Colin Cowherd Podcast - Lakers Playoff Outlook, KD’s Legacy, Luka/Mavs Problems w/ Jason Timpf

which is possibly double his value on the market. Just to give you a sense, Alan Lazard got twenty two million guaranteed and that's for four years with the Jets, So Obj's getting fifteen million guaranteed for one year with the Ravens. I texted two executives in the NFL and they said, man, what is it with the Ravens and old wide receivers? Odell Beckham this year, Nelson Aguilar this year, to Shaun Jackson last year. They have their declining wide

receiver talent in Baltimore. But years and years ago I got into a discussion, may have been about ten years ago with an NFL executive and we were talking about free agency and there's a pretty high bust rate and he believed that there were certain positions that were safer with free agent signings, non ego positions. You know what a guy does, the money's not going to affect him. You know, the recruiting's not going to affect him. But he had said about ten years ago, he said, I

always worry about wide receivers. He said, it's an ego position to begin with. You're the first to break the huddle. You know, you're the star wide receiver playing by yourself on the outside. You know, even a quarterback is reliant on a blocking back and his left tackle on his offensive line, and his offensive coordinator call plays. You know a lot of times the receiver goes out wide to

jump ball, it's me against you. It's an ego position and cornerback similarity, because you're gonna get burned all the time in the NFL, even if you're a top corner. You've got to have a healthy sense of self and you know, a pretty good shield around you. And so this executive said, I worry about getting receivers into bidding wars. Now, obviously there are some guys like Cooper cup or Larry

Fitzgerald Julio Jones have like a workman like approach. But OBJ loves OBJ and he's dramatic he loves the attention, and now you just overpaid him by about half. If you look at what Amari Cooper produces on an annual basis, A, he's always available. B. Last year, you have like nine touchdowns. Highly productive. He makes twenty million a year. OBJ is not close to that. He's brittle. He's descending as a talent. You're going to get drama. I would love to have

him as a two or three receiver. But if you're paying somebody fifteen large per year on that team, that's is a number one. It does tell me that Lamar Jackson's probably returning to Baltimore. That will obviously make him very happy. And I got nothing against ob J, but you start bidding wars are overpaying for certain positions. I mean, we think of quarterback as sort of a mature coach on the field position. Look what the big money he's

done to Kyler Murray, Aaron Rodgers. I mean, like Aaron Rodgers decided I'm not going to really care about football as much in March after the big contract. So that's with quarterbacks. I just I think they wildly overpaid for him. Now they may look at it and say, we got Joe Burrow in this division, Deshaun Watson coming back year two with good weapons. Pittsburgh always has weapons, and Kenny Pickett look good. At the end of last year. We

got to load up and get some playmakers here. But you know, Baltimore has had a kind of a turbulent, dubious track record of wide receiver acquisitions. Marquis Brown, we thought he was Lamar Jackson's best friend, and he left for Arizona. But the last couple of years, Nelson Aguilard, DeShawn Jackson, OBJ at fifty million guaranteed. Andy Isabella not great, not great at all. Happy for OBJ the league. Zoe

was more fun when he's in it. But that number is a crazy number, double what the people I know in the league think he's worth. A declining, brittle wide receiver. Well, it was a weird contrast at the Masters this weekend to see Tiger Woods withdraw and limping in the rain and fifty two year old Phil Mickelson tie for second place with brooks Kepka, the oldest golfer ever to attain

that feat sixty five on Sunday. You know, in his career, which has always been greater than people want to recognize because he's polarizing, but seven hundred weeks in the top ten, forty five event wins. His highs were never as high as Tiger Woods, but his lows haven't been as low. And you know, he took the money with live golf. I've said before I don't think I would have, but I'm never going to tell anybody what to do with money when it's gigantic it's over one hundred million, and

feels always loved money. But I think because he's been outspoken the gambling, he's known as sort of cocky among the players that for a lot of people he's really hard to embrace. I strongly recommend reading the book Phil by Alan Schipnuck. Great book, and it tells he was a party boy, a bad boy, funny, outspoken, uber, confident, twenty five consecutive years in the top fifty. And you

know I've said this years ago. Would you rather have Tiger Woods meteoric career for ten years and then the mess that followed, the near death in a car wreck, the ugly divorce, or would you rather have Phil Mickelson, who at fifty two can on any weekend play amongst the greatest golfers, and I think, you know, we tend to look in terms of, you know how many majors. But Tiger's career has been really, for the most part the last six to seven years, incredibly sad, a huge downer,

and I'm a big Tiger fan. You know. It's the Michael Jordan Lebron comparison is that, you know, Michael at his height dominated the sport for like eight years. But Lebron over the course of his career has been better, much longer than Michael Jordan. And Lebron's got fewer championships than Michael Jordan. But I would take arguably Lebron's career over Michael Joy. Tiger's career from about eighteen years old to thirty, it's the greatest golf career of all time,

but it has not aged well at all. You know, Phil Mickelson's had controversy. Look at him, fifty two years old. His weight fluctuates, his golf game occasionally does. Few golf careers greater than Phil Michelson. One of the only guys left that gets me to a TV. The NBA playoffs are upon us. Twenty teams get in all trying to get that one crown for last minute amazing deals to watch your favorite NBA team. It can be the Warriors, it could be the Kings, it could be the Sixers,

