Colin Cowherd Podcast - Wiggins-less Warriors, Barkley/KD Feud, Dangerous Lakers w/ Jason Timpf

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visit www dot MD gambling help dot org. Maryland one eight seven seven eight Hope, New York or text Hope, New York four six seven three six nine New York one eight hundred five two two forty seven hundred Wyoming, or visit www dot one eight hundred gambler dot net West Virginia, Hi. Everybody welcome in. Jason Timphin ten Minutes Hoops Tonight, podcaster at the Volume Bucks Celtics. Interesting thoughts on that. So I watched two baseball games and two

things were very noticeable. The game really moves now the pitch clock speeds it up about twenty to twenty five minutes a game. It is very noticeable. It moves. It's swift, which sports should be. And also there were more base runners. I can't prove that, but I noticed in the games I watched more stolen bases, more activity. You know that thing people like to watch called action. Those were the two problems with baseball over the last decade, declining attendance

and declining TV ratings. The games were too long and didn't have enough activity. Hockey is over three hours, lots of activity. Football over three hours, lots of plays, fewer huddles, more activity. Baseball was getting up around three hours. No base runners, so you needed to change the defensive shift. Those outs now becomes singles and doubles, more runners on, more stolen bases, more first a third, more into home, more activity. It was noticeable in the two games I watched.

But here's the thing about baseball. Football is different. I've never gone to a football game and not tailgated college or pro. Ever, I've never just shown up and gone to a game. You tailgate. It's understood you give half a day to a full day. If you're a Patriot fan in Foxboro, you get up, you have breakfast, you're gonna tailgate, and then you're gonna go to the game, and then you're probably because Foxboro's hard to get out of, knocked down a beer or a brought before you go home.

You give the day to football, so time becomes less crucial. Sundays in the fall eight home games. Those are eight sacred family and friend moments, pictures, videos, food. But the more games you have, the less it becomes an event. Basketball forty one home games. I've never tailgated for about basketball game. Baseball eighty one home games. Too many games for the games not to be succinct. It doesn't matter if it's a Broadway play, it doesn't matter if it's

a movie. You go to a movie once a month, you're gonna give it two hours. You get a bite to eat before the movie, you go to the movie. After the movie, you go out and get a glass on wine with your wife. You know you do that once a month. If you went to a movie four days a week, five days a week, you're not gonna do that. It's too costly. You don't have that time. So the die hards will bitch and complain, and that's fine. They always do. I mean, go to Twitter, go to

social media for five minutes. There are people on there. Their entire feed is about complaining. I don't think it's just to get clicks. I think they're miserable. Some people aren't happy unless they're unhappy, and so people come complain. Hey, Colin, you don't worry about it. You and the TikTok generation. I'm fifty nine years old and I think baseball is slow. I'm not on TikTok. I'm barely on Twitter. I'm never on Instagram. I have eight social media accounts. I don't

have a password to any of them. They're run by my staff. I occasionally post on Twitter that's it. Baseball was too slow, and it's a killer with eighty one home games and one hundred and sixty two minimum over the course of a season. So people are going to complain. The diehards. They're irrelevant. They're not going anywhere. They're scorpions in the desert. You can't kill them. The bottom line is keep it moving, more base runners, more fun, and

about the only downside in the stadium. You know you always go to a baseball game. You have a couple of beers. You may not have time for a third. Now, beer sales might decrease slightly. I think the sport Budweiser Stella Corona will survive, but I noticed it about a month ago. I got in my car from my house to go to the grocery store. It's about an eight minute drive. It was a Dodger game and they got

through an entire inning. And I thought to myself, the late Vince Scully, what would he have done with a sport that moved so quickly? His stories there would have been no time, but Vince Scully would have made his stories more succinct to fit in to the time. I will watch significantly more baseball this year. And by the way, die hard guy, you're not going anywhere. You'll still watch two.

So baseball got both of us. Love the feedback I got interviewing Nick Con on the Volume podcast Colin Coward podcast, the CEO of the WWE, I am told I got a lot of pushback from WWE fans because years ago I called him booker eaters, Colin, how could you be a hypocrite? And talked to Nick Well. I talked to nit Con every year since I've owned the volume. I am fascinated by the spectacle and the business operation and the production side of WWE WrestleMania's That's why I went

to one in Vegas. That's why I'm going to the one in Los Angeles. I don't really care about the outcomes. I mean I watched the stars. I watch how they're marketed, I watch how they're promoted, I watch kind of the again, just the holistic nature of the sport. I said this on the air at Fox, and I'll say it again. I think anybody in the media, in any platform should go to WrestleMania at so Far over the weekend and watch how production at the highest level works. I don't

care about outcomes. I mean, I know Charlotte Flair and I like her. I think John Cena is a really good guy. But we all know it scripted. I'm not losing sleep on that. But I've said this before. I've gone to a lot of sporting events and I'm not sure I've ever seen anything more impressive in person, the way it unfolds the communication while it's happening. Remember these are scripted, so choreography is essential. And then when it's over, how they close up shop, get it on a truck

and they're off to the next city. So I went backstage in a couple of events so Far with the WWE, and it's jaw dropping. And you know, when I created the volume, I consume media differently than a lot of fans. Do. I don't care about outcomes. I'm looking how does this company do it? How do they do it? What works, what doesn't, Mistakes, strengths, liabilities, weaknesses. That's how I look at stuff now, and so WWE. Nick CON's a friend, one of my better friends, my consigliari in my career.

