Dame & Hali Are BACK, Giannis Embraces Heat Culture & D-Mitch Defends Harden's Legacy Part 1

0:00 Welcome back to Gil's Arena, presented by Polymark and empowered by Playmaker. Whoa, whoa.

0:04 Whoa, whoa, whoa.

0:08 Lovely Thursday here in the arena. Almost Friday. Almost get a day off. We are so close. This is Gil's Arena. I'm merely a host, Josiah Johnson, here with NBA legend 2K Unk with badges and Theater King, Gilbert Arenas. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

0:26 What's up, Gil?

0:27 Not much, man. You've been dressing real nice lately.

0:29 That new budget must have kicked in, man.

0:35 On court. Got some imagery, you know. Got to be a scholar. We're joined by NBA champion of the world and creator of the Tallest Tails Network on YouTube, Brendan Haywood, finally back in the arena. Yes, sir.

0:53 We back like we never left. B.

0:55 Wood, they've been asking for you. The Chaps, McLaren.

0:58 Hey, man, the streets need me for your boy back.

1:00 You know what I'm saying?

1:01 Your boy back. And making his return to the arena, we got an L.A. Hoops legend who went straight from high school to the pros, won a chip with the Heat in 2006, played 11 seasons in the league. He's also the co-founder of of the ACE members only lifestyle brand, Darrell Wright. Welcome back to Gil's Arena.

1:22 Appreciate it, bud. Thanks for having me, man.

1:25 We appreciate you came through with some nice gear for us. Got the ACE lifestyle brand. What's going on with that?

1:30 Yeah, man. Myself and D-Wade started a golf brand a couple of years ago, man. So we've been taking off the last couple of months. Just did the ACE Cup at Pebble Beach and just trying to get more kids in the inner city in the game, the black and brown community. And, yeah, you're just trying to let those kids pick up a club like they pick up a basketball at an early age.

1:48 Okay. Here we go. Tiger Wood. I like him. I thought you were going to say something else. That they pick up at an early age.

1:54 Stop it. Stop it.

1:57 Stop it.

1:58 I mean, the ball was good, too. Well, we got a lot to get into. Here's what's cracking in the arena today. Dame Lillard and Tyrese Halliburton both made their return to the court after Achilles injuries. What are realistic expectations for the all-star guards this season? Giannis says that heat culture is real and it's almost like being alive again.

2:23 Will the Greek freak become the next superstar to take his talent to South Beach and raise a banner? And Donovan Mitchell continues to defend James Harden's basketball legacy. How much pressure is on the Cavs backcourt to build on their Eastern Conference Finals run last season? Analytically, they should have been in the finals. Did not happen. We will discuss.

2:44 Mostly fans, back for our Super Chat. Throw something in the offering plate and drop your questions. We'll pick something to answer at the end of the show. You guys have been doing a great job with these questions. We had like a 20-minute discussion on one of your Super Chat questions yesterday, so keep dropping them in, and we'll keep getting to them. But first, I need to tell y'all about this new sports trading app I discovered. It's called PolyMarket. It's the most exciting way to trade in sports, and it's a nationwide, federally regulated prediction market. PolyMarket is the best prediction market, better than Coushey, DraftKings, and FanDuel.

3:12 In the past, if you wanted a position on a game, you'd put your money in and get locked in until the very end. But Polymarket lets you trade games like you would a stock, buying in and selling out entirely on your terms. When your team drops to 20 cents, you buy the dip. And when they jump to 40 cents, you sell, lock in your gains, and double your money without waiting for the final whistle. And it isn't just sports.

3:32 You can trade on culture, news, and current events. Plus, they have a squads feature where you can talk and trade with your friends. Any trade a member places drops right into the chat as a card. And anyone can hit buy to take that same pick in one tap. Diss the old limitations and trade on your terms. Download the Polymarket app and use code ARENA. And when you deposit just $ 10, you'll unlock $ 25 in bonus funds. That's code ARENA to get $ 25 in bonus funds when you deposit $ 10 on Polymarket. And shout out again to everybody on Twitch. We're getting our numbers right on Twitch, Gil. Twitch, you got to talk to Twitch. You got to talk.

4:05 You don't talk in the camera. You got to talk directly to Twitch. I'm going to talk directly to Twitch. Where are my Twitches? Where are my Twitches at? Twitch better have my money. Twitch better have my money. Supporting the show. Make sure you subscribe to AtGillsArenaShow, and we appreciate y'all for all the subs. All right, let's get right into it. Had a very legendary night of basketball last night, even though it is the preseason. Last time we saw Dame Lillard. playing real hoops, was April 27, 2025, in a playoff game with the Bucs, when his season came to an unfortunate end with a torn Achilles, and what would ultimately be his last game with Milwaukee. 528 days later, Dame back on the floor for the first

4:46 time in his old stomping grounds, taking on his hometown team, and the 36-year-old nine-time All-Star politely said, F-father time is Dame time. Let's take a look at the highlights, if we can. Please, Paolo. Also, Ja's debut, too. We will discuss that as well. But Dame was out there looking like his old self, albeit against a Warriors squad, which did not include one regular starter. Dame finished with 15 points in 19 minutes of action. Five of 11 from the field, three for eight from distance. Dame also had two steals in the game. There we go.

5:21 That's what I was talking about right there.

5:25 Pinch, poach, split action. Okay. John Morant also made his debut with the Blazers, finished with eight points on three of eight shooting. He also had five assists in 19 minutes. And Danny Avdija led the Blazers in scoring with 23 points on nine to 13. Oh, so he is bigger than me. I knew he was bigger than that 6'8 bullshit they was saying.

5:42 Danny Avdija? Yeah, he about like 6'9 out there. 23 points led the Blazers in scoring.

5:46 I'll be forgetting I have the two from the shoes to the, yeah. Yeah, so he is 6'10. All right. I'm going to be real. The Blazers came out with their starting crew. This was their first preseason game going against... the Warriors scrub squad did not look amazing in the first three quarters. Warriors were leading for a good portion of the game. Obviously, Blazers, it is a preseason.

6:06 Don't matter.

6:07 Those dudes are playing for bread. Blazers are just playing to get conditioned. But Dane pulled up to NBA TV's The Association after the game, and when asked by host MJ Acosta what his goals were for the season, offered this response.

6:21 My ultimate goal is to, you know, come back off a major injury and be myself. I think one thing that I've learned through this process is that, you know, if you do it right and you time and you don't, you know, skip through steps in that process and, you know, your mind is in the right place. you can get back to, you know, everything that you had before. And I feel like I've gotten back to everything I had before.

6:47 You know, I feel explosive going both directions. I feel like I can get any shot off from any range. And I felt that way tonight. I just felt good moving around out there. So I would say my ultimate goal is obviously to help our team take it a step further than we did last year, get into the playoffs and try to improve on that, play.

7:10 A little bit further into the postseason.

7:11 But ultimately for me, I just want to come back and that regardless of the age regardless of the injury um when you do this you do it and you know i'm one of those people that you know i really put work in i really take care of myself i really love the game i do things the right way so you know i'm gonna come back and show that you know when you have those types of traits um able to come back and be who you are and i don't uh expect to be anything different than than who i've always.

7:41 Been so we heard dame right there uh D-Ray, we're going to start with you. You got to play with Dame for a few seasons with the Blazers. What did Dame show you in his first game back in nearly 18 months?

7:53 Man, I got a funny story. Just a couple of months ago, I was down in San Diego with Dame for his birthday party, celebrating with him. You know, you really don't get the real when you over text. So as soon as I saw him, the first thing I asked him was, how you feel? And like his eyes and how he looked at me, he was like, I'm back.

8:11 And that was an attitude. That was a body language he had because if anybody know anything about Dame, he takes that, you know, the underdog mentality with him throughout his whole career. So he was like, I'm back. I'm doing everything. Just exactly what he said in that clip right there is what he said to me. He's like, dude, I can move. You know, I'm getting more athletic. And then the jumper is always going to be there. So the things I saw was just the work ethic and just the will to find a way to be great.

8:39 And that's kind of how he carries himself. from, you know, as a kid. And I'm just happy to see my guy back out there on the court.

8:45 Happy to see Dame back out there as well, B.

8:47 Wood.

8:48 Watching Dame Lillard make his return to the court. Portland against his hometown team, the Golden State Warriors.

8:55 I wasn't really surprised because we saw him knocking down shots.

8:58 A lot of those shots were spot-up shots.

9:00 We just saw the man win the three-point competition last year. So we know that he can still... Just think about that. He was hurt all year long, limped out there, and won the three-point competition. So we understand that he can shoot the ball at a high level, get into that pinch post action like you're talking about, them screens and everything else. I'm not surprised he knocked those shots down.

9:21 What I want to see is... What you're gonna do when, like he said, he says he can get to them spots, Do your legs feel heavy? Do you have the same explosion both ways? Do you have the same confidence to make those moves? You can probably speak to this because you were a high-level scorer that had to come back from an injury. How did you feel coming back from that, and what are you looking to see from Dane? Because I'm just looking to see. I know you're going to be able to shoot. He's going to be able to shoot until he's 60. I'm looking to see how are you moving. These young dogs that are now, they're 6'8, 6'9, wing defenders. How are you pulling away from these guys?

9:54 That's what I'm looking for. But like I said, you went through this. How was it for you?

9:58 I think the difference between the Achilles and the knees is with Achilles, you can keep your speed. It just kind of stops you from jumping. Well, with him, he's a two-foot jumper, so he kind of gets away with it. When you have a knee injury, it takes away a little bit of everything, right? Speed, planting, all of that.

10:25 So I was scared to actually drive to the basket. So if I see the lane, it's like, oh, this is about to be.

10:32 And then that thought, like, oh, I can't jump. So now I got to do the shit they do now. I got to like crab, like slow, like get back in front of me so I don't have to. Right.

10:45 So the fact that you can see him still going and doing his layout package and watching Jason Tatum last year, watching when John Wall came back, watching Durant. These Achilles is built different than the ones we have.

10:59 They got some new.

11:01 Shit out there.

11:02 No, no, the surgery got to be different.

11:04 Forget that.

11:04 Let's switch to the football. Have y'all seen George Kittle? George Kittle had Achilles surgery earlier this year, and he's back balling right now. Just had a huge touchdown.

11:14 The Achilles.

11:15 The Achilles injury isn't the death kneel that it used to be. It used to be like, yeah, man, you got an Achilles. You're going to be slow. You ain't going to be able to jump. I don't know if these guys got to do peptides. I don't know if they got the residue. I don't know if they're putting a Paul George special down there. Whatever it is, all I know is the Achilles surgery ain't the same surgery that it used to be. These guys are coming back quicker than ever.

11:41 Yeah, I know. I'll do that. The Paul George special.

11:44 The residue. You got the residue.

11:47 That comes with some shit. The Paul George special.

11:50 The Paul George special.

11:51 He did come back.

11:53 Y'all seen how good Paul was playing last year.

11:55 The residue.

11:56 It might cost you 25, though. It was money well spent. Facts.

12:02 He back, ain't he?

12:03 He was.

12:04 Yes, he was.

12:05 Oh, goodness. No, he looked good.

12:06 He looked good.

12:07 He looked like– it's all in confidence. When you start second-guessing yourself, that's when you see that dip.

12:13 Yeah. Like, that's really– like, if he– as long as in his mind he know he can do it, he's going to do it. Once you start thinking you can't do it, trust me, reality will kick in. Quick. By the time– And, Gil, you talked about this. We talked about this the past on this couch. You're going to feel good that first game, that second game. But now, like you mentioned, having to extend that out for a whole season, four games in seven days, back-to-backs, whatever it may be, now that's when that real mental... Yeah, because you get false.

12:41 When you're in practice, you're coming back from injury, you're in practice, you're playing against people you know. You know this is the second or third option. He can't do really much of nothing. You know where to get your spots. You've been doing this for years. The difference is, The other superstar on the court that you're going to be playing against coming at you full speed, and now you got to react in real time.

13:06 Right.

13:06 Right? So there's no safeguarding when someone want to tween tween.

13:09 Right?

13:09 Now you're moving body parts in ways you didn't prepare for.

