June 21, 2024 • 30 mins
Former NFL offensive lineman and FOX Sports Radio Weekend host Ephraim Salaam is in for Rob, and he and Chris explain why it’s hard to take the Philadelphia 76ers as the Eastern Conference foe that is best equipped to knock off the Boston Celtics and tell us which team LeBron James should join if he decides to leave the Los Angeles Lakers. Plus, Yahoo Sports writer Tom Haberstroh swings by to discuss his bombshell report that Chicago Bulls statisticians juiced the stats to ensure that Michael Jordan won the Defensive Player of the Year award in 1988.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
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Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to the Best of the Odd Couple with
Chris Brusha and Ron Harker.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Who do you think will be the toughest challenger for
Boston in the East.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Well, it depends on what Philly does this offseason.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Right and supposedly, I don't know, we didn't talk about it.
We didn't talk about it, but yeah, but they've waned
on Paul George, right, right, So it really depends on
what that extra piece is. They can go with Joel
and b I mean.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Who, I wonder who it is, Zach Levine.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
I mean, unless they getting Lebron, who's out there other
than Paul George or maybe Zach Lavine.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
I guess they could do a trade.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
You, I mean, if we what we've known is the
options are there, right, if you want something bad enough,
you can make it work. So this whole notion of boy,
they gonna have this and they can. Well, they got
so much cap space they can pretty much make anything work.
It depends for them, It depends on that. It depends
on how serious Joel Embiid is going to take being
(01:25):
a dominant presence in the paint. Thank you, don't say,
don't need you at the three point line? Who's rebounding?
If you're if we're if you if my center is
swinging the ball to the to.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
The and he ain't swinging it really but but you
get what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
So if he, if he, if he legitimately wants to
dominate inside out, then they have a shot. Depending on
that piece. For the Knicks, I don't know if the
Knicks have enough size depending on what happens with Al Horford,
is he retiring, depending on Chris But you know, but
(02:05):
what the the the thing that Boston has, they have
wing defenders that will just destroy anything that you're trying
to get going outside of of the paint. And not
only that, those guys can literally get their own shots.
So you did not mention Milwaukee, Well, Milwaukee is interesting.
(02:27):
I don't know if it's a not with Chris Middleton
being like if they can replace that piece. And I
know Chris came in and play well for them in
the playoffs when everybody else got hurt.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
About his health. Yeah, it's just he's a good third guy.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
He is. But I think they need to get younger there,
more athletic at that third spot.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Where they're talking about moving off Malik Beasley and brook Lopez.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
At least those are the report, right.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
I agree with you, they need to athleticism brook Lopez.
That's clearly a move to match Boston. Yeah, and I
mean they were huge, which I guess that.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Was gonna be their thing. We're gonna be bigger than y'all.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
But I don't think that's gonna get it done necessarily
against Boston. You're not gonna be able to guard them
on the perimeter. So I look, I hear you, Philly,
and it is all about Embiid. And I'm telling you,
Ephraim if I'm Joe l Embiid, like, I actually feel
like Joe l Embiid, and that all.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
The players obviously are motivated. So this is a little
bit hyperbole.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I'm gonna say he should be the most motivated guy
in the league next year. You can say Damian Lillard too,
but every of course, all the champions and all the
players period will be motivated. But my point is this,
all of the top players from this little mini era,
I'm not even gonna call it an era yet, right,
kind of that post Lebron, Steph kd general ration.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Giannie has got one.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Now, the Celtics guys Jason and Jalen have got one,
Yo Kich has got one, and Luca at least has
gotten there.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
NB hasn't even gotten to a conference finals.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
And you he's lost to Trey Young and Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
And I mean, I'm not trying to disparage it.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
I'm just saying Joel Mbs supposed to be a notch
above them.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
He's the one guy in this era that we think.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Of as like ultra elite who hasn't even come close.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
And and I.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Ephraim, I'll say this, if he, if you could tell,
would tell me he's going to be close to one hundred,
as close as you are at that time of year
to one hundred when the playoffs start.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Let me tell you this, I don't.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Care who they get. If they have him and MAXI,
they're a contender. Continue, right, and I hear you because
I've been beating that drum for years on Embiid. He
is a great jump shooter, a phenomenalone. So I don't
and I think you feel the same way. We don't
want him to not shoot a jay, but when it's time,
you watch Jokis. He will take you inside when it's time.
(05:17):
And that's what Embiid has yet to really do consistently.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
And let me explain what I mean by that. It
means the way you snatch a heart out of an opponent,
the way you start to demoralizing an opponent, Yes, is
putting them in a position where they can't stop something. Right,
No one can guard him on the block, right, So
(05:42):
you're you're making it easier for your opponent. Yeah, the
further away from the basket you are, thank you.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
They will live well, be six ' five.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
They'll live with you shooting seven threes a game that
works in their favor. Even if you hit all seven, right,
they'll live with That's the difference. That's what people aren't understanding. Well,
look at this three point percentage is not about that. Well,
it's about imposing your will in the pain and also
creating second shot opportunities for your ball club.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
And drawing fouls there you're going it drawing double teams
that you can kick out to open shooters because he's
taken I think about four or five threes a game.
But he's taking long jumpers and long twos and meet
mid range days and he's great at it.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
But I need what you said a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
with Chris Brussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm
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iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
And it's me Rob Parker.
Speaker 5 (06:45):
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker, for
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New episode drop every Thursday. So do your sofa favor
(07:05):
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Speaker 1 (07:13):
Our next guest writes for Yahoo Sports, and also you
can check him out on substack, Tomthefinder dot com. We
welcome in Tom Haberstrow, Tom, how are you?
