Ain't No Future in Yo' Frontin'

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
all rise.
The pot is now in session andwith that we are on episode
number nine, doing just fineback here with the fellas, chris
and robert another week and itis, and another crack at this
thing that we love to do.
That's what they say, say.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah, that's what they say.
What's going on, bros?

Speaker 1 (00:26):
What's going on with y'all?
I'm good, Robert.
What's up with you man Backthere, quiet.
I ain't heard from you.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Not a dang thing, Just chilling in the cut.
You know Chilling.
Another day with unexpectedrain Chilling, in put the
sweater on because I felt thechill coming like oh hey.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
When I got up it seemed like it was kind of sunny
.
A few minutes later it startedlooking overcast.
Yeah, I actually walked outside, yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
The cars were covered , it rained.
It wasn't in the forecast, or,if so, I missed it.
Sunny on the pod, cold outside,we all good.
Everything is great.
It is, yeah, especially for theLakers, because they actually
got back in that win columnafter a couple of bad losses.
Couples of Chicago, you hadOrlando in there, but then they

(01:14):
go up against that 4-5 matchupwith the Memphis Grizzlies.
They pull it out 134-127, and Ithink this is where you see
some of the best version of theLakers.
When it comes to Lebron lucaand austin reeves, they kind of
saved the day for him.
Jackson hayes not really afactor too much in this one
limited minutes, but those thoseguys got off and really helped

(01:36):
out.
What were your impressions ofthe game?

Speaker 3 (01:38):
bear you know what I was.
You know I was okay with itinitially.
I saw the things that I thoughtwe needed to see as a team,
especially offensively and someoffensively to get back on track
from those horrible losses inthe previous two, three games
and, being so close to we have ahell of a week coming up where

(01:58):
it is critical for us to beplaying some of our best ball,
not only because the playoffs wewant to be on a winning streak
or at least a good road runninginto the playoffs but because
the margin for error is so small.
Going from where we are now toplay in.
I don't want to be in a playingsituation.
I think that that goes againstus as far as dealing with having

(02:20):
LeBron James, and I think thateven matchup wise, I think that
we'll still get a favorablematchup if we stay on the course
that we're staying on.
You know I liked it.
You know I think that it'sclear to see that Austin Reeves
is clearly the third guy.
I mean we're showing averagewhat 19, 20 points a game.
This season.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, LeBron has said as much.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
Yeah, but I think that some of the things that we
saw transition-wise, defensivelyI did not like and I know we're
going to see.
I think part of the issue iswhen we play against a guard, a
quick guard, that becomes ourAchilles heel because obviously
we don't want the guy, we don'twant a guard being able to crash
the middle and when there's aquick-footed guard that we're

(03:03):
playing, it poses problemsdefensively for us.
Because we know luca, you knowfor all great, all the greatness
he is as far as an offensiveside, defensively he's going to
struggle and you know, we knowthat good things never happen
when, when, when a guy can getdown the middle, you know
defensively we're going to startgetting our bays and foul
trouble.
I you love the roll-in up untilI want to say, beginning of the

(03:28):
third quarter.
I like the movement offensively, how we rotated the ball and
how we were looking for theextra pass.
It was nice because I sawsometimes we made that extra
pass and it made it much easier.
I think we got in transition two, three dunks in a row and it
was with ease because we werelooking to make that extra pass
like two, three dunks in a row,and it was with ease because we
were looking to make that extrapass.
It's as a Laker, I'm as a Laker.
I may be more concerned if Idon't see what I need to see,

(03:51):
cause, yeah, we got the win, butmoving forward, when you
understand, like Ooh, we'regoing to have to play, coming up
, I think we need, we shouldhave tightened up more and you
don't want to try to attemptthat against the coming games
that we have where we couldpossibly lose.
I mean there's a bigpossibility we could lose what

(04:11):
Auburn won.
I mean one you'd think it's agimme game, but it's not.
You know, what I mean.
You think about it.
We think it's a gimme game, butit really isn't.
We fought Chicago and Indiana,so it was Orlando and Chicago
Right we fought those are gimmegames and we got busted in the
eye and part of that was due tolack of defense.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, Indiana was closer than they should have
been.
A tip-in at the end by far yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
Yeah, well, that's because you know the lack of
defensive energy.
I think that you know we'renever and I understand
stats-wise, statistically,understand stats, wise,
statistically we were lookinggreat, but I knew that that was
just the guys feeding off theenergy when they had luke and
lebron, really, you know, goingafter loose balls or really
stepping in and making an effortto kind of stay in front of

(04:55):
their man, if the rest of theteam fed off of it.
And, being that, lebron jamesand part of it too, we have to
remember lebron james was out,you out for like a week or
whatever.
So, to get back into the flowand get everything, I knew that
was coming.
I just thought that some of thegames that we played, those
were good starter games for himto come back to.
And we still I mean, I'm upset,don't get me wrong because that

(05:19):
put us in this situation.
That doesn't look favorable forus.
And now the pressure is on andmaybe you know, maybe I'm
selling LeBron James short andremembering that and he's been
in those situations and, by thatway, lucas, so I think that we
have the potential.
This could be great if we cancome out like 500, because I
don't think that, you know thegame's looking ahead.

(05:41):
I don't think OKC, and there'sno need to.
They don't have to play theirguys.
They'll probably play thatfirst game.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
But I think it's less likely that they'll play their
starters that second day april8th game, yeah, probably not
yeah, which see that could helpus out.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
Yeah, yeah, but we we still have other teams.
That's coming along.
So it's, it was a good win, itwas a quality win.
I just said, you know, I wishwe would have tightened up the
defensive side before we go onthis last week or so of games I
think we have like six, sevengames I just wish we would have
tightened up defensively, butbesides that, I mean I loved it.

(06:18):
I loved it offensively.
You could tell that we weregetting back in the rhythm and
that's the most important thing.
You could tell that we weregetting back in a rhythm and
that's the most important thing.
And you know, the one thingthat we don't talk about is how
is our coaching going to comealong?
I know he's made.
You know our coaches made great.
You know decisions.
You know some questionableearlier in the season, but we
all know that.
You know playoff ball is awhole different ball game and as

(06:40):
a coach, you know the movesthat need to be made and
everything during the course ofthe playoffs and depending on
who we play which would you know, I think if we were to go today
I think you said something likeMemphis, we would end up
playing.
That's not.
I mean, you know, come on,you're playing against Ja.

(07:00):
I think that that would be agreat test for us defensively to
kind of get everythingtightened up in gear for the
next round, because that secondround could be.
I mean, you think, who's stillin there?
You still got Golden Statethat's going to be up in there.
There's a few teams with greatfast guards that Luke is going
to have to face that we need tofigure out a way to kind of, you

(07:21):
know, shield or cover up theyou know his inefficiency to be
effective defensively againstfast guards.
So, but besides that, I thinkwe'll be okay.
But it's just one of thosethings where I'm still upset
behind the last two gamesbecause we should have been in a
better position now.
But I'll take it.
A win is a win.
But, man, I'll tell you, I meanwe kind of we gave it up

(07:45):
towards the end where we had tofight back.
You know what I mean?
That's the thing we cannot do.
We have to and I think that'sbeen an issue all year long as
we've been getting by since thetrade is that we have to stay
consistently and actually putteams.
Put them down when we have thechance, don't give them a chance
to come back, because thenwe'll come chance.
Don't give them a chance tocome back, because that will

(08:05):
come back to haunt us in theplayoffs.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah for sure, ari, as our resident Boston fan.
What'd you see?
What'd you think of the game?

Speaker 1 (08:10):
Oh, that Memphis game .
Yeah, After that second half,when Memphis started to storm
back in the third and they gotback into it in the fourth, it
looked like the Lakers weregoing to let another one slip
away from them and I wasthinking like man this is, it's
one of two things, maybe it's.
The Lakers have figured out forthe most part what it is they
need going into playoffs andthey're kind of laying it down,
which I don't think they're in aposition to be doing at it.
They're just sitting at fourthright now, currently Only what?

(08:33):
About half a game in front ofMemphis, or a game.
So it's only about two and ahalf games that separates them
in the seventh seed right now,which is the Warriors.
So you can't be thatcomfortable.
They can't feel it.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
So I don't know if it was that because they've let a
few slip, that they should notthose two Chicago games that
last, especially the one, thelast one in Chicago, with the
way, those antics with turnovers, threes, you know, not getting
out, not close, it was exciting.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
I'll give it that.
Oh, no, josh getting thathalftime shot to win the game
was like, yeah, that was crazy.
But shot to win the game waslike, yeah, that was crazy, but
even the Indiana game that tipin to preserve the win or to put
them on top actually didn'teven preserve it, like they were
set to lose that game up untilthat tip in.
It's just been too many of theseteams I mean these are low
quality teams Like you shouldn'tbe fighting much less losing to

(09:17):
them.
So I'm not sure if the Lakersare just kind of laying it down
and are getting themselves readyfor the playoff push and are
preserving their energy for that, which I again, I hope they're
not in that mindset because you,you've got too many tests
coming up.
You got, like you said, Ibelieve you mentioned earlier,
like they have like the secondtoughest schedule to end the
season and then they're finallygames.
Sure, you don't really have,you don't have the luxury of

(09:38):
laying it down right now to gearup for the.
I mean, you got to startgetting matter of fact, you got
to start finding your rhythm.
It's not even about laying itdown and getting comfortable.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
You have to gear up.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
You got to get ready.
Because again, the more I lookat it I know I was kind of
worried about, if I'm a Lakerfan that Memphis Grizzlies first
round matchup the more I lookat that team outside of Jaron
Jackson, which he quietly, islike the biggest threat to the
Lakers winning against themBecause he gives them size the
Lakers just don't have in themiddle.
I mean he does, I mean hedidn't do a great job.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
He stretches the floor, he does a lot.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
Jaron Jackson, he's the biggest problem in Memphis,
if you ask me.
I think you can account for Jato some degree, or let him get
his and he's going to do what hedoes.
There's no really.
You can minimize him as much asyou can, but you can't really
stop and job.
But it's Jaron Jackson Jr thatconcerns me.
If I'm a Laker fan like thathe's that size is something that

(10:30):
you just can't.
You can't compete with.
Like there's not enough lobs.
You can throw Jackson Hayes tocounter that.
So he's the one thing theyreally can't be accounted for.
So that's the one thing I'd belooking at in that first round

(10:51):
matchup.
But but you got some games downthe stretch man rockets,
warriors, thunder twice back toback.
Yeah, mavericks, which you knowad's in the lineup for that
game, that that can go eitherway.
You know what I mean.
Depending how motivated theyare, the mere fact they're
putting him out on the floor tomake a push weird to me for the
plane.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
Personally I just can't tell value personally.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
Because even if you do make the playoffs, what's
your ceiling?
First round exit, right, right,but maybe it's just for pride,
ad wants to prove yes, and thegentleman is being polite.
I'm talking about a straight up4-0 sweep.
I ain't even talking about agentleman sweep.
Maybe AD wants to, to kind ofshow that he is capable of going
out there and weathering storm,and maybe it's an ego thing for
him.
Maybe he needs it more thananything else.

(11:25):
I don't think it's wise to riskfurther injury next season.
I mean so they got to stretch,they got the Rockets twice, they
have second and last game andthe only game I can think of is
kind of a gimme game for theTrailblazers.
By then I would imagine theLakers have been situated.
They probably won't be startingsituated.

Speaker 3 (11:42):
They probably won't be starting.
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
I don't think it goes down to the wire in the very
last game of the season.
I think the Lakers can kind ofat least mail it in against
Portland, Like you would hope.
By that time, like the dust issettled enough that you know
where you stand, we don't haveto put our starting five on the
floor.

Speaker 3 (11:58):
Four through eight is , if it goes wrong, no, the
Lakers could.
Yeah, considering how they fareprior to that game, I think
yeah, and because of who theyhave to play, they can't meddle
in, because if they lose, let'ssay, two, three games in this
last stretch, we're looking atseven eight.
Right, it's going to be badreal fast.

Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, I think for me what I looked at was one.
I agree with you guys, it was alittle bit of a reaffirmation
that the Grizzlies aren't asscary as some people may think.
But where they do excel orwhere they're most consistent,
is Jaron Jackson Jr, because hefills a void that the Lakers
can't.
You look at that last gameJackson Hayes had.

(12:39):
He had two points, five boardson 17 minutes, so they even had
to pull him out just to get himout of his own way.
It felt like.
So you're dealing with that.
Jared Vanderbilt is not somebodywho is going to give you a lot
of high volume points.
He only played 10 minutes thelast game.
Six points, four rebounds, oneassist not bad numbers.
He's always going to be a gooddefender.
You got contributions from Ruiand then 13 points.