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N for twenty dollars off. Here we go, NBA playoffs, Baseball season just starting here in April, NHL as well. No matter where you live, get out have some fun this week and this year. Download the game Time app. Last minute ticket deals, lowest prices guaranteed. Colin, How are you doing well After watching Rudy Gobert, who couldn't get along with Donovan Mitchell in Utah, blow up with Kyle Anderson in Minnesota on the eve of the Laker playing game I thought, what a break. But the Lakers. Lakers

have the best harmony of the year. They're all getting along great. They have real defined offense. You know, I'm watching them flying back from I went skiing for a couple of days and so I gotta watch, you know, the Laker game flying back, and they really, I mean they really now know where to go offensively. They've kind of figured out what they are and now Lebron played

really really exceptionally well. But considering they threw this thing together at the trade deadline, Darvin Ham obviously makes them a good defensive team, right, but I think they're offensive unity and chemistry and harmony. Watching them today, they kind of know who should take the shots, you know, if Beasley gives you anything in the playing game or the postseason. And Minnesota's fighting, so that's not gonna play well. And

Goldbearers just a difficult guy. So I just thought, you know, sometimes the touch of luck, and I felt like, what a break for the Lakers in Minnesota's in fighting. Perfect It even goes further than that calling, because I think Jaden McDaniels might very well be the best perimeter defender in all of basketball right now. There's two guys in the NBA that are leaving a body count around the league, just locking down superstars on any given night, and it's

Dylan Brooks and Jade McDaniels. Those are the two guys that have been having the most success. And Jade McDaniels punched the wall on his way into the locker room at halftime and he broke his hand. It's gonna be out. So here's the thing, Like, it's a up in the air, single elimination stuff, well not single elimination, but a one game sample. So obviously anything can happen. But I want to proceed here under the assumption that the Lakers went

on Tuesday or seven point favorite. Obviously I understand the reality that they could lose. This is a really good basketball team eighteen and eight post deadline, that the second best record in the league over that span, second and defense fourth and rebounding, So they're physically mauling teams and they did most of that without Lebron. They're nine in

two since Lebron joined the team. My one concern with the Lakers right now, and this is just a byproduct of the way things kind of broke down down the stretch. Is for their last five games, they played against really bad teams, and that tends to kind of breed some bad habits. So I wouldn't be surprised if Minnesota got off to a good start in that playing game, just because they're a little more locked in on those details.

But I'm really intrigued with this Memphis matchup, and we're going to talk Golden Satan a little bit, but because I actually think that kind of dodged a bullet here. Yeah, but this Laker matchup matches it makes a lot of sense for the Lakers on a couple of different levels. The Memphis Grizzlies are a team that play a lot of guys that typically don't shoot very well, right, John Morant,

you can go underneath screens. Dylan Brooks has been shooting well for a couple of weeks, but he's a guy that I guarantee you Darvin Ham's gonna dare to shoot. And then obviously in the front court with Steven Adams out, with Brandon Clark out, yeah, you're gonna be looking at Xavier Tillman or Jared Jackson there. The Darvenham loves to dare people to shoot. And I think this is a

series that actually bodes well for the Lakers there. And then on the other end of the floor, who is the best surgical matchup hunting player and probably the history of the NBA, Lebron James. And so he's gonna be calling up John Morant to every single conceivable action. He's gonna be get doing everything in his power to get Dylan Brooks off of him or to get Anthony Davis into favorable matchups. And obviously there's a long road ahead. If they win, I think they're gonna face the Warriors

in round two. If they win that, there's a very good chance they're gonna play Phoenix in round three. If they win that, there's a very good chance you're gonna get Boston or Milwaukee at the end of that. So it's a very long road. It's a lot to put on Lebron James and Anthony Davis physically. But here's the deal. You made it to the playoffs, ish, and you're probably going to be a slight favorite in round one. I'd call that a resounding victory compared to where we were