13:15 You thought you was prepared, but you wasn't prepared.

13:17 Now you get after the game, and you know, I was.

13:21 Not ready yet. Y'all told me.

13:24 And then that's what ends up happening. Now you got to sit out another two weeks. It's that fake practices that's not really putting you in a.

13:35 It's like, practice? And then go to the G.

13:38 I wasn't opposed to Jason Tatum playing in the G League. Go to the G League because you don't know them, they don't know you, so you get that first interaction and see what your body really is going to respond instead of playing against other fucking superstars.

13:52 The beauty of it for Dame, though, is because of how this team is now set up, he don't got to be old school Dame Lillard every single night.

14:00 That's the thing.

14:01 When you a superstar coming back, You know, they normally like, hey, man, you've been carrying the team.

14:06 We need you to care.

14:07 He can be like, yo, Ja, I need you to dictate offense tonight. Or maybe I just sit out this game just in general, let my legs heal up. Maybe I sit, you know what I'm saying? Like my legs feel heavy. I might need to take a week and a half off. Didn't he obvious?

14:18 People sleeping.

14:19 Was an all-star last year.

14:21 Went to the free throw line more than SGA. Okay, 6'9, pick and roll, deeming, get downhill. Dame can be like, listen, on some nights, I don't even need to force the action. I can be more in the corner. You can run an off-ball action for me, pin down, things of that nature. Let Denny Avdia, let Youngfella go ahead and do what they do. Let Jog go ahead and cook, and he can get his that way. So the beauty for Dame is they don't need him to be old-school Dame like it was when it was Dame and CJ because they got two other guys that are ball handlers on this ball club.

14:53 Yeah, I agree with you guys so much because... If you look at those highlights, it's kind of like some Steph Curry.

14:57 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

14:58 Moving without the ball, coming off down screens. John Morant putting so much pressure on the pain in the rim. It's going to open the game for him. Javier in transition, he's one of the toughest guys in transition. I know Dame loves those transition threes, so we're going to see a lot of those. So I think he could be like two or three different players throughout the season just because of the style and the personnel they have now.

15:18 There you go. So he can safeguard his Achilles.

15:22 Well, you got to come back and be the man every night. You know what I'm saying? When you got a team full of role players, we're like, hey, boss, we need you to get off. You know what I'm saying?

15:32 28 and up.

15:32 28 and up.

15:33 When you came back, we were like, hey, man, we need O'Gill back.

15:35 What are we doing?

15:35 What are we doing, brother?

15:39 My little jump hook ain't going to take us so far.

15:41 Okay?

15:42 I need 30. I need Agent Zero back.

15:44 What's going on?

15:45 Where the hibachi at? The knee ain't the same. Dame ain't got them type problems. Dame can be like, listen, I'm over here chilling because I have another all-star, Denny Abdi, on the team. I have John Morant, who we understand, when he's playing his best, he's all-star level. I got those two guys.

16:01 On the team.

16:02 I can help them by just being in the corner.

16:04 Yep.

16:04 You run a pick and roll to the strong side with Dame as the guy on the strong side.

16:08 You know how much that.

16:08 Helps the team? Who helped Denny out of the top of the key? Bam, I'm in the pick and roll getting downhill. I done beat my man. Dame's in the strong side corner. That man is instructed not to leave. Now, Denny, now Dame might not get no assist, but you know what it is. That's easy work. So he's going to be able to help this team in a lot of different ways. But then at the same time, oh, it's still Dame time. That jumper's never left. That jumper is still crispy.

16:33 Yeah, he might play like that clay role for a little bit. Yeah.

16:37 He can be many different things on many different nights. He can be, like I said, he can be off the ball. He can be on a night where his legs are heavy. You got to be honest with yourself, too. Hey, you got to go to jaw. Hey, yo, I ain't got it tonight.

16:48 Take us home, big fella. I bet.

16:52 I'm here if you need me, but I ain't going to be getting to it. I feel like I got cement Nikes on, okay? You know, this is the fourth game in seven nights. My legs are heavy. Hey, but I'm out here with you, and you just go to your guy. Listen, I need you to carry it. I need it to be your night. And he can do that with this team because you got two legitimate ball handlers that are special with the rock. Don't forget, like, people forget what job. In this league, they will forget and act like you can't play quick as hell.

17:21 Yeah.

17:22 Ja can still get down that paint and so can Denny Abdiah, and that's going to help Dame.

17:27 And we're forgetting about Drew Holiday as well. I don't know how much longer he's going to be there, but I'm just saying, I think Drew, they're holding him hostage a little bit with that. So I think Drew Holiday, that addition, coming off the bench, playing with that second unit, just playing different roles for Dame. So it's going to be interesting to see them this year.

17:46 Wait, if Danny's all of 6'11. Who? Oh, I was going to say 6'11. 6'10. Okay.

17:52 Danny Obdia?

17:52 Yeah.

17:53 Yeah, no, he's about 6'9, 6'10.

17:54 So he's bigger than the four.

17:55 Yeah, yeah.

17:56 So they could play small ball with him at the four. They could.

18:00 That's what, I mean, yeah, they got him at the four.

18:03 You got Kling inside doing all the dirty work?

18:05 No, no, the Camaro.

18:07 Oh, you got Camaro.

18:08 He's about 6'8, too, right? Yeah. I'm saying him at the three, but obviously you think of that three guard.

18:13 Small ball line.

18:15 So Ja, Drew, and Dame all on the court together.

18:18 Denny's so versatile, he can be whatever you want him to be. He can be your point, he can be your two, he can be your three or your four.

18:27 It's like fucking Turkoglu again, huh? Yeah. But faster.

18:29 You already know. He better than Turkoglu.

18:31 Yeah.

18:32 Okay.

18:32 He better.

18:33 He get to, like, no disrespect to Turkoglu. Turkoglu has to, but I'm just saying, like, he gets to it a lot more aggressive as far as getting to the basket.

18:42 Yeah, he's hard.

18:42 He's an aggressive guy. So he's the Ginobili.

18:45 Gil, he shoots over nine free throws a game.

18:47 I like that.

18:47 Yeah.

18:49 Yeah, I looked at it.

18:50 I was like, yeah.

18:51 When you think of the higher guys that get to the free throw line the most, it's like Luka, Denny, and SGA.

18:56 It's them three.

18:58 People be sleeping on them because they don't be watching Portland like that.

19:00 That's what it is.

19:01 I didn't.

19:02 Hey, that was my job last year. I take my job seriously. I was like, hey, you know what I'm saying? I had to watch a lot of NBA action. I can talk about it.

19:12 Seventh in the West. So I'm saying, so this is the team that's worth watching now. And obviously you had John, you had Dame to this mix. Yeah, you're going to watch. This is the problem.

19:18 I'm on the East Coast watching the West Coast game. How are you not watching? How are you not watching the West Coast game?

19:25 Listen, listen.

19:26 What's up, brother?

19:27 When your favorite players leave, you don't watch. I was just like the fans. I gave back my tickets.

19:32 Come on, man.

19:33 Dame left. I gave back my tickets, man. Come on. Here you go.

19:39 Here you go. Just like all the LeBron fans gave their tickets back.

19:42 Here you go.

19:43 We over here in Philly.

19:45 See, that's why you missed that on Youngfella. Denny Abdi is like that. He is really like that.

19:49 Gil, LeBron fans are bi-coastal now. We're in L.A. and Philly. We still got a LeBron on the left.

19:53 I forgot we got the biggest LeBron fan.

19:55 We got a LeBron on the Lakers. So you feel you can still glaze my I'm a LeBron fan.

19:59 Did you buy did you buy the jersey?

20:01 I don't I saw where's Roman's Jersey? All you do is just buy them small. That's the mini was pretty The kids dictate what what the motion is. What Jersey do you want? I want brownies. Okay, you sure you don't want a brown? No, I'm running they.

20:16 Want brownie In the valley.

20:19 Yeah. Here in this part of Los Angeles?

20:23 I'm not even trying to be funny because I don't disrespect Bronny like that. Did Bronny Jersey be selling like that?

20:28 He moved like 50 million, right? What? When he got drafted, he did 50 million.

20:33 I had no idea.

20:34 I had no idea. Yeah, he was the highest seller.

20:37 Bronny? You sure? The little one, not the big one?

20:41 Number nine.

20:42 Number nine.

20:43 Number nine.

20:44 Six upside down, number nine now.

20:48 Oh, yeah, yeah. He's also... Wow. He almost got paused. Damn! But in the Valley, brought his king here. What? The kids... The kids... Why? Because he was a nice guy. He was a nice kid.

21:01 I have heard... I've heard, like, everybody on the circuit said.

21:05 He comes with no ego, and he don't carry himself like he's LeBron James' son. They say he's the best kid ever. That's one thing I heard from everybody on all the circuits when he was coming up.

21:14 They said, look, he's the best kid ever.

21:16 Like, you know, you're going to celebrity school, like, you know, Sierra Canyon, right where all celebrity kids is. Like, he was the fan favorite. Like, all them kids is going to see Bronny just to get in the game. And they got all superstars on the team.

21:27 All superstars.

21:27 We want to see Bronny. We here to see Bronny. Bronny's motion in high school. Yeah. He was, yeah.

21:32 He was up there with the best.

21:33 Kardashian. Kardashian. Everybody's kids was there, man.

21:37 You learn something new every day, bro.

21:38 I learned something. I had no idea Bronny was that big out here.

21:43 Yeah. The kids was Bronny and then probably second was Puffy's daughters. The twins.

21:49 Mm-hmm.

21:51 The Twins, everybody was like, because they was there from middle school or elementary.

21:55 Was Puffy coming to the school?

21:57 Okay, good.

21:57 No, no. Don't take that. Yeah, the Twins, everybody loved the Twins. They was the coolest. They was the coolest ever. They even cheered. They cheered for the school. Yeah. They were cheerleaders. Shout out to Eric Dane. Just wanted to be normal. Okay. Let's get back to Dame, though. Dame turned 36 back in July, but in his last full season in 2025, averaged 25.7 assists, five boards with the Bucs. So, D-Ray, when you look at Dame coming back, 36 Achilles injury, what are realistic expectations for Damian Lillard this season in his return from that Achilles injury?

22:28 I like Dame somewhere around 20. You know, they got a lot of talent on that team, a lot of guys that can score the ball at a high level. I think the person that might sacrifice the shots will be John Moran out of all those guys. And I think he's going to be more of a facilitator. So I got Dame around 20 points. just because I know the minutes are going to be there, the shots are going to be there, just due to how they play in transition, those transition threes that I talked about, and then just those isos that he'd get from time to time.

22:55 So I got Dame around 20 points.

22:57 Okay. Dame with the 20 piece. All right, B-Wood, will you look at Dame this season? Blazers legend, back at the crib.

23:05 I'm going to go slightly under 20. I understand what Darrell's saying, but I think that, you know, once you hand them keys over, them young boys don't want to get them keys back. So Denny Obdiel was the man last year. We talked about what Denny was doing, and last time Dane was there, you said he was averaging what?

23:23 24? 25. 25?

23:25 Yeah, 25, 7.

23:26 Yeah, so I would go slightly under because, you know, for this to work, Dame's going to have to sacrifice.

23:32 No, no.

23:33 They're all going to have to sacrifice, but Dame's going to have to let Josh, because Josh is trying to reinvent and jumpstart his career. Denny Ivey is coming off fresh off of an all-star appearance. So Dame can't come back and be the same Dame. And this all goes smoothly because he's the only guy that really, really can play off the ball like that. Josh can't play off the ball. Denny likes to have the ball. So Dame is going to have to be the one that's like, all right, I'm going to sacrifice a little bit. I think he's capable of getting 20 easy. But for this to work, I think he comes in 17, 18, and then Denny still does what he does, and then Ja Morant takes a step in that between 17 to 20 range too. Because I just think that you don't want

24:15 Ja off the ball. Because he's not a spot-up shooter. You don't want to run the pin-down action for Ja. You want all that to be Dame. So because he's the most complete... He's also the oldest. He's already experienced all the stuff that these guys are trying to get. Then he's trying to get all that notoriety that Dame already has. I think that he'll come in slightly under 20, like 17, 18. But it won't be a skill thing.

