NBA Special!!!! - Cavaliers' Streak, Bucks' vs Duo Dynamics, and NBA's Future – Ft. Pavlos Kapantaïs - Beat the Clock: Sports Talk with Anthony Felli

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome to Beat the Clock.
Sports Talk and the Blue Jayshave repeated as World Series
champions Joe, you'll never hita bigger home run in your life.
Six yards away from PontiacThird and three Montana Throwing
in the end zone, clark caughtit Dwight Clark Beat the clock.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Sports talk.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Martez looking, gets it to Bryant.
Bryant dribbling has to put itup with the buzzer Banks it in
Ha ha.
He banks in the three and theLakers win the game.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
And now your host, anthony.
The Ant-Man, feli.
What is up everyone?
I am the Ant-Man, and this isBeat the Clock Sports Talk.
Wherever you are, however, youare listening.
Thank you for spending timehere with me.
This is an NBA exclusive episode.
The season has now, or is now,entering its third week, and

(01:21):
there is so much to talk about.
And who else would I ratherhave on this show to talk NBA
than the Greek freak of NBApodcasting himself, pavlos
Kapentayas?
You'll hear that interviewshortly, but first I just want
to make mention that check outall our social medias If you
want to know more about the showor interact with me.
All the links will be in theshow description below.
Find me on Twitter or X.

(01:43):
Find me on Facebook.
Find me on Twitter or X.
Find me on Facebook, find me onInstagram and find me on TikTok
.
Secondly, the website.
Go to the website.
Check out the guest profilesthat I have on there.
You can even find olderepisodes and listen back to the
archive now that we're going onour third year yeah, we're

(02:04):
headed into our third year andyou can find us there at
beattheclocksportstalkcom, orjust look in the show
description when you're donelistening to this episode and
all the links will be there Nowfor your listening pleasure.
An NBA exclusive conversationwith the one, the only, pavlos

(02:29):
Competeus.
Enjoy what is up everybody.
I am the Ant-Man and this isBeat the Clock.
Sports Talk Got a very, veryspecial episode in mind for you
today.
The NBA has been kicked off forgoing into two weeks now, two

(02:50):
full weeks, and man has it beenexciting.
And who better to have on theshow than the Greek freak of NBA
podcasting himself, pavlosKapitanis?
I'm sorry, botch, that Ibotched that.
Pavlos Kapitanis, say it no.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
Pavlos, Just go with Pavlos man.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
I'll cut that.
Kapantais, kapantais, sorry,all right.
So the Greek freak of NBApodcasting himself Pavlos,
welcome to the show.
Thanks for joining me thismorning, man.
It's been a while.
Take a couple of minutes.
I want to know what's kind ofbeen going on with Mono MBA and
things going on in yourjournalistic life over there in

(03:36):
Greece.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
Oh well, look, we just recorded.
This is amazing.
So just for the listeners, Ididn't know what we were exactly
going to talk about withAnthony, but I just recorded
because this is, like I think, 6am in Houston.
So I just finished a recordingin Greece, where it's like 2 pm,
and we just did an episodeabout last night, which was

(04:02):
obviously a unique NBA night thefirst in NBA history where more
than three players scored over45 points, and about the
Cavaliers, which went 13-0.
And that's what we're going totalk about here as well.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
So we're totally in sync as usual, no matter how
much time, no matter how muchtime has passed between our
conversations, right, um no,that's awesome and the podcast
is doing well, oh well ups anddowns, man, ups and downs.

Speaker 3 (04:38):
You know how it is.
I, I got burned out, basicallyafter last season.
Uh, we did like 75 episodeslast year because we have two
podcasts one short form, onelong form and it was too much.
I just didn't want to watchbasketball the whole summer.
So we really started recordingagain just the day before the

(05:02):
season started.
So, but our social like we havea team of seven people now, man
, I mean, our social media areare, uh, doing very well and I'm
getting my creative juice back,so I guess it's gonna be an
awesome season.
Um, you know, but it's also agrind.

(05:25):
I think during february I'll bea bit tired again and for
anybody who doesn't do this.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
You know as much as we enjoy doing this for all of
you listening, um, it is, it isa grind, I mean it.
It does take some sacrifice.
There's a lot of games going onall at one time.
Uh, for people like pablos andwho basically try to do this,
you know, on our free time,because we love the game, we
love, love the sports world andand fully immersed in it, but we

(05:54):
don't have the big productionslike the ESPNs and stuff like
that.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
We don't have all the I'm sorry, let's rephrase that
we don't have the big productionyet.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yes, yes yes, although that's what we're
working toward, and so we doeverything ourselves.
So thank you for pointing thatout, pavlos, and for anybody out
there, because I know there aresome people who listen overseas
.
If you want to check out MonoMBA, I'm going to have all the
links in the show descriptionbelow.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
By the way, guys, everything's in Greek, but if
you go to our Facebook page,there's a lot of things that are
in English, because you know wejust post up a lot of NBA
videos, very short ones withgreat action.
So you know we have like.
I think 10% of our followingdoesn't speak Greek, which is
insane.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
We have, like, I think, 10% of our following
doesn't speak English, which isinsane, and I am, in that
percentage, absolutely All right.
So let's get started, shall we?
First thing, thoughts on lastnight's games.
There was a slew of them.

Speaker 3 (07:02):
But what stood out most to you, oh, I'm so sad, I'm
so sad, I'm so sad.
So, uh, I've kind ofsemi-launched a free yanis
hashtag, because I mean, what'sthe worst thing that you have to
a basketball player, be stuckin middle walking with doc
rivers?
And, uh, the thing is, forwhoever doubted it and I kind of

(07:25):
did I hoped he would want toget out.
Yesterday.
It took him 59 points to beatthe Pistons and a lot of luck,
because they missed two freethrows at the end of regulation.
And then the Bucks won inovertime, with Giannis
outscoring the entire Pistonsteam in the OT.
But when he scored his 59thpoint, 58th and 59th point with

(07:49):
a dunk, it was like that's whenthe game ended.
Really, he put the Bucks up byseven at that point and he did
sort of a victory gimmick,insisting like this is my city,
so he's not asking for a tradeanytime soon and this team is

(08:13):
not winning a championshipunless, I don't know, all other
All-Stars get injured.
Correct, that's what it wouldtake.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
Is it shocking to you since we're talking
specifically about the Bucks andGiannis' situation is it
shocking to you that Dame didn'thave as much of an impact as we
all probably thought he would?

Speaker 3 (08:38):
Oh God, I could talk about that for an hour.
A Dame is probably not okaypsychologically, being a number
two player.
He's never faced this before,and when it happens to you and
you're over 32, yeah, and it'sthe first time in your life, you
have to do that.
I mean, I do understand it's ahard, hard, hard adjustment.

(08:59):
Second, that guy is an opendoor on defense, like I mean he
did.
It seems that he's trying fromtime to time, but I mean, it's
not a skill you develop in yourlate 30s either, just like being

(09:19):
a number 2 guy.
Third, I think there must besome sort of personal dislike
between him and Giannis.
There's so many signs pointingto it, even since last year.
But most of all, you wouldexpect they would have developed
like a killer chemistry by thistime.

(09:39):
Now they've had a training camp, they've known that they would
play together.
There's something that doesn'tmesh between these two
personalities, I feel.
Finally, there's a veryinteresting stat and also a very
interesting second thing.
First of all, this guy doespick and rolls in which 57% of

(10:04):
the time he's the one taking theshot.
That's a problem.
If you're Giannis' teammate,one would think that you know
pick and roll, pick and pops.
Something should happen withGiannis.
People have been saying he's agreat finisher.
Who would have thought, right,yeah, finisher who?

(10:29):
Who would have thought, um,yeah, and.
And the other thing is alsolike he's keep asking for the
ball at various times during thegame and it's like you know,
begging for the ball is theworst decision in basketball,
that's, that's a fact.
He he should embrace the ideaof playing more like Steph,
which, again, that's notsomething you develop at that

(10:50):
age.
So the whole thing seems likethis marriage that was done from
the start, which perhaps wedidn't see coming.
And at the same time, you seewhat Drew is doing and you're
like, wow.
Also, I expected Gary Trent tobe much better, but you can.

(11:10):
I mean he's shooting.
His three-point percentage isaround 20%.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
Which is not common for him.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
He came as a three-point specialist, but at
the same time he has to defendall the guys Lillard isn't
defending while defending hisown guy.
So it happens when you have tooverextend yourself in one end
of the court, you will have aproblem on the other end of the
court.
You know what I mean.
So this whole thing is I can'tfind a way to be optimistic for

(11:41):
the Bucks.
Also I don't know if you heardthis Bill Simmons said last week
that, from what he's hearing,rivers has become the go-to guy
of the owner and he's asking toblow up the team, assuming Doc
knows that he won't be winning achampionship with his team and

(12:03):
he said well, how can I keepgetting paid for five years?

Speaker 1 (12:07):
Go into a rebuild?
Yes, yeah, and if it's a plan,rebuild.

Speaker 3 (12:11):
So maybe Rebels will save him by convincing the owner
to trade Giannis and Lillard,but the whole thing is just sad,
you know.
It reminds me now that they'replaying.
You've seen, you've seenGiannis has developed a
mid-range shot this year.
He's on the 90th percentile whenit comes to shooting from the

(12:33):
top of the key, yeah, and he'sdeveloping into the typical
Celtics era Kevin Garnett, youdo the pick and then Garnett
shoots from the pop and he'sdeveloping that kind of game.
So, although he cannot make afree throw to save his life,
that's what I was going to say.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
I was going to say that's a huge part of the game
that we were all waiting forGiannis to develop, I think,
only second to free throws,because if he could ever figure
out how to shoot a free throw,uh, on a consistent basis, or
make a free throw on aconsistent basis, then it'll
automatically elevate him right,because people will hack him

(13:14):
and you and you stop that partof the game.
But I think it's a huge stepfor him this year to, like you
pointed out, uh, that mid-range,being able to hit from from, uh
everywhere, from everywhere, 15feet out, and not always have
to be going to the basket, is ahuge dimension that I think we
all want Giannis to develop andmake part of his game.

Speaker 3 (13:37):
The thing with the free throws.
I generally give him a passbecause he can make them when it
counts, as Shaq would say.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
You ever heard Shaq say?

Speaker 3 (13:47):
No, but Shaq didn't.
I mean Giannis went 16 from 18on a title clinching game and
yesterday, in the epic victoryover the Lowly Pistons, he did
make 16 out of 17.
So I'm not that worried becausehe has proved that he can make

(14:07):
them when it really counts, andI mean in big games.
Now the fact that November gameto the Pistons is a big game
for the Bucs is deeply tragic,For sure.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
Obviously, let's go back to the Dame question.
To the Dame question how muchof the dysfunction that we kind
of perceive in the two playerscoexisting is a reflection of
because you mentionedpersonality and how much of it
is coaching staff, do you think?

Speaker 3 (14:43):
Man.

Speaker 1 (14:44):
Because we don't consider Doc Rivers.

Speaker 3 (14:47):
On this.
I'll give Rivers a pass on that.
Rivers is, look, the guy cancoach to save his life in many
ways, but that's a player coach.
Like if, with Rivers as themiddleman, you can't make I mean

(15:08):
this is a trade they bothwanted as well.
Like I mean you cannot blame iton the coach, would be my take.
Plus, you have Rajon Ronda onthe coaching staff, which has
enough experience about how tomake it work between huge
personalities.
Like, look, I honestly blame iton Giannis as well.

