The Arena Debate if Ja Should Start for Portland, JB's 76ers Role & Darryn Peterson Is Heating Up Part 1

0:00 Welcome back to Gil's Arena presented by Poly Market and powered by PlayMaker. Hump day here in the arena. God is good. Blessed to be working. NBA preseason underway. A lot of good stuff going on. But this is Gil's Arena and I'm merely a host, Josiah Johnson. I'm here with NBA legend, 2K Unk, with badges, and the theater king, Gilbert Arenas.

0:24 Back here.

0:28 Big show, baby. Leg show, baby. LeBron dominates Steph once again.

0:35 Once again. All right. There's still LeBron on the Lakers, Gil. All right, right. Yeah, yeah. Got it.

0:43 Shout out to Bronny and the Lakers getting that dub. We're joined by one of the greatest hoopers to come out of L.A., former third overall pick out of the UCLA who went on to play 13 seasons in the league. where he was a two-time All-Star, and you can see him starring in his new film, Last Shot. Baron Davis, welcome.

1:00 Go Raiders! BD, I'm happy to see you still supporting the Raiders even after. Oh, man, we doing big things. Perfect season came to an end, but we still... We still rocking and rolling. Yeah, yeah, we here. And we got a special guest making his first appearance in the arena. McDonald's All-American College Player of the Year out of The Ohio State University. Went on to be a lottery pick that played 14 seasons in the league for 12 different teams.

1:30 Now you can catch him talking hoops with Amazon, Fox Sports, Turner Sports, and as the lead game analyst for the Clippers, Jim Jackson.

1:37 Welcome to Guild Arena.

1:39 Welcome to Guild Arena.

1:44 A lot of stuff going on with the Clippers. Good to see you out there doing your thing. I know. Keep hope alive. We're going to keep hope alive. It's going to be a tough year, but it's going to be a good one, though. Okay.

1:54 Just from this perspective, got a lot of young guys. Brandon Ingram is out. I think it could be, for Jeff Van Gundy, Ty Lue, one of the better coaching years by making this team competitive because it's low expectations.

2:09 You got Japanese Jordans. Rui Hachimoa. Ashun Rui. Shout out to Rui. Ready to do big things. We got a lot of things to discuss. Here's what's cracking in the arena today. John Morant and Damian Lillard have been impressive so far in training camp, but should they start together for the Blazers? New head coach Mike Inori has some thoughts.

2:32 We will discuss, give you a little turntable. Yes, we're talking about it. We're going to really lean into it today. I already know what you're going to say. Jalen Brown has a chip on his shoulder heading into this season. But what's the role of the Sixers all NBA wing while sharing the floor with Maxie Embiid and the King?

2:49 And Darren Peterson bounced back from a forgettable NBA preseason debut with a big night in his first home game. Is the Jazz rookie ready to do big things in the league this season? And shout out to everybody in the chat. Mostly fans back. exclusively for our Super Chat. Drop something in the offering plate and ask your questions.

3:06 We will get to them at the end of the show. We appreciate all the love that you've been showing, and we've been trying to get to every single one of your questions. God bless y'all. But listen, 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.

3:23 PolyMarket is the best prediction market, better than Couchy, DraftKings, and FanDuel. 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.

3:47 And it isn't just sports. 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. Ditch the old limitations and trade on your terms. Download the Polymarket app and use code ARENA.

4:05 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 Gil's Arena on Twitch now. Shout out to everybody supporting the show. If you have not done so already, make sure you subscribe to at Gil's Arena Show on Twitch.

4:23 And we appreciate y'all, as always. So good, we're going to get right into it.

4:26 You were very, very turnt up yesterday on the show. Had some things to say. So Blazers opened their preseason tonight against the Warriors. Yes, that same Warriors squad that got smacked by the Lakers last night.

4:36 You were watching?

4:38 Yes, I watched. We smacked them in spirit. We didn't win the game on the scoreboard.

4:46 Close enough. Second unit won. That's all we need to get. Second year. Moral victories. You know what I mean? Curving on a scale. Preseason's not about the score. It's about the narrative. It's all about development. I didn't even watch the score. You know, we lost by 30. I didn't watch the score. It was the look. You're going to round up. It was the look. Nobody watched. No, I'm just kidding.

5:07 But back to the Blazers looking to build off their seventh-place finish in the West last season, reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2021. So the return of Damian Lillard and offseason trade for John Morant met with much excitement. So far, both have looked good during Blazers training camp. We have some video to share with you all.

5:24 We see Ja out there. So Ja averaged 20 points, 8 assists in 20 games last season with the Grizzlies while dealing with calf and elbow injuries. Was limited to only 79 games over his final three seasons in Memphis by injuries and off-court issues. Back out there on the floor, appears to be fitting in very well with his new squad.

5:44 They said he lost some athleticism. I don't know if I believe that to be true. While Dame missed all of last season recovering from a torn Achilles, he suffered in the 2025 playoffs. But Dame Time put up 25.7 assists, five rebounds in his final season with the Bucs while making his ninth All-Star game. Blazers first-year head coach Mike Inouye is on a prove-it deal this season. He's got a one-year guarantee with team options. That's one of the craziest.

6:10 That's crazy.

6:10 One of the craziest deals. I've ever seen, but ooh, let's take a look at this.

6:14 Uh-huh. There it is. That's some athleticism. Not out to meet you. Come on, man.

6:19 So Mike and Norrie on a one-year proven deal. Norrie may want Dame and John to prove they can both start in the Blazers' backcourt. They both spoke about the possibility of not starting last week.

6:31 What about starting versus coming off the bench?

6:33 Is that a conversation you've had with Mike, or do you have any expectations on that front?

6:39 I mean, we've had a conversation out in depth, like, oh, you know, Dame, do you want to start or come off the bench?

6:45 You know, it hasn't been a conversation.

6:49 As far as I know, like, we'll, Ja will start, I'll start, then he'll, I mean, that's as far as I know, but no, I haven't.

6:57 I had that conversation with him.

6:59 There's no way around us having to figure that time out.

7:04 I think winning is the most important thing for me, so whatever role I have to play to get that done, I don't think nobody would be mad after a win. As a starter, if I'm starting or if I'm not, it's the same thing. I mean, it's day one right now. I feel like that's coach's questions. But for me, I have no problem with neither.

7:32 Herbert Dames said, a few days later, a report from the Athletics, Jason Quick shed light into their head coach's thought process with Norrie saying that starting Morant and Lillard doesn't make sense. Both are undersized and both have never excelled on the defensive end. Norrie thinks the more analytically sound option would be to start Drew Holiday, bigger guard who is an exceptional defender, with either Morant or Lillard coming off the bench. Norrie said he'll likely start both of them, though. in their pre-season opener. And I don't want to start a fire before I need to. But he also said, what we don't want is just because Drew may not care about starting, saying, well, Drew will handle it the best, so don't start him. He also said,

8:10 but other than hearing your name called in introduction, who cares? I'd rather play when it counts at the end of the game. So all that shit sounds great. But Jim, we're going to start with you. What are your thoughts on Mike Inouye saying that starting Dame and Jai together doesn't make sense?

8:25 Well, listen, first and foremost, this new ownership is not tied to any of the kind of blazer, past, legacy, whatever it may be, which impacts Dame Lillard.

8:37 Michael Norris is not it. He's on a one-year deal. You said it.

8:40 So he got to prove himself in one year that he can coach his team to the best of their abilities and get to a respectability level. It's not an easy thing to talk about when you're talking about Dame Lillard, his legacy, but at the same time, you got to win games and I love Michael Norris from this perspective is that he told the truth up front, you know, that it's going to be a challenge if we play these two guards together in the backcourt from a defensive standpoint.

9:06 Let's just put it out there. You saying it, people saying it. I, as a coach, recognize it.

9:11 So we got to figure out.

9:11 But what I think he's doing at the beginning in preseason is basically showing what can happen and what can't happen by starting the two early and kind of let it filter out from there. That's my thought. I think Drew, from the standpoint of starting, Drew is still not Drew. Maybe I'm off a one-on-one defender with a smaller guard.

9:33 His best attribute is if he gets switched on to a bigger player at this point of his career, he can still hold his own. But not one-on-one in space where he's guarding a quicker, faster player. But on that switch opportunity, you can still trust that Drew can still guard against bigger opponents. I mean, I say you are an offensive player.

9:55 Uh-huh. Gil's an offensive player.

9:57 You know, I had to play offense and defense and focus on defense more so.

10:03 But great offense beats what? Great defense.

10:10 So if I got two guards that are potent offensively, right, that is my defense.

10:18 Like, who's going to stop them?

10:20 So it puts a lot of pressure on the other team because go ahead and pick. To me, it never works out where it's like, hey, man, you need a defensive stopper. When you look at Ja and you look at Dame Lillard, their games should complement each other. Ja should do the downhill, the playmaking. It frees up Dame to kind of start to grow back into– you know, his Dame dollars, you know, his Dame time, whatever it is.

10:54 But it allowed him to play on the wing, get shots, make shots, be your perimeter guy, right? Coming with Drew off the bench with Scoot Henderson, now you've got defensive guards that you can sub in any time.

11:08 But if I'm John.

11:09 Moran or if I'm Nike, like, you.

11:12 Got to start John Moran.

