Nick Wright reacts to the New York Knicks firing head coach Tom Thibodeau and breaks down replacement candidates including the Dallas Mavericks' Jason Kidd. Later, Nick breaks down whether New York is targeting the Phoenix Suns' Kevin Durant or Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo to pair with Jalen Brunson. What would a trade require to bring either of these stars to New York City? Later, Nick explains why Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is having arguably the greatest guard season for any player not named Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson. Would an NBA championship makes SGA's 2025 better than Steph Curry's 2016 MVP season with the Warriors, when Golden State fell to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals? #Volume #Herd
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the best of the Week for What's Right
with Nick Right the best takes and moments from this
week on the show. Enjoy.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah, So, after two games away from the NBA Finals,
the New York Knicks have fired TIBs. We talked on Tuesday.
You seem to think that his job was pretty secure.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Myself as well. I couldn't see them fire and TIBs.
But here we.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Are, they fired him. Where did they go from here?
What's the assessment?
Speaker 4 (00:25):
Okay, so.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I react, this happened ten minutes before the TV show started, right,
And I actually said on the air, sometimes the reacting
to breaking news are my favorite shows when I look
back on them, and sometimes they're the most annoying shows
(00:49):
because I'm like, gosh, darn it, I just didn't have
that piece of information, you know what I mean, And
so everything that we said ends up becoming irrelevant a
few hours later. I think the TIBs show might end
up falling into the former category my favorite shows, and
here's why. So my snap reaction to the TIBs firing
(01:12):
was there's really only three ways to view it, Like
there's only three I guess rationales to the firing rationale
one was.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
They So let me back up.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
The reason I'm framing it like this is because everyone
is framing it the way you did, Demonse, which is
it was the best season in twenty five years. You
made your first conference finals in twenty five years, you
were two games away from the NBA Finals, you were
favored to go to the finals, and you fired your coach.
So logically speaking, that would mean one of two things
(01:50):
is true. Either A, at the end of the regular
season they had determined were move moving on from Tom Thibodeau.
Anything short of a championship or making the finals, we're
firing that. That's where they were, kind of like the
Nuggets were with Michael Malone. But the Nuggets just did
(02:12):
it beforehand and they weren't going to let this playoff
run dissuade them.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
That's kind of option A. Option be.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
If that's not the case, if at the end of
the regular season his job was safe, then that would
mean option B, which is somehow this playoff run hurt
TIBs in the front office er ownership's eyes, right, if
he would save at the end of the regular season
that they looked at it and they were like, you
(02:40):
know what, Demons was right that victory over the Celtics
was a fluke.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Shouldn't have happened down fifteen in every game.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
We're actually not that good, you know what I mean,
Like we were trailing Detroit a Bune, we got lucky
against Boston and so like those are, in theory, the
only two viable paths. And this is why I'm kind
I feel like Tuesday's TV show is going to age. Well,
I said that, and then I said, there is, however,
(03:11):
a third path, a third rationale I should say, which
is they are firing Tom Thibodeau because there is a
player they are trying to acquire that they think they
will be more likely to acquire if they fire Tom Thibodeaux.
(03:31):
And the what I was implying without really saying, is
was it possible that someone from Giannis's camp said, hey,
you know, if person X was your coach, maybe not
(03:53):
only you know, would it pushed Gyan is closer to
asking for a trade, but maybe he would ask for
trade to the Knick specifically. So I just kind of
threw that out there as a possibility. I don't think
you would have to fire a Tibbs in order to
give yourself a better chance to get Kevin Durant. Yannis
(04:14):
is the other big name out there. So I just
threw that out there on Tuesday. And then, Demons, did
you see the kind of weird report about one of
the coaches the Knicks might want to go after?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Because I did.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
It was a coach who currently has a job, and
it was Jason Kidd. And if people remember, Jason Kidd
coached Yannis in Milwaukee, and when Jason Kidd was fired Yannis,
the reporting was he called Jason Kidd and said, is
(04:53):
can I fix it? Should I call ownership and say,
unfire you? I'm paraphrasing again, I'm not, I am. I'm
literally I could not be further away from reporting anything here.
I have been gambling NonStop for the last thirty six hours.
I've not been working the phones. I've been playing poker.
(05:14):
I'm simply saying the firing TIBs. It was odd enough
that a little alarm bells went off. And then when
I cause the reporting, demanse was there were two coaches
who currently have jobs the Knicks were interested in.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
It was Jason Kidd and emy Udoka.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
And I'm like, okay, well, Emay Udoka is not going
to be available like and so it felt to me
and again maybe maybe I'm wrong, like Udoka was included
in that, like, hey, yeah, there's a lot of.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
You know, established coaches that you know we might like.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
It's really that one name.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
It was really about exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
And then this morning on the walk over from Aria
where I'm staying to Horseshoe where the World Series of
Poker is, I was listening to Brian windhorse Show.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
The Hoop Collective.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
And anybody, by the way, who tweeting me or asking
me or whatever about Lebron once again going at Wendy,
I would please. What I would like to say about
that is it makes me very sad and I wish
you wouldn't do it, and I you know, I appreciate
you respecting my privacy at this time, I do not
like it. But bright I was listening to Brian Windhorst
(06:48):
on his great podcast with Tim bond Temps and Tim McMahon,
Tim McMahon who covers all the Texas teams free ESPN,
and the Jason Kidd thing came up and Tim McMahon
did not who just wrote a book on Luca who's
(07:10):
very close to the MAVs When the Jason Kidd thing
came up, Tim McMahon did not say, Oh, no chance,
there's no way the MAVs are letting him leave. There's
no that didn't happen.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
So Jason Kidd might want to leave Dallas.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
I don't think that's a situation.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Yeah, listen, I know they have Cooper flag coming, but
it's still kind of a toxic situation.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
And here's the other thing.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Even if like it wasn't a toxic situation, so much
easier to win in the East right now, right now,
I'm going to add one other piece of this because
obviously Jim Dolan was involved to some level. I don't
know how much of a level, but to some level. Okay,
(07:59):
So I'm gonna I'm gonna build a long bridge to
get to this point. Somebody I didn't interview a couple
of weeks ago, and that silly like face of the
network thing came up again when the guy asked me
about FS one and me and I answered what I've
(08:19):
always answered, which is, for the last almost decade, Colin
Cowhard has been an hat for every single day the
face of FS one, and he will be until he
stops broadcasting for US and people think like, that's just
you know me, you know, kind of paying tribute to
(08:40):
a guy who's my professional idol and friend, and you
know all that, and some of that's true whatever, but
it's also it's not like an emeritus title. He's also
as like the kids on Twitter would say, still throwing
ninety eight on the black whenever he wants. Because Coward
(09:01):
had the best Jim Dolan take ever and he just
said it as an aside a few years ago, and
it's so perfect that I'm here in Vegas.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
When we're talking about this, which.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Is Coward said, do you know why the Knicks all
of a sudden got good, good management, good coaching, They
were a functional adult franchise And he said it was
because Jim Dolan was building the Sphere in Las Vegas
(09:33):
and and was distracted.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
And I'm like, oh, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Like Jim Dolan's favorite toy forever, ever since he inherited
cable vision and MSG from his dad, has been the Knicks.
