Welcome back to bully Ball, presented by DraftKings. I'm Rachel Nichols, that as always is mister DeMarcus Cousins and Boog. You can tell we're on the last one of the season because the plant is gone. It's just a white wall behind you. It's all you can give. You've left it all out on the court. I'm glad you're home, man, but I do miss the plant.
Plants in stores right now. So you know he'll be back for next season. You know he went on an early vacation. We're all headed Todd vacations. Season's over, so you know this is the last one for this year. So I'm excited.
You know who's not tired, Boogie Cousins. The Boston Celtics. They are still waiting for their parade on Friday. They are celebrating. I'm here in Boston. The streets were crazy last night. The arena was hopping. I'm not saying that they threw Game four. I mean, obviously they did not ro Game four, but the idea that they got to win on their floor, I just think is so special, and you could just the outpouring was incredible last night. What impressed you most from everything you saw.
I don't think I've ever seen a more complete season from a team, just the way they dominated throughout the regular season. I mean, can we sit here and say, this may be the first team that really didn't face any type of adversity and if it did, it was you know, it was minimal. And I'm not saying that
in a negative way. I'm more so saying it like this team was that good, Like they never really struggled at any point during the season, even when with some injuries they were able to, you know, maintain keep afloat. But this was probably one of the best seasons from start to finish that I've seen from a professional team. And it's been very, very impressive. So, you know, even considering how great the playoff run was, just as a
complete hole, I think this team deserves credit. They've obviously learned from their past seasons, They've learned from their past mistakes, and you know, they figured it out. They figured it out at the right time. They put the perfect pieces in place to make everything compliment you know, each other, and you know, this was the perfect season for the Boston Celtics.
Yeah, I don't think it's really adversity anymore now that they've won. I think it's more just talking about that they crushed everything in their path, Like there wasn't a lot of oh my god, you know the wheels are falling off moments, not because no one challenged them. I think the Dallas Mavericks were a pretty huge challenge for them, but just because they were that good and we saw it,
of course with the twenty sixteen Warriors. I mean, there've been teams like this, but I just it's super impressive. Wire to wire from the very beginning of the season to the last day of the season, they were ahead of everybody else. And you know, you can't win that eighteenth banner and anymore pressive way than that best offensive rating ever is what they're going to finish with, top five in point differential, sixty four and eighteen eighty and
twenty one including the playoffs on the season. I just, you know, anyway, and there's still people I'm telling you, I still I turned on my TV this morning and I still saw people talking about like, well, they had an easy path because of all the injuries in the Eastern Conference. You know what I'm done with that? Like, yes, of course, you know, the East is easier than the West. Guess what, This is not the first season that that has been the case, and it will not be the
last season that has been the case. Next year the West is going to be just a dogfight. But they beat everyone in front of them, and they faced a Mavericks team that a lot of people picked to win this title. You go back, a lot of the picks before this finals were for the Mavericks, which you and I didn't understand. We talked about it the day before the finals started. What were these people looking at just the rosters alone?
You know what it is, rag.
We live in a time to where you know, whatever's hot, whatever's popular in the moment, that's what people roll with. And no knock to the Mavericks and their incredible season, but nobody really leading up into the playoffs had them as a team that we thought would win it all or even really be in the finals. For the most part, we thought that would be the nuggest team. Some people had the Clippers, some people had you know, the Sons.
It was a lot. It was a lot of different names being thrown out outside of the Meerican Mavericks hit this stride. Yes, the Mavericks hit this stride and then they became America's most popular team. I mean a season ago, two season ago, Kyrie was the most hated gowns planet. Now now he's leading the charges America's team right now. So it's we live this is just the time and age. We live in one minute, one in one moment, they can hate you. In the next moment, you're You're the
most popular thing walking. So I think we just I think we're a victim of you know what's hot at the time.
And you know a lot of.
People were rolling with the Mavericks and deservingly so. They played incredible, they performed at a high level, and they were a very very entertaining team to watch.
So understanding, understandingly.
So, but when you when it comes to the reality of it and you really look at that Boston Celtics team, anybody that really really knows who can analyze the game for what it is knew that Boston was a favorite to win it this year.