Speaker 4 (07:27):
We are great? We got e from salam In for
Rob Parker. And you know you.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
And I go way back colleagues back at ESPN.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
You do fantastic stuff.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
And we were just talking about your story on how
Michael Jordan's defensive stats steals and blocks were doctored if
you will in home games in nineteen eighty eight. First question,
what did Rich, Paul and Clutch promise you to write
that art?
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Now we getting to the bottom up.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Man, I'm actually representing my clubt so Rich is my man.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
I'm just playing with you.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
But you know this is the Lebron is the goat
camp is putting your article in frames and putting it
on your wall.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
I'll tell you that. Well.
Speaker 6 (08:20):
It is something that I was cognizant of as I
was reporting, is that Lebron James has been talking pretty
much every year of his career about how he's never
one defensive Player of the Year and he's really wanted
to and he took issue with Mark Gasol winning it,
winning Defensive Player of the Year and finishing in the
(08:41):
second team All Defense. And it's something he's talked about
on the shop and I knew that Michael Jordan's Defensive
Player of the Year award, you know, just covering the
league for as long as I have. It's one of
the most consequential, if not the most consequential Defensive Player
of the Year awards in emby history, because it sets
him apart, and it is crown jewel in a sense,
(09:02):
compared to Magic, compared to Kareems, compared to Lebron. They
don't have that on their resume, and so I always
knew that it was a very special award. So Rudy
Gobert has a Defensive Player of the Year like, it's
not necessarily the defensive Player of the Year is held
in such highest teams. It's that it's a differentiator in
(09:24):
the greatest of all time conversation. So when I had
heard that there was a nineteen nineties NBA statistician that
was admitting to cooking the books, I said, what year
would have the most disparity between home blocks and home
(09:48):
steals and the road And I wanted to just research
this objectively, and that's when it happened. Guys. I researched it,
and the guy that came on the top of that
list was Michael Jeffrey Jordan and I could not believe.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
Yeah, that's incredible.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Okay, So let me ask you this, and Chris and
I were talking about this earlier. Let's just say you
take Michael Jordan's defensive year Defensive Player of the Year
award away from them, right, you move all of his
trophies out of the way on the trophy case, and
you plucked that thing out of there, and then you
(10:25):
packed all the rest of the stuff back in there.
He still was first team on defense there right that year? Correct?
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Sure he was in the games you watched, Tom, did
you feel like his defense was not nearly as good
as advertised?
Speaker 4 (10:42):
And because we know Steeles.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Don't just you know, that's not the measure of great defense.
So what did you think of his defense?
Speaker 4 (10:47):
Overall?
Speaker 6 (10:49):
He was an amazing defensive player. When he gambled and
it was successful, it was great. I mean, he was
the best athlete by far. It was like he was
transported from another planet. Guy. When you're watching him, remember
this is his fourth year in the league. He's twenty
four to twenty five years old, and he's just sensational.
This guy was by far the best athlete. I remember
(11:11):
watching a game two of them when he was playing
the Hawks, and you almost forgot that Dominique Wilkins was
on the floor. That's how magnificent he was on both
ends of the floor. But the problem was, and pat
Riley talked about that in the papers, and I actually
quoted it for my story, he was a very different
defensive player than Michael Cooper, very different than your standard
(11:34):
guard because gambled so much. He was a guy that
like he bet that he was going to get back
to his man in time. If you made the pass
to the open man, he was going to cheat off
in double and swiped and try to block your shot.
And a lot of times it worked, and a lot
of times it compromised the defense. And I think, you know,
we've talked about it, you know, with whether his teammates,
(11:58):
whether it's you know, Charles Oakley was out there, Horace Grant,
Scottie Pippen, John Packson, they were all out there and
they were doing great defense too. But Michael was so
much more athletic than everybody. And the thing was, I
didn't want to take away from like his defense in general,
like he was a good defender, but in terms of
whether he got that many steals and got that many blocks.
(12:19):
When I watched the film, I didn't see it. And
another researcher that watched the games too, like he would
have one or two steals a game, but it wasn't
five to six. And at times he had as many
as ten that season. And of course you go when
you go and look at the I know it's create
ten in the game. When you go and you look
at the NBA official video, when they do like the
(12:41):
highlight clip of his ten steals, they only show six
of them. And that was when I was like, wait
a minute, what's going on here?
Speaker 3 (12:48):
And so that's what led me down this path, even
even six steals is that's my point being that whether
they cook the books or not, and it was like
in the article, it was a common thing, that's just
what was going on. But just watching him play both
(13:08):
sides of the ball, like they didn't cook the books
when he was scoring thirty five a game, but just
his presence and playing both sides of the ball, his energy,
to me, doesn't negate that award because to me, playing defense,
like we were talking about, is bigger than the steals,
as bigger than the blocks. It's about your presence out
(13:29):
there and what you can take away from the opposing
team when they needed the most, and that's watching Michael
do it and then again Michael Cooper do it was
tremendous at that watching Kobe Bryant adopt that type of tenacity.
So you know, for my money, even if they cook
(13:51):
the books, Michael Jeffrey Jordan to me, and I'm not
a Bulls fan at all. I'm gonna let guy all
through and through it just he was just different. He
was just a difference maker, uh, on the on the
on the court. Uh. And when him and Scotty got together,
(14:14):
I mean that was like good luck man.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
Let me let me, let me ask.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
You this, Tom, And that's that's a great point, Ephraim.
And you you said an article like you said it
was happening in arenas throughout the country.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
John Stockton's assist.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I don't know if you have any numbers or evidence
of how much maybe he was, you know, gifted extra assist.