24:37 It'll be because he's sacrificing and he's smart and he's making sure the young dogs eat. But then he ain't giving them keys back.

24:43 Just know that.

24:44 He ain't trying to give them young boys.

24:46 Once you give the young boy the keys.

24:47 To the car, hey, man, you can ride shotgun. You know what I'm saying? You can get the auxiliary car, but I can't let you get back in the driver's seat.

24:55 I got you.

24:58 I see you doing some extensive research.

24:59 What you doing, man?

24:59 What you over there checking the stats out?

25:01 No, no, no. I was just....

25:04 When you got someone who can get fouls into a game.

25:10 it changes the way you have to play the game, right?

25:13 So it's no different than, you know, me, Antoine Caron, me, Antoine, Larry, where all Dame is going to do is let Danny get them in a penalty and then use the penalty to gain points without taking any shots, right? So when you're looking at how this game could be played, they can all average.

25:37 Over 20, especially since Sharper's not there.

25:40 Right?

25:40 These motherfuckers putting up some points. Yeah. Everybody average double digits in this team. Right? You got 10 people that average double digits. Even Scoot at 14 a game.

25:48 Yeah, yeah, yeah. He going to go down.

25:50 You know, we're going to.

25:50 He going to have to scoot scoot in the back of the pit.

25:53 Yo, get out.

25:53 I'm scooting.

25:54 I'm scooting. I'm scooting out of here, man.

25:57 I love you, Scoot.

25:58 Don't make me back.

25:59 What they brought you in, Scoot Scoot.

26:01 Oh, no. Yeah.

26:02 No, dead ass. You just look like... When you look at it, you be like, yeah, we can shave a couple. Grin is gone. So.

26:09 Danny can bump up to probably about 27. You have Dame at 20-21 and Jaws at that 17-19. They can actually, they can pull that off because they can put so many possessions into the game. Yeah, they're playing fast. Yeah, they play fast. You're going to get fouled. Dame is going to get, Dame is going to get a lot of free throws without getting hit.

26:29 Yeah.

26:30 Because he's smart enough.

26:31 He's the only one that plays different from them two.

26:33 I agree.

26:34 Like I said, when Danny's getting downhill, when he's getting downhill, He's in the corner, we know that's knockdown. That's knockdown. Anytime in transition, just him running the court to a spot, that's offense. And in today's game, they want to take the three out the game, so Dame is going to be able to do that. That's what makes him different than Denny. That's what makes him different than Ja. Denny and Ja are going to be trying to do the same thing. So you might actually have a point. Man, very rarely do I agree with you, man.

27:00 Most of the time.

27:01 Most of the time, your points are rather wild.

27:03 Okay. Okay.

27:05 But you might have a point. I might have. Ja might be the one to take the step down, man.

27:09 You know what I'm saying?

27:10 Very rarely do I agree. And I don't want to be rude.

27:13 But Ja may be from a point standpoint, but should Ja's mentality be, I want to lead the league in assists this season? Yes.

27:19 I think that's the average.

27:20 He averaged eight last year with the Grizzlies, but only 20 guys. That's going to be hard.

27:24 Yeah. Ja trying to rehabilitate that image, brother.

27:27 Yeah.

27:28 Hey, listen, this man at one point, we thought he about to be the face of the league. Hey, listen, you go to any AAU tournament, them kids are wearing the Jaws. Them Jaws shoes. Hey, listen, he trying to get back to that. He got the hottest shoe out there.

27:40 I don't know.

27:41 Like I said, we got to see how it's going to work. I don't know if Ja's going to be cool just like, yeah, I'll be the third option. Like, you know, so it's going to have to be, the biggest thing is they're going to have to talk. That's what that's where it gets lost. They're gonna have to sit down go to dinner on the road. Like listen, what do you see? This is how I think we should attack it and they have to have real conversations.

28:00 They got to be that three-headed.

28:02 Monster got to sit down and say listen, this is how we're going to do it. This is how we're going to make it work and whoever the third guy is the third guy in any big three is always the most important because he has to sacrifice the most. The third guy in any big three has to suck. He gets less shots. He gets less all-star games. He gets less all-NBA selections. But he has to be okay with that. And they got to sit down and talk about it and put that out in the atmosphere.

28:26 Because when you don't, and.

28:28 It just subtly goes, that's when you see guys, oh, he trying to get to this and that. You can't let that. You got to take it head on and speak on it. This is how we going to do this as a unit. Us three right here, we taking the city back. We taking it back over.

28:42 Well, should that be Dame? Because I've already got one. Yeah, no, no. It's going to be Danny. Now that you thought about it, it's just going to be Danny. You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

28:49 Danny going to be doing what?

28:51 Yeah, he's taking the back seat.

28:52 Danny Obnia?

28:53 Yeah.

28:53 Man, you crazy as hell.

28:55 One, he's foreign.

28:56 What that mean?

28:57 We.

28:58 What's black? We already see what the media is trying to do. We already against that. One, I get the ball first. Two, I usually give it to my running mate as a shooting guard. We figure this shit out. Karan, you get it when we get it to you. I'm just saying. Tough juice. I support this message.

29:20 But I'm saying this. Think about it.

29:22 Think about how he plays. He's going to put the ball on the ground, right? So when Danny gets it, he's going to put it down. So we know we're not going to get no assist from him. He creates assists or he creates his own shot. So we're going to work together to then get him the ball. And that's how that works. So Dame Ant- Ja knows he's going to pass it to him a couple open times.

29:44 If he don't shoot that directly and he puts it on and go get his bucket, Ja's going.

29:49 To mentally say, all right.

29:50 Yeah.

29:51 I'm going for Dame. I'm going to get these assists.

29:54 When I don't have anything, I'll give it to him because he's going to play his one-on-one game.

29:57 Yeah, for sure.

29:58 And that's usually how that happens.

29:59 Denny Abia is a 6'9, versatile forward at 25 years old, fresh off an All-Star appearance. He ain't taking the backseat. I just told you, he ain't giving the keys back.

30:10 He got to get the ball.

30:11 He is a good rebounder, though. He better get it off the glass.

30:14 Get it off the glass.

30:15 You told me get it off the glass. I almost got your ass.

30:17 You know what I'm saying? We have watched that. It just comes out a lot.

30:21 Get it off the glass. Security lock on the door.

30:23 Security lock on the door. You can't just tell everybody to get it off the glass. And I'm just saying, Denny Avdia, he will. Hey, you know what? Denny Avdia's like, you know what? I will get it off the glass. I'll get it off the glass. I'll push it myself. And then I'll get downhill. Denny Avdia is not going to be the one. The Portland Triple A's organization doesn't want Denny Avdia to be the one.

30:55 He's the guy.

30:57 Listen, we understand what Ja was, but Ja got a little bit of the background stuff going on. Denny, clean record, younger, 25. He's taller than these guys, gets to the free throw line, fresh off an all-star appearance. This is Denny Obvious' team. I know we know the name John Morant more. We know Dame Lillard's name more. This is Denny Obvious' team, and I keep saying it. He had the keys last year.

31:23 He ain't giving them back.

31:24 Yeah.

31:24 If I know Dame, though, he's going to be that guy to sit those guys down and have a real leadership conversation with them. And just everybody got to be on the same page. We're really serious about winning because they got a team that can go deep. I don't know if they can win a championship, but they can make some noise. So I think Denny Obvious– One, we'll have to adjust to how people play him because I think they're going to probably guard him like LeBron in transition and show him, build that wall, you know what I mean, and make him and force him to pass that basketball. It will be a big adjustment for him, I think, coming into this year, too.

31:55 Danny, I'll be playing for a contract, too, just to point that out.

31:58 Oh, yeah.

31:59 Oh, yeah. Never mind.

32:00 Let me go back again.

32:02 Let me go back.

32:02 Playing for a contract?

32:03 Oh, shit.

32:03 Okay, so he's going to average about.

32:05 20-something shots a game.

32:07 But it's just short.

32:08 For sure.

32:18 He ain't got his bread yet.

32:19 Everybody else has got their bread. You got two years left on his four-year $ 55 million deal. I think that was Denny. Sign that with the Wizards. Four for 55.

32:31 That's the best contract in the league.

32:34 It is. He was 24 points a game last year. Seven assists.

32:38 Get to the free throw line nine plus times.

32:39 They didn't extend him. He couldn't have gotten an extension.

32:42 You can only do an extension off that certain amount of numbers. He don't want the extension.

32:46 You can't go from making 11 or 12 to making 40. It's off that number.

32:48 Was it 12.5%?

32:55 I forgot.

32:56 Don't confuse me with the math.

32:57 So unrestricted in 2020.

32:58 All I know is that you can't go from making what he's making now to making $ 50 million, which is what his skill set and his accolades say he should get.

33:07 Also, he still has two more years then. So his contract front-loaded. Yeah, so he can only see a 140% increase on it. So he's got to play that shit out. Yeah, he has to play it out. So let me go right back.

33:18 He's about to take a backseat.

33:22 We'll see you next year with your contract.

33:25 You see why you tried to give Dame the keys?

33:26 Give me those goddamn keys back, man.

33:28 Who's keys are these right here?

33:32 Who's keys are these, man?

33:32 These are my keys, man. It's my team, man. It's my team.

33:36 So last thing before we move on. D-Rod, you played two seasons in Portland with Dame. You were in the building for that game winner over the Rockets in 2014. to get the Blazers past the first round four times in 14 years. I went back and watched the clip last night. But what does Dame Lillard mean to the Blazers, City of Portland, and just the culture of that Portland basketball?

33:53 I believe he means everything. How he's embraced Portland, moving his whole family. If you go to Portland, there's a lot of Lillards out there, you know, because his whole family has moved from Oakland to Portland. So, like, he's good everywhere he goes. I know he's opened businesses out there. He's done plenty of things in the community. The people love him. And anybody that played in Portland, we already know, it don't matter if they're here or here, the fans are going to come out, they're going to be loud, they're going to support. So when things are going well and somebody like Dame that shows so much loyalty to them and kind of, you know, the reason why he went to Milwaukee is they were trying to, you know,

34:26 lose games and get picked. So that town loves him. And, you know, just doing those things at a young age, early in his career, making big shots and kind of putting the team on his shoulders when we needed him. So that place really loves him. I'm happy that he's back. For sure.

34:42 And then for you two, we've been talking a lot about Mike Inori basically said it's going to be tough to put John Dame together in the starting backcourt, and he don't care who starts, he cares who finishes. We got into it yesterday about it. We talked about it a little bit over the course of the season, but when you look at that, you think that that can work for the players with John Dame together in that same backcourt?

35:00 I think it has its challenges because you have two small guards that don't defend. So in today's NBA, that is problematic.

35:08 The guys.

35:10 the league is getting taller through the skill positions. You know, you're seeing so many guys now.

35:13 Yeah, I'm six.

35:14 We talk about Denny Avni.

35:15 I'm 6'9, 6'8.

35:17 I do what you do.

35:17 You know what I'm saying? Like, I was... This summer, I was in Vegas. I seen A.J.

35:22 DeBantz.

35:22 I took a picture. I was like, this boy look at me in my eyes.

35:25 Like, he's 6'10.

35:26 Yeah, I'm 6'10, but.

35:27 I'm small forward. I'm small forward.

35:29 So when you have two smaller guards and they don't defend, there will be challenges. And there will be times where... Drew Holiday probably will be the best option to go along with to compliment one of the other guys.

35:41 But I'll say this.

35:43 I'm at least going to come out there the first four or five games out of respect for who Dame and Ja have been.

35:47 Yes.

35:48 And let those two guys figure it out. I'm going to say, hey, man, listen, we're going to see what it does. But over the first four or five games, let's see what it looks like. And if it don't look good, then I can go to him and say, listen, guys. I gave it to you for five games, man. Your defense is nothing. You stink or whatever. But you never know.

36:03 They might do well. But I'm going to give these guys a certain amount of games to try to figure it out before I just try to make either Dame Lillard, who is, like you just said, Mr. Everything in Portland, make him come off the bench, or Ja Morant come off. You could possibly lose Ja. Ja's trying to get everything back.

