You're listening to DraftKings Network. This is the Dan Leviton Show with the Stuck At's Podcast. You've won a best of the Dan Levitonshow with StuGuds, starring our Best Hate Hot Takes. Dan Gundy hates The Banshees of NSHIRing. With former NBA Coach Stan Van Gundy. I have a couple of guys, one that I work with at TNT, a young guy and then a friend of my daughter's. They're both amateur film critics. They watch virtually everything that comes out and they give you the reviews. And so they were both telling me, Oh, you got to watch Vanchies of Inishearin. So I'm like, all right, not usually what I would pick, I watch that movie on a plane ride. I don't get it. I had to text both of them and say, You got to tell me what it is you like about this movie. It was depressing. It's getting great for you. It was terrible. I mean, that's probably the worst movie I have seen in a long time, and it's one of those I stuck with it. I wanted to quit. Stan is not fit right now. An hour into the movie and I'm like, well, these two guys, they're really into movies and they really analyze these things.

It must get better at the end. No, it kept getting worse. It was absolutely a horrible movie. And it's nominated for all these awards. Then I watched The Woman King and I love that movie and it's nominated for nothing. I mean, Viola Davis can't get a nomination, but the guys in Banches have been assuring, though. You got to be kidding. I am here for Stan Van Gundy's acidic reviews of movies that are universally applauded, getting ratings in the 90s because it's too depressing and Stan Van Gundy has no time for your art and stuff. No. Here's what happens, Stan. Here's what happens. Everybody watches that movie and think it sucks, but the thing is, is they... The critics, I'll tell you, Oh, this movie's great and the cinematography. You can't say it. You want to act like all sophisticated, like you actually noticed this clock. That's not true. You say you like the movie. No one actually liked it. I liked that movie. I like that movie. It was horrible. It was really good and it was funny. I think it was too nuanced. It went over your head on a little tiny, on a.

Little tiny, plain screen.

You had to action on.

The big screen fan.

You.

Want to be able to say like, Oh, yeah, it's nuanced and all this. The score, the costume design. It's like a real Starlet Green and get it. Just admit it. It was a terrible movie. Well, you like Bohemia and Rastody. It's more like a single minute of it. It was horrible. What's wrong with saying that? I don't know what the hell point they were trying to make, but this movie suck. Dan Hays, what Steven A.

Smith.

Has.

Done to sports TV with sports journalist and ESPN talent, Steven A.

Smith. I hate what you two have done to sports television. You can say that all you want to. I would say, who the hell are you to sit up there and say me and him? What about you? What the hell were you living under a rock teaching at Miami U? You were part of it, too. You ain't in it? I'm talking about all the imitators that you have birthed, all of the imitators that are all over the place thinking without the journalism credentials that the point of all this is to turn into an argument on television. Well, I would take on Bridget what you're saying in this regard, Dan. Those people who don't have a journalism background, who don't exercise journalistic ethics and beyond, how are we responsible for that? When our background is based on that. Skid Baylor was a journalist for decades. I was a journalist for decades. We come on television and those ethics are applicable. The fact of the matter is that when I take a position, it's the same position I would take writing a column. The difference is, instead of writing 800 words and being limited to that space, I get to talk for a few minutes on each subject.

When did it happen that I ignored the fact that I was a journalist for the Winsor- Salem Journal, the Greensboro News and Record, the New York Daily News, and then the Philadelphia Inquiry? Before I went to CNN, and then Fox Sports, and then ESPN, when did it occur in my career that I ignored the journalistic tenants that came with the job? Oh, it's not ignoring them. It's that they shrink in the face of the need for the argument as entertainment.

Dan.

Destroys Bill Burr's podcast. I have been accused by the group here of ending the podcast he did with Bill Burr. It was an unusual experience. I was backpedaling the whole time. Bill Burr was unreasonably angry at me, as he often is just generally not at me. He's an angry comedian. I don't know what this sound is, but I was the last guest on this podcast, and the group is telling me that I ended the podcast.

Well, the Bill Burt.

Podcast with.

Bill Burt.

And Burt.

