Worst Behavior

Warning.

If you're prone to get your feelings hurt and are a person that doesn't like to laugh, this pod is not for you. If you're looking for serious analysis and hate the drama of the NBA, this pod is not for you. If you're looking for something soothing like ASMR, this pod is not for you.

On this episode of This League, we break down the holy shit hard into the nets, how we got there, the latest developments for Kyrie Irving, the NBA strict new COVID protocols that have some guys in a tizzy, and we hit some listener voicemails.

All right, let's get into it.

We're when the Houston Rockets said they were willing to get uncomfortable when it came to James Harden.

Uh.

Yeah, that escalated pretty quickly, didn't it.

I would say that in the last few days things got pretty uncomfortable, like cringe levels of unc comfortable. Let's recap where we were prior to James Harden getting shipped out of Houston. Head coach gone, GM gone co star one, gone, co Star two gone. I mean, Russell Westbrook was happy to go to the Washington Wizards. That's how bad we were at and James Harden saw all that and was like.

The champion, the championship.

Window was closed, and he just knew that things were not gonna work out, and I mean fair enough, they weren't gonna work out. So then he asked for trade right then after he asked the organization for a trade through his handlers, he made sure that the trade request was public, and.

Then Houston was like, thanks for that.

Uh, we hear you, but we're gonna wait until we get the offer that we want. We are willing to get uncomfortable as it relates to James Harden and maybe just maybe when you see our roster or John Wall or DeMarcus Cousins said, maybe you might feel differently. And then Harden was like, you want to get uncomfortable. Challenge accepted, Let's do this. I'm gonna go to strip clubs instead of training camp. I'm gonna go and party in Vegas with rappers. I'm gonna break COVID protocol. I'm gonna be

City.

How uncomfortable are you down to get as uncomfortable as I am in this baby blue jumpsuit. I'm willing to show up forty pounds overweight, not even close to game shape. And then no news, zero crickets, just wide angled shots of James Harden in a rapidly expanding weight and as someone who's starting an NBA podcast, I was pretty fucking disappointed.

Yeah, I mean until the other night when they got smoked by the Lakers. I got on that bet train, did you Oh yeah, I had it.

And the world wanted to know, James, why can't it why can't you compete with the Lakers?

And he says, which was shocking.

Yeah, I mean one of the all time presser moments.

I mean, right, the world was stopped. It felt like he said. I was thinking he would say, you know, we tried hard, we went out you know, these lots to do, lots of change or keeping our heads up, and he said what he said was, Wow, We're just not good enough. We're not even close to good enough to the other elite teams.

Chemistry wise, talent wise, everything everything. It's clear. I love the city.

I've done literally all I can the situation's crazy and I don't think it can be fixed. And then he left, Yeah, just got up left.

What a world class bust toss.

I mean, seriously, when with the last time you heard someone say that about anyone that they worked with, let alone the entire roster, Like, just throw them all to the wolves.

You guys are all trash.

Not good enough, James Harden, Your seventeen point four points a game isn't good enough.

Shooting thirty eight percent isn't good enough.

You showing up the way you look is certain not good enough as it relates to chemistry. Holy fuck, you seem like the toxic one here. Everyone else is pretty much like looking around like yo, you James are the breaking point that makes this situation impossible to be vexed.

Fam.

I gasped when I heard that, oh man, And then the media, of course, was like, hey, John Wall, did you hear what James Harden had to say about you?

And then he was like, yeah, no comment, but.

He did describe the relationship so far with James Harden.

Oh, I think it's been a little rocky.

I can't lie about that. I mean, I don't think he's been the.

Best he could be to be honest, that's all I really could say. Oh gosh, and then I mean, yes, it's been rocky. And then which is even better. DeMarcus Cousins was like, let's throw the filter off this.

Bitch me personally, I don't feel betrayed at all my interest playing with John Wall to be brutally honest. That being said, the disrespect started way before, just a approach to training camp. Showing up the way he did, the antics off the court. I mean, the disrespect started way before.

So this isn't something that you know, all of a sudden happened, you know, last night. But with that being said, like I said, this is the nasty part of the business, So it is what it is.

