January 7, 2024 • 42 mins
The Mavericks are in the midst of a historically long homestand. The Lakers and the Warriors are both going through some serious struggles. The NBA trade deadline is drawing near, too. Marc Stein gets into it all on the latest edition of The Saturday Stein Line presented by Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles and is joined by two special guests: Trail Blazers rookie guard Scoot Henderson and 97.1 The Freak personality Skin Wade.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:03):
Welcome to the Saturday Steinline with MarkStein, presented by Panini Trading Cards and
Collectibles. On ninety seven to oneThe Freak, the official homes Well Dallas
Mavericks games hosted by legendary NBA reporterand publisher of his substackt The Steinline.
Here's Mark Stein. Welcome in everyoneto the latest edition of the Saturday Steinline.
(00:34):
Yes, indeed, presented by PaniniTrading Cards and Collectibles. A new
year is underway. This is indeedthe first show of twenty twenty four.
A season long seven game homestand forthe Mavericks also underway. Not the longest
(00:56):
in team history. However, asyou like me might have suspected nearly ten
years ago, in March dribbling intoApril of twenty fourteen, there was an
eight game homestand that I completely donot remember. Yet again my failing memory
(01:18):
betrays me. There. I shouldremember it, but I do not.
Four and four Dallas went on thateight game homestand thanks to the trustee and
handy research of Mark Followell, theTV voice of the Mavericks, who,
like me, loves to compile thatsort of historical data. He cannot resist.
(01:42):
And I'm sure when he tweeted itthe other day, he knew that
I would be all over it.It's only this is only the fourth seven
game homestand in club history. Permister Followell's research, two of them happened
before I moved to town. Therewas one in November December of nineteen eighty
(02:06):
eight. I was still five ishyears away from covering the league at that
point. January February of nineteen ninetyseven, that was mere months before I
got to town to join the DallasMorning News. And it was mere months
after the Mavericks had begun to breakup the Three Js. Of course,
the day after Christmas in nineteen ninetysix, a certain Jason Kidd was sent
(02:30):
to the Suns for Michael Finley.And then in February of nineteen ninety seven
is when the Ross Perrot Junior ownedMavericks, with Frank zach Andelli as his
right hand man. They hired DonNelson first as GM only. Remember Don
Nelson did not come here as Maverickscoach. He was GM only, and
(02:53):
Nelly almost instantly upon arrival, swiftlytraded away Jamal Mashburn and Jimmy Jackson in
separate trades and suddenly there were noJays in Dallas after the season began with
three. And there was also aseven game homestand in December of two thousand
(03:14):
and eight, yet another I donot remember that well. Mavericks went five
and two on that homestand and ofall these long ones we've discussed the three
previous seven gamers and the eight gamer, five and two is the best record
they've managed on one of these extendedstays. They're off to a two and
zero start this time. But wegot to be honest here, candid with
(03:38):
you. That's in large part becausethey played these first two games against a
very depleted and overmatched Portland team.The Mavericks themselves were missing a bunch of
players last night. No Luka Doncic, no Derek Lively the second, no
Grant Williams. Didn't matter. TheBlazers, if we are being friend,
(04:00):
are a non competitive mess at themoment, and they've got lots of injuries
too. I dropped in Thursday onBlazer's practice, And that's always a treat
for someone like me when we getone of these two game baseball series deals,
when a team has to basically parkhere for four days at least,
(04:21):
and the Blazers were initially not planningto practice Thursday, and then because they
lost so handily on Wednesday night bytwenty nine, Chauncey Billups changed things up
and decided, yes, we aregoing to practice, even though the Blazers
again were very short on bodies.They didn't really have enough players to have
(04:45):
a full five on five session,but Chauncey Billups was hoping that he would
see more fight, more pluck,more response from his group after the twenty
nine point loss. And then whathappens on Friday Without Luca, The Mavericks
managed to win by thirty six,huge win though from the home team's perspective,
(05:06):
because Luca's ankle problems swelling surfaced onFriday morning. Luca being Luca,
he naturally wanted to play. Theywisely told him, your ankle is in
no shape to play. You needto take at least a night off.
Doncic was a late scratch, butKyrie Irving is back now and he was
(05:29):
able to lead the line. TheMAVs got a comfortable win and made it
to two and oh on this homestandand of course a huge step in a
huge step up in Class awaits SundayNight, Minnesota is here West, leading
Minnesota. The Wolves already two andoh against the Mavericks this season. Dallas
(05:57):
obviously will be hoping that they canhave Louka and Kyrie together for that when
they frankly need Lively as well.Too soon yet to know the status on
either Luca or Lively for Sunday Night. Then after that, very quickly,
Gurant John Gant Jahn Morant is hereTuesday night with the Memphis Grizzlies. And
(06:17):
then Thursday night, Jalen Brunson returnswith the New York Knicks. Jalen Brunson
soon to be a first time NBAAll Star. He will not get in
via the fan vote, but Ican promise you he will get in via
the coaches vote. And remember Brunsonwas a late scratch last December, right
(06:40):
after Christmas, when the Knicks werelast here for their annual visit. And
of course that was the game thatLuka Doncic uncourked the ridiculous sixty point twenty
rebound, ten assist triple double.Yes, I save the box score and
I will keep that as a mementoand keepsake. And then the Mavericks have
(07:02):
another baseball series two games in arow against the same team when New Orleans
is here next weekend to close outthe home stand the whole league, Dallas
included rapidly approaching the midpoint of theregular season, the Mavericks will be there
exactly on forty one games by thetime this home stand is complete. They
(07:28):
awoke on this Saturday at twenty oneand fifteen, tied with New Orleans for
the West's six best record, andlet's be real, things could be a
lot worse. You only have tolook at what's happening with two California teams
that have been all over the headlinesthis week. The Lakers are suddenly seventeen
(07:54):
and nineteen, two games under fivehundred. The Lakers are three and ten
since winning the nd season tournament andpolarizingly hanging a banner to commemorate that ISD
title run. After a loss athome last night to the aforementioned Grizzlies led
(08:18):
by John Morant, Lebron James didnot sugarcoat it. Lebron didn't speak to
reporters after the previous defeat that droppedthe Lakers one game under five hundred.
This was Lebron James sentiments at hislocker last night after the Lakers collapsed late
(08:41):
and lost to Memphis, or thecracks were the problems that have presented themselves
over the last thirteen games prior tothat took this treateg I don't know,
I don't really. I'm not thinkingfr too in the past, to be
honest. Maybe just sucking now.We just suck right now, was the
(09:03):
Lebron James quote Dan Wiki previous gueston the show, Dan Waki of The
La Times, asking that question.Pressure has been mounting this week on Lakers
coach Darvin Ham because of this nosedive. And you know this time of year
is when we really laser in ontrade season. A week ago today we
(09:24):
had the first big trade to fallin the window of what your trade season
in the NBA is generally described asDecember fifteenth up until the February deadline,
which this season falls on February eighth, and pretty significant trade last week for
(09:45):
the Knicks to acquire og Annobi fromToronto Emmanuel Quickly, RJ. Barrett and
Detroit's twenty twenty four second rounder goingto the Raptors as the primary primary pieces
of that deal. And it markedthe sixth straight year that we've had action
(10:11):
in the first month of that againwhat we will call trade season from December
fifteenth to February eighth in twenty twentyfour. And you know, there's kind
of this feeling that we don't getDecember trades, but we actually have been
getting December trades for the last fivesix seasons now. So I think I
(10:33):
expected us this week to really belasered in on, Okay, what happens
now with Pascal Siakam, what happenswith de jon Te Murray, you know,
will we see you know, whatwill be the next major move that
we see. But that conversation hasreally been replaced and supplanted by what's going
(10:54):
on with the Lakers and also what'sgoing on with Golden State because the Warriors
are also under five hundred. TheWarriors did manage to beat Detroit last night,
but not only does Raymond Green remainaway from the team on suspension,
(11:18):
not only did the Warriors blow alate eighteen point lead to the Denver Nuggets
on National TV on Thursday night whenNikola Jokic banked in a thirty nine footer
at the buzzer. No Kitch hasit, clomb Tick's gonna put one up
(11:39):
Yo kicks for the Kits. Goodkids cut it off in time. The
Nuggets with it? Are you kiddingme? Brian Anderson and stan Van Gundy
on the call for TNT that havealready clinched best shot of twenty twenty four
(12:03):
in the first week of January,although let's wait and see what a certain
mister Doncicen Dallas has up his sleeveas an inevitable counter. So the Warriors
another bad fall from a head loss. No Draymond Green, and there's disconsent
openly being discussed now Jonathan Kuminga andMoses Moody generating lots of chatter those kind
(12:31):
of headlines about young players being unhappywith their roles. That kind of stuff
is We're not used to seeing SteveKerr or the Warriors dealing with anything of
the sort. And then, ontop of all of that, late last
night, as mentioned, yes,the Warriors did emerge with a win over
the three and thirty two Detroit Pistons, but in the process they lost Chris
(12:52):
Paul to a fractured hand. Sothe Warriors seventeen and eighteen narrowly better off
than the Lakers, and even inPhoenix. Okay, the Suns have managed
to rally to nineteen and sixteen.Now they've gotten past that Christmas Day humbling
that was inflicted upon them by theirold friends from Dallas. But the Suns
(13:16):
are basically halfway through their season andthey've only seen Devin Booker, Kevin Durant,
and Bradley Beal on the floor together. These guys haven't played five games
together yet, which means that atnearly the forty one game mark, the
Suns still don't have a great feelfor what kind of team they have.