before the deadline. Well, the other thing is Memphis isn't Cleveland, Young or Okac or Houston young, but Steven Adams is one of the few guys with some playoff experience and he's out. So Memphis is fairly young. And I always felt this year that you know, they're one of those teams built for the regular season because they play hard and they have depth, and you can win a lot of games in this league off playin hard and having

ten guys that doesn't matter nearly as much. So now they get smaller without Steven Adams plays right into Anthony Davis's hands, and he's had the best two week stretch arguably since he's been a Laker. If you take out the bubble, he's been completely dominating. Again. He didn't play particularly well today in terms of total points, but down

the stretch he had a couple of key baskets. So I think you get a Memphis team that's smaller, had injuries, young, and let's be honest, the jammer Ant stuff still not great. So if you say to me, okay, there's a team in the playoffs that could be a little volatile of all of them, and I'd be like Clippers because of Kauai. You never know if he's gonna play Westbrook. They had a fight on their bench. So like Clippers feel very volatile in me and I think Memphis as a young

one of the younger playoff teams. Cleveland and the East is very young, but Cleveland doesn't feel immature. Everybody in Cleveland knows exactly what they are and what they do. Donovan Mitchell has already clarified their offense. He takes the last big shot and everybody knows it. Mobley's your big he's your young guy, but he knows late in games they all step aside for Donovan Mitchell. Memphis has some egos. They're chatty. I think the Lakers win that series, I

really do. And I think Anthony Davis is going to have a fantastic series. Without Steven Adams, Memphis is very dangerous because they have guys that are capable of knocking down shots Like here's the thing of John We learned from last year's playoffs, Like Desmond Baine really good, interesting player, excellent shooter, good defensive player, can do some slashing, but he really struggled to beat people off the dribble last

year in the playoffs. That's a concern. The playoffs in general will take your weakness and shine the biggest magnifying glass. It's what the playoffs do. The same thing with John Moran. It's, hey, yeah, you knocked down pull up threes at thirty percent this year. That's great. We are going to dare you to take that this year to the point where we're gonna actually try to get into your head by making you think

you can't do it. That's the way that these especially these veteran playoff teams try to attack you and make you feel uncomfortable, make you lack confidence, and at the end of the day, like it all comes down to the physical side of things, like Lebron James has to hold up, Anthony Davis has to hold up. But over the course of a playoffs series, the team that wins is usually the team that generates higher quality shots in

the half court. Who do you trust more to get stops in the half court for seven games Lebron James, Anthony Davis, Jared Vanderbilt, Austin Reeves or you know, John Morant, Desmond Baine, Dylan Brooks and Jared Jackson. And then on the flip side of that, when Memphis has to score against them, I just think, I just think the Lakers are going to get better quality shots over the course of the series. Wouldn't be surprised if Memphis jumped up to a one oh lead or a two one lead.

But I think as the series progresses, the older, more talented team in the Lakers is in the best shape. I want to say this though I am a big believer in what Golden State does, but yes, Andrew Wiggins is back. However, he's a rhythm player who has not played really intense competitive basketball for a while. Had they fallen to seven and drawn that Memphis matchup, I think Memphis would have beat them. That's how much I view

the importance of getting Andrew Wiggins up to speed. So it is so critically important that they get this series against Sacramento, a team who's very good, very offensively skilled, as an excellent home court advantage. But they are not the biggest and most athletic team in the world, so Golden State, in their lack of athleticism, will have less of a factor to play in that particular series. And I don't know if you notice, the Golden State's actually

minus two hundred favorite to win that series. That's a pretty significant favorite. If they get out of that series, that buys you from now three additional weeks to get Andrew Wiggins up to speed for a potential matchup with Memphis or LA, two massive teams that are incredibly athletic and big, and at that point I'd feel better about well. And Gary Payton just the other night got extended minutes. So now Gary Peyton, you can put him on for

a good sixteen minutes a night. Just put him on Darren Fox and then put Clay Thompson dat de Vincenzo. We've talked about this Golden State's absurdly deep in the backcourt and very thin in the front court. But Den Fox is their fourth quarter guy. I think he's the best guard in the NBA and the fourth quarter of this year in terms of what they called crucial points. So you know, I saw the other night Peyton played like eighteen twenty minutes, and I'm like, that's exactly what

they wanted. So Wiggins isn't ready to go at that level, and they'll have to massage that a little because Cominga's finally now playing real minutes and they're gonna take them away. So that's a weird, you know, confluence of events where it's like we need Wiggins desperately, but you know, Comingo's actually started to put log in eighteen twenty twenty four minutes and been productive. So now you gotta peel him back,

