Club Shay Shay - Nightcap - Ja Morant balling out, Zion's tattoo, Durant's frustrations with Suns
Episode Date: December 28, 2023Shannon Sharpe and Gilbert Arenas react to Ja Morant leading the Grizzlies to a 4-0 record since returning from suspension, Zion's strange new chest tattoo, Lakers players clashing with Darvin Ham dur...ing their recent skid. Kevin Durant reportedly frustrated with Suns' "underwhelming supporting cast" and the entire Wednesday night slate in the NBA. 0:00 - Introduction03:30 - Cavs beat Mavericks09:45 - Thunder beat Knicks21:00 - 76ers beat Magic38:00 - Suns Beat Rockets47:00 - Unc Goes OFF on Kevin Durant58:00 - Will KD ever be happy?1:08:00 - Why Draymond acts out1:18:00 - Lakers lineup issues1:41:00 - Ja Morant balls out1:56:00 - Zion's wack tattoo2:02:00 - Sex lives of NBA players #Club #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Hello, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you for joining us.
Welcome to another episode of Nightcap Basketball Edition.
I'm your favorite sports hunk, Shannon Sharp.
He's your favorite number zero.
He's also the greatest Arizona Wildcat hoop player
in the history of the program.
The man once dropped,
he did drop 60 in a game against the Lakers.
Gil, agent zero, arenas.
Gil, what's going on, bro?
Hey, man, who you been talking to?
Hey, there's only a small few
people who think I'm the best Arizona
player ever.
Been doing your research.
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So thank you, guys.
Gil, let's get right into it.
Luke and the Mavs collapse in the fourth quarter.
Lose against the Cavs 113-110.
The Cavs overcame a 20-point deficit,
outscored the Mavericks 31-20 in the fourth quarter.
No Donovan Mitchell, no Darius Garland, no Evan Moe.
Karras Lavert, 29 points, and a gutsy late three for the lead.
Jared Allen had 24 points, 23 rebounds.
I guess he was responding to Andre Drummond's 24
and 25 against the Hawks yesterday.
Luka, 39-7-6
was not enough. What did you take
away from this ballgame?
It's usually your bench.
Dallas, they have
one superstar. This reminds me of Jordan
when he came into the league.
Luka's
so good where we think that,
you know,
Dallas Maverick is a contender.
They're good.
No, he's good.
Yeah.
They're not good.
You know,
your third best player,
which is your second best player now,
comes off the bench, right?
It lets you know
where the team is.
And, you know,
he was just outmatched.
You know,
it's basically him
versus, you know, Cleveland five. Now, which is embarrassing He was just outmatched. It's basically him versus Cleveland 5,
which is embarrassing because without the no Donovan Minchins,
no Darius Garland, no Evan Mobley.
So the Cavs are down three starters.
You can't lose that game on your home court,
especially being up by 20, Gil.
Yeah.
But when you have players like LaVert coming off the bench,
where he was a big factor in this game, where it came off with 29 off the bench.
Right. You know, he was a big, big key when Brooklyn was when when he was with Brooklyn.
Right. Yes. So, you know, he can play and that's what's coming off the bench.
So you got guys that steps up that you normally don't count on.
But that's what having deep rosters is like.
So when you do need players like that,
they can really count for one game.
So it's just one of those games
where Dallas got a little overzealous,
as you can say.
Yeah, and when you look at it,
I'm looking at this ball game and I'm saying,
okay, Hardaway Jr. is a nice player.
You got Dante Exum, who's been playing well. Grant William, who you signed in free agency.
I just don't know how you you get up by that minute and just blow the game.
I mean, they basically blew that ball game. They had a 20 point lead.
And maybe and I don't know, maybe you can tell me if I'm wrong, but I know sometimes we have a propensity to relax.
If a team, I know in football, oh, they ain't got their starting quarterback.
They're down their starting running back.
They're down their starting receiver or their best this or their best that.
And sometimes you find yourself, you take that for granted.
But normally you don't see that happen in football.
A team get a 14, 17 point lead without a team's best players
and the other team that doesn't have those best players come back and win now we see this a 20 point lead in today's game is not the same as a 20 point lead
20 years ago gill 30 years ago facts facts facts because the guys can shoot the three balls so
much better because i don't remember i mean when i was growing up i don't remember got teams coming
back from 26 and 28 points in a ball game
because normally, okay, it's time to watch something else.
It's time to do something else.
We're going to go outside and play ball on our own.
Y'all down by 26, 28.
But the way they shoot the three ball, a couple of threes,
a couple of turnovers, and the next thing you know,
a 28-point lead is 18.
And then they go on another spurt, another 10-0 run.
So now an 18-0 run and
now you're down 10 when you're just down 28 but uh Seth Curry uh played a good game he had 19 points
Luca uh as I mentioned had 39 Dante Exum had 13 Derrick Jones had 12 uh and uh Tim Hardaway Jr.
had 14 but you look at uh Cleveland, Isaac Okoru had 22.
Jared Allen, 24 and 23, as we mentioned.
Karis LeBert had 29.
George Nye, 16.
You got to win that one, though, Gil.
You got to.
Those are the ones that you kick yourself in the ass later
because you let this get away from you.
With that being said,
what gets you in the leads
is also what takes you out.
Because this is a three-point shooting league
now, you can go up
by 20 and you can go down by
20. You shoot four or five
straight threes, bricks them, and then they make
three or four or five. You just cut
that lead down.
And that's what's happening in today's
game, where there's no
lead that's safe, because when you're up,
you're not going to get twos and get to the free throw line.
No, no, no, no, no, no. You're trying to
add the same method that got you back.
There's one thing
that I have a problem with, is this.
Everyone
shouldn't shoot the goddamn ball.
But I know we need to put up,
you know,
a certain amount of threes,
but not you,
not you,
not you.
Because when we're up 20,
everybody else feels like they can shoot.
This is my time to shoot.
Like,
no,
it's not your time to shoot.
But Gil,
have you ever seen a situation where all of a sudden the team is hot and everybody
and you see this a lot in mop up duty.
A team is like up by 20 with like two minutes to go in the ballgame.
And all of a sudden they call timeout and they sub everybody out.
And even the backups come in and they launch them and they're going in.
Now you put them guys in a regular meaningful game and they can't buy a basket.
But seemingly when they're up by 20, no one can miss a shot.
And I think the thing is,
what you're alluding to,
is that all of a sudden,
everybody, if they feeling good,
they making threes,
hey, let me try one.
No, bro, bro.
You need nothing but two.
Actually, you need dunks and putbacks.
You don't need anything outside the paint.
Yeah, no, yeah.
When you a bench player,
the game's down,
you down by 20, you up by 20, that is the perfect scenario for it because you have no pressure on you.
So you just get to go out there and just shoot how you want to shoot.
That's like practice for you.
Right.
You just get to throw up shots, and sometimes that costs you when a team still has their starters in.
Yeah, yes.
You know, when a team still has their starters in.
Yeah.
Yes.
So the Mavericks lose.
They collapse to the Cavs, lose 113-110 after being up by 20 points.
The Cavs outscore them by 11 in the fourth quarter to take a 113-110 victory.
The Thunder beat the Knicks 129-120. The explicit duo of Shea Gildress, Alexander, and Jalen Williams combined for 72 points.
Shea Gildress had 36- and Jalen Williams combined for 72 points. Shea Gildress had 36, 8, and 7.
Jalen, Williams.
I think everybody names Williams in the state of Oklahoma
played for the Thunder.
He had 36 on 5 of 5, 3, 76% field goal.
He was 13 of 17.
Chet Holmgren had 22.
And the Thunder now moved to 20 and 9.
I like the Thunder, Gil.
I like them.
I do, too, but they're young,
right?
Yes.
They're going to give you those days where,
you know,
they're going to be clicking because you know,
your best player shape,
he has it right.
He understands the game.
He's dominating the game right now.
He,
uh,
for the last three,
four or five years,
he's been shown that he is a superstar.
So yes,
him leading the charge.
It's easier for everybody else to just chip in here and there so they have great players around Shea that can just do what they do and don't have to worry
about the heavy lifting yeah uh he I mean man I love Shea I mean he has he has a tremendous
pull step back he can get to the rack. He can finish with either hand.
He's a little bit more explosive because you think he's going to lay it up,
and he will flush it on you.
He got a nice little three game.
That's not in his arsenal, but he can get hot and hit the three.
As you mentioned, Williams, I saw him against the Lakers a couple days ago.
Even though the Lakers won, he can stroke it from three.
He can really shoot the ball from outside.
Chet Holmgren, he's
up and coming. He needs to add about 10 pounds
to that frame. But what I like about him,
he ain't just jacking up threes.
He'll try to put the ball on the floor and try to
get to the rim. He'll try to poke it on you.
And he's challenging
everything. You might flush on
him, but he's going to block two or three shots.
He's going to alter two or three shots.
So he's going to impact the game three shots. He's going to alter two or three shots. So he's going to impact the game
from a defensive perspective
for about 10 points
because he's going to block two or three of your shots.
He's going to alter two or three of your shots
and maybe he'll make the time of possession run out
on a few of your shots. So he's going to account
for 10 points. That's why they're so
good defensively, even though they
are young. But I
like this team. They can get up and
down. They can play a lot of different styles.
They got young guys. And when you know young guys, you don't
know any better. You don't know anything about being
tired. But I love
Shea Gilgis and Alexander. And maybe,
maybe, Kawhi
went a little bit too fast. Because
how do you think the Clippers, and we're going to continue
on with this, but how do you think the Clippers would
look with Shea Gilgress and Kawhi?
I would be better than
see, that's
now you see why
like, you know, you question
that upper management, like what
did you see? When did
you see, you know, I guess they were
trying to win right now and, you know,
it was more of a package deal for Kawhi
Kawhi wanted to be towards them. Yeah, he wanted, it was more of a package deal for Kawhi. Kawhi wanted PG.
Yeah, he wanted it.
I heard Doc was talking, and he tried to explain it.
He's like, you need to give this guy a year.
He's like, Kawhi, he's really good.
And he said, well, if you don't get me PG,
I'm going to go to the team across the hallway.
And they could ill afford to have that
because that would have been a death sentence for the Clippers.
You cannot have LeBron, AD, and Kawhi across the hall.
And then all you have is what you've got.
So I understand they had to make the move and they gave up a King's ransom to get PG.
But when you look at it and you look at it player for player right now,
Shea Gildress is a better player than PG.
And he has been for the last couple of years. Shea, I shame i mean to be honest he might be a better player than both of them
right now you might be right he might be you know you know he might be right like he is i won't
fight you i won't debate you about it like you know what i mean like it can go either way at
this point but you know he's steady he's humble he trains he's work i mean every summer he comes back he he's added something to his game
yes and you know clippers is going to always kick themselves you know in the butt when they look
back at some of the trades they made versus what they have now um but you know just like anything
you're always trying to move pieces to get um better pieces when you don't know that
what's fool's gold and what's real gold.
What's that gym hiding
in the hay? One of those
type of players.
Right. You look
at the Knicks. R.J. Barrett
gave them 14. Julius Randle
gave them 25.
Devin Chinzo gave them 17.
Jalen Brunson was 24.
Quickly was 22. But they let the uh, even Chinzo gave him 17. Jalen Bronson was 24, uh,
quickly was 22,
but they let,
they let the Thunder shoot a very high percentage and Thibodeau team is normally known for defense,
but it's seemingly the,
the Thunder were able to get whatever they wanted.
Now it's,
it look,
it's very difficult.
I mean,
to try to say,
okay,
we're going to,
I understand you got Josh Hart and I understand RJ Barrett and even Chinzo, but ain't nobody, ain't nobody stopping, say, okay, I understand you got Josh Hart, and I understand R.J. Barrett and Devin Chinzo,
but ain't nobody stopping Shea from getting where he wants to go.
He's going to get his shot because you try to beat him to the punch,
and now he's going to pull back and shoot that little 12-foot, 14-foot shot,
and he's going to swish it.
And then all of a sudden, you think he's going to pull back,
he pulls, has it, and now he's landing up off the glass,
or he's landing up either way, left-handed or right-handed, in the cup.
So, and if they're going to shoot it like this,
if they're going to shoot the ball like this, they got, look,
Chet, as I said, Chet's going to challenge everything.
You got Lou Dort, who's a quality defender,
who can get hot and shoot the ball from three.
And they got guys that can shoot the ball from three.
I mean, when you look at this team, Jalen Williams can shoot it from three.
Kendrick, he's more of a down low player, but he can get hot.
Jalen Williams, well, J-A-L-E-N and J-Y-L-I-N.
Like I said, everybody named Williams in Oklahoma plays for the Thunder.
But they got a nice young basketball team.
Isaiah Joe, he can shoot the three ball, because
I remember him last year when I was at
the game in which LeBron passed Kareem.
And every time the Lakers make a
run, one of these Williams or Isaiah
Joe would make a three to quell that run.
So I was really impressed with
the Thunder, and I think they're only going to get better.
Josh Giddey,
he's not having the season
because he normally by now
probably have what two or three triple
doubles yeah
yeah I think with him
you know besides the off the court
you know situation that's
you know looming around him
I think with Chet there
it takes the ball out of his
hand more yes
with Shea being more dominant,
you don't need Giddy.
Right.
Giddy's a movable piece at this point.
You don't need him.
His upside has dropped very, very drastically.
Yes.
The Knicks squad,
I'm never going to be impressed with them.
It reminds me.
They small.
Like Thibodeau, you have two guys
that's playing 30 plus minutes, scoring
four and two. Four and
four. What is the point of them being on the
court when someone's averaging 20, 30 points?
Yeah. Josh Hart
played 34 minutes and he gave you
four points. Yeah, that's wasted
minutes. You have
Isaiah. Was it Isaiah?
Hardenstein? Yeah.
But he's your center because, you know,
the big guy went out. I mean, because
they're all real undersized team. If you
look at them, Hardenstein now is
their largest player.
So, I mean, you got to play a big
because you got Julius Randle.
Obviously, Randle's got to play. R.J. Barrett,
they're decent size. But when you look at it, I mean, they're not a big team Randle's got to play R.J. Barrett. They're decent size.
But when you look at it, I mean, they're not a big team.
That's why I don't think they can do anything in the East
because everybody else is ginormous.
You look at Boston has great side with Przinga's, JT, and JB.
They have great size with them.
