Colin Cowherd Podcast - Wolves STUN Nuggets, The Broken Down Knicks, NBA At Its Best In The Playoffs

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then the t Wolves just shut them down. Jamal Murray played well, Jokic did what he did, but Porter and Gordon didn't give you anything, really, Gordon nothing offensively. I mean, I'm sitting watching it. The Western Conference is so good, Like I feel bad if there was if you could only if you lived in the East watch Eastern Conference basketball and you couldn't watch the West, you could only watch East, that would be like, Oh, you'd buy whatever

package it cost you to buy the superior basketball. I guess my takeaway is a really good basketball team, Minnesota being another really good basketball team, and in the end, at the beginning and end of the series, defense prevail. That's kind of my take.

think they were at like one twenty two. So to give you an idea, Denver had this unbelievable offensive stretch in the middle of the series, and honestly, I thought they had a really good stretch in this game. In particular, this game actually felt like a little microcosm of the entire series. That's in a sense that Denver out executed them for the first two and a half quarters and then Minnesota really locked in and they just couldn't score.

Anthony Edwards just did his interview live with the TNT guys and he just mentioned and something I'm surprised at how forthright he was about it. He's like, yeah, I can do other things than score. I can guard the other team's best guard, and I can lock up Jamal Murray. I felt like that's what I did in the second half, and he's right, like, and I cannot remember a time where a guy had a more disastrous first half and then just found a way to turn it around and

be impactful. Like the numbers won't show it, but him drawing double teams consistently was a huge asset to the Minnesota offense. He generated a ton of rim pressure in that second half by just saying screw it, I'm putting my head down and I'm going to the rim. He made a lot of really smart kickout passes to shooters, and he's right. He put Jamal Murray in jail, and

that served a real issue for Denver's offense. And that's another layer of this that like, Denver was up twenty at home in the second half with a chance to go to the Western Conference finals. So I don't want to act like they need to make some sort of dramatic change, but if you were to point to a specific issue, this is a team that generates rim pressure

through overwhelming size in minutes. Soda negated that, and as soon as they negated that, it revealed this other issue, which is their perimeter players can't beat people off the dribble, and so all of a sudden, they couldn't get the defense in rotation and get some of the higher quality Nuggets shots that were accustomed to seeing. Meanwhile, for Minnesota, it's like nos Reed is slashing, Karl Anthony Towns is slashing,

Anthony Edwards is slashing. It was an athletic mismatch and they were able to take advantage of that.

everybody takes their turn. It's a patient team. And I think a lot of that is Finch, a lot of it's Mike Conley. You know, you've got guys that have been around the lead league all these It's a great combination of size, athleticism, coaching, construct, dynamic young star, older veteran IQ player. Not to say Ant it's not a bright kid, very self aware it's I said this earlier in the series. The construct of both teams is sensational. Yeah.

I mean usually you can look at a team like like you can look at Indiana and go, they have some defensive holes. They need better wing defenders. Or you can look at the next and go they need another pure score. Even Boston sometimes I'm like God, and when Porzingis is out, it's like it gets They need threes, they need something beyond that. Boy, I look at Minnesota and I'm like, as I've always been kind of hot and cold on Carl Anthony Towns, but he hit some

big baskets in his game. He hit big baskets in the series. Don't we talk about this in the NFL and we don't talk about it in the NBA A lot a lot of times in the NFL will just go why that team's smartly constructed. Minnesota's front office they're coaching this. They have everything, the hustlers, the wings, the dynamic star, the size, the IQ distributor colleagues like a quarterback. It's like they're unselfish but can then go heavy into ant I. It's just it's really well done. They're like

a smartly constructed pro football team. I don't see the holes really.

the like complete control over it. Denver had complete control after Game five. They weren't even competitive in those middle three games, Like Minnesota got killed at all three of those games. And what was so impressive was Karl Anthony Towns, guy who's kind of known as being an consistent offensive player, showed up in a big way here in game seven. Yes, Jaden McDaniels, a guy who's known as being a bad offensive player, showed up in a big way in Game seventeen.

I hit multiple massive corner threes, little push shots in the lane. Obviously, is this incredible defensive player. The story for Minnesota is their defense is unbelievably good, but their offense can come and go. And when Karl Anthony Towns is actually well, when Jada McDaniels is playing well, you can't beat them because they're are, because they're they're their defense is so oppressively good.