Christer, it had a nice little run, but the last episode was June 2021, and Dan was the last guest.

I don't know, maybe.

Contracts ran out or Dan just singlehandedly killed the podcast. Another fun thing about this sound, though, is the audio quality. You could tell their podcast, it's all living in the pandemic. Before we figured out how to do audio from.

Home, I'm telling you, though, listen to this audio.

Bill's is bad and.

Dan's is bad. I just said that you seemed a little upset today because we had interrupted your grilling, and also because the city of Boston had lost the moral high ground after throwing a water bottle. At the very end, they had done so well. The bar was so low, Bill. The bar was so low. It was just Kyrie Irving said, Please don't say racist or do racist things out loud. Do you know why the guy threw the water bottle? Maybe he threw it because we gave up the team to bring him in and he was all moody and we lost all our momentum and we're still trying to rebuild. What about that aspect of it? There are plenty of reasons to be mad at Kyrie Irving in Boston that have done-No, no, no, that's not that. You know something, dude? I want to know where you live because I'm not saying Boston isn't fucking racist, but this fucking bullshit that white guys like you try to do that racism exists only in the south and in Boston, Massachusetts, is a crock of shit. I've been on the rope for 30 fucking.

Years and the.

People have said to me and because I got my wife, I got to go home to her and all of that shit. I had to learn how to fucking navigate knowing the N-word was coming. And that happened to me in every fucking state. So don't come at me, Dan, with, Oh, Boston. You're a bigot.

You're making all.

White people look bad. Get the fuck out of here. Hold on. Hold on.

Hold on. Hold on.

Get the fuck out of here. For the record, Dan.

Levitar is.

Cuban and they.

Are way more racist than.

White people. Who came at you? Nobody came at you. And I know America is racist. I believe this is-Then stop with this fucking horse shit that it's like everybody else can do their bullshit, right? And then all of a sudden it's just like, Oh, my God. How about every time the Lakers win a fucking championship within 20 minutes, a police car is turned upside down and on fire. What is that an expression of? How well they're being treated out there? That is not an expression of celebration I have ever understood. We've all come out of it. It's because they're being oppressed and they're getting pulled over for nothing and getting the shit kicked out of them. And that's what happens. And then what happens is once again, they go down there, they're just trying to have a good time because their team won the championship, and then they get this keep it moving vibe that they get every fucking day of their life. And next thing you know, a police car is upside down. So don't come at me with this, oh, Boston again. Get the fuck out of here. I came at you with anything, Bill.

I was saying hello to you. You did with the moral high ground like your heart was broken. My heart is not broken from what happened in the Boston Celtics game yesterday. My heart is broken as what happened in America over the last year. We come out of a pandemic. And as soon as we do, we're throwing popcorn at Russell Westbrook. We're spitting on Trey Young and we're throwing bottles at Kyrie Irving after what we just came out of. All right, well, in fairness to me, I don't watch the NBA because I think it's rigged. It's cast like a soap opera. Chris Coney, Mortify, just realized that you forgot to edit any of the words Bill Burr just said. There are bad words? Just a couple. Well, the podcast.

Listeners will have it bleep because I'll do it in post. But yes, I did in the sound they just heard, forgot to bleep it.

I love the visual of you back pedaling because I could see it like Jalen Ramsey. With a beeping sound because Dan's on the large. I didn't do it on the other side of the world. Bill Burr's.

After that was like, Okay, no more of these.

I want you to picture me backpedaling in Jalen Ramsey's uniform away from an angry Bill Burr. Will Arnet hates Dan Levitore.

Check, check one. Check, check. Doesn't Will Arnet hate you, Dan?

Does he?

Yeah, because you did an HQ interview with him, and you only asked... You started grief-eating, and the publicist was super mad about it.

At first, I'm hearing of it. Oh, it caused lots of problems. We lost a lot of guests because of it. Dan didn't even know? Well, it was supposed to be to promote the Lego movie, and instead it was about.

His addiction. Addiction? Yeah.

