December 11, 2023 • 41 mins
How did the Lakers celebrate their In-Season Tournament triumph? Chris Haynes had an exclusive viewpoint to share what he saw in Las Vegas and joins Marc Stein here for a detailed chat about LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the future of the IST after Year 1 as your two co-hosts prepare to meet up in Dallas this week.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
An exclusive glimpse into what happened in the celebration room
at the in season tournament in Las Vegas, an unexpected
recounting as well of what it's like to shake hands
with Pacers coach Rick Carlisle Lebron ad the Lakers winning
the ist, the future of the n Season Tournament. We
(00:23):
get to all of that next here on this League Uncut.
Welcome to this League uncut.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
In the rule of twenty four hour NBA News, this's blue,
Chris Hans, it's so time, works time, it's so time.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
This League uncut is underway and on fire.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
This should be a good one.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Everyone, Welcome in to another of this uncut. Chris Haynes
and I recording on a Sunday night, a very quiet
Sunday night in the NBA after the n Season Tournament
championship game in Las Vegas. Of course Chris was there.
We're going to get to all that in a sec
(01:19):
but first things first, I have to Chris, we have
to amend. If you remember, I recently asked you the
trivia question, how many days once the season starts, and
this season started on October twenty fourth, how many days
during the season are there no games, and you guessed four,
(01:41):
and at the time it was actually five. You were
very close. It was only five nights during you again,
five nights between October twenty fourth and mid April when
the regular season ends, only five nights where there are
no NBA games. But that number actually has now climbed
to seven because this week in the NBA was so
(02:02):
funky schedule wise the way the league set it up.
Monday Tuesday, two quarterfinals each in the n Season Tournament,
no other games. Wednesday and Friday. Everybody who didn't make
it to Vegas or didn't even make the quarterfinals of
the IST, all those teams played Thursday again, only the
(02:25):
semifinals in the IST. Saturday night, the only game on
the calendar was the championship game. But this Sunday and
the previous Sunday there were no games at all, So
it took that number to seven. So we have to
change and update that answer. But obviously we'll be back
(02:46):
to full speed by the time this podcast drops Monday,
all thirty teams will be back to full speed and
easing their way back to some semblance of normalcy. But
I'm glad we're connecting tonight because my sources say that
you were the only reporter initially granted access to the
(03:11):
vaunted Did they call it the celebration room in Vegas?
Is that is that true? Have I been? Have I been?
Have I received accurate information?
Speaker 3 (03:20):
You got good sources, Sten, you got good sources. You've
been working your magic. Yeah, that's yeah, that's what they
called it. They called the celebration room. So it's the
room that you know, the NBA designates to have all
the champagne, beer goggles, you know, all that. It's the
(03:42):
room that the winning team they will go in there
first celebrate, you know, do do what they do. Then
they'll go to the locker room. And so yeah, no,
it was cool. I was, you know, due to my
my affiliation with Turner, they allowed they allowed for me
to be in there amongst among the let me see
(04:04):
the Laker, you know, the team, the team's media camera crew,
ESPN's camera crew, and then Turner's camera crew. But again myself,
I was the only media member in there. So it
was cool.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
So I was, And let's be honest, I didn't need
super I didn't need super top secret sources on that one,
since you're the only one I saw who tweeted pictures
of the champagne, pictures of the goggles, and pictures your source.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Okay, I gave it away, Okay, bad? Yeah, no, I mean,
but it was cool. I was in there, so I
didn't I was. I was in there probably ten minutes
before the Lakers came in there, and you know, I
watched them set set up everything, put the champagne out,
the beer, the goggles, the new championship T shirts. What
(04:54):
one thing that I found curious, Stein is that, you know,
the league was a little bit they were a little worried,
and they didn't know how the Lakers were going to
celebrate or if they were going to celebrate. And I
had to think about that. I'm like, well, I guess
it would be a bad look if the Lakers came
(05:16):
in here. Lebron just saw everything and it was like, oh, nah,
We're not doing this. I'm chasing championships. No, the Lakers
were We're bigger than this. This is not what it's about,
you know, I think, you know, the League were a
little they were a little bit concerned and worried that
they wouldn't go all out and celebrate. And so I
(05:37):
was like kind of looking and trying to you know,
see for myself. And so the first person to come in,
they gave us word that here come the Lakers, and
Lakers are coming, and so the door opens. Lebron James
the first one to come in. So he comes in
and then he looks at all the champagne and everything
(05:59):
and he was like like, oh ship, they got it
all out here. And so once he said that, he
went straight for the champagne you knew was on and
popper from there. So he he kind of greeted everybody
with like Dowson, him with Dowson, with champagnes and uh
so it you know, they they they I think, you know,
the videos and clips are out right now, and you
(06:21):
know they really you know, this was something that they
really took the heart. This was something that they understood
was a huge accomplishment and and it's it's you know,
noted that they're the inaugural champions, which is a big honor.
But yeah, they they took it seriously and so I
think it was you know, one thing start you have
to think about this, like to have Lebron James embrace that,
(06:45):
you know, to brace this n Season Tournament championship That's
exactly what the league needed. You know, they just that image,
you know, those those video clips of seeing them celebrate
such a such an honor that I think that they
needed that to move forward. I think the league didn't
know what they were going to get. Yeah, if the
Lakers won, now the Pacers, for sure, the Pacers are
(07:07):
going to go all out, for sure, but you know,
they didn't know what they expect with the Lebron and
the Lakers.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Yeah, to be honest, that was one of my personal
biggest sources of curiosity how the teams would react in
the moment. And I totally agree with you. I think
with the Pacers, there would have been no hesitation for
the Pacers to win that thing and beat the Lakers
in the finals. You know, that would have been a
huge deal. But yeah, the Lakers. You know, look, we
(07:35):
still don't have official word. Will the Lakers hoist a banner?
Adam Silver had a press conference Saturday evening before the game.
I was really hoping at that press conference that Adam
was going to be asked what he's expecting and would
he be disappointed if the Lakers didn't hoist a banner,
(07:57):
Because as we've already been talking about on this pot cast.
The Lakers have seventeen NBA championship banners. They've won more
than thirty Pacific Division titles. They've won I think eighteen
nineteen twenty conference championships total. But they don't hang banners
when they win the West. They don't hang banners when
they win the Pacific Division. And we're gonna have to
(08:19):
wait to see if they hang a banner for winning
the first n season tournament. But yeah, I think the
fact that the Lakers did celebrate this and did really
show a pretty high care factor to try to win
this thing, that's one of the huge Year one successes.
(08:42):
We don't know the ratings yet for Saturday's championship game.
I assume we will get those on Monday. They'll circulate
after this podcast drops. Monday Night and Thursday night the
TV ratings not surprisingly paled and compared garrison to what
Monday Night football did. And obviously there's Thursday football to
(09:04):
contend with as well on Amazon. So you know, this
wasn't a The quarterfinals and semifinals were not a you know,
by no means a ratings bonanza for the NBA. But
I really do think and as someone who has been
quite critical about various aspects of the Year one format
(09:26):
that the NBA adopted. Here, I do think a big
measure of whether this succeeded or not in Year one
was how people within the league treated it. Did the
players accept it, did the teams embrace it? Do they
want to keep this thing going forward? Did they take
it seriously? And I think throughout the league we saw
(09:48):
that teams did care about this. And you'd have to
put the Lakers and the Pacers, frankly, right at the
top of the list. Those those two teams, they both
went after it hard and deservedly earned their spots in
the title game. And it's good to hear that after
(10:10):
the game the Lakers were whooping it up and celebrating
because you know, on the court we saw Lebron he
got the championship hat, but he tossed it. Actually quite
an impressive toss to a d right on the number,
right on the numbers. But yeah, like I'm, I'm. The
Lakers will be in Dallas Tuesday, Chris Haynes will be
(10:30):
in Dallas Tuesday. Big week for yours, Truly, I get
to see the Lakers, I get to see the seventeen
and four timber Wolves, and I get to see Chris
Haynes all between Tuesday and Thursday. So it's a big
week for yours, truly, But I'm really eager to just
spend some time around the Lakers because now my curiosity
is are we going to talk about this at all
(10:50):
between now and the playoffs? Like how much will it
come up going forward that the Lakers won this thing?
