EPISODE 13: On all things Ja Morant and so much more ...

midweek game that needs to go to often too. He's on planes all week long. I am not, but it is me. Mark Stein put this one on me. Sunday I covered Sons MAVs in Dallas, which started early lean really was one of the best regular season showcases of the season, just a great really, as good as a regular season game can be. And from there I bolted very quickly to the airport to make a west coast trip.

Sources say I may or may not be in the desert right now at the most idyllic tennis setting in the world known as Indian wells Sources cannot confirm that, but it may be true. So between all that travel Sunday, I was not I. It was me. I was not able to get pinned down long enough for us to record this, so we moved it back one day. But of course no shortage of stuff to get into. And I think it's safe to say we can only start in one place with where things are in this league.

The John Morant situation in Men this absolutely shocking. It was just last week that we had a very explosive investigative report from the Washington Post citing various police reports about alleged incidents involving Morant and some people close to him, and that naturally created quite a stir after the incident in late January where members of the Indiana Pacers traveling party alleged that they also felt threatened by some of

the people who were close to Jaw. And after all of those things, early Saturday morning hours, the Grizzlies lose in Denver. It is Jaw on his own social media channel, live streaming on Instagram, Jah live streaming himself with what appeared to be a gun. You know, absolute shockwaves all around the league. You know, obviously he is on this minimum two game leave of absence from the Grizzlies, but you know, one suspects he's going to be away from

the team for a longer period. Man. You know, I've seen different people weigh in on this and the commentary behind it, and I get it. I understand, am I. I'm not surprised by any of it. I'm really not. You know that probably sounds bad to say I'm not, but um, John, Like, I'm not trying to lecture joh at this point because everybody's doing it. But he knows he can't behave that, you know, he can't behave this way at the face of a franchise with a signature

shoe that just recently came out. You know, he's arguably one of one of the top young stars we have this league, you know, just with the fan base. My daughter, my daughter Journey, my youngest daughter, she's eleven. John Morant

is her favorite player. And I was covering the Grizzlies Timberwool's playoff series last last year and I was standing in the same hotel with the Grizzlies and she really wanted a picture with ya, and just so happened we were in the lobby at the same time, going in the elevator around the same time, I asked ya if

you can take a picture, and he did. She loves that picture she has in her room, and so I've been I've had to explain to her the significance of this because she's asking me, like, what's going on, And so it's a conversation to be half for sure. But I'll say this time, I don't know what he's going through,

but I can somewhat relate. When you come from not having a lot of money to having money all of a sudden, having succe as having somewhat of notoriety, it can be a challenging trajectory if you're not truly prepared and much and just on a mature level, if you're not much, you know, if you're not mature enough to

handle what's about to come at you. So I remember, you know, Stein, You know, I got married when I was twenty one, So it's approaching what twenty years so far hasn't been the easiest, for sure, definitely hasn't been hasn't been easy at all. But I remember, Stein, when my career started to take off, and when my career started to take off, you know, when your career started to take off. You start. You know, there's there's people

that's praising you. There, there's there you know. They want pictures, they want autographs, they want your attention, they want your advice. And so I remember when this started happening, you know, out the blue, and I remember I would go home sometimes and I'm just gonna be blunt, styt it would

be it would be some shit. I just wouldn't take it anymore at the house, you know what I'm saying, Like, you know, some shit that I would tolerate at the house before, I just wasn't don't take it anymore because that I'm Chris b hangs now you know what I'm saying about taking this ship though, both you know, so it got to a point where, you know, it was

a rocky period for for a few years. I'm not gonna lie, but I'm only saying that to say that I understand how it is to all of a sudden, you know, you're trying to handle this new notoriety or this new somewhat power that you have with this influence that you have, and you're trying not to let it get the best of you to where it won't affect

your everyday life. And and I think that's where gis at right now, where he's trying to I think that's where he has to come to terms what he has to get a sense and get a feel for, you know, what it's like being in the lime, like like this twenty four to seven, being a face, one of the faces young faces of the league, face of the franchise, and potentially a face of a shoe brand, which he

just got his own signature, Nike Shoe. And so he has to he needs the right people in his corner that's going to keep him, help him, because ultimately it's all up to him. But it will help if there's people in this corner that's kind of telling them, hey, we need to be moving a different way. But it's on him, right He's got to choose those people. He's got to make sure that it's the right people at

this quarter. I don't I'm with you. I don't want to sit here and lecture him either, because everyone is doing that and frankly, there are people far more qualified to do it than me. But you know, I wrote this Monday morning, and I'm not trying to be hyperbolic. I do believe it when John Morant has such a ceiling as a player that when the Grizzlies, remember in the twenty nineteen lottery, they were supposed to have the eighth pick based on odds, they leapt up to number two.

