The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 2: I've Got Seven Syllables For Ya

Episode Date: May 8, 2024

Stan Van Gundy sticks around as Jeremy goes all Pepe Silvia to explain why Donovan Mitchell could follow LeBron's path to South Beach. Stan also discusses the Pacers No. 1 options, the Timberwolves-Nuggets series, and Omer Asik's Adam's Apple. Then, what do men think of when they go to sleep at night? And it's time for everyone's favorite game: AGAINST! THE! SPREAD! Plus, the man who ruined basketball, Kirk Goldsberry, is here to tell us about his new book and break down the scoring evolutions of Al Horford and LeBron James, why Jalen Brunson was overlooked, how Victor Wembanyama will fare in the future, and suggest a change to NBA rules. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Trademarks owned by Becle, SAB, the CV. Copyright 2024. Proximo. Jersey City, New Jersey. Please drink responsibly. This is the Don LeBattor Show with the Stugats Podcast. Let's go out into the other room here where Jeremy Tachay, I don't know if you can see this Stan, I hope that you can. Jeremy has a scenario where you see what's happening

with Jimmy Butler you see what's happening with Pat Riley. Pat Riley telling him if he's not playing you need to shut your mouth. Let's go out to Jeremy here who's got the plan for the Miami Heat going forward. This is how they acquired Donovan Mitchell. Let's go ahead and show Stan how this works Jeremy. Go ahead and take us through this. It's time to just set up a narrative, Dan, because we have some similarities happening here between the departure of LeBron James from Cleveland and Donovan Mitchell.

We're talking about a player in year seven of their career, year seven, playing in Cleveland. Well, what's gonna happen at the end of that season? They go out sad at the hands of an overwhelming Boston Celtics team. For LeBron, it was the big three. Now it's Tatum and company for Donovan Mitchell overwhelming Boston Celtics team for LeBron. It was the big three now It's Tatum and company for Donovan Mitchell that Celtics team by the way beating the Heat in the first round of the playoffs But let's go back to the draft classes of each of these players LeBron James with the Cavaliers

Who was his best friend in the league fellow draft classmate Dwayne Wade drafted by the Miami Heat Donovan Mitchell best friend in the league fellow draft classmate Dwayne Wade drafted by the Miami Heat Donovan Mitchell best friend in the league Bam adabayo from the same draft class. So what happens they become besties over their years in the league This is happening 14 years apart and what ultimately happens with LeBron James and Dwayne Wade. Well You head to Miami where they form a big three with Chris Bosch who was already gonna be there and Here a future big three in Miami, of Donovan Mitchell, Bamidabayo, and Jimmy Butler. Excellent detective work. Stan, your thoughts there on Jeremy doing that,

and also everything that happened with the Heath this week, where Pat Riley tells Jimmy Butler, if you're not playing, you should keep your mouth shut. Bicentennial. Well, first of all, on Jeremy's thing, that's all well and good, but LeBron James was a free agent So that's sort of and Donovan Mitchell is not he was changes LeBron James was traded to the Miami Heat depleted us of

Because he was a free agent. So don't ruin it you did all these This whole thing the string theory thing. Yeah great job there. The second thing I would say is Let's not look Donovan Mitchell, Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, really good players, but let's please not put them in the class of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh, please. I mean, let's stop right there. And what Pat Riley said is, you know, what Pat Riley said. Like, you know, that Jimmy shouldn't be talking if he's not playing and they need him to play more games. I mean, both things seem rather obvious to me. I loved what you said about this runoff is not, it has to stop putting Eric Spolcher in this position where he has to be some sort of miracle worker every postseason. They need to help him out. They've failed countless summers now in acquiring not just a major piece,

but pieces that can really help. And they're going to other teams in the Eastern Conference. They got to do something because what he's working with, no slight against him because it's been amazing, is not enough. No, it's not enough. And if it weren't for him, I think there would be a whole different narrative surrounding the Miami Heat. But Eric's able to always get the most out of his team and get the most out of individual players. And so they end up very competitive at the end of the year. Now this year, it got to the point with Butler being out

in the playoffs where they didn't have enough to even be competitive as an eighth seed. But I think the bigger point, which everyone that I've read has hit on is if they had had guys more available in the regular season, they wouldn't have been an eighth seed. And then maybe they could be doing what New York is doing despite all the injuries and things

because they weren't in quite as tough a matchup. So, you know, the regular season has got to become more important, not to Eric Spolster and Pat Riley, I think it's always been important to them. It's gotta become more important to the players. They've gotta be more available and they've gotta put themselves in better position heading into the playoffs.

