Colin Cowherd Podcast Prime Cuts -  Mike Silver on Dan Snyder Sale, Jeff Benedict on ‘The Decision’ Behind the Scenes, Luka/Carmelo Similarities w/ Jason Timpf

Dan Snyder era in Washington. All Right, my buddy, Mike Silver, part of the volume, longtime NFL reporter writes for Ballely Sports in the San Francisco Chronicle, actually begin going to be doing some warrior games since he knows Steve Kerran knows hoops, which is great. We'll get into that in a second. Daniel Snyder, it's hard to ruin a great brand, right, Like Donald Sterling was a bad human, but that was

never a great brand, right. Robert Sarver did all he could to ruin the Suns, but it wasn't a huge national brand. Seventies, eighties, nineties, Washington was the Packers. I mean they were when I was a kid growing up. They were the franchise after Dallas and the Steelers, and it's such a great fan base, exactly, exactly, So a lot of people felt, despite the harassment charges, that the owners would support Dan Snyder and he would just figure

out a way despite bad pr to hang around. Any insight to what possibly happened.

have our at least quiet support. But that was not insignificant when Jimmersay started public you know, came out publicly and said, yeah, I don't know, maybe we should get rid of this guy. Jim Ersay has three daughters, He's very close to him. He didn't like the way that the allegations against Stan Schneider were selling NFL owners and the league. You know, prior to that it had been thought, well, a lot of owners have skeletons. Trust me, I worked for them.

another one hundred thousand dollars or something. You know, they didn't want to open that can of worms. And remember Jerry Richardson faced some pretty serious allegations just passed away recently. That problem got solved because he was older and he was just done. He was like, you know what, fine, I'm out. And they didn't have to the NFL owners didn't have to deal with it. The NBA solved the

problem twice by throwing money at the problem. Essentially a having the balls Adam Silver on his first day on the job to say you're out. Donald Sterling, whether it's constitutional or not, and then a giant offer from Steve Ballmer and again with the suns that happened with Starvers. So you know, this is a little bit of all of that. Daniel Sider wasn't going to make it easy and walk away, but I think once he heard Jim Mersey say that, he realized, man, something has turned.

Matt Rule. Sounds weird in retrospect, but gave Matt Rule all that money because it messed up the coaching contract market. But I feel like owners get over that stuff, you know, eventually, but the you know what owners can't get over allegations have proven and maybe we'll never know that one owner, Daniel Snyder, allegedly cooked the books and screwed them out of their share of the gates. That's less forgivable, you know for the billionaire set. So yeah, they tend to

stick together. They tend to not want to set precedents like, oh, a couple of accusations could knock Xoder out of the league and make them lose this incredible investment. But you know, Daniel Snyder put them through the rigger in a lot of ways, and Ers, possibly knowing that he spoke for a larger contingent, was kind of like, Okay, this is

this is a nightmare. Look if the Colts play the Commanders, if they're still called that at the FedEx Field or a new stadium, and Jim Orsay takes the field pregame to Goschmouze. He should get like an adoring celebration and a prolonged ovation from those Washington fans for a huge, huge assist on getting Daniel Snyder the f out, because heaven knows, it's been long coming and it's tough to shed any tears.

So the trail ant stuff is interesting. I was talking to Jordan Palmer the other day and he's like, you know, if you look at the offense San Francisco runs, a lot of these plays are scheme to succeed. Sam Donald's going to have the best protection, the best weapons, the best coach he's ever had. And we know he's a big, strong, athletic kid and coachable and hard working. He's just not

accurate enough. But this system makes you more accurate. Don't be shocked if Jimmy Garoppolo is not nearly as good with the Raiders as he was with the Niners. So brock Purty, I think the franchise likes a lot and Sam Donald are in house. We all know at some point, and I think the Niners are, and even some of the sound and some of the quotes from your articles, they're going to move off something if they missed. They're not going to try to double down on wrong. Let's

just be honest. Could Trey Lance be moved before the season.