Offensively they're not, but they can. Like this game, they just sort of hung around and the ant wasn't delivering much and then here comes go Baar and then nas Reid and then and adds defense in Karl Anthony Towns. When you have a seven game series, it allows you to figure stuff out. It allows horrible games, terrible halfs, and also in a seven game series, and I think

Malone and Chris Finch are both great coaches. This really came down this old series came down to like eight minutes, and in that eight minutes, Minnesota was better defensively, and a couple of their inconsistent offensive guys. Hit. I mean, I don't want to over be overly cynical with Denver. I'm like, hey, it's hard to win back to backs. It's just hard. It's you know, there's no Jordan right now in the league. And even for I mean Magic Johnson got to nine finals, won five, lost four. That

was Kareem Magic, I mean worthy. I mean this stuff is hard. I mean, I love Jamal Maray, it's never been an All it's never been a first team All NBA guy. So it's like you to good teams and Ant's just better today than he was last year.

one particularly competitive. Right from twenty nineteen on, we've had six consecutive seasons where we haven't even had a repeat conference champion, let alone to repeat NBA champion, and like a big part of that is, like the league is just super good now, you know. It's like it's like it's like even if you happen to get through Minnesota, it's like you've got to get through Dallas, and that

Dallas team really defends their rimp protection is insane. Luca and Kyrie haven't even been playing that well and they're still winning. And then you go out East and obviously Boston is this incredible team and so like, and Boston hasn't even been able to win repeat conference championships with all the talent that they have, so like, it really is just a testament to how deep the league is with talent. And I think if there's one thing to point to in terms of Minnesota, it's they their defense

is reliable on a night to night basis. You mentioned that earlier, and the important detail there is there is no variance with a defense. There's variance with offense in the sense that like sometimes a role player is hot, sometimes he's not. Sometimes a ball handler misses his pull up jumpers, sometimes he makes him jokis for instance, like last year made all of his threes. This year can't make a three to save his life. Like there's variance

to offense. With defense, it's like if you bring the effort, you're going to impact the game.

have at this phase. And for the record, Denver last year was a really good defense in the playoffs, and so to me, it's it's timely contributions from role players like Cat Tonight, Nasriy Tonight, Anthony Edwards coming into tonight was averaging thirty six and six on over fifty percent from the field, over forty percent from three, over eighty percent from the line. He's been playing at a bona fide, top tier, super duper star level, and then you have

this all world defense. It's a really, really good basketball team, really difficult to beat four times out of seven.

player movement type of offense. Right, So, like it's going to come down to Jada McDaniel's on Luca and a lot of Anthony Edwards on Kyrie and how well they can hold up in those matchups, and how well they can protect guys like like Mike Conley and Karl Anthony Towns because we know Luca likes to pick on matchups.

The bottom line is, though, is I think I think Ant right now, because of especially underneath the injury that Luca's dealing with with his knee, and it's probably going to be the best player in that series going in, and they have the size, they have the ability to really drag Dallas's offense down into the mud. I think I'll probably end up picking picking Minnesota. I'm gonna need to look into some film, but they feel like the safe bet right now.

Ant's aggressive anyway, and my feeling is Minnesota the construct of the I mean, I think Minnesota physically size aggressiveness an Ant. I also think we have to remember Ant. This was such a great series for Aunt. Even though he wasn't great every game, this was the first series he was in that felt like a final like this. This felt like Jordan getting past Detroit, Jordan getting past Boston. Forget the championship, getting through these just Western Conference heavyweight

all Fraser fights. You move, I mean you you it's it's you beat you know. It's like you you beat a Brady or a Mahomes in the playoffs. It is as big as the super Bowl. It feel it's the same thing, the same arc. And I feel like this is a really memorable moment in Ant's career. We'll go back and go, God, remember the Nuggets series, remember that fight. I kind of feel like Ant will put the cape on, He'll he'll sleep on. This gonna be a great flight

home to Minnesota. You celebrate, you get off night's sleep, then you start gearing in. But I do feel like and we saw when you see this with great players, they take steps, and I think this is the first step of Ant, Like that's the first round of his career, the first big heavyweight fight. Uh and I think Minnesota