Because you know, as we mentioned the last time you
and I got together for one of these pods, you know,
Lebron played fantastic throughout the seven games. I mean, his
numbers in this tournament were ridiculous. He basically averaged I
(11:11):
think twenty eight, nine and eight, shot better than fifty
percent from the field, shot better than sixty percent on
threes in the seven tournament games. He was super dialed in.
But I also remember him telling Ali Laforest, it's December
and we're not going to make too big a deal
about it. So I really I'm really looking forward to
seeing seeing a bunch of Laker people here on Tuesday
(11:33):
night and kind of like start to get a picture
of like does this you know, do we just put
this thing away? Now? Do we?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
You?
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Know how much how much N Season Tournament chatter will
there really be between now and the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Yeah, I don't know how much shadow they will be.
But you know, I spoke with D'Angelo Russells about it,
and he called it the n ceason tournament like a
cheat code where guys and get in an intense, you know,
an intense ballgame in early December, a type of intense
game that you wouldn't see until later on, you know,
(12:11):
in the season, during playoff time. So he feels like,
you know, being able to go into that mode, being
able to dig deep, you know. And one thing about
it too, like Stein, you know that coaches don't implement everything,
like they don't pull out like say, like I'll give
(12:32):
for an example a couple of years when Chris Paul
was playing for the Phoenix Suns. He didn't receive a
lot and this happens to him a lot, but he
doesn't receive a lot of pressure full court. You know,
teams aren't going to do that in the course of
the regular season until the playoffs come. Playoffs come, you
(12:54):
throw out everything, and you know, you all of a sudden,
you got multiple guys being thrown at you that's going
to pressure you the full ninety four feet. And even
look at Dame the Milwaukee Indiana Pacers game as soon
as Giannis went to the bench, because there's a substitution
pattern for Milwaukee when Jannis goes to the bench first
(13:17):
and then Dame leads the rest of the way, and
he just usually he goes off because now they're trying
to get him settled. And usually it's the horn offense,
two guys that come up for the screen, or maybe
one guy. But the Pacers trapped him in the first quarter.
They came and trapped him, got the ball out of
his hands in the first quarter. You don't see that
(13:39):
in the regular season. But since this is a high
intense game, this game matters. It's a severe significance. You're
seeing teams throw out everything. It's not another thing. I
want to say, you're going off with basketball, but it's
still basketball. By the way, you have Rick carl On
(14:01):
on your radio show not too long ago. Believe it
was last week Saturday Saturday. Okay, Star, what was the
last time you shook real Rick Carla's hand.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Well, it's funny. We ended up on a flight this summer.
We both yeah, because because he still spends quite a
bit of time in Dallas. We ended up unexpectedly at
the airport together in Dallas in August flying to Vegas.
We had we were on the same flight to see
the start of Team USA camp because I couldn't stay
(14:40):
away from Team USA camp, and of course Tyrese Haliburton
was there. But I honestly don't remember. I don't remember
if we shook hands.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Or just well, you didn't. You wouldn't, You wouldn't you
would remember it if you did. Let me tell you this.
You know, the bro hug has become common, you know,
that's what we're used to bro hug, you know, yeah,
embrace with the pound type hug then and it's the
one arm you know, on on on the individual's back,
and it's you know, really not any there's not really
(15:11):
any struggle, there's not really any power that summoned in that.
It's a really light hug, a light embrace. So but
then every now and then there's certain people that you know, hey,
you know, you stend that hand and you go back
to the traditional handshake. I wasn't prepared for a Rick
Carlile handshakee My hand was hurting it was hurting. I
(15:33):
had to interview him pregame before the championship game, and
he gave me you know when you when you give
somebody that the regular traditional handshake, and you feel the
pressure and then you just think, oh, the pressure is
about to go away. No, the pressure intensified. He kept going.
It got he kept going to a point where I
thought it was personal, like like like like he was
(15:55):
really trying to I never did that the Rick.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Maybe he thinks you're too close to Tim McMahon and
he didn't.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Like watching Tim. Tim has some words for you. Vegas
started watching.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah, I was like, man, I'm I got the same.
I'm sure we got the same. I mean.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Tim, he'll he'll get over it.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I don't remember, like like I said, I you know,
I just saw Rick in person in August. He was
on my radio show on Saturday. But I can't say
that I remember uncomfortable handshakes.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
So my dad, my dad used to always talk about
how important it is for a man to have a
firm handshake. I used to remember as a key I
used to practice my handshakes, practice like trying to squeeze, uh,
you know, just show him he's a manly handshake. But
the bro hug, you know, the bro hug is pretty
(16:55):
common now. It's pretty common now, and it doesn't take
much squeezing effort. Matter of fact, it's kind of hard
to really put a good squeeze on the bro hood.
But Rick Carlout, he extended his hand traditional handshake. I
extended mine too, as you know. I had to give
him a handshake right before I do the interview and
stein that handshake. It was I haven't felt pain like
(17:16):
that in a wild man.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
How is the interview?
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Oh, interview is good. He was gold. He was gold.
No problem there, no problem there. So I don't know,
you know, I don't know if that was personal or
if that that's just a Rick carl out.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I'm gonna check with some indie sources and see what
I can find.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Check on that, check on that. I think I've been
good to call out over the years. But no, but
it just it just reminded me that I gotta firm
up my handshake. I gotta get that back.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Let me ask you this, did you did it pop
into your head at any point Saturday night? We were
obviously neighbors and co residents in the Walt Disney World
Bubble in twenty twenty. Man, that was more than three
years ago now, But I was only there for fifty
odd days, if you remember, I was working at the
New York Times then, and the New York Times set
(18:02):
it up to where I did the first fifty or
so days in the bubble, and my former colleague and
teammate Scott Cassiola took over for the next thirty to
forty days. I don't remember exactly what the breakdown was,
but we split it up. We thought that was the
best way to tackle it. You, on the other hand,
were there for like one hundred plus days, and Spears
(18:22):
was there the whole time. Washburn was there the whole time.
You guys were really I mean you guys were there
almost twice as long as I was, so you really
really really spent a lot of time there. But you,
when you brought up that celebration stuff, it made me think,
I remember seeing footage of you in the hallway when
the Lakers won their Bubble championship in twenty twenty. I
(18:45):
was not there. You were, And now three years later, Yeah,
again it's a neutral site.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
PTSD PTSD, So you did you did it?
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Did cross your mind?
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Yes? Because so one of the individuals that were that
was in that celebration room with me, Jessica Showbar and
you know Jessica longtime ESPN what what is her role
exactly sports and producer. She was in the bubble with us,
and I'm in this celebration room waiting and she's next
(19:19):
to me. I said, yes, I got I'm feeling something
right now. It's like PTSD man, don't you feel She's like, yeah,
I'm feeling it. Like yeah, so now you're right staring
like it. It had the it had similar vibes as
the bubble. I was nervous a little bit for a
little bit, you know, even though they were fans in
the arena this time it just had that feel because
(19:43):
even though like even though the you know, the Lakers,
like people try to take that or try to minimize
that championship. The Lakers won, which I I think is
dumb because everybody was there and trying to, you know,
do the same thing, and the Lakers came forth and
got it. But this the feel was like it was
(20:05):
like I guess because it was something new. This was different, right,
this was different. We're we're everybody's telling us how important
this championship is, but it just felt different. And I
think that's probably why I had that feel as well,
because it was all new. But yeah, definitely stein Man,
(20:27):
I found myself like wow, wondering, like, man, dude, I
have to stand six feet apart, you know, somebody like
it was really really.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
It is it is, but it is crazy that. I mean,
the Lakers now with these, you know, two neutral site championships,
and look, it has made me think because I'm you know,
you've heard you know, our poor listeners have heard me
why about this for weeks now, and you know, my
my take on the Ndcason tournament was that, you know,
it needs to all be single elimination. Let's take everybody
(20:58):
to Vegas. Let's do this thing in a week and
a half or two weeks. Let's just play the tournament straight.
