EPISODE 16: All things Ja, All-NBA guards, and deep thoughts with Dame

last year, fell one game. Shy lost the Big West title game to Santa Barbara, which would have been our third trip in the last five Big West tournaments, which which we're not used to going that often. So even having gone twice in the last twice since twenty eighteen, UH is huge for us. So, but my season ends when the Titan season ends. Are you watching the NCAA tournament closely or like? What is uh? How do you how do you approach March madness? No, to ask your question,

I'm not. I'm not watching right now. When it gets to the sweet sixteen, That's when I'll start paying attention. But I don't you know, I don't have a routine of feeling out a bracket. I probably I've probably done that twice, and I that might be a stress. I'm talking about my whole life. Probably done it twice, feeling out a bracket. I'm not big into it until it gets to the final stages of the tournament. So um, I just never been you know, it takes for me,

you know, just a fan of basketball. I've always been that way, even before covering the league. It takes for me to to know some household names. You know, there's, there's. The college is not like it was anymore. I think a household name now was just a you know, a top three pick potentially playing one year. And you you know, Zion Williamson. He was probably the last guy that I pretty much paid attention to because there was so much

buzz of him in high school. But it's not like, you know, like it was back you know when I was in high school. You know, I graduated two thousand, so you know, I grew up Grant Hill. You know, that's early junior high for me, Grant Hill. But you know, these guys that you got to see for two, three, four years and they built, they built a resume and built the following, and it's just it just has hasn't been like that for a while, and I don't think

it ever get back to that point. Not to say that that's bad, but just for me, I just haven't

followed college closely since the landscape kind of changed. You know, I wasn't planning to go further in this direction, but as usual, your answer kind of steers me somewhere that I didn't think we would end up, but now that I think about it, Like I wear my fandom on my sleeve so much, cal State, Fullerton, Manchester City, the Buffalo Sabers, Tennis, Like I'm I mean, you you know pretty well like all the things that I'm a fan of, But I just like I don't know any of your

fan Like are you a Fresno State fan because you grew up there? Or like, I don't really know, I've never seen you in fan mode now that I think about it, Oh fam oh, I'm not. Look, I don't have a When I was growing up, I like the forty nine ers from Fresno, California. If anybody doesn't know by now, but I grew up watching the forty nine Ers. Jerry Rice was my favorite player. Then at certain point

Terrell Owens became my favorite player. And I followed Terrell Owens when he went to the Niners, then went to the Eagles, then went to the Cowboys, and then unfortunately when he went to the Bengals, and so I've never been at then my NBA team. Look, I was a big Jordan fan. I wasn't a big Jordan fan. I can't say I was a big Chicago Bulls fan, but a big Jordan fan. But Stein that window when he retired for the first time and went on his high as to play baseball again. Being from Fresno, we didn't

get Laker games on TV. We got Warriors games. And that was the time when Latrelle Spreewell emerged with the Warriors and started balling out. And I remember I became a Spreewell fan because he had the ball head looked similar to Jordan. He and we got all their games. We got all the Warriors games, and this one the

Warriors that were bad. We got all the Warriors games and I fell in love the trust free Well, so similar to La trust Spruo when he got into his trouble at Golden State, I followed him to New York, then I followed him to Minnesota. And so I've never been a real fan of a team per se. And just like with college, like I graduated from Fredlin State, you know I'll root for them, but you know, I can't say my college fandom to my alma materate is anywhere on par to how you feel about your cow

State Fullest. Now I'm glad. Actually I didn't know that spree well stuff, And now I'm glad I resisted tweeting over the weekend when because we had Fulirton had a tough road in the Big West Tournament. We had to beat Hawaii for the third time this season. It's never easy to beat a team three times in a row. Then we beat top seeded UC Irvine, our hated rivals, and after that game, I was gonna tweet Fullerton star player is Latrelle right Cell. I was gonna do Latrelle

right Cell greater than Trell Sprewell. I was going to treat that tweet. I was going to tweet that. But now I'm glad I didn't because you would have been mad at me. If I good calls, good call, then I showed a little bit of restraint. All right, let's get to the real deal. Let's get to the serious stuff. The NBA announces this week that John Morant eight games suspension for the incident at the nightclub in Colorado. He's already missed six games. The NBA decides that those six