so you gotta massage that in the locker room. And the chemistry has been weird with the Warriors this year since the Draymond Jordan pool inflammation, but I like their matchup in the series. You throw a lot of bodies at Fox. You know, Golden State will have to win a road game, but this is almost you know, it's a bus ride, and I also think this they'll get the whistle. They know how to manipulate officials. They know

how to do the psychological manipulation. I mean, Sacramento is like a little brother down the road to the Dynasty, and you can see in spots them being a little overwhelmed and the Warriors, you know, trash talking, getting in their head and getting the favorable whistle the Dynasty does in the first round. My entire life, I don't think the league is rigged, but I do think veteran teams manipulate officiating in the playoffs, where referees tend to swallow

the whistle. You're not going to get that high octane offense that draws all those fouls. The Warriors can slow it down, speed it up, they'll get the whistle. So I think it's one of these series. It's a really good series for Golden State. There were there were some real worrisome matchups. Even the Lakers' size could be a huge problem. I think they locked out well. Again, the Warriors can beat somebody with size. They just need Andrew Wiggins.

Like when I say I would have picked Memphis to win in the first round, that's one hundred percent and Andrew Wiggins a take like that. It's all associated with the fact that he is so imperative to their athletic ceiling that they need to compete in a series against that team, giving them an extra three weeks from now

to get there. That's vitally important. The Sacramento this is a Gary Payton series in my opinion, and the main reason why is because Sacramento has killed teams all season long with the simple combination of Deer and Fox and Demantas Sabonis and what they do with their drible handoffs and the problem it presents for teams because you let Deer and Fox get downhill or if you switch it. Sabonis is one of the best players in the league at beating switches to the basket, and if he draws

double teams, he's an excellent passer. So what I like about the Golden State matchup in that series is Draymond Green and Gary Payton. Couldn't I couldn't conceive possibly mentally a better duo to potentially handle those two guys. And this is again, what an attribute, And this is why I actually love this move from the deadline. What an incredible attribute to have as a coach, a weapon in your pocket, to be able to deploy Gary Payton on the other team's best guard and to know he's gonna

be able to hold that in check. I don't know if you noticed this the other night, but the Warriors won a game against Oklahoma City, a tough FOT game against Oklahoma City. You might have been scanned, but it was a tough FOT game against Oklahoma City. And in the fourth quarter of that game, Gary Payton shut down Shake Gildas Alexander, who's one of the best guards in

this league. He had a couple of buckets on switches and he drew one foul, but for the most part, Gary Payton shut him down and it was how Golden State pulled out that game. He is one of the best guards in the league to guard this specific type of matchup, partnering that with Draymond Green. I love this matchup for the Warriors. I would pick them to win in no more than six games, but I'm leaning towards five. And for all the hoops tonight listeners, I was out there.

We're gonna do a full breakdown of this series within the next couple of days where we'll really dive into the xs and o's, but I'm leaning towards picking the Warriors in five. Six. Yeah, I think I would take the Warriors in six sons four against the Clippers five. This again really plays in the Phoenix's hand. So you know, Kevin Durant's gotten several games off, so they're sitting in and here you have an inflamed bench situation where plum

Lee gets into a fight. You're already asking Tylu, like, what do you do with Westbrook? Now he's great in regular season production, Okay, now we get into situational basketball. What do I do? Paul George isn't available. He would be huge in this series to defend Kevin Durant. So now I've got a little bit of inflammation. How do I use Westbrook, who's not been a great postseason player? What do I do with Kevin Durant matchup like Memphis, there's some depth here, but there's a lot of To me,

this could not in a weird way, Kevin Durant. Between getting hurt in warmups and now resting for the last couple of games, You're getting the most rested, healthiest Kevin Durant in like years. And I think Phoenix is going to be a handful for the Clippers. I love Phoenix here. Yeah, you know, I'm really low on the Clippers in general, Colin. I don't know how many times we have to go into the season with everybody like preaching that they're one of the favorites for them to not fulfill that, for

us to finally learn our lessons. They don't have good rim protection, they don't have good playmaking, and that makes that's too vitally important things that you have to have to succeed in the playoffs. You know, this is this is what the Clippers are. They are a team with a bunch of wings that are wings in name only that don't move as well as they used to write a lot of guys like Marcus Morris and Nicktom Covington, guys that once upon a time would have been vital,

important playoff pieces, but they're just not that anymore. And Covington's out of the rotation. Marcus Morris has been hurt. But toombs, okay, you know, but every the problem is they without Paul George, they simply do not have enough shot creation. There's three guys on the team that can create their own shot Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook and Norman Powell. And Norman Powell's runs hot and cold. I mean, obviously he destroyed the Lakers the other day, but he runs

