NBA Roundtable with Bob and Eric on Jerry West, Lakers Coaching Search, Mavs/Boston, Clipped

FnA Podcast with Kevin Figgers and Adam Auslund with Bob Schmidt and Eric Sklar with the NBA Roundtable on the NBA Finals, Lakers coaching search and the passing of Jerry West. 

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
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a voice of a new generation.Many of the young guys really at
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We got k fig here, ofcourse, on a throw that ass
back Thursday edition. Okay, hey, she had a fat ass, you
know, almost forgot what the dayof the week it was. Yeah,
me too, kind of works.Been busy, been very busy. Some
of us have been jet setting alittle bit. Maybe if we have time,
we'll talk about that, uh travelingman. Yeah, yeah, less

(01:10):
jet setting, more train setting,train setting. Okay, the train sucks.
The train fucking sucks. Am trackastrak It's I thought it was gonna
be great. They tried to tellme it was a scenic view and all
these things. I'll see Lake Michigan. Well, if it's an overnight train
from Boston to Chicago and during themost scenic portions of the route it's dark

(01:40):
outside, it doesn't really fucking matter. And all it feels like the entire
time on the train in the darkis like you're on a plane, except
there's way more turbulence. You can'tsleep through that. Well, just look
outside and see it through a child'seyes and use your imagination, Adam,
imagine what the lake would look likeif it was daytime. That's how you're
supposed to be vision. I'm imaginingtaking a bus next time instead all the

(02:04):
old greyhound. Huh. All right, that sounds like a better mode of
travel. Okay, we're back in. We're happy to have you guys in
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a kfig one at FNA show onTwitter, Facebook and the gram. But
without further ado, let's get toone of our favorite segments here. Yee
yee, it's time for the NBARoundtable on the FNA podcast with Bob Schmidt
and Merek Splar and the Ducal Sports, the Duke and Brebery's in the house.

(02:49):
The full crew back with you asthe NBA Finals are going on as
the Lakers are searching for a newhead coach after being turned down once.
But I think we should start withthe passing of Jerry West yesterday at the
age of eighty six. What wereyour guys' first thoughts, because I went

(03:12):
straight back to and maybe we couldplay this sound But I did ask this
question as introductory press conference with theLos Angeles Clippers and got dunked on pretty
good, appropriately so by the logothe Legend the icon. Condolences to the
family again he was eighty six.My dad's favorite player of all time,

(03:32):
any of our dad's favorites, anybodyyour dad, anybody's dad probably, And
I love and revere Jerry West.Brebery got me a basketball card of him
for my birthday or for Christmas orsomething at one point. But here was
me trying to be cute and cleverwith a question after he's coming over from
the Golden State Warriors to the Clippersorganization. This was Jeez, twenty seventeen,

(03:57):
twenty sixteen, somewhere in there.I don't think I was working for
the Clippers yet, but I thoughtit was smart enough to ask this,
Adam Moslen am Fi seventy LA Sports, Jerry, considering you help build this
dominant Golden State Warriors team, isit going to be strange at all now?
Trying to figure out a way tobeat a team you created? Almost
like you're playing chess against yourself,and is that maybe the final chant out?

(04:18):
Again, you're giving me too muchcredit? Okay, please don't do
that. We have some very smartpeople up there, wonderful people internally,
but that is that's just Jerry toa t. Never wanted credit for anything,
never didn't like talking about himself.Now, the weird part is he
definitely knew the importance he had anego to him, and he definitely had
you know, that's that was partof his competitive drive, you hear,

(04:40):
like, I guess he was reallygood friends with Michael Jordan. Anytime that
he would beat Jordan at golf.He will let Jordan know about it.
He was a notorious trash talker,extremely competitive, but he never talked about
it. He never puffed his chestout in the media. And that's really
the antithesis of what a lot ofpeople in that position do, especially to
be as great as he was ateverything that he did, to be a
all world players freaking logo. WhetherDavid Stern tried to deny it or not,

(05:03):
he's the logo of the NBA andis one of the great executives in
the history of professional sports, letalone basketball. Do you guys know,
Bob, you can guess on thisand then Eric gets you guys in here.
But the year the logo trademark andI know it's not officially Jerry West
and had to hide behind that.Maybe they didn't want to pay him,

(05:24):
but that came about the NBA logothat we know today. Do you guys
know what year it was trademark?Yeah? Or what year it off being
stamped as the NBA logo. I'mguessing it was some time after Stern was
commissioner, so probably sometime in theeighties. No, it was sixty nine,
Yeah, Oh wow, Jerry Westis still playing it is the logo,

(05:44):
Wow, isn't that wild? Prettyinsane? Right, like to live
up to those expectations. It's alsointeresting that back then, because of context
and nuance, I guess in thesixties and seventies and the hot take world
we live in now, it's verydifferent those two eras. But you could
lose the same team over and overagain like he did to the Boston Tells

(06:05):
Celtics. You could lose in theNBA Finals like he did in sixty nine
to the Boston Celtics and still bethe Finals MVP. You could still be
considered great in a team game individually, like people had the mental capacity to
separate those two things back then.Well, and he was also the most
outstanding player in the NCAA tournament whenhis West Virginia team lost to Kansas.

(06:25):
It's right, yeah, So,Bob, what are your thoughts on Jerry
before we uh? I mean,I think you guys have hit a lie.
It's it's at times I think he'sunderappreciated, just in the sense that
you know, there's been so manygreats that have come through that organization that
I think sometimes it divides the fanbase internally in terms of you know,

(06:45):
giving him the credit that he would, you know, he's warranted. It's
just crazy to think the entirety ofeven even old dudes lives. This guy
has been in the game the entiretime in some capacity. So for him
to have that kind of run ofwhatever it is, five and a half
decades of putting his stamp on basketball, just generation after generation, is unbelievable.

(07:09):
Yeah. I can't think that somethingwe'll see again a figure in sports
and maybe you guys can rack yourbrains for it. Who transcends generations?
Your grandfather, your father, youall have some connection to Jerry Western knows
the impact. We never nobody inthis room saw him play, but we
know the teams that he built withthe Lakers. He took the Grizzlies from
being a trash organization to being respectable. He helped the Golden State Warrior secure

(07:30):
Kevin Durant and obviously the Clippers don'thave Kawhi Leond and Paul George without his
influence. What I think is oneof the most underrated things about him is
And somebody brought this up on Twitterand reminded me yesterday as I was at
follow out of May, pointing outthe one time he helped me troll a
buddy of mine signing a Lakers hat. I did see that Kobe Bryant is
the best. My buddy, likeme, was a Kobe detractor, a

(07:50):
hater, and Jerry West kind ofhad a smirk on his face doing it.
He thought it was funny. Butwhen he drafts did Kobe Bryant,
It's like they just got Eddie Jones, who was good. He was fourth
and Rookie of the Year voting behindonly Jason Kidd, Grant Hale, and
Big Dog Glenn Robinson. And thenby his third season he's an All Star

(08:13):
Defensive Player of the Year finalist multipletimes in the top three. Yeah,
like he was, yeah, defensiveguy, he had it all. And
Jerry West was still like, no, this guy's better and he's going to
be much better and had the convictionto do that well. And Bob brought
up the rankings and how many greatplayers there have been in the Lakers organization
and finding where Jerry ranks in historyand all of that, and it's like,

(08:37):
forget greatest player of all time,Jerry West is probably the most important
Laker of all time, going fromplayer to executive and everything that he's done
after the fact. So it's andtherefore, outside of Red hourback, outside
of James Naismith more influential in basketballin general, who else could you put

