Dame & Hali Are BACK, Giannis Embraces Heat Culture & D-Mitch Defends Harden's Legacy Part 2

0:00 All right, well, let's shift over to the other side of this.

0:02 Tyler Hero spent his first seven seasons with the Heat before getting moved back to his hometown in the honest trade.

0:08 So during a recent interview on SiriusXM's NBA radio, Hero.

0:12 Had this to say about how the Bucs training camp compared to the Heat. He said, honestly, it surprised me it's been just as intense. I hear about different organizations and such, but being with new Bucs head coach Taylor Jenkins, I feel like he's just as intense, if not even more. So co-host Frank Isola said, Responded by saying, basically, other teams do have culture, not just Heat culture. And Hero responded to that by saying, exactly. That's what I found out quick. Then fellow co-host Brian Scalabrini, the white mamba, quipped about the Heat being the only organization that works hard.

0:43 Hero replied, that's what I was told when I was there, which caused all three of them to start laughing. So, Tyler Hero, keeping it real or hating on Heat culture, Drew?

0:53 It's a little hate. It's a little hate. I ain't going to lie to you.

0:56 One thing I can say, I don't even know the roster with Milwaukee, and I don't want to diss Milwaukee, but usually the teams I was on that wasn't going to be good, we worked hella hard in training camp.

1:06 In training camp. Yeah.

1:08 So the coach could be like, you know, he could be demanding. He'd know what type of year we're about to have. You know, it was going to be, you know, we're not going to meet those expectations in the deep east.

1:17 So you're going to work extremely hard. Hey, man, you said you don't know the roster? Whew, boy.

1:23 I just pulled it up.

1:23 There's some guys on there we know. Now, there's a lot of guys you don't. That's what I'm saying.

1:28 I'm just saying it's going to be the Shaq, who he play for. Yeah.

1:32 So, you know, those teams, you're always going to work extra hard in training camp because you're not going to.

1:37 Be that good. That's just how it goes.

1:40 They got to. Nah, man. There's some names you can recognize. No, no.

1:44 There's names you can recognize, but when you look at this roster. A whole bunch of side quests.

1:47 No, no, no.

1:48 When you look at this roster, they 30 wins and under for sure. Yeah.

1:52 Like, this is like.

1:54 I like Nate Amint. I watched him at Tennessee, but he's got a ways to go. Burries, Broom, A.J. Green, Tyler Hero, Jaime Jaquez.

2:05 Shout out Jaime Jaquez, UCLA legend, the pride of Camarillo.

2:08 Okay, Kyle Kuzma, Karis LeVert, Kevin Porter Jr., Ryan Rollins, Cormac Ryan, UNC legend, Gary Trent Jr.

2:18 Oof. Bad getter.

2:19 The bad getter, Gary Trent Jr.

2:21 Hey, listen, don't let Pablo Torres look into Gary Trent Jr.

2:24 man.

2:25 But if you look hard enough, I'm just saying. Hey, if Pablo gets a look at you, that Gary Trent Jr. contract don't make no sense, do it. But to your point, that roster is... There's some guys, there's some names on there that we know. There's some young guys with talent.

2:43 Khalil Ware. I like Khalil Ware. I like him.

2:46 That roster, and we just talked about how strong the East is. That roster is... That's a lottery roster. They're going to win. That's what they're doing. You look at their draft. They just lost Giannis. That roster's not supposed to be good. You just lose Giannis. Okay, we're trying to develop this season by developing our young guys, figuring out who can play, who's part of the future, and how high of a draft we can get to bring more young talent.

3:10 On this team. This might be one of those.

3:15 You think 25 wins and under?

3:16 No, no, no. Yes.

3:18 But it's one of those teams where I got a bunch of young kids, Burgess like Nate. I got a bunch of young kids in here who don't know.

3:30 What this NBA is. Yeah. Yep.

3:33 And I got a bunch of veterans on this team.

3:36 They better act right. but can throw it off a little bit.

3:39 That can show them, hey, whoa, he yelling at you, but this nigga weak as a... I don't know if I want the contradiction here. I might just send some of these niggas home.

3:49 You might have to. And just be like, you know what? Don't even worry about it this year.

3:52 Because I can program them into what I want them to believe in.

3:58 For sure.

3:59 Right?

4:00 But these veterans.

4:01 That's going to be playing, you're not just going to run me through the mud just because we got some young boys here.

4:07 They ain't got a lot of bad vets on this team. I mean, when you look at the roster, like, the only one, I mean, there may be like one guy I see that could be a possible problem.

4:18 Huh?

4:19 I don't want to say this.

4:20 I don't want to say this.

4:21 There's a few on there that just will throw off your whole shit.

4:26 Yeah, but that's the thing about playing on a team like that. you know it's not about wins and losses. They're not going to say it, but it's about development. So if one of your.

4:35 Bucks culture, Brendan.

4:36 Yeah, Bucks culture.

4:38 You're right. Fear the deer.

4:39 Because of Bucks culture, because they're trying to reset the culture, they don't have to be afraid to say, hey man, listen, this guy, if you're a veteran, we don't care how much you're making, sit down. I'll bench you. I can bench you because... No one's going to, like, if we're trying to win games, I can't bench my best player.

4:54 Right.

4:54 But if I'm trying to show my young guys that defense matters and this guy hasn't got back the last three possessions, yo, come sit down. And if you got something to say, so what? Like, we look at the roster. This is going to be a 25-win team probably.

5:05 Well, they did that last season with Giannis.

5:08 I might be overselling them.

5:10 Sit down, Giannis.

5:11 I don't care about the pregame workouts and the 360s and the windmills before the game.

5:15 Like, I believe he wrote, but I don't. Yeah, I'm not writing. Like, I don't. So you don't believe. But I'm not going to.

5:22 If you're coming to a new team, you're not going to say, yeah, Heat culture was the best and you're here now.

5:27 That's like kind of shitting on a new program. For sure.

5:29 So you're going to pretend that it's the same.

5:31 You know what I mean?

5:33 So I don't expect him to push Heat culture over the new place he's at.

5:39 I agree with that. You're going to try to big up the new place. Taylor Jenkins culture. Taylor Jenkins first season with the Bucs.

5:44 Yeah, but we.

5:45 I like Taylor Jenkins, too.

5:46 He's a good coach.

5:46 Really good coach. Good coach. Coach, job with the Grizzlies. Taylor Jenkins is a good coach, man.

5:51 Who's responsible for the Grizzlies?

5:52 No, when the Grizzlies were winning, that was Taylor Jenkins.

5:56 He was out there playing?

5:59 No.

5:59 Oh, okay.

6:00 He's out there doing the game, playing like the.

6:03 Rest of the coaches, man. I just thought the thing was out there playing.

6:05 No, man. All right. Okay.

6:08 Let's keep this moving, but before we do, shout out to everybody in the chat. Chat, if you're not done so already, Make sure you hit that like button. We're trying to get these numbers up. Let us see if your like button still works. And also make sure you subscribe to the show. Trying to run these numbers up for this season. Hopefully get a bigger bag.

6:23 Oh, yeah.

6:23 That's always what it's all about. I want that Gary Trent deal, Gil.

6:26 Yeah.

6:28 I'll take care of you now. Technically, we kind of had it here. I'll take care of you now. It was just working right.

6:33 Can I get the Gary Trent deal for next year?

6:35 Yeah, of course. Put it in my hand. Put it right there. Put it right there. There we go, there we go.

6:42 You know, like you play Mario Kart. You know, you got that little secret jump. We all going to the finish line. I'm going to just wait right here and do a little jump down, get to the back a little bit faster than y'all.

6:54 Man, I don't know what clutch got on the bucks, man. I don't know how they got that deal with it.

7:01 Man. Important to have a good agent in this guy.

7:04 Rich Paul got some info on somebody out there.

7:06 His name ain't Mo Paul. He do magic. All right, let's keep this moving. Stay in the Eastern Conference.

7:13 So Cavs reached the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time with a team that didn't include LeBron since 1992. That would be something to celebrate if not for what happened in that series as the Knicks absolutely embarrassed them. Started with Cleveland blowing a 22-point fourth quarter lead in game one. Ended with a 37-point loss on their home floor with Knicks fans taking over the arena and chanting Knicks in four. And with head coach Kenny Atkinson saying that analytically the team had won two Of the first three games in that series, analytically, did not matter.

7:44 They got swept.

