July 11, 2023 • 35 mins
FOX Sports Radio Weekend host Ephraim Salaam is in for Rob, and he and Chris tell us why the Los Angeles Angels have to consider trading Shohei Ohtani at the deadline rather than risk losing him in free agency for nothing, discuss whether Broussard’s standards for Victor Wembanyama are too high and explain why they believe Zion Williamson needs a big time attitude (and diet) adjustment if he’s going to succeed in the NBA.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Ben
Maller along with my trustee sidekick David Gascon. Would mean
a lot to have you join us on our weekly
auditory journey.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
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I'll tell you it's a spin off of that Ben
Mather show, a cult hit overnights on FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Why should you listen? Picture if you will a world will.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
We chat with captains of industry in media, sports, and
more every week explore some amazing.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Facts about human nature and more.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Listen to The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller or the
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Speaker 3 (00:32):
We were just talking about shoe Hail Tany and obviously
nothing we haven't seen anything like him.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
But he also will be a free agent after this season.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
And obviously the Los Angeles Angels, the current team don't win, right.
They got a nice roster, they've tried. They brought in
Joe Madden, who was a great manager. They have Mike Trout, Trout,
Anthony rendon't like they have a lot of big names
that either got hurt or it just hasn't come together
for whatever reason. They haven't made the playoffs in eight years,
(01:06):
and O'tani has said that as time goes on, his
desire to win gets stronger and stronger. And so Ken Rosenthal,
who is the great baseball reporter for Fox, he's saying
on Fox Sports that Arnie Moreno, the owner of the Angels,
(01:27):
does not want to trade Otani, not so much because
he thinks he's gonna be able to resign him, but
because he doesn't want to be the owner or the
person who goes down in history as having.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Traded the best player ever.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
And I'm saying this Ephraim Arnie Moreno. Obviously he's the owner,
he can do whatever he wants. But the smart move,
and he can't be fired, right.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
The smart move is to not worry about that.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
And to make because I don't think they're gonna be
able to resign him, and so if they can't resign him,
and I think they should make him the best offer
they can now five hundred, six hundred million, whatever it
could be, and if he eats seven right, whatever their
best might be. I don't know if they can go
that high or not, but if they want.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
To go that high, if he says no or.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Even I'm not signing anything. I want to test free agency.
Let me wait, let's wait till the end of the season.
Not a definite, I'm out of here, but just let's wait.
I still trade him. I trade him for the best
package I could get, which I imagine would.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Be a haul. And because baseball, Ephraim's different.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
It's not like trading Lebron James or Michael Jordan or
somebody like that. Because in baseball, no matter how good
the individual player is, he oh Tony could get trade
or signed somewhere else, or get traded elsewhere and never
win a championship because in baseball one player, it's just
(03:16):
hard to dominate enough to lift your team. Now, maybe
he could have a better chance of doing it because
he pitches and hits, but even so, what if the other.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Four pitchers aren't getting the job done? Right?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
So I just don't think it's the same as trading
Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes or any of those basketball
players I may mentioned. So he has to just do
what's right for his team, and I think that's getting
the best trade package you can for a Tony.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
As an owner, your goal should be championships, right, Your
goal should be not holding on to players who may
or may not turn out to be the greatest player
of all time. You can have the greatest player of
all time on your team and never win a championship.
What have you accomplished? So that sentiment lets me know
(04:10):
that they're not looking at this the correct way. I
don't want to go down in history as trading away
possibly the greatest player to ever play. As you stated,
and as we know, baseball fans, one player, pitcher, hitter, shortstop.
(04:34):
One player cannot dominate the game enough to put you
over the hump. He can be a piece that's added
to a team that's there, a perennial contender that can
put them over the hump. But it's more than that.
Baseball is more nuanced than that, because even as the
(04:58):
best pitcher in the league, they get you won every
five days, won every five games. So there go, Oh,
you really got the playoffs and not make the playoffs.
You could bat four hundred and not make the playoffs.
(05:19):
So what you need to do is you need to
look at your roster, what's needed and what can we
get when you're His value right now is as high
as it's ever going to be. Right now. The people
are clamoring. They'll give you anything for this type of
talent right now, especially those who are on the CUSP
(05:44):
are feel that this can get them to the World Series.
So I would offer him the max that we could
six hundred six fifty whatever that is. If he doesn't,
obviously he wants to leave. It just feels like he's
(06:04):
looking to win. It feels like that, so.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
And I want him to leave. I usually don't even
get you got to go go to a huge market.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeh.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Baseball needs that, in my opinion, Baseball needs that. If
he was forty minutes up the well, depending on what
time of day, if he went from Anaheim to the Dodgers,
it'd be completely different.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yep. I mean it just opens so many things up. Yep.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
I said this the other day, Like Shohey is the
best baseball player on the planet Earth. He has one
new balance commercial what is happening? This is the face
of baseball.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Even with the language barrier. He should be doing more.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
You know what I would do, no doubt, I would
sit him in an suv sitting next to Kevin Hart
or somebody like that, and have Kevin having this whole
long conversation with him and he looking at heaven, looking
at Kevin, looking at Kevin, and then he says, you
know what I mean, and listen, listen, listen, listen, show
(07:11):
hate turns. He has an ear pod in he has
his phone and it's translating everything. Kevin says. He speaks
into the phone and says something real funny back to Kevin, right,
and now boom, Google pixel or no. But this is
you know, you know my mind. I don't matter, man,
(07:33):
I got a million. They don't they don't go away. Now,
they don't go away. I got a million of them.
But what I say that to say, you have to
brand your face of your league with with with current culture.
You have to integrate that that person with with the culture.
(07:55):
And if you don't do that, he just the greatest
baseball player on every new ballance.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
You're right, come on, man.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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listen live.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Hey, it's Ben, host of the Fifth Hour with Ben
Maller along with my trustee sidekick David Gascon. Would mean
a lot to have you join us on our weekly
auditory journey. You're asking, what in God's name is the
Fifth Hour, I'll tell you it's a spin off of it.