We know Milwaukee has trees with Giannis and Bobby Portis
and Brooke Lopez
and Joel Embiid.
And they come with
I think it's Reid. Who's the backup center?
I ain't talking about
Mo Bamba. I ain't talking about him.
No, I'm not talking about him.
But they got big guys that can back
you down and I don't know who can deal
with, who can actually in a seven game
series for the Knicks, I know they
can win one game because Jalen Brunson
can get hot and give you
50. We've seen Julius
Randle, he can get hot and he can give you 30
and he can give you 30, 40 and 15.
But in a four game,
to win four games against Milwaukee
or Boston or Philly,
I don't believe they can do it. Do you think
they can win a series against one of those three teams?
No, not those teams.
The only team they can beat, and I said it last year,
the only team y'all can beat here is playing against Cavs,
and that's who they got.
You know, Cavs or Toronto.
You can beat one of those teams with a player like Brunson.
You know, once you start getting to that second round
and you start going against them Giants,
it's really hard to win with that lineup.
I mean, your best, most dominant player
is small. Becky Hammond said it right.
They don't have a 1A
player. They don't.
Brunson is a great, great
second player or third
or coming off the bench as
that it guy.
It's hard for small
guys to win a title, Gil.
I mean, you look at the history of the game as lead dogs.
It's been Steph Curry and it's been Isaiah Thomas.
Yeah.
And now, don't take anything away from AI.
Chuck was outstanding.
And he put up big numbers, led the league in scoring.
Obviously, we know what he is.
He was a historic player.
But to win a championship, man, like I said,
you got to be Steph Curry,
who we know is transcendent, and Isaiah.
Those are only – I'm telling you, when I say small, and I guess Steph Curry,
what did you say, Steph, is 6'2", 6'2 1⁄2"?
6'3 1⁄2".
6'3 1⁄2".
Isaiah is 6'1".
But when you start talking about is Brunson 6'0"?
With shoes on, he's 6'2".
He made it.
So when you,
when you talk,
when we talk about small,
now we know the big guard,
we know,
we know,
uh,
uh,
magic and we know Jordan guys of that,
but man,
for them,
for them,
little guards,
man,
you're asking an awful lot.
It's a,
it's an awful lot because if that's your best player,
and it's not like he's athletic or like he's,
he's long, right?
You know, where he can make up some of the height.
Slack and flat, yeah.
But he's small, stubby, compact, right?
You know, it's like he's not a Chauncey Billups,
but if you put him with like LeBron, great.
If you put him with Boston, great.
When he's the best player on a team,
you really don't have a chance
because he has to do so much being limited.
And he's very limited at his size.
I mean, I compared him to IT,
and to be honest, I'm pretty sure IT is offended
because IT was a two-time All-Star averaging 29.
Don't compare me to dude.
He ain't even on that level.
But that's just the case.
When you're small, like Iverson, you got to average 32, 33, 24.
I can get that from any guard.
I can get that from any guard.
But what he does bring is he brings leadership
and knowing how to get a great bucket in the last five minutes of the game.
Yeah, he's sensational with that.
So OKC wins that ballgame 129-120.
The Sixers beat the Magic minus Joel Embiid 112-92.
Sixers' first win without Embiid this season in five tries.
Philly takes 17 more shots than Orlando.
Tyrese Maxey had 23
points to lead them. DeAnthony Melton stepped up
tonight. He had 22 8-13
field goals. He was plus 24.
Tyrese Maxey credits
James Harden for helping him develop
into an all-NBA caliber
talent.
First, let's get to the Sixers
beat the Magic without Joel Embiid
and then we can address Tyrese Maxey comments, credit, flowers for James Harden.
What do you like?
Minus Joel, obviously we know what Joel Embiid.
He's averaging 35 points a game.
He's giving you 10, 11 rebounds a game.
Now he's giving you five or six assists a game.
So now he's the complete package.
And he's a dominant force on the defensive end.
So he's giving you 35. He's assisting complete package. And he's a dominant force on the defensive end. So he's giving you 35.
He's assisting on six.
So we assume that at least two of those are going to be three.
So now he's basically giving you about 45 to 50 points a night
with his points and assists.
So you know you got that.
You know you see Tyrese Maxey blossoming,
growing right in front of our eyes.
He's giving you 25 to 30 on a nightly basis.
And some nights he can give you 35, 40.
What do you like most about the Sixers?
Without him being there, they're way better than Orlando.
Orlando's young, right?
They're a young team.
So you expected Sixers to win this, right?
You still got Harris over there.
You still got Oubre. You got solid
veteran guys who know how to play this
game, right? You would expect
Maxie to come out and try to score 40
tonight, right? Because Embiid's not here
like, oh, I get to get off. But
the way the game is being played,
he realized that he still
manages the game.
Embiid is not going to get this ball, but
Oubre can get some shots.
You have Harrison
get some shots. Milton can get some shots.
So he still did his job
as a point guard
getting the team involved.
When usually a young guard
would try to make up the point difference
for his star center.
Yeah, he was
really good.
He's going to get the max contract.
And I think the max contract this year, especially he's going to be,
I think he's going to make the all-star team.
And so now he has another bargaining chip in it.
So whatever the max was last year, I'm assuming it's gone up a little bit.
At 5%, there's a 5% inflation tax.
Max contract number.
But I like Tyrese Maxey.
He credited James Harden with helping him
develop into an all-NBA player.
What's he saying for our lay people at home?
What is he saying?
Yes.
See, people don't realize how great James Harden
was at putting that ball in that basket.
I think we the last two years,
we judged him on outside things
and not realized what he was very skilled at, right?
You know, you got to go back to that 2018, 2019 season
where he averaged, what, 36?
Out of the last 61 games he scored 30 plus 46 of those games
out of 61 games he scored 40 he scored 30 or more 46 times 20 or more all 61 times that's a
different breed of a score so if i I'm Maxie, I'm soaking up
everything. I don't care where he's at right
now. I know what's
here and I want to
train with you. I want to pick your brain.
I want to know what you know
because this type of level of scoring,
there's only really two other guards
that really this Michael Jordan and
Kobe Bryant who went on runs
like this. Yes. yes yeah were you talking
about out of the last 61 games of the season 20 or more all 61 that's impressive yes and I think
the thing is what we remember James Harden at his absolute apex in Houston. And we, and he turned himself in more of a facilitator at Brooklyn.
So we didn't see that 50, that 50 point triple double. We didn't see the 60 point triple doubles.
We saw a guy somewhere in the mid twenties, give you a triple double. And if Katie was out,
he took the onus. He could score more. If Kyrie was out, he could take the off onus and score
even more. But normally when one of those other guys were out, it was great
because he understood, yes, I can get
my shot, but I need to get these other guys
involved. When he went to
Philly, he became more of a
facilitator leading the NBA
in assists last year because of Joel Embiid.
It's hard. I don't see a situation where
you shouldn't lead the NBA in assists if you
got Joel Embiid to dump it down to.
He's going to give you 30 a night anyway.
A lot of those are going to come from the
foul line. But when I
look at, when you look at guys, and that's what I
said, as a veteran
player, give that
knowledge. Because a lot of times, Gil,
man, he ain't taking my job. I ain't
helping him. Facts. Facts.
And we see this chat
with a lot of times in the NFL
with the quarterbacks. It's not
my job to get him ready. It's not
my job to help him. It's almost
like, bro, if you securing yourself,
he can't beat you out for the job.
If you are what you believe he is,
pass the information on.
It'll serve you well. What good is all that information
to hoard it? Spread it.
Yeah. But I love Tyrese Maxey and I love the fact that he gave James Harden.
Since James Harden is the reason, I'm watching him.
And you should.
You should be able to get better by being on the same court,
by practicing with, picking his brain, watching what he does,
see how he breaks down a defense, how he orchestrates and leads.
Excuse me.
How he breaks down a defense, how he leadsrates and lead, excuse me, how he breaks down a defense, how he leads an offense.
You should get better.
You should.
But everybody don't.
Right.
Does everybody want to get better?
No.
Everyone ain't built for the same altitude.
Right.
Right.
You know what I mean?
And that's usually the most frustrating part where you have someone like a James Harden who he's he's an eagle.
Right. Right. And playing with some pigeons and he's trying to get them to.
His altitude, knowing that if they get there, they're going to die. Right.
So now he has to come down and play pigeon basketball while getting killed by the media for playing pigeon basketball.
Right.
And then that's where you have this fine line between being selfish and being a team player
where I can average 36 on this team.
They trash.
But if I make the right plays and pass these guys at a ball, they're not capable of it.
So should I average 22, 11 assists
and we lose so I can prove that this
team sucks? Or do I just average
36 points and you just keep calling me selfish?
That is a big thing in the NBA.
That is a big
fight in the NBA with the
star player. When
the pressure from the outside is like,
why he ain't pat?
Because my team ain't good.
They not, they can't step up to this level.
They don't want to work.
Like I worked out three times a day, every day when I got to Washington.
I seen in my years, Karan was the most consistent.
Larry Hughes a few times,
Antoine Jamison a few times.
That's it.
In my
extra work. So when I come
in at 9 o'clock at night,
11 o'clock at night, 1 in the morning,
I've only seen a few players
out of my whole career.
Everybody don't want it.
You can't make them.
And see, that's what people don't understand.
There's a price to be paid for greatness.
And if you're not willing to pay that price,
you don't deserve to be great.
I don't care how much you talk about it.
Because see, professional sport is the one thing
that you can't talk your way in or out.
Because you're going to have to prove it.
The proof is in the pudding.
So you telling me all this what you're doing,
I don't see it manifesting itself
because I'm a firm believer, Gil,
that if you work, I don't care what
it is, if you work at something,
you will get incrementally better.
I'm not going to say you're going to be,
if you finger paint, I'm not
going to say you're going to be Picasso.
I'm not going to say you're going to be, you know, Da Vinci or Michelangelo.
I'm not saying that, but you will get better.
Yes.
Even if it's marginally.
This is what I said about Ben Simmons.
I didn't see any improvement from Ben Simmons from his rookie year to his fifth year.
And people are all bad.
You don't know.
I said, I'm telling you, there's no possible way that this man can be putting in the time
that he says he's putting in,
and I don't see any improvement.
You know what's so funny?
He is one of those rare cases, Unc.
I've watched him three summers.
I've watched him three summers,
and what I'm watching is
a superstar basketball player, right? Like, I'm watching is a superstar basketball player.
Right? Like I'm sitting here.
He can shoot the ball.
He's coming downhill.
Right? He's
dominating these other superstars.
They were scared of this man every summer
because he's going to pick up full court.
You know, in the summer, you're trying to be a...
He's picking up full court and he's coming at you.
Debt perception is a real thing.
A lot of shooters, a lot of guys that can't shoot
is because they've been practicing in these small gyms,
and then when they get to that arena,
they can't eye gouge that damn rim.
Wow.
When he plays in the game, he don't shoot the ball because I don't think he knows that distance.
I've watched this man.
It's like, why don't you shoot the ball in the game?
Right?
Like your foot, the mechanics is great.
And I think that rim,
in practice, there's that wall right there.
It's open space
in that arena. So I always made it
a stance myself to the night before,
I'm going to get in that rim.
I'm going to get in that, if there was no hockey
game, I'm going to get on the main court
and get some shots up. You got
to practice in that arena. You can't practice in these small gyms and then get to the main court and get some shots up. You got to practice in that arena.
You can't practice in these small gyms and then get to the arena
and think your shot is that.
And I think that there's a couple things with that,
and I think when he gets to that game, I think he just freezes up.
He's scared to make mistakes.
Yeah, that's a lot of it because we saw that in the game seven
against Atlanta when they had that lead.
You see, the thing is, Gail, I can teach you to swim if you're not afraid of the water.
See, I can't teach you to shoot if you're afraid to miss it.
See, it's not that he can't shoot.
He's afraid to shoot.
That's two different things. Not being able to swim and being afraid of the water are two different things.
Because you're afraid.
Well, he was afraid.
That's why he didn't shoot.
That's why.
And I remember saying it.
I said, and Doc, I remember Doc said, anybody that doesn't think that we're going to play,
that we're going to take Ben Simmons out and we're not going to play him in the fourth quarter,
they don't know basketball.
I said, Doc, it's going to come a time you're going to have no choice.
I said, because he's a liability.
I said, because if the team is down by 10, and it's outside of two minutes,
I'm filing him every trip down the court, I'm going to file him.
Y'all are not going to get that ball to Joel Embiid.
And that's what Atlanta did and got back into the game every single time. And then
when it came time, he had
a dunk
and he passed it.
When you're mentally not
comfortable,
it shows at the worst time
in games. Yes.
Right?
I remember when
I came back off an injury
and my free throws
wasn't on. Right?
Now, because my free throws is not
where they're supposed to be, I'm
scared to drive
because I don't want to get hit
so I don't have to shoot that free throw.
That's a thing.
Now I'm driving not to get fouled so I don't have to go to the throw. Right. That's a thing. Right. Now I'm driving not to get fouled.
Cause so I don't have to go to the free throw line.
Right.
So when you start looking at the game,
once that,
once that player gets into his own mind,
there's nothing the coach can do.
There's nothing the opponent can do.
He's already beaten himself up.
Right.
Right.
Like there was times where,
when I was on my free throws,
I talked to myself,
cash money, baby.
None but net.
Cash money, baby.
Like I had to talk myself
into everything I'm doing.
Cash money, buckets.
Like it's a thing that
when you're on that court,
you miss 10 straight shots.
If you're not self-confident,
you're going to miss another 10.
That's when you start wide open layup, you miss it
or you got a layup and you finally get
your point, your teammate goal tended,
everything starts going wrong.
You free throw and go in,
free throw violation.
Everything just starts going
wrong and it just keeps you down that
spiral. You just got to be
self-aware to get yourself out of it. I think that's what keeps you down that spiral. Then you just got to be self-aware to get
yourself out of it. And I don't think I think
this was at that moment.
I agree. I think the number one thing
Gil is this is what I tell a lot of people.
Whether it's sports or life, don't you become
an opponent? Because a lot of times
we can become our own opponent.
And that's even more
lethal than the opponent
for the opposing team.
It's us.
We create an opponent that we cannot beat in that self.
And so what Ben has done, he's created an opponent that he cannot beat.
And until he defeats that opponent, here we are.
And the sad part is, I've always said it, like, if I was the coach,
and I know this player is struggling,
I know this player will sacrifice his scoring for the betterment of the team.