(13:37):
And look, anytime you look atthe standings in the West, very jumbled,
very packed. Any morning you decideto check check what the West ladder
looks like, you're gonna see crazystuff. But man Phoenix at number eight,
the Warriors, and the Lakers scufflingat No. Number ten and number
(14:01):
eleven. The Lakers not even inthe The Lakers are not even in a
playing spot as we speak. Thecurse of the ist Banner. I normally
do not believe in sports curses,but maybe we got to give that one
some credence because the Lakers, Imean in Las Vegas, when they won
(14:22):
the n season tournament. People weresaying, look at how dangerous the Lakers
can be when they are still whenthey dial in on defense. Look how
disruptive and dangerous they still are.So that's a lot of star power on
three different teams facing a cold winter, and it's not supposed to be that
cold in Cali or the Arizona Desert, not even this time of year.
(14:46):
As for the MAVs, we're goingto get into more of this with our
own skin weight in the third segment, the better half of the world famous
Ben and Skin show right here onninety seven to one. The freak Skin's
gonna join us. In the thirdsegment. The MAVs are eleven and fifteen
this season. When they've got Doncicand Irving and Lively on the floor together,
(15:09):
that is the good news and theyhave to feel very good about that,
except when you do that math andit tells you that you've only had
the three best players together in sixteenof the thirty six games to date.
The best part of that sentence andthat evaluation, it has to be that
(15:31):
Lively has played his way to thepoint as a nineteen year old rookie that
he's regarded as the third best playeron the team, or maybe the more
accurate way to express it is thathe's the third most important player on the
team. Not sure if he's quiteyet consistently the third most productive because Tim
(15:52):
Hardaway Junior is averaging nearly seventeen anda half points a game, and Tim
Hardaway Junior is at the front ofthe six Man of the Year race,
right there with Atlanta's bog Don Bogdanovich, Malik Monk and Sacramento, the Lakers
Austin Reeves, Orlando's Cole Anthony.Tim Hardaway Junior would surely have something to
(16:14):
say about that. And remember itwas on this show when Jason Kidd joined
us right before training camp on theSaturday Stein Line, and he said he
was hoping that Tim Hardaway would embracethe idea of making a run at six
Man of the Year, and TimHardaway Junior certainly has. We will naturally
continue to discuss and analyze the MAVsthroughout this show. Sorry, I lost
(16:38):
my train of thought there. We'regoing to have as promised. Remember I've
got a chat coming with Blazer's rookieScoot Henderson in the next segment. Skin
Weight is going to join us insegment three. Glad we work some lively
discussion in there at the end becausethe next segment will be very rookie heavy.
(17:00):
Our chat with Scoot Henderson next hereon ninety seven one The Freak.
This is the Saturday Steinline wiz MarkStein presented by Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles,
FU your official homes to all DallasMavericks Gangs. Ninety seven one The
Freak. The Saturday Steinline dribbles On, presented as always by Panini Trading Cards
(17:25):
and Collectibles. A couple quick housekeepingitems before we proceed. As always,
you know you can text me onthe Steinline text line two one four seven
eight seven one nine seven to oneor eight one seven seven, eight seven
one nine seven one. We ask, as always, please at least give
(17:48):
me an initial with your first name, Joe S. From grape Vine or
wherever it is. Let me know, let me know the city you're checking
in from. Two. We liketo know if it is a local list
or maybe someone listening from out ofstate or even out of the country.
Just want a little bit of detail, just to get a feel for the
(18:10):
reach of the Saturday Steinline. Andsomething else that our trustee producer, Mattig
is going to help me do betterin twenty twenty four. This is one
of my twenty twenty four resolutions.If you're listening via the iHeartRadio app,
there is a microphone button that youcan click on and leave an audio message
(18:30):
for us up to thirty seconds,And of course that is way beyond my
capability of dealing with. But nowthat Matti g we've signed her in free
agency, well we have to shareher with the Automotive Edge before we come
on the air, But she's alsoworking on our show now as well,
so she is going to help mefind a way to make some better use
(18:52):
of the app's capability so we canget your voice on the show. So,
if you're listening via the iHeart Radioapp, leave us a message and
we're gonna be checking those out andworking them into the show as best we
can give the Old Man Show theOld Man a little patience, and I
will I will gradually figure out howto do that. So again, as
(19:15):
we've mentioned, the first two gamesof this seven game homestand not gonna be
recorded as the most memorable NBA gameswe've ever seen, but they did provide
for many of us. The firstin person look at Scoot Henderson, number
two overall pick for the Portland Trailblazerslast June. If you follow the league,
(19:41):
I think you would concur that whenyou factor in Victor Wenman Yama's mammoth
presence in South Texas, what ChetHolmgren is doing with the thunder in his
injury delayed rookie season. We haveto throw in Miami's Heim High as Junior
Golden State's Brandon Pajemski as well.Remember Hakkez and Pajemski's they're the eighteenth and
(20:08):
nineteenth overall picks and both flourishing intheir rookie season, so it hasn't left
a ton of oxygen for their fellowclass of twenty twenty three draftees. And
this is not This doesn't merely applyto Scoot Henderson. You would have to
say the same when evaluating Victor WemanYama. As spectacular as he is prone
(20:33):
to be, the evaluation process iscomplicated by the fact that their teams are
just so bad. And on onehand, top rookies are supposed to lift
their team ceiling dramatically. Dramatically,you know, It's not like we expect
an instant playoff berth, because it'svery rare that a rookie alone, especially
(20:55):
as young as rookies are when theycome into the league and the modern NBA,
you don't expect a playoff berth.But a team that wins in the
thirty somewhere. I think that's afair expectation. And just like in Portland,
it ain't happening in San Antonio rightnow either as gifted and spellbinding as
(21:15):
when Minyama clearly is. I hopeyou were watching Thursday night when Minyama put
on an absolute show against Milwaukee,head to head with Giannis Antitokunpo, the
two time MVP from the Bucks.I mean we saw when Minyama throwing an
(21:36):
alley oop off the board to himselffor a dunk, take a strapable step
inside hi Yannis on weaving right therewith throw it to find the two look
at him guard one another kind ofbroken alone. Who's the take that?
(22:03):
Here's the move by Yannis and thefinish and it was beautiful and then right
afterwards just throw it off the glass. The Bucks went for the steal,
didn't get it. Look at thishe knew he couldn't do a little finger
roll, so just throw it offthe rim. It was a great sequence
Kevin Harlan and Reggie Miller on thecall for TNT Wemby right after a Yannis
(22:25):
dunk goes down the other end,hoop off the board to himself. We
also saw when mi Yana when minYama. We also saw wemb and Yama
going around his back on a driveto the bucket, lefty punch right on
brook Lopez's head. We saw whenmin Yama absolutely reject Yannis at the rim,
(22:47):
turned him away. And this wasall on a playing time restriction.