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Morgan and Morgan. Winning in the NBA is hard hiring. Morgan and Morgan, it's easy, let's go to the Knicks Pacers. So obviously New York fell apart. I don't think Indiana matches up with Boston terribly well if Porzingis is back at any point in the series. It's just too much offense against the poor defensive team. Halliburton played so well today, But I was thinking about New York because there is sort of a history with Tibbs in Chicago. People fall

in love with Tibbs, his team's grind. American sports fans pay so much money to go to games. They love teams to play hard. Those Bulls teams played so hard and so many minutes, and then they break down and they don't win the title, and eventually everybody turns on TIBs. Get him out of town. And you watch this New York team, Jason, and you're like, too many guys got hurt. It wasn't an injury. Like four of their best players are hurt at the end. And my takeaway is there's

gonna be some perspective. How do you get fewer minutes? How does this not happen again? You don't get much immediate help in the This is not football, and So I look at the Knicks and I'm like, God, I hope they don't give up de Vincenzo. He's such a good catch and shoot guy. Now he's so New York Brunson. I mean, I look at him and I think, Okay, I know you got to make a move, but don't f this up, Like, don't screw up. I mean, you just posted something today. You play with your guys, You

have your guys. All it takes is one wrong guy in basketball, and the whole chemistry is off and it's hard to and I feel like, God, you can't bring it back because they do need another score. But God, I want you to bring back everything else. And I think it's harder than you just think of just plug in, Paul George. I think it's harder than that. What do the Knicks do?

about Chicago so true. This particular team only could win by playing their dude's huge minutes, like that was their only shot. Like so I kind of understood the angle in the sense that like he leaned into that because that was their one shot at it. But like the Mitchell Robinson thing, it's like embiid kind of grabs his ankle and twists right. Jalen Brunson's hand that was bad luck. But everything else was like a wear and tear injury. Like OG's hammy that was like in a barn burner

of a Game two. At the end, you could tell he was tired and he went into transition situation and pulled up like that's a wear and tear injury. The Josh Hart abdominal injury, that's a were and tear injury. The Jalen Brunson foot injury that was aware and tear injury. So I do think that the workload did end up breaking them down at the end of the day. So what you you really need to do is find a way to bring in firepower without messing up. Yes, the chemistry way it can be rotational guys.

You can't bring in kids on this roster. You have to bring in guys almost like veterans, who are like I like this. I'm a grinder, I'm a rotational player because I think what Tibbs asks of you. I'm just it's so precious. It doesn't even look like any other NBA team.

whole life. As far as like this is where we got to give Leon Rose from credit because like they they they actually have a lot of salaries that they can package in a trade without having to worry about messing with their depth. Julius Randall's on the books for thirty million next year. Yeah, that's a contract you can trade. Boy in Bogdanovich. He's on the books for nineteen million. It's not guaranteed, but they could guarantee the contract and

then trade him. Like you have depth a at certain position groups, like you've proven that you're still pretty good. I Mitchell Robinson was very important to this team, especially in the Sixers series. But my guess is you can look on the margins like a guy like Duce McBride is a guy that somebody around the league's gonna want. He can he can defend shoot threes and run second side action when your guy passes the ball to him late in the shot clock. That's a guy you could

put in a deal. Mitchell Robbinson. And if you committed to a guy like Isaiah Hartenstein, you could get a lower level, cheaper backup center, and I think they can make this type of pivot without having to disrupt the chemistry. To your point, I think another thing that would help is if you have another shot creator and you are a better offensive team in the half court, that alleviates some of the I don't need to play every single possession like it's the final possession of Game seven of

the NBA Finals, you know what I mean. Like it allows you to kind of ease through the season a little bit, take it easier on your bodies, cut minutes down. But yeah, that's the big one for me, is like they need to find a secondary shot creator without tweaking the actual core of the team, and if they do so, they will have the depth to be able to kind

of like ease their way through the season. But the huge I think silver lining in all of this, I personally think Jalen Brunson proved this year that he can be the best player on a championship team as long as his number two is really good. I think his number two needs to be really good. But Jalen Brunson, you can make a case he's the best small guard in the league right now. He's been incredible in like

a big part. He wore down in this series. Yeah, but like I thought he was incredible for the most part in this playoff.