Ben Mather Show, a cult hit overnights on FSR. Why
should you listen? Picture if you will? A world where
we chat with captains of industry in media, sports, and
(08:34):
more every week explore some amazing facts about human nature
and more. Listen to The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller
on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Let's go
to the NBA.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Ephraim and Zion Williamson made a guest appearance surprise appearance
on Gilbert Arenas's podcast, and he talked about his struggles
with eating or with his diet, which may have contributed
to his inability to stay on the court periods.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Isn't hard to diet at your age? She's be honest,
since is you.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
I'll be real.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
There are times when I will say that, man, that's
shit hard. It's hard.
Speaker 6 (09:19):
Man, Like you're twenty twenty two, got a lot of
money all the it feels like all the.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Money in the world. Man, it is hard.
Speaker 6 (09:27):
But I'm at that point now where because of certain
things I'm putting back, like the wisdom around me much
of like I want to say, older because they took
to it, and I'm just putting people around me wisdom
put me on game to certain things and just go
from there.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Though, look, I'm not going to demolish Zion for that.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
He was honest, So I give him credit for being honest.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
And if you listen to a lot of that interview,
you know he admitted to really needing to make make
some changes, you know, and learning from these first few
years where he really hasn't been able to play a lot.
But he has said that there's a lot of things
he could have done better.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
In fact, here's a quote.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
One of the quotes he says, like coach k taught me,
I have to own up to my responsibilities. Uh, there
are a lot of things I could have done better.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
I didn't. I'm in the process of fixing those things.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
So I like it. I like his hopefully this is sincere,
but I like it if he's, you know, willing to
do this because, to be honest, I from we don't
see a lot of athletes, I don't think willing to
say something like that unless they're in dire straits.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
And obviously they like a John Moran had.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
To say it, and then he didn't mean it because
obviously he didn't change his ways that first time. Hopefully
he does it now. But you know, I've heard athletes
say I have no regrets. I never regret anything because
I learned from everything. I mean, Look, if you're a
human being, you got some regrets. I've lived a good life.
(11:11):
I'm not bashing myself, but there's things I've done that
I regret.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
I think we're all human and we should be able
to admit that. So I give him credit for that.
What I will say is this, he's got to get
serious and hopefully what he says is what he means,
because if he has the ability to be an all
time great player, I mean when he plays, he is
(11:39):
nothing short of dominant, period, and he had that team
near the top of the Western Conference when he was
healthy last year. Twenty seven point seven eight rebounds a game,
shoots a high percentage sixty plus percent, can bring the
ball up like a point guard at times, but the
guys that fulfill their potential from are guys that really
(12:04):
take it seriously.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Charles Barkley talks about how.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Moses Malone pushed him to lose fifty pounds. Remember he
came out, he was a round mound of rebound, the
leaning tower of pizza.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I mean, he was all these you you know, like nicknames.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
About his weight and he lost that weight and people
still think of him assing like he was chunky. But
if you look at him in his prime, you notice
Ephim he was put together. Well, he wasn't a right absolutely,
and so he did that. Lebron is freaking thirty eight
years old, has accomplished as we all, most of us
(12:47):
think he's either the second best something the first best
player ever, and he still is working his tail off.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
I mean, when he's accomplished all this other stuff.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
And so Zion if he's going to follow Lebron as
he said, I'm gonna follow that blueprint, then good for him.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
But the time to do that was yesterday.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
So he's a little behind because maybe he hasn't done
those things. And so hopefully he means it and he's
about to buckle down.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
Well, let me tell you this, the money is too big.
It's too much money, too fast for these young men.
He would The thing that I took from that interview
is it feels like I have all the money in
the world. So a twenty one, twenty two year old
he had got to remember he had a ninety million
dollar shoe contract before he got drafted. He wanted to
(13:43):
about all the money in the world. You feel like
you can do anything, and that is counterproductive when you're
trying to be great at something. And because Lebron had
that too, because normally you're talking about outliers. Okay, when
you speak of Lebron and the Jordans and the Kobe's,
(14:06):
these are outliers. So you can't hold the rest of
the league to that standard because they're special. That's a
reason they're talked about as being the greatest ever. We're
just talking about you becoming a professional athlete, right and
living up to your potential, which he hasn't done. The
(14:28):
discipline it takes off the court is more important than
your discipline on the court. You only play, You're only
out there playing for forty eight minutes, right. The rest
of your life is happening off the court. What you
(14:52):
do with your homeboys, John Morant, what you do at
the fast food restaurant or at home in the kitchen.
Zion Williamson, what you do in the bedroom and others, Zion,
that's where the discipline is most needed. Basketball becomes you're
(15:14):
great at that. This kid has been a sensation since
he was twelve thirteen years old. Because of social media,
everybody in the world knew who he was. He goes
to Duke and he said Coach K had taught him
some things. He's just been a kid who's been great
at basketball. He went to college for one year. How
much can you learn in a couple months. Even if
(15:38):
your coach or your mentor is someone like coach K,
you can only learn so much. He landed in the
NBA as the number one pick in the draft, with
a truckload of money, and all his dreams and prayers answered,
So now what?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
So now what? And if you don't hold.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
On, if you don't have people in place, if you
don't have a real legitimate circle, then it is this
is not.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Irregular.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
This will happen to you because everybody loves what the
money and the fame has to offer in your circle.
But if you don't have somebody to be like, look,
and I was very critical of New Orleans and their
staff for not getting him a living chef, not giving him.
(16:33):
A nutrition is where you have to be able to
monitor and watch your investment.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Because he's a child, he should have definitely had all
of that. It should have been a requirement question, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
And that's the thing Rob from like, his eating should
not be a problem.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
And I get it.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I'm not saying ben Ye's gumbo jump. That's where where
I'm from. So I know all that, and I know
it's tempting, but you know how it is.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I often say.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
This some somewhat serious, somewhat joking, if I could have
a living chef.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Oh, number one thing, be a vegan number one thing
right now you are.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
I know you've gone vegan, but I could be a vegan,
right if because they know how to cook it up
where it's tasty.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Everything you and if they're doing it for you.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
So his diet there and I look, I give him
credit for being honest, but there's no excuse.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
That's the discipline I'm talking about. Right, you got one
hundred million dollars in the bank. Of course, my house
was gonna have a guess house, My chef is gonna
be there, right, I'm not anything I'm eating at home.