What's with this Dan, Levitard guy, anyway? Just can't resist. With club sauce. Club sauce. I'm learning right now. You guys could probably reveal to me a top 10 of things like that that I would learn right now. Taylor Leitner. He had a very powerful publicist who.

Made sure.

That you got no one for a.

Very long time.

First, I'm hearing of it. At Helms. Because I asked Will Arnett about addiction.

It wasn't what? Only about addiction. Only about addiction.

Why am I hearing this for the first.

Time now? It's not. You're always the last. I don't know who you're trying to fool, but it's certainly not the first time we've made you aware that Will Arnet hates your guts.

I love.

Will Arnet. And it's most certainly not the first time we've told you the ramifications of Will Arnet hating.

Your guts. I am telling you with 100 % honesty that I'm receiving this information. Don't you.

Think- I think Sue Gotts knows Will Arnet hates.

Your guts. I've gotten so many people angry over the years that I simply forget. I have so many in the library that Will Arnet, who I love, and I watch, I give no thought to when I'm watching him. None. Zero to that person hates me. I remember a terrible interview.

Tiffany hates me.

I hate Tom Cruise. With Canadian sportscaster and host of Cinefile, Edna and Bert. I don't believe anyone's gotten it here, even though they have gotten it on Cinefile, of your great distaste for Tom Cruise, because I believe people here will find it blasphemous. Yeah, absolutely. I'm sure it'll enrage and it will not endear, but I am proud of my stance, which is this, I think he's a horrible human being. And I understand we'd like to separate art from the artist, and oftentimes I can do that. I recognize a lot of these people are not people that are worthy of adulation. But in the case of Cruz, once I watched the documentary, it's called Going Clear, the case against Scientology. It's by Alex Gibbety. It's readily available to HBO and HBO Max. That film details just how cruel and abusive Scientology is and how it is not a religion. It is a cult, and it deals with people in such an inhumane manner. And here's the biggest issue with it. If you try to leave Scientology, they harass you, they belittle you, they ridicule you, they cause undue damage to you. So why is that Tom Cruise's fault?

Well, David Miskavitz is the guy who runs Scientology, the cult leader. And, of course, him and Tom Cruise are best buddies. It might as well be Cruz is his consulier, his guy. He is the west-known Scientologist in the world. If Cruz just wants to, Hey, Miskavitz, let's take a knee. I'm not sure if some of these acts are appropriate. I'm not sure we should be doing this, things would change. But because Cruz is unwilling to do so, he's complicit in the damage that it causes and our refuse to stand idly by and say this guy is a great person. I will not deny he is undeniable charismatic. He makes really entertaining movies. He's made a ton of money. He's worked with some great directors, but he is such a ridiculous human being. And he stands for something I just can't abide by Dan. I can't support the guy. I just can't do it. The grassman falls out with Goodell. With George Thoma, aka the Sodfather. George, thank you for that. The God of Sod. That's right. Thank you for joining us. Just give us your overall view of what's happening right now with this controversy, George.

And thank you again for making the time again.

Well, actually, I'm 94 years old, and I've been in this game for 81 years, so I've seen a lot of grass. But the NFL on playing fields went downhill 17 years ago when Roger Goodell took over. Me and Roger Goodell were excellent friends. He took care of me. What a great guy he was. But in those last 17 years, maybe 12 times, we had bad playing fields. There's problems all over all the time. I mean, last year at the Super Bowl, when I got out there, I said, This field can't be played on the side. It was accident. But instead of the side being laid on a pool table, it was laid on the plowed-up sad farm, humps and bumps. The two practice fields, four practice fields couldn't be played on because they were all bumps and humps and things.

Like that. George, we covered this with you last time when you were on with us. You were very strong.

We hate Eddie Mankin.

We are so down on Eddie Mankin. We know that you have some problems with this, but we need your expertise because the Super Bowl was a disaster. It's not your fault. You were embarrassed by it. You tried to do everything you could to prevent it. But you just said that the fields have gone to shit under Goodell for 17 years. I want to hold your feet to the fire here. Artificial turf. Dangerous for the players? More dangerous? Yes or no?