11:14 I mean, that's a great perspective for him to have. Great maturity for him to have. Like, he's saying the right thing. But, like, you want to start your most dynamic people, right? I'm sitting in the locker room. Me and Gil start for so-and-so. We sitting in the locker room like, yo, who got that?

11:33 Who got Ja?

11:34 That's what you want in the other team's locker room is, like, y'all got to figure us out more so than worrying about can our guards play defense when Half the people.

11:45 In the league don't play no defense. What did you say? It's the same thing.

11:49 I've never understood when they put just a pure defensive player.

11:56 Out there to stop these great offensive players. Like Lou Dort. Yes.

12:02 Like Lou Dort. Are you going to stop? He averages 30. A good, great defense, you got him at 20.

12:10 But you put in 6th.

12:13 So that's a 14 point difference in your position. That means someone else has to do the heavy lifting elsewhere to make up what you didn't do in your position. I always believed to get a tiger, you got to bring a tiger, right? So when you're talking about when Monte and you Together. When it was Monte and Steph.

12:35 It was me, Monte, and Jay Rich. Yeah, so when you had Monte and Steph, right? You got two guards that's just coming downhill, right? And it's me and Deshaun, right? Deshaun's playing defense, but on our.

12:49 Offense, he's a defender. Yeah, Steph resting a little bit, right?

12:54 So what ends up happening is the fact that this coach is coming to the season with this as a thought, And there hasn't been no practice, hasn't been no games. You already lost. Like, you already lost. You don't even know what you have yet. We've seen Dame and CJ, right? We've seen that they was hard to guard at the end of the game. You don't know who to stick at this moment in time, right? So Steph didn't play no defense. You didn't take advantage of him, right? Because most of the part is team defense. What do you have on the back line, right? I got a 7-footer.

13:29 I got another 6'10 guy. we should be fine. Luger don't play no defense. That offense does. That offense plays defense for him. So if these two is getting everybody in foul trouble, that's defense right there.

13:42 But they also playmakers. So deflections, steals, like how do that account? And then I think you bring Julian off the bench. To your point, Drew probably starts to guard bigger.

13:55 The threes. Push the tempo.

13:56 Because he's a little older. Let him guard. So this is a piece I think we're missing. So you got ball handler and Dane, ball handler and Ja. How do you do that?

14:05 Different type. Oh, wait, wait. Yeah.

14:07 Denny Obdia. Another ball handler. So when you start to look at offensively, how you spread this thing out, Denny is a high-usage player.

14:18 So is Ja. So is Dane.

14:21 So when you start to look at offensively how you're going to play, don't get me wrong, I get it. You want the most talent out there, the best talent. How does it work when you have three high-usage players that need the ball in their hands?

14:34 John makes plays for Dane.

14:35 Yeah.

14:36 And Dane. And Dane. Dane compliments Dane. Uh-huh. Right?

14:40 And so when you think about it, like, Dane is a force. Like, he's going to be your all-star, your mismatch. You're working Dane back into rhythm. Dame is like your most complimentary X factor between the two. It's what they actually both need. Somebody that can space the perimeter, somebody who can make plays, somebody who can get downhill, take some pressure off Denny because he was handling the ball almost too much last year.

15:05 Because there was nobody to handle it. Yeah, nobody was there. And so now you've got Ja coming downhill. Ja is a playmaker.

15:12 So your center benefit, your shooting guard, everybody's going to benefit from Ja being a playmaker pushing the ball.

15:18 And being able to.

15:19 Create for others. Dame can do the same thing and create for herself. So Denny is, you got more time in the game to be on attack mode when you do catch the ball. You have more time to not be the center of attention. So when you do catch the ball, you're in attack mode. So I think they are the ultimate complement to him because you gotta pay attention to these dudes.

15:44 Yeah, I've always looked at guards. It seems like guards usually complement each other. So when you think about CJ and Dame, both small guards, both did the same thing, right?

15:53 Kind of. Kind of. Kind of. Ja and Bane. So... Kind of.

15:58 Dame can turn into Bane. Remember, he has the ability to shoot from wherever. So he can go straight natural to.

16:05 Play off the ball. If Ja has the ball. So you're going to have.

16:09 Ja coming, trying to come downhill to get in the lane... kick it to Dame, then Dame can catch and shoot, or he can go for a pick and roll. So they have, they can switch their roles. It's not like they operate in the same area. You know how those players that, it looks good on paper, but they operate in the same area, which actually throws off their game.

16:30 Yeah, Atlanta had a lot of that. They had an overlap of the same kind of forward. So how about this? So for me, it's like this, okay, so I look at it too, it's like, doesn't matter who starts, who ends the game.

16:41 So.

16:42 If I bring Ja or Dame off the bench, that means they're on the second unit. So they're really going to be able to get into the flow on that second unit.

16:49 Okay?

16:50 No, but it's a different because they'll have the ball in their hands more on that second unit than they will on the first because Denny won't be in that second unit or Ja or Dame. So they'll be able to run it. Now, to me, it's who ends the game. It ain't who starts for me. Now, if they develop this kind of chemistry, both are on the court, now how are you going to take away everything? You can't take away Denny. You can't take away Ja. You can't take away Dame. So it really doesn't matter to me who starts for them. It matters to me who finishes the game and where you're at for me in that perspective.

17:21 I just think when that second unit comes in, if you can get one of those guys to really develop a rhythm on that second unit, they're going to play 25, 28, 32, 34 minutes anyway. How do you divide up those minutes to me.

17:33 Is the key.

17:34 Yeah, I was thinking about that because then you got Scoot, Drew, And what's that?

17:40 Shayna Sharp when he come back. Shayna Sharp when he come back. You see what I'm saying?

17:44 But that's the hell of a second unit when you pull Danny Ivey out, right? And you sub, let's say, you sub Ja out, right? Now it's like, okay, Dame can rock with that crew.

17:55 That's what I'm saying. You got versatility. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.

17:59 To your point, the coach should have came into the season saying, we have so many rotational pieces, right? and look at everybody else's roster and realize that most people who play the three position, they're not post-up guys. They're usually perimeter guys. They're usually a defender or a shooter of some type. Drew Holiday can guard that. Scoot Henderson can guard that. In some occasions, Dame could guard Christian Braun and people like that. So when you're looking at, Down the stretch, you got so many pieces and combinations to play with. It may not always be Dame and Ja, but.

18:41 They probably will be on the court.

18:43 To finish the game with a Drew Holiday, right, with an Avia and one big. Like, that's why I think– I keep saying, like, small ball is.

18:53 But teams are going back to get bigger, though. They're getting bigger, but there's still perimeter. There's still perimeter.

18:59 So even though you got taller dudes, they playing out on the fucking perimeter. They ain't posting up going downhill. They just jacking threes. So I'd rather have smaller guys who can shoot threes and get to the hole because they're going to be able to beat the threes and the fours when it's small ball time.

19:16 Here's the thing, though.

19:17 So what I looked at, too, I mean, when New York played San Antonio, Wing-wise, New York is bigger. So how does that play into your advantage? Well, okay, offensive rebounds, extra possession. You've got to win the possession game. That's what you get when you play bigger. You get extra possession. So I understand where the league is going with it.

19:36 The league is going away from having smaller perimeter-oriented guards.

19:41 They're bigger. Now, that doesn't mean that guys are posting.

19:44 Up, but you present yourself with other opportunities where you have advantages in particular on the offensive rebounding end that give you the advantage in the possession game which you want to win you.

19:55 Just need one big guy at this point right it seems like um.

20:02 Yeah, it's like, yeah, like, look at San Antonio. When you match up against San Antonio, you need one big dude for Wimby.

20:09 And you need guards.

20:10 Yeah, because it's 6-3, was it 6-3, 6-6, 6-6, and then another 6-4.

20:14 Like, they got four actual small guards. New York, 6-8, 6-7, 6-6, 6-3. Yeah. Cat.

20:22 You know, let me just be honest with you, man. If I'm Ja Morant, or Dame, or Drew, I'm offended.

20:33 Why? Of the thought. Of what? Coming off the bench? Coming off the bench. But at some point, it's an older player. It happens to you. At some point. I mean, Drew. I mean, Drew. Like, Drew is the one. I mean, he might be like, you know what? Okay. He got his buddy. I'll think about it.

20:47 But it's still one of those, like, I've never came off the bench. Ja, he's the last one you should be coming at.

20:53 Don't use the shit that happened in Memphis as... Yeah, that's the face. Yeah, yeah. But you know the league, they do that. But don't use... But you know that. But don't use that as my basketball. And how did you take it? You know what I mean? Because it happened to all of us.

21:08 Exactly.

21:08 How did you take it? You know what I mean? It's like, what?

21:10 But I wasn't in a position like you, Gil, for a long time. Once I got hurt, my leverage changed. So having to play a role, I had to do.

21:18 It because I wasn't the same player.

21:20 Yeah.

21:20 It's different between age and out.

21:23 When you still can, Dame still figures, listen, I was averaging 25 before I got hurt. I can still be effective. I don't, Carmelo, I don't need to come off the bench, okay? But I think it gets to a point too, who do you see when you're in the mirror? Are you looking at the Dame from 10 years ago, five years ago, or current? Now, I'm not saying that he's that guy, but a lot of players who are in that position still view themselves as that player that back in the day.

21:50 Four years ago.

21:51 How Dane proves himself coming back off of Achilles will be very important. Because, like I said, he was still, it may not have been as successful as Milwaukee wanted, but he was still on his career averages from shooting percentage, you know what I mean.

