Finals Reaction, Free Agency Preview, Vince's Draft Night Story

Now he on that got what they wanted then signed you run all right, everybody, We now have a NBA champion. Congratulations to the Boston Celtics getting it done in what

we consider the gentlemen's suite. You know, they answered a lot of questions, critics they were obviously under a microscope all season long, and even particularly into the playoffs, into the start of the finals, where you know people are saying, all right, well, are they really that good because of you know, the teams they played, star players were down or whatever. Well it's you answer that question by saying, hey, that's not our fault. We did was supposed to do.

And they answered the call, took the challenge when it was time, and then the question was, Okay, I think we all understood how important Porzingis was for them all season, so the question that needed to be answered then was can they win in the big game without them? And boy did they do so. Porzingis was fantastic in Game one, gave him what he had in Game two, tried to get himself back, just motivation. But I just this team. They were hitting on all cylinders all playoff long, and

it's hard to deny their accomplishment. And as much as I applaud Dallas, I thought they were very good and I thought it would be a very good series. I didn't know if entertaining series because of the drama to see what Kyrie Luca, who was on a killing spree, just doing this thing, and then the Celtics as a team playing well, the question can can Tatum play well and lead the team? They were winning? They won big.

He didn't play great. I think he had two great game games in this series, averaging twenty two eight and seven, but he shot only thirty nine percent from the field twenty six percent from the three. The numbers, as far as you know what you read, aren't great when you talk about your star player. But at the same time, at the same time, he understood the situation. He did not force the issue when he was not shooting well.

He made plays for other guys, and he allowed the MVP, Jalen Brown, the opportunity to go and do what he needed to do. So congratulations, first of all goes out to Jaylen Brown. I thought he was one of three consistent players for the Boston Celtics. He was number one. Obviously, he averaged twenty point eight so almost twenty one game, five rebounds, five assists, took the challenge on guarding Luka Doncic,

and he was great. He was great, and Luca is a hard guard, and he took on the challenge period. And then I think Drew Holliday was fantastic. I mean, you know, when you talk about a guy who was considered one of your role players, but a very important guy through three games, his name was floating around, let's say whispers about possibly and potentially being an MVP. And then there's Derek White whose name was floating around for potentially being up for MVP. I'm talking about guys that

know their role and do it extremely well. You know. For you guys, young players, I know, we all want to be stars. We all want an opportunity to have a friend, to be the man for a franchise. But you can still be the man for a franchise as a role player. And let me tell you something, I guarantee Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum and the Boston Celtics organization view Derek White and Drew Holliday as superstars because of the role that they had all playoffs, not just

the finals. Throughout all the playoffs, Derek White was fantastic guard in different positions, hit down big shots. We know what Drew was doing on the defensive end. Uh. Just everything in general was just it was fun to watch. I mean it just they made a very good Dallas Mavericks team look average normal because they were playing out of their minds. Dallak Mavericks, and they were stepping up to the plate where everybody felt like, oh, a lot

of people who picked Dallas to win this series. And if you guys recall last week, I spoke about one thing that would be a challenge, well a few things, but one thing in particular that would be a challenge. I felt for the Mavericks, but particularly for the individual player in Kyrie trying to find his way more so

than obviously winning. It's an unbelievable record that he has right now, streak going on as far as playing against Boston, and I don't know if that record is just for I think it's just playing against Boston, not really at Boston, but obviously at Boston he was a different guy. And I spoke on just how tough it is to be mentally strong and kind of stay locked in. I mean, if you mean, you're playing for the NBA Finals, so

it should be easy to lock in. But at the same time, like, whether he admit it or not, it's his kryptonite, you know, it's just fair to say it's like it's his kryptonite. And the moment, I think fans felt like they can affect him with what said. I mean they were saying some crazy stuff, of course, but when they felt like they continue to pour it on. Kyrie is a champion and already he was. He's one of the best players in the league. He was playing like it. It's this. I mean, we saw what he

did in Game three, in Game four. I mean, he just he's a special player and it's just a tough situation where he just if if they're if they're playing against anybody else, you'll see a better version of Kyrie. And I know the different channels sports shows talking about uh, you know, they felt that Kyrie was out of it Dallas. I just from what I saw, yes, you could ride the momentum, but they were riding the momentum of playing

great in the series before coming into Boston. It's just the actual reality of it is that it's just a tough place to play for Kyrie. You know, whether he mints it or not, and that's fine if he does not, but you know, at the same time, he's a monster. He's a beast, and congratulations to him and his team

