. Someother stuff to watch. Germany is really
good even without Maxi Kleiba. Andagain in the third segment, I've got
more on that feud he's got withwith Dennis Shrewder. The Germans might be
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the second best European team in thefield Spain. Spain is the reigning World
Cup champion, but this edition ofSpain only one current NBA player on the
roster Memphis Santi Aldama from the MemphisGrizzlies. No Ricky Rubio, no Lorenzo
Brown for the Spaniards. No Gasolseither because Powan Marcusol are retired from international
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play. But no Rubio and noBrown. That means Spain, which has
been such a powerhouse on the internationalbasketball scene for two decades now, Spain
doesn't have its two best guards.Rubio was the MVP at the last World
Cup in China. So, likeI told you, there's there's tons to
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talk about with this tournament a zillionangles. I really don't even have time
here in this segment to get toCarl Anthony Town's going back to the Dominican
Republic. The Timberwolves have. Thereare three best guys in this tournament,
kat playing for the Dominican Republic,Rudy Gobert playing for France, and Anthony
Edwards. He's the star really ofthis team USA and for Dallas fans.
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You know, the Wolves should bea team of interest because in early October
it's going to be Mavericks against theTimberwolves for two exhibition games in Abu Dhabi,
the first two exhibition games on themav schedule. I didn't even mention
that I got to throw in,you know, Kyle Anderson SloMo Anderson has
obtained Chinese citizenship, Kyle Anderson playingfor China. I think you get by
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now where I'm coming from. Tonsand tons and tons here for you guys
to laser in and enjoy with thisFEBA World Cup. We'll do more of
that in segment three. But nextup, I told you guys, I
was in New York. I thinkyou've heard me explain more than once my
deep love of tennis and That iswhy I am going to uncork a US
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Open preview on this fledgling show,Who's Gonna Stop Me? Former Texas A
and M star Austin Krycheck now livingin Allen. In June, Krycheck won
the French Open men's doubles alongside theCroatian Ivan Dodig, Austin's coach Philip Farmer,
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who lives in Prosper and he repsthe Lakes Tennis Academy in Frisco.
Austin Krycheck and Philip Farmer are joiningme next Yes for a segment of tennis
Talk as The Saturday Stein Line,the only breezy part of your DFW Saturday,
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continues here on ninety seven one theFreak. You're listening to the Saturday
Stein Line with Mark Stein, presentedby Benini Trading Cards and Collectibles on your
official home to Dallas Mavericks Games Freethe Freak. This is Dirt and Whisky
and you're listening to the Saturday SteinLine with my guys Steiny on ninety seven
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one to Freak. This is Dirtand Whisky and you're listening to the Saturday
Stein Line with my guys Steiny onninety seven one to freak all right,
friends, the Saturday Stein Line rollson, presented by Panini America. And
yes, you just heard me layout all my thoughts about the Feeble World
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Cup in Asia now underway. Butit's equally true my favorite sporting event on
American soil is also underway at thesame time. I'm actually in New York
City. My head and heart intwo places this time of year. The
beauty of having this amazing show.And thank you again Pannini for all your
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efforts to make this possible. Guys, I love tennis. Tennis is probably
don't tell anybody. Tennis is probablymy deepest sporting love. I became a
professional sportswriter. I do believe Iwas born to be a sportswriter. But
it was my dream of making thepro tennis circuit. That's what cemented it.
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And the plan initially for real wasto make the tour with my pen
in my notebook, because I knewmy racket wasn't gonna get me there.
That became pretty obvious pretty early.I started way too late. I didn't
start playing tennis ntil I was thirteen, way too late to try to make
it as a player. But Iwas gonna make it as a writer.
And this is all just a longway of me saying you don't hear much
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tennis talk on the radio, buton this show, on my show,
there is going to be tennis talk, especially now when the US Open is
upon us. I've been here allweek for qualifying. I went to qualities.
I went to US Open qualities forthe first time in nineteen eighty six
and I was hooked for life.But today we are going to look at
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the sport, to the other endof the tennis spectrum. We are going
to talk about Grand Slam glory,Grand Slam glory achieved after Grand Slam,
Payne and the beauty. The beautifulthing of this is we're gonna talk to
two stars from what I like tocall the burgeoning Dallas tennis mafia. We've
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got Austin Krichek, the former Aand M star who in June he became
French Open Doubles Champion Men's doubles champat the French Open, alongside the Croatian
Ivan Dodig, his coach, PhilipFarmer, doctor Phil, as I like
to call him. In two thousandand three, Phil coach to Brian brothers
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to their first Grand Slam title,also at Roland Garros, and twenty years
later he helps here Austin there alongsideDoteg. Guys, you already know you're
my guys, but I'm really honoredto have you on here. I truly
love this. Yes, it maybecowboys country, but we are talking tennis
this morning, mister Krycheck. Iwant to start with you when you have
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a grand When you have a GrandSlam on your resume after chasing one for
so long, when you wake upin the morning, now, what feels
different, Yes, sir, Imean, it's definitely a long road.
It's been a dream of mine sinceI was five years old and started playing
tennis, and there's a lot ofups and downs along the way. But
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it really was. It was anawesome achievement this year, especially like you
mentioned there after last year having adisappointing whilst in the finals when we had
three match points. To be ableto come back this year and finish the
job in the same place in Paris, it's one of our favorite cities to
play. It really was a dreamcome true. And also to kind of
group that in with hitting the numberone ranking that same week was was really
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a little bit surreal, and youknow, it's it's been a little while
now, but I mean, astennis goes, we're so busy at the
time. It still really hasn't sunkin quite yet. But yeah, it's
it's a it's a never ending processand we just try to keep improving and
kind of focus on the next tournament. But it really has been a dream
come true this summer, for sure, Doctor Phil Listen. Austin is a
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humble guy. If he made thetop one hundred and singles before he became
the world's number one in doubles,and you've been coaching on the tour for
more than twenty years, I don'tneed to tell you how hard it is
just to get to the top onehundred. Both you and I as tennis
junkies, would love to be ableto tell people that we sniffed the top
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two hundred and singles. But whenyou when you got your up close look
at Austin, why did you thinkhe would be so much better in doubles?
What what does his game have thatmakes him so doubles friendly? Yeah,
well, first of all, Stein, thanks for having us on real
quick, and you're you know,You're my guy too, and excited to
see in New York. So thanksthanks for having us on the show Man.
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Yeah, you know, with withwith Austin, you know, I
see it. We've been working togetherabout two years now, and you know,
he's just he's got he's got itall. He is, you know,
willing to do whatever it takes,open minded, hungry, very very
coachable, probably the best asset.They're very coachable, very professional, and
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we just clicked right away. Itwas just a good fit. And we're
both incredibly competitive obviously, both asplayer and coach, and I'm you know,
very gold driven as well. Sowhen we sat down, man,
it just really our goals aligned,and I wanted to, uh to also
coach another player to a Grand Slamand to do it, as you said,
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Mark, twenty years later, Boband Mike won their first Slam and
became number one. So it wasreally surreal and special to me for Austin
to do it, winning his firstGrand Slam in Paris the same tournament and
finishing number one with that that sameresult. So it's pretty crazy how history
repeated itself. And I'm most proudbecause these all three guys are very,
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very you know close friends as well. Not just you know my players,
but you know they're just incredible forthe sport, and you know, to
do it with special guys like thatis man's just the dream come true.
Austin Krycheckter, reigning French Openman's Doubleschampion, alongside Evan Dodick and his coach
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Phil Farmer. Dallas. Guys herejoining me on the Saturday sideline on ninety
seven one The Freak presented by Panini. This is our US Open preview.