(08:58):
up? Like who's the second bestoffice exec? Is it our back second
best? Like? Is it PatRiley? Like? The distance seems pretty
far between Jerry West being a GMfront office guy to anybody else in the
history of sports. Because if youwant to say Pat, I mean,
is Pat Pat without Jerry? Youknow? Yeah, I mean, I
know this is a slandering Pat,right, it can be. I definitely

(09:22):
wouldn't say Pat Patt is creeping towardsthat Phil Jackson level of just being an
old ship head to players as hegets later in his career. The way
that he handled Lebron leaving Miami andnow what he's saying about Jimmy Butler.
You never saw Jerry West do thatat any point, regardless of you acknowledged
that. You know, he washumble, but you knew he had ego
underneath it. I never felt likehe let it come to the surface when

(09:46):
it came to you know, howhe handled any of this stuff, even
the riff that developed with you know, the Lakers towards the end there,
you didn't hear him publicly out there, you know, beating the hammer on
that type of stuff. He alwayscooked the higher. The one time,
the most recent time was him regardinghis that's that's the closest thing I've seen

(10:07):
to him getting pissy on a publicplatform as well. JJ Reddick made his
comments sure I was going to himversus the Lakers regarding what were supposed to
be his lifetime season tickets. Wasthat two years ago or three years ago?
They took those from them? Andhe, you know, was aghast

(10:28):
and couldn't believe that happened. Thatfractured relationship as we transitioned into talking about
the Lakers and blowing it with headcoaches. I mean, I'll be I'll
be pretty blunt. I'm pretty disappointedwith the way the Lakers handled yesterday with
they put out a four sentence statementand then like an hour later. It
was multiple hours later, And it'slike, realistically, who cares on when

(10:52):
the timing of it is Honestly normally, I'd say that's nippicking. It's Jerry
fucking West. Yeah. No,I was a very sterile, heartless Yeah.
I mean, whoever he turned offfor other words, Jeni or whomever
else. You have to get pastall of that impact that he had as
as a fan. It left abig sour taste in a lot of people's
mouths yesterday with the way the teamhandled it. But I'll be honest,

(11:13):
his organization in general, the wayit's operated, Jeanie leaving him out as
her top five and she put LebronJames in there. How ridiculous is that?
Phil went on? Ridiculous at all? Okay, okay, all right,
yeah, sorry Phil, I meanPhil was on, Phil was on
Spectrum Sports in at La yesterday sayingvery complimentary things of Jerry and they they
hated each other. They had plentyof riffs when they were working together.

(11:37):
That was what the impetus of thestrange relationship. Yes, yeah, go
up. It takes a special kindof asshole to say terrible things today someone
dies. I mean, that's athat's I'd be shocked if Phil Jackson would
do that, But I would evenout of his way to be overly complimentary
either. I was even shocked thatSpectrum even got Phil Jackson to talk about

(11:58):
Jerry. Yeah, he's such arecluse obviously. Yeah, I was more
just a shock that he was seenout in the public eye. It's true.
It was the first time we haveseen him since the Kobe statue.
Yeah, and I did. It'sweird, like warms my heart just seeing

(12:18):
Phil Jackson now when I used tonot be able to stand the guy,
but the one time I talked tobut no. But I mean, you
guys are writing kind of we're alludingto this a little bit before this,
but this is just the state ofthe organization of where they are in disarray.
Unless I bring up the fact thatthey are the only professional franchise to

(12:39):
apply for a PPP loan during COVID, I thought I was gonna have to
go there, get them, takethem. How ridiculous is that? That
is one of the most shameful thingsto be done a billion dollar franchise to
apply for a PPP loan then haveto give it back or feel like you
need to for Optic's sake. Iguess, yeah, but that's obviously this

(13:05):
franchise doesn't have a good sense ofhow to handle the optics game, not
at all. Sun The series ofevents in the last few days reinforces yet
again that there's a painful disconnect,you know, between actions and perception.
And if you think this is aLebron thing, guys, they've been covered
up by superstars and Kobe Bryant.I think for a while people want to

(13:30):
say it, well, it's it'sGenie. It's ever since Jerry Buss died.
Jerry Buss was off hands like thelast decade that he was alive with
them. It was Jim Buss,it was Mitch Kupcheck. It was already
Genie. Yeah. The only thingthat Jerry, I will say, soooped
back in and rehired Phil. Thatwas a him move. Winning covered up
a lot of stench that was alreadystarting to creep up through the cracks.

(13:52):
And by the time Kobe tore hisachilles and that era of Lakers basketball was
over. Like now you're seeing allthis stuff. Yeah, but it's been
bad. It's been rotten at thecore to some degree for a while,
right. I would I know it'stough for you. I wouldn't say.
I'm realistically more focused on like thelast seven years, and like with Rob

(14:16):
Polinka being hired, the way that'sgone. He obviously got a lot of
job security with bringing Lebron and adto La. But ever since then,
it's kind of been a downhill slide. And with the way the coaching search
is gone, it's it's not lookinggood to me. Rob Plink is on
the hot seat. Everyone talks aboutGenie needing to sell the team and obviously

(14:37):
she doesn't have independent wealth aside fromthe Lakers. Like that is the Yeah,
I mean, but here's the thing. She's never gonna sell it.
Oh, I know, and sobreak my heart. I understand that.
I get it. So you're askingfor realistic solutions. Yeah, yeah,
exactly. Robs the next guy,right exactly, so that the next guy
in the pecking order is Robin.So if if he's not gonna be able

(15:00):
to answer for it, because she'snot gonna sell the team, somebody's gonna
have to answer for it, andit's got to be Robbed. Well,
you fire enough coaches, eventually,Robs the last head of the snake left
exactly. To me, as soonas Darwinham was out, it's like,
Okay, the spotlight's really gonna beon Rob Polink. And that's exactly what
I said as well. It's likethis offseason is a very big off season
for Rob Polinka and the results ofnext season dictate should that should dictate whether

(15:24):
Rob Plink has a job with theLakers or not next offense, and which
I mean, if you know,if that is all true, it was
smart for him to go take abig swing at Hurley and say we're gonna
give you a six seven year dealand give you time to build, see,
because that gives him extra time ifit would have worked out. And
I would even put quote unquote likethe air quote's over big swing because to
me, that's not a big enoughswing. And that's where I'm most frustrated
with the Lakers is like, listen, their side leaked the contract that they

(15:48):
wanted. You had every opportunity togive them what they wanted. He wanted
that hundred million dollar contract. Isaw a quote Dan Hurley was on LeBatard
this morning talking about how I don'tdon't really know the price, but there
is a price out there that Iprobably would have left yukon forward. But
it's like, obviously there were otherfactors, but it's like every man has
their price at the alien the mansaid, that's right, that's how they
butchered this. Yeah, when thereports came out that it was one hundred

(16:11):
million dollars. Everybody said, Okay, they're in the ballpark, they have
a shot at him. Now,that's a real number that you have to
think about, regardless of how goodof his situation you have at Yukon,
Yeah, exactly, an offer himbasically the same amount of money that Yukon's
offering. That's not a big swing. No, that's embarrassing. And the
sad thing is that is that peopleyou would see in the aftermath, people

(16:33):
being like, well, that wouldhave made him the sixth highest paid coach,
and it's like, well, you'retrying to lure him away from a
life where he's just repeated national championships. You're not. It's not like you
can't put his market against other currentNBA coaches and you want this guy to
leave something that is possibly one ofthe best situations in sports. And then
the other conversation that keeps being hadis on the dollar level. Why are

(16:56):
we in this world where just lookat the salaries of NBA players and you
have people talking about, well,seventy million was more than generous, which
is, you know, roughly eleventwelve million dollars a year, that's what
they're paying. Gave Vincent like tonitpick over if someone is as important to
getting you back to a place whereyou feel like you have the best coach
possible, your clear number one firstchoice, and you're gonna cry poverty over