(13:00):
You had Dorian Finney-Smithgive you another 11, from Rui
and then 13 points.
You know you had DorianFinney-Smith give you another 11
, but it was really the threewho locked it in.
And that's where even LeBron,when he talks, he says you know,
we have to be connected, wehave to be the driving force.
I think the only thing thatscares me is those last three
games or those three losses thatwe looked at and it's like,
yeah, in a race this tight, youcan't lose to inferior opponents

(13:26):
, and I think the Lakers havedone that more than they should,
if you look back over the games.
So if they can tighten it up, Ithink we're in a good spot.
It's just a matter of makingsure that we can really lock up
a seed so we know we're playing.
I'm with you, rhea.
If we can figure out exactly,hey, we can get a three-game win
streak, four or five-game winstreak and call it and say, look

(13:47):
, they can't catch us here, thencool, I'd be resting folks left
and right, maybe a game or twobefore ramp up, just to keep
everything moving and loose.
But other than that, becausethere just isn't going to be the
one thing about the WesternConference there are going to be
no breaks.
You are not just going to beable to lay it down, especially

(14:09):
if you don't take care ofbusiness in the next couple of
games.
So I guess I mean we'll seeagain.
Lebron luca, austin reevesaustin reeves has definitely
solidified that third spot interms of their big three.
Yeah, but I I think that's whatit's really going to come down
to is those three guys beingable to lock in and really push.
You can't have have these lulls.
The Lakers are notoriously badin the third quarter.
I think they need to reallyfocus on that, because you spend

(14:30):
all this energy and even whenthey're not bad in the third if
they've had bad first halvesthey spend so much energy coming
back that they can't closethose games out.
So we'll see.
I mean, obviously games arecoming fast.
We're at the end of the year,so we're going to have to see
where they fall.
But it'll be interestingbecause I will tell you, as a
basketball fan, the Lakers are ateam I would not want to see in

(14:51):
any matchups because there'sjust too much experience,
there's too much firepower towhere, even with defensive
challenges, they could stillpresent enough of a problem to
take you out.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
The Lakers are the one team which, despite their
defensive deficiency it's crazyto say this I think they're the
one team who can be theexception in the sense that they
can make up for that deficiencyby just enthusiasm alone,
because they have the talent.
You got LeBron Luka Again.
Austin Reeves did not justsolidify himself as the number

(15:25):
three option for the Lakers, Ithink he's a legitimate number
two elsewhere.
Like Austin Reeves is coming on, we should see him in some
all-star games in the future,like that's coming soon.
I mean he's arrived.
I mean I'm not.
Is he as good as he'll ever get?
I'm not sure, maybe.
Maybe his ceiling is higherthan even I've estimated, but I
think he definitely has come onAgain.

(15:45):
To be a big three in LA says alot because already established
superstar in the league and Ihate to use him as an example,
but I have to.
People like Russell Westbrook,for example, comes to LA and the
lights get too bright.
So if you can stand up to itnow and here in LA, that game
travels he can take thatelsewhere, and that's your only
experience.
He's only experienced, he's onlyknown the lights of the crypto.
That's all he knows and he'sshown under those lights.

(16:07):
So I know that show can travelelsewhere.

Speaker 3 (16:11):
I think another part that we didn't really plan to
that.
Me personally, I know thatdefensively you know the games
we lost we weren't best, butmost importantly, offensively
we're great.
See, lebron James, I think,didn't have 20 points, none of
those games.
I think it was like 17, 19.
So I just knew once we got backoffensively it would outshine

(16:34):
the inefficiencies that we havedefensively.
And the only thing, too, I'llsay is why.
I think that this is it startswhat.
Monday we play the HoustonRockets.
We have to make sure that we goover we know when the next five
games, because if we don't lookat the, I want you guys to go
take a look at the Clippersremaining schedule.
They have a chance to go aheadand get to us because that

(16:56):
schedule was favorable for them.
That's the issue.
It's not.
The issue is that the Lakershave a less than favorable
schedule.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
Right, right.

Speaker 3 (17:09):
If it wasn't for that , I would not be worried.
But we're talking about goingfrom where we currently are down
to seventh, eighth, with justlosing potentially what?
Going 500?
That's what scares me andthat's why I'm just hoping that
you know.
But I think that you know we'llbe fine.
My main thing was us findingthe offensive rhythm.
I think that when you talkabout AD coming in, I think AD

(17:29):
is just trying to give them hope, to show that once we get
everybody to full strengthHopefully we know he's injury
prone it's a big gamble doingthat.
I think he's going to go outthere and try to play
outstanding basketball.
Oh for sure, gamble doing that.
But I think he's going to go outthere and try to play
outstanding basketball, not onlywe're going to play the Lakers

(17:50):
and he wants to shine becauseremember last time we played him
, listen, his 80s first outingwas I mean he gave him pause to
be like, okay, I can see it.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
I can see it, let's be honest with him.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
The injuries to that team were so okay, I can see it,
I can see it, let's be honestwith it, man.
The injuries to that team wasso detrimental.
You don't see it like this.
So it's one of those thingswhere I think I'm telling you, I
think Dallas is going to befine next year, as long as AD
can stay healthy.
Those guys come back.
They're going to be a force.
I think they have a great coach.
They have a great coach.

(18:26):
They have a great core.
You know, and, and honestly,for nico's sake, boy, they
better come back, as if not, ohmy god, he won't make, if listen
, if ad will be at the frontdesk he's a dead man walking his
weight like

Speaker 1 (18:35):
oh no, listen, he's a dead man walking man.

Speaker 3 (18:37):
I'm not even like they don't have to be playing
well in the in the nba seasonnext year.
They have to be dominant.
I mean like they have to be,especially the.
L mean like they have to,Especially if the Lakers, go on
a run.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
Yeah, that's going to be hard to swallow.

Speaker 3 (18:49):
You know what They'll be.
Like nah, being in the top fourain't going to be good enough.
Like we need to be top of theWest For him to keep his job.
They got to start out and bethat team.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
Like it's is to lose for them.
Yeah, and I want to ask ourcoach on the panel for y'all who
don't know, chris, when a coach, I want to say well, over 20
years now, fresh out of highschool, among other things.
But before we push on to thenext topic, right, this Laker
team?
Can they do you think it'spossible that the Lakers can be
the team, or has it already beendone, to our knowledge?
Maybe we don't realize?
Can they dispel the myth or therumor or the longstanding

(19:33):
conventional wisdom that defensewins championship, and be the
first team to overcome defenseand win by way of offense?

Speaker 2 (19:40):
That's a great question For me.
I don't think if solely theiroffense is all it is, I don't
think they can do it.
And I say that because we'veseen when they are playing their
best, they are high energy,they are trapping, like when
their defense turned a page.
For me was that Denver gamewhen they smothered Jokic in

(20:02):
their face with hands, were veryactive.
When we're doubling, we'refronting.
We got front and back we'removing to the sides.
You know like we're coveringwings.
If you look at what happened inChicago, for example, it was
given up to three ball right,they just they were chasing the
ball entirely too much.
And teams the NBA is too muchof a shooting team to not have

(20:23):
the ability to stop somebodyfrom hitting shots.
That's going to be a problem.
So I think they can give a run.
I mean, you look at the scorefrom last night Austin put up 31
.
Luka put up 29.
Lebron put up 25.
If you get a few more guys likeyou had Rui with 13,.
Doreen Finney-Smith gave you11,.
Gabe Vinson gave you 15.
If you can keep that going,you're going to win more games.

(20:45):
But to keep in mind that thetype of players you have, the
young athletic guys that youhave to deal with them like a
Houston.
Getting those guys open onwings, that's going to be
problematic.
Teams like the Warriors who arefighting and climbing where
it's like, no, we have the mostdangerous three-point shooter in
this sport's history, that'sgoing to be a problem.

(21:05):
So I think overall I think withtheir best defense that we've
seen from the Lakers, they cancompete, if it's what we've seen
I would say the last five orsix games.
No, I think what can help theLakers being an older team, when
you look at LeBron I mean fromLeBron's standpoint is the
advantage is it slows down andyou know your opponent right,

(21:28):
because now this is just amatchup and you have to figure
out how to get to four gamesbefore the next team and you're
really trying to exploit thosematchups.
So I think that makes it easier,because going from Houston to
OKC it's a different feel.
Right?
Shea is Shea and OK.
Now we have an absolutesuperstar.
We know exactly what they'regoing to do.
He has probably the best roleplayers.

(21:48):
You bring in somebody likeCaruso, who used to be with us,
who's a great wing defender, canknock down shots.
So you have all these littledynamics.
Houston is going to beathleticism.
So even if you were to playthem in a series, it's like,
okay, we have to contend withthat youth for four games.

(22:11):
What do we do?
We slow it down, give me a ballin the post, make them adjust
to me.
This might actually beadvantageous to us if we can
still get Jackson Hayes rollingand things like that.
So I think the Lakers' bestversion of their defense can
dispel the myth that you can'tbe an absolute defensive monster
.
But even if you look at whenthey've been playing defense
well, they've played defensevery well where they've upticked
to where it's like it's notimpossible.
But the version we've seen thelast five games, I don't think
they can win a championshipplaying that way.

(22:32):
I think they can win some gamesand even a series or two
possibly, but I don't think youcan get up against like a Boston
and be able to consistentlypull out games with just Luka
going for 35 or 40, even IfLeBron's going for 15 or 19,.
I don't think that's enough.
And Boston, for example, is ateam who will smother you.

(22:54):
They love getting out, theylove putting pressure on the
wings because that's where theirtwo best players are, so they
have a unique set of skills.
Where, actually, where mostteams are lacking is where our
superstars are.
So I don't think they can win achampionship not playing their
best version, but if they areplaying their best defense, yeah

(23:14):
, I think they can.
They can be a contender, that'sfair.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
That seems to be.

Speaker 3 (23:20):
So that's what I'm seeing.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
You're right, yeah, and I mean the proof is in the
wind when we look at the gamesthey've lost.
It's because Wagner and some ofthese other people have got off
wide open threes and they'reputting them up at high volume
and people aren't recovering.
It's bad turnovers, it's notgetting steals and going for
steals when you know you're twosteps slower.
And now they got wide openshots and they're just burying

(23:43):
them.
So I think if they can sit back, recognize where their
strengths lie, you know,especially when you have a point
guard like Luca, he is notsomebody who is going to speed
up.
So if you can sit and be who youare, then I've always, every
team I've coached, I've madesure we have a culture and we
have an identity.
So, regardless of what happensin the game, we do what we need
to do.

(24:03):
If I'm constantly trying toplay their game, I've lost in
essence, right.
If I can get them to do what weare comfortable with, our
chances go up way way more.
So it's kind of how I look atit.
Can't beat them at their game.
That's just usually how they go, absolutely Take the fight to
your advantage, yeah.
So I guess we'll see what therest of the year looks like here

(24:25):
, but it's going to be a toughstretch.
But as the weeks go on, we'llkeep talking about it and see,
kind of, where it falls.
With that being said, we are inthe middle of the madness.
All right, we've got two men'steams who've punched their
tickets so far, florida and Duke.
You know that Final four I was.

(24:47):
So far, florida and duke, youknow, final four.
I was gonna say here we go,listen, this duke theme is
coming up.
Boy, you talked about having ayear of all the years to have a
podcast bear.
This is the one where this manis getting off.
Yeah, but tell you the lady,lady, blue devils are down by
two right now in a tough fightwith, uh, south carolina, and
they are do?
We got 32.6 seconds left downby two.
So we'll see how that plays out.

Speaker 3 (25:07):
They get the ball, I believe, and get inbounded.
Well, I mean, it's just goingto be one of those situations
where I mean, listen, I don'thave any dog in the race.

Speaker 1 (25:17):
I just like watching great basketball.

Speaker 3 (25:19):
Trust me, y'all, I don't want to hear this man just
go like that.
I'm looking at it now.
I don't want to hear this manjust like that.
I don't, I really.
I'm looking at it now Like Imean, I don't.
I don't wish that on Duke, butdamn, I want North you know
South Carolina to pull this oneoff.
That way he only has one oh forthe ladies.
Yeah, for the ladies.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
Yeah, this is it's.
You know it's pretty much gonethe way that we expect it.
You know I ain't here or there.
For the most part that was like, oh, I didn't expect them to
lose.
But you know, all the big dogsare still in it, although I will
say you know I'm not a Duke fan, but Duke looks very great.
I mean, especially with thesize that they have, duke look
like it is hard.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
They're going to be a tough guy.
Just their ability to get outcome downhill is one of the
things I'm impressed with.
They will get downhill, cooperwill get downhill.
Duke's guards are strong.
They take care of the ball forthe most part.
They do a good job of hittingwide open shots.
But anytime a team can getdownhill, if you can get in the
middle of the floor you forceeverybody else to adjust and in

(26:16):
that adjustment phase you tendto find easy baskets.
So you got Duke, who's punchedtheir ticket.
You've got Florida, who'spunched their ticket.
You've got Florida who'spunched their ticket?
No real surprise there, eventhough that was close.
You've got Auburn and Michiganplaying today, michigan State
and then you've got Houston andTennessee, both of those teams
fighting for that final four.