But then his company was building the Sphere in Vegas
and that was his new toy, and so he had
to leave the Knicks alone. And like, all right, Leon
(10:00):
rose in world Wide West. You guys handle it like
you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
It's the greatest take it, and it's why Colin's the
greatest to ever do it, because nobody, nobody else's brain
works that way. But the moment he said it, I'm like, God,
damn it, you're off percent right.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
It makes perfect sense. It's exactly what happened. It's exactly
what happened. But here's here's my contribution to that take.
Guess what, Demanse. The sphere is built and it's up
and running and it's self sustaining, and the Knicks just
(10:40):
had this magical playoff run and so guess what this
is like a toy story, Buzz Aldrin Woody situation, that
toy that you threw in the back of the closet
because the other one was taking up your attention.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
It's like a way, what did I say? What did
I say? Something like that?
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Oh? Bus, so he's the third man to walk on
the moon or second man to walk on the moon?
Im sorry, Buzz Buzz Lightyear and Woody No. But then
all of a sudden, the Knick, the Knicks, the spheares
up and running. The Knicks are fun. Now, Shalo mas
there they're making runs. Jim Dolan's like, I'm back, baby,
(11:21):
Let's make some Let's make No, I'm not saying they're
gonna suck. What I'm saying is all of a sudden,
they're making drastic moves again.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Right, He's like, what if we fire the coach? What
if we try to poach Jason Kidd? What if we
do this?
Speaker 1 (11:34):
So it's just I and with all that said, I
don't necessarily think this is the wrong move. Here's though,
I do have the I want to bounce this off
you pal okay, because people were disappointed with the Knicks, Like,
I'll give the fair criticisms of Tibbs in a second,
(11:54):
but here's one of the things, like that the Knicks
were bad defensively in these playoffs, large portions of it.
Here is what I would be worried about and the
risk they would run they are running. Is it because
Tibbs calling card his whole career has been great defense?
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Right? Right?
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Is it possible.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
That the defense the Knicks had this year, while maybe
disappointing to some, was actually the best defense you can
realistically have. If Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony Towns are
your two best players.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Like, were they actually, because of Tibbs better defensively than
they should have been? But because of those two guys
defensive limitations, was it still not good enough?
Speaker 4 (12:49):
Pardon me?
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Like that's that would be the that would be the
concern that I think is potentially a real concern, right right?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
That makes sense. He was just working with what he had.
I mean, I you see, I have no choice but
to play Cat and Brunson. What are you gonna do?
Speaker 4 (13:03):
Right?
Speaker 1 (13:04):
So's now, here's what I think is a fair criticism
of Tibbs and also a reminder for everybody. And this
applies mostly to basketball coaches, but you can find a
way to make it apply to any walk of life.
It's always risky to make it clear to your boss
(13:27):
that you don't think your boss has done a great job.
And here's what I mean Tibbs's stance of and he
bent on it a bit at the very end in.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
The playoffs, but was probably too late.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Stance of I have to play these five guys forty
plus minutes because I don't have enough other good players
is always risky when the person who picked the players
can fire you like it wasn't intentional, but whenever a.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Coach this this happened.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
This is why Calvin Booth was mad at Michael Malone
and then the owner there was like, you're both fired,
but it was Michael Malone was like, no, Russ has
to play forty plus minutes because the young players stink,
and the Calvin Booth was like, I picked those young players.
I think they're quite good. And so if you're like,
if you're Leon Rose, and Tibbs is like, sorry, McHale
(14:30):
Bridges has to play forty five minutes a game because
I can't play Landry Shammitt or Delon right. Leon Rose
is like, I don't know. I thought those guys were
good enough to bring in here. That's always a bit
of a bit of a risk. Now, I also think
they did not get enough out of Michale Bridges this year,
and you can put some of that on Tibbs. And
(14:51):
I also do think this there is and we talked
about this. We don't have to spend too much more
time on it. There is a real benefit or real
risk to not experimenting with lineups in the regular season
is you don't get the real time reps and be like, oh, shit.
Delon Wright plus Duce McBride, cat Og and McHale bridges
(15:17):
that lineup can cook, like the different lineup combinations or whatever.
Oklahoma City now they won sixty eight games, but they
are the standard. Oklahoma City played every lineup combination imaginable
through the regular season and now they go into the
playoffs with real date on all of it. So I
know we have TIBs follow ups, but so let's get
(15:40):
to them. But there's my big picture TIBs take. And
I apologize to Adam Silver, who just did a great
interview on breakfast Ball and Thunder and Pacers fans because
they're like day one of the finals and you're talking
about a fired coach. In my defense that we did
(16:01):
a lot of finals preview stuff on Tuesday because the final,
like that is a weird thing about the NBA playoffs.
It's just every night eyes bleeding from watching so much basketball,
and then there's like a week where we're just chilling
and and so.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
But uh, but all right, what are the tips follow
ups going?
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Honest, look, he always shaking up the NBA man.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Well, again, this is just a this is just a
theory by me.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
I'm not reporting it's.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
It's not even close to one hundred. It's just an idea.
It's just an idea. But go ahead.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
So we'll do a game of likely maybe what if
to see who will be the next head coach at
New York. So it's like, it's likely that Blank will
get the job, but maybe Blank gets the job, and
what if this person gets the job?
Speaker 3 (16:46):
So likely?
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Okay, so the I mean Brew kept, Brew kept saying,
I want to make sure I get this right.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Uh what who?
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Gosh darn it, it wasn't I'm gonna Johnny Bryant. Bru
kept saying Johnny Bryant, and Brew Brew is one of them. Now,
Bruce said he didn't make any calls, he didn't know
anything on it.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
It was just his speculation.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
But then right after the show, Johnny Bryant was the
Vegas favorite for it.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Now it's also true.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
This is one of the rare times where like first
things first might have kind of helped set the line
in Vegas because this thing broke it two fifty. Brew
is on the air at three oh two talking Johnny Bryant,
and then the sports books like what do they you know?
(17:42):
I think they're probably you know what are people saying
whatever it was, and so I don't know if that
was kind of the tail wagging the dog. The odd
thing to me about Johnny Bryant, And I said this
to Brew was right now, he's the Cavs associate head coach.
He was an assistant under Tibbs. So do they fired
TIBs bring in Johnny? I don't know, but Brew so
(18:03):
I think likely it's Johnny Briant. And the other piece
of this is the Knicks fired TIBs the day Johnny
Briant was named a finalist for the Son's job.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
He then didn't get the Sun's job.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Maybe it's Jason Kidd. And then the what if is
this demanse because this is the other piece of it.
I haven't talked about what if it's Rick Brunson because
if it's not, that's an awkward piece of this, which
(18:37):
is when they're interviewing head coaches, so they say, by
the way, one other thing, you can pick your whole
staff except for one spot Rick Brunson's got Like are
they firing Rick Brunson? That would seem tricky, like you
(19:00):
know what, like honestly like what he doesn't mean? No,
not I don't think. I don't think so at all.