22:04 Scoring line. He's going to get more open shots than he's ever gotten in his entire career playing on this team.

22:12 Who's the power forward over there?

22:14 Is it Avi?

22:15 It depends because if you play Shaden and Avi in there.

22:20 Then you had Klingin. You got Klingin.

22:22 Klingin got the five. So it was more Shaden. I mean, it was for starting. It was more Shaden at that four with Denny.

22:29 Yep.

22:30 With this current, if you start Ja and Dave, that would be the look of that lineup, I would imagine.

22:38 Mm-hmm.

22:39 You know, the versatility part of it. You also got Kamani Kamara, too. Yeah, Kamani Kamara from a defensive perspective. What you got to have.

22:47 How you can come off the bench. Yeah, but I'm saying, you got versatility, though.

22:52 Yeah, look at OKC, right?

22:54 Look at OKC, look at San Antonio. They pick up full. The new thing also is picking up full. Applying pressure. You can't do that. You can't apply no pressure to those four dudes that you just named.

23:06 Ja.

23:07 You can't put no pressure on him. You can't pick up Ja Fooley going around. You can't pick up Dame Fooley going around.

23:12 You make plays. Avia, you can't pressure him. He's going by. You're shading sharp.

23:16 Like, their play, they should be playing as fast as anybody in the league because you got Dame, and Dame is going to get the most open shots he's ever got. Even in Milwaukee, playing with a Giannis, like, you got somebody that can take the ball off, take the ball out your hand, and then you're the finisher. Or Avia starts the offense, Dame finishes the offense, or it's an Avia, Dame pick and roll. Or it's an Avia, Ja pick and roll. You pick your poison. They have so much talent, and they got dudes who can go get their own shit, which makes it easier for Klingon down low because now you got Ja at the basket with one big dude contestant, He knows how to make plays, you know, and make his center back.

24:09 Yeah, Klink is going to want to play with Josh.

24:12 And Dave has made every center he's played with back.

24:15 He's going to want to play with Josh. So you're going to have to look at, like, as much talent as it is. He's going to overthink. If he overthinks what's going to happen here, he's going to be fired at.

24:32 The middle of the night. Hey, you got Scoot. Hey, you got Scoot. You got the number two pick, Scoot. He on a one-year deal.

24:40 That's what I'm saying. He on a one-year deal. How much pressure?

24:44 Again, he got to reach certain milestones in order for that deal to be extended. So now when do you start to question decisions that you make? Is it a lot quicker because you're on a shorter lease when things don't work right away?

24:59 I mean, if you're on a short lease, you got to throw your best.

25:03 You got to throw your best five. Because then you got an excuse, right? It's like, man, y'all gave me these players, right? Y'all gave me all these players that are complimentary. I'm putting them all out there, right? we're not getting this success, maybe now he has an opportunity to retract and say, all right, if this was my, if this was the team that I would want to build, we don't need one of these guys.

25:29 So right now you got Ja, you got Dame, you got Scoot, you got Drew Holiday.

25:33 Scoot been coming off the bench for a while.

25:37 But that's fine.

25:39 But you don't got Shane Sharp until February, March, so the decision is a little bit easier. Because now you throw Shane Sharp in that mix, too.

25:45 Yeah, but you look at.

25:46 San Antonio at those same positions.

25:50 And this is what I'm saying. My point guard is Ja. That's my point guard. So, Drew, can you play point guard and you're running the team?

26:01 No. That's not your thing. That's not your thing. Right? So, Ja's my point guard.

26:06 Dame is my shooting guard. He's the one that can catch. He has the ability to catch and shoot, come down screens, off screens, right?

26:12 He's an old school two.

26:14 Guard that has the ball in his hand like a point guard. So he's kind of like the Steph, that Steph style. So he can play without the ball. Drew, are you better than that offensively? Defensively, we know what he does.

26:24 He's a net guy. He's going to net up everything.

26:27 Now, I can put him at the three. I can put Drew at the three. No one's going to take advantage of him. So now I can play a three small lineup with Danny and I have Kling at the four. I can actually play that lineup and be fine with it.

26:43 Absolutely.

26:44 We're going to be moving. We're going to be moving up and down. I don't really see no real advantage unless you're just attacking the basket and you're getting the big man in foul trouble.

26:52 You would have to look at the lineup and say we're going to try to get their guards in foul trouble. Now go through the entire league and tell me who's going to post up Drew Holiday.

27:05 Nobody.

27:06 Let me throw this caveat.

27:08 You know this.

27:09 But he guarded Dylan Brooks. You know what I mean? All that sounds good on paper, too. But let's just take it a step further. Are you going to be accepting of those roles? Because that's going to be important. I don't care what lineup you put out there. And what I'm saying by this is we know Ja has something to prove. And I think it's a great opportunity for him to come in, kind of wash away everything that happened in Memphis and have a different perspective. And he said it in his press conference. Okay, I want to do whatever it takes. It doesn't matter what I do. Okay, let's see how that translates during the season. It sounds good.

27:40 But this is what I'm saying. You understand what I'm saying. I think Dame has a different perspective. He's on the back end of his career. So Dame and Drew is an easier adjustment. With Denny, he.

27:50 Just scratched success last year.

27:52 So now you're asking me to come into this season and maybe give up a little bit of that.

27:58 I may say I'm accepting. He needs to. But I'm saying, it sounds good at the beginning of the season. Nobody's faced adversity yet. Nobody's faced any kind of challenges. Everybody's on board. We got this energy. As the season goes on and maybe you don't have success, are you still with that same attitude of I'm wanting to give that up?

28:18 In order for the team. See, that's the question for me.

28:21 When you start to designate roles and responsibilities, especially when you have a young guy that had a year like Denny last year, it's not as easy to give that back up if you don't have immediate success. I'm just saying. That's another caveat you got to look at.

28:36 But it's a chemistry thing, too. That's what I'm saying. Dame went to Milwaukee. We thought Milwaukee was going to contend for a title, and, like, this shit didn't work.

28:45 You know what I mean? It was working until they changed the coach. Yeah, I know. It was working until they changed the coach. Man. But at the end of the day. Health issues, too. I mean, whoa, whoa, whoa. What was their record? What was their record?

28:57 13-13.

28:57 Yeah, 13-13. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

29:00 But it didn't work. Well, no, but that's after they got rid of it.

29:03 But it didn't work.

29:04 After they got rid of it. At the same time. It's the same thing you said. After adversity, when adversity hits, will it work? But if you're Dame... If you have a coach that's playing these dudes, they're going... Superstar players playing with all-stars and stars.

29:24 You're going to figure it out before you don't. Or your ego. Or your ego.

29:30 You hope your ego doesn't get in front of you figuring it out, right? And you have enough patience to figure out, like, hey, how can we all be effective Like, let's try it your way. Let's try it your way. Like, they don't know who's closing the game out for them. It's Denny, right? It's been Denny last year. But he may need a compliment, right? He may struggle having the ball in his hand 80% of the time last year.

29:57 Now you take 10% of that away. He's still getting the same shots with less force. That's my thought.

30:05 You got three guys whose stature is higher than yours coming in to your world.

30:12 Who is he?

30:13 Danny.

30:15 Do you think he thinks that good? No, he do have three. But after the season I just had last year, got on to the playoffs.

30:21 That season, the two of them get booed with that season.

30:25 Dame gets booed. Dame is washed up with his– But to their point, it's a new operation too.

30:30 No, what I'm saying is Dame– that great season he had, Dame gets booed. Dame is called washed with Danny's season.

30:37 24-7-7.

30:37 24-7-7. What was Dame averaging over with the Bucs?

30:43 25-5.

30:43 25-7-7. What was y'all saying?

30:46 Aw, man, he ain't got it no more. He ain't got it no more. That's what people said. People said it didn't work.

30:53 It didn't work.

30:54 So you have that, then you have Ja Morant. You are the weakest link in the sense of what we got going on.

31:01 So if you are, I don't know. I don't know. No, no, no. I think Javier is the guy. I think Javier is the guy. I think Javier is the guy.

31:08 You're 25 first time all-star. I think I'm against the guy. So he's still going this way. All NBA champions, defensive players.

31:21 Yeah, we got more pedigree. Yeah, our pedigree. We got more pedigree, but we should.

31:26 We don't want to hear you. Us three don't want to hear you, bitch.

31:29 No, no, no, no. You know what I'm saying?

31:31 But he shouldn't because us three should be looking at him like, yo, he's our recipe to be a cheat code.

31:41 He already did it with them. So, like, let's push him forward.

31:45 Let's make sure he's all-star because it's going to make it easy for Dame to work his way back. It's going to be easy for Ja to get back to a level.

31:55 Instead of you trying to take it on your own, it's not. It's Denny Avia's team. It's Denny Avia's team. That's John Morant's team. I don't know. I don't know. Moving forward. Closers. Right?

32:09 Dame is one of the best closers ever.

32:11 And John closed it through.

32:13 Denny Avia closed up for Portland last year. Coming into this year, I'm an all-star.

32:22 I'm a closer.

32:23 This is my team. I got my OG right here who got pedigree. I got my young superstar that's coming in. That's a bigger star. That's a bigger star. But let's hope he is back to where he is.

32:37 Right.

32:38 And then I got Drew Holiday, who's a decorated champion with pedigree.