We joke he is somebody I lean on for big decisions for the first you know, my ESPN career. And now he's a friend who I don't have the access to now because he runs WWE, but somebody if I ever have a question, He's always got a definitive answer, and it's always the smartest one in the room. So I will forever support my friend Nick Cohn and the WWE. It is truly these russellmannias are truly a production spectacle.

Fascinating to watch him pull it off. All right, Welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by FanDuel Here at the volume. Happy Thursday, everybody. We are live on AMPS. Don't forget if you're watching on YouTube or listening on our podcast feeds that AMP is the very first place that you guys can get these shows. We're not going to waste

any time today. We're going to bring on the great Colin Cowhert to discuss that stinker of a nationally televised ass kicking from the Boston Celtics in Milwaukee against the Bucks, and then we're going to cover a bunch of big picture NBA topics. Colin. It is good to see you again. How are you today? Good? I was thinking as I was watching, and it was decent first quarter and then it was a disaster, and I thought, you know, Jason, generally you don't have dynasties in all these pro sports.

Patriots had two really significant like six year runs, but ten years in the middle that they didn't win a Super Bowl, and that's the longest dynasty. But you know, I was thinking about the NBA. So you have the Russell back in the sixties and then the seventies it was wide open, and then you had the Celtics Lakers dominate the eighties, and you had the Bulls to three year runs. I think Shack and Kobe, three Warriors you know, have not they've won what four titles, but you know

it title lost, couple k d lost, disappeared back. One is that generally in NBA history, we don't have an all time great team. And I think we have to come to terms with the Warriors because of age. Even if Wiggins came back, have kind of moved out of all time great team stuff. Boston's not there yet. They need to be another dependable score. Although Brogden's been a nice fit. And I watched Milwaukee tonight, and you know,

it's a little bit like the Seahawks. When the Seahawks won with Russell Wilson and at defense, we were all like, oh, we're getting four. Here, we get one. They kind of blew the second and it fizzles out. And then watched Milwaukee and I like Chris Middleton, but hurt early. He's not the same player. He's simply not. He's down to about fifteen a game. He's still Jason a good shooter. He was never the most vertical player, but he's not the same player. That's why they've leaned more on Brook

Lopez and Drew Holliday this year. They've leaned on him more. And so as I watched them tonight and middle Chris Middleton kind of walks off, I'm like, yeah, this is I thought we were gonna get three four, and I'm like, they're gonna be in a riddle. They're gonna be in a real battle with a Cleveland, you know, by the

second round potentially. That's my take is that I thought this was going to be more night dynamic, but Middleton's injury, you know, it's it's kind of like Janis who stunk to night and then be Guys, That's what it feels like to me. You know, it was so interesting about this game is I Milwaukee really lost their cool. And

I'm not talking about like emotionally. We did have that one little blow up from Middleton where he got on the ref and got the tech, but aside from that, it was a implosion mentally with their approach to the game.

You talk about this a lot on your show on Fox, this idea of like the way the game of basketball is changed to where shot result like jump shooting result, swings the games wildly and like, you know, my team makes their threes, other team misses their three, Suddenly you got to blow out and like, you know, it's so funny. Is a lot of the analytics guys over the years have tried to kill this idea of like the hot hand theory, like there's no such thing as getting hot.

It's one hundred percent random, But I could not disagree more. I actually think the hot hand theory expands out to teams. And what was so interesting is in that first quarter, it's like Tatum's making his pull up threes and Brown's making his pull up threes, and the Celtics are really packing the paint and Jannis is making those kickout passes and they're just missing everything, and you could see it

kind of got in their head. But what's so interesting is the really good teams they see the difference between process and results usually and the Bucks are usually one of those teams, and you go, hey, we're just missing. Eventually these shots are going to start falling. Then we'll regain control of this game. But no, in that second quarter, they completely lost their cool in terms of their execution,

just dribbling up the floor. Joanna's just dribbling up the floor and shooting pull up jump shots even though none of them were going in. Drew Holidays dribbling up the shooting shot. Chris Middleton's like they got away from what was getting them the good looks in the first quarter

that they just happened to be missing. And I was actually messaging a couple of people that I talked about talk with during the games, and I was saying, like, you know, this is actually a little bit fools gold for Boston early because they were taking contested pull up threes, Tatum and Brown were and they were going in and I actually thought the script would flip in the second quarter if Milwick, if Milwaukee stayed with their process, but

they did not. And that's what's so interesting, is like if Boston is a team that we've always kind of gotten on for being a team that struggles with execution, but that was the opposite of the script in this particular game. And the narrative coming out of last year's Eastern Conference semifinal series between those two teams was very much like Boston got away with one, Middleton was out, Jani's almost beat them by themselves. But really all season long,

Boston's looked great against Milwaukee. Though there's clearly no mental advantage there, Boston likes their chances in that match up. Yeah, it Monny, about the West this year is about who hasn't played a d missus time lebron kds out, Andrew Wiggins, you know, Kawhi, Paul George now is hurt the East

is actually the opposite. The East is about are they going to get Tatum rest you know, the new Celtics coach, they want to get Jaylen Brown all NBA, so they're you know, inserting him Like tonight the Celtics got their guys out, but there's been a real push in Boston. Why is Jaylen Brown and Tatum in these games late? Well, I mean the word around the league is they want to get Jaylen Brown and all NBA bonus, you know, I mean to foster chemistry with a new coach in