He's preparing or she's preparing period. It's gonna taste great.
It's gonna be exactly what I need missed the other
when I'm rehabbing, when I'm injured, I'm not going to
(17:53):
put on fifteen twenty twenty five pounds because I don't
have the discipline enough to eat properly because I can't
work out. That's what I'm talking about. You gotta be
able to go into these kids' lives if you've invested
that amount of capital into them, in them, and you've
got to be able to guide them and give them
(18:13):
that guidance to where they don't become a detriment to themselves.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
So let me ask you this, because you've seen I'm
sure you've seen.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Guys who live it up, party with the girls, all
that stuff, right, but yet are able to have that discipline?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Is that? How do like, how do guys do that?
Speaker 3 (18:34):
You know, where they still have their fun and all that,
but they also are disciplined enough to not let it
affect their game.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Very difficult to do it as a young player, very difficult,
especially now.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
So are you do most of the young superstars regardless
of the sport. But we're mainly talking football and basketball.
The guys that are young superstars, are they not out there,
you know, kicking it, living it up to the maximum,
or you know, at least to a large degree in your.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Mind, they are. But the job comes first. I've seen guys.
Floyd is a perfect example, Floyd Mayweather. Right, if we're
doing a documentary on Floyd right now, so we have
a lot of access to stuff. Floyd parties to do
all that. He will train at five o'clock in the morning,
(19:29):
he gonna have some burgers and all of that. We've
seen it on twenty four to seven, and then fight
three sixty or whatever, and then he'll go and train.
He never let his lifestyle outside of the ring affect
his training and being ready for inside of the ring.
I'm not saying you can't go party, you can't have
a good time, you can't go to the club, but
that's not your job, that's not your livelihood. You can
(19:53):
go to the club, and you can. But if you
get up at four or five in the morning and
go work out, okay, now we work.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Right, right, you can be able to do that.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
It boils down to and and we've said this in
a lot of different circumstances. Do you love the game
or do you love what it brings? Gets you right,
And that's the if you really love the game, like
a Lebron James or somebody like Robe or b right
(20:24):
like Kevin, you're gonna work your tail off. If you
just love what it brings. Then once the once you
get that stuff, the women, money, the fame, the mature right, like,
you're not going you're going to lose sight of the
main thing.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
I don't know Zion, but watching him and his weight,
fluctuating all the things that's going on with him on
social media, and you know all the time, I don't
know if if you know what's what's what's out there,
it's out of control right right to me. That doesn't
scream I'm in the lab, I'm working, I'm getting right,
(21:04):
I'm trying to play all eighty two next year. That
doesn't scream that to me. No, no, so I all
I can do is you know who. I loved watching
Kevin Garnett play because you knew he loved basketball. I
loved watching Kobe Bryant play because you knew he loved basketball.
(21:26):
And when you listen to his contemporaries and they say, hey,
I got up at six o'clock to come down to
work out, and Kobe was already sweating, dripping.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Right right right eating breakfast. Say, because he'd been down
there since four am.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
He'dn't already got to work out in. You thought you
were coming to get one in and he's all he
ready for number two.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
So let me ask you this before we throw it
out to the callers. Do you think it's obviously not
too late chronologically, but do you think the fact that
he's about to be five years in now and he's
just coming to this revelation, if we're giving.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Him the benefit of the doubt that he is and
he's not just saying it.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Do you think that that it kind of shows that
it really ain't in you.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Oh, it definitely does show it. It's not in you.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
But he can change all of that his abilities alone.
If you put some discipline behind those abilities, that his
God given abilities, it's a rap, brother, he will take
the league by storm. Yeah, but it's hard to do
it when you're sitting on two hundred mil.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
It's hard to do it.
Speaker 5 (22:41):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 3 (22:53):
We talked yesterday about Victor Winn Banyama, who is the
most bally food prospect that the NBA has ever had had,
or at least since Lebron James, and about a month ago,
I caught a lot of flak.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Because I said.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
That if he doesn't have a better career, if he
has it better, doesn't surpass not only Kevin Durant, but
a keem Elijahwan. Then, based on the expectations, he will.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Have been a disappointment.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Not in my words, but I based that on what
people are saying now. Adrian Wozarowski reported that he's been
told by executives in the league that when Banyama might be.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
The greatest.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Prospect in American team sports history, not just basketball, football, baseball,
whatever it is. He also said that he's been told
that by year three, win Bayama is believed by some
to be a guy that will be the best offensive
(24:23):
and defensive player in the game by year three. Jerry
West after a nine point eight rebound, five block performance
in his summer Lay League debut for Wim Banyama, Jerry
West arguably the greatest talent evaluator in the history of
the game, said he reminds him of Bill Russell, and this.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Week in Kenny Smith, who is a.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Very reputable judge of talent former player. Now, of course
with TNT, he said this.
Speaker 7 (25:02):
The year four, he'll be the MVP of the league.
I think in four years they will be good. They
will be good enough to attack. They might have, you know,
another player with him. He will know the league. There
will be no Lebron James, there will be no Stuff Curry,
there will be no Kevin Durant at their hypens.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
He said by year four he's gonna be the MVP.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Now, I was not predicting when Banyama will be better
than Durant and Elijah I am simply saying from that,
with these type of.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Comments being made.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
By basketball reputable basketball evaluators, those are the expectations.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
The other guys. This stuff was said about Kareem Lebron
better than Elijah An and Durrect.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
And of course there's Jordan and Duncan and Burden Magic
and those guys who also are better. They didn't get
this type of hype. But that's what I'm saying. Where
are you at on this? Do you think I'm.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Wrong to say that. I think it's unfair to say
it thing.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
It's unfair to him because all of those things may
be true, but there's only one person that can make
that come to fruition, and that's Victor Wombinyama. It all depends. Now,
he has the natural gifts. That's where you start, right,
(26:48):
So he has the natural gifts of being seven to
three and a half, his abilities to shoot the long ball,
to handle the ball. He won't be doing a lot
of that in the Spurs offense. That's not They're not
going to have him running uh point center like nicolaj does.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Uh, that's just not. I think that's that.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
He'll he may play on the perimeter, but he won't
be bringing the ball up and sit and running and
setting the offense. That's what I'm saying. So in a
league of shooters and long balls, we've watched kind of
like a throwback with Nicoleajkic taking the league over by
(27:33):
a storm. You got Joel Embiid who just won the
m v P. So the last three and the last
three years of m vps have been won by centners. Right,
there's a little five. He's not a center, but big.