But one of the things that I think people are
coming away with is maybe the neutral site is not
the best idea because the crowd for that quarter final
game when Indiana beat Boston at home, that crowd was
(21:20):
so good. And I think one of the things that
the league will be looking at going forward is do
we want to play these games at a neutral site
and Vegas is typically a place that everybody gets excited
about going. So, I mean, I think for the Semis
and finals, there definitely is a strong case we made
that this was a good idea and a good experiment
to do this way and that guys would want to
(21:42):
earn that. But beyond the carit of winning five hundred
k each if you're on the winning team and two
hundred k each if you're on the losing team in
the championship championship game, that there is some level of
appeal to you know, to getting a trip to Vegas.
But yeah, I have to, I have to, you know,
(22:02):
for my own I'm starting to again, I'm starting to
rethink things that I you know, I don't know if
doing this whole thing in a neutral site, I don't
know if it holds the same appeal for me as
it once did.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Yeah, I mean, and again, like the Lakers are just
the ideal draw for the you know, for this event
being in Vegas. If this is any other two teams,
is it a big draw in Las Vegas. All I
can speak on from my experience of watching was that
(22:37):
Bucks Pacers game. But you have to keep in mind
it was a Thursday game at two o'clock local time,
and so you're really not going to get much fan
traction anyways. But the fans that were there, it was
you know, the environment was was bad. You know, it
was bad. You know, it wasn't you know on May
(22:59):
bast it wasn't really a lot of loud sheering. I think,
you know, obviously you don't have a lot of Bucks fans,
you don't have a lot of Pacer fans there, So
you know, is it good? But does that even matter?
Maybe the TV product is the appeal for the league,
you know, because the players are playing hard, you're getting
a good product, right, You're getting a good product because
(23:20):
that money is important.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
But yeah, there were three games in Vegas. Obviously Lakers
Pelicans was awful, but the other two games were.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Good, competitive games, Yeah they were. And so I don't know, like,
so when you're saying you're kind of rethinking the neutral
you're you're taking Vegas out of the equation and saying that.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Well, it's more like it's more like this. I remain
convinced that the single elimination part is the sexy part
of this. That is the not that it's yeah, and
that's what's for this to have any kind of lasting value,
it's got to be different than what we already do.
The playoffs is four rounds of best of seven. So
(24:01):
I just think this tournament should be completely different, and
to me more single elimination is better. And if like,
I'm convinced that the most fun format would be you
take the thirty teams. Maybe you give byes to only
two teams, the two teams that made the finals last year,
(24:22):
so Denver and Miami. They made the finals last year,
they get buys and the other twenty eight teams going
a hat. Let's mix up east. I want East and
West mixed up. We already keep East and West separate
in the playoffs. I don't want I would like to
see in the tournament. I would like to see it
mixed up. It would be It would be crazy if
(24:42):
they had a draw show and Okay, Denver and Miami
get buys, the other twenty eight teams go into a hat.
Oh my god, the Lakers and the Celtics have to
play each other early, because that's what comes out of
a hat. Like to me, these are the kinds of
things that would make it wild.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
But would that be an neutral site or.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
So that's what I'm saying. Initially, I thought this should
be at a neutral site, like maybe you cut the
schedule down from eighty two games to seventy six games.
Seventy six games is still close enough to eighty two.
Let's carve it out and then we don't. Let's just
cut the schedule down to seventy six games. Then we
don't have to worry about because what the league is
(25:21):
worried about is it's making up the get when teams
go out of the tournament, how to put games back
on their schedule. And that's why they went with this
ultra safe thing of the first four games everybody plays
in this tournament are gonna be group games, but they're
just gonna be regular season games that count twice because
the league the scale and I'm not minimizing it. The schedule.
(25:43):
Doing the schedule for this past week was difficult. It
was a challenge for the league. And if there's more
single elimination, as I'm advocating for, it's gonna get even
more complicated. So that's what I'm saying, Maybe we need
to to make this tournament truly separate from the regular season,
because that's I believe it should be separate from the
(26:04):
regular season, completely separate. We're gonna you know, they're trying
to make this out to be the NBA's version of
soccer's FA Cup in England. The FA Cup is separate
from the league. Let's make this thing separate from the league.
So the only way to make it separate is to
shorten the eighty two game season a little bit, because
you don't want to make this longer. You don't want
(26:26):
to have them playing eighty two games and adding potentially
six or seven tournament games too, because these guys already
play too many games. So I know I'm making it
sound easier than it is, but that's I really believe
that those are that's where this thing eventually needs to
get to.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
And I'm gonna ask something else too, So that championship game,
as you know, that championship game is the only game
where the stats do not go into the regular season stats,
which I think it should because it's it would be.
So the Lakers going to play with one more official
(27:03):
They're gonna play one more game. They're gonna have an
a three game season, and I think if you make
it to the championship as a reward, you get an
extra game to pile up your stats. Now it can
go either it can go both ways. You could pile
up your stats or you could have hurt it, you know,
(27:23):
depending on what type of game. Yeah, but the game
that Anthony Davis just had. You know, I saw Lakers
and other people tweeting out a season high. Well it's
not really a season high. It doesn't count, you know.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
I mean I retweeted out, I retweeted stat mus because
Anthony Davis forty one points, twenty rebounds, five assists, and
status stat Muse tweets out the only forty twenty five
games in Laker history. It's Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, and
now Anthony Davis. But no, it's not because, no, the
(28:00):
that's from that game last night. They do not get
added to either the regular season or playoff resume. For
Anthony Davis. He that's as dominant a performance as Anthony
Davis has probably ever had, and it is now goes
it goes into this nebulous category. And it's the same
thing with the playing games. Those games don't get added
(28:24):
to your regular season or your playoff resume. So Jason
Tatum had that fifty point game against Washington two years ago,
and that's the same thing. It floats in this nebulous
zone that we don't know what to do with it,
and officially we don't know what to do with this
game that ad played, this game of his life.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Yeah, I just think for this because players I was
telling you that, like players during the regular season, like
that is their time, Like that's their sanctuary in which
they can pad their stats and produce. They don't want
to play game and November and December and not have
those games accounted for. And so you know, the play
(29:07):
in is one thing, but you know, like I just think,
I think as a reward, if you make it to
the championship game, that's a reward where you get an
extra game to produce, pad your stats and help out.
And I know fans may say, it's not all about
the stats, please please, these players care about the stats.
(29:27):
It's very important. It's very important to reach certain incentives
for triggers in their contract where they can get a boost.
So it is that important, and I don't think that's
too much to ask, Like, if you make it as
a reward, you get an extra game to try to
pile up more stats.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Did you get a chance last night to chat with
Ad at all.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
No, I did, but not about that. We were asking,
you know, he had to grow that he suffered that
growing injury again, that was the same injury he had
earlier in the season. What else did we talk about?