Maybe you didn't know you were gettinga US Open preview on this show,
but you are. And I amalready here in New York and like I
said, soaking it up. It'smy favorite event to come to in the
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United States. Austin, you guyshave been practicing in that miserable Dallas heat
this week. How advantageous do youthink that would be when you're I mean,
I don't even know how you guysget recession out there the way the
weather is. You guys are outthere nine ten eleven noon. I don't
even know how you do it.How much help when you come to New
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York where somehow it's twenty five degreescooler here, right, Yeah, it
is a big advantage, There's nodoubt about that. We've we've kind of
joked that every tournament we've played thissummer, when we get there, we
get our long sleeves church out becauseit's it's just astronomically cooler wherever we go.
So it's an advantage I think maybeyou know a little bit more mentally.
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You know, there's not going tobe a physical challenge either, I
think weatherwise, but you know,I mean it comes down to just focusing
on specifics. Doubles, it's alittle bit different. It's a little bit
more specific in your practice sessions andstuff. So you know, we try
to take it to match at atime and focus on our opponents and what
we need to do to do tobeat each team individually and just try to
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play our best match. But definitelythe heat here, it's it's getting us
prepared for anywhere in the world,and that's an advantage we have living in
Dallas, no doubt. I wascurious from your perspective, you've been based
in the Dallas area for so long, just what is it like for you
now to see that you know,we have Austin Krizek living here. John
Isner has just announced that this isgoing to be his last US Open.
But we've had John living here forthe last few years of his career.
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We've got Mitch Krueger, who's beena top one fifty pro. And you
know, we're just we're starting We'restarting to see more pros living in this
area. Obviously, you've got theDallas Open now every February. You know,
when I was a kid, Dallaswas such a huge stop on the
pro tour with I you know,in my teen years I watched every match
on TV from the WCT finals.But you know, I've lived here almost
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twenty five years now and we haven'thad a tennis presence like we finally have
now these last four or five years. What has it been like from your
seat to kind of watch that grow? You know, it's been special.
You know, I'm I'm born inDallas and grew up in in Plano and
now lived up north and prosper here, and so you know, to have
all these guys here and and traintogether and kind of set that bar up
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for each other, it's it's it'sso great to have. Man, It's
such an advantage and and for mepersonally to have coached three of those guys,
you know, working with John Isner, and then I still work with
Hans Hoch Verdugo, who's another guyUH that's playing on the doubles side.
And then to add on Austin acouple of years ago has just been tremendous,
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very passionate about my craft and UHsingles or doubles, and so it's
just great having the facilities here withwith SMU, down there with Grant and
then we got up north here withLakes Tennis Academy and Nick Johnson. So
it's nice to have the contacts andand UH and be able to train with
with this you know, that leveland the variety of players like we had
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when you mentioned you know, goodfriend Mitchell Krueger and and and then you
have the SMU team as well,so we have a lot of sparring partners,
a lot of practice sets and soforthth So it's really a big advantage
for us and and fun to bein that environment. I'm glad you mentioned
Hans. We can't leave out myother favorite lefty in town, one of
the pillars of Mexico's Davis Cup team. I want to go back to Austin.
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Now, if you guys are tennisfans like me, I urge you
to look up a story. MattFutterman, my former colleague from the New
York Times, wrote a tremendous featureon Austin after the French Open victory this
past June. But Austin, Imean, tell us here, how close
were you to actually stopping as atennis player when you know there was a
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period in career before the doubles tookoff that it wasn't as as fruitful as
it is now. How close wereyou to actually putting the rackets away for
good? Yeah, I mean Iwas minutes probably. I don't know how
you want to measure it, butyeah, I definitely had, you know,
other things lined up and was workingon another sort of career path.
And you know, it's just Iwould be lying to if you asked any
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tennis player, with how many upsand downs we have, if they wouldn't
almost all of them probably say they'vebeen very close to stopping as well.
It's a really frustrating sport to saythe least. But yeah, I mean
I definitely did. I mean,it was just at that point the financials
weren't making sense. We were,you know, just kind of working really
hard to get by and it justwasn't adding up. So I was definitely
looking to do something different and losta little bit of a little bit of
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love for the game in the onthe single side, and I think the
transition they're playing alongside some good buddiesat that time and having a couple of
good results in tails and eighteen inthe fall kind of propelled me to give
it another shot and doubles. AndI've always known that my skill set was
it was taylored a little bit moretowards that I had some success. I
would see juniors on both sides andsingles and doubles, but always had a
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little bit more with you know,winning in seas and doubles. And we
were always, you know, topfive in the country in doubles in school.
So I thought I could maybe makea run to try to win some
Grand Slams and push towards the topof the game and rankings. And I
figured if I, you know,tried again and singles, I could maybe
you know, maybe get back towhere I was there a little bit higher.
But I thought my upside but alittle bit limited on that front.
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And yeah, so I gave iton the shot and kind of rekindled my
love for the game and have beenenjoying it ever since. And I'm glad.
I'm glad I made that decision forsure. Our last few moments here
with ATP Tour double standout Austin Krycheckand his coach Philip Farmer joining us here
on the Saturday Stein Line on ninetyseven one the Freak presented by Panini Trading
(26:26):
Cards and Collectibles. Guys, let'send on this just what we are seeing
these days from Djokovic at Alcarez,the final they staged at Wimbledon, just
now again at Cincinnati. I mean, when you what is the chatter in
the locker room watching these two guyswho are like they just when they meet.
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I mean, they just don't looklike they're from this planet. So
like, what what do you guystalk about when you when you watch them
play sensational tennis? Did they play? I mean Novac obviously he's been doing
it for so long it's sometimes youbecome a little bit numb to it.
Just how how good he is,how discipline he is, how well he
does every little detail and I've gota ton of respect for him. It's
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it's actually incredible. But to seeAlcaz coming up now and not only is
such a good player, and Ithink he's going to be such a great
ambassador for the game moving forward,but what a nice kid he is.
I mean we always talk about that, Phil and I that Carlos is one
of the few guys I mean,just just a sensational guy. He always
makes the time to say hello,and you know, and I hope he
keeps that trading. I'm sure hewill, because that's kind of the person
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he is. But it's pretty coolto watch him play these matches with Novak,
and I'm sure when the torch doesget past, that's gonna be in
very good hands, you know,not just with Carlos, but but Center
and all these others, Verev andall these young guys that are coming up.
It's gonna be a very competitive nextdecade. I can say, that's
for sure. Yeah. And forme, Steiny, you know, I'm
big on the mental side of thegame, and you know, for for
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me and developing players, I liketo think of them as kind of having
a carpenter's tool belt, and eacheach slot has a specific tool and and
you know that you work on kindof developing new tools, sharpening uh some
as well. And and and oneof those a couple of those slots in
the tool belt is the mental sideand being able to handle the little losses
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along the way. And and theBrian bros talked to Austin and I a
lot about you know, we wonsixteen Grand Slams together, and Olympic gold
and a ton of tournaments over ahunt. You know, it's along the
way, all the tough matches andand the points that you lose along the
way, and all these matches,and it's it's just so difficult each week
to to come through and and andand uh and be undefeated that week.
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And so when I think about Djokovicand al Pres in this great rivalry they're
they're building now to me, justthe mental fortitude and just being able to
separate those little losses of set orpoints or match points that you didn't capitalize
on, and being able to juststay focused and being able to still let
go and pull the trigger on thosebig moments and hit these incredible shots as
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truly outstanding guys. I am soglad we were able to pull this off.