When min Yama, of course stilldealing with the ankle injury that you surely
remember he sustained aggravated here in Dallascolliding with a ball boy during pregame warmups
on December twenty third, when Minyamatwenty seven points and five blocks against Giannis
(23:08):
and the Bucks in just twenty sixminutes. But we can go on and
on and on and rave about him. Even with wehm Minyama, the Spurs
are five and twenty nine, onlythose aforementioned three and thirty two pistons.
That's the only team worse on theNBA Map, not even Wemby and all
(23:33):
the things he can do at sevenfoot five, stuff we've really never seen
from a player his size, thehandles, the mobility, the court coverage.
Wemby alone cannot overcome San Antonio's lackshooting, lack of playmaking, and
frankly, just its lack of frontlinetalent. The Blazers, it's a similar
(23:53):
deal. This team is very earlyin the stages of its post day I
mean Lillard rebuild, and I again, I don't want to put too much
emphasis on what we witnessed this week. The two games were really really awful
(24:14):
showings, and people who watch thisteam more than I do, like my
palace Sean Haiken, who covers theteam on his excellent Rose Garden Report substack.
Look, it's a very demanding fanbase in the Pacific Northwest. They
are not known as the Blazer Maniacsfor nothing. But the general sense I've
gotten is that, you know,forget what you saw this week. I
(24:36):
think the fans in general have beenpretty accepting of how hard this young group
plays, and until this week hasroutinely played to the max. All Right,
So bearing all of that in mind, we're gonna listen in now to
the interview first with Scoot Henderson.I will share some of my impressions after
(24:59):
that, but here first is mychat with Scoot Henderson after practice after the
Blazers practiced here on Thursday. Soyou're basically halfway through your first season.
Now, how would you evaluate howit's going. I think it's going solid,
you know what I mean, wishingit was going the best it could
possibly be. There's no on myskill setting and knowing that the team we
(25:23):
have, but you know what,nine and twenty four whatever, whatever the
record is, but we focus onon just trying to compete. Just kind
of go out there and find waysfor us to continue to compete in just
leave it out there on the floor. But I think first season going you
know, solid, kind of whatI expected, but not as much,
you know what I mean, liketraveling all that, but going south?
(25:45):
What do you think you do betternow than if I would have asked you
in July or August? Take mytime. Defensively, I'm more liked in
you know, with double R andthem on my ass all the time,
So I didn't just just trying tostay locked in on that side, you
know, it's still I always haveslip ups, you know, but that's
(26:08):
just gonna happen in the side ofthe game. So I think just defensively,
I'm more sound since July, andI take my time more, knowing
when to use my speed you don'twhen to slow down and change pace,
and you know, just trying tocontinue to find ways. Man. Obviously,
because of the draft and all thecoverage and all the hype, I
think you're always going to be connectedwith Victor women Yama in some former fashion.
(26:30):
How much do you pay attention tohim or chat or other players in
your class? How much do youguys? Do you have any contact during
the season. No, not atall. No contact. I think like
if I just so happened to scallon Twitter or whatever, Like, I
don't really be on Instagram and socialmedia like that too much. So when
I do, I guess that's whenI see that or like see like little
(26:52):
like the numbers and stuff. ButI haven't paid much attention to it.
You know. It's we only thirtygames in thirty something games and so eighty
two games season, so I'm justtrying to continue to figure out ways for
me to come out here and tryto utilize myself for the team. Scoot
Henderson of the Portland Trailblazers, joiningus here on ninety seven, won the
Freak. I'm always curious when ateam comes to a city for multiple games.
(27:15):
This is probably different than anything you'veexperienced in the past. What is
it like to be in the samecity for two three days a day off
between games and get a chance toplay the same team a second time in
their gym. I think, no, what happened last night and that outcome.
I think it gives us a reasonto kind of just come back and
try to get it up, tryto really win, and try to go
(27:37):
out there compete. It gives ustime to adjust to the time zones or
whatever the case may be. ButI think it's really just for us to
go back out there and add anotherchance to show them who we are.
Later this month, Damian Lillard willmake his return to Portland. A lot
of people have that game circled ontheir calendar. What do you anticipate that
(27:59):
will be like to play him andplay against him in Portland? That's what's
up for real. But I thinkI'm just anticipating what we did in Milwaukee.
Know we were defensively sound. Youknow, they got their points,
but I think as a whole game, as a whole fourth quarters, we
were defensively sounding, and you know, we execute the game plan. And
uh, I think it's gonna bea lot of us just with him coming
(28:21):
back, obviously, I think I'mgonna get the feeling of him being dang
near home. So when he scored, the crowd's probably going to cheer.
So but it's gonna be fun.It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be
a great bump. I think,just me matching up against name, it's
gonna be fun. And what doesthat feel like to know that? I
mean, you're expected to step intothat huge void he left and lead this
(28:41):
franchise as it basically moves into anew era. What is that like for
a player your age to know youhave all those expectations on you. I
just got it at this point.It's more like just controlling what I can
and and that's how I go onabout it. That's not about It's not
about you know me, like,Okay, I got this much responsibility.
I don't want to you know whatI mean, I'm taking on my chest
(29:02):
and and I'm accepting it, andI'm gonna go out there and try my
best every single time, you knowwhat I mean. So for the Rip
City fans, not for me,but for everybody else, you know what
I mean. So for the team, just trying to throw my body out
there and like I said, helpus win some games. Last thing to
throw at you. How are thegoggles treating you solid? The no one's
(29:22):
is special. I could see outthe size and stuff, so I like
new goggles. Wishing you all thebest, Thanks so much for joining us.
January thirty first, Damian Lillard makeshis return to Portland as a Milwaukee
Buck for the first time. Andyou heard Scoot Henderson. He's looking forward
(29:45):
to that and he is not alone. I think a lot of people around
the league want to see that game. There was a funny moment in there
where he was talking about r Rbeing on him about playing better defense.
Are ore Is Trail Blazer's assistant coachRoy Rogers, who you you could hear
in the background because Scoot didn't seethis as it was happening. Roy walked
right behind him as we were chatting. And yes, the Blazers are on
(30:10):
Henderson about his defense constantly. Theyneed more from him there, defense,
rebounding, decision making, facilitating organizing. Those are all areas where Scoot Henderson
can and I think will improve inwith time experience. The main concern with
(30:36):
Henderson is of course shooting. He'sshooting only thirty seven percent from the floor,
only twenty nine percent from three pointrange. But I watched him for
a good twenty minutes Thursday working onhis shot with the La Legend Pooh Jetter.
Pooh was both a teammate with Hendersonand the Mavericks Jaden Hardy with the
(30:59):
G League. Because remember the Ignite, they always had veterans on the roster
to help mentor the really young guys. When it comes to Henderson's three point
stroke, from my perspective, itlooks mechanically sound when he's just working on
it, and size wise, Iwould say he struck me as more physically
imposing in person now compared to whenI first watched him. Not terribly surprising
(31:23):
because the first time I saw himhe was only seventeen. Remember, Henderson
spent two years with the Ignite,and the first time I saw him was
season one and the previous week beforethese two really bad Portland losses to the
MAVs, Henderson averaged twenty one nineto four. He made it under the
short list of candidates for Player ofthe Week, So it has definitely been
(31:48):
a difficult indoctrination to the NBA forScoot Henderson. But I will also maintain
it's way, way, way toosoon for firm judgments, especially since he's
also had to deal with an ankleinjury there too. All right, we
will get back to the MAVs veryshortly after the break because the one and
(32:08):
only skin Wade, half of theworld famous benin Skin tandem. Skin Wade
joins me next here on ninety sevenwon the Freak. This is DRT.