on a good season. Another thing I loved to highlight and I talked to a lot of people throughout the five games series that was going on, and that people always ask my opinion on it, and I thought, there's two things that I noticed and that the Boston Celtics did, and it was quite interesting. One they allowed Luca to get the switch he wanted to play one on one and put up the numbers he chose to because he you know, he holds the ball, he gets into his

bag and he's a have to score. He averaged twenty nine for this series. And I did say I felt Jalen Brown guarded him extremely well, and what I mean is that he's frustrated him and there were times where you could see the frustration. So they mixed it up. And I always say, as a star player being in that position, if you allow star player to get used to one style of one defense, one guy, one situation, they will exploit you and dominate you. And we saw that in Game four. We saw that, like they got

whatever they wanted, Luca got whatever they wanted. And when you allow Luca to not only score, but get other guys involved, get the lib get the skip passed for open threes, or do whatever he wants, get you in foul trouble you're not going to beat him. Well, they allowed Luca to go get his but made sure they stayed home on Kyrie, and they chose who would be the designated shooter for them, took away the lob plays. Yes, they eventually Game four, they got the lob and everything

they wanted. But and all in all, they made the game tough for him. Then they would switch and give him a different look every now and then they would double team him. Now that these other guys are out of rhythm from Luca playing one on one, now you double team him, giving them a different look. Now you're making Derrick Jones Junior the shooter. And he hit them, but will he hit enough? Or you're making Lively and Gaffer the decision decision makers. They didn't contest with a

full out contest on PJ. Washington. They were playing the percentage game. Yes, he hit some and he got going a little bit, but they played the percentage game because you figure you frustrate Luca by getting the ball out of his hands, particularly high off the court, and then you try to deny and where he has to watch other guys play basketball, and he got frustrating outside of the fact that he was trying to draw a foul or flop you know, the flop play, or complaining every play.

So you can just see the frustrating, the frustration seeping in, particularly in the first three first three games, and it wasn't much complaining in game four because he did everything he wanted to do on the floor. So and he tried his best Game five not to really get to engage with the referees, and Kyrie was just trying. I mean, he was trying to hit the home run every play. It's just this is a tough situation. Man, It's just unfortunate. But I felt like Boston had an unbelievable game plan.

They had a lot of guys out there that cat guard him and out I was reading comments like, oh man, all these guys can't guard. It's not the fact, it's just the fact that you give Luca different looks from Houser to Tatum, to Drew to Derek White, Oh yeah, Jalen Brown, Oh yeah. You give him perzingers every now and then. Oh you also give him al Horford a little bit. So it's a it was just giving them a different look. So he couldn't find the rhythm of just beating one guy. Yeah, so he may beat Hawser

off the drib a little bit. But at the same time, Hauser played great defense sometimes and Luca was just hitting tough shots. He's a tough shot maker. I also want to give a shout out. I mentioned Al Horford. Shout out to Al Horford. Man played in the league forever, been around, and he was able to get it done. Man. It was just it was great to see the elation and the excitement and disbelief. He just couldn't believe it. Man,

It's just it's just a great feeling. It's always cool to watch the initial reactions after teams win the championship. And as much as we a lot of people felt. You talk about numbers, when you look at the actual numbers, Jason Tatum might have had better numbers. Jaln Brown was probably the most consistent player. He delivered each and every night on both ends of the floor. I think they

both had great comments. I know we all were looking at we all were looking at Tatum's reaction to see how he reacted, But I mean, I just think it was the right decision in my opinion. So the next thing that was talked about, obviously after the game was will we see a repeat? Well, we see a repeat. I think Boston will be right there again. They'll have

a chance to be right there again, obviously, Mike. If you guys think back to the beginning of the season, my question was porzingis being healthy and if he was not healthy, do you have enough and can you get a enough out of Al Horford? You did and they were able to. He was prasinga stay healthy most of the season where Al was not worn down come playoff time and you got the best version of Al Horford in the playoffs, which it worked out great for him.

Luke Cornette, I think did his job and played his role well all season. They didn't use him in the playoffs. Cool,

That's not what his role was. His role was to be consistent and to get to buy them minutes throughout the season so you don't wear down Al Horford because Al Horford's worth to the Boston Celtics, in my opinion, was what we saw in the playoffs where you're gonna need him to knock down threes, obviously, but to have to switch and guard some of the faster players in the scores where you don't have to put yo you're gonna put him in situations where he has to guard it,

but he's capable because he's not worn down. So uh it was. It was just job well done by the front off office, just putting in the right pieces. We heard Joel and B said, yes, did Milwaukee gift the championship to Boston? Mister Joel and B, you could be correct because Drew Holliday is the glue and a piece where I think you can plug and play him anywhere because of his unselfishness, his unselfishness and his ability to score when needed, but his willingness to guard multiple positions.

