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Sale but better.

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I'm Cheryl McClellum, host of the Cold Case podcast, Zone 7. Join us every Wednesday to hear cases like the Long Island serial killer. You show genuine interest, and you can't fake it, but these guys can see right through to your soul. You have to be prepared. If you don't know your stuff, they're going to just call you out. Listen to Zone 7 with Cheryl McCleom on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Sarah Kustock, NBA Analyst for the Brooklyn Nets and my podcast, NBA Pulse with Sarah Kustock, is back.

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The Denver Nuggets can finally call themselves NBA Champions.

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Every Monday and Friday, I'll be joined by a top NBA writer to discuss the biggest stories in the League. And we'll do.

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It in.

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About 15 minutes so you.

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Can stay up to date and keep it moving.

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Check out NBA Pulse with Sarah Kustock all season on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us. Welcome to another episode of Nightcap basketball edition. I'm your favorite sportsman, Shannon Sharp. He's your favorite number, Zero. He's also the greatest Arizona Wildcat. Who player in the history of the program. The man once dropped, he did drop 60 in the game against the Lakers. Gale, Agent Zero, arenas. Gale, what's going on, bro?

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Hey, man, who have you been talking to? There's only a small few people who think I'm the best Arizona player ever.

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Oh, well, right.

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Please.

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Make sure you all subscribe to the Nightcap podcast feed. You can subscribe to the Nightcap podcast feed. We have our own feed, Nightcap, but you can also grab it through the Club Shay-Shay mix. Just as long as you grab it, but grab it through the Nightcap podcast feed, but it's also available through the Club Shay-Shay. We're still looking at the numbers. A bunch of you all still listening through the Club Shay-Shay feed. That's okay, but we really prefer you guys subscribe to the Nightcap edition. You can also like and subscribe to Gil's Arena channel on YouTube. The show airs Monday through Thursday, live at 11:30 a. M. Pacific Time. That's 2:30 p. M. Eastern time. 11:30 a. 20:30 p. M. Pacific, 2:30 p. M. Eastern. Make sure you check out Gil. He has some very interesting takes. He and his cast. We've also pinned Shay by LaPorte link at the top of the chat. New Year's right around the corner, then Valentine's Day, then President Day. Make sure you go out and support your favorite aunt, grab yourself a bottle for you or someone you love. Thank you, guys. Gil, let's get right into it.

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Luke and the Mavs collapse in the fourth quarter, lose against the Cavs 1-13 to 1-10. The Cavs overcame a 20-point deficit, outscored the Mavericks, 31-20 in the fourth quarter. No, Donovan Mitchell, no Darius Garland, no Evan Moe. Kares Levert, 29 points and a gutsy late three for the lead. Jared Allen had 24 points, 23 rebounds. I guess he would have responded to Andre Drummond's 20 point 25 against the Hawk yesterday. Luca, 39, seven and six was not enough. Kare, what did you take away from this ball game?

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It's usually your bench. Dallas is... They have one superstar. This reminds me of Jordan when he came into the league. Right? Right.

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Luca.

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Is so good where we think that Dallas Maverick is a consultant. They're good. No, he's good. Yeah, they're not good. Your third best player, which is your second best player now, comes off the bench. It lets you know where the team is. He was just outmatched. It's basically him, versus Cleveland Five. Now, which is embarrassing because without.

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The no, Donovan mentioned, no Darius Garland, no Evan Mobley. The Cavs are down three starters. You can't lose that game on your home court, especially being up by 20 gill.

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Yeah. But when you have players like Levert coming off the bench, where he was a big factor in this game, where he came off with 29 off the bench, he was a big key when Brooklyn was... When he was Brooklyn, right? When he had KD name. He can play, and that's what's coming off the bench. You got guys that steps up that you normally don't count on, but that's what having deep rosters is like. When you do need players like that, they can really count for one game. It's just one of those games where Dallas got a little overzealous, as you can say.

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Yeah. When you look at it, I'm looking at this ball game and I'm said, Okay, Hardaway Jr, is a nice player. You got Dante Exom, who's been playing well. Grant Williams, who you signed in Free Agency. I just don't know how you get up by that minute and just blow the game. They basically blew that ball game. They had a 20-point lead. I don't know, maybe you can tell me if I'm wrong, but I know sometimes we have a propensity to relax. If a team, I know in football, they ain't got this starting quarterback, they're down there starting running back. They're down there starting receiver or their best this or their best that. Sometimes you find yourself you take that for granted. But normally you don't see that happen in football. A team get a 14, 17 point lead without a team's best players and the other team that doesn't have those best players come back and win. Now we see this, a 20 point lead in today's game is not the same as the 20 point lead 20 years ago, Gilles, 30 years ago. Facts. Because the guys can shoot the three balls so much better.

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Because I don't remember, when I was growing up, I don't remember got teams coming back from 26 and 28 points in a ball game, because normally, it's time to watch something else. It's time to do something else. We're going to go outside and play ball in our home. You all down by 26, 28. But the way they shoot the three ball, a couple of threes, a couple of turnovers, and the next thing you know, a 28-point lead is 18. Then they go on another spurt, another 10-0 run. Now an 18-0 run, and now you're down 10 when you're just down 28. But Seth Curry played a good game. He had 19 points. Luca, as I mentioned, had 39. Dante Exom had 13, Derrick Jones had 12, and Tim Hardaway Jr. Had 14. But you look at Cleveland, Isaac Kory had 22, Jared Allen, 24 and 23, as we mentioned. Kareis Levert had 29, George Niae, 16. You got to win that.

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Window, Gile. You got to. Those are the ones that you kick yourself in the ass later because you let this away from you. With that being said, what gets you in the leads is also what takes you out. Because this is a three-point shooting league now, you can go up by 20 and you can go down by 20. You shoot four or five straight threes, bricks them and then they make three or four or five. You just cut that lead down. That's what's happening in today's game where there's no lead that's safe because when you're up, you're not going to get twos and get to the free to all. No, you're not. You're trying.

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To add on- The same method that got you back.

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This one thing that I have a problem with is this. Everyone shouldn't shoot the goddamn ball. But I know we need to put up a certain amount of threes, but not you. Not you. Because when we're up 20, everybody else feels like they can shoot. This is my time to shoot. No, this is not your time to shoot.

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But, Keel, have you ever seen a situation where all of a sudden the team is hot and everybody... You see this a lot in mop-up duty. A team is up by 20 with two minutes to go in the ball game. All of a sudden they call time out and they sub everybody out. Even the backups come in and they launch them and they're going in. Now you put them guys in a regular meaningful game and they can't buy a basket. But seemingly when they're up by 20, no one can miss a shot. I think the thing is what you're alluding to is that all of a sudden, everybody, if they're feeling good, they make it three. Hey, let me try one. No, bro, you need it, nothing but two. Actually, you need dunks and putbacks. You don't need anything outside the bank.

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When you're a bench player, the game's down, you down by 20, you up by 20, that is the perfect scenario for it because you have no pressure on you. You just go out there and just shoot how you want to shoot. That's like practice for you. You just get to throw up shots. Sometimes that cost you when a team still has their starters in.

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Yeah, yes. So the Mavericks lose, they collapse to the Cavs, lose 1-13, 1-10 after being up by 20 points. The Cavs outscored by 11 in the fourth quarter to take a 1-13, 1-10 victory. The Thunder beat the Knicks, 1-29, 1-20. They're the duo of Shay Gill just, Alexander and Jaylen Williams combined for 72 points. Shay Gill just had 36, eight and seven, Jaylen Williams. I think everybody names Williams in the state of Oklahoma play for the Thunder. He had 36 on five or five three, 76 % field goal. He was 13 or 17, Chett Holman had 22, and the Thunder now moved to 29. I like the Thunder Gill. I like them.

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I do too, but they're young, right? Yes. They're going to give you those days where they're going to be taken because your best player, Shay, he has it. He understands the game. He's dominating the game right now. For the last three, four, or five years, he's been shown that he is a superstar. With him leading the charge, it's easier for everybody else to just chip in here and there. They have great players around Shay that can just do what they do and don't have to worry about the heavy lifting.

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Yeah. I mean, man, I love Shay. I mean, he has a tremendous pull step back. He can get to the rack. He can finish with either hands. He's a little bit more explosive because you think he's going to lay it up and he will flush it on you. He got a nice little three game. That's not in his arsenal, but he can get hot and hit the three. As you mentioned, Williams, I saw him against the Lakers a couple of days ago. Even though the Lakers won, he can stroke it from three. He can really shoot the ball from outside. Chad Hongren, he's up and coming. He needs to add about 10 pounds to that frame. But what I like about him, he ain't just jacking up threes. He'll try to put the ball on the floor and try to get to the rim. He'll try to poke it on you, and he's challenging everything. You might flush on him, but he's going to block two or three shots. He's going to alter two or three shots, so he's going to impact the game from a defensive perspective for about 10 points because he's going to block two or three of your shots.

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He's going to alter two or three of your shots, and maybe he'll make the time of possession run out on a few of your shots. He's going to account for 10 points. That's why they're so good defensively, even though they are young. But I like this team. They can get up and down. They can play a lot of different styles. They got young guys. When you know young guys, you don't know any better. You don't know anything about being tired. But I love Shaq, Hill, and Alexander. Maybe Kauai went a little bit too fast. Because how do you think the Clipper... We're going to continue on with this. But how do you think the Clipper would look with Shaq, Hill just in Kauai? Would they be better than- I can see.

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That Now you see why you question that upper management. What did you see? When did you see? I guess they were trying to win right now, and it was more of a package deal for Kauai.

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Kauai wanted PG.

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Because.

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I heard Doc was talking, and he tried to explain it. He's like, You need to give this guy a year. He's like, Why? He's really good. He said, Well, if you don't get me PG, I'm going to go to the team across the hallway. They could ill afford to have that because that have been a death sentence for the clippers. You cannot have LeBron, AD, and Kawhi across the hall, and then all you have is what you've got. I understand they had to make the move, and they gave up a Kings' ransom to get PG. But when you look at it and you look at it player for player right now, Shake Hields is just a better player than PG, and he has been for the last couple of years.

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I mean, to be honest, he might be a better player than both of them right now. Yoube right. He might be right. You might be right.

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I won't fight you. I won't debate you about it.

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I'm on to you. You know what I mean? It can go either way at this point. But he's steady, he's humble, he trains, he's worked. I mean, every summer he comes back, he's added something to his game. Clipper's is going to always kick themselves in the butt when they look back at some of the trades they made versus what they have now. But just like anything, you're always trying to move pieces to get better pieces when you don't know that what's fool's gold and what's real gold. What's that gym hiding in the hay, one of those type of players.

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Right. You're you look at the Knicks, R. J. Ball gave them 14, Julius Randle gave them 25, Deevon Crenzo gave them 17, Jaylen Bronson was 24. Quickly, I was 22. But they let the Thundershoot a very high percentage. Thibodeaux team is normally known for defense, but it's seemingly the Thunders were able to get whatever they wanted. Now, look, it's very difficult to try to say, Okay, I understand you got Josh Hart and I understand R. J. Larit and Diboncino, but ain't nobody stopping Shay from getting where he wants to go. He's going to get his shot because you try to beat him to the punch, and now he's going to pull back and shoot that little 12-foot, 14-foot shot, and he's going to switch it. Then all of a sudden you think he's going to pull back, he pulling his head, and now he's laying it up off the glass, or he's laying it up either way, left hand or right-handed.

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In.

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The cup. If they're going to shoot it like this, if they're going to shoot the ball like this, they got, look, as I said, Chess is going to challenge everything. You got Lou Door who is a quality defender who can get hard and shoot the ball from three. They got guys that can shoot the ball from three. When you look at this team, Jaylen Williams can shoot it from three. Kendrick, he's more a down-low player, but he can get hard. Jaylen Williams. Well, J-A-L-E-N and J-Y-L-I-N. Like I said, everybody named Williams in Oklahoma plays for the Thunder. But they got a nice young basketball team. Isiah Joe, he can shoot the three ball? Because I remember him last year when I was at the game, when which LeBron pass Kareem. Every time the Lakers make a run, one of these Williams or Isiah Joe would make a three to quell that run. I was really impressed with the Thunder, and I think they're only going to get better. Josh Getty, he's not having the season because he normally by now probably have what? Two or three triple doubles? Yeah.

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I think with him, besides the off the court situation that's looming around him, I think with Chet there, it takes the ball out of his hand more. Yes. With Shay being more dominant, you don't need Gidey. Right. Gidey is a movable piece at this point. You don't need him. His upside has dropped very, very drastically. The Knicks squad, I'm never going to be impressed with them.

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It reminds me of...

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Like Thibodeaux, you have two guys that's playing 30-plus minutes, scoring four and two, four and four. What is the point of them being on the court from someone's average and 20-30 points?

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Yeah. Josh Hart had played 34 minutes in and he gave you four points.

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Yeah, that's wasted minutes. You have Isiah. Was it Isiah?

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Hardenstein?

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Yeah.

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But he's your center because the big guy went out. I mean, because they're all real undersized team. If you look at them, Hardenstein now is their largest player. You got to play a big because you got Julius Randall. Obviously, Randall has got to play R. J. Barrett. They're decent size. But when you look at it, I mean, they're not a big team. That's why I don't think they can do anything in the east because everybody else is ginormous. You look at Boston has great size with Prazingas, JT and JB. They have great size with them. We know Milwaukee has trees with Giannis and Bobby Portis and Brooke Lopez and Joe, Ellen Bee. They come with, I think it's Reed. Who's the backup center? I ain't talking about Mo'bombas. I ain't talking about him. No, I'm not talking about him. But they got big guys that can back you down. I don't know who can deal with who can actually in a seven-game series for the next. I know they can win one game because Jaylen Brunson can get hot and give you 50. We've seen Julius Reddler, he can get hot and he can 30, 40, and 15.

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But in a four game to win four games against Milwaukee or Boston or Philly, I don't believe they can do it. Do you think they can win a series against one of those three teams?

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No, not those teams. The only team they can beat, and I said it last year, the only team you all can beat here is playing against Cavs, and that's who they got. Cavs with Toronto. You can beat one of those teams with a player like Brunson. Once you start getting to that second round and you start going against them giants, it's really hard to win with that lineup. I mean, your best, most dominant player is... Becky Hammond said it right. They don't have a 1-8 player. They don't. Broxen is a great second player or third or coming off the bench as that it guy.