7:45 James Harden received a ton of criticism throughout the playoffs. In Cleveland's season-ending Game 4 loss to the Knicks, scored 12 points on a 2-for-8 shooting, went 0-for-6 from three, had five turnovers. It was one of several games in Harden's playoff career where he finished with more turnovers than Meg Field goes. So after that game, Donovan Mitchell was quick to jump to Harden's defense, and he did so again this week.

8:08 Saying the following. Look at our graphics. That's our graphics team over there.

8:13 Said, I truly believe the only reason he's not talked about like LeBron and KD is because of championship convos. Seeing his influence on the group, passion behind intention and trying to be the best at what he does really puts in perspective how BS a lot of those narratives are. So Harden played in 191 career playoff games, which is the second most played without a chip behind Karl Malone.

8:35 So, D-Ray, we're going to start with you.

8:36 Do you respect Donovan Mitchell's for continuing to defend James Harden amongst the critics.

8:41 Yeah, that shows me good teammates. You know, somebody that's got my back. You know, when you're on a quest with a team, you want everybody to be on the same page. You want to show that, yo, I got your back. I'm here for you, dog. Like, don't worry about that noise. Let's just go out there and handle our business. So I respect that from Donovan Mitchell, and that's that leadership we're talking about. You know, him being an up-and-coming leader, up-and-coming superstar, that's what he has to do at times. So him taking up for James Harden, I respect that for sure.

9:10 So B.

9:10 Wood, Donovan Mitchell, after they got knocked out, spoke very highly of James Harden. They both signed extensions with the Cavs to stay in Cleveland and try to build on what they did last season. When you hear Donovan Mitchell still coming to defense of James Harden and the quote-unquote BS narratives around him, you agree, disagree?

9:27 I agree for Donovan Mitchell. I think that's what he's supposed to do. Like Darrell said, I'm supposed to come to the defense of my teammate, who is James Harden.

9:35 But do I think it's a BS narrative?

9:37 Nah, not really. I think James is incredible, and we've seen James have some of the most incredible regular seasons that I've ever seen. But when you get up there, when you're in that rarefied air of where James is, and you start getting compared to your contemporaries, it's not just the people think that James Harden gets his negative rap just because he doesn't have a championship. It's not the fact that he doesn't have a championship. It's the way that he's lost those playoff games. There's so many games where he has more turnovers than made buckets and they lose. There's so many games where it's a big time moment. It's a elimination game and they lose. I can ask a question. I'll ask it to the panel.

10:20 What was the James Harden playoff legacy game? All the stars have one.

10:26 Yeah.

10:27 Like, you think about LeBron James, you can go to the game against Golden State or you can go to the game against Boston. LeBron James' legacy game.

10:37 Yeah.

10:38 You know, you can go to Steph Curry, him and Klay in game six against OKC. You have a bunch, even against James Harden that fourth quarter where Steph's playing terrible. In Houston, they eliminate him. Legacy moments. Dame Lillard, he doesn't even have a championship. The wave shot, legacy moment. What was the game where James Harden just wouldn't let the team lose and he willed them to a playoff series win? That is why James Harden gets so much criticism because we see the regular season James be up here and then he doesn't live up to the expectations a lot of times in the playoffs. And then on top of that, he doesn't have the moment. He doesn't have the Kobe moment. He doesn't have that Kobe moment

11:23 that he had in the fourth quarter against the Trail Blazers and we makes the play to Shaq. He doesn't like the greats. They have those moments that we would tell our kids about that. You see it over and over again on the loop. What was James Harden's legacy moment?

11:38 I don't have it. He don't have it.

11:40 That is so if I was talking to Donovan Mitchell, I say that's why it's not a narrative. He's so great that he needs a legacy moment. He needs a moment to define his career and stamp it. He's going to the Hall of Fame, but when we compare him to other Hall of Famers that are as great as him in the regular season, they all have those moments.

11:57 We're looking for Jameses.

11:59 I agree 1,000%. I don't know what it is for James. What can get him over that hump?

12:05 Conversation.

12:07 What conversation?

12:12 I went down the rabbit hole You can't be that great at scoring the ball and then all the closeout moments.

12:25 It's duh, duh, duh, duh, duh. That doesn't make sense. Because mentally you've been to the mountaintop back and forth. Your brain has done things that other people can't. He suffers from something that's rarely.

12:44 It.

12:46 Seems like.

12:49 When the game is on the line and we need this win, he goes into.

12:56 Playmaking mode.

12:59 For some reason, I think he thinks his will is, I need to get everybody to... I need to be this playmaker that... So he stopped shooting. If you look at even games, they've won last year and go through his resume. The 16 shots, 16 shots, 16 shots, eight next round, 17, 16, 15, 10.

13:26 Right.

13:27 So it seems like he's reverting to point guard to get everybody to ball. And then it's like, that conversation, hey, fuck them.

13:37 Be you.

13:38 What you did and what we need from you, we need you to score. We need you to put up shots. We don't need you to conform to being a pure point guard. But because he can play the point guard and play the shooting guard, it seems like for some reason he jumps more towards playmaking than it is natural scoring.

14:00 And it's just this weird thing. Like, I went through, watched the game and everything. I'm like, why are you passing the ball so much to these guys? Like, this is where they need you to go 20 shots, not try to get 20 assists. Because you not being aggressive takes away your assists anyway. So some of those games where he don't shoot 13 assists, like, it's like, no, that's not what they need from you. Yeah.

14:27 It's a weird thing. It was just, what is this?

14:31 It was a couple years ago. You remember, it was like James had a weird playoff moment and I called you? I called you and I was like, because, you know, I'm trying to figure out the mindset of a scorer since I was definitely not one. And so I was like, dog, as somebody that scored at such a high level, I said, why does James keep playing? And you basically, when you get Gil one-on-one, he gives you really great baskets. When you turn these cameras off and you just broke down, you're like, Well, the free throws go down, the game is a lot more physical, and James doesn't get any easy shots. He's like, he doesn't get any layups in transition.

15:03 He doesn't come off a pin-down screen. He doesn't get a quick post-up. You're like, you know how hard that is to score? He's like, I used to get easy buckets. So those easy buckets propel my confidence, and then that makes the tougher shots harder. That's another part of James' game. a lot of it is tween, tween, tween, tween, tween, step back with a man at the elbow, both boxes in the other elbow, at the top of the key, tween, tween, tween, you out there dribbling, they playing defense like Tupac, all eyes on me.

15:30 That's a hard way to live, Darrell.

15:32 So I think that combined with what has happened over time, sometimes in those moments that he just doesn't, it doesn't quite work. But to your point, when I called you, you said, yo, he, I said, when's the last, you said, when's the last time you seen him get three or four easy shots in a playoff game? I was like, You're right.

15:48 He doesn't get any. Flares, back doors.

15:50 When's the last time you seen somebody creating layups and spot-up shots for James?

15:55 No doubt. He doesn't get a lot.

15:56 Of easy, especially Houston James. He never really got any easy shots. I remember calling him up and asking him that. I wanted to know the mindset of his score. And he was just like, yeah, you want to get as many easy ones as possible. He said, you combine that with his free throws going down, because obviously they call less free throws in the regular season. I think that's one thing the league needs to do better, making that consistent.

16:15 But that's another thing.

16:16 So I Those all play into why James Harden probably, the scoring has gone down. And the narrative, or he doesn't have those big game moments because of what we've seen.

16:26 Yeah.

16:27 So it's like basically kind of overthinking the game then.

16:30 Overthinking the game.

16:32 It's too much in that moment in time. It's just one of those things that just, when you look at his playoff resume and you see them big dips in just him shooting.

16:44 Yeah.

16:45 It's going to always be the closeout. It's a closeout game.

16:49 I just really.

16:50 Believe he just overthinks who he needs to be. I've had conversations with him about just how he adapts. You know Joel Embiid is not there. You just came from Las Vegas. You know Joel Embiid is not there. You know you need to carry the team on the back. You go out there and score 40. Joel Embiid comes back, you take five, six shots.

17:13 What? What?

17:15 Crazy.

17:16 Right? But because he has the ability to be both people, it toggles sometimes. And it toggles in the wrong moment. But again, if you don't have easy plays, if you don't have backdoor, like with me, I can just sit there and say, you know what? They fucking trapping me on the pick and roll all the time.

17:35 All right.

17:36 Chin. Boom. Put me in the post. Yeah.

17:38 Boom.

17:39 All right, we're going to do that.

17:40 I'm going to do my little spin, pass it, hit him with a little flare, shoot that. If he fights over the flare, I'm going to backdoor, try to get the... Because I was in the Princeton, I found there was easier plays for me where the team defense.