Yeah.

Uh. The part that I can't get enough of is showing up the way he did. De Marcus Cousins says James Harden. The disrespect started way earlier when he showed up the way he did. You mean, fat as hell, couldn't even fit into his warm ups, looked like he was in a Santa Claus suit with some baby blues on.

Folks, This isn't something that just happened last night. We know that, we know that.

Thank you, DeMarcus Cousins were saying exactly well.

We've been thinking.

I mean, the shocking thing is that we hadn't heard any of this until just a couple of days ago.

I'm surprised, I mean in this league.

Yeah, I mean, it sounds like there were just so many problems going on there, and like maybe if there were, maybe James Harden was just afraid of DeMarcus Cousins and just shocked couldn't be around them.

No doubt.

I don't think anyone at this point after this presser was like, the Rockets are in a good negotiating spot. At this point, It's clear James Harden's not coming back.

He is not safe to return to.

This locker room because DeMarcus Cousins is there waiting for him. And yet somehow, some way, the Rockets fleeced the Brooklyn Nets into four first round picks and then four pick swaps the max allowed. And then somehow the Rockets were able to wriggle their way in. Were Tillman Frittata as I would like to call him, found a way to not have Kris the Vertz contract on their books, but they haven't expiring in Victor Oladipo.

I just don't understand, Like.

If the Rockets were forced to make this trade at gunpoint, which they certainly seemed to be after that whole fiasco, how.

Were the Nets the one that got held up?

How?

Okay?

So the trades complicated to my little brain, Pacers, Nets, Rockets, Cats, And the interesting and crazy thing to me is that like the three teams that got better are the ones that did not get James Harden.

Please explain to me this deal?

Mark?

All Right, I've got it. I've spent some time on and I think I've got it down. Okay, So the Rockets pick up Oladipo, Dante exim Rodion's currux are spelling? Sorry? Three brook Brooklyn first rounders twenty two to twenty four to twenty six one Milwaukee first. I guess this is where the Calves thing came in. That's a twenty two unprotected four Brooklyn first round pick. Swaps twenty one, twenty three,

Torrian Prince quietly playing pretty well this This situation went from He's uncomfortable to this looks pretty fucking bad to oh my god, something's gotta give to are used to this is real life. In like ten minutes, I needed two phones to keep up. Harden not only bullied his way out of Houston, he bullied the President of the United States off of our timelines, like I can't even actually tell whether the president was impeach is about to be impeached? Is it a second time? Is it the

Yeah, it's funny. We kind of shrugged off the presidential impeachment, right okay, and all.

Of this is going on, and I just have to know, like, where's Kyrie in all this?

Where is Kyrie Irving?

This league the news if this James Harden thing wasn't gonna come out and the big lead was gonna be Kyrie Irving Because the moment we stepped out of this booth, I got a little timeline update and it was like, Hey, by the way, have you seen where Kyrie Irving has been?

He has not been.

Contemplating philosophy and our democracy he was at a birthday party for his sister, large gathering with zero masks on large, putting himself front and center. Again, three shows in a row. Now where we're talking about Kyrie Irving?

So what did he do? Okay, so he went to this birthday party.

Oh as an aside, by the way, did you see what he put on his Instagram.

For his dad?

No?

I don't follow Kyrie. What he say?

Shocker? He said happy? What do you say? Happy? Journey around the Sun? King?

Wait?

Wait?

Wow?

Okay, So if.

The Earth is flat, how can we rotate around the sun?

Anyway?

So Kyrie broke protocol and now we don't know if he's gonna play basketball this.

Season, we don't know when he's returning.

And now the NBA is looking into Kyrie for breaking protocol. And now he's got a test negative multiple times.

He's got to quarantine. The whole thing is just a mess.

No matter what Sean Marks has to say, we're not even sure if Kyrie wants to return. And the only reason that we know he's still alive based on a photo that surfaced of him with two hundred people on it, which was like a zoom rally with a wait, a former star of Sex and the City, Cynthia Nixon endorsing some candidate for District Attorney of Manhattan, and Kyrie was like, yes, me and my activist self are ready to go. Hey, heads up, Kyrie, there's a game going on right now

Can we reschedule a game?

