Your thoughts on the Kyrie situation.
Well, I think it's pretty telling as far as like how I think the most upsetting thing to me about it was like the lack of sort of like support obviously for not just like the Jewish community, but just like like anti hate speech from other players and like coaches and people in the league in general, Like, obviously it's not their responsibility to like account for speak for Kyrie, but the few voices I did here to speak about it were like mostly supporting his right to like say
whatever he wants, which I thought was really upsetting.
There wasn't a lot of pute players.
Coming out and being like, you know, like, for example, like like osmond On the Calves is a Jewish NBA player. It must have really sucked to have zero Cleveland Cavaliers come out like hey, one of our teammates is Jewish
and like this really sucks. But uh, I like, I mean, I thought Lebron's statement on it at the time was great since he's sort of like, you know, he said some stuff since then that like weaken the statement a little bit because I think he honestly just wants Kyrie to be a Laker, and so he's like trying to like lay the groundwork for that, which I get on a basketball level and a human level, it kind of sucks.
But but yeah, I don't know. I mean, I think it's like we're in such a weird time in history where like people can like say stuff like that and kind of be okay, And it's like, what, like can you.
Imagine like even I don't know, in like the George W.
Bush time, like not even like Obama like before that, like even like that was a pretty.
Dark time in American history.
We were like invading Middle Eastern countries and like it was pretty bad. I mean, like George Bush was like very problematic in his own ways, but like can you imagine someone just saying something like wildly into semitic and
like survive weathering that storm at all? Like it just it was outrageous, you know, And like a lot of stuff that's said now, I feel like I think we got so desensitized, like so much insane horrifying stuff being like hurdled at us every single day, like like a different crazy thing that Trump was saying, a different mass shooting, a different like potential world war like every day that we were sort of just like, oh, like, look at
your phone something horrifying. Okay, yeah, now I have to go to Starbucks, So I guess I'll deal with that later. And so I think people are sort of like, I think they have like a shock exhaustion, like, and people just are it's really hard to be outraged all the time, and it's actually not They shouldn't be, Like it's really bad for you. So I think when something like the Kyrie thing happens, it's just like, oh, there's.
A fucking Kyrie being Kyrie. And I think.
People were rightfully really upset, But I think, how can you maintain being upset about something like that for longer than like two or three days, Like you just can't.
There's so much else going on.
Yeah, And it was it felt like there were these other groups that were mad because quote unquote Kyrie didn't do anything really, you know, and so they're like, oh, Kyrie's being you know, unlike drugged through the coals on something that's very insidious, very painful, but that there wasn't an even I don't know if you saw this, but Jay Williams went on Ryan Clark's podcast and they were basically like, yeah, Kyrie's just trying to figure out his
heritage and there's nothing wrong with that, and it's like, no way, See, the facts don't support that, right, the facts don't support that. The sort of crux of what he's trying to do and getting at and discovering is not something to discover and that discovery sort of puts other people's history and watched that history in a really insidious way.
Yeah.
And it was also just like, it's not even just this idea, because I mean, the fundamental idea of I think what he was like get trying to get behind was this idea of that the original that like like the black Israelites and that the original Jews are actually black and that has been wiped from history.
And it's like that's a conspiracy theory.
But like, I understand why that would be intriguing to you if you're someone like Kyrie who like has historically been drawn to conspiracy theories and drawn to like, oh, people are trying to hide my history from me. The other problem that I think was like the bigger problem was that the actual piece of film slash literature that he was promoting had a bunch of other stuff in it, like Hitler wasn't that bad type of stuff, so like that stuff comes with it and you don't get to
like cherry pick. And the way he reacted to it was super like, well, I'm entitled to do whatever, and you guys are the ones saying that I'm promoting and I'm just like tweeting it and that's not a promotion. Like he was just being kind of like I feel like, kind of petulant in his response, and I think that
also was part of it. But yeah, I mean I think like, and also this is like obviously such a complicated, nuanced issue because like I think a lot of people's responses in Kyrie's defense are pointing out something which is just fundamentally true, which is that like Jewish people and I am one, as much as we have been persecuted and there is racism and hatred against us, we also the majority of us benefit from white privilege, which is a real thing.
So it's not just like.