36:21 And now you got him coming off the bench. So I'm going to take some time. If I'm the head coach... I'm going to start both of these guys early on knowing that I can always make the adjustment.

36:30 I agree.

36:31 1,000%. And if it's the two, it's got to be John Morant. But I agree with offense being your defense sometimes. You know what I mean? Somebody like John Morant, he's putting pressure on the other guard.

36:44 You know, Brunson.

36:45 I don't see Brunson being able to stay in front of either one of those guys. So I feel like that offense can also eliminate and erase some of the stuff that you don't do well on defense. So I really want to see them do it. I wish that coach would have never came out and said that. I felt like that was kind of.

37:01 Why come out and say it? My mom used to always tell me, everything you think, you don't need to say. You know what I'm saying? Sometimes you just think it, let it go. You didn't need to come out there and say that.

37:13 Now they.

37:14 They're all looking around like, so which one of us you think ain't going to start?

37:17 What you mean?

37:19 What you mean I ain't going to start?

37:23 Who? Oh, man.

37:23 Who?

37:23 The owls of that?

37:24 Who? You started looking around.

37:26 Can't be talking about me. Hit the ones.

37:28 Hey, man, can you imagine T. Moran on the front row if Ja ain't starting?

37:33 Oh, man, T.

37:33 Going to be cutting up.

37:34 He ain't got to worry about T. You know Nike going to be on the front row? Yeah. Nike going to be on the front row? Yeah, cut him.

37:42 Yeah.

37:44 And we talk a lot about the starting aspect of it, but what about the finishing aspect of it? But you guys talk about the mental, you know, some guys can't come off the bench. They got to be starters. But now five minutes left in the game, this is the lineup we rolling out in winning time, and one of them is not a part of that.

37:59 How much more of a bigger issue would that be?

38:00 Well, that's why what the coach said makes zero sense. oh man, we can't start out with this lineup because they're too small and they can't defend, but we can finish with it. What sense does that make? You want the bet, like, if we can't start with that lineup, we damn sure can't finish with it. If the problem is they're too small and they can't defend, I'm going to tell you guys a secret. They're going to be too small and can't defend the last five minutes of a ball game. So either we're going to make these two guys work together or we're not. The biggest thing is what I think a coach's best attribute is, trying to figure out ways to cover up for the weaknesses.

38:34 It's not always just, okay, you go sit down. It might just be like, you know what? When Dame was playing, when Dame and CJ played together... They went out there and got big wings to try to cover up the fact that these guards, they're small, they don't defend. You got to go get some rim protection. Whatever it is, you got to figure out ways to try to hide these guys. That's what a good coach does. You don't just say, nah, man, you ain't starting. Because if you want them to finish, if this guy's good enough to finish, he's good enough to start. What are we doing?

39:00 I agree.

39:02 It's actually really a dumb statement when you really think about it. It was dumb from a timing standpoint.

39:08 No, I know. I hate that.

39:09 I'll be saying it. It was dumb from a timing standpoint. And then when you think about bigger picture, okay, they're too small to start together, but they're not too small to finish together. I don't know, man. That seems a little wild to me.

39:24 Yeah, it makes no sense.

39:25 Well, that's why we have you But it just ain't me. Okay. No, it ain't just you, man.

39:30 Like I said, when you write, you write. You just rarely write.

39:33 I'm always right. Sometimes it just takes time.

39:36 It just takes time.

39:37 It just takes a little time.

39:39 There it is.

39:39 There's the right right there. All right, well, let's keep this thing moving. Tyrese Halliburton also made his return to the court from an Achilles injury after missing nearly 16 months. Last time we saw Hallie on the floor was Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals. So Hallie and the Pacers opened their preseason at his alma mater, Iowa State, taking on the White Emberwolves. Hallie celebrated his return to basketball by buying every student section ticket in the arena, giving current students an opportunity to attend the game for free.

40:09 And he proceeded to show fans that he's ready for this season. So let's take a look at those highlights at the Halliband making his return. Good game, too. This was a very interesting game. Howie looked good against the Wolves, who once again played all five of their starting five. One of the most electrifying starting fives in the league.

40:26 Halliband finished with seven points, six assists, just one turnover in 16 minutes of action. Appeared to be moving very well on the floor. I know you're not a Pacers fan, but this is an interesting thing. So, Howie started the game wearing a number 22 jersey, paying homage to his Iowa State number before switching back To number zero. And then on the... On the Timberwolves side, they were also very impressive. Ant-Man led the team in scoring with 19 points.

40:55 LaMelo Ball had 14, 7 assists and 4 boards. Jaden McDaniels had 16.

41:00 Points as well.

41:00 But this night, all about Tyrese Halliburton. Shout out to the league. Shout out to the Timberwolves agreeing to play this game at Iowa State. What leg was it? It was his right one.

41:11 I think right as well. Okay.

41:15 It was his right one, right? Let me double check.

41:19 Don't be out here stat boost. Don't be out here giving the wrong info to the people.

41:21 No, we always want to be correct.

41:23 Joe, which one was it, Joe?

41:24 Right Achilles tendon. Okay. For Tyrese Halliburton. Let me show you something. Go back. This is what I look at. And this is what, if I'm playing him, this is what I'm playing for. I'm going to show you all something. This is my expertise. Okay. When I'm looking for a weakness in someone. And this is.

41:47 to tell Hallie to focus on this particular movement.

41:55 Okay.

41:55 What movement are we looking for?

41:56 I'm going to show you.

41:58 Be where we have a very.

42:00 Get ready to pause it if we can.

42:03 It's him coming off, I think, the next pick and roll.

42:08 Watch this one.

42:10 Never get enough Tyrese Halliburton highlights. Okay, I think it's this. Pick and roll right here. Yeah, right here. Right?

42:18 Okay.

42:19 Watch.

42:20 He's going to drag. He's going to carefully drag his right foot. Yeah, so now play it fast.

42:31 Damn, how you see that, man?

42:32 That's what I'm supposed to be looking at. Now playing fast.

42:36 A crippled guard can spot another crippled guard from afar. Now go back and watch it in real time. These are the little things we won't know we're doing, but I will catch it on tape, so watch. So instead of him pushing off of it, so instead of him going and pushing off of it, he's Safely sliding it.

43:02 No. Safeguard it. Hey, man, we....

43:05 You know who he is, man?

43:07 Who's that?

43:07 Gil's, like, the smart guy in the hood that don't want nobody to know he's smart. He, like, hides his books in the pizza box. Because, like, that's an excellent point that I didn't see. Like, you don't want people to know you really know your basketball. You want the hot take? That was incredible, bro.

43:22 Because I didn't catch that at all.

43:23 I didn't catch that at all. Like, that push-off wasn't pushing off.

43:26 It wasn't pushing off.

43:27 Hey!

43:27 Hey!

43:27 Hey, listen. Hey, listen.

43:32 That push-off didn't, it just didn't get all the way there, did it? It's just like, when you normally push off, you see them guards, they plant that leg and they create that space.

43:41 That thing was dragging, buddy.

43:44 He figured out how to safeguard.

43:45 But those are the things that, because we're practicing, we learn how to do certain things, but in a game in real time, and that's all I'm looking for.

43:53 That's why I said, what leg was it?

43:54 Dead serious? Had you watched that clip before?

43:57 No.

43:57 You picked that up in real time?

43:58 Real time. Wow. Boy, listen.

44:00 Hey, man, you on your way, boy.

44:02 You about to be the next Luke Bruce. You on your way, boy.

44:07 You on your way, boy.

44:08 You going to get your own breakdown shot. I swear to God, y'all.

44:12 You remember the game where I did a crossover and.

44:19 Jason Kidd poked it. Boom.

44:20 Right? And then somebody did it the other way and he didn't get it.

44:24 I was like... And then I realized one of his arms was like this.

44:28 Come on.

44:29 Right? Just a kid. Right?

44:31 It didn't, it didn't.

44:32 So it's like, oh, he must have broke his arm once.

44:34 He got a what? Right?

44:35 It's like, it's like, it's not fully extended.

44:37 One of his arms on the skin?

44:38 They're not extended.

44:38 So I said, you know what?

44:39 He got like the little. No, no, not that far.

44:41 It's just like, it's just like.

44:42 He got like the little arm like Buddy from 365?

44:44 No, no, it doesn't.

44:47 No, but you know, you remember when he was three, six, nine years?

44:50 With the little arm?

44:52 He had a towel in his hand, never wiping no sweat. Come on, man.

44:55 Y'all remember that, man?

44:56 Y'all can't tell?

44:58 No, no, no. We didn't know until a while.

45:00 J.K. got the little arm?

45:02 He got the little arm.

45:04 It's just like he broke it, and then it didn't get the full extension. When I noticed that, I only crossed over.

45:10 Like Buddy from Scary Movie?

45:11 Remember Buddy from Scary Movie with the little hand? Made it by hand. Yeah, yeah.

45:14 Was that it?

45:15 Nope.

45:15 I ain't never know that about J.

45:16 Ken. I played with J.

45:17 Ken, man.

45:18 Nah, yeah, it was just like one, this one, this one, like it was broken. So when I did the crossover, I only crossed over to that knowing he couldn't get, that little inch wouldn't get there.

45:28 That's crazy.

45:28 So it was just, you know. I didn't, man, that was actually incredible work right there. I did not see that in real time. But those are the little things. That's the difference between returning to the court and returning to performance, you know. When you do that step back, like I said, Gil just showed the clip in real time.

45:46 A lot of those guards, when they plant that leg, they are creating so much space off that step back. When you gotta drag that leg, that's not the same step back. And those are the little things that... Yeah, that's when you see a guy say, yeah, I was back, but I didn't feel like myself until year two.

46:03 No doubt.

46:03 Those are the little plays like that.

46:05 But I... But usually, you know, because we don't see it.

46:08 So that's why I said for him, now that you know it, you can consciously, like, get the timing.

46:13 It's just the timing.

46:14 Just re-timing that. Get on the Like, what was it, a treadmill? A treadmill and just push off on it.

46:22 Man, listen, man, that's probably the most important, most impressive film work I've ever seen.

46:26 From you, man.

46:27 Oh, yeah, we never watched film together, that's why. No, we did watch film.

46:31 Together for years. No, in the game, but just me, like, when I'm watching it.

46:33 No, I'm saying, like, though, that was, like, you never, like, jumped in the film room and gave us anything constructive. Half the time, you're back there asleep. Like, I'm glad you woke up for this one. That was some good stuff right there.

46:44 That's high level.

46:46 You're going to take the show over the top. I already watched the film. I don't need to watch it again with them. Just give me the ball.

46:52 See, that's why we didn't win no games.

46:56 We did win games, though.

46:58 You know what?

46:59 We did have a winning record, though. When you think about it. Our injured year, that don't count. And then them three, we.

47:06 Didn't have no distance. We played y'all two years in a row. In Miami? Yeah. No, only one year.

47:10 Y'all put us out to one year. Other than that, we kept running that big head guy in Cleveland. We saw y'all once, and after that, it was like, come on, every year.

47:21 That was 05.

47:22 We was over here.

47:23 Thinking, you know what, we might win that Cleveland team again. But then we realized, never mind.

47:27 Where the Bulls at?

47:30 Yeah.

47:31 Got swept by the Heat in the conference semis?

47:33 Yeah, Shaq didn't even play the last game.

47:36 Last two. Last two?

47:38 He didn't come to D.C. Dang it. He didn't come to D.C. I don't need to come to D.C.

47:42 But you know why we got swept though, right? Because he disrespected D.

47:45 Wade?

47:47 You remember we were talking crazy about D-Wade?

47:48 That was at the beginning of the season.

47:51 No, no, no, no, no. You were talking crazy at the beginning of the season.

47:53 He remembered at the end of the season.

47:55 I tried to say sorry.

47:56 He didn't take your call. I remember that. Who'd you call, Tav?

47:59 No, no, no.

48:00 No, I called him.

48:01 He answered.

48:01 He's like, uh-huh. Uh-huh. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. All right.

48:04 Hold on, hold on.