Family stuff? Just family stuff. But you know I talked
to Lebron. He told me, like the n season tournament
(30:11):
that was, he felt like this was the perfect platform
for somebody like Cam Reddish And he said he happy
that Cam Reddish got this experience and not only got
this experience, but how he performed so the league can
see what type of dual player he is, he said,
because everybody was trying to write him off. He said,
now look what he's doing for us. And so you know,
(30:32):
he wanted me to talk to Cam, and I went
and spoke with Cam about you know, his resurgence and
you know, finally making his mark in the league. And
you know, he said, Lebron empowers him. He said, if
you got somebody like that in your corner, he said,
that gives you all the confidence in the world. So,
you know, some of the brief conversations I had with
Ad and Lebron after the game, but it was cool experience,
(30:52):
cool experience.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Yeah, because I'm actually wondering. You know, it's hard to
talk about downsides when a guy just rumbled for forty
one twenty five assists and four steals. I think it was.
But yeah, the problem now is, of course AD's many critics,
a few of whom, most notably work at your network.
(31:16):
They're gonna expect this all the time now. I mean,
he's going to be measured against his own success for
the rest of the season, for the rest of eternity. Yes,
because it's been this was the Ad that everyone has
been clamoring for.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
Yeah, it's been that way for a while. Everybody was
waiting for Ad to take over the reins of the
Lakers from Lebron last few years. It hasn't quite gotten
to that point. He's had spurts all throughout his career,
but consistent consistency is what everybody is looking for. But hey,
(31:51):
you know what, even if Ad were to get a
bunch of criticism, it pales in comparison to what Zion
is receiving right now. I know we touched on Zion
last episode, but people are still going in on him,
and you know, he's another guy that you know is
(32:12):
going to until until he's playing at a consistent level,
He's going to get that criticism to the similar to
the similar standpoint of ad for different reasons, but very
much the same.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
No, no question to me, how Zion responds to this
level of noise, the harshest criticism he's ever received. To me,
that's one of the stories of the season going forward.
Because the Pelicans do have a lot of potential. This
is a Western Conference that is very deep, very crowded,
and the Pelicans have a lot of upward mobility potential.
(32:52):
But I mean, Zion has to lead the way, and
you know he fell so are short of expectations and
acceptable performance in both the ist games this week. I'm
really curious to see what kind of answer he has
for his critics.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
By the way, since I brought up Orlando, the G
League Showcase is coming very soon December nineteenth through the
twenty second. I am booked to be there. It will
be my first trip back to Orlando since the Bubble
(33:37):
Summer of twenty twenty. I know I'm going to see
you this week. I'm excited to host you in my city.
I hope postgame maybe you'll be after your sideline interview
with the star from the winning team on Tuesday. I
hope you'll be cool with being seen in public with
me somewhere. But my other question is am I going
(33:58):
to see you at the g Leak Showcase? Because if
it was in Vegas, I know I would see you.
We always meet up there. But are you making a
return trip to Orlando?
Speaker 3 (34:10):
No, not ready, I haven't. I haven't returned to Orlando
since I exited the bubble.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
So no Nook, no g Leak Showcase.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Nah, I'm cool, I'm cool, I'm fine, I'm sad. I'm fine. Well, listen,
you had your opportunity to see me in Vegas for
the n Season tournament. I just you know, I would
say this time I would have went to kill two
(34:42):
birds with one stone. You know, I was thinking about
a walk there.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
You go with the birds again.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
I'm sorry everybody thinks that. Everybody think I'm just a bird,
a bird killed.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
I don't, I don't, I don't know. Not anti bird participate. No,
I'm not anti bird and I don't participate. I just
I just happened to watch, you know. That was that
was it? But listen, you know, I Stan. You know,
I was thinking about, like, okay, g LEA showcases in
Orlando this year, I can take the family, we can
(35:21):
go to walk Disney World and then we can you know,
I can do that, so you know, everybody be happy
because I've been traveling a lot, right, and it was
you know, it's the worst part to travel a lot
during the holiday season. So I'm like, okay, well, that
way they can be satisfied. You know, nobody be mad
at me at the house. But then I realized, Stein,
I don't work at ESPN anymore. I don't have those
(35:44):
family discounts. And I said that that that is going
to you know, walk Disney World, that'll be a pretty
penny for my family of six. So you know what, Stein,
I'll pass. I'll skip this year's G League showcase. It
wasn't meant to be.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
All right, well, I will try to hold it down
for you. There's even there's even a heat magic game
in the middle of all that that I'm gonna get
to go to. And I haven't been to a magic game.
I can't even remember the last time I was in
a magic game in Orlando. So and you know, all
I'll say is again. I don't want to jinx it,
(36:22):
but we are efforting a special guest from the Orlando
Magic on this podcast very very soon. That's all I'll say.
I'm pretty I'm pretty confident that's gonna happen. But I
think where we're gonna leave it tonight Slash Today the
coolest thing I saw to see Bronnie James make his
college debut was very moving. I've made this comment before.
(36:45):
I can't help it. I'm such a sentimental sap that,
you know, even though Lebron is having this absolute turn
back the clock season, you know, Saturday, the night he
wins MVP in the nd season tournament, was exactly three
weeks away from his thirty ninth birthday, So, I mean,
what he's doing on the court is ridiculous. But Lebron
(37:07):
James the dad is pretty much my favorite Lebron at
this point. I love watching how into his kids' lives
and careers he is. And obviously with the just terrible
health situation that Bronni endured just a few months ago,
and to be able to come back so quickly and
(37:29):
make his college debut tonight was well, I mean, look, Lebron,
Lebron put Lebron posted this, and you know you can
totally get why he felt this way. Quote. Can't even
tell y'all how emotional today was for me. I'm literally drained,
(37:50):
and all I can say is, Bronni, You're simply incredible.
Damn the wins and losses that will occur. You've already
won the Ultimate Goal Championship and that's life. Proud of you, kid,
and today you've given me more life. Thank you, and
I love you. And yeah, it was, it was, it was.
It was a pretty cool scene to.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
Watch now, most definitely when you're thinking about just what
Bronni has been through, what Lebron and his families have
been through. You know, we didn't know if he would
get to this point. That's a scary That was a
scary health concern. You know a lot of people don't
get to come back and and play at a level
(38:31):
like that, so and especially that soon. So you know,
I was definitely a cool sighting seeing him out there.
I saw his first you know, college you know, bucket
transition three. That's cool. And you know, bron Man, he's uh,
you know, he's a proud dad. He was you know,
he's not shy of he's not shy and showing that
(38:53):
as well. So that's that's pretty cool to see. So
I wish Bronnie nothing but the best man. I've seen
those kids since they were man under ten, so I
think I started covering Lebron twenty fourteen, so yeah, about
ten years ago. So yeah, they were both under they're
both under ten when I first met him.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
I remember when Bronnie was born. I was at Cavs camp,
and I remember Lebron was being pressed for questions because
everyone knew he was about to become a father, but
he at that point he really didn't want to say
too much publicly. And I remember in a media scrum
(39:34):
he was asked about Bronnie and what are you going
to name him? And he said Brian Winnhurst James. And
so for years I used to call I used to
call Windy Brian Winhurst James. That I remember, and I
(39:55):
remember sports Dad. Best job in the world, no doubt
about it. All right, everyone that is going to do
it for this edition of this League Uncut. As always,
if you can indulge us, please remember to rate, review,
and subscribe to the show if you already haven't. As stated,
(40:18):
we are working on a special guest from New Orlando
Magic that will hopefully happen very soon. Chris and I
will indeed be together at the same game, Lakers at
Dallas on TNT on Tuesday night. Where that leads this
podcast next, I cannot tell you. I'm not sure yet.
(40:40):
We'll have to see, We'll have to see what the
recording schedule is after our special interview. But we're off
to a good start this week and we'll have more
soon and we'll be back with me again soon. Everyone,
take it easy, thanks for listening.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
And that'll do it for us. See you next time.
