Mitch Lawrence! - Bumper to Bumper 11/11/25 Hour Two

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Excuse me, Kevin Siefert, should we be devastated that Santa
Samuel Jr. Is not signing with us, but apparently is
instead signing has been signed to the Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Well, I mean they hosted him for a visit last week.
I think we both know that cornerback is not a
position where they have the most depth on their roster,
and they lost Jeff akuda Uh to injury reserve because
he's had a couple of concussions. And their third cornerback
right now is a guy named Fabian Moreau who's a
veteran that for the past two years has not come

(01:13):
to training camp, but they had him on their roster
for depth, and he's not bad in that sense, but
I think it suggests that they at least wanted to
see if there was an opportunity here to add somebody,
and you know, there's a serious you know, he had
had spinal fusion surgery, so there's a serious health risk there,
and obviously he's cleared by doctors or the Steelers wouldn't
assigned him. But you know, I think that I think

(01:36):
it's fair to say they could use some more depth there,
but it just was not meant to be.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
He's not that old. I don't think the surgery is significant.
Well you looked it up the other day. Is like
twenty six years old? No, it's uh so it's worth it.
I mean I could see you I would be worth
a shot, worth a look right for depth. It was
definitely a good idea to bring him in for visits.
Are you aware of what happened on this day in
Minnesota sports history twenty four years ago?

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Was this the Dan Minnesota Post on the Randy Moss?

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yes, well, this was the story. We had a double bile.
That's why I'm bringing it up. I don't know how
many stories we double byline. That's I don't think a
bunch of emotion. That might have been the only one.
And I don't even remember what I gave you, I
think because I don't think I gave you much for this,
I think, and you were kind enough to.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Include No, my guess is I was way too selfish
to do that. Unless somebody gave me, like the critical
you must have confirmed the actual news of the of
the fine. Maybe that's what it was. Well, I wonder
who I would have gotten that from. I don't know,
but I don't think you should say now, no.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
It's sure. It's a statute of limitations running out of sourcing.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
This is not like jeep throat unless the person is
no longer with us.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
What we're talking about is this was when Moss Randy
Moss verbally abused corporate sponsors on the team bus. I
was after a Vikings loss to the Eagles. Ultimately fined
fifteen thousand dollars required to attend your management. The headline
reads Moss fine revealed. Witnesses described November outburst on team
bus by Kevin SEVERERT and Dan Burrow. That's a historic

(03:08):
part because I don't think we had very many that
might have been the only double byline. I think a
few game notebooks where it might have occasionally, not like
royce though Roycey used to write the whole thing. He
used to write the column, the two sidebars, and lead
the notebook. Roycey's goal covering a road NFL.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Game was to leave from the starts, and if it
meant that he needed to write his column and then
write the entire notebook afterwards to get us out of
there quicker, he would he.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
Would absolutely do it. Yeah, I've told this story. Before
is I was a little more deliberate writer in terms
of the time I needed to do whatever I was
going to do. I was more the tortured artist guy.
And there was once a month, especially if we were
you know, well it could be home, could be road
more likely actually home, where he's clacking on the radio shack,

(03:58):
the little radio shack, and he's just clacking. I mean,
he's just a tea and I'm just I'm steaming because
I'm still on the I'm still working on the you know,
first leave. And there's that moment where he he he
slams down the cover of the radio shack computer. I'm done.
And that's what you'd say, I'm done. It's like, Okay,

(04:19):
we're happy for you that you're done. None of the
rest of us have even be gone and you're done.
That's great, that's wonderful.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Part of the reason why no one else could be
done is because Roycey sort of had a way of
talking through as he was writing, has calmed. He'd be like,
how many terrible how many hours in horrendous performance?

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Yeah, And so by.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
The time trying the lines on us and answer the laughter, yeah,
answered all your questions. He was done and you hadn't started. Yeah,
that's very very true.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
What else do we mean? I felt regarding the Ravens game.
I'm curious to get your view on this. I I
was ripping all the pundit Sunday because I said, you know,
we we look, we did an unscientific poll or research
on national outlets predicting on that game, and we literally

(05:08):
found I think it was like thirty eight to two.
And I thought that was ridiculous, because I said, I
can get picking the Ravens, but people are acting like
this wuna be the upset of the century. Ravens are cute.
I know, they got Lamar back. They just beat two
terrible team. Well I thought, maybe I'm that's wrong, and
the Bears was one of them, and the Dolphins, who
are pretty terrible, and I just thought it was being

(05:30):
billed as this almost impossible challenge for the Purple. Well,
obviously it didn't work out for the club, But early
I felt pretty cocky. I felt pretty good because I
didn't think the Ravens looked all that impressive or interested.
I didn't even think Lamar looked particularly dynamic early. But
my concern was I felt like at halftime we should