(26:37):
But Bear to your point, when wetalk about all the surprises
and Cinderella's and everything,the lowest seed between men and
women is a three seed and thatthree seed is even lsu, and
that's on the women's side.
So I mean lsu is a historicalone seed.
So when you, as much as we, getcaught up in the fanfare and
the hype, it kind of all playsout the way it's supposed to.

(26:58):
What are your thoughts, rick?

Speaker 1 (26:59):
we discussed that a little bit earlier before the
show.
But it is amazing that for allof the expectation of surprises
upsets I mean, becauseultimately it's anybody's
tournament to win If you canstring along five, six good
games, you can get what?
Four games you get to FinalFour, which we're down to now.
Two of the field has alreadypunched their tickets and
obviously you mentioned Floridaand Duke.

(27:20):
If you can string together anice run, you can find you.
I mean, every now and againyou'll get a butler.
But typically speaking, for allthe excitement that we want out
of it, all the fanfare and thesurprise, it usually shakes out
the same way.
It's the same Power 5 withPower 4 teams now with the
virtual absolution of the Pac-10, pac-12.

(27:42):
You get the same teams.
When it all shakes out, whenthe dust has settled, you're
going to get a Big Ten, a BigEast, acc, sec, some
configuration of that.
That's how it shakes out everysingle time.
Every now and again you mightget a mid-major who'll make a
deep run, maybe an Elite Eight,maybe a Final Four, if they're

(28:03):
lucky.
The Butlers are few and farbetween.
I can't think of any other teamthat was kind of an unknown
program to find itself in achampionship game in college
basketball.
I can't think of any otherexception but that team.
In recent history you might geta lower seed.
That lower seed's still comingfrom a program that's
recognizable.
You know who they are.
You might get a Wisconsin orsomething in a championship game

(28:25):
, but you, that's a big program.
Like right, you've heard ofthem.
It's not a middle ohio valleystate university making a deep
run.
Yeah, it's not a loyal tochicago can't get country, yeah,
yeah well, I mean, you knowwhat?

Speaker 3 (28:42):
we don't even.
We didn't even get the thegonzaga kind of make a major
push this year, like that that's.
That's, you know what?
We don't even.
We didn't even get the theGonzaga kind of make a major
push this year.
Like that, that's that's.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
You know what we don't expect it and that's kind
of standard right by now, right.

Speaker 3 (28:51):
We kind of expect them to make it, you know,
interesting to where it is,could they?
We know they ultimately don'twin, but could they make it
interesting?
You know what I mean, Becausethey're playing so well and I
just think that.
I mean man, I hate to say itagain, man, duke to me is the
best team that's left.
I think that Florida reallyshook me at the last game.
That was a tough game forFlorida Same thing with Houston.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
With them, they barely went in on a buzzer
beater, so yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:17):
In terms of consistency.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
Duke is a favorite at the moment, for sure, I mean.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
I thought Texas Tech.
Well, I said, oh, they're goingto pull it out and you know
they end up not doing it.
But I think Florida was to me.
I needed to see.
You know, what Duke is showingme is that they're running away
with it.
You know their talent, theirskill set, their coaching
defensive set that they have.
I think that they're showing,they're peaking when they need
to A lot of the teams, you knowthere's some close calls.

(29:43):
Duke is being dominant, they'retaking control of the game and
they're not giving you any andthat's the way you need to play.
As each you know well as theprogression goes on to each you
know each level of thetournament.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
That Arizona game had me pissed off.
Not gonna lie.

Speaker 3 (29:58):
Letting them get back , yeah, but the last two games,
you guys right, I think that'spart of it All they did was make
me miss Caleb Love and Carolina.

Speaker 1 (30:06):
Man, he was pissing me off.
That dude, I'm like I wish hewould have stayed in North
Carolina.
They could have found a way tokeep that one in Chapel Hill.
There's no way.

Speaker 3 (30:16):
Yeah, that's a whole podcast.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
But what I've been impressed by and what I've loved
so much is that we do not needCooper Flagg to be the hero
every game.
That's the key.

Speaker 3 (30:24):
Like we've been able to win conventionally without
Cooper Flagg.
You just hit on the biggestpoint for them.
Yeah, yeah, yeah he doesn'thave to be the best player in
college basketball every singlenight.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
Yeah, yep, we still got Conn Kinep.
Most nights, we still haveMilowich who was altering all
kind of shots, like in the.
That sheet doesn't show that healtered more shots than we can
count on our hands and toesRight we see the two blocks on
that sheet, but again, theeffect that he had defensively
outside of just getting blocks.
I mean Cooper Flagg.

(30:54):
The thing about him that's sogreat is he can make up for his
lack of offensive productionwith his defense.
I mean he is a straight up dogdefender.
He can get blocked shots.
He's got busy hands.
He knows the passing lanes.
Cooper flag is a two-way player,three level score, six, nine.
So again, you don't you don'tneed him to be all world every
night.
Again, we still got khan outthere, you got foster, my man

(31:17):
scion.
We've got a pretty balancedteam and they're coming on at
the right time.
I you know, of course I can'tlove it more, but it'd be nice
to see cooper flag just havethat that real big larry
burtwell, larry burt ultimatelyloses in the finals, but to have
that moment to really propelhim, because I think otherwise,
if he doesn't win, a good thingabout cooper flag is we we stand

(31:39):
a chance to see him again incollege next year.
If it doesn't work out, there'sa possibility you think, so you
think there's a possibilitythat he actually turns next year
.

Speaker 2 (31:48):
I think he, I think he would stay.
Just considering the landscapeand what's going on in the nba,
I could totally see him stayinglike yeah, I see a win, that
would have me at number one.

Speaker 1 (31:58):
You'd be like, yeah, I'm cool, because right now he's
pretty much the number one pickas it stands, like I don't
think anybody else is really buta championship kind of
solidifies that and at thatpoint like what are you staying
for?
I mean, maybe he just he'senjoying his college journey,
it's fun to him, he wantsanother crack at it, back to
back.
If he can do it this year andthen come back and do it again,
that'll really.
But I mean your stock can't getme hired number one right what

(32:21):
I mean.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
Like so yeah, yeah, you should go.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
If you win, yeah, talking about staying becomes
like yeah, that's just a badbusiness decision but this is
where the NIL it can be helpful,because now there's no rush to
go, I'm being compensated rightnow I'm having a good time.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
I have no real pressure on me.

Speaker 1 (32:37):
I'm at the college level.
It's not the same level ofpressure as playing in the pros.
Like that kind of is helpful atthis point for guys who care
about the college game and theircollege experience and being a
college student athlete.
Like for those guys, you gotall the incentive you need right
there.

Speaker 3 (32:52):
You don't have to go to the next level, even if it's
way better, you can put it offanother year or two I think that
you know to your point, ria, Iunderstand what you're saying,
but when you look at, let's goto the women's side we saw our
girl, juju, go down that wasunfortunate Right.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
And those things right.

Speaker 3 (33:09):
So my whole thing isn't as so unfortunate because
you know all the now that we cansay it.
You know, on re they ran onyour parade, you know South
Carolina ended up pulling it out, so but just the fact that we
could have potentially seensomething we could have seen.
I mean, think about who couldhave been in the Elite Eight.
You're still going to have, youknow, usc still in it, but you
got the Ucons on the women'sside.

(33:30):
You still have, you know, southCarolina and you still have LSU
.
Potentially that can go to, youknow that can still make it.
We're looking at I mean and tosee Juju be up in there.
I think from woman's side I'mtalking about the firepower that
would have still been in thetournament and where that could
have ended up.
That's why I'm saying you'relooking at Cooper Cup.

(33:51):
Do you want to risk that injury?
Things can happen, weunderstand that.
But do you want to risk thefact that you can get injured
coming back after next season?
I understand that we don't havea crystal ball.
I think you can't play scaredbut ultimately, like you said,
from a business perspective, yes, he can still get an IL deal,

(34:11):
but the odds is he's going to goto a bad team, regardless, this
year or next year, but itdoesn't matter, he's still going
to go to a bad team.
So if that's your, you know thepremise for you wanting to stay
man, thinking that, well, maybesomeone will get lucky and draw
the number one pick next year.
That isn't a bad.
Now, don't get me wrong.
You can go to a.
There's a difference in goingto a bad team versus just a bad

(34:34):
franchise.
Historically, and I get that.

Speaker 1 (34:37):
That's true.

Speaker 3 (34:38):
That could be one of those things.
I don't know who has the draftthis year.
I haven't checked but the factstill remains that it's going to
come down if they win or lose,and I don't you know what.
I'm not sure because, like yousaid, I don't, we don't know
what's motivation, hismotivation, could be.
Maybe if he does win one, Iwant to win another one, back to
back, and we go back to backget this florida guys going on

(34:59):
yeah right, so I can see bothways.
But I just man, in today'sclimate, yeah, just looking at
juju, I mean, man, luckily she'sgoing to be a high pick
regardless.
Juju is going to go, you know,but still, still, though, you
know we're talking aboutinjuries that can control, you
know, major injury, surgery thatcan control, you know, your,

(35:22):
your future, do you come back?
The same?
We know that knee injuriesaren't as bad as they used to be
.
Like back in the day where yougot acl was like doom and gloom.
But still, to get back to thatplayer, it's a whole lot of
rehabilitation and things thatgo on and the fact that she's
played late in the season.
We're in the tournament.
She got injured not early inthe season where she'll be ready

(35:43):
.
It's going to take some time toget back to that form.
We'll see.

Speaker 1 (35:49):
But, Andre, you still got one team left.
What I did not consider, thoughon the men's side there's more
urgency, in the sense that youstand to lose something if it
doesn't go your way, WhereasJuju has more incentive now to
stay in college than she does togo to the WNBA.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
As has more incentive now to stay in college than she
does to go to the.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
WNBA.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
As much as we want to see her at the next level, Way
more than she'll get paid.
Well, it's awards andeverything.
Out here.
Y'all if y'all in LA, I meanit's crazy.
It's juju madness, out here.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
Whereas on the men's side, I don't give a damn how
much you're getting paid in NILmoney.
It pales in comparison to theNBA contract and what you stay
in the game.
So there's more urgency on hisside.
If he has people on his ears hehas advisors, he has, I'm sure,
agents and the like theyprobably advise him to punch out

(36:35):
this year and go to the draftat your highest.
When your stock has reached itshighest, that's when it's time
for you to go.
So if he's got wise people onhis corner, they're advising him
to leave.
But again, it'll come down.
He's an adult.
Well, he just became.
I'll leave.
Now.
We're talking about a dude whowas 17 up until December.
Wow, having a season that he'shaving.
This is a teenage and, by allaccounts, he should be a senior
in high school.

(36:55):
He left early to go to Duke.
Yeah, he should be a seniorright now at at Montverde
Academy in Florida, but he choseto end his high school career,
play college ball early andenroll early.

Speaker 3 (37:07):
So this is a guy who just turned 18.

Speaker 2 (37:09):
This is also the same kid who was giving buckets to
the NBA team as they werepreparing for the Olympics.
I mean, he's the real deal.
That's wild.

Speaker 1 (37:15):
He's the real deal, so a championship this year
would definitely be great forhim.
I'd be grateful.
I mean a whole otherconversation.
It I'd be grateful.
I mean a whole otherconversation.
It's a game for Americanbasketball, if you dig what I'm
saying deeper beating.
It really is, though.

Speaker 3 (37:27):
Oh, they're counting on me.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
It's a shot in the arm of the game needs right now.
Let's be honest about that.

Speaker 3 (37:33):
Like somebody got to have a conversation.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
It might as well be us right.

Speaker 3 (37:37):
Well, this previous conversation we talked about
that and I think you know to cutyou off Reed when we talked
about, you know, the NBA.
We're waiting for the nextAmerican superstar not just
superstar, because there's a lotof guys right now, but American
superstar.

Speaker 1 (37:51):
And this guy, you know this kid, Not just American
superstar.
Come on now.

Speaker 3 (37:55):
Oh, we can talk about that.
We're looking, listen, we'relooking for the next magic bird
situation, and with Cooper,we're talking about, about with
cup, we're looking at what Imean flag.
I'm sorry, I always get it, butso we another bad white boy, by
the way well, yeah, who wouldbe the?
I mean, obviously, and listen,and he's young and you know he

(38:17):
comes the background.
We're talking about thisprocedure of going to duke
coming out.
I mean, honestly, I'm not goingto say this and don't shoot me
for it, Henri I think Duke needsthis because we're talking
about they've had a lot of guys,great white players, that
didn't pan out in the NBA.
He could be.
I'm talking about he could bean impact.
Think about how young he is andhis upside of it.