(15:28):
There's not.
I mean, the guy comes to a city, lillard, where the team is not
his for sure.
It's on Giannis to make himfeel comfortable.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
Be the leader, right Be the on and off the floor.
Cultivate a relationship, right?
Yes?

Speaker 3 (15:50):
My suspicion is and I have no idea whether I'm right,
but that would be my suspicionis, they do have a different
approach on life in many ways,and Yanis won't say it, but he
tends to be judgmental of people, and, again, obviously,

(16:11):
somebody that has such a driveit's like Kobe was judgmental of
people Giannis just has thekindness to not express it out
loud, while Kobe would even sayit in the media, literally.
If you remember the game againstPhoenix in this place I don't

(16:31):
remember the year and all thethings he said but Giannis is
driven like Kobe.
That's the key element.
It's just we don't see it.
But he's as much of a hard assas Kobe was and I think he just
I don't know, I think he justcan't respect a player.

(16:52):
If I were to guess, yeah, hecan't respect a player that
doesn't perceive defense as akey element of the game for
which he has to give his 100%effort like if I were to guess
that would be the problem as akey element of the game for
which he has to give his 100%effort Like if I were to guess
that would be the problem withYann.

Speaker 1 (17:09):
But isn't it up to the coaching?
Because, you know, steph isn'ta great defender either and
Steve Kerr always seems to finda way to cover.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
But it's about effort , though it's not just the
result, it's effort.

Speaker 1 (17:17):
Okay, but that's fair , that's fair.

Speaker 3 (17:20):
And Steph even.
And Steph even.
Like I mean, he put on muscleat age 34 after winning four
championships to become a betterdefender.
Like I mean.
Look, I haven't followedLillard's career enough to see
what he has added to the game,but as a casual Lillard watcher

(17:42):
over the years I would say thatguy hasn't really added that
many elements to his game, or atleast never made it his number
one priority to be a decent,average or slightly above
average defender.
I don't expect Lillard to be adefensive player of the year

(18:05):
candidate, but I think these arethe things.
It's like Shaq and Kobe again.
Man Kobe couldn't stand thelack of work ethic of Shaq in
the summer, for example.
Great example Shaq had all therights.
Shaq was right on his end.
He was so physical that the waythey played him it was like why

(18:28):
would I even try?
They basically keep on beatingme up because I'm too dominant
for anybody else.
It's not on Shaq.
I think there's a greatsimilarity in the dynamic.
You have obviously two greattalents.
But you know, and maybe again,I had a guest one of probably

(18:55):
Greece's premier basketballanalysts on my podcast the other
day and he was saying look, theway he plays offense.
Lillard is probably a low IQbasketball player because by not
defending and by asking for theball, by staying still after

(19:16):
the pick sometimes the whole wayhe plays it doesn't maximize
the winning for his team.
So if you know it and you havea chance to be next to a player
like Giannis, which he never hadbefore, I mean he's best.
The best player he playedbefore that, I think, is CJ

(19:37):
McCollum right.
So I mean you should do someintrospection and try to change
your game to make this yourtitle shot.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
Well, why not?
The whole reason why you're outof Portland was for the
opportunity to play with anotherstar and have an opportunity to
actually win championships, andit doesn't seem like he's
making the most of thatopportunity.
From from, from what?

Speaker 3 (20:10):
the things that he can control, as you've pointed
out, not to mention now all thethe other things that seem to be
following that uh, culturethere and also like speaking of
culture, culture and where hegot traded, remember his choice
was to go to Miami and Miami wasoffering kind of a low, a small
package.
That's a great point, A smalltrade package.

(20:31):
And it has to be that Riley wasseeing what Giannis is seeing,
what we are seeing, that hey, Iwould love to have Dame, but is
he really a hit culture guy?
Should they really open thevault to get as much as possible
for a guard that age thathasn't seriously defended in his

(20:53):
whole NBA career?
Like it's not, it's just thebucks from top.
This is stupid.
Basically that's the key tothat trade.
They panicked and this wholething is partially on Giannis
because he pressured them tomake something happen and they
just did something stupid.
And then they went to hire acoach who was a stupid pick.

(21:20):
Can you imagine that they couldhave had Atkinson instead of
Griffin?

Speaker 1 (21:26):
Who's absolutely killing it right now?

Speaker 3 (21:29):
What a great transition.
That's one of my best, becauseAtkinson right now is 13-0 with
the Cavs and you're like he hasmade it work with people.
If you had told me that Garlandand Mitchell would make it work
on the floor last year, I wouldhave told you like you're
insane.
These guys, they don't want toplay together.

(21:50):
You can see it on the court,it's like.
And now they're using like hehas convinced Mitchell in late
game situations to just work asa decoy for Garland.

Speaker 1 (22:01):
Like what the fuck yeah, no, you're absolutely
right.
And and um in just just to toclose the loop on the the the
lillard and and janice dynamicfor the bucks before we jump
into yeah, sorry for doing this,it was so related.
No, it's okay, no, no, it's okaybecause we're gonna, because
we're gonna go right back to,but just to kind of tie a bow on

(22:23):
it.
Do you see this partnershipgetting?
Because on paper it works rightOn paper?
You've got two all-stars andthe supporting cast seems to be
strong enough to, but the gamesto me, the games just don't mesh
very well.
And now, as you pointed out,personality, work, ethic and all
of that is all part of thatrecipe for disaster.

(22:46):
Does Lillard and or Giannis endthe year with the Bucs?
Or even, going forward, do theystart next year with the Bucs?
Because obviously something'sgot to change?
So I just want your opinion onthat and then we'll jump into
the Cavs because I think, Ithink that's an amazing story.

Speaker 3 (23:05):
I really thought that this, this year, it was going
to be different.
I really thought that becausethey had training camp together.
I mean, you know, there are nomore excuses like they were last
year, if I were to, to put it.
To put it so, if it hasn'thappened by now, I can't see how

(23:29):
it happens moving forward.
I don't know, maybe Giannis orLillard or Doc will have an
epiphany and somehow they wouldmake it work.
But right now, if you give me100 to1 odds that the Bucs go to
the finals instead of takingthe bet, I'm giving you 300-1

(23:54):
odds that they're not Greatinsight.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
And I'm not even talking championship, I'm just
saying getting out of the East.
No, that's great perspective.
So, staying in the east, as youmentioned before, cleveland is
13 and 0 right now and boy, ohboy.
Who saw that coming?
Because I certainly did not.
I did not see cleveland, uh,getting off to this hot start
well, I did saw them going 13and 0.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
They were 12 0 and they were playing well well, I
mean just to be the complete.

Speaker 1 (24:23):
I mean look who they look, who they've beaten uh in
in very close wins uh, and Ithink that's been the key is is
surviving close games.
Right, I mean beating theknicks, the bucks, twice, uh,
not not very impressive, butthose are, those are uh teams
that pushed this cleveland teamto the wire uh the nets, uh only

(24:44):
only beating them by five andthen surviving the bulls after
that, um, I think has been ahuge key to this because all of
those were trap games.
Right after you beat theceltics as hot as they started
you, you get, you jump into intothese uh five games and any one
of them could have been a trapgame and they managed to survive

(25:05):
and I think that's a hugeespecially the next game,
because they were behind by 18 Ithink, if I remember correctly.
Um, so you, so you pointed outthe, the dynamic between, uh,
donovan mitchell and darisgarland.
Um, but what about the bigs?
I mean, I've got Jarrett Allenis a rebounding machine, ok, and

(25:27):
he defends like his life is onthe line.
And case in point is the AD,the game against the Lakers and
the way that he handled AD, whois also have an MVP start to the
season.
I'm sorry I'm not watching theLakers oh boy, pot shots this

(25:47):
morning but the way he defendedis most impressive and I think
that is spreading throughout thewhole team because that Cavs
team got to be one of the bestdefensive teams in the league
right now.

Speaker 3 (26:03):
I think their defensive rating is ninth and
their first on offense, but thethe thing is, man, it is just
what he's pulling off.
Atkinson is just insane.
It just is going back to lategame situations.
Do you know what the the statsare for donovan Mitchell and

(26:25):
Darius Garland in the fourthquarter?

Speaker 1 (26:27):
No, tell me.

Speaker 3 (26:29):
So okay, and this is why I also think this is not
sustainable, because here arethe numbers.
So Donovan Mitchell in thefourth quarter is shooting 41.7%
from three 45.5 field goals,95% free throw for a true

(26:50):
shooting percentage of 62%.
You might know that over 60%it's elite true shooting, so you
might be impressed.
Well, that's actually notimpressive next to what Garland
is doing.
Garland's true shootingpercentage is 77% in the fourth

(27:10):
quarter.
This is just insane, and it'sheavily aided by the fact that
Mitchell accepts to play decoyfor him in many late game
situations.
But I mean, guy just hasn'tlost a free throw in the fourth
quarter yet.
He's at 100%, shooting 46.7%from three and 65% overall for

(27:33):
field goals, just like theentire team for the entire
season is over 50% field goalsand over 40% three-point.
Unless Atkinson is the greatestcoaching genius of our age and
he might well be, I'm notbetting against that guy now.

(27:55):
They'll have to drop at somepoint.
And I think this winning streakis kind of a trap because it
puts so much attention on them,it heightens expectations and it
creates a situation for them,you know, to go like 10 and 5 in
December and we'd all be verydisappointed at the Cavs.

(28:20):
But in the same time Atkinsonhad that transformative effect
before.
I mean that Nets team that hehad until Kyrie went there was
overperforming.
Some of the players were onthat team as well, like Levert
and another one I don't remembernow I'm blanking.

(28:40):
And also he uses you know likehe uses Mobley, not as a pick
setter, but he's the guy withthe ball in the pick and roll.
I mean Mobley has doneeverything to become the most
modern version of an NBA center.
I mean he's dribbling betweenthe legs.
He has a three-point shot now,which he didn't in the first few

(29:03):
years.
He was under 20%.
If I remember correctly, lastyear he was 37%, now he's 34%.
I mean he's doing everything tobe able to not play, to not
bring to the table the samethings as Jared Allen does.
If you will, no, no.

Speaker 1 (29:19):
You're correct and I absolutely agree, because then
how do you get him on the floor?
Right, because he's not.
He's not taking Jared spot.
You have to figure out a way toget them on the floor together.
At times, I think, I think whenyou talk about like what, what?
Uh, dean Lillard's not doing,definitely Mobley is doing for
himself and expanding his gameto make himself useful and

(29:41):
playable.

Speaker 3 (29:42):
Exactly.
Exactly make himself useful andplayable, exactly, exactly,
exactly, exactly, exactly.
He's younger than he's 23.
Yeah, I mean, I know he's aveteran, he's in his fourth year
, but so and and and, there'sone thing that really impresses
me.
So they really have, they havea 10-man rotation, they really
do, they have.
So there's only one playerplaying slightly more than 30

(30:06):
minutes.
It's Donovan Mitchell, with30.7.
And then getting significantminutes, it's Mitchell Garland,
mobley, allen Levert, ty Jerome,george Nyang, sam Merrill,
isako Cora and Dean Wade.
So 10 players total, and someof them Ty Jerome.
I think he had him on theWarriors as well when he started

(30:29):
.
But why I'm mentioning him?
Because he's the one from thegroup that plays less.
He's at only 16.5 minutes, buthe's clutch and he's a
difference maker.
He's also at 65% field.
I don't know 65% field goal and54% for three.
Like I mean, again, it's great,but is it really sustainable?