Michael Red. He's an All Stars And then it didn't last very long. But generally, if you're like a Chris Middleton, you develop into a good two, you know what I mean, and that's kind of what you are, and then it's quick and then you move back to being maybe a three. No, Jalen's a one. I think it's also when you find your one, like you find a staff, you know, you find a Kobe or whoever it is that you have to have players that compliment them. And so like Devindenzo

is a catch and shoot guy. He doesn't need the ball in his hands. It's great. You can't let him go. He's he's really become classic Villanova guy. You know, he's between Villanova and the NBA's bounced around. But he's really valuable to that team, I thought. And he's by the way, chip on his shoulder. You know, he's a tough guy, like he really fits the culture. That's the guy I

would really cling to. But you gotta find somebody that's a good wing defender we'll put in the minutes, doesn't need the ball a ton you know, you're not going to get KD. But KD you know if he wasn't, he didn't bring other stuff kind of a get the ball late in the shot clock score. I do think Paul George is fascinating. I just don't know going into a new building if Steve Balmer, I mean, I just where do you thin? What do you think they do?

What do you think the Clippers do with with with Paul, Because Paul's going to have options.

that people are targeting. Michale Bridges from the Nets is going to be a guy people are targeting. There will be teams that call Phoenix and try to poach one of their stars and be like, hey, there's a disappointing season. How does all this stuff sound? You know what I mean.

Lauri Markinen is another guy like if you were looking for a guy who could give you twenty five points a night and some rebounding support while also being primarily a play finisher off the ball, that's a guy like if you if you went og and Andobi Lori Markin and Isaiah Hartenstein, that's an awesome front.

is going to be the opposite. There's gonna be a lot of people looking to sell, and so you might be able to get a player of higher quality without having to throw a ton of value into it. And so I think that there's gonna be options out there. It really depends. The problem with the Lori marketing type is again, I do think it would be advantageous to make it so that Brunson didn't have to initiate every

single possession. Yes, it'd be great if there was a kde or a Paul George, because with that guy you could be like, hey, Brunson can play thirty four minutes a night, and we're going to get great offense in the other fourteen minutes because we can run it through this other guy, or Brunson has a bad matchup in this series, so we can go through another angle. Or you know, Brunson just took three possessions on in a row.

Now he's tired. He can go stand in the corner and be a spot up shooter while this guy goes to work. Like, I do think they'll probably prioritize a shot creator. I wonder you know, Brandon Ingram is kind of an interesting type of player. The one problem with him is like he's had a lot of injury stuff, but he's probably going to be the discount option. I mean, I'm really curious to see you ends up getting him

because he's going to be a discount option. But I do think they'll go after some kind of upgrade.

And the Patriots had Randy Moss is fine, Randy King with stuff Ingram can be disengaged. When I when I my whole career, even in l when I watched him his whole career, I've always felt like I'm not exactly sure what's showing up tonight. A little Rashid Wallace. On the good nights, you're like, why isn't he Why isn't he first team on NBA in our standas, But those he has nights where he just doesn't feel like he even wants the ball. But the Knicks are so smartly,

they're so clearly built. It's such a defined culture you can handle. A guy who sometimes is a bit disengaged, has to be prodded because what they've proven is they don't need I feel with Zion's weight and injuries, like a lot of times the Pelicans are like, we need Brandon tonight, and sometimes he doesn't show. The Knicks won't need him every night. Like the culture is set. New Orleans was trying to figure their culture out. New York's is set and Ingram's it's not going to be built

a rounding room. That's what I always said with Kad and Golden State was perfect. They didn't need him for culture and leadership. Hit shots like Brandon could be like hitch shots. They could use a finesse player. They've got pro wrestlers, you know, they got like fullbacks everywhere. They need a wide receiver on the sideline.

Now here's the thing with Brandon Ingram, which I think is super fascinating. I think this shine in a big way in two recent instance instances. One when Zion Williamson kind of took the keys in two when he played on Team USA, it became pretty apparent that Brandon Ingram was a guy that kind of needed to have the ball in his hands, right, but so specifically with New

York though, they're looking for that. They need someone so that Brunson doesn't have to do everything because de Vincenzo can play off the ball, because ogn and O, we can play off the ball, because Josh Heart plays off the ball. Like everybody on their roster is an off

ball threat primarily except for Brunson. And so having a guy like that, like and you can imagine next to Og and Andobi, it's like OG's going to take the primary point of attack assignment for wing players, so he can primarily focus on being, you know, kind of a help defender, which, by the way, Brandon Ingram had an awesome season as a help defender for New Orleans this year because he's got super long arms and he can read plays and stuff like that. So he'd be an

example of a guy that could go with that. I think raises their physical profile without messing with the chemistry of the team while giving them a secondary ball handler while being relatively affordable. I don't think they're going to have to pay much. Brandon Ingram's stock is at an all time low right now because of the Olympics and because he just went into a series fresh off of an injury and got his butt kicked by the thunder, so he would be an interesting kind of fallback option for them.

they would just make them uncomfortable. Like you, they're not the most skilled team, but Boston I think can be pushed around a little bit and intimidated. I think Indiana is it's again. The games will be fun. Offensively, I think the games will look like two really talented offensive teams. Boston's the better. I think there'll be a lot of points. That's kind of my take on what You'll have five games series Boston and there'll be some one twenty six

is one thirteens. It'll be fun basketball. I just don't think. I don't think Philip. I don't think Indiana can make stops if they have to in the series.