I've been from the minute I gotthis show. This is something I
knew I wanted to do right beforethe US Open. I wish you guys
save travels to New York and Iwish you guys great luck these upcoming two
weeks, because I know Austin probablyloves the thought of that French Open trophy
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being on the Mantel place for therest of his life. But I'm guessing
he would love to win his HomeSlam even more so. I'm wishing you
guys great success here. Everyone stickaround. We go back to basketball next
here as the Saturday Stein Line continueson ninety seven one the Free This is
the Saturday Stein Line Quiz Mark Steinpresented by Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles Fund
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your official home to Wald Dellas MavericksGames Frea. Yes, indeed, friends,
thanks for sticking with us here onthe Saturday Stein Line presented by Panini
America. Next week, I promisewill be back to normal operations with text
line interactions, maybe even a Paninicard giveaway again. This episode, it
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was due to circumstances beyond our control. It all had to be prerecorded because
of some studio maintenance going on thisweekend, some upgrades that are frankly over
my head. And on top ofthat, I'm in New York for the
US Open. I had to gethere to see the last ride in person
for John Isner. John is nowa Dallas resident. For so long he's
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been the top ranked men's player inUS tennis. He's playing not only his
final major, the Open is hisfarewell event at age thirty eight. Had
to see it for myself. Butlook, I know I've gone on overboard
here. Probably some would say withthe tennis talk this morning, I promised
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after the break, we're shifting backto basketball now, and here we go.
My idea, my answer to solvethis studio conundrum today was to take
a good segment of my Thursday visitwith Ben and Skin replay that here for
you now. Because we got deepinto some Slovenian national team talk and the
(31:30):
Dennis shrewder Moxi Kleiba feud. Wemade Ben take a virtual lie detector test,
We talked James Harden trade saga.You can check all that out here
now. Starting with my response toSkin about what else Skin asked me to
assess Luca don Chich and how he'slooked in preparation for this World Cup.
(31:52):
After all the talk about the workLuca's done on his body to slim down,
Luca looks tremendous. I think we'vealready seen it in some of these
Slovenian warm up games he did have. He did rest when they played the
United States because he took a shotto the quad and so they rested him
out of precaution. But I meanhis I think his per thirty six numbers
(32:15):
because obviously these are shorter games,so he's not gonna most likely not gonna
play thirty six minutes because it's aforty minute game. But I think his
per thirty six minute numbers are likethirty one, eleven and ten. I
mean, he looks tremendous. Theproblem he has is this is a weaker
Slovenian team than they've had when hewas the young guy, when he was
just a teenager. They actually wonEuroBasket with he and Goran Dragis playing together,
(32:40):
and that is, you know,pretty much the crowning sporting achievement in
team sports for the whole country ofSlovenia. They have some great individual athletes
in other sports like cycling and sportsthat I'm not even familiar with. But
as far as a team honored,for them to win EuroBasket a country of
that size was an incredible achievement,but that team had had more experience and
(33:02):
more firepower. Go Drag is nowretired from international competition. Vlot coach On
char from the Denver Nuggets, theonly other NBA player on the roster.
He got hurt in a warm upgame. He's out for the NBA season.
He suffered a pretty bad knee injury. And Edo Murich, who is
another very important player for the Slovenians, he's out there injury too, so
(33:24):
this is a much weaker team.He's still got Mike Toby for the pick
and pop. The naturalized American Lucais the best player in this tournament.
But I mean they are in thesame section with Germany, a very good
Germany team, even though Maxi Kleibadidn't play because of this squabble with Dennis
(33:46):
Shrewder so Germany would be even betterif they had if they had the Maverick.
But they have a very strong team. Germany, Australia, Slovenia.
One of those three teams is notgoing to make the quarter finals and basically
Luca is going to have to beherculean to carry his team to the final
eight this time, because Australia andGermany are They're strong, really tough,
(34:10):
really tough. You saw Germany lastweek and almost beat the United States in
a warm up game. All right, I want to I want to go
back to that denistrator Maxi Cleber thing. Trust, we're gonna we're gonna do
all the names properly today. Wellyou're not saying Maxi Cleber's name, right,
So okay? So uh okay,So how is the world looking at
(34:32):
Truder? Like? Is how iseveryone looking at Is everyone going, hey,
what great leadership keep one of ourbest players off the team? Or
is everyone going what and idiot?Honestly, you know how they're looking at
him? He is a monster onthe international stage. He is tremendous.
He's one of those guys like BobdonBogdanovitch from the Atlanta Hawks, like Evan
(34:52):
Fournier from the Knicks, when theyplay for their national team, they are
just they're they're high octane scores.And Dennis Shrewder is a really really dangerous
and quality FEBA player. So yeahthere. I mean, the Moxi situation
(35:13):
is awful because you know they areGermany's really good, Like Dirk never had
a team around him this deep.You've got Franz Wagner, You've got his
brother, Moe Wagner, You've gotDaniel Tie, You've got Isaac Bonga.
They have a lot of good playerson the German national team. I'm sure
Dirk wishes that he had two ofthese guys with him when he was playing
(35:35):
all those years, because again,his German teams were never this deep.
And the way Shrewder can do damageat the international level, I mean,
that's really what people are focusing onmore obviously for local purposes. I know
you, I know Dennis Shrewder isnot going to get a free Christmas card.
(35:57):
Let's just say. But I don'tthink the world is dwelling on that
as much as we are. We'retalking to Mark Stein here on the Ben
and Skin Show ninety seven one TheFreak brought to you by Panini Trading Cards
and Collectible. Thank you to thosefine folks. Okay, I want to
go back. There's another Maverick angle, because you mentioned in that same group
is Australia and so I have notseen what is Josh Green's suspected level of
(36:22):
involvement with the Australian team. Ifeel like I have not seen his name
mentioned. His level will be increased. You're gonna love that part of it
because he's basically they've moved him intothe starting lineup, all right, He's
a huge part of that team.You know, Matisse Tyble is on that
team. Of course, the MAVstried to go after Tyble and free agency,
(36:44):
put the offer sheet down, butTybal was a restricted free agent,
so Portland matched that. But JoshGreen has moved past Tyble into the starting
lineup. And so I think you'regonna see a lot of Josh Green.
And again, Australia is one ofthose teams that on their day they could
beat the United States. And thething about it is, again, this
(37:07):
ain't best to seven playoff basketball likewe're accustomed to. You know, the
United States could mow through its firstsix games like we expect them to win
their first two group stages. Youhave an off night in the quarterfinals and
you lose, like we saw intwenty nineteen. I was in China in
twenty nineteen with NBA players and GregPopovich coaching. The United States finished seventh,
(37:32):
the worst program finish ever even it'sthe worst even without NBA players.
So you lose on the wrong day. It's like the NCAA tournament, and
it can cause a lot of trouble. And I actually now want to ask
you two. I want to kray hook these guys up to the freak
lie detector. United States against Slovenia. Forget Skin Wade, Ben Rodgers,
(37:57):
who are you rooting for United Statesagainst Slovenia on National TV? Give me
the rooting. For give me thestarting five for America. Roughly we'll say
it's Brunson, Anthony Edwards. They'vegone with the same starting five every game.
I should know it, and ofcourse now I don't. But yeah,
Brunson, Anthony Edwards, Jaren JacksonJunior, and who am I leaving
(38:22):
out? Help me out? Skin, Come on, I really don't know.
Okay, that's good enough. Yeah, what you need to know.
Thanks for exposing Thanks for exposing meon a question I wasn't ready to appreciate
that. It's all good. Listen, these colors don't run Mark Stein and
I'm listening to Lee Greenwood right nowin a different headset, but I'm rooting
(38:44):
for Slovenia every edge of the way. Let's go David versus Goliath. I'm
going with the underdog. Give meLuca. Oh no, good job.
I knew it. I knew it. Yeah, I'm gonna be wearing a
Slovenian flag rut for Luca. Andall I really care about is I want
Luca to get some happiness out ofthis, because you know, my number
(39:07):
one fear is losing the Luca.I need him to be happy. I
need him to be MAV happy.And maybe if he's Slovenia happy from everything
that's happening this offseason for him,that maybe he's not as unhappy if things
don't go his way in Dallas.Okay, I'm still reeling from the fact
that i failed the name of thestarting lineup. I'm actually suspending myself.