model is even better. You're not even allowed to reopen his contract for two more years. It's even cheaper than Trey Lance's deal, and he showed Kyle Shanahan. You know, people are like, well, how can you say Perdy. I'm like, I'm not saying that. Kyle believes it based on what he saw for Purdy the guy. So going into that Philly game for the Conference championship, the only thing that

kuld of derailed that plan was what happened. If Rock Party had broken his leg, it would have been brutal and it would have hurt and it would have sucked. But they would have been like, fine, he'll come back. It's because of what happened to was throwing elbow. You're not totally sure. A you're not sure when, and B you're still not positive that it's going to be like it was before. And I have PTSD because a lot of my Twitter critics probably weren't born when I was

right about the Joe Bontana Steve Young stuff. But Joe Bontana missed basically two seasons after elbow surgeries, and he did come back after that. It'd have two really really good years with the Chiefs, but nothing is promised, and so I think because of that, it gives them an opening to say, look, we knew Lance was going to take a while to develop because he was raw. It's taken longer. It didn't work when we just handed it

to him last year. We ended up having to bring Garoppolo back as a hedge and ultimately turned the party. But maybe we can develop him and use this offseason to get him some more reps. And I don't know if this offense makes you more accurate, because you're going to have to be more accurate than or consistently accurate than Trai Lance was before he got hurt last year. But you know, there's still a lot of things to

potentially like about him. So I believe what they'll do is they'll say, look, party's not going to be here till at least the start of the season, maybe longer. We're gonna split reps between Lance and Dartl's see how they react, see what we have. Basically, if one of them has to start the opener, it's the guy we

think gives us the best chance to win. And I think one thing that people are missing here is that when they say, well, they're going to trade Trey Lance and admit their mistake, Yeah, eventually they're going to admit their mistake. If it was a mistake, but they're not fielding offers to get back in the first round for Trey Lance. And I know it only takes one team, but if they trade Trey Lance, now, I think it's for a three or something. And so I just don't

think you have urgency too. You don't know about Purdy, you'd like another option, you'd like to see if you can develop a more because you do have a lot of vested in them. You're not paying them a lot, and you can always move them, you know, a year from now, if it goes the way you wanted to with Purdy, and possibly if it does with Darnold. So I think if someone called them and said we will give you it too, like something, they thought.

that in the second round. But the roster is good, not great, but it's good. It's not San Francisco, it's not Philadelphia. I don't think it's as good maybe as you know a Buffalo or as you know the top teams in the AFC.

choices on what matters to us. You have a great family, great friends in your career. You have prioritized those and they're all strong. Some people care about their careers, some people care about social life somewhat less stress. Aaron's made a decision, in my opinion, and winning. Second, what he wants is control over the media, over situations, over the Packers. That he could end all this bullshit. He can end the drama.

two years if you're not sure that you are. And sure, he could say I'm in for two years and you know, by December be like, oh, I'm you know, this is terrible, I'm out here. But maybe it's to his credit that he's not sure he's in for two years. And listen, I know I know from talking to my sources that the Jets understand that there's a scenario where he only plays one and they are not telling the packers, sorry, man,

we take it or leave it. What they're saying to the packers is, look, man, you know if it comes and he plays one year, we give up all this That seems kind of skewed. Is there a mechanism in this trade where if that happens, we get something back after he retires? And I think that's you know, they consider that a reasonable request. So yeah, Aaron can end that if he just said I'm in for two But maybe it's to Aaron's credit that he's not saying that because he's just not sure.

it's good for money, it's good. I think he wants to have a reviable year and I don't think his first year, frankly is going to be great.

and it's not like Hackett plus Lafloor. By the way, Att Haacket plus Sola, who's like you run the offense, I'm you know, I'll keep an eye on my specialty, which is defense. So if you believe that Aaron and Hackett are now resuming a very fruitful partnership that won consecutive MVPs their next two years together, and it's the Jets receipts and other players who are going to have to adjust to that, Aaron may not think it's he. Aaron probably thinks I'm going to just be rolling for

the get go. But going back to what you said earlier, just as he made a decision not to work with the new receivers a year ago, when clearly, as Patrick Mahobes could tell you, that was an important thing to do for winning, I think that's what you need to

look at. If this trade doesn't get done Draft weekend, you will probably hear I suspect, Hey, it turns out Aaron Rodgers and Garrett Wilson and Al Lazard and you know, all those Jets targets are working out in La or somewhere, and because there's nothing to stop him, you can't say

he's tampering. And you can't say Garrett Wilson's tampering. So I think it is important to have to hit the ground running at your and that that'll be the way we know if there's no trade right away or the next couple of weeks, I would expect we'll see him and those guys for the Jets start to work together.

magazine article of some renowned It's such quality reporting. And I thought I knew just about everything about Lebron, but the details and the digging here is so fun. You start the book, the topic is the decision, which for years I defended Lebron on David Stern argued with me, I'm like listen, he gave millions of dollars of the Boys and Girls Club give me a break and Stern, as you know, appalled is too strong but didn't like it.