But talk about Stockton and maybe a few others that
you know of. And then I want to ask you,
like when did it stop? Because I don't think you
can do that today. Like the game is you know
(14:49):
what I mean, we have so much more access to
the numbers, to the film. They're guys literally tracking all
of this data and not just the NBA, but and
you know, website and everybody. So what are some of
the other guys where you think this stuff was happening?
And when did it stop? And now the stats are
pretty clean?
Speaker 6 (15:11):
Great question. And when I looked at the numbers, guys,
Adam Silver's reign, excuse me, Adam Silver's reign as commissioner
is when it really stops. When he saw a really
big drop in the homer bias, whether that's a cysts,
whether that's blocks and steals. You know, I didn't realize,
but it is subjective a lot of the blocks and steels,
(15:34):
it is subjective stats. And the guy, the statistician that
I talked to for Pablo Torre finds out over at
Metal Art Media. When I talked to him, he explained
to me that like even like if you foul a guy,
sometimes the home stack keeper will credit that guy contecting
the shot with a block even though there was a
foul called whistled. If it was a star player, it
(15:56):
was that sort of thing or a fifty to fifty
call where was like man. Like. There was one particular
play where Mike Brown, the center of the Chicago Bulls,
the starting center, he had this amazing play, a steal
in transition and he deflected the ball clearly the one
who is you know, influential in that turnover, and then
(16:17):
Michael picks up the ball. But Michael's the one who
gets the steal. It was those like I didn't realize
how subjective this stuff was. And if you look across history,
Bill Russell and Will Chamberlain, this is what Bob Ryan,
the legendary writer at the Boston Globe. Bob Ryan had
told me that there were allegations left and right between
(16:37):
teams and the Boston teams. And I went and looked
this up. Guys, those two guys, Will Chamberlain and Bill Russell,
between them, they had twenty six games in which they
had forty plus rebounds between them. Okay, forty plus rebounds
in their career in twenty six of those twenty six games.
(17:00):
It was all at home.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Wow. Wow.
Speaker 6 (17:05):
Bob Ryan was telling me this, like man, there were
trading accusations left and right between the Lakers and the
Warriors and the Celtics, And I was like I can't
be that true. But a lot of these records, these
individual game records, a lot of them are taking place
at home. And it doesn't you can't just say, hey,
they play better at home when it's like eighty ninety
(17:25):
percent of these amazing figures are coming at home. And
so that's what when you say, you know who else
was doing this? You know, the funny thing is most
of the people in my mentions or in my comments
and whatnot are like, hey, do Stockton next? And what's
funny about that is John Stockton is leading the assist
total like all time by thousands of rs. Like it's
(17:50):
not like a couple hundred, but he only has five
hundred more assists at home career wise than on the road.
And so even if you said, look, five hundred were
fake or five hundred were juiced, whatever you want to say,
it still doesn't make him anywhere close to becoming the
second most in that column. So John Stockton is probably
(18:12):
next where I would look and see how many of
those might have been you know, juiced or or you know,
generously given out, But still John Stockin would be the
all time assist leader by far.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
That's Tom Haberstrow excellent stuff Man, excellent comments and go
check out the stories on Yahoo Sports and also get
on his sub stack Tomdefinder dot com.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Great stuff, Tom Man.
Speaker 6 (18:36):
Thank you you got a fellows the Joy Weekend.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Yep, you are you too.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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listen live.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
We spoke earlier e from about Lebron and the Lakers.
Uh and really we talk more about who would be
kind of the biggest challenger for the Celtics, particularly in
the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
But I want to talk a little bit, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Look, I think, and we brought it up with Yovan Buja.
I think the chances are overwhelming that Lebron James returns
to the Los Angeles Lakers, and a lot of people,
you know, probably feel even more convinced that he will
(19:31):
do that now that JJ Redick is the head coach.
But Lebron, for whatever reason, and I've covered a lot
of his free agencies, he keeps things very close to
the vest I definitely believe he was not involved in
the Lakers coaching search when he's a free agent, he'll
do that. Even if he's staying he kind of just
(19:54):
you know, doesn't really get the team team any hint
of what he's doing, and he first, for whatever reason,
he's kept it out there, even when he was texting
with Dan Hurley. When Dan Hurley was you know, gonna
get an offer from the Lakers, he said, I'm on
(20:14):
board with whatever you want to do if I returned
to the Lakers.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
So let's just have a little fun.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
We know that Rich Paul, his agent, has come out
and said that Lebron, even if the Phoenix Sons draft Bronnie,
that Lebron will not go to play there for the minimum.
So we can x the Sons out, and I think
we can x out any team where Lebron would have
to either play for the minimum or a lot less
(20:44):
than the sixty million or so that he can get
from the Lakers per year roughly. So that because the Sons,
if he was gonna play for the minimum, it'd be
hard to find a better situation than Phoenix. It's close
to where he lives in l A, so he would
still be close to his family, and you have him
(21:05):
as the ball handler there with Devin Booker, Bradley Beal
and Kevin Durant.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
What they need to.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Work, Well, they ain't gonna happen, but it could work
because they need a decision maker. That was their main thing,
and what is Lebron? But if not a decision maker.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
You can't roll into the season with Devin Booker, Lebron,
James kd and Bradley bial Somebody has to go because
it's not going to work. Nobody, nobody on that team
is designed to take three steps back in terms of
(21:45):
what they bring to the table. I think and would
would Bill would who's gonna come off the bench?