It didn't matter. Man. He was guarding Luca in the post, he was guarding some of the Bigs in switches while Al Horford was out there on the perimeter trying to box those guys out and stuff. So they have a very special team. But in the East alone, we have to think of I'm gonna work my way up with the magic will look like next year. I think they're gonna still be very good. The Pacers, we'll get into that. The seventy six ers getting healthy and see what that

looks like. The Knicks getting healthy. I don't know how I forget them, sorry Jannis. But the Milwaukee Bucks, once they get healthy, they're coming back. We know Giannis is coming back with vengeance, with the vengeance and he's in the lab getting ready. So look out for the Milwaukee Bucks as well. This I mean, that will probably be why that's probably the first team I should have said, is the Milwaukee Bucks. So the East will be interesting.

The West next year is gonna also be very interesting because I think we don't know what Phoenix is gonna look like. We know Denver is gonna have a shot Memphis. See what Houston looks like. Clippers. That's just the name for you. See with Golden State, like I mean, we always see you have teams that we could like, hey, we'll just see what what they look like and just

just helped alone. Now let's get into free agency. Indiana signed Siakam or Web sign Siakam for four years basically one and a half quick numbers, that's like forty seven and some chains a year for Pascal. So they're secure and now they just plug and play pick get some pieces that they need in free agency to add on. Then there's uh, the obvious Lebron and it'd be interesting to see what he does, because I feel like, in my mind, I think he's gonna go back to LA

He has everything he wants there. You know, they just need to upgrade their team, but his life, everything he wants, his businesses that are there, so it makes sense. But you never know, you never know James Harden. I feel like James Harden, it's happy where he is. So I don't know if it's what the price, what the number will look like. And then there's PG with that to see what happens there. Because I feel like, as I'm thinking about it, well, I think James will wait to

see what PG does before he makes his decision. I think that's because it's interesting. We've heard Paul George's name to a lot of teams where he you know, he could possibly be a fit, or he can stay with the Clippers and they run it back and try it again with that same team. You know, you always like to have your your core guys together for as long as possible. To have a great coach in tyleru So who also has done well for himself this summer. And

then there's o g with the Knicks. We saw I read about his his offer from the Knicks and he wasn't happy, so he's opened himself up to free agency. Who he would be a great, great pick for a lot of teams. I think the seventy six Ers would love to have him. I think he'll be a great piece for them. He'll be a great piece for a couple of teams. The first team that comes to mind is the seventy six Ers. He's a three n D guy that can take a lot of pressure off of

your two star players. Because we know Maxie he was a free agent free agent. Also, I think who had a great year. Who's gonna get paid this this summer? Klay Thompson. That's an interesting one for the simple fact, yeah, everything behind it. We heard that he unfollowed the Warriors. Some of the players, uh, I don't know. Draymond and other guys don't seem to worry, aren't too worried about it. But it's just interesting, you know, just gets people talking.

You see Clay is playing with the Bahamian national team, which is interesting. I think they have some pretty interesting pieces there. I'll tap into that later, but Clay Thompson is another guy who will be a hot topic in in a wanted piece for a lot of teams. Clay Thompson with the Magic, Clay Thompson with the Sixers. Maybe Clay Thompson. I don't know how you make that work with the Lakers, but he's a guy that can can can put a team over the over the top with

Claike Thompson. Malik Monk is another guy that I feel like as a guy with a team that needs a score off the bench, Phoenix shoot, he can go back to Sack and they can run that back as well. I think he's going to be important piece. I think KCP, who's a free agent, He's he's going to play a huge role to help get a team over the top. Another three and D guy, role player that knows his role and plays it to the best of his ability. So and then lastly the DeMar Derozen and this is

just the name of you. I know there's a lot of others, but these are some of the big names that I think that could outside of Lebron maybe hardened depending on what PG does, stay where they are. I think those other guys I mentioned, uh PG, possibly Clay og Leak and Case could be on the move to help a contending team and DeRozan could also be that guy to help a contending team, another solid superstar who could play beside another star. You know, here's your veteran.