(38:41):
I mean this kid has thepotential, depending on where he
goes you know, I know a lot ofthat plays a role into it which
franchise he goes to.
This has the potential to besomething big and him being so
young, I don't know.
I mean he could just be havingfun.
I mean I hope he comes out.
I know the league hopes hecomes out.
He's legit.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
He's the real deal.
This is a genuine article righthere.
Man, listen, you got a whitedude.
Let's keep it a meme.
Small town America from somesmall town in Maine.
I'm sure most of us don't evenknow where the hell Maine is on
a map.
The geographically challengedprobably can't.
Yeah, you don't know.
It's somewhere in the NewEngland area.
Where exactly, for those whodon't know, the northeastern

(39:20):
most state in the union.
Right, there you go.
If you didn't know nothing, youlearned something today other
than basketball.
But I mean, white dude from asmall town, real deal.
Can really go Now.
Granted, he's not putting aprogram on the back the way
Larry Bird did with IndianaState, who hasn't really been
noteworthy since then, likethey've done nothing of note for
real in any sport outside ofLarry Bird's appearance in a

(39:43):
championship game in 79 againstMagic Johnson in that team.
But we have all the makings ofa Larry Bird-esque situation.
He's the real deal.
I mean, does he go to what?
I mean the NBA has to startthinking long and hard about
where he lands, because it hasto be the absolute best and most
optimal situation for him andthe storyline, quite frankly, I

(40:04):
mean the.
NBA could use it.
Basketball needs it in thiscountry.
It's a shot in the arm that wedesperately need because we have
not had a real.
There hasn't really been anyoneon the horizon coming up, young
basketball player who seems tobe ready to take the helm right
now.
Cooper, right now, is the bestcandidate, if you ask me, is it
great that he happens to be aBlue Devil?
Of course, bonus points, nodoubt.

(40:25):
But I will say and listen, Idon't mean to gloat, I know it
was going to be a braggingsession.
We fared pretty well in termsof NBA stars.
We had Zion, we've had quite afew, I think, as of late we've
been winning the battle Likey'all got Michael Jordan the
greatest of them all, as of latewe've been putting out some

(40:46):
stars in the league Don't startthat I'm just saying.
I'm not saying we have ourJordan, but I'm saying we've
been putting our output of starplayers in Paulo Banqueiro,
Kyrie Irving.

Speaker 2 (41:00):
Yes, you guys have had more people translate better
into the professional gamebecause, well, one, you got to
remember, carolina has a historyof bigs and the bigs that we
have who are really good aregood college players.
One, I think they know thatRight, whether it's a Tyler

(41:20):
Hansborough, whether it's a SeanMay, you look at a lot of these
guys Deion Thompson, when hewas coming through most of these
bigs, when you really get intolike the last, you know, our,
our Mount Rushmore bigs, that'swhen you get into like your Sam
Perkins and your RasheedWallace's and dudes like that.
But beyond that, yeah.
And then we've we've had guardswho have been very successful,
but not I mean Ty Lawson had agreat career when he was with

(41:42):
Denver, you know what I mean.
Rashawn McCants maybe not asmuch, but we, yeah, in terms of
the NBA translation, yeah, youguys got it.
I'm not disputing that overall.
Now, if we're talking aboutputting together an all-time
Carolina versus.
Duke, that's going to get realinteresting and that might
actually be a future podcast,now that I think about it, but

(42:03):
now it is a legitimate matchup.

Speaker 1 (42:04):
now it was a time where we didn't stand a chance.

Speaker 2 (42:06):
We would have got washed.
I was going to say we mighthave to make those arguments
Bear and you have to be thefinal judge and jury and
executioner on who would win.
That that might actually bekind of fun, I mean Duke got it.

Speaker 3 (42:17):
I mean, listen, it's going to be hard because you
know, albeit always go back toit man grant hill is going to be
one of those things where hecould push it over the edge
because we knew where he was.
But you could, carolina hadsome.
Carolina had some great teamslet's say, yeah, you still.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
You still got james worthy, you still got you know,
rashid, you get you you've gotsome folks in there that, yeah,
yeah, you got some players, forsure, yeah y'all definitely
would have way more depth thanwe do.
Y'all definitely would have waymore depth than we do.

Speaker 2 (42:46):
Yeah, yeah yeah, if it got down to the bench it'd be
.
It's a wrap by that point.
Yeah, where you guys are goingto get us is in that guard play.
Guard play is going to causesome problems.
But yeah, I mean, but Duke isnothing to shine away from Coach
K for everything that he waswas a great leader and he had
great players come through hisprogram.
He had very intellectual peoplecome through.

(43:07):
If you look at that Dukefootprint and not to get off,
you had people like Elton Brandgo into front offices and you
know Trajan Langdon and allthese historic Blue Devils.
So there is something to thesauce.
That was Coach K when it cameto Duke.
But yeah, with that being said,I think it sounds like for the
most part, we think Duke isgoing to take it.
For the men, what?

Speaker 1 (43:30):
I mean, now that they've survived, this close
call.
Yeah, I guess South Carolina, Imean they've got to be better.
It's always hard to go againstyeah because teams like that
every now and again.
They just need a challenge.
They got to be pushed, theyneed a wake-up, and now they've
gotten that wake-up call.
We're not invincible.
They'll probably run throughthe rest of the tournament as

(43:51):
expected this year.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
Yeah, lost none last year.
I'm going to say something, man.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
I just thought this would have been a year that it
would have been a realpossibility that USC would have
been great.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
It definitely would have been.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
As Cowboys go to that village.
That would have been nice.

Speaker 3 (44:11):
And I'm not saying this because Juju is great, I
just think you would.
You know, you know, of courseyou know Southern California is
a revival.
I think they were the favorites.
I'm looking at the.
You know the.
Maybe you know Duke played agreat game.
I think Duke exposed a lotright now to South Carolina on
the defensive side.
It seems like way moreaggressive.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
Oh man, you have to see, that's their style.

Speaker 3 (44:33):
On the defensive side it seems like way more
aggressive.
Oh man, you, you have to see,that's their style.
They love to be aggressive intheir play, but you got to use
that to their advantage.
I mean, they almost lost thegame at the end due to the, you
know, being aggressive and allyou have to do is just be able
to be at the right places.
You know, we know, defensiveit's about, part of it is just
hustle and anticipation.
That's how you get the chargesand everything and those that

(44:54):
kind of that almost got him atthe end of the game.
I mean, that was, it was a bigplay.
They just couldn't convert offthe charge, you know, off the
you know it was.
They couldn't convert enoughand that's what caused the game
at the end.
And South Carolina kept theircomposure, you know.
But it was a good game.
It's not going to shock me ifSouth Carolina wins, but LSU,

(45:16):
even though they're a three seed, and that's because it's the
beauty of, I think you know thebeauty of the tournament is all
you need is one game.
If they can make it there, Ithink that they have a great
chance and it wouldn't shock meif they were to beat South
Carolina If they were to make itto the big game LSU, which I
think that's the.

Speaker 1 (45:36):
They got to get past the UCLA team and that's a tall
order.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
UCLA is going to be in a fight tonight.

Speaker 1 (45:40):
That's a tall order and Lauren Betts, no pun
intended.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
UCLA has been great, but they've been, I think, on
the women's side.
They've been kind of surprised.
I don't think people wereexpecting them to play as good
as they are.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
They're number one seed, so you don't expect them
to be where they are.

Speaker 3 (45:53):
I think, out of all the number one seeds, I think
that I would still think thatplaying against LSU this is
going to be a tough one.
I understand last year, weunderstand this is really kind
of a revenge game too.
It wouldn't shock me if UCLAactually won, because they
forgot the taste in their mouthfrom last year.
They still got that bittertaste of losing.

(46:14):
What was it?
Sweet 16 to LSU.
So it's going to be interesting.
I mean, this is something, man,I'm telling you right now that
from the woman's side, it islooking great.
I think the woman's, you knowcollege basketball and
particularly, too, if this cantranslate into the WNBA, I think
they're going to be good forthe next three to five years If

(46:37):
they know how to play this right, If they know how to, because
they got, I mean, these women,these listen people, these women
, these women basketball playersare balling, they are putting
up, I mean, what you know, Iunderstand their game is in a
better place than the men's gameright now.
I think there's not a doubtabout that.

Speaker 2 (46:54):
You took college and professionally, because what the
women are doing is they arebringing people in.
But one of the knocks on womenbasketball was the fact that it
just wasn't entertaining.
It was a lot of now for me,from a coaching standpoint.
I've always watched the women'sgame because when you talk
about sets, when you talk aboutexecution, where the evolution

(47:16):
of the game has come in is nowyou have female players with
Wiggle.
You look at Juju and what she'sable to do, you know.
You start to look across thelandscape and you are starting
to see these women have some ofthe moves Right Now.
Think about the compare oh,she's the Kyrie of boom boom.
And so now that means that thatgame has evolved.

(47:37):
The way they play, the way theymove, has become closer to what
we were accustomed to in men'sgame.
But there's your structure, thetiming, their star power and
people like Angel Reese comingon, caitlin Clark those types of
people who will now carry you.
Look at some of the names of theleague.
You know when you start talkingabout Cynthia Cooper, lisa
Leslie, cheryl Swoops, TinaThompson.

(47:57):
I mean there's a million womenwho have come through, who have
had an impact.
But it's a matter of timing andstar power aligning.
They had arguably more starpower when they first started
because you had so many amazingfemale women players, but it
wasn't the entertainment value,it wasn't the intrigue.
They couldn't.
I think they were fightingtheir identity of what their

(48:21):
league would look like and itstifled what should have been
the golding.
And it was still from abasketball standpoint.
Those women laid the foundationfor some of the best basketball
we've seen and if you go andlook back I mean even Dawn
Staley as she's coaching atSouth Carolina you see the
impact that they've had.
But I think it's a matter oftiming and where they are, where

(48:41):
the men are starting tostruggle in terms of all right.
We've just become a league ofthree-pointers.
There's a lot of complaining.
There's a lot of you know theofficiating.
There's so many things in themen's game.
You're trading star players nowin the middle of the season and
there's, the men's game is influx and the women's game has

(49:01):
really found a nice point wherethey're settling in and they're
thriving and they're bringing usalong and, furthermore, we're
now interested in the journey.
We mentioned lauren betts.
You would not have known a uclaright, arguably, a couple of
years ago, but but now it's likeno, the conversation flows the
same way.
They are in a great place andwe look forward to just seeing
that continue to thrive, and Ithink that's the beauty of it,

(49:22):
because what we are now fallingin love with is basketball
versus men's basketball, and Ithink that, for me personally,
is the best part of this.
We are just loving the gamethat we love, and now we're
rooting for whoever's playingthat game the best way and the
right way.
But there's an entertainmentfactor that is across the board
that I don't feel like we'veever seen as a product.

Speaker 1 (49:42):
The women have kind of figured it out.
They figured it out as aproduct On a college level.
They've done things like gottenrid of the halves, four
quarters.

Speaker 2 (49:51):
So it's more comparable.
The men need to.

Speaker 1 (49:52):
They really need to hurry up, because LeBron made a
great point and we'll transitionto that later in his interview
that it's a whole different gameand I've realized there have
been years where my interest haswaned in college basketball
because the difference is sovast that 30-second shot clock
makes again in possessions wediscussed earlier if you're down
by 10 with about five minutesleft.
In college basketball that'spretty much the end for you,

(50:15):
like there is no real rallying.
Of course you have yourexceptions.
It happens every now and again,but the likelihood isn't there
because it isn't a game of runs.
You don't get the same amountof possessions.
But back to the women's game,the excitement and all.
I can rattle off a number.
Every team in the tournamentjust about I can tell you their
best player.
You got storylines like hayleyvan, who proved everybody wrong

(50:35):
by leaving LSU.
Well, first leaving Louisville,first then LSU, and now at TCU
knocking off that powerful NotreDame team headed by Hannah
Hildago.
She's a little firecracker.
She's nice To be as little asshe is.
She's going to find a home inthe WNBA, I mean, and she's
going to be an exception as aplayer of her first size.

Speaker 2 (50:57):
For sure.

Speaker 1 (50:58):
You've got Lauren Betts Again.
You've got Haley Van Liff,you've got Juju Watkins.
You've got Paige Beckers, who'sstill in it, who might arguably
be the best player in collegebasketball this year.
Right, there are her.
And Kaitlyn Clark.
I mean, should she have comeout last year?
If she was eligible, I wouldhave liked to have seen her in
WNB going to go.
But we'll get our chance to seeit.
But you've got, when I say, aninflux of stars coming into the

(51:20):
women's game, yeah, you gotMalaysia full wild.
You've got.
You've got a ton of girls, man,who were, who are coming very
soon.
It's really interesting now.
And the other thing about thewomen's game You've seen men
hanging.