games factor in, so he's eligible to return Monday. The league. I'll readdirect from the league statement here. The league office conducted an investigation of the March fourth incident. Based on the information obtained during the investigation, the league did not conclude that the gun at issue belonged to Morant, was brought by him into the nightclub or was displayed by

him beyond a brief period. The investigation also did not find that Morant possessed the gun while traveling with the team or in any NBA facility, and the Colorado authorities did not find sufficient cause to charge Morant with the crime. All of that is in the NBA's release for pretty obvious reasons. They you know, had any of that happened, what the league laid out there, had this been considered a gun that job possessed or that he brought while

traveling with the team, or brought in the facility. The implication, of course, is that the penalty would have been much more severe at eight game penalty, kind of in line with other situations in the past where those violations were not committed. Again, if the gun goes into an NBA facility, you know, I was incorrect when I recently stated there is a hard and fast rule in the league rules.

There is no hard and fast rule. But you know, obviously, I think everyone remembers what happened in the Gilbert Arena situation when guns were in the Wizard's facility. So eight game suspension in the end, I don't think we'll see job Bunday against Dallas. Taylor Jenkins, the Grizzlies coach, has basically said that. So we will see John Morant back

at some point, probably next week. The Grizzlies are going to get him back for the stretch run and really then all eyes are going to be on John Morant and like what he does from here. But you know, I think given the gravity of this situation, you know,

for the Grizzlies, this probably ended up. You know, I don't think best case scenario is the right verbiage here, but for this to only be eight games, and to get him back before the regular season, and to get a chance to try to bring him back into their team. I'm sure the Grizzlies are relieved on a lot of levels. I well, I guess I would take it a step further style. I do believe this is the basic best

case scenario. I do. I understand that they've been struggling without them, which that was expected, and you don't want to miss any time down the stretch with your best player being out. But considering the alternative, what could have happened if the NBA or law enforcement were to find that he did bring that gun into the club, or that gun was well brought on to NBA premises, such as a chartered flight. You know that we don't know. I don't know if we would see John Morant again

this season. So, with all that being said, was I surprised? I wasn't surprised by I wasn't surprised by the last I thought it would be a little large. I thought it would be at least in even ten games. What I was surprised is that they counted the games already. I was surprised by that because they never nobody's ever came out Grizzlies or the league and said that those games were considered a suspension. It was a you know, he had to get away and handle some business. So

I was surprised with that. But with all that being said, Jazz as a right now he's in the clear. There's been a lot going. You know, there's been two players that we've talked about this season when when we're talking about off the court matters, it's been Kyrie Irving and has been John Morant. And so now, JA, are you gonna be able to stop that? You know, these things have kept incidents a large incidents have been problematic, and

they've been serious. They've been really serious. And so I'm hoping that he really took the time to just focus on himself and look inside himself and try to get a gist of what's going on, what's happening, Why is he acting out this way? Why why are you conducting yourself in this manner? And because I want to see him thrive, you know, as brother, I want to see

him thrive on the court. I want to see him thrive off the court again, man, I got nothing but love for his pop tea, uncle Phil over There many they're they're really good people, really good people, and so they gotta they gotta conduct themselves in a better fashion moving forward. So again I've seen some people say, well, it wasn't long enough. You know. Now jis saying he's he's all right now and he's seemed the light. I hope so. I don't know, I hope so, But only time,

only his actions can prove it. I think he knows that, you know, he gave the interview with Jalen Rose. But I you know, I think it's fair to say people are not gonna spend too much time dwelling on what he says and really what he does from here. I mean, and look, you know, I don't want to be ultra ultra cynical about this, but you know, coming back before the end of the season is a huge thing for Job personally, because the reality is there's money on the line.

