Dan McMahon. Van McMahon added old Land.
Texas flood as tickets, mud He's and main Ban McMahon.
Van McMahon, the man you DoD.
Jaz are off tonight welcomed in the Sacramento Kings last night they lost for Walker was really good Minnesota. Rigobert old Buddy back in town tomorrow night, speaking of our old buddy signed out for NBA Daily Assist. Thursday afternoon, I got Van McMahon, Tim McMahon, Tim happy Thursday, Sir, How.
Are you pretty, partner? How you doing?
I'm well.
I have to say, uh, I thought about you today when news broke that Ian Rappaport and Jordan Schultz had a heated exchange.
At a Starbucks. I've got it.
I've got to note, Tim, at some point you got a little fire in you. Dan McMahon, have you ever had a intense back and forth with a fellow reporter throughout your career?
Oh, I've had. I've had a handful, to say the least I had. There's one, and i'll protect I won't say the name to protecting not so innocent. But there's one particular gentleman who we got into a confrontation that termed mildly physical, but just mildly and uh, things blew over until he got a rough performance review, and he brought it up in his performance review and his boss called my boss, and so that won't get a little bit sticky. But it's been a while. I like to think I've grown in matured.
You have calmed.
You're even kind of nice to me. Not entirely nice to me, but kind of nice to me. Wait, this actually got a little like are we talking pushing, pushing and shoving?
Uh, you know, a little pin against the wall type of thing against the type of thing you know, No, no, no harm, no foul, Probably a foul, but I think it was not the flavor one.
Okay, all right, fair enough, So Tim, you know, the jazz stuff has been tough all year, as we talked about, but when cool things happened, let's talked about cool things. And you know, Walker last night was he was special. It was historic. I mean, two players in the history of pro basketball put up the stat line have put up the stat line Walker put up last night, and it was against a really good big and Demos the bonus, who's just eaten the jazz launch over the past few years.
Walker ten of ten from the floor, twenty five points, fourteen boards, five assists, two steals. Only Nikola Jokic and Wilt Chamberlain have done that in an NBA game. So again they lost, we know the deal, but a really cool night as it pertains to Walker Kessler.
Yeah, and honestly, I think Walker Kesso has been the best thing about the Jazz season this year. You know, you can say it's damningum with fame praise, but you know,
great rookie year. Last year I think, you know, he was even qualified as disappointing, and then you know, this year has been able to re establish himself as he's a quality starting dig and know, you for a team that is searching for long term foundation pieces, long term core pieces, I think he's the one guy from the last three drafts that you can say, hey, he absolutely fits that bill. There's no question that Walker Tesler can be a quality started big man in the NBA for
you know, a decade or so to come. So this was a highlight of what's really been a very good season for him individually. You know, despite the fact that obviously overall is a team they have not won much and are not trying to win that much.
And I don't know Tim that they're going to try to win even next year. So your guy John Than Gavoni, Jeremy Woo as well. Piece today really good in depth, Well it wasn't today, but a couple of days ago, really an in depth piece about the class next year.
Nate Emmett, Cameron Boozer, AJ, Deban Sa, Darren Peterson. AJ is going to be playing his college ball here, But after reading what cavoni had to write about, like he thinks Peterson's the number one prospect in AJ's two, then it's the Boozer board Camp will be three, and then Nate amm at four. But based off of what Caavoni's saying about these top four players, I don't know if this fan base will see a serious approach next year. And who knows what will you know the off season
will bring. But it feels to me, Tim that we're in for another year of what we just experienced.
Is that kind of what your gut's telling you.
I mean, I think the best way to put it is the Jazz are early and rebuild, and that's typically not like a you know, picky type of process. We'll see what kind of lottery luck they have, you know, We'll see if they are able to get a guy like you know, let's say they win water, they get Cooper Flag. You know, does Coop of Flag come in and drive winning immediately. I think the fasking an awful lot of a guy who, you know, if he didn't skip a great, if he didn't reclassify, would be a
senior in high school right now. So I think it's just kind of part of the natural process. But yeah, I if I'm a Jazz Dan, I'm not expecting like some jump and wins next year for sure.