Speaker 3 (51:35):
Hey man, I'm tempted to cop a couple, maybe Andrew
Wilson or something like that Iwill give you two guys credit,
though you guys brought me inbecause I'm not going to lie
from entertainment standpoint.

Speaker 1 (51:45):
You were a skeptic to say the least.

Speaker 3 (51:48):
Right, right, right.
But I'm saying now the fluidityin which the women play, you
know, with that wiggle, the gamethat they have.
Because one thing with themen's, we understand they're
more athletic, they'll be ableto jump out the gym and things.
It's the dunking aspect.
But what a woman can do withthe women's basketball, which is
still the pure form of thebasketball, is be able to
dribble, pass, get the shot.

(52:10):
The inside, the little nuancesof the game, I mean because some
of these women are handlingthem to rock, it reminds me I
mean they got that.
Like I said, they got thatKyrie, they got that Ezi, they
got the, you know, the Eurostep,you can see all that and they
play with like a smoothness tothe game and I think that, like
you said, henry, playing withfour quarters is something that

(52:32):
there's.
They play at a different flowbecause of it.
The men's basketball, those twohalves, it can become drawn out
and, like you said, it's one ofthose things where second half
you go down by 10, but thewomen's basketball, you still
got that fourth quarter.
I mean the game.
We just saw that come backbecause duke started to take
control and we were up on them.

(52:52):
But it's it, I it's.
I think it's a psychologicalthing too, not to mention the
shot clock, the shot clock being30.
I think it allows for a slowergame and women's basketball.
It's a bit, if you look at it,the speed is a little bit faster
and I think as men, we weappreciate a much.
You know it's okay to set upand be able to run your offense,

(53:14):
but when you know you have somuch time on the shot clock it's
very draining.
Instead of for the last shotyou know I don't 30 seconds is
just too long.
I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
Well, when you think about it, what's closer to
professional?

Speaker 3 (53:27):
basketball the women's game or the men's game?
Which more is close toprofessional Bell?
It's the men's game.
Which more is close toprofessional bell?
It's the women's game.
The way it's constructed, thefour quarters and everything,
and the way they're playing it'smore reminiscent of something
that we like, and I think that'ssomething that college
basketball is going to have tomake adjustments to if they want
to play their part in theevolution and the women's game

(53:50):
has evolved, and basketballhasn't.

Speaker 1 (53:54):
There is the fun of kind of acclimating yourself and
getting and familiarizingyourself with something that
seems new.
They got they got that goingfor them too.
They're the new kid on theblock, they're the new toy.
So learning that is kind of funand that's fun in and of itself
.
So they've got that going forthem too.
They've got a good product.
They've got the players soon tocome, there'll be the
personalities as well.
You'll have your CharlesBarkley's, your, you name it.

(54:16):
So when they start to maturemore and they figure that part
out and they really learn how tofully get into sports
entertainment, the product willget that much better.
So you know shout out to theladies.
They're doing a great job.

Speaker 2 (54:28):
I'm looking forward to it.
Keep it up and we're rootingfor you and supporting.
That's the other thing that I,like you know.
As someone who coached for anumber of years, I've always
just been in love withbasketball and what basketball
brings.
I agree, early on there waslittle interest in the game for
me because, outside of just Ilove the structure of, because I

(54:48):
had to watch sets, in terms ofplays and everything.
I thought the women did a muchbetter job of that.
But a lot of that was abyproduct of slower, not as
athletic, so it was like we haveto find ways to get these shots
off now.
It's like, hey, get her theball and get out the way.
So there's a level ofexcitement that just comes with
that.
All right, well, I guess prettysoon here we're going to know
who's who, so we'll keep ourcoverage on that.

(55:10):
All right, fellas, it's time totalk about it.

Speaker 1 (55:13):
The moment we've been waiting for.

Speaker 2 (55:15):
We've got to get into this.
In this corner one LeBron Jamesversus the newly renewed
contracted Stephen A Smith, thiskind of took over as a
basketball-focused and centricpodcast.
We couldn't skip it.
I know everybody's probably hadtheir opinion let's, let's just

(55:36):
get into it.
So lebron took his uh talentsto the pat mcafee show, had a
lot to say, found it ironic thathe went on an espn partner show
right after first take that wasa shock really.
I was gonna say LeBron's amastermind, yeah, and there was
some critiquing about who hechose to go see versus all his

(55:58):
friends and some other folks.
So that's an interestingwrinkle that came out of it.
But the drama of it all and I'mgoing to let y'all just have at
it here and kind of sit back.
So, rhi, let's start with you.
When you saw the interview,when you heard LeBron and then
Stephen A's rebuttal, what wereyour thoughts?

Speaker 1 (56:20):
To be really honest, and I hate that I haven't.
I've had plenty of time and Ihave not done it.
I haven't even heard StephenA's rebuttal His second rebuttal
, of sorts.
Yeah, I thought this thingwould have been over after his
appearance on Gil's Arena?
It wasn't, and for as much aspeople made a big deal of
LeBron's appearance on PatMcAfee's show, he didn't really

(56:41):
go deep in the weeds about thiswhole Stephen AD.
He touched on it and they movedon.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
They did not.
It wasn't a, they didn't focuson it.
I thought it was much morebased on all the buzz and the
feedback and everything.
I thought, oh, LeBron then wentin and lost his mind and went
rogue.

Speaker 1 (56:55):
That's what I was expecting to see After watching
the entire thing.

Speaker 2 (56:58):
I was like wow.

Speaker 1 (56:59):
There's damn near much ado about nothing on his
side.

Speaker 2 (57:01):
About nothing, yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:03):
It's way more of a Stephen A issue from my
estimation, like he needs thismore than LeBron needs it.
Obviously, you know LeBron is aglobal icon or as popular as
Stephen A is in the sports media.
You're not LeBron James, soLeBron does not need this.
This does nothing for his brand, nothing for his legacy.

(57:24):
Lebron just don't need thisshit, straight up and down.
Whereas Stephen A, like yousaid, newly contracted at ESPN
and really I noticed like theconvenience of when he decided
to start spouting off and thenposturing and damn near playing
tough guy was after he got thatcontract, once the ink dried.
Now Steve Aneas kind of gotinto big Monroe.

(57:46):
Now he you know what I'm sayingNow he on some badmunting you
know what I mean Like what's up.
Like come on, dog Like this isnot you.
All this posturing about whathe would have done in
retaliation against Would haveswung on him immediately.
Listen, the fact that you evenit's posturing because you're
pretending as if LeBron had anyintent on doing that.
We're talking about a man whowas so savvy, media trained, has

(58:08):
more.
Lebron James is not about torisk his reputation for Stephen
A Smith in front of the world tosee For the fact that you
thought that was even part ofhis thought process.
Either you think that little ofhim or you think too much of
your damn self Like.
But you couldn't be more wrongand it was just silly that,
first of all, it wouldn't havegot there.

(58:29):
Secondly, he would have slidyou on the first punch.

Speaker 2 (58:33):
You're not getting a chance to swing back.
This is a wrap.

Speaker 1 (58:36):
It's a wrap.
It's not a competition.
As a man, I know your pridestands in the way and you got to
be able to act like oh, I wouldhave done.
It's a whole bunch of woulda,shoulda, couldas.
The fact of the matter is youwasn't going to do nothing, or
nothing Like most people againsta 6'9" 260, 70-pound
world-class athlete man, stop it.
I'd like to believe I wouldfare pretty good against just

(58:58):
about anybody.
I have that kind of confidencein myself to defend myself.
But the reality of the matter isthis man gets up every day to
train and condition his body toplay 48 minutes of basketball,
which puts him in far betterstanding than me, you know what
I'm saying, not to mention justthe hours he puts in on his body
in general to stay in that peakcondition.

(59:20):
So for you, stephen A Smith, whowas all of 120 pounds with a
50-pound weight, you know whatI'm saying, bro, you ain't
stopping.
Knock that off and to act like,because, from what we can all
tell, we don't know exactly whatwas said.
The audio wasn't the clearest.
It didn't seem to be much of adialogue when he was in your

(59:41):
face.

Speaker 3 (59:42):
It was a very one-sided conversation.
It was a whole bunch of nods.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
Damn near awesome, it was some yes sirs basically.

Speaker 2 (59:48):
Yes, sir, that's what I saw.

Speaker 1 (59:50):
So for you to act like it was anything other than
a monologue.
Bro, knock it off Stephen A.
There's not much more I need tohear about him, but there are
some.
There's some.
There could be some falloutfrom this that neither can
recover from.
That can be really damaging toboth brands.
I don't think Stephen A wantsthat.
At the end of the day, likeLeBron can risk his brand, he's

(01:00:11):
still going to be LeBron James,the billionaire for all we know.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
You know what I mean, and he's going to keep building
his brand and diversifying it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:17):
Steven, if it doesn't work for you in sports media
and at ESPN you can't get thebig contracts.
Where do you go from there?
Because he's running the riskof killing off his credibility,
his ability to talk to athletes.
He's slowly going to lose theirtrust because now I can't tell
you, because the minute we fallout you'll run to the cameras

(01:00:38):
with all of my deepest, darkestsecrets.
Now who needs that?
So you know that the wholething is as entertaining as it
is, it seems really one-sided.
I don't think lebron is evenfocused on that.
I I do peep the mastery in that3d chess move and going on.
Pat McAfee, though I thinkagain, I'm not criticizing what
he should have done.
I just would have thought thatyou would have undercut Stephen

(01:01:00):
A's employer, espn, and went toFox Sports and gave them the
interview.
That seemed to be a biggerpower play, but I understand
it's still a slight to Stephen ASmith on some levels I'm not
getting into it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:12):
it very much feels like I'm a play in your face, in
your house, after your show.

Speaker 1 (01:01:15):
I guess even maybe you look at it like that it's
even more of a play than itwould be going sitting at Fox
Sports.
But the whole conversationabout who we should have sat
down with, why he didn't chooseto highlight his fellow athletes
who are now part of the newmedia, black media like, let's
not do that.
This ain't that kind ofconversation.
This media, black media let'snot do that.
This ain't that kind ofconversation.

(01:01:35):
This wasn't the time for that.
If you didn't see what LeBronwas trying, the means he was
trying to achieve, you'remissing the entire point by
making it about why he didn't goon a black podcast, All these
black voices and his friendsthat could have used it.
Stop it.
They'll have ample opportunityonce that man is done playing
basketball to get his time.

Speaker 3 (01:02:00):
I'm going to land ball to get his time and I'm
gonna land my plan on that.
I don't know who else got thefloor now, but that, yeah, it's
much better than nothing whatyou got on it, bear.
Where do I begin?
I'll say this by starting bysaying this.
When I first I don't know ifyou guys remember we used to
talk, we touched on it, Ibelieve, last podcast, and it
was merely because what only,the only thing that happened was
lebron james approaching him atthe beginning of the third
quarter.
That's all that had happenedthen.

(01:02:22):
And then Stephen A Smith went onthis tour.
Once he, I guess, gathered histhoughts Because initially,
listen, I thought it was goingto be over.
When he said you know, from afather's standpoint, you know, I
understand, had he left itthere, we wouldn't be having
this conversation.
But he decided, you know, afterthe fact and I think the

(01:02:45):
problem is, he let comments getto him.
He saw the comments of guyssaying that dude was, did you
see how tight he was?
Did you see how stale all thosethings in his ego got to him?
Then he started, you know, heproceeded to keep going on and
you started seeing.
Part of this went back to myinitial comments, last you know,
last podcast, when I, wheneverybody was looking at it from

(01:03:05):
a standpoint of man he couldcritique and I said there's no
problem, we could keepcritiquing because, but we're
entering, we're in this stage ofentertainment.
We're critiquing because, butwe're entering, we're in this
stage of entertainment and it'sto the point where it overtook
the actual basketball side ofthings.
As far as being a commentatorand keeping it within then,
within that realm and withinthose lines, I think the issue

(01:03:29):
was some of the things startedto head towards more of a
demonstrative.
Look as far as the commentswent with the Sun Because, if
you notice, no one said anythingabout when he had some good
games.
They didn't say he had a greatgame.
I always said I understand aboutthe criticism, I understand
that LeBron James helped put atarget, but even then we always

(01:03:52):
like to contort and thingsbecause lebron james said some
but when he talked about theplayers, somehow went from some
of the players to all themajority of the players and this
comment initially when he saidabout his son being better than
even that slight thing.
I look at this thing when itwhen it happened right and and
he went.
I hate the fact that kendrickperkins, when he made it about

(01:04:15):
race and he made it seem likethat was what about this, what
about that?
And you could have helped him.
He not only about him, aboutwhich platform he went to, which
show he went to, but also forhis podcast of having steve nash
overtake saying you know, youcould have had channing fry and
all these other guys, and he wastrying to allude to the fact

(01:04:36):
it's about racism.
I hated that.
Like that's something that wegot to cut out.
If you, if it's not a clear cutcase of that, one thing I will
say is I didn't.
I didn't expect anything lessfrom the ESPN.
Everybody that's employed byESPN that go on the first take
show because, listen, theyunderstand what feeds them.
So I didn't.