My point is, no, no, no, I don't think he
is at all. My point is that usually a new
coach brings in their own staff, but when one of
(19:22):
the coaches on your staff is the dad of the
best player on your team, like that's ah, you know,
that's just kind of a tricky tricky thing. I think
the Jason Kid thing though, has I think there's a
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Speaker 2 (21:37):
So the Knicks couldn't even up the series. So now
they're headed at Cancun? What do you think New York
should do? What should they make any moves people want
to come at cat.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
If they just run it back, I think that's totally reasonable.
Run it back and be like, hey, runs it a man.
While everyone's been focused on Luca's it might be that
of the all the players on the twenty twenty two
Dallas Mavericks, you were the biggest defensive liability, like moving forward, Like, hey,
(22:15):
I know that in Brunson's awesome. He's awesome. It's a
great player, legitimate superstar. But Game four for him was
really rough on that side of the ball, and it
was the biggest game of their season, So like, can
you get a little bit better there? Kat? Can you
watch the film from your game three fourth quarter again
(22:38):
and again and again, and try to activate that more.
If you know, McHale's just got to be a little
better throughout the year. Josh Hart just just be passable
from three, Mitchell Robinson nothing but free throws all summer
like those you do those things with the Celtic Sorry,
kind of off the chessboard. The East is wide open.
(23:01):
That would be reasonable. I now, as far as transactions, obviously,
if you can get Yannis, you'd get Yannis. I do
not think they have the best package to offer, so
I think that would be tough. Now, maybe if he
demands only New York, May Milwaukee will accommodate.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Let's talk about the Durant thing, Demanse, because I do
think if you traded Cat for Durant, if you offered that,
the Suns would say yes. Now, Durant is six years older,
and that shortens your window considerably. However, the argument for
(23:51):
it would be twofold one is it is a back
door out of what is going to be a really
tricky Cat contract situation, because Cat's got three years left
(24:11):
at fifty three, fifty seven sixty one. I don't know
if you love that is he extension eligible? Let me look, no,
hold on, sorry, I want to check that, because that's
the other thing. If it's like, hey, and I also, yeah,
(24:34):
he is extension eligible. So it's like you owe him
sixty one and three years, and he might be like,
and I'd like two more years on the back end
at sixty three and sixty five. Like that's that might
be untenable. But the other reason you would do it
is if you think Mitchell Robinson can play thirty minutes
(24:55):
a game, and you think Durant would just add another
layer to your offense, and and here's the critical piece,
you think next year has massive additional value compared to
other future years because of the Celtic situation, I might
(25:16):
do it. You would still you would get better defensively.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Better.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
I don't even know if you can say he'd be
better shooting because Cats such a great three point shooter
but better midrange. Yeah, I mean, like the I don't
actually think Durant's a better three point shooter than Cat,
like by the numbers and by the volume, but better
three level. I I normally would let me check Kat's
(25:47):
exact birth yea.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
And I was about to say, like rank Katie's defense
with Cats. I mean, I know Katie isn't known for
his defense, but the way I see Cat moved around
sometimes Katie can get up and down.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
The court fasten than that, Katie's a much better Yeah.
I was about to say, like.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
I said, six years older, it's actually seven years older.
That's the Karl Anthony Towns turns thirty at the beginning
of next season. Katie turns thirty seven at the beginning
of next season. So that typically is not a move
you want to make. But I guess here's how I
(26:28):
would look at it if they made that trade Demonse.
I think for next year, I'd say the Knicks are
the favorites in the East, and now I think kd
might end up in Minnesota. I think there's real smoke there,
(26:49):
but the East is so open, and I do think
for a playoff run, even though we haven't seen duran
on a long playoff run in a very long time,
I think Durant makes you a little bit better. Like,
do you think that's crazy?
Speaker 2 (27:04):
No, I think that that makes a lot of sense.
I think Durant should probably go to the go to
New York as opposed to the East too. Just to
get the best postal chance, go the east supposed to
the west, just to get another chip.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
But I mean still end up having to face those
guys either way.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
But yeah, I like the move. I think they should
do it. It's a no brainer to me.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
I feel like it's got to at least be kicked around.
That's the way. That's the way I look at it.
All right, Reminder, everyone like, rate, subscribe, review, do all that.
Let's let's jump down to some listener questions and then
I can talk a little World Series of poker if
we have time. Uh, but let's do again. If you're
(27:51):
watching on YouTube, we greatly appreciate it. If you're listening
on the pod, oh, we greatly appreciate it. But either way,
please subscribe to the channel, Please subscribe to the pod.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
All of that.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
It really does help us out quite a bit. All right,
go ahead to mans.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Bobby says, the twenty four Celtics against the twenty twenty
five Thunder in a seven game series, who would win?
Speaker 1 (28:17):
I think it's tough. I think that's very close. If
you are getting seven healthy games out of Porzingis, I
would go boss.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
If Porzingis is the way he was forget this postseason,
even last postseason where you know he was injured. Then
I that to me would tilt it to the thunder.
Does that seem fair?
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Yeah? Man, that's so unfortunate.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Yeah yeah, well yeah, I I to me that that
that's what I That's where I land on it, all right?
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Next, Ryan, are the Pacers title hopes riding on game
on a game one win?
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (29:05):
Yes, yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Mean you could well. Let me put it like this.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
Again.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
You guys know how thin I think the Pacers are
drawing in this. They have to win one of the
first two. You can't go down two oh, even though
ah the series wouldn't have started a home team had lost. Done.
You gotta win one of the first two.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Next.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Oh, And Michael says, going into the twenty twenty four
NFL season, I think there was I think there was
a consistent consensus understanding that the AFC was better than
the NFC. You think that that still holds? No?
Speaker 1 (29:43):
What I think is the quarterbacks in the AFC are
way better than the quarterbacks in the NFC. But because
of that, because the NFC quarterbacks are not as highly
paid you are, you've been able to develop more well
rounded teams and you know the team right New last
year that was you know it gets to call themselves
the best teams in the NFC. And the Lions were
(30:04):
excellent too. Now the Lions I'm a little worried about
and the Frank ragnow retirements not nothing, but no, I
think it's far closer than it was. Let's keep going.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Owen says love from Canada. Do you think SGA passes
Steve Nash is the greatest Canadian player ever with a
title win?
Speaker 4 (30:21):
Yes? I think he does.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
I think one MVP and one title and I think
this year from SGA was better than any individual Steve
Nash year. Yeah, I think he does pass him as
the best Canadian player ever.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Next, Luis says, hey, Nick, since the NBA season is ending,
is there any plan to cover summer sports WNBA, cycling,
Twit de France, F one, tennis until September and the
NFL comes back.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
So we'll definitely cover some WNBA toile definitely cover tennis,
you know that. And I have a confession. You know
what I did this Sunday? I watched IndyCar in the
Detroit Grand Prix because ever since I went to the
Indy five hundred. I kind of gotten into open wheel
(31:10):
racing a bit, and so I am now considering going
back and watching that F one series on Netflix that
I was so skeptical of and us as ringing back
the F one minute and doing all that. So maybe
I'll get into F one because I thought the op
I thought the IndyCar stuff was really really cool. But
(31:30):
we'll also have NBA free agency, the NBA Draft. We'll
have a bunch of cool stuff, all right, Last.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
One producers, but really gave thoughts on the new mission Impossible.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
I have a shameful confession. I haven't seen it yet. Now.