Here's another guy like DeRozan that could possibly be in Orlando. You got to figure out what you're gonna do. If you bring him, it could work. I think that can work. You move Franz to possibly the four is to play some four. I don't know if that's this cup of tea, but you can or you put the young fella at the four. Franz can play the small forward. I think they can make that work. Over there. There's a bunch

of options for DeRozan as well. So I say all of this to say that it'll be interesting to see what all of these teams that we said get healthy. Then you go and add a free agent or too to make your team better. Maybe some of them names we mentioned. Maybe it's more because I'm sure you guys are having conversations now trying to put these guys into places that makes sense for either your team or someone

else's team. So that's the beauty of podcasting and listening and creating conversation about free agency and where guys could go or potentially go or they could just do what Pascal Si I can didn't stay there and write it out. Free agency is always interesting because I think back to when I was a free agent and I was up lockout hits, and I knew I wasn't coming off the board as what some of the first free agents to go.

But at the same time, I knew I if I would wait, my time, my time would come and I'll fall in my slot of need want in teams contacting. And I got that phone call from Dallas and Mark Cuban was a very interesting conversation. You know, you always see Mark Cuban from from the outside. Getting the conversation having a conversation with him was pretty cool. My conversation with the Memphis Grizzlies was actually pretty dunk cool. They

got on a plane and came on down. Had a great conversation, as well as my conversation with Sacramento Kings. I'm sure y'all said, wait, you play for the Kings. Yes, I did. I played for the Kings for a year and Lottie, they made the trip down. We had a great conversation, great opportunity. So free agency is always nerve racking for some when you're in the position as a free agent to make the moves, decisions, moved the needle of how things go, kind of like where Lebron is.

I think PG is in a position where he where he goes is gonna determine where some of these guys like a OG, maybe even Clay end Up uh OG and O G hit me out OG and Golden State. Oh that would be a good one too. Go ahead, y'all talk about that. But yeah, I just I just I remember even my even my conversations. I had a great conversation in Atlanta also with Lloyd Pierce Man. It's just obviously the conversation. It's funny over the years how

the conversations changed. Uh, you know, they always talking. We know you're older, but we just want you to be a locker room guy. Be this with that. And I was up front with what I what I was looking for and what I wanted to do. I was all all in for mentoring guys and being an example in the locker room and helping guys navigate through their careers.

But I felt like as a player, you still for young guys, it's easy to go talk to them and help them verbally, but when you go out there and go out on the court and physically show them what that conversation looks like. I think that's when you're worth to a team is elevated. So that was some great conversations in Atlanta. I had some great games in Atlanta over my career, so the play in Atlanta was pretty

darn cool. Met some great people. So I'm definitely locked in, just like you guys are for free agency because it's gonna be interesting. It really is. I think this is this is the year to see, you know, what Lebron decides to do. Like I said, it's just gonna be the trickle down effect. I don't know safe tune. With all that being said, along with free agency, we go

back now. We backtrack comes the draft before free agency, because the draft which is coming up June twenty sixth and twenty seven, it's a two day thing now, which is interesting. But I'm going to get into why I think it's interesting college basketball. Some people say it's a down year for the draft. Sure, I know a few. As a big I think Clinging, I think Donovan Clinging,

the big fella from yukon't read Shepherd. It's interesting about Read Shepherd because I know his dad played against his dad, So it's just pretty cool to see guys that I've played with now kids are making their own way, doing the thing, getting their opportunity. And I mean, he can

go top five, Read, so good luck to you. But it's just the draft is always rather interesting, regardless of how we see the draft, being a strong or weak draft, it plays a bigger role more so internally in the NBA because all of these free agents that we talked about that we mentioned plus more sometimes can determine how

the draft works. So how a player is drafted, and we as fans we watch it, we feel like, hey, this player is good enough because we look at the position or the number, But it's more so need sometimes. And I know the Hawks have the number one pick, and obviously we're hearing them say they're going to keep their pick. They have no intentions of trading it. I'm not very familiar with the French guy. I've seen some video who we he has potential. It's like everybody else,

so I'll be interested to see where they go. I mean, I have had conversations. I'm sure you guys have had conversations about what they should do. I know we're hearing whispers about them potentially moving their two stars and Trey and the Jontey Murray and others are Clint Capella potentially on the go. So if they're gonna do that, they're gonna have to. I mean, it's a lot. It's easy for us to be armchair gms in Archair, you know Archair gms and the part of the organization for draft

night or what teams should do. But it's it's easy to place a guy that we feel that should be there. It's the tough part is making the money work, because in reality they have to make the money work because just like I said, I mentioned some of those guys, like I said, og would be great at Golden State. Yeah, but does it work? Will the money work? I'm sure they can make it work. And that's kind of how things work. And I say that because I think to my draft and for those who are too young, my