And at the time it happened, you know, they had just traded Mark Gassol away, they knew they were going to trade Mike Conley away. Grit and grind was over. And this is one of the league's smallest markets. They're never known for getting free agents. Moving up in that lottery from eight to two to be able to draft John Morant was seen by many people around the league as a franchise saving moment because Morant has the ceiling

to be that good. I mean, you said it. Jerry Brewer wrote this in the Washington Post, and a great point that I wish I had thought of, because I'm constantly talking about how it's all these foreign guys who are at the forefront of the MVP chase, Jannie, Yoki, Luca and Bead when we're looking for young American stars, the next generation, not your Durant, your Curries, your Lebron's. When we're looking at the young American set. You know, John Morant is one of those guys who has the

ability to be an MVP. That's how talented and electric this guy is. And now though he has to focus on saving himself again, I'm not trying to I don't want to be preachy. I'm not trying to overstate things and be hyperbolic. But I don't think it's an exaggeration. You know, he that was that was job on his own Instagram. So like he did this, this, this most recent incident over the weekend, he took you know, he took responsibility for it with a Maya kulpa which was

strong and wrecked. But you know, he's got to want to fix this more than anyone. Now, the Grizzlies, you know, I don't know that they've been as stern as they should be in trying to help him to this point. Presumably that will change now because this is all out in the open. You know, has the League done it's part? You know, I think there are still so many questions and so many things we don't know. But Jah has to be the number one guy fixing this, and I

hope he does because it's not just your daughter. This guy has a lot of fans around the league. He is one of the most enjoyable players to watch, and you know, nobody wants to be talking about this kind of stuff. Nobody. So there are a couple of elements that the NBA and I know law enforcement in Colorado what they're trying to investigate or look into. You know,

this was done on the road. This is at a club in Denver, I believe, and so there's question of okay, did he personally bring the pistol in himself, and then being on the road, there's a question asked to well, did he have the pistol on the team plane? And I think I have to look at somebody sent me the by laws believe of the CBA and the rules and of of how you can carry and what you what you can and cannot carry on the on the team flight, and I think that is in violation if

he was to have that on a flight. So there's a couple of little elements right there that that they're trying to get answers to. And and so I don't know that. You know, the Grizzlies put out a statement saying at least two games he sat out the game it's the Clippers in which they lost, the Clippers came back in one believes down by sixteen, and so you know, we don't know. So it's it's what is it being called.

It's being officially called, uh, indefinitely, I believe, Yeah, it's it's it's not I mean, you know, it's a suspension, but nobody's using the word suspension. I mean it, you know, really yeah, I mean that the Grizzlies have made it sound like that this is a personal leave for John Morant. You know, they're not using the word suspension. So you know, we'll we'll have to see how much longer this lasts. I don't think anybody expects this to only be a

two game app sence. The one, you know, the CBA element is something that we do know because that that's happened before with the Gilbert Arenas Javaris Crittenen thing in Washington. Um that you know if you have it. Basically, the CB eight says that if if there is a if there is a firearm on team, on team premises or on a team plan or anything like that, like, that's

an automatic fifty game suspension. So that's why I think, as you alluded to, the league is trying to ascertain you know, where was the gun before the Instagram video and all other manner of questions tied to that. It's just yeah, I mean, this is just again nothing that any of us really wanted to be discussing. And yeah, I mean, I'm I don't even know how to artfully I don't even know how to where to artfully take it after that. I mean, look, at the end of

the day, it's it's all to job. Like we said, it's it's all as job. It's not it's not about his The people he's around, they're part of it. They're a part of it. But even then that's ultimately Jab's decision on what he's going to do moving forward, how he's going to move the people is going to have

in this corner. And you know, even with the reports that have been coming out over the last few months or whenever, it's it's still problematic, Like it's still even if he's exonerated from these things, these stories coming out, getting into these type of situations, it's still problematic. So look, man, I covered, like I believe I had his first sit down interview when he when he um declared for the