Part of that is I've been incredibly busy, and part
of that is I haven't been ready to say goodbye
to the greatest talking franchise ever. And so no spoilers please.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Signed an Impossibles.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
It's such a bad job by your, bad job by you.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Okay, No, it's the greatest movie series ever.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
It's just so good.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
For Oklahoma City. Who do you think has the most
to gain the most to lose in this series?
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Most of the games unequivocally, without a doubt, Shay, I
mean Shae, Shae can argue I won't necessarily agree with it,
but Shae and his fans certainly could argue he holds
the belt if they win that it not only because
(32:50):
he's would be the league MVP. The finals MVP, there
were a sixty eight win team scoring champ.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
But also.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
I played the guy who has the belt and Joker
and my team won and I played, they could argue
played better than him. I don't actually think I agree
that in that series Shay was better than Joker. I
know Joker at a couple kind of uncharacteristic games. I
still think Joker was the most impactful.
Speaker 4 (33:16):
Guy in that series.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
But it certainly would be a fair take to say
if they win, to say Shay's the best player. It's again,
it's not the take I would have, but you'd have
to at least respect it. It also would be brew
and I were talking about this off the air, and
(33:39):
I know Simmons has talked a lot about this. It
also would be an all time Guard season, So like,
if you remove Michael and Magic, what Guard would have
(34:02):
had a better season than the one Shay is having
right now. I think if they win the title, I
think folks reflexively, I know I reflexively was like, well,
all right, Michael had a bunch, Magic had at least
a couple, and then, of course stept Here's the problem.
(34:30):
Steph's best season by far. They lost the champ They
lost the finals, So the Steph's years get kind of
fuzzy in our memory. But Steph's best year and one
of the greatest years any player has ever had, when
(34:51):
he scored thirty a game on I mean fifty forty
five and d splits they lost to Lebron. His other
MVP year, demonse, I'm gonna put you on the spot here,
give me a guess how many points and assists Steph
(35:13):
averaged his first MVP season.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Thirty one and nine, twenty four and eight.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Oh Jesus no that, But that's not U because he did.
He averaged thirty two later, and he averaged thirty the
next year. That so that's the point that I that
I was making. That year, the team was unbelievable, and
obviously he was great, but that's not like an all
time individual season. The next year was the all time
(35:44):
individual season, and then.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
The year he had a year.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
When he won the scoring title when they weren't that
good in twenty twenty one and they missed the playoffs
like that, you know, so there's his best year. They
didn't win the title. And then people are gonna say, well, Kobe,
(36:09):
did Kobe have a better year than this Shay year?
Because here's the thing, Kobe, and this is another one.
People are gonna say, this isn't true, but it is.
Kobe averaged thirty a game three times in his career,
(36:35):
and amazingly, none of the three did they win the championship,
and in fact, two of the three they didn't win
a round of the playoffs. So he averaged thirty a
game the year they were going for the three peat
(36:56):
and that year they lost in Did they lose in
round two? Yeah, they lost in Round two to San Antonio.
I'm sorry. Not the year they're going for the three peat.
They already had the three peat obviously, the year they're
going for the four pat and then his two insane
scoring years thirty five a game and thirty two a game.
(37:19):
They lost in Round one both years, both years that
Laker team lost in Round one, one year blowing a
three to one leading round one. So those years are
off the board. The next year, the year they got poal,
he won MVP. He averaged twenty eight six and five,
(37:42):
and the Lakers that year won fifty seven games. It's
hard to argue that year was better than this year
by Shay d Waite obviously never won an MVP. Isaiah Thomas,
as great as he was, never won an MVP. Steve
(38:02):
Nash won a couple, never made a finals.
Speaker 4 (38:06):
So there is.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
And I don't want to do West and Koozie right now,
but even West, let me check because Jerry, poor Jerry West.
I mean, Jerry West was one and nine in the
finals and the one year he won the championship, he
was not even close to his best individual season. Still
(38:36):
pretty great, by the way, Again, I don't do people
want me to do a Jerry West thing. Okay, I'll
do it real quick. Jerry West again one and nine
in the finals. And if that's not enough, here's Jerry
West's MVP finishes fifth, fifth, fifth, third, second, didn't didn't quality,
(39:01):
didn't get won for three years in a row, second, second, second.
He finished second MVP voting three straight years while losing
the finals like every year.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
That's pretty crazy. Voter voter fatigue must not existed at
that time.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
No, Wilton Russell won, all of them.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
Kept trading off.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
So I feel like once those guys are in second
for a long time or get those second and third spots,
it comes a year and they're like, all right, we're
just gonna give it to him.
Speaker 4 (39:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
I mean, and listen, now, Jerry West did win finals
MVP the first year they ever gave it out when
they didn't win, when his team lost the finals, but
no during Wes Demons, during West Prime, here's the here's
the m vps, Will Russell, Russell, Russell, Oscar Russell, Will
(39:52):
Will Will and then Unseld Reid Kareem Kareem. It was
a big man's award. Oscar won it, but it was
a big man's award again. So Jerry West, like, maybe
point is this, if they win the championship, you can
make the argument that only Magic and Michael as Guards
(40:18):
ever had a better single season than Shay had this year.
It's pretty remarkable. Uh And for okay, see, I don't
really I don't really think there's too many guys that
have a ton to lose, except let me all add
this this.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
What'd you say, Jaylen Williams, Don't you think it's probably
it's really important for him to perform in these finals, right,
I think out of all the guys outside of Shade.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Yeah, but do you think do you think any show
like anybody's gonna kill Jalen Williams if he doesn't like
I just don't. He's in that Goldilock zone that we've
talked about of good enough to where he's gonna make
a ton of money, but not so good to where
he gets super scrutinized. Maybe though I think he's like
(41:09):
the X factor, super important. I just don't think he's
got you know, people are gonna kill him. I'll add
one other person as far as who this person has
the most anxiety right now, that's my that's the way
to put it for Okay, see, and that's Sam Presty.
(41:33):
So Sam Presty took over the Thunder when they were
still in Seattle, Okay, and he draft like he took
over right after the draft, right before he took over,
(41:53):
right or like the week they drafted Durant. I don't
the I don't know. Yeah, no, he he drafted Durant.
Now that was a no brainer. Once Odin went one,
Like whoever whoever didn't go one was gonna go too
in the odin Durant rapid set that aside, Westbrook was
(42:15):
not a no brainer. Pick Harden was not a no brainer.
Pick a Baka was not a no brainer pick. He
just crushed, absolutely crushed after coming from the Spurs, and
they are just set up that it's gonna be the
you know, the thunder out West for a generation, and
(42:36):
they made the finals in twenty twelve and have not
been back since and hardened they He then trades Harden
probably not probably definitely his worst UH transaction as an executive.
My guy Daryl got over on him and just been building, building, building,
getting trying to get back to this moment.
Speaker 4 (42:58):
He knows as well as anyone that.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
There these moments can be fleeting and you've got to
take advantage. By the way, if you want to know
more about Sam Presty, I don't even know if you
know this, Demanse, but you know who wrote a book
that Sam Presty is a central character of.
Speaker 3 (43:23):
Who?