Speaker 1 (21:53):
That that's that's for your starters with you seth neurtons
because they can all guard. They can all you know,
theoretically can guard, and Lebron can play a power forward,
particularly in today's He's not gonna happen, But secondly it could,
(22:13):
like that could work.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
If you're talking about they could guard, now who would
win where I guarded?
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Then let's throw them out of the whole contention because
if they're not gonna guard without Lebron, then they not
even worth talking about. My point is just that he
said he's not going there, and I think if he
was gonna go somewhere for the minimum, Phoenix would be
near the.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
Top as far as a good basketball move.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Milwaukee would be good to you know, but but by
point it's not gonna happen. So let's look at potential
landing spots. You got Philadelphia, which has cap room to
offer him the max, so that one obviously could happen.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
I don't think he'll go there.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
I think the next three team if he were to
really consider things, Miami, but they don't have the trade capitol.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
Like Miami would have to trade.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
A player Lebron would want to play with to get
it done, so we can cross them out to me.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
That leaves New York and Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Cleveland has the pieces Darius Garland. I don't know if
you throw into Jared Allen or whatever, but they could
make an interesting deal. And then there's the Knicks and
the Knicks he from one from let's say first from
the Lakers standpoint, the Knicks could make an interesting offer.
And I'm not saying that the Lakers would want to
(23:38):
do it. But if Lebron was like, look I'm going
to New York, trade me there, the Knicks could offer
Julius Randall and either Josh hart or Bogne Bogdanovich or
Mitchell Robinson, whoever the Lakers.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Want, whatever type of player they want, and a.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Horde of draft picks, so they could make it a
good deal for the Lakers.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
For Lebron, you playing with Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
You've got Ogian Nanobi who they'll bring back in, some
really good role players Isaiah Hartenstein and others.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
And here's the kicker. You're in New York.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Now, Lebron has been, for lack of a better term,
a mercenary throughout his career. He ain't the one that
you know, the Derek Jeter, the Kobe Bryant, one team
your whole career lean into it. In this case, if
he could go to the Knicks and deliver a championship,
their first in fifty two years, he would be a
(24:40):
player that led four different franchises two championships, and he
would have done it in New York where everything is magnified.
And this is why I'll say Lebron cares about the
goat discussion. If he led the Knicks to the championship,
(25:01):
he would have all the New York writers and media
people and a lot of the major national ones come
from New York.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
On its side, and you.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Talk about helping his goat argument, that would be it
new York, New York your.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Thoughts, Uh, Yeah, but I don't that's a long way
to a way to go.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
I don't think he's doing it.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Yeah, But to your point, Yeah, putting him in the
garden with Bronson and the energy that's in that building,
him on the side of the you know, of the
skyscrapers in Times Square, Yeah, we get it. We understand
the mecca of basketball playing in the garden night in
(25:50):
and night out, and it definitely give them a boost.
And he would be back in the East, which is,
you know, normally not as competitive as the West. Right. Uh,
he dominated, uh in the in the East when he
was playing in that in that conference, not so much
(26:10):
here on on the West. A little bit more side,
little more talent.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
No, Look, that's a you bring up an interesting point because, yeah, Lebron,
part of his claim to fame is getting the ten
straight or ten finals were eight straight. But if he
were in the West, that wouldn't have obviously been the case.
I mean, I guess theoretically you said he got the
four Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
It's just, uh, it's a different difference. It's different. It
hits different out here, hit out here, right, sometimes you
gotta pop out and show and so, uh look, Lebron's
son Bryce is still in high school in California, and
(26:56):
so his daughter, it's out here one of my friends.
You know, they play in the same volleyball league, right
how they're they're about eight yeah, yeah, you know, eight nine.
(27:16):
That's he's a family man too now, and so him
spending months, you know, they already traveling on the road
a lot, but they come back home eventually, so in
order and and unless you're moving home to New York,
you know, do you want to spend your last final
(27:37):
years that much away from your family and your you know,
teenage son who's a dynamic basketball player and his his
own right is making uh his way to being a
dynamic player in high school basketball. Yeah, he can be.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
Much bigger about what he about six five, six ' five.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
And he's a he's a junior, so and he's bigger,
and you know, I mean I've heard he's a better
prospect than Briani. Well yeah, Brownie's six to one if that,
if that, and that's you know, that's a tough sale
in the NBA unless you have this right, whether it
(28:22):
be speed, whether it freak, you got to have right,
Like it's got to be like oh okay, well he's
six foot, but it don't even matter, like like how
tall is Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Or you're a straight point guard, right, Jalen's about Yeah,
Jalen's about that.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Don't matter, right, can't guard him, can't get you can
get you a spot Jalen was.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
I mean, Broannie, a guy like Jalen should give Briannie hope. Well, yeah,
Jalen played three years in college and Jalen wasn't much
as first four years in the league.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Well, you you gotta the college is where you grow.
He didn't, you know, the heart situation that they had
kind of set him back at See First of all,
I didn't know why he went to See they just
don't have a really good basketball program right now. It's
a really good brand, but they don't have a good
(29:17):
basketball program. And I thought his for his one and
done year, he should have really went to a program
that could have got him, you know, sharpened his skill
set and it put him in a position for him
to go exhibit that and display that in March madness
where everybody's watching. And he chose a team that at
(29:42):
the bottom of a really poor PAC twelve this year.