a room. You want to make sure the guys like you. And also, you know, Tatum too many minutes embad? Should you be resting embad? And hardened down the stretch. Harden we've seen because of his ball centric style, although he's a better distributor, this year we've seen him kind of lag off. So I feel like I get a true test of what the East is. Cleveland matches up very well with Boston, very well. Boston this year matches up very well with Milwaukee. Chris Middleton is not the same player,

so Brook Low. You know, they're a very good defensive team on most nights. Lopez, Drew and Jannas are tremendous defensive players. But I do feel like I know what the East is the West. When Lebron and a d are playing and now Austin Reeves has emerged, You're like, oh, Okay, that's different. Austin Reeves is a real three in this league. So I kind of feel like, I know, I kind of feel like if Cleveland faces New York, Nicks don't

have enough shot makers, Cleveland's win in that series. And I kind of feel I think Philadelphia, not that they're fools gold, I don't trust them situationally, I feel I'm gonna get Milwaukee and Boston in the year point. The Celtics have matched up really well with them. Yeah, and that that little bit of extra ball handling with Malcolm Brogden, you know, is interesting. One of the big things that's I want to give the Bucks a little bit of slack. They were on the tail end of a back to back.

This is two times in a row that the NBA has handed them major national television matchups, the Nuggets game and this game on the tail end of a back to back for whatever reason, which I would hope that if we were having this conversation ten years from now they get rid of back to backs because it's just so bad for the television product and a bunch of different things. But Milwaukee was really struggling to contain Boston's

ball handlers. And you know what's funny is the Milwaukee has never been a super athletic or quick team compared to some of the other teams in the conference. But they have this system right like, it's okay, you don't need to keep everybody in front. All you gotta do

is funnel him the Brook. But then it's like Boston's gonna park Al Horford out past the three point line, and now Brooke can't hang out by the rim the way he usually does, and it kind of forces guys to slide their feet, and all of a sudden, guys like Joe Ingles and Jake Crowder look pretty slow and they can't keep anybody in front, and that becomes an issue. Then on the other end of the floor, Boston's just

containing all of that jubile penetration from Milwaukee. I've talked about this with you before, but I always look at perimeter defense as like the line play in the NFL. It's like that seeing battle that not enough people pay attention to whether or not you're containing ball handlers versus giving up a bunch of straight line drives. Is usually the difference between whether or not your defense has a

fighting chance or not. I'm surprised you're so low on Philly, though, you know, Philly's had a couple of major national television games where they've shown up. I've actually been really impressed with Embid and Harden's fight in their competitiveness. Although I'm disappointed mb for sitting out that Nuggets game, but I actually give them a little bit of a puncher's chance, especially against a team like Milwaukee. I just don't like their chances against Boston. That's the one matchup I don't

like for Philly well. And also here's it's not that I don't think since December, like mid December, they I think Philly is like the first or second best team in the league's early Maxie's highly athletic, Harden's become I think a better team player. Embiid is I wish you would have played against Yokai is my number two MVP to my you know, I mean Doc Rivers is Joe Tory great managing egos He's really good with that, always

has been. If you go back to Joe Tory was never great situationally, but man Steinbrenner a Rod Jeter, they had to switch positions for Era as a lot of moving parts. Joe Tory was the stepdad nobody ever wanted to disappoint. Like everybody liked Joe had Don Zimmer next to him. You never thought Dutch Doc Rivers. I don't think Doc laid as Eric Spoelstra. I don't think he's tailu late. I think Spoelstra kur. But he's really good at managing a room for six months, so I have

and I like Doc. But situationally, boy, he's blown some leads some late games, and not that they're fools gold but when you haven't won a ring, you do tend to play harder consistently in the regular season. You're seeing it now with Cleveland they play hard. First of all, their average age for their starters about twenty three and a half, so they're playing their ass off and you see it, and you see it by the way you

see it with Denver, you see it with Sacramento. Whereas you know Golden State, even Phoenix, you know they they've been to a final. So it's not that I don't it's not that I don't believe. You know, I argue this for years with friends and Bill Simmons. The NBA is two seasons. Football's not is one game a week. If you're not serious, you get hurt Sam in hockey, But it's it's different in basketball. It's two sports, and I am always just reluctant to embrace teams that haven't

won a title with talent. So I honestly think Cleveland, if they matched up eventually with Philly, could be a real problem, could be a real problem. Yeah, that's specific matchup. The East is going to entirely come down to matchups and who plays who in any of those teams has a chance should they catch the right matchup. You're right, though,

the Western Conference is so much more wide open. I Denver starting to get it together a little bit, but I still fundamentally, I still fundamentally don't like some of their core basketball identity things, with the fact that they don't have a great defensive front court. We talked about an hour last show about how in NBA history you just need to have at that four or five position all time great defensive players to have a fighting chance,

and they just don't. And Jamal Murray runs hot and cold, which is concerning, and I think that me it kind of continues to flare up for him from time to time. Sacramento is actually tailing off and their defense is getting worse and worse as time goes along. Memphis again, they're getting it together, but without Brandon Clark, it's a depth issue.

And I still don't trust their half court offense. And then again, it really just everything points me back to the Warriors and the Lakers, and I keep coming back to two things for each team. For the Warriors, can they win without Andrew Wiggins? And for the Lakers, I don't think they can. I just don't think they can.