Yes?

Fuck this guy.

That's a perfect describe it.

And my wonder is, does the arrival of James Harden make it more or less likely that Kyrie is coming back to the squad.

My guess is less likely.

Because he's already expressed I don't know if you remember this, but because it's just all gotten lost in the shuffle.

But Kyrie already expressed his lack.

Of enthusiasm for the potential trade of James Harden.

The quote is.

What again, Marty Uh Okay, I've got it. It's James is a great player, and we wish him well. I just want him to be happy, be secure in who he is as a man first and then as a basketball player. Whatever happens. Thosetions are between them, but we're focused on us.

So much to unpack. In that sense, I think you could very clearly say he was not anticipating James Harden's arrival. He needs to be secure in who he is as a man first. That's a strip club shot. That is a strip club shot. Anyway, Sorry, Kyrie, but he Harden is now US. US now includes James Harden as long as Kyrie is a NET. But now I'm not even

He was not in favor of Steve Nash.

Also, also, his relationship with Kevin Durant has been described.

As very distant recently.

Ma'am.

I said it on the last episode.

This marriage is not built for the long term. Someone is gonna go somewhere, and now that the Nets to have James Harden and we know, I'm I'm sure what Kyrie thinks of that. It's not a stretch to me that Kyrie is gonna take the season off and just be like you guys, do you I'm gonna continue on these zoom rallies with the rest of my artist activist politicians.

What did I say about the Nets the last episode, Marty, can you find that clip? I think we have a dysfunctional organization on our hands.

That aged perfectly, because I would say as things develop, the more that takes sounds spot on. You've got the Nets, who went from a pair of superstars, one that was like somewhat known as being a cancer and another superstar that's moody as hell to a superstar that's moody as hell and another other star that's been known as a locker room cancer. And then you add Kyrie to the mix and we don't even know if he's coming back.

We're not sure.

So now you have two possible cancers and a guy who at best is.

Moody with a lot of lower body issues.

So we are one protest and one soft tissue injury away from the Brooklyn Nets being the twenty twenty Houston Rockets without John Wall just James Harden balling with a bunch of Jags, just a bunch of just guys.

And that is.

The best case. The visitation no longer comes. Yeah, I'd say that's a great place to stop it, because the visitations are no longer coming for folks in the NBA. No no, since this last episode again timely COVID ravishing, ravaging the league, and the NBA is like, Okay, let's straighten this shit out.

We're going to make some new rules protocols.

And I have to say, everything is hard to keep up with.

How can I be up to speed? Marty? Please tell me the new rules?

Okay, So here's the latest. Pregame and postgame Opposing players are limited to fist and elbow bumps with no extended socializing. No non team guests in hotel rooms that might be an issue. Players are now prohibited from leaving the hotel for non team related activities and at home for at

Oh my god, that is a lot, quite a lot. So basically it's like, stay the fuck in your house, see no one unless they live with you. Kind of like I don't know, March, when we were all sheltering in place when COVID levels were through the roof, but also lower than they are right this fucking second.

Yeah, I mean, I can't imagine this is sitting well with a lot of the vets.

Bingo, bingo.

We already have vocal descent on our fans, folks. Okay, sees George Hill. We'll call them a journeyman about these new rules. And I tell you what it was about as close to fuck you, Adam Silver as you are possibly going to get without him actually say saying those words. He says, I'm a grown man.

This is a quote. I'm a grown man. I'm going to do what I want to do.

If I want to go and see my family, I'm gonna go and see my family. They can't tell me I have to stay in a room twenty four to seven. If it's that serious, then maybe we shouldn't be playing.

But it's life.

No one is going to be able to just cancel their whole life for this game. Whoa whoa Marty. George Hill was drafted in two thousand and eight. If I remember correctly.

I think that's right.

How much has George Hill made in his career?

Uh?

Yeah, this is his thirteenth year in the league and his lifetime earnings is ninety four million, four hundred and sixty five thousand and some change.

Easy to say fuck to Adam Silver when you have one hundred milli that you've made in your career. A thirty five year old man with a decade of NBA checks under his belt looking at these new COVID rules and he's.