Boston in the nd season tournament. Now one of the couple things there that was before Halliburton heard his hamstring and what you saw for the handful of games in this series where when you saw Haliburton's upside, that was kind of what he was like every night before his hamstring injury. Like he was the Steve Nash two point zero. He's super fast, he could shoot, he could get into the peyton and generate all these high quality shots. So like the way I look at it, it's like Indiana

is a team full of specialists. It's like two great play initiators and TJ. McConnell and Tyrese Haliburton, and then a bunch of play finishers, guys like Miles Turner, Pascal Siakam, all these guys, right, Pascal Siakam can play on an island a little bit, but like they're they've They're just this specialist team, whereas Boston is a team that's got like a bunch of stars basically, or fringe stars that

are like learning how to play together. And so the case for Indiana is like Indiana's optimized Boston's note Indiana lives in transition. Maybe they just make the whole series attract meet, maybe they make a bunch of shots, maybe they win. But Boston is like so much better defensively, and they do have more talent overall offensively as well, Like they're just better on both ends of the floor.

So it's hard to find a pathway to victory. I just think with Indiana's home court advantage, they'll probably push the series to five or six. But I have a really hard time believe in Indiana gets a win in this one.

all kind of you know, it's kind of kids. They could have used probably a thirty three year old guy in big moments, you know, they could depend on, and it's sort of this is what they were. So I think Lahoma City flyes home and thinks this was a great season. I think Dallas needed to win it. You know, I've said this before. I know Lucas great. I've been watching the NBA since seventy two. He's one of the more gifted, unstoppable offensive players. And it's surprising how many

great offensive players are unorthodox. They're different, they're weird. You know. I grew up with George Gervin, you know, you know, finger rolls from twelve feet, Moses Malone, a lot of these prodigious scores, the skyhook, it ain't jumpers. You know, Alex English led the eighties in scoring and couldn't jump right like some guys are just they're just scores. Luca is so different. He always looks heavy and it's like

Dirk Novitsky fall away but not as pretty. I will give him credit though, to bring in at times a ball centric guy with a unique personality Kyrie, and to sort of step back on ball usage, play better defense,

like he's not stubborn like Mellow. To me almost felt stubborn, like Luca's got some self awareness Luca's I mean, that's my takeaway, is that the most if I was a Maverick fan, I'm like our guy kind of looked at himself and when I got to be a better defender, I'm never gonna look great, but I'm gonna put the effort in and I'm gonna get the ball out of my hands. And it's like that's something. The self awareness is something.

for like a four year period. I think he was completely unstoppable. There's so many of these like kind of weird players out there. I wonder if that has to do with just the unorthodox nature of guarding those players versus the traditional matchups that players see elsewhere around the league. But like one of the things that I think k Kyrie I think is one of those players that is, when he has slotted in the right role, impacts winning

like a top fifteen player in the league. But when he's outside of that right role, you start to kind of see some of his warts. And you know, we saw that in Boston when it's like, Okay, he can't be the number one, Like he just clearly is incapable of doing that. Even in Brooklyn, you know, I by the way, that Brooklyn team was pretty good. I think that was a turned ankle in a strained hamstring away from probably winning the title in twenty twenty one, but again,

he wasn't playing alongside to do everything forward. That's what's unique about the Luca in Lebron experience, because I don't think it's a coincidence. Kyrie is playing this incredible defense that he's playing this season. This is his best defensive season since twenty sixteen, when he hit the game winner in Game seven of the NBA Finals and guarded Steph the majority of the series. The reason why is on that team, because Lebron could take sixty percent of the

offensive possessions and just eat up all that usage. Kyrie was an excellent off ball player. He could spot up and space the floor, but then it was like here's here's a third of the game, go cook, But this rest of the time I got you. Then that allowed him to kind of handle all of his energy distribution in all of these useful ways. And like Kyrie's had some kind of iffy statistical games in this playoff run

