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I'm Sarah Kustak, NBA analyst for the Brooklyn Nets, and my podcast NBA Pulse with Sarah Kustak is back.

The Denver Nuggets can finally call themselves NBA champions.

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 it in about 15 minutes so you can stay up to date and keep it moving. Check out NBA Pulse with Sarah Kustak all season on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for staying up with us late for a very special edition of Nightcap basketball. Make sure you hit that like button. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. I'm your favorite uncle, Shannon sharp. He's your favorite number zero, Agent Zero Hibachi. Ladies, thank you for staying up with us. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for staying up with. Make sure you hit that like button. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. I'm your favorite uncle. I don't know what's going on. I don't know whether we have a playback there, but I'm sorry about that. We're at 499,000 subscribers. Make sure you click, make sure you like and subscribe to Gil arena channel on YouTube. Make sure you go subscribe and hit like. Then you subscribe to Gil Arena's channel on YouTube. Thank you for joining us again. We looked at a bunch of the numbers and we still see some of you guys following us through my club Shayshe feed. Do us a favor and follow us through both of them. Club Shayshe and Nicap. We would greatly, greatly appreciate that. We've also pinned Shea by La Portier at the top of the page.

The link is in the chat, please. With the holidays right around the corner you can go out and get yourself a bottle or grab a bottle for someone that you love. Gail, let's jump right into it. The Sixers beat the Timberwolves 127 113. Joel and bead 51 points. Twelve rebounds. Twelveth consecutive game with at least 30 points. And twelve plus or more boards. Ten or plus more boards. First time since someone has done that since Kareem Abdul Jabar. 71 72. So that's 50 years ago. Tyrese Maxley also had 35 points. I'm looking at Joel Embiid. I think you're looking at joy and bead right now. If they voted for the MVP I think he's winning that war unanimous. What'd you take away from the game and what'd you like about him?

Beat hands down. I mean, listen he's playing like they're trying to revoke his visa right now.

The last what?

1213 games. He's been averaging about 38 points a game. Which is because this is that level that the superstars get to. I think we all questioned his MVP candidate last year.

Him win.

I think that's what's going on.

And I think he's real pissed off about that.

Yes, he is.

I think what he's done thus far, he says, oh, you all gave me this because you all didn't think Jokic was worthy of being a three time mvp. Because no one had done that since Larry Bird. 84 80. So I'm going to show you that last year wasn't a mistake. So I'm going to come out. You like my numbers last year you're going to love these this year because I'm going to put it on you. And he's dominating. But it's so hard, Gil. When he's shooting 1718 free throws a game and he's making 1617 of those. He's going to get 25 if he only shoots two free throws. Now you put them in the team. How do you stop him from getting 50? And then you get Tyrese Maxi, who's saying, you know what, you all didn't want to give me that old Max contract last summer. Okay, I'm going to make you give it to me now.

Oh, yeah, you have a problem on your hand.

When you have a big guy that.

Can shoot free throws, you get to.

Go to them at the end of the game. You don't necessarily need that guard anymore. Like with someone like Shaq, you needed Coe because they'll foul you and you couldn't make your free throws. But with MB, he makes free throws. So the fact that you can go to him and he can be a go to guy the last five minutes just makes it impossible for you to stop him individually. And then when you add a dynamic guard like Maxi, who can get to wherever he needs to get to in fast spurts, it makes them a real dynamic duel.

Yeah, but when you look at joy and bead, he has no offensive weakness. He can shoot the three, he can put the ball on the floor, he can finish. Obviously, he can play with his back to the basket. And as you mentioned, if you file him, he's going to the free throw line and he's going to make somewhere between 85 and 90% of those free throws. So you look up at the end of the night and it's not like he's shooting 30 shots, he's shooting 2025 shots a night and he's getting 40, 50 points and he's giving you the rebounds and he's giving you five or six assists. And so when you have a big man that can dominate eight and he's not a slouch on the defensive end that can play both ends of the court, and he can play a multitude of ways, he can play outside. And I love the fact that he's not selling Gil because I thought a couple of years ago he settled too much, he gotten comfortable, like, man, I can shoot threes, I want to be. No, no, bro, you can shoot that shot, but why would you when you can go down in the box and get an and one, which is the same thing and a higher percentage of you making the shot.

But I think he's been phenomenal and I want to know what you think about this. I think the best thing to happen was James Harden wanted out because he gave Tyrese Maxi shots and it gave them an opportunity to see exactly what they had on their hands.

We can say that because we get to see Maxi more. MB probably got in better condition. He's better equipped to handle the heavy load. You would have wanted to see what happened if James Harden stayed and we get the James Harden today. That's unselfish.

Right.

I think he still had that selfishness in him where he was still mad that he had to really digress his game to. Right. So now he's accepted that role. If he would have accepted it last year, they would have been a lot better. The biggest regret Philly is going to always have is letting Jimmy Butler go. If you Jimmy Butler that's been on a tear for the last three years with the Embiid this year or last.

Year, they could have been champs.

Do you think that would have been a better fit, Maxi, Jimmy Butler, Embiid compared to Embiid, Harden and Maxi? Or would you have liked to see Embiid, Harden, Butler.

As long as you have Butler on the team? I like Butler with Maxi and know with Butler, he holds everyone to a winning standard. And yes, the embiid we see today.

We would have seen two years ago because he would have demanded.

I think, you know, sometimes Joel and B loves that real challenge. And I think we need to give.

Credit to Patrick Beverly.

When Patrick Beverly started making him do.

Line drills randomly, he's been averaging 38 since then.

No one's talked about going after practice, running up and down, getting that extra shape, getting in extra shape, getting in peak shape, doing the extra things to get to that extra level. And that's what Jimmy Butler brung out of him. So it's like we wish we like, man, this would have been a great combo today.

Do you believe Tyrese Maxi could have become what he is now with James Harden?

No, because I think he would have been still reluctant. Still reluctant. Still hesitant to really go out and try to be that real good second, you know, it's that respect factor that sometimes as players we have. And Maxi, he's going to respect the.

Guy he looked up to. Right?

You talk about that MVP James, that James that went on a 30 point tear in Houston, that 40 point tear, something we never hasn't seen since Jordan, right? He would have deferred to them. So the fact that he's gone and he really gets to look around and.

Say, I'm that dude now, right?

I can shoot 25 shots, I can shoot 18 and 19 and don't have.

To look sideways and see a guy do this, right?

And when you look at it and you said something very interesting and I took note of this and I remember you said James Harden had to give up and digress some of his game in order to fit with Joel and bead it's almost like Kobe. Kobe ain't averaging 35 with Shaq. Kobe ain't getting 81 with Shaq. Kobe ain't scoring 63, ain't scoring 63 quarters with Shaq. He gave up a lot of his game to fit under Shaq, even though he was tremendous. But we saw what Shaq left. Although it took him a couple of years before they got the pieces around him for him to win, we saw what he was without Shaq. I believe he could have been that years before. I just don't know if he could do that with Shaq, because Shaq, you got to give Shaq the ball you got.

And that was the biggest fight here in Los Angeles, right where Kobe felt that he turned into the guy at the end of the game. But as long as there's Shaquille O'Neal on the floor, that's who we have to go through. And I think when it was time for Kobe to say, this is my city, as long as Shaq and Phil.

Was there, it wasn't.

And then that's when he went and.

Said, hey, is he the me or them? It's me or them.

Because he wanted to show the world that this is who I am without him. I need to show you all that I'm a demon. And those two to three years he had without Shaq, to show the world that 35, I'm unstoppable, that's what he needed to prove that he's on that level of the Michael Jordans.

And we saw it because when Shaq would miss games, we would see some of these virtuosos from. It gave. It gave the world an opportunity. But I'm like, no, he can't be that with Shaq. Shaq is just too commanding. He's too dominant. He's too much of a force that demands the basketball. But for him to suppress, can you imagine what his numbers would have been? Now, I'm not saying he would have won titles, but I'm not so sure that he'd have had a lot more points than what he had when he retired.

Facts. By the time Kobe hit 21, he was already averaging 20 points, 27 points a game. But that's Shaquille O'Neill in his prime, too.

Absolutely.

So if you take Shaq off them teams, when Kobe was getting into his own early 2020, 119, he would have Luca numbers. Yes, it would have been selfish basketball, and he would have been trying to get mvps, scoring titles.

He would have probably had three or four of them.

But by the time he got to it, he was already a winner. And it was like, all right, I got it out of my system now let's win a.

Right, right? Yeah.

Because at that point in time, okay, I got three titles. I need an MVP. I need a scoring title. Okay, now we can have conversations about all this other stuff because I've been an all NBA defensive player. I've been an all NBA player. I've won all star games.

MVP.

So now, once he got those other things, now he started focusing again on winning a title, winning Finals MVP to thrust him, because his game, you had to take note of his game because the footwork, the shot making, the ability to finish at the rim. You file him, he's going to the free throw line. He's going to make 85% of his shots. He was that spectacular. But once he got, okay, I want an MVP. I want a scoring title. Let me refocus. That was the same thing that Phil had to do with Mike when he first got with Mike. Mike. Yeah, Mike, you can do all this. You can get 60 and 50, average 50. But we can't win until you trust somebody.

That is the biggest thing, especially basketball, trusting.

Now, when you trusting, understand that everything goes into it.

How you carry yourself, right? How you carry yourself on the bus, how you walk into the locker room, how you prepare, how you watch film.

We watch it all. So we don't like your process if.

We don't like your habits, right? If we're playing the Lakers and I got Shaq and Kobe, right? And you went to the club that.

Night, and you coming in smelling like.

Vodka and hennessy, and you. The.

Trust.

That trust is everything, gil, because deep down, I need to know you put as much effort into this as I did, because it's hard for me to trust you if I don't think you worked as hard as I need. And so that was the hardest thing for Kobe. Kobe's like kobe. And the thing is, we're going to talk about this a little later. Kobe was like, bro, why am I going to pass? You bum the ball, you show up late, you leave early, you don't study, you hang out, and then you want me to pass you the ball. Nah. If you want it, you're going to get a rebound and put it back, and I'm going to be clapping for you to throw it back out to be a. Let me shoot another.

That was that whole selfish thing, right? Everyone's calling Cole selfish, right? And he's calling everybody else selfish. You should be considered selfish if you didn't work out all day went to.

The club and asking for the ball.

That's selfish knowing that you're not even.

Prepared to play this game today, right? Yeah.

You should have been selfish and told your friends, now I ain't going to be able to hang out with you today. You should have been selfish and said, no, I'm going to go get some extra shots in. I'm going to get some conditioning in. That's what it required ours to be, great. And that's why, if you notice, average people hate people with greatness. And great people hate people. That's average. So guess what you need if you want to be average? Average people get along just great. Great people get along just great. You notice that, Gil?

That's how it is.

That's why it's so hard to win as a team, because everybody, even the highest dollar guy versus the lowest dollar guy, got to have the same goal in mind or it's not going to.

Work because you can't understand the process, right? Sometimes the superstar, he can't relate to everyone else, right? He can't relate because his brain is processing at a different frequency. So if he doesn't absolutely related verbally.

They don't like him.