Like, you know what, sh I'm grown. We shouldn't play if we are under lock and key. This is ridiculous.

And you know what those rules, those Kittler rules you think you're about to put in place.

I'm grown.

I'm gonna do whatever I want to do. Good luck trying to enforce those, Adam Silver. And you know, George Hill for sure has a point. I mean that is like a crazy set of rules. And then I thought to myself, I wonder if everybody's feeling this way. I wonder if the entire league is ready to overthrow Adam Silver and his nonsense.

And then Shay Gilgris Alexander third.

Year player, great guy, said this wildly different take.

It's what's necessary.

I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of COVID if it means I have to wear a mask on the bench the whole time. It is what it is, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna go back. I want us to get back to normal living. Whatever it takes to get back, I am gonna do it. SHA's like, Yeah, I don't know what he's saying.

He's a company man.

So how much is Shane made in his career?

So Shay's lifetime earnings are seven point three MILI and he's on his rookie contract until twenty twenty two.

Yeah, it's a little different.

A little different viewpoint from Shae. He's like, I don't know what George Hill is talking about, but I am down for whatever you guys need us to do in order for this thing to keep rocking for me to keep getting those checks.

I am on a rookie contract.

I've got bills to pay, and with the NBA stops, I don't know where I'm gonna get my next paycheck from. And if we cancel the season, then the CBA's ripped up, and the CBA's ripped up that I don't get paid coming into my new contract. I'll do whatever it fucking takes, whatever I need to do. I'll wear a mask and bad if I have to. I'll wear a mask in the shower if I have to. Shit, don't listen to George show. We got this, we got this. There's a

We haven't heard a peep about not a close.

Contact, not a COVID case, not anybody breaking protocol. Lebron has got them locked in. No one's chirping about the rules and LA is ground zero. That's the highest amount of COVID cases in the United States is Los Angeles, and we haven't heard a thing.

And instead they're like just clowning teams.

You got Lebron James doing the Steph Curry turn around, shoe shoe, you know, close my eyes, do the whole thing. Just clowning beating teams, night after the night. So I mean, COVID is gonna be here to stay.

It is. We know this.

We're no, we're not getting a vaccine anytime soon. I mean not in the near future. At least teams that are gonna survive A advances are gonna be the ones that continue to be available. So there's a reason all of us to say, Marty, there's a reason that George Hill is who he is and Lebron James is who he is. One guy is bitching about protocol diversity, saying

I need to do me? And the other guy's like, I'm gonna block it all out. It's all noise.

Take whatever happens in stride, get the rest of the guys to do exactly the same.

Fall in line. No one's talking shit.

That's the difference between a guy with zero championships, a role player, and a guy with multiple championships, a guy who is being bounced around the league, and a guy who is the greatest player of a generation.

And that is facts. So George Hill, you need to just be quiet for a little while. Sh be qualiet. All right, let's it's some voicemails. See what people have to say.

Hi, christ you know I have a question for the podcast. I just want to know when you're going to apologize for me. My name is Ada Banark. You're the that said that I don't guess shit out of my ass too, and you were wrong. So I would just like to know when you know you're gonna ad trust that to me. I would like an apology because you're wrong.

Oh my goodness, I don't know if you know this bad story and I neglected this in my James Hardened segment. So I had it on good authority that James was going to the Philadelphia seventy six ers.

I tweeted that about a month ago.

I knew from someone that I trusted, that was very high up in the organization that it was gonna go down. I'm not a newsbreaker, I know nothing about trades, free agency, anything, but this was like the one little feather that I had in my cat. So I was like, fuck it, I'm gonna tweet this right the sour is very very strong.

Be strong.

And then this guy, Adam tweeted at me and said I was being responsible for saying irresponsible for saying that. And I said back to Adam, It's not like I'm just guessing this shit out of my I asked Adam, why would I do this if I didn't think that someone was that this information was correct. Turns out the nets then did the unthinkable. They did something I could have never foreseen. I don't think anyone in the NBA

So I was feeling good.