NBA draft. I flew this was this was the night that Damian Lillard hit that crazy three over Paul George. It was that night when they when he eliminated O kase I took a red eye. The game ended like at ten thirty. My flight was like at twelve fifteen, twelve thirty. I took a red eye to Florida. I forgot the city in Florida. That job was training that but I took a red eye to Florida for a morning sit down interview from the pot the former podcast

I had, and um, he was great. And I remember talking to him and I asked him, I said, what's he What is your natural position in the NBA? And he said point guard And I said, okay, point guard. He said no, no, point God. I'm like, oh oh, I remember I remember him telling me that his dad was they they they were all laughing. I was just shocked at somebody who wasn't even drafted yet was I was speaking at high of himself. But he's definitely lived up to the building. And I hope you know he's

an amazing talent. Man. I love this pops his uncle. Man, they got they got real good people, ma, So I'll pull them for him to get this team together. Let's try to move this back to basketball, because, as I said, my Sunday started with the very very early and mom the American Air Life Center. But it was I am not a morning person, leaving. Leaving for a game at nine am is always going to be a struggle for me. But man, was it worth it. Absolute fantastic Mattinee Sons, MAVs,

Durant and Booker go for seventy three. Of course, everybody saw the fireworks at the end when Luca don Chich missed the short shot in the lane that could have tied things up. He and Booker ended up going nose

to nose. There was a lot there, but I think the main thing you come away with is this Sun's team in its infancy, infancy in the Durant era, looking awfully dangerous already early in this incarnation, despite concerns about their bench and maybe not having enough depth beyond the four guys they've stacked up in that starting lineup with Katie joining Booker and Chris Paul and DeAndre Ayton. This was a rare occasion, Chris Haynes, where you were forced to watch on television and I was at the big.

I was at the Big showdown. What did you What do you make of the Sun so far with Katie? I mean, Katie's fitting He's fitting in exactly how I thought he was going to fit in. Man is one of the most efficient scores we have. He can do it. You know, he just blends in and Kyd says that, you know, I can play in any system, any coach. I mean, he's showing it. He's not even like he's not even going out there shooting a whole bunch of shots.

He's scoring, getting twenty and thirty really just really efficiently Man, And I'm not I can't say I'm impressed. It's just what I expected. But you know, they still have to get there rid him. Chris Paul is still trying to like he offensively, like he's still trying to find where he fits in in that but he's still running the show. I'm getting a high number of assists. But you know,

that was a really good game, definitely. You know, I think everybody obviously talking about Luca and Devin Booker little skirmish there at the end, and you know, hopefully we'll see those those two teams messed up in the playoffs. Again because there was already history before and now you add in that Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irvan dynamic to that, so that's going to be even more compelled. But again,

I've said it. I said it before Kevin Durant stepped foot on the floor for the Phoenix Suns, I said, barred injuries, I still think Phoenix is the team to beat. And Stine real quick, let me let me talk about this team real quick. We'll get back to Phoenix. The Clippers. Stein, So, they had lost. You know, that was a team just a couple of weeks ago, was looking like a real NBA Championship continuing team. They were starting to find find they grew and they lost five in a row and

they just won. So we're recording this. What is this Tuesday? This is Monday, Monday night. They went one Sunday and beat Memphis. That did a Memphis team that didn't have Dealing Brooks or John Morant or god, what's the guy, Brandon Clark, Brandon Clark, Stephen app Yeah, so they came back and beat them. But so Stein, I was covering the last couple of Clipper games. Stein, so here I am going to cover this Clipper game, and again all the buzz is that the Clippers have found their form.

They're found, they're finally getting healthy, Kawhi Leonards getting back into shape, and they found their fact. They found their form, and so I'm looking forward to watching this team. So I cover one game they lost that game, cover another game they lost that game. So then I'm covering their the Clippers Warriors, and so we go to shoot around. For those who don't know shoot around, it's like a little mini practice session the morning of the game. So

I go to Clippers shoot around. I talked to Russ and I talked to Nicholas Petune. And Petune is my guy. You know, I covered him back in the Portland days. So Petune tells me, don't talk to me. I'm like, what you mean, don't talk to you? Don't talk to me. Every game you've been to we've lost. I'm like, oh, you blame it on me, Like, oh okay, yeah, every game you've been So we started like telling his teammates, yeah, every game we Chris has been too, we've lost. Get

out of here. I'm like, all right, whatever, I leave him alone. So Stein the Warriors, like the Warriors start putting the pounding all the Clippers in the third quarter. It's just bad stop. And so you know, as a sideline reporter, I get to go behind the team's bitch and kind of listening in on, you know, what's being talked about, what's being said amongst the players and coaches, and so Warriors go this crazy rud Clippers call a time out. Warriors are up big in the third quarter.