32:43 They should all be helping me become a better star. That all sounds good, BD.

32:50 Do we feel like Ja through the last week? As a point guard, if I'm Ja, you got to think like that. You got to think about how can I make all these dudes better? First and foremost, as a point guard, when you think I can make these guys better, the game becomes easier for you because now you have all the room to manipulate your opponent and figure out mismatches.

33:16 So.

33:18 Ja thinking any other way, then it's not really like, you're not really setting the table.

33:24 You're not a point guard. Like, if you think, oh, I'm going to come in and do it.

33:27 Like, even if you said, I'm going to have 15 assists, you still got to be thinking about making people better.

33:32 But BD, if I'm Ja, and I'm rolling in this team after the three seasons I just had in Memphis, if I'm Ja, I'm rolling around in the summertime AAU tournaments, I don't see niggas in the gym wearing Denny's.

33:41 No, no, no. I said Denny. Ja is the bigger superstar.

33:45 We have to see what Ja is going to, if he's going to go claim his spot.

33:52 Because he does have a bigger spot.

33:54 If he's smart, here's the future. You got to think about it. If I'm the organization, I love Dame to death. Dame has the future of where we need to be as a Portland. Dame is closing his career here. You got Klingon, you got Sharp, you got Denny, and we're going to see if Ja is going to be the point guard of our future. That's what this is all about.

34:12 It's not about this year. This is a gap year. This is about our young guys, our young core.

34:18 What are we going to look like three, four, five years down the line?

34:21 As much as we love Dame and Drew, that's great. But our core... is.

34:26 The one that we got to understand and who we got. Can we win some games now? Of course we can. You know how the league think. You know how management think. If we can win games and be competitive this year, great. But I can't hitch my wagon to Dame to try to make him happy. When my core is a younger core that I have to ensure that I'm giving them everything that we can win in the future.

34:53 You don't want to disrespect them. Don't get me wrong. You never want to do that.

34:57 But my eye is on these four or five young guys, Kamara in there included, that I got to build out for the future. And what are we going to look like? And the question is, is Ja, we already know Scoop probably is not the answer. from the starting point guard position because he hasn't been in there. But is Ja the one for us moving forward?

35:17 Moving forward, right. Is he going to reclaim his superstar? Exactly.

35:19 Because ultimately, it will be Ja's team because Ja got the sneakers. Ja is the superstar. He has the superstar. He has a bigger ceiling of superpower, superstardom than Avia. Avia is your all-star. He can close. Even in Memphis, John needed a closer. You got to have a closer as a point guard. If you're not the person that's closing out the games. And Gil said John closed out games.

35:50 I'm sure he did. But what was missing in Memphis was the fact that they didn't have a go-to person that they can actually go to to close.

36:00 Out a game.

36:00 They had to play team ball, share the ball, play as a pack. And I think that his natural talent is going to transcend obvious natural talent, but we don't know how far he wants to take it.

36:16 Until we know. You know what I mean?

36:17 It's like, hey, I'm here to be a complimentary player. I just want a ball and get my shit back and just have a good year, no problems, or I'm going to be the number one point guard in.

36:30 The league like I used to. Last season?

36:34 Yeah, because I was going to say, how did Danny's jump This is a big jump.

36:39 He's nice, bro. He's fucking... He's nice.

36:43 But he came from the Wizards. Nikhil Alexander Walker. Nikhil got it.

36:46 Yeah.

36:47 So he came from the Wizards, but the opportunity in Portland just kind of worked out for him.

36:52 And he grew and matured.

36:53 You got to think about the growth and maturity over that time frame allowed him to kind of really work.

36:59 Out and use that size. That's why I said... He finished third. Oh, he finished third? Yeah. It's in that young core. Yeah.

37:06 Because he went from 17, 7, and 4 to 24, 7, and 7.

37:11 And what was his shots? You know, his shots and his uses rate. And the ball was in it.

37:16 You know how it is.

37:17 It's like some guys in this league need to have the ball in their hand. And for him, being able to get to the free throw line because he got to the free throw line.

37:27 That's going to be the key for giant Dame. It's like how I used Caron and Antoine. where you hide your shot attempts at the free throw line. He is a free throw magnet. You're talking about a guy shooting nine free throws. That's what I'm saying. At the beginning of the game, give.

37:51 It to him. Feed him. Let him go. Let him rock.

37:56 Now with John Dam, you get these little ticky-tacks.

37:58 Them little hits.

37:59 That's what I'm talking about.

38:02 You got to be a little bit smarter on how you can still get your 24 points.

38:06 Not him. Make it easy for him. You're the point guard. You're Dame.

38:13 You can do all the thinking for him. You can keep him fed and happy. He'll come out, and he'll get off to a roll, and it's like, damn, bro, he getting all the attention.

38:24 Oh, damn, we in the bonus already? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

38:27 It's like, this is the easiest 25.

38:29 Like, Dame is so smart. He knows when to go get his.

38:33 Ja now, that kid is going to make the game a little easier for Ja, too, because now when he coming downhill... Those files he getting to the line.

38:42 Yep. And so it's going to impact Michael Norwood. What offense do you run?

38:47 Because that's going to be the key to is what offensive sets are you running? Is it a flow and go offense spread? Is it more pick and roll? See, that's what I'm interested to see. Job pick and roll. You think about it, because if you put, you talked about Dane, which is a good part, too. You put him on the second side. Now you got all the attention over here. You get it quick. Now he can go without having all the attention. But how they get into those actions, to me, is going to be important to see what Michael Norris sets up, especially with Donovan Klingon, because Klingon is at UConn. He can stretch the floor.

39:19 I think he's going to be a pretty good three-point shooter. So how do you utilize that aspect in what he does?

39:24 That's crazy. Because he's a good facilitator up top on the post. to pass the ball. And he's 7'4, right? What is he, 7'2? He's 7'2. Yeah, 7'3.

39:31 You see what I'm saying? So now you can give him the ball at the free throw line and run kind of actions for your guards. And get them other shots.

39:39 Four high. Yeah. Pick and roll. Have him pop.

39:43 There's nobody at the basket to contest the obvious.

39:47 Like a four high offense where he's at the free throw line. The four is at the free throw line, which could be Danny also.

39:53 Yeah, it could be Danny. It could be Danny. That John Moran throw to Danny, right?

39:57 Go off there for that lob, see if they're not playing on the backside.

40:02 If the big man back up, quick pick and roll. Yeah, you got to, like.

40:06 You got a lot of odds. I'm thinking now, also, like, Dame, Ja, they've never played without, like, they've never played with a live catch below the free throw line.

40:20 Yep. Holy shit. You know what I mean? That's a different offense.

40:25 Dane got mid-range game, and he's never had a live dribble, you know what I mean, with 20 feet on an island by himself. It's usually him dribbling up, going to the hole. Him coming off a pick and roll, having to force these shots. You think about Jai even getting the ball off the elbow, one dribble. Everything that they've ever done has been pretty much on their own. dribbling to get their money or getting it for somebody else.

40:54 Now somebody is going to be giving them the ball and they're going to be like, oh.

40:58 Shit, I'm wide open.

40:59 You got to think about, especially with Donnie, because he comes from overseas, he understands split games.

41:05 He understands backdoor reads.

41:07 Like, they should have, like, especially with Damon here, they should have, like, two-man, three-man game.

41:12 Yeah, Sacramento. The old, like, all right, we're going to throw it here on the post. Go split. Go split. Pick and roll.

41:20 There's teams that they're designed for offense that no one can stop because no one defensively is structured for it. Have you noticed, have you noticed 90% percent of the teams.

41:36 Don't even know how to break a press. Bingo. I sit there and watch. In the playoffs. Watch in the playoffs. They take the ball. The team is pressing.

41:47 You got the wings going to the corner, getting trapped. Y'all don't know basic shit.

41:51 That's how OKC in San Antonio, hey.

41:54 Getting caught in the, how you get caught in the baseline corner?

41:58 Like, that's the, no, no, that was AAU shit.

42:00 And it's like, it was real, like, coming back, passing back these guys to steal them, like.

42:07 I take two. With Ja too. Ja was one of the leading point getters. Think about it. In Memphis, it's not like they ran a spread offense, but yet Ja was still getting to the basket.

42:16 Think about this now. He wasn't frustrated with his role in Memphis. Come on, think about it. With Portland, if they run it right and keep that spread, you can lift the bigs. How much more space Ja has now to operate and get to his spots? Especially, we know he loves the mid-range. We know he loves to get to the paint.

42:34 With The complimented players he's going to have, he's going to have more space to work with. If he's patient enough, and again, it goes back to utilizing Klingon to be a initiator, kind of like they did Cat at times. Now allowing your guards to have freedom of space and moving back.

42:51 How can you get them easier back? That's all it's about.

42:55 I am smiling every day.

42:58 Pick and roll. Fuck everything.

43:01 Pick and roll, because I'm getting to the bucket. If you stop me, Dame right here, three ball.

43:07 You know what I mean?

43:08 If you stop me at the rim, Shaden Sharp or somebody out there, Klinglin popping out, obvious. If I get tired, I can throw it to either one of these dudes and be cool.

43:18 So quickly, before we move on, do you guys think that Dame and Ja will work together in the backcourt, BD?

43:24 I definitely do. It's on the coach.

43:27 Yeah, their best defense right now is their coach.

43:31 Gil, you think it'll work. Their best defense is the coach right now.