And look, Luca, I still think, you know, if you're just going off, who is the best player on the court, I still think it's Luka doncc I mean, he didn't perform the best in the finals but he is the all around best player on the court. But the Celtics showed that's not always true that the best team with
the best player wins. That this was the best team, and especially the fact that you know, we're getting into a little bit later in the show about the MVP, but the fact that it was even a question tells you that they have a lot of good people who
could have been MVP. I mean, not only are we talking about Jason and Jalen, but Drew Holliday put it in like an VP style campaign the first couple of games, and Tatum and Brown specifically have been through so much at the beginning when they made that first conference finals, everyone just thought, look at these young kids, their head of schedule, Jason Tatum loves Kobe, shoots like Kobe. This is a miracle. It's going to be great for the
next few years. And then over the next eight years you go from wonder kid to oh, I haven't you won yet? And in fact, the one hundred and seven games book that Tatum and Brown played together before last night were the most by a duo prior to winning their first NBA championship, So nobody has played longer and won than the two of them together, so it was Look, it took them a while to get here. I do want to play you with clip real quick because their
road has been heavily scrutinized. And they were talking their talk last night Brad Stevens. You know how reserved he is normally. I just asked him a question about the criticism that the Jays have gotten and listen to what he said. The road for the Jalen the Jays, Jalen and Jason to seize a lot of the early criticism they took and then to have them be able to pay it on here. What does that mean to you as someone who's coached them and then nurtured them through their organization.
I think criticism student, So I don't care. I'm a Jalen on that.
Like.
You know, those two had achieved more than most twenty five and twenty six year olds ever had, and the only reason they received scrutiny was because they were playing in late May and ju And you know, as a good friend of mine said, I'd rather be in the mix and have my guts ripped out and suck. Those two guys have been really good a long time.
I'd rather be in the mix and have my guts ripped down and suck. I love that.
But he's right, right, He's absolutely right, And I mean we kind of spoke on that before, Like people got bored with this duo success early and the fact that they couldn't finish it off, you know that the way that a lot of people expected or want it. I mean, that's that's that's kind of how it goes in sports. But you have to credit these guys for the success they've had early on in their career and at such
a young age. That's unheard of in any league, in any professional league, it's hard to win, but it's also hard to win young and in that learning curve process, these guys came in with early success and they've been nothing but successful since. So I think this could be the mark of a dynasty run. In my opinion, I think this could be a start of it. So it's excited.
How much better do you think Brown and Tatum can get? Because Brown has made Gent's made a really big deal in these finals about how he addressed all these weaknesses people said about him, and that he knew he had and that he worked his ass off to fix them. So do you think that they're done or finished products, or do you think, you know, twenty five twenty six years old, or do you think that they can actually continue.
To get better twenty five twenty six, they're just scratching the surface.
These guys haven't even hit their prime yet.
Your prime doesn't happen until like twenty eight, maybe thirty two, thirty three. And these dudes are a special, special duo. I think we'll see a lot more success from this duo. And like I said, I think at this point, now that they've learned how to do it, they know how to do it, they've completed the assignment, I think they can run off two three more. So I think it's very possible for this for this these two guys to
be the moving point of this league. Like from this point forward, I could see that happen.
Look, the East is easier than the West, right, I mean, if we think about the teams that are gonna be competing and come out of the West next year, it's ridiculous. But in the East you do have the Sixers that are going to try to add a piece this summer and have Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxi you do have New York that's coming on, you know, Cleveland if they can retain Donovan Mitchell. Do you see Boston kind of
having that footprint in the East. I mean, they've already been to six out of the last eight Eastern Conference finals, so that they've already been there. But do you see them just sort of being the team in the e the way for a couple of years, the Celtics were the team in the Eastern and then for a stretch, it was always the Cavaliers, the Cavaliers, the Cavaliers. I mean, do you think that Boston We're going to get that from them? Or do you think Milwaukee's gonna have a say? What do you think?
I think from this point moving forward, the conversation in the East will now start wash who's the second best team in the league, in the Eastern Conference. I think Boston has solidified itself this team. The crazy part about this, they just won in dominant fashion, But this entire team is returning next year, the entire team, So that lets you that lets you know right there where this is about to go. The conversation in the East is strictly
about who's second. Like that's it, because we know who the number one team in the East is.