(05:51):
have been ahead by more than ten to nine. That
was the stretch where we needed a ten point lead
at the half instead of a one point lead at
the half. The old deal of you got to take
when the game's going your way, you kind of got
to take advantage of it, and I didn't think we
did a very good job of that in the first half.
And I think that I'm sure that encouraged the Ravens
to say this game is right here for us.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Well, then they you know, I mean, they start the
third quarter with an interception and then a field goal,
and then wasn't that the fumble after that? And so
basically in some ways, the Vikings handed them that turning
point and the Ravens tried to give it back. Why
they were throwing the ball at the end, you know,
I mean they were like he Andrew Van Ginkle on
the last third down managed to knock the pass down.

(06:30):
He was going to intercept the ball until Lamar Jackson
got like they were in Andrew Van Ginkle interception away
from having great field position with a chance to score
and had two point conversion to tie when they as
Christian Darisaw said, they shouldn't have been remotely in that game,
given all the penalties in the in the in those
two turnovers.

Speaker 1 (06:48):
That's true. And I the interesting thing is before that,
the Ravens were just it was run after run after run.
Right when they got into that stretch where the game theirs,
it looked like we're just gonna pound it until as
you say, they opened the door.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
That it was working like they had derreck Henry, Yeah,
I think you scat backs.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
Yeah, it definitely worked on what's your best intel on
the cadence thing? Because I get the bit we're all
in it together, different you know, different play, different fall starts,
related to different issues, and I think to a certain extent,
the team has to say that. But no one's going
to convince me that the thing at the top of

(07:32):
the list is not the quarterback in terms of the
way he emphasizes whatever the cadence is, to me, that's
the only thing that's different. So to me, it's got
that's got to be it at the top of the list.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
And he did take full responsibility. But I I think
like that's part of it. And I think like they
also have a pretty complicated in my viewpoint, pre snap,
you know, without they have motion they motion a lot.
There's a lot of orchestrating they happen, you know, in
terms of and as John Harbaugh said, there was evidence
that they were trying to go for on two a
few times to to uh, to pull the Ravens off sides,

(08:06):
and they had a lot of the motions that they did,
and there's just a lot to orchestrate there. And I
think it goes back again to you know, they're giving
them the full the full amount of NFL level stuff.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
They're not.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
You know, I don't know exactly what cadence they ran
on every single time or how many different ones they
even use, but uh, they're they're not. I don't think
that they're giving him kid gloves even on that on
the pre snap stuff. He's definitely smart enough to handle it.
But again, you have to do it a lot. And
to me, and and I don't like I want to
go back on the quarterback too much, but to me,

(08:37):
like all these things point out that if we're saying
he needed more reps, you know, he needs reps, he
needs reps. Like I think like at some point we'll
we'll probably start thinking like should they have used them
more in the preseason and normally, I'm like, a the
preseason is dumb. Preseason is just an injury waiting to happen,
you know, just get out of that part of the
season without you know, debilitating your entire you know, regular season.

(09:01):
But it's very it's very clear that you know, he
needed those that those reps could have helped him in
some way, even if it's just practicing what we're talking,
even if it's just you know a little bit more
muscle memory on on the fundamentals or whatever like that,
that is one that I think is worth further questions.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
At some point down the road, guardee some bonus points
or bonus bucks. I should shay bonus bucks. The fan
and two men and a junk truck. I want to
help with that. It's our national cash contest. Keyword for
the four o'clock hour is deposit. Go to cafe and
dot com and enter the keyword deposit.

Speaker 2 (09:31):
Fan.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
One more quickie with Seaffert before we chat basketball with
Mitch Lawrence and owed the late great Lenny Wilkins with
him talk some wolves as well. Should Justin Jefferson have
caught the touchdown pass of the pass at the goal line?
Is that a play that if he's doing what we
associate with him that he makes well.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
He teely makes great catches and that would have been
a great catch. So I think it's fair to expect
that from him, but not to hammer him for not
doing it.

Speaker 1 (10:32):
That's fair. And uh And.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
And I know there's been a lot of discussion about him,
and how.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
About with the with the return, there's a lot of
there's there's seems to be a difference of opinion within
the media community on how hard to come down on
JJS reactions.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
Lever's opinion and turn. I mean, he's been out there
and he knows the difference. And we do have a
history in this town of receivers walking in times when.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
It's not expected of them, that's true. And so.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
The reason it stuck out that is because it's just
unusual for justin like you don't you don't see him,
you know, And I know he probably thought that he
was down by contact or that it was down by contact,
but you just don't often see him, you know, reacting
like being so disconnected from what's going on in the field.
And it happened twice on both the interceptions, and there
were a few uh, you know, there was that the

(11:20):
catch that could have been a touchdown?