draft was nineteen ninety eight. The Clippers had the number one pick, selecting Michael Oliva. Candy Mike Bibby was number two, Brayfela Frienz was number three, Antoine Jamison was number four, and that was number five. Also in that draft was Paul Pierce, Dirk Nabisky tractor trailer. That's just to nab

a few. I'll stop there, but I've said that because I was traded draft night, and I remember I think back to my workouts coming out, like the Toronto Rafters when I was playing working out playing pick up, they would come down come to watch me to said, hey, you're available at four, we're drafting you, so you might as well come work out for us. It's like, okay, and I worked out for Golden State. I worked out for Sacramento Kings. Down the line, I think there were eight.

Did I say white Chocolate? I think White Chocolate was also in that draft I worked out for. I worked out for Vancouver and the Clippers didn't want me to work out because they tell me no because they already knew they were either taking Oliver Candy or Bibby. It was already said Olacan or Bibby. We're going to go one and two. Denver. I worked out for Denver, had a great workout, felt like I could possibly go as high as three. So it's just a lot of waiting sees.

I mean, I think if you bring in any draft pick or any player who's gone through the draft process. I think a majority of them saying working out for teams as nerve racking because you never know did you do or play as well as you think you did. And that was kind of my thing for a couple of couple of teams Golden State. I had a great

workout Sacramento. My workout was great. I didn't. I had a lot of things that went wrong in my workout with Toronto, So in my mind, I didn't think I worked once I was able to get on the court, I didn't feel like I worked out or I had a great workout. I was told I had a darn a good workout, but it didn't feel like it. So that's the up and down. And when teams coming like, man, how was my workout? Oh, I had a good workout Denver, but they wanted ready for friends. But Denver really liked

and liked me and enjoyed my workout. You know, do they just tell you that? Possibly? But whatever? And then the fourth pit comes out was like ooh, Toronto, and I was just like, you know, so the story goes. I going into my workout for Toronto, my flight was delayed delayed, delayed to where I got in so late to where I was staying because I hadn't checked it all day. They canceled my reservation, so I had to go check into another hotel. Finally get situated my bags

back up. My bags didn't come on time, so I had to wait for my bags, which caused me to go into the to the one am morning, which then my reservation was canceled where I was staying. Once I finally got my bags, I ended up going to check into another hotel. When I checked into that hotel was starting to get into the to the one thirty hour, I ordered room service I hadn't eaten that was running late. So now we're getting into two three in the morning.

I have to go to sleep for this workout. Well, finally get to sleep with all just the nerves of it. The ball the ball boy picks me up or whoever a couple of people come to pick you up for the workout, and I'm working out by myself. I'm not working out with anybody else. Finally get to the practice facility, meet everybody, shake hands, how you doing, small talk, blah blah blah, ask your questions, and then like all right, all right, let's get ready to go, go, get changed,

get ready for your workout. No workout gear, didn't have any workout gear. The ball kid, I guess I forgot my workout gear. So we're sitting there like dang, and it wasn't in that facility, so he had to get in the car go down to where to the practice facility or wherever the stuff was. Now I'm just like dang, everything is going sideways for this workout. Finally get in there, trying to get stretched, get myself going, and then doing

the drill and I remember early full court. I'm just trying to dribble fast, down up, do the pull ups, and I'm pulling up a little short, little short. And at the end of the day, they're trying to see your potential. I mean, because you can go and hit every shot and you could just be having a day, or you can go miss every shot and you could

just having a bad day. They just want to see your potential and what can how you can fit in with their team, and if they have the resources and the coaches that can make you a better player and fitting what they're trying to do. So all these things obviously later on I understood that, but when you're in the moment, you're just trying to be as perfect as possible. So Toronto is up and they call Antoine Jamison's name instead of mind. I was like, hmm, that's interesting, Well

let's go back. One of the coaches like, if you're available at four, we're taking you, so you might as well come work out for us. So I was like, all right, well I did come work out for him. Everything went bad in my mind. I didn't feel like I played well. Antoine didn't work out for the Toronto Raptors. So I'm like, the heck is going on? All right, whatever, we're excited for him. My boy got drafted, My roommate college gets after all right, cool, congratulations and family. We're

sitting at the table next to us. They're putting on their hats and everybody's excited in Toronto. And I'm still like, but he didn't work out for him whatever. I didn't know what was all going on behind the scenes, which I talked about earlier leading up to this story, because they meaning Toronto was working out a deal with Golden State for Antoine's rights, so they said, if you draft him at four, we'll draft then said five exchange, so

on and so forth. And I think at the time Dallas was the Mavericks are trying their hardest to move up to get Antoine. The Golden State was trying to move up what wanted to obviously work out a deal that worked in Toronto's favor to make it all happen. And I find this out later on, because you know, right after that, I get called, I get drafted the Golden State, and I had a pretty darn good workout there.