So let's you start the book there. Maverick Carter, who I know very well consider a friend, had some leverage in creating this. Let's go back to the decision. People may just remember the Jim Gray interview. It's quick. How did it land for Lebron? Talk about the genesis of it.

that decision that has never really come out before. And that's why I wanted to start the book. In a car pulling out of the private airport in New York, making its way through the back roads of Greenwich to the home of the man who really Mark Dowley, who helped put this together with Maverick, And I just thought this gives the reader the opportunity to feel like they're literally in the car with Lebron as he's en route to make a decision in a part of the country

that most people have never been to. I mean, most Americans have never been to Greenwich, Connecticut. And in a way, it's a weird place when you think about it. Why in the world would you choose Greenwich to make this announcement. It's Nick's country, if anything, and if you were going to go to the Knicks, Greenwich is an odd place to go to do this. And so I wanted to go there with the reader because I just thought it allowed me to show so many things about Lebron at

that moment in his life. And I just love the scenery of them getting out of the car and Greenwich at this estate, Maverick and rich Paul, and they're flying so high in that moment, they're so happy, they're so almost in a way there is a naive ta about what's about to happen, and they're so loose.

in Cleveland. They were already burning his jersey, But it's not till later that evening, before they've left Greenwich though, to get on a private plane to go to Miami. They hung around for a while. They actually went back to Dowy's house and they were listening to music and hanging out. And then Dan Gilbert's letter shows up on the website and you're starting to go like wow, Like the New York Times puts up a story that's referring

to the Evil Empire. And this is all happening in real time and Twitter works now right, It's Twitter's fairly new at this point, but it works, and the tweets are coming from all over the place, not just sports people, but people in entertainment, late night comedy. Everybody's piling on. And so by the time Lebron and his inner circle are in the air to fly to Miami, they know it's bad. And I love how Rich Paul refers to the quietest flight he'd ever been on with Lebron and Maverick.

need to lure Lebron to your team. Lebron had so much access to fame and glitz and glamour, that's not what he was looking for. And he wasn't looking for a billion dollars. He was looking for rings championships. And so New York does this thing where they hire a filmmaker who doesn't know anything about basketball. He didn't know

the difference between a basketball and a golf ball. And so he goes out and brings in Jonathan Hawk, who knows how to make a sports documentary, and they have all the celebrities in New York City lined up, from Harvey Weinstein to Reggie Jackson to Alec Baldwin, I mean, Robert de Niro, everybody wanted in this documentary. And they even got Donald Trump. They went up to Trump Tower and got Trump to sit for an interview. Anybody they interviewed is pitching lebron On White needs to come to

New York. To me, the best part of that whole story and the smartest thing they did, was to go get Tony Soprano out of retirement and to bring him in to do a sketch at the end of the film, and it's basically Dandal Feini getting back in that role with Edie Falco. It was brilliant, and I told the story through.

but it wasn't right. And then Riley comes in and Riley's last and Riley brings in a bag of rings and he puts him on the table and you know, Lebron asks him what's in there, and he dumps him out and there is championship rings that he's won everywhere, and it's what Lebron wants, and he has this really important line to keep the main thing the main thing. Lebron didn't know what that was in the moment, but Maverick knew what it was because he'd read Steve and

Rcovey's book and certainly understood what Riley was saying. And the main thing in Miami with pat Riley is winning championships, and he knew that that was the main thing for Lebron. And I just thought, wow, like these two contrasts the Knicks in the heat. So the Miami story is four years, two championships. I think the arc of many of our lives. Is the hardships come before the titles or the runs. Right,