Speaker 1 (11:21):
There was a route towards the end of the game.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
I think that was, you know, near the far end
zone where it looked like it wasn't his best route ever.
West Phillips, the offensive coordinator, said that. I think his
quote was I think he deserves a little bit of grace,
which he didn't say whether that was because of the
walking or because of the overall performance or probably both.
It wasn't his best game. Uh, it wasn't a great look.
But I don't think that there's like, if there's more

(11:46):
to read into it than that, I'm not aware of it.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
What was the defensive breakdown on the and that was? Uh?
Was it Andrews wide open?

Speaker 2 (11:55):
Yeah? The last last the Ravens last score of the
game that basically accounted for the final different difference they had,
Like first and goal at the two, and you know,
they line up the sort of spread formation and Mark
Andrews's tight end, he's kind of lined up as a
slot receiver, and you see Harrison Smith trying to wait,
you know, coming over to that side and trying to
wave somebody else over and nobody ever does, and so

(12:17):
Mark Andrews just is uncovered and he takes like four
steps into the end zone, turns around, catches the ball
for a touchdown, and nobody ever defended him. And so
I asked for us about that today and he said,
there was a miscommunication. You know a lot of the
people who watched the video thought that Harris Smith was
trying to bring Josh Mattelis over. I don't know that
for a fact that that's who should have had Mark

(12:38):
Andrews and should have been covering him, but I know
that that's what it looks like when you watch the
video at least. And so but ultimately Forrest said that he,
you know, there was it's a situation where you're trying
to pass coverage along the line of scrimmage and it
didn't get fully communicated, and in the end he felt
like he didn't really call a very good coverage make
a good coverage call for that play and should have

(12:59):
done different ones. So he took the responsibility, but you know,
it kind of got covered up in all the McCarthy
talking Jefferson and all that. But like that was the
essentially the winning touchdown, and the guy who was a coverage.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
Bust, who is the best team of the division.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
Well, it's a crazy league, as SID would say, uh
like right now, Like I mean, like two backs ago,
you would have said Packers that you know, I still
think the Packs would be pretty good, like I, you know,
to at least you can say their loss to the
Eagles was against another really really good top three or
four team and certainly in the conference, if not in
the division. And so I don't I don't feel like

(13:37):
there's season's over because they lost by three points to
the Eagles even though it was at home.

Speaker 1 (13:43):
So I think they're still.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
Really good, like I if I had if I like,
they've already beat the Lions once. You know, we'll see
what happens when they play again. But I think there's
a lot there when the Pack when your defense is
good as the Packers defense appears to be, that's the
formula for for playoff runs.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
I am gonna guess I've check this guards he will
be able to do it. I think maybe before he
I think he's about to leave Vikings Bears. I'm going
to say the Vikings are favored by two and a half.
Do you have any idea if that's right, we'll levele
check it. I'll try to. In fact, I think maybe
the relay is taking place right now. I'm gonna say
without looking Vikings are favored by two and a half

(14:21):
over the Bears. I know they're favored, but let me see.
And that's my intro into whether you believe the Bears.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
Should be two and a half to three depends on
the sports book.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
Bet so should the Bears? How seriously should the Bears
be taken at this point? We know their record is
six and three, that's two games better than our club.
They've played, They've got a last place schedule, and they've
played the softest part of that last place schedule early.
It's about to get They got a lot more Division
games coming up where you think it's gonna start getting.
They got to I think four or five tough games

(14:51):
in a row, if I remember what Courtney Cronin wrote.
So how seriously should the Bears be taken at this point?

Speaker 2 (14:55):
I think I mean, if you're the Viking, that you
take them very seriously, because there's not a single game
that they can afford to believe that they're that they're
much better than the opponent when they walk on the field.
Given where they are in the standings, and so you know,
the Bears had him beat in Chicago. You know they
had him beat and then they they collapsed and the
Vikings took advantage of that and uh and got rolling

(15:16):
and scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter or something
that's not going to happen very often.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
Penalty is what opened the door for us in that game.
If you recall, the Bears were driving again, they got
a weak ass call against them changed the whole drive
and that was just passing. I don't remember what the
call was. It was not a very it was a gift.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
Well, and so I and I think you know that
there's certainly there's a lot to be said for confidence
and momentum, and the Bears have both of those things,
and they have an equalizer at quarterback. While Caleb Williams
isn't throwing it as well as a jumping down Sam
Darnold or whoever you would pick as your top quarterback
in the league this year, but he certainly can equalize