Right.
And as a coach, I'm like, I'm sorry, but
F these teams. F them.
Do you.
I need you to go out there
and please try to give me
50. I want to see it.
Me and the
rest of the crew got to bet. Go out there
and score 50. We're not trying to win this game. I'll wait
until we goddamn play
We're going to play goddamn game. I'll wait till we goddamn play we'll go play goddamn Detroit.
Everyone
benched. Ben, you
gotta win this game by your goddamn self.
I
gotta see, I gotta
let him tap into it so he
can see it for himself. Sometimes
you gotta just see what you can do
to really believe.
Because there's no way that you're going to the game.
Think about this shit.
You're playing 38 minutes
and you took six shots.
That means you are purposely
not even looking to score.
You just out there asking.
You like the motherfucking
the playing in the club.
You just in the club. You just in the club.
You know different than that thing
back there. You just out there, man.
Yeah.
Especially, he the point guard,
and I'm playing that many minutes. Oh, I'm getting me 12 to
14 a night. Shots.
Shots.
Guaranteed shots.
Guaranteed.
Hey, like you said, the club, it's the club.
Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots.
Because I'm getting the ball.
I'm getting the ball, G.
And who's going to tell you no when you're so gifted?
I'm pretty sure Embiid, James Harden.
No, not James Harden, but Kyrie.
Yeah.
KD.
I know those guys were so pissed off at him.
Yeah, of course.
Because I get to watch you every day in practice, homeboy.
Yes.
I get to see your ability in real time.
And then you come out here and give me this bull.
That's the most frustrating thing.
You know what your teammates
is capable of, and then
they come into the lights,
and you've seen it.
You've seen it. I mean, I've had
teammates catch a ball, I mean,
high point the ball in practice,
catch the ball in a crowd. I'm talking
about one hand. They can do it
all. And as soon as you put them in the game, ball hit them in the face mask, I'm talking about one hand, they can do it all.
And as soon as you put them in the game, ball hit them in the face mask,
I mean, ball hit them right between the
like, I mean, the ball that hit them and on
the ground by the time they bring their hands together.
We've all seen guys like that.
Like, bro, what happened to that
guy that was in practice on Wednesdays and Thursdays
and Friday? How do you go
from that, you don't drop anything
to you can't catch anything?
Because he's comfortable
with us, not the opponent.
Oh.
Be comfortable with us, not
the opponent. The opponent is the person that they
know and not knowing scares the shit
out of some people.
We see that a lot
in camp, guys making
plays against people that you know, and that's what
a lot of times you hear football players say, man,
I just want to go out there against somebody that I don't
know, that doesn't have on my uniform.
I just want to hit somebody because you
want to see what these young
kids can do against somebody that
they don't know. Somebody
that's not going to put that thump on
them and that's not going to put them on the ground.
That guy's trying to make the roster just like you are.
Yep.
So I want to see.
I want to see.
The Suns beat the Rockets 129-113.
KD has a monster night.
He had 27 points, 16 assists, 10 rebounds.
KD denied a report that he's frustrated with the Suns.
Walsh says somebody else feels that I'm frustrated, and it turned
to me being mentally checked out.
This is crazy. These people can
flat out lie on my name, make it up,
and you people will believe it.
But when my teammates and coaches speak
on how I am as a teammate,
you ignore it. LOL.
We'll get to that.
We'll get the KD comments
in a second let's talk about the game
what did you like about what you saw
tonight from the Suns and what's been
what happened tonight that's been
different than the other nights
see with the Suns they have a great starting
five
I mean listen we can't give you no praise
you're playing Houston right I mean Houston
ain't proven.
But we know who's coming to play.
Kevin Durant, Booker, right?
Right.
On a nightly basis.
That is the core of that team.
It's trying to find that 6th, 7th, 8th guy who can give you consistent play.
And that's the key with a lot of these teams.
They haven't really dialed in their roster.
They don't know what they're looking for or what they want.
And it's bringing a lot of confusion with team chemistry in the first place, but the starting five themselves,
oh, they balling. The starting five for Suns, they got their stuff intact, right? They're
having about 95 points as a starting unit. Okay. That is impressive, right? But when you're talking
about, what, 116 points, that means you only need about 20 off the bench?
Yeah, but the thing is, I'm looking at tonight.
KD had to play 41 minutes.
Eric Gordon played 39 minutes.
Book played 36 minutes against Houston.
Yeah!
Yeah!
Who else they got on that goddamn team?
They done traded them all for people.
Who else they got? You goddamn team? They done traded them all for people. Who else they got?
You going to put Bobo in?
You going to put Wakasabi, whatever?
You going to put him?
You don't want Tanabe?
Come on.
Bobo did get two minutes.
Watanabe got two minutes.
That's all he should get, goddammit, two minutes.
But they don't have anyone on their bench,
so you have to play 41 minutes.
Yeah, their starters played a boatload of minutes tonight.
The only starter that didn't play major minutes is Nurkic,
and he played 14 minutes.
But everybody else, Gorham was at 39, KD was at 41,
Grayson Allen was at 33, and Book was at 36.
Let's – the Rockets, a young, young team.
I think they're still the youngest team.
I mean, they're really, really young.
What – I like Udoka.
I think that's the way to say it.
I would say Udoka is Udoka.
I made Udoka.
Okay.
What – I love Sungoon.
Yeah, Sungoon has been good.
Sungoon is – I love Sunghoon Sunghoon has been what
do the Rockets need
how do the Rockets
they're so
they have a whole bunch of pieces
it's like having a whole bunch
of clothes but no outfit
figure out how to put it together.
And, you know, with signing Dylan Brooks and signing Van Vliet,
you kind of got some experience with them.
But your focal point where your future is going to be Jalen Green,
Sun Goon, and Jabari Smith.
He ain't giving me enough right now.
No, no, no, no.
I agree.
I agree.
I agree.
And I don't know if, you know,
I don't know if Sangoon is taking away from him,
but the way Sangoon passes,
he should be eaten.
He should be eaten, you know,
in that position.
And it should open up the court.
But, you know, right now,
I think they're trying to figure out
what guys to keep, what guys they can pageant
who to play like some of these teams you know playing 11 man 10 man deep some y'all don't got
teams like that right y'all don't got them type of rosters to be subbing in the 10th man
right y'all should get your ass whooped. Putting in number 10.
Yeah.
I mean, you look at this.
I mean, they got guys that played.
Jake Lawndale for the Rockets played 12 minutes.
Amen Thompson played 17.
Whitmore played 18.
Holiday played 24.
Eason played 25.
I mean, they got to.
And plus, that's not even the starters.
Those are the guys that came off the bench.
Yeah.
I mean, nobody played more than 29 minutes.
That was Van Fleet and Sangoon.
And this is the problem with teams like this.
When you got a young team... Where's the days where...
Like Allen Iverson, right?
He averaged 41 minutes for his career.
You guys have all the technology now.
You got all the medicine.
And you're telling me you're playing less?
They are.
Right?
Where's my guys where I can, like Jalen Green, all my young guys,
y'all need to play 42, 43 minutes.
You need to get these games.
Gil, that's the problem.
They got too much technology. They got too much
minutes
in medicine.
Because if you look at it,
baseball used to have four-man rotations
and three-man rotations. Now you
got five-man rotations and you got
set-up men and you got closers.
You see, we know too much.
Yeah.
And that's the problem.
Well, it's taxed.
Well, hell, it didn't tax the other guys.
It didn't tax Steve Carton's elbow.
Yeah.
Gibson, Danny McClain.
Mm-hmm.
Guys used to throw.
I mean, the likelihood of us ever seeing, I mean,
what's the likelihood of us ever see, I mean,
what's the likelihood of us consistently seeing 300 strikeouts or guys pitching 300 innings or 250.
I mean,
it's not,
it's not guys go five,
six inning.
That's it.
Turn it over,
turn it over to the middle of the bullpen.
We got middle relief.
You got set up.
You got somebody to close it out.
So I think that's what basketball,
I mean,
hell we'll play. We'll play 48 and a half minutes for the entire season. up, you got somebody to close it out. And so I think that's what basketball, I mean, hell, Will played
48 and a half minutes
for an entire season.
Now, mind you, there's only 48 minutes in the
game. So
he played,
I mean, think about, look at Will's
numbers, look, and guys played, like you
said, major, major minutes, 40
minutes. I mean, Jordan, I mean, there were a couple
years, I mean, early in LeBron's career, LeBron played four, had a season, he played 41, 42 minutes. I mean, Jordan, I mean, there were a couple of years. I mean, early in LeBron career, LeBron played four,
had a season he played 41, 42 minutes.
I know.
That was common.
I don't think the guy's not playing like that anymore.
You know what I think it is?
And it would make sense from a financial standpoint
or as an owner, right?
Where I have someone like a Jalen Green, right? Instead of
him playing 43, 44 minutes, I play him 32, 33, right? Instead of having them for 10 years,
I got them for 16 years of greatness now. So I think with the time restriction, I think it's
making their careers a little bit longer. So I have the asset
longer. I
think that's what it seems like
is going on, that they're
taking away the minutes to stretch the career
out. Okay.
But that's something that we have to
sit there and ask, why isn't he
playing 40 minutes? And
saving 10 minutes a game
adds to your years.
Right.
Right.
You know,
but I'm a coach.
I need to play.
I need to win.
I'm trying to win.
Yeah.
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Let's address what KD
denied report that he's frustrated. Woj
said somebody else feels that I'm frustrated
and it turned into me being mentally
checked out. That it crazy.
These people can plan out loud my name and make
it up and you people will believe it.
But when my teammates and coaches speak on
how I am as a teammate, you ignore
it. LOL.
Gil,
KD, look at your
history. People were reporting
that you were unhappy in
OKC. You
denied that.
You book it out of town. People
say there was some grumblings about
you were feeling some type of way
that you weren't being looked at and
thought of like Clay, Steph, and Draymond.
You booked it and later came out.
You was never going to be accepted.
There was reports that KD might ask for a trade and he was unhappy in Brooklyn in the direction.
And here you are in Phoenix.
Phoenix. So God forbid us from believing
what they say when
everything that has ever been said
about you for the most part has
turned out to be true.
I think the only issue he
probably has an
issue with is saying he checked out.
Right? Yeah.
Like if I'm him and I'm reading that,
what do you mean checked out? I'm averaging 30 a night. I'm giving
them my all. I'm coming to work day in and day out, right?
KD is a student of the game.
Okay.
Meaning he don't have life outside of basketball.
All he does, as y'all can see, you tweet something, he's on it.
Right?
So you tweet, right?
If I DM him right now, within three minutes, he's going to look on it. Right? So, you tweet right, if I D him right now, within
three minutes, he's going to look at it.
Right? So, he's in tune with everything that's
going on. He's watching games. He's probably
watching his show. Right?
Is that a good or bad thing?
Good thing. The best players,
they're in tune with everything that's going
on. And sometimes that in-tuneness
is what frustrates you because
the rest of your
teammates is not in tune with
you. So
expressing
frustration versus
being frustrated. It's two different things.
I can be mad at
the moment in time,
but these are my guys.
I'm upset
that they're not getting it done.
They're not working hard.
They're not getting back on D all of that.
Like when book said,
Oh,
you're going to turn the ball over and not get back on D.
Right.
I'm frustrated now, but I'm not frustrated with who the person is.
Okay.
Right.
And sometimes,
you know,
this guy might play hard,
but I'm frustrating.
I'm frustrated at his work ethic,
but he performs well.
You got,
you got two different types of elements that goes on on a team.
So I don't think he's frustrated to the point where he wants to trade.
He's probably frustrated with the circumstances where him and Booker.
That he requested?
Yeah.
You requested, but the thing about it is you're worse than you were last year.
And that's the frustrating part.
But let me ask you a question.
What are they going to trade?
They traded all the assets to get him.
So what are they going to...
The old saying is,
what you want me to get stuff with?
Ass and mouth?
Yeah.
So what are we going to do to get him?
We gave up everything.
We gave up our entire future
to get Kevin Durant.
So what are we going to trade?
Books or don't
chevys?
What we gonna give up?
I think the more
of the frustration, like if I'm him,
what I'm gonna be frustrated
is just where we are as a team,
right?
We were this close last
year.
This close. Right. And we made a trade for Beal.
The pieces we made for Beal were pieces that helped.
Well, if Beal's not in those pieces that help are not here.
So technically we're worse than we were last year. So at this point in time, he's like, man, it's December is about to be January.
Beal, we need Beal to come back so we can just prove how good we are.
And sometimes when you're undermanned and you're going out there
and everyone's judging you, like, yeah, the Suns, they look weak this year.
And you're like, man, we don't have all our pieces to be great right now.
And that's a frustrating part where, you know, that big key is Bill,
who's going to be averaging 20 when he gets healthy.
Right.
But, you know, sometimes the mistake that people can make is that,
okay, he wants average 30.
KD, no, can give us 30.
He's led the league in scoring four times, and we know what book is.
We just put all this together.
Just because you put a whole bunch of nice stuff.
Look, I like ice cream.
I like gravy and chicken. I just don't like it this together. Just because you put a whole bunch of nice stuff. Look, I like ice cream. I like gravy and chicken.
I just don't like it all together.
And just because you got three guys that
can average 30, that doesn't mean
it's going to work. Somebody has
to be willing to sacrifice. Now
look, I understand that
book you're playing is unnatural position.
He's not a point. He's a two.
But he has to play because they
had to give up Chris Paul.
And I understand that Bradley Beal has been hurt.
Kevin Durant is whatever you need.
He doesn't really need the ball. He can get his own.
He can play with his back to the basket.
He got the hands he pull up. He got the three-point shot.
You file him, and he's going to the free throw line.
He's going to knock 90% of those down.
But at some point in time, Gil, you got to play some defense.
And the question is, when they get to the playoffs
and they get down by, let's say, five points,
can they get stopped when they absolutely have to have one?
And that's going to be the question when we get there, right?
Is we don't need to play defense the whole game.
Just if we're in that time and we need to make that guaranteed stop,
can we do it?
Are we capable of doing it? And that's going to be something that when the playoffs game, just if we're in that time and we need to make that guaranteed stop, can we do it? Are we capable of doing it?
And that's going to be something that when the playoffs come, they're going to have to
prove.
Those three guys are perfect for each other because they can all do the same thing, which
means if I'm a catch and shoot guy and you're a dribble penetration guy, you can post up.