This League uncutage an iHeartRadio production.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Lock up
Speaker 2 (41:13):
Chris Haynes and Mark Stein
An exclusive glimpse into what happened in the celebration room
at the in season tournament in Las Vegas, an unexpected
recounting as well of what it's like to shake hands
with Pacers coach Rick Carlisle Lebron ad the Lakers winning
the ist, the future of the n Season Tournament. We
(00:23):
get to all of that next here on this League Uncut.
Welcome to this League uncut.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
In the rule of twenty four hour NBA News, this's blue,
Chris Hans, it's so time, works time, it's so time.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
This League uncut is underway and on fire.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
This should be a good one.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Everyone, Welcome in to another of this uncut. Chris Haynes
and I recording on a Sunday night, a very quiet
Sunday night in the NBA after the n Season Tournament
championship game in Las Vegas. Of course Chris was there.
We're going to get to all that in a sec
(01:19):
but first things first, I have to Chris, we have
to amend. If you remember, I recently asked you the
trivia question, how many days once the season starts, and
this season started on October twenty fourth, how many days
during the season are there no games, and you guessed four,
(01:41):
and at the time it was actually five. You were
very close. It was only five nights during you again,
five nights between October twenty fourth and mid April when
the regular season ends, only five nights where there are
no NBA games. But that number actually has now climbed
to seven because this week in the NBA was so
(02:02):
funky schedule wise the way the league set it up.
Monday Tuesday, two quarterfinals each in the n Season Tournament,
no other games. Wednesday and Friday. Everybody who didn't make
it to Vegas or didn't even make the quarterfinals of
the IST, all those teams played Thursday again, only the
(02:25):
semifinals in the IST. Saturday night, the only game on
the calendar was the championship game. But this Sunday and
the previous Sunday there were no games at all, So
it took that number to seven. So we have to
change and update that answer. But obviously we'll be back
(02:46):
to full speed by the time this podcast drops Monday,
all thirty teams will be back to full speed and
easing their way back to some semblance of normalcy. But
I'm glad we're connecting tonight because my sources say that
you were the only reporter initially granted access to the
(03:11):
vaunted Did they call it the celebration room in Vegas?
Is that is that true? Have I been? Have I been?
Have I received accurate information?
Speaker 3 (03:20):
You got good sources, Sten, you got good sources. You've
been working your magic. Yeah, that's yeah, that's what they
called it. They called the celebration room. So it's the
room that you know, the NBA designates to have all
the champagne, beer goggles, you know, all that. It's the
(03:42):
room that the winning team they will go in there
first celebrate, you know, do do what they do. Then
they'll go to the locker room. And so yeah, no,
it was cool. I was, you know, due to my
my affiliation with Turner, they allowed they allowed for me
to be in there amongst among the let me see
(04:04):
the Laker, you know, the team, the team's media camera crew,
ESPN's camera crew, and then Turner's camera crew. But again myself,
I was the only media member in there. So it
was cool.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
So I was, And let's be honest, I didn't need
super I didn't need super top secret sources on that one,
since you're the only one I saw who tweeted pictures
of the champagne, pictures of the goggles, and pictures your source.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Okay, I gave it away, Okay, bad? Yeah, no, I mean,
but it was cool. I was in there, so I
didn't I was. I was in there probably ten minutes
before the Lakers came in there, and you know, I
watched them set set up everything, put the champagne out,
the beer, the goggles, the new championship T shirts. What
(04:54):
one thing that I found curious, Stein is that, you know,
the league was a little bit they were a little worried,
and they didn't know how the Lakers were going to
celebrate or if they were going to celebrate. And I
had to think about that. I'm like, well, I guess
it would be a bad look if the Lakers came
(05:16):
in here. Lebron just saw everything and it was like, oh, nah,
We're not doing this. I'm chasing championships. No, the Lakers
were We're bigger than this. This is not what it's about,
you know, I think, you know, the League were a
little they were a little bit concerned and worried that
they wouldn't go all out and celebrate. And so I
(05:37):
was like kind of looking and trying to you know,
see for myself. And so the first person to come in,
they gave us word that here come the Lakers, and
Lakers are coming, and so the door opens. Lebron James
the first one to come in. So he comes in
and then he looks at all the champagne and everything
(05:59):
and he was like like, oh ship, they got it
all out here. And so once he said that, he
went straight for the champagne you knew was on and
popper from there. So he he kind of greeted everybody
with like Dowson, him with Dowson, with champagnes and uh
so it you know, they they they I think, you know,
the videos and clips are out right now, and you
(06:21):
know they really you know, this was something that they
really took the heart. This was something that they understood
was a huge accomplishment and and it's it's you know,
noted that they're the inaugural champions, which is a big honor.
But yeah, they they took it seriously and so I
think it was you know, one thing start you have
to think about this, like to have Lebron James embrace that,
(06:45):
you know, to brace this n Season Tournament championship That's
exactly what the league needed. You know, they just that image,
you know, those those video clips of seeing them celebrate
such a such an honor that I think that they
needed that to move forward. I think the league didn't
know what they were going to get. Yeah, if the
Lakers won, now the Pacers, for sure, the Pacers are
(07:07):
going to go all out, for sure, but you know,
they didn't know what they expect with the Lebron and
the Lakers.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Yeah, to be honest, that was one of my personal
biggest sources of curiosity how the teams would react in
the moment. And I totally agree with you. I think
with the Pacers, there would have been no hesitation for
the Pacers to win that thing and beat the Lakers
in the finals. You know, that would have been a
huge deal. But yeah, the Lakers. You know, look, we
(07:35):
still don't have official word. Will the Lakers hoist a banner?
Adam Silver had a press conference Saturday evening before the game.
I was really hoping at that press conference that Adam
was going to be asked what he's expecting and would
he be disappointed if the Lakers didn't hoist a banner,
(07:57):
Because as we've already been talking about on this pot cast.
The Lakers have seventeen NBA championship banners. They've won more
than thirty Pacific Division titles. They've won I think eighteen
nineteen twenty conference championships total. But they don't hang banners
when they win the West. They don't hang banners when
they win the Pacific Division. And we're gonna have to
(08:19):
wait to see if they hang a banner for winning
the first n season tournament. But yeah, I think the
fact that the Lakers did celebrate this and did really
show a pretty high care factor to try to win
this thing, that's one of the huge Year one successes.
(08:42):
We don't know the ratings yet for Saturday's championship game.
I assume we will get those on Monday. They'll circulate
after this podcast drops. Monday Night and Thursday night the
TV ratings not surprisingly paled and compared garrison to what
Monday Night football did. And obviously there's Thursday football to
(09:04):
contend with as well on Amazon. So you know, this
wasn't a The quarterfinals and semifinals were not a you know,
by no means a ratings bonanza for the NBA. But
I really do think and as someone who has been
quite critical about various aspects of the Year one format
(09:26):
that the NBA adopted. Here, I do think a big
measure of whether this succeeded or not in Year one
was how people within the league treated it. Did the
players accept it, did the teams embrace it? Do they
want to keep this thing going forward? Did they take
it seriously? And I think throughout the league we saw
(09:48):
that teams did care about this. And you'd have to
put the Lakers and the Pacers, frankly, right at the
top of the list. Those those two teams, they both
went after it hard and deservedly earned their spots in
the title game. And it's good to hear that after
(10:10):
the game the Lakers were whooping it up and celebrating
because you know, on the court we saw Lebron he
got the championship hat, but he tossed it. Actually quite
an impressive toss to a d right on the number,
right on the numbers. But yeah, like I'm, I'm. The
Lakers will be in Dallas Tuesday, Chris Haynes will be
(10:30):
in Dallas Tuesday. Big week for yours, Truly, I get
to see the Lakers, I get to see the seventeen
and four timber Wolves, and I get to see Chris
Haynes all between Tuesday and Thursday. So it's a big
week for yours, truly, But I'm really eager to just
spend some time around the Lakers because now my curiosity
is are we going to talk about this at all
(10:50):
between now and the playoffs? Like how much will it
come up going forward that the Lakers won this thing?