(15:52):
things with his legs. I mean, he took over that
game against the Giants.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
We're not playing for the at this point, right If
we're playing for anything, it's just get in the playoffs. Yeah,
I mean, although you could say it's a two game
gap actually, right.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
So like our ESPN projections has them their playoff chances
at like seven point nine percent and the division you know,
is like two or three percent. So it's neither of
those are attractive. No, not impossible. No, there's not a
huge gap in between those. But so basically because they
still have a lot of games left to get. They're
already they're two and zero in the division, and they

(16:29):
have the rest of their games still to go. So
the opportunity at least to not only you know, win,
to continue winning, but to bring down the records of
the other NFC North teams is still there.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
Please ask Seafert, why on earth did koc go for
two on that touchdown? If he's using analytics, he should
use his own brain. I think the analytics say do
what he did? Yeah, right, I don't I don't know
that I love it because I don't know can analytics
ever evaluate mental let down? After you know, the surge
of scoring a touchdown and then the letdown of not

(17:06):
making the two point conversion, what that does to you mentally?

Speaker 2 (17:10):
Hopefully if it does much to you, then you're not
gonna win anyway. Like, basically, what it does is it
gives you a clear understanding of what you're gonna have
to do to either tie the game or win the game,
and as opposed to to the other way around. And
so yeah, if you make it, you have a chance
to win the game with a with a touchdown and
in an extra point, So that extends your you know,

(17:33):
there's a slight increase in win probability in that situation.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
And so I think that's why teams do it.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
And and I don't think that that you know, clearly
they never got in a position to even try the
two point conversion or try to tie, and so I
can't say it really had an impact in the game.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
So that your your QB story is dropping tomorrow you
think tonight tomorrow morning, tomorrow morning. All right, I'll look
forward to that and we'll see you soon, I hope. Yeah,
sounds good. Next week. Yeah, So I don't think I'm
going to the Ballyard this week? Should it's Bears week.
If you don't, you could come with us to Lambeau
the following week. Oh, they all lambo trip in a
long time. I bet Lambo trip would be good. Blake

(18:11):
Moore would probably rather go with these a big package roube.
As you know, that's confirmed. Thanks man, all right, Kevin
Seaffert ESPN dot Com will come back and change the
subject pretty dramatically. We'll check in with our old buddy
Mitch Lawrence on a number of NBA subjects. Wolves included
general manager, dismissed a lot of Dallas and ode to
a dead guy as well, our guy, Mitch Neck. You're

(18:35):
right to go crazy, Wolves fans.

Speaker 3 (18:36):
The debut the Prince Inspired City Edition uniforms happening this
Saturday against Denver Nuggets, and you can be there. You
can check out our contest stage so you could win
a pair of tickets the Saturday's game be the first
to experience the uniforms, the.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
Prince Inspired Court, and a whole lot more.

Speaker 3 (18:49):
KFA dot com Keyword Contest Center today.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
And now it's time for owed to a dead Guy.
I can't think of anybody better to give proper respect
at homage to Lenny Wilkins. Story breaking just a couple
of days ago that he has passed away at the
age of eighty eight years old. A lot of the

(19:20):
kids don't know the name. Let me fill you in
nine time All Star in fifteen seasons, average sixteen point
five points and six point six assists for three different teams.
He was named to the NBA's fiftieth Anniversary Team in
nineteen ninety six and the seventy fifth Anniversary Team in

(19:41):
twenty twenty one. Also honored as a Top ten and
Top fifteen coach as part of those anniversary celebrations. He's
in the Hall of Fame like three different times as well.
He was a player coach. Just a remarkable legacy, and
a lot of people in the NBA have been spending

(20:02):
a lot of time trying to put his career in
perspective and to give him proper due. Mitch Lawrence is
going to help us with that now, joining via the
Connectico Water Systems hotline. Thank you very much for the time, sir.
You can still hear Mitch via Sirius XM often as
their number one fill in on a number of outstanding

(20:23):
programs you. I know I covered a little bit of
playoff stuff with Lenny back in the Dallas days. You
covered probably more. When you think of the name Lenny Wilkins.
What comes to mind for you and your own experiences, Well,
the first.