So I go by the go behind the Clippers locker room. I'm excuse me, I go behind the Clippers bench, and but Tuna just staring at me, staring at me, mad, just staring at me. And remember I'm right behind the bitch, and so I just start laughing. And so I'm like, I had to like stop myself because you know, all these where's a piss right now? You know what I'm saying, what just happened. So I had to kind of like turn my back compor Twitis mugging at me, staring at me,

blaming me for what for what they did on the court. Man, But they got they gotta win in Memphis, and I wasn't there. I think I got another Clipper game in a few weeks. We'll see you not if I truly am, I am the Jinks. But that was tough right there. I'm almost laughing right there behind their bench, you know, while they're just getting blown out. I hope you are the Jinks because I don't want the Jinks to be Russ. I find myself rooting for him, even though you know,

I don't. I don't, I don't. I just feel like he's this is a guy who's headed to the Hall of Fame eventually. He's had an incredible career and I I just don't like seeing the punching bag that he had become during parts of his time with the Lakers, and I really wanted to see this Clipper thing work.

But you know, when they during that oh and five start, a very trusted scout actually reached out to me and said, man, the Russ curse is real, And I'm like, hold on a second, the Clippers, there's always been the so called Clipper curse. First of all, there are no such thing as curses. Really, there are no we there. You know, we love to talk about curses in sports, but come on,

we don't really believe in them, do we. But like this scout, who who one of my most trusted one of the most trusted set of eyes that I've I've come to, you know, I really respect the way he sees the game. And he said, yeah, man, I have a bad feeling that this is the Russ curse because Russ has not played poorly as a Clipper. I mean he's he's given them, he's given them better production in

some ways than he was given the Lakers. But I just don't know if he fits right with the you know, they they made these they made re bold move, you know, pretty maybe bold's too strong, and they made three strong moves at the deadline to bring in Eric Gordon and Plumbly and Bones Highland, and then they you know, then they went for Russ. And it's just is it one

move too many? I mean, they've just you're right, they were they heading into the trade deadline All Star period, they looked like they were on a great trajectory and now it has gone completely the other way. And yeah, the only win with Russ is against a very depleted and chaos ridden memberis team. So it is not looking good. And I don't have the answer. I'm just kind of watching the bar trying to make sense. And the last

episode we did Steine. I talked about how we talked about how Russ Is still qualifies for the six Man a Year award. So it's funny. Start. So I don't

know if I should say it, but I was saying. So. I talked to Russ before that game, that last game against the Wards that I covered, and I asked him, I said, hey, you know you are technically you still do qualify because you're not going You're going to play more games this season as a reserve than the starter, so you still qualify for that six Men the Year award. He was I was like, how do you feel about it?

And I said this on T and T during the During the game, he was like, Chris, what's my model? Why not? He said, why not? He said? You know, he said, I busted East. I busted my ass to fit into a new role I wasn't accustomed to. And you know, I think the team has success. He said, he has success. And he said, hey, if he gets enough votes to win that award, he'll definitely accept that. That definitely be something that he would cherish. So it's funny.

I'm not gonna dable, but it's funny. So were you know, so I the convert. I was having a conversation one of the purse a staff member for the Clippers. I'll just say that, and we brought up the sixth Man a Year award, like okay, like now you guys have two six Men of Year candidates and they were like, no, it's just Norm. I don't think. They said, we don't think Russ really wants it. And I was like, no, that's not true, that that is not true. And they

were like, oh, man, you know dorn Palace. Is there a guy who's been the sixth man all year? And I get it. It's a connection. But look, I don't think Russ was still a trip. But you know, he's definitely uh, he would definitely accept it if if if you got enough votes, that's definitely something that he would

feel honored about. You know what, though, you brought up that but Tom interaction, and I'm so glad you did, because you actually brought up sideline reporting and huddles on last show and I wanted to ask you about this, and I somehow we got sidetracked that I didn't get the chance. It must have been maybe when you you must have launched into your radiator Annie Free story because it's great what you I have not done as much sideline reporting as you, but what little, what little I

did do was always for ESPN Radio. It was All Star Game, but it was the NBA Finals and one of the greatest gigs that I ever had in my life. After Rick Buker left ESPN for four finals thirteen fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, that's seventeen, actually five finals between twenty thirteen and twenty seventeen, I was ESPN Radio sideline reporter at the finals. Some years there were two of us. Shelley Smith also did it.