Cut and dry like hatefulness and cut and dry prejudice that we're dealing with, because we're also beneficiaries of like very real privilege at the same time. And so I think that like a lot of people who are coming to Kyrie's defense are responding really less to like the actual problem at hand and more to like years and years and years of being victims of racism. And I think that's totally understandable, and I have a lot of
empathy for that. So that's why I'm sort of like, uh, it's real complicated because it's like the people who look like the people who are being, you know, victims of prejudice in this instance, are the very same looking people for the most part, who have made black people's lives a living hell.
Like that's just white people across the board.
I'm not saying Jewish people specifically, but like white people in general. So like, I think that that's understandable that there would be like complicatedness there and it wouldn't just all be like, oh, kumbaya, we're all in this together, because we're all persecuted and we're all like marginalized, Like there's marginalizations obviously, like very complicated and there's a lot
of nuance there. So I just wish that people like Kyrie were more like willing to actually educate themselves and like not just like watching YouTube video and think that they have all the answers and also something that I think is a problem that is born out of internet culture is like reluctance to admit when you're wrong. Like I think that's like when he realized what he promoted. I think he just was too proud to be like, oh fuck, I fucked up. There's some bad shit in that video, you know.
And let's be honest, Like he didn't watch that movie.
I watched the whole thing. No, he probably watched like a clip from it.
So that's the thing, is like we're all human, we all make mistakes, we all maybe like promote something that ends up being problematic, like whatever, like.
Just own it, just be like, my bad, this was actually really messed up. Actually don't believe this because it's not real.
So that's likely that's that we can at least get that far as a human race, that we can like, if we're gonna keep being dead wrong, at least maybe we can like own it at some point and like be willing to like grow and move on from it and not just like die on every single hill.
So let's talk a littlekers. Yeah, there's a lot, girl, there's going on. Where to begin?
It feels like the season has already like had a full one.
Right, There's been three seasons all win five and then this sort of like middle zone and then this crazy dominance from Anthony Davis, which, yeah, I mean everything data Davis, right, that's nick.
I didn't think it was gonna work. I didn't think that the and maybe it still won't.
Right, No, I'm not fully convinced yet, but but he's been amazing for sure.
So, like, what do you think has changed for the Lakers from going on five and people saying, hey, trade everyone to and like trade Russ.
And maybe waving to me.
I definitely said that, yeah, trade them or wave them or get rid of them, to whatever version that we see now. And what is that version now?
I mean, I think there's honestly so many things that broke right for the version of the Lakers right now where they're winning. I think the most important thing that changed is that Anthony Davis is healthy and he's super motivated and he's playing like absolute peak Anthony Davis. And I think, you know, coach Ham said in the off season, like that's everything for this team. Like if Anthony Davis is playing like an MVP, it's a completely different story.
So I think that's The biggest thing that's changed is he came out at the beginning of the season looking a little like not like apathetic, but just like he wasn't giving a thousand percent like he is now, and he seems like he's just on a tear, like he's just like has something to prove now, which I think he should have to begin with.
But that's one two.
I mean, like it sounds inconsequential, but like they did have some players that were out to start the season, like Dennis Shruder, I think is like a good bench option for a point guard.
He wasn't available. Thomas Bryant was also out.
Like those aren't going to like change your season, but it is a factor, like they weren't fully fully healthy obviously. The Westbrook thing, I think he was very resistant to coming off the bench in the beginning. He said that it was going to be the cause of injuries because he didn't know how to stay warm if he was coming off the bench.
He was being like a big big baby about it.
And I do think at first when they brought him off the bench, they kind of tried, like they tried him and the like having him, you know, start and then immediately come off the floor and then come off the bench. They kind of tried, they really tried to be bullish on having him in closing lineups.
That really doesn't work.
So I think having him just like in a straight up bench role, like not opening, not closing, just right in the middle has been super helpful. And then Lebron is like, you know, finding his rhythm. He had a really rough start to the season. He's looked a lot better in recent games. He had you know, tweaked his ankle, kind of tweaked his kind of growin injury come back. So like I think Lebron playing at the level that he's kept capable of, ad playing at the level he's
capable of, and everybody else kind of buying in. I still don't think that's like a championship team personally, because like I think that they do if in my ideal world, like they at least need to move Patrick Beverley and a pick if not Russ. But they're way more fun to watch now and they're not a complete disaster. They're like a playing team at least, So that's I mean, that's way better than what they weren't to start the season. It was like some of the most depressing basketball I've
ever seen. It was joyless, skillless, like death.