We've all struggled in our life. Lebron struggles are the struggles of the greatest basketball player evert The decision dinged them a little bit. But Miami was Miami felt like it was going to work very quickly. You had the smart owner, pat Riley, a young, brilliant young coach. You had d Wade Haslam, the culture, and then he loses to the Mavericks and for the only time in his career looked afraid on the court. That was a real turning point for Lebron. Talk about that, it's a huge

turning point. I would say, it's not really a disagreement with you. But I think the decision did more than Dingham because the ramification of the decision is he is the villain of American sports. His first year in Miami, he hated and anyone who was in Cleveland. I was not there the night that Lebron returned to Cleveland, but I interviewed people who were It was violent. I mean it was scary. People who were on that team said they were afraid. The security in the arena. People that

were there to protect the Miami players. They had never seen or felt anything like that at an American sports event. That first year in Miami for Lebron, I think was different because Lebron likes to be liked and he was hated that year. And then on top of that, they were supposed to win and they didn't win, and I think that's what plunged Lebron into a dark period. The summer after losing to Dallas is the darkest period of Lebron's career for him personally, and it's really a moment

of self discovery where he's locked away in Miami. He doesn't want to talk to anybody, not family, not friends. He's listening to certain kinds of music, and really when he comes out of that, it's interesting when he comes out of that. I just thought it was interesting that one of the first people he saw when he came out of that was Bono in Miami, who had come YouTube was there touring, and he had some private time

with Bono backstage. I just thought it was interesting because I was thinking to myself as a writer, Bono's probably one of the only people on the planet who could actually say in that moment, I've been through more than you. I know what this is like, Like I've been in worse spots than you because I've been doing this longer

and I'm a world around rockstar. And I'm sure he didn't say those things to Lebron, but there aren't many people Lebron can get in a room with who could actually say I've been to these places that you're in right now. And he comes out of that, and Dwayne Wade has a big part of him coming out of that, because that's when they have the conversation about this needs to be your team. It's sort of like it's okay to take over, you need to dominate. This is my

city and my team in my town. But we're not going to win unless you take the reins and boy, the next season, Lebron's the scariest player in the NBA. I mean, everyone's afraid of him. You don't want to play this team and that guy, and I think the next three years to me, those are the scary Lebron hears. Let's go back to you talk about in the book. There's obviously great debate. Lebron now starts stacking up championships

in Miami and the Michael Jordan. Stuff really starts to become a comp and nobody had really ever challenged Michael Jordan. It was just Russell.

about your feelings. Lebron's comp was not my as you.

Remember Michael's retired right now, but they go there, and one of the things that Lebron gets to do is he gets to scrimmage run with these NBA players, guys like Antoine Walker, big time players, big bodies, playing with a teenager. And for the first time, the floor looks different to Lebron, it's a different floor. And that's why that chapter is called a different Floor. It's the same dimensions of the floor that he plays on at Saint VI's,

except everything's different. The passing lanes are more narrow because the guys are so much bigger. Their arms are longer. When they put their arms out the routes to the basket just aren't there that he sees in high school games. It's all different for him. And that is a huge eye opening experience for him. And one thing happens. He can't guard anybody in those scrimmages. They're too good, they're too fast, the too big. He can't guard them. But

he can score against these guys, which is phenomenal. He can score buckets with some of the best NBA players and he's only in high school. That's really important. And then here's the second part. Later they go back there and they're there and they're about to leave, and they go outside and Marten pulls up in a red sports car.

he wears. And now they're in a conversation, and Michael invites him back inside and they talk and Michael doesn't give him advice, because Michael's not that kind of guy. But it doesn't matter. It's what he did give him was he gave him his cell phone number, which to me is a lot more important than advice because of what it says to Lebron. Michael doesn't give his phone number out to anybody. Lebron's now one of the few

people in America who has Michael Jordan's cell phone. And when he leaves Chicago that night, by the way, Colin, the next day is the first day of school at Saint fee, Maverick's got to race him home because he's got to be in school the next day, and in his pocket he's got Michael Jordan's phone number. And he wrote in his journal about that and about how cool that experience was. And to me, what did Michael think

of Lebron in that moment? Did he really think that Lebron was actually going to threaten him as the potential greatest player of all time time? I don't know, Probably not, because he was still a kid and he was very encouraging to him at that moment. But Obviously, as time goes on, and it doesn't take long. By the time you get to Game five against Detroit, you know, like this guy is actually that guy, like he is the future. He is that good and there isn't anyone else like him.