All Right, so let's move let's move off it, and let's talk about the things that are a little bit more exciting and a little more pertinent to the world of pro basketball. First of all, from a macro standpoint, Tim, don't look now, but the past week I've watched NBA games and I'm seeing NBA players playing really, really hard. And maybe that's just this time of year. It is a reminder of how great this game is when the
best players take it seriously. I think the narrative of you know, lackadaisical play is starting to go away here with some pretty intense high level basketball.
It's the All Star Break.
Yet well yeah, then look those teams like you don't have to worry about whether the Detroit Pistons are playing hard. You know that that's a franchise and a bunch of guys, young guys on the roster who have a bunch to prove and you know, it's a pretty cool story. The Detroit Testons have one more game so far the season than they did the last two years combined. The Detroit Pistons woke up a year ago today with eight wins on the season. They are on an eight game winning
streak right now. So and look, you know, if you're again you're in Salt Lake City, it's a it's a rebuild. You know, there's obviously pain that comes along with that. This is a team that's been through the pain and has been able to make that jump this season. You've got to find the guy to build around, and they've got that with Cad Cunningham, and then it's about surrounding him with the right pieces. So, you know, they got to a point where they had a guy they wanted
to build around. They brought in some vets to fit and gave him just some room to breathe, and you know, the piss is like, I don't know if they're gonna win a playoff series this year, but the fact that they're going to be in one and that they're going to be a tough matchup for somebody is pretty amazing progress considering they won fourteen games last year and set it in being record for the longest losing.
Street former Jazz GM Dennis Lindsay helping out over there, which is pretty cool.
Happy for him.
And you know, when we always try to draw parallels between teams that are further along in advanced rebuilds, I try to bring it topically as far as what the Jazz are doing here, But you referenced it right, like they have Kate and Orlando has Ben Kara, Like it is just the one thing that somehow, some way the Jazz need to find. As good as Lowry is, I just don't know that he is the guy to build around when it comes to eventually being back into contention.
It is the one outlier that all of these advanced rebuilt team seem to have that the Jazz just right now have not been able to find.
And that's why you tank to be honest with you, because where picked right, where it was Kid Cunningham picked right. The easiest way to get that level of talent is to pick very very early in the draft. You know, it's hard to do. It's hard to trade for those kind of guys as a rebuilding team, especially, And let's just be blunt, like in a market like Salt Lake City where you're in a rebuild, it's impossible to sign that kind of guy in free agency.
Yeah, that's the bottom line. All right.
We were all gathered around our television sets on Tuesday night, and obviously is the guy that wrote the book on Luca, You're the guy to talk about this, and uh, I feel like, at least through the television tim it felt like there was a lot of buzs in that arena. Of course, with Luca taking on the mass for the first time, I wasn't sure if Nico was going to show up.
You did. Uh.
The over under I said on the show for Luca points was forty.
He didn't touch that. He did get a triple double.
I'm really curious is to see what it looks like when they go down to Dallas. But what was it like to be in the building, And what was your takeaway as we saw Luca play his former team for the first time.
Yeah, and you know, I thought Luca played well, with the exception of shooting the ball. I thought he played a very kind of poised and focused game. The Mavericks were determined not to let him go off. You know, they're they're obviously trapping and doubling him a lot to you know, to make sure he didn't had that forty point type of performance. And he doesn't have his legs right now, and he had He's had one good offensive performance, one good scoring performance, I should say for the Lakers.
You know, since the trade. You know he doesn't have his legs. You can tell when when you know, when he's not making threes. The thing that I think surprised me was I thought this would be a full Luca Rage type of performance, and he saw a little glimpse of that. Like mid through the fourth quarter, he knocksent that three of the time out. He looks at the mass bench, he's glaring, he's yelling all that kind of stuff. But there wasn't a whole lot of back and forth.
You know, he made a point like he pretended, Oh I didn't know, I didn't see me go okay, Like he made a point not to have any level of interaction with Niko Harrison or with Jason Kidd, which tells you that, you know, Luca did him quite by because j Kid wasn't aware of anything until they loved dour stuff, and that would put myself in that same boat. But the prevailing emotion from Luca in terms of the Matticks, I don't think his anger right now. I think it's
more sadness. And you know, he's I think he will find joy with the Lakers. I think he's he's he's searching for it right now. And it's not like, look, they're gonna win games. He's got a good relationship with JJ Reddick, you know, looked up to Lebron his entire childhood, loves join Finney Smith and timmdy had Dallas. Like I think Luke is going to be just fine, is gonna
you know, have a great run here with the Lakers. Well, he's still getting over basically getting dumped publicly and shamed out his way up the door.