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It's hard for small guys to win a title deal. I mean, you look at the history of the game as lead dogs. It's been Steph Curry and it's been Isiah Thomas. Now don't take anything away from AI. Chuck was outstanding, and he put up big number, led the league and scoring. Obviously, we know what he is. He was a historic player. But to win a championship, man, like I said, you got to be Steph Curry, who we know is transcendent, and Isiah. I'm telling when I say small, and I guess Steph Curry, what did you say, Stephie? Six-two? Six-two and a half? Six-three and a half. Isiah is 6'1. But when you start talking about, is Brunson six-foot?

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With shoes on, he's six-two.

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He made it. When we talk about small, now we know the big guards. We know Magic and we know Jordan, guys of that. But man, for the little guards, man, you ask an awful lot.

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It's an awful lot because if that's your best player, and it's not like he's athletic or he's long, where he can make up some of.

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The height. Lack of that. Yeah.

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But he's small, stubby, compact. He's not a chance to see Billups. But if you put him with LeBron, great.

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If you put him with Boston, great. When he's the best player on the team, you really don't have a chance because he has to do so much being limited, and he's very limited at his size. I mean, I compared him to IT, and to be honest, I'm pretty sure IT is offended because IT was a two-time all-star average in 29. Don't compare me to do. He ain't even on high level. But that's just the case. When you're small, like Iverson, you got an average 32, 33, 24. I can get that from mini guard. I can get that from mini guard. But what he does bring is he brings leadership and knowing how to get a great bucket in the last five minutes of the game.

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Yeah, he's sensational with that. Okc wins that ball game, 129, 120. The Sixers beat the Magic, minus Joe Ellandbe, 1-12 to 92, Sixers first win without Embiid this season in five tries. Philly takes 17 more shots than Orlando. Tyrese Maxe had 23 points to lead them. The Anthony Melton stepped up tonight. He had 22, 8-13 field goals. He was plus 24. Tyrese Maxe credits James Harden for helping him develop into an all NBA caliber talent. First, let's get to the Sixers beat the Magic without Joel Ellandbe, and then we can address Tyrese Maxi comments, credit flowers for James Harden. What are you like? Minus, obviously, we know what Joe Ellandbe. He's averaging 35 points a game. He's giving you 10, 11 rebounds a game. Now he's giving you five or six assists a game. Now he's the complete package, and he's a dominant force on the defensive end. He's giving you 35. He's assisting on six. We assume that at least two of those are going to be three. Now he's basically giving you about 45-50 points a night with his points and assists. So you know you got that. You know you see Tyrese Max, it's blossomming, growing right in front of our eyes.

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He's giving you 25-30 on a nightly basis. And some nights he can give you 35-40. What do you like most about the Sixers?

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Without them being there, they're way better than Orlando. Orlando is young, right? Coming in a young team. So you expected Sixers to win this, right? You got... You still got Harris over there. You still got Ubre. You got solid veteran guys who know how to play this game. You would expect Maxi to come out and try to score 40 tonight, right? Because then B is not here like, Oh, I get to get off. But the way the game is being played, he realized that he still manages the game. And Beat is not going to get this ball, but Ubre can get some shots. You have Harris can get some shots, Milton can get some shots. He still did his job as a point guard getting the team involved. When usually a young guard would try to make up the point difference for his star center.

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Yeah, he's really good. He's going to get the max contract. I think the max contract this year, especially he's going to be, I think he's going to make the All-Star team. Now he has another bargaining chip. Whatever the max was last year, I'm assuming it's gone up a little bit. There's a 5% inflation tax on this year, max contract number. But I like Tyrese Maxey. He said he credited James Harden with helping him develop into an all NBA player. What's he saying for our lay people at home?

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What is he saying?

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Yes.

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See, people don't realize how great James Harden was at putting that ball in that basket. The last two years, we judged him on outside things and not realize what he was very skilled at. You got to go back to the 2018, 2019 season where he averaged, what, 36? Out of the last 61 games, he scored 30 plus, 46 of those games. Out of 61 games, he scored 30 or more, 46 times. Thirty or more, all 61 times. That's a different breed of a score. So if I'm maxi, I'm soaking up everything. I don't care where he's at right now, I know what's here. And I want to train with you. I want to pick your brain. I want to know what you know, because this type of level of scoring, there's only really two other guards that really this. Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, who went on runs like this.

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Yes.

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What are you talking about? Out of the last 61 games of the season, 20 or more all 61. That's impressive. Yes.

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I think the thing is we remember James Harden at his absolute apex in Houston, and he turned himself in more of a facilitator at Brooklyn. We didn't see that 50-point triple-double. We didn't see the 60-point triple-doubles. We saw a guy somewhere in the mid 20s give you a triple-double. If Katie was out, he took the onus, he could score more. If Kyrie was out, he could take the onus and score even more. But normally when one of those were out, it was great because he understood, Yes, I can get my shot, but I need to get these other guys involved. When he went to Philly, he became more of a facilitator, leading the NBA in assists last year because of Joel and B. It's hard. I don't see a situation where you shouldn't leave the NBA and assist if you got Joe, Allenby to dump it down too. Now you know he's going to give you 30 a night anyway. A lot of those are going to come from the foul line. But when you look at, and that's what I said, as a veteran player, give that knowledge. Because a lot of times, Gil, man, he ain't taking my job.

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I ain't helping it.

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Facts.

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Facts? We see this chat with a lot of times in the NFL with the quarterbacks. It's not my job to get him ready. It's not my job to help him. It's almost like, bro, if you're securing yourself, he can't beat you out for the job. If you are what you believe he is, pass the information on. It'll serve you well. What good is all that information? To hoard it, spread it. But I love Tyrese Maxxie, and I love the fact that he gave James Harden. Since James Harden is the reason, I'm watching him. You should. You should be able to get better by being on the same court, by practicing with, picking his brain, watching what he does, see how he breaks down a defense, how he orchestrates and lead, excuse me, how he breaks down a defense, how he leads an offense. You should get better.

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You should, but everybody don't, right?

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Does everybody want to get better?

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No. Everyone ain't built for the same altitude. You know what I mean? That's usually the most frustrating part where you have someone like a James Harden, who he's an eagle, and playing with some pigeons. He's trying to get them to his altitude knowing that if they get up there, they're going to die. Now he has to come down and play pigeon basketball while getting killed by the media for playing pigeon basketball. Then that's where you have this fine line between being selfish and being a team player, where I can average 36 on this team, they trash. But if I make the right plays and pass these guys at the ball, they're not capable of it. So should I average 22, 11 assists and we lose so I can prove that this team sucks? Or do I just average 36 points and you just keep calling me selfish? That is a big thing in the NBA. That is a big fight in the NBA with the star player. When the pressure from the outside is like, Why he ain't path? Why he ain't do what? Because my team ain't good. They can't step up to this level.

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They don't want to work. I worked out three times a day, every day when I got to Washington. I seen in my years, Quran was the most consistent. Larrys, he used a few times, Antoine Jameson, a few times.

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That's it.

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In my extra work. When I come in at nine o'clock at night, eleven o'clock at night, 1:00 in the morning, I only seen a few players out of my whole career.

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Everybody don't want it. But you can't make them.

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See, that's what people don't understand. There's a price to be paid for greatness, and if you're not willing to pay that price, you don't deserve to be great. I don't care how much you talk about it, because see, professional sport is the one thing that you can't talk your way in or out, because you have to prove it. The proof is in the pudding. So you're telling me all this, what you're doing, I don't see it manifest in itself. Because I'm a firm believer, Gilles, that if you work, I don't care what it is. If you work at something, you will get incrementally better. I'm not going to say you're going to be if you finger-pain. I'm not going to say you're going to be Picasso. I'm not going to say he's going to be Da Vinci or Michelangelo. I'm not saying that, but you will get better even if it's marginally. This is what I said about Ben Simmons. I didn't see any improvement from Ben Simmons from his rookie year to his fifth year. People are, Oh, man, you don't know. I'm telling you, there's no possible way that this man can be putting in the time that he says he's putting in, and I don't see any improvement.

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You know what's so funny? He is one of those rare cases,unk. I've watched him three summers. I've watched him three summers. And what I'm watching is a superstar basketball player. I'm sitting here, he can shoot the ball. He's coming downhill. He's dominating these other superstars. They were scared of this man every summer because he's going to pick up full court. In the summer, you're trying to be cool. He's picking up full court and he's coming at you. Death perception is a real thing. A lot of shooters, a lot of guys that can't shoot is because they've been practicing in these small gyms.

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And then.

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When they get to that arena, I goug that damn rim. When he plays in the game, he don't shoot the ball because I don't think he knows that distance. I've watched this man is like, Why don't you shoot the ball in the game? Your foot, the mechanics is great. I think that rim, in practice, there's.

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That wall right there. Exactly.

[00:31:46]

It's open space in that arena. I always made it a stance myself to the night before I'm going to get in that rim. If there was no hockey game, I'm going to get on the main court and get some shots up. You got to practice in that arena. You can't practice in these small gyms and then get to the arena and think your shot is that. I think that there's a couple of things with that. When he gets to that game, I think he just freezes up. He's scared to make mistakes.

[00:32:14]

Yeah, that's a lot of it because we saw that in the game seven against Atlanta when they had that lead. You see the thing here, Gail, I can teach you to swim if you're not afraid of the water. See, I can't teach you to shoot if you're afraid to miss it. See, it's not that he can't shoot. He's afraid to shoot. That's two different things. But not being able to swim and being afraid of the water are two different things. Because you're afraid. Well, he was afraid. That's why he didn't shoot. I remember saying it. I said, and Doc, I remember me, Doc said, Anybody that doesn't think that we're going to take Ben Simmons out and we're not going to play him in the fourth quarter, they don't know basketball. I said, Doc, it's going to come a time you're going to have no choice. I said, Because he's a liability. I said, Because if the team is down by 10 and it's outside of two minutes, I'm filing him every day. Every trip down the court, I'm going to file him. You all are not going to get that ball to Joel and B.

[00:33:17]

That's what Atlanta did and got back into the game every single time. Then when it came time, he had a dunk and he passed it.

[00:33:29]

When you're mentally not comfortable, it shows at the worst time in games.

[00:33:36]

Yes.

[00:33:37]

I remember when I came back off an injury and my free throws wasn't on. Now, because my free throws is not where they're supposed to be, I'm scared to drive.

[00:33:53]

Because I don't.

[00:33:54]

Want to get hit, so I don't have to shoot that free throw. That's a thing. Right now I'm driving not to get foul because I don't have to go to the free throw line. When you start looking at the game, once that player gets into his own mind, there's nothing the coach can do. There's nothing the opponent can do. He's already beating himself up. There was times where when I was on my free throws, I talked to myself, Cash money, baby. None but net. Cash money, baby. I had to talk myself into everything I'm doing. Cash money, buckets. It's a thing that when you're on that court, you miss 10 straight shots. If you're not self-confident, you're going to miss another 10. That's when you start wide open layup, you miss it, or you got a layup and you finally get your point, your teammate goal-tended, everything starts going wrong. You can free throw and go in, somebody free throw violation. Everything just starts going wrong and it just keeps you down that spiral. You just got to be... You've got to be self-aware to get yourself out of it.

[00:35:02]

I don't think that was.

[00:35:04]

At that moment.

[00:35:04]

I agree. I think the number one thing, Gilles, is this is what I tell a lot of people in whether it's sports or life, don't you become an opponent. Because a lot of times we can become our own opponent. That's even more lethal than the opponent for the opposing team. It's us. We create an opponent that we cannot beat in that self. And so what Ben has done, he's created an opponent that he cannot beat. Until he defeats that opponent, here we are.

[00:35:42]

The sad part is, I've always said it like, if I was the coach and I know this player is struggling, I know this player will sacrifice his scoring for the betterment of the team. Right. As a coach, I'm like, I'm sorry, but F these teams. F them. Do you, right? I need you to go out there and please try to give me 50.

[00:36:10]

I want to see it.

[00:36:12]

Me and the rest of the crew got to bet. Go out there and score. We're not trying to win this game. I'll wait till we got them play. We're going to play goddamn Detroit. Everyone benched. Ben, you got to win this game by your goddamn self. Itry, because I got to let him tap into it so he can see it for himself. Sometimes you got to just see what you can do to really believe, because there's no way that you're going to the game. Think about this shit. You're playing 38 minutes and you took six shots?

[00:36:48]

Yeah. That means you.

[00:36:49]

Are purposely not even looking the score. You're just out there asking you like the motherfucking the playing at the club. You're just.

[00:37:01]

In the club. You're just in the club. You're just in the club. You're just in the club.

[00:37:03]

You're just there. You're no different than that thing back then. You're just out.

[00:37:07]

There, man. Yeah. Especially, he's the point guard, and I'm playing that many minutes, or I'm getting me 12 to 14 a night.

[00:37:14]

Like shots.

[00:37:16]

I hate shots.

[00:37:17]

Guarante.

[00:37:18]

Shots. Like you said, the club is the club. Shot, shot, shot. Because I'm getting the bug. I'm getting the buggy.

[00:37:29]

Who's going to tell you no. When you're so getting like... I'm pretty sure and be James Harden. No, not James Harden, but Kyrie, Katie. I know those guys were so pissed off at him. Yeah, of course. Because I get to watch you every day in practice, homeboy.

[00:37:53]

Yes.

[00:37:54]

I get to see your ability in real time. Then you come out here and give me this bull. That's the most frustrating thing. You know what your teammates is capable of, and then they come into the lights.

[00:38:07]

And- You've seen it.

[00:38:08]

You've seen it.

[00:38:09]

You've seen it. I've had teammates catch a ball, I mean, high-point the ball in practice. Just catch the ball in a crowd. I'm talking about one hand. They can do it all. As soon as you put them in the game, ball hit them in the face mask. I mean, ball hit them right between the two. I mean, the ball didn't hit them in on the ground by the time they bring their hands together. We've all seen guys like that. Like, bro, what happened to that guy that was in practice on Wednesdays and Thursdays and Friday? How do you go from that you don't drop anything to you can't catch anything?

[00:38:42]

Because he's comfortable with us not the opponent. Oh. He comfortable with us, not the opponent. The opponent is the person that they know and not knowing scares the shit out of some people.