And so I just think that Michael Jordan origin stories with Lebron, they're real, and there's some of the most interesting parts of Lebron's story.

to shoot. And then obviously in the front court with Steven Adams out, with Brandon Clark gout, yeah, looking at Xavier Tillman or Jaron Jackson there, Darvin Ham 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.

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.

to play Westbrook. They had a fight on their bench, So like Clippers feel very vaulatle to me and I think Memphis as a young one of the younger playoff teams. Cleveland in 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 you're big, he's your young guy, but he knows

laden games. They all step aside for Donovan Mitchell. Memphis has some egos, they're chatty. I think the Lakers win that series.

playoffs do the same thing with John Moran. It's hey, yeah, you knock 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 going to actually try to get into your head by making you

think you can't do it. That's the way that these 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 playoff 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 Moraet, Desmond Bayn, 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 zero lead or a two

to 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 Zacremento, a team who's very good and 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, but Golden State's actually a 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 feel better about well.

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, Kuminga's actually started to put log in eighteen twenty twenty four

minutes and been productive. So now you got to peel him back, so you got to massage that in the locker room. And the chemistry has been weird with the Warriors this year since the Draymond Jordan Poole inflammation. But I like their matchup in the series. He 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 the 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 some real worrisome matchups. Even the Lakers size could be a huge problem. I think they locked down well. Again, the Warriors can beat somebody with size. They just need Andrew Wiggins.

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, along with the simple combination of deeron Fox and demand of Sabonis and what they do with their dribble handoffs, and the problem it presents for teams because you let deeron 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 the game against Oklahoma City, a tough fought game against Oklahoma City. You might have been scammed, but it was a tough fought game against Oklahoma City, and in the fourth quarter of that game, Gary Payton shut down shake Yield is 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 out there, We're going to do a full breakdown of this series within the next couple of days where we'll really dive into the x's and o's, But I'm leaning towards picking the Warriors in five or six.

And I think Phoenix is going to be a handful for the Clippers. I love Phoenix here.

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.

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 shot maker. Like he doesn't pressure the rims 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 playoff ceiling they need Without Paul George, I think I think the Suns are going to make quick work of that.

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. Phoenix hasn't lost yet with Durant on the floor. I mean it's and it looks really good. You know, 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 Ayton they've been frustrated. Moni'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' 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 don't think

any I really don't. You know, we'll see With 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 playoff success. So I think Phoenix is going to role. What did you make of the Dallas punting those last two games of the season.

hits you know, his pharmaceutical companies brilliant. 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 I think people think it's that. And then then 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 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 going to be really hard to find the Robin. You know, we talked about this. The hardest thing in basketball is to find the janis that once in a franchise player. So the Bucks have done it twice, Luel Cinder and Yannis. 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 slash heir porzingis. They don't like each other and then they tried Jalen Brunson and they're like, oh, 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 a two 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,

a shot blocker in college and byrd was a score. Well, Michae could have scored more, but he's like, Okay, I'm going to be part of this bosh in Miami. I want to be part of this Kevin Love and Cleveland Lebron, I'm going to be part of it. Like Luca's 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 had high functioning players. Kurran Packson 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.

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 behove 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 hi I 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 a 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. I again, I loved how you brought up Carmelo Anthony because that's such an interesting comp.

He never evolved in those other areas of his game.

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. I think Luca is 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, it's a bad locker room. I think the maps are

a bit of an s show right now. And I think Luca, I mean again, they're gonna they're gonna put the pr people to work in Dallas. It's all good. Luca is gonna love it. But when you watch him play, he aggravates me at times with his barking to the officials, Like on every play.

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 would the heliocentric you know, just dribble the air the basketball every time, but also with the attitude stuff.

neck and neck with a slight edge to Giannis. I hope it doesn't end up being one of those situations where Yannis just dramatically decorates himself because Luca Plateau's that's a problem potential.

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, Jr. Smith was fun, but I think people forget he and Lebron were pretty good together, and Jr. Smith was weird and you know, a little eccentric and some viewed as 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 Jannis 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 Ingles 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. Jannis never does. Lebron never has. I mean, God, he goes into Miami, it's d Wade City.