You referenced the Jason Kidd element here, the Jason kidds side of this, and look, you know, far more about this situation than probably any medium member, let alone me. I just thought, as a head coach, it would be really hard to see a player like that traded away because if you have Luca, you got a shot, and these guys are wired to win. And Jason Kidd, once upon a time was as fierce a competitor as a
player as anybody as you know. So now that a few weeks have passed, have you been able to kind of uncover exactly what he knew when he knew it in the hand he played in this decision, if any at all.
I can't tell you what he knew in terms of like the trade discussions and all that. I can just tell you he was absolutely as frustrated with Luca as Nico Harrison was in terms of the diet, the conditioning that, you know, all the stuff that I've talked about out report. It has been recorded by other people. Nico was not on an island with that. Jay Kidd was right there with him on that. And I can also tell you that Jason Kidd was right there with Nico in terms
of his fondness for Anthony Davis. Nico obviously had a you know, decade long relationship with a D. You know, from Nico's time at Nike, aside from Kobe Bryant, he was probably closer to a D than any other player that he worked with there. But Jason Kidd also has a really good relationship with Ad. Remember j Kidd, It's been a couple of years as an assistant coach in LA before getting hired as the head coach in Dallas. And one of those years they won a championship in
the Bubble. You know, Ad was his guy. So again, I don't I'll put it like this. I don't think Jason Kidd was disappointed by this trade. I'm very confident in saying that.
So you know, I always hesitate to, you know, bring things on the Internet into real life because I don't know how real it is. It just seems like there is a bit of a smear campaign going on from the Mavericks because every time I fire up NBA Twitter, it's smoking a hookah and drinking beers, and then there's pictures of Luca and you know a lot of people are It's a different era in a lot of different ways,
not just in basketball, but society. Like you know, we could talk about back in the day, the party habits of a Michael Jordan, the party and habits of a lot of players back then. Certainly I saw it, you know, I was around a lot of it. And the younger generation just doesn't seem to They seem to have a different relationship and the fundamental understanding of the dangers of maybe alcohol and drug use and such. So maybe it's
a different mindset just overall. But is this Dallas behind the scenes trying to because I don't look, I'm just of the opinion you can't spin this.
It's a bad trade. You don't make no matter what.
But is this Dallas behind the scenes trying to spin it to help people understand that maybe this is something they needed to do.
You know, I don't know if it's so. Mu's even trying to spin it, but just like what that? What were you thinking? Well, this is why they made the trade. And look, it is not breaking news that Luka Doncics likes to have a Bruce ki or two scheme, right, Like, did you know that before he was traded?
I was aware, of.
Course, you knew that before he is traded. It is not breaking news that the man's got a voracious appetite and sometimes can get pretty pudgy. Like you knew that. You've watched him throughout his career. You know you've seen him like I reported going back to Jay Kids first year, Rick Carlisle's last year, Luca was tipping the scales over two sixty back then, and in both of those seasons. This has been something that's been, you know, a constant issue.
It's just for all those concerns, you say, well, okay, he also made five straight first team All NBA squads. He also led the league in scoring last year, almost averaged a triple double, and you know, took your team to the finals. So I don't necessarily think I don't think it's like a whole lot of hey, here's new stuff, here's new stuff, because dude, the hookah stuff. The hookah.
At first, I honestly, the hookah thing I don't think was a big concern, like did he have hook on vacation, Sure, okay, whatever. The beer drinking and all that stuff, that's much more of a concern simply because it gets to the weight and it gets to you know, all those all those uh, the concerns about his body breaking down. But it's not like people just realize that that Luca likes to drink a beer.