Thirl Bailey. Oh, that's a good one. They don't make Thirls anymore. Pearl Washington. Really? What is Thirl even short for? Tiago Splitter. Is it short for anything?

Yuri Blob. Oh, Poo Richard. Yuri or Uwe? It? Uri Blob. Oh, Poo Richards. Is it Uri or Uwe? It's Uwe. It's Uwe. Uri Blob. Poo Richardson. Nemanja Bijelica.

It's a W in the middle. Stan, I am nervous about my New York Knicks. They are up 1-0 against Indiana, but it seems like because they're so limited off the bench, it seems like Jalen Brunson has to score between 40 and 50 every single night. They're all playing the five starters, 40 plus minutes every single night. I am nervous.

Soothe me. Well, they don't all play 40 plus minutes. Hardenstein only played 36 minutes the other night. For the New York Knicks, that's called load management. 36 minutes. You know Josh Hart we were laughing on the broadcast that's his third playoff game the other night where he's played every minute one of them was an overtime game where he played 53 minutes so he played 48 minutes in game one against Indiana and did our between

quarters interview which is normally for someone that's out of the game. But in New York, if you're limiting yourself to interviewing players that are not going to be in the game, we'd be talking to Charlie Brown or something, you know. So yeah, these guys play a lot of minutes, but here's the thing. If you look at what they've done in the playoffs and people keep waiting for them to wear down, they've been at their best and even at their most energetic in fourth quarters. I mean, if you look at their seven playoff games, they have 44 offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter.

They have 51 in the other three quarters of those seven games combined. So this team gets stronger as the game goes on. Obviously, highly conditioned, tough guys with a lot of resolve. And yeah, this team's going to be tough to beat. But Indiana is very good. I mean, it's not like New York blew them out and I don't know that New York has enough to blow a lot of teams out the games are going to

be close New York's been good in those situations I think it'll be a good series. The tally put them go. Oh wow. Steven Jackson and Matt Barnes said that Halliburton is not a number one, that Siakam is not a number one, that Indiana does not have a number one. I think that's fair. I think that's fair. And I think they've done a very good job with that roster. But that's fair. I think that and their line is, you know, I heard it the other day, we're a true team and they are trying to do it as

a group. They're pretty balanced in the number of shots. Nobody uses their bench more than they do or gets more production out of it. They got 46 points out of that bench the other night. TJ McConnell had 18. Obie Toppin had 12. I mean, so they're playing nine guys and they're going to try to beat the stars with nine guys. But I would agree with Matt and Steven on that. There's not a number one guy and Halliburton's not built that way. Like he's the leading assist guy in the league,

but he's not a guy who's going to try to take over a game. Now he's got to do a lot more than he did the other night. You can't come in as a 20 point per game scorer and shoot six shots in a game where New York's not double teaming you. They're not blitzing, picking roles. You know, you can't do what he did the other night. I give Dante DiVincenzo a lot of credit defensively, but Halliburton's gonna have to get more aggressive. Thabo Cefaloscia. Kelly Trapeuka.

Oh, wow. Halliburton. Oh, wow. Kiki Van DeWaay. Oh, look at you! Oh, look at that! You guys are good. Stan, I gotta make fun of you.

I really do. Because I say that you're one of the greatest broadcasters doing it these days, and when I asked you that Pat Riley, Jimmy Butler question, your response was, what Pat Riley said is what Pat Riley said. That is shit analysis, my friend. Awesome. It's just shit.

I got it. It is, it is. It is, but for reasons that you guys would certainly know, I don't want to get into a lot of Miami Heat, Pat Riley stuff. All right, so let's do Denver, Minnesota. After I say Omer or Sheik. That's a good one. Let's do...