[00:38:55]

We see that a lot in camp, guys making plays against people that you know. A lot of times you hear football players say, Man, I just want to go out there and get somebody that I don't know, that doesn't have on my uniform. I just want to hit somebody because you want to see what these young kids can do against somebody that they don't know. Yes. That somebody that's not going to put that thump on them and that's not going to put them on the ground. That guy's trying to make the roster just like you are. I want to see. The Suns beat the Rockets 1:29, 1:13. Katie has a monster night. He had 27 points, 16 assists, 10 rebounds. Katie did not report that he's frustrated with the sons. Walsh says somebody else feels that I'm frustrated, and it turned to me being mentally checked out. This is crazy. These people can flat out lie my name, make it up, and you people will believe it. But when my teammates and coaches speak on how I am as a teammate, you ignore it. Lol. We'll get to that. We'll get to Katie comments in a second.

[00:40:02]

Let's talk about the game. What did you like about what you saw tonight from the Suns and what happened tonight that's been different than the other nights?

[00:40:11]

See, with the Suns, they have a great starting five. Listen, we can't give you no praise. You're playing Huston. Huston, proven. But we know who's coming to play, Kevin Durant, Booker.

[00:40:27]

On a.

[00:40:28]

Nightly basis. Thats the core of that team. It's trying to find that six, seven, eight guy who can give you consistent play. And that's the key with a lot of these teams. They haven't really dialed in their roster. They don't know what they're looking for or what they want. And it's bringing a lot of confusion with team chemistry in the first place. But the starting five themselves, oh, they balling. The starting five for Suns, they got their stuff intact. They're having to do about 95 points as a starting unit. That is impressive. But when you're talking about what, 116 points, that means you only need about 20 off the bench?

[00:41:23]

Yeah, but the thing is, I'm looking at the night, KD had to play 41 minutes. Eric Gordon played 39 minutes. Book played 36 minutes against Houston. Yeah.

[00:41:36]

Who else they got on that goddamn team? They traded them.

[00:41:39]

Off from people.

[00:41:39]

Who else they got? You're going to put Bobo in. You're going to put Walka.

[00:41:45]

Zambi, whatever. You're going to put him in. You don't want to know me.

[00:41:48]

Come on.

[00:41:48]

The ball did get two minutes. I want to know I got two minutes.

[00:41:52]

He should get them in two minutes. But they don't have anyone on the bench. So you have to play 41 minutes.

[00:41:59]

Yeah, that starter's played a boatload of minutes tonight. The only starter that didn't play major minutes is Nerkitch, and he played 14 minutes. But everybody else, Gordon was at 39, Katie was at 41, Grayson Allen was at 33, and Book was at 36. The Rockets, a young team. I think they're still the youngest team. They're really young. I like Udoka. I think that's the way to say. I would say Udoka is Udoka. I'm a Edoka.

[00:42:34]

Okay, I get it.

[00:42:36]

I love Sungoon.

[00:42:39]

Yes, Sungoon has been- Sungoon.

[00:42:41]

What do the Rockets need? How do the Rockets...

[00:42:48]

They have a whole bunch of pieces. It's like having a whole bunch of clothes but no outfit. Right? Right. We had to figure out how to put it together. With signing Dylan Brooks and signing Van Fleet, you got some experience with them. But your focal point where your future is going to be Jaylen Green, Son Goon, and-.

[00:43:16]

Jibari Smith.

[00:43:18]

He ain't giving me enough.

[00:43:20]

Right now. No, I agree.

[00:43:23]

I don't know if San Goon is taking away from him, but the way San Goon passes it, he should be eating. He should be eating in that position and it should open up the court. But right now I think they're trying to figure out what guys they can page who to play like. Some of these teams playing 11-man, 10-man deep. Some of you all don't got teams like that.

[00:43:50]

Right.

[00:43:51]

You all don't got them type of rosters to be subbing in the 10th man?

[00:43:56]

Right.

[00:43:57]

You all should get your ass whoop putting in number 10.

[00:44:01]

Yeah. I mean, you look at this. I mean, they got guys that played Jake Laundale for the Rockets, played 12 minutes. Amen, Thompson played 17. Whitmore played 18, Holiday played 24. Easton played 25. Plus, that's not even the start. Those are the guys that came off the bench. I mean, nobody played more than 29 minutes. That was Van Fleet and San Goon.

[00:44:29]

And this is the problem with teams like this. When you got a young team, well, where's the days where... Like Allen Iverson, he averaged 41 minutes for his career. You guys have all the technology now. You got all the medicine. And you're telling me you're playing less?

[00:44:50]

They are.

[00:44:51]

Where's my guys? Jaylen Green, all my young guys, you all need to play 42, 43 minutes. You need to get these.

[00:45:01]

That's the problem. They got too much tech knowledge. They got too much minutes and medicine. Because if you look at it, baseball used to have four man rotations and three man rotations. Now you got five man rotations, and you got set up men, and you got closers. You see, we know too much. That's the problem. Well, it's taxed. Well, hell, it didn't tax the other guys. It didn't tax the Steve Carton, Elbow, Gibson, Danny McLean, guys used to throw. I mean, the likelihood of us ever see... I mean, what's the likelihood of us consistently seeing 300 strike out? A guy is pitching 300 innings or 250 in... I mean, guys go five, six innings, that's it. Turn it over to the middle of the bullpen. You got mental relief. You got set up, you got somebody to close it out. I think that's what basketball... I mean, hell, Wilt played 48 and a half minutes for the entire season. Now, mind you, there's only 48 minutes in the game. Think about what... Look at Wilt numbers. Guys played, like you said, major, major minutes, 40 minutes. I mean, Jordan, there were a couple of years.

[00:46:19]

I mean, early in LeBron career, LeBron had a season. He played 41, 42 minutes. I know. That was common. I don't think the guy is not playing like that anymore.

[00:46:29]

You know what I think it is? It would make sense from a financial standpoint or as an owner, where I have someone like a Jaylen Green. Instead of him playing 43, 44 minutes. I play them 32, 33. Instead of having them for 10 years, I got them for 16 years of greatness now. I think with the time restriction, I think it's making their careers a little bit longer, so I have the asset longer. I think that's what it seems like is going on, that they're taking away the minutes to stretch the career out.

[00:47:10]

Okay.

[00:47:11]

We have to sit there and ask, why isn't he playing 40 minutes? Saving 10 minutes a game adds to your years.

[00:47:20]

Right.

[00:47:23]

But I'm a soccer coach. I need to play.

[00:47:26]

I need to win. I'm trying to win. Yeah. I'm Cheryl McClellum, host of the Cold Case podcast, Zone 7. Join us every Wednesday to hear cases like the Long Island serial killer. Here, Carrie Lawson, daughter of the notorious serial killer, BTK, weigh in on the accused Long Island serial killer's children. You show genuine interest, and you can't fake it, but these guys can see right through to your soul.

[00:47:56]

You have to be walled.

[00:47:59]

Off, prepared. If you don't know your stuff, they're going to just call you out and they're going to be like, Nope, I'm talking to somebody else and not talking to you. Hear great insight from one of New York City's finest, Detective Joe Jackalone, a cold case expert.

[00:48:15]

As well as I.

[00:48:16]

Do, cops weren't even aware of it back then, so they're going to have some difficulty putting those cases together unless, of course, he confesses. Listen to his own seven with Cheryl McCleom on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

[00:48:31]

What's up, everybody? I'm back with year two of my.

[00:48:34]

Podcast, the season with Peter Schreger.

[00:48:36]

Aaron Rogers, awesome. I know this was longer than probably expected, but I always love catching up with you. I like you, so I give you a lot of latitude.

[00:48:43]

I'll.

[00:48:43]

Take it. In each episode of this season, I'm going to take you inside and behind the scenes on the conversations that happen at the highest levels of NFL franchises. We'll bring in top GMs and coaches and give you the story behind the story that you're probably not getting anywhere else. Like Brad Holmes, the GM of the Detroit Lions, telling us about their draft room before they.

[00:49:01]

Made that.

[00:49:01]

Controversial.

[00:49:02]

Jameer Gibbspik. In a normal year, you have two first round talent players.

[00:49:07]

You.

[00:49:07]

Might have about 17 or 18 guys. We ended up with 14 guys. But Jameer was always one of those guys.

[00:49:14]

You see, you'll be in the front office of an NFL team one week, but the next week you're going to be at a bar, elbow to elbow with some of your favorite celebrities laughing about football like Kansas City Chiefs fan Paul Rudd. By the way, can I just point out how much I like the music of this podcast? It's awesome.

[00:49:27]

It's very good.

[00:49:27]

It's like a funky beat. Listen to the.

[00:49:29]

Season with Peter Schrager on the iHeart radio.

[00:49:32]

App, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

[00:49:37]

I'm Sarah Kustach, NBA Analyst for the Brooklyn Nets. In my podcast, NBA Pulse with Sarah Kustak is back for the new season.

[00:49:44]

The Denver Nuggets can finally call themselves NBA Champions.

[00:49:50]

Covering the NBA isn't just my job, it's my passion. If you love the game like me and you want to follow all the best moments, latest news, and most.

[00:49:58]

Interesting opinions in the League.

[00:50:00]

You need to listen.

[00:50:02]

Lebron James has shouted history, and there it is! Lebron stands alone!

[00:50:10]

Every Monday and Friday, I'll be joined by a top NBA writer to discuss the biggest stories in the League.

[00:50:17]

And we'll do it in about 15.

[00:50:18]

Minutes so you can stay up.

[00:50:20]

To date and keep it moving.

[00:50:21]

Check out NBA Pulse with Sarah Kustak all season on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Let's address what KD did not report that he's frustrated. Woj that somebody else feels that I'm frustrated, and it turned into me being mentally checked out. That is crazy. These people can plot out loud my name and make it up and you people will believe it. But when my teammates and coaches speak on how I am as a teammate, you ignore it. L. O. L. Gil, KD, look at your history. People were reporting that you were unhappy in OKC. You denied that. You booked it out of town. People say there were some grumblings about you were feeling some type of way that you weren't being looked at and thought of like.

[00:51:17]

Clay.

[00:51:18]

Stephan, and Draymond. You booked it and later came out. You was never going to be accepted. There was reports that KD might ask for a trade and he was unhappy in Brooklyn in the direction, and here you are in Phoenix. God forbid us from believing what they say when everything that has ever been said about you, for the most part, has turned out to be true. I think.

[00:51:44]

The only issue he probably has an issue with is saying he checked out, right? Yeah. If I'm him and I'm reading that, what do you mean, checked out? I'm averaging 30 a night. I'm giving them my all. I'm trying to work day in and day out. Katie is a student of the game, meaning he don't have life outside of basketball. All he does, as you all can see, you tweet something, he's on it. You tweet right if I deal with Matt right now, within three minutes, he's going to look at it. He's in tune with everything that's going on. He's watching games. He's probably watching this show.

[00:52:26]

Is that a good or bad thing?

[00:52:28]

Good thing. The best players, they're in tune with everything that's going on. Sometimes that in tune is what frustrates you because the rest of your teammates is not in tune with you. So expressing frustration versus being frustrated is two different things. I can be mad at the moment in time, but these are my guys. I'm upset that they're not getting it done. They're not working hard and not getting back on D, all of that. When Book said, You're going to turn the ball over and not get back on D, I'm frustrated now, but I'm not frustrated with who the person is.

[00:53:08]

Okay.

[00:53:09]

Sometimes this guy might play hard, but I'm frustrated at his work ethic, but he performs well. You got two different types of elements that goes on the team. I don't think he's frustrated to the point where he wants to trade. He's probably frustrated with the circumstances where.

[00:53:28]

Him and Book that he requested?

[00:53:31]

Yeah, you requested. But the thing about it is you're worse than you were last year, and that's the frustrating part.

[00:53:37]

But let me ask you a question. What are they going to trade? They traded all the assets to get him. What are they... The old saying is, What do you want me to get stuff with? Ass and mouth? Yeah. What are we going to do to get him, Gilles? We gave up everything. We gave up our entire future to get Kevin to rent. So what are we going to trade? Books or don't share this? What are we going to give up?

[00:54:05]

I think the more of the frustration, if I'm him, what I'm going to be frustrated is just where we are as a team. We were this close last year, this close, and we made a trade for Bill. The pieces we made for Bill were pieces that helped. Well, if Bill is not in, those pieces that help are not here. Technically, we're worse than we were last year. At this point in time, he's like, Man, this December is about to be January. Bill, we need Bill to come back so we can just prove how good we are. Sometimes when you're undermanned and you're going out there and everyone's judging you like, Yeah, the sons, they look weak this year. You're like, man, we don't have all our pieces to be great right now. That's a frustrating part where that big key is Bill, who's going to be averaging 20 when he gets healthy.

[00:54:58]

Right. But sometimes the mistake that people can make is that, okay, he wants average 30. Katie, no, can give us 30. He's led the league and scoring four times, and we know what book is. We just put all this together. Just because you put a whole bunch of nice stuff. Look, I like ice cream. I like gravy and chicken. I just don't like it altogether. Just because you got three guys that can average 30, that doesn't mean it's going to work. Somebody has to be willing to sacrifice. Now look, I understand that Book, you're playing in unnatural position. He's not a point either two, but he has to play because they had to give up Chris Paul. I understand that Bradley Bill has been hurt. Kevin Durant is whatever you need. He doesn't really need the ball, he can get his own. He can play with his back to the basket. He got the heads he pull up. He got the three-point shot you're filing, and he's going to the free throw line. He's going to knock 90% of those down. But at some point in time, Gilles, you got to play some defense. The question is when they get to the playoffs and they get down by, let's say, five points, can they get stopped when they absolutely have to have one?

[00:56:08]

That's going to be the question when we get there. We don't need to play defense the whole game, just if we're in that time and we need to make that guaranteed stop, can we do it? Are we capable of doing it? And that's going to be something that when the playoffs come, they're going to have to prove. Those three guys are perfect for each other because they can all do the same thing, which means if I'm a catch and shoot guy and you're a dreamer penetration guy, you can post up. We don't affect each other's realm because we all play in different realms. All three can play ISO. All three can flare, back door, post up. You got three guys that can move around versus if you had someone like Shaq and Tim Duncan on the same court. That's conflict. They both want the right block. They're going to both fight for the right block, and none of them are dominant on the left side, right? Now you got a conflict, and that's what happens with teams. With these three, it's a great puzzle. You just got to put them all on the court together and be healthy for 20, something games.