Well, it's who maintains it and how you maintain it is up to you and the team. But you have to maintain artificial turf that you like to do grass. But grass is better for the players. And I'll just say something now that this past year was a bad year for the NFL on grass. They had a bad game field, practice field, but they also had bad grass in Germany and bad grass in Texas. In our shop talk, Eddie Mankin said the grass in Germany was trash. The way he put it, he said the grass in Germany was like trash, like Wayne Ward is trash. Wayne Ward is the groundkeeper for the Tampa Bay, and he hates him. From other sources, they said the field in Germany was bad, plus from other sources, the field in Texas was bad. But bringing this up with Roger Goodell, it didn't help. I'm in their little depression because for the last two years now, Roger Goodell hasn't talked to me. I didn't murder anybody. If you murder somebody, they still talk to you. But this put me in a depression. I'm fighting for safe playing field. The last few years, they didn't.

In my book, they don't care. But Roger and I, Goodell, was close. But when I told him that Troy Vince is not doing the job in his last 10 years there, and the league's not doing this, half safe playing fields, and he just blew me off. But here not to talk to me in two years or go over the situation, that's-.

It is- I agree with you. The NFL has both a grass problem and a Roger Goodell problem, it sounds like.

Roger Goodell, I was close. I think he got mad at me when I said, Troy Vincent didn't do the job. When he first took over the job, he was in Canton, Ohio, and the bad artificial turf, the logo, they had to cancel the game. The next day, he went on TV and says, I'm new on this job, and this will never happen again. Then but it did happen again. They went to Mexico Council and then their last 10 years, six times the field was bad. The only way this would get settled, if I, George P. Toma, can meet with the Players Union, the owners, the coaches, and even the NCA that play on these fields and get all these people to get here, let me talk to them and tell me what the problems were and I could help them to all of you this problem. But you think that will ever happen? No, because- It needs to happen.

They're scared. Put it on the poll at Levitard show. Does George P. Thoma need to get a meeting with the owners, the players, the coaches, and the NCA? Handope. Yes, and everybody. George, we love you. You're right. Close us out here. Punctuate the segment.

Okay, one thing I like to say, if they don't do it, we have to take it to the government. Yes.

We.

Have to take it to the government because of the plea for playing conditions, and they don't give a damn. For Cooper Cup. They're injuring.

The players, George. They're injuring them. Because they don't give a damn, then.

They don't. They don't give a damn. But the only one that's going to do, Mr. George, Pete told him we're having a meeting. And if they don't listen, we go to the government and let the government bring them in. They've been doing that for the last 17 years. And… Roger, I don't know why you hate me for the last two years you haven't talked to me. We're such good friends. We could have settled this problem years ago. Like gentlemen. Right. But just like Troy Vincent, don't care, have a bad playing field. I saved his fannie, and sometimes they didn't give a damn like the Super Bowl 50 where the field was bad, and I say, and people say it was sabotage. Preach. But who cared? It was Ned York. He had Ned York hired a man to investigate this because he was so perturbed because it was played on his field. And they found out, what everybody knows, that they screwed it up and they didn't give a damn, and it could have been sabotage. But again, if they don't listen to me, but I can straighten them out. I think the only way is take these people to the government and have bad working conditions.

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With.

The.

Stugat.

My chair, Kate Samson. Hollywood show runner, Mike Shear, and David Samson. Host of nothing personal with David Samson discussed corporate.

Grand sports. How does Mickey Ears and lose money every year?

The expenses of running the Heat are greater than the revenue that he gets from running the Heat. So the Heat as an actual entity, the entity of the team loses money. Of course, you can argue that that's a worth it investment because the team is going to appreciate and value, but he can't take that appreciation and fund the losses. The way to fund the losses is either by more debt or it's by funding it himself with checks that he could write from other revenue that he gets, from investment income, from carnival salary income, whatever he does. He has to put money into the heat in order to cover losses on a yearly basis. Eventually, him, his family at some point, they could monetize that but at this point, they're not.

So he loses money every year. The expenses of running the team are greater than the revenue is what you're saying.