(01:04:56):
I expected the comments to bewhat they were going to be and
everybody helping out Stephen a,because initially they got on
LeBron talking to every man.
I heard Ryan Clark andeverybody.
Man, you went up to LeBron.
You know LeBron, why didn't yougo up to listen?
You didn't go to skip.
Why, to listen, you didn't goto skip, right, see, I knew what

(01:05:16):
.
See, we, we should have knownthem what they were trying to
bring up.
We knew that skip bayless wasn'teven available right and when
he went on a patent on theoutside right and but, but by
all accounts, stephen a smith isthe one that said I ain't hard
to find, I'm over, you know hecame with all that bravado so
lebron james caught you and heshook your draws and you were
sitting there If I mean man, themeans that came up out of that

(01:05:39):
thing, because he didn't say aword, but not his head.
It was almost like LeBron waslike, if you understand, nod
your head because he was tooafraid to say yes, because it
just seems like it was a onesided thing and he made it that
way.
But when he started talkingabout, I would have swung on him
, even prefaced it by saying, oh, he would have whipped my ass.
It don't really matter, brother, he didn't, he didn't, he
didn't approach you with thatenergy like he was going to beat

(01:06:01):
you up.
But once again, that ego, youhave to feed your ego and let's
let's get, let's be real.
I said this yes, chris,yesterday, chris, we were being,
when we were having aconversation, chris, when we
were having the conversation, Isaid he needs to thank LeBron
because yet again, lebron hashelped you out by you being able
to speak about him and makethis the front line.

Speaker 2 (01:06:21):
Even LeBron was hesitant on it.
He was on the Pat McAfee show.
He's going to be sitting theresmiling ear to ear about me just
saying his name.

Speaker 3 (01:06:28):
He barely addressed it.
He had many other things thathe addressed besides that.
He kind of touched on it andmoved on.
Don't get me wrong LeBron James.
We know he's always calculatedand we know that the Fox was in
the hen house.
He knew what he was doing.
But when I look at it, and thenbecause at the time it was

(01:06:49):
Perkins and it was WendyWindhorse who was on the show,
he caught the way that Truth betold.
But even then though, yeah, butI'll say this Maybe it seems
that way, because the way hespeaks about LeBron, you think
that they would have an intimate.

Speaker 2 (01:07:04):
There's a level of familiarity there.

Speaker 3 (01:07:06):
Yeah, just because you've covered me doesn't mean
we've been close, so that'swhat's been going on and, by all
accounts, I was fooled intobelieving that.

Speaker 2 (01:07:13):
I thought that all man I thought it was closer too.

Speaker 3 (01:07:16):
Right.
He must be having in-depthconversations, like, at the end
of the day, like, trust me, Iknow.
And when LeBron James comes out.

Speaker 1 (01:07:22):
He has kids barking at parties and shit.

Speaker 3 (01:07:24):
Right, Like me and him, we were on the phone.
He asked my number.
We talked you regular.
When LeBron James came out andcalled him pretty much weird,
like or not him, but justnecessarily the situation is
weird.
Like you're speaking to me andthey use him and that's what
they use them and that's taken,true, that's like his shtick and

(01:07:44):
that's his, what he's known for.

Speaker 2 (01:07:46):
Everybody tags him as being the LeBron insider.

Speaker 3 (01:07:49):
And the fact that he is not a LeBron insider.
He and the fact that he is nota LeBron insider, he's just been
a guy that's I mean, when youthink about it it's almost
creepy the guy that's closelywatched LeBron's career since
high school.
But you've never had a realclose relationship to where you
know somehow you're to be in hismemoirs or something like that

(01:08:09):
later down the line.
You were just a guy thatclosely watched the game from a
standpoint that was, you know, Iguess, a little bit more in
depth than the next person, butnever enough to where you know
what was going to happen or youknew you were privy to certain
information before it came aboutthat All LeBron James was doing
was setting things straight.
And also, I will say this thatkind of gave me pause for a lot

(01:08:36):
of things, because what madeLeBron James do this?
His 20-plus year career asidefrom a few times that he had
interviews, you know thedecision, things like that he
really doesn't really run to themedia.
So that kind of had me lookingat this whole situation.
Is there something bigger?
Because we know there's a CalState, i's time to land this
plane.
I think so.
Yeah, when you look at it, whenyou start looking at the moves

(01:08:58):
that the Lakers made and how hedidn't want to.
You know, don't mortgage thefuture just so I could try to
win.
I think LeBron is happy withhis career.
Think about it.
He was able to play.
He can say he played with hisson, he got that.
He checked that box the Lakers.
I think he tried and I thinkhe's at a point now where he may

(01:09:19):
be tired of it all.
I think he can love the sportbut still be like I'm ready to
move on from it.
And I think that he made thismove with Luka and he knew it
wasn't like getting a rookie.
So if we don't win with thisone, I put certain people in
position.
You know I got our coach thejob, so we're, you know,
everything's great for thefuture for him.

(01:09:40):
We're having Luke and a lot ofgreat young talent, and now I
can move on from it and leavethe Lakers in a great position
for the future.
It's not a shock if I would,let's say, after this year and I
think he won't say it untilafter this year let's say they
win the championship.
I think he's going to probably,if not this year, most

(01:10:02):
definitely think the followingyear that's going to be his
going away tour.
I just think that Stephen ASmith has, you know, blown this
up more than what it needed tobe.

Speaker 1 (01:10:13):
In true Stephen A fashion.

Speaker 3 (01:10:15):
I mean well, not to mention, like you said,
credibility is shot, becausethat's what made it look bad is
you were saying things.
Once you start going outsidethe realm of basketball, I said,
oh, brother, he struck an earth, and I always believe this in
my true heart.
There's something elseunderneath this, because for him
going up to you and said whathe said, because now everything

(01:10:35):
is coming out and now, stephen ASmith, all these real feelings
are coming out which you couldhave expressed this a long time
ago.
Why are you doing it now?
And you're expressing,basically but this is your goat,
yeah, this and that.
And man, come on, man, checkthis out.
We know he wasn't your goat thebringing up the Kobe situation.

Speaker 2 (01:10:57):
How did you not know?
This got a little different tome.

Speaker 3 (01:10:59):
Yeah.
Not only that, I knew that youbringing up situations, that
brother, you are on the outsidelooking in.
You don't know what really isreally going on, because none of
us know.
We could say all we want to sayyeah, he wasn't there for this
and that, and I understand, fromthe outside looking in it could
be a certain way, but I wouldlike to believe that Dwayne Wade

(01:11:21):
and LeBron James even if he didthe way, he didn't like it they
probably had a conversationabout that and see.
But this is the problem withStephen H Smith.
You are shooting yourself inthe foot and I ask, cause?
I believe by de facto, you havebecome the.
You are well, at this point youare the new Skip Bayless and
that's not a good thing.
I think that, skip Bayless,because when you look at it,

(01:11:45):
some of the things you'restarting to do, you're going to
cross a line that you can'treturn from and you know your
takes are going to change, yourtakes are going to become.
You know more or less about theplayer's actual game, more is
it about who they are.
I think that Stephen A Smith isteetering on a point where, yes,
you've got the big contract andit's going to be about.

(01:12:08):
And this, see, nobody bringsthis together, right?
Nobody brings this togetherabout what even Charles Barkley
said and I was with CharlesBarkley.
I understand that Stephen A issaying that this is television,
but at what point do you kind ofgot to keep the core of this.
And this goes back to, when youlook at it, men's basketball as

(01:12:29):
a whole, because the women,they're making headlines for all
the right reasons.
Right, men's basketball ismaking headlines, whether it be
about, you know, the too manythrees, you know the way, the
way the game, the style of play,all these things.
And now you're looking at thecommentary side of it.
It is all coming to aculmination where something

(01:12:49):
needs to be fixed because we'regetting away from the core of
commentating.
Listen, I know we laughed atthe whole shacking the food and
things like that, but, man, comeon.
Now we're getting to a pointwhere you're ostracizing and
talking about players on a levelother than man.
He wasn't a great rebounder,but this dude was a buster and I

(01:13:11):
can understand.
If I was listen, if I was aprofessional basketball player,
right, I'd be pissed off.
A dude, talk to me like that,talk about my game, but when you
start calling me a bum and allthat, like bro, you can never be
in my shoes and that it'salmost a slap in the face.
I've heard Gilbert Arena saysomething like I tend not to

(01:13:32):
look at the bad things of aplayer because, listen, making
it to the NBA is hard enough andto be great at is a whole
nother thing.
So I can look at the bad thingsand still look at the great
things that they're doing.
But guys like Stephen A,because of entertainment factor
in television, they've gotten toa point where now like, look
how far it's going.

(01:13:53):
Like I said, you brought upKobe to try to prove a point.
You went that low until now,even like you're wrong.

Speaker 2 (01:14:00):
Well, that to me speaks to a bigger emotional
outburst than anything where.
But for somebody who's supposedto be so polished and, and at
the top of your game, you throwout arguably the most sensitive
topic that you know here in inla for people in la, because I
don't even know that that wasfor lebron.
That was to try and stir upsomething with the people.

(01:14:22):
Yeah, and for you to be wrongright, and it's like that's,
that's outside of what we'reeven talking about.
That's when I kind of lost totry and stir up something with
the people, yeah, and for you tobe wrong, right, and it's like
that's outside of what we'reeven talking about.
That's when it kind of lostcredibility for me.
One, when we first talked aboutthis, I hadn't seen the
interview, I just saw littleclips here and there and it was
a reminder at how well media canspin a narrative, right,

(01:14:45):
because my first impression waslike both of you guys are kind
of corny for jumping out here inthis format where it's like
look, you talk about it, addressit, move on, but unless you're
just trying to keep it going.
But after I watched it, I agreeit was very little.
It was about hey, he went onhis Taylor Swift tour.
He might not like some of thewords that were used, but it was

(01:15:10):
absolutely true.
Yeah, I wasn't going to bringthis up until the video surfaced
.
Okay, well, you still.
In essence, what you admittedwas you had plans.
You had a plan in place forthis.
Stop playing in my face andpretending like I'm not reading
what's happening, whereas Iwasn't going to.
But since the video came out.
You just happened to have itready, locked and loaded.

Speaker 1 (01:15:23):
So, like a real live chump, I gotta save face and
that's what I gotta do.

Speaker 2 (01:15:28):
Worst case scenario.
You had some thought around it.
Secondly, I think there is alevel of wrong on both sides
where, yes, lebron has jumpedout, even with the comments of
you know, I think Bronny'sbetter than some of these guys
out here.
That's a lot to put on,considering where he was in his
career at that point, and Ithink that that needs to be

(01:15:49):
something where it's like okay,that's a fair criticism and it
could just be look a dad in amoment, or just somebody looking
in a moment.
And, yeah, it could have beenthe worst thing ever.
No, but you have to be able tolive with how somebody could
take that the wrong way and gohey, somebody could take that
the wrong way and go, hey, theseguys have made it.
You started looking at itbecause now you open yourself.
If this was a court case, right, supreme Court pocket.
If you open yourself to that,now you get to bring that in

(01:16:12):
right In a court case.
Hey, you made a way for this tonow become okay, well, cool,
since that's the case.
Is he really a McDonald'sAll-American, is he really?
And now you've given thenaysayers a path to now dispute
because of what you said.

Speaker 1 (01:16:25):
So I think from that standpoint yeah, it's now, now,
it's, now, it's.

Speaker 2 (01:16:29):
It's completely fair game.

Speaker 3 (01:16:30):
I don't think that is that way.

Speaker 2 (01:16:32):
Well, I think it played a role in because now
you're, you're putting anarrative out that matches and
it benefits you, your camp, yourson, at least in somebody's
mind.
So now you've, you've created aposition.
But Brian said, look, it's mypoint to stick up for the, for
not only my family, but theplayers.
Now here comes another.