43:34 I agree.

43:36 I think it'll work because of Dame. I think Dame wants it to work. Yeah. That's just the belief I have in him. Okay.

43:45 And let's say it doesn't work. Obviously, I'm not rooting against it. I love Dame and I love Ja. But if you had to pick between Dame and Ja, They come off the bench, and you're Micah Norton.

43:54 Pick the same thing Nike's going to pick.

43:57 You're going to tell Damon and Adidas. Tell Damon and Adidas. They can sit down. Best shoe seller come off the bench?

44:06 Are you crazy?

44:07 You can't have the number one shoe seller in the league coming off the bench. I don't care what you say, what role you want.

44:15 Nah, bro. Uh-uh. These shoes is hot. Yo, Adidas U.S. headquarters. It ain't the same as Beaverton, bro. It ain't the same as Nike.

44:22 We out here, too.

44:23 It ain't the same relationship. It ain't the same as Nike, partner.

44:27 Yeah, me neither. We live here, too. We don't know who they are. We know what to do. We know where the Nikes guys sit. We live here, too, though.

44:37 Me, John Wall, and Kirkheimer started at the 1-2-3. How many games did you win? How long did it last? I don't even know.

44:47 I'm waiting to get it. Because Kirk Hyman was playing a three.

44:56 Because he can defend. And defending a bigger guard is easier for smaller guards.

45:02 Because you can stay in front of the ball. And it's rare that you find a three, six, eight and above. that can handle the ball like a guard and get to the basket.

45:12 Listen, imagine a new coach who just, this is the first year he's coming in, talking about, hey, we'd like you to come on the pitch.

45:20 Man, I couldn't even imagine.

45:22 I couldn't even imagine.

45:26 I couldn't even imagine.

45:27 Just imagine before training camp. He like, all right, Gil, so yeah, welcome in. You know, we got to talk about you coming on.

45:35 During his interview with the Blazers, he did mention Dame potentially coming off the bench, but said he didn't realize where Dame was with his rehab.

45:42 So this, he was thinking it was an injured Dame. It don't matter. It don't matter. It don't matter, dog.

45:49 You got to let me go and go improve what I can do. You don't never come up to me and say, hey, man, I'm thinking you coming off the bench.

45:56 I'm like... Something wrong with this. What fucking film was he in? I have not.

46:02 Nobody goes to any team to come off the bench.

46:05 Let alone.

46:06 Like, you say that to, you know, somebody else.

46:09 You don't say it to a superstar. That's just weird. Just you.

46:13 Just a new coach meeting. You wasn't here last year.

46:16 Watched no NBA. You ain't established no pedigree.

46:19 I was in Minnesota, homie. Where you at? You ain't established nothing. You on a one-year deal. You on a one-year deal. I can do what I want. What's my repercussion?

46:32 You absolutely can. But if you want me to buy in. I don't. You want me to buy in? Coach, I think you need to start me.

46:40 Hey, we know you averaged 24 last year.

46:43 We know you coming back.

46:45 Jim, you know, like I want you to compete, you know, for the start.

46:49 This second string spot. This second string spot.

46:51 You like, what? Like, no, I came in the start. Like, if you got other plans, cool. But I'm coming to training camp to start.

47:00 You could be a starter on the second team. You could be a starter on the second team. That's when this shit starts feeling up right. Ooh, this hurt. This hurt again. God damn. You get to hear your name called out.

47:12 You're like, already?

47:13 God damn.

47:16 You ain't seen.

47:21 Shit. You ain't seen shit.

47:22 Somebody definitely going to be coming off the fence.

47:26 Like, man, I'm thinking about you coming off the fence. Damn, I ain't never came off the fence. Like, what the fuck? Like, am I sorry? All this work I put in, I'm sorry. I didn't get a chance.

47:39 You ain't even seen me shoot.

47:41 He must have been watching.

47:43 Somebody told you somebody was better than me?

47:47 I don't get a chance. All right, well, let's keep this thing moving. Yeah, dude. Let's get our car moving. Shift everything to the east. Like, you know, getting traded mid-season. That makes sense. Yeah, bro. Oh, man.

48:00 We all knew here. All right, well, let's keep this thing moving. Shift over to the Eastern Conference. Sixers made a blockbuster trade this offseason for former Finals MVP, All-NBA wing Jalen Brown. That move was overshadowed just a few weeks later by LeBron deciding to take his talents to Philly for year 24. But Brown has a chip on his shoulder heading into this season and something to prove, and he let it be known at Sixers Media Day during an interview with NBA TV's Chris Haynes.

48:27 Do you have any games circled on your calendar this season? All of them. Okay.

48:31 All of them circle.

48:32 It's something that's double circle too, though.

48:39 I wonder what those are.

48:41 Sixers actually play against the Celtics.

48:43 I believe this weekend. I'm sure. We'll see if Jalen Brown plays or not. Might as well. It's my shit. He's going to wait for the pregnancy. He's going to wait for the pregnancy. It ain't the same impact. It's preseason. I'm going to be over here in street clothes. You know that I'm going to be in street clothes. I'm not wasting my energy. You're not going to get no advantage.

49:10 Saturday against the Celtics.

49:11 But Sixers tipped off their preseason Monday night at home against the defending champion Knicks just two days after their annual blue-white game in front of 10,000 fans. But Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and LeBron did not play Monday, leaving Jalen Brown and Vijay Edgecombe to hold down the fort. And Brown put on a show. Let's take a look at some of the highlights, if we can, please. So Jalen Brown picked up where he left off as an MVP candidate last year while carrying the Celtics to the second spot in the East.

49:38 JB had 22 points.

49:40 In 17 minutes of first half action, did not play in the second half, but was getting to it early and often with a variety of buckets. Eight for 13 from the field, hit three of his five three-point attempts in the game. Vijay Edgecombe played co-star next to Brown with 12.7 assists in 19 minutes. You wishy-washy what preseason matters or not. It really just depends on how the Lakers perform.

50:04 Yeah.

50:05 If preseason matters or not. But for full context, Nick starting five, all played in the game. Even a disgruntled cat trying to get his bread. Josh Hart trying to get his bread.

50:15 Now that's going to play out. He out here just working on his game.

50:19 No Maxie, no Bron, no FB. The ball going to be in his hand the whole time. Taylor knew that. But he ain't even tripping, dog.

50:29 Give me that. He's just working on his game. Hey, Bron, I'm going to be here in a sec, man. Let me get that. Hey, you know somebody going, hey, give me that, give me that. That's mine. That's mine. We ain't shit. Bring that back. We ain't shit, y'all. I've done that so many times. Oh, man. On the fast, bro. Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo.

50:57 Let me get that.

50:59 Oh, man.

51:00 So, Jalen Brown, 22 points, 17 minutes BD. Only played the first half. Did go up against the Knicks starters for some of that game. What did Jalen Brown show you in his Sixers preseason debut?

51:11 He showed me Where are he going to get his shots from? How are you going to be effective? And I think he's going to have a high efficiency rate in Philly. He's showing you, I'm getting to the middie. I'm better than I was last year. The game is becoming easier. And so I think it was a statement, not only for him coming out to play his first Philly game, but also a statement to Bron and Bede and the guys who didn't play, So like, hey, I'm ready and these are my shots and this is where I'm getting my shots from. Because I think that he's going to have to take that dog role. Him being overshadowed makes him a better MVP candidate for the team and makes him play better. I mean, it makes the system for whatever Philly is trying to figure out and

52:03 makes it so much better when he is all the way aggressive. So now I can sort of see how all these pieces are.

52:10 Going to fit. You watch Edgecombe, I watched him.

52:13 He was making plays, getting downhill.

52:16 You're looking at Brown.

52:17 He's a bigger three or a bigger shooting guard for a lot of people in the league. So I think Philly's going to play bully ball. And then they're going to look to Brown, score his points, obviously Maxie in transition. But I see it. I see where he's picking his spots and what he's showing, not only the team, but you know, the other opponents, like, this game is getting easy to me.

52:46 That's what it is.

52:47 When you think about Brown and think about two years ago, three years ago, really couldn't go left, right?

52:54 Always forced, always pushed off.

52:57 He's actually working on his skill development every summer, right? It's it's the shots he's taken just in his preseason game.

53:08 Those wasn't shots he was taking two years ago.

53:11 No, exactly.

53:11 Right, I think that freedom of last year, right, of being able just to play free basketball, try shit you've.

53:18 Been working on. Yeah.

53:19 Now, usually, you know, we'll work on something in the summer, and then we miss it, and, you know, we miss it at the beginning. We just, all right, let me go back to what I'm good at. He got to really expand his game last year, and then this summer dial it in, right, where... he's going to be more efficient.

53:38 He's going to be a half-court killer. And you can just see just some of the things he's doing. You're like, yo, his skill level is up there to the point where he could be the first option where there's just, you know what, we're going to run an offense through you. And then we'll figure out our spaces. Because you do pass the ball. But you know how to get to the basket. Your middie's going down. You can shoot the three.

54:00 And it's just amazing that when someone is tapping into their ability, it actually stands out.

54:10 Like some of these plays, you're like, all right. All right. There we go. Good shit this summer. Good shit. It looks different, right? Yeah, it looks different.