I mean, he if he's not an All NBA player this season, it's it's approaches forty million dollars, the difference between the max cott, the value of his max contract that will start next season, whether he's selected All NBA this season or not. And there is already there is so much competition at guard I had, I had a lot of names scribbled. I know I'm missing some now because of course I can't find that page where I

scribbled it. But Luca Fox, Sga Donovan, Mitchell, Steph Um, you know, Devin Booker with games missed, probably not going to be contending for a guard spot in terms of All NBA. But like I said, I know I'm missing some names. I mean, there definitely definitely missing one name. Fix it for me because I'm I'm old and dumb. Yeah, dame.

So I mean, there's a it is very crowded in the backcourt and very conceivable that even if John Morant comes back now and plays really well, that he won't get one of those six guard slots on the All NBA team, And it will be hugely, hugely costly for him if that doesn't happen. So you know, he now at least gets that opportunity. I don't know if there's

enough time because again, you know, all those names. The guard competition, it's a complicated calculation in the West because it's not just your stats and the talent, but a lot of guys miss games. You know, Steph's missed a lot of games as well. But you know, Steph is playing ridiculous basketball this season, so should he be an All NBA guy? You know, the Boston between Tatum and Brown, I think Tatum will end up a front court player,

but Brown could be considered a backcourt player. Uh. You know, positions are a little bit more flexible in the All NBA talk. So I mean that, you know, we can go on and on and on listing names. I just don't know if he's going to get there. And you know, beyond beyond just the mere finances of it. You know, Memphis is trying to lock up a number two seed and so we'll see if his return now is there are enough time to do that? And you know, will

the Grizzlies start playing well? The Grizzlies look more like they did in the first half of the season. I'm trying to see how many your games Grizzlies have left. They have. Let me see, they got twelve games left in the season. John Morant has played in fifty three. He's going to miss let me see the next three for sure. Yeah, because basically Taylor Jenkins has said that he will not be playing Monday against Dallas. He'll barely approach sixty games. But look, so many guys are in

that position. I mean Lucas now missing a lot of games. S GA steph uh, you know where? What do we do with deer and fix Deer? And Fox has to be an all NBA player with the way Sacramento is the season they've had in the clutch play, he's delivered. So I mean it all right, hold on, hold on, let's let's let's not let's not run from it. Then let's go take your head on. You said he has to be this, this, this is a tough let's go. Let's go. Let's do it. Let's do it right now.

Hold on, you want to start, want to you want to nail down six guards on March sixteenth, I'm gonna. I'm gonna. I can. I think I can nail down some guys that are gonna be in it for sure. We don't forget anybody. Hold on, hold on, let me let me go, let me go. Hold on, We're gonna do this. Let's not run from it. Let's go. Hold over here. So I think I think Luca is a lock for first team. I think Dame is a lock for first team. Man, I can't even use the word locks.

I'm I'm willing to say they're among the six. But okay, all right, let's stop this, let's stop. Let let me, let me, let me stop that. There. They're among the They're guaranteed among the six. Luca and Dame. Can we agree on that, Mitchell? Okay, I think Donovan Mitchell, Yes, yes, I put him in that boat. That's three. I think Sga gets gets in there as well. So so so far me and you are on agreement that these four are locks to get in the top six. All right.

From there, you got John Morant dearon Fox. You may you may be right right, I mean, Jay the Brown is right now to be in the conversation. I think Book has probably missed too many games. But I mean when he plays, he's yeah, he's an All NBA player, But I mean, I mean Books missed how many games? Is he? I mean he's missed half the season. Yeah. I think for those final two guard spots, you've got Jalen Brown deeron Fox and John Moran Anthony Anthony Edwards.

That's what I'm saying, Like, when you don't have the listener in front of you, it is easy to miss. Anthony Edwards. I mean, he's been Minnesota's best player. Like that's the thing that it is super crowded. So that's why when you're sitting there going, let's lock this in, let's do it right now. Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on, and then then one more name we gotta mention. So we mentioned four right there for those two spots. Um Jaylen Brown, Deeron Fox, John Moran, Anthony Edwards. Don't

forget Stephen Curry. I mean Steph has you know, Steph smissed twenty six games, but when he's been on the floor, he's been ridiculous. Then there's guys like you know, Haliburton and Brunson. You know, Brunson didn't get an All Star spot, but I think they at least have to be in the discussion. So like James Harden, James Harden who snubbed from the All Star Game, and you know, he's had a tremendous year, and Philly just keeps winning and winning.