But like you said, part of the job, one of the best parts of the job is you have the license to go to go to lead into the huddle as best you can, see as much as you can and report stuff. And I remember when I first started doing it, Buker's advice to me was, don't ever make eye contact with the coach. Look in the huddle, try to look at what's on the board, try to hear the instructions. But whatever you do, do not make eye

contact with the coach. So you just you just told a story of you making eye contact with Batoune, which is different because he's a player. But what are do you do you employ a similar strategy or will you just look right into Tyler's eyes if you can when you get the chance, Like, how do you how do you deal with that? That's a good question. I've never thought about not making eye contact, but I guess you tend to do that anyways. You know. Look, so as

a pertains Batun, he made eye contact with me. I was trying to avoid them because I figure he'll be going there, and so it just made an awkward situation. So I'm going over there and he's making me laugh while they're just down and so that was awkward. But um no, I think, Um, I don't say I make eye contact with the coach. I'm just looking around. I'm just scoping around the whole the whole bench area. I'm going left or right. Um, I think both all the coaches know that I'm not going to pick off a

play and report a play or anything like that. And you know, you definitely have to be selective with what you want to use on air. You don't want to you don't want to report anything that's going to jeopardize the trust that these coaches give you. You know, because we have coaches meeting with these with the coaches before the game, and they'll tell us a lot like they'll tell us, you know, start lineups, Um, you know where

they're going, and that's not out yet. And you know you got to keep that to yourself as a broadcast partner, so you know, you don't want to do anything to jeopardize the trust. But Styn, you know what, I'm gonna go there, I'm gonna go there. I got a story do I got time for this time. I got a story about this time. You have all the time in the world. You have no time limit ever Stein. So let me tell you this. This would have been I have to look this up. I think this would have

been two playoffs ago. A matter of fact, it was two playoffs ago, Denver Nuggets, Denver Nuggets, Denver Nugget playoffs. Who were they playing, Phoenix Suns. Phoenix Suns, Denver Nuggets plaoffs two playoffs ago. You can look that up. It was the last playoff game, right, So coach Malone was they were down old three to Phoenix and for the first three games he was bringing he was bringing in.

He was bringing Will Barton and Monte Morris off the bench and So the night before Game four, which is a potential closeout game, the night before I got word from multiple sources that Will Barton and Monte Morris will be asserted into the start lineup, right, So I had that information and my plan was to use it to report that information sometime in the afternoon the day of

the game. The problem is Stein sometimes in those meetings, again we had those coaches meet coach meetings before the game, and sometimes the coach would tell us the broadcast team who they're starting, who they're bringing off the bench. Sometimes they won't. So I'm hoping in this meeting that coach Malone doesn't reveal his starting light up. But for some reason, Coach Malone did, And now I've stuck. I'm like, damn,

I just told the broadcast. But I had already told my company about the starting line of change, so they knew I had it already. And so I'm I'm decided trying to debate on what should I do? What should I do? Like how do I handle this? Like what do I do? Just to clarify, you're reporting for Yahoo as well as at the time you were also writing for Yahoo, correct, And so I'm like, what am I

going to do. What am I gonna do? And so, long story short, talk to upper management and uh, I got to go ahead to hey, you let us know before this meeting happened, you had it, you had planned to sit until us in time. Go ahead. So I went ahead and did that. In the afternoon, I got word Mike Malone was pissed. Was pissed. I'm like, damn. I kind of knew it, but I was like, damn, and I'm like, you know I had. So I'm I'm

talking to you know, GETS officials. I'm telling them, look, I understand why you think this, but I already had this information. You know. I'm I'm a report. I already had this information. And you can talk to the higher ups at at T and T. Yeah, but when coach Malone gives you this information in the pre game, you're not supposed to use it. And I'm like, I had this information. And so I even debated Stein for that that call, that pregame meeting. I even debated not doing

it because I knew what information I had. I didn't want to put myself in that situation. And long story short, we get to the game and it was the end of the third quarter, which coach Malone is, I'm supposed to interview coach Malone in the third quarter. He didn't do the interview. He didn't do anything. I don't know if you ever knew that stein he didn't. He didn't

do the interview. Yeah, he didn't do the interview. And so the only time a coach is not supposed to do an interview is if they're up or down by twenty or more. But they were, they were within distance. It was like it was pretty close game going into that fourth quarter. At the same time, I understood because he was down, and you know, he was down going into the fourth and that's the final quarter to try to keep the season alive. So I didn't trip so lightweight.