Remember his Adam's apple is massive. Massive. He could get you ten boards if you give him the minutes. His Adam's apple was a small forward. Put it on the poll. At the Levitard show was Omar Asiq's Adam's apple a small forward. An undersized small forward. Minnesota and Denver

stand. Is there anything more important in that series than Jamal Murray's hurt? Well, yeah, I think there is. I think Anthony anything more important in that series than Jamal Murray's hurt? Well, yeah, I think there is. I think Anthony Edwards emergence as a true star in this league and Minnesota's overwhelming defense there, their overall size and activity.

I mean, I give them a lot of credit. I give Tim Connolly a lot of credit putting that roster together. Not a lot of people believed in today's NBA and bringing two centers and trying to play them together. It has worked. I give Chris Finch a ton of credit for making a rather unconventional lineup work. Yeah, they've just done a tremendous job. making a rather unconventional lineup work. Yeah, they've just done a tremendous job, but I think that defense and then the emergence of Anthony Edwards as a true star and then he's got a really good

number two guy in Carl Anthony Towns. That is a very, very good team. Andrew deKlerk. Wow. Who matches up best with Boston? Well, it's going to be one of those two teams. Nobody in the East does. Cherokee Parks.

You know, nobody in the East matches up with them. But in the West, those two teams can both can both match up. I mean, it would be interesting series. Those teams I thought were really good to begin with but I Didn't think anybody could dominate The Western Conference playoffs even in the early rounds the way those two teams have to this point gar heard Let's play for Stan Van Gundy Tex winter. Let's play for Stan Van Gundy

the sound of David Sampson saying what it is that he likes to have for breakfast. I think Stan's gonna find this fairly shocking. And I love the frosted cinnamon, the brown sugar pop tarts. I love the strawberry pop tarts. I love the low fat pop tarts. I don't toast them

I eat them raw put them on top of dry cereal with peanuts and wasabi peas and Some sort of spicy mix. Wait a minute. What what what is he talking about? Exactly like we Okay on the pop tarts not the brown sugar ones the strawberry very very good. Don't toast them I'm good with that. But then he's putting them on top of stuff. Wasabi on like, what's going on? Eduardo Nahara, Tony Massenburg, Eduardo Nahara is a really good one, Mike. And then the reason is too,

that I like that is a lot of the ones we're throwing in there. The first names are actually nicknames. I think we should eliminate the nicknames and go with real names and Eduardo Nahara, as is Omer Ashiq. We should stick to the actual name. Milt Palacio. Oh, that's good, Palacio.

Milt Palacio. But Fat Lever's real name is Lafayette Lever. I actually think that's a better name Like pages That is it too that's a that's a headlining name you can't do that. I think the Hall of Fame Yeah, it's too good pages to go Stairments Now you can't be in two Hall of Fame's. Is that what you're saying? You can't be in the Hall of Fame,

the Role Player Hall of Fame and the Name Hall of Fame. You can only be one of them? For the game that we're playing, you can't be a star player. Right. You can't. You just can't. Okay. I got another Role Player Hall of Fame, Tony Tkukoc. Really? He might be in the actual Hall of Fame though. Yeah, I think he's in the actual Hall of Fame, Tony Kukoc. Really? He might be in the actual Hall of Fame. Yeah, I think he's in the actual Hall of Fame. Too good. Well, again, he wouldn't be in an NBA Hall of Fame but because of what he did internationally, he gets in the Naismith Hall of Fame. I think a better guy from those teams is Ron Harper, Stan.

No, not as good as Tony Kukoc. Okay, sorry.. He's right though It's got a matadors flourish a Hispanic the first name like nahara nails the dismount but the Eduardo you don't get out No, you don't get a lot of Eduardo's in basketball Stan It's nice seeing you he is doing it better than anybody for TBS and TNT follow All playoff basketball through Stan Van Gundy. It is nice to see that smile under your mustache, Stan. Good seeing you. All right, good seeing you guys. Stu Gautier from iFriends over at Simply Safe. When you travel, do concerns back home nag you?

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your whole home with SimpliSafe variety of indoor and outdoor cameras plus add sensors to detect break-ins, fires, floods and more. It's backed by 24-7 professional monitoring for less than a dollar a day, no contracts to worry about and a 60-day money-back guarantee. Simply Safe has given me and many of my listeners real peace of mind. I want you to have it too. So right now get 20% off any new Simply Safe system with Fast Protect Monitoring at simply safe dot com slash d l b. There's no safe like Simply Safe. Don LeBretard. Mustard mixes with mayonnaise better than ketchup does. What? What? Yes. No. What you've just said is appalling. What you've just said is an offense to anyone who's ever eaten. Stugats. Ketchup. Oh my god. I is an offense to anyone who's ever eaten. Stugats.