And when it's that's that's what I'm saying. It's like, if we really slow down, we can come up with twelve names for six spots. The only reason I want to go down that list is because you say you think Darren Fox has to get one of those six, and I'm like, it's tough. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it, but that's where that's where, like you know again and and it just everyone does it different. But to me, Fox, you know, because they're winning so many

they're winning so much more than expected. I mean, we're taping this on Thursday night. Entering Thursday Nights play Sacramento Kings tied for the number two seed in the West, but nobody expected. And yes, injuries throughout the West have certainly factored in, but like his great play has has has directly led to winning. So you know that is that is a factor to me, And that's why I think like it would be you know, it will be disappointing if if Fox isn't on there you know it

is there room for Fox and Sabonis. Do the Kings deserve two? All NBA guys, if they finished second in the West, I would say yes. If they finished second in the West, you will say yes. So all NBA give me I keep forgetting the criteria. Do they require that you have a center or is just three front cors? They do require that you have a center, but they're

very very lenient on how you do the positions. So like, yeah, la if I remember right, you know, basically, you can put Yo Kitchen and Bead, or you could put Yo Kichen and Bead on the first team together when they're both you know, when they're really both centers, you can put one in forward. Yeah, and I'm I know a lot of people wouldn't like that, but I'm for that because in the case of Joel and Bad, didn't he

experience that last year where Joker got right? And that's where so team look at the top of the MVP race and Embid it appears that embiid is inching past Yokich after Yokich was in the lead for quite a quite a while. My kind of MVP discussion has really been let's just make sure we note that this is a three man race, Yokich and Bead, Yannis, the three of them have separated themselves in the field. So let's

like to have a word. Would you say if you put you could put Yannis, Yoki and b on the first team all NBA, and that probably knocks Tay him off the first team. So yeah, I mean, he could get bumped out of two different conversations, which you know will enrage people in Boston and Bill Simmons. So it's not it's not a it's not a perfect system. But I don't have a problem with being able to j A. If you're All NBA team is all centers and those are the top those centers are the top five in

the in the MVP race, go ahead, go ahead. I don't have a problem with it because I think him, I think he looks dumb personally to have a second person that finished the second MVP ends up on second or third All NBA and then Mike Mike counter to that has been this has been happening since the days of Wilt and Russell. That one of Bill Russell won all the rings. But you should go back and see how many times he was bumped a second team because

Wilt would get first team All NBA. So like All NBA to me has you know, as long as you're on the fifteen, I mean, to me, that's generally, you know, that's the that's the important thing to you know. From my vantage point, of course, I'm not one of those players who would affect. But all NBA discussion has just gotten so crazy because contract bonuses are tied to it.

Like we said, you know, whether John Morant is one of the fifteen guys on the All NBA team at season's end, it's going to impact him in a massive, massive way financially to the tune of nearly forty million dollars. So All NBA has just the discussion has gotten so much more heated because of what's on the line financially. Stut I would like to jump in right here, and we've we've received a few complaints Stin. I think it's

time for me to say this and address it. We've received a few complaints since we launched our podcasts, and these complaints are valid. They are very valid, and the blame is with me. I've been the problem. I've been the problem all season long. So I will say this for the people who have been complaining about this issue. I hope you are enjoying this podcast because you have not experienced that issue in this episode, and I hope to continue this throughout the rest of this regular season.

What they what people for Stime to tell people what they've been complaining about. Stime, We've been get complaints about my fire alarm buzzer going off. What is it? It's the fire what is it called the fire alarm? Fire alarm? Yeah, the fire alarm. But you know what's crez? The war is crazy? Yeah, to change your battery. But here's what's great. I didn't hear. I didn't hear it at all. It was the last episode that people said, Hey guys, great pod, but be sure to change your fire alarm battery. I

didn't know what the I didn't know what they're talking about. Listen, change it out, you know, you know, you know, I can't think of any other example. But I'm pretty sure you can relate, and everybody else listening can relate. You know, you never know there's a problem until somebody points it out to you. And then when they pointed out, then it's really a problem, like because now you notice it. Like so this fire alarm that I've been getting this

beat for months months, I've lived with it. I've never it's never been a problem, like I don't even think I really noticed it. And so then when you sent me that tweet about somebody a couple of people could play it about it, Then all of a sudden, I couldn't sleep, star I couldn't sleep. The buzzer, who's like hit my ear? I couldn't sleep, But for the all the other months, I was sleeping peacefully, no problem at all.