54:18 I think he learned, too, from last year being double teamed a lot, like on the court, where he could get to, where he couldn't get to. And now when he plays with Bron, when he plays with Maxie and B, he's going to have more space to work with. What I really think he's going to benefit, too, if I'm Nick Nurse, Because his usage rate and shots are going to come down. But I believe you put him on that second unit. That's when you really put the ball in his hands.

54:45 Absolutely.

54:45 You know what I'm saying? Vijay is going to be out there with him. But at the same time, that's when I think you can really utilize all of that we just saw.

54:52 He's used to it now. Because he's used to it.

54:54 On that second unit when Brown goes out and Maxie goes out or Embiid is out, Brown is going to be the guy.

55:00 So it's no fall off.

55:01 Like before when Maxie went out the game, You had no creator, no one that could go one-on-one, really go get their shot. You don't have that now because you got Brown on that second unit, Brown on that second unit at times to be able to do that, but in particular, Jayden Brown. And I like the point you said, too, that people didn't look at. Because of the criticism he got early in Boston about what he can't do, every year he came back with.

55:29 A little something different.

55:30 And that culminated into the year he had last year in Kerry, Boston. All that time of listening to what I can do, I can do, I can do. And he came back and proved that he could carry, you know, a franchise and get them W. Yeah.

55:46 In the playoffs.

55:47 But if you watch these shots, right, those are the shots that he needed to make in the playoffs that he had to make more. multiple other dribbles to get to that spot, right?

56:00 And the double team.

56:01 So like last year in the playoffs, MVP type of year during the regular season, then you get to the playoffs and it's like, damn, I need to be able to get to the middie, right? I need to get it. Like he didn't know, he was just playing. And he was just playing against force and trying to figure it out and playing with talent and force. You see from this first game, he must have watched playoff tape the entire summer because those are all the shots that he was missing in the playoffs. One, two dribbles pulling up, walking somebody down, pulling up. It just looked like he worked on the things that he knew was going to hold him back, even.

56:45 If he went back to Boston.

56:47 Now you look at that in a position where, If you put Jalen Brown in attack mode all the time and just let him stay like that, he's going to do everything else. So let him get his offense, let him work his offense, but keep him in attack mode because everybody is going to benefit. Now put him with the second unit. You're not a playmaker, just stay in attack mode. His VJX can complement that. Tyrese Maxey and LeBron.

57:20 And B, like, you always can have a playmaker keep this dude attacking because he's going to always put pressure on whoever the best player is offensively and the best player is defensively.

57:30 You know, the key to this team will be, the most important part would be subbing.

57:37 Yes. The right time to sub. Uh-huh.

57:40 Who's going to play the 4-12, right?

57:46 I always had this thing with Coach.

57:49 Don't take me out until the top of the second quarter, right?

57:53 So you want to play all the way through the first. First, before the timeout of the second quarter.

57:58 No, no, no.

57:59 I'll come out after. I'll come out after. He played 40, 40, what'd you play?

58:02 I played 40 something minutes.

58:04 But I, I, I hated.

58:07 I played that when I was with Jeff Van Gogh.

58:09 I hated the idea of getting subbed at the three minute mark in the first quarter.

58:12 Oh yeah, first, yeah. Like it just, that purity. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

58:15 And I used to, I had a coach, I was like, yo, why are you doing this? You know how many points you're leaving on the court? He's like, what do you mean?

58:23 I said, we're in the penalty. I'm your most aggressive person.

58:27 You're taking me out while there's, I've been getting hit all quarter and I don't get.

58:32 To capitalize on it.

58:34 You're putting in guards and guys for me who's getting to fill in for the next three. So they're not going to be taking advantage of this, right? I said, this is where we're at, Lou. This is where I get my free points. You can't touch me now.

58:48 Right. I said, now these.

58:49 Guys are coming in because that coach is going to be stupid. He's going to sub in some fresh meat.

58:53 Yeah.

58:53 One-four flat. We're coming right at me, and I'm going to get two, three, four, five, six free throws. Yep.

58:59 Then sub me out and let the second year, let Juan Dixon earn his.

59:02 Own goddamn free throw. Juan Dixon, because you know Juan. Juan is smart as shit. Juan is going to get to that lot. Juan is going to get to that lot.

59:09 Juan is going to get up there like this, oh yeah.

59:14 Soon as he's coming in, I'm faking it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, oh my God.

59:22 But that was like Steve Blake and Juan Dillon. They were so smart that they understood that when they came in, they grabbed their points from the free throw line, getting warmed up, and then when the second quarter comes in, now they're warm and they already got six points.

59:38 And they're playing good.

59:41 And I'm like, man.

59:45 I like that point.

59:46 If I'm Nick Nurse, too, and I'm the coach himself, this is a year... And I know we hate to use the word low management, but you can low manage and be. And what I mean is now 28 to 32 minutes a game. You don't have to play back to back. The pressure is not on him all year to have to carry. He can continue to play and develop some continuity with the guys without overextending himself.

1:00:08 Because you know where you need him. You need him in the playoffs.

1:00:12 So by watching his minutes during the course of the year, kind of like they did Mitchell in New York, to keep him healthy, Now, on that back end, you not only got a healthy NB, but if you can get to 45, 50 games where that core has played together, man, you're talking about putting yourself in a position on that back end because it's all about where your seating.

1:00:38 Is at on that back end.

1:00:40 Can you get in that first round, especially in heading into the second, do you have home court advantage? And you set that up during the course of the year. by how you manage your lineup and your players, especially with Embiid.

1:00:51 Yeah.

1:00:52 Because you do have young talent, too. Like, you got more young talent.

1:00:57 Uh-huh. So Philly got depth.

1:00:59 So to your point, like, you should be, like, Everybody could be on load management besides Jalen Brown.

1:01:05 Well, I think Maxie. Right. And Maxie.

1:01:09 Besides Maxie and Jalen Brown. Maxie, DJ, and Jalen Brown.

1:01:13 Go.

1:01:13 Go.

1:01:14 Go.

1:01:14 You 35, 38 minutes a game.

1:01:16 Yep.

1:01:17 You get your– Because any rest day is almost like you put somebody in and that person filling in for LeBron could have a big game or filling in for Embiid.

1:01:25 So you still got your core. Yeah.

1:01:27 At the end of the day, 48 minutes is 48 minutes and it's not– It is 48 minutes, but if you know how to call timeouts and you actually understand basketball, you.

1:01:38 Get a lot of rest. You can get a lot of rest. You know what I mean? You can stay fresh.

1:01:42 With Maxie, I'm going to tell him, hey, at the beginning of the season, I'm going to be playing you about 42 to 44 minutes. So pick your spots and conserve energy when you need to.

1:01:53 And beating LeBron....

1:01:57 I want to figure out how to sub where I'm benefiting the most out of them.

1:02:04 Like, I know LeBron had.

1:02:05 This weird first quarter where he comes out like at the.

1:02:09 Six-ish and comes back at the... He comes back at the.

1:02:12 And that's the same thing what I'm going to do with Embiid.

1:02:13 So that's what JJ was doing with him.

1:02:15 Sub him out, get him at the beginning, sub him out, and then when we're in a penalty, bring him back in. So those little hits, he can get his little easy free throws. Because Embiid in a penalty.

1:02:26 he's going to be hard to guard. Because, you know, he's going to flop a lot.

1:02:29 So putting him back in within the last two minutes will benefit because now you're going to put him in the pose and now he's going to be doing all these little hit bumps, getting little and ones, and that will help.

1:02:42 No, I like that because, too, when you're Nick Nurse, because with, and B, this is key to me, because mentally he's saying all the right things right now. He looks in better shape. Now, I know Brian, they said they, Braun got on him for being late. Braun refuted that on his IG story. He said he's been on time, been a professional since he's been there. Mike Green, I think, said he had heard from somebody that Braun had to call out Embiid for being late to practice. Braun posted that on his IG story. I'm glad we cleared that up, too.

1:03:10 Well, you know Braun.

1:03:12 Has Braun ever actually threw anybody under the bus on his team?

1:03:17 Not directly. Not directly. Okay, so even if he.

1:03:20 Was late, Braun will address him directly. And then if somebody finds out, he's like, no, no, no, he's always on time. He's never going to let the media know you on bullshit.

1:03:33 He's just going to let you know where people behind.

1:03:35 Well, you know, the media scrutiny and attention that LeBron brings has already started right now in training camp with the Sixers squad. So I think he's trying to do his best. Reflect that. Reflect it off of me. You can put it all on me, guys. Y'all ain't seen the level of hate.

1:03:48 But the one thing, you got to think about LeBron and those guys at the top. Practice is important for them. Not even practice, being on time is important. If we're supposed to be here at 11, most of them be here at 9, be here at 10. Don't be walking in here five minutes before fucking practice, man.

1:04:12 Because they're looking. The people we're going to have practicing for us, It's watching that. It's watching that.

1:04:17 So us being there, showing up on time, being there at 9 o'clock, even if we don't practice, they're still looking like, yo, these guys are here earlier than us. So Embiid is going to have to get better just practice habits for himself anyway, right? Like, you are a gifted individual. We watch Shaq. Shaq is one of our favorites.

1:04:39 We heard from Kobe. We know that he didn't tap into destruction like he could have. If he had that, I want to be the best player that Plant has ever seen, nothing was stopping.

1:04:55 There was no.

1:04:56 We had to put a zone in just to stop, just to stop, to stop him. If he understood health and said, hey, I need to get in shape, you know, I'm going to gain a lot of weight, so I need to really tap into my body and make it last, there was nothing stopping, you know, Shaq.