Ketchup, oh my god. I don't like it on anything, but. What? Ketchup? You're un-American. This is the Don LeBattar Show with the Stugats. I don't think Dan and Sukat Juju saying, I just came. Oh my god, it was the funniest thing in the entire show.

What was the name that made you come? That was the name. Where he just goes, I just came. It was the ratatat of it all. I was like, whoa, the nipples and the ass. Did Zydrunas Ilgalskas get on the board? He's too good. He's too good.

Too good. He might be in the actual Hall of Fame. No, the name, I'm talking about the name. I'm not talking about the role player Hall of Fame or the actual Hall of Fame. I'm just talking about the actual hall of fame. No, the name, I'm talking about the name. I'm not talking about the role-player hall of fame or the actual hall of fame, I'm just talking about the name hall of fame. This is something, and it's a weird, weird thing, but I know our audience knows this

and can do this with their friends. This is one of these strange love languages in sports where friends can get together and just try and top each other with names from their childhood past that make them smile from sports. Kevin Duckworth. Yeah there's this whole meme where there's a couple laying in bed and the woman's like he's probably thinking about other girls. I'm thinking about JJ Stokes. It's the show's little house. Joe Barry Carroll. I'm thinking Detlef Shrimp. It is the way that that one works. I failed to get to something with Stan that I meant to. Can you guys put up on

the screen please? Legadoonane please. That's what we want. The name of and the announcement of Darvinham being sent away by the Los Angeles Lakers to God's. I thought to myself, when I saw this news delivered this way, where it's Darvenham's very sad face, and the word dismissed, I'm like, dismissed is worse than fired.

Fired is bad. Fired is bad. Fired is bad, but all capital letters dismissed feels worse to me as a way of announcing, Darvin Ham, you've not merely been fired, you've been dismissed. Dismissed. You have to wave your hand. It feels more disrespectful.

Fired sounds like cold, you know, transaction. Fired is bad, no one wants to be fired, but you're dismissed. Like, you don't, I don't respect you enough to keep you here and merely fire you. I'm dismissing you. They may as well put in big bow letters, scram. You can leave now.

You can't trust B.R. with a graphic though. Like, if Braxton Berrio signs somewhere, they'll be like, who can stop these guys? I do feel like they could what's the next step beyond dismiss GTFO like what is what what is next that I could put in capital letters that's PTFO by the way fine sent packing give him the boot go for a Pablo Torrey finds out joke that didn't make a lot of sense to him. He's a good teammate there, you know. He tried.

He tried to promote the show, man. Exactly right. For a good friend, Pablo. Hey, Darwin Ham. Kick rocks. That's a good one. Go sit in the penalty box. What?

I mean, the guy doesn't get enough promotion. I was giving a promotion. Hey, what workman? Pants and... Worst attempt at a joke on a show that has Jeremy on it. I mean, how do you do PTFO and then find me? It was like a joke, lesser joke after a good joke. You got a good nice little pop for it.

It didn't even, when he gets later and later in the show, I think, and he gets more and more tired, especially with these drives, like he's not totally here. There's like 9% of his brain that's not functioning correctly by the time that we crawl toward the finish line with him. Like that made no sense, what he just did. Yeah, he came up with that all on his own?

I get it. I didn't feed it to him. I got it too. It was a major surprise. Yeah, the 9% of his brain. Billy has not made eye contact. I feel like we're hitting a lull here and I think I have the solution to this.

What's that Billy? Roni Turyov. Oh! Roni Turyov is good. Oh! Man, could he catch a pass? Oh! Oh!