Lwitzky and you're listening to the SaturdaySteinline with my guys. Steiny on ninety
seven won the Freak. Everyone,thanks for sticking with us here on this
(32:29):
Saturday Steinline presented by Panini Trading Cardsand Collectibles. Our next guest will not
be surprised to know that Kurt Tfrom Dallas has always checked in via text.
Very excited, he says to hearfrom our next guest, the one
and only the better half of theBen and Skin show here on ninety seven
(32:53):
won the freak skin Wade, MAVsinsider expert, lifelong fan. Good Saturday
to you, sir, How areyou? I'm doing great? Stein,
Good Saturday to you, man.There is so much good Mavericks and NBA
to talk about. I can't thinkof a better way to spend my time
than to be talking to you.Brother, Answer this for me. How
(33:17):
ruffled were you? How angry wereyou when the news came down Thursday that
Luka Doncic was not Player of theMonth in the Western Conference. I thought
it was you know, I hatethrowing this word around Stein, but I
thought it was a little disrespectful.And you know, I Shay Gil just
(33:43):
Alexander has been incredible, like he'sa legit MVP candidate, And I love
watching the thunder play. You know, I'm a Sam Presty fanboy. I
love what you are. I am, but I can't I just put their
number side by side. And Ihave not been following Oklahoma City's injury schedule
(34:05):
situation closely, but I know wheneverI flip on the tube and watch them,
they seem like they have their mostlyfull complement of guys. And I
just compare what Luca did statistically towhat Shay did, and Luca had to
carry that team with all those injuries, and I just don't It's I've never
been conspiracy guy, and all thenational media hates Cuban and all this,
(34:29):
I've never bought into that stuff.But I'm like, you know, maybe
we're at the point now where Lucais just simply too good and people are
taking his excellence for granted. Becausethat was absolutely undisputable player of the month
numbers, even historically speaking, Ithought it felt a little disrespectful to our
Slovenian friend. Yeah, listen,I mean, Luca averaged thirty eight,
(34:53):
nine and eleven for the month.In history, only Oscar Robertson in December
of nineteen sixty, before you andI were born, has a player amassed
those kind of numbers across a singlemonth. But I remember being on the
(35:14):
Bally's Sports Southwest set with our colleaguesDana Larsen Brian Demris and warning them that
this could happen, because I knowwhen the league does this stuff, they
always factor in wins and losses heavily, and the MAVs were eight and eight
in December eight and five with Luca. They lost the three games he didn't
play, and Oklahoma City just hadsuch a great month, winning in Denver
(35:38):
twice routing Minnesota. I just hada feeling that the wins and losses were
going to play a factor. SoI really wasn't surprised, and I knew
it was going to spark a stormhere locally. Okay, you know what,
And that's fine, I don't youknow, I'm not going to argue
with that logic. But when Iwas looking at Shaye and Luca's number side
(36:00):
by side for the month, becauseof the games that Shaye also you said
Luca was eight and five, Ibelieve in the games that Gilgess Alexander played
in, I believe they had twomore wins than the games that Luca played
in, only two because Shae misseda couple of games too, And we're
talking about seven whole points more inthe month than what Shaye did. And
(36:23):
I'm not you know, I'm givinghim his respect here, but Luca literally
had to do that because of allof the injuries the Mavericks had. So
it just doesn't feel right, andI worry that those are the kinds of
things that I mean, let's faceit, part of MVP is this giant,
(36:44):
year long media campaign and pr campaign, and Luca is always going to
say that a championship is most important, and it absolutely is, but he
wants to be MVP, and soit's disappointing for him to not get his
shine in something that matters to himwhen he clearly put forth the best effort.
(37:04):
Your passionate, furious response is exactlywhy I wanted you to join Stud
Henderson as a guest on this editionof the Saturday Steinline presented by Panini Trading
Cards and Collectibles. All right,let's talk trades, because I'm sure this
is a subject that is of greatinterest to you. Earlier this week,
I reported that the MAVs interest inPascal Siakam has been overstated. But I
(37:30):
think maybe just as important in thatreport was the notion it's been conveyed to
me the Mavericks really do want toupgrade at the four. If they could
land a dream trade target, itwould be an upgrade at the four.
Now who exactly that might be isharder to pinpoint. You know, Isaiah
(37:53):
Stuart has been mentioned, but Ithink Detroit's price if they're going to trade
Stuart, is going to be prettyhigh. All the signals coming out of
Detroit have suggested that instead of ateardown, which you would expect when a
team is three and thirty two andrecently lost an NBA record twenty eight games
(38:13):
in a row. But no,the signals we're getting from the Pistons are
that they don't want to tear thingsdown and trade Isaiah Stewart and trade boy
On Bogdanovic. They don't want totrade the best players they have on a
bad team. If I put themagic wand in your hand, what would
skin Wade love to see before theFebruary eighth trade deadline for the MAVs.
(38:36):
Well, you know, they obviouslyneed a player such as a Sea Oakham
type, right, a guy thatcan is long, athletic, and can
defend multiple positions, preferably be abetter outside shooter than a guy like siakam
Is. But dude, he doesso many things. Well, I get
it. The interesting thing to meis, you know, when you say
(38:58):
the Mavericks interest in him in particularhas been a tad overstated, it seems
to me that what the Raptors,you know, at least as reported,
thought that they could get for himis also way overstated because not only is
he, you know, an unrestrictedfree agent this summer, he's also thirty
and so you know, Toronto legendarilyunder that regime has really valued their assets,
(39:24):
probably to a fault, and Ithink that they probably wish that now
that if they are going to moveSeakham, that they probably wish they had
moved him and and Anobe earlier becausethey didn't get you know, they got
good players for Anonobe. I likethose players, but all that talk about
multiple first round picks and all thisstuff, I just think they've held onto
(39:46):
their assets too long. And Iwonder if they're going to get underwhelmed with
their offers for Siakam and it endsup being the thing where they just hopefully
try to do a sign in tradethis upcoming summer. He's the kind of
player that would make sense. AndI still have my eyes on a Rim
protecting you know, good rim runningbig and we you know, you and
(40:07):
I talk so much about all theCapella rumors over the summer. Is good
as Lively has been, they stillneed to fortify their front line. So
those are definitely the two positions whereit makes the most sense if those deals
are there. But the main thingfor the Mavericks is they've got to get
healthy with their core players. I'mexcited that they have the record they have
(40:30):
despite all the injuries that they've mounted. Yeah, I mean we talked about
it in the first segment. They'reeleven and five when Luca and Kyrie and
Lively are all on the floor.But when you do the math, that
means that there were twenty out ofthirty six games that they didn't have all
three of them on the floor.And so that's obviously been a major issue.
All right, before we let yougo, the other big story,
(40:50):
or one of the other big storieswith the Mavericks this week was, of
course, came out that Mark Cubansent a note to all team employees about
how there will be thirty five ishmillion in bonuses dispersed throughout the organization.
And I know, because I workwith you, I know you do not
work with the Dallas Mavericks. Youare not. You work for you work
(41:12):
at the Freak and you work forBallely's. But I'm just curious, are
you getting a lot of people probablythink that you're you're in line for some
cash. Are you getting a lotof that? Are you getting a lot
of that question from your friends.My phone has been blowing up NonStop with
that question, and it's funny.I think, like you know, it
(41:32):
was on national news right, like, not just sports news, like it
was on national cable news and stuff. Cuban's always done this kind of stuff.
He really has. There's been lotsof things where he's made donations and
different things. But good for theMavericks employees. That's a real generous thing
for him and the new ownership groupto do. And so I am happy
(41:52):
for all of those people. Itold you our time together would go fast.
It went even faster than I wantedit to. But always a pleasure,
my friend, to get some ofyour thoughts on the local basketball squad
and my first I haven't seen youfor I haven't seen you for I don't
know, a week or so,maybe longer. So happy New Year,
(42:13):
hope everybody's good. Thanks to Milkfor joining us, my friend absolutely steinny
see you soon, brother, Thanksas always to the glue guy here at
the Freak Grooves for helping me getready this ship for this show. Thanks
of course as well to Maddy Gfor keeping us on track from the other
side of the Glass. If youmissed any part of this, or simply
(42:34):
want to relive it, you canget the Saturday Stey inline via podcast,
Apple, Spotify, wherever you getyour pods
Welcome to the Saturday Steinline with MarkStein, presented by Panini Trading Cards and
Collectibles. On ninety seven to oneThe Freak, the official homes Well Dallas
Mavericks games hosted by legendary NBA reporterand publisher of his substackt The Steinline.