We don't affect each other's realm
because we all play in different
realms. All three can play
iso. All three can flare, backdoor,
post up. So you got
three guys
that can
move around versus
if you had someone like
Shaq
and Tim Duncan on the same court. That's if you had someone like Shaq, right,
and Tim Duncan on the same court.
That's conflict.
They both want the right block, right?
They're going to both fight for the right block,
and none of them are dominant on the left side, right?
Now you got a confliction,
and that's what happens with teams.
So with these three, it's a great puzzle, right?
They just got to,
you just got to put them all on the court together and be healthy for
20-something games.
But did they factor in over the last several
years of Beal's health? Did anybody
factor that in?
He's been hurt.
He's been hurt.
Most medical staffs are cocky.
They think, well, y'all are.
Y'all not us.
You know, we can get him healthy.
And it's that weird thing.
I don't know if you went through it, but I did.
When you get injured, you do all this training to get back two games later,
back injured.
You start getting these random kn-knacks for no reason.
And that's where Bill is. And I say that's where
he got to chi. He got to cleanse
his house. I don't know why he
got to cleanse his house because he just got there.
But you got to cleanse something, goddammit.
There's something in your life
that's
a negative hold
onto your chi and you got to cleanse it.
You got to sit there with it and start removing people.
I don't give a fuck if it's the dog.
Get rid of the dog.
If you think the dog is, you got to really reset, right?
Because these knickknacks, it just keeps lingering, lingering, lingering.
He comes back.
Oh, he hurt his shoulder.
Come back, hurt his toe.
There's a reason this happens.
You're off a line.
Yeah, but you know, when you start limping into the
season and you get nicked during the season,
it's hard to get healthy because
you come, and that's what I tell
guys, how am I supposed, normally
when an average person
is injured, they say take time off.
Yeah.
When you're a professional athlete,
you don't get no time off they try they trying to rehab
to get you back on the field yeah as a normal civilian you're trying to rehab to go back to
your normal life but when you're a professional athlete you're playing against the top in the
world yeah it ain't no average it ain't no. No, the worst thing an athlete has against him is his ego.
When we're injured, we don't come back to prove we're healthy.
We come back to prove we're injured, right?
Oh, you know, I hope they see me limping and giving it my all.
You know, I can go out there and play 50%.
I can go out there and play 80% while I'm sitting there getting booed.
Oh, he's washed.
He's this.
And I'm coming back to prove to you that this was serious versus just getting healthy.
And that is our issue.
We're watching the game.
I don't care if it's a month, two weeks.
We watch the game pass us by.
We watch.
If I'm a point guard, I watch this guy score 30.
This guy, he's ranked in front of me.
Now I'm speeding up my process because I want to get my spot back.
So I'm limping out here, knees swollen.
I don't supposed to be playing.
They said 10 to 12 weeks.
I'm back six to eight weeks.
Yeah, I'm fine.
Knowing damn well I can't be out here playing.
Fine ain't good enough.
No. Because you got to be at the level you were before you
got injured. That's what makes you great.
I mean, I don't care. Look, a
race car with a flat tire ain't good.
I don't care how many horsepower it got
because it's not going to perform like it
did if it had four perfectly
fine inflated tires.
So if you come back and you're nicked
in the slightest,
you become very average.
And average gets eaten
in professional sports.
That's just the way it is.
That's just the way it is.
Unculture J asks, one simple question,
Uncle Gil, when or if will KD
ever be content?
I think it's Happy asking for too much.
I think Happy is asking too much
at this point i
look up and i'm expecting this man every seven eight months to act for a trade i don't i don't
know i mean i i look i understand you know i don't think i can win a championship in okc
he went to the perfect situation caught a lot of criticism and i don't think people were upset i
think people were more upset that you joined that team the team that
knocked you out when you had them down 3-1 and you say well they okay you go there you win two
championships your final mvp you probably would have won a third had your achilles not gone out
and then you move on you want to go to brooklyn you you recruit kairi or kairi recruited you
and you end up in brook. And you're not happy there.
And for whatever reason, you wanted to move on.
And I'm like, bro, I mean, what?
I mean, what is if I were to ask you because you played this sport and you kind of know him somewhat, you kind of better.
Maybe you've been around him.
What's he looking for?
He's looking to play basketball.
It seems simple,
right? Where
when you're talking about a guy
who, I mean, let me see,
how many scoring titles?
KD got four.
Yeah, right? And when people
ask why he left, right? When you're talking about
four scoring titles, you had probably about 10 all NBAs, you had an MVP, you had all-star MVPs, right? Eight-time all-star, two golds. When you're a free agent, the only thing that you don't have on your resume was a chip in the finals MVP, right? You get
those two out of the way.
In his mind
or just in my mind, what am I proving
here? The only thing I'm proving now is
get
more, right?
Do I need four rings?
Am I the greatest small forward
ever? Am I the second greatest small forward ever?
Like, am I one of the top five ever?
Like, right?
I train, I work out, I train, I go to sleep basketball, right?
I'm out there, you know, putting my heart into it.
I think as players, we can sleep great at night knowing that we give it our all.
And whatever comes with it comes with it.
But I don't really think he's looking for something.
I just think he wants to play high-level basketball.
Most, most, most players do.
The great ones, right?
If they're in position to win chips, they're going to go for it.
Other than that, they just want to go out there and play hard
and everybody with them going out
there and playing hard.
Gil, you know
going to Golden State
hurt him more
than it helped him. I understand
he got the chips, but
unless he gets one without Steph Curry,
you already know how
this story's going to be written. You know
that, and unfortunately, I think KD knows that.
Fair or unfair, right or wrong, it is what it is.
Okay, but when we think of it like that, right,
it's not like he can go to a team and he is by himself
and try to win a championship, right?
But he recruited Kyrie.
He had James Harden.
Yeah, so no matter where he goes in this league today,
there has to be a team up.
So when he do win, they're going to say,
well, you got Bill over there.
You got Bill.
Nah, I think the thing is with Steph,
I mean, you join a two-time, you join a unanimous MVP,
and Steph Curry was already at that point in time,
the greatest shooter we had ever seen.
And so that system, and I get it.
Okay, I just want to get y'all off my back.
Let me go ahead and get these titles.
I get these titles, I'll calm it down.
No people looking at you like, bro,
there were 29 other teams that you could have joined.
28, because you had left OKC.
There's 28 other teams.
And you mean to tell me you go join the team
that had just won 73 games
and just lost in a game seven in the NBA finals.
That was the only team you can find.
OK, he's like, look, I'm a free agent.
I'm a free agent.
And as a free agent, I can go wherever I want to go.
Fine.
For whatever reason, be it go wherever I want to go. Fine.
For whatever reason, be it he had grown bored of winning.
I mean, you say you just want to play high-level basketball.
Can you play any high level than the Golden State Warriors and be in three NBA finals?
You win two, probably wouldn't win a third had he not gotten injured.
So where are you going to go and play higher level
than that so who are you going to go play with other than LeBron or at that time LeBron and
LeBron and KD and Steph were thought of as the best players in the NBA with Harden falling up
under that so now who are you gonna go play with Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, Giannis? Where can he go now? I don't know where he can go.
I don't know how he outruns because he had four years.
The first year, we're going to disregard that.
He was rehabbing.
But he had three years, and he didn't come close.
But it's not because of him, right?
The stuff that went down in Brooklyn, he was there.
He did his thing, right?
But we give him credit, but we give him credit for Golden State.
But that's what I'm saying.
We can't say if he loses, it's not because of him.
But when Golden State won the title, it was because of him.
But it was because of him.
Why can't he win on his own?
Why can't he win other than Golden State?
I think that's the question, Gil.
People want to know. If it was him in Golden State,
why can't he do replicate?
Why can't he take what he learned
and take it somewhere else?
Because he was a single player
coming to a team atmosphere.
He was plug and play.
Now he has to build a team around him
where he can just adjust to one person.
Now, when he tried to create a team,
everyone has to adjust to everything.
We can talk about how Kevin Durant
going to Golden State was a bad thing.
It was the best thing that the league has ever seen
and they do not want to acknowledge it.
Since Magic and Bird,
what was the best duo going against each other
in the championship?
LeBron versus KD?
Yeah.
LeBron versus KD.
Not LeBron versus KD, Steph, Draymond, and Klay.
The best small forwards in the game.
And I don't know why this wasn't looked at
like two titans. The best player in the world versus the second best player in the game. And I don't know why this wasn't looked at like two titans.
The best player in the world versus the second best player in the world.
Right?
One called himself, I'm the best scorer in the world versus the best player.
You had two titans playing against each other.
And we spent our time talking about.
We spent our time talking about KD leaving.
Not realizing what we was witnessing.
Oh, I ain't got no problem with him leaving.
No, but what I'm saying,
we was witnessing that Kevin Durant and,
like, when we all talk about Kobe,
the one thing that we didn't get to see
is Kobe and LeBron in the championship again.
Correct.
We got to see Kevin Durant and LeBron
go face to face, right?
We got the magic and bird,
but we're never going to acknowledge this because we was upset
that he took the easy
way out.
Right. But I think
the thing is, when we look at Magic and
Bird, Magic had Kareem,
Bird had Mikael,
he had Worthy, he had
Parrish, they had Byron Scott,
they had DJ.
So it was like, okay,
you got four Hall of Famers?
We got four Hall of Famers.
Okay, you got a
coach that's going to the Hall?
We got one that's going to the Hall.
So I think everybody
looked at it as an even matchup.
I don't think anybody thought
that the way that Cleveland,
even though it was Kyrie and LeBron,
was going to be able to beat Golden
State with Steph, Klay,
KD, and Draymond.
That wasn't going to happen.
I think that's what the,
you know, when KD and
LeBron locked horns in Miami
and OKC, you're like,
OK. You know, OK.
Serge Ibaka and Chris Bosh.
We got Russ, D-Wade,
and now KD and LeBron.
And they had to guard each other.
They had to guard each other.
That was a great matchup, but it was
young. It was young versus a veteran.
But when that Golden State-Cleveland Cavaliers
series got, because
it was going to be between those two.
I wish after they won it, after Cleveland won it and Golden State got Kevin Durant, I thought Cleveland should have made a move.
It don't matter.
You should have known you was going to be outgunned.
Who are you going to give up?
First of all, who want to come to Cleveland?
That was the problem while LeBron got up out of there.
No, no, that's facts.
But at this point, look, like J.R. Smith was my what?
He was my Klay Thompson.
You know, Klay is averaging 21.
Yes.
J.R. Smith averaging 13.
Yeah, for sure.
That's how important that is.
You know what I mean? So it was really outmatched. yes, J.R. Smith averaging 13. Yeah, for sure. That's how important that was.
You know what I mean?
So it was really outmatched.
So from there, they should have been in tune with the game and said, okay, we might need to upgrade a little bit more.
We're not good enough to try to go back-to-back.
Right.
First name, last name said Gil was a great addition.
Shanna, do you remember when you said Katie and Kyrie
were potentially play together when they were seen
at the All-Star Game talking?
KD laughed out saying
it was some BS.
They joined.
They joined.
I didn't say it.
I remember I said, look,
and I tried,
and I played him a compliment.
I said,
KD joining Golden State
was like Johnny Gill
joining New Edition.
Johnny Gill could out-sing
them all. We know the
outstanding career Bobby Brown had.
We know what Ralph Transvant did.
We knew what Bell, Bibb, DeVoe ended up doing
once they broke up. But none of them
singularly could out-sing
Johnny Gill. And the
reason why Johnny Gill wasn't accepted,
he didn't grow up in Boston and Roxbury.
Facts.
KD was never going to be, and I'm not
saying they didn't like him, but
Steph,
Klay, Draymond
came there. They was birthed.
They grew up there.
Although KD was
KD, it wasn't going
to be accepted. He called me
oh this, you don't know what you're talking
about. Wow, that's an ignorant thing to say.
Later, he get on the podcast,
like, I was never going to be accepted like KD and stuff
because they...
Well, I said...
I said that.
But, you know, we delusional
sometimes. You know what I mean?
Come on. Just like in our relationship,
hey, our boys are the first one
to tell us, hey, your girl cheating on you.
Oh, no, she never died.
She ain't like that.
She ain't like that.
Right, she just like that.
Yes, and that's the same thing.
Like, we don't want to believe,
right, that it is this.
And we have to find out the hard way.
He had to find out on that court when he's asking for the ball.
He had to sit there and go back and forth with Draymond Green,
and Draymond Green had to let him know,
we was here before you. We don't need you.
That hurt.
It did.
Oh, we want to finish that season.
I don't know how I can come to work
knowing that you really believe that deep down inside.
Why am I you?
Of course.
Three people will tell you the truth, Gil.
Drunks, kids, and angry people.
Yeah.
They're going to tell you the truth.
Now, see, they'll blame it on,
I just said a thing out of anger.
So I was drunk.
I didn't know what I was talking about.
And kids, you know what they say?
Kids say the darndest thing.
So I got a way to brush off either one of those.
But here's the thing.
And I'm going to say something and tell me what you think.
If you notice, Draymond Green's behavior is always when he thinks someone is about to replace him as a member of the Big Three.
When KD came, it's about to be KD, Steph, and Klay.
He says what he says. Jordan Poole. All of a sudden, it's about to be Jordan be KD, Steph, and Klay. He says what he says.
Jordan Poole.
All of a sudden, it's about to be Jordan Poole, Steph, and Klay.
He does what he does.
Now, it's going to be very, very interesting to see how they handle Kaminga.
Because does that ruffle Dray?
Because Draymond, like, I'm a member of the big three.
And nothing's going to upset that.
Because that's just, look, I could be totally wrong.
But there's something to be said for Draymond and the way Draymond has behaved with KD, with Jordan Poole.
Now, I don't know of anything, I have not heard anything about Kaminga.
But I did hear what Kaminga said.
Because Hardy kind of played my game because I got to
make sure the OGs get the ball.
So how do I do what I need to do
to show what I can do and still, you know,
show deference to the OGs?
So that's going to be very interesting moving
forward. So tell me what you think.
You know, there might be a little
territorial, you
know, thing going on with Draymond.
Right? And, you know, thing going on with Draymond. Right. And, you know,
the one thing you don't want to do is you don't want to be forgotten.
Right. And, you know, sometimes I think, you know,
it seemed like the more his game is dwindling down,
the more he's acting out. Yes.