You know what's interesting is with the Wiggins piece in particular, like and it's almost a testament to how great that core is that they've managed to win as much as they have, but they they're coming back from major deficits in all of these games. Like they beat the Pelicans, they were down twenty, They beat the Sixers, they were down eleven in the fourth quarter. They came back and

almost beat the Timberwolves. They were down nine early in the fourth quarter in that game, you know, even that Bucks game, like they were down eight with two minutes left, like Steph and Clay and Draymond and Steve Kerry, they're just grinding out wins. And it's crazy because when you're looking from the standpoint of the standings, you're like, they're actually in good position to potentially get the five seed. Especially with the Clippers remaining schedule, they might end up

getting the five seed. And I actually like that matchup with Phoenix because Phoenix is such a bad perimeter defense team. But the thing is is when they get to those higher level, high pressure situations and late rounds of the playoffs, you just need Andrew Wiggins, you do. One of the most underrated parts of their playoff runline last year was the job he did on Luca don chich In, the job that he did on Jason Tatum, and taking him out of that equation makes everything so much more difficult

for them. And I want to so bad believe in what they can do. But here's the thing. If Wiggins isn't coming back, I just don't think they can do it well. And also, Jason is Wiggins in shape, no, so let so I was told he wasn't going to play for the regular season. He was Nobody knew about the playoffs, and nobody knew at the time I reported it. Nobody knew if they were going to make the playoffs. Right, So let's say he comes back and is not in shape. This is the NBA. It's hard enough in November to

enter the season not in shape. You can't play yourself into shape in the playoffs. And he's their best on ball defender, high IQ, super twitchy, I mean Jason. They have no front court scoring none, so I mean Weisman. They moved off him eventually because you know, he just didn't fit the time. Everything with them, I been told Kurs feeling is as long as Steph is great, they're gonna do whatever it takes for Steph to have a

chance to win a title. The organization, I've been told Steve feels we owe Steph just as many titles as we can give him. So they're gonna make moves in bail on young guys. Now, the good thing about Wiggins out is Koominga has gotten more of a chance. But he's so raw, he's so inconsistent. I mean, that's the difference between talent and wisdom. Jordan Pool's good but has

bad nights. You kind of know what you get from Steph Kominga again, crazy twitchy, but there are nights you get sixteen minutes and six points and he's just not there. So I think in the building they know they can't win without Wiggins. I've been told they know that it just doesn't work. Yeah, with the community thing, it's funny.

I always always joke like, as a young basketball player, every time you have a good game, you kind of look back and you think about what caused you to have a good game, and you kind of commit that to memory. And every time you have a bad game, you kind of think about what caused you to have a bad game. You know, this specific process thing that you did poorly, or this specific thing with your form

that got out of whack. And over the years, as you become a more experienced player, that's what causes you to become more consistent, as you learn how to avoid the things that lead to bad games, and you learn how to replicate the things that lead to good games. And that's the thing. Cominga has actually done a lot of Wiggins esque stuff. He's done some isolation scoring at

the end of shot clocks. He's done a really good on ball defense, like he did a pretty damn good job on Luca the other night when he was guarding him. And then he's working really well in the Warrior system, cutting and finding ways to be impactful offensively. But the problem is is then he'll have a night where he goes one for seven and gets a trust a little

bit off the ball. So that's the inconsistency piece. The Suns are undefeated with Kevin Durant in the lineup, Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and DeAndre and I have played one hundred and fifty four possessions together and they are outscoring teams by thirty points per one hundred possessions and they're amazing on both ends of the floor. Are you

buying Phoenix. I'm a little bit worried about them being thin and it's easy to push them around a little bit, and then their perimeter defense is a legitimate concern from a matchup standpoint. But whatever I'm saying, the scoreboard says they're kicking everyone's ass. So where are you at with Phoenix? Their bench scoring is tenth so they have Warren Craig

t Ross. It's okay, it's not dynamic, but you know this, go to the finals last year, seven guys for the Warriors and seven guys for the Celtics got big minutes. You shrink that thing fast. I think the concern Chris Mannox was on my show today and I think he's right. My concern is they have a lot of elements. I like an experienced coach, two dynamic scores, semidecent length and rim protection. The issues Chris Paul like, there have been nights like he's not close and this happens to NFL

wide receiver. They hit thirty four and it's like, who's that he can't separate? Like, that's a position where you fall up a cliff fat there's gradual for a left tackle, you know Andrewworth for the Rams, it's very slight, very gradual. Receivers fall off cliffs. Chris like, if you went into a series and you took a one oh lead, there's an argument to be made you could rest him in game two for game three, Like it don't you almost get to a point where you lead a series three

one you just rest him. So and by the way, this is I mean, I can remember great players. Barkley at the end just wasn't the same. He needed an extra day's rest. So the question is they can win a series like that? Can they win three? Probably not because but everybody's got a little bit of this. Robert Williams for the Celtics, huge concern right in terms of health, k d and Chris Paul, big concern Kawai and Paul George.

I mean, Denver is one of the few teams we don't really worry about that there guys are going to play most of you, yeah, I mean most of your good teams in the league. I mean I'm one of those. You know, Embid it's always a finger crosser to mad like he I've seen it, the way he plays fast and hard and Anthony Davis right, So I'd like most teams in this league have a guy that is a health or age liability, and I think that's the Phoenix issue. I think the bench is good enough. Yeah, you know,

Chris Paul has actually become a target. I remember I was watching a game like a week and a half ago or so where I was watching Joe Ingles just barbecue like he couldn't keep Joe ingles in front, and then I was like, Oh, like, this is this is

a this is a problem. I mean, that is going to be the big question mark I think this offseason is whether or not they're better off trying to use Chris Paul's salary as a vehicle with which to bring back some higher level role players for a team that needs more, you know, kind of like an adult in the room ball handler. So I'll be interested to see what they do there. The one of the major concern I have with Phoenix is they do not generate rim pressure.