It's not like he's doing something wrong. He just doesn't know how to verbalize. And a lot of superstars don't know how to verbalize their greatness to everybody else to make them jump up another frequency, right? Like with Jordan, right?

Right. If you look at the doc, he didn't know how to talk to them.

Only Dennis and Scotty, right? And Scotty had to relay the message.

To the rest of them.

That's why Phil was great relaying the message like he didn't coach Jordan. He had to coach everyone else to.

Deal with Jordan, how to accept Jordan, because it's hard.

A lot of times you're so great and everything's come so easy. You wonder why they can't do it. Well, if they could do what you do, they would be great and you'd have a team full of great players. That's the hardest thing to get somebody great to understand in any field because they're looking, bro, why can't you get that? Why can't you do that? It's so easy. The test is only easy if you know the answers. A given sport is only easy because you make it look easy. It's not easy. Joel Embiid it's the NBA's longest such streak. He has twelve consecutive games with at least 30 points and ten or more rebounds since Kareem had the streak of 16 straight games in 1970, 119 72. So that's 50 years, what Joel Embiid is doing. So that just goes to show you, if you do something that only a handful of guys have ever been able to do for this length of time, and it hadn't been done in 50 years.

Yeah.

You should feel real proud of yourself. Let's go into the next game. Gil Bulls beat the Lakers 124 108. The Bulls shoot 54.5%. So we'll go ahead and say 55% from the floor. Eight players scoring double figures. LeBron had 25, ten and nine. AD 19 and 14. The Lakers have dropped four or five since winning the in season tournament. What's going on?

I know what's going on. They know they actually about to be traded. That's what's going on. Them bags is packed. That's what's going on. Hey, when the rumble start, you start hearing the ministry. Yeah, we about to make a trade for Zach Levine or we about to make a trade, you start losing your passion for playing hard. I look at russell right before the was the.

Oh, he was d low. Now he D'Angelo Russell right now.

Yeah, we go ahead and get rid of you.

My mean, the way he played tonight.

I thought he was D'Angelo the.

Man.

I'm like, come on, d lo just hit one mean, he didn't get it going. Derek Fisher said he just thinks the tournament in season for the Lakers taking their foot off the gas. I think there's a reason why they wait till the end of the year. He said he thinks the tournament is the reason the Lakers taking their foot off the gas. I think there's a reason why you wait until the end of the year to celebrate a championship.

So he feels like they exhale.

They won the in season tournament. They see the battle like, no, bro, you got 55 games to play. What you mean you exhaling?

That's easy to say, but it's human nature, man.

Right.

We win an in season tournament, and we still talking about trading January 15, right. It's the last day. We're still talking about trading. And when you're talking about Russell, Rui, right. Maybe as a player, you started looking around like, man, we just put the goggles on. I just popped the champagne with you all, and now you all still talking about trading us, right?

Yeah.

Hurts inside. Like when trade deadline come around, you.

Can see it in people's faces when they're coming on the bus.

It's hard to recover when your name is being thrown out trading because your players, your teammates are starting to look like. Oh, you still here, my man.

Wow.

No, serious.

But let me ask you a question.

I think there should probably be three players that's untouchable. I think Austin Reeves is an untouchable. Agree or disagree?

Facts.

Right now, since the in season tournament, the man's been on fire.

Been crazy.

He's been crazy.

He's been crazy.

Now, my thing is, why is he.

Still coming off the bench? I'm sorry, but it's hard as a.

Player to earn your game, earn your minutes and you still not allowing me to get my name called at the beginning of the game. I got family here, too. I got Bill, Boris. I'm living daddy.

Right.

So let me ask you a question. So who do you start him in front of?

Prince.

Because you got d lo, Prince and Cam ready.

Prince, I don't need him. And Cam, they both gonna give me.

What they both gonna give me Sim. Nah.

But since prince has been playing well, Cam, you can bring it off the bench. You ain't earning your minutes. That hurts a locker room.

That hurts a locker room where I'm.

Sitting here giving you 20 off the bench and you starting to do giving.

You seven, make it right.

And the thing is that I understand that Cam is supposed to be this defensive stopper, but I don't see enough stops on that end because the guys are still getting their numbers to warrant him playing. Now if you're going to give me seven and the guy's supposed to get 25 and you holding him to 1718 okay, but if a guy's supposed to get 20, he's averaging 25 and he's getting 25. Your seven points don't justify you continuously get those type of minutes.

And that's how we judge it in the locker room. That's how we judge it in a locker room. Are you supposed to be a defensive stopper? If he scores his numbers or more and you're not offsetting it, why are you on the Court?

Right?

Correct.

Your defense ain't worth you being on the court when I can offset him on my scoring. Yeah, I might not be able to stop water from running, but he scored.

30, I got 22.

That's only an eight point difference versus his 30.

Correct?

That's 24. You're absolutely right. So let me ask you a question. So what do the Lakers need? How do they make this team better if obviously LeBron ad are really untouchable. Austin Reeves is untouchable. What's the package that they could package and possibly get someone that can help them, because clearly I think they won't score.

If Zach Levine is the one that's on the radar.

Right.

The perfect three would be Rui Dlo and Prince. They money match up to 40 million.

Right.

So you can make that without losing any draft picks. I call him the YMCA player from Miami. He just came back, think, oh, yeah, that YMCA player. We can start him and keep Austin as our 6th man. But Austin can play the. I mean, today point guard ain't the point guard like that anymore.

Right.

You know what I mean? So we have pieces where we can give up and still be dynamic.

Yeah.

Nobody. The old point guard, the Jason Kidd, the Magic Johnson, John Stockton. No, these guys are mostly my two guards masquerading his point. Did you like the lineup how he started? Because it looked like Chicago started big and he started small.

I'm starting to question bumpy a little bit. I'm not even going to lie.

Right.

I'm sorry, but championship teams are huge. No matter what winning teams are doing during a regular season, the teams that.

Pull in them championships are tall. They're playing bully basketball.

That small ball don't work like that.

Right? No.

You see what's happening to the.

Yeah, I mean, I think they just.

Need to tweak some things over there. But, like Denver was big when Golden State won it. I mean, Katie, 611.

Right.

Were big. Right.

The team that win are tall teams. Right? Yeah, but.

And they also had Javel McGee. It's not like Javel McGee is six foot. And you remember when they first started, they had festivals, Eli, they had Andrew Bogan. With the exception of the last time they won, when they beat the Celtics and they just had loon, Cavan, Looney.

They've been a big team.

Right?

So just that small ball, I think they called it. What the iggy at the four. I think people confuse that lineup with the championship lineup.

Right.

Not understanding iggy came off the bench.

Right.

And they put that team in for spurts. You were dumb enough to change.

Go small with them.

The Clippers beat the Mavs 121 eleven. Kawhi drops 30 points. James Harden had 17 points. Eleven assists. Clippers are now on a nine game winning streak since James Harden got inserted into the starting lineup. Russ says, I understand the definition of true sacrifice. And Russ, you are absolutely right, because I'm not so sure a whole lot of guys with your medals and medallions and trophies and accolades was going to.

Be as receptive as going to the.

Bench and having their minutes reduced like they did, as you have been, man.

We have to really sit back.

And think how we judge our, you know, because someone.

How they play the game. Russ played with that chip on his shoulder, the triple double, know, the way he played, the way he carried himself.

He became a villain to the point.

Where they made the triple double irrelevant.

Because he was doing.

He's hustling, getting rebounds. And we don't like mean.

That's the effort, right?

That's the effort thing.

To the point where we call them selfish.

But when you listen to all the.

Players that he played with, he was.

The most unselfish guy. I don't know if you ever heard that story about Pat Bev, right? You know him and Pat Bev was.

Yes.

And Pat Bev's sister was trying to get in the game and she didn't have seats. Pat Bev forgot to leave her seats.

So Russell gave his enemy.

He gave his enemy sister front row tickets, gave us, hey, you can have. My people's not coming. You can sit front row in my seats, right? So when Pat Bev was at the free throw line, Russell, your sister's front row. I gave her my seats and Pat Bev like. And then he had to process what he said. Wait, what he looked, overseen his sister's front row and then had to think about the game.

That's Russell, right? So what Russell did was, that's who he is, right.

He wants to win at all costs. Just sometimes you just don't like the approach.

And I think that when he went to LA, we're not going to talk bad on LeBron.

Ad just won a championship, so he was untouchable. So we're looking at the person that we can blame. But that was the only person who was holding the ship that year. He was the only person who played 75 games. And we blamed him for the downfall. And I think he just got a.

Bad rap for himself. I agree. And look, the Laker fans are different.

Because they have a level of expectation, Gil, and they don't care what you've done elsewhere. He got those triple doubles, and he was an MVP at OKC, and he got triple doubles in Washington, and he played really well alongside James Harden. And when he didn't come and give them those numbers for the Lakers, they didn't care that he was homegrown. And because you have to understand the level of greatness that they expect. When you think of Lakers, you see all those monuments out front, you see all those jersey numbers that's hanging up. That's what these fans expect.

Homegrown or not.

Did you see, you remember, and I know you remember this, Gail, when LeBron first got here and they tried to put up murals, they cover him up. Nope, we're not doing, yeah, because he got those mvps and he got those championships elsewhere. He got all these accolades elsewhere. Until he does something in the purple and gold, we're not going to accept him.

And that is fat still. Liquor fans is like, yeah, we're on the fence still.

Because the thing is that they look at LeBron as an adversary to Kobe. And anybody that could possibly threaten Kobe, that's a no go.

Kobe is God to the Lakers.

Nobody. Not magic, not Kareem, not Shaq, not will, not Mike, not anybody, not Elgin Baylor, not Jerry, rest, Kareem. Nobody is on the level of Kobe in a Laker uniform because they saw a 17 year old boy come here, mature, grow, and they saw every step of the way. Nobody is going to replace Kobe. It ain't going to happen.

He was the american dream, right? When we think american dream, we think of the movies we love, right? We have the guy start off as a hero, gets dropped down from that hero stature and then build himself back to that hero.

That's Kobe. That's what Kobe did. Right?

Right.

No other star did that. When Jordan was Jordan was Jordan. Magic was magic, right?

They didn't go here, fall here and say, ah, I'm going back to the mountain. And that's why Laker fans would never say, kobe is not the greatest laker ever. He did something that we can identify with.

Right?

Because you know what?

He's human. He's human.

And I think everybody likes, like, man, there's frailty. There's human frailty. And when we see our superstars, and sometimes it's almost like you go to the top and then you fall down, and then we're going to do everything we can to push you back up because we don't believe you should have failed anyway. Somebody tripped you up. And so what we're going to do is that we're going to pick you back up in a hurry and run you back up to the proper place that we believe you should have been all alone. So, yes, it's going to be tough. Is that holiday time of year again? Looking for something different for your favorite sports person on your list? Think game time. Tickets for sports, concert and comedy shows all make fantastic gifts this time of year, even if it's last minute. The best way to buy tickets to any event is on game time. The fastest growing ticket app in the US. Game time is the only ticket app that gives you peace of mind with your purchase. They let you see the view from your seat before you buy, so you know exactly what to expect when you arrive.

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What's up, everybody? I'm back with year two of my podcast, the season with Peter Schraeger. 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.