Speaker 2 (43:24):
Danny parkins, Oh, that's what's that pipeline to the pro
Pipeline to the pros.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Yeah, pipeline to the throat to the pros about you know,
Division three, pipeline to nba gm uh. That's a great book.
People can get it on Amazon or wherever you get
your books. Free plug for Danny's Book
Welcome to the best of the Week for What's Right
with Nick Right the best takes and moments from this
week on the show. Enjoy.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah, So, after two games away from the NBA Finals,
the New York Knicks have fired TIBs. We talked on Tuesday.
You seem to think that his job was pretty secure.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Myself as well. I couldn't see them fire and TIBs.
But here we.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Are, they fired him. Where did they go from here?
What's the assessment?
Speaker 4 (00:25):
Okay, so.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I react, this happened ten minutes before the TV show started, right,
And I actually said on the air, sometimes the reacting
to breaking news are my favorite shows when I look
back on them, and sometimes they're the most annoying shows
(00:49):
because I'm like, gosh, darn it, I just didn't have
that piece of information, you know what I mean, And
so everything that we said ends up becoming irrelevant a
few hours later. I think the TIBs show might end
up falling into the former category my favorite shows, and
here's why. So my snap reaction to the TIBs firing
(01:12):
was there's really only three ways to view it, Like
there's only three I guess rationales to the firing rationale
one was.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
They So let me back up.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
The reason I'm framing it like this is because everyone
is framing it the way you did, Demonse, which is
it was the best season in twenty five years. You
made your first conference finals in twenty five years, you
were two games away from the NBA Finals, you were
favored to go to the finals, and you fired your coach.
So logically speaking, that would mean one of two things
(01:50):
is true. Either A, at the end of the regular
season they had determined were move moving on from Tom Thibodeau.
Anything short of a championship or making the finals, we're
firing that. That's where they were, kind of like the
Nuggets were with Michael Malone. But the Nuggets just did
(02:12):
it beforehand and they weren't going to let this playoff
run dissuade them.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
That's kind of option A. Option be.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
If that's not the case, if at the end of
the regular season his job was safe, then that would
mean option B, which is somehow this playoff run hurt
TIBs in the front office er ownership's eyes, right, if
he would save at the end of the regular season
that they looked at it and they were like, you
(02:40):
know what, Demons was right that victory over the Celtics
was a fluke.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Shouldn't have happened down fifteen in every game.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
We're actually not that good, you know what I mean,
Like we were trailing Detroit a Bune, we got lucky
against Boston and so like those are, in theory, the
only two viable paths. And this is why I'm kind
I feel like Tuesday's TV show is going to age. Well,
I said that, and then I said, there is, however,
(03:11):
a third path, a third rationale I should say, which
is they are firing Tom Thibodeau because there is a
player they are trying to acquire that they think they
will be more likely to acquire if they fire Tom Thibodeaux.
(03:31):
And the what I was implying without really saying, is
was it possible that someone from Giannis's camp said, hey,
you know, if person X was your coach, maybe not
(03:53):
only you know, would it pushed Gyan is closer to
asking for a trade, but maybe he would ask for
trade to the Knick specifically. So I just kind of
threw that out there as a possibility. I don't think
you would have to fire a Tibbs in order to
give yourself a better chance to get Kevin Durant. Yannis
(04:14):
is the other big name out there. So I just
threw that out there on Tuesday. And then, Demons, did
you see the kind of weird report about one of
the coaches the Knicks might want to go after?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Because I did.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
It was a coach who currently has a job, and
it was Jason Kidd. And if people remember, Jason Kidd
coached Yannis in Milwaukee, and when Jason Kidd was fired Yannis,
the reporting was he called Jason Kidd and said, is
(04:53):
can I fix it? Should I call ownership and say,
unfire you? I'm paraphrasing again, I'm not, I am. I'm
literally I could not be further away from reporting anything here.
I have been gambling NonStop for the last thirty six hours.
I've not been working the phones. I've been playing poker.
(05:14):
I'm simply saying the firing TIBs. It was odd enough
that a little alarm bells went off. And then when
I cause the reporting, demanse was there were two coaches
who currently have jobs the Knicks were interested in.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
It was Jason Kidd and emy Udoka.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
And I'm like, okay, well, Emay Udoka is not going
to be available like and so it felt to me
and again maybe maybe I'm wrong, like Udoka was included
in that, like, hey, yeah, there's a lot of.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
You know, established coaches that you know we might like.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
It's really that one name.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
It was really about exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
And then this morning on the walk over from Aria
where I'm staying to Horseshoe where the World Series of
Poker is, I was listening to Brian windhorse Show.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
The Hoop Collective.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
And anybody, by the way, who tweeting me or asking
me or whatever about Lebron once again going at Wendy,
I would please. What I would like to say about
that is it makes me very sad and I wish
you wouldn't do it, and I you know, I appreciate
you respecting my privacy at this time, I do not
like it. But bright I was listening to Brian Windhorst
(06:48):
on his great podcast with Tim bond Temps and Tim McMahon,
Tim McMahon who covers all the Texas teams free ESPN,
and the Jason Kidd thing came up and Tim McMahon
did not who just wrote a book on Luca who's
(07:10):
very close to the MAVs When the Jason Kidd thing
came up, Tim McMahon did not say, Oh, no chance,
there's no way the MAVs are letting him leave. There's
no that didn't happen.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
So Jason Kidd might want to leave Dallas.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
I don't think that's a situation.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Yeah, listen, I know they have Cooper flag coming, but
it's still kind of a toxic situation.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
And here's the other thing.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Even if like it wasn't a toxic situation, so much
easier to win in the East right now, right now,
I'm going to add one other piece of this because
obviously Jim Dolan was involved to some level. I don't
know how much of a level, but to some level. Okay,
(07:59):
So I'm gonna I'm gonna build a long bridge to
get to this point. Somebody I didn't interview a couple
of weeks ago, and that silly like face of the
network thing came up again when the guy asked me
about FS one and me and I answered what I've
(08:19):
always answered, which is, for the last almost decade, Colin
Cowhard has been an hat for every single day the
face of FS one, and he will be until he
stops broadcasting for US and people think like, that's just
you know me, you know, kind of paying tribute to
(08:40):
a guy who's my professional idol and friend, and you
know all that, and some of that's true whatever, but
it's also it's not like an emeritus title. He's also
as like the kids on Twitter would say, still throwing
ninety eight on the black whenever he wants. Because Coward
(09:01):
had the best Jim Dolan take ever and he just
said it as an aside a few years ago, and
it's so perfect that I'm here in Vegas.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
When we're talking about this, which.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Is Coward said, do you know why the Knicks all
of a sudden got good, good management, good coaching, They
were a functional adult franchise And he said it was
because Jim Dolan was building the Sphere in Las Vegas
(09:33):
and and was distracted.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
And I'm like, oh, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Like Jim Dolan's favorite toy forever, ever since he inherited
cable vision and MSG from his dad, has been the Knicks.
But then his company was building the Sphere in Vegas
and that was his new toy, and so he had
to leave the Knicks alone. And like, all right, Leon
(10:00):
rose in world Wide West. You guys handle it like
you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
It's the greatest take it, and it's why Colin's the
greatest to ever do it, because nobody, nobody else's brain
works that way. But the moment he said it, I'm like, God,
damn it, you're off percent right.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
It makes perfect sense. It's exactly what happened. It's exactly
what happened. But here's here's my contribution to that take.