Speaker 4 (20:38):
Thing that comes to mind is that I grew up
outside New York City and Lenny Wilkins after Bob Coosey,
who is really the father, the godfather of point guards,
and New York City is known for great point guards
through the years. After Bob Coosey, then it was like
Lenny Wilkins, who was the great point guard who grew
up in Brooklyn, played, went to Providence College, had a

(21:02):
stellar college career, and then as a pro he had
an amazing career, an All NBA type of player. And
then obviously after a great career in Saint Louis and
playing for different organizations, you know, he's a coach of Seattle,
and Seattle wins the World Championship, and obviously for people

(21:24):
who don't know, that's before they went to Oklahoma City.
But he did it all and he was a class guy,
consummate professional, very approachable. Maybe not the greatest quote, but
a guy who you could definitely talk to about, you know,
anything involving basketball. And his players really did like him
a lot. A players coach, they knew because he had

(21:47):
great success as a player himself. He was a player
coach even back in the day that what Lenny you know,
told him was not just you know, criticism, but it
was coaching from a standpoint if he wanted to make
his players better. He had a lot of great teams
later on after Seattle, of course, the teams I remember,
and I covered a lot with the Cleveland teams that

(22:07):
had the misfortunate, like the Nick teams of that era
of the nineties, of having to go up against Michael Jordan.
I think they lost four playoff series, including that celebrated
Michael Jordan shot against Craig Glow. And you know, Lenny
unfortunately was on the losing end. But there are a
lot of coaches who are like that.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
Right, Everything he did felt understated.

Speaker 4 (22:27):
Right.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
He was obviously a very talented player and a very
good coach, but he was not over the top and
the way he played, and he was not over the
top obviously in the way he coached as well. I
learned something that I didn't know in one of the
stories I'd read. Perhaps you knew this. You mentioned the
New York part of this story in Brooklyn, more specifically,

(22:52):
that he wants that he occasionally delivered groceries to Jackie
Robinson happened to be a neighbor did you know that one?
That one? If I knew it, I'd forgotten it. That's
that's a great that's a great bit of background.

Speaker 4 (23:06):
Yeah, a few years ago, had a chance we had
Lennion to talk about. I can't remember what, but he
did delve into that, and I think he just volunteered
that himself, about about Jackie Robinson, about growing up. But
I also know that he did face, you know, in
the late fifties in Saint Louis, face some racism, right,

(23:29):
not surprisingly unfortunately, but that's the way this country was
back then. When he and his wife, I think in
the second year Ray were able to purchase a house,
and you know, when they got to their house or whatever,
there were a bunch of their neighbors who had for
sale signs up. Yes, they were looking to leieve and
get out. So listen. He lived a long, great life.

(23:51):
He faced a lot of adversity that black men obviously
did of his eerror and even later on, but he
accomplished so much much that he really is one of
the you know the NBA. I mean, here's a guy
who like won over a thousand games of coach over.
I mean, he had the ridiculous record and you know
he's he's as much as New York. The old New

(24:14):
York basketball fan still remembers him. The people of Seattle
reveer him as the guy out there because of what
he did with you know, Gus Williams, Jack Sickman, that
team that beat Washington and vict Mota Bullets for the
title back then, which was the only title the organization
has at until this last year when they did it

(24:36):
in Oklahoma City is at the Thunder.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
So he was in Seattle, the league's became the league's
second black player coach. Right Bill Russell had done it
as well and then and then returned five years later
as coach. Only it always fascinates me, you know that
that the ability to do both. Do you think there's

(24:59):
ever I mean, do you think we're ever going to
see that again? Niche that there's ever a chance we
might see the return to the player coach.

Speaker 4 (25:08):
I think every time that's come up, I think there's
a rule. Maybe now, okay, you can't okay, Although a
lot of people say Lebron James at different points of
his career has been a player coach with as much
authority and power as yes on the court, But no,
I think they kind of phase that out, and I
don't know anybody who really wants that headache because the

(25:28):
game is hard enough to play, and then you got
to deal with today's athletes and stay's basketball players who
I'm sure Lenny and Bill Russell had challenges, you know,
when they were player coach, But can you imagine in
this day and age of social media and everything, the
players are all about what that would be like that
that might drop a guy out of the sport entirely.

(25:50):
I don't think we'll see that.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
You're right about that. By the way, before we get
into some current stuff, including what's been going down going
on you're down your way Dallas Mavericks related, I think
the story broke earlier today, Michael Ray Richardson has died
at the age of seventy years old. Yo, you got
a good Michael Ray richards Again for the the folks
who you know, maybe have heard the name, but I

(26:13):
haven't been around long enough to really appreciate sort of
who he was and what he represented. What do they
need to know about Michael Ray?