hot and cold. Russell Westbrook, the game has to be going a very specific type of way for him to have impact. And as good as Kawhi Leonard is and he's made strides as a playmaker, he's a pull up shotmaker. Like he doesn't pressure the rim super well, and he's not the best passer in the world. So it's like, yeah, he'll get you his thirty by knocking down his pull

up jump shots. But he's not a guy that can really carry an offense over the course of a game, and so what they really are is a team that doesn't have a lot of shot creation. They're a good team, but I don't think they have nearly the playoffs ceiling they need Without Paul George, I think I think the Suns are going to make quick work of that. Yeah. Well, and also the Sons are a team between Durant's health

and Chris Paul's age. He had a great game about a week ago, but like he kind of just gave you, hey, I'm not done yet. I'm fine, I'm good here. But they got a huge break because that's a team Boston. I feel a little bit with Tatum sometimes and Robert Williams health and Marcus smart, like they don't need to play together. Like we know the Celtics are fine, They've been playing together now for years. They need time off,

you know, Tatum needs rest. I feel that way with Phoenix, like Chris Paul and Durant, what they need is like five days off those legs going into a playoff series. So I'm with you. I the Phoenix hasn't lost yet with Durant on the floor. I mean, it's not a single game and it looks really good. You know. That's that's because Kevin's a high functioning player and Chris Paul

is one of the smartest guys in the league. And that's where I think sometimes with Aton, they've been frustrated, Monny's been frustrated, Chris has he I think sometimes Chris Paul's really demanding on his bigs, Like he's really hard on them, and so like everywhere he goes, the team gets better and the big doesn't like him. But I think Kevin Durant's a unique I wouldn't call him a big, but a unique four that plays at such a high level of basketball, like really gets the game. I just

think him and Chris are going to be magic. And I I don't think any I really don't. You know, we'll see what Denver. Denver still, believe it or not. Despite they've been good for several years, they're still a pretty young team. They don't have a lot of playoffs success. So I think Phoenix is gonna roll. Okay, So I have a question for you then, because Phoenix, I can't remember the number off the top of my head, but they're a gigantic favorite against the Clippers. I think they're

like minus four hundred or something insane like that. They I do believe they will be favored against Denver as well. If they get out of the first round. Vegas is going to look at Phoenix in a conference finals. Is a favorite in all likelihood, right, so he will be favored in at least three rounds and very possibly the fourth round. If Kevin Durant does not win a championship this season with the Suns, will it change the way you look at him at his career in any way shape?

I think his legacy's fully formed. I do think he can get a little tick up if he won in Phoenix. But you know, if you go back to Brooklyn, despite it being like an egregiously poor decision to leave the Warriors, he was really successful. I mean Simmons won't shoot, Kyrie wouldn't play, Harden came in out of shape, You had a rookie head coach with all those big personalities. He was really good. Kevin gave you twenty seven a Night's

what he's done his whole career. Willing defender. So I look at from a business standpoint, I didn't like Brooklyn. From a basketball standpoint, I thought he was excellent. If you go to his last like twenty six starts, he's twenty three and three. So I think, I mean, you get you know exactly what you're getting with Kevin Durrant. It's insane. I mean, the fact that they were competitive

in Brooklyn, Nash had never coached Kyrie the vaccine. I mean, it's well, Don commented nothing, you know, when he came there. They were known as a team with limited town but chemistry and that was their strength. Well, they blew that up. They were known as a team that was well coached with chemistry. All right, coaches fired, chemistry could put and Kevin's the only reason they weren't a laughing stock. So I think he's take out centers A twelve best players.

I've ever seen a better version of Durknovitski, who's a top twenty player in my estimation. And I think for public opinion and debate shows Phoenix if he wins, gives him a boost. But everybody I've ever known in the league is like toughest stop in the league, even more so than Lebron. Put him in any team anywhere. First game out fits perfectly. Lebron, You've sort of got to readjust or you know, he's kind of going to be the orchestra leader. Lebron's gonna have the ball in his

hands and he makes everybody better. But not game one. Even he and Wade took like seventeen games, if you recall, they were like nine and seven, and they had similar games, but Lebron was better. What do you do with Chris bosh It was a weird fit. They were just so hyper athletic. It was so much fun to watch, but it was clunky. And then in the year two, I think it was year or two, they went on that long winning streak. They were just so athletic, but like

Durant two practices. First game with Phoenix, you're like, yeah, this works. Second quarter, Yeah, this looks great. They'll be fine. Well, first of all, with that Miami team, there's no doubt it was a clunky fit. I would argue it was a clunky fit almost through to the end because the Lebron James Dwayne Wade fit was always a little bit redundant.