[00:57:22]

But did they factor in over the last several years of Bill's health? Did anybody factor that in?

[00:57:29]

No.

[00:57:31]

He's been hurt. Gilles, he's been hurt. Listen- He was substantial time.

[00:57:35]

Most medical staffs are cocky. They think, Well, you all not us. We can get them healthy. It's that weird thing. I don't know if you went through it, but I did. When you get injured, you do all this training to get back two games later, back injured. You start getting these random knickknacks for no reason. That's where Bill is. I say that's where he got a cheat. He got to cleanse. I don't know why he got to cleanse his house because he just got there. But you got to cleanse something, God damn it. There's something in your life that's a negative hold onto your cheat and you got to cleanse it. You got to sit there with it and just start removing people. I don't give a fuck if it's the dog. Get rid of the dog if you think the dog is... You got to really reset, right? Because these knickknacks, it just keeps lingering. Linger and lingering. He comes back, Oh, he hurt his shoulder. Come back, hurt his toe. There's a reason this happens. You're off the line.

[00:58:38]

Yeah, but when you start limping into the season and you get nicked during the season, it's hard to get healthy becauseyou come, and that's what I tell guys. Normally, when an average person is injured, they say, take time off. When you're a professional athlete, you don't get no time off. They're trying to try to rehab to get you back on the field. As a normal civilian, you're trying to rehab to go back to your normal life. But we're your professional athlete, you're playing against the top in the world. It ain't no average. It ain't no normal life.

[00:59:16]

No. The worst thing an athlete has against him is his ego. When we're injured, we don't come back to prove we're healthy. We come back to prove we're injured. Right? Oh, I hope they see me limping and giving it my all. I can go out there and play 50 %. I can go out there and play 80 % while I'm sitting there getting booed. Oh, he's wash, he's this. I'm coming back to prove to you that this was serious versus just getting healthy. That is our issue. We're watching the game. I don't care if it's a month, two week, we watch the game pass us by. If I'm a point guard, I watch this guy score 30, this guy, he's ranked in front of me. Now I'm speeding up my process because I want to get my spot back. I'm limping out here, knee swollen. I don't supposed to be playing. They said 10-12 weeks. I'm back 6-8 weeks. Yeah, I'm fine knowing damn well I can't be out here playing.

[01:00:16]

Fine ain't good enough because you got to be at the level you were before you got injured. That's what makes you great. I mean, I don't care. Look, a race car with a flat tire ain't good. I don't care how many horsepower it got because it's not going to perform like it did if it had four perfectly fine inflated tires. If you come back and you're nicked in the slightest, you become very average, and average gets eaten in professional sports. That's just the way it is. That's just the way it is. Uncouraged Jay asked one simple question, Uncouraged. When or if will Katie ever be content? I think it's Happy asking for too much at this. I think Happy is asking too much at this point. I look up and I'm expecting this man every seven, eight months act for trade. I don't know. I mean, look, I understand. I don't think I can win a championship in OKC. He went to the perfect situation, caught a lot of criticism. I don't think people were upset. I think people were more upset that you joined that team, the team that knocked you out when you had them down 3-1.

[01:01:20]

You said, well, okay, you go there. You win two championships, your final MVP, you probably would have won a third had your Kele's not gone out. Then you move on. You want to go to Brooklyn, you recruit Kyrie or Kyrie recruited you, and you end up in Brooklyn, and you're not happy there. For whatever reason, you wanted to move on. I'm like, bro, I mean, whatIf I were to ask you, because you played this sport and you know him somewhat, maybe you've been around him, what's he looking for?

[01:01:56]

He's looking to play basketball. It seems simple, right? When you're talking about a guy who... Let me see, how many scoring titles?

[01:02:10]

Katie got four.

[01:02:12]

Yeah, right. When people ask why he left. When you're talking about four scoring titles, you had probably about 10 all NBAs. You had an MVP. You had All-Star MVPs. Eight-time All-Star two goals. When you're a free agent, the only thing that you don't have on your resume was a chip in the Finals MVP. You get those two out of the way. In his mind or just in my mind, what am I proving here? The only thing I'm proving now is.

[01:02:50]

Get more.

[01:02:52]

Do I need more rings? Am I the greatest small Fort ever? Am I the second greatest small Fort ever? Am I one of the top five ever. I train, I work out, I train, I go to sleep basketball. I'm out there putting my heart into it. I think as players, we can sleep great at night knowing that we give it our all and whatever comes with it comes with it. But I don't really think he's looking for something. I just think he wants to play high level basketball. Most players do the great ones. If they're in position to win chips, they're going to go for it. Other than that, they just want to go out there and play hard and everybody with them going out there and playing hard.

[01:03:40]

Gil, you know, going to Golden State hurt him more than it helped him. I understand he got the chips, but unless he gets one without Steph Curry, you already know how this story is going to be written. You know that. Unfortunately, I think Katie knows that. Fair or unfair, right or wrong, but it is what it is.

[01:04:06]

Okay, but when we think of it like that, it's not like he can go to a team and he is by himself and try to win a championship.

[01:04:16]

Right? But he recruited Cal re. He had James Harden.

[01:04:19]

Yeah. So no matter where he goes in this lead today, there has to be a team up. So when he do win, they're going to say, Well, you got Bill over there.

[01:04:29]

You got Bill? No, I think the thing is with Steph, you join a two-time, you join a unanimous MVP. Steph Curry was already at that point in time, the greatest shooter we had ever seen. That system, and I get it. Okay, Ijust want to get you all off my back. Let me go ahead and get these titles. I get these titles, I'll calm it down. No people looking at you like, Bro, there were 29 other teams that you could have joined. 28 because you had left OKC. There's 28 other teams. You mean to tell me you go join the team that had just won 73 games and just lost in a game seven in the NBA Finals? That was the only team you can find. He's like, Look, I'm a free agent. I'm a free agent, and as a free agent, I can go wherever I want to go. Fine. For whatever reason, be it he had grown bored of winning. I mean, you say you just want to play high level basketball. Can you play any high level than the Golden State Warriors and be in three NBA finals? You went to probably would have won a third had he not gotten injured.

[01:05:35]

So where are you going to go and play higher level than that? So who are you going to go play with other than LeBron? Or at that time, LeBron and Katie and Steph were thought of as the best players in the NBA with hard and falling up under that. So now, who are you going to go play with? Joe L. M. B, Nicole, Yoke. Where can he go now? I don't know where he can go. I don't know how he outruns because he had four years. The first year, we're going to disregard that he was rehabing. But he had three years and he didn't come close.

[01:06:09]

But it's not because of him, right? The stuff that went down in Brooklyn, he was there. He did his thing, right? But we give.

[01:06:17]

Him credit, but we give him credit for the Golden State.

[01:06:20]

But that's.

[01:06:20]

What I'm saying. We can't say if he loses, it's not because of him. But when Golden State won the title, it was because of him.

[01:06:27]

But it was because of him.

[01:06:28]

Why can't he win on his own? Why can't he win other than Golden State then? I think that's the question, Gilles. People want to know. If it was him and Golden State, why can't he do replicate? Why can't he take what he learned and take it somewhere else?

[01:06:46]

Because he was a single player coming to a team atmosphere. He was plug and play. Now he has to build a team around him where he can just adjust to one person adjust. Now when he tried to create a team, everyone has to adjust to everything. We can talk about how Kevin Durant going to Golden State was a bad thing. It was the best thing that the league has ever seen, and they do not want to acknowledge it. Since Magic and Bird, what was the best duo going against each other in the championship? Lebron versus Katie.

[01:07:25]

Yeah, but LeBron versus Katie. Not LeBron versus Katie, Steph, Draybond, and Clay.

[01:07:31]

The best small forwards in the game. I don't know why this wasn't looked at like two Titans. The best player in the world versus the second best player in the world. One called himself, I'm the best score in the world versus the best player. You had two Titans playing against each other, and we spent our time talking about Katie leaving, not realizing what we was witnessing.

[01:07:58]

I got no problem with leaving.

[01:08:00]

No, but we were witnessing that Kevin Durant and when we all talk about Kobe, the one thing that we didn't get to see is Kobe and LeBron in the championship again. Correct. We got to see Kevin Durant and LeBron go face to face. We got the Magic and Bird. But we're never going to acknowledge this because we were upset that he took the easy way out.

[01:08:22]

Right. But I think the thing is when we look at Magic and Bird, Magic had Kareem, Bird had he had Worth it, he had Perish, they had Byron Scott, they had DJ. It was like, okay, you got for a Hall of Famers. We got for a Hall of Famers. You got a coach that's going to the Hall? We got one that's going to the hall. I think everybody looked at it as an even match up. I don't think anybody thought that the way that Cleveland, even though it was Kyrie and LeBron, was going to be able to beat Golden State with Steph, Clay, KD, and Draymond. That wasn't going to happen. No, I don't- I think that's what the... When KD and LeBron, Lockedhorne in Miami and OKC, you're like, Okay. Okay, Surgia, Barker, and Chris Bosh, we got Russ, D-Way, and now KD and LeBron, and they had to guard each other.

[01:09:27]

They had to guard each other. But that was a great matchup, but it was young. It was young versus a veteran. But when that Golden State Cleveland Cavalier Series got because it was going to be between those two. I wish after they won it, after Cleveland won it and Golden State got Kevin Durant, I thought Cleveland should have made a move. It don't matter. You should have known you was going to be outguned.

[01:09:56]

Who are you going to give up? First of all, who want to come to Cleveland? That was the problem why LeBron got up.

[01:10:00]

Out of there. No, that's facts. But at this point, look, J. R. Smith was my what? He was my Clay Thompson. Clay is average in 21. Yes. J. R. Smith average in 13.

[01:10:15]

Yeah, for sure.

[01:10:17]

It was really outmatched. From there they should have been in tune with the game and said, Okay, we might need to upgrade a little bit more. We're not good enough to try to go back to back.

[01:10:29]

Right. First name, last name said, Gil was a great addition. Shannon, do you remember when you said Katie and Kairee will potentially play together? When they were seeing at the All-Star Game talking, Katie latched out saying it was some BS. They joined. I didn't say it. I remember I said, look, and I played him a compliment. I said, Katie joining Golden State was like, Johnny Gill joining New Edition. Johnny Gill could out-sing them all. We know the outstanding career Bobby Brown had. We know what Ralph Transvert did. We knew what Bell, Bill, DeVo ended up doing once they broke up. But none of them singularly could out-sing Johnny Gill. The reason why Johnny Gill wasn't accepted, he didn't grow up in Boston and Roxbury. Kd was never going to be, and I'm not saying they didn't like him, but Steph, Clay, Draymond came there. They were burnt. They grew up there. Although KD was KD, it wasn't going to be accepted. He called me, Oh, this, you don't know what you're talking about. That's an ignorant thing to say. Later he get on the podcast like, I was never going to be accepted like KD and Steph, because they...

[01:11:47]

I said that.

[01:11:51]

But we delusional sometimes. Come on. Just like in our relationship, our boys are the first one to tell us, Hey, your girl is cheating on you. Oh, no.

[01:12:01]

She'd never doubt that. She ain't like that.

[01:12:03]

She.

[01:12:03]

Ain't like that. I could have found out she's just like that.

[01:12:08]

That's the same thing. We don't want to believe that it is this, and we have to find out the hard way. He had to find out on that court when he's asking for the ball. He had to sit there and go back and forth with Draymond Green, and Draymond Green had to let him know. We were here before you. We don't need you. That hurt.

[01:12:30]

It did.

[01:12:31]

Oh, we wouldn't have finished that season. I don't know how I can come to work knowing that you really believe that deep down inside.

[01:12:42]

Three people will tell you the truth, Gail. Of drugs, kids, and angry people. They're going to tell you the truth. Now, see, they're blaming on I just said thing out of anger. I was drunk. I didn't know what I was talking about. Kids, they say, Kids say the darnest thing. I got a way to brush off either one of those. But here's the thing, and I'm going to say something and tell me what you think. If you notice, Draymond Green's behavior is always when he thinks someone is about to replace him as a member of the big three. When KD came, it's about to be KD, Steph and Clay. He says what he says. Jordan Poole. All of a sudden it's about to be Jordan Poole, Steph, and Clay. He does what he does. Now it's going to be very, very interesting to see how they have the comingas. Because does that ruffle Dre, because Dremon... I'm a member of the big three, and nothing's going to upset that because that's just... Look, I could be totally wrong. But there's something to be said with Dremon and the way Dremon has behaved with KD, with Jordan Poole.

[01:13:50]

Now, I don't know if anything, I have not heard anything about Kaminga. But I did hear what Kaminga said because I already played my game because I got to make sure the OGs get the ball. How do I do what I need to do to show what I can do and still show deference to the OGs? That's going to be very interesting moving forward. Tell me what you think.

[01:14:10]

There might be a little territorial thing going on with Draymond. The one thing you don't want to do is you don't want to be forgotten. Sometimes I think it seems like the more his game is dwindling down, the the more he's acting out.

[01:14:32]

He.

[01:14:32]

Knows his time is coming and he's going to be put on that bench. That's when all the people who don't like him are going to be able to laugh. Right. I think he's ready for that laughter. The four rings the four rings don't help that ego at that.

[01:14:47]

Moment in time. They don't win. I don't believe they win any of those titles without Draymond.

[01:14:52]

No. But being benched, them four rings, they don't mean nothing anymore.

[01:14:59]

I can't see them on your finger when you're on the bench. You tell me about them, but you can put them on the conference where you're at the podium. But right at that point in time, and now you give everybody, because everybody, Oh, Draymond is the king of the triple single, and they're saying all these things. I think it's a phenomenal player. I do. I mean, I think his physicality. Do I think he goes over the line? Absolutely. Do I think he's done some things that he didn't need to do? Absolutely. But the problem is that they didn't check it before. I can't wait till my is two years old before I correct him about potting in the house. Then all of a sudden, he potties in the house again. I'm like, What are you doing? You didn't correct him when he was a puppy. You let Draymond get out of control. Now when you don't win, you accepted it when you were winning. You accepted Draymond's behavior when you was winning. I'm a firm believer. As Mike Shane had told me in 1995, you never accept anything in a win, you wouldn't in a loss.