We'll just say a big all right. So, so now
(27:54):
he's positioned to be the m v P if he
can get his body, his mentality, his work ethic up
to where it needs to be night in and night
out at an NBA level. What he's gonna have to
do is he's gonna have to play, and he's gonna
to play a lot, and he's going to play hard.
(28:16):
Can his frame hold up under those circumstances. It's going
to be hard to win the MVP and san Antonio
load managing.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
So yeah, and I hope they don't.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
But this is what I'm talking about, So we gotta
we gotta look at the totality of the situation.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
But I looking at him and this about them.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
I will say this quickly because obviously the Spurs started
load management. Yes, but the way they load managed with
Duncan and those guys, they would play eighty games.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
They would just limit the minutes.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
You know, you're still playing thirty three thirty, you know,
usually around thirty three earlier in his career.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
Is easy to do that when you got right, when
you got that Hall of famers on the team with you. No,
but well there's it's saying they I think I do
not think they would purposely if he's healthy.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Knowing that the NBA now has the rule where you
have to play at least sixty five games right to
be available for awards and all that, I don't think
they would purposely limit him to less than that.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
He's got to play.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
He's got to play a bunch uh and he's got
really just looking at he didn't low managed.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Oh no, he's playing.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
He's much later in his career, and again that was
more minutes than games.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
So you.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
To win the MVP, you got to play at high
level consistently.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
For for years.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
Joel Embiid has been on the cusp of being the
MVP for you know, three years. He finally wanted Joannis
the same way, finally wanted, finally got it, Nicola Jokic,
he's been dominant for I mean, people are just realizing
just how dominant he was.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
So he's saying that, you.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Don't because I don't think Kenny's statement is out of bound.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
It isn't, but a lot has to happen. You look
at the players who are winning MVPs, look at their teams.
Oh yeah, of course, show me what the Spurs have
and he said in four years, So a lot can
change from now to then. But that's that's that's heavy
that's the heavy lifting he's gonna have to get through.
He's going to have to get through the lean one, first, second,
(30:40):
third year of may or may not. That is not
a destination. San Antonio is not a free agent destination.
Look at those teams that they built in San Antonio.
They built it from the draft. They were they they were.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
But what they're saying about this kid is it's not
gonna be about everybody else.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
You can't.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
But if he win the m v P, if your
team isn't making he's not gonna be bad, they're saying.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
We're saying he's gonna be so good that he's getting
them in the playoffs. So similar to what Lebron did, right.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Who is Luca had other I mean, heck, Jalen Brunson
wasn't known as anything special.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
What I'm telling But what I'm telling you is when
you look at those right, when you look at Luca,
when you look at Steph, when you look at even Giannis,
when you look at these guys Nicole, their the their
ball centric the ball is in their hands. They're leading
(31:44):
their teams because the ball is in their hands. He
could easily have the ball as much.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
As it's gonna work like that, honest, not Luca. I
don't want him.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
I don't want any of my players to be honest,
if I'm handling as well. The only reason I would
put him in there because because you brought it up now,
Yannis put When Yanni's got his size and his strength,
that's when he became dominant. When Jannis was wiry and long,
he wasn't dominant like that. He got pushed around in
(32:17):
the in the lane. Uh, and he wasn't as skilled.
He was not as skilled. There's a long way. There's
a long way anyway. He's just more physically dominant. He
can get to his spot and once he gets into paint,
it's over. Right, that's a long seventy five years. But
here's the thing, right, I don't think he's out of
(32:37):
I'm not predicting he's gonna win it in the year four.
I'm just saying Lebron was a top five candidate in
final votes twice in his first four years. Luca was
as well, and Luca was even favored to win preseason
favorite to win the MVP twice in his first Yeah
it's been three times in his five years, but twice
(33:00):
in his first four years.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
And you know why it hasn't happened. You look at
the teams and the lack of success by the well.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
But yeah, he but he was. I mean this year
is obviously was really bad. But you know what I'm
saying that the numbers are good. The output you got
to be in order to get to the m v P.
Your team has to be a viable contender for the championship.
But see, I think people are saying this dude, and
(33:28):
I'm not.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
I don't know. We'll see.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
He doesn't he doesn't have the ball or nothing to
be so good. He doesn't have the ball enough in
his hands. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
He can't have the ball, but he can drink it.
He can lead. He would be able to lead the ball,
lead the fast break, rebound and go.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
He was great overseas doing that and great against G
league players.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
He was great doing that. You don't think You don't
think you'd be able to push the ball up the
court in the NBA.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
No, you know why, why he's just too tall, is
too much space for the ball on the ground. Is
it at seven feet your kitch does it because he's wide.
He he'll walk it up and he'll push it.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
No, I'm talking about it in the break, yeah, or
if he grabs the ball off the rebound and goals.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Yes, of course, that's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
He has If you watch women, yam, he has a
very long dribble, a long crossover. It's it's it's a
lot of air between the He's not bending down dribbling, right,
So as a defence, I.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Think, right, I think in the half court, yeah, I don't.
I'm not gonna want him playing like a point. I'm
just saying he will be. He could take it off
them and transition. He could take it off them and
then he'll have it on the wings, handle the ball.
Where I don't want him dribbling, at least for now,
is in the paint.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
No.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
You what you want him to do is be able
to control the game from the high post, like like
like Nicola does.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
And you but he can also flash to the low
post or in the middle of the.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Paint, catch it and just don't dribble, right, can't the paint,
cannot put it down, yep, just turn around and put
it if you put it.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Down that I tell my kids that I coach now
in basketball, my tall kids. Your superpower is your height.