(17:22):
money that you're is not even approachingwhat you're paying guys like Ruey and Russell.
How important is it really to youbecause you don't even have the created
barriers that exist in things like thesalary cap when it comes to the players.
With a coach, you can spendwhatever you want. So if he's
clearly your number one choice to comein that low, I get why somebody

(17:45):
would be like, yeah, no, I'm not coming for that. That's
ridiculous. You weren't even smart enoughto know what his market was. Kentucky
offered him fourteen and a half milliondollars a year and you didn't come eleven
is not coming anywhere close to that. Yeah, he's the most covenant college
basketball coach out there. And atthat point, I think the people in
that room with the Lakers should havesaid they should have ran through worst case

(18:06):
scenarios and say, listen, ifwe come in with this offer that we
feel is good, but realistically isyou know, not definitively better than anything
else that he has out there availableto him. How's it going to look
when he walks away, not justnot just to the public and the fandom,
but whoever they're going to go tonext, when they have to re

(18:26):
engage JJ, or when they haveto talk to whoever the other coach options
are out there. Here's It's certainlynot great for that situation either. Here's
the problem. Lakers brass thought arestill believes Lakers mystique and excellence and history
is enough to bridge the pay gapof thirty million dollars getting to one hundred

(18:49):
million, or you get to bea Laker, don't you understand you get
to be a Laker. That shouldbe enough to bring guys in. And
Eric and I kind of got intothis on Twitter a little bit because you
did put out a post there acouple of days before he turned it down.
Say what, I don't care whatanyone says. The Lakers job will
always be coveted at the end ofthe day, when when the Lakers coming

(19:10):
out just fion by somebody somewhere.But first of all, and those insiders,
all of Whindhorse others saying like thisis like one of the worst jobs
in the NBA, and it's andperceived to be one of the worst jobs
available, and I believe it.Listen, you just look take the Laker
name off of it and look ateverything else. How is this one of
the best jobs in the league.The Laker name means nothing at this shot

(19:30):
show. If it was a greatjob, wouldn't guys be lining up making
their case of why they should getit rather than the Lakers having to make
the case of why you should wantto coach here? Right? Sure,
I don't think that holds up anymore. The Laker mistique park even just take
the opening explain to me how it'seven a better job than Cleveland at this
point, which is a sad stateof affairs for a team to add Lebron

(19:52):
on it. But we've arrived atthat point where any reason that people will
give you now is it based entirelynot on the actual back skootball products.
It's all the other it's oh,the weather's good here, everybody wants to
be in LA, all the endorsementopportunities, it's all those things that we've
heard over the years have alienated peoplelike like Marcus Aldridge and some of these

(20:12):
other dudes. When people hear thosepitches and it's it's almost hard to take
it seriously thinking, you know,not everybody is just gonna buy into pr
fluck. You're kind of making hugelife decisions on Knick's territory. Here you
get to play in New York andplay in the garden. It's like,
all right, what else nickx Westy'all. I still think at the end

(20:33):
of the day, if the Lakersare having a conversation with a potential head
coach, that coach will always thinktwice about the offer. That will always
he's gonna get fired in a year. No, I'm talking no, he's
gonna think twice. It's like,damn, the Lakers are offering me a
contract. I get to be thehead coach of the Lakers. That's literally
a prestigious one of the most prestigiousjobs in all of sports. You think

(20:55):
they get their foot in the doorfor any head coach and candidate because they're
the Lakers. On it seems likeI think it's been quickly becoming one of
the most thankless jobs and all ofextremely this thing about the Lakers is there
for the entirety of their existence.Basically they've been propped up on this superstar
structure where well, we take careof our guys, and it's lately,

(21:18):
at least in recent history, it'scoming at the expense of creating scape coaches
and escape vats, and coaches don'tdo one of those coaches the thing that
I would think is possibly most appealingas well, get as many years as
you possibly can, because there's agood chance they're going to be getting paid
to do nothing in a year ortwo here. And I don't think some

(21:38):
of these guys, in the positionsthat they're in, they want to risk
that that's how they start their headcoaching career, or that they leave a
good situation to pursue that, becauselook at bobel in the aftermath of getting
fired. Now he's on his secondfiring. Like all of that is,
it's stuff that you have to thinklong and hard about. And if you're
a James Barrego or one of theseguys, you your first stop was a

(22:02):
very difficult situation with Charlotte to beginwith, is you've waited, you've taken
an assistant coaching job, you're backin the conversations to takeover teams. Is
that really what you want to betyour future on. Maybe it is if
all you care about is getting themoney, but certainly from a competitive landscape,
from a long term outlook landscape,and from a just general way that

(22:23):
you're going to get treated by thefan base and the front office. I
don't think they're creating a good situationfor themselves. I mean, there's always
going to be pressure in Los Angeles, whether you're a coach, player,
whatever, There's always going to bethat pressure, and it's going to be
a lot of it. But regardlessif I'm like, let's say the Dan
Hurley situation, if I'm Dan Hurley, I'm looking at it if they gave

(22:47):
me this godfather offer that they weresupposed to, I'm looking at it as
like I get to be the guythat brings this Lakers franchise back to the
forefront. I think those are independentof each other. If you give them
a godfather and offer them, it'sjust like, I'll be stupid not to
take this. That's different than sayingI'm going to take this offer because I
get to be the coach of theLakers. Right. Those are to a
different things. A lot of teamscould make it a Godfather offer money.

(23:07):
Detroit did from Anty Williams to acertain agree the money, the money has
to go hand in hand. Ithink that, So how much is Lakers
mistake really playing a role, becausebasically, if if the mistique matters,
you would take a discount to bethe head coach of the Lakers. You'd
take a little bit less, youtake the eleven million a year. I
think the perception now is amongst thesepeople. I mean, ask ask Frank

(23:27):
Vogel how much it meant to bringa title to the Lakers. Like,
I think it's worth less simply becauseit's not that it's not a prestigious job
perfect. I think the difference isthe expectations are wildly unrealistic in a way
that it sets a coach up forfailure because even success is not given the

(23:48):
same weight that it would be givenin other situations. It's like the conversation
where we have where you know,not all titles are created equal. Just
look at what Lebron. The Lebrontitle is brushed off by half of your
own fan base, yep, withthe Lakers. Why would you want to
enter a situation like that? Ifyou win one title with the Lakers,
you're on the level of Frank Vogel. Do you think he's going to be

(24:11):
remembered by this fan base long intothe future as some huge components of their
success and a pride point in theirhistory. No, nobody gives a shit
about the guy three years removed.He should be. This is it is
falling at the feet of Genie Bussat this point. Do you hear these
low ball offers when you hear reportsfrom our friend Eric pink Is talking about

(24:36):
how little they have in the scoutingdepartment compared to other teams and how far
they are behind the times. IsNo, they don't have money, they
don't have the funds to be ableto do it. But we've heard this
for years. For fifteen years theywere behind in the analytics department. They're
great. History is now working againstthem. Being one of the most historic

(24:56):
franchises all of sports is starting towork against them because they've been relying on
that for far too long. Andguess what. The rules have changed and
there's more of an even playing field, and you aren't with modern times anymore.
You're not taking advantage or you're not, you know, keeping pace with
everyone else. Yeah, it's pathetic. Honestly, no, it's it's a

(25:19):
hard time to be a Laker fanright now. I'm not going to deny
that. The problem is that Ijust don't see a light at the end
of the tunnel. Or it's aquote a former Great lakerhead coach Mike D'Antoni,
it's probably a train coming if thereis one, Like, where where's
the optimism? Because maybe Lebron staysfor a couple more years, great,
so you can fight for the eightseat again and make it to the playoffs.
It feels like a worse version ofthe way I felt in twenty seventeen