Yes, I am saying that. And the majority of sports teams are like that.

No, they are not. The majority of sports teams on paper report losses because laws were changed in the early 90s, allowing teams... Well, allowing businesses first to do complicated accounting and amortize down assets and write off a bunch of stuff. Interestingly, in the early '90s, those losses, those paper losses, they're not real losses, they're paper losses, sports teams were excluded from that law specifically because they knew exactly what would happen. And then about a decade later, those laws were changed to include sports franchises. And you know who changed them? George W. Bush, the part owner of the Rangers, who did all of his buddies in Major League Baseball and elsewhere a big favor by allowing them to depreciate certain paper terms, paper assets, and claim that they were losses. Paul Biston, the guy who used to run the Blue Jays, famously said, I can make a $4 million profit, turn into a $2 million loss using very standard and legal accounting practices. That's what they all did. When you say that the teams lose money, you're not including the fact that by losing money, in quotes, what they're doing is writing down a bunch of paper losses on things that aren't actually losses, like the revenue that comes in from TV contracts, which is not in any way a depreciated loss.

Yes, technically, according to the law, they've lost money, but it's only because the accounting rules changed and allowed them to report as losses every year, things that are not actually losses. That's why they claim that they lose money every year when in fact, they don't. The way that you know that is ProPublica did this huge exposé very recently where they talked about Steve Ballmer and how Steve Ballmer bought the Clippers. When he bought the Clippers, the Clippers were reporting profits every year. Then suddenly, the Clippers lost like $700 million on paper over a period of time. He claimed that the Clippers were losing money. The reason that doubly sucks is because if you report that your team lost a ton of money, you can sell other assets up to the level of your paper losses and not pay taxes on them because you are technically speaking, have no income. What you're saying in this argument is.

Essentially- I haven't been able to.

Say anything. -if I have $5 in my pocket, but I own a million dollars of Microsoft stock, a million shares of Microsoft stock, if I lose that $5 from my pocket, but the Microsoft stock goes up 10 bucks, you're saying, Today, I lost $5. That's one of the things you're saying. That's patently absurd. No one in the world would say, Oh, that poor guy, he lost five dollars when a million shares of Microsoft stock went up 10 bucks, and now he has 10 million more dollars. So when you say they lost money, you're just being lawyerly, legalistic, and you're shilling for the ownership class by claiming that that's an actual loss. It's not an actual loss in no way, shape, or form. They manipulate the way that they report income and revenue and appreciation and depreciation to get to the point where they can claim on paper, Oh, we lost three million dollars this year. And by the way, you, of all people, should know this because when Dead Spin reported out the finances of Major League teams, you specifically were caught misleading about the amount of money that the Marlins had made. You were in that article.

I went back and read it yesterday. Of course, I'm in it.

You were.

In that article specifically your name quoted.

You can't hold the segment hostage by going into the end of the segment and not giving anyone a chance to talk. But you can, I guess that's what you do. I'm not telling you how to be a showrunner. I'm not telling you how to be a brilliant writer. I know exactly what you're talking about, but you're not telling the truth and you're using sources that are not accurate. Go. Okay, start with I'm talking about cash losses. Mickey Harrison has to finance the operation of the team with sources of cash. I'm not talking about paper losses. The depreciation that you're talking about, basically, for the assets, when you buy a team, there's a five-year depreciation. I'll keep going, Mike. We can go class by class with what you can depreciate and how long the depreciation is for player contracts, for the equipment, for every asset and an asset purchase agreement. I'll go one by one in the last minute, 23. But you, with your absolute perch, where you get to say how it happens and how we do it because that is what your raison d'être is as you sit in your beautiful house with your beautiful money, you are absolutely misinformation.

Let's start with Deadspin. They did not show you. I don't give a cuss about EBITDA. It doesn't matter to people who actually own a business. What EBITDA means, that's when you can play around. That has nothing to do with operating income or cash requirements of a business at the end of the year. When presidents have to go to owners to get money to fund a business, that's what I'm talking about. Mickey Harrison is required to put money in. You can talk about $5 and Microsoft all you want, and it's an absolute apples to oranges. When you lose $5 out of your pocket and you have a share of stock that you did not cash in and you need that $5 to get on the subway, guess what? They don't take a share of Microsoft, Mike. You can't go and say, Hey, let me on the train. No, you need the five dollars.