Shout out to Tremaine folks, my workout partner. But I had a good work out there and it was all interesting. So as I'm going up, yeah, I'm sure you guys heard the story, I'm going up heartbeating. One of the things is that I vowed and it wasn't a meme at that time, but I did not want to trip up the steps as I'm going to go shake the Commissioner's hand, just like I did not want to drop the trophy if I wanted to dunk contests or drop the trophy if I were to have it were to

win the Rookie of the Year. Those were some of the things I was thinking about as a rookie. You don't want to trip up the steps. That was my first hurdle, just trying to rush up there. So I took my time. Well, as this is going on, all this is going on, Antoine has as you know, has already taken his picture. He shakes David Stern's hands. He's on the side, getting ready to do that one interview, you know when you sit beside the stage and do

the interview. He's done that, and now he's standing beside the save stage and my heart's beating excitement. Oh man, that's what I see on TV. Finally here. Blah blah blah. It's all crazy. And he is trying to say something to me at the same time, trying at the trip, trying to figure out what he's saying, trying at the trip, next step, trying to figure out what he's saying. So I'm like, hunh, so I'm holding on this onto the to the rear, like what what are you saying? Huh

what are you saying? I don't know what you're saying. I can't hear you. I go up shake the commissioner's hands. We take the picture, and he says to me, hey, steak, stand right here real quick. I'm about to announce a trade, I said, Okay, Antoine, I see him. He's saying something. I'm still like, what are you saying? All right whatever, I was like, dang, somebody about to get traded already. We're five picks in. Now announce the trade, he said.

The Toronto Raptors traded the rights of Antoine Jameson for Vince Carter the Golden State. Blase blah. I was like, oh, that's why he told me to stay there, because it's me. So I was introduced to the business of basketball five to seven minutes into my the beginning of my NBA career. And as it's happening, if there's a still shot out there somewhere of Antoine and I exchanging hats, and I was like, you know, in that moment, I'm like, man, what you saying? He said? I was telling you, stupid

that we're getting traded for each other. You know that this is going on now. By the time they called my name, I'm standing up, hugged the family, congratulations, walking to the thing, enjoying the moment, get your hat, fixing your hat, really, you know, the saying what's up to something? The people or whatever and go up the stage just said already taking place within Antoine's draft pick, Antoine being drafted and then me being drafted. So I'm like clueless

on what's going on. So he's trying to tell me. I was like, oh, oh shoot, I ain't not good to hear you, blah blah blah. And then we take a picture cheese or whatever. And the cool story is my family, you know, I tell you. So, Antoine's family had on the Raptor's hat and they had it all nice and whatever. My brother and friends and family all they they have the Golden State hat, getting it all nice and write how you like it? And then all

of a sudden, it's like I've been traded. So their family and my family, they're all just throwing hats on the table, switching hats. Find your hat, fix it up. So it's a pretty cool moment. It was to be traded for my college teammate, my good friend who we still talk all the time just about life in basketball and so on and so forth. So it was comforting, interesting, weird, surreal moment because you we watch it all the time, but when it's actually you going up on that stage,

it's you try to emulate what you see. You always I'm gonna do it like this, and sometimes you're so nervous and calling the moment or so much going on forget. But I'm just like, I'm just gonna live in a moment, man. Is It was an interesting moment that once I you know, they always say what you could, you can't it can't do. You started hearing that and you get asked the questions. I was like, man, please, man, I'm I'm an NBA player. Man, I'm about to live. Live this man, Live this life, man,

and enjoy this moment. Man. Twenty two years later, here I Am I mentioned the draft being June twenty sixth and twenty seven. Typically the draft is usually one day first the two rounds, and it's interesting that they're doing it two days. And I was like, why would they do that? And I don't know why, but I think it's interesting this. We don't mention Bronnie James real quick and shout out to him. Man uh, and shout out

to Lebron. I'm glad to hear that he was through Rich Paul, his agent, but to hear that Lebron is kind of letting the process happen for Bronnie if you would, meaning yes, he said, if we if we get a chance to play together, it'd be great. But I'm not pushing the issue. And I'm so happy to hear that because i think at the end of the day, I'll always say, what does Bronnie want? What does Bronnie want?