He knows his time is coming and he's going to be put on that bench.
And that's when all the people who don't like he's going to be put on that bench and that's when
all the people who don't like him are going to be able to laugh
I think he's ready
for that laughter
the four rings don't help
that ego at that moment in time
they don't win
I don't believe they win any of those titles without Draymond
but being
benched, them four rings
they don't mean nothing anymore.
I can't see them on your finger when you're on the bench.
You tell me about them, but you can put them on at the conference
when you're at the podium.
But right at that point in time, and now you give everybody
because everybody, oh, Draymond is the king of the triple single.
And they're saying all these things.
I think he's a phenomenal player.
I do.
I mean, I think his physicality.
Do I think he goes over the line?
Absolutely.
Do I think he's done some things
that he didn't need to do?
Absolutely.
But the problem is,
is that they didn't check it before.
I can't wait till my dog is two years old
before I correct him about potting in the house.
And then all of a sudden he potters in the house again.
I'm like, what are you doing?
You didn't correct him
when he was a puppy.
You let Draymond get out of control.
And so now when you don't win,
you accepted it when you were winning.
You accepted Draymond's behavior
when you was winning.
And I'm a firm believer,
as Mike Shanahan told me in 1995,
you never accept anything in a win,
you wouldn't in a loss.
So if Draymond's behavior is unacceptable when you're losing,
it should have been unacceptable when you're winning.
Because when they say winning masks a lot, it does.
It masks the undercurrent of what was going on in Golden State
that was just in the moment.
Things don't go the way that they think it should.
Draymond pops his head up out the water.
Oh, yeah, that's a thing.
It's going to be real interesting because he was the vocal point.
He was the heartbeat.
And when they decide to say, all right, Kaminga, this is your spot.
Is the heartbeat going to stop beating?
I think this is one of those things
where for the betterment of the team,
he's going to have to pull a Russ
and he's going to have to look around
and say, all right, I did all I can do.
It's time for me to take a backseat
and give all my energy to Kaminga,
and then I can come in back.
He's going to have to pull a UD, right?
As long as he wants his name called
at the beginning of the game, Draymond Green,
the team dies.
Because he don't have it like he used to.
He's not as fast, strong,
right? He's still got the
smart, the IQ level is very, very,
very high, right?
But he's going to
have to sacrifice and realize
the big three
is falling off.
Yeah.
He really no big two because Clay is
not the same. Clay can get in spurs, but Clay ended up going to the it. He really no big too because Clay is not the same. Clay can
get in spurs, but Clay ended up
going to the bench in the fourth quarter.
I mean,
look, as we start to
age and Clay had two devastating
injuries for professional athlete.
He had an Achilles and an ACL.
And he had
them in his 30s and
commend him for coming back
and playing at the level,
but he's not the same Steph.
I mean, excuse me, the same Klay.
Draymond is starting to get older.
He's not the same.
He doesn't move the same,
but the behavior.
See, Draymond needs to understand
they'll tolerate you until they can replace you.
Yeah.
They tolerated his behavior
because they couldn't replace you.
Now, at some point in time,
even though you were
the heartbeat and you mean so much
to this team, 7.5
rebounds and 3 or 4
assists ain't going to cut it.
Yeah, I don't know how
I don't know how
I feel bad for Steve Kerr because you don't want how you... I feel bad for
Steve Kerr because you don't
want to bench him because
Kaminga hasn't taken this spot.
Correct.
But with Kaminga on the floor, he's just
a different breed of a guy.
He gives you something
that you guys didn't have.
A guy who has
bounced.
At the little thing.
At the yank.
He got his own one-on-one move.
He can create his own shot.
He's very aggressive.
Still, which is surprising.
I mean, you've been there for a couple years.
You would think he would have lost his aggression.
But he still has his aggression.
He has the confidence that he can't be stopped.
You need that to play out.
Right.
That is going to be a tough
decision for Steve Kerr
to say,
Draymond, you're starting. I wouldn't.
I wouldn't.
I'm going to be like, yo, Dray,
you're going to have to come off the bench.
He's been playing very well since you've been on the
bench.
Give me a couple more games.
You know what, Gil?
The problem with Golden State is that
a lot of these problems that
Andrew Wiggins isn't playing well,
at the same time, Klay Thompson isn't
playing well, at the same time, Draymond
Green is suspended. Yeah. So
you kind of got like
a little mini hurricane, a little mini
earthquake, and a little mini tornado. Yeah.
All together.
In one spot.
And the problem is, and this is why being the third option feels amazing.
Because nobody's paying attention to you.
No.
No one is talking about Wiggins playing horrible.
And he'd be good and terrible.
Yeah, and it's weird.
When you're that third option, when you don't have no pressure on you,
you get to go out there and be trash without any pushback.
No one's going to write about you. No one cares.
So the fact that Draymond is being blamed for what's going on in Golden State,
it kind of let us know how important he was then to the winning.
Yes. Yes, absolutely.
And people that don't believe that he was important to winning,
it's the fact that you don't really like Draymond
or you don't really understand the importance
of what he brought to that ball club.
Sometimes you just can't measure everything
by points, rebounds, and assists
because he does a lot of the dirty work.
Everybody can't be the bank president.
Somebody got to be the security guard. Somebody
got to be the cashier.
Somebody got to be the custodian. Somebody got to
clean that place up at night. Yeah, he's top
flight security all right.
Arvin Ham calls
out Cam Reddish and Jared Vanderbilt.
Can't be confused with, can't
be confused with the ball.
Ham said, I was just, I'm
just not, I'm not, I just
think not allowing it to be
stacked to stagnate us. If they're
trying to play off, Cam got to
step up shooting with confidence
or eat up space on the drive.
Collapse the defense once he touches the paint,
drive find the open man. Same thing for Vandal.
Ball hits him and he just can't hold it.
Be confused.
He called them out, not himself.
You put them sorry motherfuckers in the game.
Nobody told you to sub a dude who averages 1.5 and put him as a starter.
Right?
That's your, like, when you going to take responsibility for the lineups you're putting out. Like, you have the
the
Lakers starting five the way
it was, they were only
averaging 82 points as a starting
five, which is low.
Right? You subbed out. Well, considering LeBron
and AD averaging 50. Yeah!
So the rest of your team,
the rest of your starters is only putting up 30.
That is a low starting five.
82 points is low.
Now, you sub in Van and take out Russ, which pushes you down to 68 points a game.
Just to show you how bad that is, the worst team in the NBA, the Detroit Pistons, they're averaging 69 points.
They're averaging
73 points
as a starting five.
So the Detroit Pistons starting five
is better than the Lakers starting five right now.
In point production.
What defense are you looking for?
Who?
Ain't nobody.
You need to be, in order for them to justify the defensive,
like, oh, they're supposed to be defensive guys.
They need to be Dennis Johnson.
They need to be Alvin Robertson.
They need to be Dennis Rodman of somebody,
somebody on the ball like that.
But you cannot give me one point
let's just say Vandal gives us 2-3
and Cam Reddish
gives us 8, come on bro that's not enough
11 points and we got guys and you're playing 25
to 30 minutes
3 and 8 points is not enough
it's just not
you got 3, like AD is a defensive
player, LeBron is a defensive player
but he's 39. I got enough
defense to put all offense.
I have
guys who can block shots to
put enough offense
out there. This is crazy
because their
losses, they scored
94 points, 101,
94, 109,
108, 110, 111, 115.
You're not, you can't score, right?
You're not moving fast enough with the units you have.
You know what this reminds me of?
What he did right here reminds me of the 2000,
it was a, is it the 2020, the 2000,
the 2020 Cl the 2000, the 2020,
the 2020 Clippers team where they use,
this is the deepest team.
They got the deepest bench.
Yeah.
You got the deepest bench because you'll start in five was sorry as shit.
Right.
Starting five.
You had what?
Cause you break.
Yeah.
Cause you break,
you bring a sweet Lou Lou, and Trez,
and they playing more minutes at reserves than you started.
Yeah, you got 40 points coming off the bench with two players.
Of course, your bench is deep.
So your bench was number one in the NBA in scoring.
Your starting five was 25th.
You're averaging 69 points because you got Zubac, Pat Bev and Moe who's averaging 7, 8
and 5. You're not deep
you got 4 players
5, you got 4 players that's it
you're just trying to trick
the line come off the bench
yeah you're trying to take 2 starters
put them off the bench oh yeah we got this
deep team because you know in the NBA
it's hard to blow a team out
in the first 5-6 minutes right so you know, in the NBA, it's hard to blow a team out in the first five, six minutes.
Right. So, you know, at the six minute mark, you can sub in your two guys and then get the rolling and let these guys get a little bit of minutes.
Right. Oh, you did good, boys. Now go sit down, let the real players get in.
I hate I hate I hate lineups like that.
Right. You try. You're just trying to trick like your team is good.
But knowing damn well, if a team got 0-9-0
in the first one minute of the game,
get your asses out.
Trent, get your asses in.
And that happened a couple times.
But you have to have a balanced team.
And the fact that you have Rui Austin
and Russell coming off the bench,
like, oh yeah, we got 40-something points
coming off the bench. Yeah, you got 40-something coming, you know, 40-something points coming off the bench.
Yeah, you got 40-something coming off the bench, but you're starting five.
It's only scoring 60 points.
Right?
You got LeBron James in 80 scoring 50, and you got the other three guys there putting in 10.
Like, stop.
Stop these dumbass lineups.
Yeah.
Because, and here's the thing, and you tell me these guys, but they still can't stop dribble penetration. Guys
are still getting past Vando, they're still
getting past Cam, and they're kicking the ball to the
corner for wide open threes. So
if you're supposed to be a defensive
guy, if you're not going to get, here's the thing,
if I'm not an offensive guy, and this is where
I approach it, Gil,
when I play football, I've
got to be more of an asset in the passing
game than I am a liability in
the run game.
Yes.
So in other words,
if you are a liar,
you got to be a tremendous asset in the defensive end.
If you're a liability on the offensive end,
if you're a basketball player and right now you're a liability on both.
So it's basically you becoming unplayable because I don't know how you play
guys. Don't know how you play.
Guy's going to give me two points and then he's letting guys get past him
and I got to slide AD
and the guy's passing the ball
and the guy's laying it up
or some help got to come
and he's kicking it to the corner.
Bro, what are you doing?
I never understood that
and it's weird
because I would love to ask
a defensive coach
why they put these lineups in.
I'm an offensive player.
I bred offense, right?
The worst player that I wanted to see
was someone like me that I had to guard.
Right.
I did not want to face me.
Patrick Beverly's?
Whoa!
Oh, it's trouble for you, homeboy,
because you're here to play defense, not offense,
so I'm resting half the time.
I'm giving you my all.
That means it's like boxing, right?
I get to punch you, but you got your hands tied.
I get to punch on you while your hands tied.
The fact that you're going to take
three, four shots a game,
why am I paying attention to you?
That is the easiest night for me
because there's no way
you're going to stop me
from taking 20, 30 shots.
But I don't have to give you
no effort on the defense.
I get to sit.
And the worst player I wanted to play
was someone scoring like me because he's embarrassing me now.
Right.
Right.
So if I'm playing against the Lakers and I'm Trey Young, hell yeah, I want to play against Cam all day.
You ain't embarrassing me.
You ain't doing nothing.
You just get to play defense all day.
And I don't understand why they put these lineups out there because you're helping the offensive team.
Because you're handicapping yourself.
You're playing three on five on offense or two on five on offense.
Right.
And you're not good enough.
The rules aren't made.
My offense of book is 100 times better than any
rules you can put in.
And that's the difference
in today's game. Back then,
it was 60-40 defense
to offense.
You dribbled a certain way, you only had a certain
amount of moves. Now, the moves
today,
I can hold it a little bit.
So now, it's basically 90 to 10.
There's no rule they can put in
that hand checking all that
when people talk.
There ain't no hand checking
that can stop these moves today
and progress.
That is trash.
It was trash when it was in.
And you got so, I mean,
guys can shoot the ball better, guys can shoot the ball better
and guys can handle the ball better.
You got two or three guys on every team
that can make you look stupid handling the ball.
Everybody got that pull.
Everybody got the hands.
Okay, I'm going to A and one.
I mean, how many guys we see that?
Everybody doing that.
I mean, guys like, who the hell are you?
Where you come with that move from?
So the likelihood of you bringing somebody, oh, he's a defensive stopper.
He go, man, them guys are too good.
They're too skilled.
It's you.
If I want to hunt a lion, I need a lion.
A gazelle ain't going.
He ain't going.
He's lunch me. He go, yeah, yeah exactly he's lunching me it's weird
right um d-low said he wanted to be derrick white we all laughed please be derrick white
god damn it i beg you to be derrick white now because derrick white didn't want to just be
a liability i'm just a defensive player.
Right.
That's the difference between Boston now, right?
You got the unicorn over there, which added extra offense, right?
Yes. You would have thought that Derek White would be more of a defensive player
because he don't need to score.
He upped his scoring up.
Yes, yes.
And that's what the Lakers need. D-Lo, I need you to up. Yes. Yes. That's what the Lakers
need. D-Lo, I need you to
up your production, not
press. Right.
Up and up.
Because if you put pressure on
the opposing team, I mean, maybe
it takes some of that zap out of them.
And they're not able to give you that work.
Listen, when
you're trying to score,
my one thing that I always went into games with,
when I had to play against AI,
when I had to play against Steve Francis,
when I had to play against Mulberry,
I'm coming at you first.
I'm going to come at you so hard that it
makes you not want to play
offense thinking that if you
don't shoot, I don't shoot. NBA players really
think that's the thing. But if I don't shoot against
him, he won't shoot against me.
Okay, that's your fault.
And what I did when we started off the games,
I was playing against the high-level
guards, the Steve Nash's.
I'm trying to give them buckets early to set the tone.
I can't let Steve Nash come and pick me to death.
If you look at my games with Steve Nash, I made him a scorer.
Like when you look at our matchups against Steve Nash,
he wasn't having 15 and 17 assists, 30, 40.
Like you're going to have to match me point for point
if you want to keep up.
You're not going to be able to try to sit there
and get your guys, I'm scoring too
fast, makes you want to score too.
Yeah.
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Hey, this is Mike Wright from the Fantasy Footballers Dynasty Podcast.
You heard that right.
The Fantasy Footballers have officially entered the Dynasty space.