Oh! Oh! Could Roni Turyov ever catch a pass? Guys, guess what time it is? Against the spread. That's what it is. Against the spread is sponsored by DraftKings. Stay tuned because you'll hear more about DraftKings

and all it has to offer throughout the show. DraftKings, the crown is yours. Love DraftKings. Who's going first? I'll start today. Dan Big One on the ice today. Panthers, Bruins. And I know if you've been listening to this show,

you've heard all about what Giraffe Kings has to offer, but you've also heard hubbub about Sam Bennett coming back and the difference that this is gonna make in the Panthers Bruins games today. But as Stu Gatz has mentioned, this year, head to head, the Brewins are 3-0 and two against the Panthers. And I think that trend continues tonight. I'm gonna take the Brewins plus one and a half.

I don't know that they're gonna win the game outright, but I don't think they're gonna lose by two to the Panthers. We've got some bad news from the morning skate. What? Sam Bennett was not seen out on the ice. Oh, I feel even more confident now. I'm gonna take the Bruins plus one and a half. Against the Bruins!

Why are you going against Roy and Mike on this one? Why are you being someone who is betting against the local team in a game the local team has to have so that we can have a fun weekend of watching playoff hockey. Well, because I care about the consumer and I care about their wallets and I'm thinking with my mind and not with my heart and that's why I'm advising you to go with the Bruins plus one and a half against us Brad.

Next? All right, I'll go next. All right, so I'm going with the Olars and Canucks game tonight. The last five games, with the Canucks games, the last five Canucks games, the Underdog has won the last five games when the Canucks are playing. And the Canucks are currently plus one and a half. So I am going with the Canucks tonight against

the Sprats. Sprats! I'm gonna travel to the NHL as well You got the diggit my brother Billy Gill said he thinks the Bruins are gonna go plus one and 25 you say I think opposite I think your Florida Panthers will succeed I got seven syllables for you Matthew Kachuk Sergei Bobrovsky god damn it I'm taking the Panthers

Logistics Was that in the seven there's not logistics, it's not semantics you took God's name in vain Yeah, Bobrovsky by himself took you over the count. Bob, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Spray! Spray! Spray! Duh!

Are you of the opinion, I just want to be clear on what happened here, that if you wave your hands around and say, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, that we're gonna let it go, that you used about 40 syllables where you said seven for some reason. Zagacki, Dan-o. Thank you, Ju-Ju. Is that it or do we have anybody else?

Yeah, a little daytime baseball for you if you wanna increase that bankroll before the hockey kicks up. The Miami Marlins are playing the LA Dodgers. On principle alone, I'm going LA Dodgers again. Again. What are you doing? You're just taking a giant favorite?

Yeah, it's minus 120 I think. There are bouts for minus one and a half. For the run line. Ryan Weathers on the mound for the Marlins. Ryan Weathers. But baseball could happen. Baseball happened last week. It. Yeah, Ryan Weathers, but baseball could happen baseball happened last week It can happen, but I mean what are we doing?

What was to God's doing I don't know I What was Stugats doing? I don't know. After I mentioned Omar Ishiiq, I could see him drifting off and just visualizing that Adam's apple. I think he just had problems getting back on the train. That is still buzzing over our heads. PTFO, I mean.

Billy, what are you smiling about? I just, you know, just happy. That was eight syllables. I have no idea who Roy picked. I mean. I said the Canucks no it was confusing no you definitely said the Canucks several times almost too many yeah you did get tangled up there well I didn't know we were doing against the

spreads either okay that's good planning and organization and just the general confidence that I've come to associate with this show you didn't know we were doing against the spread, so you gave that no thought, and now you're asking people to choose. I gave it a reason why. Hold on, it's as confusing as it was. You mentioned the Canucks,

and if you wanna see the Canucks, Billy Gill, you know what you do? You download the Game Time app! You create an account, you use code Dan for $20 off your first purchase, the terms apply, okay, folks? Last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. You can see where your seat is and you can see what your view of the ice is gonna be. If you somehow find another price out there that is lower, Game Time will give that

price to you plus more great customer service. It's what I use all the time. That is promo code D-A-N, Game Time! Sure if I do it right else. Yeah! Hey guys, it's Tony. I am very, very, very excited about the NBA playoffs. They have been incredible so far. Taylor, producer on the show, thanks to Game Time, took a 28 hour train ride to a Knicks game. Talking to Taylor, it was an awesome time going to the game, feeling the energy of the

garden and I really want to get out there to watch a game in the garden. And you know how I do it? Of course, the best ticket app on the planet, feeling the energy of the garden, and I really want to get out there to watch a game in the garden. And you know how I do it? Of course, the best ticket app on the planet, Game Time. Game Time is an authorized ticket marketplace of the NBA, which makes getting playoff tickets even faster and easier. Prices on the Game Time app actually go down the closer it gets to tip off, with killer last minute deals, all in prices, views from your seat, which is a technology I love, by the way.