Well write about bringing back. We also saw a Celtics owner with Grossbeck in the locker room. Here's what he told me. Listen to this one. I didn't feel to have finally delivered this to the city.
It's been a while.
Boston is a city of champions. Once again. Rights on Friday, and then we'll go do it together. I was gonna say.
Domaza said he's ready to start right now. It wants another one.
I'm not ready to start right now. We'll start pretty soon. We'll bring on this whole team back. Bring the whole team back next year. Look out world.
So, first of all, book the idea that an owner is sitting there and said I will pay the money to retain the entire team, which is not what we saw necessarily from a couple of the last championship teams. What do you think of that? And do you think the formula for them is to run it back or should they keep tweaking?
Man, Well, one, that's that's beautiful to hear as an organization, as a as as one of the guys on the team. You want to hear your owner speaking that way. And uh in this league, if you want to win, you got to spend, and that's just how it works. It's really really hard to build a championship team and be under the cap, Like that's just not really a possible.
And as far as making any moves or tweaks, like I said, this team dominated this season, Like, I don't even know who you could really consider the second best team in the league. I mean, obviously we could say the Mavericks, but statistically, what's the second best team in the league after Boston? And I don't see anybody close to this team or even if they are to make improvements in this next season, I still don't see anything close to the talent on this roster. So if I'm them,
I'm sitting still. I'm entering next season with the same group. We're gonna run it back again. And the crazy thing is they weren't even one hundred percent healthy theirselves. We didn't see it on a KP at one hundred percent, So it's it's still kind of a situation of how dominant is this team really We still have yet to really see that, So that's scary when you actually think about it.
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head scratching moments around the NBA. So follow Bullyball, but also follow six Trophy on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts, or you can listen ad free by joining Wondery Plus. Well. To me, KP is kind of the question here with the roster, And first of all, I'm thrilled for him. I've known him since he was
a rookie in New York. I spent a lot of time around him then, and you know his injuries he's had and difficult stops along the way, and the fact that you know he loves the bright lights, and the fact that he paid it off in that city, in that arena and was an important part even though he was injured. It's kind of like you book in that game one of the finals he played in Golden State, like he came out there and he did what he needed to be done for the team in that period.
He did it again last night. So he's certainly an important part of this team and he's been an important part of this franchise for this entire season. But the question about him when they traded for him was can he stay healthy? And the answer was no. He missed the huge chunk of the playoffs and then he missed more than half of the finals. And when you let's say you play Denver next year, I mean, because that's
that's a different matchup. And I'm not saying, by the way, I'm not saying, oh, if they played Denver, then Boston might not have won. Boston won Boston as the champion, but Denver would give them a different challenge and you would need someone like Kristaps porzingis there for that matchup. So do you just cross your fingers and say, Okay, next year he's going to stay healthy or do you have to sort of make some moves there?
Like I said, all you can go by is the results, and the results were we want in a dominant fashion. So to sit there and be like, well, we need to tweak anything, I feel like you don't try to fix anything that's not broken. And obviously you could always try to find an insurance piece. Let me get a guy that I know can come in and fill that road in case KP isn't healthy. So I could see that being a move. But based on that starting five and just the foundation of the roster, I don't change anything.
I'm confident with this group and I continue to move forward.
Yeah, all Herford's got one year left. I know he's, you know, as old as the hills as he likes to say, but he gave them good minutes. I mean, he did what he needed to do. Tatum is about to sign this crazy deal. Member Jalen Brown had the biggest contract in NBA history. Well, Jason Tatum is about to top that this summer. Derek White, they're going to have to figure out because he's an unrestricted free agent next season, so he will be playing on an expiring
contract basically. So there are some questions here, but the fact that the owner says, I'm going to spend the money, I'm going to bring them all back is so refreshing. Because it is harder and harder and harder to build a championship team. They are changing the rules starting this year to make it more difficult to you get penalized more with luxury tax if you have more than two
high profile, high roller players on your roster. It is to get to this position, is I don't know if you can build a team like this again because the rules have changed. So to not put your foot on the gas and spend the money now is it would be so shortsighted. But we've seen owners do it. We've seen owners get to the top of the mountain and be like, okay, let me not go keep on all in, let me cut some costs. And I never understand it because it will be a decade or more with most
of these teams to get back here. Look at the Celtics themselves, I mean, they've been very good for a lot of this time and they still hadn't won a title since two thousand and eight. So I just think, if you're in this position the Celtics are in now, you spend all the money and then if in two or three years, four years that you know you're out and you have a bad team, you at least have two or three championships to show for it.