Guess what, Demanse. The sphere is built and it's up
and running and it's self sustaining, and the Knicks just
(10:40):
had this magical playoff run and so guess what this
is like a toy story, Buzz Aldrin Woody situation, that
toy that you threw in the back of the closet
because the other one was taking up your attention.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
It's like a way, what did I say? What did
I say? Something like that?
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Oh? Bus, so he's the third man to walk on
the moon or second man to walk on the moon?
Im sorry, Buzz Buzz Lightyear and Woody No. But then
all of a sudden, the Knick, the Knicks, the spheares
up and running. The Knicks are fun. Now, Shalo mas
there they're making runs. Jim Dolan's like, I'm back, baby,
(11:21):
Let's make some Let's make No, I'm not saying they're
gonna suck. What I'm saying is all of a sudden,
they're making drastic moves again.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Right, He's like, what if we fire the coach? What
if we try to poach Jason Kidd? What if we
do this?
Speaker 1 (11:34):
So it's just I and with all that said, I
don't necessarily think this is the wrong move. Here's though,
I do have the I want to bounce this off
you pal okay, because people were disappointed with the Knicks, Like,
I'll give the fair criticisms of Tibbs in a second,
(11:54):
but here's one of the things, like that the Knicks
were bad defensively in these playoffs, large portions of it.
Here is what I would be worried about and the
risk they would run they are running. Is it because
Tibbs calling card his whole career has been great defense?
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Right? Right?
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Is it possible.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
That the defense the Knicks had this year, while maybe
disappointing to some, was actually the best defense you can
realistically have. If Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony Towns are
your two best players.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Like, were they actually, because of Tibbs better defensively than
they should have been? But because of those two guys
defensive limitations, was it still not good enough?
Speaker 4 (12:49):
Pardon me?
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Like that's that would be the that would be the
concern that I think is potentially a real concern, right right?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
That makes sense. He was just working with what he had.
I mean, I you see, I have no choice but
to play Cat and Brunson. What are you gonna do?
Speaker 4 (13:03):
Right?
Speaker 1 (13:04):
So's now, here's what I think is a fair criticism
of Tibbs and also a reminder for everybody. And this
applies mostly to basketball coaches, but you can find a
way to make it apply to any walk of life.
It's always risky to make it clear to your boss
(13:27):
that you don't think your boss has done a great job.
And here's what I mean Tibbs's stance of and he
bent on it a bit at the very end in.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
The playoffs, but was probably too late.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Stance of I have to play these five guys forty
plus minutes because I don't have enough other good players
is always risky when the person who picked the players
can fire you like it wasn't intentional, but whenever a.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Coach this this happened.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
This is why Calvin Booth was mad at Michael Malone
and then the owner there was like, you're both fired,
but it was Michael Malone was like, no, Russ has
to play forty plus minutes because the young players stink,
and the Calvin Booth was like, I picked those young players.
I think they're quite good. And so if you're like,
if you're Leon Rose, and Tibbs is like, sorry, McHale
(14:30):
Bridges has to play forty five minutes a game because
I can't play Landry Shammitt or Delon right. Leon Rose
is like, I don't know. I thought those guys were
good enough to bring in here. That's always a bit
of a bit of a risk. Now, I also think
they did not get enough out of Michale Bridges this year,
and you can put some of that on Tibbs. And
(14:51):
I also do think this there is and we talked
about this. We don't have to spend too much more
time on it. There is a real benefit or real
risk to not experimenting with lineups in the regular season
is you don't get the real time reps and be like, oh, shit.
Delon Wright plus Duce McBride, cat Og and McHale bridges
(15:17):
that lineup can cook, like the different lineup combinations or whatever.
Oklahoma City now they won sixty eight games, but they
are the standard. Oklahoma City played every lineup combination imaginable
through the regular season and now they go into the
playoffs with real date on all of it. So I
know we have TIBs follow ups, but so let's get
(15:40):
to them. But there's my big picture TIBs take. And
I apologize to Adam Silver, who just did a great
interview on breakfast Ball and Thunder and Pacers fans because
they're like day one of the finals and you're talking
about a fired coach. In my defense that we did
(16:01):
a lot of finals preview stuff on Tuesday because the final,
like that is a weird thing about the NBA playoffs.
It's just every night eyes bleeding from watching so much basketball,
and then there's like a week where we're just chilling
and and so.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
But uh, but all right, what are the tips follow
ups going?
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Honest, look, he always shaking up the NBA man.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Well, again, this is just a this is just a
theory by me.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
I'm not reporting it's.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
It's not even close to one hundred. It's just an idea.
It's just an idea. But go ahead.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
So we'll do a game of likely maybe what if
to see who will be the next head coach at
New York. So it's like, it's likely that Blank will
get the job, but maybe Blank gets the job, and
what if this person gets the job?
Speaker 3 (16:46):
So likely?
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Okay, so the I mean Brew kept, Brew kept saying,
I want to make sure I get this right.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Uh what who?
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Gosh darn it, it wasn't I'm gonna Johnny Bryant. Bru
kept saying Johnny Bryant, and Brew Brew is one of them. Now,
Bruce said he didn't make any calls, he didn't know
anything on it.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
It was just his speculation.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
But then right after the show, Johnny Bryant was the
Vegas favorite for it.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Now it's also true.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
This is one of the rare times where like first
things first might have kind of helped set the line
in Vegas because this thing broke it two fifty. Brew
is on the air at three oh two talking Johnny Bryant,
and then the sports books like what do they you know?
(17:42):
I think they're probably you know what are people saying
whatever it was, and so I don't know if that
was kind of the tail wagging the dog. The odd
thing to me about Johnny Bryant, And I said this
to Brew was right now, he's the Cavs associate head coach.
He was an assistant under Tibbs. So do they fired
TIBs bring in Johnny? I don't know, but Brew so
(18:03):
I think likely it's Johnny Briant. And the other piece
of this is the Knicks fired TIBs the day Johnny
Briant was named a finalist for the Son's job.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
He then didn't get the Sun's job.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Maybe it's Jason Kidd. And then the what if is
this demanse because this is the other piece of it.
I haven't talked about what if it's Rick Brunson because
if it's not, that's an awkward piece of this, which
(18:37):
is when they're interviewing head coaches, so they say, by
the way, one other thing, you can pick your whole
staff except for one spot Rick Brunson's got Like are
they firing Rick Brunson? That would seem tricky, like you
(19:00):
know what, like honestly like what he doesn't mean? No,
not I don't think. I don't think so at all.
My point is, no, no, no, I don't think he
is at all. My point is that usually a new
coach brings in their own staff, but when one of
(19:22):
the coaches on your staff is the dad of the
best player on your team, like that's ah, you know,
that's just kind of a tricky tricky thing. I think
the Jason Kid thing though, has I think there's a
little fire to that smoke. DraftKings wants to remind you
(19:46):
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Speaker 2 (21:37):
So the Knicks couldn't even up the series. So now
they're headed at Cancun? What do you think New York
should do? What should they make any moves people want
to come at cat.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
If they just run it back, I think that's totally reasonable.