I'll 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 Jameer Gibbsvic.

In a normal year, you'll have like true first round talent players. You might have about 17 or 18 guys. We ended up with 14 guys, but Jamir was always one of those guys.

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?

Incredible. Very good.

Like a funky beat.

Listen to the season with Peter Shaker on the I Heart radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

Luca.

Franchise record of 11th consecutive games with at least 30 points ended. He came up with 28. I think he had a triple double, 28, ten and eleven. If I'm not mistaken. This was also the 6th straight game that Kyrie missed with a bruised heel. I just don't know how far this team can go without Kyrie. I don't really know how far can they do. You see, obviously the Clippers and I talked to Ty Lou. I saw Ty Lou the other day and had a good conversation with him and he's like, yeah, we figured this thing out. We're going to be a tough out now. So I had a great conversation with him. But when I look at the Mavericks, how far can they realistically.

He'S never had actual contending team, but it makes it look like they got something going on. Like his been some trash. But his dominance individually has made people really think Mavs is a playoff team.

They got a chance.

They got a chance, right? He's been doing a number on the Clippers. So I know the Clippers is like, whoa, finally.

Yeah, he didn't get 4017 and twelve.

We finally got a team that we could just beat, Luca.

So the fact that the Clippers did.

Win, you know what? I was going to call them the Flippers, but I think they've earned their name a little bit. I think they earned a little clip in it.

I've been impressed.

A little clip in it. I think Clipper Darryl need to stay away.

Him and Marcellus Wiley. As long as they stop talking, the Clippers do very well. Y'all bad luck. Leave him alone.

With Kyrie out, they have no chance. But with Kyrie in, they still don't have enough. Don't.

I don't believe so either. But give the Clippers and it seems like it's a different guy every night. Tonight Kawhi had it going. I mean, eurostepping, spinning baseline, Duncan. The other night it was James Harden. We see Paul George hit the game winner and seemingly it's a different guy every night. Norman Powell has been sensational over the last six, seven games. We know Terrence Mann is going to be all hustle. He can knock down some big shots. Russ is going to come in and give you energy. Even Amir coffee came in. He had some big shots tonight. Zubas didn't finish the game. He really rarely does. But you know what he is. He's going to hustle for you, get you some put back, get you some offensive rebounds. Yeah, they look good. They're not big, but they look good.

And that's what you need from a superstar team like that, right, where any given night one of us can explode.

Yes.

When we're all hitting, we're untouchable, unbeatable. If three of us is on, we're still unbeatable, right? Two, we can still manage it out. Maybe a bench player is coming, but we have enough talent on here. As long as we're playing the right.

Type of basketball, right, we should be fine.

The most impressive thing, Kawhi Leonard hadn't missed a game.

Facts. That's the most impressive thing. Facts. Facts.

Right?

We ain't even giving his flowers for.

I just had to throw that in. I was like, hey, Kawhi, Mr.

Gay.

Because, you know, normally this time he done got myself aiding things on his belt. Hey, listen, Kawhi saves him everybody. Paul, George. But, you know, Russ is going to play regardless. James Harden normally plays. The young guys are going to play because they don't know any better. They just happy. But, you know, Kawhi like to save some of his games for the trip home. March, April. Kawhi say, I need a couple. Yeah, I'm good to go, but they've been playing well. I've been very impressed with what I saw. John Morant last night, scores 34 in his return, hits the game winner. Timorant was on a radio station Tonight and said, my son's job is to try to win championship for the Memphis grizzly face of the league. That come from other people's opinion. Second, there have been a lot of faces of the league that have done way worse things than my son. So while my son is under the guillotine again, you cannot do this to me. You cannot double stand on me and talk about the face of the league. T does he understand? And I think he's trying to make reference to the guy that we're just talking about here in LA for what transpired to him.

I think it was 2003. Does he know that we're in a different time now, 2003 and 2023, that there's this thing to call the metoo movement? We just saw Jonathan major basically lose his career over a, what? What are we mean? Does he not understand that the NBA is a private business? They set the rules. They said your son's behavior, although he broke no law, but he broke the NBA's law because they get to set it because they're private business. Do you understand? Like private business can say no trespassing and you can't go get what? I don't get what t is missing. Maybe I'm missing something. Maybe I'm a little older than you, Gil, so maybe you can help me understand what I'm missing.

The ruthlessness of rules, right? Okay, so we have Josh giddy, right? Yes.

The NBA is doing exactly what the NBA is supposed to do. Wait till there's a guilty verdict before you penalize. Right? That's the american way.

What?

Innocent until proven guilty.

Right?

Correct.

There's a few people that's been penalized before being proven guilty.

I was one of them. Right?

I was one. Ja was one. The worst thing you ever want in.

A suspension is detrimental to the team.

Because that can be one game or 82. There's no time capsule on this thing. Right. Okay. In a sense, job would rather have had a gun suspension because that's only three to five, seven games. Right.

You don't want to be suspended for.

Your behavior because that can mean anything. Right.

That just gets you off the court. It's made up at the point.

Right.

So he will have rather said, hey.

I had a gun.

Give me one or three games because that's gunball. One or three games. Most that was somebody shooting it. Other than that, the behavior thing becomes this imaginary thing. So it was unfair under the NBA rule, because the NBA rule they're using.

They'Re just making it up in real time. Right. But what he doesn't understand is that's how good your son is, where he's under the guillotine.

If he wasn't part of the NBA's future, they wouldn't give two shits about that, man. They wouldn't care. They wouldn't have put his game on TNT. They wouldn't have done none of this first game back. Yeah, but because who he is and how he plays, he's under a microscope that he cannot do the things he's doing.

What about the thing as a repeat offender, where he went before he. He, his son, ja, and their team went before the commissioner and say, we come in here in the humblest way we know how we at the mercy of the NBA. And I promise you, my son, and he promised that I'll never put myself in this position again. And guess what? He goes and goes through the drive through rehab, and he stayed 24 hours. And the next thing you know, two months later, he right back on IG waving that thing. So what about that? Okay, the first time. I get it. We all make mistakes. And I'm a firm believer the way you change behavior is the best apology.

So you said, you ain't got to.

Worry about me, commissioner. I'm done with that. And two months later. What am I supposed to do with that, Gil?

The same exact thing they did.

Because I did it at 28, right? Which makes me the idiot, right?

Are you old enough to know I know better, right?

Being Superman, right? You got the world at your hands. You have Superman power. When you walk in places, you are John Moran. When you walk in buildings, shit gets shut down. When you go to a restaurant, they're paying for it with all the money in the world.

Their behavior he's doing is just immature. Because that's all he knows, right?

It's what he knows. You got a guy who's a kid.

When we say kid, we're saying he's.

Just out of college with all the.

Money in the world.

Think you as senior in college, you all doing drinking, parties and doing all that, right? It's a different now. Let me give you 200, 300 million. You can buy everything.

You will have this sense of I'm untouchable. Right?

And we all fall through it.

A lot of us fell through it.

He's going to go through it some more, other players going, you feel you're untouchable.

What I tell people, money doesn't change you. It makes you more. You already are. If you're childish, that means you're just money. You're going to buy childish things. You're going to do even more outlandish childish things. So let me ask you a question, because it doesn't look like the family of the kids, the family of the young lady with the Josh giddy situation here doesn't look like they're cooperating. But they have hired an attorney, and so it looks like a settlement is going to happen. What do you believe the NBA will do? Or what do you think they should do?

Okay, so the fact that from what we've heard, this has been a year ago, right? So everyone's been aware for a year. The problem is, what evidence does anyone have besides a picture and words, right?

Right.

That's all we know now, that this is a picture of them and someone wrote their own title on it, right? At this point, that's all we know. So if there's a settlement that happens, we would never know about it.

Correct. Right.

So the NBA would not be able to do anything anyway. Or he can have a lawsuit against them.

Right.

That's what people don't understand. Because what ends up happening is if you suspend this guy, that means you have demonized him and made him guilty without any evidence. So if there's never no case and you don't suspended this man without pay, what he does now is he sues for everything he's lost and future earnings. Oh, hey, I could have been an all star. I could have been the future could have been on this. And you took.

You ruined my brand.

My brand. And that's why the NBA doesn't do that. And his behavior right now, they can't get him for detrimental to the team.

Yeah.

Because that's the only thing they can suspend him for is detrimental to the team to get out of.

And, you know, Ja said he kept receipts. Ja, I can see, and I could be wrong, but when I was asked on the old show coming out, who would I take? Ja. Zion. I was always in Ja's corner because I thought Zion was too heavy and I thought he was going to have a short career because of injuries. So I say I got ja. So I've been a JA supporter of his basketball play. I thought some of the things that he'd done off the court, I thought was immature and warranted criticism. But for him to say he kept receipts, I'm trying to figure out who in this space, Gil, be it podcast, social media. I'm talking about that. Do what we do, or that's on a platform that has ever said had criticized Jaws game on the court. Because normally when you keep receipts, Gil, I said something negative about you, Gil, I said, I don't believe that you can do what you said you can do, Gil. You keep a receipts for that. You keeping receipts because of your behavior off the court. It's fuel.

It's a thing that we use to get us up for games, okay? It ain't a real thing unless you got a draft and people know they got in front of you in a draft. Other than that, you can say, hey, jah had a bad game, and I'm going to use that as fuel. It's just I like that he has this because you know what time he's going to be on, right. You got to figure out ways to get yourself up for games when you don't have it. And most of the guys, they create enemies.

Okay? Right.

They pretend they hurt.

They create demons.

Yeah, we create enemies. You said what? I'm about to show you. TNT game. You pretend Reggie Miller. You said what? All right, I'm about to show you. And then we look.

That'S just something we do just to keep our game.

At a certain level.

He don't have no list.

His list.

His list really is those that he.

Cannot make that all NBA team. So everybody he thinks is capable of making it.

Oh, he about to go ham on them. Oh, yeah, for sure.

Because they cost him, what, another 30, $40 million by keeping him off one of those three all NBA teams. Because now he really gets that max contract because he's made an all NBA team, 1st, 2nd, or third team within a year or two of signing that contract.

Get him at a discounted rate.

Discount.

Discount.

Shaq calls the stir. He says Steph Curry deserves consideration as the NBA's goal. I'm wondering if it's time, Shaq. This is Shaq. And I quote, I'm wondering if it's time to start putting Steph Curry as the best player all time. Kenny, you put him over you.

Shaq. Yes.

Steph has four championships. He's won two of them without a second all NBA player alongside of him. He's won two of mvps, one of which is an unanimous. And he's the three point. Well, we know what he's done in three point competition. So a combination of a shooting and ball handler has never been. But.

Gil.

I'm anxious to hear. But this is why I look at it like women, okay? A woman might have a standard that she says, okay, for a husband. I want this, this, and this and this. And another lady might says, okay, I want this, but I can do without that. I want this, this, and this and this. For me, I said, in order for me to consider you a goat, you need at least three regular season mvps, two Finals mvps, and somewhere between eight and ten all NBA teams for you to be considered the Goat. Because think about it now. We're talking about the. In the history, the 77, 78 year history of the NBA. We're saying you're the best player all time. And there's a very select could even be considered. You're talking about LeBron, you're talking about Kareem, you're talking about Jordan, you're talking about magic, you're talking about Bird, you're talking about Duncan, you're talking about Wilt, you're talking about Russell. I don't think know. Look, I understand the three point shot, okay? We already know, the only competition, the question of point guard is he and magic. Okay, you like stealth. Okay, fine.