48:05 So let's walk that back in real time just so we have it. You were talking crazy about D-Wade to start the season.

48:10 Oh, okay. It wasn't D-Wade. It wasn't him.

48:13 It was the idea of we can just sit him in the zone like the USA team, right, because they can't shoot.

48:22 That was what I said.

48:23 So you say you didn't have to guard D-Wade because he can't shoot.

48:26 Yeah.

48:26 And then after you said that, before the playoffs.

48:29 No, no, no, no, no, no. Before the season. Remember, this is before the season.

48:32 Yeah, you said it before the season.

48:33 Yeah, yeah.

48:34 But when we saw them in the playoffs, you tried to call and apologize.

48:36 No, nigga.

48:37 I called him when he came to D.C. Game one when we played him in regular season.

48:43 Come on, man. You can't. Regular season.

48:44 Because you was talking shit.

48:45 Y'all was talking shit. Y'all was like, yeah, you remember what you said about D-Wade. It looked like he cooking. So you started looking like, uh, uh, uh. He got us in a couple days.

48:52 Amen. So when they got to town, I.

48:54 Called the hotel.

48:55 Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.

48:58 Come on, bro. And then you remember.

49:01 You can't talk big. You can't pop fly and then apologize.

49:04 Yes, I can. No, you can't.

49:06 When you see the numbers he was putting up coming to us, you see the tornado coming.

49:11 You disrespected his jumper, and then you called his hotel room to apologize?

49:15 Yes. I'm so And then, did you see what he did? Oh, you forgot what he did out there. No, I didn't forget.

49:20 I didn't forget and he didn't forget.

49:22 Larry Hughes got two quick fouls and I don't know what coach thought, but I think he wanted.

49:29 to show me a lesson by putting me on D-Wade.

49:31 No, that was not a good move.

49:33 And yeah, he had like about 14 and two, three quick minutes.

49:38 Yeah, holding up.

49:39 And then, yeah, he had about, what, 30-something that game. And I remember you said, well.

49:44 Gil, you was right.

49:46 He didn't shoot.

49:48 He didn't have to shoot.

49:50 You proved your point. He didn't hit you with no three, but he hit you with a lot. He was in that motherfucker, picking, rolling, spinning, dunking.

49:57 A lot of lateral movement.

49:59 Hey, Larry Hughes is like, yo, I felt so bad.

50:03 He was like, you know, next time you talk shit about somebody, make sure you're the one guarding them.

50:09 Real shit.

50:12 Noted.

50:13 Noted.

50:15 It's noted. You know, I ain't even got to worry about my position like that.

50:19 You ain't learned your lesson because you did the same thing to Kobe. But that's a story for another day.

50:23 But that was after.

50:23 Yeah.

50:24 That was after the fact. I did my thing first. I learned my lesson. Did my thing first. You did your thing. You did your thing.

50:34 I don't think we beat Miami until I got to Orlando.

50:38 Nah, man.

50:39 D-Wade had you circling on the calendar every game.

50:41 I don't think I beat Miami.

50:44 D-Wade had you circling on the calendar.

50:46 We played you guys pretty well. I remember those days. I had that big-ass suit on over there watching. But I remember.

50:52 Hey, man.

50:53 Brother, he was on the team. Don't disrespect the suit game. Hey, listen.

50:58 You put them hours in to put that suit on.

51:01 Back to Tyrese Halliburton.

51:04 If we can.

51:05 D-Ray, looking at Holly, first game, 472 days. What did Tyrese Halliburton show you back on the floor?

51:10 I'm sorry about that.

51:11 No, I'm sorry.

51:12 This is Gil's arena. This is what we do. I thought he looked solid. Going back to what we talked about Dame being that older superstar, Holly being that younger superstar, they're going to need him to do a lot. We saw that the season before he got hurt. This is facilitating, getting guys open shots. putting pressure on the rim, things of that nature. So he's going to have to make sure that leg is 100% because it could be one of those things where you're dragging it now, and now you're missing two or three weeks because of inflammation or swelling.

51:41 So you want to avoid that. So I think he will have to continue to do the rehab and do all the things to keep him on that court for that longevity because I know from– injuring myself, dragging my leg, and guys are like, are you okay? And I'm like, I'm looking at you like, yeah, I'm good. Like, that don't look good. So when you pointed that out, I can, you know, I resonate with that because that happened to me.

52:06 I guess we're so talented that we can alter our game without even doing we did it and be fine, but it's like, yo, hey, hold on. Like, nobody usually points it out to us for us to go, oh, consciously, and work on it and fix it so it's normal. It's just usually just the timing's just off just a little bit. Like, he can just do just a movement for a week, a week and a half, and it'll be fixed by the time the season starts. But it's actually consciously knowing that you're doing it.

52:36 It's getting the confidence back. It's getting the confidence back. You know what I'm saying? Like you said, in your mind, you think you're moving one way, but your competition's like, yo, I used to see you move, and you ain't moving the same. And so for Hallie, like I said, if somebody clips this and shows it to him, He needs to start working on making sure that that step back is a step back, not a slide step. That was a slide step.

52:57 That was a cupid shuffle.

53:00 We don't need the cupid shuffle. We need the step back jumper to create the space. You know what I'm saying? We don't need down, down, do that thing. No, we don't need that. We need the step back because that's a different type of shot. But I think that, like you said, look at the film, understanding where I have to get better, what you have to do to get stronger, continue to work on that leg, but I think the underrated move they made was bringing in Zubac. I think Zubac is going to be huge for their pick and roll game. I like Zubac for Hallie way more than I like Miles Turner. And I like Miles Turner, but Miles Turner wants to pop a lot more. Zoo wants to get in that lane and get dirty. Zoo's going

53:37 to get in there. And not only is he a lob threat, he's one of the few big men in this league outside of the true bigs that can score it. When he catches it inside, he knows what to do with it. Like some of these bigs, when you put a smaller guy on, they don't know what to do. But Zoo's like, nah, I'll get to a righty jump hook, pump.

53:52 Fake, step through.

53:53 He got all the touch shots inside, can activate it, throw it to the weak side. So I think that Hallie-Zubak pick and roll is actually going to be really good for the Pacers, and that's going to help Halliburton out at the beginning of the season.

54:04 So I'll bring you to my next point. Gil, I know you're not a fan of the Pacers. The Pacers were ass last season. They were ass.

54:10 No Hallie.

54:11 Trying to get a draft pick did not work out as a result of that Zoo trade. But Last time Howley played, Pacers finished fourth in the East, went 12-4 in the first three rounds of the playoffs. Series wins over the Bucks, Cavs, and Knicks to advance to the finals for the first time in 25 years. Largely, same roster as that Eastern Conference Championship team, with the exception, obviously, of Miles Turner, Ben Matherin, who were replaced by Avisa Zubac and Kelly Oubre. So... We're going to start with you because I don't want to hear what Gil has to say.

54:42 You don't? No.

54:45 I'm trying to figure out how far. I'm just saying, the year they went to the finals, nobody was like, oh, we're rocking with this Pacers squad like that. I was. Remember I had my Pacer gear.

54:53 Man, you switch your gear off every time a new team wins, you put different gear on.

54:58 The jersey switch. Fair weather fan. Legendary moment. But are people sleeping on the Pacers this season? I wouldn't say sleeping. It's all up to Halliburton.

55:07 You know, he's the head of the snake of this team. He's the, you know, the guy that's getting everybody their shots and making the game easy. Siakam, he's still there. You know, he got to have a big year. Zubox, I think, is definitely a big upgrade for Miles Turner just because him being more of a bruiser, he rebounds the ball much better and he can facilitate. That east is kind of deep. So I don't see them being like, you know, back to the Eastern Conference Finals or to the Finals. I could see them being competitive, but not getting over the hump.

55:36 Yeah, the Pacers are a very, they're going to be a competitive team. You still got Pascal. You still got Halliburton. We both like what Zubac brings to the table, walking double-double. But, but, the last time the Pacers were running to the finals, the East was a lot different.

55:52 It was.

55:53 The Knicks got a different swag now. They're NBA champions. Philadelphia got a totally different roster. We know that's one of the best rosters in the league.

56:01 Can't argue with that.

56:02 The Miami Heat were a playing team last time you seen them. Now they got Giannis and Bam together. Wiggins, all them boys. The Miami Heat are going to be a lot better. The last time they were on that run... The Detroit Pistons were some pups. Not Detroit Pistons coming off a year where they were one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. That East is so much different now that I'm not sure this version of the Pacers is going to be able to run back to the finals. I think that they caught lightning in a bottle.

56:30 They had an incredible year, an incredible moment. They did it for the city.

56:34 Everybody was rallying behind them.

56:35 Truthfully, man, listen, if Howie don't get hurt in that game, maybe they even win an NBA championship. But the fact of the matter is the East is so much different now. I can't see them today. If I had to predict, I wouldn't predict them to be one of the top three teams in the Eastern Conference. Now, I could be wrong.

56:53 I've been wrong many times before. I'm just saying when I look at the Eastern Conference, it's a lot different. And I think the Pacers are going to be a really good team, like Darrell said. But I don't think they're going to be that championship level team or that team that's capable of winning a championship like they were two years ago.

57:11 I mean, it's the same thing I said.

57:12 They're going to be somewhere at the bottom for me.

57:16 Damn, the bottom?

57:16 I ain't say the bottom now.

57:17 Hold on now. Hold on.

57:20 What you mean the bottom? Like play-in or you mean like past the play-in?

57:23 Play-in.

57:24 Yeah, they could be.

57:25 Like play-in like 7, 8, 10. Yeah, I mean, you look at the Eastern Conference.

57:30 Not even 9.

57:30 They got 7, 8, or 10. They can't even win Boston.

57:34 Yeah, I mean, you got a lot of teams in the East. Like you still got Miami, Philly, Detroit.

57:39 Cleveland, Boston.

57:40 Cleveland, Boston, Washington, Orlando. Atlanta ain't no walking apart. So, like, when I look at this Pacers team, I'm not telling you that they're going to be in the bottom, but playing is really in their realm of possibilities based on how good the Eastern Conference is. Atlanta was nothing last time the Pacers were running through. Like, Atlanta's a real team.

58:02 They're a real team now.

58:03 Okay. Well, we will see. Ten. Ten. I mean, that's. Joe, where you got? You looking real.

58:10 Ten. Joe, where you got a fish in the top two?

58:12 I just hosed Brendan. Huh? Ten. Nah, he just hosed. Nah, but it's like when you really think about it. But if one of those teams that don't look amazing to me on paper, right, when you talk about that stack, he's a conference book with a guy like Hallie back there running the offense. I just wouldn't be surprised.

58:24 You got them finishing in front of Orlando?

58:27 That's what I'm saying. And we don't even think Orlando's.

58:29 Going to be one of the top three or four teams.

58:31 That's always one of those teams like, yo, if you guys can stay healthy, you definitely have an opportunity to be top five, top six in the East. But there's going to be so many moving parts with a lot of these teams.

58:38 Everybody looks great on paper right now.

58:40 Who's actually going to really get to it in this 82 games? But you're trying to give it to a team that literally mentally went through losing all last year. And even with the losing, he's not there, but the other players were there, and they wasn't even competitive.

58:54 But they got Hallie in his video. Like I'm talking, like you're the second option. Now you're the first option with nobody around you. And you don't bump up to 28, 30, 32.

59:03 Like that was your chance to be a superstar. That was your chance to be Jalen Brown. Yep, exactly.

59:10 No.

59:12 Regular old you. Tells me, where's the growth in anyone? Did anyone grow last year? If you're not, that means you're still in that year. waiting for your superstar.

59:27 When I was gone, two motherfuckers made the All-Star team. True. They're taking on the production. No one took the production on here. I agree. So it's like, nah.

59:37 Yeah.

59:38 You're outdated information. Felt like a franchise that was willing to take a gap year that season. Saw the prospects of a loaded draft. Said, let's get to it. Obviously lost that pick.

59:49 But even still, like he said, even in a gap year, It seemed like Boston was going to have a gap year, but Jalen Brown was like, nope.

59:58 He went here.