(30:51):
On the same time, they pass theball so much everybody's
engaged.
It's very strength in numberstype of basketball, in a way.
You know Like it's and I meanyou know like it's and, and I
mean he, he was, uh, anassistant coach.
It's not, it's not a randomoccurrence, and and that's a guy
who has an assistant coach,managed to get the clippers to
the conference finals I meannext to tai lu, obviously.

(31:13):
But again he has done like thethe most impossible thing to
have to to do in the nba historyget the clippers to the
conference finals.
That's never happened before orsince, so he's an overachiever
by any metric In any realm.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
Yeah, it's just crazy .
Okay so, with this winningstreak and of course we know
that- oh, it turns by the way itends Wednesday.
Yeah, so let's get there.
They just beat the 76ers, whodid not play either Paul George

(31:53):
or Joel Embiid.

Speaker 3 (31:56):
Given how Embiid played the day before that's
fine, correct, so let's gothrough their next….

Speaker 1 (32:02):
So the mark was set by Golden State right 22-0.
I personally don't think theCavs get there.
It sounds like you don't either, because you just kind of
showed your hand 24-0.
24-0.
Okay, and so over the….

Speaker 3 (32:20):
From the Warriors that lost to LeBron in the
finals so I have them going 15-0.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
Oh we agree.
So they beat the Bulls, theybeat the Hornets.
Now, that matchup with theCeltics would be their second in
this very early NBA season, andI just don't see the Celtics
losing to this team twice.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
Oh, you agree with me ?
Yeah, yeah, that's the thing.
So it's a very peculiar matchup.
So you've beaten the Celticsdefending champs that have the
target on the back the wholeseason You've been now become
the talk of the town, the talkof the league, because you were
13 and no, and by then you'll be15-0 matching the Rockets.
It was the first season Ireally watched the regular

(33:10):
season the 93-94 Rockets.
And you go to Boston and theTigers is on your back, not on
the Celtics' back, and theCeltics also want to exact
revenge on you because you beatthem before.
Look, I'll say, any team thatstarts 13-0 is a contender.

(33:32):
But I can't believe this teamis winning the title.
If they beat the Celtics onthat night assuming you know, I
don't know, like that both Tatumand Brown play like you know,
unless a major injury happenswe'd really have, I'd really

(33:53):
have to consider them like forthe championship, because at
some point you know, if you keepbeating everybody on the court,
even on the nights, you don'tplay well.
And you have supreme teamchemistry and you have a proven
playoff performer also inMitchell at some point you're a

(34:15):
contender.
There's no other way to describeyou.
That's for sure.
But also you should be takenseriously for the title.
It's still a small sample in away, though I mean it can be the
random occurrence of all shotsgoing in for four of your 12
guys.
You know Like it's.

(34:35):
I mean it's not only that, butI mean this team is definitely
the second best team in the East.
Right now it looks like thebest team in the East.
Right now it looks like thebest team in the league.
So did the Clippers last yearfor a while.
Like you have to contextualize,or how about.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
Utah last year Kind of got off this hot start and
everything kind of goes back tothe mean right, and so I think
we're all kind of waiting forthat to happen for this
Cleveland Cavalier team.
How much is that, you know?
I think we still yet to be seen, but I don't disagree If they
beat the Celtics again when youknow, especially a Celtics team

(35:19):
that's at full strength or closeto full strength, because
Porcingis is the wild card,right, but with your two stars,
Tatum and Brown, yeah, I thinkyou're right.
I think you really have tostart looking at this team.
This is a real team, right.
This is a real threat in theEastern Conference come playoff
time.
So the question is or maybewe'll find out do we think

(35:45):
they're good enough, deep enoughand together enough to beat the
Celtics, who are the champs,the defending champs?
They're a much more proven teamin a best-of-seven series,
because I think that's what itcould come down to, More
experienced as well.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
It's also that because some playoff battles are
won on experience and nothingelse, oh, absolutely, it really
tends to happen, and beyondMitchell, I don't think anybody
else has significant playoffexperience, and even Mitchell
doesn't have that much.
He has many memorable playoffperformances, but he hasn't been

(36:24):
that deep very often.
So when you compared it withthis Celtics core that not only
won the championship but alsohas Drew, that had a
championship before and they'vebeen in all these battles
together, I don't see ithappening.

Speaker 1 (36:42):
How ageless is Al Horford, by the way?
I mean, you want to talk abouta guy who comes in with the
experience and lifts a team inkey moments.
He doesn't have to do anythingall year, but he always seems to
show up when the time is themost pressure on this team.
He has become kind of likeRobert Ori or Rick Fox.

(37:08):
You could talk about Hornacekor Steve Kerr.
He's just got the experience tolift this young team.
Who would have thought that ofAl Horford starting last year?

Speaker 3 (37:21):
So, guys, for you listening, the guy telling me
about the ageless uh al hofordis wearing lakers 23 jersey, so
I think I think he's baiting meinto speaking about lebron, who
just have his third consecutivetriple double.
I mean, what the like you knowat some point?
What the Like you know at somepoint?

(37:43):
I think A to answer yourquestion.
Jokes aside, I think the primeof players has, like, I think
the duration of a career forplayers that really take care of
themselves has extendedsignificantly, absolutely Right
now.
Lebron James, kevin Durant, cp3.

(38:03):
I mean, chris Paul is having agreat season.
He dished 23 assists just theother day.
He's a league leader in assists.
Among the league leaders inassists, steph Curry is having,
you know, a great moment everyweek.
He destroyed Klay Thompson in90 seconds the other night.

(38:29):
I mean.
So you have to take all thesethings into account when you
speak of Horford, that if you'rea true professional that's
really trying to extend yourcareer, we have now the
knowledge and the science tomake that possible.
I mean, for all the love I havefor LeBron, I don't think that

(38:51):
he could have pulled the samething in the 1960s.
Okay, just to give an answer no, no players.
It also has to do with knowledgeand machines.

Speaker 1 (39:01):
Correct.
Players now have the advantageof technology and medical
advancements.
Right Private jets, not charterjets, or charter jets not
public jets, not buses, if youcompare it to the 60s.
Right in the 60s, you know.
And so yeah, definitely,longevity in the modern NBA is a

(39:22):
huge factor and I think we'llcontinue to see it.
But you know, what impressed meabout Al Horford is he could
have just become a bench guy, aJared Dudley right.
Oh, he's great to have on theteam because he's a great bench
guy.
He's a locker room glue guy.

(39:42):
Who was it in Miami in um miami?
What, uh haslam?
yes, so uh he was a mascot bythe end you know, but, but, but,
and it could have went that wayvery quickly.
But for al horford, uh, to mewhat's been so impressive is
that he's productive on thefloor as well, so he gives you

(40:03):
that extra dynamic.

Speaker 3 (40:05):
He's not only the glue guy he's driven like a
madman, he's on the samecategory as kobe lebron and shit
like that.
That's a two-time ncaa champion, if I remember correctly as
well.
Right, and I mean he managed toto be the leader of an at Hawks
team that won 60 games.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
Yeah.
We have to go back that far toeven remember, you know, to even
have recalled that you knowcause, cause they haven't done
much since.

Speaker 3 (40:34):
And he's working on his game.
That guy in his first fewseasons never even shot one
three point shot.
And now he it's been like sixyears, seven years, that he's a
legit three-point specialist.
He's not just, it's not that hecan shoot the three, he's among
the best at shooting.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
He's in the high 40 percentile from three almost
over the last six years Easy.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
So it's just insane.
But it's like what Chris Paulis doing to me is insane.
He's playing 28 minutes a gamenow.
I mean this is crazy at 39.
Especially for a guy that hadinjury problems from the time I
remember him in the leagueplaying for the New Orleans
Hornets back in the day I thinkthey were not even the Pelicans,

(41:20):
yet no, they were the Hornets.
That's correct.
So I mean, at some point point,I think all these are extremely
driven people, but they alsohave the means to make that
happen.
And it's not even like you knowwho's the old, the first really
old guy to play in the nbajabbar.

(41:40):
So karim you.
I mean it's common knowledge.
But let's say it again, like Imean the guy was practicing with
Bruce Lee.
I mean he was stretching anddoing yoga before most of the US
knew these words.
I mean yoga.
Yeah, like he spent his timetraining with elite athletes it

(42:01):
wasn't random back then eitherathletes.
Like it wasn't random at backthen either.
He just did it through likeasian knowledge and not western
knowledge perhaps, but it wasthe same thing yeah, um, it's.

Speaker 1 (42:16):
I think that's the most impressive thing, that
kareem had this longevity in atime, know, but most players
were his.
His lifestyle, I think, cateredto that right.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is veryspiritual and holistic and and
and more pure.
Where you know, they weredrinking beers in the locker

(42:37):
room.
Most of the time they weresmoking cigarettes while they're
out, you know, on the floor.
I mean, that was so that he yeahhe was a safe and cold guy
there, and then yeah for sure Iwould also credit to his ego
probably drove him because youknow you get this young buck,
magic johnson, who's coming totake over a team that was his.
And hey, again, you have to finda way to stay on the floor and

(43:02):
I think without he probably,early on, would not have
acknowledged it, but that talentthat magic Johnson brought
probably motivated him to tothose things Right.
So, so, uh, he, I think he wasthe anomaly for that time where,
as we pointed out earlier, youknow, it's become more and more

(43:25):
common I mean, they, they, theamount of money that they spend
just on their bodies.
Uh, these, these athletes, um,give you 15 years, 15 extra
years, you know, uh in in mostcases.
So, um, it'll be interesting tosee.
Uh, I will refute this.
I was not beating you to talkabout LeBron, although he is the

(43:50):
oldest player in the NBA rightnow and still, uh, finding ways
to dominate, uh, the league.
So it's insane at this point.

Speaker 3 (44:01):
I don't even care if many nights he starts padding.
I don't care If you can pulllike three straight triple
doubles, and I think yesterdayit was what like 35, 15, and 12
or something.
Or 14 and 12?
Anyway.
So I mean, and for a teamthat's actually good, your

(44:22):
Redick is just too good.
A huge surprise.

Speaker 1 (44:24):
I'm really impressed.

Speaker 3 (44:27):
Yeah, gj Redick, yeah good, your, your reddick is is
just too good like a hugesurprise.
Yeah, jj reddick, yeah, uh, Imean, so I mean what he's doing,
although he it's the firstseason that he's the clear
number two by the way.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
Oh, he is definitely taking the number one mantle for
sure.

Speaker 3 (44:36):
Yeah, I mean I'm and and I credit him with ad being
this level, this type of ad,like that's I.
I, I think, like LeBron is theAD whisperer over and over again
, like I mean, it's amazing,like AD never was that much into

(44:58):
basketball in a way, until hestarted playing with LeBron.