You like magic.

Magic is for me, but that's just my criteria. It's like you choosing a woman. Well, I needed to be 510. I wanted to have peanut butter skin. I wanted to have real hair. I wanted to be built like this, or I wanted to be college educated. I wanted to have a job. Okay, whatever the choices is, that's just my criteria. Where are you on this? I got Steph in my top ten after he won that title deal. I put him in the top ten. I did.

So when you said, you go, there's only two names, right. The problem with the goat discussion is.

When it was created, the goat conversation.

There was only one criteria.

It was Michael Jordan. Yeah.

That was it. So I had to ask 80s players. I had Clyde Drexler, all of them. I said before Michael Jordan was the goat, who did he take the crown off?

They never bestowed it to anybody.

They didn't have any.

Right?

So if they didn't have no goat, right. I can't give you a criteria because the guy they gave it to at the time, he only had one championship. He only had one when they gave him this. That you are the best player we don't ever seen. You are him.

They were saying that he didn't have no title.

89, but that's what I'm saying. So it's hard to have a standard.

When the standard didn't have it. Right.

So it's hard to say now. You need five championships, because the people that we.

Magic, Wilt, Russ Bird, they were sitter.

The goat, so their stats don't even matter.

Right.

So the only person that's in that category is LeBron James. That's the only one who's threatened. Magic didn't have it. Bird didn't have it. Wilt, none of them had it.

Right?

So I can't put you in there now, right? I can't put you 89.

He's it.

That means everybody before 89, 80, and you're not a part of this. So the only person that actually got can that is threatening it will be LeBron, everybody else, you guys are second tier.

I think the thing is, for me, Gil, is that. And it's funny that you said that, because Wilt numbers are never going to be challenged. Nobody's ever going to average 50 and 25. Nobody's going to average 44 and 27. Nobody's going to average 30 points and 23 rebounds for a career. Those rebounding numbers ain't nobody getting 55 rebounds in a game. That ain't going to happen.

There's a stab 14.4 blocks for his career.

Just throw it away.

But think about it, Gil.

If they would have kept block shots, how many triple doubles would he have had? I think he'd have 400.

No, he has 800 quadruple doubles.

And that's the thing, is that, and.

Then Kareem came along and Kareem won six. He won six titles, went to ten.

Six mvps.

He has the most mvps. And he had a record that many thought would never be broken. I'm old enough to remember when he broke the record in Vegas. They played Utah because back then, the NBA wasn't like it was. So they took teams and put them in different places so different people could see them. I'm old enough to remember when the NBA finals was tape delayed. That's how I go back and I'm looking like. And they're right. No one ever said, oh, he's the best player ever. Because I remember, well, not when he joined the Lakers, but when Magic got there. We watched the NBA, mainly the Sixers, because the Sixers were really good in the late 70s. Once they got the dock, they were going to the NBA final. They lost to Portland and big Bill Walton. And then you had the superSonics, and then you had the bullets. They changed the name because of the violence there. And so when magic got there, now it's the Sixers and the is and the Celtics because Larry bird.

And I'm like.

And then it wasn't because we had never seen anything like a guy. We had never seen anybody that could lever his flair for the game and what he could talk, see the tongue hanging out. The best thing and the worst thing to ever happen to everybody else. It's got to be the shoes. It's got to be the shoes.

Money.

Yeah.

It took him to Gil.

You know when you got a brand 88 and you are the brand.

When people talk about the goat and they say, oh, he got six rings, just show you 88. Eightyn.

That's it.

When the shoe company took the wings off and put the logo on, that lets you know right there.

Right? Yes. But sometimes I don't like talking like stats. Right.

When you talk about mvps, finals MVPs. Because now, would Russell be considered a goat if he had ten finals mvps or nine finals mvps? Right. He will be a different category.

But that wasn't invented then, right?

If the finals MVP didn't come out until 1969 and Jerry west won it on a losing squad.

Yeah, that's what.

That's what I said.

That was the first finals MVP. It wasn't created until after he retired.

Right.

That's a category that he don't have towards.

About when we use these mvps.

Finals mvps, they don't mean anything. How did you play the game? Were you dominant? Did you change?

So Shaq changed the game? I was.

I. I was there when he was calling our big man's bums. How many bums you gonna keep putting out here? You can put all five centers here on the same court, and I'm running through all of them.

I'm there.

We had to put a zone in where we had to put somebody in front, back on the side.

Like, I was there. Right.

So what he's saying is he's putting stuff in front. I know he's lying.

Right?

I know he's lying.

They was drafting big man just to.

Deal with him, just for, you know, he's trying to be humble.

Right?

He's trying to be humble.

But if you ever see a list.

That Shaq ain't on the five or.

He gets offended every time. Right.

He created his own. Have you noted? Every time he creates a five, he's in it?

And rightfully. But. But for Steph. To pole vault Kareem and to pole vault Jordan, and to prove, let's just say Braun. Kareem. Because I think most of the time, when we do have this discussion, is LeBron, Jordan, Kareem. Kareem, Jordan. LeBron, Jordan, Kareem. Now, a lot of the young guys that play, when you play put Kobe in there. The young guys put Kobe in.

It's.

But let me ask you a question. Let's just say, for the sake of argument, Jordan has six finals. Mv peas. But he only has one MVP regular season.

Yeah.

I don't know.

Because the NBA back then, right? Think about it like this. From 90 till he retired.

Shit.

From 80, 87. Shit, maybe.

I think you wanted 88, 80.

When was he considered the best player?

80.

What? Five?

Magic and Bird started talking, although he didn't have the team, because every year, I think it was like, from 82 all the way to 87, it was basically the Lakers and the Celtics in the finals. With the exception of maybe one year, two years, it was the Sixers. But magic one in 80, and then Bird won in 81. And then magic 182. And then the six is 83, and then Larry won 84 and then magic 185. The bird won 86 and then magic 187.

Eightyat.

And then Isaiah won 89, 90. And then here come Jordan took it over in the. So everybody's like, well, if he's so great, why he can't break through? But they blessed about it, I don't know. He wouldn't got the magic potion. And once he broke through.

So when we talk about the MVP, if he was the best player in the league, hands down, no questions asked, right. You giving him an MVP trophy or giving it to someone else don't make them better. We know at some point you had to give it to someone else, right? Knowing if he was the best player on the best team, dominating the game, scoring title, this and this. He has six rings. How come he don't have six mvps, right.

Who deserved it?

Right?

You know what I mean?

It needs to be like hockey. It needs to be like hockey. Gretzky won nine heart. He won heart trophies every year. You saw Barry Barnes win the MVPs. If you're the best, don't get tired. You should get tired of nobody wanting to step up and take it from him.

Look, if I'm a voter, if I.

Believe that guy's the best, I'm voting for him. I ain't going to get tired.

And that's what it is. We get tired. Like, how is this guy's team's number one every year? He's averaging 30 something every year, and he's losing. Who is he losing to? Because they're not number one. The MVPs and all that stuff. I have to watch how you played this game. What was your impact on it versus the statistical part? Because it's jaded.

Right.

The Voters are not watching every game.

Right?

They're not watching every game. Aren't they looking at stats? Oh, he had 32% from the field. They don't say he got quadrupled.

Double.

Quadruple double. So we look at.

So my five is Jordan, LeBron Cole, magic, Shaq. Okay.

The only reason I don't have Kareem in him, I wasn't alive.

Yeah.

You know what? But I think you can attest to this. Kareem is the greatest player that gets the least credit in anybody in NBA history.

I don't know what he ain't. Listen, I don't know what he did to the reporters, but they do not like him.

He was surly.

He was surly.

They didn't like him. That's why he doesn't have.

Also, he was Russell Westbrook.

He was very rough.

Worse.

Okay, but here's the thing, Gil. Until 19, until 80, you know, the players voted for the MVP. There was no writers voting for the MVP. The players used to vote because the year in 61 62, when Wilt averaged 50 25, Bill Russell won the MVP. That's also the year Oscar Robinson had the triple double. They say 61 62 was the greatest statistical season because Walt Bellamy and Elgin Baylor, they was like 38 and 19. Jerry west was like 30 points, seven rebounds, eight assists. We know it. Russell was like 1922.

Oh, no, that was wrong. It was rock solid. It was putting up numbers.

But obviously Russell won the finals MVP and he won the regular season MVP. So back then the players voted. So they're like, nah, man, if we don't like somebody, like, we got to go do that.

That's the day too.

They took it away from the players and gave it to the writers. So it had been interesting to see. Now, I believe I agree with you because I don't know if they do. They still have the players award because one year somebody won the MVP and then the players voted somebody else MVP.

That was the Curry Harden. So Curry's first MVP. The players voted that. That was Harden's MVP.

Right?

So it'd be very interesting had the players continue to vote, how many mvps would Jordan have? How many would Kobe have? How many would LeBron have? It would be very interesting to see.

They will have more than they have. You know, when we look and say, well, shaq only got one MVP, you'd be like, how?

Yes.

Doesn't even make any sense. Right? And when you're a writer, your badge.

Should be revoked.

If you are not voting correctly. Right? If you're sitting here and you got LeBron James and everyone voted LeBron James's first team and then someone has him.

As third, hey, what's up?

And if this is what you're doing.

We'Re going to pull this because, oh, you remember that.

That guy did that in LeBron. LeBron was one vote away from winning the MVP unanimous and the guy voted for Carmelo.

And at that time, that's when you should say, okay, you're not doing this fair. We're going to take it away from you.

Right?

We're going to take away from that.

Thank you.

Appreciate you. You're going to be on time out this year, in following year, but that should happen. Like, you shouldn't just have these guys just going in with their, oh, LeBron.

Didn'T give me an interview.

He didn't give me know I ain't go vote the first team.

You can't have.

The. And I understand what you're saying, but they're know you, hey, hey, you know, somebody at one point in time, they give you your butt, the kids, and now you get the upper hand. What you go do? You go turn around and be. Don't give your butt right back. It's human. And people say, I say, bro, you have to understand, these people are human. At the end of the day, yes, they have a job to do, but they're human. And they have feelings, they have emotions, and they're like, okay, I can't get.

You back any other way, but.

You.

Wish you had this all NBA vote. You wish you had the MVP vote, that all star vote. But you never know. And that's why I say you have to treat people accordingly. Welcome. Look who we got. Joy to the chat.

Let me guess, let me guess.

That's a fake road, right? You got on fake road. You get on here and wear fake Versace.

I love you all, man. Gil, what's up, baby?

What's up, baby?

You're looking good.

I was sleep.

You don't sleep. What you sleep.

You wasn't sleep boy looking. You just got from the club, baby.

You do realize, ocho, the only thing that come to sleepers are dreams, and you got to get up to make those happen.