So and didnay it right, and you know, average four
points a game. I get it. But look, Lebron James,
in my opinion, isn't going anywhere. He'll opt out. He'll
get a two year extension, three year extent, I think
a three year deal right for one hundred and twenty
(30:05):
six million dollars whatever it is. And you know whatever
that whatever that number max that number, yeah, whatever that
max number is set. Uh, he just you know what,
he just did a two year, ninety eight million dollar
deal or whatever that was.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
So it's I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
That he's staying in LA. But it's just fun to
look at it is to look at the options to
what is Yeah,
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to the Best of the Odd Couple with
Chris Brusha and Ron Harker.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Who do you think will be the toughest challenger for
Boston in the East.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Well, it depends on what Philly does this offseason.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Right and supposedly, I don't know, we didn't talk about it.
We didn't talk about it, but yeah, but they've waned
on Paul George, right, right, So it really depends on
what that extra piece is. They can go with Joel
and b I mean.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Who, I wonder who it is, Zach Levine.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
I mean, unless they getting Lebron, who's out there other
than Paul George or maybe Zach Lavine.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
I guess they could do a trade.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
You, I mean, if we what we've known is the
options are there, right, if you want something bad enough,
you can make it work. So this whole notion of boy,
they gonna have this and they can. Well, they got
so much cap space they can pretty much make anything work.
It depends for them, It depends on that. It depends
on how serious Joel Embiid is going to take being
(01:25):
a dominant presence in the paint. Thank you, don't say,
don't need you at the three point line? Who's rebounding?
If you're if we're if you if my center is
swinging the ball to the to.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
The and he ain't swinging it really but but you
get what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
So if he, if he, if he legitimately wants to
dominate inside out, then they have a shot. Depending on
that piece. For the Knicks, I don't know if the
Knicks have enough size depending on what happens with Al Horford,
is he retiring, depending on Chris But you know, but
(02:05):
what the the the thing that Boston has, they have
wing defenders that will just destroy anything that you're trying
to get going outside of of the paint. And not
only that, those guys can literally get their own shots.
So you did not mention Milwaukee, Well, Milwaukee is interesting.
(02:27):
I don't know if it's a not with Chris Middleton
being like if they can replace that piece. And I
know Chris came in and play well for them in
the playoffs when everybody else got hurt.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
About his health. Yeah, it's just he's a good third guy.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
He is. But I think they need to get younger there,
more athletic at that third spot.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Where they're talking about moving off Malik Beasley and brook Lopez.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
At least those are the report, right.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
I agree with you, they need to athleticism brook Lopez.
That's clearly a move to match Boston. Yeah, and I
mean they were huge, which I guess that.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Was gonna be their thing. We're gonna be bigger than y'all.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
But I don't think that's gonna get it done necessarily
against Boston. You're not gonna be able to guard them
on the perimeter. So I look, I hear you, Philly,
and it is all about Embiid. And I'm telling you,
Ephraim if I'm Joe l Embiid, like, I actually feel
like Joe l Embiid, and that all.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
The players obviously are motivated. So this is a little
bit hyperbole.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I'm gonna say he should be the most motivated guy
in the league next year. You can say Damian Lillard too,
but every of course, all the champions and all the
players period will be motivated. But my point is this,
all of the top players from this little mini era,
I'm not even gonna call it an era yet, right,
kind of that post Lebron, Steph kd general ration.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Giannie has got one.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Now, the Celtics guys Jason and Jalen have got one,
Yo Kich has got one, and Luca at least has
gotten there.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
NB hasn't even gotten to a conference finals.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
And you he's lost to Trey Young and Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
And I mean, I'm not trying to disparage it.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
I'm just saying Joel Mbs supposed to be a notch
above them.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
He's the one guy in this era that we think.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Of as like ultra elite who hasn't even come close.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
And and I.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Ephraim, I'll say this, if he, if you could tell,
would tell me he's going to be close to one hundred,
as close as you are at that time of year
to one hundred when the playoffs start.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Let me tell you this, I don't.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Care who they get. If they have him and MAXI,
they're a contender. Continue, right, and I hear you because
I've been beating that drum for years on Embiid. He
is a great jump shooter, a phenomenalone. So I don't
and I think you feel the same way. We don't
want him to not shoot a jay, but when it's time,
you watch Jokis. He will take you inside when it's time.
(05:17):
And that's what Embiid has yet to really do consistently.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
And let me explain what I mean by that. It
means the way you snatch a heart out of an opponent,
the way you start to demoralizing an opponent, Yes, is
putting them in a position where they can't stop something. Right,
No one can guard him on the block, right, So
(05:42):
you're you're making it easier for your opponent. Yeah, the
further away from the basket you are, thank you.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
They will live well, be six ' five.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
They'll live with you shooting seven threes a game that
works in their favor. Even if you hit all seven, right,
they'll live with That's the difference. That's what people aren't understanding. Well,
look at this three point percentage is not about that. Well,
it's about imposing your will in the pain and also
creating second shot opportunities for your ball club.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
And drawing fouls there you're going it drawing double teams
that you can kick out to open shooters because he's
taken I think about four or five threes a game.
But he's taking long jumpers and long twos and meet
mid range days and he's great at it.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
But I need what you said a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
with Chris Brussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm
Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
And it's me Rob Parker.
Speaker 5 (06:45):
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker, for
twenty two minutes of piping hot baseball talk featuring the
biggest names of newsmakers in the sport. Whether you believe
in analytics or the idcast, We've got all the bases cover.
New episode drop every Thursday. So do your sofa favor
(07:05):
and listen to Inside the Parker with Rob Parker on
the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Our next guest writes for Yahoo Sports, and also you
can check him out on substack, Tomthefinder dot com. We
welcome in Tom Haberstrow, Tom, how are you?
Speaker 4 (07:27):
We are great? We got e from salam In for
Rob Parker. And you know you.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
And I go way back colleagues back at ESPN.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
You do fantastic stuff.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
And we were just talking about your story on how
Michael Jordan's defensive stats steals and blocks were doctored if
you will in home games in nineteen eighty eight. First question,
what did Rich, Paul and Clutch promise you to write
that art?