Speaker 1 (45:02):
Yeah, we've even talked about it without
questioning ad's real kind oflove for the game, right, like
it just seemed at times that hewas completely checked out
mentally and just floatingaround out there, um, so I I
don't disagree with that andthen I I would also and and not
to get too much into this,because I think we could spend a
lot of time on it, but I think,um, the energy that JJ Redick

(45:25):
brings also motivates.
I think a guy like JJ Redickgrabs a D by the Jersey and says
you know, you can be the bestdamn big in this game.
Now go out there and do it.
And a D is motivated to do it.
Right, like, just because ofthat energy that in your face
you know, hey, this.
Like just because of thatenergy that in your face you
know, hey, this is your timekind of influence.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
I'm under the impression that, for some reason
that escapes me, lebronactually greatly respects his
coach.
It hasn't happened in manyyears.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
Well, they did a podcast together.
I would respect you too, if youwere my coach.
No, what it is is because….

Speaker 3 (46:09):
No, no, because you know why I disagree with that.
I'll tell you what because inthe podcast he was drinking the
LeBron Kool-Aid.
It was like a typical LeBronrelationship where you have to
go with his flow and then youget extra benefits from the team

(46:30):
.
But the way he's coachingthat's not what he's doing Like
he's taking the ball out of hishands in late game situations.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
But he's smart enough to do it Right and and that's
what LeBron trusts.
And some would say that thatpodcast was the laker interview
right, because they they thatpodcast was based all about the
iq of the game, right, the x'sand o's.
And I think that jj reddickproved, hey, he's got this, he's

(46:58):
got this thing about him thatnot many coaches seem to have,
because doc rivers definitelydoesn't have the basketball iq
of a jj reddick, you know, uh,and I would say most of the
coaches out there don't.
the problem is, this is jj'sfirst job well the, I guess the

(47:19):
state, I won't say the problem,the stigma on jj reddick is this
is his first, oh yeah, that'shis lebron choice, absolutely,
and again, I think the podcasthad something.

Speaker 3 (47:27):
The problem, the stigma on JJ Redick is this is
his first job, plus his LeBronchoice.
Clearly and again, I think thepodcast had something to do with
that Look, your team is afamily-run business in which the
second-generation owners havenow extended the family vibe and
reality of the team into havinga player draft his own not

(47:54):
ready for the NBA sun into theteam and still all this works
and you're not the laughingstockof the league.
I don't get it.
It's.
It's on JJ, like I mean, he'smaking it work.
Do you know what?
The smartest thing he did washe put like for me yeah, he put
Bronny with LeBron in the first.

(48:17):
Yeah, get it out of the way.
It's like, get it out of theway.
Yeah, exactly like you couldsee.
Oh, that's a practical approachto things.
Well done now.
Like I mean again, like I findthe fact that that brawny is
wearing an nba jersey insane.
I find the fact that he didn'tgo for another year in college

(48:42):
after losing a year because ofhis heart condition insane.
I do believe that he's going toend up being a great rotation
player in the NBA because he'sdriven, he's mentally very tough
, it has to be said.
Like all the circus around,like the media circus around him
doesn't seem to.
He's grew up in it, right, yeah, yeah, yeah.

(49:02):
So good job, dad LeBron, onthat.
But why did you want to go intothe league when you're clearly
not ready and be stigmatized asthe guy who's on the roster
because of his dad.
This is beyond me.

(49:23):
I can understand it fromLeBron's perspective.
Like you grew up without a dad,so you're kind of
overcorrecting this by beingever-present in your kid's life
and want to push them for thebest.
Also, you give a great exampleas a hands-on dad.

(49:44):
God, I don't want to go intopolitics Because just edit it
out, but I think an element ofthis is also he's absolutely
right in doing it.
But it's like, yes, blackfamilies have a problem of
absentee fathers and he's doinga counterexample in order to
promote the exact opposite idea.
So, culturally, as a symbol, Ithink it's great, but I just

(50:09):
don't think it has any place onthe basketball court.
Like you can't be good becausedad wants you to be good.
Like sports, don't work.

Speaker 1 (50:19):
So many children of great players that that that
fizzle out or fade out or fallunder the expectation of what
their, their parent did.

Speaker 3 (50:29):
Not Scotty Pippen.

Speaker 1 (50:31):
And we'll, and we'll, we'll address that, but but
Michael's surely did Right.

Speaker 3 (50:36):
Oh, yeah, for sure.
But Michael is a vampire.
I mean, he's the goat, but he'sa vampire.
I understand, like he's thetypical dad that's so successful
that he's so overbearing, thatlike the kids can't grow because
they're, he's just well that.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
And the legend was the legend was set by the time
they really got started, rightwhere.
LeBron's still playing and hislegacy is still growing, I think
, is easier to kind of step intothan my dad is revered as the
greatest player of all time.
He was somebody who some wouldsay aided in the rescue of the

(51:17):
NBA, coming out of the late onceBird and and Maddie did it.
Michael was the next, you know,and so there's a lot more,
especially at that time whenthey were growing up.
No, we didn't have LeBron James, right?
We didn't have really a KobeBryant by comparison, right?
So so it was the end all be all.
But now I think there's somepressure that we could all have

(51:40):
a GOAT debate.
Lebron and Michael seem to bethe two.
Kobe seems to get left out alot.
There are others that deserveto be in the conversation, but
at the time….

Speaker 3 (51:50):
Left out.
Left out.
The guy with one MVP is leftout of the GOAT conversation.

Speaker 2 (51:55):
He is left out of the GOAT conversation yeah.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
What about Ty's Jones ?
Why isn't he in it?

Speaker 1 (52:03):
Well, but again, when you have all of that around
Bronny, it's not so centralizedright when, when Jordan's kids
were coming up, it was justMichael, and so they got all the
pressure.
They the the jordan name ontheir jerseys and the spotlight

(52:24):
was on them and it was a veryshort spotlight, by the way,
because they didn't.

Speaker 3 (52:28):
they fizzled out really early I just think he
must have treated them as histeammates and making it
impossible for them to growbecause, they were like eight
years old and he was truckingthem while beating them one on
one.
I mean for all my love for him,like Kobe does seem to have
been a much better, caring andintelligent father it might have

(52:51):
been different had he had boys,right.

Speaker 1 (52:53):
I think that was the Kobe dynamic was having girls
and being a girl dad myself, man.
They just have a way ofwrapping us around.
We're like putty in their hands, right?
So I think that was the dynamic.
It would be different if therewas a Kobe Bryant Jr and he had
to wear that name.

Speaker 3 (53:12):
Right, no, you're onto something for sure.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
Just to address your views on Bronny.
I don't disagree, but my takeis why am I going to stay?
I have this heart condition andthey tell me I'm okay to play,
but we all know that.
Look at Shaquille's son right.
Was it Shaquille?

Speaker 3 (53:41):
I don't remember but yeah, that look at Shaquille's
son, right?

Speaker 1 (53:43):
She uh, was it Shaquille?
Uh, I don't remember, but yeah,but it completely derailed him
and even his NBA life fizzledout because he just didn't
develop.
He never had the chance todevelop.
So you'd never know when theheart issue is going to pop back
up.
So so why not?
If you have an opportunity nomatter what that opportunity is
to get to the league and liveyour dream, I think you I think
you take it Because you makeMarcus Smart look like Kevin

(54:03):
Durant.

Speaker 3 (54:04):
He shot 16.7% for the season.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
But the kid's living his dream and the Lakers did the
right thing.
You put him on the roster, yougive him some run early in the
season um, I think he made anappearance in a game with like
eight seconds left just justsimply to get him in, uh, and
then you put him in the g league, because that's what the g
league is designed for.

(54:30):
Now there are kids that thatwon't even go to college.
They'll just try to getdirectly into this developmental
what do you see?

Speaker 3 (54:38):
can you read me his first stat line in the?

Speaker 1 (54:41):
gb, I think it was like.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
I think it was like two points, one rebound with one
out of eight, yeah, out ofready for the g lee.

Speaker 3 (54:51):
He's not an nba player by any stretch but
exactly we're not even sure thatguy is ready for the g.
I don't disagree.
That's, that's tragic.
Why?

Speaker 1 (55:00):
do that to yourself.
But here's the point I'm makingis he had an opportunity to
live his dream and he chose todo it right Because he could go
to college one more year.
But the heart issue pulled backup and his basketball career is
over, right?
So he just took the opportunity.
Oh, you mean.

Speaker 3 (55:18):
Oh, opportunity, oh you mean oh, oh, oh, you mean ah
, okay.
No, I see your point.

Speaker 1 (55:24):
So I try to take some .

Speaker 3 (55:25):
So you mean, you never know, with a heart
condition he might relapse.
And then, yes, so, so I can'tblame.
The kid must know he's notready Like.
That's why I said it, but yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:44):
But when you make a choice like that again, do I go
early and just have theopportunity to hear my name
called on draft day and put ajersey on?

Speaker 2 (55:52):
No, no, I agree, or do I risk?

Speaker 1 (55:54):
not being able to make it out of college and my
career is over, right, so I givehim some grace in that respect.
He's got a lot of developmentto do, but I I agree with you a
key role player on an nba teamis probably probably his ceiling
right but I mean he no, I don'tknow if it's his ceiling,

(56:14):
honestly, because he's such anunfinished product.

Speaker 3 (56:18):
Well, let's see Asking if a three-month would be
a good doctor, like you knowwho knows Right?
But what I've seen in himdefinitely is that he's very
driven and, as we werediscussing before starting,
recording work trumps talentevery single time, and that was

(56:45):
the driver for Kobe.

Speaker 1 (56:48):
He would say he wasn't the most talented in his
era, but he outworked everybody.

Speaker 3 (56:53):
Well more talented than Braun?
Exactly no, I do, I do.

Speaker 1 (56:59):
But he wouldn't have thought of himself that way.
He always held himself to amuch higher standard.
So he worked harder, right, andyou know things like Dane,
who's a you know he's.
He's openly a huge Kobe backer.
A Kobe fan, you know, wouldconsider Kobe.
His mentor has not picked upthe Mamba mentality, so to speak

(57:20):
, or the willingness to evolvehis game as we spoke about
earlier in the thing.
You know, it's the hard work Inthe offseason.
He's recording records right.
He's not working on basketball.
Great players, or even reallygood players, work on their game
all through the year.

(57:40):
So that I think Bronny stayshealthy.
His heart condition, godwilling, uh allows him to play
uh and have have have somelongevity in a NBA career.
I think we see him eventuallyum become a really good uh
rotation player, as, as youaptly stated.
I would agree with that.
Good rotation player, as youaptly stated, I would agree with
that.

Speaker 3 (58:03):
Let's see.
I would love for him to somehowmake it into the MVP
conversation by year nine, justfor a year even.
It would be a great story Inthe meantime.
What I found hilarious thisweek is that on the same day, I
think, that Bronny was announced.
On the same day, I think thatBronny was announced Going to
the G League yep, on the sameday that Bronny was going on the

(58:25):
G League and we were againdiscussing the father and son
duo, et cetera, Scottie PippenJr had a triple-double for the
Grizzlies, and him and hisfather, scotty Pippen Sr, became
the first father and son duo inthe modern era to both register

(58:46):
a triple-double.
The Dantleys had done it intimes immemorial and I found it
so funny that somehow the 90sBulls would still mess with
LeBron.
I just find it hilarious.
Somehow the nineties Bulls willstill mess with LeBron I.
I just find it hilarious.
Maybe that's why he did thethree triple doubles in a row,
by the way put his name back onthe top of the conversation.