Run it back and be like, hey, runs it a man.
While everyone's been focused on Luca's it might be that
of the all the players on the twenty twenty two
Dallas Mavericks, you were the biggest defensive liability, like moving forward, Like, hey,
(22:15):
I know that in Brunson's awesome. He's awesome. It's a
great player, legitimate superstar. But Game four for him was
really rough on that side of the ball, and it
was the biggest game of their season, So like, can
you get a little bit better there? Kat? Can you
watch the film from your game three fourth quarter again
(22:38):
and again and again, and try to activate that more.
If you know, McHale's just got to be a little
better throughout the year. Josh Hart just just be passable
from three, Mitchell Robinson nothing but free throws all summer
like those you do those things with the Celtic Sorry,
kind of off the chessboard. The East is wide open.
(23:01):
That would be reasonable. I now, as far as transactions, obviously,
if you can get Yannis, you'd get Yannis. I do
not think they have the best package to offer, so
I think that would be tough. Now, maybe if he
demands only New York, May Milwaukee will accommodate.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Let's talk about the Durant thing, Demanse, because I do
think if you traded Cat for Durant, if you offered that,
the Suns would say yes. Now, Durant is six years older,
and that shortens your window considerably. However, the argument for
(23:51):
it would be twofold one is it is a back
door out of what is going to be a really
tricky Cat contract situation, because Cat's got three years left
(24:11):
at fifty three, fifty seven sixty one. I don't know
if you love that is he extension eligible? Let me look, no,
hold on, sorry, I want to check that, because that's
the other thing. If it's like, hey, and I also, yeah,
(24:34):
he is extension eligible. So it's like you owe him
sixty one and three years, and he might be like,
and I'd like two more years on the back end
at sixty three and sixty five. Like that's that might
be untenable. But the other reason you would do it
is if you think Mitchell Robinson can play thirty minutes
(24:55):
a game, and you think Durant would just add another
layer to your offense, and and here's the critical piece,
you think next year has massive additional value compared to
other future years because of the Celtic situation, I might
(25:16):
do it. You would still you would get better defensively.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Better.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
I don't even know if you can say he'd be
better shooting because Cats such a great three point shooter
but better midrange. Yeah, I mean, like the I don't
actually think Durant's a better three point shooter than Cat,
like by the numbers and by the volume, but better
three level. I I normally would let me check Kat's
(25:47):
exact birth yea.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
And I was about to say, like rank Katie's defense
with Cats. I mean, I know Katie isn't known for
his defense, but the way I see Cat moved around
sometimes Katie can get up and down.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
The court fasten than that, Katie's a much better Yeah.
I was about to say, like.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
I said, six years older, it's actually seven years older.
That's the Karl Anthony Towns turns thirty at the beginning
of next season. Katie turns thirty seven at the beginning
of next season. So that typically is not a move
you want to make. But I guess here's how I
(26:28):
would look at it if they made that trade Demonse.
I think for next year, I'd say the Knicks are
the favorites in the East, and now I think kd
might end up in Minnesota. I think there's real smoke there,
(26:49):
but the East is so open, and I do think
for a playoff run, even though we haven't seen duran
on a long playoff run in a very long time,
I think Durant makes you a little bit better. Like,
do you think that's crazy?
Speaker 2 (27:04):
No, I think that that makes a lot of sense.
I think Durant should probably go to the go to
New York as opposed to the East too. Just to
get the best postal chance, go the east supposed to
the west, just to get another chip.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
But I mean still end up having to face those
guys either way.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
But yeah, I like the move. I think they should
do it. It's a no brainer to me.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
I feel like it's got to at least be kicked around.
That's the way. That's the way I look at it.
All right, Reminder, everyone like, rate, subscribe, review, do all that.
Let's let's jump down to some listener questions and then
I can talk a little World Series of poker if
we have time. Uh, but let's do again. If you're
(27:51):
watching on YouTube, we greatly appreciate it. If you're listening
on the pod, oh, we greatly appreciate it. But either way,
please subscribe to the channel, Please subscribe to the pod.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
All of that.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
It really does help us out quite a bit. All right,
go ahead to mans.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Bobby says, the twenty four Celtics against the twenty twenty
five Thunder in a seven game series, who would win?
Speaker 1 (28:17):
I think it's tough. I think that's very close. If
you are getting seven healthy games out of Porzingis, I
would go boss.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
If Porzingis is the way he was forget this postseason,
even last postseason where you know he was injured. Then
I that to me would tilt it to the thunder.
Does that seem fair?
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Yeah? Man, that's so unfortunate.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Yeah yeah, well yeah, I I to me that that
that's what I That's where I land on it, all right?
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Next, Ryan, are the Pacers title hopes riding on game
on a game one win?
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (29:05):
Yes, yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Mean you could well. Let me put it like this.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
Again.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
You guys know how thin I think the Pacers are
drawing in this. They have to win one of the
first two. You can't go down two oh, even though
ah the series wouldn't have started a home team had lost. Done.
You gotta win one of the first two.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Next.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Oh, And Michael says, going into the twenty twenty four
NFL season, I think there was I think there was
a consistent consensus understanding that the AFC was better than
the NFC. You think that that still holds? No?
Speaker 1 (29:43):
What I think is the quarterbacks in the AFC are
way better than the quarterbacks in the NFC. But because
of that, because the NFC quarterbacks are not as highly
paid you are, you've been able to develop more well
rounded teams and you know the team right New last
year that was you know it gets to call themselves
the best teams in the NFC. And the Lions were
(30:04):
excellent too. Now the Lions I'm a little worried about
and the Frank ragnow retirements not nothing, but no, I
think it's far closer than it was. Let's keep going.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Owen says love from Canada. Do you think SGA passes
Steve Nash is the greatest Canadian player ever with a
title win?
Speaker 4 (30:21):
Yes? I think he does.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
I think one MVP and one title and I think
this year from SGA was better than any individual Steve
Nash year. Yeah, I think he does pass him as
the best Canadian player ever.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Next, Luis says, hey, Nick, since the NBA season is ending,
is there any plan to cover summer sports WNBA, cycling,
Twit de France, F one, tennis until September and the
NFL comes back.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
So we'll definitely cover some WNBA toile definitely cover tennis,
you know that. And I have a confession. You know
what I did this Sunday? I watched IndyCar in the
Detroit Grand Prix because ever since I went to the
Indy five hundred. I kind of gotten into open wheel
(31:10):
racing a bit, and so I am now considering going
back and watching that F one series on Netflix that
I was so skeptical of and us as ringing back
the F one minute and doing all that. So maybe
I'll get into F one because I thought the op
I thought the IndyCar stuff was really really cool. But
(31:30):
we'll also have NBA free agency, the NBA Draft. We'll
have a bunch of cool stuff, all right, Last.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
One producers, but really gave thoughts on the new mission Impossible.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
I have a shameful confession. I haven't seen it yet. Now.
Part of that is I've been incredibly busy, and part
of that is I haven't been ready to say goodbye
to the greatest talking franchise ever. And so no spoilers please.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Signed an Impossibles.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
It's such a bad job by your, bad job by you.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Okay, No, it's the greatest movie series ever.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
It's just so good.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
For Oklahoma City. Who do you think has the most
to gain the most to lose in this series?