Speaker 4 (26:20):
He was an immensely talented and troubled player. Because this
was back at a time he played in the league
when there were a lot of players who used cocaine,
and he was one of them, and he has the distinction. Unfortunately,
even though he when he played and he was straight,

(26:41):
he had phenomenal seasons. Dan. But here's a guy who's
known also as the first player to receive what they
called the lifetime Band, which is really a two year
ban that happened in nineteen eighty six, and he apparently
tested positive for cocaine like three times over the last
two years, and so the league, you know, exercise that

(27:03):
authority under the anti drug program to throw him out.
He was reinstated, but he went to Europe and he
played there. I think until I lad somewhere that he
was forty six years old when he was still playing,
he liked Europe a lot more. He only you know,
practice limited play once a week. I remember him as
a nick New York was definitely too big, too fast,

(27:25):
too wild for him. And then he was obviously he
had his greatest years as a New Jersey net when
they played in the Meadowlands and he was a great
score and a great you know, he's just had a
great all around game, a big guard, and unfortunately his
career was derailed, as you know, we saw it in

(27:45):
Dallas with Roy Tarpley later, and there are other players.
This is a time I think the Washington Post in
nineteen eighty did a pole where anywhere between a poll
of players and executives, maybe coaches too, and the range
was anywhere from forty five to seventy percent of the
players were estimated to be on cocaine using cocaine at

(28:07):
that time. Wow, that's that's the type of error it
was in the league obviously had to have a major crackdown,
also suffered a tremendous tragedy and the len Bias story
that right, But yeah, Michael Ray Richardson was part of
that whole thing, and you know it's just unfortunate, but
he anybody who played against me. He's also apparently walked
into he I read this. I didn't know this until

(28:30):
I read about it today, where apparently he would walk
into the Laker the locker room before the Nets would
play the Lakers until match Johnson he was going to
kick his butt if you can read back, so I can't.
Actually that's the type of guy he was.

Speaker 1 (28:43):
Yeah, that's that's a good way to sum it up,
all right, let's bring it to what's going on down
Dallas Way. Was made official today that the Mavericks have
fired their general manager, Nico Harrison. Do you view this
as inevitable? Do you view the timing as fair given
all the injuries face that the Mavericks face right now,

(29:04):
or what do you make of the move?

Speaker 4 (29:07):
Well, listen, they haven't had their two best players, Anthony
Davis and Kyrie Irving. Cooper Flag has not exactly torn
the league up, but the problem is that they just
saw their twenty four year sellout streak and this is
with a number one overall pick playing for them in

(29:28):
Cooper Flag. Not a lot around him, right, But owners
pay attention to that, and I think owners also pay
attention to the fact that the whispers from players were
that because of the constant fire and n Eco chance
that the fans are still they were still using even
last night in his last game there when they lost
to the Bucks late. You know, it got the players

(29:51):
in the player and I'm sure Jason Kidd didn't like it,
and I'm sure the players you know, and I'm sure
Patrick Dumont, who replaced Mark Cuban as the owner, didn't
like it. And until they were going to get Nko
Harrison out of there. They were going to continue to
play it with a home court disadvantage, which you can't have,
and that's unfair to the players, but that's the way

(30:13):
the passion of the fans here still view this trade
of Luka Doncic as a deal breaker for them and
a lot of fans. If they didn't go to the games,
you know, the soul of the sheet was over. But
there were fans who went there basically to to can't
fire an Eco, so they had to do something. The
weird thing was, you know, Patrick Dumont was the owner,

(30:35):
not Mark Human, but when they made the trade, they
you know, he was all in, Patrick Dumont, He approved
the trade. The word was that I heard, you know,
is that you didn't want to pay you Luka Doncic's
next big extension because Luka doncicch is out of shape.
Luca Doncics didn't have the the fire and the competitive edge.
He felt that were you know, shown by other great

(30:56):
players in the past like Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, et cetera.
And that he bought Nico Harrison's game plan, which was
we're going to bring in Anthony Davis, and we're going to
try to have Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving and the rest
of the cast from the team that went to the
finals a couple of years ago and make a deep run.
Well they didn't because of the whole atmosphere in Dallas

(31:18):
at these games. They thought that was that's untenable. It
couldn't continue to do that, so they had to fire him.
And that's so nobody's really surprised. As a matter of fact,
down here, it is everybody celebrating this, which you could
see the fans, but you know, the caution is that
the guy in charge here, the owner, is still the

(31:38):
guy who signed off on a trade shot. It's still
unbelievable for two reasons. The fact that they traded him
at the age of what twenty five or twenty six
after they had just been to the finals, and the
fact that they didn't get much in return. And Anthony
Davis has only played fourteen out of a possible forty
four games and he's hurt and they can't play again. So

(31:59):
everything just went wrong. This whole thing just blew up
in their faces.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
You know, I think you hit on the key part
of this because I think you could say, well, it's
kind of disingenuous of the owner to turn when he
approved of the deal. There's still some people think that
he basically said, I'm we're not going to pay him
that money, so you got to figure out someplace to
trade him. I think to me, where Harrison is still
rippable is whether he got maximum value right, and the

(32:25):
built in issue of when you trade for a player
who has been as injured as he has and Anthony
Davis in effect you're asking for, it's hard to have
much sympathy, you know, because you can say, on Kyrie, well,
how do you know he's going to get hurt. He
hasn't been hurt his whole career, but Anthony Davis has
been hurt almost his entire career. So to that extent,

(32:46):
I think that's what I had to probably make the
GM very vulnerable, even if, as we said, the owner
is the guy who might have been, you know, demanding
a deal in the first place.