All three of their guys, Chris Paul, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant are driving to pull up, so when they come over those ball screens, they're constantly getting that ten

fifteen foot area and they're trying to pull up. And the inability to have a guy on the roster who's relentlessly attacking the rim, which collapses the defense and creates closeout opportunities for your teammates, that's the one thing that kind of concerns me because when you're a heavily let's just put it this way, the Suns were already the team that took the second most pull up jump shots in the entire league off the drible jump shots that

was before Kevin Durant came, and Kevin Durant is the most prolific pull up jump shooter in the league. So the thing is is if they're pull up jump shots don't fall, do they have a second punch And that'll be the one that if they do lose. I think

that's how it'll happen. It'll be all their pull up jump shooting going cold, probably in a physical matchup where guys like Devin Booker and Kevin Durant gets fatigued by constantly having to fight for every inch of position and them not getting enough lift on those shots and not knocking them down. Looking to get more out of the NBA season, well, now is the perfect time to download

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dot one eight hundred gambler dot net, West Virginia. Before we move on, I wanted to ask you, did you see that quote from Charles Barkley directed towards kyd Or He said he is sensitive. It's weird, I said to you for three or four years now. I'm not sure why he reacted to it. Again. I don't care where it goes. He's a great, great player. I think he's a good guy too. He's sensitive, and I'm not worried about it. Did you did you see that altercation between

those two guys? Yeah, I've always thought, you know, I've got kids, so some people are just more sensitive. Like when I was in my twenties, like I just didn't get it. I was kind of a relentless, full steam ahead. Then you have kids in your realize I got six two biological four steps. Some kids are more sensitive. You know. Aaron Rodgers is really sensitive to criticism. Kyler Murray and his people are Kevin Durant is It's okay? He's in touch with who he is. I have a soft spot

for Kevin Durant. I think he's I think he is the only player in the league take centers out if you had a one on one tournament in the history of the league. I think Durant's the only person that would beat Lebron and Michael Jordan. I think he's just. I think he is just. He can put it on the deck, you know, take centers out. You know, I don't want to see Kareem against Ray Allen or something.

He is insane. But if you're talking like you know, Dirk Navitsky, Durant, Jannis or the high end, I think Kevin's one of the greatest scorers. He's also a willing defender. I think he's really smart. But he's a different cat, you know, his upbringing. He's just different. And it's like, I'm going to accept that everybody comes from different backgrounds and Barkley's you know, listen, I think about this all

the time. If I was a pro basketball player and literally one of the greatest players ever was ripping me on television and all my friends are dmming me. Like Adam Silver said a year ago, he was my players are miserable, So I'm old. I don't. I don't care right like, and I don't sit on the internet. But I didn't generationally Jason grow up with a phone. I'm not on it all the time. I mean, I Friday, when I leave work till Sunday, I'm not even on my phone. I got my staff said, I'm not even

close to it. That Kevin grew up and that you did in the iPhone generation, it's a magnet. My kid's eyes are on it all the time, and he gets a little beat up by it. So I'm sympathetic. He is sensitive, but I'm gonna embrace that. I would love to see him win in Phoenix. I really would love it. I think it would be it would validate a lot of because listen, we both knew this when he left Golden State. It was a it was a really bad career decision. I've compared it to Mahomes saying I've got

a buddy, I'm gonna go to the Jets. No, don't do that. Don't. It was the same thing. But in basketball, we tend to give the star a little bit more of a mobility edge. The shoe sales, it's more of an individual game. There's not the team construct. You know, we Lebron leaves. Of course he does Mahomes leaves. You're like, why so I find myself I'm not supposed to root, but I find myself sort of rooting for Kevin to succeed.

I'm for him too. I think I think gets such low hanging fruit to be like he only one with Steph, therefore he's not a real champion. Like to me, Kevin Durant's always been a phenomenal basketball player who just got partnered with two extremely volatile point guards Russell Westbrook on

the floor, Kyrie Irving off the floor. That ended up being kind of what submarined a lot of point Yeah, and I am rooting for him to have that legitimizing title, just like I rooted for it with Steph in last year's playoff run, because a lot of people undercut some of his success because of Kevin Durant, which I thought

was ridiculous. You know, Katie went after the whole concept of these older players being disrespectful, and you know what's so interesting to me about that, Colin is like, usually there's a camaraderie with the players, like our job by virtue of our need to be authentic demands that we criticize. That is part of what we have to do. But what's interesting is players in the league are typically pretty

tight knit with criticism. For instance, Russell Westbrook was objectively awful with the Lakers for a year and a half. You couldn't find a player in the league who would throw him under the bus every time someone would interview them and they'd be like, what do you think about rust with the Lakers? Russ is a former MVP, is in Hall of Famer. Love that guy, you know, I'm

rooting for him. He's like, no one would criticize it, because like there's this tight knit like respect among the players where generally speaking, they speak positively of each other in a way that the media has a little bit more free reign to be critical. That's what's so weird with this older generation. And I'm so glad Kevin Durant's going at it. It is bizarre the sheer amount of these older players that are being outwardly disrespectful of these players.

They do not feel the same level of obligation to kind of keep that tight knit like kind of mutual respect. And I do find that super interesting. Do you buy Kevin Durant when he says that he doesn't care about legacy anymore? No, every No, he cares. Everybody cares. I mean, I you know, legacy is a lot of vanity, but and I don't spend a lot of time on it. But I don't want to end my career poorly, right.