Here's Mark Stein. Welcome in everyoneto the latest edition of the Saturday Steinline.
(00:34):
Yes, indeed, presented by PaniniTrading Cards and Collectibles. A new
year is underway. This is indeedthe first show of twenty twenty four.
A season long seven game homestand forthe Mavericks also underway. Not the longest
(00:56):
in team history. However, asyou like me might have suspected nearly ten
years ago, in March dribbling intoApril of twenty fourteen, there was an
eight game homestand that I completely donot remember. Yet again my failing memory
(01:18):
betrays me. There. I shouldremember it, but I do not.
Four and four Dallas went on thateight game homestand thanks to the trustee and
handy research of Mark Followell, theTV voice of the Mavericks, who,
like me, loves to compile thatsort of historical data. He cannot resist.
(01:42):
And I'm sure when he tweeted itthe other day, he knew that
I would be all over it.It's only this is only the fourth seven
game homestand in club history. Permister Followell's research, two of them happened
before I moved to town. Therewas one in November December of nineteen eighty
(02:06):
eight. I was still five ishyears away from covering the league at that
point. January February of nineteen ninetyseven, that was mere months before I
got to town to join the DallasMorning News. And it was mere months
after the Mavericks had begun to breakup the Three Js. Of course,
the day after Christmas in nineteen ninetysix, a certain Jason Kidd was sent
(02:30):
to the Suns for Michael Finley.And then in February of nineteen ninety seven
is when the Ross Perrot Junior ownedMavericks, with Frank zach Andelli as his
right hand man. They hired DonNelson first as GM only. Remember Don
Nelson did not come here as Maverickscoach. He was GM only, and
(02:53):
Nelly almost instantly upon arrival, swiftlytraded away Jamal Mashburn and Jimmy Jackson in
separate trades and suddenly there were noJays in Dallas after the season began with
three. And there was also aseven game homestand in December of two thousand
(03:14):
and eight, yet another I donot remember that well. Mavericks went five
and two on that homestand and ofall these long ones we've discussed the three
previous seven gamers and the eight gamer, five and two is the best record
they've managed on one of these extendedstays. They're off to a two and
zero start this time. But wegot to be honest here, candid with
(03:38):
you. That's in large part becausethey played these first two games against a
very depleted and overmatched Portland team.The Mavericks themselves were missing a bunch of
players last night. No Luka Doncic, no Derek Lively the second, no
Grant Williams. Didn't matter. TheBlazers, if we are being friend,
(04:00):
are a non competitive mess at themoment, and they've got lots of injuries
too. I dropped in Thursday onBlazer's practice, And that's always a treat
for someone like me when we getone of these two game baseball series deals,
when a team has to basically parkhere for four days at least,
(04:21):
and the Blazers were initially not planningto practice Thursday, and then because they
lost so handily on Wednesday night bytwenty nine, Chauncey Billups changed things up
and decided, yes, we aregoing to practice, even though the Blazers
again were very short on bodies.They didn't really have enough players to have
(04:45):
a full five on five session,but Chauncey Billups was hoping that he would
see more fight, more pluck,more response from his group after the twenty
nine point loss. And then whathappens on Friday Without Luca, The Mavericks
managed to win by thirty six,huge win though from the home team's perspective,
(05:06):
because Luca's ankle problems swelling surfaced onFriday morning. Luca being Luca,
he naturally wanted to play. Theywisely told him, your ankle is in
no shape to play. You needto take at least a night off.
Doncic was a late scratch, butKyrie Irving is back now and he was
(05:29):
able to lead the line. TheMAVs got a comfortable win and made it
to two and oh on this homestandand of course a huge step in a
huge step up in Class awaits SundayNight, Minnesota is here West, leading
Minnesota. The Wolves already two andoh against the Mavericks this season. Dallas
(05:57):
obviously will be hoping that they canhave Louka and Kyrie together for that when
they frankly need Lively as well.Too soon yet to know the status on
either Luca or Lively for Sunday Night. Then after that, very quickly,
Gurant John Gant Jahn Morant is hereTuesday night with the Memphis Grizzlies. And
(06:17):
then Thursday night, Jalen Brunson returnswith the New York Knicks. Jalen Brunson
soon to be a first time NBAAll Star. He will not get in
via the fan vote, but Ican promise you he will get in via
the coaches vote. And remember Brunsonwas a late scratch last December, right
(06:40):
after Christmas, when the Knicks werelast here for their annual visit. And
of course that was the game thatLuka Doncic uncourked the ridiculous sixty point twenty
rebound, ten assist triple double.Yes, I save the box score and
I will keep that as a mementoand keepsake. And then the Mavericks have
(07:02):
another baseball series two games in arow against the same team when New Orleans
is here next weekend to close outthe home stand the whole league, Dallas
included rapidly approaching the midpoint of theregular season, the Mavericks will be there
exactly on forty one games by thetime this home stand is complete. They
(07:28):
awoke on this Saturday at twenty oneand fifteen, tied with New Orleans for
the West's six best record, andlet's be real, things could be a
lot worse. You only have tolook at what's happening with two California teams
that have been all over the headlinesthis week. The Lakers are suddenly seventeen
(07:54):
and nineteen, two games under fivehundred. The Lakers are three and ten
since winning the nd season tournament andpolarizingly hanging a banner to commemorate that ISD
title run. After a loss athome last night to the aforementioned Grizzlies led
(08:18):
by John Morant, Lebron James didnot sugarcoat it. Lebron didn't speak to
reporters after the previous defeat that droppedthe Lakers one game under five hundred.
This was Lebron James sentiments at hislocker last night after the Lakers collapsed late
(08:41):
and lost to Memphis, or thecracks were the problems that have presented themselves
over the last thirteen games prior tothat took this treateg I don't know,
I don't really. I'm not thinkingfr too in the past, to be
honest. Maybe just sucking now.We just suck right now, was the
(09:03):
Lebron James quote Dan Wiki previous gueston the show, Dan Waki of The
La Times, asking that question.Pressure has been mounting this week on Lakers
coach Darvin Ham because of this nosedive. And you know this time of year
is when we really laser in ontrade season. A week ago today we
(09:24):
had the first big trade to fallin the window of what your trade season
in the NBA is generally described asDecember fifteenth up until the February deadline,
which this season falls on February eighth, and pretty significant trade last week for
(09:45):
the Knicks to acquire og Annobi fromToronto Emmanuel Quickly, RJ. Barrett and
Detroit's twenty twenty four second rounder goingto the Raptors as the primary primary pieces
of that deal. And it markedthe sixth straight year that we've had action
(10:11):
in the first month of that againwhat we will call trade season from December
fifteenth to February eighth in twenty twentyfour. And you know, there's kind
of this feeling that we don't getDecember trades, but we actually have been
getting December trades for the last fivesix seasons now. So I think I
(10:33):
expected us this week to really belasered in on, Okay, what happens
now with Pascal Siakam, what happenswith de jon Te Murray, you know,
will we see you know, whatwill be the next major move that
we see. But that conversation hasreally been replaced and supplanted by what's going
(10:54):
on with the Lakers and also what'sgoing on with Golden State because the Warriors
are also under five hundred. TheWarriors did manage to beat Detroit last night,
but not only does Raymond Green remainaway from the team on suspension,
(11:18):
not only did the Warriors blow alate eighteen point lead to the Denver Nuggets
on National TV on Thursday night whenNikola Jokic banked in a thirty nine footer
at the buzzer. No Kitch hasit, clomb Tick's gonna put one up
(11:39):
Yo kicks for the Kits. Goodkids cut it off in time. The
Nuggets with it? Are you kiddingme? Brian Anderson and stan Van Gundy
on the call for TNT that havealready clinched best shot of twenty twenty four
(12:03):
in the first week of January,although let's wait and see what a certain
mister Doncicen Dallas has up his sleeveas an inevitable counter. So the Warriors
another bad fall from a head loss. No Draymond Green, and there's disconsent
openly being discussed now Jonathan Kuminga andMoses Moody generating lots of chatter those kind
(12:31):
of headlines about young players being unhappywith their roles. That kind of stuff
is We're not used to seeing SteveKerr or the Warriors dealing with anything of
the sort. And then, ontop of all of that, late last
night, as mentioned, yes,the Warriors did emerge with a win over
the three and thirty two Detroit Pistons, but in the process they lost Chris
(12:52):
Paul to a fractured hand. Sothe Warriors seventeen and eighteen narrowly better off
than the Lakers, and even inPhoenix. Okay, the Suns have managed
to rally to nineteen and sixteen.Now they've gotten past that Christmas Day humbling
that was inflicted upon them by theirold friends from Dallas. But the Suns
(13:16):
are basically halfway through their season andthey've only seen Devin Booker, Kevin Durant,
and Bradley Beal on the floor together. These guys haven't played five games
together yet, which means that atnearly the forty one game mark, the
Suns still don't have a great feelfor what kind of team they have.