Yeah, I got up for you, baby. Listen, you all talking basketball talk, baby. That's not my lane. I'm trying to stay in my lane. I'm trying to learn the game. I've been studying a little bit, but I'm not quite ready to jump on there with you all, man, so I can talk about the game of basketball in depth.

Well, I tell you what, just get in the backseat. Just go for it, man, and just chime in from time to time. Yes, sir. You said on your part that Draymond is not changing. Ud Yudonis Haslam, just retired after 20 years. Says he wants to see Draymond be a mentor to these young players. At the end of the day, we're here to guide these young fellas in the right direction. Can you imagine me swinging on hero? I'd take a long walk on a short pier. I'd never forgive myself. The question is, Gil, you said he's not going to change, but does he want to collect the remaining of that $100 million, or does he want to go home and say, I'm going to stand on business?

It looks like he's standing on business. It looks like he's standing on business right now. But you know what? It's principles. It seemed like to those type of guys, like he said it, he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he hurts someone that he's supposed to protect. Right.

I think he's talking about the Jordan.

Poole situation in that, on protecting his teammates from other wolves. And I think as a teammate, what Draymond did to Jordan Poole, it made him seem like he was an outsider because there ain't no goddamn way he doing that to Stepford Clay. No. Hell, no way is somewhere he tried that shit.

No, he never played in NBA again.

If he would have been in the third ward.

Do we know what happened in Turlini with that situation? Did he say something about him personally?

Go ahead. You would have more information about that situation than I would.

All right, here's the story. They were in training camp, right? So they were in training camp, and Jordan Poole got the second squad. So when they were in Japan, it's about an hour, hour and a half ride. So practicing back. So Draymond already started the Dre, he already started the rough.

Like, you suck.

Your team suck. How can you be, how can you make this kind of money? You can't even get a win, right? He's going. He ain't going to be Steph Clay Draymond. You ain't going to beat the starting five. So he's just going at just the whole training camp, right? So Kurt had to pull him aside and say, you got to stand up for yourself. Come on, stop letting Draymond treat you like a little girl out here. Stand up for. So you know Jordan Poole like, oh, okay. So they said Jordan Poole was in the a and practice cooking. Boy, he was cooking shrimp and chicken that day, right? He's talking and he's talking at Draymond. Hey, Draymond, you going to do something today or is 30 going to keep carrying you?

Is he going to like a backpack?

He said, you an expensive accessory. You like a Gucci.

Wow. To 30.

Draymond got the ball, missed the layup. It popped off and got the curry. I mean, curry and Curry hit the three game, right? Everybody cheering. See, there you go, 30 saved you again. You got four rings off. 30 back. That was that day. The next day is when the hit happened. So Draymond, like most men do, we going through some child support shit. We going through some outside stuff. Child support, seeing his kids. So Draymond coming to practice, already disgruntled, right? Looney already seen that he was on a different vibe, right? So Draymond's trying to find somebody to pick on.

Who are you going to pick on? Pool.

But the problem is Poole already since this. So Poole, hey, I'm good. Already won yesterday, baby. I don't need. So if you look at it, Poole, not even on the court. Pool ain't even on the court. Draymond scoring. Where you at now? Come on, on the court. Come on, on the court. Talk that mess a day. And, like, I'm good. I'm good. And that's how that. So it wasn't like Poole was going at him that day.

The damage was done yesterday.

The day before.

That push right there got him hit.

But the thing is, you know, being in the locker room, that's a different type of machismo. Because, first of all, guys in the locker room ain't gonna let you walk.

Up on them, especially Gil.

We can be disagreeing, man, f you. F you. You ain't going to do nothing as long as you over there and I'm over here. We good. But the moment I see you start to close the distance, I'm feeling some type of way. So now I'm getting in the mindset. If he gets within, all I'm thinking, if he gets within arms, if he gets within, I'm unloading. That's the only thing. No, sir.

No. So, Gil.

Oh, yeah, I'm teeing off.

I can see he got the muscles.

Come on. No, we arguing. You over there. I'm over here as you arguing. We arguing still. And you start to close the distance. I'm never going to let you get up on me. I'm never going to let that happen, Gil. Yeah, your antenna is never going to let that happen.

My antenna going up.

I'm feeling some type of way. So all of a sudden now, I start to feel a rush.

Wow. See, y'all got that juicy.

You got to know your antennas got to go up, especially sometimes, even if it's a friend, even if it's a teammate. When someone invades your space, when you're in an argument, your antennas already got to go up, and you got to be on your p's and Q's. You got to. Especially in that situation when somebody is showing any type of hostility to you and they close that distance and they become, in what I like to call an arm's reach or an arm's length, but it's go time.

You telling me to hit?

No, we don't expect to get hit. I was at the strip club sucking on titties with me. I don't care what kind of argument we got in, baby.

Right. Let's keep it over there. Gil, you stay over there. I stay over there. Hey, Gil, you suck.

F you.

You ain't going to do nothing. We got to get in center. We got to put our shoulders next to each other. We got to spin around.

Oh, no. Hell, no. Hey, Gil, come on. That's third grade. When you walk around the circle, we.

Still own high school.

Shit.

That's third grade, Gil, when you walk around the circle, do something. Do something. Knock it off my shoulder.

We ain't trying to hit this.

I will hit this right here.

We done?

Yeah.

You can't let nobody walk up on you.

The funny thing about it is with coaches, you got to know your personnel when it comes to arguing. You got to understand the people you're arguing with. And you know how they move. You already know how they move. And you know what makes certain people tick. And there are certain people you can argue with and you can get away with it. And there's certain people, you know, if we get into it, I got to stand on business. I got to stand on if this individual get mad. You already know what time it is.

If a man tell you, Gil, if a man tell you to stop playing, just let that go. Just let it go. Even if you are bigger. Hey, he said, man, stop playing. Let go.

But if you listen to Hasom right, those enforcers, they are not putting their hands on players. So we're not expecting.

That.

Because, Gil, I would tell you, see, if you was in the locker room and you get the argument and you let somebody close the difference, they're going to hit you in your face or they're going to throw your ass so hard on your back, you go, say how. Let this man walk up on me.

Like one of the other is going to happen.

I'm telling you, no.

You hit me in the locker room.

Guess what? I'm not playing no mo.

I'm taking my ball.

I'm going home. Call me at my house. Either he's off the team or I'm off the team.

That's how that, I saw two dudes, two of my teammates, they're both on the defense, and they have been going back and forth that walk through. They just going back and forth, going back and forth, going back and forth. And he was standing his locker, had his arm in his locker like this here. He said, yeah, you keep on. I tell you what, you ain't going to do nothing. Dude ran over there, hit him dead. Cracked his head.

What do you hit him with, that helmet?

He was standing locker like this here. He was just standing like this here. Yeah. Okay. He just shake it.

He's shaking it.

Yeah.

Okay, sure. And then his partner tried to jump in, and then the other boy said, no, you don't want that. You don't want their problem. So you have to understand who. Like Ocho said, you got to understand your personnel, because Ocho, remember I told you everybody don't play like you play. Nah, everybody don't play like you to play. I know who to mess with, who to joke with. Come on, Shaw, let that go today, man. I ain't.

Okay.

Hey, man.

I go get right on somebody else. Okay, cool. You go be ready tomorrow because I got joke. Just move that along, Gil. But you don't let nobody close the distance on you, Gil.

And I'm the jokester. I'm the one that I don't take none serious in the locker room. I've never felt threatened by a teammate like I've seen fighting. Like, our big man used to go at it, right? And obviously, we sitting there cheering it on. But other than that.

It'S only, what, 15 of us, right?

And most of us is like, we.

Go in groups and clicks.

Our arguments don't really carry over to fighting like that.

Like, Hoopers is not like that. Right?

We don't really want to fight.

We don't either.

We don't even know if we can or not. You know what I mean?

We can go, but we don't know.

If we can really throw a punch.

And that's the thing I tell them all the time. I don't know if I can fight. But you don't want to find out. I don't know. I don't. But don't you find out.

Hey, check this out.

Smoosh Parker says Kobe never spoke to him in two seasons as a Laker teammate. They asked him a question about Kobe. He said it was an overrated experience playing with Kobe Bryant. He said he's tried to start a friendly conversation with Kobe about a football game the previous night. And Kobe said, you can't talk to me. You need more accolades under your belt before you talk to me. That's how y'all get.

We call him William H. Parker over Gil.

Kobe could get a man conversation. He could say, hey, man, how you doing?

Look, smush should be happy Kobe even allowed him to start. The man didn't start before Kobe. He was out of the league after Kobe. That's mush, right? Yeah, the one I gave 62.

Yeah.

No, he lucky Kobe even said those words to him. You just can't be talking to.

Oh, Joe see, that's what we different. We told everybody to kick up. It don't even matter.

Yeah, Kobe. Kobe was different, man. He was built different. You can tell when I heard the story about what Smush said, I can see that. I can see Kobe being the type. You know what? You ain't even done nothing yet. You ain't earned the right to even speak to me. And the fact that they had the cubicle right next to each other, I can imagine Kobe not really speaking to him at.

Should be he going to be offended.

True story.

Lamar Odom called Cole and said, hey, Cole, hey, where's the, what's the name party tonight? We're supposed to be going to or the event. They're supposed to do some charity event. The first thing Kobe asked, hey, how'd.

You get this number?

How'd you get this number, right? And he was like, oh, what's the name? What's the name? Gave it to me, hung up, called that person, you're fired. Don't ever give my number out without asking me first. Click, then called back, hey, yeah, we're supposed to go there round, blah, blah, blah.

That's the time he was on missing.

Kobe stood on business on and off the court.

The next day I went to our team and, hey, man, listen, if you do not make $5 million or more, you can't talk to me. You can talk to the person who make five to five can talk to me, but if you make under five, don't talk to me directly.

But NFL players, they had them kind of contracts. There wasn't a whole lot of $5 million players, especially when I played. Basically, the quarterback was the only one making that kind of bread. You go talk about, don't talk to you unless you make five.

That I got that high tech, man. I'm sorry, you all.

There we go. You good?

I got the track of it. And I mean, there we go.

Love life. Let's talk about Luca. Luca said he met his wife when she was eleven years old. They just had a child together, he says, but there's no basketball talk allowed when he's home.

You're going to have to rephrase that. You're going to have to say when they were eleven. Because when you say he met her.

When she was eleven, people going, they were both eleven.

Okay.

They were both eleven.

No basketball talk. I mean, that's a good thing, man, right? When you're at home, you're trying to be home, right? And.

If it works for them, that's amazing.

Ocho, what do you say all the time, whatever works for you in your marriage?

Yeah, everybody's different. They have a set of rules when it comes to marriage, and everybody tries to follow that specific set of rules, and it's not going to work unless you got to do what works for you. And obviously, listen, Luca, playing basketball, twenty four seven. And obviously for us, for athletes in general, when you get home, that's your peace. That's your outlet away from whatever your craft may be or whatever job you may have. And when you go home, that ain't what you want to do. That ain't what you want to hear about, because you got to deal with it all the time.

Well, damn, how was your day at work, baby? Don't ask me about my day. God.

I mean, come on, o Joe.