So I don't know.
When we look at Dallas, They've got their own situation to figure out.
You know.
If we look, I'm looking at some stats Producer Night just put up. They averaged ninety three and a half points in their losses in this final. That was compared to one hundred and eighteen that they averaged during the regular season, So a huge production drop there. Obviously, the Boston defense had something to say about that, but there will always be a tough defense if you make it
that far. Luca, on the other hand, I mean he did a dumb thing in game three, and I know that he regrets it, and he's got some habits there that came out of that game that showed up that he's just he's got to clean up. He's just got to clean up some of those habits talking the officials, not playing the defense that he is capable of playing. Frankly, being in the best shape of his life at the end of the season is not something he's really prioritized
up until now. And we saw Nikola Jokic. I mean, you remember Boog used to be kind of pudgy, used to you know, get back on defense was hard for him, and then he completely changed his diet, completely changed his workout pattern, buckled down and became, frankly a different player. I mean, rose to that multiple time MVP levels. So I think Luka was second on my MVP ballot this year. I think he will be in the MVP consideration, But if he wants to win a finals, he's got to
clean up some of those habits. That all being said, he's fucking amazing. I mean the things you see him do are just mind blowing.
And it doesn't get old for me. Does it get old for you watching him offensive.
No, it doesn't. It does absolutely not.
I could I could watch that guy play basketball every
single day and never get bored. But I agree with you, Rach it is some things that have to be cleaned up within that Mavericks team and specifically with you know, individuals on the roster and Uh, I do want to piggyback, like when it comes to greatness, when it comes to you know, putting yourself you know, in that tier of of the other grace, which Luca is, it comes with a lot of responsibility and similar to kind of how Tatum and UH and Jalen Brown had to continue to
go through that ring kind to kind of finally figure it out, I think Lucas also grown through that process himself.
I do feel he.
Improves with each year with some of the bad habits or some of the you know, things that create a negative for him on the court. But you know the same criticism that you know Zion has received for you know not quite being there I received into my career, you know, some of the other grades Shoulquille on it. Nobody is exempt from it. Until you embrace that part.
It's it's hard to find success at the end and you know, some guys slip through the crack, But uh, I think when it comes to the Mavericks improve and I think that part alone will improve their entire roster. If we can get one hundred percent in shape Luca from start to finish. We don't want to keep you know, going through these playoffs and you know you're breaking down because your body's not physically fit. We've watched you do
it time and time again. So you now have to go in to the offseason and figure out a way. How can I correct that? How can I prevent that from being you know, one of the negatives or one of the weaknesses when it comes to me finishing out the season strong or you know, finishing or being one hundred percent healthy to push my team all the way to the end.
I think that was a big factor and why they lost.
Obviously they can improve with getting talent, but if your lead horse is in a hundred percent there, it's gonna be hard to find success at the end. And that's just the facts of the matter. You know, Luca is an incredible player in this league. You know, arguably could
say he's the best player in the league. I'm cool with saying all of that, But in order for him to take that next jump, he has to self reflect and self improve on just his end and hold his self accountable, like being the leader of that team, hold your self accountable. There is nothing wrong with, you know, self reflecting and improving in the offseason. That's part of it, and I think that's the next step for him.