where I thought he was awesome. He had a game earlier this series where he took like eight shots, but he had like eleven assists and was unbelievable defensively. Like Kyrie, I think when he plays alongside a Swiss Army knife forward that can really run an offense for the majority of a game. He can focus his energy into his his elite traits, and he's got some real elite traits. And then I think, and this is the one last thing I want to say about Dallas, and it's a

really interesting factor coming into the Minnesota series. Denver can't protect the rim. It is their biggest weakness and that ended up being an issue. You see Nasried and Carrolltown slashing to the rim, Anthony Edward slashing to the rim. Look at what the Lakers did to them. They eviscerated their front line defensively. Minnesota is going into Dallas. Dallas is an excellent rim protection team. Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford have transformed that defense into like are you talk

about redwoods? Those dudes underneath the basket can really protect the right.

For the record, I thought Dallas deserved to win. I thought they were the better team. Yeah, but again, like they have some real rim protection, and that's going to be an interesting angle on the Minnesota series because Minnesota likes to attack the rim. There's slashing, dribble, penetration, attack the rim type of offense, and Dallas is kind of built to withstand that. So that'll be a really really interesting element in the next round.

you're gonna face six six guys a lot. But somebody pointed out in the Internet. I apologize for not remembering who it was, but they said, Wow, that jumper starts really low, really low. You can get away with that in high school, AU and probably college, but man, that that's a half second. That's a third of a second. And I watched Bronni and he's athletic enough, he runs the floor. Well, you know he's going to be a

smart kid. I don't wantry to buy any of the intangible stuff, but I looked at that jumper and I thought, I don't I'm not a scout. I'm not going to pretend I know. But you've seen it. Is that have to be corrected for Bronnie?

the shot. And like just compare that for compared, just as a juxtaposition, watch a Dante DiVincenzo three as he comes flying off a screen like it's a it is lightning quick, really says, he gets it into his pocket and elevates right. So like here's the thing, though, let's not fool ourselves. None of us saw Brownie as a lottery pick. He's a project. But he's a project who with basketball shoes on, is going to be the better

part of six to three. He's two hundred and ten pounds of solid muscle with strong like yeah, like I was considered a strong forward in college and I was two twenty five, So like to give you an idea, he's like big and strong. You know, he's got super long arms. He's got like six eight wingspan. He's what had the third best vertical leap at the combine, Like he is an elite athlete at his position who's got good strength and length. So, like, what does he project

to be in the NBA? Probably, like you said, either

a backup guard kind of like a ducemicc bride. Duce McBride is like kind of the low end, and then the high end is like the guy like a Jalen Suggs, where maybe he could start and be kind of like the point guard or two guard on the team that uses forwards to initiate offense, you know, because there's a lot of teams out there, kind of like the twenty twenty Lakers they started Casey and Danny Green, Like, you don't need a point guard if your forwards are stars.

So like, there are teams out there that could use a player like that. My thing is is like he's clearly a project, So you're right, he's gonna have to get a shot blocked fifteen times in practice until he listens to the coach that says like, hey man, we got to tweak your release. Let's get in, let's work on this. It's gonna be a process. But like, I

have no problem with him getting his chance. I think I don't know about you, Colin, but I think it's absolutely hilarious everyone's focusing on the nepotism angle because it's literally as if it hasn't been. Every level of basketball is like that. I remember when I when I was at the U of A. It'd be like they'd sign some five star recruit and they'd bring two of his friends, one to be a manager and one would get a

spot on the team. You know, of course that the nassis on antenne Koumpo plays for the Bucks that he like barely looks like an NBA player. Sometimes like at the end of the day, like this is such an ordinary thing in life, and like he's going to get his opportunity because of his dad, no doubt. But no real coach is going to put him on the floor and give him minutes in a meaningful game unless he earns it right, and he will have his opportunity to

earn it. He does have legitimate NBA tools, And that's the part that I think it's gloss over too much. He has NBA tools. Let him have his opportunity. Let's see what he makes of it.