1:05:12 And B, you have the same body type. So.

1:05:16 Eating, resting, and making sure you're doing whatever it takes to play this year and 10 more years.

1:05:25 At the same. That's your goal.

1:05:28 Somebody stopping you and your ability, that's not even. The only thing that's stopping you is going to be your body. That's what stopped you from MVP the last three years, your body.

1:05:36 But it's also you got Shaq-type body, but you don't play like Shaq.

1:05:43 Yeah, you don't. You play like a guard.

1:05:45 Yeah.

1:05:46 So you're susceptible to guard injuries.

1:05:50 Which big man, especially Embiid, he got foot problems.

1:05:53 Knee problems. All that is, you're doing all this shit. And you're doing all this.

1:06:01 Like your game is, you know, all this winding up.

1:06:08 You know, that's a lot of groove.

1:06:10 That's a lot of groove and balancing and so not being in shape. right, and playing like that for a big dude, you know, I just get nervous when I see big guys playing like guards because they're coming downhill, you know, from the three-point line. And you don't have, yeah, you can't move in tight windows. So, like, you're just putting a lot of pressure.

1:06:35 I think with Embiid, too, because when he was in college, he was more known as a defensive player, shot parker.

1:06:41 He got hurt in college, so he didn't. he wasn't able to finish out his college career. Right. But he came in in that transition when post players started to expand a little bit more.

1:06:50 I think if it had stayed like old school back in the day, Embiid probably would have morphed into being more of a post player. But I said this about Embiid early on in his career when he had the immaturity problems when at Philadelphia.

1:07:02 I said, you've got to understand something. He was a late bloomer.

1:07:04 Yep.

1:07:05 He didn't understand to get to playing basketball until later in high school. When he was in college, he really didn't dominate or lead the team because he was injured.

1:07:12 He had the talent. But they didn't say, here's the ball. You go lead the team. You be the leader.

1:07:17 Now he gets to Philly, injuries, not able to play, finally gets in the lineup. All this talent came with expectations like you're the leader. But mentally and maturity-wise, he wasn't. Because you know this, and you know this. To be the guy, you had to be the guy before to understand what that mentality was like. What it is to understand to carry a team. It's the reason why Dame...

1:07:38 And Steph were able to carry teams or B, they had to do it in college in order for him to get there.

1:07:46 And B never had to do it.

1:07:47 We placed all this expectation on him to be not only the best player, but to be the leader from a maturity perspective.

1:07:54 Right.

1:07:55 He wasn't built like that. on how to lead a team. Even winning MVP, like, it makes sense. Because even winning MVP, he just decided, I want to win MVP.

1:08:05 You see what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It wasn't like, I want to win a championship. It's like, man, I'm not. But that's not a knock. That's not a knock. I'm so good. No, it's just that immature. It's like, yeah. We've seen it before. Talented guy. Yeah, it's immature.

1:08:18 That can't carry the load because it's so much more that comes with it. It ain't just what you do on the court. during 48 minutes. Being the man is being the man 24 hours, seven days a week, 365. You got to deal with all the other stuff that comes along with it. And if you haven't been in that situation, you don't know how to handle that situation.

1:08:38 I think that was Embiid's biggest problem, besides the health, was the mental part of not understanding the responsibility.

1:08:46 It is to be the guy all the time. To be a superstar. And I can... Fucking correct. Because that was me.

1:08:53 I was always the guy that was the best player in the team, but I didn't have to have no responsibilities because we had old players on the court. Right. So just give me the ball, y'all move the fuck out of the way, and then whatever bad habits I got, y'all got to deal with it.

1:09:06 But you got enough solid dudes around you. But what did you learn? How did you mature out of that?

1:09:13 That was the problem. See, that's what I'm saying. That's why I got in trouble because what happened is... there came a time where Larry Hughes, like my behavior was, if I got too far, Larry Hughes.

1:09:26 Would give me that look.

1:09:28 Right.

1:09:29 All right. When he left. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

1:09:36 Like when I got in trouble with the gun, I was like, I didn't know I couldn't do that.

1:09:41 I did it every year. Nobody was paying attention.

1:09:45 No, they was paying attention because they was running through the hallways. But the behavior was silenced by the veterans.

1:09:50 When I became the veteran... When.

1:09:53 You become the main guy, everything is loud.

1:09:56 And I didn't learn that... Everything is loud. Yeah, so now all of us is loud. We having fun. It was no.

1:10:04 And that was my problem. So I remember it took me doing an interview and they said... It was like, so what did Nick Nick oh, no Nick says something he was like, you know, like Gil messed my shit up and it was a joke and then I had thought.

1:10:20 About it like.

1:10:23 Wait The problem that happened was when I got hurt.

1:10:31 For the first time.

1:10:35 I Had to be a actual leader I See, because I was always at the gym 5, 6 in the morning, the gym became my playground because I already did my work. So because I always worked when nobody was there, when I finally seen people.

1:10:54 It's playtime. You know what I mean? It's playtime.

1:10:56 So when I'm hurt and they're coming to the gym.

1:11:01 You playing. I'm playing.

1:11:02 You're playing.

1:11:03 Yeah, yeah. It's their work time, and I didn't recognize that.

1:11:06 Uh-huh. It's play time. What y'all doing? What was going on?

1:11:10 Because it's like, oh, welcome to the gym.

1:11:13 Yeah.

1:11:14 And I didn't show them the work ethic. I showed them the party behavior.

1:11:19 Uh-huh. Because that was my first time partying.

1:11:22 Because I was so, you know, like, second round pick, this, this, you know, I get hurt.

1:11:26 Now I'm trying to be an offer all day. That was the time, too. You know what I mean? That was the time, too. You had to... So this is the first time I got to spend my money.

1:11:33 In order to, like, you had to have some off-court cachet in order to get on-court recognition and get the brand.

1:11:41 So you had to be, like, on-court.

1:11:44 You got to dominate with your game, get as many sports center or highlights or stats. And then off the court, you got to be somebody for people to be like, hey, that's so-and-so.

1:11:56 I mean, you know. Like, that's why everybody was wearing diamond chains and shit like that.

1:12:00 So it didn't benefit you to be at the house staying out of the limelight. You had to go get that attention to build the.

1:12:04 Well, it was like for certain, for certain, for certain for that next tier superstar. Because, like, you know, you're only fighting for a shoe endorsement, a beverage endorsement, and you got to think media was not as national.

1:12:19 Even NBA media was not as national as frequent, right?

1:12:23 So everybody... there was stars on everybody's team. It was just some people in Milwaukee, some people in Indiana. Like, you wasn't getting, like, whoever the league picked at the time, they were the people that they were branding, right?

1:12:38 He had to become Hibachi.

1:12:40 I don't know who gave you that name, but that shit was hard. And then Adidas said, fuck that. We about to put money into him as a personality. And then that's how you kind of build your stardom back then.

1:12:55 All right, well, let's shift back to Jalen Brown real quick before we move on. So coming off a career season, he said his favorite pro season, also not the one we won the chip last season.

1:13:04 Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't do that. He had fun. Well, yeah.

1:13:09 We've discussed it. It's not like everyone gave him praise for winning it. Finals MVP was still the number one option. They still have some questions. Yeah, so to him, he got this trophy that everybody wants, and no one gave him the same love that everybody else got.

1:13:28 So it's one of them things, oh, yeah, all right. You know what I mean?

1:13:32 But do you really get a lot of love for finals MVP?

1:13:37 Unless you're a superstar. Well, think about it. Unless you're a superstar.

1:13:41 But nobody ever wants to talk about that. Nobody ever wants to talk about the only time it really matters... As if the guy got it.

1:13:51 Got it.

1:13:52 Because the guy who got it is measured up to the other guys who got it.

1:13:56 Yep.

1:13:56 Right?

1:13:57 And that's always how it's been. Right. And it's a weird thing.

1:14:00 Like, if the second guy, whoever we said is the second guy, if he gets it, it's like. You know, like, he got it because the second guy got stopped.

1:14:10 It wasn't because, like, you know what I mean? It's just a thing.

1:14:13 Like, Bird didn't get it one year.

1:14:15 Cornbread Maxwell. Cornbread Maxwell got it. He got it. And nobody used that against Larry Bird. No.

1:14:21 No one says that about, because if you got it, because, like, we know the defense is structured to stop him. So if they stop him, you've got to do your job. And if you do your job good and we win, you're going to get it. But it doesn't make you better than this guy. Like, we know that concept. So we have this unwritten rule. And it's a big unwritten rule where the main guy gets it because he gets to argue. They get to have this conversation amongst themselves.

1:14:53 And if somebody else gets it in between, that is not the main guy.

1:14:58 We just pretend that it didn't happen.

1:14:59 But then you also got to point to back in the day, it was more dynasty driven. So like the main guy winning four championships, getting two or three MVPs, missing one, nobody tripping because it was a dynasty. You look at now this kind of new generation, there are no dynasties. Like the Warriors were the last great dynasties.

1:15:25 There ain't no repeat champions, you know.

1:15:27 Eight straight seasons.

1:15:28 Yeah, so it's, you know, basically it's like it's not the same, right? So a finals MVP hasn't necessarily, I would say, been that decorated or documented throughout the history of the game. It's always been the superstars in the championships.