I want to end it having some control, you know, being part of the volume when a network kicks me off the air because my hair is even grayer than this. So I think, I think everybody you know, as you age, you just you think about that stuff. And you know, Brady at the end wanted to have more control, wanted to end it. So he picked a team with a bunch of good receivers and an offensive coach. I mean, he knew what he was doing. He Tom Brady figured out, Listen,

I can't carry the load anymore. I'm going to go to a team with a bunch of really good receivers in Tampa, really good tight ends. Bring Antonio Brown and Gronk, and I'm not going to have to lift as much. Like Matt Stafford got old, Oh, I got McVeagh as a coach. Oh, I've got Cooper Cup. Oh, I've got Like I think you know, as you age, you still have it. You just don't have it forty eight minutes a game as an NBA player or seventeen games relentless

as a quarterback. So I think I think Kevin is aware of his legacy, and his legacy is going to be a better version of Dirk Navitsky. I mean to me, he's going to be a more well rounded version Dirt Navitsky, a more lethal version with more titles. And that's a pretty good spot. Dirk's an Altimer. He's gonna be a better version of that, sort of like Michael's a better version of Kobe. It's a pretty good space to be.

That's an Alteimer. Yeah, you know, I buy him to a certain extent, Like I do think he cares about legacy at least a little bit, but I do believe him that he I think he's just the way I would describe it is similar to what we go through as members of the media. You obviously with a million a ton more experience, but you know, how like, I'm not sure what it was like for you when you first got into the business, because I know there wasn't social media, but like, obviously I came in right with

the Twitter trolls and the relentless social media harassment. So I've got lots of people that would DM me and talk shit and say all these awful things. And what's funny is like it pretty quickly, within about a year, I realized, like, oh, like there's a significant segment that you will never satisfy, Like you're just they're they're gonna hate you no matter what you say, and you can never win. So just focus on doing your job and look at the results. There's way more people who support

you than don't. And I think Kevin Durant has kind of come to a similar realization. I think he realizes now that there is a segment of people that no matter what he does, no matter where he wins, no matter how much he succeeds on the basketball court, they'll call him a cupcake, and they'll say that he doesn't defend, and they'll say that he jumped on Steph's bandwagon. I think Kevin Durant has just come to terms with the fact that he's never going to be able to satisfy everybody.

And I think that he's I really do believe that he has come to the other side of things where he's like, I'm just going to play the best I can and I'm going to win as much as I can, and whatever happens in terms of the legacy is clearly outside of my control. So I'm at peace with that. I do think he cares about his legacy, but I think he's at peace with the fact that he can't control it. Yeah, and I think, I mean, the most criticized player in the NBA is Lebron James. I mean,

I said this about Barack Obama. You didn't have to agree with his policies. You can't get worked up because once he wore a Baize suit as a beautiful family smart guy. If that really ruined your day, fuck out of here. You're just a miserable person. Like that's just not good enough, right, You don't have to like his policies. But he wasn't weaponizing social media, so you know they're durst.

I think I always figure like, you know, like we forgot about Joe Montana very quickly, and I mean went from you know, Montana was the goat Brady beats Atlanta. We've never talked Joe Montana since it went like Brady to Mahomes and Joe Montana's out there. Hey, I got four right. But I think Joe Montana is so happy in his personal life. If you ever see him around his wife, they're like teenagers cud league kiss he I mean, this cutest couple. And I think the happier you are

in your personal life, none of that stuff matters. Joe knows who he is. I mean we literally he went from Brady, we talked Rogers Mahomes. It is like Joe Montana never played. It's insane. And and I think as Kevin ages, I think young people tend to think they've got it made. They're not married, no kids, they're happy in their twentiest. Research shows you get happier as you age because there's less societal pressure. You kind of prune your tree. You don't really care who cares about you.

I think as as Kevin is aged, this is very human. He's he's more comfortable with who he is, and it's been clearly defined who he is. He is, you know, I would say this, He's one of the ten best basketball players I've ever seen, and I've I've been watching since Wilton nineteen seventy two, seventy three. He's one of the ten best basketball players on his good nights I've ever seen. Injuries have not helped him in the last

four or five years. He is brittle now, so it's it's it's hard to put him on that top five or six. He's probably would say top twelve, but he is really he's kind of a one on one I mean, he's easy unique. I mean Mark fu coach gun Zaga, he coached on those Olympic teams, and I think I've told this story. I was talking to him one time about what it's like and I said, anybody surprised you?

He said, even among great players, Kevin Durant's ridiculous. Like even among all the great players, they got to work to get their shot. Durant just gets it, gets a great shot, not a good one, a great one against our greatest players. Every time down the floor. He's like Colin I've seen a lot of basketball. There's just nothing like Kevin Durant. Yeah. The putting him all time all time list gets so convoluted by centers because they're just they play. I take him out almost me too. I

keep a completely separate list. It's like, just here's all the best perimeter players of all time, and I think Kevin Durant is clearly one of the ten best perimeter players of all time. How do you even compare him to someone like Will It's a completely different sport. I think you make an interesting point though. It's really this simple. If you become secure in who you are and what you've accomplished, then you're never going to allow some stranger

to convince you you're something less than that. And again, I do believe that Kevin Durant in a previous version of himself, you know, five seven years ago, I think he did buy into that stuff a little too much and he let the noise get to him a little bit. But I do believe him that he's made a little bit of a transition into a new phase, or he's more kind of at peace with the fact that he

can't control that stuff. So I want to talk about the Lakers for a minute, because Colin, I'm gonna be honest with you, every time I watched them, especially with Lebron with him being back, I am so tempted to pick them to come out of the West. They are four and one when Lebron is played post deadline. That one loss was a loss to the Bulls that they immediately avenged and kind of kicked the shit out of him. And in that game, Anthony Davis had a weird game.