(25:41):
and twenty eighteen after Durant went tothe Golden State Warriors. I mean,
we were still competitive and we wereI mean, we were better than this
Lakers team as now, but itdidn't really it felt like the window was
closed and now we're essentially just delayingthe inevitable. You knew was that eventually
a teardown was coming. Yeah,you knew you were going to make it
to the finals and lose the GoldenState every year after that. And it's
worse because there is no super teamout there like that. Now, there

(26:04):
is no I am inevitable Thanos team. Yeah, it didn't work well.
I think they're the last gasp ofre rolls or eyes when it comes to
that, I've been getting dunked onall shown on somebody. The West is
so competitive, and we talked aboutthis before, Like I mean one through
eight, you could have made acompelling case that this team can make a
run to the NBA Finals if thingsbreak their way. And the problem is

(26:26):
the Lakers are falling far behind theirteams behind them in the postseason. You
are going to make a leap upnext year. Everybody's getting better. How
are they going to get better?Like maybe that's their hope too, Like
we're not that far away because wecan say all these teams were in the
hunt with all of them if thingsbreak our way, and I get that
some sensus I guess what's happening withthe head coach though, is kind of

(26:47):
independent of that is because when everybodysaw that it was Dan Hurley, they
said, oh, they figured itout. They realized you need one of
these guys that isn't he's an analyticsguy layups and threes. He also is
apparently one of the best ATO guysdrawing up plays and he can develop young
talent. And if you're going tosurvive and have sustainable success in the modern

(27:10):
NBA, you have to make surebecause you can't afford to pay everyone,
that you have a revolving door ofyoung guys coming in that are contributors early
on next to your stars. AndDan Hurley was supposed to help all that.
Well the talk, the talk wasall about bringing a program to the
Lakers and the culture and developing allof that. And if you give a
guy a six seven year long deal, year long deal, that you kind

(27:33):
of give them that runway. Hopefullyif he even if it was a bust,
he's not a bad strategy. Atleast you have a plan, right,
even if it was turned out tobe a bust. The philosophy,
you know, I agree with,it showed process exactly, I mean debatable
and if it was good process ornot, it showed good process. It's
how you ended up getting there that'sdebatable. But it would have seemed like

(27:56):
Lakers are landing on their feet onceagain, getting a wind falling out.
Nobody was even thinking about Dan Hurley, and then all of a sudden they
swoop in and they bring in oneof the hottest names if he knew he
was on the market, which andDan Hurley denied all the leverage talk on
Levatard today. But it's like youcan say you didn't use the Lakers for
leverage or not would be smart too. I mean, I don't think that

(28:18):
was his intent. I think legitimatelyhad intentions of of taking the job and
took it serious. I mean,you'd be dumb to not use it as
leverage. He says he didn't needthe leverage because he's a back to back
raigning national champion. I get that. I don't think he didn't need it,
but no, any team that sniffedhim, that's enough leverage right there.
Kentucky job again, Kentucky. Kentuckyoffered him fourteen million dollars a year.
That's all the leverage you need.And it's a better program than Yukon

(28:41):
is to go back to the processthing. I don't think the Lakers initially
pursued Hurley. They had an ideamaybe that he could be had right,
They got a whiff of of knowingthat maybe there's a chance and maybe it's
a long shot, but it wouldn'thave been such a long shot if you
just if you just yeah, antedup the money and made the full court

(29:04):
press that was said to be doneinitially with that report for me, and
I know franchises find ways through sponsorships, you can find ways to get more
money. The salary cap is differentbecause everybody has a certain number that they
can work under it. Steve Bomercan pay whatever he wants. Steve Bomber
literally bought the form just to avoida lawsuit, said a few James Dolan,

(29:25):
I Wo'll just buy the damn formfrom you. I can cut through
that red tape right now. Lakersdon't have anywhere close to that kind of
money. No, I don't thinkthey can afford to pay one hundred billion
dollars to it to Dan Hurley oranybody else. I really you talk about
the analytics department. I think partof that is finances. They just don't
have the money. They're a sheepin wolves clothing. That's just what they
are. Yeah. Yeah, they'refair far behind. They may be called

(29:47):
the Lakers, they may have LebronYou would assume that they have all the
money in the world because of thepopularity throughout them. No, I mean
it's not there. They talking aboutthe Cavs like by the Cavs owner has
prints more money than Lakers do handover fist. He's right behind Bomber,
I mean right, way, waybehind Bomber, but he's in second place
as far as networth goes. It'sjust it's one of those things where it

(30:11):
feels like it feels like the wayeverybody talks about the Lakers is the way
they talk about people who buy ahouse that they can't afford. You know,
it's like, oh, it's great, you have equity. You have
nothing usable though, that allows youto improve your situation because all your worth
is tied up in the actual valueof the franchise. Yeah, yeah,
unless you're selling it, which wediscussed early on Genie's not doing. Yeah,

(30:33):
what does that bring up? Yeah, they got to think about bringing
in private dollars though, if theyjust don't have the kind of capital to
do these things should because those storieslike there's stories you alluded to about not
sending scouts on the road and allthose type of things. It's it feels
like a microcosm of the way thatI feel like so many Lakers fans talk
about others teams, players, wherethey put immense value on people on their

(30:56):
own roster and then they think everyoneelse is just garbage outside of it that
can be had for trash. Uh. That's the way it feels like the
scouting department is being talked about,where it's like they just don't put any
focus on stuff on an external level, which doesn't seem which is they're not
good on the margins. They're notgetting on the margins, which, oddly
enough, if you look at theirtrack record of low first round picks and
second round picks over the last sixor seven years, it hasn't been that

(31:18):
bad. Well, that's the thing. They have good They have good college
scouting, but they have zero proscouting. Uh. Can we quickly go
to the finals for a little bitbefore we check out here? Genie called
Guggenheim grip by the way, andI called how much is magic worth?
How much is magic worth? Notas much as the Guggenheim group, But
he's part of the Guggenheim group.Now, I guess yeah, it's one
of the faces for sure. Uh. And by the way, I feel

(31:40):
like, maybe this is not tooserious of a topic to say tongue in
cheek, but I feel like JerryWests would say, you know what,
I'd rather go before I see theCeltics win one more championship. Yeah,
I saw that a lot on Twitter. I didn't see that. I didn't
see that, but I was justlike, I can't stomach. We know,
he hated the Celtics to his coreand Bill Walton dying the day after
the Pac twelve died, Yeah,which there's something that's something to go along

(32:00):
with that as well. But wedidn't really talk before the NBA Finals started,
so I guess we didn't get anypredictions. And I thought Dallas would
actually win the series in seven gamesand win in Boston. Obviously not gonna
happen. Now. I guess itcould, but there's very very very very
unlikely to happen at this point intime. And I also thought that the
series could go either way. Ididn't think the Dallas would winning the landslide
obviously, but I agree with you. I didn't think that Boston was gonna

(32:22):
basically run him off of the courtin every single game. Yeah. You
know what it is, though,Like it's turned out to be a mismatch,
and a lot of it is becauseof the analytics. When you have
a team going out there and shootingforty forty five to three pointers last night,
I guess a team that's taking twentyeight, like, it's hard to
overcome that disparity when you have asmany good shooters as the Boston Celtics do

(32:45):
and they can play five out theway they do. Like everyone's talking about
Luca Donsons is how bad he's beendefensively in this series, when he was
pretty good leading up to this,at least for his standards on defense,
he was surprisingly good throughout the WesternConference. It's because there's no possessions off
against Boston. You have to guardeveryone well. They're shooters making contested shots