I mean, when rail come home, you ask rail, hey, rail, how your day was, how many sales you had? I know you had. I know you went on a couple of tours today. You selling how many houses you sell? Imagine rail say, oh, hey, baby, when you come home, don't ask me nothing about my day. Don't ask me nothing about no real estate, about no houses, about nothing. How you gonna feel?

Choke.

Yeah, I ain't gonna feel bad because it depends on how she feel, because the stresses that might come with what she got to do, I don't want no part of that. And then when she come home, coming home is your sense of peace. That's your outlet away from all the bullshit. If you play football, if you play basketball, if you play any sport, you know, when you go home, especially if you're married, you want your wife and your home to be your safe haven. You don't want to come home to no bullshit once you outside of the workforce.

Okay, so did you have to set those rules before you guys talked about that? Ocho? Like, hey, when we get home, whatever we got going on, let's drop it outside.

This is just us now.

I even had to say rule. You can tell. You got to know your people. You know, your lady, based on the energy, when she come in the house, you already know what time it is. You know something's already bothering her. That has to do with work. No, you already know. You already know. Listen, rail could start a sentence and I could finish it before she even say anything. So you already know. You know what work ain't going should. So I'm going to take a different approach. I'm going to take a different angle and make sure I engage in conversation, but it not having to do with work okay.

Hey, I get me a lady. She come off of work and she tell me feeling good, she go get a mean one. Come on upstairs. Because you got something on your mind. I'm going to take that right on up off your mind. All of a sudden, she said, you know what, baby? I just had the best day. You know what? That's what you got to do, ocho, see, with y'all young boy. See, y'all need listen to my old boy, see Gil give y'all some game.

Oh, yeah. I got like. You can stay over there. Why ain't got those type of problems.

Yeah, Mariah Mills, we all know who she was. She's the of young lady that was dealing with Zion Williamson that put all of his business in the street. And she resurfaced and said she had some advice from Zion. Since you want to send your publicist to talk shit about me every freaking week, how about you get on a treadmill, speed three level twelve. Maybe you should lose some weight and then go for it like an hour, too second. How about stop drinking sodas free? How about practice doing three pointers? Everybody tried to tire to see you dunk all freaking day. Learn another move. It's getting bored and tired. You're tired and boring. Just like you were in bed. Damn, she came like that?

You know what? That might be the girl that he probably really need.

No. Hell, no. Not if you don't put my business on industry. Hell, no. I don't need you.

But think about the jabs, right? Put it on speed three.

Incline.

She know him? Yes.

So that means most likely she was the one that was trying to keep him healthy.

No, but she blew up the spot.

Yeah, I would blow up the spot, too. You got somebody else? I'm over here with your fat ass, and then you over here getting some. Oh, no.

But guess what? She's showing them wires. I'm going to keep my mouth shut, because probably to keep me from putting my business in the street. He going to keep them things coming because he already got one. He don't want this other business in the street. So guess what? He going to keep me on the hush. You know, hush money.

That hush money good.

That hush money come in handy.

Gil, what's wrong with these women today, man? They don't know hush money is the best money. You out, need to pay you no more.

Thank you.

The fear of you telling is what makes me write the check.

Once you tell I'm good.

It's a rap.

Yeah, I can figure it out.

We talked about that the other day. Now, we just talked about that the other day. Everybody is loyal. Everybody is on their P's and Q's. Everybody is loyal until the situation is no longer beneficial. And then you will see someone's true colors come out.

Yeah.

Because the opportunity that presents itself is no longer beneficial.

Well, you're talking to the black male king. When I was a kid, because I drop a dime on them. I tell them, my sister, my aunts, my brother, they had to pay me dollar $2 to keep this information hush, or I'm going to tell Papa you all skip school.

Hey.

They skip school.

Papa.

$2. Hey, I know you told us to go down to Dairy Queen, but we made a stop. We stopped off at such and such.

Pay up.

Well, you were snitching. You were snitching.

You think I wasn't what I was?

Hey, boy. Snitches get.

We both going to have to give.

Him stitches because I can't do it.

I had Barney Porter. I had Barney porter on speed dial. They want to see papa.

Damn.

I tell Granny, too. My sister made me mad one time. I told Granny, liberty, check spank out of school. They went to states, bro. Guess what? Money started flowing again. You started flowing. Money started.

Listen, I tell it. Hey, the Anthony Edwards man. Listen, I wish I could talk to some of these ladies before. Ladies. Listen, if you're going to do it, do it right. You got to understand, when you got somebody by the cojones. Yes, I was her. I need 100,000 right now. When I get in my car, I need another 100,000. When I get to the doctor, another 100,000. When they give me the pill, I need another 100,000.

For me to put it in my.

Mouth, I need another 100,000. My dad just got the 500,000. You know what he going to do?

Okay.

Yeah. They're going to have to do the peel guild because I don't think they go into the chop shop anymore. No, that's true. Traumatic. They ain't doing that no more. So you got to give them that peel.

I don't know what's wrong with these new NBA.

Well, we got them on the road.

We got them in our little bag with us.

Oh, you got them in the.

Y'all got them in the bag. Plan B. Oh, yeah.

$50.

Yeah.

Those in the bag with us.

Throw.

Max, we go to Miami. Probably had a little bit too much.

Probably slip.

Got to clean your system before you go back to the girl.

Oh, yeah.

All day.

You see why the NBA players got like six, seven baby mamas, man.

Yeah, babe. Hey, you know what? Look here, man, I'm just glad there was no social media. Ocho. We might have been bad off, ocho.

Yeah, I caught social media on the back end, but I went bad like that. Nobody was really giving me no opportunity. I was funny looking. I was funny looking while I was playing. So I ain't had to deal with.

None of the social. Think about the access that social media opened up. Because remember when you first got into the league, in order for you to know somebody was bad in Miami, you had to actually be there. Or to know somebody was bad in California, you had to actually be in LA. Now all you got to do is just go to your explorer page. Oh, you in Columbia. Oh, you in Brazil. Oh, you in LA, you in Miami, you in Atlanta, you in New York, Philly.

Oh, now we have black men's magazine.

Yeah, King, King Flame.

We get that booking number. Go ahead, book them for a party. Yeah, booked away. I'm about to be in charge. I got your 10,000 party girl.

But also understand the type of woman that's going to be accessible to you. If a woman got a job, she's like, well, damn, I ain't going to be able to take off work. Now, are you going to pay for the day she missed?

Yes.

Or she's a plumber that works, has her own schedule. She has her own schedule.

That's easy.

What type of women are y'all talking about?

The kind that they be talking of.

No, all we know is we know Miami cinnamon spice. We only know strippers because, see, you all got a different time schedule than us. See, we're done practicing about noon, 01:00 right?

You all done that early?

Man, we start practice at eleven. I better be out of that gym by one.

Right.

Think about the women that are available to us. None. Not no ones that has careers. So you got strippers that's going in there, going to get their little outfits for the night by the time the real women.

So you wear that over here to meet the outfit you go wear tonight, wear that over here to meet.

So we only dealing with slum lords. We ain't dealing with no educated women. No, they at work when we're playing.

Okay, I got it.

By the time they off work, we probably at work playing before the game. Then we go into the club or the strip club. They're going to sleep ready for work in the morning. So we don't get those women. Now we know Bambi and them. Yeah, that's all.

Coco. Coming to stage number two is Coco.

We know how you look by your name. If you didn't have a name like Deja or Miami. Oh, no. That's all we're looking for. Who name is deja in here? Deja vu.

Miami. London.

Yeah. You need cocoa, honey. You got to have a name. You got a name like Cocoa, you got a name like honey, you got a name like cinnamon. Everybody. Mercedes, you should have called yourself. You go, you not. No, Mercedes. Hell, no. I don't know where you get that. Take that name for her. I don't know who gave it to her, but she don't need to have that one. More like a f 150. Your name f 150.

Give a gift of choice this Christmas with a gift card that supports irish retail. Accepted in thousands of outlets nationwide and online with participating retailers, the one for all gift card is a perfect gift for loved ones. Pick up a oneforall gift card at your local post office and make Christmas shopping easier. This year, the one for all gift card is issued by GVs Prepaid Europe Limited. GVs prepaid Europe Limited is regulated by the Central bank of Ireland.

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What's up, everybody? I'm back with year two of my podcast, the season with Peter Schrager, 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.

I'll 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 Jameer Gibbsvick.

In a normal year, you'll have, like, true first round Talent players. You might have about 17 or 18 guys. We ended up with 14 guys, but Jameir was always one of those guys.

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 at this point?

Incredible.

Very good.

Very kind of like a funky beat.

Listen to the season with Peter Shrager on the I Heart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

Rod a 70 said, gil, did LeBron's wife really break down film with him?

Yeah, no, that's a true.

Listen, that's a true story, man. When I went over LeBron's house, I don't know if you heard. I think Richie Paul was on JJ's podcast when he was talking about this big gambling game we like when we were doing the playoffs. LeBron wasn't gambling. He was with him. And Savannah was watching film, breaking down tape on us. And I'm like, looking, oh, that shit ain't going to work because I don't like that play.

Right?

But the fact that that's what they were doing at a young age, because I went to coach, like, man, hey, that's like a machine we're about to play against. We were better than them. He was smarter than us.

Wow.

He was better prepared at an early age. He outsmarted us in that series. He was just smarter than all of us. We took his gift for granted. We knew the athleticism.

We didn't know he was tactical.

You.

Know, look, chosen one on the COVID of Sports Illustrated. We know the three straight the championships in high school. Is he more or exactly what you thought he would?

I didn't think that. I remember my dad said, hey, you better get ready this summer. There's a kid coming in by the name LeBron James. He's like a hurricane. Nobody cared about no high school kid coming in. And then the first time I seen him, I was like, all right, okay. The athleticism was different. And then know, being on the east coast playing against him, I can just see it clicking faster and faster. So he had to guard me his first years where I was giving him that business.

But you can see it like, oh.

Man, by the time he's 20, oh, we're going to be in trouble. And this part I didn't calculate. But watching him break down film and him watching him, I was like, oh, okay, he's going to be something to reckon with. But you didn't see that he was going to take care of himself and be exactly what he is today.

You did.

If someone said they lying, they're lying.

To you for him to be able to do what he does because he missed a lot of the Bronnies and Bryce and Zuri, he missed a lot of that because he needs to get his rest. He needs to train, he needs to have the physio and to make sure everything. And he's at the gym getting up those shots. How important is it to have someone in your life that understands you like Savannah understands Braun, and not say, I need some help with the kids. I've been there all day with the kids. Now it's your turn now.

Oh, no, that's exactly what the other 99.9% of us get. I've been there all day with the kids here. Right? So the fact that they've been there from the beginning, the whole team, Maverick, it's the same group from day one. They all knew the objective. And that objective, if it was be better than Michael Jordan, they all did their part, right? So when we look and say, what has he sacrificed? And we look at Bronnie and the family, he sacrificed being with his kids.

Right now it's 20 years. 21, 21, 21 years.

So that means he didn't get to really be hands on with Bronnie. I was Bronnie's first trainer.

Hey, Gil.

What you think? What you look like. Hey, I'm nervous for him.

You know what I mean?

Because he's not there to really instill what he can into.

Right.

It's been from a distance.