17:57 couldn't guard me. Here, team defense got him.

18:00 How many times did you get an easy shot off throwing the ball one way and.

18:03 Getting a flare shot? That was easy. Oh, man.

18:06 And I knew if I said a couple good ones, I could set the flare screen and slip to the back.

18:11 And give me a little dunk. And that's all I needed. That big man go over the top. Hey! Ah!

18:16 I'm howling at the moon.

18:17 That's all I got. That's all I got.

18:20 But to your point, like I said, when we talk about James Harden, these are the things, these are the nuances. And that's why I'm glad we have hoopers to talk about this platform. It's not just James is scared. No, it's not that. It's like, yo, he don't get a lot of easy looks. He doesn't get a lot of easy looks. And then, like Gil said, that was another great point. You're having a hell of a day. I'm not going to lie to you. You're having a great day with your point. Toggling between scorer and passer and getting caught in between is the worst thing you can do.

18:50 And that's what we see a lot of times for James. And that's why he doesn't have the legacy. He's too good not to have a legacy. He's too good not to have a game where I can say that we talk about like, yo, man, remember when he has had everybody in Houston on his back and James dropped 45 and pushed him to the NBA champion? He's too good not to have that game.

19:09 Big facts.

19:10 So when you talk about Harden and his place amongst the greats in NBA history, how much should not winning a chip impact his legacy and career?

19:18 Lucky for him, the people that after you go from one to two, Whoever's going to be 1, 2, 3, 4.

19:24 5, 6.

19:25 They ain't won no championship either. Who's 4, 5, 6?

19:28 It'd be him, Iverson, and.

19:33 McGrady?

19:35 McGrady was the... You talking about.

19:37 That's a weird era. You got to really dive into that.

19:41 You talking about shooting guard?

19:42 Yeah, shooting guard. Shooting guard. Yeah, you got.

19:45 Yeah, the top, obviously, Jordan, Kobe.

19:48 D-Wade.

19:49 D-Wade.

19:49 Him and Iverson. Iverson. Yeah, him and Iverson.

19:50 That's going to be fighting over... Like, when it comes to T-Mac, which is weird... Like, I see T-Mac as a shooting guard. T-Mac wasn't a shooting guard, though. He was a small forward. And I think the end... Once he became T-Mac, the starting... it became this weird thing where it was like, oh, shit, he's getting voted in.

20:14 Oh, shit, Jordan came back.

20:17 Jordan, you want to move to the small four so you can start?

20:21 So they're moving.

20:22 The guys so other guys can get in, and that's what happened a lot with him. I remember in the Western Conference, people missed this. When he comes to Houston, it's him and Colb at the 1-2. But Nash ended up winning MVPs, right? So what happens is you had him at the two, then you got the three fours, which then became Duncan.

20:53 It was Duncan. No, no, no.

20:56 Duncan, KG, and Dirk.

20:58 Now you see where the problem becomes, right? Then you had Yao still starting, right? Right. So there's a clog here. Yeah.

21:08 Then Steve Nash wins MVP. So they're like, well, shit. One of our premier big men got to come off the bench. So now KG, Dirk or Duncan got to come off the bench because now Steve Nash has to start. So now they got to put him in the small four. Then they're like, oh, shit, this is a problem.

21:28 You know what? Y'all's hurt, right? Let's put one of these Duncan motherfuckers. Duncan, you can play the center, right?

21:34 So now, so Duncan's, so they're just moving the pieces around so these guys can start.

21:40 But Tracy McGrady's was a small forward. No, exactly.

21:43 But back to your point, Joe, what, Harden's legacy? I think Harden's legacy is still, like I said, obviously it becomes better if he went to championships.

21:52 Yes.

21:53 That's just how it is. Even if he wins a championship now, because we understand he's still going to be one of the driving forces on this Cleveland Cavaliers team. Now, you can't go win it as a role player. You can't go win it as the ninth guy. But if James Harden, if Cleveland were to shock the world, because right now most people probably wouldn't be picking Cleveland to come out the East. But if they made that championship run, we would most definitely have to talk about James Harden differently.

22:20 Because from a regular season standpoint, offensively, there's not many guys that have come through this association better than James Harden. Very few guys can be like, you know what? I want to lead the league and assist. Come back the next year and be like, hey, this year I'm about to lead that thing in scoring. Like, do you know how cold you got to be? I'm going to do it in both.

22:40 Yeah.

22:40 So very little guys have that. And then they can just talk about the regular season. When you talk about the regular season wins, go look at some of them Houston teams. Them rosters ain't great either. And he was carrying him to 50-plus every night, partying in every city. But he was going to show up at 7 o'clock and tween, tween to 50-plus win. So a championship just takes Harden to a different level.

23:04 And that's the thing that I be trying to tell people to see. Yes, he didn't win a championship. But to be honest, he was never on a championship caliber team. Them Houston AAU size teams he had, the Power Ford 6'5, the Shooting Guard 6'5, the small, like everybody's the same, like all small.

23:27 That's a shot of P.J.

23:28 Tucker. See, P.J.

23:29 Tucker going to come.

23:31 No, no. See? No, you did that. You did that.

23:33 You be taking shots.

23:34 That's my big baby one. No, no, no. Uh-huh. I didn't take a shot at him. He didn't take a shot at himself.

23:39 No, he said he wanted to take a shot in the bathroom. That's not me. I just pointed it out like, that's not the place you want to do that.

23:45 You might want to do that on yourself. And you need to set it by yourself.

23:48 But his teams was not no championship teams. And he had them second in the West. Like, you can't say he's not a winner because he didn't win the big chip. You really got to consider the teams.

24:01 He was pulling.

24:03 Like, his best team is winning. They actually went a little bit bigger. They had Trevor Reza. They had Ryan Anderson.

24:10 They had a big team. Like, that was nice. That was a nice team. But to your point. Then Chris Paul gets hurt.

24:17 Right?

24:17 It kind of, like, threw off, you know, some of that driving force. It was, all right, they lost to that one.

24:22 But the problem with Harden is he's had so many games that just mystify us.

24:27 Yeah, he has to miss it.

24:28 It's not just like the team. It's just like you're sitting around and you're looking around and you're like, remember that game where he got eliminated against the Spurs? And I want to say Tony Parker, a man who Ginobili didn't even play, if I'm correct. And he got up like, it was so bad, people were questioning, was he sick?

24:46 Because you think, oh, James Harden, Spurs going to win. I mean, Houston going to win this game. There's so many moments like that where you're like, why is he three for 17 with eight turnovers this game? And it's an elimination game. Even that elimination game when he was in Philadelphia, when they go to Boston and they have Boston on the ropes, they lost game six, you go to game seven, you're just like, you're seeing so many different teams where it's been the same problem, whether it's been Philly, whether it's been Houston, whether it's been the Clippers, and you're just like, hey, why is it in these moments you don't have at least a couple of Just legacy moments where it's just like, yeah, it's game seven

25:25 and James doesn't let the team lose. That is why he has that narrative. That's why he has that negative tag. Even though you are right, some of those teams in Houston, he carried them to the finish line. But man, a big time performance would have carried them over the finish line. And that is where you go back and look and you're like, yeah, some of them teams where you see some of these guys like, LeBron's first couple teams, they weren't.

25:49 Supposed to win the championship.

25:51 But he carried it in there. We forgot his first legacy moment. When he scored, what, 25 straight against the Pistons? Man, that Cleveland team was not that good, man. Listen, get on my back. 25 of them. What y'all gonna do? You gotta have those moments and that's what James has lacked throughout the course of his career. But it doesn't matter.

26:15 He's still gonna be known as a Hall of Famer. It's just Hall of Fame has levels to it. Like I always say, Hall of Fame is just like the club. You know what I'm saying? Guys like myself, I can't even get in that club. I'm looking at everybody partying inside. The Hall of Famers get in, James Harden and the guys with no rings, they in general population.

26:33 Mm-hmm.

26:34 Now, if you want to go behind the velvet rope with the sparklers and the baddies, you got to win a championship. See, they dancing in the middle of.

26:41 The dance floor.

26:42 If you want to go behind the velvet rope, you look at, oh, that's what Magic Johnson and Kobe at. They behind the velvet rope with the sparklers and the baddies. That's how you look at it. The Hall of Fame is an exclusive club. Role players, we on the outside looking in the window. James Harden, Tracy McGrady, they in gym pop. And all the guys with the championship, they got the tables in the sections.

27:06 And there we... You know what? I'm glad you said that. Man, that's why I'm back, baby.