[01:15:56]

If Draymond behavior is unacceptable when you're losing, it should have been unacceptable when you're winning. Because when they say winning masks a lot, it does. It masked the undercurrent of what was going on in Golden State that were just in the moment, things don't go the way that they think it should, Draymond pops his head up out the water.

[01:16:20]

Oh, yeah, that's a thing. It's going to be real interesting because he was the vocal point. He was the heartbeat. When they decide to say, All right, Camingo, this is your spot, is the heartbeat going to stop beating? I think this is one of those things where for the betterment of the team, he's going to have to pull a rust and he's going to have to look around and say, All right, I did all I can do. It's time for me to take a back seat and give all my energy to Camingo. And then I can come and back. He's going to have to pull a UD, right? As long as he wants his name called at the beginning of the game, Draymond Green, the team dies because he don't have it like he used to. He's not as fast, strong. He still got the smart, the IQ levels very high. But he's going to have to sacrifice and realize the big three is falling off. You're going to.

[01:17:33]

Have- I mean, there's really no big two because Clay is not the same. Clay can get dispersed, but Clay ended up going to the bench in the fourth quarter. They would never be... I mean, look, as we start to age and Clay had two devastating injuries for professional athlete, he had a Achilles and an ACL, and he had them in his 30s. And commend him for coming back and playing at the level. But he's not the same stuff. Excuse me, the same clay. Draymond is starting to get older. He's not the same. He doesn't move the same. But the behavior, see, Draymond needs to understand their tolerance until they can replace it. Yeah. And They tolerated this behavior because they couldn't replace you. Now, at some point in time, even though you were the heartbeat and you mean so much to this team, 7.5 rebounds and two or three or four or six ain't going to cut it. Yeah.

[01:18:30]

I don't know how... I don't know how you just... I feel bad for Steve Kerr because you don't want to bench him because Camingo hasn't taken this spot.

[01:18:45]

Correct.

[01:18:46]

But with Camingo on the floor, he's just a different breed of a guy. He gives you something that you guys didn't have. A guy who has.

[01:18:56]

Bounced at the game.

[01:18:59]

He got his own one-on-one move. He can create his own shot. He's very aggressive still, which is surprising. I mean, you've been there for a couple of years, you would think he would have lost his aggression, but he's still his aggression. He has the confidence that he can't be stopped. You need that to play out. That is going to be a tough decision for Steve Kerr to say, Dremon, you're starting. I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I'm going to be like, Yo, Dre, you don't have to come off of the bench. I want to see what... He's been playing very well since you've been on the bench. Give me a couple more games.

[01:19:36]

You know what, Gil? The problem with Golden State is that a lot of these problems that Andrew Wiggins isn't playing well at the same time, Clay Thompson isn't playing well. The same time, Draymond Green is suspended. You got a little mini hurricane, a little mini earthquake, and a little mini tornado all together in one spot.

[01:19:59]

In the problem is, and this is why being the third option feels amazing, because nobody's paying attention to you. No one is talking about Wiggins playing horrible.

[01:20:12]

He'd be good and terrible.

[01:20:16]

Yeah, and it's weird. When you're that third option, when you don't have no pressure on you, you get to go out there and be trash without any pushback. No one's going to write about you. No one cares. The fact that Draymond is being blamed for what's going on in Golden State, it let us know how important he was then to the winning.

[01:20:39]

Yes, absolutely. People that don't believe that it was important to winning is the fact that you don't really like Draymond, or you don't really understand the importance of what he brought to that ball club. Sometimes you just can't measure everything by points, rebounds, and assists because he does a lot of the dirty work. Everybody can't be the bank president. Somebody got to be the security guard. Somebody got to be the cashier.

[01:21:03]

Somebody.

[01:21:04]

Got to be the custodian. Somebody got to clean that place up at night.

[01:21:07]

Yeah, he's top flight security all right.

[01:21:11]

Arbonham calls our Cam Redish and Jared Vanderbilt. Can't be confused with the ball. Ham said, I just think not allowing it to stagnate us. If they're trying to play off, Cam got to step up, shooting with confidence, or eat up space on the drive, collapse the defense once he touches the paint, drive, find the open man. Same thing for Van, though. Ball hits him and he just can't hold it. Be confused.

[01:21:41]

He called them out, not himself. You put them... Sorry, my motherfucker is in the game. Nobody told you to sub a dude who averages 1.5 and put him as a starter? When are you going to take responsibility for the lineup you're putting out? You have the... The Laker starting five, the way it was, they were only averaging 82 points as a starting five, which is low.

[01:22:09]

You sub- Well, considering LeBron and AD average of 50.

[01:22:12]

The rest of your team, the rest of your starters is only putting up there. That is a low starting five. 82 points is low. Now you sub in Van and take out Russ, which pushes you down to 68 points a game. Just to show you how bad that is, the worst team in the NBA, the Detroit Pistons, they're averaging 69 points. They're averaging 73 points as a starting five. So the Detroit Pistons starting five is better than the Lakers starting five right now in point production. What defense are you looking for?

[01:23:00]

Ain't nobody. You need to be in order for them to justify the defense or they're supposed to be defensive guys. They need to be Dennis Johnson. They need to be Alvin Robertson. They need to be Dennis Rodman of somebody, somebody on the ball like that. But you cannot give me one point. Let's just say Van Doe gives us two, three, and Cam Reddy gives us eight. Come on, bro, that's not enough. Eleven points and we got guys and you're playing 25-30 minutes. Three and eight points is not enough. It's just not.

[01:23:31]

You got three. Ad is a defensive player. Lebron is a defensive player, but he's 39. I got enough defense to put all offense, right?

[01:23:41]

I have guys who can block shots to put enough offense out there. This is crazy because their losses, they score 94 points, one-on-one, 94, 109, 108, 110, 111, 1:15. You can't score. You're not moving fast enough with the units you have. You know what this reminds me? What he did right here reminds me of the 2,000... Is it the 2020 Clipper's team, where they used... This is the deepest team. They got the deepest bench.

[01:24:27]

You.

[01:24:27]

Got the deepest bench because your starting five was sorry as shit.

[01:24:32]

Starting.

[01:24:32]

Five you had what?

[01:24:34]

Because you bring in Sweet, Louis, and Tres, and they playing more minutes and reserves than you started..

[01:24:43]

You got 40 points coming off the bench with two players. Of course, your bench is deep. Your bench was number one in the NBA and scoring. Your starting five was 25th. You're averaging 69 points because you got Zubok, Pat, Beck, and Moe, who's averaging seven, eight, and five. You're not deep. You got four players. You got four players. That's it. You're just trying to trick.

[01:25:07]

The line come off the bench.

[01:25:08]

Yeah, you're trying to take two starters, put them off the bench. Oh, yeah, we got this deep team because in the NBA, it's hard to blow a team out in the first five, six minutes. You know at the six-minute mark, you can sub in your two guys and then get the rolling and let these guys get a little bit of minutes. You did good, boys. Now go sit down, let the real players get in. I hate... I hate lineups like that. You're just trying to trick like your team is good, but knowing damn well if a team got old, nine and old in the first one minute of the game, get your asses out. Tread, get your asses in. That happened a couple of times. But you have to have a balanced team and the fact that you have Rui, Austin, and Russell coming off the bench like, Oh, yeah, we got 40-something points coming off the bench. Yeah, you got 40-something coming off the bench, but you're starting five. It's only scoring 60 points. You got LeBron James and AD scoring 50, and you got the other three guys then putting in 10. Stop these dumb ass lineups.

[01:26:12]

Yeah, because here's the thing, and you tell me these guys, but they still can't stop dribble penetration. Guys are still getting past Van, though. They're still getting past Cam, and they're kicking the ball to the corner for wide open three. If you're supposed to be a defensive guy, if you're not going to get... Here's the thing. If I'm not an offensive guy, and this is where I approached it, when I played football, I've got to be more of an asset in the passing game than I am a liability in the run game. Yes. In other words, you've got to be a tremendous asset in the defensive end if you're a liability on the offensive end, if you're a basketball player. Right now you're a liability on both. So it's basically you becoming unpredictable because I don't know how you play. Guy is going to give me two points, and then he's letting guys get past him, and I got a slide AD and the guy's passing the ball and the guy's lead it up or help got to come and he's kicking it to the corner. Bro, what are you doing?

[01:27:09]

I never understood that, and it's weird because I would love to ask a defensive coach why they put these lineups in. I'm an offensive player. I bred offense.

[01:27:22]

The worst.

[01:27:26]

Player that I wanted to see was someone like me that I had to guard.

[01:27:31]

He's right.

[01:27:33]

I did not want to face me. Patrick Beverly's?

[01:27:37]

Whoa.

[01:27:39]

Oh, it's trouble for you, homeboy, because you're here to play defense, not offense. I'm resting half the time. I'm giving you my all. That means it's like boxing. I get to punch you, but you got your hands tied. I get to punch on you while your hands tie. The fact that you're going to take three, four shots a game, why am I paying attention to you? That is the easiest night for me because there's no way you're going to stop me from taking 20, 30 shots. But I don't have to give you no effort on the defense.

[01:28:12]

I get to sit.

[01:28:13]

I get to sit. And the worst player I wanted to play was someone scoring like me because he's embarrassing me now. If I'm playing against the Lakers and I'm Tray Young, hell, yeah, I want to play against Cam all day. You ain't embarrassing me. You ain't doing nothing. You just get to play defense all day. I don't understand why they put these lineups out there because you're helping the offensive team because you're handicapping yourself. You're playing three on five on offense or two on five on offense.

[01:28:47]

Right.

[01:28:48]

You're not good enough.

[01:28:50]

The rules.

[01:28:52]

Aren't made. My offense of book is a hundred times better than any rules you can put in. That's the difference in today's game. Back then, it was 60-40 defense to offense. You dribbled a certain way, you only had a certain amount of moves. Now the moves today, I can hold it a little bit. I can do either my crib. Now it's basically 90-10. There's no rule they can put in that's hand-checking all that dumb. What people talk, there ain't no hand-checking.

[01:29:26]

That can.

[01:29:27]

Stop these moves today and be in progress... That is trash. It was trash when it was in.

[01:29:37]

Guys can shoot the ball better, and guys can handle the ball better. You got two or three guys on every team that can make you look stupid handling the ball. Everybody got that pull. Everybody got the heads. Okay, I'm going to the AN 1. How many guys we see that? Everybody doing that. I mean, guys like, Who the hell are you? Where you get that move from? So the likelihood of you bringing somebody, Oh, he's a defensive stopper. Oh, he goes, Man, them guys are too good. They're too skilled.

[01:30:07]

If I want to hunt a lion, I need a lion. A gazale ain't go...

[01:30:17]

He's lunched me. He goes, Yeah, exactly.

[01:30:19]

He's lunched me. It's weird, right? D-low said he wanted to be Derrick White. We all laughed. Please be Derrick White. God damn it, I beg you to be Deric White now, because Deric White didn't want to just be a liability. I'm just a defensive player. Right? There you go. That's between Boston now. You got the unicorn over there, which added extra offense, right? Yes.

[01:30:47]

You.

[01:30:47]

Would have thought that Derrick White would be more of a defensive player because he don't need to score. He upped his scoring up.

[01:30:54]

Yes.

[01:30:56]

That's what the Lakers need. Dilo, I need you to up your production, not.

[01:31:02]

That press. I need you to.

[01:31:05]

Up and up.

[01:31:07]

Because if you put pressure on the opposing team, maybe it takes some of that zap out of them and they're not able to give you that work.

[01:31:15]

Listen, when you trying to score, my one thing that I always went into games room, when I had to play against AI, when I had to play against Steve Francis, when I had to play against Marbury, I'm coming at you first. I'm going to come at you so hard that it makes you not want to play offense, thinking that if you don't shoot, I don't shoot. Nba players really think that's the thing. But if I don't shoot against him, he won't shoot against me.

[01:31:48]

Okay, that's your fault.

[01:31:49]

What I did when we started all the games, I was playing against the high-level guards, the Steve Nashes. I'm trying to give them buckets early to set the tone. I can't let Steve Nash come and pick me to death. If you look at my games with Steve Nash, I made him a score. When you look at our matchups against Steve Nash, he wasn't having 15 to 17 assists, 30, 40. You're going to have to match me point for point if you want to keep up. You're not going to be able to try to sit there and get your guys, I'm scoring too fast, makes you want to score too.

[01:32:28]

I'm Cheryl McCleough, host of the Cold Case podcast, Zone 7. Join us every Wednesday to hear cases like the Long Island serial killer. Here, Carrie Lawson, daughter of the notorious serial killer, BTK, weigh in on the accused Long Island serial killers children. You show genuine interest, and you can't fake it, but these guys can see right through to your soul.

[01:32:53]

You have to be walled off, prepared.

[01:32:57]

And if you don't know your stuff, they're going to just call you out and they're going to be like, Nope, I'm talking to somebody else and not talking to you. Hear great insight from one of New York City's finest, Detective Joe Jackalone, a cold case expert.

[01:33:12]

You know, as well as I do.

[01:33:13]

Cops weren't even aware of it back then, so they're going to have some difficulty putting those cases together unless, of course, he confesses. Listen to his own seven with Cheryl McCleom on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[01:33:28]

What's up, everybody? I'm back with year two of my.

[01:33:31]

Podcast, the season with Peter Schrager.

[01:33:33]

Aaron Rodgers, awesome. I know this was longer than probably expected, but I always love catching up with you. I like you, so I give you a lot of latitude.

[01:33:40]

I'll.

[01:33:40]

Take it. In each episode of this season, I'm going to take you inside and behind the scenes on the conversations that happen at the highest levels of NFL franchises. We'll bring in top GMs and coaches and give you the story behind the story that you're probably not getting anywhere else. Like Brad Holmes, the GM of the Detroit Lions, telling us about their draft room before they made that controversial.

[01:33:59]

Jameers-pick. In a normal year, you have true first round talent players.

[01:34:04]

You.

[01:34:04]

Might have about 17 or 18 guys. We ended up with 14 guys. But Jameer was always one of those guys.

[01:34:11]

You see, you'll be in the front office of an NFL team one week, but the next week you're going to be at a bar elbow to elbow with some of your favorite celebrities laughing about football like Kansas City Chiefs fan Paul Rudd. By the way, can I just point out how much I like the music of this podcast?

[01:34:23]

It's awesome. It's incredible.