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Now we getting to the bottom up.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Man, I'm actually representing my clubt so Rich is my man.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
I'm just playing with you.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
But you know this is the Lebron is the goat
camp is putting your article in frames and putting it
on your wall.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
I'll tell you that. Well.
Speaker 6 (08:20):
It is something that I was cognizant of as I
was reporting, is that Lebron James has been talking pretty
much every year of his career about how he's never
one defensive Player of the Year and he's really wanted
to and he took issue with Mark Gasol winning it,
winning Defensive Player of the Year and finishing in the
(08:41):
second team All Defense. And it's something he's talked about
on the shop and I knew that Michael Jordan's Defensive
Player of the Year award, you know, just covering the
league for as long as I have. It's one of
the most consequential, if not the most consequential Defensive Player
of the Year awards in emby history, because it sets
him apart, and it is crown jewel in a sense,
(09:02):
compared to Magic, compared to Kareems, compared to Lebron. They
don't have that on their resume, and so I always
knew that it was a very special award. So Rudy
Gobert has a Defensive Player of the Year like, it's
not necessarily the defensive Player of the Year is held
in such highest teams. It's that it's a differentiator in
(09:24):
the greatest of all time conversation. So when I had
heard that there was a nineteen nineties NBA statistician that
was admitting to cooking the books, I said, what year
would have the most disparity between home blocks and home
(09:48):
steals and the road And I wanted to just research
this objectively, and that's when it happened. Guys. I researched it,
and the guy that came on the top of that
list was Michael Jeffrey Jordan and I could not believe.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
Yeah, that's incredible.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Okay, So let me ask you this, and Chris and
I were talking about this earlier. Let's just say you
take Michael Jordan's defensive year Defensive Player of the Year
award away from them, right, you move all of his
trophies out of the way on the trophy case, and
you plucked that thing out of there, and then you
(10:25):
packed all the rest of the stuff back in there.
He still was first team on defense there right that year? Correct?
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Sure he was in the games you watched, Tom, did
you feel like his defense was not nearly as good
as advertised?
Speaker 4 (10:42):
And because we know Steeles.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Don't just you know, that's not the measure of great defense.
So what did you think of his defense?
Speaker 4 (10:47):
Overall?
Speaker 6 (10:49):
He was an amazing defensive player. When he gambled and
it was successful, it was great. I mean, he was
the best athlete by far. It was like he was
transported from another planet. Guy. When you're watching him, remember
this is his fourth year in the league. He's twenty
four to twenty five years old, and he's just sensational.
This guy was by far the best athlete. I remember
(11:11):
watching a game two of them when he was playing
the Hawks, and you almost forgot that Dominique Wilkins was
on the floor. That's how magnificent he was on both
ends of the floor. But the problem was, and pat
Riley talked about that in the papers, and I actually
quoted it for my story, he was a very different
defensive player than Michael Cooper, very different than your standard
(11:34):
guard because gambled so much. He was a guy that
like he bet that he was going to get back
to his man in time. If you made the pass
to the open man, he was going to cheat off
in double and swiped and try to block your shot.
And a lot of times it worked, and a lot
of times it compromised the defense. And I think, you know,
we've talked about it, you know, with whether his teammates,
(11:58):
whether it's you know, Charles Oakley was out there, Horace Grant,
Scottie Pippen, John Packson, they were all out there and
they were doing great defense too. But Michael was so
much more athletic than everybody. And the thing was, I
didn't want to take away from like his defense in general,
like he was a good defender, but in terms of
whether he got that many steals and got that many blocks.
(12:19):
When I watched the film, I didn't see it. And
another researcher that watched the games too, like he would
have one or two steals a game, but it wasn't
five to six. And at times he had as many
as ten that season. And of course you go when
you go and look at the I know it's create
ten in the game. When you go and you look
at the NBA official video, when they do like the
(12:41):
highlight clip of his ten steals, they only show six
of them. And that was when I was like, wait
a minute, what's going on here?
Speaker 3 (12:48):
And so that's what led me down this path, even
even six steals is that's my point being that whether
they cook the books or not, and it was like
in the article, it was a common thing, that's just
what was going on. But just watching him play both
(13:08):
sides of the ball, like they didn't cook the books
when he was scoring thirty five a game, but just
his presence and playing both sides of the ball, his energy,
to me, doesn't negate that award because to me, playing defense,
like we were talking about, is bigger than the steals,
as bigger than the blocks. It's about your presence out
(13:29):
there and what you can take away from the opposing
team when they needed the most, and that's watching Michael
do it and then again Michael Cooper do it was
tremendous at that watching Kobe Bryant adopt that type of tenacity.
So you know, for my money, even if they cook
(13:51):
the books, Michael Jeffrey Jordan to me, and I'm not
a Bulls fan at all. I'm gonna let guy all
through and through it just he was just different. He
was just a difference maker, uh, on the on the
on the court. Uh. And when him and Scotty got together,
(14:14):
I mean that was like good luck man.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
Let me let me, let me ask.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
You this, Tom, And that's that's a great point, Ephraim.
And you you said an article like you said it
was happening in arenas throughout the country.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
John Stockton's assist.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I don't know if you have any numbers or evidence
of how much maybe he was, you know, gifted extra assist.
But talk about Stockton and maybe a few others that
you know of. And then I want to ask you,
like when did it stop? Because I don't think you
can do that today. Like the game is you know
(14:49):
what I mean, we have so much more access to
the numbers, to the film. They're guys literally tracking all
of this data and not just the NBA, but and
you know, website and everybody. So what are some of
the other guys where you think this stuff was happening?