You know? And this is just me talking guys and you guys, I'm sure some of you agree and some of you don't, or whatever you may do, that's that's fine, But what does Bronnie want? What does Yes, it would be great. It was like it was great to play with my cousin for a couple of years, Like it was. It's nothing like playing with your family, especially at the pro ranks. And now you're talking about a son playing with his dad. Unbelievable. But is that what does is

that what he wants? Does he want that? Is he up for it? Uh? We've always heard, I've always heard, you know, I don't know if you guys have like it coming from Lebron's side, agency side. So I think I personally would love to see him go out there and work out for everybody, because regardless of the teams that you know, we hear Phoenix and Lakers, but there's other teams that he may fit. He may teams may like him to give teams an opportunity to see him,

because you never you never know. I think they want to put him in the best position to succeed more than anything, is my hopes, and it sounds like that's what they're doing for the most part. So I just I wish Brownie luck. I read that he's now ranked fifty fourth. He's fifty fourth best player in the draft. Obviously, we know the Lakers have the fifty fifth pick. I'm not sure how many fifty eight to sixty picks this year. I don't know. Let's just say sixty if not is not.

But my point is he was not ranked in the top sixty coming out. Whether we think it's fair or not, whatever, he clearly has done enough work to where he's earned the right to be now ranked fifty fourth. So he's within a draft pick. Is it the right thing? Is it something he wants? I don't know. I don't know. My opinion is that he cannot get drafted and he can pick the team that he wants, so picks the team that makes sense for him. But as I say that, he has to go and work out for some of

these teams so he can get a vibe. We need a vibe check for the player and the organization. So if this thing doesn't work out, maybe they already know, maybe they already know. It's not why, which could be the reason why they don't allow him to work out for a bunch of teams. But why not just see what's there? Man? You want Brownie to regardless of how we feel, we want Brownie to have as good of a career as he possibly can. So I know a lot of you don't feel that he should be in

this position or whatnot. But regardless of how it is, he's going through the process. And one of the things I mentioned before, and I'm gonna say it again that I loved about one of Brownie's interview He's like, don't pick me because I'm Lebron james Son. Picked me because I earned it. So we'll see what that means, you know. And I know a lot of people say, yeah, okay, whatever, But at the same time, I love that he said that, and I felt like that was one hundred percent genuine

pick me because I earned it. Mean that told me everything about him. He wants to earn his way, earn his way in this league. That's why I said, you know, it'd be great to hear what he actually wants, but he seems like he wants to earn it and be an NBA player for a long time. So I think this is my opinion. How you go about that is allow him to work out for other teams, continuing to do the stuff he's done. I mean, he has the

inside track. He's always worked with the best players. I mean he made himself a player coming in as a freshman, through his senior year in high school to where he even has that chance. Yes, he's Lebron James, but at the same time, your son has to be able to do something. And his numbers didn't look great, whatnot, But he held his own in the McDonald's game. And I understood he wasn't ranked in the top twenty four, but I understood at the time why they put him in there.

And he didn't disappoint. I can see if he went in there and he didn't look like he belonged, but he played well and he got hot and defended and made some threes and here we are now he didn't have a great year. I mean, it's a reason why. I mean, this man was dealing with heart issues and tried to come back and play basketball, and that's always going to be in the back of his mind. We have to remember that. And he still played through it.

He still went out there and played with zero hesitation and you could see his growth and work ethic isn't good enough? I don't know. We just have to see. I just think we got to put him in the position. I would like to see them put him in the position where he can develop and be liked by other teams because he may catch the eye of someone so and we're hearing different teams that are very interested in him, so that will be interesting, which I think why two

Days makes money. The NBA makes money because of the drama of Bronnie James. Hear me out, I could be way off, but the NBA would be they can ride this wave. I mean, some people don't care, don't feel like he's worth it. True, but there's a piece of curiosity in there for us all to see what happens with Bronnie James. Because the narrative of the fifty fifth pick has been thrown out there. You know, you're curious whether you can care less or now you say, man,

this dude don't even deserve it. Okay, you might be right, but it's just interesting that this is another like they're gonna get some views because of it. How often have you watched the second round, whether it's the same day or a different day. How often do you watch late rounds in any sport? It's not often unless it's a family member or your team or somebody you have an interest in. There's a real interest in what happens to Brownie James, whether we feel like he deserves it, he's

earned it, or he has not. We're gonna people want to watch this so they can say nah, man, no, no, or yeah yeah, okay, I see that, Oh it makes sense, or the narrative now be like uh oh, Lebron may go here. It's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. In other news, I want to hop into the w NBA real quick. No, not about Caitlin, No, not about injuries. It's about Cameron Brink. I want to wish her the best, many blessings and prayers. She's been playing great basketball. She

tore a c L she was bawling. You know, it's a reason why she was number two pick.