You keep it up. If you bring it down, you're
just a mere mortal.
Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Ben
Maller along with my trustee sidekick David Gascon. Would mean
a lot to have you join us on our weekly
auditory journey.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
You're asking, what in God's name is the Fifth Hour?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I'll tell you it's a spin off of that Ben
Mather show, a cult hit overnights on FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Why should you listen? Picture if you will a world will.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
We chat with captains of industry in media, sports, and
more every week explore some amazing.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Facts about human nature and more.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Listen to The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller or the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
We were just talking about shoe Hail Tany and obviously
nothing we haven't seen anything like him.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
But he also will be a free agent after this season.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
And obviously the Los Angeles Angels, the current team don't win, right.
They got a nice roster, they've tried. They brought in
Joe Madden, who was a great manager. They have Mike Trout, Trout,
Anthony rendon't like they have a lot of big names
that either got hurt or it just hasn't come together
for whatever reason. They haven't made the playoffs in eight years,
(01:06):
and O'tani has said that as time goes on, his
desire to win gets stronger and stronger. And so Ken Rosenthal,
who is the great baseball reporter for Fox, he's saying
on Fox Sports that Arnie Moreno, the owner of the Angels,
(01:27):
does not want to trade Otani, not so much because
he thinks he's gonna be able to resign him, but
because he doesn't want to be the owner or the
person who goes down in history as having.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Traded the best player ever.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
And I'm saying this Ephraim Arnie Moreno. Obviously he's the owner,
he can do whatever he wants. But the smart move,
and he can't be fired, right.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
The smart move is to not worry about that.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
And to make because I don't think they're gonna be
able to resign him, and so if they can't resign him,
and I think they should make him the best offer
they can now five hundred, six hundred million, whatever it
could be, and if he eats seven right, whatever their
best might be. I don't know if they can go
that high or not, but if they want.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
To go that high, if he says no or.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Even I'm not signing anything. I want to test free agency.
Let me wait, let's wait till the end of the season.
Not a definite, I'm out of here, but just let's wait.
I still trade him. I trade him for the best
package I could get, which I imagine would.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Be a haul. And because baseball, Ephraim's different.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
It's not like trading Lebron James or Michael Jordan or
somebody like that. Because in baseball, no matter how good
the individual player is, he oh Tony could get trade
or signed somewhere else, or get traded elsewhere and never
win a championship because in baseball one player, it's just
(03:16):
hard to dominate enough to lift your team. Now, maybe
he could have a better chance of doing it because
he pitches and hits, but even so, what if the other.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Four pitchers aren't getting the job done? Right?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
So I just don't think it's the same as trading
Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes or any of those basketball
players I may mentioned. So he has to just do
what's right for his team, and I think that's getting
the best trade package you can for a Tony.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
As an owner, your goal should be championships, right, Your
goal should be not holding on to players who may
or may not turn out to be the greatest player
of all time. You can have the greatest player of
all time on your team and never win a championship.
What have you accomplished? So that sentiment lets me know
(04:10):
that they're not looking at this the correct way. I
don't want to go down in history as trading away
possibly the greatest player to ever play. As you stated,
and as we know, baseball fans, one player, pitcher, hitter, shortstop.
(04:34):
One player cannot dominate the game enough to put you
over the hump. He can be a piece that's added
to a team that's there, a perennial contender that can
put them over the hump. But it's more than that.
Baseball is more nuanced than that, because even as the
(04:58):
best pitcher in the league, they get you won every
five days, won every five games. So there go, Oh,
you really got the playoffs and not make the playoffs.
You could bat four hundred and not make the playoffs.
(05:19):
So what you need to do is you need to
look at your roster, what's needed and what can we
get when you're His value right now is as high
as it's ever going to be. Right now. The people
are clamoring. They'll give you anything for this type of
talent right now, especially those who are on the CUSP
(05:44):
are feel that this can get them to the World Series.
So I would offer him the max that we could
six hundred six fifty whatever that is. If he doesn't,
obviously he wants to leave. It just feels like he's
(06:04):
looking to win. It feels like that, so.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
And I want him to leave. I usually don't even
get you got to go go to a huge market.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeh.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Baseball needs that, in my opinion, Baseball needs that. If
he was forty minutes up the well, depending on what
time of day, if he went from Anaheim to the Dodgers,
it'd be completely different.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yep. I mean it just opens so many things up. Yep.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
I said this the other day, Like Shohey is the
best baseball player on the planet Earth. He has one
new balance commercial what is happening? This is the face
of baseball.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Even with the language barrier. He should be doing more.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
You know what I would do, no doubt, I would
sit him in an suv sitting next to Kevin Hart
or somebody like that, and have Kevin having this whole
long conversation with him and he looking at heaven, looking
at Kevin, looking at Kevin, and then he says, you
know what I mean, and listen, listen, listen, listen, show
(07:11):
hate turns. He has an ear pod in he has
his phone and it's translating everything. Kevin says. He speaks
into the phone and says something real funny back to Kevin, right,
and now boom, Google pixel or no. But this is
you know, you know my mind. I don't matter, man,
(07:33):
I got a million. They don't they don't go away. Now,
they don't go away. I got a million of them.
But what I say that to say, you have to
brand your face of your league with with with current culture.
You have to integrate that that person with with the culture.
(07:55):
And if you don't do that, he just the greatest
baseball player on every new ballance.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
You're right, come on, man.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Hey, it's Ben, host of the Fifth Hour with Ben
Maller along with my trustee sidekick David Gascon. Would mean
a lot to have you join us on our weekly
auditory journey. You're asking, what in God's name is the
Fifth Hour, I'll tell you it's a spin off of it.