1:15:49 But you use that argument, though. of finals MVP when you start talking about the greatest, though. You know what I mean? Because... Of what they did. Of what they did. Look at the argument with Mike and LeBron. Mike was six-time finals MVP. You see them say they're going to use that. And what's interesting, you said it about Bird.

1:16:08 Bird not getting it. Look at Steph.

1:16:09 Yeah. I mean, from a finals MVP perspective. He's won four finals.

1:16:15 Yeah.

1:16:16 He's won four. Yeah, exactly. How many finals MVP? One.

1:16:19 One.

1:16:21 You see, KD got two and Iguodala. Yeah. But it doesn't detract from how we see Steph. You know why? Because it's a dynasty.

1:16:30 No, no, no.

1:16:32 Because it's a dynasty. Because what happens is this. With Steph, you can argue.

1:16:42 That the first one was his, and it should have been his because the whole season was his. They gave it to Iguodala because he had to match up with LeBron.

1:16:52 So we kind of accept it.

1:16:55 Iguodala had an incredible finals, dude.

1:16:58 He played his ass. Yeah, but it wasn't better than Stapps. It was still Stapps.

1:17:03 But in Iggy's defense, he held LeBron to 36 points per game, turned out to be a rebound. But it was better for himself and he played a great game so we accept that okay, you know, they gave it to that's the voters seven still step now the next two That is Kevin Durant KD.

1:17:27 You know what I mean?

1:17:27 So Kevin Durant getting it over you and We can't even fault you for that.

1:17:31 That's like Kareem and Magic. You know what I mean? Anybody can get that.

1:17:36 Right?

1:17:36 So we're not going to... Okay, this last one is just you.

1:17:42 If Draymond or Klay get it, we're going to have to.

1:17:44 But that put him in a whole other category, though. He does it. He finally got it. But when he gets it, it's like that's the one you... But it put him in a whole other category. Which one? Because the final's MVP. But does it? It does. Was anybody going to say, like.

1:18:00 Right now, what's he going to take away from his all-time greatness? Are you asking that question? It just adds to it.

1:18:07 You know why?

1:18:07 Because before, with the three, he was still right behind Magic Johnson, right? Everybody was saying, hey, with two MVPs, two MVPs, you and Magic at this point, right?

1:18:21 MVPs, finals, it's you and Magic. They kind of put you in front of Isaiah Thomas, right?

1:18:28 Because Magic dominance overall, I don't.

1:18:33 Know what he... Unless he got all four.

1:18:35 Finals MVPs, there's going to be a generation that's going to look at Magic.

1:18:40 Stats and say, whoa, the fuck are we thinking? Yeah.

1:18:43 From one to two, there's a big-ass separation here from one to two.

1:18:48 But... he's been second for a minute in my mind. There's just.

1:18:55 It was Isaiah Thomas. He was the two that nobody really gave credit for.

1:19:02 They overlooked their dynasty.

1:19:07 But it's a dynasty.

1:19:08 Do you think they overlooked it because if he was number two and you look at Magic, that separation was so fucking far that we didn't even talk about two because there was no conflict. I think at the time, too, they didn't like.

1:19:22 I think Isaiah had this mystique about him and it's kind of like Kareem. I'm not going to say Isaiah didn't get along with the media because he did but it was something about that Detroit team and Isaiah in particular.

1:19:36 They didn't want them to win. Exactly. It's the style.

1:19:41 They didn't like and so the arrogance, the boldness and all despite how great Isaiah was, they didn't give him the love like Kareem.

1:19:49 Kareem was outspoken. He was bold.

1:19:51 We know how great he is, but when you talk about who's the greatest, you don't mention his name. When you talk about greatest point guard, you somehow forget about Isaiah Thomas and forget how great Isaiah was for Detroit, which is a shame.

1:20:05 Detroit. We've had this discussion. He played in Detroit. Motor City. Time out, dog. The heartbeat of America. Motown.

1:20:14 There was no real true national media. When there were dynasties happening... they came.

1:20:21 In and became the villain.

1:20:23 They were the villain. And for two years down.

1:20:27 There, three years, four years, they were like, please don't let these motherfuckers win. You know what I mean? Like, nobody wanted them to win. Because it was like, we got Magic and Bird over here.

1:20:40 We got Jordan.

1:20:41 We want to see, you know, Jordan versus Magic. Bird versus Magic. We want to see that kind of run its course. But who are these dudes? And they over here, they socking people.

1:20:52 In the mouth. You know what I mean? They beating you. They whooping the best team's ass.

1:20:59 And it's these two little bullies, you know what I mean, with these big old henchmen. And it's like you look at it and the perception that they had was like they just bullied their way through. But they classed, from a basketball standpoint, they classed their way through. And so the NBA controlled controls the narrative, right?

1:21:21 Every finals, you.

1:21:22 Got two minutes of who the NBA champions, who left, and if anybody's gonna start to get minimalized, it's the Detroit Pistons in.

1:21:32 That area, right?

1:21:33 Because they gotta keep this narrative It was so funny.

1:21:37 It was the end of the 80s. Yeah, it was the end of the 80s. When people talk about the 80s was tough, and they think bad boys.

1:21:44 Wait, hold on.

1:21:45 Bad boys is technically the 90s. Yeah.

1:21:48 Because it's the year in the year. I think Isaiah Thomas, I think what make people look at Isaiah like, yeah, now we cool.

1:22:00 You are the quiet one. The smile, you in magic.

1:22:05 You have hit men behind you and it's like, control them.

1:22:11 Right? It's like, it's the, it's the guy who controls the golden army. Isaiah is the first Iverson. Think about it.

1:22:17 Isaiah is like, he's like the first Iverson.

1:22:21 No, he was a small guy who had these hit men behind him that he, If he blinked wrong, they hit you.

1:22:30 Isaiah had a killer instinct.

1:22:32 No, no, he had the killer instinct, but he didn't have to do no killing in Chicago.

1:22:36 He was doing all the killing.

1:22:38 He was doing all the killing. Who was more dirty, him or John Stockton?

1:22:43 I don't know. I don't know. Isaiah, Isaiah. Isaiah is untouchable, bro. No, no, who was more dirty? The player themselves. Oh, oh, oh, John Stockton. John was so dirty.

1:22:53 John Stockton was so dirty. John was so dirty. John Stockton, I wouldn't call him dirty. He was just like, he was hella sneaky. Like, he'd take you and throw you in the car, Malone, Fountain Spencer, Osa Tech.

1:23:06 He'd be like, yeah.

1:23:08 You look at Stockton and be like, yo, yo, your little ass on that, that's the player. I got a little bit more gangster etiquette. Stockton gone blue.

1:23:21 Stockton gone blue. Stockton got me. I'm fired on him. Beatty, you fired on John Stockton. You fired on John Stockton. Come on, man. Come on.

1:23:37 Beatty, we're all wearing wires right now.

1:23:42 Come on, man. You let it out. You got to tell us now. Dirty right. He called me a prick. He called you a prick. You fucking prick.

1:23:52 That's like three shades under the N word for white people.

1:23:56 He was pissed.

1:23:58 I was hot, too, because he kept stealing the ball from me.

1:24:05 I knew I was going out the gate. You knew I was cussing me out. And he went, boom!

1:24:10 Oh! Yeah, when I was young, I used to take off. I fired on walls in the Duke game, too.

1:24:23 What did you ask me?

1:24:25 Stuck in one. Wow, shut up, fool. Yeah, I had this. Hey, raised by you, though. Raised by this, too. That's stupid, man. Seriously. You remember the old, I did the clip. Where?

1:24:41 So, you know how, like, the big man, so I'm posting him up, I'm doing this. So, he's trying to play a.

1:24:47 Little dirty, do a little backspin. Who is?

1:24:49 John.

1:24:50 Right?

1:24:50 So, I'm over there, all right. Like, I'm just going. There's no, I ain't calling no plays.

1:24:55 Right? I'm just going at you. So, I saw him give the look. Yeah. Picking him up full court. Hit Carmelone. Boom! Oh, yeah, yeah.

1:25:07 Yeah, that's what I'm saying, dude.

1:25:09 It wasn't one of those.

1:25:10 It was like the boom. John Stockton was a mean dude. Hey, John Stockton was not a nice guy, Doug. He wasn't your friend.

1:25:18 He wasn't your friend, bro. No, he was not there to be friends, associates. He didn't give a fuck. You know, you're a rookie. You're like, damn, dude. I'm playing against Johnson. Bam! Oh, man, he'll catch you with that elbow.

1:25:32 Yeah, he do.

1:25:33 When he give it up and cut through.

1:25:35 Oh, man.

1:25:36 With the elbow to come off the haircut. He was fucking me up, dude. I had enough. I had enough. He was fucking me up.

1:25:43 And imagine, you turning the ball over. He getting like, he trying to pass it away. He getting dumb ass deflections. Just a little stupid shit.

1:25:52 I'm like, man, I got it. I had enough of you.

1:25:54 I had enough of you.

1:25:58 I'm only playing 19 minutes.

1:26:00 And I'm already four minutes in.

1:26:02 I ain't playing tonight. Fuck that. I'm taking off on your ass, dog. John Stockton, not a nice guy.

1:26:13 One of my favorite players ever.

1:26:15 Hey, we love you, John. I love John Stockton. I love John Stockton. Dude, I just, yeah, I just instinct. Did not follow gangster etiquette. Was not a follower of gangster etiquette. Instincts, dog.