Do you feel like it's weird? Because I guess there's no way of fully knowing. I mean, I can tell you that I saw firsthand myself the past iteration of the jazz with Donovan and some of those guys. They like to have a good time in certain areas here in Salt Lake City and certain places where Donovan lived, there were a lot of parties that were being thrown. But is there a different approach with the younger generation
juxtapost kind of the old guard. Look, I know, nobody's smoking heaters at halftime like lott I was, But is there right, is there like a different like cultural approach in pro basketball to taking care of their bodies in a way that maybe it wasn't a thing back in the day.
I mean, there's obviously a lot more science involved in it, and you know, I think it's a much higher priority for teams, so it becomes a higher priority for players. But like, if you think Luke is the only guy in the lead that enjoys having a drinker six, then I don't know what to tell you, you know, And like,
you know, there's this big wine culture in the NBA. Like, Okay, I don't know, man, I just again, I get like the fact that he gained weight during the season last year while leading the league and usage rate and playing thirty eight minutes per game, is you know, with a full time quote unquote body team. Like, I get it. That's pretty alarming. But I just, you know, I don't. I don't think the guy's like waking up and pouring
beard his cheerios or anything. Okay, Like, I you know, I'm like, I understand the concerns with the beer drinking because it's it becomes a conditioning thing. I I would be cautious on portraying this guy as having like a serious alcohol problem. I just I just think that Luca's postgame routine is very similar to.
Mine, right, And I've experienced that routine. It's a fun routine, yeah, you.
Know, and and unfortunately a lot of times I think it's all season routinea simber to mind too, certainly the all Star break routine at times.
For sure. And there's nothing wrong with it. You know, you work hard, you should enjoy life.
You know. I'm not a live to work guy. I'm a work to live guy. And I think people should approach you that way. Nothing wrong with it at all, especially when he went to the finals a year ago, Like it couldn't be that big of a deal. So Dallas obviously tim right now with her grip of injury issues with their bigs. You know what's interesting, Kyrie is kind of coming out on the other side of this is like this hero right for Dallas fans. And this is a guy that was a lightning rod for criticism
not that long ago. A lot of people didn't even want to touch him, someone as far as to say he shouldn't play pro basketball anymore.
But what do you make of like the Kyrie side of this? And whenever he locks.
In the way he did against the Lakers, I'm reminded that once upon a time I did enjoy watching him, maybe as much, if not more than any player in the league. But you cover the team, what do you make of like the Kyrie kind of coming out looking like maybe a hero for Dallas and this whole thing.
Well, I don't think that is something that's a sudden development. I think that was the case last year too. Now for sure, you know, he's he's like it's kind of his team now, right, And He's the guy who's probably handled this the best in terms of like empathetic towards Luca, and you know, like, you know, they still have a relationship, they still got a brotherhood. But and hey, like you
can whine in private, Luke's not coming back. Kyrie's got a team to lead, he's got games to try to win, and you know, he's been handling his business as far as that goes. But you know, I don't think there's been a sudden shift in the Kyrie storyline. I think he kind of earned his way into the hearts of the Mavericks fans, certainly last year and especially during the playoff run, but even before that. And you know, the simple fact is Kyrie has been the leader of this team.
He wasn't their best player last year, but he was absolutely the leader. He was the primary voice in the locker room. And you know, despite his track record of chaos and his previous stops, he has been a constant source of like home for the Mavericks and that's something they obviously really really needed after the NBA much sus the franchise was was rocked by this shocking trade.
Well, my take remains, do not make that trade.
There actually is a lot to like about the Mavericks roster if they can get right Lively, Gaffer and obviously a D.
So where we at with those three?
Do you think they can get back in time to be in shape for the playoffs? And if so, what's the ceiling for this Mavericks team this year?
You know, talking to my people with the Mavericks, the hope is that they're going to get two or three weeks of Ad and Lively together at the end of the regular season. You know, how much rhythm and rapport and you know, kind of chemistry can you establish. And I don't know if it's going to be eight games, ten games, whatever it may be, I don't know, but that's the reality of the situation. That's what they're going
to have. There's not as much optimism the gaff is going to be able to get back and be a significant part of this. He you know, Grade three sprain of the MTL basically means he towards MCL, So he definitely has the toughest injury of the three to deal with. So Gafford and I'm sorry Lively there and Ad is supposed to be reevaluated next week They're not returning next week, but they will if things continue progressing as they are, get back at some point in March.