[01:34:24]

It's like a funky beat. Listen to the season with Peter Schrager on.

[01:34:28]

The iHeart Radio.

[01:34:29]

App, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[01:34:34]

I'm Sarah Kustock, NBA Analyst for the Brooklyn Nets and my podcast, NBA Pulse with Sarah Kustock, is back for the new season.

[01:34:41]

The Denver Nuggets can finally call themselves NBA Champions.

[01:34:46]

Covering.

[01:34:47]

The NBA isn't just my job, it's my passion. If you love the game like me and you want to follow all the best moments, latest news, and most.

[01:34:55]

Interesting opinions in.

[01:34:57]

The league, you need to listen.

[01:34:58]

Lebron James is shot at history. And there it is. Lebron stands alone.

[01:35:07]

Every Monday and Friday, I'll be joined by a top NBA writer to discuss the biggest stories in the League.

[01:35:14]

And we'll do it in about 15.

[01:35:15]

Minutes so you can stay up to date.

[01:35:17]

And keep it moving.

[01:35:18]

Check out NBA Pulse with Sarah Kustek all season on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Yeah, it's like I got to take some of that zap. Like my grandma used to say, okay, you all stay out all night. You go in the church in the morning. You're not fit to lag back there and say, hey, I'm going to give you a bucket. You're going to get this. You got to make them work. That's not happening. It's going to be very interesting to see what his starting lineup look like tomorrow. The Laker players are reportedly frustrated with Darvin have decision about starting lineup and their role. Frustration with players roles and fluctuating minutes. Uncertainty regarding their roles and inconsistency and playing time. The communication gap between coach and staff and players appears to be widening, with players expressing confusion over the mixed messages they receive. Reports say criticism has been directed at hams, lineup choices and rotation, particularly perceived inconsistency and handling struggling players. Some players like Austin Reeves, D'Angela Russell, Roy Hutchomour, reportedly face shorter leashes than winning counter difficulties, while other players, Torian Prince, Cam Redish, enjoy longer leashes despite struggles on the court.

[01:36:39]

We saw that. They had no problem putting Alster Reaves on the bench. Remember he's struggling to start the season? Yeah. Well, we talked to Alster and we felt it would be best for him to come out the bench. Okay, what about them other guys?

[01:36:49]

Yeah. Ham was a defensive player, I think. He was on the bench when I was playing. He didn't get in the game, but most likely he was a defensive player, one of those guys that hustled, and that's his mindset.

[01:37:04]

You got.

[01:37:05]

A little bit in you and you looking forward on the court like, These guys play the right way. Well, it's not the right way if they're not winning. Of course, Austin Reeves, Rue, and D'Angelo will be mad. They're your offense. Say this, two or three shots you put them on the bench. These guys don't even take three shots and they're playing. Now what ends up happening is you start looking at the guys as enemies instead of teammates.

[01:37:33]

Yeah. Okay.

[01:37:34]

You start putting division inside the locker room because they're getting minutes that they haven't earned. He took three shots. He did this and he plays 30 minutes. Now what does that do to someone like D'Angelo? If I don't do nothing, if I don't shoot, if I don't make no mistakes, I play longer, because that's what he's doing with this guy.

[01:37:55]

The fact that.

[01:37:56]

At this point in the season, you're still having fluctuation problems, let you know you don't know what's going on right now. You're still trying to find something instead of building on that championship mid-season, end-season, mid-season, whatever the season, beginning of the season. You're supposed to be building competent. I was supposed to boom, boom, boom, boom and take it. Right. You have.

[01:38:21]

Rui.

[01:38:23]

And D'Angelo should be starting or Reeves and Cam and Prince both shouldn't be starting?

[01:38:33]

No. Norvando.

[01:38:35]

No. Hell no.

[01:38:36]

No. Two of those three should not be starting.

[01:38:39]

I didn't even look at him as a starter. That looks like a friend hookup.

[01:38:44]

You.

[01:38:45]

Lost a bet. He looked like you lost a bet. Like, all right, I'll put him in. He shouldn't even be playing minutes right now. They weren't warned. They weren't earned. You can't just say, all right, we're going to go from average and one and put him in. I'm sitting there. I'm also like, Wait a minute, man. I'm averaging 15 points a game.

[01:39:07]

Fifteen. You ain't.

[01:39:08]

Thinking about me as a starter. What's wrong with you? That happens. You're getting minutes. Think about it. You're getting minutes that you didn't deserve and you think I'm cool with it? No.

[01:39:18]

Because I'm watching. There's not one time that Jared Vanderbilt is shot a shot outside, and it's done two minutes that I actually thought it was going in. Be I'm watching on television or I'm actually sitting at the game. Not one time does he shoot a shot, and I was like, Oh, man, that's good. Even when he lay the ball, even when he's driving the ball, he's going to flip it up left hand. I'm like, That ain't going to.

[01:39:39]

Go in. What is this man doing on defense? Looking at LeBron, looking at Anthony Davis. I got the night off.

[01:39:47]

No, your job isn't to funnel. Your job is to D-up because you give us nothing offensively. Like I said, whatever it is, you got to be a bigger asset than a liability. He has to be a bigger asset on the defensive end because we know he's a liability on the offensive end. But if he gives us nothing on either, now all of a sudden, he's no good.

[01:40:12]

If you wasn't playing him at the beginning of the season, there was a reason. Don't play his ass now because you feel you need to change shit up. No, you need to get everybody thinking the right way. You need to get everybody in tune with what their game is. You think the Angelo is coming off the bench to this guy and you think he's happy?

[01:40:35]

Yeah, that's.

[01:40:35]

The thing. You putting Cam on the bench, what's that going to do? He get you five. We're going to get you five coming off the bench? Cool. I'm not losing nothing there.

[01:40:46]

That.

[01:40:46]

Is something that bleeds a locker room where you're looking at somebody in front of you that ain't him. You ain't cheering for him. You put a guy in that can't shoot the ball, and I'm sitting here. We sit here like, We're going to play team ball. You start, Rui or Austin. You start Russell or Austin. Trust me, their production is going to get better because.

[01:41:13]

They.

[01:41:13]

Should have.

[01:41:14]

A six- You show confidence in them.

[01:41:16]

The fact that you don't, you shouldn't be at this place right now. You shouldn't be right here right now. This is horrible. Unless they put VanDie in because they need to trade him, show him he's healthy, that's the thing right there. That's the thing, right? The 15 coming up.

[01:41:36]

Went in and showed him he's healthy. All right. Yeah, he heard that. Hey, look at him. Look at him out there.

[01:41:40]

Look at him go down you all.

[01:41:41]

He like that car we got. You know we want to sell it, so I'm going to drive and let everybody see it's operational. Then I'm going to go put it right back on the she, Hey, speak to for sale sign in tomorrow.

[01:41:51]

That's what this play looks like. It looks like they want to show that because there's no way as a coach you're going to take a guy who's averaging 1.5 and insert him in the starting lineup and he don't even get no minutes. All I can play is I want to show them off so I can package him.

[01:42:09]

Yeah. Because Van Doe was hurt at the start of the season. I think he had a foot injury or he had some injury to start the season. But for whatever reason, man, they got to get more production. They need more than five points. Three points, two points from him. Tori and Prince is here to miss, but okay, he does. I mean, look, more times than not, I feel comfortable with him shooting the three ball. But like I said, we don't need all three of them.

[01:42:38]

Man, I'm sorry. I come from a time where I did shoot half our threes. We shot 14 threes a game. I shot seven of those. There's no way in the game where I'm playing on the court where he gets to take 13 threes.

[01:42:59]

Who tore your friends?

[01:43:00]

Hell, no. You'd have been so down. I'll not get this motherfucker out here, Coach. Ain't no way I would get, Hey, what's the dude doing? If this is not your job, if you're not sitting in there... Think about Ray Allen didn't shoot these mini threes.

[01:43:14]

No. No.

[01:43:15]

But you're not Steph or Clay. Katie don't even shoot these type of threes. So for you to shoot these type of threes.

[01:43:24]

You better be.

[01:43:26]

Sitting in the practice facility or the gym shooting thousands of shots. If they get mad that I said they shouldn't be shooting, I would bet any type of money if we shoot a hundred threes right now, I would blow them out.

[01:43:45]

You are a shoot guy. They're currently, you're talking about those three guys that are shooting on the Lakers right now, you get them.

[01:43:50]

I wouldn't even come on them. I'll shoot one hand against them. The Lakers? Oh, they're one hand. You're going to have to be a real shooter for me to put both my hands on the ball. I take 300 shots a day still. I take 300 shots and I wake up 4:35 and I go out there and take my shots. It's just in me. I can't see a player and I'm sitting here like.

[01:44:17]

What do you do?

[01:44:19]

When you're in practice, what do you do? Are you working on your shot? How are you not marksman? You got one job.

[01:44:27]

One.

[01:44:28]

Job. That means if practice starts at 11:00, hey, you cam, you prince, get in the gym at eight o'clock. You shoot nothing but threes from these spots from 8:00 to 11:00. Then we have 10 practice. Then after, take one more hour of shooting more threes. Then I need you to come back later on tonight and shoot more threes. That should be your job. You should be a marksman. When I pass it to you, everybody should be turning around. We all turn around, put our hands up because we know that's in. But what are you doing? Go on, you're just come in here practicing, get 50 some shots up and think you good? Think you golden? Nah, man. There was a year where I took 100,000 shots in the summer. Because the calculation was, Shit, I'm only shooting about 37%. For me to go up another %, I got to shoot about 100,000 shots. To move up one %, I had to shoot 100,000 shots. That's how the calculation went. When you look at the Steph Currys and stuff like that, man, they shooting. I watched Steph take 400 shots in 22 minutes moving, and that was the warm up.

[01:45:52]

Wow, the warm up. That was just to show the crowd. That's what I do. Ended that and then worked out for two hours. He took about 1,500 shots that day.

[01:46:04]

Wow. The mere fact that you know Steph has to be... Because Steph has to like, it's different for him because he's perpetual motion. There's very few chance... There are very few times that he's getting a wide open three. Coming off a pig, he's back cutting and he's flaring, but he's still constantly moving. Look here, it's something when you get tired now, fatigue will make cowards of us all. So for him to be able to shoot that shot after playing 25, 30 minutes, okay, to start the game, we get a gill. But he moving like that throughout the entirety of the game and in the fourth quarter.

[01:46:43]

He's in impeccable shape. That shape separates him. When we talk about the greatest shooter, if we told everyone to shoot 100 shots, 103s, it could be close.

[01:46:59]

Yes, I believe that's a Ray Allen, a Reggie Miller.

[01:47:02]

Reggie Miller, yeah.

[01:47:03]

We can say he's the best shooter. He's the best shooter because he was the best conditioned.

[01:47:11]

His.

[01:47:12]

First quarter looked like his fourth quarter. While the rest of those shooters were tiring out, he's at a 99% stamina level. He was consistent throughout. He looked like he was the better shooter because he's in shape, the whole thing, versus, I'm 30 minutes and I'm sitting here like, Can we get some water? That's the key to all of it. Being in shape. You be in the best shape of your life. When I say life, I mean you run in the three, four miles when you don't play the game just to get the extra cardio in. You have to do a lot of stuff to be great.

[01:47:58]

Green Six are 4-0 with jaw. The grizzlies went 6-19 without jaw because he started the season serving that 25-game suspension. They're now 4-0 with the Western Conference Player of the Week on the court after pulling off a come from behind win over New Orleans on Tuesday. The Memphis grizzlies trailed by 14 in the fourth quarter and chipped away at the lead into the final seconds of the game. Jaw did this celebration. I guess it's a New Orleans dance called Pistols and Bazuca. They're separate? Yeah. Okay. What I'm being told now, they're saying is two separate things. They say it's the New Orleans dance, and it's not the celebration Pistols and Pizuca. Okay. I didn't say that when I was told. I was saying it's the New Orleans dance. It is not Pistols and Pizuca.

[01:48:54]

No, yeah, it's a New Orleans dance that just happened to have.

[01:48:57]

Pistols and Pazuca.

[01:48:59]

I.

[01:48:59]

Know.

[01:49:06]

He's going to irritate the older group, but it got to... As someone who thrives on being petty.

[01:49:16]

He.

[01:49:17]

Can't help himself. I'm going to be honest, right now, without the celebration, I call him John Wick, because that's what he reminds me of. He killed his dog.

[01:49:28]

Right.

[01:49:29]

Yeah, he going through teens like they killed this man, tall. Right? And it's phenomenal. It's phenomenal what he's doing. It shows you how great he is. He's young, right? I know nobody want to hit her excuses of he's young, but he is a kid. He's in a culture where it's the dance culture, right? If you look at Westbrook and the dance he was doing during those OKC, he's no different. Just the music he listens to got those type of reactions to it. When he's doing his dunks and he's feeling great, that's when he's showing it. This is not coming from an angry place. We're looking at what he's doing. It's not coming from an angry place. Everything he's done is coming when he's actually happy. But it's a weird one because it's the culture. When they're dancing and they're doing this, it's coming from a happy spot, not an angry spot. I don't think no one's separating the two. They just see, Oh, Pistols, and he threw.

[01:50:36]

Theazook at us.

[01:50:37]

That's going to be the problem. I don't.

[01:50:41]

Think we should focus- It's optics. It's optics. In this situation with him, he got suspended for gun. He had it one time, and he went in with the commission, and he told the commissioner he'd never put himself in that position again. Then a couple of months later, he was in that again. I think it's just the optics of it. But like you said, I guess the only dance that he know how to do have guns, have them fangs on him. So it is what it is.

[01:51:09]

I'm laughing because as soon as.

[01:51:11]

You.

[01:51:12]

See it, I was like, Oh, shit.

[01:51:14]

There you go again. He just can't. You're dunk on you. But I'm just glad that I'll rather see him still having his mental intact versus seeing some watered-down version, right? And as the organization of the grizzlies, I know deep down inside they're happy as hell. One, you got one of the future stars of the NBA. You have an impact player. You have a player that you can sell to your audience. You got them at a discounted rate. Those 25 games was perfect for you to get him for $40 million cheaper. You save $40 million with the antics. In your mind, you don't care. Because you got... It's like getting Iverson. You know what I mean? It's like getting Iverson. It's like getting the Bentley for 20% off. Right. You're not going to complain. You're not going to complain. I'm not going to complain. That's what it is with Ja. He's at this point, though. He's at this point on where it's a God-mode thinking. My team was so trash without me. You're trash without me. You all some losers without me. I come back, we foe enough. I don't hit two game winners. I'm that man.