They were too hyper athletic, playmaking wings that didn't like to shoot jump shots right like that, That's just the reality of it to Lebron's credit, he's gotten better over the course of his career at making his game more malleable, and I believe he's a lot more malleable now than he used to be, just even with this Lakers squad. It's a very guard heavy Lakers squad, and he's kind of transitioned into almost a post player like a big. He sets a ton of screens, he operates out of

the post a ton. But the point is, Kevin Durant is on another stratosphere from everybody in the lague, in the entire league when it comes to plug and play because of what he can do defensively and because of his his ability to play out of any spot on the floor, both with and without the basketball. I one hundred percent agree with you, though I don't feel any sort of like pressure on KD. The dude is just one hundred percent established himself as as what he's capable of.

One hundred percent agree with you, Like all these guys only have the world to gain and nothing to lose in my opinion. That said, yeah, of course there's going to be people out there that will jump on that

as an opportunity. But I've you and I've watched Kevin Durayt play basketball for what almost two decades now, and he has just done nothing but win basketball games at the highest level, with exception of situations where you wouldn't expect him to where you know, the Russell westbrook fit was clunky, that Brooklyn fit that you broke down so well,

the dude is a certified winner. That's that you just read out twenty three and three how many I'll have to look it up, but twenty three and three streaks happened so incredibly rarely in the NBA. It is so hard to win games that consistently, especially with you had a parody there is now if you broke down, if I gave you to to ask you to list players from one to forty, you'd be reading thirty five to forty and they'd sound like stars to you. That's so

much talent is in the league. And he won twenty three out of twenty six games. That's insane, Like he's invincible for me, and Phoenix actually needed him. So it's not only that he goes to Phoenix, but they had a big they had somebody who has the ball, a mid range guy, and they had kind of a chill. Devin Booker is a willing I mean like Devin can score forty or twenty three. He's not very needy. So it's like what they needed was like a really talented

guy with size. Give them more length, because I don't think DeAndre eight and qualify as a great rim protector. You know, he's not. He's not like Yannis, that's just not what he is. He's just long. He runs the floor really well, so they really he really not only is a plug and play guy, but he's kind of what Phoenix needed. More length. And another because Chris Paul has I think regressed as a score more scoring because

Atan's not a consistent score. So most great teams have two two guys on the team that if they scored forty in a playoff game, you'd be like, oh yeah, I could see it. Whereas you know, I mean that's like if Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown if they if they dropped forty, you'd be like, oh yeah, it's one of those nights. That's why Milwaukee's interesting because Chris Middleton's no longer that guy. He's not scoring forty in a playoff game. Well, Drew Holiday is more of a defender

who can score. I could see twenty eight, So they're they're a weird team. They may just went on depth and experience and size and defense and culture, but I think I think Kevin Durant fits everywhere. But he's just exactly what Phoenix needed because you kind of questioned, if you looked at him this year with Chris Paul pulling back, is what if Booker doesn't have a good night, where's the scoring come from? Like they just didn't have enough. And it's like, so when a star comes into a team,

they're gonna be animosity. I think Phoenix knew what they weren't, and I think the guys knew what they were, which is like we need twenty eight consistently. Well that's his career average. So it's like it fits so many ways. Like I think Phoenix is a really smart team, and everybody knew we just need an I mean, that's why you go out and make that move if you're a new owner, Like everybody was like, that's exactly what we need. Agree, you broke down the very important piece. DeAndre Ayton is

not a top tier rim protector. We've broke this down. You and I've talked this down, talked, talked about this like two or three times, but you can't win a championship without top tier defensive talent in the front court. Kevin Durant provides length and shot blocking around the rim that DeAndre Ayton can't bring. And then it really was

this simple. When they get to the biggest stage, whether it was against Luca last year in the second round or whether it was against Janis in the finals in the last round, when they run into a real superstar, Devin Booker and Chris Paul have been incapable of meeting them at that level even as a duo, and Kevin Durant crosses that box is specific in the areas you talked about scoring the basketball, where where Devin Booker would

be able to get some buckets on Drew Holiday. Chris Paul fell apart over the course that series, same thing over the course of the Maverick series. Sound percent agree with you. What What did you make of the h Dallas punting those last two games of the season. I think I was reading some Dallas media reports. It's a it's a s show, it's a mess. Well, you know, they hired a guy from Nike who's never been really a gm U, but he was in the basketball division.