Game Time has tons of last minute deals you can save up to 60% off buying last minute for sports, concerts, comedy, theater. Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app today. Create an account. Use code DAN for 20 bucks off your first purchase. Terms apply again. Create an account and redeem code DAN for 20 bucks off. Download Game Time today. Last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed. Every cup game! And at what? This is the Don Lebatar Show with the Stugats! Wanted to bring on the man who has ruined basketball, Stugats, Kirk Goldsberry is better at analytics than just about anyone in the NBA media. He was a VP of research for the Spurs. He's the chief

analytics consultant for u.s.a basketball is going to book uh... come out it came out this week it's called who atlas mapping the remarkable transformation of the modern nba and as i mentioned he is single-handedly responsible for ruining the nba and drowning it in numbers and data and a whole bunch of stuff that uh... a lot of people are interested in and a lot of people are not interested in stugats chief among them he is against learning yet he is against new information the whole sport has changed kirk thank you for joining us we have a

number of different questions you write a lot about the corner three so let's talk about one of stugats's favorite players, Al Horford. He's taken more than half of his shots from three in these playoffs. How much has the sport changed since Ray Allen shot in game six, 11 years ago? The game has changed a lot. Al Horford epitomizes those changes in a way, Dan. He's a perfect person to bring up. And in my book, Hoop Atlas, there's actually one of the more stunning graphs is Al Horford's three-point activity

looks like a Bitcoin line graph, man. And a good one, Bitcoin's doing well, I should say. It looks like nothing for the first 10 years of his career. In fact, I think he made only like 10 threes in his first five or six years in the NBA. And now it's virtually what he does. And to me that sort of epitomizes what's happened to his position group

and what happened to the NBA. Al Horford deserves credit for extending his career like Brooke Lopez by becoming great at shooting threes, especially corner threes. We have a couple of charts here of LeBron shot selection then and now, and this is how players age. He's the oldest player in the league.

How has LeBron changed into more of a perimeter player as the three-pointer has come to dominate the league? Let's put these charts up there so that Kirk can explain this and again do more to ruin the NBA than anyone has. Oh Jesus, Dan. All right, so here's what happened. LeBron comes into a league in 2003. and do more to ruin the NBA than anyone else. Oh, Jesus, Dan. All right, so here's what happened. LeBron comes into a league in 2003.

Michael has just left, and everybody still wants to be like Mike and shoot a ton of mid-range. LeBron is one of them. His first career bucket is in Sacramento in 2003, and it's a mid-ranger on the right side. That's like his favorite shot, and you can see that on that chart,

that he loved that right-side mid mid range. Fast forward 20 years and he is virtually a different player. And he deserves a lot of credit like Al Horford extending his career. One of the reasons he's been able to do that is because he has adopted this three point shot. And if you would have told people in Miami that this guy would be shooting 47% on six or seven attempts a game when he got to Miami, they would have told you he's crazy. But that's exactly what he's done, Dan. And like Al Horford epitomizes the trends that have sort of taken place during out during his career.

And the other crazy stat about this, he is not a bystander. He leads the NBA in history in three pointpoint assists and has assisted more corner threes than any other player in the game. So those of you who think this is just about Steph Curry in this three-point revolution, as a passer, LeBron has assisted more threes than Steph Curry has ever made. So he's helped ruin basketball too.

As somebody, just an accomplice though, you are- Well, he pours over your data. You're the chief criminal, that's correct. You're the problem here, not LeBron James. You worked for the Spurs. So Wemba Nyama, give us your boldest, most extreme take on what it is you imagine he's going to become. I think he's going to become the best player in the NBA. That's the boldest take I'll make, but it's going to be different. It's going to look different. He's going to become the best player in the NBA. That's the boldest take I'll make, but it's going to be different.