Every week we bring you the same in-depth analysis and entertainment
you've come to expect from the Fantasy Footballers,
only now from a Dynasty perspective. Maybe you've been living in the dynasty fantasy football space for a while
well we're here to take your game to the next level maybe you love fantasy football and you've
been feeling that itch to jump into the dynasty format but it feels a little bit intimidating
no matter where you're coming from the fantasy footballers dynasty podcast has something for you
and you're gonna have a great time listening i promise join me and the rest of the crew every
wednesday for a new episode listen to the fantasy footballers dynasty podcast on the i heart radio
app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast yeah it's kind of like you know I got to take some of that zap. Like my grandma used to
say, okay, y'all stay out all night. You go into church in the morning. Oh yeah. You're not fit.
You're not fit to lag back there. If they, Hey, Oh, I'm going to give you a bucket. You go get
this. You got to make them work. And, uh, that's not happening. So it's going to be very interesting
to see what his starting lineup looked like tomorrow. The Laker players are reportedly frustrated with Darvin Ham's decision about starting lineup and their role.
Frustration with players' roles and fluctuating minutes. Uncertainty regarding their roles and
inconsistency in playing time. The communication gap between coaching staff and players appears
to be widening with players expressing confusion over the mixed messages they receive. Reports say
criticism has been directed at Ham's lineup choices and rotation, particularly perceived
inconsistency in handling struggling players. Some players like Austin Reeves, D'Angelo Russell,
Rui Hachimura reportedly face shorter leashes than when encountered difficulties, while other players, Torian Prince, Cam Reddish,
enjoy longer leashes, despite
struggles on the court. We saw
that. They had no problem putting Austin Reeves on the bench.
Remember, he's struggling to start the season?
Well, we talked to Austin, and we felt
it would be best for him to come off the bench.
Okay, what about them other guys?
Yeah.
Ham was a defensive player, I
think.
He was on the bench when i was playing
he didn't get in the game but most likely he was a defensive player one of those guys that hustled
and that's his mindset yeah right you got a little bit in you and you're looking for it on the court
like these guys play the right way well it's not the right way if they're not winning right of
course austin reeves ruined d'Angelo will be mad.
They're your offense.
So if they miss two or three shots, you put them on a bench.
These guys don't even take three shots and they're playing, right?
So now what ends up happening is you start looking at the guys as enemies instead of teammates.
Yeah.
Right? guys as enemies instead of teammates. You start putting
division inside the locker room
because they're getting minutes that they haven't earned.
He took
three shots. He did
this and he plays 30 minutes. Now what does that
do to someone like D'Angelo?
Oh, if I don't do nothing,
if I don't shoot, if I don't make no mistakes,
I play longer.
Because that's what he's doing with this guy.
Right? The fact that at this point in the season,
you're still having fluctuation problems.
Let you know, you don't know what's going on right now.
You're still trying to find stuff.
And instead of building on that championship mid-season,
in-season, mid-season, whatever the season,
beginning of the season, right?
You're supposed to be building confidence.
That was supposed to boom, boom, boom, boom,
and take off.
You have Rui and D'Angelo should be starting
or Reeves.
Cam and Prince both shouldn't be starting.
No.
Norvando. No. Hell no. No, those three, two of those three shouldn't be starting. No. Norvando.
No.
Hell no.
Two of those three should not be starting.
I didn't even look at him as a starter.
That looks like a friend hookup.
You lost a bet.
He looked like you lost a bet.
Like, all right.
You know?
Like, I'll put him in, right?
Right.
He shouldn't even be playing minutes right now.
They weren't worn.
They weren't earned.
You can't just say, all right, we're going to go from averaging
one and put him in. I'm sitting there.
I'm also like, wait a minute, man.
I'm averaging 15 points a game.
15. Solid.
You ain't thinking about me as a starter. What's wrong with you?
That happens.
You're getting minutes. Think about it.
You're getting minutes that you didn't deserve. You think I's wrong with you? That happens. You're getting minutes. Think about it. You're getting minutes that you
didn't deserve and you think I'm cool
with it? No.
Because I'm watching. There's not one time that
Jared Vanderbilt has shot a shot outside
and it's done too many that I actually thought it was going
in. Be I'm watching on television
or I'm actually sitting at the game.
Not one time does he shoot a shot
and I'm like, oh man, that's good.
Even when he laid the ball, even when he like driving the ball,
he go flip it up left-handed.
I'm like, that ain't going in.
What is this man doing on defense?
Looking at LeBron.
Looking at Anthony Davis.
I got the night off.
No.
No.
Your job, your job isn't the funnel.
Your job is to D up because you give us nothing offensively.
Like I said, you've got
whatever it is, you've got to be a
bigger asset than a liability.
So he has to be a bigger asset
on the defensive end because we
know he's a liability on the
offensive end. But if he
gives us nothing on either, now all
of a sudden he's no good.
If you wasn't
playing him at the beginning of the season, there was
a reason. Don't play his ass now
because you feel you need to change
shit up. No, you need to
get everybody thinking
the right way. You need to get everybody
in tune with what their game is.
You think D'Angelo
is coming off the bench to this guy
and you think he's happy?
Yeah, that's the thing.
Like Cam, you putting Cam on the bench, what's that going to do?
He going to give you five.
What, he going to give you five coming off the bench?
Cool.
I'm not losing nothing there.
Right?
That is something that bleeds a locker room where you're looking at somebody in front of you that ain't him.
Right? So you ain't cheering for him. You put a guy in
that can't shoot the ball.
And I'm sitting here.
We sit here like, all right, we're
going to play team ball.
You start
Rui or Austin.
You start Russell or Austin. Trust
me, their production is going to get better because
they should have a six. You show confidence
in them. The fact that you don't,
there shouldn't be, you shouldn't be
at this place right now.
You shouldn't be right here right
now. This is horrible.
Unless
they're putting Vandy in because they need to trade
him.
Show him he's healthy. That's
the thing. That's the thing right there. 15 coming up. Went in and showed him. Show him he's healthy. That's the thing. That's the thing, right?
15 coming up.
He healthy.
Look at him out there.
He like
that car we got. You know we want
to sell it. So I'm going to drive it and let everybody
see it's operational. Then I'm going to go put it right
back on the show. Hey, speak to
for sale signing it tomorrow. And that's
what this play looks like. It looks like
they want to show that
because there's no way as a coach
you're going to take a guy who's averaging 1.5
and insert him in the starting lineup
and he don't even get no minutes.
The only play is I want to show him off
so I can package him.
Yeah.
Because, you know, Vando was hurt
at the start of the season.
I think he had a foot injury
or he had some kind of injury at the start of the season. I think he had a foot injury or he had some kind of injury
at the start of the season.
But for whatever reason, man, hey, they got to get more production.
They need more than five points, three points, two points from him.
Torian Prince is like he'll miss, but okay.
He does, I mean, look, more times than not,
I feel comfortable with him shooting the three ball.
But like I said, we don't need all three of them.
Man, I'm sorry.
I come from a time where I did shoot half our threes.
Right?
We shot 14 threes a game.
I shot seven of those.
There's no way in the game where I'm playing on a court
where he gets to take 13 threes.
Who, toward your friends?
Hell no.
You'd have been sent out.
Oh, now get this motherfucker
out of here, coach.
Ain't no way I would have...
Hey, hey.
What's Lou doing?
If this is not your job,
if you're not sitting in there...
Like, think about Ray Allen
didn't shoot these many threes.
No. Right? You're not Steph or Klay. about Ray Allen didn't shoot these many threes. No.
You're not Steph or Klay.
KD don't even shoot these type of threes.
So for you to shoot these type of threes,
you better be sitting in the practice facility or the gym
shooting thousands of shots.
And if they get mad that I said they shouldn't be shooting, gym shooting thousands of shots.
And if they get mad that I said they shouldn't be shooting,
I will bet any type of money
if we shoot 100 threes right now,
I will blow them out.
You are a shoot guy that currently,
you're talking about those three guys that are shooting on the
Lakers right now, you get them.
I wouldn't even come on them. I'll shoot one hand against them.
The Lakers? Oh, the one hand. I wouldn't even come on them. I'll shoot one hand against them. The Lakers, oh, they want one
hand. You're going to have to be
a real shooter for me to put both my
hands on the ball. I take 300
shots a day. Still.
I take 300
shots and I'll wake up 435
and I go out there and take my shots.
It's just in me.
So, I can't look,
I can't see a player and I'm sitting here like, what do you do?
When you in practice, what do you do?
Are you working on your shot?
How are you not marksman?
You know, you got one job.
One.
One job.
That means if practice starts at 11, hey, you, Cam, you, Prince,
get in the gym at 8 o'clock.
You shoot nothing but threes
from these spots from 8 to 11.
Then we have 10 practice.
Then after, take one more hour
of shooting more threes.
And then I need you to come back
later on tonight
and shoot more threes.
That should be your job.
You should be a marksman.
When I pass it to you,
everybody should be turning around.
We all turn around, put our hands
in because we know that's in.
But what are you doing? You just come in
here practicing, get 50
something shots up and think you good?
Think you golden? Nah, man.
Like there was a year where I took
100,000 shots in the summer
because the calculation was shit i'm only shooting about 37 percent for me to go up another percent
i gotta shoot about a hundred thousand shots to move up one percent i had to shoot a hundred
thousand shots that's how the calculation went so when when you look at the Steph Currys and stuff
like that, man, they shooting.
I watched Steph
take 400
shots in
22
minutes.
Moving.
That was the warm-up.
Wow.
That was just to show the crowd, this is what I do.
Ended that and then worked out for two hours.
So he took about 1,500 shots that day.
Wow.
The mere fact that you know Steph has to be,
because Steph has to like, it's different for him
because he's perpetual motion.
So there's very few chances.
There are very few times that he's getting a wide open three coming off a
pick.
He's back cutting and he's flaring and,
but he's still constantly moving.
I don't look here.
It's something when you get tired,
now fatigue will make cowards of us all.
Oh yeah.
So for him to be able to shoot that shot after,
you know,
playing 25, 30 minutes.
Okay, to start the game, we get it, Gil.
But he moving like that throughout the entirety of the game.
And in the fourth quarter, he's in impeccable shape.
That shape separates him.
When we talk about the greatest shooter,
if we told everyone to shoot 100 shots,
right, 100 threes, right?
It could be close.
Yes, I believe that.
A Ray Allen, a Reggie Miller.
Reggie Miller, yeah.
Right?
He's, we can say he's the best shooter.
He's the best shooter
because he was the best conditioned.
So his first quarter
looked like his fourth quarter.
While the rest of those shooters
were tiring out,
he's at a 99%
stamina level.
So he was consistent
throughout. So he looked like he
was the better shooter because he's in
shape the whole thing.
Versus, I'm 30 minutes and I'm sitting here
like, oh, can we get some water?
That's the
key to all of it.
Being in shape.
You be in the best
shape of your life. When I say
life, I mean
you run in the 3-4 miles
when you done played
a game just to get the extra cardio in.
You have to do a lot of stuff to be great.
Right.
Grizzlies are 4-0 with Ja.
The Grizzlies went 6-19 without Ja
because he started the season serving that 25-game suspension.
They're now 4-0 with the Western Conference Player of the Week on the court
after pulling off a come-from-behind win over the New Orleans on Tuesday.
The Memphis Grizzlies trailed by 14 in the fourth quarter
and chipped away at the lead until the final seconds of the game.
Ja did this celebration.
I guess it's a New Orleans dance called Pistols and Bazooka.
They're separate?
Yeah.
Okay.
What I'm being told now,
they're saying it's two separate things.
They say it's the New Orleans dance
and it's not the celebration
Pistols and Bazooka.
No.
I didn't say that when I was told.
I was saying, you know,
it's the New Orleans dance
and it's not Pistols and Bazooka.
No, yeah, it's the New Orleans dance that just happened to not Pistols and Bazooka. No, yeah, it's the New Orleans dance
that just happened to have
Pistols and Bazooka.
It makes you...
I know he's going to
irritate the older group,
but it kind of got to...
As someone who thrives on being petty, right?
He can't help himself, right?
Right.
Like, I'll be honest, like, right now, without the celebration, I call him Ja Witt because that's what he reminds me of.
Like, he killed his dog.
Right.
Yeah, he going through, he going through teens like they killed this man's dog, right?
Right.
And it's
phenomenal
it's phenomenal
what he's doing
it shows you
how great he is
um
and
he's so
and
he's young
right and I
know we're gonna
nobody want to
hear excuses
of he's young
but he is a kid
he's in a culture
where it's the
dance culture, right?
Like if you look at Westbrook and the dances he was doing during those OKC, he's no different.
Just the music he listens to got those type of reactions to it. And when he's doing his dunks
and he's feeling great, that's when he's showing it. Like this is not coming from an angry place.
showing it. This is not coming from an angry place.
We're looking at what
he's doing. It's not coming
from an angry place. Everything
he's done is coming when he's actually
happy.
It's a weird
one because it's the culture.
When they're dancing and they're doing this,
it's coming from a happy spot, not an
angry spot. I don't think no one's
separating the two. They just see, oh,
Pistols and he threw the bazooka at us.
Right. Right. And that's
going to be the problem, right?
I don't think we should focus.
It's optics.
In this situation with him, he got
suspended for gun.
He had it one time
and he went in with the commissioner
and he told the commissioner he'd never put himself in that position again
and a couple of months later he was in that again
I think it's just the optics of it
but like you said I mean
I guess the only thing that he know how to do
have guns have them fangs on him so
it is what it is
I'm laughing because as soon as you
see it I was like oh shit
there you go again
he just can't you know you dunk on
you but I'm just I'm just glad that
like I
would rather see him still having
his mental intact
versus seeing some
watered down version right
and as the organization of
the Grizzlies
I know I know deep down inside they're happy as hell.
One, you got one of the future stars of the NBA.
You have an impact player.
You have a player that you can sell to your audience.
You got them at a discounted rate.
Those 25 games was perfect for you to get him for $40 million cheaper
right
you save $40 million with those antics
so in your mind you don't care
because you got
it's like getting
Iverson you know what I mean it's like
getting Iverson it's like getting a Bentley for
20% off
you're not going to complain
you're not going to complain and You're not going to complain.
And that's what it is with Ja.
And, you know, he's at
this point, though.
He's at this point
where
it's a God-mode
thinking. My team
was so trash without me.
Right? You're trash without me.
Y'all some losers without me.