I was feeling good all the way up until the trade went down. Four first rounders. As we said, four pickswaps. In what universe could that have been foreseen? KD is gonna be forty by the time the Nets has their own have their own draft pick back. So, Adam, I am addressing this now, and I'm not sorry.

I do not apologize. This was the unknowable.

And under the same circumstances if I I would have known how it all was going to play out.

The truth is I do it again.

I was so close to vindication, so close to my little victory lap. And I love to be right. I love being right when everyone thinks I'm wrong. I love being right and telling everybody I'm right and them having to swallow it. So no, I do not regret the tweet, and I will not apologize.

Let's go to the next one. Fuck you, Adam.

Hey, I'm a six Ers fan, and you know other fans from other teams, you know, they criticize Ben Simmons shooting, and you know I try to, you know, Freese pass it, and you know talk about how you don't need to and you know you'd rather see him just you know, get to the rim more past distribute. But deep down, if I'm being honest, I think it's fucking ridiculous. I can't shoot. It always been a little like five years, and like does he practice it? Like it never looks good.

It never has its likely never will. But like, what the fuck?

Why can he shoot? He's a professional basketball player and his dad was a professional basketball player, and he didn't teach his son how to shoot, Like what the fuck was his dad doing? So I don't like to admit it, but like, what the fuck Ben Simmons.

That's a correct take, Marty.

You can tell the guy was just like working it out in his mind as he was.

Confessing that was a defeated man.

Yeah, I mean that's a man who you know, has like multiple burners. He's in there and he's like Ben Simmons' greatest one two seven times five four, right, and he's like in he's like Ben Simmons doesn't need to shoot. He's the greatest rebound, he's defensive guy, and in his heart, he's like I'm so tired for sticking up for Ben Simmons, and thank you for admitting what everyone knows about Ben Simmons is that.

He's just not worth it.

It's sad and the truth is the truth, which is yes, why isn't your dad teaching If your dad's a pro basketball player, why doesn't he teach his little son when he's like five years old to just put up shots over and over and over.

Well, and you'd think by pure reps now, because it's not like he's not putting up jumpers when he goes to the gym, how.

Many jumpers is he putting up? Though?

Just by naturally being there, you're gonna put up jumpers. I feel like, I don't know, it's just weird, but I mean, hey, he went to my alma mater, LSU, and he never learned how to shoot. And I defended him till the day we got eliminated from NCAA tournament contentions. So I'm I feel for this guy. We've been through a similar thing, he said.

If I'm being honest, I think it's fucking ridiculous. Oh God, he's never gonna learn how to shoot. He never will. It doesn't matter if it looks good. He is unwilling to change. He is on They paid him the bag. Why would he shoot? Why would he What a great confessional. We need more of these. Let's get another one. Oh yeah, wait, wait, wait, one hundred and thirty seven one hundred and thirty four. By the way, that was the last game that they played against the Heat, thirty two minutes.

Ben Simmons played.

Two shots, two shots, and I'm sure.

They weren't jumpers.

Everyone.

This is a Tyler congrats on the new podcast. I have a question for you. How do you think the shorter league affects the overall season. Do you think it creates more rest time for the players or less stressed, or do you think it's harder because each game has a little bit more weight to it.

Thanks I would say that it's even though there's less travel, it's gonna be more difficult to win against teams because you're playing on back to back and you're doing that back to back multiple times. On top of that, you've got all of these crazy restrictions, a bunch of unknowns. So I don't think Tyler, that each game has more weight to it because the season is shorter. I think it's just like COVID, it makes things. This may be

So shout out to.

Tyler aka t Loan aka the Zodiac Killer for that voicemail. We will see you guys next week. That is all the time that we have for this league. What a crazy ass episode, Marty, Holy fuck. This may be one of the craziest moments that we've had in NBA history. And it happened just a couple of days ago, and now we have two years of drama between James Hard and Kyrie Cady.

This thing is endless material for us.

That's why the NBA is the best.

That's why the NBA is the best.

Please subscribe, please rpe, please review that it means so much more than you.

Think it does.

Apple and Spotify put a bunch of weight on that. So also we have this league. Hoodies, they are fired. I'm gonna bring you one, Marty, so that you can wear it.

Thank you. Again for listening and we will be back Monday