Are you buying the optimism in Golden State? I think they're seven and one with Jimmy Butler and a lot of people. And look, Jimmy has shown us that he come playoff time. He's one of those dudes you just have to admit that he is. So I'll ask you the same question, are you buying that optimism? And what's best case scenario for Golden State this year?
Splash and crash splashes, Steph crashes Jimmy, you like that?
I like that's really good, really good.
Yeah, they're definitely better than they were before the trade. And obviously it looks Steph on. I mean, they've got some guys who are big time champions that you have to respect. Jimmy Butler's you know, really had two overachieving heat teams make the finals in large part because he he is one of those dudes who can just absolutely dominate playoff series. Yeah, I don't think they were gonna
win the West, Like is it with the realm of possibility? Sure, but I don't think they have like even a double figure percentage chance of putting the Western Conference.
Who keeps Mark dagnalld up at night? Is it Denver more than anyone else?
Uh? Yeah, I think I think Denver, And honestly, yes, Denver is the one who's the who's the biggest challenge. I don't think there's any question about that. But you know, I don't think anybody's like just super excited about seeing a Luca Lebron tandemly in a playoff series. Uh, the Lakers have a hole in the roster. I mean, clearly they thought they needed a starting rim running center, and you know, they flunk Mark Williams on a physical so
that didn't happen. But the Lakers, they've been playing. They've been playing good basketball even before the Luca trade, you know, even with out a D and Luca's not himself quite yet, but we've seen what.
That guy can do in the playoffs for sure.
A reminder of how fleeting this stuff is. Since you and I last spoke, Victor wemen Yama shutdown for the year. In Greg Popovich will not coach the Spurs this season. I'm anticipating them losing the re rest of their games and drafting Cooper flag to play an extra Victor wemen Yama. But what are your thoughts to him on the latest happenings in San Antonio.
Yeah, and I was there and often the day the Wimby stuff came out, so you know, I was able to talk to people with the Spurs. They are very optimistic that he's going to be fine long term, that he's going to be able to be back to the start of next season. It's not going to be an
issue throughout the course of his career. So that obviously is you know, it sucks that he's not playing the re Us this season, but you know it's good news that they don't think this is something that's going to be a lingering issue or you know Chris Bosh type of saying, where it ruins a guy's career, in some guy's career.
I thought the news.
Today with Pop and that he's not going to go for US the season. We knew that it's that he plans to coach next season, you know, and we'll see how his recovery goes and how things progress. So you know, the short statement that he that he left or that he sent out, you know, it ended with, you know, the hope to return to coaching, and you know, that's making it very clear that Pop is not is not limping off in the sunset all right.
Before I said, you lose some very inspirational news that Paul George is putting his podcast on pause to focus on the rest of the season for Philadelphia.
What what do they do?
Man?
Like, how do you get out of this? What what happens next in Philadelphia?
The Philadelphia top sixers? You know, can they keep that top six protected tick? That's the big quest, that's I mean, and be it's about to get shut down. We know that, So that that's the first big question. The second big question is, you know, does embiid try to get out of there? And then if he does, what kind of market is there for him? With almost yeah, I guess after this year it'll be like with almost two hundred fifty million O to him over the next four years.
You know, I don't know the answers those, but clearly a team that thought they won the summer. You know, they had a little free agency parade, but it's a complete mess up there in Philadelphia. And the other big question is who's gonna who's gonna lose their jobs? Who is going to pay for this mess by losing their jobs. Is Darryl Moore going to get a chance to clean this up? You know? Is Nick Nurse a proven championship coach?
Is he going to be the fall guy? Uh, it's not going to be a celebratory summer in Philadelphia.
The media member that you got physical with was a mcmannimhon, that's my best guess.
No it wasn't. It wasn't. Dave al though. Listen, I am here in La right now. We're about to go over on a little while here to the arena for the Little Wolves Lakers, and uh, you know, we'll see what happens tonight. I'm not gonna rule it out, that's for sure.
Get after him. I want to beat between McMahon and McManamon. Did our one of our two of our favorites on the show. All right, Tim enjoyed the game, man, Thanks for the time, all right, all right, appreciate it.
Bro,