It's like politics, the Clintons, the Bushes, the I mean, this is the way the world works, like corporate America, political America. I mean, how many NFL coaches try to squeeze their kid on the staff? You know, Pete Carroll was well known squeezed. You know, he wants his kid on the staff, and Belichick, by the way, put his kid on the staff. I just don't have a problem again, Brownie is when you when I watch him talk, when

I watch the soundbites, he's very grateful for it. This isn't some arrogant kid who feels like he's like, yeah, I get it, like everybody gets it in the room. So it doesn't bother me at all. I want to point on this too. So you know, I've said this before that the thing that worries me a little bit about the NBA, and I saw this. Hockey's always been international and has never landed for the TV audience in America.

Baseball is increasingly over the last twenty international, and it's lost its currency it's social currency in America, still very popular in person, not on TV. The NBA will have some challenges as it moves to some streaming services and as it becomes international, but it did get its money. Baseball. Major League Baseball signed a recent deal with Roku. It made thirty million dollars, I mean a million dollars a team. It's an nothing against Roku. It's absolutely an embarrassing contract.

The NBA is going to get like four billion a year or something like that billion a year, five whatever it is. And one of the things, the two things why the NBA will never become baseball a they know how to market. It's a star driven league. Even the international guys they're all one word. It's like, you know, I mean, just think of how many guys in the NBA. It's like Luca, Yannis Jokic. You know, it's like Pele Messe, Ronaldo, like that matters, Share Madonna sting music, right, like you know,

you go if you become a nickname sport. When I was a kid growing up, it was that baseball players often had like nicknames, and so the international players go by one name or a nickname. There's a star ingredient that the NBA has. The second thing is the juice and energy I am watching these playoff games. These crowds are I mean it is. The fans are just you know, like they're giving their heart signs in New York. What the NBA provides, and we all kind of know this

is it. A regular season doesn't matter as much. It just doesn't. It's okay, the NFL is different scarcity of games, But these playoffs, man, I'm telling you, I'm watching these things. I can't turn away so like on Friday nights sometimes in Saturday, because I know I'm not on the next day. I won't sit home and take notes. I won't. I'll go to a restaurant. I'll get park next to it. I'm in a restaurant in LA and Okac and Dallas are playing and people are gasping. La Beach people are going,

oh my god. I'm like, you don't do that for baseball. You just don't do it for baseball. The quality of energy and juice in these games. I mean, you're like a savant of this stuff, But I tend to view stuff almost as a generalist. Does it play to the masses, Like I stopped talking baseball fifteen years ago. I didn't see the juice. I didn't see the stars. One of the reasons I talk to NBA. Just watch these crowds,

watch the energy. Jesus. Every possession Denver and Minnesota, OKC Dallas for an hour, every possession matter.

difference between Ethan was trying to make a point. Basically, what he was saying is is like, even though NHL and baseball and basketball all are like these inventory sports, he was saying, the NBA just feels like it's worth more.

buzzer towards the tail end of season. I was at a restaurant watching that game. The restaurant went crazy. No one's doing that for a d Backs Yankees game on a Tuesday, Like, it's just it's it is. There is an energy in like a the the NBA has the ability to be it can be boring for five straight days, but then it can have like a random Friday night that is like an instant classic, and that I think is something unique.

things with baseball. They've shortened the game smartly, but what they've also done is they've reduced the time for it. Bats. You want Bryce Harper like you don't want Bryce Harper ever, Dhing, you want Bryce Harper. I mean Bryce Harper going from right field to first base. I see more of Bryce Harper. I want his face. This was taught to me years ago by Glenn Jacobs at ESPN when and I sort of moved off baseball as a topic. He said, and he taught me this. He said, how much is your

star on TV. I want to see Shack in his prime on TV, close up ISO cameras all the time, and that's Brady, Brady Gronk, Brady Mahomes, Kelsey, Andy Reid. Your stars are constantly on hockey baseball. They're not. So the NBA has that advantage is that like the quarterback I get, I mean Sga, Luka, Kyrie, Sga, Holme, Luca, like four guys just back and forth, back and forth, the occasional lou Dort, you know. I mean, you can

have occasional guys that don't stick out. But like I'm watching that thing today and it's just I mean, Jokic, Murray and even Quirky Gobaar, we know him. He's been around. So the NBA's it's it's just I wouldn't talk it. I mean, when you're a generalist, I have to talk in headlines on FS one. I wouldn't talk it if it didn't work. I talk NFL, NBA College for well

and an occasional moment. So NBA is fine. That's why that's why there's a bidding war right now between NBC and TNT and ESPN, and you know they'll probably all get it all right. Oops tonight, Jason, timph this was just good. What a great day, what a great weekend. I love doing this so much with you and keep crushing it season.