(39:29):
Don't put yourself mcaal Bridges and BrandonIngram are the other starters, and then
Haliburton and Austin Reeves are kind ofthe big big the first names off the
bench there favorite to all right,yeah you know what, Yeah they're the
favorites. But Jake, it doesn'tmatter you know what, the other names
don't even matter because if at USAagainst Slovenia, it's Jalen Brunson starting against
(39:49):
Luca don check. Right, that'sall. That's all. That's all you're
gonna see from your palatial Richardson astate or wherever you're living there. Hey,
I do want to to get intothis briefly. What do you think
happens next with the James Harden situation? And how soon does it happen?
And does any of this have anythingto do with Damian Lillard, who nothing
(40:10):
seems to be going on with.Now, look, the Sixers want to
slow play this, so you know. Basically, the news emerged that the
Sixers were ending trade talks with theClippers and any other theoretical trade partner.
And the reason they did that wewas because those talks were going nowhere.
(40:30):
Nobody can furnish Philly with what theywant in return for James Harden. They're
asking price is naturally higher than anybodywants to meet. And beyond that,
Philly's trying to Philly's in this weirdspot where they can come into a ton
of cap space next summer. IfHarden's contract and Tobias Tobias Harris's contract.
(40:53):
When those contracts expire, they're gonnahave tons of cap space, so they
don't want to trade Harden for somesort of trade package that messes that up.
But the challenge that the challenge thatthey really face is like they're not
going to trade Harden in the shortterm. Is Harden going to come to
training camp? It's Harden going tocause problems? Yes, those are all
(41:13):
questions that we're going to be askingad nauseum. And Harden's history says maybe
he is going to go in thereand cause a ruckus and you know,
make things uncomfortable. But Philly's realconcern here at all times is Joel Embid
and can they sell and bead on. Listen, this season might be rough,
we might have to just kind ofroll with whatever happens. But trust
(41:36):
us, once we get that capspace next summer, we're going to do
big things with the cap space.We're gonna resign Maxie to a contract extension.
But Joel Embid turns thirty in March. Does Joel Embiid really want a
gap year season while they deal withthis hardened mess. That's kind of the
question in Philly and that's what they'regoing to have to manage. But the
reality is Harden can make as muchnoise as he wants to make, he
(42:00):
can't force them to trade him,and because he's on the last year of
his deal, he can't just goon a personal strike because the league rules
actually would enable Philly to prevent himfrom becoming a free agent. So if
he wants to be a free agentnext summer and pick his next team,
he's gonna have to play ball withPhilly on some level. So there's obviously
(42:22):
a ton of interest in how thisall plays out and all the ins and
outs, with the madness of Hardenand what he might do next. But
honestly, the real question here iswhat does Joel Embid think of all this
and what is he going to do? Is he going to just deal with
at chaotic season or the Sixers?The Sixers haven't been passed the second round
(42:44):
of the playoffs since the year theywent to the finals in two thousand and
one. It has been a longtime for them just to get to the
conference finals. Does Embiid really wantto sit through another season of chaos and
a short playoff run? And sothat's kind of what everybody in the league
is watching. How is embiid goingto react to all this? All?
Right, everyone that will do itfor this edition of the Saturday Steinline.
(43:08):
Once again, we will be backin studio, live and in the flesh
next Saturday when I. By thenI will grudgingly have left this US open
and it's glorious high seventies temperatures sofar to come back to the withering,
(43:30):
stifling heat of North Texas. ThanksAzilion for listening and hanging out with me
on yet another Saturday. Thanks muchto Grooves for his yeoman work in assembling
this episode. It's a lot harderthan it sounds, believe me.
Ag LF for Worst Dallas. It'snot meant to hit intelligent people. Ninety
seven one The Freak. Welcome tothe Saturday Stein Line with Mark Stein,
presented by Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles. On ninety seven one The Freak,
(00:23):
the official home to all Dallas Nevericksgames, hosted by legendary NBA reporter and
publisher of his substack, The SteinLine. Here's Mark Stein. Friends.
Hello, once again, welcome into another edition of the Saturday Stein Line,
presented by Pannini Trading Cards and Collectibles. Mark Stein here with you from
(00:49):
Manhattan. This week. I'm atthe US Open, which I as I
revealed on the Ben and Skin Showthe other day, this is really and
truly my favorite sporting event to attendin the United States. I went for
the first time when I was stillin high school, absolutely fell in love
(01:11):
with it. It is one ofmy fall traditions to sneak here to the
East Coast see at least some ofit. We've got last. We've got
lots lots of basketball talk to come, I assure you, as usual on
these Saturday noon hours when we gettogether Feeble World Cup, lots of World
(01:34):
Cup talk in today's show. OnThursday night, I broke the news of
a Luca don Chich contract extension withJordan Brand, his shoe endorser contract extension
through twenty twenty nine. Earlier inthe week, I reported about Javail McGhee
and the Mavericks plans to wave McGheebefore August thirty feet, that's next week.
(02:00):
They want to wave and stretch theremaining two seasons on McGee's contract.
They want to stretch that over thenext five years, stretching the salary cap
hit over that half decade, sothey only incur a payroll cost of two
plus million over the next five seasons. We're going to get into all that
(02:21):
today, but I have to sayit's particularly good timing to be where I
am for a couple of reasons.For starters somehow, don't ask me to
explain this, because US open conditionstypically quite toasty, sticky, not welcoming
for players to play here. There'sa lot of noise and usually temperatures that
(02:45):
aren't very comfortable. But it hasbeen so nice, nearly thirty degrees cooler
in the city for me than itis back home in Dallas. It's wild
to step outside the hotel, andyou feel a breeze and it's high seventies.
It gets hotter than that on thecourt, but it's nowhere near the
(03:06):
levels, and I'm sorry for smellingit out this way, nowhere near the
stifling, smothering, soul wrecking heatand humidity like I know we have in
North Texas right now. The otherreason my timing is good, there's some
studio maintenance going on this weekend.We got all kinds of fancy new stuff
(03:27):
in here that's way beyond my paygrade or technical ability to know how to
use. But it meant that thisshow had to be prerecorded, so that
means I do not I will admitupfront, I do not have live reaction
for you this afternoon to Slovenia's firstgame in the Feeble World Cup earlier today
against Venezuela, or the United Statesopener against New Zealand, which was believe
(03:55):
on ESPN two. I will assumethat these two teams that hold the greatest
interest for our listeners, for youguys, the USA, and of course
Luca led Slovenia, Luca Dontich ledSlovenia. I'm going to assume both won
their openers I can't tell you thiswithout reservation. I'm really psyched for this
(04:17):
tournament, and I suspect that manyof you who regularly listen to this show,
I suspect you are too. Ilove international basketball. I've covered tons
of it throughout my career. I'vehad the good fortune of going to three
of these World Cups. Two thousandtwo in Indianapolis, two fourteen in Spain,
(04:39):
maybe the best assignment of my career, thirty plus days in Spain,
twenty nineteen in China. I've alsocovered three Olympics, two thousand in Sydney,
two twelve in London, twenty sixteenin Rio. And when NBA addicts
like us, when we are inthe middle of these long summers, when
(05:00):
free agency is far in the rearview mirror, and when NBA training camps
are still more than a month away, it's a godsend to have an event
like the Feeble World Cup pop upand help us get through. Now.
I know the hours for this tournamentare early because these games are all being
played in Asia, in Indonesia andJapan and the Philippines. So when you
(05:25):
live in Dallas, when you livein the DFW area, if you live
in the Central time zone. You'relooking at three am tipoffs and three thirty
tipoffs and four am tipoffs, Andas always with a tournament like this,
there's gonna be lots of talk aboutwho isn't playing. There's no Nicola Yokis
for Serbia, no Janis Anteekumpo forGreece, no Demonte Sibonis for Lithuania.