Ben Mather Show, a cult hit overnights on FSR. Why
should you listen? Picture if you will? A world where
we chat with captains of industry in media, sports, and
(08:34):
more every week explore some amazing facts about human nature
and more. Listen to The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller
on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Let's go
to the NBA.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Ephraim and Zion Williamson made a guest appearance surprise appearance
on Gilbert Arenas's podcast, and he talked about his struggles
with eating or with his diet, which may have contributed
to his inability to stay on the court periods.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Isn't hard to diet at your age? She's be honest,
since is you.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
I'll be real.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
There are times when I will say that, man, that's
shit hard. It's hard.
Speaker 6 (09:19):
Man, Like you're twenty twenty two, got a lot of
money all the it feels like all the.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Money in the world. Man, it is hard.
Speaker 6 (09:27):
But I'm at that point now where because of certain
things I'm putting back, like the wisdom around me much
of like I want to say, older because they took
to it, and I'm just putting people around me wisdom
put me on game to certain things and just go
from there.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Though, look, I'm not going to demolish Zion for that.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
He was honest, So I give him credit for being honest.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
And if you listen to a lot of that interview,
you know he admitted to really needing to make make
some changes, you know, and learning from these first few
years where he really hasn't been able to play a lot.
But he has said that there's a lot of things
he could have done better.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
In fact, here's a quote.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
One of the quotes he says, like coach k taught me,
I have to own up to my responsibilities. Uh, there
are a lot of things I could have done better.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
I didn't. I'm in the process of fixing those things.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
So I like it. I like his hopefully this is sincere,
but I like it if he's, you know, willing to
do this because, to be honest, I from we don't
see a lot of athletes, I don't think willing to
say something like that unless they're in dire straits.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
And obviously they like a John Moran had.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
To say it, and then he didn't mean it because
obviously he didn't change his ways that first time. Hopefully
he does it now. But you know, I've heard athletes
say I have no regrets. I never regret anything because
I learned from everything. I mean, Look, if you're a
human being, you got some regrets. I've lived a good life.
(11:11):
I'm not bashing myself, but there's things I've done that
I regret.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
I think we're all human and we should be able
to admit that. So I give him credit for that.
What I will say is this, he's got to get
serious and hopefully what he says is what he means,
because if he has the ability to be an all
time great player, I mean when he plays, he is
(11:39):
nothing short of dominant, period, and he had that team
near the top of the Western Conference when he was
healthy last year. Twenty seven point seven eight rebounds a game,
shoots a high percentage sixty plus percent, can bring the
ball up like a point guard at times, but the
guys that fulfill their potential from are guys that really
(12:04):
take it seriously.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Charles Barkley talks about how.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Moses Malone pushed him to lose fifty pounds. Remember he
came out, he was a round mound of rebound, the
leaning tower of pizza.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I mean, he was all these you you know, like nicknames.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
About his weight and he lost that weight and people
still think of him assing like he was chunky. But
if you look at him in his prime, you notice
Ephim he was put together. Well, he wasn't a right absolutely,
and so he did that. Lebron is freaking thirty eight
years old, has accomplished as we all, most of us
(12:47):
think he's either the second best something the first best
player ever, and he still is working his tail off.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
I mean, when he's accomplished all this other stuff.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
And so Zion if he's going to follow Lebron as
he said, I'm gonna follow that blueprint, then good for him.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
But the time to do that was yesterday.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
So he's a little behind because maybe he hasn't done
those things. And so hopefully he means it and he's
about to buckle down.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
Well, let me tell you this, the money is too big.
It's too much money, too fast for these young men.
He would The thing that I took from that interview
is it feels like I have all the money in
the world. So a twenty one, twenty two year old
he had got to remember he had a ninety million
dollar shoe contract before he got drafted. He wanted to
(13:43):
about all the money in the world. You feel like
you can do anything, and that is counterproductive when you're
trying to be great at something. And because Lebron had
that too, because normally you're talking about outliers. Okay, when
you speak of Lebron and the Jordans and the Kobe's,
(14:06):
these are outliers. So you can't hold the rest of
the league to that standard because they're special. That's a
reason they're talked about as being the greatest ever. We're
just talking about you becoming a professional athlete, right and
living up to your potential, which he hasn't done. The
(14:28):
discipline it takes off the court is more important than
your discipline on the court. You only play, You're only
out there playing for forty eight minutes, right. The rest
of your life is happening off the court. What you
(14:52):
do with your homeboys, John Morant, what you do at
the fast food restaurant or at home in the kitchen.
Zion Williamson, what you do in the bedroom and others, Zion,
that's where the discipline is most needed. Basketball becomes you're
(15:14):
great at that. This kid has been a sensation since
he was twelve thirteen years old. Because of social media,
everybody in the world knew who he was. He goes
to Duke and he said Coach K had taught him
some things. He's just been a kid who's been great
at basketball. He went to college for one year. How
much can you learn in a couple months. Even if
(15:38):
your coach or your mentor is someone like coach K,
you can only learn so much. He landed in the
NBA as the number one pick in the draft, with
a truckload of money, and all his dreams and prayers answered,
So now what?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
So now what? And if you don't hold.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
On, if you don't have people in place, if you
don't have a real legitimate circle, then it is this
is not.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Irregular.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
This will happen to you because everybody loves what the
money and the fame has to offer in your circle.
But if you don't have somebody to be like, look,
and I was very critical of New Orleans and their
staff for not getting him a living chef, not giving him.
(16:33):
A nutrition is where you have to be able to
monitor and watch your investment.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Because he's a child, he should have definitely had all
of that. It should have been a requirement question, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
And that's the thing Rob from like, his eating should
not be a problem.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
And I get it.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I'm not saying ben Ye's gumbo jump. That's where where
I'm from. So I know all that, and I know
it's tempting, but you know how it is.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I often say.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
This some somewhat serious, somewhat joking, if I could have
a living chef.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Oh, number one thing, be a vegan number one thing
right now you are.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
I know you've gone vegan, but I could be a vegan,
right if because they know how to cook it up
where it's tasty.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Everything you and if they're doing it for you.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
So his diet there and I look, I give him
credit for being honest, but there's no excuse.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
That's the discipline I'm talking about. Right, you got one
hundred million dollars in the bank. Of course, my house
was gonna have a guess house, My chef is gonna
be there, right, I'm not anything I'm eating at home.