(33:06):
left and right. When when Dallaswent on that ginormous run in the fourth
quarter, Boston didn't do anything anydifferently. They came now, they chucked
up threes, they missed them,they missed them. Then they finally started
making some towards the end. That'show they play. And we talked about
this, Bob. I remember whenthe Lakers went into Boston earlier this year
and beat them without Lebron, withoutAnthony Davis, and Boston just could not
hit anything. Yep. And Iremember Bob saying, like, look at

(33:27):
the way that they play for themajority of the season. That's an anomaly.
They make all of their shots moreoften. You play top notch defense,
which they were either first or secondin pretty much every defensive metric all
season long, and you make threepointers at the volume that they do,
and even if they're not hitting ahigh percentage at them, they at least
take enough to where you make upfor you. On the other side,
people don't realize shooting thirty three percentfrom three, which is way below league

(33:49):
average, is about thirty six percent, is the equivalent of shooting fifty percent
from two, and so if youget hot, yeah, the game is
probably over. Yeah, And peoplearen't realizing for whatever, this is one
of the more dominant postseason runs thata team has had. Give me sixty
to two. Yeah, I mean, you talk about the Golden State Warriors
that one year, Go back tothe Lakers who were fifteen and one with
Kobe and Shack. I mean,as maybe people were just waiting for Boston

(34:10):
to collapse because they've done it sooften the last six seven years. It
ain't happening. It's big, it'sbeen inevitable. Their downfall has been well,
if you have a few cold shootinggames from the outside, they're vulnerable,
but now their defense seems to beeven better on the perimeter, especially
because doing so much for them hasbeen so good and MV I think Jaylen

(34:31):
Brown is gonna get it. Bythe way, here's my question you guys,
Bob, does Boston have a topseven player in the league. I
mean, obviously, I think youcould make the argument Tatum's on the edge
there. But but isn't that strangeWe're about to see a team that doesn't
have a top five player. Atleast you can make that argument. And

(34:52):
I love Jason Tatum, but it'sa team game. It's a team game,
and he definitely is in con assistantoffensively, and they're so good it's
not going to matter. But we'regoing to see a team of our top
five player win. It's amazing becausemost gms, even gms that I like,
they'll have a couple of duds mixedin amongst their successes, even if

(35:15):
they're buying large successful. You lookat these moves that the Celtics have made
and the people that they put around. I mean, first of all,
what they did in order to getthe picks that became Brown and Tatum is
one of the biggest fleecings of alltime. And then the trades that they
got to bring in Christaps Porzingis,and the fact that they somehow managed to

(35:35):
convince Memphis that they had to senda first round pick in that deal,
and that they got they got notonly the most draft capital, but the
most productive player in that scenario.And then to get in on the Milwaukee
game trade to turn that into asituation where they were able to pick up
the pieces and bring Jew Holliday in. It's unbelievable team buildings and for his

(36:00):
I think I think the team buildingpart speaks to the fact that they're able
to do this and do it inconvincing fashion without a I mean, even
with the guy that we're talking aboutbeing potentially a top seven player, he's
not even the one playing no verygood in this series. I mean,
he's he's not shooting well. Atleast you can make the argument he's playing
okay, but he's shooting pretty objectivelybadly and they're still winning convincedly for the

(36:23):
most part. Last game was obviouslymore contested, but the first two they
didn't even need him and they wereable to carry. So you guys,
agree that with Bob Myers that BradStevens should be the MVP of the NBA
Finals. Well, of course hegot a lot of crap for it.
I thought he was being tongue cheek, but a lot of people thought took
him serious. Oh no, Ithink there's something to that. But also

(36:44):
Danny Age was the one that pulledoff the trade. Initially Brooklyn Billy King
like he's the one who drafted theseguys, but on the margins, and
not even margins when we're talking aboutChris STAPs and Drew Holiday. But these
were really shrewd smart moves. Whitewas a Steven Derek Whit absolute steal.
Brad Stevens is he He was bestcase scenario, really the Dan Hurley prototype

(37:08):
that that's who you would have wantedthere. But how much hell are you
in right now? Eric was goingto watch Boston win. Well, it's
funny because everyone's been asking me sincethe final started, who do I want
to win as a Lakers fan?And I'm like, well, I'm gonna
lose lose situation because Kyrie is ananti semi and I hate Boston yea there,
uh yeah, so I'm this isliterally my worst this is my worst

(37:30):
nightmare pick quiz hot shot. No, I mean, listen, Boston's it
doesn't matter at this point, Bossis gonna win. Yeah, Boston's gonna
win where it Yeah. I wasready for Boston just because it pisses it
off Lakers. So I have onemore leg up on the banner chase with
the Lakers, although some still arguewhere the twenty twenty actually counts eighteen to
seventeen? After this season, canwe say Boston won all those? In

(37:52):
Boston? The Lakers, you know, just recently only retired Miniken's jerseys,
which is ridiculous. But the ideathat the lest titles don't matter is also
ridiculous. Well, I just thinkbefore they retired Mike and Jersey, it's
like you're gonna claim all the titles, but you're not going to retire as
Jersey. What is that? Well, the fan base control piece of trivia
for you, Adam. I willsay this. I hear that a lot,

(38:14):
and I'm in a group chat withCeltics fans who are becoming increasingly more
insufferable as the day. Why stopme, Well, it's Lakers fans too,
That's the that's the tough part.There's some joy in the fact that
this upsets Lakers fans to me,But there's also that part of me that's
like, all right, let's notignore the fact that, you know,
nine titles of your eighteen came ina league where you were playing nine or

(38:37):
less teams. Yeah, in theleague, what'd you said, Boston's won
once the last thirty five years,So this will be their second title since
eighty six. Anything is possible.Yeah to me. And this is a
debate for a whole other podcast,but I put a lot more weight in
titles that happened from nineteen eighty andon. Basically when we got to a

(38:58):
place where we had a much fullerleague and I'm more competitively and we can
say definitively that owners were much moreinvested in actually trying to win, instead
of a handful of owners taking it, you know, one hundred percent seriously
and some of them just treating itas some sort of transactional business asset and
watching teams move. And is thisabout clipped Yeah, well we did talk

(39:19):
about that in the pregame a littlebit. On the pregame of this product,
I will say the interesting thing aboutlike from nineteen eighty on. If
you go back and even look atthe league back then, it was top
heavy. Look at all the starsthat the Lakers and the Celtics had.
How many below five hundred teams thoseteams were beating in the playoffs to get
to the NBA finals year in andyear out. The Lakers, is it
the eighty seven or the eighty ninerun? Like they faced nobody with a

(39:40):
winning record. Now, some ofthat is just math back then because there's
lesser teams, but it's definitely morecompetitive. It is harder to win now
than it has ever been in thehistory of the league. Since Adam you
brought up Clipped, I have notseen an episode quite yet. Saw the
trailer. Very interested. Have youseen? Are you all caught up?
I am? I've watched all three? They released the first two and now

(40:01):
they're doing one per week, sothey're three in. Do you agree with
Austin Rivers that Lawrence Fishburne is toofat to play Doc Rivers? I thought
that was unnecessary. Yeah, Ididn't want to have to point that out.
That's a bunch of craft. It'sI think having LeVar Burton as a
steam room confidant was was weirder thanDoc being a little bit fat. I

(40:23):
wasn't aware of that. Yeah,I didn't know LaVar Burton was nowhere that
I was a little bit out ofnowhere. I'll say this after the first
two episodes, because they dropped itonce and people binged them. They were
comparing it, especially Lakers fans,were comparing it to winning time and saying,
like, you know, this isthe safe way off brand compared to
that losing time. Well, onFX, you have to be a little

(40:44):
more team at I know. Ithink it's I think it's pretty easy to
criticize the basketball casting, But tome, the basketball part of this so
far, I've only watched the firsttackround even cares about the background. It
doesn't matter nobody to me. Iliked the casting for the Shelley Sterling character.