59:59 To Gil's point, and I hate to say this, man, he's been actually right a couple of times. But when you look at the Pacers, there wasn't these guys that you're like, oh, yeah, when they get this guy back because these other two dogs are right here, it's just like everybody kind of stayed the same. The biggest thing is they stayed the same. The East got better. That's what it comes down to, Joe, for me. I think the Pacers are a really good team if we're talking about.

1:00:25 Two years ago.

1:00:27 That East, not this East.

1:00:29 This East is different. This East is going to be a gauntlet.

1:00:32 Well, Brendan, speaking of the East getting better, let's shift over to South Beach. Heat have struggled for years to land a big-name superstar to continue the franchise's championship legacy. With some opting to duck what's become known as Heat culture, the demanding, discipline-driven organizational ethos established by the franchise under Pat Riley, which prioritizes elite physical condition, intense accountability, and team-first selflessness above individual startups. So Giannis... Wait, is that like some shit that's written on the wall or something?

1:01:01 I don't know, but we got the rails, so we gonna hear all about heat culture. I need stories, bro. I need some stories about this heat culture, brother.

1:01:08 That's heat culture. But Giannis hasn't even played a real game with the heat since his blockbuster trade back in June, but has quickly embraced the culture of his new team In an exclusive interview with The Athletic's Eric Name, who covered the Greek freak when he was in Milwaukee, Giannis offered his thoughts on heat culture, saying, It's real, and I love every effing second of it. I'm not even going to lie. It gives me goosebumps. It's almost like being alive again. So we have our resident expert on all things heat culture, where you started your career. Yes.

1:01:36 You've been on this couch in years past, talked about the strict standards that they held y'all to, but... D.R., what are your thoughts on Giannis embracing heat culture and saying he loves every effing second of it?

1:01:46 Yeah, I love it. My brother got an opportunity to play with Giannis, so I know what type of player he is, what type of person he is, and the worker. If you're willing to work, Miami is the perfect place for you. I always recommend those places for guys that want to, like a John Morant, that want their career to get back on track. That's the perfect place for those type of guys. If you want to win and know every single day you've got to put your hard hat on, That's the perfect place. So Giannis, me knowing what type of person he is, I feel like he's that type of guy, that heat culture guy. It's going to be difficult. He has a coach that's fiery, that's going to challenge him, and it's going to hold him

1:02:21 accountable every single day. And also Pat Rowley as well. You're going to have a lot of talks with Pat throughout the year, bring him into office. So it's going to be interesting to see that team because now they have those pieces around Giannis. So when he's putting that pressure on the rim, he's finding Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, and just the defense is part of that team as well.

1:02:39 I'm excited to see, but it's going to be difficult. There's going to be some days that you don't want to go in there because the workload is too much.

1:02:46 Well, listen, man, I've heard about heat culture. Wizard's culture wasn't nowhere like heat culture. I know that for sure. But I need some stories of what, because when we hear heat culture, I need you to give people a story of this is what heat culture is, whether it be you or somebody else you saw. This is something that we had to go through that ain't nobody else doing.

1:03:03 Yeah, weight and body fat every week. You know, you come in there, you got a sign on the wall, on a whiteboard, weight and body fat. Guard's got to be six and below.

1:03:13 Six percent body fat?

1:03:13 Six percent.

1:03:14 Wings got to be eight. The bigs got to be 12. And then your weight got to be in this little range that, you know, they put you in that category. So just imagine, you know, one night you want to go out, hang out, eat some bullshit, you know, drink, and then you got weight and body fat the next day. You're going to be in that steam room. So I've seen plenty of guys in there trying to, get those extra pounds off, get that body fat down because it was real. And it was consequences to everything. You're going to get fined. They're going to find you in Miami.

1:03:41 And then you're going to do pre-practice. You're going to be here before practice starts. Oh, what the hell is pre-practice?

1:03:46 Hey, brother, what the hell is pre-practice? What the hell is pre-practice? Hold on, I ain't never experienced that. What is pre-practice?

1:03:53 So pre-practice happened when I went back to Miami. So when I first was there, if you wasn't hitting those numbers, you had to work on a bike or the treadmill 45 minutes. And then pre-practice came for, okay, we're going to run these things in practice. So all the guys that are not getting and understanding, I need you here 30 minutes before. We're going to run through all the stuff we're going to do in practice. And then that was pre-practice. So just imagine somebody telling you, hey, you got pre-practice tomorrow. Make sure your ass here 45 minutes before.

1:04:23 Tape them ready to go. Yeah, I never had no pre-practice.

1:04:25 I had regular practice. I never had no pre-practice.

1:04:28 But just that alone tells you in practice, it kind of shows that every organization is not built the same.

1:04:36 No doubt.

1:04:37 So there's advantages to being drafted to a team that's structured like that. A team that's like San Antonio. A team that's like.

1:04:48 Dallas. Right? And then you got motherfuckers out there, the organization's losers, and so you're going to be a loser. No doubt. Like, I got drafted to the early Golden State.

1:04:58 Yeah, right.

1:04:59 Where.

1:05:00 When you get there and you sit here and practice at 11 o'clock, you there at 10, and then mother's coming there at 10.55, 11.15, 11.35.

1:05:11 We already started practicing.

1:05:12 You got Mookie Bailock coming in there like, all right.

1:05:17 That was my experience.

1:05:18 He was coming in what time?

1:05:19 11.35 from golf, right on the court.

1:05:23 11 o'clock practice? Didn't even have the uniform on. Just put his basketball shoes on.

1:05:27 Time out, time out. He had his golf equipment, he had his golf uniform on?

1:05:32 Brother, he's coming in there.

1:05:33 He had the golf polo?

1:05:34 Yeah.

1:05:35 With the basketball shoes?

1:05:35 With the basketball shoes.

1:05:36 Nah, you lying.

1:05:37 Put his shit down?

1:05:38 You lying.

1:05:38 Bro, put his shit on, and then sub a nigga out.

1:05:42 He subbed in with the golf shirt on? Get the hell out of here, man.

1:05:45 Look at that.

1:05:46 Get the hell out of here.

1:05:47 I never told y'all. It was to the point. Hey, man, come on, man.

1:05:52 Listen, it was so bad that when they fired the coach and they brung in Brian Winters, Brian Winters was like, you know what? No more practice. We're not having no more practice the rest of the year. Just come to the games. So when I took Larry Hughes, I didn't take Larry Hughes' spot. Larry got hurt. I got the spot, right?

1:06:14 He had to sit out a couple weeks.

1:06:16 So there was no practice for the spot back.

1:06:19 Right.

1:06:20 So I'm averaging like 15, rookie of the month and stuff. So when Larry coming back, he just coming back as, you know, the backup.

1:06:27 Back up two now.

1:06:29 Because we're not having practice for him to whoop on me and get a spot back.

1:06:32 Right. Or work plays. So we just come into the games.

1:06:35 Wow.

1:06:36 That's great. That's how it was. Wow.

1:06:38 That's the worst culture. That's anti-heat culture.

1:06:40 Yeah, yeah.

1:06:41 That's the worst culture I've ever heard of in my life.

1:06:43 And then, you know, then we got Muscleman the next year.

1:06:46 Now, that was a whole 360. We had to do, like, four sets of up and down tens.

1:06:52 Yeah.

1:06:53 I would have lost my.

1:06:53 I would have lost a starting position if... What's his name? From Cincinnati, Logan. Oh, yeah. Steve Logan. If Steve Logan was in shape, there was no Agent Zero. Oh, he was mopping. Boy, he was mopping.

1:07:09 He was cold.

1:07:13 Steve Logan, in college, he was sneaky.

1:07:15 Yeah.

1:07:16 Oh, he was sneaky. He knew how to be like, yeah, remember, I'm a shooting guard. Trying to be the point. He was the point. So all the little pick and roll little things he knew how to do. Oh, yeah. He was putting me through the... He over there throwing it. I was like.

1:07:30 I put you through the ringer. I was like, yeah, boy.

1:07:34 So.

1:07:36 You had to do this to actually come to training camp. Him, Danny Fortson, they couldn't pass that drill to get to training camp.

1:07:46 That was Muscleman's thing.

1:07:49 When I got to Washington, we had what we had. But then when I got to Orlando, that was a whole different thing. They're doing blood tests. They're checking food allergies.

1:08:00 That's the difference. That's what people don't talk about enough. Everybody just goes out there and be like, oh, man, you win or you lose. Now, how your organization sets stuff up, that matters.

1:08:12 Matters.

1:08:12 Hey, bro, D-Wade don't become D-Wade. No disrespect to D-Wade. But if he's not in that heat system to start out with.

1:08:18 If he went to Charlotte.

1:08:20 Exactly.

1:08:21 Well, I live in Charlotte. I might want tickets to the game.

1:08:25 New Orleans.

1:08:26 Hey, listen. So, but to your point, your culture matters. Where you go matters who you're like. All right. Everybody has to come in this way. Now, you know, you have to be that way. Then that discipline. Listen, players, we will fight discipline, but discipline makes you better. Then that discipline takes you to another level and you start winning.

1:08:46 Your coach, like, dog, if D-Wade would have went to that Mookie Blaylock golf polo culture you were talking about, it wouldn't have been the same thing.

1:08:54 He would have been bringing guns to the locker room.

1:08:57 Probably not that.

1:08:58 If you was in there when I was in there. there, you had to defend yourself.

1:09:02 Guns to the locker room is still wild, but we're.

1:09:04 Going to let it ride. Just so you know what I went into, we're playing Denver Nuggets. Danny Fortson and George McCloud get into it.

1:09:16 George McCloud was an old school gangster. Yeah, yeah, yeah. People forget about how gangster.

1:09:19 George McCloud was.

1:09:20 They get into it, right? Yeah.

1:09:22 So they get kicked out of the game, right? So after the game, I'm walking. George McCloud, a young fella, hit on the shoulder.

1:09:31 Boom, like, oh.

1:09:31 Hit you? No, no, yeah, like, you know, like, stop me. But the stop, my body wasn't ready for that kind of pressure. Yo, yo, yo, fella, tell Danny I'm outside. I'm waiting for him. Let's finish this. All right, all right. Hey, Danny, just because he's outside. Wait for you. This man said, oh, yeah, I've been waiting for him.

1:09:53 Right?

1:09:54 He put his.

1:09:54 Socks down like that. The man had a razor blade, right?

1:09:57 He had a razor blade.

1:09:58 Danny Fortune didn't play no game with no damn razor blade. I'm calling cash. I'm calling cash.

1:10:03 I swear to God.

1:10:04 He didn't play no NBA game with no razor blade. Two razor blades.

1:10:07 No, man.

1:10:08 Two!

1:10:09 Like, it was, you know how, like, it's been in a whole game, so when he takes it off, you got a little spot right there.

1:10:14 Was he fresh out? I don't know, brother.

1:10:17 Did Danny do a bid or something?

1:10:18 That is jail activity. Whatever it was, he was ready for it.

1:10:21 He was ready for it, George. That's what I was, that's the NBA team I came on to. Yeah. But to your point. Cocaine out the sock?

1:10:30 Okay, I didn't know about that.

1:10:32 Wow.

1:10:32 It's a hell of a drug, dude. We're not going to mention it.

1:10:34 In the game!

1:10:35 Please don't.

1:10:35 In the game!

1:10:36 Please don't.

1:10:36 Hey, brother. You might want to pick that little silver bag up.

1:10:40 Please don't mention whoever's name had the cocaine.

1:10:42 We were just playing the Blazers.

1:10:45 We were just playing the Blazers.

1:10:47 That's it.

1:10:48 But my point being.

1:10:51 At that moment in time. He probably needed it.

1:10:53 I'm not touching that one. People got kids and everything. I'm not messing with that. But to your point, that's what we're talking about. Everybody thinks you walk into an organization, the average fan thinks it's the same. Man, if you walk into it as a young player and you got all that structure like the Heat, and then you compare that to the no structure that you got, that's two totally different, that's two totally different beats. Even when I went, when I went from The Wizards to Dallas, that's a totally different structure. Discipline, it's totally required. Man, all that, grabbing the offensive rebound and shooting it every time I got it. He wouldn't pass the ball. So if I got an offensive rebound, I don't care where, I'm getting

1:11:40 it up. Rick Carlisle pulled me in that office so quick. He said, listen, man, don't you ever shoot that shot here again. Your job. is not to score. Your job is to get the offensive rebound and kick it out the dirt. I made the mistake of looking dirt gone. That was why he was really pissed off. He looked at the tape and he's like, I see you and I know that you see him. You see that man in the corner? He said, that is over $ 20 1,000 points.