(01:16:54):
How many of the other playershave you stood up for when
things have gone wrong?
We don't want to Right, well,but let's see.
But no, no, no, no.
But I'm saying it's those smallthings that people want to hang
on to, and if you give somebodywho wants to dare, don't, don't
, don't, dare.
Let me air out your dirtylaundry, it's more to talk about

(01:17:28):
this, let's not talk about this.
And it became very much.
I know where the skeletons areburied and it was like, well,
that's, that's not even wherewe're going.
I mean, that's what got.
That's what got D'AngeloRussell in trouble as a young
Laker, where it was like, hey,you've stepped out of the lines
of what the issue is or whatshould be done.
And to see somebody who is thatseasoned, who depends on media,

(01:17:51):
who depends on thatrelationship, part of the reason
you got that huge contract is,yeah, because you are in places
some of these other guys haven'tbeen able to get to in years.
For you to now jeopardize thatbecause you lost a battle,
you're willing to now put thewar up.
It's like, yeah, that's justnot, it's not worth it.
And it becomes.
It becomes petty.
And if he would have, I wouldhave.

(01:18:13):
Okay, where was that energy?
That energy didn't match whatwe saw.
So if that energy doesn't matchthe actual film, let's just.
Let's just call it what it is.
Hey, and he made some validpoints.
I don't have to like you, am Igoing to cover you?
Yeah, you must see TV.
You're one of the best athletesout there.
But I thought just from thatperspective.
After watching the video, I waslike, yeah, this, this wasn't.

(01:18:35):
This, didn't have to take up asmuch as it did, and it went a
little too far.
It went a little too far, Imean, for you to come on the
next day and have a whole17-minute monologue without any
breaks and everything, and thenit became this I would do, I
would.
That man is 6'9".
That is Thanos.
There's no way you're about toswing on that man.

(01:18:55):
What are you going to do?
Hit him in his lower rib, stop.
Why are we pretending that thiswas going to be Like stop, going
to be 60 years old, like stop,let's.
Let's not do this on camera,because for what both of you
guys have done very well foryourselves you got your money
you still gonna talk more.
At least steven a is stillgoing to address him, because

(01:19:16):
it's literally why he got hismoney, and then we'll see where
it goes from there.
But yeah, it was it.
It in in hindsight when, whenyou have all the details, to me
personally it does look a little, a little worse on Stephen A In
this particular case, but well,because, at the end of the day,
listen, lebron James is goingto be box office.

Speaker 3 (01:19:34):
How often does he speak to the media?
So, from that viewpoint, theywere, they were happy to hear
him.
The issue for me was see.
This goes back to a biggerissue that I had.
I understand, by all accounts,why they are going after Bronny,
but the problem is this goes toshow you that the NBA didn't

(01:19:54):
have nothing better, where wewere late in the second half of
the season, still bringing upsomething that was really
irrelevant.
That's the issue I had,something that was really
irrelevant.
That's the issue I had.
We LeBron listen, I think thatthe sportscasters and
commentators have a duty to tryto keep you know things fresh
but the main thing was talkingabout the Lakers, which I

(01:20:15):
understand that part and Bronny.
Throughout the whole season, wedidn't speak about the rookie,
the great rookies that wereplaying.
They got little shine this yearand, like I said, for the first
couple of weeks, month, twomonths you can talk about
Bronnie.
You're late in the season andthe second half after the
all-star break and we're stillbringing it up Like it's
relevant.
That's the problem I had andthat's what I knew.

(01:20:36):
This isn't.
This isn't see this is us reallytaking a given a chance to
really go at LeBron by way ofhis son, because you don't
listen.
By all accounts, right, like Isaid, I never had a problem with
them doing it, but I knew atsome point no see, look where
we're going, because you don'tget this late in the season to
still attack a 55th pick Likeyou don't do that and to keep

(01:21:02):
going.
That's what I'm saying whereyou had headlines.
That's why I say, even in apreface, by saying the women,
they were doing it right, theywere making headlines for great
things, the NBA right now.
When you think about it, andnow you add this to it, it is
looking bad for men's basketballand we understand that Stephen
A isn't just men's basketball,but they get a lot from that,
from the headlines forbasketball and going back and

(01:21:26):
using the whole GOAT debate andgoing back and forth with that.
So that was my whole thing.
I didn't—excuse me, listen,listen.
We can talk about LeBron Jamespossibly being petty and things
like that, but, like I said, Isaw—man, he tried to egg and
bring on and Wendy, you, yourguy.
That was so bad, come on now hehe kind of egged on wind horse.

(01:21:49):
You could tell you know whenhorse was trying to just listen.
I'm gonna just pass it by, I'mnot gonna really delve into it,
but steven nate kept egging himon and just that's your guy.
You come on, man, like it wasso bad.
Like I said when you, it wasvery and excuse me, women, when
I say this, it was very feminineand and and my viewpoint that

(01:22:13):
you went against all yourcredibility to try to prove a
point.
That's not something that mendo.

Speaker 1 (01:22:18):
You know what men do and what it showed me.
Ultimately, and on both sides.
On some levels it shows thefragility of the male ego and
what we'll do to protect it,especially our public personas.
Like that, unfortunately, thereis some truth to that.
It's just what it is.
It's even a can he behave in afeminine manner at times?

(01:22:38):
No doubt about that, but whathe did at the root of it was the
most masculine thing, which isto protect his own ego.

Speaker 3 (01:22:44):
But nobody expected him thinking, oh, you're going
to breed up LeBron Everybodykind of it was all you know he
got marked out, essentially oncamera.

Speaker 1 (01:22:55):
He got marked out.

Speaker 3 (01:22:57):
But that's only because his mouth, prior to that
, the way you kind of carriedyourself in the bravado in which
you carried yourself in.
Had he not had that, nobodywould have been like him.

Speaker 1 (01:23:04):
I'll give you that real quick, Because Stephen A is
the first to be on some pull-upon me.
You know where I'm at.
I ain't hard to find Baby.
I'm from New York.
Yeah, he'd be on that heavy.
No doubt about that that.

Speaker 3 (01:23:13):
Akron, ohio, bull came up to you and politely told
you tuck the problem with ithad he not been like that.
That's what I said.
That's when I say this, whenand I'm serious when I say this
he's on the, he's teetering onbecoming a skip bayless and I
don't want that for him.
You know, I want him by allaccounts.

(01:23:34):
He's been successful thus far,but he is on a cusp because
that's something that steve thatsays skip bayless would have
done.
He pulled a skip bayless moveand honestly I'm gonna be honest
with you guys I don't thinkthis is over.
I think he's going to there's.

Speaker 1 (01:23:49):
It definitely needs to be, because it can get really
ugly.

Speaker 3 (01:23:54):
But, if you want to talk about something when they
talk about blackmail and we'reattacking each other.
Don't it always happen at theend of the careers, where the
careers are said and done?
It wouldn't shock me if allthese things come out about
LeBron James as skeletons in thecloset, because you talked
about last week when there wasaccounts that Shaq or somebody

(01:24:16):
rumors that Shaq was looking forinfo on Shannon Sharp.
I think that we're in thisround because, remember, there's
two different sides.

Speaker 1 (01:24:23):
That's an unofficially official source.
I think that we're in thisround because, remember, there's
two different sides.
That's an unofficially officialsource.
I won't even go.
I wouldn't even went too far,yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:24:28):
but here's the thing, though.
This is where we areEntertainment and basketball.
We understand from a basketballstandpoint.
You know, alvin Silver kind ofI think he's going to intervene
if it continues to carry on,because he's already made a
statement.
But see, the thing is they'repartners with ESPN, so they may
not like it, but this is greatfor their partner.

(01:24:48):
We may not like it, but this isgreat for ESPN.
This is, I mean, the views thatthey got, the fact that people
are going back right and that'sunfortunate, you know.
so you know.
I hope they can get it togetherbecause it really is petty on
both ends.
I just hope that Stephen HSmith because, I listen, I don't
hate Stephen H Smith I want himto be successful and continue

(01:25:10):
to be successful.
I just think he needs tobacktrack.
Don't.
Don't do this again, because Ithink your credibility is
teetering, boy.
It's on thin ice right now, andI thought it was always on thin
ice with these, with the newgeneration of players.

Speaker 1 (01:25:24):
So but aside from that, in this conversation, what
I thought again, we talkedabout it earlier it's just my
assessment.
This is what I saw from myvantage point.
It seemed as if Stephen a Brianwind horse, espn all his issues
with people aside and thesports media, it seemed as if we
were getting that glimpse ofLeBron James that we've wanted

(01:25:46):
you get it with his podcastright Now he's got a new one
coming up with Steve.

Speaker 3 (01:25:50):
Nash, steve Nash, which is maybe it's just me.

Speaker 1 (01:25:55):
I feel like I know what people's moves are and
their motivations and theirintentions are.
It seems as if he's trying toposition Steve Nash for another
NBA job and LeBron is using thatleverage to do so.
It worked out for JJ Redick.
Why not for Steve Nash, who'shad success as an NBA coach, to
get another crack at it?
Not that he needs it, but I'msure it certainly wouldn't hurt
to have an interview processover the course of a podcast

(01:26:15):
season to other GMs and teamowners, like, hey, this is my
basketball mind on full display,in case you didn't know it.
And whatever he may havechanged since his stint with the
Brooklyn Nets, it's interesting.
I mean, it is what it is.

Speaker 2 (01:26:32):
It makes sense, it makes perfect sense.

Speaker 1 (01:26:34):
I mean and I'm sure you'll have conversations about
that It'll come up why didn't hehighlight a black player who
wants to get into coaching, whocould have used that?
You'll get that.
Who knows how that worked out,who knows what happened in the
background?
But to me we got not so much ofan introspective, it wasn't a
deep LeBron James, but it wasgood to see LeBron let it all

(01:26:55):
hang out in an interview and itseemed to me, like I mentioned
earlier, that seemed to be thevestiges of a player starting to
enjoy the winter of his careerand embrace the coming of his
retirement and life afterbasketball.
Because LeBron is incrediblypersonable and he comes across

(01:27:15):
well on camera.
You relate to him.
He seems cool, he's polished,but he's not so sterilized that
he's a professional in sportsand radio and content creation.
But LeBron, he does radiatethat star quality, like he takes
you back to the days of hisearly career when he was a

(01:27:37):
really fun character in hiscommercials.

Speaker 2 (01:27:41):
The LeBrons, for example.
Right yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:27:44):
He's showing us his personality.
Maybe that's just LeBron tryingto get the best and most
mileage out of the end of hiscareer and enjoy other aspects
of his tenure as an NBA, as anicon, quite frankly.
But I thought it was cool.
For that reason I didn't takeaway the whole Stephen A thing.
It was such a small part of theconversation.
I think he did his part by bygoing to pat mcafee.

(01:28:05):
That was his kind of slight tohim, without focusing on it, you
know, I mean he didn't need toagain.
I thought windhorse caught theworst stray he got.
Yeah, you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (01:28:13):
Like I got choked, yeah yeah, yeah, weirdo, like I
said, I just want to say thislast quick thing.
You guys I'm sorry, I just willsay this sometimes as parents
we do things for our kids tohelp them that others may not
agree with, but you understand,it was necessary for it to
happen and I will say I thinkthat's what happened.

(01:28:36):
I know he's in the league andhe did what he thought was best
for his situation, but he andhonestly it looks like it's
shown, I think that I thinkBronny is playing much more
loose in the league now as aresult of that, because there's
something to see your fatherstick up for you and keep that
faith in you.

Speaker 1 (01:28:55):
And I think and like I said.

Speaker 3 (01:28:57):
Sometimes I get it from popular, it was unpopular
what he had done and everything.
But then again a lot of guysthat say this they never had the
opportunity to play with theirson, either in the league either
so I could be on the outsideand say A lot of guys.

Speaker 1 (01:29:11):
He's literally the only person who has had that
honor Right.

Speaker 3 (01:29:16):
So you hear them say I would let my.
I said you know what, we wouldlike to hope so.
But for LeBron James and wehave to put it we can't never
forget what he saw, whathappened to his son.
You know being laying on theground and you know heart
stopping and things like that.
I don't want to go through that.
I don't know what that feelslike, don't never know what it

(01:29:37):
feels like.
But the fact that he was ableto stick up for his son and as
long as his son got the messageat the end of the day, you got
to live with that and I thinkhe's willing to live with that.

Speaker 2 (01:29:48):
Yeah, yeah, all right .
Last question before we get outof here.
Last week we introducedsomething a little more fun, or
just throwing something outthere.
This week's question, thissegment.
Fellows will never know whatthe question is, so what y'all
think is the name of the segment?
Quick question for you what issomething you wish you had done

(01:30:13):
in your 20s?
What is something you wish youhad done in your 20s?
What y'all think I?

Speaker 1 (01:30:20):
mean, that's easy.
Who's going first?
What's that?
That's easy?
Travel Like, really?
Yeah, as much as I wanted tosee, like Brazil and London,
that was my opportunity to do itLike you'll never be more free
than when you're childless, yeah, when you're unmarried,
uncommitted to anything, I couldmove around freely from job to
job, from place to place, itdidn't matter.
But I wish I would gone out andreally saw the part, at least

(01:30:42):
the parts of the world that Iwanted to see.
There ain't but a few places Ijust really was dying to see,
some for great reasons, some fornot so good reasons, but I
really wanted to see it.
I had to see Brazil, right.
I still want to see it in thislifetime Now, for different
reasons, because I have anaffinity for Brazilian music and
the culture I just love.