Very smart guy, a relationship guy, and now they put him in charge of running you know, basketball um ops. And you know, I like Mark Cuban. I think he's really smart. He tends to be what I would call a tech optimist. He has so much confidence in his intelligence that he takes big swings and he hits you know, his pharmaceutical companies brilliant. Um I understood. I mean it was funny when they went and got Kyrie Irving. I applauded it. I said, I like the swing. This is

going to be an atrocious defensive team. These are two of the worst. I mean, Kyrie is an abysmal defensive player. And so when people kind of embrace this as a championship team, I'm like, guys, the Warriors and Celtics were the two best defensive teams in the league. Like, you can't win that way. You can't just score your way. You can't you can't have to score one twenty six a night. It just doesn't work that way in this sport.

And we I think people think it's that. And then then you if you've ever had a buddy who goes and plays in the NBA. It's like, man, they grind you. There's a lot of contact in this league. In the playoffs, they doubles down on it. That's why you know Kyrie pre impost Lebron, he gets pushed around. It was like Lebron was a little bit of a bodyguard, and you have to surround Kyrie with certain elements. I also think increasingly Luca is a moody player, and he's gonna be

really hard to find the Robin. You know, we talked about this. The hardest thing in basketball is to fall on the Yannis that once in a franchise player. So the Bucks have done it twice, Luell, Cinder and Jannis. They got a championship one back in nineteen seventy one right Milwaukee, and they got one with the Honis. It's not a great free agent hub, so you have to kind of build a culture and then eventually Kareem I

want out, I want to go West. He did, and so I think when Luca came into the league, there was this sense is he could pair him with a lot So they try the slasher Porzingis, they don't like each other, and then they tried Jalen Brunson and they're like, well they don't really fit. Well, Jalen's been like an MVP guard play in New York. Well let's try Kyrie. Well, now Kyrie doesn't perfectly work for him. We're falling in love with this great hyper offensive player Moody, difficult needs ball,

won't defend. You know, is he gonna end up Carmelo Anthony where he has this early success in Denver and never really then galvanizes people. I mean you start looking at the great players of all time. Everybody needed a running mate, Like Magic galvanized people. Lebron galvanized people. Michael didn't, but he found a running mate, right Like some guys

don't do that, but they find a guy. Tim Duncan finds his Tony Parker, Steph finds his clay Like it's way harder to find it too, because it's not just the player, it's the temperament. McHale was the college You wouldn't remember this because you're young. He led the nation in rebounding. He was known as a defensive guy that rebounded at Minnesota, and he came to the NBA with all these weird moves and he was super long, kind of an unorthodox looking scorer, but he was a great rebounder,

shot blocker in college and byrd was the score. Well, Michale could have scored more, but he's like, Okay, I'm gonna be part of this bosh in Miami. I want to be part of this Kevin Love and Cleveland with Lebron, I'm gonna be part of it. Like Lucas gonna make you feel small. He's not gonna help you on the defensive end. He's not gonna you're gonna get the ball late in the shot clock with him. I think Lucas

harder to play with than people think. And I you say, well, Michael was difficult, but Michael got the right coach, also found a very willing Robin, and then he has high functioning players. Kurran Paxson became gms like they knew how to play with Michael. They understood Michael was the guy those Bowl teams had really high bj Armstrong becomes a power agent, like you had a lot of guys around Michael that knew how to play the game and appeal

to his senses and his alpha. That's hard like that that Lucas gonna be hard to play with and I think we have to come to terms with it. He's entering a very important phase of his basketball development because

he's starting to just slightly plateau a little bit. And you know, I love the way you broke it down, like gift to be willing to buy into this like larger concept of the team because for instance, like you can break it down on a simple math level, Okay, Luca, high pick and roll is worth one point two points per possession. Therefore, if we run it one hundred times in a game, we're gonna score one hundred and twenty points.

That's great, you know what I mean. But there is a basketball team is a living organism and all the pieces fit together, and like it would behoove Luca to start to learn how to adjust his game to fit better with others because of the specific fact that he will be on more talented teams as time go along. This has worked. He went to the Western Conference finals

last year. I'm not trying to criticize him overall in terms of what he's capable of, but the reality is is like, hey, if you you know, give the ball to Kyrie and maybe instead of running a high pick and roll where you dribble the air out of the basketball for seventeen seconds. Maybe you run down the floor and come off of a wide screen and use that

as a dribble handoff and get downhill. You can use your same skill set, that same vision, that same size and strength and shot making ability, more within the flow of what a team can do as a unit together, and then embracing getting in shape to be able to be more of an impact player defensively. I think, look,

here's the thing, the pouting. I absolutely believe that has a negative effect on the psyche of a basketball team when they see their star constantly bitching and moaning at the refs and when he's constantly not running back on defense and you can tell his head is not in it. Again, I loved how you brought up Carmelo Anthony because that's such an interesting comp I means different positions, but and everybody said they love Carmelo. Man, he gave you it