It's going to look different. He's going to be the best defensive player in the NBA. He might already be there. I'm not mad that Rudy Gobert won defensive player of the year this week. But I think Wenbin Yam is going to hang his hat on that award for years to come. I think he'll just be so disruptive blocking five shots a game on an average basis. But then on offense, nobody's going to be able to guard him. Once he gets a little bit stronger and starts to get a better feel for

the game and the game slows down for him, he's going to be a problem on offense too. He'll score 40 points a night. Sometimes he'll grab 20 rebounds and he'll block seven or eight shots. It's going to be crazy sort of like a Lajuan sort of stat lines for the modern NBA. And he has the potential to be the best player in the world and win multiple championships in his career for sure. We were talking last week and I was saying that Tom Brady is the standard for people not knowing anything about how to project who's going to be good in

all of sports. But I couldn't come up with a close second place to what you'll get she's done where nobody thought he was going to be anything and then he becomes something that is more dominant than anyone jaylen brunson uh... not yet i mean chip okay yeah but jaylen brunson's not an mvp and jaylen brunson uh... isn't uh... multiple time mvp and j Jalen Brunson isn't a multiple time MVP and Jalen Brunson doesn't shoot with the efficiencies of Jokic although he does for his size do more but is Jalen Brunson second place to you when you think of people just totally swinging and missing on somebody who you don't you think is a backup in the second round and he's better than everybody.

Brunson's a great name it's more topical than the one I'll throw out which is Monich and Elba is a big part of my book but he was picked 57th in the NBA in the late 90s didn't even make it to the league until 2003 and I think out of 140 some players Dan that have played at least a thousand games he has the highest winning percentage in NBA history has four championships played at least 1000 games. He has the highest winning percentage in NBA history, has four championships. But to me sort of symbolizes how NBA scouts overlooked international players in the late 90s and early 2000s. But moving it up to today, Jokic is obviously the flagship one and Brunson is a great other name. But some of these other Nick players are on that list too. I mean, scouting the NFL is's very hard we miss on quarterbacks nfl no matter how you sort bill draft models

predicting future success for quarterbacks is very difficult basketball you can look at lebron james or victor women yama or anthony edwards and i got to do it's gonna be very good in the nba and be pretty confident about that when stood out says brunson though i could say well look at it just look at it physically look at what he's doing okay that's why they overlooked him because he's small and i think i i got his crafty dad i mean this is ridiculous he's he's averaging forty a game in the play i'm well aware of how well he's doing but look at him i, okay, he's too small with those giants.

When I see Jokic moving through like a cement mixer and not bothered by everything, I really don't understand how everyone misses on that. Like how at that size experts can't see. I just don't get it. I'm really mystified by it because I don't have a comp for someone that size, nevermind playing that way

because there's not a comp for someone playing that way at that size, but everyone's swinging and missing on someone that size. Yeah. Yeah, it's remarkable. And I think, you know, he is out now scored 210 points in his last five games. And you know, you got to sort of zoom out and be like the last person to do that

over a five game playoff stretch was Michael Jordan in 1993. And it's staggering what he's been able to do at his size. And it's a credit to him and his footwork. But you want to talk about people who missed on the whole Dallas Mavericks organization missed on it. It's just a few years ago they let him walk. Now he's certainly a Max Blair. I'm not saying he's an MVP, we already talked about that,

but geez, he's scoring 40. He's scoring so much, if he scores 40 tonight, nobody will be surprised. And that is wild, given where he came from, his draft status, and even his time in Dallas. And that organization kinda wishes they had him still, I'm sure Do you have a theory because I haven't gotten a good answer yet on this and I think you might be a good answer on this

I know that Jalen Brunson and Jimmy Butler are not Michael Jordan I'm assuming that the reason that they are able to score more than Michael Jordan is because of the way that are able to score more than Michael Jordan is because of the way that offense has changed. I'm not assuming that those two players are reincarnations of Jimmy Butler. Can you explain this? I'm sorry, of Michael Jordan. Can you explain it to me? Can you explain to me what's happening there that the statistics I'm getting from these

two guys shouldn't be where they are, not these two? Yeah, there are 2 things is the 3 point era so you especially jail and a lot of his offense comes from the 3 point line and if you just transported his 3 points stats back to Jordan's there he would stick out like a Larry bird's dream, I mean he he is using the 3 point shot at a normal level for superstars in 2024. But that is padding his stats. I'm not calling him a stat pattern by the way.