(41:06):
If they keep this storyline more onthat dynamic about the affair and the
court ownership drama, that part Ithink carries. I think what I'm curious
about is there was a point inthis whole situation where Chris Paul was kind
of more out in front as thescandal became more public. That hasn't really
happened in the episodes i've seen yet. But outside of that, I don't

(41:27):
know that there's really much on courtthat they're going to need any of these
people for. If anyone should beupset about the players, I think they're
making JJ Reddick look kind of stupidover the course of this thing. There's
a there's the scene where it's kindof I mean, it sort of seems
like they're saying he has some sortof obsession with baked potatoes, and then
the wrapping scene on the bus wherehe's you know, holding back from dropping

(41:47):
end bombs. I saw that clip. I see that. I saw that
clip going around. I didn't knowwhere that was. I can see that.
I got it. I was like, what movie is this from?
I didn't realize that that was JJRedick on the Clipper team bus. That's
interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't think they did him any
favors there. No, uh,Blake Griffin seems more of I don't know,

(42:08):
Ophie than like a quick witted guyor comedian guy. But it's all
so far in the background compared tothe forefront, which is all about Donald
Sterling, Doc Rivers, Shelley andv Steviato's the main character. So they
didn't have the scene where he yelledat Baron Davison called him fat from the
sideline. They cut that part ofthe only clip that I saw was Doc

(42:31):
Rivers of viscerating the team in practice, and he was yelling at big Baby
like don't make me go get KGor something like that. Nice he was
sorry about no wonder your wife leftyou to somebody? Yeah it was.
It was to Matt Barnes if thatactually happened in real life that that scene
annoyed me because I'm like, allright, any coach just rips off three
or four statements like that to playersin a room where it's all players around

(42:53):
him, I don't care who itis, Doc Rivers or otherwise, nobody's
taking that level of shit. GetDoc to f out, Matt from Palm
Springs to go beat up Derek Fisher. Yeah, Barnes hasn't gotten a lot
of shine yet. But I Ireally liked episode three because this was kind
of you need to stick the landing. It's at the crux of the issue.
It's after the tape comes out andit's them all reacting to it and

(43:16):
Doc Rivers what we can only haveconjecture about because there's no recordings or eyewitness
accounts. The players were there andthey can say what they want about the
situation, but you can definitely takeartistic liberties of then the firestorm of how
they were handling it and what wassaid behind closed doors between Doc Rivers and
the players and trying to get themready for a ball game. And I

(43:38):
thought the riding was actually pretty good, and the Ed O'Neill Donald Sterling stuff.
I think it's really it's really welldone with the way Adam, Yeah,
how many episodes are there supposed tobe total? Eric said six?
Yeah, it's supposed to be six. It's literally just a mini series.
It's just gonna be one season.I mean far with this. I heard

(44:00):
out O'Neill on the Dan Patrick Showtalking about it, and I wondered,
I'm eager to get to the pointwhere they get to the Anderson Cooper interviews
one Who's Anderson Cooper? Secondly,because that seemed like a turning point where
the tapes were bad enough, butnow when he kind of doubled down and
stepped all over himself there the cartoon, Hey, Anderson Cooper may play Anderson

(44:24):
Cooper. Bill Plaski played Bill PLASKI. He had a little scene in that.
I try to think it looked likethey used in a montage in episode
one. It looked like they hada guy for Brian Seeman, just for
just for a second. About Andy, I don't know. I admit I
don't know that much about Andy Roser, but good god, what I hate

(44:45):
my portrayal If I'm him, hejust come. He just gets presented as
a complete lackey I on the waythrough. I don't I don't know anything
about basketball decisions. It just makesit seem like a handler for all of
Sterling's, you know, women fromthose who are I can't speak to that,
like his his women or just hisdealings around the franchise in general from

(45:05):
those who were around. That's kindof what Andy Roser allegedly was. Was
a yes man for Donald and justdid whatever he wanted and just was was
a lap dog. So the guyI didn't. I met Andy one time,
but I don't know him. Ihad no meaningful interactions with him,
so I can't speak to what hisrelationship was or all that. But if
that's what the depiction was, thatis accurate. Based on what other people

(45:29):
have said about his relationship with DonaldSterling. They had Ralph Lawler do a
bunch of voiceover work for games andfinal calls and player introductions, which obviously
he didn't do. That's like,you know, the house Pa guy.
You can't bring back David Courtney restin peace to do that. Uh.
Seth Burton, who I did workwith a lot. He was still ahead
of pr when I worked with theClippers. He's being played by this guy,

(45:50):
Rich Sommer, who was in madMen. He's really good, this
actor. Really that dynamic between himand Doc Rivers is interesting. He's a
fun care Do you know if itconsulted with any of the real figures before
doing this. Corona Shelburn's a executiveproducer on it. She did the thirty
for thirty podcast All Situation. SoI and Doc Rivers and Laurence Fishburne.

(46:13):
I guess they talked a bunch andLawrence was trying to pick up on his
raspy voice. So there there's definitelybeen some coaching up, so to speak.
Ed O'Neil I saw him on PatMcPhee said he he didn't like do
any research on Donald Sterling or anything. People have criticized like he was like,
I took this project because it wouldbe done filming in two weeks,
and I never O'Neil answer to anything. I love it. It's one of

(46:37):
my fings. I love him.He he the portrayal of Donald Sterling by
him. The one thing that strikesme a little bit is off And other
people have said this is at thetime, we kind of viewed him as,
you know, having lost his fastball, having being really aloof and he's
much sharper and snappier in the show, and I think it's just because of

(46:59):
enter Hayment purposes. It's it's muchbetter to follow him going back and forth
with Shelley and really seeming like he'swith it and there, even though there
are moments where he's being oblivious tothings and not realizing the magnitude of what
he said obviously and just trying towrite it off as oh, that's just
internet talk and stuff like this.But episode three, if they continue with

(47:22):
the quality level from that episode on, I think more people are going to
come around on it. I mean, I'm I'm waiting until all six episodes
are out and I'm just gonna bingethe whole thing. I'm probably with you
on that's that's only because this isbased off true events, and it's like
there's no real spoilers in this.It's like, I know what happened,
lived pretty well. Yeah, try. I never listened to the podcast with

(47:43):
more than ten hour podcast series likewe all own amazing podcast. That was
an amazing podcast. Yeah, itwas. I love that I truthfully,
I even with the visual element,I'm like, I don't know if it
could hold up. That was oneof those times where you know, I
found myself extending workouts whatever just tojust to finish episodes of that podcast.

(48:04):
Well, I've Trea can go backand listen to that too if you missed
it, which I have, somaybe I will. But I definitely want
to look. I definitely want tosee show. I'm definitely interested. I
just haven't had a chance to comearound to it yet. But to Eric's
point, probably just gonna go awayand just binge the entire thing once it's
out. It's again to me,it's not the quality of Winning Time an
HBO show like that, but it'snot bad at all either. And by
the way, I texted Eric thisafter yesterday, with the passing of Jerry

(48:29):
West for the first time. Iwas kind of like, you know what,
I'm glad Winning Time is over.No, I mean my soul a
little bit creative liberties with somebody.I mean, Jerry West was a fiery
guy, but Jesus, come on, Yeah, it was too far,
going a little bit much, muchtoo far before you Jason Clark, Yeah,

(48:51):
I don't. I don't know.I haven't seen him. I haven't
seen anything from him about Jerry West'spassing. Now, I haven't seen anything.
It does suck that that series wentaway, and only it only he
went away because of the strike.Yeah, it only went away because the
actors couldn't promote the second season andall of Jeff Perlman tried to get like
a ground swallow support and he justcouldn't do it, unfortunately. But they
were just touching the safety of theice. They were just getting started.