[01:52:43]

If he don'tsettled. If he don't really look at himself, his ego can be bigger than it was before.

[01:52:51]

Of course.

[01:52:52]

The issue is going to be now that he's entering that God's own thought process where he needs to protect himself more. Because now you're four and you go five and you what's the name of the month? You make the All-Star Game. We got to come get you. I said some girls this way.

[01:53:18]

We need him to do something.

[01:53:20]

This is where now he needs, because he has this chance where they open the door for you to come back in without any penalty, penalty. We penalize you, but we got you a clean slate where you can come back and get your crown back. I think he needs to really think about where he's at and what he can accomplish. He can get more than he lost. If he plays this right, because the team is horrible without him. And if he can get this team to the playoffs, he can make that all-star team. He's the dude.

[01:53:58]

The gifted, the gap asked, What do you think about Memphis going after Andre Drummond or Busevich from Chicago? Or one of these big from the Pistons, Bones Highland from the Clippers. What do you think? Because obviously they were a different team with Big Adams. And him going down, he missed the last half of the season. They thought he was going to be able to come back, but he ended up having to have surgery again, and he's going to miss the entire season. What do you think about going out and getting a Busevich, getting an Andre Drummond?

[01:54:24]

I mean, you got to train, right? If you're just trying to replace one guy and you're trying to replace an enforcer, a hard body down there, then you might want to go after Dwight Howard, right? That is the only player that is cheap, right? He's cheap, willing to come in for pennies on a dollar. And because he's been out of the NBA and it looks like he's being left behind, he's going to accept whatever role you give him.

[01:54:57]

You.

[01:54:57]

Know he's going to be in shape. You know he's going to play defense. He's going to come to practice. He's going to be a professional. If you need him to come in there and check some players, he can do that. You don't have to break up your team to go out there and get those guys you need. You can just sign him as a free agent. When Adams comes back, you can cut him if you want.

[01:55:20]

Well, Adams ain't coming back this year, so you probably can have him on the... And he'll be just what Adams was. If you played him say, 25, 27 minutes, I believe he can give you the rebounds that Adams gave you?

[01:55:32]

Oh, yeah. He'll give you a double-double. Because he'll give you a double-double. He's going to get physical down there. That's going to open up a lot of stuff for John Morant, because now you have a real enforcer down there where no one is going to be trying to hit you. That's the one guy I see without breaking up.

[01:55:52]

What I have.

[01:55:53]

Because what I have right now is 4-0.

[01:55:56]

Because when I look at it, I think the White Howard, at his age, is still more athletic than Steven Adams.

[01:56:02]

Oh, yeah. Facts. Facts. Facts.

[01:56:05]

I think that would be a good move. Jaylen Brown likes a tweet pushing back at UD. Yudonis has some comments on Bill Russell. Haslem apparently said F Russell after the NBA announced the League-wide Jersey retirement for the legendary Celtic Star, Hasom said, Tell me when you going to see Miami Heat Jersey hanging in Boston. I had to repent that. I love Bill. No disrespect to Bill. I love Will you ever see a Jersey hanging in the Boston Rafter? Why? You know what? He got to hang in there. I like UD. But I think the thing is what UD is failing to miss or what he's missing is sometimes a player is so good and so great they transcend the sport because he's more than just a basketball player. It's like Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson, they retired 42 League-wide because he transcended the sport. Was he the best player in baseball? No. But what he did should never be forgotten.

[01:57:12]

Bill.

[01:57:14]

Russell was the same way. What he went through, even in Boston, as he was winning all those titles at that summit, I think it was '67 in which the summit in Cleveland happened, he was there. Bill Russell is a civil rights icon. Muhammad Ali. Is Muhammad Ali the greatest boxer? No, but he transcends the sport. Sometimes when a person is transcendental, I mean, whatever is bestowed upon him is worthy. Bill Russell having his number retired across the league is worthy. Jackie Robinson having his number retired across baseball is worthy. I think he was just looking at it like, man, he's from Boston, but you have to look at the other stuff. The basketball is a thing. Obviously, he had to be great at basketball. But if the other things is the reason why he's hanging across everywhere.

[01:58:27]

When it's play all times and we beat the enemy.

[01:58:31]

We.

[01:58:31]

Don't care about what you transcend this. We're trying to get out of this series and I got to tell my team whatever I have to tell them to get over this hump. These two teams have been battling for the last three, four years.

[01:58:45]

No.

[01:58:47]

Matter what they trying to do, when I see that number at this point in time up there while we're playing this team, I don't care what his history is. We're trying to get out of this series. We're trying to get to the championship. That Boston jersey, that legacy is in our way.

[01:59:10]

How about this here? You do realize that Miami, he retired Michael Jordan's number. So why he ain't say LPMJ?

[01:59:16]

Because they ain't playing Chicago Bulls.

[01:59:18]

They ain't playing Chicago Bulls. I mean, Pat Rowland retired that thing before number six. He said ain't nobody should wear 23. Well, I won't 23.

[01:59:27]

But they're not playing Chicago Bulls in the playoffs.

[01:59:29]

They're If you looking up at the rafter and worried about what hanging in Boston was hanging across your arena, you already beat.

[01:59:36]

But who won? So it worked. Whatever the speech was, whatever the speech was. Who won? Who won?

[01:59:47]

They gagged. But you got to remember that. You got to remember the Miami Heat, they lost that game in the arena. They had to go back to the I guess they still call it the guard, the TD Banks, the TDTD Banks. I think it's TD Banks. They had to end up having a win there. But like I said, I just think the thing is that if you understood, it's like Cleveland, you understand what Jim Brown because we know he was a historical figure as far as running the football, but it was what he did in the civil rights movement that gave him the added credence and the cache.

[02:00:28]

I don't think when he did that speech, none of that really mattered to him. He's just trying to figure out as a guy to get these guys over to home to really try to put some type of fire into them. In times like that, there were times where we got like Larry Hughes. We playing Larry, and we got speeches that.

[02:00:58]

Left him.

[02:00:59]

He left us. Boom, boom, we got to go in and say, That's not how we felt, but we got to show each other that we're willing to do whatever it takes to get through this hub. If Larry is in our way, Larry is in our way. That's really what that speech was. We're just hearing about it now.

[02:01:16]

Wait a minute. You can't say that?

[02:01:20]

Well, to get them to do what he needed to do, Jaylen, if you all should have got over game seven, you all should have said.

[02:01:27]

F them. I think it's the same thing. I don't know if you heard about this, Gail, but there's a situation where Sean McDermott, the head coach of the Buffalo Bills. He used a reference about 9/11, and he ended up getting out and he had to apologize. He had to walk it back. I think this was a situation because like you said, doing a pre-game speech or you try to get somebody motivated, you say a lot of stuff.

[02:01:50]

Yeah.

[02:01:52]

A lot of stuff.

[02:01:52]

But sometimes as fans or whatever, you can't take everything for what it is. This is a.

[02:02:01]

Different time, not Gil. I know. Gil is a different time. Gil, the stuff that we would say in the locker room and you all say in the locker room, that ain't going to fly now.

[02:02:11]

Yeah, no facts.

[02:02:12]

Hey, you're going to get canceled. You're going to get canceled.

[02:02:16]

You.

[02:02:17]

Understand that, and you have to be able to maneuver. But the thing is, but now everybody's offended about everything.

[02:02:27]

I think that's the problem with sports is the fact that every group is willing to cancel is the reason why everyone's reluctant to have certain type of groups inside the organization. Because if something happens, that's natural, how we talk and how we prep each other and you're canceling me, then it's easier for me not to accept that person here. We won't say we're discriminating, but we are. But that is easier versus you canceling me for saying something inappropriate.

[02:03:03]

Zion got a chest tattoo. I want to know who's going to break you down.

[02:03:10]

I thought that was you busting out there just guerilla, man.

[02:03:13]

Man, you know, Goodwill, I ain't got no stuff like that. I don't know where you got that from. I just want to know what they get. Who going to tell them it's not centered?

[02:03:26]

Listen.

[02:03:27]

Maybe.

[02:03:28]

It's supposed to be a little over the heart. Maybe that was the way it was designed, a little over the heart. But I want a Zion man. Come on, man. I get the concept, right? You want to put a, what was that? Gorilla named Harambi? Yeah, Harambi. You got Harambi on your chest, man. But the belly is what stopped me, man. It reminded me of what Steven A said, man. He was at the free throw line, and he's belly getting the bouncing. Soon as I seen him with a shirt off, that's all I looked at. Like, Oh, Steven A was right.

[02:04:07]

That.

[02:04:10]

Was.

[02:04:11]

So good, man. Good. You got a tattoo, Gilles?

[02:04:17]

The whole body. I got corporate tats. I coined it. I called it corporate tats. Tats where I like tattoos, but to get my corporate sponsors, not on my neck, not on my sleeves. Yeah. I have tats all in where the jersey covers everything.

[02:04:40]

Right.

[02:04:41]

I call it corporate tats, where I like the tattoos, but Ito.

[02:04:45]

See them. I'm not going to score scared corporations off tax from having me a part of their brand. Felix asked, No question, guys. Just wanted to say, Shannon and Gil, you guys are killing the game and watching you all dominate this media is beyond inspiring. Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate the support. Dr. Shark Monk said, Do NBA, NFL players avoid getting intimate, having sex before big game like boxers do for weeks or have fresh legs? Hell no. I don't know about getting them. Hell, no. Ain't no more than nothing. We're in the hotel night before a game, so it makes it a little bit more difficult because we have security at the elevators. We have security at the end of the hall. So ain't nobody... Once we have bed check. So once we have bed check, they lock it down. But hell, no. Weeks. I ain't no boxer. I understand they go up to Big Bear or they go to these places and they're in training camp for six, eight weeks and they're not... Hell, no. Hell to the no. I'm going to try to shake the covers Friday night because I know I'm about to be locked down on Saturday.

[02:05:55]

No, but look, I can only speak to me. I got a shark month that when you ask, I don't know whatever NBA players, I don't know what any NFL players do. Maybe some do, maybe some don't. But no, I'm not going those six weeks or once the season start going without sex. That ain't going to happen. Friday, 24 hours, 48 hours, that's all I got for you. Did we lose communication with Gil? I think we lost Gil. We lost Gil. We lost to signal. Headquarters, you got us. Man, you all stop. That man ain't about to get no tattoo or no cheeseburger. He ain't getting no neck bone on his neck. Come on now. You all do it too much, Chad. You all wrong for this. The man got a tattoo. Okay, he wanted a tattoo on his body. It's a heart. I think it got a silverback in the center of the cross. If Gil joins us back, we're going to... We'll go back and revisit that question. Dubb D asked, Unc and Gil, what you all think about Rasheed Wallace isn't an NBA 2K? Because they only wanted to pay Ves $10,000 to be in the game.

[02:07:12]

He won $125,000, but they refused to pay it. 2k makes hundreds of millions a year. I get it because we're in the same situation. But I think it's nice that I'm a part of the game. I think Sheed, I ain't counting that man's pocket, but he feels that the adequate and the proper compensation would be 125k. I'm not here to tell him he's right or wrong. Me, I wanted to be a part of it. And so, hey, it's not much, but I'm not hurt for money. I'm doing my own thing. I don't think he's hurt for money either, but he wants to stand on that. Hey, guys, you're making hundreds of million dollars. What's 125K? But then when you start paying everybody 125K, I don't think the game is going to last too long. So for me, I understand him standing on it. I also understand 2K said, Nah, we're good, bro. We'll have the Pistons or the trailblazers, and you won't be a part of it. Gile, are you back yet? Yeah. Oh, man, you're the hacker system. Dr. The Shark Monk, he asked, Do NBA NFL players avoid getting intimate, having sex before big game like boxers do for weeks to have fresh legs?

[02:08:36]

And does that work? I was saying, Gile, Nah, bro, I ain't no boxer. I'm going to shake the cover Friday because I'm going to be locked down Saturday. So no, my legs should be recovered by the time I hit the field on Sunday. So no, I'm not going a week. I'm not going a month. I'm not doing any of that. O'shay going to shake the covers for dark on Friday.

[02:08:58]

It's rituals. I had a teammate who got some fallacious before the game hit five threes.

[02:09:10]

You got to call her.

[02:09:11]

Back to the next game. Every game, that's what he had to do.

[02:09:15]

Every.

[02:09:16]

Game, he go to the parking lot right before the tip off and go to the parking lot, get a little thing done, come on to the game.

[02:09:27]

Superstition is a powerful thing, man.

[02:09:29]

The most powerful thing.

[02:09:32]

I.

[02:09:33]

Didn't listen. I didn't because I heard the story. Magic Johnson back in the day said he didn't have sex the night before the game. That's all I grew up knowing. The night before the game don't have sex. Magic Johnson said don't have sex the night before the game. That's what I always did. There was a certain time, nine, ten o'clock that I stopped. I didn't do it on game day.

[02:09:57]

Just.

[02:09:57]

Because that's what I thought, but I know it wouldn't affect me. It was just that's what... You didn't.

[02:10:03]

Do nothing the night before either?

[02:10:06]

Like 10, 11, 12? Yeah. Not on game day, no.

[02:10:09]

But we had security on the floor, so we couldn't... I'm sure some guys were able to- Wait, what? What do.

[02:10:15]

You mean security? What was security for?

[02:10:18]

No women on the floor. I mean, we couldn't have anybody on the floor. We had room check. We had bed check.

[02:10:25]

Wait, as a grown man?

[02:10:27]

As a grown man, yeah.

[02:10:29]

Wait, so you all had curfew?

[02:10:32]

Yes.

[02:10:33]

Oh, no.

[02:10:36]

Yeah, for sure.

[02:10:37]

No, we knew... You need to be NBA player for about.

[02:10:42]

One good year. That's why I said I had to shake the covers for a dark on Friday because I know I was going to be locked down either on the road or in the hotel. Because even at home, we stayed in the hotel night before the game. What? Yes, you.

[02:10:57]

Stayed hotel night before a game. We partying.

[02:11:00]

Oh, no.

[02:11:01]

We.

[02:11:01]

Partying.

[02:11:02]

Most of us are coming in at 6:00, 7:00 in the morning from the club.