That's what he sacrificed. Right.

So the fact know Savannah has really gotten these boys to where they are just shows you what type of stability.

He'S had this whole time.

Especially because she's made it abundantly clear. She said, like, some people want to start a business and some people want to do this. She says, all I wanted to be was a wife and raise a family. So that means she gave up anything that she could possibly want to be outside of being a wife and raising a family to sacrifice because she knew what he wanted. I mean, think about somebody giving up them. That's like a mother and a father sacrificing for their child. But she sacrificed maybe what she wanted or what she could have achieved. Say, you know what, baby?

I got them.

I got this. I'm in the carpool lane. I'm going to pick them up. I'm going to be there when they look up in the stands, they're going to see one of us. It's probably going to be me. Because I want you to be the best that you absolutely can possibly be. Now it gets to a point, Savannah. What do I absolutely have to be there for? Brian's first game, considering what he went through this summer, the cardiac arrest. We don't know if and when he'll ever play again. I can't miss that. Under no circumstances. All star game, game one.

I cannot miss that because I don't.

Know if you don't get an opportunity to do the first again to see your oldest play his first collegiate game. So now you understand. Because remember, ocho, you know this. There's a great sacrifice. The greater the person, the greater the sacrifices that they've made. And there is no balance for greatness. Anybody tell you there is, they're lying.

Go ask Vanessa.

Go ask Juanita, Jordan's first wife. Go ask the greats. I ain't talking know, look, there's a lot of good players. There's a great. But I'm talking about this pyramid.

Ask them. Ask them.

It's the one thing that I think as men, especially athletes, when we look know LeBron James and the Kobe's Chris Paul, that woman that understands them to a t, right? That is the other half of them. It's an envy. You start looking around at the girls you chose and like, man, what was I looking at? You know what I mean? It's like, what was I looking at? What was I chasing? Because what I was chasing wasn't it. This is what I wanted. My career would have been better if I had, right? Like, you know what I mean? Like, if I had some guidance, some understanding, right? Alfred, not a robin. I don't need someone out there trying to be a hero with me. Alfred. Hey, everything is prepared for you to.

Go be great, right?

Come back hurt, I'll refix you going out there and save it again. That's what we looking for. And I think that's what we.

When we sit here chasing, we're chasing, looking for that.

And we don't know what it looks like, but when we do get it, we lose.

Hey, what's happening?

How you doing?

How you doing? I love you. Cookie and magic.

Now, I don't know. Hey, how many women you think would have rolled out, given the circus the same circumstances?

Ocho. Shit.

Look at Peyton Manning. Look at Peyton Manning. Now, you know. Ocho, you know firsthand how much Peyton time he put in film study.

Yeah, Brady.

Until she's like, you know what, Tom? Damn it, man. You've been promising me for the last seven, eight years. Yeah, man, you ain't going to stop. And I just can't do it anymore. She went as long as she could, obviously. But again, she had her own career. You got to realize she got more money than he does. Now, maybe she's like, well, a lot of. Some of the things I did stop. I did sacrifice to start a family.

To raise the family. But Payton's boom.

She's like, nah, have that man Brady Bray Brady.

God, that man. CNC, man. Brady's selfish, man. White privilege right there.

Yeah, you got to be selfish to be great.

All the broke girls I done dated, you telling me someone makes more than me, and I'm not going to stop. I'm done. Take my cheeks. Have them. What are you talking.

Me, Gil, you suffered the same thing that I suffered. Because I didn't want the girl that wanted me. I wanted the girl. And so when you choose somebody, choose the girl that wants you, not the girl you won't, because the girl that you want ain't going to be the one. You have to live and learn. And when you look, man, you don't know any better. You're not even thinking at that point in time. You're like, man, I should have married this.

What?

I should have married this in my college. And then that didn't work out, because we all say this. I'm going to get somebody that knew me when I didn't have anything. I had this whole raggedy car. I didn't have no indoor plumbing. And they know what it's like to sacrifice and be there for me. Then if that doesn't work out, gil, then where do we go? Because the one that we thought.

Well.

If the high school or the college sweetheart doesn't work, well, damn. Even if you the 7th round, if you're on an NFL team, you in the NFL.

It ain't like.

You know what I'm saying? Hey, you're in the NFL. It's not, you know, you work around the building. You actually in the league. So whether you a 7th round pick or a first round pick. Hey, are you that sharp to play.

For the broncos.

Now? It's a whole different story. Too late now, ocho.

Yeah, it's hard.

Let me ask you this, ocho. What type of Christmas gift should you expect from your girlfriend when you're rich? And what type of gift should she expect from you?

Let me see.

What type of gift should I expect first, I expect a gift. I expect her to give me a gift. Hold on. This is the key. I expect her to give me a.

Gift with her money.

Not money I've given her, right? So I expect a gift from her money. And for me, what I like, the things I like, is I'm very simple. I'm very simple. Especially on Christmas. A day like that. Give me shades. You know I love shades. I love me some shades. You can never have enough socks, tank tops and white tees. And I love dickies. And I'm throwing this out there now. She probably already know I want dickies. I like dickies. Get me dickies, and I'm good.

Hell, it sound like you going to prison. You want dickies?

Yeah, that's what I like. You got to remember, I'm from Miami now. I'm from Miami. Dickies is our. That's the go to. If you're just relaxing, you're going somewhere, you throw in a pair of dickies.

Dickies. White tea, tank top.

Yeah.

Like you about to do a Dime.

Swap me.

I tell you what, I'm going to put some ramen on your books for you. I'm going to make sure you straight.

I ain't going nowhere. I ain't going nowhere.

What type of gift should she expect from you?

I catch them hints throughout the year. Yeah, I catch them hints throughout the year. They send you a picture. You got to pay attention to something she'll say while we out somewhere. Or she'll point to some while we in the mall.

Yeah.

They hit you with that?

Like that.

Oh, you like this?

Yeah.

I turned to the page.

You did.

Clearly you like it.

I don't want to say none because she might be in the chat, but I'm locked in. I'm ready for. I'm ready for the 25th.

What do I expect, man? Look here, man. At this juncture.

Wait, come on, bring it back in. How are you going to expect something and who are you expecting it from? Because I thought you were single. No, I thought you was in the portal.

Did you live or not?

I'm a free agent. Okay.

I'm about to take a few visits, though. I said, but what would I expect? I'm expecting less than you, ocho. I just want to just. Hey, just give me a.

Give me a card. I want a card.

For all I've been doing the past eleven months, walk up with a card. We done?

I promise you, whatever she gives me is not going to be the equivalent of what she's got in the past eleven months and 24 days.

Right.

I promise you that. Now what? I have gotten Diamond Rolex. No, I've gotten them. I hadn't received that. Diamond Rolex, big diamond earrings, purses. I mean, whatever a lot of time they say, I want the cash. Okay, no problem. Because I would prefer to give someone cash because I want them to get exactly what they want.

Okay.

I like that.

Because nothing makes me feel worse. And you know when you've gotten a gift that they don't really like.

It happened to you before.

Yeah.

You got a woman a gift and she didn't like it.

Yeah, she didn't say she didn't.

You could tell her body language. You could tell.

Yeah. What was it?

I don't even want to say.

We ain't going to laugh.

No, it was no. Hell, no.

We got them cussing.

You all about to give me. I forget, I'll be a live chat. And I'm lying. I'm about to start cutting up a store. But let's just say I spent 15 bands on it.

Oh, my God, I'm gone.

15 bands on it.

She got 15,000 and she had the.

Nerve to not like it.

It's all good, ocho.

Oh, no.

Hold up, boy. You don't woke me up now. I'm up now. You don't woke me up. So ungrateful, ungrateful, selfish.

Anybody that's ever dealt with me, I will tell you, that's my pet peeve. Number one. I hate ungratefulness. I hate it. I stayed a little while longer.

The devil is a lie.

That's the problem. Because we naturally judge when we say. We're not going to judge you, we're judging you. If I'm spending 15, 30,000 on you and you getting me a card, I mentally have put you in a whole different category.

Right?

Because I'm making you feel special. If you don't have no money, make me feel special.

Like, make fruit loops from scratch. Do something to make me feel special.

Right. Like you give me a car.

Do something that do myself. Hey, just call me. Just call me. Say, hey, girl, where you at? I'm in the backseat.

Okay.

I'm all the way. That good for me, ocho. See the difference between men and women?

I'm right.

If a man tells you. If I tell you ain't got to get me nothing, and you don't get me anything, I mean exactly what I say. If a woman tell you you ain't got to get us something, don't you bring your ass in the house without getting for Christmas. Man, you asking for a fight.

Now.

If I say don't get me some, get me some. Because the other girls is getting me some and I'm judging. I let them know there's competition. Always. I treat relationships like the NBA. Hey, they can always be a sub.

Hey, we subbing over here?

I'm acting like I'm 20 years old.

Okay? You got franchise. You got a max player, face of the team. And then you got some auxiliary players. Yeah, we got some role players. They come in for special.

Yeah, come in, play some.

Damn.

I got some three and ds.

Yeah, ultra.

Yeah.

You can't do this no more. I got to do it for us.

I never was able to do it because that comes with a price. And you got to pay to play.

Yeah, I ain't had that kind of bread, Gil.

I'm a pay to play all day.

You better than me. What you're paying for, I can get for free. So I'm going to go ahead and save my little change.

Yeah.

I don't want the headache.

I don't like the headache that comes with free.

Right.

So you basically playing guild. You're paying for no problems, no headaches, no questions. It is what you understand your role. You understand why you brought on the team. Play your role or I'll find someone else to fill it.

Yes. Listen, I act exactly like. No, chill. Right? You can get replaced. If you argue, there's someone who don't. So why am I messing with your mess?

Right.

If I'm paying your rent, I'm paying her rent. You argue, she don't. Goodbye.

That's why we can't complete with a hoover.

Yeah.

I got no bread. I can't play multiple rent. I can pay two people rent. Mine and one of them. I can't pay 23450.

No. Hey.

They play by a different set of rules, and it's a different game.

Ocho. Before we go any further, Ocho, I will say we did it. We've officially hit 500,000 subs, halfway to a millie.

Congratulations.

Thank you all. I appreciate you all. I love you. I woke up out my sleep for.

This.

You know, I got a robe on. I'll never. Come on. You know, I was.

I'm hosting first take tomorrow. I'm filling in for Stephen A.

This is the funny thing about it. You hosting first take, and you still ain't bringing me on. And you're the main man for the next two days.

Let me ask you a question, Ojo.

Yes, sir.

How many times, if I worked at any job and I filled in for the boss, you think I can go out and hire somebody else?

Yeah.

Would he come back and say, you know what? I hire two people?

If you the main dog, if you the chief, for the next two days. Therefore, you need to act like the boss. Well, you know what? I got a plus one I want to bring with me. What you're doing to me is you acting like you own college at goddamn orientation. Orientation over. Your foot is in the goddamn doe. Invite your boy.

No, my foot's in the doe. I ain't in the door. My foot's in the door. I got to get all the way in the door.

You all the way in the door. Because if you wasn't all the way in the door, he wouldn't be having you take two days while he's off doing whatever he need to.