The w n B A. Uh. It's it's it's different for them unlike the men because we're not in season right now, all right, So all of these teams men wise, outside of I'm talking about just Team USA women because other women's teams they can prepare and they can have their camps. Women the w n B A or the women's Libic team cannot have a training camp because they're in season right now. So their trial, if you would, would be what they're doing in the w NBA season.

That's that's the one thing I just want to throw out there for people to kind of think about. Uh, you know, it's like, guess get they should all get a fair shot. Let her try out. Well, they don't. They can't do trials right when training camp. When they when they do training camp, that's getting ready for the the Olympic season. So the Olympic team, the men. I'm interested to see that and shout out to Derek White.

I saw I read something about him being able. He's a candidate now in an alternate if there's an injury, somebody backs out, can't do it for whatever the case may be. They at this point, I know we're saying, oh, how come why him and somebody they You have all of the scoring you need. You just need guys that are role guys. He might not play much, but you put him in there. He's gona knock down a shot.

With all those stars, Derrick White gonna guard, he's gonna block shots, he gonna rebound, and he gona knock down an open shot because you go. You know, when you're playing against some of these other teams, you're gonna you you gotta leave somebody open to stop a Lebron Steph Curry, Shall I on KD so laundry listen, guys, So shout out to him. Now Team Canada. I know you guys saw the post a couple a couple of days ago. If not, uh go look it up. I'm pulling it up.

Look at this list of guys, Dylan Brooks. If you guys looked at that training camp roster, they have Kyle Alexander, Alexander Walker, Kim Birch, Osha Brissett, r J Barrett, Lou Dort, the Big Zach Edie Shay, Trey Lyles, Jamal Murray, Andrew nimhar O Lennox, Dwight Powell, the shrub brothers, Phil Shrubb and Thomas Shrubb, and Drew Wiggins. Let me tell you, Team USA is loaded. This team is loaded as well Team Canada. It's gonna be a very good, very interesting

Olympic team. I think Spain will be very very good. I think France will be very very good, the Greek team. There's gonna be a lot of great competition this year. So yes, I think Team USA still hands down, will get the job done with all of the talent that they have, for sure. But when I saw this this roster, I wanted to talk about them today because I was like, man, this team is loaded again. Nikhil Alexander Walker. I hope

I said that right. Kyle Anderson, R. J. Barrett, Dylan Brooks, Lou Dort, Edie, Shay Gill, Trey Lyles, Jamal Murray, Nim Hart, Olennock. You have rebounding, you have Andrew Wiggins, you have defenders, you have some shooting, you have some shot blocker and Edie however that works. Maybe he doesn't play much. You have some athletes pure scores, a bucket getter, and Shay like look out man. Shout out to Team Canada the Bahamas.

I don't know how much noise they will make, but it was interesting seeing Trey Trey Clay out there playing with the Bahamian national team. So shout out to Clay. I think it's kind of cool seeing him play because he's putting us on notice, just let us know during the summer that he still has it, he can get it done, because it goes back to what we talked about in free agency of him being a piece. And

I think this is knowing Clay like we do. This is him letting us know that he still can play, and he's letting other teams see that he can still get it done and knowing that he's going to see a team Canada, a French team, Team USA and others that have a lot of pro pet players Spain, so Slovenia should be decent, you know. So I think Clay is making making the right move. Obviously, we hope he stays healthy, feels like he's healthy, but look for him to go out there and get some buckets. So that's

all the chatter I have for you today. Great conversation. Obviously, continue to talk and leave your comments and comment on some of the conversation I had today. Love to see what you guys are talking about thinking about I. I always see you guys. Some of you guys disagree. It's conversation, guys, it's conversation. We want to continue to keep great conversation, talk about wonderful things. Hey, you're kicking your feet up

with your people. Man, this is good barbershop, couch, library talk on the yard and some of you guys are in school. Continue to talk about it. Man. I always appreciate you guys listening. Tune it in to the VC Show. Another episode done and I'm out of here. Let's go