I mean, it's a pretty rich problem to have if you're the Mavericks, that you already have this guy on your roster who is one of the best players in the entire planet, and he's got this big chunk of room to improve. I mean, that's crazy, right. I Mean, normally, if you've got a guy at that level, he is
topped out. And yet the Mavericks have a guy who is already up here, and yet could could just just by doing things himself, not with the trades, not with free agency, not the salary cap, that just by doing a few things. And again, like overall, he's incredible, but just the fact that he does have the room to make these small improvements, it's just kind of mind blowing luxury that the Mavericks have. I do think they're going
to tweak some of the pieces around the Edges. I don't expect some big, huge trade from them, but I think they showed with this run. The tweaking the pieces around the Edges, you know, the Gaffords, the PJ. Washington's that kind of thing that is a secret to winning. I love the Kyrie Luca partnership. I'm not expecting Kyrie to blow up every game, but he poured in thirty forty points when it counted several times during this playoff run. Apparently, as long as he's not playing in Boston, he can
contribute at a high level. So that's kind of what I expect from them. Before we move on to other teams around the league, though, I do want to hit you on the MVP question because last night there is there is some suspense as we waited for Adam Silver to announce the MVP as he had that microphone. Who did you think whose name? Did you think he was going to say? Whose name did you have on your head?
I think Jayleen Brown was very deserving of that call. I'm not mad at that decision, but to be totally honest, I think it could have been Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum, or Drew Holliday. They all and Obviously, when it comes to Tatum, he didn't have his best offensive performance, but everything else he brought to the game. And I'm paying attention to everything. It's not just if he's making shots or not. The way he's facilitating, the way he's you know,
getting guys involved, he's playmaking, he's defending. All of those small things he did at a really, really high level, which still contributed to this team winning. And it's crazy to say their arguably best player did not perform well and they still wanted dominating fashion. So, like I said, that's just mind blowing to me. But to go back to your question, Tatum easily could have done it with it's all around performance. I think Jalen Brown was on
an absolute mission this year to prove his worth. I think he did that beyond words at this point, I think he's shut up a lot of than they said.
Now.
At this point, it doesn't matter who's the who's the one A or one B. We're an incredible tandem. At one point, I can lead, At the next point, he can lead, and we're totally fine with that. The way they embraced each other, the way they show love for one another, I think that was a beautiful thing. And like I said, I think that killed that narrative that you know was trying to be created. And and now you just have to respect these two as a duo.
That's that's champions and have a chance to continue to be champions. So and then Drew Holliday. Drew Holliday with the way he performed defensively, I mean, he's it's a master work, like it's it's a sensey out there just going through the motions and just doing what he does.
So shout out to Drew, two time champion.
I mean, when you're out there with him, what does he do on the court that just makes everyone's lives easier?
Exactly what you say, he just makes everybody's life easier. I remember being teammates with with Drew Holliday and at that point in our career, me and A d brought the ball up the floor a lot. Drew being one of the you know, top pgs in the league at the time, could have easily you know, been egotistical about him, like I'm the point guard, I bring the ball up.
Yeah, this guy would literally get a rebound.
To throw the ball to me, a a d to bring the ball up because he knew what type of offense we could create with their bigs having to guard us in the open floor.
But just that level of unselfishness and that.
And being cool with, you know, being in the backseat of being a passenger like that goes a long way for a championship team or a team in general.
So just that aspect and what he brings to the game.
It obviously changed that time I heard Celtic's roster and it's part of a huge part of the reason that they are now champions.
I mean, it is crazy when you look back on it that Milwaukee made that trade and handed the keys to Portland to decide where Drew would go because we knew. We knew the minute that trade happened, Portland wasn't keeping him. Right, there was no question Drew never got on a plane to Portland. They were always going to turn around and deal him. And for Milwaukee to make that decision, I
don't know, man. I mean, it's not an aspect that we talked about a ton the day that the Damian Lillard came, because you know, obviously we're focused on Damian Lillard and Drew Holliday going out and it was sort of like, Oh, where's Drew going to go? That was the question we were asking. But I don't think we really focused on the fact that they gave up control in that situation and it really cost them because it literally the most valuable guy asset that was going around
last summer went to their biggest rival. And I just think he's the king of the hockey assist I wish the NBA kept hockey assist stats. If they did, I think Drew Holliday would blow everyone away this place. Like I just I can't say enough good things about him. I love when he played with you. I just I don't know, man, He's so deserving, great guy off the court. Same thing for Jalen Brown, same thing for Jason Tatum. But I mean, you know what Jalen Brown does in
the community, what Drew Holliday does on it. He and his wife do incredible community work. What they do on every team that they get on. I don't know, man, I just these are good guys. These are good guys who are being rewarded, and I think that's pretty awesome. They are also favorites Boogie for next year's title. We're just talking about whether they can win it or not. Here are the odds DraftKings. I'll take that bet. Are you ready to start already laying down money for next season?