27:10 You know what I mean? Melly told me I had to come back this week, man. The boss told me I had to come back.

27:15 Because I was trying to tell... I was trying to say.

27:17 When it comes... Because Nick always argues.

27:19 When I said.

27:20 Why are you arguing with Nick?

27:21 I said there's the elite, the elite... with championships, under them, it's just the elite.

27:29 Yeah.

27:29 The rest of.

27:30 Anybody else with championships, secondary with championships, Klay is not above the James Hardens.

27:36 No, no, no, no, no.

27:37 Hey, listen. Hey, listen.

27:38 He out there with me looking at the window. I've been trying... He might be a little bit closer. Hey, listen.

27:45 You know how you go to the club, you walk up there, and the bounce up there, Mr.

27:49 Thompson, you on the list. Hey, well, we know you ain't on there. Yeah, we know you.

27:54 Hey, Thompson, call Steps, see if he can get you in. You know what I'm saying? He might have a plus one, but we don't know.

27:59 If he wants to use it yet. That's sick. Rings matter. Rings definitely matter.

28:06 It's the top tier first.

28:10 I'm just thinking about the old days when it didn't used to be like that at the club.

28:13 What was it? I don't know.

28:15 Then it became all tables, and you got priced out and embarrassed.

28:19 You know what I'm saying?

28:21 One of those on that list. Okay, let's just say the olders on that list, when they talked about rings, there was a negative on the loser of the championship, right?

28:38 Second place, you know, I'm above third place.

28:43 You're not going to try to pretend that you lost in the first round is the same as me losing in a championship.

28:50 Yeah, it's not the same. Right?

28:52 That second place holds way more weight than you didn't even make it here.

28:56 So you're not going to make.

28:57 So when we talk about the legacy, the legacy is I got five rings.

29:02 I got four silver rings.

29:05 Right?

29:05 So that's how they looked at it then.

29:08 So that's why the Kareems and the Magics and the Birds, when we talk about, I went up against him, I lost to the champs. You didn't even make it to the playoffs. Why are you talking?

29:22 You know what I mean? I lost to the champions. I was runner-up.

29:26 If this was racing, I have a silver medal. I'm celebrated around here. That was the old thinking. So they didn't look down on each other.

29:37 About their rings.

29:40 And then when Jordan went perfect, he's over here like, All that losing shit y'all talking about.

29:47 All that silver shit. What is that?

29:49 That's just how Mike talked to you.

29:51 And that's what it is. I don't know about the fucking silver. This is all 14 cats.

29:55 But even still, you got to understand, there was, what, six, seven years where Jordan was going to the playoffs and he didn't get a championship. And they didn't. It wasn't really nothing like that.

30:05 Don't put him in there.

30:06 And all magic said, and this is why you have to talk to them. You have to talk to the older guys to really understand how they looked at the game. When they talked about Michael Jordan and people said in the 89-90, he's the greatest ever.

30:28 Remember, Magic got five rings. Yeah. MVPs. He does.

30:32 And when they talked about the greatest ever, all he said was, Let him win.

30:39 One first before we just give him the crown. No doubt. We know what he is.

30:43 We know what the man is, but we got to see if he can win one first.

30:48 I'm going to go ahead and tell you, Magic, that's the wrong thing to say to Mike, though. He took that as rocket fuel.

30:56 I went through game tape of interviews when Magic, when Jordan was going for his third ring, when he went for his third ring, Magic already said when it comes to who is the greatest player to ever walk this, play this game, it's him.

31:12 Yeah.

31:13 The only thing he's going to have over me is if he wins this third one in a row. But when it comes to who the greatest is, it's him. It's him already.

31:21 Yeah.

31:21 And he's going for a third ring. So they recognize what's what. That's when the eye tests actually matter.

31:28 I agree.

31:28 They just said, before you give it to them, let them earn it a little bit.

31:32 Once you get it, it's theirs.

31:34 The rings and the championships, that's only to dictate who's the best from the elite of the elite. And you've been saying this for a while now, the second and third tier guys don't go above, that have rings, don't go above guys that were great that didn't win. Like, hey man, I'm not putting... the third-tier champion on the team above Patrick Ewing. Because I understood what Patrick Ewing was doing for the Knicks back in the day. Like, hey, let's not do that. You know what I'm saying? And so, but because it's ring culture, everybody just said, oh, either you win and you're the champion or you lose and you're a bum and.

32:07 That can't be it. That can't be it.

32:10 There's got to be some nuances. There's got to be some levels to this. So that's why I said, always compare it to the club. And listen, when you're in that Hall of Fame realm, You were in the most exclusive club ever. And most of us NBA players can't get into that club.

32:26 You know what?

32:27 Security is telling us to go home. You can't get in here with white Air Force 1s.

32:30 Whatever you got on. And then you see them with their white Air Force 1s. Yeah, yeah.

32:35 You got two eyebrows? We ain't doing eyebrows tonight. You can't get in here.

32:40 You can't get in.

32:41 You know what I'm saying?

32:42 Hey, well, you can't get in.

32:43 Two eyebrows can't get in. Like, I'm just saying. But then, once you get inside that club, because it's exclusive, then there's a different level. And that's where you talk about Kobe, Mike, Magic, Larry. And that's how you differentiate. But you differentiate between the guys because certain guys are asked to do different things.

33:03 Draymond Green, and I know Draymond got a platform I don't want to come for me, but Draymond is asked to do something totally different than Chris Paul. Chris Paul has no rings. But he was asked to do something. Draymond Green was asked to do something totally different than Russell Westbrook.

33:21 Mm-hmm.

33:22 I'm not going to have a conversation about rings and just say, oh, well, he's here. No, they were tasked with doing different things. And that has to be discussed when we talk about championships.

33:34 And I went through them lists. I went through every list, every top 10, 2100. And when I questioned it, Everybody act like I'm the one. Wait, he ain't got no ring? He ain't talking about it. Hey, I ain't talking about it, but I don't see you on this list with four rings or five rings.

33:50 Or what's that?

33:51 I see six people in front of a dude who got six rings and he was the second option.

33:56 Scottie Pippen. Scottie Pippen.

33:57 In front of him, there's six players with no rings.

34:00 So it's like... And we understand Scottie was a dog, but what he was asked to do was different. Like I said, I don't ever... Scottie was an incredible dog, but what he's asked to do is different. When you're asked to be that main guy, that's a different level of responsibility. Hell yeah.

34:16 Every night. I said, you the driver of the car?

34:19 You doing auxiliary, brother?

34:22 You can't tell me you was more important to me? How? Yeah, yeah, motherfucker. I crashed. I crashed. Yeah. Fell asleep. You never even touched the wheel, God damn it.

34:31 You can't say you were safer driving than me.

34:34 That's crazy. You ain't even got your fucking license.

34:36 You called an Uber?

34:37 You called an Uber for the championship? Hey, man, you called an Uber, man. That's sick.

34:42 The Uber said you'll be here in six minutes.

34:44 The Uber said he'll be here in six minutes. No, don't do that. Black car. You can do that. You got a ring.

34:48 Black car.

34:50 Shout out to Uber Black. You got a ring, so you can say that.

34:53 I'm just saying.

34:57 In the backseat, huh? There's a bunch of niggas in the backseat. Are you in the backseat? Legs folded up, man. It's nice. It's comfortable. It's comfortable in here. This championship is good as lava, dog.

35:06 My Uber driver got mints.

35:09 He got a... Five stars. Five stars.

35:12 He got all the charging cords. And you're the guy that got the five cords?

35:17 Oh, man.

35:19 Cords I ain't never seen before, man. I don't even know what that charges, but I appreciate it.

35:22 Exactly, man. Just in case. All right, last thing. Back to these calves, if we can, real quick.

35:28 Donovan Mitchell signed a four-year, $ 273 million max extension with the Cavs in July. Harden signed a three-year, $ 97 million extension in August. We talk about pressure a lot here in the arena, but how much pressure is on both Donovan Mitchell and James Harden to build on their Eastern Conference finals run last season? Or do they get the bread and ain't no pressure?

35:48 One thing we can't take away from James Harden though is he's a worker. He's going to put that time in. He's going to work. So we can't take that away from him. Donovan Mitchell is the same.

35:55 He's a worker.

35:57 I think For that team to get over the hump, it's from the bigs. From Allen, from Evan Mobley. He has to have a big year.

36:05 Say that again?

36:06 Evan Mobley has to have a big year.

36:08 Got to step it up. Yeah, he's an X factor.