Speaker 1 (59:11):
You know it's like salt in the wound because the
Lakers drafted Scotty Pippen jrand then and then let him uh,
sent him to the G League andthen you know, once anybody's in
the G League, any team can pickthem up.
So that's a little salt in thewound, but it's such an

(59:35):
incredible story, you know, tosee that my team always had the
problem of having too manyguards that could actually play
in this league.
That's not a bad problem tohave.
It just didn't work out and youknow, memphis found a spot for
him.
So good, good for him for forfinding a spot on a roster, um

(59:57):
and and seizing the opportunityto do so.
But it's great to see thesekids.
I mean I would have liked tosee O'Neal's boy because, also
drafted by the Lakers neverreally could get a footing.

Speaker 3 (01:00:12):
Yes, you had the legacy team man you also drafted
, or I mean you had at theTocubo at some point.

Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
Which we really should have went for Thanasis is
what I'm hearing because he's agreat glue guy for the locker
room.

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
Well, I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:00:32):
I hope you heard the sarcasm in my voice when I say
that.

Speaker 3 (01:00:35):
No, it's just Costas, because he plays in Europe.
Now, right, I mean, I went to anational team game last summer
and he was playing and he hadhis best game.
He scored 25, 29.
Giannis wasn't playing.
Everybody was there for Giannisand we got a big game from
Costas, which is insane, becausenobody expected that, obviously

(01:00:58):
, and you could just see likethe guy athletically is a
Giannis-level monster, but hejust won't put in the work.
There's like some laps in hispostgame that you're like come
on, man, like what the F?

Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
And there's so many people that they could reach out
to and learn from right.
There's so many great postplayers still out there your
brother, is GiannisAntetokounmpo and you spend your
summer playing with him.
I didn't want to go there, butyou're right.

Speaker 3 (01:01:32):
I think Giannis is tough with everybody but his
brothers.

Speaker 1 (01:01:36):
Because he would have all of them.
He'd have all of them.
It's a weird thing, he'd haveall of them in Milwaukee, just
to have them together right.

Speaker 3 (01:01:42):
For sure.

Speaker 1 (01:01:42):
And look kudos to him but that doesn't help win
championships.
So you want a winning mentality, you have to….

Speaker 3 (01:01:51):
Come on, man you can't be a fan of the team that
drafted Brony and explain topeople what helps you win
championships.

Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
I'm sorry, we've got 17 of them.
So I mean, what can?
Oh, you know right behind you.

Speaker 3 (01:02:05):
Uh, for the listeners there's the number 18, uh,
which I thought would have beenbanned right now from a Lakers
fan layer but only because it'sgolf.

Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
That's only because it's okay.

Speaker 1 (01:02:20):
All right, so real quickly, I just want to here.
We are the second year of theNBA.
What are they calling it?
It's the Emirates NBA Cup,formerly known as the in-season
tournament.
The Lakers managed to win thefirst one, but then decided that

(01:02:43):
they forgot how to playbasketball for the entirety of
last season.
After that, uh, so how?
I haven't had a chance to talkwith you about this, um, but I
think now's a more opportunetime than any initial thoughts
on this in-season tournament andhow does it work and how does

(01:03:03):
it not work for you.

Speaker 3 (01:03:06):
Look, I think it's a brilliant idea.
It's maybe a bit too early inthe season, but because of the
All-Star Game, it makes sensethat they won the finals in
December.
December, right, not January.
It's December again, right?
Whatever gives meaning to 82regular season game is a good

(01:03:30):
thing for the league.

Speaker 1 (01:03:34):
Plus, you get the visuals from the courts, which
many people hate, by the way.

Speaker 3 (01:03:38):
The first one was yeah, but it's okay.
But it makes it different.
It makes the average regularseason day seem different.
No, I agree.
So it's not about whetherhamburgers are your favorite

(01:03:59):
meal.
If you eat pizza every day,you'll enjoy the break and have
a hamburger.

Speaker 1 (01:04:05):
Great analogy.
And now I find myself veryhungry.
Thank you, Pavlos.
Well, you should have breakfastbefore recording.

Speaker 3 (01:04:15):
But I think the final four will eventually become a
big thing because they'vemanaged Basically.
What they're trying to do is tohave a Final Four like March
Madness.
That's the end game here.
It's to make it over the yearsa big enough event that you all
want to see.
The Final Four games, theelimination semifinals it's a

(01:04:43):
great idea with a season that'sthat long where the playoffs are
really best of seven, so it'shard for the best team not to
beat them.
It's great to add theuncertainty of elimination games
and one-game trophies.
I think the whole thing isawesome.
Now, whether the players willbe giving a crap or not remains

(01:05:06):
to be seen.
Last year, everybody was megaexcited and the fact that LeBron
is the guy who won it sorry,the Lakers with LeBron with
LeBron are the first winnersadds a lot to the idea of this

(01:05:27):
might well be something thatwill work and in 20 years time,
the new generation of fans can'timagine an NBA without it.
It might also not.

Speaker 1 (01:05:37):
Does the in-season championship, especially after
the results of last season,having the uh, the winner of the
in-season tournament end up inthe eighth seed and knocked out
in the first round, does itcheapen in any way what the
playoffs are supposed to be andthe run to the championship, uh,

(01:06:00):
the finals, uh, and even thefinals trophy that?
Do you feel like it cheapensthat at all?

Speaker 3 (01:06:06):
first of all, thank you for reminding us that the
lakers uh got eliminated in thefirst round.

Speaker 1 (01:06:12):
Second of all, I finally come to terms with it.
P Pavlos, what can I say?

Speaker 3 (01:06:18):
Look maybe I don't know, because the finalist was
Indiana and Indiana went all theway to the conference finals in
the East and really was goodagainst the Celtics, although
they didn't manage to win anygames, or did they win one, I
don't remember.
I don't remember either.

Speaker 1 (01:06:43):
Because it seemed like the Celtics dominated
everything in the playoffs.
So it's hard to know.

Speaker 3 (01:06:45):
But Carlisle really handed the game to the Celtics
last year.
But I mean, you can either viewit.
Hey, the winner didn't evenmake it in the playoffs, but we
all knew that a roster that oldwas better suited for a one-game
elimination thing than aseven-game series.

(01:07:05):
First of all, and the fact thatIndiana proved to be a legit
up-and-coming young team nothingmore than that, but they are at
least.
That shows me that yeah, yeah,it will probably work.

(01:07:26):
And again, man, it's 82 games.
82 games like I mean in Europe.
Now, I'm sorry, I think it'srelevant.
That's why I'm mentioningEurope.
Like the way the EuroLeague andthe National Championship are
now, the teams roughly play,like the big teams, they roughly
play 70 games, 75 games a year.
But because it's all fordifferent competitions, you have

(01:07:48):
to set it up in a way thatthose games matter, because at
some point, you just know bylate January, and you just know
by late January even we are kindof like, eh, what's going on
now?
It's a part of the season thatI could not watch much and it

(01:08:10):
wouldn't change much of myunderstanding of the league.
When the novelty of the seasonfinishes, which is right around
now, it's good that you havesomething else starting.
Then we go into the All-Stargame, then we go into the
playoffs.
Now, of course, the calamitythat is.

Speaker 1 (01:08:29):
the All-Star game also needs to change.
That could be a whole episodein itself, I mean or never
mention the words All-Star gameever again.

Speaker 3 (01:08:42):
So I don't know.
I just think it's like yeah,last year we did a special
episode for the finals.
I really wanted to see who'sgoing to win it.
It's like a trophy in December.
Better have it than not havingit.

Speaker 1 (01:08:55):
I would say I think it's great.
Some of my more positiveoutlooks on it is, I think to's
I think it's great.
Um, you know the some of my mymore positive outlooks on is, I
think to your point, it is great.
It makes basketball meaningfulkind of early on in the year,
right for for a good month-longstretch.
Um, I also like the europeankind of style to it, where you

(01:09:17):
you got group play and then youknow, then you get out of your
group and now you're in a singleelimination bracket.
I love that, and people who whodon't watch soccer or football
you know european football, uh,really don't get to experience
that type of play much, or even,uh, european basketball, and so
I think it's a.
It's a great way to introducefans to that concept where every

(01:09:41):
game now counts.
One mistake, one bounce of aball going the wrong way can
cost you the tournament.
However, I really do feel likeit cheapens the championship,
and I think even more so thatthe late.
Why?
Because the NBA FinalsChampionship, the Larry O'Brien

(01:10:03):
Trophy, should be the mostrevered thing in the league.
It's been that way since now.
Again, I think change is goodand I think that there's
meaningful, but here's why I'm alittle bit opposed, because the
Lakers won it.
The lakers, since when has it?
Has anything other than a larryo'brien trophy meant more to

(01:10:28):
anything else than last year?
Because when the lakers won it,they celebrate it like they won
the larry o'brien trophy, withthe champagne and the shirts and
well, they knew they wouldn'twin that one, so remember like
they were.
They were in the, they were inthe top five in the league at
the time.
They won that in-seasontournament and then afterwards
just completely fell off the offthe rails, right, because it

(01:10:51):
didn't.

Speaker 3 (01:10:51):
It didn't mean anything I hear everything that
you're saying.
I come from a differentperspective.
It's really like you're anAmerican, I'm a European.
So in both football andbasketball in Europe, even
before the EuroLeague existed inthe way it is, in all national
competitions you have thechampionship and the cup.

Speaker 1 (01:11:14):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:11:16):
So you know that the cup is the one trophy that teams
that are not that good canhoist.
It's the one thing you can win,even if you're not elite,
because it's a singleeliminations game and the idea
is always that if you leave yoursoul on the field or on the

(01:11:38):
court if we're talking aboutbasketball you can make it
happen, because it's just onegame and you can always
overachieve over one game.
It's possible, it's apossibility, but beyond all this

(01:11:59):
talk, so this is why I thinkit's an okay thing, because to
me, it makes the NBA more likeEuropean sports that I've
followed since I was a kid.
Yeah, so that's why I'm sayingit's a perspective thing.
But overall, if you were to askme why it's a good thing and
why I wouldn't change it foranything and when I'm saying

(01:12:20):
this I'm projecting myself intothis year, next year and the
years after that is because youdo have competitive freaks in
the NBA, people that wouldrather die than get eliminated
from any sort of competition.

Speaker 1 (01:12:37):
Sure, it's a pride thing.
All these guys have egos.

Speaker 3 (01:12:38):
All these guys have any sort of competition.

Speaker 1 (01:12:39):
Sure, it's a pride thing, right?
All these guys have egos, allthese guys have a level of pride
.

Speaker 3 (01:12:42):
So give me superstars in elimination games for any
reason.
Just make this happen.
For me it's a good thing, likeeventually.
Like, for example, if I wasGiannis?
If I were Giannis, okay, what'sthe one thing I have a
realistic shot at this year?
The cup.