He's preparing or she's preparing period. It's gonna taste great.
It's gonna be exactly what I need missed the other
when I'm rehabbing, when I'm injured, I'm not going to
(17:53):
put on fifteen twenty twenty five pounds because I don't
have the discipline enough to eat properly because I can't
work out. That's what I'm talking about. You gotta be
able to go into these kids' lives if you've invested
that amount of capital into them, in them, and you've
got to be able to guide them and give them
(18:13):
that guidance to where they don't become a detriment to themselves.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
So let me ask you this, because you've seen I'm
sure you've seen.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Guys who live it up, party with the girls, all
that stuff, right, but yet are able to have that discipline?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Is that? How do like, how do guys do that?
Speaker 3 (18:34):
You know, where they still have their fun and all that,
but they also are disciplined enough to not let it
affect their game.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Very difficult to do it as a young player, very difficult,
especially now.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
So are you do most of the young superstars regardless
of the sport. But we're mainly talking football and basketball.
The guys that are young superstars, are they not out there,
you know, kicking it, living it up to the maximum,
or you know, at least to a large degree in your.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Mind, they are. But the job comes first. I've seen guys.
Floyd is a perfect example, Floyd Mayweather. Right, if we're
doing a documentary on Floyd right now, so we have
a lot of access to stuff. Floyd parties to do
all that. He will train at five o'clock in the morning,
(19:29):
he gonna have some burgers and all of that. We've
seen it on twenty four to seven, and then fight
three sixty or whatever, and then he'll go and train.
He never let his lifestyle outside of the ring affect
his training and being ready for inside of the ring.
I'm not saying you can't go party, you can't have
a good time, you can't go to the club, but
that's not your job, that's not your livelihood. You can
(19:53):
go to the club, and you can. But if you
get up at four or five in the morning and
go work out, okay, now we work.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Right, right, you can be able to do that.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
It boils down to and and we've said this in
a lot of different circumstances. Do you love the game
or do you love what it brings? Gets you right,
And that's the if you really love the game, like
a Lebron James or somebody like Robe or b right
(20:24):
like Kevin, you're gonna work your tail off. If you
just love what it brings. Then once the once you
get that stuff, the women, money, the fame, the mature right, like,
you're not going you're going to lose sight of the
main thing.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
I don't know Zion, but watching him and his weight,
fluctuating all the things that's going on with him on
social media, and you know all the time, I don't
know if if you know what's what's what's out there,
it's out of control right right to me. That doesn't
scream I'm in the lab, I'm working, I'm getting right,
(21:04):
I'm trying to play all eighty two next year. That
doesn't scream that to me. No, no, so I all
I can do is you know who. I loved watching
Kevin Garnett play because you knew he loved basketball. I
loved watching Kobe Bryant play because you knew he loved basketball.
(21:26):
And when you listen to his contemporaries and they say, hey,
I got up at six o'clock to come down to
work out, and Kobe was already sweating, dripping.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Right right right eating breakfast. Say, because he'd been down
there since four am.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
He'dn't already got to work out in. You thought you
were coming to get one in and he's all he
ready for number two.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
So let me ask you this before we throw it
out to the callers. Do you think it's obviously not
too late chronologically, but do you think the fact that
he's about to be five years in now and he's
just coming to this revelation, if we're giving.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Him the benefit of the doubt that he is and
he's not just saying it.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Do you think that that it kind of shows that
it really ain't in you.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Oh, it definitely does show it. It's not in you.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
But he can change all of that his abilities alone.
If you put some discipline behind those abilities, that his
God given abilities, it's a rap, brother, he will take
the league by storm. Yeah, but it's hard to do
it when you're sitting on two hundred mil.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
It's hard to do it.
Speaker 5 (22:41):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
We talked yesterday about Victor Winn Banyama, who is the
most bally food prospect that the NBA has ever had had,
or at least since Lebron James, and about a month ago,
I caught a lot of flak.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Because I said.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
That if he doesn't have a better career, if he
has it better, doesn't surpass not only Kevin Durant, but
a keem Elijahwan. Then, based on the expectations, he will.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Have been a disappointment.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Not in my words, but I based that on what
people are saying now. Adrian Wozarowski reported that he's been
told by executives in the league that when Banyama might be.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
The greatest.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Prospect in American team sports history, not just basketball, football, baseball,
whatever it is. He also said that he's been told
that by year three, win Bayama is believed by some
to be a guy that will be the best offensive
(24:23):
and defensive player in the game by year three. Jerry
West after a nine point eight rebound, five block performance
in his summer Lay League debut for Wim Banyama, Jerry
West arguably the greatest talent evaluator in the history of
the game, said he reminds him of Bill Russell, and this.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Week in Kenny Smith, who is a.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Very reputable judge of talent former player. Now, of course
with TNT, he said this.
Speaker 7 (25:02):
The year four, he'll be the MVP of the league.
I think in four years they will be good. They
will be good enough to attack. They might have, you know,
another player with him. He will know the league. There
will be no Lebron James, there will be no Stuff Curry,
there will be no Kevin Durant at their hypens.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
He said by year four he's gonna be the MVP.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Now, I was not predicting when Banyama will be better
than Durant and Elijah I am simply saying from that,
with these type of.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Comments being made.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
By basketball reputable basketball evaluators, those are the expectations.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
The other guys. This stuff was said about Kareem Lebron
better than Elijah An and Durrect.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
And of course there's Jordan and Duncan and Burden Magic
and those guys who also are better. They didn't get
this type of hype. But that's what I'm saying. Where
are you at on this? Do you think I'm.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Wrong to say that. I think it's unfair to say
it thing.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
It's unfair to him because all of those things may
be true, but there's only one person that can make
that come to fruition, and that's Victor Wombinyama. It all depends. Now,
he has the natural gifts. That's where you start, right,
(26:48):
So he has the natural gifts of being seven to
three and a half, his abilities to shoot the long ball,
to handle the ball. He won't be doing a lot
of that in the Spurs offense. That's not They're not
going to have him running uh point center like nicolaj does.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Uh, that's just not. I think that's that.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
He'll he may play on the perimeter, but he won't
be bringing the ball up and sit and running and
setting the offense. That's what I'm saying. So in a
league of shooters and long balls, we've watched kind of
like a throwback with Nicoleajkic taking the league over by
(27:33):
a storm. You got Joel Embiid who just won the
m v P. So the last three and the last
three years of m vps have been won by centners. Right,
there's a little five. He's not a center, but big.