36:09 Coming off a defensive player the year before and then the following year, not really, in my opinion, taking that leap that we all thought he would do. So he has to take a big leap. Peyton Watson has to play at a high level.

36:21 That's a big time pickup. That's a big time pickup. Yeah, heck yeah it is. Big time pickup.

36:24 Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing how they all gonna mesh together and how quick they gonna, you know, start gelling.

36:30 I'm not sure how much pressure's on these guys, but I will say this. From a front line standpoint, when you look at Jared Allen, Mobley, and Peyton Watson, this team is put together well to hide James Harden and Donovan Mitchell defensively. So the team is put together really, really well. Evan Mobley is one of my favorite bigs in the league. And we just keep waiting to see if he's going to take that step and be a little bit more aggressive where they can feature him. So I think that would be huge. We know the backcourt's going to do what they do in the regular season.

37:00 I know Cleveland's going to make the playoffs. Where they're going to slot in, we're still trying to figure out the Eastern Conference. As far as pressure goes... Now, when you sign that contract, they already got their money.

37:10 Yeah, yeah. Ink dry.

37:12 Hey, hey, ink dry.

37:13 Hey, the ink dry.

37:15 Listen, whether they lose in the first round, the play in.

37:19 Hey, listen, hey.

37:21 Yeah, that money hit. That money hit. That first of the 15, they know. So I don't know how much pressure it's going to be on them to win. I just know that this team, I think, is better suited to win now that they have Peyton Watson at the small forward position, and they'd be a way better team if Evan Mobley can take that step up and they can run real offense through him at key times.

37:43 I agree. Joe?

37:46 I love when we talk about teams you don't care about. You make the same face. Like you're thinking about something. I already know you're not thinking about shit.

37:53 He care about this team.

37:55 No, I mean, my Adidas guys is there. I'm going to go with history.

37:58 Okay.

37:59 And the history in the last five years says they should be in the finals.

38:03 Yes.

38:04 What history says that?

38:05 Every team that lost in Eastern Conference Finals, you'd be fooled.

38:08 Last four Eastern Conference Finals losers.

38:12 I know this East looks a little different and there's a LeBron James there and history says he's in the finals just like the last times he was here. Mobley will need to step up. He's going to have to play at an all-NBA level. When you're talking about teams now. They have two legit stars. Yes. You can't say James Harden is still a star. He has to be in a little LeBron mode, right? You have to be the second guy who's trying to average 25 and 12. You have to be a dominant force every single night, right?

38:55 So when we're talking about stars, the top tier coming to play, you're talking about out of 82 games. That's why I don't like the 65 rule. 65 rule, that takes away A lot of progression. When you're talking about 82 games, when you're talking about a top-tier player bringing it, they're going to bring it 76 games. They might not have 76 games worth of just excellent performance, but the energy coming in, ready to go.

39:24 76, right?

39:24 Second team, 72.

39:30 If you're talking about 65 games that's all.

39:32 You need to play.

39:34 That that that means that your star that the star players is in the 50s 40s that's that was average yeah that was like the borderline that's Siakam 41 good ones, 41.

39:49 That type of game.

39:51 So he's going to have to come and play at an all-NBA level.

39:54 And then James.

39:56 No, no, no. And then James is going to have to. I don't even want to say pick your spots because that's what you've been doing. Just understand when it's that game, that deciding game, Be the James Harden that everyone is afraid of.

40:21 Yeah.

40:22 I agree.

40:22 We don't need you to pass the ball to Donovan Mitchell. Donovan's going to get the ball. The ball's going to find that man.

40:29 Right?

40:30 We don't need to set no fucking body up but yourself. If you go into those games like that, they are going, you're going to go to the next round. But if you think that you need to come out here and play and beat Magic Johnson, no. Magic Johnson wasn't Magic Johnson in them final games. Magic Johnson was green. Nigga, I got to be you and me. I'm passing it to myself. That nigga was like....

40:56 Shit, I... That nigga coming down, passing it to himself.

40:58 He didn't shoot the skyhook.

41:00 Yeah, shit.

41:01 I got to be both of us for us to win this closing game. So that's... Like, just be... I just say sometimes.

41:08 Be my.

41:09 And this is why I always watch tape.

41:11 Because tape don't lie.

41:13 Nope.

41:14 At all.

41:15 Be mindful of what you do because you're just doing it, right? Not knowing that it's here.

41:21 Like, be mindful.

41:22 Hey, when them game sevens come on, point guard clicks in.

41:25 Turn that bitch off. Turn that off.

41:27 I need James Harden fucking 50 straight games of 30-plus.

41:31 Cut that on.

41:33 And then I think once, like, he understands what he's doing, then, you know, he knows.

41:38 How to push the game.

41:39 And that might just, that little thing right there might take him over the top.

41:43 All right.

41:43 Guy was 24 and 8 last year in the regular season at 37.

41:47 Yeah.

41:47 37 years old, 24 and 8. Like you said, you know what he's going to get. And the coaching staff needs to help those guys out a lot, too.

41:54 Yeah.

41:55 Like, one thing I saw when they were killing James last year in the playoffs is when the Knicks were highlighting him in the pick and roll. There's no other star player that's not known as a defensive player that a coaching staff would allow to have, like, 15, 20 straight possessions of them going at your star player. Without making an adjustment.

42:10 Hey, listen.

42:11 Like, listen. The Knicks would say, oh, teams are going at Brunson. Brunson started running that old Steph Curry coverage where he would show and recover. That's what big men do. But they're like, nah, what you're not going to do is you're not going to go at Brunson for the last seven minutes of this game. And so those are the little things. That's something small, too. Like, hey. When they started wanting to go at James for his defense, we're not allowing that. We're going to double. We're going to show him recover. But what we're not going to allow you to do is put James on your best player like the Knicks did, put him on Brunson, and then highlight him and do whatever you want to do.

42:43 So that coaching staff got to be a little bit better. Obviously, James got to show up in those moments and be 24 and 8 like he was last year. And then we're looking for that step from Mobley. Cleveland does that. They might be able to surprise some people.

42:55 Yeah, I think so. I think so.

42:56 All right, well, let's keep this thing moving. Time to try and finesse some bread on Polymarket. This is Put That On Something. We're going to give you a trade on the Polymarket app. You got to pick a side and put that on something. So week five of the NFL season kicks off tonight with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers pulling up to Big D to take on the Cowboys.

43:15 Shout out Thursday Night Football.

43:16 Bucs are winless so far this season, looking to avoid their first 0-5 start since 2013. I'll have to do so with undrafted rookie quarterback Jalen Daniels running things, filling in for the injured Baker Mayfield. Meanwhile, Cowboys are 2-2 but lead the league in the last three weeks averaging 35 points per game. Cowboys are huge favorites in this game with 80% of traders picking them to get the win.

43:39 But let's take it to the couch. D. Wright, we're going to start with you. Who's winning the Thursday night game tonight, the Bucs or the Cowboys?

43:45 Well, I'm a Cowboys fan, so I'm rolling with the Cowboys. How did you.

43:48 Become a Cowboys fan? You're from Cali. Man, it's a long story, man.

43:52 My mom's best friend was the biggest Emmitt Smith fan. So anytime you go to her house, the lamp, The table placements, the cups, everything was Emmitt Smith and Dallas. So back in the 90s, I became a Dallas fan. Got to respect it.

44:05 Yep. Okay. B.

44:07 Willis, move over to you. The side of the couch. Bucs versus Cowboys. Cowboys, heavy favorites in this game. 80% of traders think they're going to get the dub.

44:14 Yeah, they're heavy favorites, and they're supposed to be. Cowboys offense is rolling. Bucs offense has been a disappointment. Starting to wonder about... Offensive coordinator Zach Robinson, it was a little bit shaky when he was in Atlanta last year. And now we've seen what Atlanta's been doing since Pennix has gotten back. Everything's rolling. And now we see Zach Robinson, the OC, has come to Tampa. And Tampa, a team that we thought was going to have a good offense, now they're struggling. So a struggling offense. versus the Dallas Cowboys, that ain't going to work. That's not going to work because they're not going to be able to keep up.

44:47 They're not going to be able to score. And then you have an undrafted rookie quarterback playing in, what, his second start on Thursday night? No bueno. Give me the Cowboys by whatever.

44:56 He is from Lawndale, though. I just want to throw that out.

44:58 I don't give a damn where he's from.

45:00 He's from Lawndale.

45:02 Local. He can be local.

45:04 You think he's going to outscore Dak Prescott?