(05:49):
And Team USA. This is obviouslya B or even C team for the
United States, which only has threecurrent All Stars on it. Anthony Edwards,
Tyrese Haliburton, Jaren Jackson Junior BrandonIngram does have an All Star appearance
(06:10):
on his resume. I think JayalenBrunson, who you guys all know very
well. I think Jalen's a futureAll Star. But a much stronger and
much starrier team will be sent byUSA Basketball to next Summer's Olympics in Paris.
We know that. All that said, though, I still say there's
a lot to see here now,some things that I think you should be
(06:34):
keeping your eye on. Beyond thelocal fascination with Luca and Slovenia. There
are fifty five current NBA players inthis tournament, so somewhere between ten to
twelve percent of the active NBA populationis going to be on the floor here
(06:54):
fifty five that's an NBA league recordtotal. Plus you've got about forty more
players, more than forty actually withsome NBA experience. So I'm not going
to sit here and try to pretendthat this is going to be the best
basketball in the world. But it'squality stuff, and it's high frequency.
Eight games a day from now untilSeptember third. You've got to deal with
(07:15):
the rest day on September fourth,but then two more games a day from
September fifth through the tenth again forhoopeds, trying to fill the void until
September twenty nine, when the Maverickshold media day before their first practice on
September thirty. If this is welcomestuff, thirty two thirty two teams in
(07:36):
the field rather than just twelve thatyou see in men's and women's Olympic basketball.
A few more things that you shouldtake note of. The Americans draw
is really favorable. France, Australia, Canada, Germany, and Spain.
Those are the teams most widely regardedas threats that could stun the United States
(08:03):
on a good day. On abad Day for the Americans and again the
United States trying to avenge or makeup for a humbling, humbling seventh place
finish in China in twenty nineteen.But none of those teams I just named,
none of them can face Team USAbefore the semi finals if the Americans
(08:24):
win their first six games as expected. So this US team, they've got
no excuses. They are the favoritesand they are supposed to win this thing.
Something else you'll want to watch Canada. Canada's talent is tantalizing. If
Canada had its full strength team,we would be talking about Shay Giljis,
(08:48):
Alexander and Jamal Murriott, guard AndrewWiggins, RJ Barrett, Benedict Maturin attacking
from the wing. You got luDort and Dylan Brooks to lead the d
fence, Kelly Olnok and Dallas's ownDwhite Pow on the front line with floor
spacing, rim diving, respectively.Now Canada does not have all of those
(09:09):
players. No Andrew Wiggins, noJabal Murray, no matter in the outstanding
rookie last season from Indiana. Sothe other problem the Canadians have they're in
They're in close proximity in the drawto France and Spain one France, Spain
and Canada. One of those teamsis not going to reach the final eight
(09:33):
and that will be a shock becauseof the quality those teams possess. And
that's that's one of the big storylinesto follow in this tournament. And that
leads us to Luca and Slovenia becausethey face similar challenge. They face similar
issues and challenges that the Canadians face. Just like that France, Spain Canada
(09:54):
trio where only two can reach thequarterfinals, it's the same deal for Slovene,
Australia, Germany and Slovenia. Onlytwo of those teams can get to
the quarterfinals. And like I said, we will get into more of this
in the third segment when I replaymy chat with Ben and Skin from the
Thursday nooner. But you know theSlovenia. For Slovenia, the issue is
(10:18):
Luka Donci is the best player inthe tournament. On my scorecard, yes
I have him ahead of Sga,but Luca's got a far more inexperienced team
around him in this World Cup campaignthan he's used to. No Vlatko Chanchar
from the Denver Nuggets because of injury. No Edo Murisch because of injury.
(10:39):
No Goran Dragics who is now retiredfrom international play. So if Luca gets
Sloveni to the quarterfinals, seriously,hats off to him, that will be
a major, major achievement. Someother stuff to watch. Germany is really
good even without Maxi Kleiba. Andagain in the third segment, I've got
more on that feud he's got withwith Dennis Shrewder. The Germans might be
(11:03):
the second best European team in thefield Spain. Spain is the reigning World
Cup champion, but this edition ofSpain only one current NBA player on the
roster Memphis Santi Aldama from the MemphisGrizzlies. No Ricky Rubio, no Lorenzo
Brown for the Spaniards. No Gasolseither because Powan Marcusol are retired from international
(11:26):
play. But no Rubio and noBrown. That means Spain, which has
been such a powerhouse on the internationalbasketball scene for two decades now, Spain
doesn't have its two best guards.Rubio was the MVP at the last World
Cup in China. So, likeI told you, there's there's tons to
(11:48):
talk about with this tournament a zillionangles. I really don't even have time
here in this segment to get toCarl Anthony Town's going back to the Dominican
Republic. The Timberwolves have. Thereare three best guys in this tournament,
kat playing for the Dominican Republic,Rudy Gobert playing for France, and Anthony
Edwards. He's the star really ofthis team USA and for Dallas fans.
(12:11):
You know, the Wolves should bea team of interest because in early October
it's going to be Mavericks against theTimberwolves for two exhibition games in Abu Dhabi,
the first two exhibition games on themav schedule. I didn't even mention
that I got to throw in,you know, Kyle Anderson SloMo Anderson has
obtained Chinese citizenship, Kyle Anderson playingfor China. I think you get by
(12:37):
now where I'm coming from. Tonsand tons and tons here for you guys
to laser in and enjoy with thisFEBA World Cup. We'll do more of
that in segment three. But nextup, I told you guys, I
was in New York. I thinkyou've heard me explain more than once my
deep love of tennis and That iswhy I am going to uncork a US
(13:03):
Open preview on this fledgling show,Who's Gonna Stop Me? Former Texas A
and M star Austin Krycheck now livingin Allen. In June, Krycheck won
the French Open men's doubles alongside theCroatian Ivan Dodig, Austin's coach Philip Farmer,
(13:24):
who lives in Prosper and he repsthe Lakes Tennis Academy in Frisco.
Austin Krycheck and Philip Farmer are joiningme next Yes for a segment of tennis
Talk as The Saturday Stein Line,the only breezy part of your DFW Saturday,
(13:45):
continues here on ninety seven one theFreak. You're listening to the Saturday
Stein Line with Mark Stein, presentedby Benini Trading Cards and Collectibles on your
official home to Dallas Mavericks Games Freethe Freak. This is Dirt and Whisky
and you're listening to the Saturday SteinLine with my guys Steiny on ninety seven
(14:09):
one to Freak. This is Dirtand Whisky and you're listening to the Saturday
Stein Line with my guys Steiny onninety seven one to freak all right,
friends, the Saturday Stein Line rollson, presented by Panini America. And
yes, you just heard me layout all my thoughts about the Feeble World
(14:30):
Cup in Asia now underway. Butit's equally true my favorite sporting event on
American soil is also underway at thesame time. I'm actually in New York
City. My head and heart intwo places this time of year. The
beauty of having this amazing show.And thank you again Pannini for all your
(14:54):
efforts to make this possible. Guys, I love tennis. Tennis is probably
don't tell anybody. Tennis is probablymy deepest sporting love. I became a
professional sportswriter. I do believe Iwas born to be a sportswriter. But
it was my dream of making thepro tennis circuit. That's what cemented it.
(15:16):
And the plan initially for real wasto make the tour with my pen
in my notebook, because I knewmy racket wasn't gonna get me there.
That became pretty obvious pretty early.I started way too late. I didn't
start playing tennis ntil I was thirteen, way too late to try to make
it as a player. But Iwas gonna make it as a writer.
And this is all just a longway of me saying you don't hear much
(15:39):
tennis talk on the radio, buton this show, on my show,
there is going to be tennis talk, especially now when the US Open is
upon us. I've been here allweek for qualifying. I went to qualities.