Because Chelsea Celtics heavy favorites plus two ninety, so you can still make money. It's it's not one of those bets where it's sort of like, you know, you spend a dollar and you make a dollar plus two ninety. Denver's next plus eight hundred. It's interesting, Okay, see next. That kind of surprised me a little bit. Eight fifty MAVs one thousand plus one thousand. Those are the six best odds. So what better are you taking there? Or are you surprised not to see someone else high on the list.
Obviously I'm gonna roll with the champion Celtics. I think they'll be dominating Nature as well.
But my next bet will probably be okayc and really, and the reason I say that is they got so.
Much draft capital, they got so much money to play with, Like they're one star away from dominating the league theirselves, so I think. And then on top of that, the you know, trusting in Sam Pressey to make the decisions for this organization that's obviously worked for them over and over again. But I think he'll make the perfect decision and improve that team this summer. So I'm excited to see what they do as well.
Funny you mentioned one player away Buggie Cousins, because they have new rules at the NBA in terms of free agency, new rules all around this year. This is what happens to a new CBA. But the free agency question has changed because it used to be that even with your own free agents, you had to wait a couple weeks to talk to them, which was always ridiculous because we knew everybody was talking any but anyway, I mean, it
just was. I think these tampering rules are insane. They wiped away at least talked to your own guys, because the idea that you weren't already talking to your own guys is nuts. So as of today, as we sit here on Tuesday morning, teams can talk to their own players and make them offers. And some of the big guys we're going to be watching our Paul George of course with the Clippers, Klay Thompson with the Warriors, DeMar De Rosen up in Chicago, and og and Nanobi og
Nanobi feels like a lock of where he's going. His agent is president of the next Leon Rose's son. So in case you had any question about how thanks to giving dinner was going to go there, it was not with oh, you took one of my players away and got him on another team. It is yes, dad, and here you go. And Oji wants to be there, obviously, But when you look at some of those other names, Paul George is obviously the huge, huge mover on that list.
You know, we saw Joel Embiid already campaigning to get him in Philadelphia. There's talk that Orlando wants to make a big offer to both Paul George and Klay Thompson. What do you think? I mean, I think Paul George has a really interesting decision to make. The Clippers were not offering him the full max through these contract extension negotiations they've had through the season, and they didn't Pickkwhi
the full max either. And part of the reason I think Paul, unlike Kawhi, held on to this opportunity to be a free agent, is that even if he wants to stay with the Clippers, he wants more money. And I think it's a real question of do you stay in the West. Do you stay with this team where your partner in crime has had health issues throughout the entire time that you guys have been playing together. You know how competitive you just talked about Oklahoma City. We
can name you know, Wemby and the Spurs. We can name all these teams on the come up, plus Denver plus the Mavericks plus Minnesota. Do you go to the East and be on a team like Philmladelphia with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxi And of course you've got you know, Damian Lillard and Giannis over there too, so it's not all a cakewalk. But what would you do if you're in that position?
Well, when it comes to Paul, for me, it just it gotta make sense.
And we've watched this guy spend most of his early career just talk about how bad.
He wanted to play in LA. He's finally gotten to that point.
So I just don't see that changing late in your career now, as far as you know him, having a start partner in Kawhi who's always injured, why the hell would you go to Philadelphia? And that's the same situation, except it's a younger guy. So that being the thought process. I just don't see that winning him over as well either. But I feel like this is a situation where the Clippers will come to their senses. They will give him what he's looking for this contract. Obviously, when it comes
to negotiating, you have to sometimes have leverage. You have to show that it's other people interested and they're willing to get that money. The Clippers will come to their senses, and I believe Paul will be back with the Clippers. They'd only make sense them moving into a new arena. You don't want to let one of your star guys go. It just doesn't make sense. So I think that they will come to their senses and you know, we'll see Paul and the Clipper sures.