45:06 Nah, it ain't happening. I forgot he was, he's like a football genius.

45:10 I'm fantasy football to the 10th power.

45:12 I be watching. You remember when we was playing Madden? Oh, man, I used to be a legend. I used to be a legend, dog. What was it, the Chargers?

45:19 Oh, man, back before I got married, boy, I was a killer, man.

45:23 I used to do something on defense of the Chargers where Sean Marion, and you would flip him and someone else on the other side, and it was both like 99. Yeah.

45:31 I was like, yeah. Sean Phillips or who? Who was that back in the day? It was Sean Merriman. And I forgot. I don't know who was on the other side.

45:38 Sean Merriman. Merriman. I got a good story about Sean Merriman.

45:42 Who was the other?

45:43 It was like the left.

45:44 Was it left guard?

45:45 I forgot who it was. But I used to, back when I was playing video games, I used to do a lot of different stuff like that.

45:50 Yeah, he just moved the people and they just blitzing and getting sacked.

45:53 Yeah, they'll be blitzing through it because they, yeah.

45:55 I used to play online a lot, too. But there was little things you could do that could be like, get guys to slip in real quick.

46:00 Mm.

46:01 Mm.

46:02 All right.

46:02 Give me the Cowboys. I'm not going to be dumb enough to go Bucs.

46:04 I don't. All right. Give me the Cowboys. Bucs stops here.

46:07 All right.

46:08 That was put that.

46:08 I'm going Cowboys. Go Cowboys.

46:10 We got all Cowboys couch. I do. I used to roll with underdogs, but now I'm going to go with the favorites. Okay. I see what you did there. You think you're slick.

46:21 That was put that on something presented by Polymarket. Download the Polymarket app and use code ARENA to get $ 25 in bonus funds where you deposit just $ 10 and Make your next move your best move.

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46:38 All right.

46:39 It's almost 2 o'clock, so you know what that means. Time for Mostly Fans, my favorite segment, because it means we get to go to the crib.

46:45 Sooner than we will.

46:46 Exporting the game.

46:50 Whatever.

46:50 Whatever.

46:51 However I got to do to get the win. Oh, we got a green screen now? Oh, we've had it. Y'all got some new stuff going.

46:56 On right here? We're just testing the feature out. The chat's been looking for you. Hey, man, this is real nice.

47:02 This is real nice establishment.

47:03 Hey, man.

47:05 Real nice establishment, man.

47:06 Real nice, man. Taking it back to the bubble. I got the bubble going on.

47:10 Shout out to everybody in our super chat. Putting something in the offering plate. We're going to save up. Do something real nice. Hopefully start doing some live show. Really go out there and see the people. They miss this.

47:21 Long as I don't have to pay for it.

47:24 I got to pay y'all.

47:28 Shit, it's expensive.

47:29 Flying the motherfuckers all the way out here, putting them in hotels.

47:32 Shit, I.

47:33 Hey, man, I appreciate the hotel upgrade, too. The hotel this time was better than the hotel last time. I wasn't going to say nothing. I wasn't going to say no to that.

47:41 They switched hotels?

47:42 Oh, yeah, but it's a little bit of an upgrade. Last time, I was like, ooh.

47:47 This is the valley. I was like, ooh, this is... How many days do I got to stay here? I didn't know there was new hotels here.

47:56 I just thought it was just Marriott in the courtyard.

47:59 Shout out to the Balboa family of hotels. From the Marriott all the way to the Sheraton.

48:04 The St. Hollywood. And Ritz Carlton. All right. We got shit out here. We do, man. Wherever they put y'all here. I'm like, man, I'm going to start standing at your house.

48:15 I'm going to start standing against Ben Rule.

48:17 So, first comment from CozyWWE2K. He says, some fools here need to look up D.

48:22 Wright.

48:23 He is a baller and legit threat from three in the old 2Ks. Some of our younger fans were questioning. Were unfamiliar with their game. Were you the last high school class?

48:33 One before. It was two more after me. Oh. Yeah, two more.

48:36 Who's Inger legend?

48:38 Dwight, Sean Livingston, Josh, J.R. Smith. No, I remember that.

48:42 Oh, okay. So that wasn't Lou Will. Lou Will was the last one.

48:46 Yeah, I think he was the next one with Monte.

48:48 Or no.

48:49 No, I think he's after Monte. So, yeah, he's the last one. Him and Miriam Johnson. Yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah, yeah. Not up to Lou's Inger.

48:55 So, because he was the last high schooler, right?

48:58 I mean, yeah. Reggie Morris? Reggie Morris, my guy.

49:01 Reggie Morris.

49:02 Heck, yeah. You need to bring that back. Wes Berger had a. Legendary run.

49:06 Yeah.

49:06 In that time frame. Oh, yeah. All right, so let's keep moving. We got a question from AntJ7. He said, what's good, Gills Arena crew?

49:12 Would you rather be the 15th man on an 82-0 team or first option player but only in the preseason?

49:21 First option player only in the preseason.

49:22 So you're the first option but only in the preseason? Yeah.

49:25 Or the 15th man on the 82 and 0 team.

49:27 Sound like the same person. Yeah, it does.

49:30 It really do.

49:31 It really do. Yeah.

49:33 If you the first option only in the preseason.

49:36 Nah, man. Let me get it.

49:37 I'll be the 15th man on the 82 and 0 team. All right.

49:41 Yeah, you're thinking about it.

49:42 He said only in the preseason.

49:44 Only in the preseason. But also, NBA, you get eight preseason games. That's eight games.

49:49 Eight games is the number one option. Well, 82 games is sitting there with your nice.

49:54 Suits and shit. Hey, listen.

49:55 Hey, listen. But you were part of something special. I'll take that.

49:58 You know, 15, sometimes you don't even get the layup line. You don't even get the layup line. I've been there before.

50:04 Hell no. I'm just saying, you said, if he said regular season, I'd say, okay, if I want to be the first. But the first option on a playoff team, no one remembers that. No, nobody cares.

50:17 I've been 15 before. I didn't get the layup line.

50:21 That means when they go out there, I got to take the shower in the back. And then when they get ready to call everybody by name, I bring my black ass in the middle of the darkness so they don't.

50:30 See me at all.

50:32 And guess what? If you just need to put this in at school, that might be the same thing.

50:36 No, preseason, I get layups. I get layups and the game and plays. I get the highlight tape. You don't get no highlight tape ever in 82 games.

50:45 There's nothing.

50:46 There's nothing. You can make a first option preseason highlight tape.

50:51 Imagine having a 44-inch vertical.

50:54 You already know how that is in a layup line.

50:57 Ooh, you don't get none of that because your ass in a suit. Give me my eight. Old school NBA schedule, eight game. Give me my eight. I'll take the eight. Preseason, preseason, all of that. 15 on an 82.

51:10 Guess what?

51:11 Your ass out of the league. Yeah, you done. That's it. That's it, boy. Yeah, you get the sweats. You get all the games. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Nick Young got out of the league. He was done. He didn't play no more. Wow.

51:21 He was done. He got the ring.

51:23 Don't do that. And it was over.

51:25 Him and the other three niggas out.

51:27 It was 15, 14, 13, 12. Hey, man.

51:30 Hey, Nick, I'm defending you.

51:31 No, no.

51:32 I got Nick like that, man.

51:33 Because I was looking. I was like, you know what?

51:35 How many on the championship teams, how many players are not in the league the very next year?

51:42 Like, not on the team, not in the league. Y'all be trying to disrespect Nick Ring, man.

51:47 Let Nick be great.

51:48 Let Nick be great.

51:49 I'm going to disagree because I told him when he went there, if y'all do win, I want to be part.

51:54 Of the parade.

51:56 He forgot you?

51:57 He had his kids and his family. Nigga, what kind of shit is that? He could have still got you in there. I know he could have, but how'd they get the tickets before me? You didn't even like them, because that's why you went over there.

52:06 You went there so you didn't have to stay here.

52:08 And then you picked little Nick before me? That's crazy. That's crazy.

52:13 Like, I have my family, but I still have my boy Daylon on the float with me.

52:16 Now you see why I'm mad.

52:17 Yeah. You should have been.

52:19 I should have been. Oh, man. Warriors legend.

52:21 I would have been there drunk and everything, just hanging out with my shirt off.

52:24 That's why he probably left you off.

52:26 You drunk, no good. I've seen that before, didn't like it. Didn't like it. Didn't like it.