It was so bad.
And the amount of airball brick three much.
It was just so so bad, so so freaking bad. Yeah, so bad.
You said that you thought the Lakers were in a toxic relationship with Russell Westbrook in The Guardians.
You think that's true still.
I mean, I think it's complicated because I think they're in that weird if I had to describe where they are in their relationship to keep going with the metaphor I was using in the piece, which is that they're in this long term relationship that like maybe wasn't very thought out, and like maybe you like have a really fun couple weeks with someone on vacation and then you move in together and then you're like, oh, we actually have like nothing in common. This is kind of a disaster.
Like in keeping with that metaphor, I think they've been to couple's therapy. I think they're both trying to work it out. I don't think I mean for sure it's over after this season. I mean, at the very most, it's going to be one more season. They're not going to bring him back. If they did they'd be absolutely insane,
and I really don't think they will. I still think it would probably be better to trade him, Like, even though it's going better, a forty seven million dollar bench player is like not the best case scenario for anyone, Like he would way prefer to have a bigger role I think on a different team, and they would way prefer to have that forty seven million dollars broken up into a couple of other bench players that could be
equally helpful and impactful, but more of them. So I still think if they could trade him with one pick, I would still say to do it. I think it's it's going well enough now that if they would have to use two picks to trade his contract halfway through the season, yeah, it probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense because it's working enough, and you know, they can probably move Beverly and get somebody back.
But it's one of those things. It's like I think I said this in the article.
It's like if someone starts doing the dishes but you don't agree.
One of you wants kids and one of you doesn't. It's like, yeah, that's great that you're doing the dishes now, but like.
We still want completely different things, And I feel like that's the Russell Westbrook thing, is like it's going better, but at the end of the day, they both know it's not right.
So I don't know.
I'm I'm like, sort of, I still think it would be preferable for them to move him, but I understand that it's looking a lot better and I understand why they wouldn't.
One of the things that was like really prominent chatter was that the Lakers would be really the only asset that they really have, I mean because right, like, Russell Westbrook's not an asset. He's a liability, which is why you have to hatch picks.
To him in order to get rid of him.
Right, So the only asset that you know, the chatter was that they really could trade was Ad right, Ad last nine thirty four, sixteen three with the steal and three blocks. But before those nine games, like he was very suspect play, like you said, padetic probably not going to get a lot back for a d at that point.
Which is ridiculous because it's just a few games. I mean, people are so they have like fly memories. It's like he like when the Lakers traded everything, they traded for him, like no one people thought that was a lot, but they weren't like that's preposterous.
They're like, this is one of the top five best players in the league.
Since that time, he's won a championship and then, you know, dealt with some injuries that were a lot of which I think a lot of the discourse about it is kind of silly because like a lot.
Of it is really bad luck.
Like like it's kind of like Joel and Bid Like I feel like Joel and Bad's just had bad injury luck, Like, yes, he does. He need to learn how to fall so that he doesn't like hurt himself, Like yeah, he should probably be better at falling as like an enormous person. But like people were like like someone just like hit him in the face and like broke his face ball like stuff like that, like eighties, someone just like stepped
on him. So to some degree, I think it's a little overblown, the like you know, the Anthony Davis like speculation about like can he stay healthy? But I get it, but I think there was like some luck involved there.
I think you think a d and beat he cursed with the injury bug.
I mean, shit, man, like they kind of feel a little cursed cause there's, like I said, there's just so much bad luck involved. But also, yeah, I think when you're that big, there's just like bodies aren't really supposed to be that tall, so just things go wrong. I mean, I think any big man in the league is going to deal with a certain level of injury, especially to the like lower half of the body, because that's just
a lot of weight. And like that's why people worry about about Zion is like it's just a lot of weight like on the upper half of your body to be running around with like pounding like your you're gonna have foot in ankle issues when you have like you know, that much weight and height on your body.