Because you know, as we mentioned the last time you
and I got together for one of these pods, you know,
Lebron played fantastic throughout the seven games. I mean, his
numbers in this tournament were ridiculous. He basically averaged I
(11:11):
think twenty eight, nine and eight, shot better than fifty
percent from the field, shot better than sixty percent on
threes in the seven tournament games. He was super dialed in.
But I also remember him telling Ali Laforest, it's December
and we're not going to make too big a deal
about it. So I really I'm really looking forward to
seeing seeing a bunch of Laker people here on Tuesday
(11:33):
night and kind of like start to get a picture
of like does this you know, do we just put
this thing away? Now? Do we?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
You?
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Know how much how much N Season Tournament chatter will
there really be between now and the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Yeah, I don't know how much shadow they will be.
But you know, I spoke with D'Angelo Russells about it,
and he called it the n ceason tournament like a
cheat code where guys and get in an intense, you know,
an intense ballgame in early December, a type of intense
game that you wouldn't see until later on, you know,
(12:11):
in the season, during playoff time. So he feels like,
you know, being able to go into that mode, being
able to dig deep, you know. And one thing about
it too, like Stein, you know that coaches don't implement everything,
like they don't pull out like say, like I'll give
(12:32):
for an example a couple of years when Chris Paul
was playing for the Phoenix Suns. He didn't receive a
lot and this happens to him a lot, but he
doesn't receive a lot of pressure full court. You know,
teams aren't going to do that in the course of
the regular season until the playoffs come. Playoffs come, you
(12:54):
throw out everything, and you know, you all of a sudden,
you got multiple guys being thrown at you that's going
to pressure you the full ninety four feet. And even
look at Dame the Milwaukee Indiana Pacers game as soon
as Giannis went to the bench, because there's a substitution
pattern for Milwaukee when Jannis goes to the bench first
(13:17):
and then Dame leads the rest of the way, and
he just usually he goes off because now they're trying
to get him settled. And usually it's the horn offense,
two guys that come up for the screen, or maybe
one guy. But the Pacers trapped him in the first quarter.
They came and trapped him, got the ball out of
his hands in the first quarter. You don't see that
(13:39):
in the regular season. But since this is a high
intense game, this game matters. It's a severe significance. You're
seeing teams throw out everything. It's not another thing. I
want to say, you're going off with basketball, but it's
still basketball. By the way, you have Rick carl On
(14:01):
on your radio show not too long ago. Believe it
was last week Saturday Saturday. Okay, Star, what was the
last time you shook real Rick Carla's hand.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Well, it's funny. We ended up on a flight this summer.
We both yeah, because because he still spends quite a
bit of time in Dallas. We ended up unexpectedly at
the airport together in Dallas in August flying to Vegas.
We had we were on the same flight to see
the start of Team USA camp because I couldn't stay
(14:40):
away from Team USA camp, and of course Tyrese Haliburton
was there. But I honestly don't remember. I don't remember
if we shook hands.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Or just well, you didn't. You wouldn't, You wouldn't you
would remember it if you did. Let me tell you this.
You know, the bro hug has become common, you know,
that's what we're used to bro hug, you know, yeah,
embrace with the pound type hug then and it's the
one arm you know, on on on the individual's back,
and it's you know, really not any there's not really
(15:11):
any struggle, there's not really any power that summoned in that.
It's a really light hug, a light embrace. So but
then every now and then there's certain people that you know, hey,
you know, you stend that hand and you go back
to the traditional handshake. I wasn't prepared for a Rick
Carlile handshakee My hand was hurting it was hurting. I
(15:33):
had to interview him pregame before the championship game, and
he gave me you know when you when you give
somebody that the regular traditional handshake, and you feel the
pressure and then you just think, oh, the pressure is
about to go away. No, the pressure intensified. He kept going.
It got he kept going to a point where I
thought it was personal, like like like like he was
(15:55):
really trying to I never did that the Rick.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Maybe he thinks you're too close to Tim McMahon and
he didn't.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Like watching Tim. Tim has some words for you. Vegas
started watching.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah, I was like, man, I'm I got the same.
I'm sure we got the same. I mean.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Tim, he'll he'll get over it.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I don't remember, like like I said, I you know,
I just saw Rick in person in August. He was
on my radio show on Saturday. But I can't say
that I remember uncomfortable handshakes.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
So my dad, my dad used to always talk about
how important it is for a man to have a
firm handshake. I used to remember as a key I
used to practice my handshakes, practice like trying to squeeze, uh,
you know, just show him he's a manly handshake. But
the bro hug, you know, the bro hug is pretty
(16:55):
common now. It's pretty common now, and it doesn't take
much squeezing effort. Matter of fact, it's kind of hard
to really put a good squeeze on the bro hood.
But Rick Carlout, he extended his hand traditional handshake. I
extended mine too, as you know. I had to give
him a handshake right before I do the interview and
stein that handshake. It was I haven't felt pain like
(17:16):
that in a wild man.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
How is the interview?
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Oh, interview is good. He was gold. He was gold.
No problem there, no problem there. So I don't know,
you know, I don't know if that was personal or
if that that's just a Rick carl out.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I'm gonna check with some indie sources and see what
I can find.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Check on that, check on that. I think I've been
good to call out over the years. But no, but
it just it just reminded me that I gotta firm
up my handshake. I gotta get that back.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Let me ask you this, did you did it pop
into your head at any point Saturday night? We were
obviously neighbors and co residents in the Walt Disney World
Bubble in twenty twenty. Man, that was more than three
years ago now, But I was only there for fifty
odd days, if you remember, I was working at the
New York Times then, and the New York Times set
(18:02):
it up to where I did the first fifty or
so days in the bubble, and my former colleague and
teammate Scott Cassiola took over for the next thirty to
forty days. I don't remember exactly what the breakdown was,
but we split it up. We thought that was the
best way to tackle it. You, on the other hand,
were there for like one hundred plus days, and Spears
(18:22):
was there the whole time. Washburn was there the whole time.
You guys were really I mean you guys were there
almost twice as long as I was, so you really
really really spent a lot of time there. But you,
when you brought up that celebration stuff, it made me think,
I remember seeing footage of you in the hallway when
the Lakers won their Bubble championship in twenty twenty. I
(18:45):
was not there. You were, And now three years later, Yeah,
again it's a neutral site.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
PTSD PTSD, So you did you did it?
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Did cross your mind?
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Yes? Because so one of the individuals that were that
was in that celebration room with me, Jessica Showbar and
you know Jessica longtime ESPN what what is her role
exactly sports and producer. She was in the bubble with us,
and I'm in this celebration room waiting and she's next
(19:19):
to me. I said, yes, I got I'm feeling something
right now. It's like PTSD man, don't you feel She's like, yeah,
I'm feeling it. Like yeah, so now you're right staring
like it. It had the it had similar vibes as
the bubble. I was nervous a little bit for a
little bit, you know, even though they were fans in
the arena this time it just had that feel because
(19:43):
even though like even though the you know, the Lakers,
like people try to take that or try to minimize
that championship. The Lakers won, which I I think is
dumb because everybody was there and trying to, you know,
do the same thing, and the Lakers came forth and
got it. But this the feel was like it was
(20:05):
like I guess because it was something new. This was different, right,
this was different. We're we're everybody's telling us how important
this championship is, but it just felt different. And I
think that's probably why I had that feel as well,
because it was all new. But yeah, definitely stein Man,
(20:27):
I found myself like wow, wondering, like, man, dude, I
have to stand six feet apart, you know, somebody like
it was really really.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
It is it is, but it is crazy that. I mean,
the Lakers now with these, you know, two neutral site championships,
and look, it has made me think because I'm you know,
you've heard you know, our poor listeners have heard me
why about this for weeks now, and you know, my
my take on the Ndcason tournament was that, you know,
it needs to all be single elimination. Let's take everybody
(20:58):
to Vegas. Let's do this thing in a week and
a half or two weeks. Let's just play the tournament straight.