And then the second thing, Dan, is this heliocentric movement that has taken over the NBA in the 2020s, which is NBA offenses have never been this concentrated around the best players, perimeter players, specifically in the NBA's history. We're commonly seeing usage rates in the mid-30s for players like Brunson who leaves the playoffs And usage rate for those out. That's a little bit nerdy. That's a fancy way of saying a ball hog

But NBA teams are happy to just rinse and repeat Actions with their best players in ways that we haven't seen From guards in a long time and that explains why we're seeing such wild box score numbers from players like Jalen Brunson. Kirk, the comparisons of Anthony Edwards to Michael Jordan, a bit premature, right? Ridiculous. Don't compare anybody to Michael for a variety of reasons. But, you know, Anthony Edwards is 22.

And even when Michael was 22, he wasn't scoring like this and just dominating. So Anthony Edwards is his own player. He deserves to be treated as such. And in the business we're in, everybody wants to compare everybody to everything. We've already done it three times in this conversation. So I can see why it happens. Anthony Edwards is an absolute phenom.

And I love the, I just can't believe he's 22 Stu gots Let's play for Kirk some sound from Austin Rivers that caught fire yesterday on the Pat McAfee show Listen to this. I can take 30 players right now in the NBA and throw them in the NFL. You cannot 30 NFL players and put them in the NBA Five on the court. Let's just all relax. Since you get a break every play, all you gotta do is catch the ball and run,

north or south. Listen, our sport. It ain't a complex. Your thoughts there, Kirk. That's sports radio. That is great sports radio. Stu gots got the producers here. I tend to agree with Austin Rivers,

but I have a more of a respectful tone. I think the NBA has a lot of the best athletes in pro sports, and if they devoted their lives to it, they could thrive in the NFL for sure. And I think we have a few examples from history that can prove it. Stanislav from Head to Vdenko. Who do you have for MVP this year, brother? You have Jokic, Sv... say Gilder's Adderall Zander or the other guy? Please say the other guy. Definitely the other guy. Regular season or playoffs, the way this Denver Minnesota season is going. I've reserved

the right to make sure that everybody in the audience knows the NBA MVP award is a regular season award. And I feel like Nicole Jokic was the most valuable player this year. But Anthony Edwards and Jalen Brunson certainly look like the most valuable players of the postseason so far. It wasn't too long ago that the NBA was reputed to be an innovator, not afraid to change the game in ways that would make the game a little bit more appealing. Does the NBA need to change the game some because you ruined it?

Yeah, it does, Michael. It's time to move the three-point line, especially the corner three, which is the most boring shot. It's the smartest shot in basketball, but you know what else? It's boring. Nobody wants to see PJ Tucker over there. Nobody wants to see Malik Beasley doing that. We want to see Anthony Edwards dunking, breaking guys down off the dribble.

We want to see LeBron dunking. We want to see the best players making the best plays. And simply put, Michael, the corner three has become too easy for too many players. It's one in 10 shots in the NBA now. Nobody wants to see that number. And every time somebody shoots a corner three, it's something else that's not happening. So that shot shouldn't even exist.

As you look at the basketball court, but the corner three is 22 feet from the basket. Every other three point angle is 24 feet or so, 23.75 to be precise. And it's time to get rid of the corner three, in my opinion, Michael, and open up the game to more athleticism, try to breathe some life back into the mid-range

where Michael Jordan and Dirk Nowitzki and Kobe Bryant all sort of made us swoon with that kind of game. That's absent now in large part because we're just hunting corner threes over and over again. So it is time and every other league in the world from the w n b a women's college basketball men's college basketball the people has moved their line back this century

the one that hasn't is the one with the best players tell me how that makes sense the book is available now who pat list mapping the remarkable transformation of the modern n b a we thank you for your time and we leave you with this uh... video and uh... photograph of the modern NBA we thank you for your time and we leave you with this video and photograph of the Jokic action figure there it is to God so you're enjoying the Jokic action figure it is about time he deserves his action figure there he is just laughing at everyone in the NBA for thinking he wasn't gonna be any good and then he he's Wilt Chamberlain. Thank you, Kirk. We appreciate the time, sir.

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