But I don't know.
Lebron's like six' nine and he stayed prett damn, Healthy SO.
I don't know different dudes, too, Right, like, yeah some of the discourse Around lebron versus eight is like work ethic, Related and so you wonder what with, flip what the switch has, flipped like between the eighty that we've seen the last two years and this version of, eighty like you, said hyper, Motivated like why do you think that light switch has gone. On do you think that that's A Darvin ham related switch? Flipper like This Frank volee will bring this side out Of? Ad do you?
THINK i think Like dardham deserves a ton of credit because from Everything i've heard from like inside the organization and from them, themselves like they have a great. RELATIONSHIP i think they have like a great, relationship not just a player, coach but like as.
PEOPLE i think they have a lot of mutual respect for each.
Other darvin is, Awesome LIKE i SPENT i, MEAN i went to like five home games WHEN i was working on that reci, piece and every MINUTE i sent Around, DARVIN i was just, like oh, yeah like you.
COULD i would literally trust this man with my.
LIFE i don't know him at, all but he's just like has such a presence about. Him he has such a like like, calming like paternal, presence AND i think that works really well for some, players like AND i think it's it's really resonated With. Ad LIKE ad is a pretty sensitive, SOUL i, think AND i Think darvin is like just communicated really well with. Him SO i do think he deserves some. CREDIT i, MEAN i also, think LIKE i feel Like ad is kind of in
like HIS. MJ i took that personally, Era like you Had Bill simmons speculating after the first few games of the, season.
Like should The lakers even bother Trading? Ad is he worth?
Anything could they even get like a fraction of What utah got For Rudy, gobert you, know like he was saying stuff like, that and at a certain, POINT i mean like you should take that, personally you, know to be, like excuse, Me I'm anthony Fucking, davis like lest you.
Forget SO i think it's a.
COMBO i think it's Like DARVINHAM'S i think a really good, coach and especially on the person l side of, THINGS i mean on the x's AND o side of, THINGS i feel, like, yeah He's he's made some questionable decisions at, times BUT i think the most important thing about being a coach is like how you deal with personalities and, egos and especially in a situation like The lakers where there's three enormous, personalities like enormous, stars like that's really
difficult to deal. With SO i, think for sure credit to, him AND i Think ad also has just started to be like have a little bit of a chip on his shoulder about.
It. YEAH i remember one of the biggest videos THAT i did when the podcast first started was is ad? Soft AND i remember.
On a storyline for, sure it really Has it's a valid. Question and this was like maybe two years.
Ago AND i remember in the postseason when they went they played The, sons it was like right before, that he was, like there's just a lot of people calling me, soft, Right, Yeah, yeah you can tell that these guys read a lot and watch a lot and absorb a, lot and you talk About darvin Ham as as a coach and what he's done from just an ex's AND os, perspective like this is Probably Anthony davis says this is his third or fourth best stretch in his. Career BUT i went through his career game by game.
To be the best stretch of his.
Career it. Is it's the best game nine game, stretch and it like he's never averaged thirty four sixteen three with one steal in three. Blocks, yeah for forty six percent from three sixty five percent from the. Field his best stretch besides that was twenty, eighteen he had five forty point. Games he averaged thirty three fifteen and two with three steals and two and a half blocks and, listen like it's just a different. Version it's almost like raking the wheel in terms of how offense is being.
Run like you have maybe one the worst three point shooting teams in THE, nba so, like let's just not shoot threes.
Anymore, yeah for.
Sure AND i think AND i think it's funny, too because it's almost like when they let that, go like when they kind of just, accepted like that's not our team. Identity the shots started falling, too like their jump shots have been better and their shooting percentage has gone up from.
Three BECAUSE i, think first of, all like obviously the percentage is going to go up as you take less of them because they were taking so, many and like it's you can't make like making nine out of ten threes is a lot harder than making like one out of.
Three BUT.
I also, think, yeah they kind of like accepted and leaned into like eighty just like punishing, people.
Which is.
GREAT i don't, know it worries me a teeny bit as far as. Sustainability it's a long season and that's a lot of wear and.
Tear his body's.
Taking he's taking a ton of fouls and just like a lot of, abuse so it does worry, me but he looks like he's in great shape and