was about Carmelo getting his shot. He wouldn't even adjust to a three point shot, like it was bizarrely rigid in his style of play, Like they're not the same player. Obviously, it's more just relative to the rest of the league. And the way his progression went like like Lebron was a little bit better than Carmelo, and over the years Lebron kept getting better and Mellow just kind of stayed the same. I mean, you got you got moderately better in some areas of his offensive skill set, but he

never became an impact defensive player. He never became a top tier playmaker. He never evolved in those other areas of his game and was threatened by yes, yes, And I think Luca at times feels a little threatened. First of all, he's from outside of the country, so players like that, I mean, you have to ingratiate yourself to a new culture and a new country. That's really difficult. The other thing, Jason is if you'll get Dirk Navitsky and Dallas probably as beloved a player as the league's had.

Everybody loved Dirk, not everybody loves Luca. He's got a much more temperamental, moody personality, so he's naturally gonna create some disharmony in the room. He's just a moody guy. Dirk wasn't, so the Mavericks multiple times switched pieces with Dirk. Almost you know, almost everything worked with Dirk. It just didn't get a championship, but like he didn't have there was no like clashes of culture. Everybody liked Dirk, nobody likes Luca. Like it's a big difference. Look, I think

Luca's a better player. But at this point, somebody said this years ago to me, they're like, in football, halftime, defense goes to the right, offense goes to the left. In baseball, a third of the teams in the bullpen, it's thirteen dudes on the bench every practice on that plane. Like if one guy's music's too loud on the plane. Now you have headphones now, but you know years ago it's like one guy can ruin an NBA locker room and if the star is difficult to bad locker room.

I think the MAVs are a bit of an s show right now, and I think Luca, I mean again, they're they're gonna they're gonna put the pr people to work in Dallas. It's all good. Lucas gonna love it. But when you watch him play, he aggravates me at times with his barking to the officials, like on every play. It's such a love hate relationship for me because as a basketball fan, There's so many things with Luca that

I'm drawn to. Like I he is one of the best players that I've ever seen in terms of getting beating people off the dribble without an athletic advantage, which is so hard to do. It's like it's kind of the Austin Reeves thing, Like it's all it's all misdirection and and like having every move irrevocably attached to a counter move that's equally as effective, and in never telegraphing

your moves. And like Luca, there's so many things that I love about his game, and I hate watching him because of his approach, not only with the heliocentric you know, just dribble the air out of the basketball every time, but also with the attitude stuff. And again it's a crossroads. He's either going to be the Carmelo of this era

or he's going to be an all time great. And you know what, you know, what's interesting is if you would ask everybody two years ago, you know, or all of you, and just say last year during the Western Conference Finals, who were the two best players you know that you'd want for the next ten years, it'd be Jannis and Luca and he'd be pretty close, right, Like they'd be neck and neck with a slight edge to Jannis.

I hope it doesn't end up being one of those situations where Yannis just dramatically he creates himself because Luca plateaus. That's a problem potentially. Well. I mean, listen, Lebron was more physically gifted than Carmelo, but as they drifted apart, a lot of it was Lebron got along with more players, could play with more players, was more amenable to different styles. I mean, Miami had no size. He and Wade were duplication.

He never liked Mario Chalmers. I mean it was like they'd threw him with Ray Allen's and Shane Battier's and Mike Miller's and Lebron made it work. At the time. Spolstra was a kid coach, and Lebron made it work. And then he goes to Cleveland again and he makes it work, and he goes to Los Angeles and he makes it work. If you give Lebron. I mean, j R. Smith was fun, but I think people forget he and

Lebron were pretty good together. And j R. Smith was weird, and you know, a little eccentric and some viewed is difficult kind of an ISO act, you know, super talented Lebron made it work. Lebron and him were close despite that one time out right that they called so and I think Janie sort of is amenable to a lot of different teammates and players. Luca so far isn't like I mean, look at they just bring in Jay Crowder and then Joe Ingalls and Drew Holliday and Chris Middleton,

was like they stole him. I think from like Detroit, He's worked with all of them, he works with everybody, and Brook Lopez another big He's not threatened at all, Like it matters a lot, and it's just like I always felt Carmelo was threatened. Luca feels a little threatened. Janie never does. Lebron never has. I mean, God, he goes into Miami, it's d Wade City, and it's like, all, let's go for it. I mean, he could have picked anywhere to go, right, he goes to the probably the

single most beloved player in any city. Ye'll go to your city. I mean that was rife with issues. Could you have seen Carmelo going down there and making it work? His insecurities would have just flourished. So I'm not anti Luca, but it's just like we've got to I think we're moving to the second phase, which is okay. Not all these issues are Carmelo Anthony's teammates, some are Carmelo. The Volume.

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