I come back, we 4-0.
I done hit two game winners.
I'm that man.
If he don't settle,
if he don't really look at himself,
his ego can be bigger
than it was before.
Of course.
The issue is going to be now
that he's entering
that God zone thought process
where he needs to protect himself more.
Because now you're 4-0,
you go 5-0,
you what's the name of the month?
You make the all-star game.
Oh, we got to come get you.
All right, send some girls this way.
We need him to do something.
Send them.
And this is where now
he needs, because he has this chance
where they open the door for you to
come back in without any penalty
penalty.
We penalize you, but we got you a clean slate
where you can come back in and get
your crown back and i think he's a really think about where he's at and what he can accomplish
he can get more than he lost if he if he if he plays this right because the team is horrible
without him and if he can get this team to the playoffs, he can make that all-star team. He's the dude.
The Gifted Gab asked,
what do you think about Memphis going after Andre
Drummond or Busevich from Chicago,
or one of these bigs from the Pistons,
Bones Highland from the Clippers?
I mean, because obviously
they were a different team with Big Adams.
And him going down,
you know, he missed the last half of the season.
They thought he was going to be able to come back,
but he ended up having to have surgery again,
and he's going to miss the entire season.
What do you think about going out and getting a Busevich,
getting an Andre Drummond?
I mean, you've got to trade, right?
If you're just trying to replace one guy
and you're trying to replace an enforcer, a hard body down there,
then you might want to go after Dwight Howard.
That is the only player that is cheap,
cheap, willing to come in for pennies on a dollar.
And because he's been out of the NBA
and it looks like he's being left behind,
he's going to accept whatever role you give him. You know he's going to of the NBA and it looks like he's being left behind, he's going to accept whatever
role you give him.
You know he's going to be in shape.
You know he's going to play defense.
He's going to come to practice.
He's going to be a professional.
If you need him to come in there
and check some players, he can
do that. You don't have to break
up your team to go
out there and get those guys. You can
just sign as a free agent. When
Adams comes back, you can cut him if you want.
Well, I don't think coming back this year, so
you'll probably can have him on the end and
he'll be just what Adams was. I believe
if you played him, say
25, 27 minutes,
I believe he can give you the kind of rebounds that Adams
give you. He'll give
you a double-double. Yeah, because you defense. He'll give you a double-double.
Yeah.
Because, you know, he'll give you a double-double.
He's going to get physical.
He's going to get physical down there.
And that's going to open up a lot of stuff for John Moran.
Because now you have a real enforcer down there where no one is going to be trying to hit you.
Right? And, you know, that's the one guy I see without breaking up what I have.
Because what I have right now
is 4-0.
Right.
Because when I look at it,
I think Dwight Howard,
even at his age,
is still more athletic
than Steven Adams.
Oh, yeah. Facts. Facts. Facts.
So I think that would be
a good move.
Jalen Brown likes a tweet
pushing back at UD.
Your daughter has some comments
on Bill Russell.
Haslam apparently said,
F. Russell, after the NBA announced
a league-wide jersey retirement
for the legendary Celtics star.
Haslam said,
tell me when you gonna see Miami Heat jersey
hanging in Boston, said Haslam.
I have to repent.
I had to repent that.
I love Bill.
No disrespect to Bill.
I love him.
Will you ever see a jersey
hanging in the Boston Rafter?
Why?
You know what?
He got it hanging there.
UD, you know, I like UD.
But I think the thing is what UD is failing to miss,
what he's missing is sometimes a player is so good
and so great, they transcend the sport.
Because he's more than just a basketball player it's kind of like
jackie robinson jackie robinson they were they retired 42 league wide because he transcended
the sport was he the best player in baseball no but what he did should never be forgotten. Bill Russell was the same way.
What he went through,
even in Boston,
as he was winning all those titles
at that summit,
I think it was 67,
in which the summit in Cleveland happened.
He was there.
Bill Russell is a civil rights icon.
Muhammad Ali,
is Muhammad Ali the greatest boxer?
No.
But he transcends the sport.
And sometimes when a person is transcendental,
I mean, whatever is bestowed upon him is worthy.
Bill Russell having his number retired across the league is worthy.
having his number retired across the league is worthy.
Jackie Robinson, having his number retired across baseball is worthy.
So I don't, and I get, I think he was just looking at it like,
man, he's from Boston, but you have to look at the other stuff. Hey, the basketball is a thing.
Obviously, he had to be great at basketball.
But it's the other things is the reason why he's hanging across everywhere.
When it's playoff times and we beating the enemy,
we don't care about what you transcend.
We're trying to get out of this series
and I got to tell my team whatever
I have to tell them to get over
this hump. These two
teams have been battling for the
last three, four years.
And
no matter what
they trying to do,
when I see that number
at this point in time
up there while we're playing this team,
I don't care what his history is.
We trying to get out of this series.
We trying to get to the championship.
And that Boston jersey,
that legacy is in our way.
How about this here?
You do realize the Miami Heat
retired Michael Jordan's number.
So why he ain't say LVM FMJ because they ain't playing Chicago Bulls
they ain't playing Chicago Bulls
I mean Pat Riley retired that thing before number 6
he said
ain't nobody should wear 23
well I want 23 but they're not playing Chicago Bulls
in the playoffs
if you looking up at the rafters worried about
what's hanging across your arena,
you already beat.
But who won?
So it worked.
Whatever the speech was.
Whatever the speech was.
Who won?
They gagged.
But you got to remember that.
You got to remember.
The Miami Heat,
they lost that game in their arena.
They went, they had to go back to the, I guess they still call it the guard,
the TD Banks, the TD Banks.
I think it's TD Banks.
So they had to end up having to win there.
But like I said, I just think the thing is that if you understood,
it's kind of like, you know, Cleveland, you understand with Jim Brown
because he was,
we know he was a historical figure
as far as running the football, but it was
what he did in the Civil Rights
Movement that gave him the added
credence and
the cachet.
I don't think
when UD was,
when he did that speech,
none of that really mattered to him,
right? He's just trying to figure out
as a guy to
get these guys over the hump,
to really try to put some type of
fire into them,
right?
In times like that,
there was times where we being,
you know, we got like Larry Hughes,
right? We playing Larry and we got Larry Hughes.
We playing Larry.
And we got speeches that,
that's him.
He left us.
Boom, boom.
We got to go in and say it.
That's not how we felt.
But we got to show each other that we're willing to do whatever it takes to get through this hump.
And if Larry's in our way, Larry's in our way. And that's really what that speech was. We're just
hearing about it now.
Wait a minute, you can't say that?
Well,
to get them to do what he needed to do,
Jalen, if y'all should have got over
game seven, y'all should have said,
F them.
I don't know if you heard about this, Gil,
but there's a situation where Sean McDermott,
the head coach of the Buffalo Bills, he used a reference about 9-11.
And it ended up getting out and he had to apologize.
He had to walk it back.
And I think this was a situation because, like you said, doing a pregame speech or you trying to get somebody motivated, you say a lot of stuff.
Yeah.
A lot of stuff. Yeah. Say a lot of stuff. But sometimes like as
as fans or whatever
like you can't take everything
for what it is.
Like this is a different time now Gil.
I know.
Gil is a different time.
Gil
the stuff
the stuff that we would say
in the locker room
and y'all say in the locker room
that ain't gonna fly now.
Yeah.
No facts.
Hey
you gonna get canceled.
You gonna get canceled. You're going to get canceled.
You understand that and you have
to be able to maneuver.
But
now everybody's offended
about everything.
And I think that's the problem with
sports is the fact that
every group is willing to
cancel is the reason why everyone's reluctant to
have certain type of groups inside the organization right because if something happens right that's
natural how we talk and how we prep each other and you're canceling me then it's easier for me
not to accept that person here we won't we won't say we're discriminating, but we are.
But that is easier versus you canceling me
for saying something inappropriate.
Zion got a chest tattoo.
I want to know.
I thought that was you busting out there, just gorilla, man.
Man, you know good well I ain't got no stomach like that. I don't know where busting out there. Just gorilla, man. Man, you know good well.
I ain't got no stomach like that.
I don't know where you got that from.
I just want to know one thing, Gil.
Who going to tell him it's not centered?
Listen, listen.
Maybe it's supposed to be a little over the heart.
Maybe that was the way it was designed.
A little over the heart.
But I want a Zion man. be a little over the heart. Maybe that was the way it was designed. A little over the heart. But
I want a Zion, man. Come on,
man.
Right?
I get the concept, right?
You want to put a... What was that gorilla name?
Harambe?
Yeah, Harambe.
You got Harambe on your chest, man, but the belly
is what stopped me, man.
It reminded me of what Stephen A said, man.
He was at the Frito line,
and his belly getting to bouncing.
Soon as I seen him with his shirt off,
that's all I looked at.
Like, oh, Stephen A was right.
That was...
Man, look.
You got the tattoos, Gil?
Whole body.
I got corporate tats.
I coined it.
I called it corporate tats.
Tats where I like tattoos,
but to get my corporate sponsors,
not on my neck,
not on my sleeves.
Face.
Yeah, yeah.
So I have tats all in
where the jersey covers
everything. Right.
So I call it a corporate tat, where I like
the tattoos, but you couldn't see them.
I'm not going to score
scare corporations off
from having me a part of their brand.
Flip
St. Felix asked, no question, guys.
Just wanted to say, Shannon and Gil, you guys are killing the game.
And watching y'all dominate this media is beyond inspiring.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We appreciate the support.
Dr. Shark Monk said, do NBA, NFL players avoid getting intimate,
having sex before a big game like boxers do for weeks or have fresh legs. Hell no.
I don't know about you, but hell no.
Ain't a boy nothing. I mean, we're
in the hotel night before a game,
so it makes it a little bit more difficult
because we have security at the elevator.
We have security at the end of the hall.
So ain't nobody, I mean, once we have
bed check, so once we have
bed check, I mean, they lock it down.
But hell no. Weeks? check, I mean, they lock it down. But
hell no. Weeks?
Man, I ain't no boxer.
I mean, I understand they go up to
Big Bear or they go to, you know, these places
and they in training camp for six, eight weeks
and then, hell no.
Hell to the no.
I'm going to try to shake the covers Friday night
because I know I'm about to be locked down on Saturday.
No, but look, I can only speak to me.
Got a shark monk that when you ask,
I don't know whatever NBA players,
I don't know what any NFL players do.
Maybe some do, maybe some don't.
But no, I'm not going no six weeks
or once the season start going without sex.
That ain't going to happen.
I mean, Friday, I mean, 24 hours, 48 hours. going no six weeks or once the season start going without sex. That ain't gonna happen.
I mean, Friday, I mean,
24 hours, 48 hours.
That's all I got for you.
Did we lose communication with Gil?
I think we lost Gil.
Lost Gil, lost the signal.
Headquarters,
you got us.
Man, y'all stop. That man ain't about
to get no tattoo or no cheeseburger.
He ain't getting no neck bone
on his neck. Come on now. Y'all do it
too much, chat. Y'all wrong for this.
The man got a tattoo.
Okay. He wanted a tattoo on his body.
It's a heart. I think he got it like
a silverback
in the center
of the cross.
I'm going to read it. If Gil joins us back,
we're going to
go back and revisit that question.
Dub D asks,
Duncan Gil, what y'all think about Rasheed Wallace
isn't in NBA 2K
because they only wanted to pay
Vince $10,000 to be in the game.
He won $125,000, but they refused
to pay it. 2K000 to be in the game. He won $125,000, but they refused to pay it.
2K makes hundreds of millions a year.
I get it, because we're in the same
situation, and
but
I think it's nice that I'm
a part of the game, and I think, you know,
I think Sheed, I ain't counting that
man's pocket, but he feels
that the adequate and the proper compensation would be one hundred and twenty five K.
I'm not here to tell him he's right or wrong. Me, I wanted to be a part of it.
And so, you know, hey, it's not much, but I'm not hurt for money. I'm doing my own thing.
I don't think he's hurt for money either, but that's he wants to stand on that.
Hey, guy, you making making hundreds of millions of dollars.
What's $125K?
But then when you start paying everybody
$125K,
I don't think the game is going to last
too long. So for me,
I understand him standing on it.
I also understand 2K
said, nah, we good, bro.
We'll have the Pistons or the Trailbla, and you won't be a part of it.
Gil, you back yet?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ah, man, she done hacked the system.
Dr. Shark Monk, he asked, do NBA, NFL players avoid getting intimate,
having sex before a big game like boxers do for weeks to have fresh legs.
And does that work?
I was saying, Gil, nah, bro.
I ain't no boxer.
I'm going to shake the covers Friday
because I'm going to be locked down Saturday.
So no, my legs should be recovered
by the time I hit the field on Sunday.
So no, I'm not going a week.
I'm not going a month.
I'm not doing any of that.
O'Shea going to shake the I'm not going a month. I'm not doing any of that. O'Shea go shake the covers for dog on Friday.
Like, it's ritual.
So I had a teammate who got some fellatio before the game,
hit five threes.
Well, you got to call up back the next game.
So, you know, every game game that's what he had to do
okay every game he go to the parking lot right before the tip off go to the parking lot
get a little thing done come on to the game yeah right hey and a superstition is a powerful thing
man most powerful thing i i didn't listen I didn't because I heard the story.
Magic Johnson back in the day said he didn't have sex the night before the game.
Right.
And that's all I grew up knowing.
The night before the game, don't have sex.
Magic Johnson said don't have sex the night before the game.
Right.
So that's what I always did.
So there was a certain time, 9, 10 o'clock that I stopped. So I didn't do it on game day. Right. Just So that's what I always did. So there was a certain time, 9, 10 o'clock, that I stopped.
So I didn't do it on game day.
Just because that's what I thought.
But I know it wouldn't affect me.
It was just, that's what, you know.
So you didn't do another night before either?
Like, you know, 10, 11, 12?
Yeah. Not on game day, no.
Oh, but see, we had security
on the floor. So we couldn't, I mean,
I'm sure some guys were able to speak to me.
Wait, what? What do you mean security? What was security for?
No women on the floor.
I mean, we couldn't have anybody on the floor.
We had room check.
We had bed check.
Wait, as a grown man?
As a grown man, yeah.
Wait, wait, wait. Y'all had curfew?
Yes.
Oh, no, oh, no, no. Y'all had curfew? Yes. Oh, no. Oh, no.
Yeah, for sure.