I went to US Open qualities forthe first time in nineteen eighty six
and I was hooked for life.But today we are going to look at
(16:00):
the sport, to the other endof the tennis spectrum. We are going
to talk about Grand Slam glory,Grand Slam glory achieved after Grand Slam,
Payne and the beauty. The beautifulthing of this is we're gonna talk to
two stars from what I like tocall the burgeoning Dallas tennis mafia. We've
(16:25):
got Austin Krichek, the former Aand M star who in June he became
French Open Doubles Champion Men's doubles champat the French Open, alongside the Croatian
Ivan Dodig, his coach, PhilipFarmer, doctor Phil, as I like
to call him. In two thousandand three, Phil coach to Brian brothers
(16:45):
to their first Grand Slam title,also at Roland Garros, and twenty years
later he helps here Austin there alongsideDoteg. Guys, you already know you're
my guys, but I'm really honoredto have you on here. I truly
love this. Yes, it maybecowboys country, but we are talking tennis
this morning, mister Krycheck. Iwant to start with you when you have
(17:07):
a grand When you have a GrandSlam on your resume after chasing one for
so long, when you wake upin the morning, now, what feels
different, Yes, sir, Imean, it's definitely a long road.
It's been a dream of mine sinceI was five years old and started playing
tennis, and there's a lot ofups and downs along the way. But
(17:29):
it really was. It was anawesome achievement this year, especially like you
mentioned there after last year having adisappointing whilst in the finals when we had
three match points. To be ableto come back this year and finish the
job in the same place in Paris, it's one of our favorite cities to
play. It really was a dreamcome true. And also to kind of
group that in with hitting the numberone ranking that same week was was really
(17:49):
a little bit surreal, and youknow, it's it's been a little while
now, but I mean, astennis goes, we're so busy at the
time. It still really hasn't sunkin quite yet. But yeah, it's
it's a it's a never ending processand we just try to keep improving and
kind of focus on the next tournament. But it really has been a dream
come true this summer, for sure, Doctor Phil Listen. Austin is a
(18:11):
humble guy. If he made thetop one hundred and singles before he became
the world's number one in doubles,and you've been coaching on the tour for
more than twenty years, I don'tneed to tell you how hard it is
just to get to the top onehundred. Both you and I as tennis
junkies, would love to be ableto tell people that we sniffed the top
(18:32):
two hundred and singles. But whenyou when you got your up close look
at Austin, why did you thinkhe would be so much better in doubles?
What what does his game have thatmakes him so doubles friendly? Yeah,
well, first of all, Stein, thanks for having us on real
quick, and you're you know,You're my guy too, and excited to
see in New York. So thanksthanks for having us on the show Man.
(18:55):
Yeah, you know, with withwith Austin, you know, I
see it. We've been working togetherabout two years now, and you know,
he's just he's got he's got itall. He is, you know,
willing to do whatever it takes,open minded, hungry, very very
coachable, probably the best asset.They're very coachable, very professional, and
(19:21):
we just clicked right away. Itwas just a good fit. And we're
both incredibly competitive obviously, both asplayer and coach, and I'm you know,
very gold driven as well. Sowhen we sat down, man,
it just really our goals aligned,and I wanted to, uh to also
coach another player to a Grand Slamand to do it, as you said,
(19:44):
Mark, twenty years later, Boband Mike won their first Slam and
became number one. So it wasreally surreal and special to me for Austin
to do it, winning his firstGrand Slam in Paris the same tournament and
finishing number one with that that sameresult. So it's pretty crazy how history
repeated itself. And I'm most proudbecause these all three guys are very,
(20:07):
very you know close friends as well. Not just you know my players,
but you know they're just incredible forthe sport, and you know, to
do it with special guys like thatis man's just the dream come true.
Austin Krycheckter, reigning French Openman's Doubleschampion, alongside Evan Dodick and his coach
(20:27):
Phil Farmer. Dallas. Guys herejoining me on the Saturday sideline on ninety
seven one The Freak presented by Panini. This is our US Open preview.
Maybe you didn't know you were gettinga US Open preview on this show,
but you are. And I amalready here in New York and like I
said, soaking it up. It'smy favorite event to come to in the
(20:48):
United States. Austin, you guyshave been practicing in that miserable Dallas heat
this week. How advantageous do youthink that would be when you're I mean,
I don't even know how you guysget recession out there the way the
weather is. You guys are outthere nine ten eleven noon. I don't
even know how you do it.How much help when you come to New
(21:10):
York where somehow it's twenty five degreescooler here, right, Yeah, it
is a big advantage, There's nodoubt about that. We've we've kind of
joked that every tournament we've played thissummer, when we get there, we
get our long sleeves church out becauseit's it's just astronomically cooler wherever we go.
So it's an advantage I think maybeyou know a little bit more mentally.
(21:30):
You know, there's not going tobe a physical challenge either, I
think weatherwise, but you know,I mean it comes down to just focusing
on specifics. Doubles, it's alittle bit different. It's a little bit
more specific in your practice sessions andstuff. So you know, we try
to take it to match at atime and focus on our opponents and what
we need to do to do tobeat each team individually and just try to
(21:52):
play our best match. But definitelythe heat here, it's it's getting us
prepared for anywhere in the world,and that's an advantage we have living in
Dallas, no doubt. I wascurious from your perspective, you've been based
in the Dallas area for so long, just what is it like for you
now to see that you know,we have Austin Krizek living here. John
Isner has just announced that this isgoing to be his last US Open.
But we've had John living here forthe last few years of his career.
(22:15):
We've got Mitch Krueger, who's beena top one fifty pro. And you
know, we're just we're starting We'restarting to see more pros living in this
area. Obviously, you've got theDallas Open now every February. You know,
when I was a kid, Dallaswas such a huge stop on the
pro tour with I you know,in my teen years I watched every match
on TV from the WCT finals.But you know, I've lived here almost
(22:38):
twenty five years now and we haven'thad a tennis presence like we finally have
now these last four or five years. What has it been like from your
seat to kind of watch that grow? You know, it's been special.
You know, I'm I'm born inDallas and grew up in in Plano and
now lived up north and prosper here, and so you know, to have
all these guys here and and traintogether and kind of set that bar up
(23:03):
for each other, it's it's it'sso great to have. Man, It's
such an advantage and and for mepersonally to have coached three of those guys,
you know, working with John Isner, and then I still work with
Hans Hoch Verdugo, who's another guyUH that's playing on the doubles side.
And then to add on Austin acouple of years ago has just been tremendous,
(23:25):
very passionate about my craft and UHsingles or doubles, and so it's
just great having the facilities here withwith SMU, down there with Grant and
then we got up north here withLakes Tennis Academy and Nick Johnson. So
it's nice to have the contacts andand UH and be able to train with
with this you know, that leveland the variety of players like we had
(23:48):
when you mentioned you know, goodfriend Mitchell Krueger and and and then you
have the SMU team as well,so we have a lot of sparring partners,
a lot of practice sets and soforthth So it's really a big advantage
for us and and fun to bein that environment. I'm glad you mentioned
Hans. We can't leave out myother favorite lefty in town, one of
the pillars of Mexico's Davis Cup team. I want to go back to Austin.
(24:10):
Now, if you guys are tennisfans like me, I urge you
to look up a story. MattFutterman, my former colleague from the New
York Times, wrote a tremendous featureon Austin after the French Open victory this
past June. But Austin, Imean, tell us here, how close
were you to actually stopping as atennis player when you know there was a
(24:32):
period in career before the doubles tookoff that it wasn't as as fruitful as
it is now. How close wereyou to actually putting the rackets away for
good? Yeah, I mean Iwas minutes probably. I don't know how
you want to measure it, butyeah, I definitely had, you know,
other things lined up and was workingon another sort of career path.
And you know, it's just Iwould be lying to if you asked any
(24:56):
tennis player, with how many upsand downs we have, if they wouldn't
almost all of them probably say they'vebeen very close to stopping as well.