He only took eight shots. It was just a weird loss for the Lakers. On Sunday, they are outscoring teams with Lebron on the floor by twenty points per one hundred possessions since the deadline. That is the same type of number that I was giving you with the Warriors in their top five starting lineup Metric. Now, again a small sample size, but they've been dominant. Here's a crazy staff for you. The Lakers starters against the Bulls, by the way the Bulls came into that game, is the

fifth best defense in the league. They are an amazing perimeter defense. They contain the basketball better than just about any team in the league. The Lakers starters scored at a rate of one hundred and fifty five points per one hundred possessions against that Bulls unit. With that starting lineup, the combination of amazing off ball offensive skill with guys like Austin Reeves and D'Angelo Russell, and then Lebron James and Anthony Davis just being two of the biggest walking

mismatches in the league. How awesome is that that? It's like, Oh, our guards are struggling with the Bulls ball pressure. We'll just have Anthony Davis bring the ball up the floor because Vussovic can't guard him, and then we'll post up Lebron James on Alex Cruzoe and get fantastic shots every single time. I think they're gonna get mismatches like that in every single series in this playoff run. Should they

stay healthy? So I again, there's two things that concern me Lebron's health, Anthony Davis is inconsistency and health, because he is the kind of guy that'll take eight shots one night against the Bulls, even though he's being guarded by like Derek Jones Jr. And then take twenty shots and score thirty eight against the same team the next night.

That's definitely a wild card. But I do think when they're clicking on all cylinders, I think they have a higher two way ceiling than any of these teams in the Western Conference. Am I too high on them? Or do you agree? Well, there's one thing they do exceedingly well. And this is where they're the opposite of Phoenix. They're gonna get a lot of free throws. Anthony Davis attacks the basket. Lebron attacks the basket. Usually Austin Reeves attacks

the basket. So they're the opposite of Phoenix. Phoenix is always bitching about free throw opportunities. Lakers are going to get to the line. Everybody's gonna say it's rigged. Now. This is what they do. They don't pull up read He's a contact machine. He's always eliciting contact. You know again the other night, I mean Anthony Davis shot one three. He gets to the line, but Lebroun puts his mind to it. He does, so they're gonna get a lot of free throws. The downside is that's a lot of contact.

Anthony Davis hits the floor, so I kind of know what I see. They're gonna get people in the foul trouble. Darvinham is an excellent defensive coach. The minute Westbrook left, he got buy in from the role players and their defensive efficiency went through the roof. So they play real defense. They have a defensive Coachel Vogel was a pretty good defensive coach, defensive coach. They have guys that attack the basket. They're gonna get free throws, meaning they're gonna be fairly

consistent on offense. What I see is the liability, and I don't believe role players win titles. Molik Beasley, where did he go? Ruey can play twelve minutes and give you one shot and no points. I mean, he's just that's why he moves their bench at times. Is just not there now. They tend to be guys that will commit on the defensive end. But I think you're gonna get a very consistent effort. They'll play good defense, they'll get to the free throw line. They're gonna be in games,

absolutely going to be in games. Whereas you watch, you know there are teams like if Phoenix doesn't hit shots, they don't get to the line as much. They're gonna get blown out. By the way, the Warriors don't get much front core scoring. They settle on jumpers. They're gonna have nights. They don't get to the free throw line. So anytime. The Lakers actually have the worst style, considering

they have injured players. They're constantly in contact. Their players create it so the good news is they're gonna get to the free throne line. And if you do that, you force other teams to make substitutions, You get them out of their game because of foul trouble. So I think the Lakers will be really a really consistent team.

And you just cross your fingers on help Reeves. You know, when it first started, I thought, is he Jeremy Lynn a limited player who's getting minutes because they just because Carmelo's out, Jeremy Lynn's they just need his energy, right, And I thought, okay, Lebron that they just need his energy. But he really is an excellent passer, gets the free throw line. But commit he's a willing I always say, is he a willing defender? Westbrook's a terrible defender, Kyrie's

a terrible Lucas a terrible defender. Reeves is gonna stick. He's a real player. He's a starting NBA player. You know, it's funny. The free throw thing is so funny to me when I was when I was growing up listening to you, Colin used to all the time go after conspiracy theorists and you'd be like, what I hate about conspiracies is there's always one giant hole and you'd be like, like, the why didn't we ever find a big foot, you know,

carcass somewhere one of these days, you know. To me, that's the thing with the Laker free throw debate is it's like, Okay, the league is just trying to rig these games against the Lakers. It's like, then, why didn't Lebron get the call against Tatum at the end of the game against Boston, Why didn't Lebron get the call against Christian Wood at the end of the game against Dallas? Like if it was rigged for the Lakers, why they're getting the wrong calls wrong? You know what I mean.