1:12:07 Don't you ever look him off to take your raggedy-ass jump hook.

1:12:10 Dang. Yeah.

1:12:12 And the jump hook, it rimmed in and out.

1:12:14 It wasn't like it was a bad shot, but it was to the point of, that's not.

1:12:18 What we do here.

1:12:19 No doubt.

1:12:19 We're not wasting possessions for you to shoot your jump hook and get your shot off, boy. That ain't for you.

1:12:25 Yeah.

1:12:25 Like, that's a total, like, playing for Dallas was a different culture than playing for the Wizards. And when we talk about whether it's your role players, your rookies, or even your star players, coming in.

1:12:35 With a different culture matters. No doubt.

1:12:38 That OKC culture is different than a lot of cultures in the league. That San Antonio culture, hey, San Antonio is always there, ain't they? Certain things are required. So when you got those different cultures, they set the tone for what their players are and what they become.

1:12:55 Yeah, structure is everything, man. I took that with me the rest of my career because I didn't know no better. And a lot of vets used to come in and be like, young fella, this ain't the real NBA. And I never knew what those guys meant until I went on to next destinations. And I'm like, okay, now I understand what those dudes meant. But I have to keep this same routine because I don't want to be like that.

1:13:12 I don't want to be one, two years. Because think about this, too. A lot of guys back in the day that left Miami, they were done after that. Like, they didn't do, they didn't have, you know, years after that. It was like Miami.

1:13:25 What do you mean back in the day? We see it now. Guys that are balling for the heat. You know what I'm saying? You look out there, they'll go to a different team, and they're not the same player. Hey, y'all see the way LeBron was looking at Gabe Benson?

1:13:38 Yeah.

1:13:41 Hey, LeBron gave that look. But that wasn't the same Gabe Benson that we were seeing with the heat.

1:13:47 It was different.

1:13:48 You know what I'm saying? So we understand a lot of players, they leave the heat and they leave that culture, that structure, and they're not the same. And there's a reason for that.

1:13:56 Let's talk about a player going to that culture.

1:13:59 Giannis, 31 years old.

1:14:00 We've talked about in the past, superstars not really rocking with that, especially once they put some time in the league. Like, I'm not really trying to deal with all that. You guys have compared playing for the Heat to being in a prison with an ocean view.

1:14:11 Damn.

1:14:12 Prison? Prison with an ocean view. Prison with an ocean view. To get ocean view.

1:14:16 You get that.

1:14:18 But now you got a guy like Giannis who's wired differently, built differently. Obviously, just his whole story, how he came up, how much he appreciates playing in the league, spending his entire career in Milwaukee, and now being able to go to a destination like Miami, but saying I love every effing second of it. He ain't... Okay, so.

1:14:35 No different than the KG, right? No different than any workhorse. Remember, our workload is off of our environment. So yeah, he might be the hardest worker in his franchise. When he gets there, That's a whole different beast. So no different than anyone else. When you get there, it's going to be a shell shock. When he thinks this is the day off because he usually gets the day off and he's like, no, no, no, no. We got to come in here. We got to do sprints. We got to do this. We got to do that. That's going to be different from him, which is going to take him to a whole other level because you already have somebody who's an apex. Now you finally got an apex work ethic with an apex organization.

1:15:18 So he's going to turn into something different. Right?

1:15:22 But he's going to get a shell shock, right? Like, he's loving it now, but that's just training camp.

1:15:27 I think he's going to love it all year long.

1:15:28 Yeah, he's going to love it all year.

1:15:29 Because the thing is, now he's going to be like, yo, I'm pushing the tempo. Oh, snap. All these guys are keeping up with me because they in top-tier shape, too.

1:15:36 You know what I'm saying?

1:15:37 Sometimes you look at Milwaukee, he be pushing that tempo. Hey, y'all be looking back, where the rest of them? Rick Lopez, Rick Lopez, they passed the free throw line. You know what I'm saying? Chris Middleton, like, now he's going to get that. Everybody's running. Yo, we got to get out and run. Yo, everybody's in shape. So I think that's going to be good for you. Like I said, that's probably why Giannis likes it because... Giannis never ducked the grind.

1:16:03 Giannis always wanted to work, and now he's like, oh, all you guys got to work just as hard as me? Yeah, we're going to have some good times, and we're going to defend? Giannis, Bam, Wiggins, Davion Mitchell, they about to win, they about to win, I'll say, 25 games this year alone off strictly defense.

1:16:22 Yeah, I agree.

1:16:22 Strictly defensive games where you say, dang, they made that team shoot, you know. sub 30% from three. You know, they had one of those nights where they weren't scoring, but, you know, that team only got to 103. That team only got to 101. They're going to have a lot of those nights because they got a lot of defense.

1:16:37 A lot of defense.

1:16:38 And they're going to be in tip-top shape. You got all the defenders in Miami Heat culture shape?

1:16:43 Mm. Mm.

1:16:45 We talk about that Heat culture.

1:16:47 Is Drew Holiday still on the contract?

1:16:49 With the Blazers? With Blazers.

1:16:50 No, is he still on the contract? What is his contract? We got two years left. Player option next summer. This season, they got an option next.

1:16:56 Trust me, he opting into that, too.

1:16:58 Yeah, they got to move him, too, and he is the guard that they would be looking for.

1:17:05 That kind.

1:17:07 Of.

1:17:07 I don't know, man.

1:17:09 No, he's a net guy.

1:17:11 Yeah, but I think if Miami does make a move, the guard they got to bring in got to be a playmaker. Like I said, I love Drew Holiday for them, but I would really love Kyrie Irving. The next guy, the next move that Miami make.

1:17:25 Ja Morant.

1:17:26 Ja Morant possibly too.

1:17:27 And there's talk that the Blazers could potentially move Ja as well.

1:17:30 Yeah.

1:17:31 I don't see, I personally don't see, I personally don't see him in Portland that long.

1:17:38 Same.

1:17:38 Because from the business side of it, you are Nike. This is your top seller. and you're trying to get the market to match his shoe sales to even get him back.

1:17:53 To being, you know, who he was. We already got Shea. We cleaned him up, put him in the Nikes, had him cut his braids.

1:18:01 We're going to work on this one, and we're going to get him into a top-tier market. So it all makes sense again.

1:18:06 But the thing is, though, today it.

1:18:07 It matters. Does it?

1:18:10 Shea's an OKC.

1:18:13 Yeah.

1:18:13 Braun was selling shoes in Cleveland.

1:18:15 Braun.

1:18:17 I'm just, but I'm just.

1:18:17 Shea wasn't, but remember, Shea just got switched to Nike. Yeah.

1:18:21 I'm just saying Kyrie.

1:18:22 A couple months ago.

1:18:23 Before Josh's shoe was the shoe, whose shoe was the kids wearing before that?

1:18:27 Kyrie's.

1:18:28 And Kyrie wasn't in a big market.

1:18:29 Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Look at the shoe that blew up.

1:18:35 Soon as he landed in Boston and he started coming out with all them weird colorways, the Kyrie's. Them Kyrie's, when he got to Boston, that shit blew.

1:18:44 Out of the water.

1:18:44 It was Boston when their shoes blew up? Yeah.

1:18:46 When he was in the finals, it was like, okay, when them colors, when he got to Boston, them colorways hit. Them, them, them Sponge Bobs and all that.

1:18:55 That was Boston?

1:18:55 Yeah, that was Boston. Damn.

1:18:57 You right again.

1:18:59 Because, you know, because, you know.

1:19:00 I'm having a bad day.

1:19:01 We don't fact check you on this show.

1:19:04 You know, I like this because, you know, because of the shoes, I always thought about stuff like that. And then when, when Elijah got his contract, you know me, I wanted to see if it still matched.

1:19:14 The same shit. Yeah. Tier one, tier two. Like, oh, that shit's still the same.

1:19:18 Same shit.

1:19:19 Still the same, like, damn.

1:19:21 I just don't, I still, I don't think Ja would be a good fit in Miami, though. Yeah, I don't think Ja would still, even, like I said, whoever, because I want that, whoever that guard might, if Miami, if Miami does bring in a guard, I want it to be somebody that can get to it as a three-level scorer.

1:19:37 Yeah, I agree.

1:19:38 Because that's what they don't have.

1:19:39 They don't, like, I don't, I'm not sure if they have a guard that's a closer. And so I would love, I would love to see, and I love, Drew is great, Drew Holiday, he'd be a great addition. But if I'm Pat Riley, if I'm going to make a move for a guard, it's going to be a Kyrie Irving-style guard, a guy that's like, yeah, he's going to be brought in here to do what these other guys don't do.

1:19:59 We got enough defense. I need a guy that can go get it.

1:20:02 Yeah.

1:20:03 I like Drew Holiday just because of the fact that he played with Giannis. Yeah. So he kind of understands him and gets him.

1:20:09 Yeah.

1:20:09 You know, he going to get that ball off the rim and take off sometime. You know, as a point guard, you want that ball.

1:20:14 Yeah.

1:20:14 He going to take off. So I think somebody like a Drew Holiday just gets it And he's not a bad spot-up shooter as well. No, very good. So I agree with both. I think a Drew Holiday, Kyrie Irving would be perfect for those dudes.

1:20:25 So let's talk a little more heat culture. So you were there with Pat Riley, won a chip with Pat when he took things over. Yeah. Said, all right, I got it. And then into that shift into air exposure. So what? What's that transition like from Pat Riley to Eric Spoelstra, and what does Spo bring, or what are the differences between those two?

1:20:43 Man, things with Spo just changed right away because, you know, when you've got an assistant coach that becomes a head coach, it's not the same. You know, the relationship is a little bit different because he's the head man in charge. Assistant coaches are a little more, you know, laid back and loose, but once he became the head coach, you know, he was super intense and he was about winning, and he was going to do whatever it took for us to be prepared, the best prepared team, the best in shape team, and then the team has to go out there and play as hard as we can. So I love my time with Spoh. He challenged me every single day, and he made me understand how important practice was, playing hard in practice and letting that translate in the game

1:21:22 and showing up on time and doing the work. So I think Spoh really got him a great team, probably one of the better teams since LeBron, where those guys are going to buy into everything he says, and they're going to do what he wanted them to do, and he's going to lead. those guys to some success this year in my opinion. Yeah, you mentioned like early on like you weren't playing.

1:21:43 Yep.

1:21:46 So like for a guy that's not playing in heat culture.

1:21:48 Great question.

1:21:49 They like is the work. I've had guys tell me that play for the heat. The workout before the game was so hard.

1:21:58 Yes.

1:21:58 That even though they were on the end of the bench, they were praying they didn't get in because.

1:22:03 They ain't had nothing left. For sure, 1,000%. It was one and one.

1:22:08 I got to kind of experience that a little bit like my last year in Cleveland when I wasn't playing. And it was like you go through the hard court workout, and all of a sudden you're sitting in the fourth quarter, and your team up 15. You'd be hoping the other team make a run. You don't want your team to lose.

1:22:22 I don't want you to make this lead 25, so I got to get out there. I ain't move these knees in about two hours, and I'm tired. Was that an experience like that for the Heat as well?

1:22:30 1,000%. I feel like, and I say this to this day, I probably worked the hardest that any Heat player has ever worked. Because I was so young, they never drafted nobody at high school, so they felt like I just had.

1:22:42 To work, work, work, work. Beat them. Exactly. Beat them to the bottom.

1:22:47 I was on the court, taped and ready to go at 8.30 every single morning. Practice wasn't until 10 o'clock. So me and Keith Atkins would work from like 8.30 to 9.30. And then I go downstairs and get a lift in and then I have to come back upstairs and do practice. And then as soon as I was done with practice, go back downstairs in the weight room and get some conditioning in. So I was working around the clock game day. I'm there five hours before the game, you know, so I'm not in the way of nobody shooting or their routine. I get my workout in with Keith Atkins and then I got to do eight units of work. on the sidelines.