(01:13:04):
That's the one thing I can do.
I can score 59, take 22rebounds and beat any team at
any given time, but I cannot doit over a seven-game playoff
series.
But I cannot do it over aseven-game playoff series.
So I think, eventually, if itall goes according to plan or
according to my wishful thinking, the reason the cup or the

(01:13:30):
in-season tournament will stayis because eventually we're
going to see some monsterperformances in the
quarterfinals, in the semifinals, in the finals.

Speaker 1 (01:13:42):
I will admit to this One of the most fun things about
it last year and I anticipateit being the same this year was
the level of competitionthroughout the tournament.
Right Again, real hard nose,competitive basketball in
December.
My takeaway from it was thisfor a team like the portland

(01:14:07):
trailblazers or the clippers, oryou know the uh pick any team
the orlando magic yes, that may,that may, yes, that may be
their level of expectation towin the now Emirates NBA Cup,
but not for the Lakers, not forthe Celtics.

(01:14:29):
Nobody's hanging banners.
You don't get it.
No, no, no, you don't get it.

Speaker 3 (01:14:34):
Because you haven't grown with it no no, no, I agree
with you.
That's not the expectation.
The expectation is to win thedouble.
So what happens in Europe?
I'm just telling you whathappens in Europe.
Educate me.
It's that you sort out thechampions through.
Oh, did they also win the cupthat year?
So a champion that also won thecup is like a bigger champion.

(01:14:58):
You won both competitions.
The important is always thechampionship, but it gives you a
way to separate the champions.
It gives like, I don't knowwhen it's going to happen, but
believe me, the first team thatwins the cup and the
championship, it's going to bethe top of the town for a week.
I mean, it's going to addsomething.

(01:15:20):
It adds a layer to great teams'achievements.

Speaker 1 (01:15:24):
Okay, well, look, we're in year two, so I'm not
completely not sold on it.
I'm just kind of on the line.
Let's see what happens thisyear and I think it's here to
stay.
Stay, whether anybody who likesit or not.
Again, I enjoy the fact that itmakes games competitive in

(01:15:44):
december.
Let's just see.
Let's, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'mwaiting to see that that time.
Or have that opportunity fortwo, for a team to win both, and
just how much different thatfeels.
Because I may, because that may, change my perspective on it.
I think the first year, havingthe lakers win it and then them
completely botched the rest ofthe season just made it, made it

(01:16:05):
feel a little less right, yes,less, yeah, you have a very
specific and that's all we haveperspective that you wouldn't
have if, if they had beeneliminating the quarterfinals,
basically, correct.
I think, yeah, so, becauseindiana made it right.
So, and I would think thattheir their run.
If they had won the cup andthen got eliminated by the
celtics in the quarterfinals, Istill think, oh man, but that

(01:16:26):
team won the cup.
They were a really goodbasketball team.
The lakers were not a reallygood basketball team last year.
So so what?
They won the cup.
So what right?
The end goal was hanging.

Speaker 3 (01:16:36):
Right, right.
No, I agree.

Speaker 1 (01:16:37):
And not to mention.

Speaker 3 (01:16:38):
Oh, to me it's just testament to James, like that,
yeah, like he, there's somethingto win.

Speaker 1 (01:16:44):
He's out to win, sure , sure, but I just think of the
Michaels, the Kobe's, you know,I mean Akeem, elijah, ones of
the world, shaq, even does thiseven move the needle for them,
other than, hey, I'm going to goout and win something, but but
it wasn't the most importantthing.

Speaker 3 (01:17:05):
look just project yourself 20 years from now,
assuming that it stays okay.
So we'll be saying about.
I know johnant, he has twochampionships and three cups.
So the players I'm just random,I don't think Jack will win two
championships and three cups,to be honest, but I'm just

(01:17:29):
saying so if, when, when, thegeneration of players that grew
up with the cup as a constant,so really the people born like
three years ago, five years ago,when these people reach the
league and they know oh, myfavorite player, he won the cup

(01:17:51):
twice and his stats record, likehis points record, is the cup
is 42.
Like, as you know, because theNBA is so good at communicating
stuff, like when the IST hasenough the Emirates Cup, sorry,
when the Emirates Cup has beenaround long enough for it to

(01:18:14):
have a history and you haveperformances that will become a
reference point to a youngergeneration of fans and players,
it will grow in significanceorganically, oh, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (01:18:27):
I don't disagree with that and in fact it'll even
change the way the nextgeneration of people view the
past generation of players.
Right, you're going to say youknow, john Morant is the
greatest player to ever play ifhe wins three championships and
two in-season tournaments.
Because Michael Kareem, magic,kobe LeBron didn't have a NBA

(01:18:53):
cut.
Well, lebron now, but you know,considering it's probably his
last, they didn't have that.
So she'll be around for another10 years come on, oh, but look,
I'm interesting to see it.
I'm interested to see it.
I, I appreciate your take on itand and I hope, I hope that it
becomes more normal as we go on.

(01:19:14):
As you so eloquently, uhpainted the, the photo, the
picture picture for us as whatit could be.

Speaker 3 (01:19:23):
Can I ask?

Speaker 2 (01:19:24):
you something?

Speaker 3 (01:19:27):
I'm reaching a tipping point with LeBron.
This sounds like… I just thinkit's insane what he's doing at
this stage of his career.

Speaker 1 (01:19:33):
This sounds like an epiphany.
Yeah, this sounds like anepiphany, is what it sounds like
.

Speaker 3 (01:19:38):
Yeah, this sounds like an epiphany is what it
sounds like?
No, I mean.
Look, I know Durant isstatistically having his best
season ever in terms of shootingpercentages.
It's a trend.
It's not LeBron, it's thatgeneration, as we were saying
earlier, of the real competitorswith a great work ethic.
Just last longer, it's a fact.
The real competitors with agreat work ethic just last
longer.

(01:19:59):
It's a fact.
Still, at some point, like Imean just this year, he's made a
statistical feat that nobodyever has done before, like 15
points in the fourth quarterwith 100% field goal percentage
combined with, I don't know,five assists and five rebounds,
and he's doing now the threetriple doubles, three triple

(01:20:23):
doubles.
As we're discussing At whatpoint the guy is still among the
best players in the league.
I don't know if he's 12th or25th, because I don't watch the
Lakers enough to judge hisdefensive output.
Is he playing any defense ornot?

Speaker 1 (01:20:42):
More than last year.

Speaker 3 (01:20:43):
I would say but.

Speaker 1 (01:20:45):
I think the scheme fits that right Right.

Speaker 3 (01:20:49):
Okay, yeah, okay, but that's on the coach.
I mean, if you have LeBron onthe squad, you should have a
scheme that fits him.
I mean, it's part of your jobdescription.
I mean, just look at hisfucking summer.
Like it's like he won theOlympics.
Now, granted, you can make avery valid case for Curry's MVP,

(01:21:11):
but let's say he was the secondbest player on that squad.

Speaker 1 (01:21:15):
It's still a squad of the best players in the NBA
right, and he's the second, andand he's there legitimately and
he, he was a key factor in themwinning it like, however you
want to put it.

Speaker 3 (01:21:27):
He was like the number one, the number two guy
and there was some seriouscompetition.
Are you, do you feel that the,the refs cheat serbia or no?
Absolutely not the refs cheatSerbia or not?

Speaker 1 (01:21:37):
No, absolutely not, Absolutely not.
I'm going to give you my mostbiased opinion no, absolutely
not.

Speaker 3 (01:21:43):
Okay, so he was part, so I mean his last.
I mean, if you were to take hiscareer from age 37 onwards,
it's just insane what he pullsoff like.
Like I mean, I know all thepeople are doing it.

(01:22:04):
They're a bit younger, youdon't know if, but I think it's
it will keep on happeningbecause I I don't see kd staff
or slowing down, honestly, likethere's no real science mean,
when you crunch the numbers atleast.
But come on, just because it'sa generational thing, like you

(01:22:26):
still have to put the work ethic, you still have to show up, you
still have to be ready.
It's like I cannot not be inawe in front of somebody that
has this work ethic.
And if you were to compare itwith Kobe's last few years, who
was also of that generation ofplayers, if you will, more or

(01:22:49):
less who had the same advantageshealth-wise, they're not in the
same ballpark.
Let's, they're not.
Let's not like it.
You have a legit all-starplayer and and a player who
played on his legacy, likethey're not.

Speaker 1 (01:23:08):
No, no, you're right.
But but let's, let's not forgetthe.
The one thing that lebron, andwhy lebrron has reached the
level he has, is he's alwaysbeen able seemingly able to
avoid a serious,career-threatening type of
injury For the first I would say60%, 70% of his career.

(01:23:32):
The dude wasn't injured at all.
But that's his body and his workethic yeah and some people were
just built because it it couldhave easily went the other way.
Right, some people are justbuilt, so things happen in the
nba.
I mean, look, we didn't get tosee uh, uh, brandon roy because
he got bit by the injury bug andI think he would have been a
great guard in the league.

(01:23:54):
We didn't get to see greg odinI think he would have been a
great center in the league.
Just, some players just hadKobe.
His last years were marred bythe Achilles injury and it was
really on a non-concern.
But that's on him though, but itwas really.
I mean, you can't tell me thatKobe wasn't at the same level as

(01:24:17):
LeBron as far as taking care ofyour body.
It's just that sometimes thesethings….

Speaker 3 (01:24:21):
He was, but he was overextending himself on the
court constantly.
And you had this perfect stormwith Mike D'Antoni, who's just a
madman.
And the one found the other andthey destroyed both of their
careers.
It's just insane.
Do you remember the season?
he was having yes point, andthen he also wanted to shoot the

(01:24:41):
free throws.
Well, I mean, yes, you've justdropped your Achilles, let's
play on it, why not?
Do you know who is the otherstupid person that did that?
Rondo did that.
He played like significantminutes on a destroyed Achilles
and then he was never the same.
What I mean to say is I amnothing but a small ant next to

(01:25:03):
these people when it comes towork ethic and stuff like that.
I'm only being judgmental as afan.
I'm not putting myself in thesame level by any stretch of the
imagination, but at some point,balancing the will with the
brain is a very useful skill andlebron has mastered it, while

(01:25:24):
kobe hadn't right.
Because?
Well, because, and rondo, butrondo is not on the same
strategy, because he yeah,you're, you're right, you're
right, lebron.

Speaker 1 (01:25:33):
Lebron is in a, in a place right now where he's
avoided injury because he helistens to where his body is and
knows when to stop yes, exactlythat's a skill.
You have to give him credit forthat it is.

Speaker 3 (01:25:44):
You cannot blame you.

Speaker 1 (01:25:45):
It's also a mindset, but but there is some luck
involved, because because thingsjust happen.

Speaker 3 (01:25:50):
It was a non, no no, I agree there's luck involved
overall in his career, that youknow.
Nobody elbowed him in the faceor you know like.
I mean obviously there's a lackfactor, but he does have an
extra skill that kobe didn't.

Speaker 1 (01:26:05):
No that's what I'm saying, I don't disagree, I
don't disagree and and look,that's a, it's a great point
you're making.
I, I just want to, I just forthe listeners who might not be
you know, because again I don't,I don't know, but but again
there's a generation that neverreally got to see Kobe at his
best.
All they remember is those lastfew years and may not recognize
that those years were marred bythis.