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Most of the games unequivocally, without a doubt, Shay, I
mean Shae, Shae can argue I won't necessarily agree with it,
but Shae and his fans certainly could argue he holds
the belt if they win that it not only because
(32:50):
he's would be the league MVP. The finals MVP, there
were a sixty eight win team scoring champ.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
But also.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
I played the guy who has the belt and Joker
and my team won and I played, they could argue
played better than him. I don't actually think I agree
that in that series Shay was better than Joker. I
know Joker at a couple kind of uncharacteristic games. I
still think Joker was the most impactful.
Speaker 4 (33:16):
Guy in that series.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
But it certainly would be a fair take to say
if they win, to say Shay's the best player. It's again,
it's not the take I would have, but you'd have
to at least respect it. It also would be brew
and I were talking about this off the air, and
(33:39):
I know Simmons has talked a lot about this. It
also would be an all time Guard season, So like,
if you remove Michael and Magic, what Guard would have
(34:02):
had a better season than the one Shay is having
right now. I think if they win the title, I
think folks reflexively, I know I reflexively was like, well,
all right, Michael had a bunch, Magic had at least
a couple, and then, of course stept Here's the problem.
(34:30):
Steph's best season by far. They lost the champ They
lost the finals, So the Steph's years get kind of
fuzzy in our memory. But Steph's best year and one
of the greatest years any player has ever had, when
(34:51):
he scored thirty a game on I mean fifty forty
five and d splits they lost to Lebron. His other
MVP year, demonse, I'm gonna put you on the spot here,
give me a guess how many points and assists Steph
(35:13):
averaged his first MVP season.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Thirty one and nine, twenty four and eight.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Oh Jesus no that, But that's not U because he did.
He averaged thirty two later, and he averaged thirty the
next year. That so that's the point that I that
I was making. That year, the team was unbelievable, and
obviously he was great, but that's not like an all
time individual season. The next year was the all time
(35:44):
individual season, and then.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
The year he had a year.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
When he won the scoring title when they weren't that
good in twenty twenty one and they missed the playoffs
like that, you know, so there's his best year. They
didn't win the title. And then people are gonna say, well, Kobe,
(36:09):
did Kobe have a better year than this Shay year?
Because here's the thing, Kobe, and this is another one.
People are gonna say, this isn't true, but it is.
Kobe averaged thirty a game three times in his career,
(36:35):
and amazingly, none of the three did they win the championship,
and in fact, two of the three they didn't win
a round of the playoffs. So he averaged thirty a
game the year they were going for the three peat
(36:56):
and that year they lost in Did they lose in
round two? Yeah, they lost in Round two to San Antonio.
I'm sorry. Not the year they're going for the three peat.
They already had the three peat obviously, the year they're
going for the four pat and then his two insane
scoring years thirty five a game and thirty two a game.
(37:19):
They lost in Round one both years, both years that
Laker team lost in Round one, one year blowing a
three to one leading round one. So those years are
off the board. The next year, the year they got poal,
he won MVP. He averaged twenty eight six and five,
(37:42):
and the Lakers that year won fifty seven games. It's
hard to argue that year was better than this year
by Shay d Waite obviously never won an MVP. Isaiah Thomas,
as great as he was, never won an MVP. Steve
(38:02):
Nash won a couple, never made a finals.
Speaker 4 (38:06):
So there is.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
And I don't want to do West and Koozie right now,
but even West, let me check because Jerry, poor Jerry West.
I mean, Jerry West was one and nine in the
finals and the one year he won the championship, he
was not even close to his best individual season. Still
(38:36):
pretty great, by the way, Again, I don't do people
want me to do a Jerry West thing. Okay, I'll
do it real quick. Jerry West again one and nine
in the finals. And if that's not enough, here's Jerry
West's MVP finishes fifth, fifth, fifth, third, second, didn't didn't quality,
(39:01):
didn't get won for three years in a row, second, second, second.
He finished second MVP voting three straight years while losing
the finals like every year.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
That's pretty crazy. Voter voter fatigue must not existed at
that time.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
No, Wilton Russell won, all of them.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
Kept trading off.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
So I feel like once those guys are in second
for a long time or get those second and third spots,
it comes a year and they're like, all right, we're
just gonna give it to him.
Speaker 4 (39:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
I mean, and listen, now, Jerry West did win finals
MVP the first year they ever gave it out when
they didn't win, when his team lost the finals, but
no during Wes Demons, during West Prime, here's the here's
the m vps, Will Russell, Russell, Russell, Oscar Russell, Will
(39:52):
Will Will and then Unseld Reid Kareem Kareem. It was
a big man's award. Oscar won it, but it was
a big man's award again. So Jerry West, like, maybe
point is this, if they win the championship, you can
make the argument that only Magic and Michael as Guards
(40:18):
ever had a better single season than Shay had this year.
It's pretty remarkable. Uh And for okay, see, I don't
really I don't really think there's too many guys that
have a ton to lose, except let me all add
this this.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
What'd you say, Jaylen Williams, Don't you think it's probably
it's really important for him to perform in these finals, right,
I think out of all the guys outside of Shade.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Yeah, but do you think do you think any show
like anybody's gonna kill Jalen Williams if he doesn't like
I just don't. He's in that Goldilock zone that we've
talked about of good enough to where he's gonna make
a ton of money, but not so good to where
he gets super scrutinized. Maybe though I think he's like
(41:09):
the X factor, super important. I just don't think he's
got you know, people are gonna kill him. I'll add
one other person as far as who this person has
the most anxiety right now, that's my that's the way
to put it for Okay, see, and that's Sam Presty.
(41:33):
So Sam Presty took over the Thunder when they were
still in Seattle, Okay, and he draft like he took
over right after the draft, right before he took over,
(41:53):
right or like the week they drafted Durant. I don't
the I don't know. Yeah, no, he he drafted Durant.
Now that was a no brainer. Once Odin went one,
Like whoever whoever didn't go one was gonna go too
in the odin Durant rapid set that aside, Westbrook was
(42:15):
not a no brainer. Pick Harden was not a no brainer.
Pick a Baka was not a no brainer pick. He
just crushed, absolutely crushed after coming from the Spurs, and
they are just set up that it's gonna be the
you know, the thunder out West for a generation, and
(42:36):
they made the finals in twenty twelve and have not
been back since and hardened they He then trades Harden
probably not probably definitely his worst UH transaction as an executive.
My guy Daryl got over on him and just been building, building, building,
getting trying to get back to this moment.
Speaker 4 (42:58):
He knows as well as anyone that.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
There these moments can be fleeting and you've got to
take advantage. By the way, if you want to know
more about Sam Presty, I don't even know if you
know this, Demanse, but you know who wrote a book
that Sam Presty is a central character of.
Speaker 3 (43:23):
Who?
Speaker 2 (43:24):
Danny parkins, Oh, that's what's that pipeline to the pro
Pipeline to the pros.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Yeah, pipeline to the throat to the pros about you know,
Division three, pipeline to nba gm uh. That's a great book.
People can get it on Amazon or wherever you get
your books. Free plug for Danny's Book
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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