Speaker 4 (32:57):
That I think what this was my action reaction at
the time, Why are you trading him now? And why
don't you wait till June when more teams can get
involved will probably get a better deal, and by the way,
Why don't you start by calling up a team like
Milwaukee and trying to make something Roviniannison Tannakopo, exactly right.

(33:18):
You start here. You could call Minnesota Anthony Edwards. I
called Boston, talked to him about Jason Tatum. You could.
I mean, why are you just getting Anthony Davis, who
you know as Charles Barkley calls him street clothes. I
mean he rarely plays. You know, when he does, he's great,
he's you know, listen, it's a stretch that he made
the top seventy five team in my book, but he did,

(33:39):
but he just does not play enough. And no, the
package was way. I mean they got they got you know,
you look at it and it's like they got robbed.
They didn't get anything. You got for a Luka Doncic,
a player of that statue, or a guy who one
day maybe an MVP and he's probably win a title
in Los Angeles, you have to get a King Rams,

(34:00):
and you have to get you know, four or five
number one picks for future first pick. You have to
get a good rising young player or if you're going
to go to Milwaukee and get Jannison's at of Koupo.
You know what, you have to work out a package there,
but at least you're getting a two time MVP pack
who still has some years to go and get help
you within a title. They didn't get nearly that in
terms of the package.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
NBA big knocker Mitch Lawrence kind enough to join us.
The Wolves are starting to play better. They've not played.
They played a lot of pretty mediocre teams, but they're
they're I should say Edwards is healthy again and playing
very well. So they're trying to put this thing together
after kind of an uneven start. The question on the

(34:43):
table is the same as in many places. If the Wolves,
let's say a month from now, are kind of spinning
their wheels where they're not horrible, but they're not they're
looking like they're going to be a second Wrong Western
Conference team with not maybe a great chance as to
get even as far as they did a year the
last two seasons. Should they be interested in Ja Morant,

(35:09):
who I think clearly is going to end up going someplace.
I think that's pretty much inevitable. So it's the big
job Morant question for you is if they could work
out the logistics on finances, which by the way would
be complicated because I think they'd have to end up
back in the second apron, which I don't think the
new owners want to be. But if all that got
worked out, is he worth the risk? What do you

(35:30):
think about jaw landing but not any place else? Is
he worth whatever baggage he has at this point?

Speaker 4 (35:38):
What do you think if you asked me that a
couple of years ago, when he was second team, second
team All NBA and before all the gun nonsense, I'd
say absolutely, Baker run at him now where he has
regressed as a player. He's no longer one of the

(35:58):
top ten in the league. He's got this stuff off
the court, which you just don't know if that's over
with and done with other unsettling things, including his father,
who's more of a supporter than a guy who's going
to pack the father role that has. That's that's not
changing for the better. Apparently it depends what Memphis is

(36:23):
looking for too. I mean Memphis, you know, I don't
know if they're just they're not going to just give
them away, but they might be in a situation where
they feel like we have to move on from him,
and I'll accept, you know less than what people might think.
I mean, you know, there's been so many trades recently, Dan,
where you've got the Knicks giving up five you know,

(36:45):
number one first round picks from mattel Bridges. You're not
worth back. You saw that, you know with in other
situations go there too. Obviously, I don't know what Memphis
is looking for. They're gonna look look for something obviously
before they move on, because let's face it, when they move.
Once they move on, for him, it's not going to
be easy for them to get another player of his

(37:06):
statue what he was a couple of years ago. But
like I said, he's not that same player, gets hurt
a lot, not a good defender, not a great shooter.
I mean, this is a guy who had his best days.
Sad to say, but like two three years ago. So
if I was in Minnesota, no, I would not do
I would I would look to do something else. I

(37:27):
know Minnesota listen, coming into this year two years in
earrow Western Conference Finals, didn't really neither of them compete
very well because I think what they didn't even get
the six games correct. No, So I'm saying, can they
please get themselves a point guard?

Speaker 3 (37:42):
Here?