It's a really frustrating sport to saythe least. But yeah, I mean
I definitely did. I mean,it was just at that point the financials
weren't making sense. We were,you know, just kind of working really
hard to get by and it justwasn't adding up. So I was definitely
looking to do something different and losta little bit of a little bit of
(25:21):
love for the game in the onthe single side, and I think the
transition they're playing alongside some good buddiesat that time and having a couple of
good results in tails and eighteen inthe fall kind of propelled me to give
it another shot and doubles. AndI've always known that my skill set was
it was taylored a little bit moretowards that I had some success. I
would see juniors on both sides andsingles and doubles, but always had a
(25:41):
little bit more with you know,winning in seas and doubles. And we
were always, you know, topfive in the country in doubles in school.
So I thought I could maybe makea run to try to win some
Grand Slams and push towards the topof the game and rankings. And I
figured if I, you know,tried again and singles, I could maybe
you know, maybe get back towhere I was there a little bit higher.
But I thought my upside but alittle bit limited on that front.
(26:03):
And yeah, so I gave iton the shot and kind of rekindled my
love for the game and have beenenjoying it ever since. And I'm glad.
I'm glad I made that decision forsure. Our last few moments here
with ATP Tour double standout Austin Krycheckand his coach Philip Farmer joining us here
on the Saturday Stein Line on ninetyseven one the Freak presented by Panini Trading
(26:26):
Cards and Collectibles. Guys, let'send on this just what we are seeing
these days from Djokovic at Alcarez,the final they staged at Wimbledon, just
now again at Cincinnati. I mean, when you what is the chatter in
the locker room watching these two guyswho are like they just when they meet.
(26:48):
I mean, they just don't looklike they're from this planet. So
like, what what do you guystalk about when you when you watch them
play sensational tennis? Did they play? I mean Novac obviously he's been doing
it for so long it's sometimes youbecome a little bit numb to it.
Just how how good he is,how discipline he is, how well he
does every little detail and I've gota ton of respect for him. It's
(27:11):
it's actually incredible. But to seeAlcaz coming up now and not only is
such a good player, and Ithink he's going to be such a great
ambassador for the game moving forward,but what a nice kid he is.
I mean we always talk about that, Phil and I that Carlos is one
of the few guys I mean,just just a sensational guy. He always
makes the time to say hello,and you know, and I hope he
keeps that trading. I'm sure hewill, because that's kind of the person
(27:33):
he is. But it's pretty coolto watch him play these matches with Novak,
and I'm sure when the torch doesget past, that's gonna be in
very good hands, you know,not just with Carlos, but but Center
and all these others, Verev andall these young guys that are coming up.
It's gonna be a very competitive nextdecade. I can say, that's
for sure. Yeah. And forme, Steiny, you know, I'm
big on the mental side of thegame, and you know, for for
(27:59):
me and developing players, I liketo think of them as kind of having
a carpenter's tool belt, and eacheach slot has a specific tool and and
you know that you work on kindof developing new tools, sharpening uh some
as well. And and and oneof those a couple of those slots in
the tool belt is the mental sideand being able to handle the little losses
(28:22):
along the way. And and theBrian bros talked to Austin and I a
lot about you know, we wonsixteen Grand Slams together, and Olympic gold
and a ton of tournaments over ahunt. You know, it's along the
way, all the tough matches andand the points that you lose along the
way, and all these matches,and it's it's just so difficult each week
to to come through and and andand uh and be undefeated that week.
(28:44):
And so when I think about Djokovicand al Pres in this great rivalry they're
they're building now to me, justthe mental fortitude and just being able to
separate those little losses of set orpoints or match points that you didn't capitalize
on, and being able to juststay focused and being able to still let
go and pull the trigger on thosebig moments and hit these incredible shots as
(29:10):
truly outstanding guys. I am soglad we were able to pull this off.
I've been from the minute I gotthis show. This is something I
knew I wanted to do right beforethe US Open. I wish you guys
save travels to New York and Iwish you guys great luck these upcoming two
weeks, because I know Austin probablyloves the thought of that French Open trophy
(29:32):
being on the Mantel place for therest of his life. But I'm guessing
he would love to win his HomeSlam even more so. I'm wishing you
guys great success here. Everyone stickaround. We go back to basketball next
here as the Saturday Stein Line continueson ninety seven one the Free This is
the Saturday Stein Line Quiz Mark Steinpresented by Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles Fund
(29:56):
your official home to Wald Dellas MavericksGames Frea. Yes, indeed, friends,
thanks for sticking with us here onthe Saturday Stein Line presented by Panini
America. Next week, I promisewill be back to normal operations with text
line interactions, maybe even a Paninicard giveaway again. This episode, it
(30:21):
was due to circumstances beyond our control. It all had to be prerecorded because
of some studio maintenance going on thisweekend, some upgrades that are frankly over
my head. And on top ofthat, I'm in New York for the
US Open. I had to gethere to see the last ride in person
for John Isner. John is nowa Dallas resident. For so long he's
(30:45):
been the top ranked men's player inUS tennis. He's playing not only his
final major, the Open is hisfarewell event at age thirty eight. Had
to see it for myself. Butlook, I know I've gone on overboard
here. Probably some would say withthe tennis talk this morning, I promised
(31:06):
after the break, we're shifting backto basketball now, and here we go.
My idea, my answer to solvethis studio conundrum today was to take
a good segment of my Thursday visitwith Ben and Skin replay that here for
you now. Because we got deepinto some Slovenian national team talk and the
(31:30):
Dennis shrewder Moxi Kleiba feud. Wemade Ben take a virtual lie detector test,
We talked James Harden trade saga.You can check all that out here
now. Starting with my response toSkin about what else Skin asked me to
assess Luca don Chich and how he'slooked in preparation for this World Cup.
(31:52):
After all the talk about the workLuca's done on his body to slim down,
Luca looks tremendous. I think we'vealready seen it in some of these
Slovenian warm up games he did have. He did rest when they played the
United States because he took a shotto the quad and so they rested him
out of precaution. But I meanhis I think his per thirty six numbers
(32:15):
because obviously these are shorter games,so he's not gonna most likely not gonna
play thirty six minutes because it's aforty minute game. But I think his
per thirty six minute numbers are likethirty one, eleven and ten. I
mean, he looks tremendous. Theproblem he has is this is a weaker
Slovenian team than they've had when hewas the young guy, when he was
just a teenager. They actually wonEuroBasket with he and Goran Dragis playing together,
(32:40):
and that is, you know,pretty much the crowning sporting achievement in
team sports for the whole country ofSlovenia. They have some great individual athletes
in other sports like cycling and sportsthat I'm not even familiar with. But
as far as a team honored,for them to win EuroBasket a country of
that size was an incredible achievement,but that team had had more experience and
(33:02):
more firepower. Go Drag is nowretired from international competition. Vlot coach On
char from the Denver Nuggets, theonly other NBA player on the roster.
He got hurt in a warm upgame. He's out for the NBA season.
He suffered a pretty bad knee injury. And Edo Murich, who is
another very important player for the Slovenians, he's out there injury too, so
(33:24):
this is a much weaker team.He's still got Mike Toby for the pick
and pop. The naturalized American Lucais the best player in this tournament.
But I mean they are in thesame section with Germany, a very good
Germany team, even though Maxi Kleibadidn't play because of this squabble with Dennis
(33:46):
Shrewder so Germany would be even betterif they had if they had the Maverick.
But they have a very strong team. Germany, Australia, Slovenia.
One of those three teams is notgoing to make the quarter finals and basically
Luca is going to have to beherculean to carry his team to the final
eight this time, because Australia andGermany are They're strong, really tough,
(34:10):
really tough. You saw Germany lastweek and almost beat the United States in
a warm up game. All right, I want to I want to go
back to that denistrator Maxi Cleber thing. Trust, we're gonna we're gonna do
all the names properly today. Wellyou're not saying Maxi Cleber's name, right,
So okay? So uh okay,So how is the world looking at
(34:32):
Truder? Like? Is how iseveryone looking at Is everyone going, hey,
what great leadership keep one of ourbest players off the team? Or
is everyone going what and idiot?Honestly, you know how they're looking at
him? He is a monster onthe international stage. He is tremendous.