(13:37):
And look, anytime you look atthe standings in the West, very jumbled,
very packed. Any morning you decideto check check what the West ladder
looks like, you're gonna see crazystuff. But man Phoenix at number eight,
the Warriors, and the Lakers scufflingat No. Number ten and number
(14:01):
eleven. The Lakers not even inthe The Lakers are not even in a
playing spot as we speak. Thecurse of the ist Banner. I normally
do not believe in sports curses,but maybe we got to give that one
some credence because the Lakers, Imean in Las Vegas, when they won
(14:22):
the n season tournament. People weresaying, look at how dangerous the Lakers
can be when they are still whenthey dial in on defense. Look how
disruptive and dangerous they still are.So that's a lot of star power on
three different teams facing a cold winter, and it's not supposed to be that
cold in Cali or the Arizona Desert, not even this time of year.
(14:46):
As for the MAVs, we're goingto get into more of this with our
own skin weight in the third segment, the better half of the world famous
Ben and Skin show right here onninety seven to one. The freak Skin's
gonna join us. In the thirdsegment. The MAVs are eleven and fifteen
this season. When they've got Doncicand Irving and Lively on the floor together,
(15:09):
that is the good news and theyhave to feel very good about that,
except when you do that math andit tells you that you've only had
the three best players together in sixteenof the thirty six games to date.
The best part of that sentence andthat evaluation, it has to be that
(15:31):
Lively has played his way to thepoint as a nineteen year old rookie that
he's regarded as the third best playeron the team, or maybe the more
accurate way to express it is thathe's the third most important player on the
team. Not sure if he's quiteyet consistently the third most productive because Tim
(15:52):
Hardaway Junior is averaging nearly seventeen anda half points a game, and Tim
Hardaway Junior is at the front ofthe six Man of the Year race,
right there with Atlanta's bog Don Bogdanovich, Malik Monk and Sacramento, the Lakers
Austin Reeves, Orlando's Cole Anthony.Tim Hardaway Junior would surely have something to
(16:14):
say about that. And remember itwas on this show when Jason Kidd joined
us right before training camp on theSaturday Stein Line, and he said he
was hoping that Tim Hardaway would embracethe idea of making a run at six
Man of the Year, and TimHardaway Junior certainly has. We will naturally
continue to discuss and analyze the MAVsthroughout this show. Sorry, I lost
(16:38):
my train of thought there. We'regoing to have as promised. Remember I've
got a chat coming with Blazer's rookieScoot Henderson in the next segment. Skin
Weight is going to join us insegment three. Glad we work some lively
discussion in there at the end becausethe next segment will be very rookie heavy.
(17:00):
Our chat with Scoot Henderson next hereon ninety seven one The Freak.
This is the Saturday Steinline wiz MarkStein presented by Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles,
FU your official homes to all DallasMavericks Gangs. Ninety seven one The
Freak. The Saturday Steinline dribbles On, presented as always by Panini Trading Cards
(17:25):
and Collectibles. A couple quick housekeepingitems before we proceed. As always,
you know you can text me onthe Steinline text line two one four seven
eight seven one nine seven to oneor eight one seven seven, eight seven
one nine seven one. We ask, as always, please at least give
(17:48):
me an initial with your first name, Joe S. From grape Vine or
wherever it is. Let me know, let me know the city you're checking
in from. Two. We liketo know if it is a local list
or maybe someone listening from out ofstate or even out of the country.
Just want a little bit of detail, just to get a feel for the
(18:10):
reach of the Saturday Steinline. Andsomething else that our trustee producer, Mattig
is going to help me do betterin twenty twenty four. This is one
of my twenty twenty four resolutions.If you're listening via the iHeartRadio app,
there is a microphone button that youcan click on and leave an audio message
(18:30):
for us up to thirty seconds,And of course that is way beyond my
capability of dealing with. But nowthat Matti g we've signed her in free
agency, well we have to shareher with the Automotive Edge before we come
on the air, But she's alsoworking on our show now as well,
so she is going to help mefind a way to make some better use
(18:52):
of the app's capability so we canget your voice on the show. So,
if you're listening via the iHeart Radioapp, leave us a message and
we're gonna be checking those out andworking them into the show as best we
can give the Old Man Show theOld Man a little patience, and I
will I will gradually figure out howto do that. So again, as
(19:15):
we've mentioned, the first two gamesof this seven game homestand not gonna be
recorded as the most memorable NBA gameswe've ever seen, but they did provide
for many of us. The firstin person look at Scoot Henderson, number
two overall pick for the Portland Trailblazerslast June. If you follow the league,
(19:41):
I think you would concur that whenyou factor in Victor Wenman Yama's mammoth
presence in South Texas, what ChetHolmgren is doing with the thunder in his
injury delayed rookie season. We haveto throw in Miami's Heim High as Junior
Golden State's Brandon Pajemski as well.Remember Hakkez and Pajemski's they're the eighteenth and
(20:08):
nineteenth overall picks and both flourishing intheir rookie season, so it hasn't left
a ton of oxygen for their fellowclass of twenty twenty three draftees. And
this is not This doesn't merely applyto Scoot Henderson. You would have to
say the same when evaluating Victor WemanYama. As spectacular as he is prone
(20:33):
to be, the evaluation process iscomplicated by the fact that their teams are
just so bad. And on onehand, top rookies are supposed to lift
their team ceiling dramatically. Dramatically,you know, It's not like we expect
an instant playoff berth, because it'svery rare that a rookie alone, especially
(20:55):
as young as rookies are when theycome into the league and the modern NBA,
you don't expect a playoff berth.But a team that wins in the
thirty somewhere. I think that's afair expectation. And just like in Portland,
it ain't happening in San Antonio rightnow either as gifted and spellbinding as
(21:15):
when Minyama clearly is. I hopeyou were watching Thursday night when Minyama put
on an absolute show against Milwaukee,head to head with Giannis Antitokunpo, the
two time MVP from the Bucks.I mean we saw when Minyama throwing an
(21:36):
alley oop off the board to himselffor a dunk, take a strapable step
inside hi Yannis on weaving right therewith throw it to find the two look
at him guard one another kind ofbroken alone. Who's the take that?
(22:03):
Here's the move by Yannis and thefinish and it was beautiful and then right
afterwards just throw it off the glass. The Bucks went for the steal,
didn't get it. Look at thishe knew he couldn't do a little finger
roll, so just throw it offthe rim. It was a great sequence
Kevin Harlan and Reggie Miller on thecall for TNT Wemby right after a Yannis
(22:25):
dunk goes down the other end,hoop off the board to himself. We
also saw when mi Yana when minYama. We also saw wemb and Yama
going around his back on a driveto the bucket, lefty punch right on
brook Lopez's head. We saw whenmin Yama absolutely reject Yannis at the rim,
(22:47):
turned him away. And this wasall on a playing time restriction.