1:23:23 What the hell is eight units of work?

1:23:24 Eight units of work.

1:23:25 Hold on. He said stuff we ain't never heard of.

1:23:28 We never heard before.

1:23:29 We done played double digits in the league. What the hell is eight units?

1:23:31 Eight units of work. What's eight units?

1:23:33 Explain the units, brother. It might be two fours.

1:23:37 Down back? Yeah, down.

1:23:38 One, two, three, four. How many units is that? That's two.

1:23:41 Okay.

1:23:41 So it's two. I'm about to say.

1:23:43 Go six.

1:23:44 We're at four. Then it go to eight. We're at six.

1:23:48 Yeah.

1:23:49 And then we'll probably go from the hash to... it was a hash to like the free throw line or somewhere, slides back and forth. So you always did eight units of work.

1:24:00 That sounds about like 32 to 40 units. Facts. When I'm adding it up.

1:24:03 Yeah. That's a little bit more than eight units. So that was your eight units. You had to get eight units of work in of some type of cardio. Whether that was a treadmill, you start from four, work your way all the way up, come back down.

1:24:13 Man, there's levels to this, man.

1:24:15 Heat culture.

1:24:16 It's real. Listen, like I said, I played on championship level teams.

1:24:19 I played with Dallas. I played in Cleveland.

1:24:21 Where, like I said, the culture was good, but we ain't never had no eight units.

1:24:25 I was a Van Gundy. Y'all had eight units? We didn't have eight units. We had a nigga on some bullshit.

1:24:34 Remember, I'm just coming from the Wizards. So I'm coming from the Wizards. You know we'd be in the hotel. So he did this.

1:24:43 He got cardio in the hotel?

1:24:44 No, no, so he wants, yes, he wants the second practice on game day. because he don't want to get off the court. So you know how you have an hour, you can either pick the 10 or 11th slot? He wants the 11th slot so he can go as long as he wants to. So nobody's making him come off. So if he couldn't get the last one, and he wanted to get the first one, we had to go in the ballroom.

1:25:11 Taped and ready.

1:25:13 Why are you taping the ball?

1:25:15 He'll draw the fucking line, right? And you better go hard. You got niggas cut through the line.

1:25:23 No, you going hard cutting through on carpet?

1:25:25 Cutting through on carpet. You better tie your shit up. And you better bump them.

1:25:31 On carpet? Come on, brother.

1:25:35 You know how you cut through?

1:25:39 Just so y'all know how different that is, I've been through shoot-arounds in ballrooms, too. But guys normally have on flip-flops.

1:25:45 No, no, no.

1:25:47 Because we in a ballroom.

1:25:48 We in a ballroom. Yeah, no real walk.

1:25:52 So there was no walkthrough. There was none of you were it was practice.

1:25:56 Nah, we ain't about no ballroom practice.

1:25:57 When we played them. Yeah 11 o'clock We didn't get out of that bitch to 3 30.

1:26:04 I mean y'all had a sweater got.

1:26:07 Three He's playing split a fire them man.

1:26:10 We was in that mug like yo, are we just gonna save for the game? We send it for the game.

1:26:15 We got to the hotel and Took a shower. Nigga back on the bus.

1:26:20 Shit. I'm looking at the white light. What kind of captain are you?

1:26:28 That's insane behavior. I ain't going to lie.

1:26:34 If I came here at the beginning, I was like, okay, this is cool. Because what they did have, you didn't have to do nothing. Meaning breakfast was there. Lunch was there, pregame, and dinner. So your job, you don't got to spend no money on nothing.

1:26:55 Just show up.

1:26:55 I'll buy my own lunch before I go through a four-hour shoot around.

1:26:58 No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It wasn't that shit we had when we finally got on. This was top tier. I know.

1:27:08 Hey, brother, I know you're trying to get to the yams. The yams?

1:27:13 But guess what?

1:27:13 I can buy my own yams. I don't want no shoot around from 11 to 3.30.

1:27:17 And And they had a club upstairs, so you didn't even have to go to the club.

1:27:21 They had one upstairs. I do like that.

1:27:23 So the practice scene didn't even really fade because you didn't have to do nothing.

1:27:32 You just show up, they're going to do whatever they're going to do, but that man right there, oh, he was different too. Bipolar. Bipolar? Yeah, before practice.

1:27:41 Oh, hey, B-Wood, how you doing, man? Coolest motherfucker on the earth. That clock time go down, that bitch hit zero.

1:27:49 That nigga don't know you no more.

1:27:51 I can't say I've experienced that.

1:27:54 He's your enemy.

1:27:55 I can't say I've experienced that.

1:27:57 I was like, yo, like, he was rough.

1:27:59 Stan was intense.

1:28:00 Stan was intense.

1:28:01 I worked with Stan Turner for a couple years. He was just a great guy, man.

1:28:04 No, that's what I'm saying.

1:28:05 No.

1:28:05 I would have never known he was that type of coach.

1:28:07 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:28:08 No, like, when I say the best, like, the greatest, he's the great guy, man. When it came to the game or basketball, like, I've never seen nothing like it.

1:28:22 Like, he goes from.

1:28:22 Smiling and enjoying, like, chopping it up, and that time, what demon came out of this man?

1:28:31 That's a different type of coaching. That's what we're talking about.

1:28:33 And he'll let you know, I got nowhere to go. We could be here all day.

1:28:36 All day.

1:28:37 Until we get this shit right.

1:28:38 It's 18. 18-0. We up 18-0. Motherfuckers scored two baskets. Time out.

1:28:45 You motherfuckers don't want to win? Get them the fuck out of here.

1:28:48 Whoa. Me, I'm on a mission.

1:28:51 Good job.

1:28:52 Good job. That's how I be sometimes.

1:28:56 Get them guys out of here. Give me some room.

1:28:59 So one more thing on this Giannis Heat culture front. Giannis also compared his brief time with the Heat and how their offseason preparation differs from when he's with the Bucs with Bam Adebayo and Davion Mitchell organizing a mini camp for the team in Los Angeles in September. While Giannis says he would not change how he approached things in previous seasons, he did speak on the stark contrast saying, no, I don't regret it because you got to deal with the personnel the team has. Brooke Lopez not showing up a month early. Chris Middleton not showing up a month early.

1:29:25 Drew Holiday not showing up a month early. Like, we knew what the deal was. We knew that the moment we came in, we were on the same page. And the moment we were out, everybody was doing their own thing. When we were there, we were there.

1:29:38 Beep, beep.

1:29:39 So they were on a similar timeline, family and kids. Beep, beep.

1:29:42 Y'all hear that?

1:29:43 That's Giannis backing the truck up over Brooke Lopez and Chris Middleton. So you can't do your old teammates like that, bro.

1:29:50 He dirty fat. You can't do it. Hey, listen, Giannis Bogus for that.

1:29:53 But we're all on the same time they had kids.

1:29:56 No.

1:29:56 I understand that, but you ain't got to say that. They got kids, too.

1:30:01 The difference is, Giannis, you didn't know that exists. Bam is the star player there, and whoever was before him started this.

1:30:15 You're coming to it learning this, just like anywhere. We only know what we know.

1:30:20 Yeah, for sure.

1:30:21 So whoever was there before you that taught you that, if you wasn't there a month in the early, they wasn't there.

1:30:27 So it goes off of you.

1:30:28 What you set in stone is what it is. So that falls on you, not them. But why you got to say it, though? You know what I'm saying? You can just be like, listen, man, Heat culture is great. We had a great experience with Davion and Bam organizing it.

1:30:44 Early run.

1:30:45 I'm enjoying this. You ain't got to be like it. Look Lopez would never come to this You ain't got that Chris Middleton would never do this.

1:30:51 I know they at home. Let they when they seen it. They're home No way.

1:30:56 I think we don't want a championship. I know he ain't talking about me like this Like it's just one of those ones where it's like yo dawg. I understand everybody's not perfect in this situation Giannis I know you glad to be in a different environment and But don't forget about your dogs. No, for sure. You want to ring with those guys. We don't know if you're going to win here. You want to respect that, man.

1:31:21 I agree.

1:31:21 You know what I'm saying? Like, listen, man, everything wasn't perfect in Dallas when we won.

1:31:25 But guess what?

1:31:26 You won't hear me talk bad about nobody from 2011 because that's special.

1:31:30 No doubt. You know what I'm saying? Like, nah, man. Yeah, this guy. Yeah, this guy.

1:31:34 Yeah, there's certain things I'm taking with me to the grave because guess what? That's family over there.

1:31:38 No doubt.

1:31:39 You went on a championship level team. That bond don't go nowhere. When y'all see each other... 10, 15 years after you've been retired, man, I saw Sean Marion, like, this summer. That's my guy. That's your guy. That's your family. So in this situation, if I was telling Giannis, I'd be like, listen, I'm happy for you. I'm glad that you love heat culture. But, bro, don't forget about your dogs that you want with. Man, don't put their name in anything like that. Don't make it look like Brooke.

1:32:03 Don't make Brooke Lopez and Middleton look like they lazy, man, or like they don't want it. You know what I'm saying? You can just leave that part out of it. And that's just something that he probably got to do.

1:32:12 And I don't feel like it's much of a laziness, but if they were going to do their own shit, I'm doing my own shit.

1:32:15 Well, not lazy.

1:32:16 You make it just seem like, well, listen, I know these guys would never do that.

1:32:20 So whether you.

1:32:21 Think they're lazy or maybe not as engaged or maybe whatever it is, maybe they have more obligations, but it's still not a good look to mention them in that light.

1:32:31 I get it.

1:32:31 If I mention anybody from 2011... The next couple of sentences afterwards are going to be all positive.

1:32:37 I agree.

1:32:38 Anybody off that Mavericks team that I mentioned, if I get to talking about J.J. Barea, Sean Marion, Jason Kidd, whoever, it's all going to be positive. Tyson Chandler, because like.

1:32:48 Yo, that's that.

1:32:49 Those are my guys. I'm not going to sit there and say something and then, oh, yeah, but it could have been X, Y and Z. I just think that Giannis didn't need to do that.

1:32:58 But it's also decided too, like, all right, who want to spend their summer in Milwaukee? Shout out to Milwaukee, fine city. Again. Still pay the family. Who want to be in South Beach? Who want to be in L.A.? It's still leadership.

1:33:08 It goes on you, but you only know what you know because of.

1:33:13 What you've experienced. Yep. Right?

1:33:15 So I don't expect Giannis to even think about, let's hold a pre-training camp. I remember when I first got to Washington, right, I got there at what? Right after I signed my deal, I called Larry. Hey, hey, can you come down early so we can try to, you know, you know, get our.

1:33:32 Little work in there? Because I don't know nobody here. No, no, he actually came. So he ended up coming September.

1:33:38 You remember when we started making the playoffs, everybody was there early. Everybody started getting there before that.

1:33:44 Our whole team was there, like, pretty much by the time Labor Day got there, everybody was there.

1:33:48 We were playing pickup.

1:33:49 We was already playing pickup. But before that, that wasn't a thing.

1:33:53 Can we ask a bigger question, though? If you're Giannis and you're saying, oh, yeah, I know Chris Middleton and I know that Blake Griffin wouldn't come to that, what does that say about your leadership? Listen, I've just seen all the Lakers in Slovenia.

1:34:08 A fine country, bro.

1:34:10 I'm just saying, if Luka can get the Lakers over across the waters, how come you telling me you couldn't get them guys to come to Milwaukee?

1:34:17 They say attitude reflects leadership. But again, just to protect... Did he do that with the Dallas team, though? Who? Luka. Now, Luka was killing it. But he got with LeBron.

1:34:32 And he saw that.

1:34:33 And LeBron's doing this bring us together type shit. And he now, okay, oh, that's what this tier does.

1:34:42 Right? So you can only learn... From.

1:34:45 Like we we just learned some shit today. We don't even play no more Watch out Too many I'm gonna be there six o'clock, but.

1:34:50 I don't want to practice for you.

1:34:53 Oh shit. Oh