52:34 We got a comment from Hot Spot Casino said, Thunder up. All you Thunder fans are just going to have to get used to us dominating again. Also, Gills Arena, the Thunder's window got even harder to close.

52:48 Okay.

52:49 We got a comment from, oh wait, a question from Skyflow Poppy Santana.

52:54 Y'all got to shorten up these YouTube names.

52:56 Skyflow Poppy Santana said, pros always have stories about how they figured out and the game slowed down, when did you figure it out off the court? Pros always have a story about how they figured out the game and the game slowed down for them. When did you figure it out off the court and the game slowing down for you off the court?

53:13 With me, it was after my rookie season. You know, we don't really know how to work out, right? And I'm working out because I stayed in Oakland. And Chris Mullin, Like he was upper, he was in the upper management start and he's working out. He's seeing me work out and he came down, put his clothes on, put his shoes on. And he said, let me, let's, let's, let's run some full courses and half courts. About to mop them.

53:45 Full court, half court.

53:49 Oh my God.

53:51 One, two dribble. Dog. I was getting molly whopped.

53:54 And then he was trying to, he was teaching me how the game changes.

53:58 From full court to half court.

54:00 So he's showing me where I'm making my mistakes at, what angles I need to look to, where the defense would be, because he'll have all the way layup, and then he'll do a little step back here. And I'm like, why won't you just go all the way? Because that's where big man is. So why would I practice something that I'm not going to get in the game? So then I started understanding, and then started working with him, working in these spots. And then that kind of changed up and changed my half-court game up.

54:27 Oh, wow. Okay.

54:29 Was Buddy talking about like working like off the court, like your life off the court, or was he talking about practice? Joe, was he talking about life off the court?

54:38 I don't know.

54:39 I take it as a game, like how the game slowed down. He said how the game slowed down.

54:43 He said how the game slowed down.

54:44 They said pros talking about how the game slowed down for him on the court.

54:46 I was thinking.

54:48 Off the court.

54:48 Off the court.

54:49 Yeah, I mean.

54:50 Work-related issue potentially, how to, you know, navigate. Staying out all night and being able to play.

54:55 We can take it from both ends because he talked about the practice. I'll just say life for me slowed down. I was never really like a super wild guy, but like understanding like chef life, timing, making sure you're eating the proper foods and things of that nature. I'd probably say about year four. I was never a big partier.

55:15 I've never had a drink in my life. I'm never a smoker. But as far as making sure like, hey, my man, you... you probably need to have a chef. You probably need to understand that aspect of it. Like, hey, I know you like video games, but maybe you don't need to stay up till 5 a.m. You know what I'm saying? Playing Madden.

55:31 You know what I'm saying?

55:32 Like, get your proper rest in because, you know, they got sleep coaches now. We ain't had none of that.

55:36 That's crazy. They got what?

55:37 They got sleep coaches.

55:40 Fuck is that? They sleep with the niggas? I mean, not like that, but they're like next to him. Don't get your husband. Don't get your husband. Don't get your husband.

55:47 No, it's just like, yeah.

55:49 Time. Get up.

55:51 No, you got people. They track guys' sleep. That's how they set the schedules. So let's just say, you know how on a road trip, they might be like, yeah, we don't want this team to travel on this day because it'll mess up the sleep pattern. So we're going to play in Golden State. And instead of traveling to the next city, we've seen that it's better for their bodies if they stay this, that.

56:12 And the third.

56:12 Yeah, they got guys that they're measuring guys' sleep now and everything. Yeah, that's a real thing. They got mental health coaches, sleep coaches.

56:18 They ain't had none of that.

56:19 So, but for me, getting a hold of all that stuff, probably about year four.

56:22 Year four.

56:23 Close your eyes.

56:25 And don't wake up for eight hours. Give me my money.

56:29 Give me my money.

56:30 Yeah, I would say year three, four, around that time where, you know, once you start getting those minutes, understanding massage, rehab, you know, The icing, all that stuff.

56:40 Because I used to laugh.

56:41 Why you got all that ice on, old school?

56:43 Alonzo Mourning. Elbow, knee, ankle, Achilles. Like, bro, what are you doing?

56:48 So, probably year three or four, I kind of understood, like, you got to do those things. Not for right now, but for the longevity of the game.

56:55 All right, we got a question from Yay Area 7. What do you think about the Golden State Valkyries beating the Aces two games straight in the playoffs, one game away?

57:03 Whoop.

57:04 The Golden State Valkyries. Get in tune with WNBA. Aja Wilson got her fifth in.

57:09 Okay, I'll stop playing. I'll stop playing.

57:11 Hey, that's crazy.

57:12 WNBA fans will come for you.

57:13 That's crazy that they're that successful already.

57:16 Second season.

57:16 Shout out to Natalie Nicosi, my former classmate at UCLA.

57:19 That's rare, right? That's rare. She coaching hard. Yeah, she's a worker.

57:25 I got an opportunity to talk to her about basketball, so she's in tune with the game, and she's super demanding, and she seems like she's very straightforward. So for those girls, those ladies to be playing for her that hard says a lot about her and her leadership.

57:41 Is that French?

57:43 Gabby.

57:44 Gabby Williams, yeah.

57:46 French. It's the French one. Oui, oui.

57:48 National team.

57:49 Bonjour. Bonjour. All right, we got.

57:52 Shout out to the Wizard Inn, one of my most dedicated super fans. But the Wizard Inn, you could just put it all together in one giant offering plate offering, but spacing it out. So with their projected cap space, what moves should the Warriors make by the trade deadline or in the offseason to maximize Steph's extension? I know you work extensively with the Golden State Warriors.

58:13 Are they cooked? We've been praying for the Warriors' downfall for years.

58:16 Man, I just don't see them making those big moves like we would expect them to do, especially somebody like a Steph Curry that they don't really have that much time left, if we're going to be completely honest. He's almost 40 years old, so we've been waiting for the last couple of years to make that big boom of a trade or a move or adding some type of piece.

58:34 So we haven't seen it. I just don't really see it happening. I think they've just got to deal with who's in the locker room and try to piece it together.

58:42 It's not going to happen for the Warriors. You said Steph Curry's getting close to 40 years old. He's still capable of helping a team win a championship. He's just not capable of helping this team win a championship. Draymond's older. Jimmy's older. We don't know what's going on with Porzingis. Hey, man.

59:00 I forgot about that. I remember looking it up. Is something with a nerve?

59:05 I don't know.

59:05 I don't want to speak on it because I don't know if it's physical. I don't know if it's mental health.

59:08 I don't want to be out here talking to the internet.

59:10 With it. It was... They came up with it.

59:11 It's something... I don't know if it's a nerve of something that when he gets too tired and it kind of.

59:17 It can get him dizzy.

59:19 It's something.

59:20 I don't want to.

59:20 I don't know if.

59:21 Hot or something like that.

59:22 Yeah, I'm not making... I joke a lot, but I don't know what's going on with him, and I think that he would really help this team.

59:26 For sure.

59:27 So, like, them not having... not knowing how much they're going to get from him. This team is, they've got all the juice out of this championship run is over. The only way it could be salvaged is by somehow they were able to move the older guys and bring in a young superstar. And I just don't know what team would do that move. So I don't see that being a real possibility. So I think the Golden State Warriors run is over, but Steph's going to play out his time in Golden State and entertain the fans and shoot a.

59:54 Lot of threes.

59:55 They missed their window with them draft picks that they had, right? It was They were in that Spurs window where they had this team winning championship or being very good. We'll go instead of winning championship. Then they had that down year where they got a top pick. Picked the wrong pick. Right now, they could have had LaMelo.

1:00:21 LaMelo couldn't have been LaMelo, though. No, but... LaMelo, LaMelo, LaMelo Ball's game, he would, like, LaMelo, like, his.

1:00:30 That's the same, like, Steph Curry's a shooting guard. Just like, like, you got Pazinski.

1:00:36 Right?

1:00:36 So, LaMelo being all of 6'7, 6'8, right? Shooting guard, but that has all the vision in the world. Playing, throwing to the Steph, Steph running. That, that is, you can build on that. Then think about all the other picks that they had.

1:00:50 Golden State, once again, this isn't about LaMelo's talent. LaMelo's talent is immense. We understand that. But the Golden State Warriors, they don't run offense like other teams. They're running these actions. That's why when you hear the young guys on Golden State saying they didn't like playing in this offense because it's all stuff for that. Okay, Steph hits here, then we got to set a flare screen there, and then I got to know the role. I used to watch when they were trying to get Kaminga involved, like, They throw it in the post to Draymond. I can see Draymond looking at Kaminga like, yo, go set the flare screen on Steph and then go slip. Those are the actions.