When min Yama, of course stilldealing with the ankle injury that you surely
remember he sustained aggravated here in Dallascolliding with a ball boy during pregame warmups
on December twenty third, when Minyamatwenty seven points and five blocks against Giannis
(23:08):
and the Bucks in just twenty sixminutes. But we can go on and
on and on and rave about him. Even with wehm Minyama, the Spurs
are five and twenty nine, onlythose aforementioned three and thirty two pistons.
That's the only team worse on theNBA Map, not even Wemby and all
(23:33):
the things he can do at sevenfoot five, stuff we've really never seen
from a player his size, thehandles, the mobility, the court coverage.
Wemby alone cannot overcome San Antonio's lackshooting, lack of playmaking, and
frankly, just its lack of frontlinetalent. The Blazers, it's a similar
(23:53):
deal. This team is very earlyin the stages of its post day I
mean Lillard rebuild, and I again, I don't want to put too much
emphasis on what we witnessed this week. The two games were really really awful
(24:14):
showings, and people who watch thisteam more than I do, like my
palace Sean Haiken, who covers theteam on his excellent Rose Garden Report substack.
Look, it's a very demanding fanbase in the Pacific Northwest. They
are not known as the Blazer Maniacsfor nothing. But the general sense I've
gotten is that, you know,forget what you saw this week. I
(24:36):
think the fans in general have beenpretty accepting of how hard this young group
plays, and until this week hasroutinely played to the max. All Right,
So bearing all of that in mind, we're gonna listen in now to
the interview first with Scoot Henderson.I will share some of my impressions after
(24:59):
that, but here first is mychat with Scoot Henderson after practice after the
Blazers practiced here on Thursday. Soyou're basically halfway through your first season.
Now, how would you evaluate howit's going. I think it's going solid,
you know what I mean, wishingit was going the best it could
possibly be. There's no on myskill setting and knowing that the team we
(25:23):
have, but you know what,nine and twenty four whatever, whatever the
record is, but we focus onon just trying to compete. Just kind
of go out there and find waysfor us to continue to compete in just
leave it out there on the floor. But I think first season going you
know, solid, kind of whatI expected, but not as much,
you know what I mean, liketraveling all that, but going south?
(25:45):
What do you think you do betternow than if I would have asked you
in July or August? Take mytime. Defensively, I'm more liked in
you know, with double R andthem on my ass all the time,
So I didn't just just trying tostay locked in on that side, you
know, it's still I always haveslip ups, you know, but that's
(26:08):
just gonna happen in the side ofthe game. So I think just defensively,
I'm more sound since July, andI take my time more, knowing
when to use my speed you don'twhen to slow down and change pace,
and you know, just trying tocontinue to find ways. Man. Obviously,
because of the draft and all thecoverage and all the hype, I
think you're always going to be connectedwith Victor women Yama in some former fashion.
(26:30):
How much do you pay attention tohim or chat or other players in
your class? How much do youguys? Do you have any contact during
the season. No, not atall. No contact. I think like
if I just so happened to scallon Twitter or whatever, Like, I
don't really be on Instagram and socialmedia like that too much. So when
I do, I guess that's whenI see that or like see like little
(26:52):
like the numbers and stuff. ButI haven't paid much attention to it.
You know. It's we only thirtygames in thirty something games and so eighty
two games season, so I'm justtrying to continue to figure out ways for
me to come out here and tryto utilize myself for the team. Scoot
Henderson of the Portland Trailblazers, joiningus here on ninety seven, won the
Freak. I'm always curious when ateam comes to a city for multiple games.
(27:15):
This is probably different than anything you'veexperienced in the past. What is
it like to be in the samecity for two three days a day off
between games and get a chance toplay the same team a second time in
their gym. I think, no, what happened last night and that outcome.
I think it gives us a reasonto kind of just come back and
try to get it up, tryto really win, and try to go
(27:37):
out there compete. It gives ustime to adjust to the time zones or
whatever the case may be. ButI think it's really just for us to
go back out there and add anotherchance to show them who we are.
Later this month, Damian Lillard willmake his return to Portland. A lot
of people have that game circled ontheir calendar. What do you anticipate that
(27:59):
will be like to play him andplay against him in Portland? That's what's
up for real. But I thinkI'm just anticipating what we did in Milwaukee.
Know we were defensively sound. Youknow, they got their points,
but I think as a whole game, as a whole fourth quarters, we
were defensively sounding, and you know, we execute the game plan. And
uh, I think it's gonna bea lot of us just with him coming
(28:21):
back, obviously, I think I'mgonna get the feeling of him being dang
near home. So when he scored, the crowd's probably going to cheer.
So but it's gonna be fun.It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be
a great bump. I think,just me matching up against name, it's
gonna be fun. And what doesthat feel like to know that? I
mean, you're expected to step intothat huge void he left and lead this
(28:41):
franchise as it basically moves into anew era. What is that like for
a player your age to know youhave all those expectations on you. I
just got it at this point.It's more like just controlling what I can
and and that's how I go onabout it. That's not about It's not
about you know me, like,Okay, I got this much responsibility.
I don't want to you know whatI mean, I'm taking on my chest
(29:02):
and and I'm accepting it, andI'm gonna go out there and try my
best every single time, you knowwhat I mean. So for the Rip
City fans, not for me,but for everybody else, you know what
I mean. So for the team, just trying to throw my body out
there and like I said, helpus win some games. Last thing to
throw at you. How are thegoggles treating you solid? The no one's
(29:22):
is special. I could see outthe size and stuff, so I like
new goggles. Wishing you all thebest, Thanks so much for joining us.
January thirty first, Damian Lillard makeshis return to Portland as a Milwaukee
Buck for the first time. Andyou heard Scoot Henderson. He's looking forward
(29:45):
to that and he is not alone. I think a lot of people around
the league want to see that game. There was a funny moment in there
where he was talking about r Rbeing on him about playing better defense.
Are ore Is Trail Blazer's assistant coachRoy Rogers, who you you could hear
in the background because Scoot didn't seethis as it was happening. Roy walked
right behind him as we were chatting. And yes, the Blazers are on
(30:10):
Henderson about his defense constantly. Theyneed more from him there, defense,
rebounding, decision making, facilitating organizing. Those are all areas where Scoot Henderson
can and I think will improve inwith time experience. The main concern with
(30:36):
Henderson is of course shooting. He'sshooting only thirty seven percent from the floor,
only twenty nine percent from three pointrange. But I watched him for
a good twenty minutes Thursday working onhis shot with the La Legend Pooh Jetter.
Pooh was both a teammate with Hendersonand the Mavericks Jaden Hardy with the
(30:59):
G League. Because remember the Ignite, they always had veterans on the roster
to help mentor the really young guys. When it comes to Henderson's three point
stroke, from my perspective, itlooks mechanically sound when he's just working on
it, and size wise, Iwould say he struck me as more physically
imposing in person now compared to whenI first watched him. Not terribly surprising
(31:23):
because the first time I saw himhe was only seventeen. Remember, Henderson
spent two years with the Ignite,and the first time I saw him was
season one and the previous week beforethese two really bad Portland losses to the
MAVs, Henderson averaged twenty one nineto four. He made it under the
short list of candidates for Player ofthe Week, So it has definitely been
(31:48):
a difficult indoctrination to the NBA forScoot Henderson. But I will also maintain
it's way, way, way toosoon for firm judgments, especially since he's
also had to deal with an ankleinjury there too. All right, we
will get back to the MAVs veryshortly after the break because the one and
(32:08):
only skin Wade, half of theworld famous benin Skin tandem. Skin Wade
joins me next here on ninety sevenwon the Freak. This is DRT.
Lwitzky and you're listening to the SaturdaySteinline with my guys. Steiny on ninety
seven won the Freak. Everyone,thanks for sticking with us here on this
(32:29):
Saturday Steinline presented by Panini Trading Cardsand Collectibles. Our next guest will not
be surprised to know that Kurt Tfrom Dallas has always checked in via text.