I'm kind of thinking, like, damn, did he do this? Did he not do this interview because he's I broke before or is it because he's really into this fourth quarter? And so I really didn't know. Like so I'm like kind of like mess messed up, bro like, because I felt like I did everything the right way and handed the right way. I went to my company, you know, UM went to them first, and you know, they got eliminated after that game. But I would say that, so

I kind of felt bad. But Coach Malone caught me like a week later, and I think it was at point when I got in a bike accident at that time. But he called a week later and I didn't pick I didn't pick up I I missed the call and he left a voice message, Man, Chris, we're all good man. I hope you're having a great summer. Man. You know, it was just it was just cool, man. So I'm glad.

I'm glad he did that. But that's one of those again, I'm taking people behind the scenes of you know what, some of the things elements you gotta do with us being a sideline reporter, and that's that's one situation that I got myself into where it was kind of it was kind of rough. Yeah, I didn't remember the I don't remember the bike accident either, but I'm I mean, I'm glad he did call you and it was over. But I mean, that's the thing, because I think the

distinction here probably that we need to clarify. Most sideline reporters are not also journalists writing, you know, I guess written correspondence is probably the better word. Most sideline reporters are generally strictly only on TV, whereas like when I did it for radio, or Buker did it before me, or you're doing it for TNT. You are also, you know, someone who writes about the league as well as covers

it electronically. So I think there's always that little little uh because I remember, again, I'm only doing it sparingly, but during the finals, you know, I would go to those meetings too with you know, Mark Kesters and Huby Brown or doctor Jack and Hube and I'm there, and you know, there's kind of that that look where like hey, Stein, you know you can listen all this, but you better not be writing it before the game because those meetings

are considered off the record information for the broadcast not to be you know, they're not telling you to report it seven hours before tip off. They're telling it to give you background that can be used during the game broadcast. So that is that is tricky territory for someone like you, someone like me who is doing multiple jobs at once. Yeah, that that was tough, and it was again coach Malone, you know, and it was cool. I was glad he

called me left a message. Um you know that would that was good to hear because I definitely coming from his side, Stein, coming from his side, I would see why he would think that I used his information to get that story, and so I understood that, and so that's that's Those are the kind of things that make it tough. All right, Well, this this has gone in

a couple of different directions that I didn't expect. So listen, we are we We are not going to do it today because there's one other topic I want to get to before we we closed down, but we we will be talking more and more about the Knicks, because I do think the Knicks right now have have emerged as as maybe the best story in basketball. Incredible run, you know, two recent wins over Boston, the way Brunson is playing, the way Julius Randall is playing, just how amazingly they've

turned it around from last year. But sticking with the West, because I think, you know, so much of what we've talked about already kind of feeds into this. A Western Conference official asked me recently, Stein, who are you Who are the three teams that can win the West? If if you had to, if you had to bet right now, who are the three teams that can win the West. And I can't say what team this executive works for, but I can say that his team did not make

the cut. My three the only three teams I think that can really win the West. Denver. I just think they've been the most consistent, the Yokis factor. You know, Murray and Porter are healthy, They've strengthened their bench. I think the Nuggets have to top the list, deserve to top the list, despite any doubts you have about what they can do in the playoffs and are they for real? They're gonna be playing in under immense playoff prove it to us pressure. But I think Denver has to be there.

Golden State, I give it to them based on yes, they've got championship. No how it's been a nightmare season to this point in terms of, you know, consistency. But I think the Warriors have to be there because of what they've done. You know, they still have a core three with Steph Clay and Draymond who've won four championships. They know how it feels what it takes to go the playoff distance. So I think the Warriors have to be there as well. And then Phoenix, even though they're

still in the embryonic stages of the Durant era. They've just got too much talent. They have to be considered a team that can coalesce and come together and get to the West. But for me, those really are the only three. I am ruling out everyone else, even in the crowded jumble in the West standings that is now goes from two down to number thirteen because you know Memphis has been sliding here. Do you dispute that in