So I've never really bought into that. It's really this simple. They're one of the best teams in the league at defending without fouling, and they're one of the best teams in the league at getting to the free throw line. Therefore you're going to have a massive differential. The second best tree throw differential team is the Miami Heat, and they don't generate a lot of free throws. So again, they're the only team that's good at both. That's why

they have the big deficit. It's the most simple explanation in the entire world. Now, the bench thing is super interesting, and this is where Darvin Ham, I think has kind of dropped the ball a little bit post deadline. The Lakers have five really really good shot creators Lebron, James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reeves, the Angela Russell, and Dennis Schroeder. And one of the things that but Darvin Ham has been doing is he's been going with the line shift

approach with his subs. So he'll take Danzel, Russell, Austin Reeves, Lebron, and Davis all out of the game at the same time. And then they ran a unit against the Bulls yesterday with Dennis Schroeder and four bench guys, and like, that's just you're setting yourself up for failure. I always say that role players, if you can create for them small roles, they will thrive and knock those roles out of the park. As soon as you grow their roles, they have to

OutKick their coverage. They're not capable of it. They start to be in over their skis and they make mistakes, and so they need to have two or three of those guys on the floor at all times to have a chance to succeed in Darvin Ham just hasn't really done I think a good enough job of staggering that said up in everybody's minutes. You know, Malik Beasley is completely off the reservation like it's and you know, this is a recurring theme with the Lakers. They're a high

pressure franchise. Their fan basis ravenous and like like I'll give you an example, DeAngelo Russell. And maybe it's because he was there when he was a kid in his formative years. He is thriving under that la pressure. But Malik Beasley is falling upon art underneath it, and it's getting to the point where now he's like there was a play yesterday, I don't know if you saw it in the Bulls game where he was dribbling up the floor.

Malik was and he just dribbled into Anthony Davis and fell over and lost the ball like it like, he's completely off the reservation. And I actually think they need to try to pull him entirely from the rotation at this point, either up the other guards minutes or go

with Lonnie Walker. But so they definitely have some stuff they got to iron out in terms of the rotation but I love their combination of rock fight front court physicality with Labron jac and Anthony Davis supplemented by real skill in the backcourt and forwards that can do the dirty Wark and Jared Vanderbilt and when you Gabriel in particular, and so really the vulnerability is the health and you made a great point. They play a style that requires

you to be resilient physically. The best example of this is that Sun series two years ago. Anthony Davis obliterated them in game two in game three just by killing them on the offensive glass, fighting for every rebound. Like it wasn't like he was hitting Iso jumpers in that game. No, he killed them physically at the rim and then broke down in game four. And so that's where it's like,

when you're asking them to go through four rounds. You know where you're playing, you have to be the team four times in two weeks, four times in a row. It is a lot to ask. And that's why, like if you ask me, gun to my head right now, who's gonna win the West? I go Denver just because no one else deserves that faith. You know, I'd go Denver and then probably Phoenix. But like all those other teams, it's like, yeah, if Wiggins comes back, Warrior's Court, like,

let's go, they're gonna do it. Lakers, Lebron, James, Anthony Davis stay healthy. Of course they can do it. Kevin Durant, Devin Booker get hot. Yeah, the Suns can win. But there's so many question marks with those groups, Whereas Denver has just been good all year and at what point does that become the safest pet Well, I think the West all season is about who's healthy is winning. Why would it change in the playoffs. I think the playoffs

are going to be the regular season. If Lebron on an eighty year healthy, watch out Denver probably healthy, watch out Um Clippers probably won't be Wiggins probably won't come back, and Chris Paul or Kevin Durant get dinged. So I mean, if something this is what it's been all regular season, Like, let's be honest, Memphis has depth. They lost John Morant for a spell, but they have real depth. They've won

a lot of games. You know, Denver, we can we can talk about are they built for the playoffs, but they've they've got pretty good depth. They got about seven eight guys that already play, so my guess is that's the playoffs, and you know it. I really do like Phoenix. Um. I think the thing with that's interesting with Denver is Draymond Green. His game doesn't get in Yoki's head because he plays so far away from the basket. So Draymond's really changes your offense. He's really he's like Rodman, but

a catalyst on offense as well. He's a better version of Rodman, not the rebounder, but the better overall player. But it doesn't really work against the Yoki because he's so far out, so you kind of take Draymond out of space. And if you take Looney away from the basket, they're tiny. I mean, they are just so vulnerable on the glass. So I like Golden State if Wiggins came back, but if he doesn't, you know, I think the Lakers

would beat Denver in a seven game series. I think they're a weird matchup for the Warriors, and I think the Warriors know it. I don't think they want any part of Denver. I think they want Phoenix. I think the Warriors want Phoenix. I don't think they want any part of Denver. Yoki is just a you know, he's such an unemotional player, so the Draymond stuff, it just doesn't. It doesn't. I was talking to the t Wolves coach

about this off the air. He loves Draymond, you know, and he just said, Yokis doesn't buy into any of it. He's not an emotional player like that. And you know you said this earlier. There are teams that match up really well with other teams, and I think you're gonna

see matchups in health will dictate the West. Yeah, that's what's so interesting about then potentially getting the five seed is I like their matchup against Golden State against Phoenix, but your reward for beating Phoenix would be Denver in round two. And I like them as a team that can beat Denver with Wiggins, but without Wiggins, I just I just don't think they have the size to hang. It's too small. They're just too small. Yea. All right, guys,

that is all we have for tonight. Colin, thank you so much for taking the time to hang out tonight. It's always fun talking basketball with you. Oh it's great. I enjoyed it. Talk to somebody the volume. Make sure to check out the dram on Green Show. I brought Draymond Green into the Volume because one of the more entertaining voices in sports. Unique perspective understands behind the rope also chops up with guests like Gary Peyton, Zach Levine,

Tracy McGrady. Make sure download The Draymond Green Show wherever you get your podcasts, only on the Volume podcast Network.