Speaker 4 (37:43):
Of you know a young one, and I'm not talking
about the guys that you know. Mike Conley Junior, as
great as he's been, it's time to move on. Put
him on the bench. Find Evincenzo's not a point guard either,
is Rob Billingham. To me, that seems to be a problem.
The other thing, too is I just don't I'm just
it's not big on Julius Randall being a second option

(38:04):
on a championship team, maybe a third off. So there.
I think they've got some problems too. But right now,
the way they're composed, I don't think they can get
by Oklahoma City. There might be another team or two
out west they play in a conference finals, they might
not be able to get until they do something a
little more radical or get another more talented player than

(38:28):
what they have now. After at Anthony.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
Edwards, the biggest surprise in the league for you early
this season.

Speaker 4 (38:38):
Well, Orlando was supposed to be better. I think there's
some issues going on with Jamal Mosley, who's a first
time head coach and is what third or fourth year there,
And you know they made the big trade for Desmond Bane.
They gave up a lot they were supposed to hit
the ground running. They haven't. I don't know if there's

(38:59):
going to be. Now they're saying Bank Carpaala, bon Caro
and Mosley are having problems. I don't know. That's just
the word out there. We'll see Eastern Conference wise. I
think that in the West, I think a lot of
people thought the Clippers because they went and they brought
in a lot of veteran guys like Brook Lopez and

(39:20):
Chris Paul Boy, they're in a world of trouble. They're
probably going to have to make a move. I didn't
think they'd be this bad this early. But I don't
know if they can turn that around. You know, Oklahoma
City obviously isn't a surprise. They're head and shoulders to
me above everybody else. So we'll go from there. But
you know, and I thought Dallas was going to struggle.

(39:41):
I didn't think Dallas was going to be good right
away without Davis Kyrie irving camp and putting on you know,
making Cooper flag passed the ball to guys who aren't
as good as he is instead of him just looking
to go out and score.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
What do you hear? Lastly on the Billups part of
the big Gambling slash Polker investigation because I've heard some jackals,
media jackals say this is bad. I've heard others say
I need to hear a little bit more to the
story that if you really read what they have, it's
not quite as dramatic as it appeared in the press

(40:15):
conference the first day. What are you hearing from people
you know in the league about the Billups situation.

Speaker 4 (40:22):
Haven't heard a lot, But my immediate reaction was the
poker stuff was one thing, but to give information about
your team to people who are then going to turn
and use it in a gambling situation, giving inside information
out I was not to me, was a hanging offense.
That to me was he's never going to work again

(40:44):
in the NBA and you know that. To me, I
read it in the indictment that was really really startling.
He took information about and he knew that they were
going to tank games, and he told people who had
invested interest in making bets. That is a huge no.

(41:05):
That strikes the whole integrity issue. I've known Chauncey Billups
a long time since he was a player, a great guy,
and my question that hasn't been answered yet is what
forced him to all of us. What forced him to

(41:25):
become a guy who was associated with the types of
people you can't be associated with if you're coaching in
the NBA, people in the maafia, people who are running
croocket card games. What was the reason did he I
mean it sounds like you mean from the else. I
have no knowledge, But must he have been up to

(41:47):
his neck in all kinds of debts where he needed
to do this, where people forced him to do this.
I don't know that to me because he always struck
me as a real class guy. That to me is
the puzzler. But there has to be an explanation for
how you would associate yourself with the types of people
who the lead. You know, they know you're associating with

(42:10):
those people and they can prove it. I don't think
it's gonna work again in the NBA.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
Great stuff man is always good to catch up and
we'll be in touch soon. But by the way, now
that the I think the serious XMNBA shows are also
on NBA TV. When you fill in, then you got
to get dressed up more than usual. Is it a
whole different bag doing the show when you got to
worry about the camera, not just you know you can't

(42:34):
slouch like you usually do on a radio situation.

Speaker 4 (42:39):
You'll find out tomorrow morning on from seven to eight
because Scalabrini and NBC have another eight o'clock Eastern start
Boston and Philly, So I am subbing for Brian Scalabrini.
Nice but no, I just go in there looking great
as always. There you go and got to lead you
to fans always called me up and support me. But
everybody should tune it because I'm sure Frank and I, Frank,

(43:01):
Guizela and I all will be talking at length about
Nico Harrison all the games today, and we'll probably even
talk about Michael Ray Richardson and a bunch of other stuff.
But it's only one hour because then scal Can he's back,
can play. As Michael Jordan would say, what are you
doing with the other twenty two hours?

Speaker 1 (43:19):
That's true? Thanks man, good to catch up.

Speaker 4 (43:22):
We'll talk soon, all right, Dan, I appreciate you.

Speaker 1 (43:25):
Mitch Lawrence, one of our favorites over the years, kind
enough to give us a plenty extended time. Luigi is
going to join about a half hour from now. Top
five and five with Blake Moore is coming up, including
Wild's Wolves and a new Viking signing