Pat Riley hates Jimmy.

Butler on Media Day. I want to switch gears briefly before we get to your review and cover another local story, which was Jimmy Butler's Media Day appearance that the Heat socials had fun with. Then came a report from Michael Wallace, who used to be based out of Miami. He was part of ESBN's Miami Heat Beat before relocating to Memphis, where he said 98 % of the heat front office wasn't down with what Jimmy Butler did. It was a weird percentage.

98.9. It's a weird size. 17 of them? Yeah.

He said that this isn't in line with heat culture. It's not in line with heat culture. It's to look at me. I was curious what your thoughts are because I'm pretty sure Pat Riley views that and doesn't get it at all. But Jeremy and I were talking before the show that we actually think Jimmy Butler did the Miami Heat organization a big time solid by taking all the attention and on himself rather than their failings this postseason and offseason. Absolutely.

I mean, him coming in and being.

Emo Jimmy during.

Media Day was a huge distraction from all of the.

Other questions about.

Damian Lillard and Tyler Hero and Kyle Lowry not speaking and all of the other.

Storylines that we.

Could have been focused on. Instead, I was coming in.

And doing.

Piano covers of.

Emo songs.

I've got second-hand information, which means it was not directly told to me, but directly told to me by someone who's a part of it. I absolutely believe that thisperson 100 %. Jimmy Butler and the Heat, it's not a love affair by any stretch between the front office and Jimmy. Jimmy is a player who is like many superstars. He can be selfish and he plays by his own rules, and it can be frustrating to Pat and to others who are into discipline and into togetherness and into what goes here, goes there. So I think they look at Jimmy, I think they think it's tired, but he's so good. And that's the problem when you've got a player like Pudge Rodriguez who's the biggest pain in the neck ever and leaves your team in the middle of the year to say F. U. To our hitting coach to go to his own hitting coach and then lies about it. The players are having a hard time with him in the clubhouse or a Hanley Ramirez. But then you win, it's pretty hard to argue. You don't have to love them off the court, but you love them on the court.

I think that's the case with Jimmy. I don't think there's a lot of love off the court, but boy, is he a special player on.

The court. Okay, but let's talk about some of the separation here because I think it matters. 98.9 would be 9 out of 10 people in the heat front office is what we're.

Roughly doing. Jeremy is pretty plugged in. We know people in that organization. I think that's overestimating. It's a slightly high number. By quite a bit, especially considering everyone had fun with it.

Okay, but I'd go one step further. Okay, because this is not hard to understand from any vantage point. 100% of Pat Riley doesn't like the idea of somebody showing up at his sacred cathedral of military learning and making a costume party out of it. I have not talked to him. Get Damian.

Lurey to the exact counterpoint.

Land the whale, and then you don't need people causing distractions. Agreed and understood. I told you he was failing the city. To me, though, the best part of this is, of course, the 78-year-old guy is going to get battered around by, Well, when I brought Shaq in here, because my move for the last 15 years is I'll try and get the giant guys and keep people caring for 20 years when sometimes Sacramento goes those 20 years without anything. Orlando goes those 20 years. I'll keep getting the guy. So it goes Shaq. Shaq comes in and he's his own economy. He's not heat culture. He's Shaq culture. He's got his own people. He shows Wade some bad things about what it is to be a star before Wade realizes what it is to be a star. I'll bring you LeBron, I'll bring you Bosch, and then I'll get you Jimmy Butler. At the end of this run for both of them, Jimmy Butler and Pat Riley, there's two generations of between them and how they think about sports and what Media Day is supposed to mean. Of course, there's going to be.

Conflict there. Are you arguing for the sanctity of Media Day? He loves Media Day, Mike. The entirety of Hot Seconds with Jacks?

I'm sure Riley didn't.

Like.

Shaq's squirt gun either.