And when did it stop? And now the stats are
pretty clean?
Speaker 6 (15:11):
Great question. And when I looked at the numbers, guys,
Adam Silver's reign, excuse me, Adam Silver's reign as commissioner
is when it really stops. When he saw a really
big drop in the homer bias, whether that's a cysts,
whether that's blocks and steals. You know, I didn't realize,
but it is subjective a lot of the blocks and steels,
(15:34):
it is subjective stats. And the guy, the statistician that
I talked to for Pablo Torre finds out over at
Metal Art Media. When I talked to him, he explained
to me that like even like if you foul a guy,
sometimes the home stack keeper will credit that guy contecting
the shot with a block even though there was a
foul called whistled. If it was a star player, it
(15:56):
was that sort of thing or a fifty to fifty
call where was like man. Like. There was one particular
play where Mike Brown, the center of the Chicago Bulls,
the starting center, he had this amazing play, a steal
in transition and he deflected the ball clearly the one
who is you know, influential in that turnover, and then
(16:17):
Michael picks up the ball. But Michael's the one who
gets the steal. It was those like I didn't realize
how subjective this stuff was. And if you look across history,
Bill Russell and Will Chamberlain, this is what Bob Ryan,
the legendary writer at the Boston Globe. Bob Ryan had
told me that there were allegations left and right between
(16:37):
teams and the Boston teams. And I went and looked
this up. Guys, those two guys, Will Chamberlain and Bill Russell,
between them, they had twenty six games in which they
had forty plus rebounds between them. Okay, forty plus rebounds
in their career in twenty six of those twenty six games.
(17:00):
It was all at home.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Wow. Wow.
Speaker 6 (17:05):
Bob Ryan was telling me this, like man, there were
trading accusations left and right between the Lakers and the
Warriors and the Celtics, And I was like I can't
be that true. But a lot of these records, these
individual game records, a lot of them are taking place
at home. And it doesn't you can't just say, hey,
they play better at home when it's like eighty ninety
(17:25):
percent of these amazing figures are coming at home. And
so that's what when you say, you know who else
was doing this? You know, the funny thing is most
of the people in my mentions or in my comments
and whatnot are like, hey, do Stockton next? And what's
funny about that is John Stockton is leading the assist
total like all time by thousands of rs. Like it's
(17:50):
not like a couple hundred, but he only has five
hundred more assists at home career wise than on the road.
And so even if you said, look, five hundred were
fake or five hundred were juiced, whatever you want to say,
it still doesn't make him anywhere close to becoming the
second most in that column. So John Stockton is probably
(18:12):
next where I would look and see how many of
those might have been you know, juiced or or you know,
generously given out, But still John Stockin would be the
all time assist leader by far.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
That's Tom Haberstrow excellent stuff Man, excellent comments and go
check out the stories on Yahoo Sports and also get
on his sub stack Tomdefinder dot com.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Great stuff, Tom Man.
Speaker 6 (18:36):
Thank you you got a fellows the Joy Weekend.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Yep, you are you too.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
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 (18:52):
We spoke earlier e from about Lebron and the Lakers.
Uh and really we talk more about who would be
kind of the biggest challenger for the Celtics, particularly in
the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
But I want to talk a little bit, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Look, I think, and we brought it up with Yovan Buja.
I think the chances are overwhelming that Lebron James returns
to the Los Angeles Lakers, and a lot of people,
you know, probably feel even more convinced that he will
(19:31):
do that now that JJ Redick is the head coach.
But Lebron, for whatever reason, and I've covered a lot
of his free agencies, he keeps things very close to
the vest I definitely believe he was not involved in
the Lakers coaching search when he's a free agent, he'll
do that. Even if he's staying he kind of just
(19:54):
you know, doesn't really get the team team any hint
of what he's doing, and he first, for whatever reason,
he's kept it out there, even when he was texting
with Dan Hurley. When Dan Hurley was you know, gonna
get an offer from the Lakers, he said, I'm on
(20:14):
board with whatever you want to do if I returned
to the Lakers.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
So let's just have a little fun.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
We know that Rich Paul, his agent, has come out
and said that Lebron, even if the Phoenix Sons draft Bronnie,
that Lebron will not go to play there for the minimum.
So we can x the Sons out, and I think
we can x out any team where Lebron would have
to either play for the minimum or a lot less
(20:44):
than the sixty million or so that he can get
from the Lakers per year roughly. So that because the Sons,
if he was gonna play for the minimum, it'd be
hard to find a better situation than Phoenix. It's close
to where he lives in l A, so he would
still be close to his family, and you have him
(21:05):
as the ball handler there with Devin Booker, Bradley Beal
and Kevin Durant.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
What they need to.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Work, Well, they ain't gonna happen, but it could work
because they need a decision maker. That was their main thing,
and what is Lebron? But if not a decision maker.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
You can't roll into the season with Devin Booker, Lebron,
James kd and Bradley bial Somebody has to go because
it's not going to work. Nobody, nobody on that team
is designed to take three steps back in terms of
(21:45):
what they bring to the table. I think and would
would Bill would who's gonna come off the bench?
Speaker 1 (21:53):
That that's that's for your starters with you seth neurtons
because they can all guard. They can all you know,
theoretically can guard, and Lebron can play a power forward,
particularly in today's He's not gonna happen, But secondly it could,
(22:13):
like that could work.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
If you're talking about they could guard, now who would
win where I guarded?