No, no. We knew.
You need to be an NBA player for about one good year.
That's why I said I had to shake the cup before dark on Friday.
Because I knew I was going to be locked down.
Either on the road or in the hotel.
Because even at home, we stayed in the hotel night before the game.
What? Yes. You stayed in the hotel night before the game. What?
Yes, you stayed in the hotel night before the game.
Oh, we partied.
Oh, no.
We partied.
Oh, no.
Most of us are coming in at 6, 7 in the morning from the club.
Yeah, but see, y'all games that night, so you could do that.
See, we played at 1, 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
Yeah, because we just going to sleep all day.
We just going to sleep all day.
Right.
Uh-uh.
Uh-uh.
Uh-uh.
Because Mike is telling us Friday, and Brian was always telling us after the practice,
we're done practice around 1 o'clock on Friday.
All right.
Go home.
Get off your feet.
If you got, you know.
Hey.
And when, you know, I did.
I got off my feet.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
I was off my feet.
Yeah, that's great. That's did, I got off my feet. You know what I mean? I was off my feet. Yeah, that's great.
I was off my feet.
Y'all didn't even get to have fun.
We haven't.
Listen, listen.
If I.
Oh, you can't hang with no basketball player.
We ought to be good.
I'd be good. I'd be good.
We run them through the hotel.
You got the same girl going through four, five rooms.
What?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I got to do this.
Oh, yeah.
She coming on down.
Yo, hey, and she got a friend.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah, you don't let nobody travel in packs.
Oh, yeah, I can't handle all these girls.
Come on down here.
Yeah, I got three, four coming.
That ain't happening in the girls. Come on down here. Yeah, I got three folk coming.
That ain't happening in the field.
Security can be come. But see now, Gil,
Gil, I wouldn't want no part of that now. With the way
it's set up now, are you going to get...
It's a simple...
Let me say your simple rule, Gil.
No means no.
Maybe means no. And sometimes yes means no tomorrow. All that, no, maybe means no, and sometimes yes means no tomorrow.
All that,
no, no, no, leave it alone, girl.
Leave it alone.
Cash means yes, right?
Cash means yes.
As soon as they take that cash,
they mean yeah, right?
So we paying.
What'd you say?
Oh, yeah. Go ahead.
Yeah, we got receipts.
Oh, let me cash app you this.
Cash app sin.
I ain't got no app.
So I ain't got no cash.
You have to know my phone.
But I ain't got no Uber.
I ain't got no.
I ain't got nothing.
I mean, have you noticed, though, the NBA players ain't getting called out for that?
Yeah.
Yeah, man.
Y'all.
But see, y'all got a different life.
See, y'all see basketball like basketball and baseball player. Y'all, y'all. But see, y'all got a different life. See, y'all see basketball
like basketball
and baseball player.
Y'all done drove the price up.
Y'all, y'all inflation.
Y'all done drove the price
up the hill.
I mean, you used to be,
you know, fang under you
with your hair done.
You know, you get your nails done.
And you know,
you pay a little bill here or there.
Oh, yeah, we messed up.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Y'all done drove the price sky high. Y'all sky high, yeah. We messed up. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We fly.
We fly private jet.
We're going to get you a hundred
thousand just to get you.
See, that's what I'm saying.
Oh, see, I need them.
I need them pre-pandemic
prices.
See, see,
see, pandemic
happened and everything was
scarce.
I needed to go back to pre-pandemic.
Yes.
I can't give you all your own, man.
The basketball players, I told y'all, the basketball
players, the baseball players, they're never level.
We buying the Birkin bag. We gonna
put the $30,000, $40,000 in there
just to talk to you. We gonna try to spoil
you just to get it.
Oh, it's over.
Oh, Lord. Y'all see that?
Hey.
NFL players.
That's why we ain't got no chance. That's why we can't compete
with them.
I'm already telling y'all, don't bring your track shoes
y'all want to keep up with the NBA player.
Bring your checkbook.
And when people hear
me talk, I say,
y'all don't understand. I got a different playbook. And when people hear me talk, I say, y'all don't understand.
I got a different playbook.
My playbook,
I get to say whatever I want.
Because what they're going to do,
I can just get a new one.
Right?
How I, like, girls are like,
yeah, don't talk to me like that.
I get you.
And then the people above me,
get you too.
You know what I mean?
And they say, hey, hey,
what time you going to be over here?
You said nine, I'm horny right now.
I'm gonna call somebody else.
I'll see you later.
I get to do that.
No, I'll be over right now.
Well, whoever get here first, that's who I'm letting in.
So what if they show at the same time?
Hey, y'all like each other
hey look
the NBA
the NBA
the NBA player gonna try
we say whatever
because we
can I'm scared
and that's the problem like we really
like we
we rule
we compromise because we And that's the problem. We really like, we rule. We compromise
because we
can go in the DM
and then get the
talking. We should talk regularly.
I'll just holler at your friend or I'll holler at this person.
I want all four of y'all to come back.
We just sitting there just
playing mismatch.
And that's the problem. And guess what? sitting there just playing mismatch.
And that's the problem.
But and guess what?
You ain't gonna catch us in public with them.
So that means listen,
we treating girls who are high
sadidi, turn them into 304s.
That's for's holes backwards.
You know your superstar women, them stars?
Yeah.
Yeah, they come sneaking in the hotel
two in the morning
and go and leave out.
So you know, I was wondering.
I say, man, why everybody got a G-Wagon?
Why they got a Birkin bag and they got an AP zone?
Y'all ain't got no job like, oh!
Now it makes sense, Gil.
I was wondering every time I go on IG and I'm looking, she got a G-Wagon.
She got a Birkin bag.
She got an AP.
Mm-hmm.
Look, they date the NBA player for the luxury they date the nfl player for the
love y'all gonna show them the attention that they need oh lord listen i can i can fly you
out from miami we go to miami club you you are in town with me and i took somebody else home
yeah i'm just gonna get you a new hotel room. She better.
Wow. I ain't got that guy.
I ain't never had that guy. I ain't never been that ballsy.
Well, I ain't never... First of all, I ain't never flew out to...
I ain't never went to a party like that, like y'all be
doing it. I guess I'm about to go out there and let my hair
down.
See what y'all here being played on putting down.
Go on there, try it on. Look, look. Go to the next celebrity
you see. Go to the next celebrity you see. Hey, listen. I want you for the night. I'll put it down. Go on there. Try it on. Look, look. Go to the next celebrity you see. Go to the next celebrity you see.
Hey, listen.
I want you for the night.
I got about 45 minutes.
And what you got for me?
Nothing.
You'll be surprised.
Here's the thing.
I get it, Gil.
Look.
At my age, I'm 55.
I'm a little bit of a celebrity.
Dead playing in the NFL.
And I get that at my age because of who I am,
the dating pool is a lot
more open than say
somebody 55 that's not
in my position. I get it.
But I ain't no fool, Naguil.
It ain't all the way open.
Now, if I was 25
or 35,
I got to play
you know.
You're right. So, you know, I got to play book you know you're right so you know I'm
I had to stay in my lane Gil
you know hey
you know that new Florida law
you got to be at least driving
65 in the far left lane
I ain't all the way to the right
I'm in the lane next to the far right lane
and I'm doing like 58.
Hey, quick question though.
So since you're 55,
is the problem that
55-year-old women don't look good?
Is it that the
55-year-old women don't look like
kept up like you do?
Is that a problem?
The God's honest truth.
Women my age
looking for guys
younger.
And
me, I ain't no said day.
Me too.
So we both looking for different.
We looking over each other looking for something else.
It is what it is. It is what it is. Mm-hmm. So we both looking for different. We looking over each other looking for something else. Mm-hmm.
It is what it is.
It is what it is.
Bam.
Bam.
I'm at 40,
so I'm good.
Man, you in the sweet spot.
You in the sweet spot.
They say like when you date,
when you looking for a girlfriend or wife,
half your age plus seven.
That's supposed to be your cutoff. Okay. Half your age plus seven. That's supposed to be your cutoff.
Half your age plus
seven. So you're theoretically, so
from 27, I guess all
the way to 40 is in your wheelhouse.
Okay.
I ain't telling nobody my
age. I ain't really 55.
Actually, I'm 37.
He said I'm 37.
age. I ain't really 55.
Actually, I'm 37.
He said, I ain't really 37.
Nah, Gil.
I just, look.
I just can't. I mean, I just ain't never had that kind of gumption
to be able to, you know.
I mean, I will.
I could
sense early on if
somebody wasn't feeling me,
and that's cool.
I ain't never called nobody out their name because they didn't want to holler at me
or they found my boy more attractive or somebody had more money.
I'm cool.
I'm good with it.
It ain't the end of the world.
I think my no chill personality lets me get away with a lot more.
Because they already, they expect it.
Right? They expect it right they expect they expect it on like if i go out
there right now and say yeah uh anybody charging for for you know vagina i'll have a whole dm
full of models and celebrities or were you playing when you said that hey big head like sometimes
I just say this shit just to say it
right
I don't even leave my
goddamn house I just
just to say it
just for kicks and giggles
everybody wants to be a good dude so I just want to be a bad
dude just to see just hey someone
has to someone has to talk for
the slime balls bro antonio robertson said oh you gotta stop let steven a get away with that joe and dad
passing excuse many people uh lose loved ones but just didn't quit their job brian better
look i mean we gail i know you've heard everything that was said, that there were other extenuating circumstances was the reason that Jordan left the NBA.
I don't know.
He said it was a lot of pressure.
I know the man had a very, very close relationship with his dad.
And that's a lot.
That's a lot.
Given the tragedy, the tragic manner in which it happened and the gravity of what happened.
So I don't know.
You know, they said it was other things where that led.
He was suspended.
I don't know.
And so all I know is that the man stepped away for a year and a half
and came back and he wasn't quite the same wearing the 45.
But when he showed back up in 96 with that 2-3.
That 2-3?
That 2-3. That 2-3. That 2-3.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, it was like we've heard the stories, right?
We've heard the whispers.
I've talked to refs, you know, and, you know, there's some things that went on.
But, you know, it was a mutual step away, right?
It was a mutual step away.
You know, right now, you know, as the face of the league, you know,
we don't know if we can control all this drama.
So you step away, going on, let the world miss you,
and then you come back and then we can just talk about basketball.
Sometimes things like that have to happen,
especially when who he was at the time.
Yeah.
The things we
heard, you don't want that
type of
cloud over the NBA,
especially for who he was.
Anybody else, yes, but not him.
Not him. Nikki Wynn underscore 804
said, hey there, Gil, being from
Richmond, Virginia, I'm a Wizards
fan because of you.
They're the only team
in D.C. I support.
So Nikki Wynn underscore
804, she's a big fan of yours,
Gil. Girl, there's only two
teams in D.C. You got the
Wizards and you got
Georgetown. And the Wizards is about
to be going to Virginia, so I hope you got
your bus fare or your gas
money because that's where you're going.
She's in Richmond.
We loved
Richmond. We used to have
training camp in Richmond.
That was a good... It was perfect for training camp. We used to have training camp in Richmond. That was a good...
It was perfect for
training camp. We went down there
George Mason all the time to train.
Raiders mom, 2489.
Please shout out our son, Raider.
He's 17 months old, was born with five
holes in his heart. 14 months in the
hospital, but he's finally home. God
is good. Raiders mom, 2489.
Congratulations. All the best to mom, 2489. Congratulations.
All the best to you.
A Raider.
Hopefully after 14 months in the hospital,
he's 17 months old.
Finally home.
Congratulations.
And hopefully he has a long,
healthy,
prosperous life.
God is good.
Thank you.
Raiders mom,
2489 for sharing that.
Hey,
his name is Raider. His name is Raider. She named his son.
We know a team. What football fan
he's going to be a fan of?
Can't be. JJ asks,
do you think Pistons losing streak
should be a reminder to other
rebuilding teams the risk of
getting it wrong?
No.
The losing streak is
more
of
they found
out how to be
bad. Yeah, you got to practice
this, Bill. Ain't no way you can practice
being good and be this bad, so you got to practice
being bad. You got to, the habits
of what
you do every day, it's the look like when you're
talking about what makes a great team
great is the little things
they do when their
shots not falling, when
they're making those extra little plays.
I took a charge here, dove out of the bounds,
hustled back on defense.
You make those little extra plays.
That's what the winning teams do.
Now, the opposite, bad teams, they make all the wrong plays at the right time for their opponent.
Taking the bad shot, turning the ball over, right?
You know, you had five turnovers for the game.
Four of them was in the last minute, right?
Yeah.
You just find ways to lose.
And when you're a bad team team it's more mental than it is
the game itself right right as they go on a run and hit two threes you look at each other oh we
lost again oh we lost again now there's the first quarter everybody hit down right and and that's
what it is like there there has to be a moment in time where if you think positive,
it will happen. You go in and say,
we're going to win this game. No matter
how many shots they make, we're going to cheer, we're going
to stand, we're going to root. I need
the bench. I need you guys. Stand up the rest
of the game. We're going to cheer.
We need to be our own battery
pack. And the day they do that
is the day they get out of this slump. But right
now, they are lunch meat.
Wow.
That's really tough.
Please make sure you hit that like button.
Make sure you hit that subscribe button.
Thank you for joining us
for another episode of Nightcap.
You can find us at the Nightcap feed,
the Club Shea Shea feed.
We greatly appreciate that.
You can also find Gilbert Arenas
at his YouTube channel
Gil's Arena on
YouTube. The show airs Monday
through Thursday live at 1130
a.m. Pacific Time
230 a.m. Eastern Time.
That's Gil's Arena.
The show airs Monday through Thursday
1130 a.m. Pacific
230 a.m. Eastern Time.
That's his show every Mondayay through friday we've also
penned shade by laporte the link is at the top of the chat make sure you go out and buy yourself a
special bottle for you or that loved one with new year's valentine's saint patrick's day president's
day there's always a reason for you to drink something you know do something for two something
and a great way to do that it with Chez Balaportier.
Gil, I want to thank you for joining us
tonight. Thank you for joining us for another episode.
I'm your favorite sports on Shannon
Sharp. He's your favorite number zero.
The greatest Arizona Wildcat
player in
Wildcat history. Mr. Habachi
himself, Gilbert Arenas. Gil,
thanks for joining me tonight, bro. Thank you for having me, like
always. All right, bro. Have a good one.
All right. Happy New Year.
Happy New Year to you.
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