1:01:26 A lot of these other young guys, they getting to get out there and boogie with the rock, and they're getting it. Like, nah. Most of these other teams are playing pace and space, and Golden State's playing with back cuts and slices and triple pin downs with slips and all types of other stuff built in. That's totally different. Now, don't get it twisted. I think LaMelo going to be cold.

1:01:45 I think he's in the perfect situation for LaMelo.

1:01:48 Yeah.

1:01:49 In Minnesota. But if you would have put him in Golden State, that would have kind of poured water on him. His game needs absolute freedom, and that Golden State system is about absolute structure.

1:02:00 But he's still drafted.

1:02:02 That would have been better.

1:02:03 Kowalski and Jordan Poole. Yeah.

1:02:08 Right?

1:02:08 So it's like, if.

1:02:10 That's what I'm taking, I'm going to take... LaMelo, and I would have Jordan Poole still, and I would have Kaminga.

1:02:16 That's my young team.

1:02:18 That's my young core that kind of like would have been, they would have been right now ready to go, but because they dropped the ball on every single one of them.

1:02:26 The Jordan Poole angle is a good one. You're right. If Jordan Poole could get off, LaMelo could have got on.

1:02:31 Yeah.

1:02:32 But it's just weird that it's like.

1:02:33 I don't like how many good takes you did.

1:02:34 I ain't gonna lie to you, man.

1:02:36 This is the third or fourth time you made me change my mind.

1:02:38 Let's move on to this one, see if this is gonna be a good take. Friend of the program, Gerald McCoy, Geraldini93. Thank you for blessing us with... More on the offering plate, but we know. Since he's watching the Bucs. I got the Bucs.

1:02:50 That's big. Bucs still going to lose. He ain't here. He can't get to us. I hope not. He don't live in L.A.

1:02:57 He in the area.

1:02:59 He in the area. He looking for y'all. Oh, wait. I think. Did he play with the Cowboys, too? Am I tripping? I think he did.

1:03:05 No, no.

1:03:06 He just Bucs. Bucs, Panthers, and Raiders. Okay.

1:03:09 Shout out to Geraldini. 93 said, Iverson with Shaq. Kobe with Tim Duncan. Same time frame, 1996 to 2004. Who wins more? Iverson with Shaq, Kobe with Tim Duncan. From 96 to 04, who wins more?

1:03:22 I'm going to ask one question. When Iverson is with Shaq, what years?

1:03:28 96 to 2004. 96 to 2000.

1:03:30 No, no, no.

1:03:32 Okay, 96 to 2004.

1:03:32 Okay, so late. I'm going to make it easy for you.

1:03:44 You know the offense is going to be cold for both, but you know Tim Duncan's a better defender than Shaq, especially in the pick and roll, and Kobe's a better defensive player than AI. So go with the two guys that can score, but their defense is going to raise the level. On nights where they're not scoring points, they're going to be able to win in a defensive battle.

1:04:02 Mm-hmm.

1:04:02 You can't make all the good points today. I got to get some. I got to get some.

1:04:06 You're looking up.

1:04:06 Ain't no answers up there.

1:04:07 You keep looking up there.

1:04:09 Ain't nothing up there. I told you what it was.

1:04:11 No, no, no.

1:04:12 I'm just trying to because it's that because they were both, it was the only two teams winning championships, right? So it's like, okay, if you put Iverson with Shaq in 96, do they win the championship that they were supposed to win in 99? Because obviously the Bulls is, that's the Bulls, right? And then they were favored when Jordan left. So when Jordan retired, Lakers was supposed to win the championship. They were favored, but the Spurs won. So if they got Kobe instead, they're still winning that one.

1:04:52 For sure.

1:04:53 Then now you're talking about Laker, Laker, Laker. And then it's Kobe, Kobe, Kobe. Or Iverson, Iverson, Iverson. I'll go with the Spurs. To be honest, if Kobe is with Duncan when Jordan retires, I think they win seven.

1:05:18 They'd be dominant, most definitely. Tim Duncan played so long that there's a large section of basketball players, people that really watch the game, they didn't really get to see jab, step, face up Tim Duncan.

1:05:31 Yeah.

1:05:32 Like they saw him on that second iteration of a championship where it was about Manu and Tony. But that first time, Duncan, that jab step up bank shot, Tim Duncan off the glass. Man, if you don't knock it off like there's so many because like I say, he played for so long. There's a lot of people that think you've got to be at least how old are you?

1:05:53 Forty.

1:05:54 You've got to be at least 40. I've seen that and really understood it. Because you might have watched it as a kid, but you had to be old enough to be like, yeah, that was something totally different. If you under 40, you probably never saw Bankshot Tim Duncan, the Tim Duncan that came into the league right away and won a championship and all that other stuff. So, yeah, you definitely got to go with Tim Duncan and Cole.

1:06:14 Yeah, I mean, yeah, I just thought about it. Because you're making Iverson the shooting guard, there's no way Shaq is winning a championship at all if.

1:06:25 Man, he was mad.

1:06:26 If you're adding Kobe to him. He was mad.

1:06:28 Kobe didn't pass it. Imagine how mad Shaq would have been if it ain't with A.I.

1:06:31 But you're still talking about a shooting guard that is 6'6, that got jumped on the bill.

1:06:35 That's very different. Yeah, I get it.

1:06:37 Right?

1:06:37 Like, the only thing that, like, if you.

1:06:39 And Kobe was defending. And he was defending.

1:06:41 That's the biggest thing.

1:06:43 He had the straps out.

1:06:44 All right, well, that.

1:06:45 Was mostly saying, so if you put Tracy there and Kobe there, now you're talking about a very different... That'd be some good wars right there.

1:06:53 Yes. Or Tracy Wood.

1:06:55 Yeah, that'd be some good work. I'm still taking.

1:06:57 I'm taking Duncan and.

1:06:58 Yeah, I'm taking Duncan and Cole. More discipline, and then you don't have to worry about Kobe challenging the work ethic.

1:07:06 Is Duncan probably one of the most overlooked guys with multiple rings?

1:07:09 Hell yeah.

1:07:10 When we talk about the great players. We be like, oh, like, we don't give Duncan his.

1:07:16 Why? We was there in real time. Yeah.

1:07:19 I'm just saying, like, most people, like, we talk about Kobe, we talk about Shaq.

1:07:23 We talk about Braun, we talk about.

1:07:26 all those players. But it's like, man, because Tim Duncan did it and it wasn't flashy and the personality was low, there wasn't no flashy outfits before the game. It was the bad flannels. Remember them bad flannels? You remember his MVP fit? The big baggy denim jeans? I think because Tim was so low maintenance and his game was so all about substance and not a lot of flash, people overlook how Great.

1:07:56 This dude is.

1:07:56 And he was the only one that was 10, 10, and 10. 10 All-Stars, 10 All-NBA, 10 All-Defense.

1:08:04 And he wasn't a decade player of the year. That's crazy. Was Rocky Old Navy tough? Crazy, right? Shout out Tim Duncan. I don't even know if that was Old Navy. Shout out Marcus. Older Navy. Hey, Old Navy ain't make no big and tall. I don't know where he got that. Shout out Marcus Richardson, too.

1:08:21 We're going to ask you a question tomorrow because that's going to be an in-depth, elaborate debate. We appreciate you to all our Super Chatters for tapping in with us. That was mostly fans. You better remember it. We got to put it in the rundown already. Put 20 in the offering plate.

1:08:35 Up all night.

1:08:35 3 a.m. You can check the document. My icon will be visible. I'm tapping out at that point.

1:08:44 You're waking up at 3 a.m. for what? Video games. It's a pleasure to be here. Get a crack at it. Get a crack at it.

1:08:53 Get a crack at it at 3 a.m., boy. Shout out to B-Wood. Shout out to Darrell Wright. Great to have you back on the couch.

1:08:59 Ace? Ace, baby.

1:09:01 Ace members only. Ace members only. Make sure y'all pick up some gear. Shout out for the hats. As you know, I wear my hat backwards, but it says the same thing to his hat.

1:09:09 It says on the front.

1:09:11 Shout out to everybody in the chat. Shout out to everybody on this couch. Before we go, chat, before you leave, make sure you hit that like button if you're not done so already, all right? I want to keep asking y'all to do shit. Get it done for us, all right? This has been another episode of Gil's Arena, presented by Polymarket, powered by Playmaker.

1:09:26 We'll see y'all tomorrow.