(01:26:26):
I mean, most players don't comeback from an Achilles injury
like that right, and he did for,I think what three years and
was still pretty effective.
So no not the last season exceptfor the last game which was a
great swan song.
You mean the second half of thelast game as well to be

(01:26:47):
specific, yeah, where you couldphysically see somebody, a human
being, literally put everythinghe had left on the floor.

Speaker 3 (01:26:55):
Man, do you know I had how do you call that shivers
.
I still I remember this gameand I had electricity go through
me.
What he did in that like thatending is like you have to be
loved by the basketball gods.
There's no way they give youthat.
You'll be on fire, like you'llhave the worst season of your

(01:27:17):
career, by so far that peoplewill be calling for your
mid-season retirement, but thenyou'll shoot 13 out of 15 of
your last shots, including thegame, to overcome the other team
and finish on an assist, whichis so ironic given his
temperament.
I mean, come on, I mean I don'tthink I've seen Just to make

(01:27:41):
that game.
It was a championshipatmosphere at the end of the
game.
I still go and re-watch thisfrom time.
I'm no Laker fan, believe me,but this is just these magical
moments in sports which are whyare why?
Really, we're hooked to sports.

Speaker 1 (01:28:02):
That's exactly it, and anybody who hasn't seen that
, go.
Go watch that game andappreciate the greats.
Right, not just Kobe, but thereare so many moments in NBA
history, even with LeBron James,though he's still, like you
said, he seems like a30-year-old playing at times.

(01:28:22):
Go watch and appreciategreatness, because, again, we
don't know how long we have it.
We don't, and LeBron isdefinitely the anomaly in that
statement.
We're about to close, right,yeah, I got one more thing for
you, but go ahead, close this Ihave a question for you before

(01:28:43):
that.

Speaker 3 (01:28:45):
If you were to reach the finals the Lakers I mean
only to lose to the Celticswould you want to reach the
finals?

Speaker 1 (01:28:58):
That is a great question.
I would say yes now, because itdoesn't matter.
It doesn't matter, they alreadygot.
They already got 18 banners, wegot 17.
I think, I think, to just havethe opportunity to win a
championship.
You always say, yes, it doesn'tmatter who it's against.
Now will it hurt more?

(01:29:20):
Yes, it absolutely will hurtmore.
Uh, to lose a championship tothe celtics you that's my dream.

Speaker 3 (01:29:28):
Finals.

Speaker 1 (01:29:29):
You always want to get there.

Speaker 3 (01:29:32):
Sweeping the Lakers for LeBron or 19.
That hurts.
So it would give.
It would give LeBron a forceseven finals record, yes, and it
would avenge the game.
Seven loss it certainly would.

Speaker 1 (01:29:48):
It certainly would Golly.
Why would you have to hurt melike that to close that segment
out?

Speaker 3 (01:29:53):
Because you're about to ask me about my championship
predictions, right?

Speaker 1 (01:29:57):
But we'll do a quick buy or sell and then we'll get
to predictions.

Speaker 2 (01:30:03):
Oh, right right.

Speaker 1 (01:30:03):
All right, so buy or sell Pavlos Celtics.
Stay motivated enough andhealthy enough to get back to
the finals this year.

Speaker 3 (01:30:13):
Can we split it into two?
Motivated enough for sure,because the off season was like,
I mean, the whole NBAestablishment has done more for
the Celtics to repeat.
Then the Celtics did in theoffseason.
It's amazing.

(01:30:33):
So you're kicking out thefinals MVP, who's notoriously a
grudge holder you know Jalen,jalen Brown, the guy who won
finals MVP and you tell him,yeah, but you're not good enough
for Team USA, bro.
I mean, thank you, guys, thankyou.
Then you have Tatum, who cannotmake.

(01:30:54):
I mean, I'm not blaming Kerr,he couldn't make a shot to save
his life.
He literally didn't make asingle jump shot in the Olympics
.
But you bench Tatum for thewhole of the Olympics, basically
.
And you have this narrativethat, ah, the Celtics for the
whole of the Olympics, basically.

(01:31:14):
And you have this narrativethat, ah, the Celtics, they just
beat, injured teams throughout.
It's just insanity.
It's like the universe istrying to motivate this team.
It's just plain stupid.

Speaker 1 (01:31:25):
Yeah, poke the bear kind of yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:31:28):
Yes, it's like.
Why would you do that?
Do that like I don't get it soso motivate, but healthy, who
knows?
We have porzingis on the squadand significant minutes from al
horford, who's 38, like who thefuck knows.

Speaker 1 (01:31:43):
But I don't have a who the fuck knows option, so
are are you buying this or areyou selling this?

Speaker 3 (01:31:50):
Oh, I'm buying, I'm buying.

Speaker 1 (01:31:53):
But next time it's going to be buy, sell or who the
fuck knows.
That's going to be the name ofthe game All right, all right.
Sun's roster of KD, booker andNurkic.
I'm sorry, kd Booker, nurkikand Beal is intact.
Post-trade deadline.

Speaker 3 (01:32:15):
I'm buying it for sure.
Nobody's trading for Beal.
I mean maybe the Wizards, to behonest, who knows, maybe the
Bucks?
That is an incompetent frontoffice.
But I'm mainly buying itbecause bill is the owner's
choice, okay, okay, so you know,he's the guy who pays the bills

(01:32:37):
.
They're keeping bill.
It's as simple as that.
Also, they have tyus jones.
Now it's not the same squad aslast year.
They have the one key elementthat was missing a very good
point guard.
I mean last year didn't havethe one key element that was
missing a very good point guard.
I mean last year they didn'thave a point guard, sure, sure.
But I mean, and Tyus, I meanhe's a Look, I know he's not the

(01:33:00):
flashiest of point guards, butthat guy is a low mistake
phenomenon and was playing witha team.
And I mean before last year inWashington he was playing with
the Grizzlies and the Grizzlieswere actually statistically
better without Ja Morant.
Their winning record was betterwhen Tyrus was running the show

(01:33:23):
, and that was a substantialnumber of games.
So yeah, I mean we had a guy onManolianos Shout out to
Manolianos.
He predicted the Suns arewinning the West in the regular
season and I thought it was acrazy take.

(01:33:44):
But he did also predict thatthe Wolves would win it last
year, so I was like okay.

Speaker 1 (01:33:49):
There's some credibility.

Speaker 3 (01:33:52):
Yeah, which I also thought was a crazy take last
year, and now they're startingthe season in a way that you can
see it happening.
So, yeah, I don't see ablockbuster trade involving a
team that's leading theconference and I also don't see
who would want to take theseplayers Okay, to trade involving
a team that's lead.
That's conference, that'sleading the conference, and I
also don't see who would want totake these players okay, like

(01:34:15):
it's good.

Speaker 1 (01:34:15):
So you so absolutely buying that and great points, by
the way, because, uh, I buy itas well.
I think.
I think they um, they, jokic,will 3P MVP what.

Speaker 3 (01:34:37):
I got on here that Jokic the Joker.
It would be his fourth, not histhird.
Oh, his fourth.

Speaker 1 (01:34:40):
He 3P'd it.
Yeah, you're right, you'reright.
Well, okay, so he will win.

Speaker 3 (01:34:47):
I don't think he 3P'd them, I'm just you let it out,
but I think he Keep me honesthere.

Speaker 1 (01:34:53):
He just won two back-to-back right.

Speaker 3 (01:34:55):
So no, he won two back-to-back and beat 1-1.

Speaker 1 (01:35:01):
And then Jokic won it again the year before last
would have been the three-peat,but okay, all right, we'll
scratch that one, but will Jokic?
No, yeah, okay, all right,we'll scratch that one, but

(01:35:28):
we'll, we, the voters, won't letit.
Is that what you're telling me?

Speaker 3 (01:35:32):
Yeah, I think LeBron has too much sway to have a guy
that's not 30 win as many MVPsas him.
It's not fucking happening.
It's not happening.
I mean, we did an episodepredicting MVPs and I know the
numbers.
Right now you would pick Jokic,but it's not happening.

(01:35:52):
Like look, with the MVP vote,there's a thing when you reach a
certain level of rarefied air,so three MVPs and above, the
voters start to think inhistorical perspective.
So the question is I'm sorry,is Jokic better than Larry Bird?
Voters start to think inhistorical perspective.
So the question is I'm sorry,is Jokic better than Larry Bird?

(01:36:14):
Would be the first question.
Okay, they would ask themselvesbecause Larry has three, is
Jokic as good as LeBron?
Honestly, can Jokic have asmany MVPs as Lebron at age 28,
while lebron is is 39?
Do you think like this is avalid thing that's going to

(01:36:36):
happen in the nba?
I'm not saying he wouldn'tdeserve it.
Yes, I I think he probably willbe deserving of it, but I I'm
not buying it.
Okay, uh, who?

Speaker 1 (01:36:45):
who do?
No, I, you know the strangerthings have happened and I think
I think that if, if, at the endof the year, because I think
he's won some that he wasn'tdeserving of, but but at the end
of the year, when it comes downto where the teams are, you
know where where his team is inthe standings, because that

(01:37:05):
seems to have a huge factor.
You know where his team is inthe standings because that seems
to have a huge factor.
We tend to look at more of theteam MVP rather than the league
MVP.
No, I don't put it past that hewould win this thing.
I think that it's absolutelypossible he could.
But who do you have winning itif not Jokic?
Just an early prediction Shai.
Oh hey, that's a good pick.

Speaker 3 (01:37:29):
I'm going to root for AD, but that's a great pick.
Yeah, I'm not buying the ADpick.
You're not that good.
Your regular season record willnot allow AD to win it.

Speaker 2 (01:37:40):
No, you're right, because I just said it right.

Speaker 1 (01:37:42):
Because that seems to matter to the voters.
If you're the seventh seed andOKC will be over 60 wins, most
probably, I agree.

Speaker 3 (01:37:50):
If you're the seventh seed and OKC will be over 60
wins, most probably, I agree.
So you'll be like, at best, a52-win team and he'll be the
leader, the uncontested leader,who's playing without LeBron
next to him, right, right.
That's also why I don't thinkTatum has any chance to win the
NBA unless the Celtics win.
They would have to win 69 gamesand more for him to get it.

(01:38:12):
So, no, I don't think there'smuch chance of anybody who is
not shy to win it.
Shea, shea, shea who's not Sheato win it, unless it's Luka.
But Luka has had a very poorstart.

(01:38:32):
Also, shea has had a poor startfor his standards.
Also, yes, luka's poor startfor his standards.
But I think, the way the NBAworks, these are the only two
people that can win it.
So it's either going to be likeoh, you know, like it's a
coming of age of a superstar, sosuch a narrative will develop

(01:39:00):
and it's going to be Shai, orit's going to be Luka, because
Luka has been undervoted in thepast few years because he had
never reached the finals.
And now he reached the finals.
And you know this is a typicalthing with NBA voters Like it's
like you're getting it for pastperformance and for wrongful
previous wrongful voting inessence, like it just happens

(01:39:23):
all the time.
So I don't think we're escapingthat.
And also, giannis would havethe numbers but you.
But no playing team has everhad an MVP on its roster.
No, absolutely not.