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Then let's throw them out of the whole contention because
if they're not gonna guard without Lebron, then they not
even worth talking about. My point is just that he
said he's not going there, and I think if he
was gonna go somewhere for the minimum, Phoenix would be
near the.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
Top as far as a good basketball move.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Milwaukee would be good to you know, but but by
point it's not gonna happen. So let's look at potential
landing spots. You got Philadelphia, which has cap room to
offer him the max, so that one obviously could happen.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
I don't think he'll go there.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
I think the next three team if he were to
really consider things, Miami, but they don't have the trade capitol.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
Like Miami would have to trade.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
A player Lebron would want to play with to get
it done, so we can cross them out to me.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
That leaves New York and Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Cleveland has the pieces Darius Garland. I don't know if
you throw into Jared Allen or whatever, but they could
make an interesting deal. And then there's the Knicks and
the Knicks he from one from let's say first from
the Lakers standpoint, the Knicks could make an interesting offer.
And I'm not saying that the Lakers would want to
(23:38):
do it. But if Lebron was like, look I'm going
to New York, trade me there, the Knicks could offer
Julius Randall and either Josh hart or Bogne Bogdanovich or
Mitchell Robinson, whoever the Lakers.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Want, whatever type of player they want, and a.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Horde of draft picks, so they could make it a
good deal for the Lakers.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
For Lebron, you playing with Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
You've got Ogian Nanobi who they'll bring back in, some
really good role players Isaiah Hartenstein and others.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
And here's the kicker. You're in New York.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Now, Lebron has been, for lack of a better term,
a mercenary throughout his career. He ain't the one that
you know, the Derek Jeter, the Kobe Bryant, one team
your whole career lean into it. In this case, if
he could go to the Knicks and deliver a championship,
their first in fifty two years, he would be a
(24:40):
player that led four different franchises two championships, and he
would have done it in New York where everything is magnified.
And this is why I'll say Lebron cares about the
goat discussion. If he led the Knicks to the championship,
(25:01):
he would have all the New York writers and media
people and a lot of the major national ones come
from New York.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
On its side, and you.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Talk about helping his goat argument, that would be it
new York, New York your.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Thoughts, Uh, Yeah, but I don't that's a long way
to a way to go.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
I don't think he's doing it.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Yeah, But to your point, Yeah, putting him in the
garden with Bronson and the energy that's in that building,
him on the side of the you know, of the
skyscrapers in Times Square, Yeah, we get it. We understand
the mecca of basketball playing in the garden night in
(25:50):
and night out, and it definitely give them a boost.
And he would be back in the East, which is,
you know, normally not as competitive as the West. Right. Uh,
he dominated, uh in the in the East when he
was playing in that in that conference, not so much
(26:10):
here on on the West. A little bit more side,
little more talent.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
No, Look, that's a you bring up an interesting point because, yeah, Lebron,
part of his claim to fame is getting the ten
straight or ten finals were eight straight. But if he
were in the West, that wouldn't have obviously been the case.
I mean, I guess theoretically you said he got the
four Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
It's just, uh, it's a different difference. It's different. It
hits different out here, hit out here, right, sometimes you
gotta pop out and show and so, uh look, Lebron's
son Bryce is still in high school in California, and
(26:56):
so his daughter, it's out here one of my friends.
You know, they play in the same volleyball league, right
how they're they're about eight yeah, yeah, you know, eight nine.
(27:16):
That's he's a family man too now, and so him
spending months, you know, they already traveling on the road
a lot, but they come back home eventually, so in
order and and unless you're moving home to New York,
you know, do you want to spend your last final
(27:37):
years that much away from your family and your you know,
teenage son who's a dynamic basketball player and his his
own right is making uh his way to being a
dynamic player in high school basketball. Yeah, he can be.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
Much bigger about what he about six five, six ' five.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
And he's a he's a junior, so and he's bigger,
and you know, I mean I've heard he's a better
prospect than Briani. Well yeah, Brownie's six to one if that,
if that, and that's you know, that's a tough sale
in the NBA unless you have this right, whether it
(28:22):
be speed, whether it freak, you got to have right,
Like it's got to be like oh okay, well he's
six foot, but it don't even matter, like like how
tall is Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Or you're a straight point guard, right, Jalen's about Yeah,
Jalen's about that.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Don't matter, right, can't guard him, can't get you can
get you a spot Jalen was.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
I mean, Broannie, a guy like Jalen should give Briannie hope. Well, yeah,
Jalen played three years in college and Jalen wasn't much
as first four years in the league.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Well, you you gotta the college is where you grow.
He didn't, you know, the heart situation that they had
kind of set him back at See First of all,
I didn't know why he went to See they just
don't have a really good basketball program right now. It's
a really good brand, but they don't have a good
(29:17):
basketball program. And I thought his for his one and
done year, he should have really went to a program
that could have got him, you know, sharpened his skill
set and it put him in a position for him
to go exhibit that and display that in March madness
where everybody's watching. And he chose a team that at
(29:42):
the bottom of a really poor PAC twelve this year.
So and didnay it right, and you know, average four
points a game. I get it. But look, Lebron James,
in my opinion, isn't going anywhere. He'll opt out. He'll
get a two year extension, three year extent, I think
a three year deal right for one hundred and twenty
(30:05):
six million dollars whatever it is. And you know whatever
that whatever that number max that number, yeah, whatever that
max number is set. Uh, he just you know what,
he just did a two year, ninety eight million dollar
deal or whatever that was.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
So it's I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
That he's staying in LA. But it's just fun to
look at it is to look at the options to
what is Yeah,
Hosts And Creators
kelvin washington
Rob Parker
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