[02:11:06]

Yeah, but see, you all games that night, so you could do that. See, we're playing at one, two o'clock in the afternoon.

[02:11:12]

Yeah, because we're just going to sleep all day.

[02:11:15]

We're just going to sleep all day. Because Mike is telling us Friday and Brian was always telling us after the practice, we've done practice around 1:00 o'clock Friday. All right, go home, get off your feed. If you got, hey. When you know I did, I got off my feet. You know what I'm being gilled? I was off my feet.

[02:11:35]

That's great.

[02:11:36]

Hey, man, you were all, but I was off my feet.

[02:11:40]

You don't even get to have fun. We haven't... Listen, listen. If I... You can't hang with no basketball player.

[02:11:52]

We- I'd be good.

[02:11:54]

I'd be good. We run them through the hotel. You got the same girl going through four or.

[02:11:59]

Five rooms. What? Yeah. I got to be.

[02:12:04]

She's coming all down. Hey, she got a friend.

[02:12:07]

You don't let you know with the travel impact.

[02:12:10]

Oh, yeah. I can't handle all these girls. Come on down here.

[02:12:13]

I got three, four coming from... That ain't happening in the field. Security being come. But see now, Gail, I would want no parts of that now. With the way it's set up now, are you going to get... Let me tell you a simple rule, Gile. No means no, maybe means no, and sometimes yes means no tomorrow. All that, no, leave it alone, Gile.

[02:12:40]

Leave it alone. Cash means yes, right? Cash means yes. As soon as they take that cash, they mean yeah. We're paying. What did you say? Oh, yeah, go ahead. We got receipts. Let me cash app you this up.

[02:12:58]

Cash.

[02:12:58]

App Sin.

[02:13:00]

I ain't got no app. I ain't got no cash apps on my phone. I ain't got no Uber. I ain't got nothing.

[02:13:05]

Have you noticed though, them NBA players ain't getting called out for that?

[02:13:10]

Yeah. Yeah, man. But see, you all got a different life. See, basketball and baseball player, you all to draw the price up. You all inflation. You all to draw the price up the hill. I mean, it used to be fanging that you had your hair done, you get your nails done, and you're playing a little bill here or there.

[02:13:30]

Oh, yeah, we messed up. Oh, yeah.

[02:13:35]

Yeah, you.

[02:13:35]

All the price got high.

[02:13:37]

You all got high, man.

[02:13:39]

Yeah, we're flying private jet. We're going to give you 100,000 just to get you number...

[02:13:44]

See, that's what I'm saying? I needed them pre-pandemic prices. See, pandemic that happened and everything was scary. I needed to go back to pre-pandemic.

[02:13:56]

I.

[02:13:57]

Can't get you all. You all bad. The basketball players. I told you all, the basketball player, the baseball player, they're never level.

[02:14:04]

We buying the birkin bag. We're going to put the 30,000, 40,000 in there just to talk to you. We're going to try to spoil you just to get.

[02:14:13]

It just for the night. You all see that? Hey, NFL player. See, that's why we ain't got no chance. That's why we can't compete with them. He'll already telling you all, don't bring your tracks shoes. You all want to keep up with the NBA player. Bring your checkbook.

[02:14:30]

When people hear me talk and I say, You all don't understand. I got a different playbook. My playbook, I get to say whatever I want because what they're going to do? I can just get a new one. Girls are like, Yeah, don't talk to me like that. I get you. Then the people above me get you too. If that's say, Hey, what time are you going to be over here? You said 9:00, I'm hoarding right now. I'm going to call somebody else. I see you later. Huh?

[02:14:59]

I get to do that. I'll be over.

[02:15:03]

Right now. Well, whoever get here first, that's who I'm letting in.

[02:15:08]

What if they showing at the same time?

[02:15:13]

You all like each other? The NBA player, listen, the NBA player going to try. We say whatever because we can.

[02:15:28]

I'm.

[02:15:29]

Scared. That's the problem. We rule. We compromise because we can go in the DM and then get the talking. We just talk right now. Well, then I'll just holla at your friend or I'll holla at this person. I want all four of you all to come back. We just sitting there just playing mismatch. That's the problem. Guess what? You ain't going to catch us in public with them.

[02:16:04]

That.

[02:16:05]

Means, listen, we treating girls who are high diddy, they turn them into.

[02:16:12]

Three or fours.

[02:16:14]

That's to hold backwards. Your superstar women, them stars.

[02:16:20]

Yeah.

[02:16:21]

They come sneak in the hotel 2:00 in the morning and go and leave.

[02:16:27]

Out like that. I was wondering, I say, Man, why everybody got a G-Wagon? Why they got a Birkin bag and they got an AP on? You all ain't got no job. Like, Oh, now it makes sense, Gilles.

[02:16:40]

I was wondering every time I go on IG and I'm looking, she got a G-Wagon. She got a Birkin bag. She got an AP.

[02:16:47]

They date the NBA player for the luxury. They date the NFL player for the love. You all going to show them the attention that they need. Listen, I can fly you out from Miami. We go to Miami Club. You are in town with me, and I took somebody else home. Yeah, I'm just going to get you a new hotel room. She's better.

[02:17:15]

Wow. I ain't got that guy. I ain't never had that guy. I ain't never been that ballzy. First of all, I ain't never flew out to... I ain't never went to a party like that. You all be doing it. I guess I'm about to go out there and let my hair down. You were talking to be a player, put it down.

[02:17:31]

Don't try to look like... Go to the next celebrity you see. Go to the next celebrity you see. Hey, listen, I want you for the night. I got.

[02:17:37]

About 45 minutes.

[02:17:39]

What you got for me?

[02:17:41]

You'll be surprised. Here's the thing. I get it, Gil. Look, at my age, I'm 55. I'm a little bit of celebrity. They're playing the NFL. I get that at my age, because of who I am, the dating pool is a lot more open than say, somebody's 55, that's not in my position. I get it. But I ain't no fool, now, Gile. It ain't all the way open. Now, if I was 25 or 35, I got to play books.

[02:18:13]

No, you're right.

[02:18:16]

I have to stay in my lane, Gile. Hey, that new Florida law, they just about to pass the law. You got to be at least 65 in the far left lane. I ain't all the way to the right. I'm in the lane next to the far right lane, and I'm doing like 58.

[02:18:36]

A quick question. Since you're 55, is the problem that 55-year-old women don't look good? Is it that the 55-year-old women don't look like, kept up like you do? Is that a problem?

[02:18:52]

The God's honest truth. Women my age looking for guys younger and me, I ain't no said day. Me too. We both looking for different. We looking over each other looking for something else. I'm all right.

[02:19:15]

It is what it is. It is what it is. I'm at 40 young, so I'm good.

[02:19:21]

You're in a sweet spot. They say, like when you looking for a girlfriend or wife, like half your age plus seven. That's supposed to be your cutoff. Half your age plus seven. You're theoretically, so from 27, I guess all the way to 40 is in your wheelhouse. Okay. I ain't telling nobody my age. I ain't really 55, actually, I'm 37. He said, I'm 37. No, Gile. It just look, I just can't. I just say I ain't never had that gumption to be able to... I mean, I will, you're not... I could sense early on if somebody wasn't feeling me, and that's cool. I ain't never call nobody out their name because they didn't want to holla at me or they found my boy more attractive or he had somebody have more money. I'm cool. I'm good with it. It ain't the end of the world.

[02:20:26]

I think my no-chill personality lets me get away with a lot more because they already... They expect it. If I go out there right now and say, Yeah, anybody charging for vagina, I'll have a whole DM full of models and celebrities. Or were you playing when you said that? Hey, Big Head. Sometimes I just say this shit just to say it.

[02:20:58]

Right.

[02:20:59]

I justI don't even leave my goddamn house. I just say it just to say it. Just for kicks and gigs because everybody wants to be a good dude, so I just want to be a bad dude. Just to say someone has to talk for the slimeballs.

[02:21:14]

I'm not talking about you. Bro, and Tony Robbins is saying, you got to stop left, Steven A get away with a Jordan dad, pass excuse. Many people lose loved ones, but just didn't quit their job. Brian Better. Look, Gayle, I know you've heard everything that was said that there were other extenuating circumstances was the reason that Jordan left the NBA. I don't know. He said it was a lot of pressure. I know the man had a very, very close relationship with his dad, and that's a lot given the tragedy, the tragic manner in which it happened, and the gravity of what happened. I don't know. They said it was other things where they had led and he was suspended. I don't know. All I know is that the man stepped away for a year and a half and came back and he wasn't quite the same wearing the 45. But when he showed back up in '96 with that 23, and two, three. Yeah.

[02:22:17]

I mean, it was like we've heard the stories, we've heard the whispers. I've talked to refs and there's some things that went on. But it was a mutual step away. It was a mutual step away. Right now, as the face of the league, week. We don't know if we can control all this drama. So you step away, going on, let the world miss you, and then you come back and then we can just talk about basketball. Sometimes things like that have to happen, especially when who he was at the time.

[02:23:00]

Yeah.

[02:23:02]

The things we heard, you don't want that type of cloud over the NBA, especially for who he was. Anybody else, yes.

[02:23:14]

But not him. Nickywen_804 said, Hey there, Gail, being from Richmond, Virginia, I'm a Wizards fan because of you. They're the only team in DC I support. So nickyWen_804, she's a big fan of yours, Gail.

[02:23:32]

Girl, there's only two teams in DC. You got the Wizards and you got Gold Georgetown. The Wizard is about to be going to Virginia. So I hope you got your bus far or your gas money because that's where you're going.

[02:23:45]

Well, she's in Richmond. Oh, she's good.

[02:23:47]

We loved Richmond. We used to have training camp in Richmond.

[02:23:52]

Yeah.

[02:23:53]

That was good. It was perfect for training camp. We went down there, George Mason all the time to train.

[02:24:01]

Raider's mom, 24, 89. Please shout out our son, Raider. He's 17 months old, was born with five holes in his heart. 14 months in the hospital, but he's finally home. God is good. Raider's mom, 24, 89. Congratulations. All the best to you, Raider. Hopefully, after 14 months in the hospital, he's 17 months old, finally home. Congratulations. Hopefully, he has a long, healthy, prosperous life. God is good. Thank you, Rayder's mom, 24, 89 for sharing that. Jj asked...

[02:24:33]

His name is Rayder?

[02:24:35]

His name is Rayder.

[02:24:36]

We know a team. What football fan? He's going to be a fan of nothing.

[02:24:40]

Can't be. Jj asks, do you think Pistons losing streak should be a reminder to other rebuilding teams, the risk of getting it wrong?

[02:24:53]

No, the losing streak is more of they found out how to be bad.

[02:25:05]

You got to practice this, Bill. Ain't no way you can practice being good and be this bad, so you got to practice being bad. You got to.

[02:25:11]

The habits of what you do every day. It's to look like when you're talking about what makes a great team great is the little things they do when their shots not fall in, when they're making those extra plays. I took a charge here, dove out of the bounds, hustled back on defense. You make those little extra plays. That's what the winning teams do. Now the opposite, bad teams, they make all the wrong plays at the right time for their opponent. Taking a bad shot, turning a ball over. You had five turnovers for the game. Four of them was in the last minute. You just find ways to lose. When you're a bad team, it's more mental than it is the game itself. They go on a run and hit two threes. You look at each other, Oh, we lost again. We lost again. That is the first quarter. Everybody hit you down. That's what it is. There has to be a moment in time where if you think positive if it will happen. You go in and say, Hey, we're going to win this game. No matter how many shots they make, we're going to cheer, we're going to stand, we're going to root.

[02:26:23]

The bench, I need you guys stand up the rest of the game. We're going to cheer. We're going to do... We need to be our own battery pack. The day they do that is the day they get out of the club. But right now they are lunch meat.

[02:26:36]

Wow! That's really tough. Please make sure you hit that like button. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. Thank you for joining us for another episode of Nightcap. You can find us at the Nightcap feed, the club, Shay-Shay feed. We greatly appreciate that. You can also find Gilbert Arenas at his YouTube channel, Gil's Arena on YouTube. The show airs Monday through Thursday, live at 11:30 a. M. Pacific Time, 2:30 a. M. Eastern Time. That's Gil's Arena. The show airs Monday through Thursday, 11:30 a. M. Pacific, 2:30 a. M. Eastern Time. That's his show every Monday through Friday. We've also pinned Shayba Leportee. The link is at the top of the chat. Make sure you go out and buy yourself a special bottle for you or that loved one with New Year's, Valentine's, St. Patrick's Day, President's Day. There's always a reason for you to do something, do something for two something. And a great way to do that, it was Shay by LaPorte. Gail, I want to thank you for joining us tonight. Thank you for joining us for another episode. I'm your favorite sports on Shannon Sharp. He's your favorite number zero, the greatest Arizona Wildcat player.

[02:27:46]

In.

[02:27:47]

Wildcat history, Mr. Habachi himself, Gil with Areinas. Gil, thanks for joining.

[02:27:52]

Me tonight, bro. Thank you for having me, like always.

[02:27:54]

All right, bro.

[02:27:55]

Have a good one. All right.

[02:27:56]

Happy New Year. Happy New Year to you. I'm Cheryl McClellum, host of the Cold Case podcast, Zone 7. Join us every Wednesday to hear cases like the Long Island serial killer. You show genuine interest and you can't fake it, but these guys can see right through to your soul. You have to be prepared. If you don't know your stuff, they're going to just call you out. Listen to Zone 7 with Cheryl McClellum on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Sarah Kustock, NBA Analyst for the Brooklyn Nets, and my podcast, NBA Pulse with Sarah Kustock, is back.

[02:28:40]

The Denver Nuggets can finally call themselves NBA Champions.

[02:28:44]

Every Monday and Friday, I'll be joined by a top NBA writer to discuss the biggest stories in the League. And we'll do.

[02:28:52]

It in.

[02:28:52]

About 15 minutes so you can.

[02:28:54]

Stay up to date and keep it moving.

[02:28:56]

Check out NBA Pulse with Sarah Kustach all season on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Mtv's official challenge podcast is back for another season. Season 39, battle for a new champion. Yes, 24 contenders will compete to win their first championship. They know the battle, but not the victory. So every week after the episode airs, come hang with us as we break down all the challenges and eliminates, and of course, get the inside scoop on all of the drama. Listen to MTV's official challenge podcast on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.