We'll just say a big all right. So, so now
(27:54):
he's positioned to be the m v P if he
can get his body, his mentality, his work ethic up
to where it needs to be night in and night
out at an NBA level. What he's gonna have to
do is he's gonna have to play, and he's gonna
to play a lot, and he's going to play hard.
(28:16):
Can his frame hold up under those circumstances. It's going
to be hard to win the MVP and san Antonio
load managing.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
So yeah, and I hope they don't.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
But this is what I'm talking about, So we gotta
we gotta look at the totality of the situation.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
But I looking at him and this about them.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
I will say this quickly because obviously the Spurs started
load management. Yes, but the way they load managed with
Duncan and those guys, they would play eighty games.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
They would just limit the minutes.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
You know, you're still playing thirty three thirty, you know,
usually around thirty three earlier in his career.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
Is easy to do that when you got right, when
you got that Hall of famers on the team with you. No,
but well there's it's saying they I think I do
not think they would purposely if he's healthy.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Knowing that the NBA now has the rule where you
have to play at least sixty five games right to
be available for awards and all that, I don't think
they would purposely limit him to less than that.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
He's got to play.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
He's got to play a bunch uh and he's got
really just looking at he didn't low managed.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Oh no, he's playing.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
He's much later in his career, and again that was
more minutes than games.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
So you.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
To win the MVP, you got to play at high
level consistently.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
For for years.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
Joel Embiid has been on the cusp of being the
MVP for you know, three years. He finally wanted Joannis
the same way, finally wanted, finally got it, Nicola Jokic,
he's been dominant for I mean, people are just realizing
just how dominant he was.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
So he's saying that, you.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Don't because I don't think Kenny's statement is out of bound.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
It isn't, but a lot has to happen. You look
at the players who are winning MVPs, look at their teams.
Oh yeah, of course, show me what the Spurs have
and he said in four years, So a lot can
change from now to then. But that's that's that's heavy
that's the heavy lifting he's gonna have to get through.
He's going to have to get through the lean one, first, second,
(30:40):
third year of may or may not. That is not
a destination. San Antonio is not a free agent destination.
Look at those teams that they built in San Antonio.
They built it from the draft. They were they they were.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
But what they're saying about this kid is it's not
gonna be about everybody else.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
You can't.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
But if he win the m v P, if your
team isn't making he's not gonna be bad, they're saying.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
We're saying he's gonna be so good that he's getting
them in the playoffs. So similar to what Lebron did, right.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Who is Luca had other I mean, heck, Jalen Brunson
wasn't known as anything special.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
What I'm telling But what I'm telling you is when
you look at those right, when you look at Luca,
when you look at Steph, when you look at even Giannis,
when you look at these guys Nicole, their the their
ball centric the ball is in their hands. They're leading
(31:44):
their teams because the ball is in their hands. He
could easily have the ball as much.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
As it's gonna work like that, honest, not Luca. I
don't want him.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
I don't want any of my players to be honest,
if I'm handling as well. The only reason I would
put him in there because because you brought it up now,
Yannis put When Yanni's got his size and his strength,
that's when he became dominant. When Jannis was wiry and long,
he wasn't dominant like that. He got pushed around in
(32:17):
the in the lane. Uh, and he wasn't as skilled.
He was not as skilled. There's a long way. There's
a long way anyway. He's just more physically dominant. He
can get to his spot and once he gets into paint,
it's over. Right, that's a long seventy five years. But
here's the thing, right, I don't think he's out of
(32:37):
I'm not predicting he's gonna win it in the year four.
I'm just saying Lebron was a top five candidate in
final votes twice in his first four years. Luca was
as well, and Luca was even favored to win preseason
favorite to win the MVP twice in his first Yeah
it's been three times in his five years, but twice
(33:00):
in his first four years.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
And you know why it hasn't happened. You look at
the teams and the lack of success by the well.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
But yeah, he but he was. I mean this year
is obviously was really bad. But you know what I'm
saying that the numbers are good. The output you got
to be in order to get to the m v P.
Your team has to be a viable contender for the championship.
But see, I think people are saying this dude, and
(33:28):
I'm not.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
I don't know. We'll see.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
He doesn't he doesn't have the ball or nothing to
be so good. He doesn't have the ball enough in
his hands. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
He can't have the ball, but he can drink it.
He can lead. He would be able to lead the ball,
lead the fast break, rebound and go.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
He was great overseas doing that and great against G
league players.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
He was great doing that. You don't think You don't
think you'd be able to push the ball up the
court in the NBA.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
No, you know why, why he's just too tall, is
too much space for the ball on the ground. Is
it at seven feet your kitch does it because he's wide.
He he'll walk it up and he'll push it.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
No, I'm talking about it in the break, yeah, or
if he grabs the ball off the rebound and goals.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Yes, of course, that's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
He has If you watch women, yam, he has a
very long dribble, a long crossover. It's it's it's a
lot of air between the He's not bending down dribbling, right,
So as a defence, I.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Think, right, I think in the half court, yeah, I don't.
I'm not gonna want him playing like a point. I'm
just saying he will be. He could take it off
them and transition. He could take it off them and
then he'll have it on the wings, handle the ball.
Where I don't want him dribbling, at least for now,
is in the paint.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
No.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
You what you want him to do is be able
to control the game from the high post, like like
like Nicola does.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
And you but he can also flash to the low
post or in the middle of the.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Paint, catch it and just don't dribble, right, can't the paint,
cannot put it down, yep, just turn around and put
it if you put it.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Down that I tell my kids that I coach now
in basketball, my tall kids. Your superpower is your height.
You keep it up. If you bring it down, you're
just a mere mortal.
Hosts And Creators
kelvin washington
Rob Parker
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