Speaker 2 (01:30:59):
Brazil.
I love everything about it.

Speaker 1 (01:31:00):
I love their translation of, like American
music and I don't know.
It's just they got a beautifullanguage, beautiful beaches,
beautiful people.
Yeah, it seems like a greatplace, the UK and a few other
places.
But other than that, like Iregret not doing that because
you don't get a chance to do itonce you get a family, and not
just for the the financialaspect of it.
It's very expensive.

(01:31:20):
I mean, raising a family andbeing, you know, having a family
is an expensive undertaking.
Like financially it is a very,very much a financial affair.
But you factor in likeinternational travel with a
family and you got to take inthe fact that you got kids and a
wife who ain't really hot ongetting an airplane.
You never really going toconvince them until they're
comfortable doing it.
You got to wait for them.
But it's like you still want togo see things, you still want

(01:31:43):
to go do stuff, but you'relimited by that because you
gotta take it into considerationlike you can't just do what you
want to do.
Like you, you have to consideryour children, your wife and
what they're they're comfortablewith, where they want to go,
and a lot of times, as a man atleast, you sacrifice a lot of
what you want to do for whatyour family wants to do, because
most, if not all, of what we doas a family is what they want

(01:32:04):
to do.
Trust me If I never see theinside of another amusement park
for a million years.

Speaker 2 (01:32:10):
Yeah, you're like life's good.

Speaker 1 (01:32:12):
Life is great.
Like that's an accomplishmentin and of itself.
Like the things they want to doI have little to no interest in
.
But I got to kind of pony upthe money.
I got to really put on my gameface.
I got to pretend to enjoy it.
I got to make sure they have agood time, but it ain't what I
want to do.
Like 99.9% of the shit I justwould never want to do I'm not
interested in doing.
I'm forcing them but you know Ilove my family enough to do

(01:32:33):
that for them.
But the single man having toworry about that man, I would
have been all up and throughthe's like the main thing I
would have.
I mean there are other thingsas well, but I mean I wish I
just would have been more.
I'd recognize just how free Iwas.
But in that aspect inparticular, travel would have
been.
But I didn't realize just howfree I was, like how I was

(01:32:56):
unbound by anything, reallyanybody's expectations.
I didn't even care about thatin my 20s but I was unbound by
real obligation, realresponsibility and that kind of
stuff.
You lose sight of that, that onething about your 20s in America
, I will say young folks, if youcan hear me, you're under the
command of my voice.
Understand this one thing youhave the luxury.
In this country, this countryonly you can do some good

(01:33:18):
fucking up in your 20s andrecover.
That cannot be said for most ofsociety outside of this one.
Recover that cannot be said formost of society outside of this
one.
You can do a good amount ofdamage short of throwing away
your life and your freedom, butyou can.
Even then I mean dudes who go toprison.
Those are some of the mostmodel citizens in my experience.
Guys I've known who go toprison early and lose most of

(01:33:39):
their freedoms and their lateteens and twenties.
When they come out they'repretty well reformed and they
hit the ground running becausethey've lost the most pivotal
time of their lives.
So, short of that, you canbounce back from anything.
But when you realize just howfree you are, how, how little
obligation you really have toanybody but yourself, that's

(01:34:02):
your time to be selfish, and Iwish I would have taken that
more and I would have had lessfear of the world and fear of
failure, because if you fail atthat point you're not falling
from great heights, you'll beall right.
Yeah, you falling through acouple of stairs.
You'll scrape your knee.
You'll get back up and keep itmoving.

Speaker 2 (01:34:18):
I wish I would have understood that, and the nice
thing is is you got a bunch ofpeople failing around you too,
so you guys are all picking eachother up, right?

Speaker 1 (01:34:25):
I'm not failing with a family on my back.
I'm not jumping out of a planewithout a parachute.
With my wife and kids I'mjumping off a couple of steps
and if it hurts a little bit,hey again, you'll recover,
you'll be all right.
I wish I would have been fullyunder.
It's hard in hindsight realizehow much you didn't grasp the

(01:34:47):
freedom in your 20s until youknow.
For those who got it, I'm damnnear envious.
God bless you.
For those of you understand itnow you know what I mean.
You gotta wait for hindsight tokick in and you just like fuck
it.
I'm gonna fly by the seat of mypants, let it all hang out.
I'm gonna drop my balls andlive my life.
You got it, you got the rightidea.
Continue to do you.
What about you bear?

Speaker 3 (01:35:02):
very similar.
Much of the same, I will saythat most of us have been
conditioned to think a certainway, coming out of high school
right from our parents, and onceyou live life and been through
some things, you realize that welove our parents but their view
was very old school and not, Iwon't say, realistic.

(01:35:24):
It was realistic for them.
But when you think about havingthe freedom being young, being
in your 20s, trying to figure itout, messing up, you know,
making mistakes, learning fromthose mistakes, and I think it
helps you become a much morewell-rounded person, especially
as a male, to kind of figureyourself out Cause.

(01:35:46):
Part of that, all that is thejourney of figuring yourself out
right and to have theseexperiences that help shape and
mold you, then going from thereto starting to settle down and
understand Cause for a man, yourwhole thing, your whole journey
, is to find, realize yourpurpose and to go after that

(01:36:06):
purpose.
You know what your purpose isand through that you know the
steps of realizing.
Okay, I'm in my mid-20s, I'm,you know, trying to reach these
goals.
I'm learning about myself thanI did in my early 20s, to where
you start to round off and putyourself in position, which in

(01:36:27):
turn makes it better for yourmate, because you're not going
into a situation where you don'tfully understand and know
yourself.
And now you're bringing anotherperson along for the ride, not
just other children, eventually,but another person.
I understand now why peoplethat did it, you know they went
about it a different way thatwaited till their 30s to have a

(01:36:50):
child because they were in everyaspect of their life, seemingly
you're supposed to be, or atleast they, you know.
I hope they were.
They were much more stable,which I'm not financially,
mentally, spiritually, they werealready on their journey.
They understand what theirpurpose is and bringing into,
you know, not only a child, butin a relationship you can be

(01:37:10):
more stable for them.
And I understand all thesethings now because you know our
parents, you know a lot of us.
You know when you retire, youget to do all these things and
we take for granted that.
Who say that?
Who's going to say we're goingto have, you know, later on,
later on, it's something that isunknown right now.
It is, you know, just to havethose experiences.

(01:37:30):
I have a coworker he's mucholder and you know he was
telling me I was in my twentiesman.
I, you know, on my Harley Iwould just ride to New York and
I lived in Queens for like ayear just on my bike, found work
, did this, then moved to theFlorida Keys and drove out the.
You know just the experiencesthat he had that he would never
change for a million years.

(01:37:51):
It helped shape him, it helpedyou know him to understand.
You know, because we have to getoutside of our box.
A lot of us have not left ourbox you know what I mean and we
still, even in our relationshipsand marriages and with children
, we truly, some, some of us,truly don't know ourselves a
hundred percent because we lefta lot on the table.
There's a lot to you know.

(01:38:11):
There's a lot that we didn't doand we know we're kind of, some
of us are sending, you know,our family through it because
we're really not happy withourselves.
We're in a, we're in arelationship of marriage with
children and you're not 100%happy because the things that
you didn't do and I'm notcertain things listen, it's too
late but the opportunities,because now you have too many

(01:38:32):
responsibilities, you have allthese responsibilities and it's
just not in the cards for you tostill be able to do that.
So the freedom, like you said,andre, that is like my biggest
thing.
If I could go back, I mean evenamongst us, to have the time,
for we just would have that.
You know, we always talk aboutit all moving in together, what

(01:38:55):
you know what, what would thatlook like, that apartment?

Speaker 2 (01:38:58):
To have those ups and downs, two, three years where
we're just figuring it out.
Yeah, I think that would havebeen fun.

Speaker 3 (01:39:04):
You know figuring out , having fun, you know going
through your ups and downs andyou know looking back on that.
I think you know and hopefullyI don't.
You know misstep when I say Ispeak for all of us that it
seems like we went from 18 tohere.
You know life hits everyone butit seemed like it went like it

(01:39:24):
just fast forwarded and it wasjust like boom, we are here.
A lot of us, I mean all of us.
We're talking about married,young, you know, been in
relationships, didn't even getto live that at that part of the
young man's life that I want,you know, my sons, to live is
without responsibilities,without children, is without
responsibilities withoutchildren.
Honestly, I tell my children asthey were getting older I want

(01:39:47):
you to be in a place where youcan be selfish, not in a bad way
, but be selfish unto yourself,and so you can experience, so
you don't leave anything on atable that you're going to
regret later.
And we can do this and holdsome fun.
I'm not talking about break thelaw or anything like that, but
I do want you to reallyexperience and have fun and take

(01:40:07):
in all, what life has?
A lot of us haven't really evenlived life.
We've been really surviving allthese years but never really
can say I lived life at all.
I mean not even a third of it.
You think about it when youthink about the things that you
wanted to do, or things that youthought that you wanted to do,
and never have yet to even dosome of the things.

(01:40:28):
It don't have to be anythingcrazy.
It can be like, man, I've neverbeen out of my state and out
the country, I've never been tothat basketball game, all these
things.
And we don't get those times.
We don't.
We don't get some of that timeback because you don't know what
the future holds.
We like to think that we'regoing to live a long.
I mean man.
Our parents, you know, went bythe old school.
My mother thought when sheretired oh, I'm going to Please.

(01:40:52):
When it comes to travel, it'slike, yeah, getting out of bed
and going to the store is likefun, that's it.

Speaker 1 (01:41:09):
That was travel, but this mindset you thought that I
was going to retire and becomethis person, that I was going to
have all this experience latein my 60s.

Speaker 3 (01:41:12):
That was a meek and a monty Carlo.
It's not realistic.
It's not realistic.
It sounds good, I think.
That's that.
That's just that.
Cliches.
You know conversation,everybody, everybody.
You know sayings, everybodyalways has.
And you always think you knowwhen you retire is when I'm
enjoying myself and you realizeretirement is just that.
And now I see I start tounderstand and see why a lot of
people that I work with, likeman, you have 30-something, 40

(01:41:34):
years, you have the age you canretire why not?
Because they realize there'snothing left.
This is it.
Coming to work is the biggestthing.
Besides that, there's nothingleft.
So that's my thing.

Speaker 2 (01:41:49):
All right, yeah, I think we all and it's probably
based on something you mentionedthere we're all kind of
like-minded same path, samejourney.
But yeah, just that componentof having a little more time to
be, just that apartment phase,when we finally get to telling
you our adventures, you'llrealize a lot more why that
would have been something wewould have clung to.

(01:42:09):
But yeah, that was that was.
That was good time, but anothergood one in the books, fellas.
If that's it, we'll see younext time as if for me as if you
were buried.
You got anything else man.
I, yeah, should probably tellthem where to find us.
Don't forget to like, subscribe, share all the things Go hit
your YouTube y'all at theSupreme court.

Speaker 1 (01:42:30):
That's it.
That's.
That's not easy enough.
I don't know what else to tellyou.
I mean, you just don't want tofind us.
I hope that ain't the case atYouTube at the Supreme court, at
our access, at Supreme Courtbasketball, at YouTube at
Supreme Court basketball, ourwebsite, at Buzzsprout, the
Supreme Court basketball dot.

(01:42:50):
Buzzsprout dot com.
If you care to find us thereand anywhere you can get your
your podcast, just look upSupreme Court basketball podcast
.
We should pop up, we shouldappear and be there, we should
be in there like butthair, as itwere.

Speaker 3 (01:43:04):
Yeah, check us out, check us out, be there.
We should be in there like butthair, as it were.
Check us out, check us outy'all.
Yeah, please do, and again yourcomments.

Speaker 1 (01:43:12):
Your feedback is probably more than anything.
I would appreciate yourfeedback.
The donations are great.
If you want to do that on ourwebsite, Let us know what you're
feeling.
Yeah, let us know what you'refeeling.
Your comments and your feedback, as well as your likes and
subscribes, are cool, but I wantto know what the feedback is,
because I really want to getbetter at this.
This is the one thing that Ifound in my life in my late
years that I want to be goodenough at that.
I strive to be better at everytime I step out and do it, so

(01:43:35):
that matters to me.
If it means anything to you,give me that feedback.
I'd appreciate it greatly.

Speaker 3 (01:43:45):
And with that, that's all I got to say.
I'm out for the week, we out.
That sounds good.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ain't No Future in Yo' Frontin'

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

All Episodes

Ain't No Future in Yo' Frontin'

Stuff You Should Know