Okay, just deal with it. Agreed. Yes, of course, the stars rule. Why is he arriving with a squirt gun? I know, but you guys say yes. But of course, the stars rule. And Lillard didn't because the organizations have taken the power back.

Can you explain why there is any hate toward Pat Riley and concern that he doesn't get the whale when all he does is get you guys these? All he did was get you rings as the most.

Successful.

Manager of the next time. Lebron did. They've lost three consecutive finals, getting there is a massive achievement. They were in the play in last year and went on one of the more unpredictable runs in history. No, I'm not hating Pat Riley. I love Pat Riley, but I am presently criticizing Pat Riley. I think you can operate in a world where you do both. You respect the man and what he's done with this organization as an executive down here in Miami. It's been brilliant. But it's not exactly nitpicking to say he's missed out on his last eight superstar pursuits and the Miami Heat.

Or Warsaw four.

Wait, who's eight? Name them.

Kevin Durant twice. Donovan Mitchell. Damian Lillard. Jimmy Butler the first go around. Russell Westbrook twice, Bradley Beale, James Harden, twice. That's 10.

Those all sound like guys that.

Really wanted the Miami Heat. By the way, you're welcome, is what Pat Riley should say to you. Which of those players maybe Durant the first time? Maybe Durant the first time, maybe Butler the first time, but I think Butler was better for the Heat the second time because he was a little more mature. But all of that said, are you so sure that Lillard is the difference maker on the Heat team? Are you 100.

Percent sure that.

That money is going to bring you a title?

Well, he is on Milwaukee.

Yeah, I think Damian Lillard trolls into to Biscayne, and he's the best player. He's the best player on the team. Did they win a title? You can say playoff, Jimmy, and I can counterargue that with playoff, Jimmy had looked bad as finals, Jimmy, and he's just getting older. I know Damian Lillard is 33, but I think Damian Lillard trolls into a team that made the NBA finals and makes them better. A team that really struggled offensively, struggled to keep up with the Denver Nuggets offensively. I think he solves a lot of that. And now he goes to a rival that you upset and they get better and Boston says aggressive, knows that their roster isn't good enough to beat Miami. What do they do? They flip the script and they go after somebody that you were interested in and you get your lunch money taken from you. I think you can criticize Pat Riley's failings this offseason and not come across as a hater.

What he had done.

Though, the Blazers got a way better package for Lilliput than what Miami was offering. He could have done. Maybe they could have gone out and facilitated a three-way. That's what they could have done. But the assets the Blazers got way better than what the Heat were offering.

That's what they could have done. We only know the post spin on what the Heat supposedly offered, where they just found three draft picks and Joe Vitch hiding under the couch. Because before, the person that I trust the most when it comes to heat reporting was telling me he was Tyler Hero, take it or leave it, and they haven't spoken in months. I'm going to say it's not too much of a stretch to say they should have done better there.

There is more information on that, though, that I had not considered in some of what my information was on this, which is the heat were legitimately stunned that there wasn't back and forth of any kind there.

Pretty stupid games, win stupid prizes. They drew a.

Hard line. No, but after months of Portland not dealing with us and Portland maintaining that stance throughout because Portland, as far as I know, never got to the point of knowing what the assets in Brooklyn and Utah were available in exchange for Hero. That the Phoenix part of the deal also fit with Miami-Anne Lowry. That that part of the deal worked. Then the other part of the deal, Portland never heard or entertained. Then after that, the hard line was drawn. The hard line was drawn after it was drawn first by Portland. There was no communication.

I want to keep my eye on the ball here because they also lost out on Bradley Beale. Bradley Beale would have helped this basketball team. Bradley Beale could have been head for peanuts. They decided against that.

It's not peanuts. What's his salary?

Excuse me. Again, I don't care about the luxury tax, and I shouldn't.

Because you don't run the team.

I shouldn't care. I'm a fan. He's a fan, David. I see other owners spending into the luxury tax to maintain competitors. I have a championship window that is shrinking by the day, and I don't care about Mickey Erison's financials. We've gone into it. He got the team for nothing.