He, he and they. First of all, Stephen A. Had to agree to this. Dave Roberts, who's Burke Magnus, Jimmy Potaro and Bob Iger.

Bob.

Them know.

Me.

I almost said something.

They're my people. I appreciate Stephen A and all the people that I just named having confidence that I could do this.

Well, you need to have the confidence to let them know that I could do it, too.

Like, they ain't got no zoom call. They can zoom you in.

No, I don't want to zoom. I'm trying to be on. Yeah, I can catch a flight. I bet I can get there before 10:00 tomorrow morning.

You get here before 10:00 tomorrow morning, we're going to be long gone. We over seven to nine.

Listen, just work your magic for your boy, man. Get your boy.

See, you the type of guy that I get the job. I work at foot locker, Gil. Yeah, and I get there, what, two days? And he already asked me to send a box. Hey, send a box of shoes outside for me, bro. I just got in. Let me get in. Can I get the manager status? Let me get the manager status. I set everybody else's schedule. Then I'll be able to hook you.

Up discount as soon as you get the job. Give me your discount.

You know what I'm talking about? Thank you. Thank you.

Hold up. Who you say get a discount?

You get the job, you get a discount. Give me that one. I come in at 248 hours.

Let me use your discount. But see, you have to understand how I came know I didn't come in under the greatest of circumstances.

Yeah.

First of all, you're number one right now. What are you talking?

Yeah, and the funny thing about it is you ain't just bringing anybody on. You bringing somebody that's going to move the needle. When he on there with you, it's a whole different ballgame. And I'm sure Bob and Jimmy and whoever else understand that dynamic. Shouldn't be no issues. Yeah, I know they're going to see this. Yeah, Burke.

Of course, Burke.

Holla at your boy. I lost.

Not Burke.

Burke.

Yeah, I said Burke. I said Burke. I lost his phone number.

Like Ernie and Burke.

Ernie and Burke.

Yeah, no, Burke.

Burke.

Burk.

Okay.

Burke. Yes.

So, ocho, can I get in? Let me get when they say okay.

Since I can't come and just give you boy a shout out tomorrow, then. Just give your boy a shout out when the DJ walk in the club. And so and so and so here tonight.

Yeah, I see my boy over there popping bottles.

There you go. Yeah, just send me a little shout out on tv. I'm going to be watching. I'm going to record it so I can show my kids.

So I want to make sure. Thank you, guys. Make sure you hit that, like, button. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. Nightcap, you've done a great job. Let me go back down here. I got to pull my dog up. My special guest on Wednesday night on Nightcap, make sure you hit that, like and subscribe button to Gil's arena channel. It's on YouTube. Make sure you like. Make sure you subscribe to Gil's arena channel. Monday show airs Monday through Thursday Live at 11:30 a.m. 230 Pacific time. Am I correct, Gil?

Yes, sir.

11:30 a.m. Pacific to 230 eastern time. We've also pinned shave out Laportier at the top. Make sure the holidays are right around the corner, guys. Make sure you go grab a bottle for you or a loved one. And again, thank you. Thank you so much for helping nightcap reach officially. Half a Millie Ocho. We got to do something special. We hit a Millie Ocho, we got to do something special.

Oh, I got something for you.

What are we going to do?

I heard you like, was it be nasty? Hey, I'm about to send her and one of her friends. Right? New York on me.

There we go.

You need your grandma covers on the couch when she come in town.

You got to get ready to shake them covers.

Why? Amen.

It just hit 500.

Right now. Go and build my immune system. I'm going right now. One more for good measure. Cam Production says don't listen to Ocho. He's trying to get you fired on your day off. It actually was supposed to be my day off.

Wait, listen, if I get on there, you ain't getting fired. Well, you're going to get a raise. I'm going to make sure you get a.

Mean, obviously like I said, over the last four months, Stephen A and I have become very close. But for him to trust me to say, okay, hey, big boy, can you do it? And for the bosses to reach out and says, hey, we want you to do this, obviously, it means a lot. And knowing, because I was like, oh, man. I'm like, man, I got nightcap Wednesday, and he want me to do Thursday. Friday, I got nightcap for Thursday, and I got club Shayshe. I'm taping club shayshe tomorrow at noon. So by the time I get downtown, eat, I got to head over to the spot and do a taping. But you can't ask God to give you something and then complain about how much you put on your plate. You said you was hungry. That's what you say, ocho. We said we were hungry. We wanted this. We cannot complain now about how much he's given us to eat.

I like that.

And so that's what I'm going to do. Gil, we had someone in the comments said, gil, who's on your mount Rushmore? For the Lakers. For the Lakers, yes.

Magic at the one. Kobe, LeBron, Kareem, and Shaq.

Well, I mean, you got to start in five. We just wanted four, but we'll let you put five then. Shaq, man, you sure they put poke? The man just fell at a concert. Poke his hip, and he still can't get no love.

I'm just one more person disrespecting him. Hey, I just got in line. I ain't doing.

Corey Higgs says he tried the urine treatment on his ankle, and he could not.

You.

I told you, all you got to do is heat it up, man. Something about the toxins in the urine that absorbs all the swelling and anything in there, man, it had you back to normal in two days.

I'm good. I don't want to be normal. Life lessons. Ask who's more athletic, football players or basketball players. What you think, Gil?

That's a good one.

It's different athleticism, I think, overall, like, jumping ability up and down. I think football. Yeah, like, when it comes to just max verding, it's football.

We're more. I think we're more athletic. What do you think, ocho?

Man, hoopers got bounce, man. Yeah, it's some hoopers that got bounced. It's two different type of athleticism and movements in general.

Right.

Damn, that's crazy. I probably say football players, especially based on the position you play.

Yeah, I agree.

I think it's football players also. Thunderclap what position, Gail? They're asking you. Thunderclap asks Gail, what position would you play in the NFL?

Who's the dude that's right next to the Gatorade thing? Is that the water boy?

Yeah, that equipment guy.

Hey, I'm not going out there getting hit. You see how hard they. I got? I played Pop Warner, played for the East Valley Trojans, tried a quarterback sneak. I woke up as a basketball player, knocked my helmet off and everything. I'm good in this sport.

Okay. Yeah, no, thank you. That's a good one.

Funny story. Jalen Dorsey asked that funny story Monday night. My girl yelling in her sleep had my heart rate about 200 beats per minute. I could hear my heart pumping. Just had to ask, have you all ever heard people around you sleep, sleep talk or sleep walk?

Yeah, when I'm sleep, I'm sleep.

You ain't never heard anybody talking to sleep?

Man, when I'm sleep, I'm sleep. The fact that I was able to answer that phone call and you woke.

Me up.

I don't know how I.

Did it, but I'm a light sleeper, though. You ever heard anybody sleep, talk, asleep walk? No, I've never heard anybody sleepwalk, but I heard people talking to sleep.

Yeah.

They don't usually spend a night offend. I know.

Man.

KLB 89 said, oh, Joe, I'm shooting my shot. I'm a wedding photographer, and a damn good one. I want to photograph your wedding. You love saving money. I'm doing it for free. As a fan, how do I get in touch? P. S. Love the show.

Hey, boss man. Anything having to do with the wedding, that's on the Mrs. End. So you would have to send her a message. She will respond, especially for something as important as that and saving money, her and I, on the same page. So she will respond to you if you send her a tweet, and I'm sure she will oblige. I appreciate it, though, ocho.

I want to thank you for. I don't think you were think. I don't think you were sleep, but I appreciate you coming on.

If I wasn't sleep, I wouldn't have on my robe. I jumped out the bed, hooked my laptop up, put on my robe, and put on some glasses, just because I knew I had to pay that master damn robe. Trust me, I was sleep.

I couldn't thank everybody for 500,000 without you. How does it go?

Look, well, listen. I mean, shit, you're leaving me off first take shit, you did that.

I tell you what, when we do three quarters in a millie. I'm going to let you have it. You go take the whole show by yourself. You go take nightcap. You got nightcap all to yourself. Whoever you want to have or you have rail, you have kids, I'm going to let you have it.

Wait.

When we hear what, when we hear.

What though, we can hit either 750 or a meal. I'm going to let you have it.

Let me tell rail I can get to 750 by next week. Don't do that.

You got it. You can have whatever guest, hey, you set the line up for the guests, whoever you want to come on.

Matter of fact, speaking of guests money bag, you'll say he want to come on as a guest man when it's on him. So we got to hit 751st, right?

Yes.

Okay, bet.

Yes, I heard it. But we're trying to get some things together for that big trip we got.

We got a big trip. Are you talking about over there with a spear?

I don't know if Denzel going to be there.

He'll show up.

I mean he does like sports, but I don't know know. We got to keep it strictly sports and then let him log off before we go into the other stuff. Now he would be good on life lessons about discipline, about sacrifices. It's going to be interesting to him because Pauletta, call it Paulette Washington, she sacrificed. She was a classic know John David, which is his oldest son. All of them are in the business. They work in some capacity, either in front of the camera, behind the camera. I think John David is really the only one that's in front. I think the others are behind the camera. So it'd be interesting to see a career that spanned four decades and to how he was able. If you know them, you know her. But she never like, for whatever reason, she's like, okay, baby, you go do your thing. I'm going to hold this house down. I'm going to make sure the kids have X, Y and Z. You go ahead and build this empire. Takes a special type of person to do that, old Joe.

Yeah, it does.

Yes, it does.

Thank you for joining us for a special edition of Nightcap basketball. Want to thank Gilbert Arenas for joining us? Make sure you click hit the like button. Subscribe. Hit the subscribe button. We are now officially 500,000 subscribers on Nightcap. We could not have done it without you. Make sure you like and subscribe to Gil's arena channel. It airs Monday through Thursday Live at 11:30 a.m. Pacific time 02:30 p.m. Eastern time. We've also pinned Shay by La Portier at the top of the chat. The holidays are right around the corner. Make sure you go ahead and order yourself a bottle or for someone that you love. Your boy got to get to bed because he got to get up early tomorrow because your boy got to host first take me and the crew. I don't know who's going to be on there with me, but we'll have a great time.

What you going to do soon? This first take start tomorrow. What you going to do?

I was like, hey, how are you doing? I ain't been on tv in a long time, so I want to say, can I get in? Like, have mercy. So you see what I'm saying, Gil? As soon as I get, I just got the job at foot locker. He already want me to set a pair of shoes aside.

Have you ever seen it? I used to work at foot locker. As soon as you start at foot locker, you get a family discount. You have a family discount as soon as you on first take tomorrow.

I got no family discount.

I need to hear ochu, I know you're watching. I love you, baby. I'm going to get you on here one day.

That's all.

I don't know you watching. How I know you watching?

Oh, I'm going to be up because I'm going to be waiting on that shout out. I'm going to record my tv and I'm going to tweet it. I'm going to tweet it out. Yeah, that's my boy right there. That's my boy.

Yeah.

I appreciate you guys. It's time to call it a night. Gil, thank you for joining us. This Wednesday on NightCap, the special edition basketball, there's only you can do. Appreciate your insight, the lessons, the stories. Ocho nightcap. We're back again tomorrow. Thank you for joining us. All right, Gil Mahle, bro, appreciate you.

All right.

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