Yeah.
I mean, look why I give up that leverage that he had, and now he's going to go on the open market. Everybody knows how valuable he is. And you know, even if he stays right in LA, he's going to get significantly more money, I think, than he would have gotten if he had signed the extension over the season. So smart move by him. Klay Thompson is the bigger question though, book and I do want to hit him
before we go here. You played with the Warriors. You saw that Warriors nucleus, the way Clay, Steph Draymond operate. I mean, they're kind of one brain on that team. And Clay has said he is going to go out and listen to other offers, and the Warriors have said we'd like to have him back, but it's clear they're not gonna like, they're not gonna max him out. I mean, he's definitely on the decline of what he was in his prime, which there's no shame in that, and that's
what happens as you get older. And I wonder if Clay himself is going to solve this problem for the Warriors of do they focus on keeping the nucleus at all costs and maybe not win another title, or do they make some major changes to put them back on Steph Curry back in contention. I don't know, it's gonna just take the money in Orlando, or do you think that he'd take lesson stay with Golden State.
I think Clay is thinking take the money, and obviously there's I don't really see light at the end of the tunnel for the Warriors in the position that they're in right now. I think we're now starting to see the beginning of, you know, a dynasty end. And that's okay everyone. It happens to every dynasty that's ever happened.
But I don't understand why so much. You know, certainty when it comes to Clay going to a team like Orlando, I can see Clay fitting in with an okay See and actually putting them over the rump.
So for me, there's just the one where there's a lot of noise around. But you're right, there's a lot of teams that might.
Want to I can see okay See sliding in and also offering the same amount of money, and he fit in.
He fits in seamlessly with that team.
I think he's the type of player they're actually looking for instead of Josh Giddy being in that spot. You gotta lay Thompson so that improves their team.
Draft makes by far, but uh, but I think it's a real threat for Clay to leave.
It's just the beginning of the end. And that's okay. They had an incredible run. They pushed the league to new heights. What they've done is historical. It's obviously league history, but I think it's the beginning of the end for that franchise.
Yeah, I mean four titles, so you can ever argue with that. It is interesting though, because Steph is talked about how hungry is still to win. If Clay does leave, that opens up more flexibility for them, and then they become another interesting team in the West. Because I'm I believe in Steph Curry basketball teams. You're gonna have to once he's dragged off the floor, fine, but when as long as he's playing, I'm in for them having a shot at it. And if they can upgrade that roster.
If Clay does decide to leave and that leaves them more flexibility, I'm curious to see it is. It's crazy to think that we just ended the season last night, Boog, and it's going to be a wild summer, and it's going to be another wild year next year. This game is just it gives us so much. It's so much fun. We've got Summer League coming up, We've got the Olympics coming up. Basically, the entire NBA is going to come
to your house, Boogie Cousins. You live in Las Vegas, and the whole league is doing a company move there. Over the next month. You will see temsa practice there in July. You will see Summer League there in July, and maybe Boogie'll barbecue for all of us. We'll see, we'll find out.
We'll see if it's enough barbecue for all that.
Right, We at Bully Ball are going to be taking a break because the season's over, but we will be catching you on other parts of the All the Smoke Productions platforms.
You'll see booking and I quite a bit, and you know, go back and and listen to past episodes. You can catch all of our episodes on the DraftKings Network, on the All the Smoke Productions YouTube channel wherever people get their podcasts and book I just want to say thank you to you. This was a new venture for us this year. You have, you know, set such an example of stepping into your NBA retirement but also just being able to play the game you love. I've said this
a bunch of times. When I say it again, I so admire the fact that you want to compete and you have that desire to poop and play ball, that you just want to do it. And I think that's an incredible example to set for people. And I think it's fun for you and finals, MVP and champion of your league over there in Taiwan. But I just I want to thank you because it's been so much fun basketball talk this year, and I'm saying for more.
I appreciate you, Rach, and I want to thank you as well. Thank you for this opportunity, thank you for inviting me to this lane, and we're gonna go places.
I'm excited, absolutely, absolutely all right, We will see you guys as we go this summer signing off for the season though.
Peace