Very excited, he says to hearfrom our next guest, the one
and only the better half of theBen and Skin show here on ninety seven
(32:53):
won the freak skin Wade, MAVsinsider expert, lifelong fan. Good Saturday
to you, sir, How areyou? I'm doing great? Stein,
Good Saturday to you, man.There is so much good Mavericks and NBA
to talk about. I can't thinkof a better way to spend my time
than to be talking to you.Brother, Answer this for me. How
(33:17):
ruffled were you? How angry wereyou when the news came down Thursday that
Luka Doncic was not Player of theMonth in the Western Conference. I thought
it was you know, I hatethrowing this word around Stein, but I
thought it was a little disrespectful.And you know, I Shay Gil just
(33:43):
Alexander has been incredible, like he'sa legit MVP candidate, And I love
watching the thunder play. You know, I'm a Sam Presty fanboy. I
love what you are. I am, but I can't I just put their
number side by side. And Ihave not been following Oklahoma City's injury schedule
(34:05):
situation closely, but I know wheneverI flip on the tube and watch them,
they seem like they have their mostlyfull complement of guys. And I
just compare what Luca did statistically towhat Shay did, and Luca had to
carry that team with all those injuries, and I just don't It's I've never
been conspiracy guy, and all thenational media hates Cuban and all this,
(34:29):
I've never bought into that stuff.But I'm like, you know, maybe
we're at the point now where Lucais just simply too good and people are
taking his excellence for granted. Becausethat was absolutely undisputable player of the month
numbers, even historically speaking, Ithought it felt a little disrespectful to our
Slovenian friend. Yeah, listen,I mean, Luca averaged thirty eight,
(34:53):
nine and eleven for the month.In history, only Oscar Robertson in December
of nineteen sixty, before you andI were born, has a player amassed
those kind of numbers across a singlemonth. But I remember being on the
(35:14):
Bally's Sports Southwest set with our colleaguesDana Larsen Brian Demris and warning them that
this could happen, because I knowwhen the league does this stuff, they
always factor in wins and losses heavily, and the MAVs were eight and eight
in December eight and five with Luca. They lost the three games he didn't
play, and Oklahoma City just hadsuch a great month, winning in Denver
(35:38):
twice routing Minnesota. I just hada feeling that the wins and losses were
going to play a factor. SoI really wasn't surprised, and I knew
it was going to spark a stormhere locally. Okay, you know what,
And that's fine, I don't youknow, I'm not going to argue
with that logic. But when Iwas looking at Shaye and Luca's number side
(36:00):
by side for the month, becauseof the games that Shaye also you said
Luca was eight and five, Ibelieve in the games that Gilgess Alexander played
in, I believe they had twomore wins than the games that Luca played
in, only two because Shae misseda couple of games too, And we're
talking about seven whole points more inthe month than what Shaye did. And
(36:23):
I'm not you know, I'm givinghim his respect here, but Luca literally
had to do that because of allof the injuries the Mavericks had. So
it just doesn't feel right, andI worry that those are the kinds of
things that I mean, let's faceit, part of MVP is this giant,
(36:44):
year long media campaign and pr campaign, and Luca is always going to
say that a championship is most important, and it absolutely is, but he
wants to be MVP, and soit's disappointing for him to not get his
shine in something that matters to himwhen he clearly put forth the best effort.
(37:04):
Your passionate, furious response is exactlywhy I wanted you to join Stud
Henderson as a guest on this editionof the Saturday Steinline presented by Panini Trading
Cards and Collectibles. All right,let's talk trades, because I'm sure this
is a subject that is of greatinterest to you. Earlier this week,
I reported that the MAVs interest inPascal Siakam has been overstated. But I
(37:30):
think maybe just as important in thatreport was the notion it's been conveyed to
me the Mavericks really do want toupgrade at the four. If they could
land a dream trade target, itwould be an upgrade at the four.
Now who exactly that might be isharder to pinpoint. You know, Isaiah
(37:53):
Stuart has been mentioned, but Ithink Detroit's price if they're going to trade
Stuart, is going to be prettyhigh. All the signals coming out of
Detroit have suggested that instead of ateardown, which you would expect when a
team is three and thirty two andrecently lost an NBA record twenty eight games
(38:13):
in a row. But no,the signals we're getting from the Pistons are
that they don't want to tear thingsdown and trade Isaiah Stewart and trade boy
On Bogdanovic. They don't want totrade the best players they have on a
bad team. If I put themagic wand in your hand, what would
skin Wade love to see before theFebruary eighth trade deadline for the MAVs.
(38:36):
Well, you know, they obviouslyneed a player such as a Sea Oakham
type, right, a guy thatcan is long, athletic, and can
defend multiple positions, preferably be abetter outside shooter than a guy like siakam
Is. But dude, he doesso many things. Well, I get
it. The interesting thing to meis, you know, when you say
(38:58):
the Mavericks interest in him in particularhas been a tad overstated, it seems
to me that what the Raptors,you know, at least as reported,
thought that they could get for himis also way overstated because not only is
he, you know, an unrestrictedfree agent this summer, he's also thirty
and so you know, Toronto legendarilyunder that regime has really valued their assets,
(39:24):
probably to a fault, and Ithink that they probably wish that now
that if they are going to moveSeakham, that they probably wish they had
moved him and and Anobe earlier becausethey didn't get you know, they got
good players for Anonobe. I likethose players, but all that talk about
multiple first round picks and all thisstuff, I just think they've held onto
(39:46):
their assets too long. And Iwonder if they're going to get underwhelmed with
their offers for Siakam and it endsup being the thing where they just hopefully
try to do a sign in tradethis upcoming summer. He's the kind of
player that would make sense. AndI still have my eyes on a Rim
protecting you know, good rim runningbig and we you know, you and
(40:07):
I talk so much about all theCapella rumors over the summer. Is good
as Lively has been, they stillneed to fortify their front line. So
those are definitely the two positions whereit makes the most sense if those deals
are there. But the main thingfor the Mavericks is they've got to get
healthy with their core players. I'mexcited that they have the record they have
(40:30):
despite all the injuries that they've mounted. Yeah, I mean we talked about
it in the first segment. They'reeleven and five when Luca and Kyrie and
Lively are all on the floor.But when you do the math, that
means that there were twenty out ofthirty six games that they didn't have all
three of them on the floor.And so that's obviously been a major issue.
All right, before we let yougo, the other big story,
(40:50):
or one of the other big storieswith the Mavericks this week was, of
course, came out that Mark Cubansent a note to all team employees about
how there will be thirty five ishmillion in bonuses dispersed throughout the organization.
And I know, because I workwith you, I know you do not
work with the Dallas Mavericks. Youare not. You work for you work
(41:12):
at the Freak and you work forBallely's. But I'm just curious, are
you getting a lot of people probablythink that you're you're in line for some
cash. Are you getting a lotof that? Are you getting a lot
of that question from your friends.My phone has been blowing up NonStop with
that question, and it's funny.I think, like you know, it
(41:32):
was on national news right, like, not just sports news, like it
was on national cable news and stuff. Cuban's always done this kind of stuff.
He really has. There's been lotsof things where he's made donations and
different things. But good for theMavericks employees. That's a real generous thing
for him and the new ownership groupto do. And so I am happy
(41:52):
for all of those people. Itold you our time together would go fast.
It went even faster than I wantedit to. But always a pleasure,
my friend, to get some ofyour thoughts on the local basketball squad
and my first I haven't seen youfor I haven't seen you for I don't
know, a week or so,maybe longer. So happy New Year,
(42:13):
hope everybody's good. Thanks to Milkfor joining us, my friend absolutely steinny
see you soon, brother, Thanksas always to the glue guy here at
the Freak Grooves for helping me getready this ship for this show. Thanks
of course as well to Maddy Gfor keeping us on track from the other
side of the Glass. If youmissed any part of this, or simply
(42:34):
want to relive it, you canget the Saturday Stey inline via podcast,
Apple, Spotify, wherever you getyour pods
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