He's one of those guys like BobdonBogdanovitch from the Atlanta Hawks, like Evan
(34:52):
Fournier from the Knicks, when theyplay for their national team, they are
just they're they're high octane scores.And Dennis Shrewder is a really really dangerous
and quality FEBA player. So yeahthere. I mean, the Moxi situation
(35:13):
is awful because you know they areGermany's really good, Like Dirk never had
a team around him this deep.You've got Franz Wagner, You've got his
brother, Moe Wagner, You've gotDaniel Tie, You've got Isaac Bonga.
They have a lot of good playerson the German national team. I'm sure
Dirk wishes that he had two ofthese guys with him when he was playing
(35:35):
all those years, because again,his German teams were never this deep.
And the way Shrewder can do damageat the international level, I mean,
that's really what people are focusing onmore obviously for local purposes. I know
you, I know Dennis Shrewder isnot going to get a free Christmas card.
(35:57):
Let's just say. But I don'tthink the world is dwelling on that
as much as we are. We'retalking to Mark Stein here on the Ben
and Skin Show ninety seven one TheFreak brought to you by Panini Trading Cards
and Collectible. Thank you to thosefine folks. Okay, I want to
go back. There's another Maverick angle, because you mentioned in that same group
is Australia and so I have notseen what is Josh Green's suspected level of
(36:22):
involvement with the Australian team. Ifeel like I have not seen his name
mentioned. His level will be increased. You're gonna love that part of it
because he's basically they've moved him intothe starting lineup, all right, He's
a huge part of that team.You know, Matisse Tyble is on that
team. Of course, the MAVstried to go after Tyble and free agency,
(36:44):
put the offer sheet down, butTybal was a restricted free agent,
so Portland matched that. But JoshGreen has moved past Tyble into the starting
lineup. And so I think you'regonna see a lot of Josh Green.
And again, Australia is one ofthose teams that on their day they could
beat the United States. And thething about it is, again, this
(37:07):
ain't best to seven playoff basketball likewe're accustomed to. You know, the
United States could mow through its firstsix games like we expect them to win
their first two group stages. Youhave an off night in the quarterfinals and
you lose, like we saw intwenty nineteen. I was in China in
twenty nineteen with NBA players and GregPopovich coaching. The United States finished seventh,
(37:32):
the worst program finish ever even it'sthe worst even without NBA players.
So you lose on the wrong day. It's like the NCAA tournament, and
it can cause a lot of trouble. And I actually now want to ask
you two. I want to kray hook these guys up to the freak
lie detector. United States against Slovenia. Forget Skin Wade, Ben Rodgers,
(37:57):
who are you rooting for United Statesagainst Slovenia on National TV? Give me
the rooting. For give me thestarting five for America. Roughly we'll say
it's Brunson, Anthony Edwards. They'vegone with the same starting five every game.
I should know it, and ofcourse now I don't. But yeah,
Brunson, Anthony Edwards, Jaren JacksonJunior, and who am I leaving
(38:22):
out? Help me out? Skin, Come on, I really don't know.
Okay, that's good enough. Yeah, what you need to know.
Thanks for exposing Thanks for exposing meon a question I wasn't ready to appreciate
that. It's all good. Listen, these colors don't run Mark Stein and
I'm listening to Lee Greenwood right nowin a different headset, but I'm rooting
(38:44):
for Slovenia every edge of the way. Let's go David versus Goliath. I'm
going with the underdog. Give meLuca. Oh no, good job.
I knew it. I knew it. Yeah, I'm gonna be wearing a
Slovenian flag rut for Luca. Andall I really care about is I want
Luca to get some happiness out ofthis, because you know, my number
(39:07):
one fear is losing the Luca.I need him to be happy. I
need him to be MAV happy.And maybe if he's Slovenia happy from everything
that's happening this offseason for him,that maybe he's not as unhappy if things
don't go his way in Dallas.Okay, I'm still reeling from the fact
that i failed the name of thestarting lineup. I'm actually suspending myself.
(39:29):
Don't put yourself mcaal Bridges and BrandonIngram are the other starters, and then
Haliburton and Austin Reeves are kind ofthe big big the first names off the
bench there favorite to all right,yeah you know what, Yeah they're the
favorites. But Jake, it doesn'tmatter you know what, the other names
don't even matter because if at USAagainst Slovenia, it's Jalen Brunson starting against
(39:49):
Luca don check. Right, that'sall. That's all. That's all you're
gonna see from your palatial Richardson astate or wherever you're living there. Hey,
I do want to to get intothis briefly. What do you think
happens next with the James Harden situation? And how soon does it happen?
And does any of this have anythingto do with Damian Lillard, who nothing
(40:10):
seems to be going on with.Now, look, the Sixers want to
slow play this, so you know. Basically, the news emerged that the
Sixers were ending trade talks with theClippers and any other theoretical trade partner.
And the reason they did that wewas because those talks were going nowhere.
(40:30):
Nobody can furnish Philly with what theywant in return for James Harden. They're
asking price is naturally higher than anybodywants to meet. And beyond that,
Philly's trying to Philly's in this weirdspot where they can come into a ton
of cap space next summer. IfHarden's contract and Tobias Tobias Harris's contract.
(40:53):
When those contracts expire, they're gonnahave tons of cap space, so they
don't want to trade Harden for somesort of trade package that messes that up.
But the challenge that the challenge thatthey really face is like they're not
going to trade Harden in the shortterm. Is Harden going to come to
training camp? It's Harden going tocause problems? Yes, those are all
(41:13):
questions that we're going to be askingad nauseum. And Harden's history says maybe
he is going to go in thereand cause a ruckus and you know,
make things uncomfortable. But Philly's realconcern here at all times is Joel Embid
and can they sell and bead on. Listen, this season might be rough,
we might have to just kind ofroll with whatever happens. But trust
(41:36):
us, once we get that capspace next summer, we're going to do
big things with the cap space.We're gonna resign Maxie to a contract extension.
But Joel Embid turns thirty in March. Does Joel Embiid really want a
gap year season while they deal withthis hardened mess. That's kind of the
question in Philly and that's what they'regoing to have to manage. But the
reality is Harden can make as muchnoise as he wants to make, he
(42:00):
can't force them to trade him,and because he's on the last year of
his deal, he can't just goon a personal strike because the league rules
actually would enable Philly to prevent himfrom becoming a free agent. So if
he wants to be a free agentnext summer and pick his next team,
he's gonna have to play ball withPhilly on some level. So there's obviously
(42:22):
a ton of interest in how thisall plays out and all the ins and
outs, with the madness of Hardenand what he might do next. But
honestly, the real question here iswhat does Joel Embid think of all this
and what is he going to do? Is he going to just deal with
at chaotic season or the Sixers?The Sixers haven't been passed the second round
(42:44):
of the playoffs since the year theywent to the finals in two thousand and
one. It has been a longtime for them just to get to the
conference finals. Does Embiid really wantto sit through another season of chaos and
a short playoff run? And sothat's kind of what everybody in the league
is watching. How is embiid goingto react to all this? All?
Right, everyone that will do itfor this edition of the Saturday Steinline.
(43:08):
Once again, we will be backin studio, live and in the flesh
next Saturday when I. By thenI will grudgingly have left this US open
and it's glorious high seventies temperatures sofar to come back to the withering,
(43:30):
stifling heat of North Texas. ThanksAzilion for listening and hanging out with me
on yet another Saturday. Thanks muchto Grooves for his yeoman work in assembling
this episode. It's a lot harderthan it sounds, believe me.
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