But one of the things that I think people are
coming away with is maybe the neutral site is not
the best idea because the crowd for that quarter final
game when Indiana beat Boston at home, that crowd was
(21:20):
so good. And I think one of the things that
the league will be looking at going forward is do
we want to play these games at a neutral site
and Vegas is typically a place that everybody gets excited
about going. So, I mean, I think for the Semis
and finals, there definitely is a strong case we made
that this was a good idea and a good experiment
to do this way and that guys would want to
(21:42):
earn that. But beyond the carit of winning five hundred
k each if you're on the winning team and two
hundred k each if you're on the losing team in
the championship championship game, that there is some level of
appeal to you know, to getting a trip to Vegas.
But yeah, I have to, I have to, you know,
(22:02):
for my own I'm starting to again, I'm starting to
rethink things that I you know, I don't know if
doing this whole thing in a neutral site, I don't
know if it holds the same appeal for me as
it once did.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Yeah, I mean, and again, like the Lakers are just
the ideal draw for the you know, for this event
being in Vegas. If this is any other two teams,
is it a big draw in Las Vegas. All I
can speak on from my experience of watching was that
(22:37):
Bucks Pacers game. But you have to keep in mind
it was a Thursday game at two o'clock local time,
and so you're really not going to get much fan
traction anyways. But the fans that were there, it was
you know, the environment was was bad. You know, it
was bad. You know, it wasn't you know on May
(22:59):
bast it wasn't really a lot of loud sheering. I think,
you know, obviously you don't have a lot of Bucks fans,
you don't have a lot of Pacer fans there, So
you know, is it good? But does that even matter?
Maybe the TV product is the appeal for the league,
you know, because the players are playing hard, you're getting
a good product, right, You're getting a good product because
(23:20):
that money is important.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
But yeah, there were three games in Vegas. Obviously Lakers
Pelicans was awful, but the other two games were.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Good, competitive games, Yeah they were. And so I don't know, like,
so when you're saying you're kind of rethinking the neutral
you're you're taking Vegas out of the equation and saying that.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Well, it's more like it's more like this. I remain
convinced that the single elimination part is the sexy part
of this. That is the not that it's yeah, and
that's what's for this to have any kind of lasting value,
it's got to be different than what we already do.
The playoffs is four rounds of best of seven. So
(24:01):
I just think this tournament should be completely different, and
to me more single elimination is better. And if like,
I'm convinced that the most fun format would be you
take the thirty teams. Maybe you give byes to only
two teams, the two teams that made the finals last year,
(24:22):
so Denver and Miami. They made the finals last year,
they get buys and the other twenty eight teams going
a hat. Let's mix up east. I want East and
West mixed up. We already keep East and West separate
in the playoffs. I don't want I would like to
see in the tournament. I would like to see it
mixed up. It would be It would be crazy if
(24:42):
they had a draw show and Okay, Denver and Miami
get buys, the other twenty eight teams go into a hat.
Oh my god, the Lakers and the Celtics have to
play each other early, because that's what comes out of
a hat. Like to me, these are the kinds of
things that would make it wild.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
But would that be an neutral site or.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
So that's what I'm saying. Initially, I thought this should
be at a neutral site, like maybe you cut the
schedule down from eighty two games to seventy six games.
Seventy six games is still close enough to eighty two.
Let's carve it out and then we don't. Let's just
cut the schedule down to seventy six games. Then we
don't have to worry about because what the league is
(25:21):
worried about is it's making up the get when teams
go out of the tournament, how to put games back
on their schedule. And that's why they went with this
ultra safe thing of the first four games everybody plays
in this tournament are gonna be group games, but they're
just gonna be regular season games that count twice because
the league the scale and I'm not minimizing it. The schedule.
(25:43):
Doing the schedule for this past week was difficult. It
was a challenge for the league. And if there's more
single elimination, as I'm advocating for, it's gonna get even
more complicated. So that's what I'm saying, Maybe we need
to to make this tournament truly separate from the regular season,
because that's I believe it should be separate from the
(26:04):
regular season, completely separate. We're gonna you know, they're trying
to make this out to be the NBA's version of
soccer's FA Cup in England. The FA Cup is separate
from the league. Let's make this thing separate from the league.
So the only way to make it separate is to
shorten the eighty two game season a little bit, because
you don't want to make this longer. You don't want
(26:26):
to have them playing eighty two games and adding potentially
six or seven tournament games too, because these guys already
play too many games. So I know I'm making it
sound easier than it is, but that's I really believe
that those are that's where this thing eventually needs to
get to.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
And I'm gonna ask something else too, So that championship game,
as you know, that championship game is the only game
where the stats do not go into the regular season stats,
which I think it should because it's it would be.
So the Lakers going to play with one more official
(27:03):
They're gonna play one more game. They're gonna have an
a three game season, and I think if you make
it to the championship as a reward, you get an
extra game to pile up your stats. Now it can
go either it can go both ways. You could pile
up your stats or you could have hurt it, you know,
(27:23):
depending on what type of game. Yeah, but the game
that Anthony Davis just had. You know, I saw Lakers
and other people tweeting out a season high. Well it's
not really a season high. It doesn't count, you know.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
I mean I retweeted out, I retweeted stat mus because
Anthony Davis forty one points, twenty rebounds, five assists, and
status stat Muse tweets out the only forty twenty five
games in Laker history. It's Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, and
now Anthony Davis. But no, it's not because, no, the
(28:00):
that's from that game last night. They do not get
added to either the regular season or playoff resume. For
Anthony Davis. He that's as dominant a performance as Anthony
Davis has probably ever had, and it is now goes
it goes into this nebulous category. And it's the same
thing with the playing games. Those games don't get added
(28:24):
to your regular season or your playoff resume. So Jason
Tatum had that fifty point game against Washington two years ago,
and that's the same thing. It floats in this nebulous
zone that we don't know what to do with it,
and officially we don't know what to do with this
game that ad played, this game of his life.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Yeah, I just think for this because players I was
telling you that, like players during the regular season, like
that is their time, Like that's their sanctuary in which
they can pad their stats and produce. They don't want
to play game and November and December and not have
those games accounted for. And so you know, the play
(29:07):
in is one thing, but you know, like I just think,
I think as a reward, if you make it to
the championship game, that's a reward where you get an
extra game to produce, pad your stats and help out.
And I know fans may say, it's not all about
the stats, please please, these players care about the stats.
(29:27):
It's very important. It's very important to reach certain incentives
for triggers in their contract where they can get a boost.
So it is that important, and I don't think that's
too much to ask, Like, if you make it as
a reward, you get an extra game to try to
pile up more stats.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Did you get a chance last night to chat with
Ad at all.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
No, I did, but not about that. We were asking,
you know, he had to grow that he suffered that
growing injury again, that was the same injury he had
earlier in the season. What else did we talk about?