Speaker 1 (01:39:37):
No great points.
You know it's just so hard.
There's such a it seems to besuch a politics in the voting
for MVP nowadays.
It's never straightforward, sowho knows?
I mean, I think your pick isgreat, but I just feel like the
voters will find some reason togive it to somebody who maybe we

(01:40:00):
didn't see, or again, or giveit back to Jokic for a second
time.

Speaker 3 (01:40:05):
Do you have anyone else in mind that I didn't
mention?

Speaker 1 (01:40:09):
At this moment, no moment, no, no.
And you know what I failed tosee?
Because I know, I know theleague put out an mvp letter and
I failed to go.
Uh, go, look at that to seekind of who I know ad was at the
top.
Um, of course yokich is up there, uh, but but as far as anybody
else I'm not sure tatum wasnumber two in the last one but
and I think you're right, thoughI think that in a world where

(01:40:31):
you've got Brown if Porzingiscomes back, you've got Holiday I
just don't think you can doenough to get credit for a
league MVP on that roster.

Speaker 3 (01:40:43):
Nobody's getting an MVP playing to the reigning
finals MVP.
It's not happening.
I agree, it's just not UnlessBrown goes down for three months
, and then the Celtics stillhave a huge winning streak.

Speaker 1 (01:40:55):
Tatum's carrying the whole thing.
It would have to be somethinglike that.
Yeah, yeah, all right.
Moving on, doc Rivers willfinish this year as the Bucs
head coach.

Speaker 3 (01:41:05):
I'm buying it Because , as bad as he is with X's and
O's, he's so good at publicrelations and, given the rumor
is going around that he'salready the closest advisor to
the owner of the team and also Iwould like him to be because it
would mean that either theseason has gone surprisingly

(01:41:27):
well or that they have indeedblown it up and Yanis is playing
with the heat I would be soexcited if Yanis went to the
heat, or the Warriors, I mean.
Can you imagine?
As a Celtics fan, I would stillbe extremely excited if Yanis
went to the heat, which wouldprobably over the top, make the
heat yeahyeah, I mean that guy's made to

(01:41:49):
play in a patriotic organizationman, I mean he just is.
Or in the world, like in myhead.
I just want him in a greatorganization.
The Bucks were great in thefirst few years.
I remember the name of the GM.
They had a great GM and thenthey became like a clown car,

(01:42:10):
like overnight, Like like, andthat guy is so competitive and
has such work ethic he justdeserves to be in a, in a
like-minded environment, by theway, and and I just want to
point out that this buyer sellthat that question just turned
into a breaking take.

Speaker 1 (01:42:29):
That Pavlos wants Giannis to go to the heat.
That question just turned intoa breaking take.
That Pavlos wants Giannis to goto the Heat or to the Warriors.
But does Giannis want to gobecause?
Does he want to follow Durant'skind of career path?
Right, didn't work out withDurant.
You go to a place whereanything you do is going to be
marred by the fact that you gotlook so.

Speaker 3 (01:42:51):
Okay, so there's a.
There's the thing janice andsteph are both extremely,
extremely religious.
Yep, and I just think there'sjust a natural.
And also, if you view them, Ithink they're pretty similar

(01:43:12):
personality types.
They're both very childish attimes, but it comes from a point
of strength.
It's not immaturity, like JalenBrown suggested basically the
other day.

Speaker 1 (01:43:24):
The handshake, the incident happened.

Speaker 3 (01:43:29):
It's a sign of psychological health that you
can be the highest achiever inthe world but still also be a
child.
It's a sign of mental distressif you cannot make anything out
of yourself and you're still achild.
It's not the same thing, likeyou know.
Like you know.

(01:43:50):
So I can't have Giannis spendthe rest of his prime with that
team.
It drives me mad.
I realized after Rivers leftthe Celtics that, oh wow, he's
so bad at coaching.
That's why we only won one chip.
Like I didn't realize that.
I thought it was the players.

(01:44:13):
Everything he's done afterwardsshows that it's clearly him.
The common denominator.
I think, yes, the big three islike the 2008 Celtics are the
greatest team of all time.
Man, they managed to win achampionship while being coached
by doc rivers and and look,that's not lost on any real nba

(01:44:37):
fan.

Speaker 1 (01:44:37):
Trust me, trust me, oh yeah, you go to the clippers
and and you get a uh, you know,quay leonard and paul george,
and you just can't do anythingwith them.
That Talk about exposed, talkabout exposed.
And now Dame Lillard, giannisAntetokounmpo and Middleton, and

(01:44:58):
you just can't do anything withthose guys.
Yeah, this is definitely anindictment on his X's and O's.
I agree with you.
He is a political PR genius,though, because he keeps getting
hired, so he's sellingsomething he's selling something
All right.

Speaker 3 (01:45:12):
Just one thing about Doc.
Do you remember?
He literally went into apodcast a week after being hired
and said they called me andasked me to become the coach and
I said why would you do that?

Speaker 1 (01:45:27):
Yeah.
In his own words yeah it'sinsane more to come on the uh
train wreck.
That is the bucks, I'm sure.
All right.
Bronnie plays or appears in 20games for the los angeles lakers
I'm buying it 20 more gamestotal for this year.
Yes, okay, yeah, me too me too,because either the the season's

(01:45:51):
going to be a complete trainwreck toward the end and they're
going to just be pulling him upto get him some some game.
Put butts in the seats.

Speaker 3 (01:45:58):
He's a sick, it's a ticket, draw right, so that's
crazy so, uh, I I think that'sthat's right uh, just to make it
clear, I think he'll he'llreach the 20-game mark, because
I don't know, if you're aware,his dad plays for the team.

Speaker 1 (01:46:13):
Yeah, I heard he's sleeping with his mom or
something I don't know.
All right, ben Simmons.
We haven't talked about BenSimmons in a long time, it feels
like.
But the question is Ben Simmonsfinishes the season with the
Nets.

Speaker 3 (01:46:38):
Ah, no, no, His expiring contract is just too
big.
He doesn't, I mean, but theywouldn't?
Whoever trades for him is nottrading for his basketball
skills, he's trading for hisexpiring for the contract, right
, yeah, yeah, it'd be a salarydump, you feel look, I I just I

(01:46:59):
haven't watched the nets toomuch.
I know in the first few gameshe played a lot, but in the
sense of, as a rotation player,plays a lot with not much
expected.

Speaker 1 (01:47:12):
I think the expectations on Ben Simmons
could be in the perfectsituation for a recovering star.
He has zero expectation now andif he were to blow up, I think
people would overlook a lot ofwhat happened over the last
three years.
They would almost forget aboutit, but we'll see.
It seems like injuries andmentality are the problem.

Speaker 3 (01:47:35):
Look, he's having a very decent season in terms of
numbers.
He's averaging 6.6 rebounds, 7assists in 24 minutes In 24
minutes Now, obviously, and he'svery good at, I mean, his field
goals.
Numbers are high, but he'sstill bypassing layups, I mean

(01:48:01):
he's never got it all over thathump.
There was a video on TikTok atsome point, Ben Simmons doing
his signature move and it waslike he had an open layup but
there was a slight chance of ofa player being close to him and
he just kicked it back to thethree point for a guy that
wasn't open right, that's wherewe are the biggest knock on ben

(01:48:21):
simmons is uh you, anybody who'sever had the yips in sports,
it's definitely been simmons.

Speaker 1 (01:48:26):
Uh, even even getting the ball to the rim right like
just a layup, he just it's crazy.

Speaker 3 (01:48:31):
Uh what and it's, it's.
It's really something that youcould probably fix with a sports
psychologist like this is why Idon't I, I just don't get him,
but it has to be said, man, okay, so am I.
You know he's at 75 on freethrows I this year.

Speaker 1 (01:48:47):
I didn't know that, I didn't realize, but the
season's still young, pavlos.

Speaker 3 (01:48:52):
But 75%.
If he has become a 75% freethrow shooter, I want him on the
Celtics.

Speaker 2 (01:49:02):
No.

Speaker 3 (01:49:02):
I don't, I don't, but I'm saying that if that guy
actually makes free throws, nowit's a whole different ball game
.
But yes, as you say, it's abrand new season.
He has just shot.

Speaker 1 (01:49:17):
He's basically shot three out of four right, for
sure, for sure, all right,that's it for by ourself.
I think that was prettyinteresting and we definitely,
um, we definitely should do thatagain.
I know all those things are.
We could spend again wholeepisodes around a lot of those
questions.
Uh, sure, all right, so let'swrap it up.
Uh, last question to you, ortwo questions really, we'll just

(01:49:38):
wrap, put all in one give meyour east and west picks and
your championship prediction,early, early picks celtics
repeat, and then I don't knowwho comes out.

Speaker 3 (01:49:53):
The West is so tough right and also, I have to say
there's a team that can like Imean, if OKC stays healthy they
could give a run, like I meanthey could really challenge the
Celtics.
The only reason I'm picking theCeltics over OKC is that this

(01:50:16):
is not a team that has enoughplayoff experience to arrive in
the finals and beat a team thathas more finals experience than
I mean, that has more playoffexperience than any current
roster.
That's that's the one reason Iwould pick them.
But they also have Caruso now,who has a championship with the
Lakers, as you remember.

(01:50:36):
They finally have a very goodcenter.
Look man, I love Hartenstein.
It's exactly what they missedlast year.
They would have gone to thefinals last year and lost to the
Celtics had they hadHartenstein last year.
I believe it, I believe.
So, yeah, probably I'm leaningtowards OKC from the West, but
I'm not sure.

(01:50:57):
I mean there's other greatteams in the West, not including
the Lakers, and I mean, youknow, play of Luka next to Kyrie
next to Klay, it's a thing.
Oh, it could be for sure.
And also I said, there's not allthe roster with that much

(01:51:20):
playoff experience.
There's been a resurgentWarriors team and although I
think to see how they have afull season without drama, as
they still have Draymond Greenat the center, and although I
think to see how they have afull season without drama, as
they still have Draymond Greenat the center, the Warriors have

(01:51:43):
enough playoff and finalsexperience to reach the finals
very easily.
I just haven't convinced myselfthey're for real yet.
It looks like they're for real.
Everybody's playing well, butwe would still need a full,
serious season from Draymondthat doesn't create problems.
We haven't seen that in a while.

(01:52:04):
We would need a full season ofAndrew Wiggins being the real.
Andrew Wiggins like being there, being engaged, playing at 100%
and a bit like the Cavaliers.
They have all these guards thatare shooting at rates that are

(01:52:25):
not really sustainable.
I'm waiting for the regressionto the mean, basically, so yeah,
okc lose to the Celtics 4-2.

Speaker 1 (01:52:35):
OK, all right, so very early predictions.
That was Pavlos.
Join us again.
Listen, let's not make it sucha long time in between.
There's lots of NBA season left.

Speaker 3 (01:52:45):
Oh yeah, for sure man .

Speaker 1 (01:52:46):
And I definitely want to dive in as the season
progresses, because I'm surewe're in for a pretty wild ride.
Until then, though, man takecare, man.

Speaker 3 (01:52:56):
You too, man.
It was great Outro Music.

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NBA Special!!!! - Cavaliers' Streak, Bucks' vs Duo Dynamics, and NBA's Future – Ft. Pavlos Kapantaïs

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}NBA Special!!!! - Cavaliers' Streak, Bucks' vs Duo Dynamics, and NBA's Future – Ft. Pavlos Kapantaïs