(49:12):
I was having this conversation about Iwas way more excited about the Clippers series
just because it's so much more solation. Like you know, and admit it,
that time, but the fact theymade Winning Time so interesting when it
was just based around the team thatI don't like winning a whole bunch.
It speaks to how good that showwas, but then with the Clippers like

(49:35):
stories like that, I would watchmini series on Carlos Boozer screwing the Cavs,
like I would watch many series onwhat happened with Donald Sterling. I
would watch mini series on what happenedwith that Sacramento guy who stole all the
money from the AM sponsorship? LikeI would watch those things just because the
absurdity of the actual stories that wewitnessed, as opposed to winning time,

(49:55):
the fact that it was as goodas it was when it's just like you
said, an event that we allkind of know the outcome of. What
about it? If it's the CarlosBoozer Special, we know who's playing rop
Alenka in that, It's got tobe Robb Blow. That's that. That's
an easy one. You don't evenhave to think about that one. Now,
what about the What about the ColdWar between Matt Ishbia and Dan Gilbert?
How would that play out on thesmall screen. I don't think we

(50:16):
have enough story yet. We needmore time. That's fair. Out of
an NBA level, Well, who'sthe next head coach? Yeah? Who
is the next head coach back ofthe Cabs. My money would be on
Barrego. I think it's going tobe Barrego. You know, Atkinson or
Michael they never learned. They neverlearned. And I'm a Laker fan myself.
Baggers can't be choosers, really,really, Eric take them. I

(50:39):
don't want who the hell else isavailable? So fine, he's off the
table. You would have judged Barregooff Charlotte when he actually did good things
with a shitty organization with Michael Jordan. I don't want James Brego. So
who do you want? Who doyou want? Realistically? I want Sam
Cassell right now? Okay, interesting, okay, okay, I mean you

(51:00):
just I don't know turds here.It's like, there's not there's not a
standout to me in this group.That's the whole problem, you know what.
I take that back, I takethat they had a standout I want.
I want David Adelman. I takethat back. I would want adamman
or Yeah, Adaman's my number onechoice. I like Mike and Norry.
I like Adamman, I like Atkinson, I like Bregel for different reasons.

(51:22):
But in a situation with Lebron,I just think it's a tough thing to
ask somebody to come in and bea brand new head coach. Well,
it's going to be J. J. Reddick. We're gonna find out this
weekend is done. That's hilarious whenyou consider they're the same age and that
Reddick was drafted three years Listen.I don't hate the hire. Honestly,
I'm a Reddick fan. I'm notlike the way that he gets into these
media beasts, like the thing thathappened with the Boston radio station the other

(51:44):
day. Are we really confident that, like he seems to be a fairly
confrontational, need to be the rightguy, and I just don't know that
that's gonna play in a locker roomwith players in Los Angeles locker room with
other players. Maybe I'm wrong.You want a guy draw on a whiteboard
on a podcast and we just decidethat he's a genius all of a sudden.

(52:05):
Those were the interviews like that.The Mind the Game podcast is basically
him interviewing with Lebron. I.I just think he's sharp enough and self
aware enough of a guy that he'llflip a switch and turn into head coach
JJ Reddick personality. I think Ithink he is. I think he's very

(52:25):
self deprecating and he makes fun ofhim all the time. Do I think
JJ Reddick can be a good headcoach one day? Yes? Yeah,
I don't doubt that. Do Ithink his first job should be the Lakers
with Lebron with the window basically almostshut? No, I don't think so.
So It's like, what harm isit if the window's basically almost shut?
What harm is it? Because theexpectations, But you think you need

(52:51):
the perfect coach right now to takeadvantage of this small window you have left
with Lebron and a d and thatguy just isn't there. They don't have
a probably championship head coach to dropinto this job. You're probably right.
Dan Hurley was probably that guy becausehe's coming off of the two national championships
in college. Maybe I don't thinkanyone was that guy, but I think

(53:12):
the one you could sell the mostof that guy was Dan Hurley. Yeah,
but I think Godam makes some goodpoints. I mean, I wouldn't
want to say definitively that JJ can'tsucceed. I just think there's a lot
of things that I would find concerningI guess what it is a dynamic the
relationship with Lebron, the timing ofit. If I knew this was a
full on rebuilding, JJ was thehead coach. I feel like I I

(53:34):
feel better about you know what.A lot of succeeding though, is with
the Lakers getting lucky with health ofLebron and Ad and not facing Denver in
the first round. That's it.Darwnham is not a good head coach.
Like, objectively, I think hewas a bad head coach aside from having
to deal with the Lakers and Lebronand everything there, I just don't think
he'd be good in that position.And he still got to the Western Conference

(53:55):
finals. If things fall you away, you can be looked at as the
savior. Still, what I hatethe most about the JJ stuff is all
the comparisons to pat Riley and SteveKerr and all of that. It's like,
let JJ be himself. He doesn'thave the same trajectory as those two
guys, so it's like you can'tcompare them. I think, well,
he's gone it just based on comingout of the broadcasting booth with no experience.

(54:16):
I mean, that's just who he'sgonna be. That's the comparison.
I think there's real similarities to SteveKerr, even though I know he was
in a front office position with Phoenix. I think there's real personality similarities that's
different. It's not nothing, yeah, but having some front offics experience versus
having zero whatsoever. I think itmakes a big difference. I understand that,
But I still I don't know.I it's gonna be a circus no

(54:39):
matter who they get. Maybe theyshould just lean into it, like what
does it matter? Or they shouldjust bring Phoe Jackson back? Why not
if the chances them winning next seasonare so slim? Anyways, what does
it matter? It matters because theexpectations are to win. We keep talking
about half measures. Though when itcame to the paying it's like, well,

(55:00):
okay, if they did something soboldly could blow up in your face
astronomically. Uh, at least atleast they're fully committed to the stupidity.
At least they're going all out ifthat's the case. If it doesn't work
out, yeah, before we getout of here, that's gonna going a
go ahead, Bob, finish yourthought. I'll go, okay and go.
I was just gonna say, we'regonna get to our voicemail before we

(55:20):
check out, So go ahead,Bob. Just the one thing I was
going to say was that the differencewith this year is that it really doesn't
feel like there's some you know,universally accepted best candidate out there anymore.
So in that regard, I dothink it makes it a little more tenable
of a risk. It's bad timingfor a head coaching search, but that's
how bad Darbyn Ham was. Youhad to do it. Although I will

(55:42):
see if the Laker job was thatcovided too. I mean, it was
not unpresident for sitting head coaches tobe interested in other jobs and find ways
to make that work too, youknow, not saying just saying I go
knocking on coach K's door right now, Hey, how's retirement going? But
again why not? Why not?Well they did, and he helped him.
He's been helping him with this coachingshow search. Apparently it didn't help
him more help him being the coach. Yeah, I'd take that twenty years

(56:06):
late on that, But again,you're not gonna do much worse. Right,
all right, let's get to thevoicemail that we have at nine four
nine four seven, eight eleven ninetyseven. For the love of God,
Adam, will you quit? Thisis that's my fault. Yeah, that
was an old one that was Ryangoing after Adam. I really had to
listen to that ship again, thecomparisons of you know, all that stuff.