Family stuff? Just family stuff. But you know I talked
to Lebron. He told me, like the n season tournament
(30:11):
that was, he felt like this was the perfect platform
for somebody like Cam Reddish And he said he happy
that Cam Reddish got this experience and not only got
this experience, but how he performed so the league can
see what type of dual player he is, he said,
because everybody was trying to write him off. He said,
now look what he's doing for us. And so you know,
(30:32):
he wanted me to talk to Cam, and I went
and spoke with Cam about you know, his resurgence and
you know, finally making his mark in the league. And
you know, he said, Lebron empowers him. He said, if
you got somebody like that in your corner, he said,
that gives you all the confidence in the world. So,
you know, some of the brief conversations I had with
Ad and Lebron after the game, but it was cool experience,
(30:52):
cool experience.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Yeah, because I'm actually wondering. You know, it's hard to
talk about downsides when a guy just rumbled for forty
one twenty five assists and four steals. I think it was.
But yeah, the problem now is, of course AD's many critics,
a few of whom, most notably work at your network.
(31:16):
They're gonna expect this all the time now. I mean,
he's going to be measured against his own success for
the rest of the season, for the rest of eternity. Yes,
because it's been this was the Ad that everyone has
been clamoring for.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
Yeah, it's been that way for a while. Everybody was
waiting for Ad to take over the reins of the
Lakers from Lebron last few years. It hasn't quite gotten
to that point. He's had spurts all throughout his career,
but consistent consistency is what everybody is looking for. But hey,
(31:51):
you know what, even if Ad were to get a
bunch of criticism, it pales in comparison to what Zion
is receiving right now. I know we touched on Zion
last episode, but people are still going in on him,
and you know, he's another guy that you know is
(32:12):
going to until until he's playing at a consistent level,
He's going to get that criticism to the similar to
the similar standpoint of ad for different reasons, but very
much the same.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
No, no question to me, how Zion responds to this
level of noise, the harshest criticism he's ever received. To me,
that's one of the stories of the season going forward.
Because the Pelicans do have a lot of potential. This
is a Western Conference that is very deep, very crowded,
and the Pelicans have a lot of upward mobility potential.
(32:52):
But I mean, Zion has to lead the way, and
you know he fell so are short of expectations and
acceptable performance in both the ist games this week. I'm
really curious to see what kind of answer he has
for his critics.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
By the way, since I brought up Orlando, the G
League Showcase is coming very soon December nineteenth through the
twenty second. I am booked to be there. It will
be my first trip back to Orlando since the Bubble
(33:37):
Summer of twenty twenty. I know I'm going to see
you this week. I'm excited to host you in my city.
I hope postgame maybe you'll be after your sideline interview
with the star from the winning team on Tuesday. I
hope you'll be cool with being seen in public with
me somewhere. But my other question is am I going
(33:58):
to see you at the g Leak Showcase? Because if
it was in Vegas, I know I would see you.
We always meet up there. But are you making a
return trip to Orlando?
Speaker 3 (34:10):
No, not ready, I haven't. I haven't returned to Orlando
since I exited the bubble.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
So no Nook, no g Leak Showcase.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Nah, I'm cool, I'm cool, I'm fine, I'm sad. I'm fine. Well, listen,
you had your opportunity to see me in Vegas for
the n Season tournament. I just you know, I would
say this time I would have went to kill two
(34:42):
birds with one stone. You know, I was thinking about
a walk there.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
You go with the birds again.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
I'm sorry everybody thinks that. Everybody think I'm just a bird,
a bird killed.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
I don't, I don't, I don't know. Not anti bird participate. No,
I'm not anti bird and I don't participate. I just
I just happened to watch, you know. That was that
was it? But listen, you know, I Stan. You know,
I was thinking about, like, okay, g LEA showcases in
Orlando this year, I can take the family, we can
(35:21):
go to walk Disney World and then we can you know,
I can do that, so you know, everybody be happy
because I've been traveling a lot, right, and it was
you know, it's the worst part to travel a lot
during the holiday season. So I'm like, okay, well, that
way they can be satisfied. You know, nobody be mad
at me at the house. But then I realized, Stein,
I don't work at ESPN anymore. I don't have those
(35:44):
family discounts. And I said that that that is going
to you know, walk Disney World, that'll be a pretty
penny for my family of six. So you know what, Stein,
I'll pass. I'll skip this year's G League showcase. It
wasn't meant to be.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
All right, well, I will try to hold it down
for you. There's even there's even a heat magic game
in the middle of all that that I'm gonna get
to go to. And I haven't been to a magic game.
I can't even remember the last time I was in
a magic game in Orlando. So and you know, all
I'll say is again. I don't want to jinx it,
(36:22):
but we are efforting a special guest from the Orlando
Magic on this podcast very very soon. That's all I'll say.
I'm pretty I'm pretty confident that's gonna happen. But I
think where we're gonna leave it tonight Slash Today the
coolest thing I saw to see Bronnie James make his
college debut was very moving. I've made this comment before.
(36:45):
I can't help it. I'm such a sentimental sap that,
you know, even though Lebron is having this absolute turn
back the clock season, you know, Saturday, the night he
wins MVP in the nd season tournament, was exactly three
weeks away from his thirty ninth birthday, So, I mean,
what he's doing on the court is ridiculous. But Lebron
(37:07):
James the dad is pretty much my favorite Lebron at
this point. I love watching how into his kids' lives
and careers he is. And obviously with the just terrible
health situation that Bronni endured just a few months ago,
and to be able to come back so quickly and
(37:29):
make his college debut tonight was well, I mean, look, Lebron,
Lebron put Lebron posted this, and you know you can
totally get why he felt this way. Quote. Can't even
tell y'all how emotional today was for me. I'm literally drained,
(37:50):
and all I can say is, Bronni, You're simply incredible.
Damn the wins and losses that will occur. You've already
won the Ultimate Goal Championship and that's life. Proud of you, kid,
and today you've given me more life. Thank you, and
I love you. And yeah, it was, it was, it was.
It was a pretty cool scene to.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
Watch now, most definitely when you're thinking about just what
Bronni has been through, what Lebron and his families have
been through. You know, we didn't know if he would
get to this point. That's a scary That was a
scary health concern. You know a lot of people don't
get to come back and and play at a level
(38:31):
like that, so and especially that soon. So you know,
I was definitely a cool sighting seeing him out there.
I saw his first you know, college you know, bucket
transition three. That's cool. And you know, bron Man, he's uh,
you know, he's a proud dad. He was you know,
he's not shy of he's not shy and showing that
(38:53):
as well. So that's that's pretty cool to see. So
I wish Bronnie nothing but the best man. I've seen
those kids since they were man under ten, so I
think I started covering Lebron twenty fourteen, so yeah, about
ten years ago. So yeah, they were both under they're
both under ten when I first met him.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
I remember when Bronnie was born. I was at Cavs camp,
and I remember Lebron was being pressed for questions because
everyone knew he was about to become a father, but
he at that point he really didn't want to say
too much publicly. And I remember in a media scrum
(39:34):
he was asked about Bronnie and what are you going
to name him? And he said Brian Winnhurst James. And
so for years I used to call I used to
call Windy Brian Winhurst James. That I remember, and I
(39:55):
remember sports Dad. Best job in the world, no doubt
about it. All right, everyone that is going to do
it for this edition of this League Uncut. As always,
if you can indulge us, please remember to rate, review,
and subscribe to the show if you already haven't. As stated,
(40:18):
we are working on a special guest from New Orlando
Magic that will hopefully happen very soon. Chris and I
will indeed be together at the same game, Lakers at
Dallas on TNT on Tuesday night. Where that leads this
podcast next, I cannot tell you. I'm not sure yet.
(40:40):
We'll have to see, We'll have to see what the
recording schedule is after our special interview. But we're off
to a good start this week and we'll have more
soon and we'll be back with me again soon. Everyone,
take it easy, thanks for listening.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
And that'll do it for us. See you next time.
This League uncutage an iHeartRadio production.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Lock up
Speaker 2 (41:13):
Chris Haynes and Mark Stein
Fox Sports Radio News
Host
Jonas Knox
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