any way? Is there anybody else I'm leaving out in the West who can win the West that's not named Nuggets Clip sorry, not Clippers, Nuggets, Sons or Warriors. It's tough that you you only give me three options. It's really hard to dispute. Tell me I'm wrong if I'm wrong, coming well, no, it's just not that, Just like damn, I want to I still feel like I still think there's a slight chance that the Lakers can make some brown if Lebron comes back with enough time and he's healthy. Um,

who else Clippers it would be? That would be an incredible story because I just I struggle to see Lebron being you know, if we see him as he what is he going to be seventy eighty percent at best if he can come. If the Lakers make the make you know, make the play in make the playoffs, I mean, I guess you give them a puncher's chance if Lebron and a d are there. But it's like, I don't know for me. Clippers are going in the wrong direction.

The Grizzlies are in a crisis. The Kings, yes, they've been absolutely impressive and storybook to be the number three seed all this time, and Mike Brown's gonna win Coach of the Year and Fox and Si Bonus, we're all stars. But I mean, we're we can't talk about the Kings making a playoff run until that we actually see them in the playoffs again. The MAVs, there's just not enough defense there around Luca and Kyrie, you know, Minnisto, I mean, who who, I just I don't see it. I'll give

you that. I'll give it that. It's hard. It's hard as a right now. We're just talking strictly as a right now. It's hard to go against Denver Phoenix and going to State for the reasons you mentioned prior. It's hard writing Memphis off too soon? Am I writing Memphis off too soon. Not we You're not. I don't. I don't think so, I don't think. I think this is absolute chaos for them. I mean the job situation is that serious that I mean it's And Brendan Clark is

a huge piece to that team. He's as so much too now. I just I don't think this is going to be the Grizzlies year. UM and the Clippers. No, we have every year we say what a what if Kawuhi and PG are are there for the playoffs? But I just the signals, the signals coming out of clipper Land ain't great right now? It do but Sty, we we've done so. I think we're at the forty minute mark Man, and we gave we just had a pretty

good podcast. But Sty, I know you know I'm gone through something and I'm not ready to to share that personally. But I know you're you're dealing with something as well, Man, so I want to. I want to give you the floor for that. No, I appreciate that. UM. I do not like to bring my personal stuff into the into the work sphere, but I really I want to dedicate this show to someone I went to high school with. Um Eltoro High class of nineteen eighty seven. Uh, we

we got the news. Just I only found out today. Um, and we're recording this on Monday for for Tuesday just distribution. Someone I went to high school with, someone very dear to me, passed suddenly over the weekend. His name was Mac Powell, and he was traveling with his family on a family vacation in Hawaii. And I just want to dedicate this show to him because I was incredibly fortunate to go to a high school. We in our senior year we had one of the best teams in the

history of southern California. And that's not just hyperbole from someone who obviously roots for his own school. I mean, you can look it up. The Eltoro High School football team in nineteen eighty six was an absolute powerhouse. First of three quarterbacks who went to the Pros and Brett Johnson, just a slew of Division one guys. And Mac was Mac Powell was the Bo Jackson of my high school.

He didn't play on the football team. They tried to get him to play on the football team so he would have He would have played football for one of the best high school teams in Southern California history, except he was saving his body for his basketball and baseball prowess. Just an absolutely incredible athlete, the athlete of all my high school years. When I think of great athletes that I grew up with in my childhood, I mean, he

is number one on the list. And just an absolutely tragic loss in our in the community, of all the people that I went to high school with. And I just want to send the warmest wishes and best wishes and deepest condolences and just all the strength and love I can muster to his wife Kim and his son Boog who Boogs so talented in his own right that he made it to the major leagues as an outfielder. So incredibly athletic. Family and Maxter love you and you

will be so missed. And the Chris, thanks for letting me do the I really appreciate my condolecence to you and to him and his family. Man, I understand how tough it is. Yeah, I appreciate the sentiments because yeah, I'm not gonna lie this one. This one definitely has me shaken. But everyone, thank you so much for joining us on another episode of This League Uncut. Chris and I will be back with one more episode this week.

I will try not to mess up the recording schedule anymore, because again, mister Haynes is the one who's flying all over the place and I shouldn't be messing us up. So I will do better. Guys, thanks to MIL for being with us, and we will be back with you soon into court. Please rate, review, subscribe, thanks for listening, and that'll do it for us. See you next time. This league uncut is and I heard radio production