(56:28):
Oh, I thought that was justhow he starts phone calls from.
Yeah, I didn't. Honestly,I thought it still could be a new
one. He looked over. Iwas like, yeah, that was my
bad. All right, here's theactual call that came in. This came
in this morning, as a matterof actually last night, late last night.
F and a Peter from North Dakotahere fuck around and find out that's
exactly what happened to Joey Chef's notthe only athlete on earth with a bigger

(56:52):
ego than Lebron James. I don't. I don't understand it. Like I've
been reading more and more about it. They've been paying here him exorbitant appearance
fees to be at the Nathan HotDog eating contest, which I get kind
of. I mean, he wentto the contest anyway, he has sponsors
from it, but they pay himto participate. Now and suddenly he decides

(57:14):
I'm gonna be sponsored by a directcompetitor, and that's fine. I don't
know. It seems kind of stupidto me. It seems like he thought
he was above the game, buthe isn't. So fuck around find out
see you later. Joey. Definitely, he kind of is the game.
He is above the game in myopinion. Like I mean, he announced

(57:35):
the day after he's doing a oneon one with Netflix. You tell me
what's gonna get higher ratings, Probablythat than the Nathan's Hot Dog contest on
July fourth, knowing that Joey Chestnut'snot going to be there. I don't
remember us chronicling competitive eating the waywe have since Joey Chestnut came on the
scene. We knew about but onceyou get an American in the USA,
you we care here. Yeah.And the direct competitor thing, I didn't

(57:58):
realize that impossible for was a directcompetitor with Nathan's. I would have thought
it'd be like Ballpark or a Hoffeeor somebody. I mean, it's a
direct competitor in the sense that it'sa food brand, all right, but
still, I mean, just behumble. Take him in. People are
watching it because of him. Behumble, sit down and eat those hot
dogs. Damn it. I don'treally blame Nathan's are Major League Eating for
saying no, because it's like Iwouldn't want a competitor getting shined during my

(58:22):
big day. But well, justtell him that he can't wear an impossible
sweatshirt or something. Well that wasthe thing. They told him that you
can't like mention them or anything hewanted to because he's getting paid by Impossible
meats And that was where the disagreementcame. And so now he's off doing
his own thing with Kobeashi on LaborDay. Yeah, I agree with Kevin.
That's going to get bigger ratings.Yeah, it's going to get bigger

(58:43):
ratings. Are so they're making they'reprobably making a mistake in the end,
Like this is probably Nathan's people insuit saying this, probably, but it
still comes down to the numbers andnot having Joey Chestnuts. But if you
want to, if you want togo eat vegan hot dogs on July fourth,
go to Russia. That's not halfin America telling Homer Simpson with that
one. I like that. Bythe way, did you see Joey Chestnut

(59:07):
took down four pints of ice creamin sixty seconds last week? What four
pints seconds? I don't know whatis No, you could not at him.
Did he get brain freeze? Justbecause brain freeze would have been the
least of his worries? I wouldthink. I was like Jesus man side
her, just thinking about that beforewe get out of here. Well you
gonna say, Bob, I said, my pants. Yeah, that'd be

(59:30):
good for Kevin. We brought agift because Father's Day is on Sunday.
Oh, this is very sweet ofyou, guys. Kevin was my daddy
for so long, but now he'sa real daddy. Oh boy, he's
got a baby boy and Braeby,and I brought him a little gift.
Kevin can describe it. That's hysterical. So it's a onesie that says,

(59:52):
my daddy's jingle is better than yours. With a picture of a little like
a wavelength from a from an audioediting program. Kevin figures seventy eighth in
Vermont. That's spectacular. That's reallygood. Okay, so that that sound
wave is literally from the entire thing. That's really sweet. So you like

(01:00:15):
it. That's really sweet and thoughtful. That's amazing. I love that.
Do you think he's eventually right now, Yeah, yeah, he'll fit in
this. Give him four pints.Yeah, he already is. Just make
sure, just make sure people don'tmistake that for a barcode like the Costco
chicken guy. Have you seen thatguy? No shirt? No? Oh,
there's a guy that he's like viralon TikTok or whatever. He wears

(01:00:37):
a white T shirt because he doesn'twant the scanner to go on the actual
meat. He's got a white Tshirt and it's just the barcode for the
five dollars Costco chicken, and hemakes the Costco scanner scan his shirt and
it works. Interesting. Now,this was Breez's idea, but I got
one. Can we take a pictureand put that out for social I was
planning on doing that, taweet it. I was planning on doing that,

(01:00:59):
and Bob not far behind by theway too, So Bob get ready?
Yeah is it? Did you guystime this out so it would be a
CALVS offseason? I thought I wouldgo straight from the parade. He thought
that Donovan Mitchell will be in thedelivery room helping out. I guess yeah.

(01:01:20):
Unfortunate didn't work out best. Lateplans you know, I understand when
the baby is born, you shoulddo a press release in comic sands.
How about that? Nice? Well, we thank Bob for being on.
Thank you guys for this. Forthe gift, man, that was spectacular.
That's awesome. I love that.I love that. Thanks to Eric
Sclot for being here anytime. Guys, Thanks for having me. Thanks to
Breebri and I for the gift.Thanks, yes, a lot to thank

(01:01:44):
myself. Thank you guys greatly.I really do appreciate that. That's very
nice, very thoughtful of you guys. Well, congratulations again. Thank you.
Thanks to Peter and North Dakota forgiving us a call as well.
Talking of bringing up the Nathan sidedoog getting contest controversy, which I never
thought would be a thing. Nineseven eight eleven ninety seven is the talk
S hotline phone number. Sorry MissyAlasco week. It's been crazy busy during

(01:02:06):
the summer. Right now has beenracking up the miles. I guess it's
not playing miles, train miles,playing traveling with autumnibi with photo ops.
How did that go? Awesome tourso far? I think tomorrow they're in
Texas for a couple they'll be inDallas photo Ops. My buddy Terry Price
is opening for Camera Obscure, whichhappens to be a huge indie rock band,

(01:02:28):
Petros's favorite band. So we allwent to the show the other night
at the Bill Turn. Had areally good time. But it is kind
of a small world, crazy thingthat one of my good friends who I
became a friend with because his bandwas so good, is now opening for
Petros is like favorite ban very cool. Yeah, it's a tough thing,
but check them out. Yes,are they coming back this way anytime soon?

(01:02:49):
I know they stopped here for aleg on the tour at the Wild
Turn. Are they coming back anytimesoon? Or the trip ends in New
York? Ah, So that'll beall. But it's like thirty shows North
American Tour. Pretty big, Yeah, big deal. I went through the
first leg of it, hence gettingto Boston, which I did find to
be a nice city. How shittywas fin Away Park? It was actually,

(01:03:10):
honestly, Kevin, I was tellingEric earlier, it was nice,
man, it was clean. Theyweren't many lines. They've made it more
over the last decade. Okay,I was gonna sit on the Green Monster,
but then I realized the tickets werelike eight hundred dollars went a little
bit cheaper. Absolutely, I'm justI'm just picturing Adam as Harry Potter on
this train from Boston to Chicago.I'm not as familiar with those movies,

(01:03:35):
but Daniel Radcliffe, I do rememberhim getting naked that one time. You
would he would be the one thatwould stand out to Adam for sure.
That's all right, that's all youknow, Prisoner aback or whatever. That
was pretty good. Whatever it's thedirector from Children of Men, it was
pretty good. On that note,Thank you guys for listening. As always,
we appreciate it. We'll be backsoon with another edition of the f

(01:03:55):
and a podcast. Take it easy, Happy Father's Day, all right,
PJ West, Just competitive people.The word dog comes up a lot.
That guy's a dog that got well, I was a wolf