Didn't even recognize it. So you know what, I said, We're gonna be a podcast show that listens to its fans. We're gonna listen to it. So I got up there, got the ladder, changed the battery, and you're not hearing anything. You're not hearing anything. So I hope the fans appreciate where we're going with this and appreciate the effort we put into minimizing and limited and limiting noise. We should

have got some video of you on that ladder. Like I said, I'm more worried that I never heard an ounce. I never heard a peep. And then the next morning there's all these tweets. Take guys, somebody changed the battery on your fire. I'm like talking about that. If we're being totally honest, I've eliminated the noise, but I haven't completely solved the problem. I just took it apart right now. I couldn't. I couldn't figure out how to change a battery.

So I said, listen, let me just take it apart so my listeners can hear hear, well, I just hope I don't have a real fire emergency right now where my alarms won't go off. Didn't get that, Ryan producer, Ryan smoke a law, it's a smoke alarm. Well, if we're being totally, totally, totally honest now in my house, yeah, I don't even know how to fix the missus Missus

Stein is the expert on fixing those, not me. So you know your role, you know your roles out She's the one who fixes it because I still haven't learned how to do it. So so there you go. Yeah, that's smoke alarm. Hold, I got another another complaint, stign You didn't see this one coming. Again. We're so that listens to listen to our fans. So this is a woman who I respect at my She's followed me since my days covering the Warriors. She listens to every podcast,

every podcast. Uh, because every after every podcast she sends me a message, just you know, tell me what she thought about what I said. And so she did that when I had my own podcast. Now she continues to do this. Uh with this podcast. Steyne, she had a problem with you her name, and I hope I'm pronouncing her last name, but her first name is Jenny, and I hope I'm pronouncing her last name right, Maliki. But before I get into her complaints, Stein, she is an

extraordinary baker. She baked. She's a professional baker in the San Francisco area. She sent me a couple of apple pies. Please go follow her on Instagram Buttercup Baking. Follow her on Instagram Buttercup Baking. All your baking kneeds. She does it, all cookies, pies, whatever. She's awesome. But anyway, Stein, after last episode, when we were talking about parody and you were putting down the Western Conference saying that this field is the players is lesser than what it used to be,

and I said, I think it's parody. So here's Jenny with her response to me, excuse me when she hit me up. I have to listen to our pod Stein's ill conceived notion that parody in the Western Conference means all the top West teams are mediocre. Is he watching the games or watching tennis? You know how long I've been an NBA fan since nineteen seventy three, and I've been saying this has been the most entertaining season so far. Guys are playing hard, Records are being broken every week.

Tells Stein he needs to invest in league past. I think it's on sale by now, so I told her I would relay the message. I don't think she knew I was gonna relay it during the pod, but I said, why not since we're given giving our listeners a platform. Stein, what do you say to that? Stein? Everybody is entitled to their view and opinion, and you know, if she's been watching the NBA sin seventy three, she's been watching four or five years longer than me. I would just say, though,

like I said, this is not a knock. I look the talent in the web, especially after the trade deadline. You know, we saw Durant and Kyrie Irving get traded to the West. Individual player wise, the West is overflowing with talent. But again, every West team you can name, including now Denver, which their defense has gone south and they're in the midst of their longest losing streak of

the season as we're recording this. I mean, the reality is the three title favorites in the NBA right now are all in the East, and we we are only on pace to see one or two fifty win teams in the West. And so I don't see how you can argue with the math. I mean, the we are just seeing. You know, since Michael Jordan's second retirement in Chicago, the West has been filled with great, great teams. So I'm not saying it's not entertaining. I'm not saying it's

not interesting, certainly every single night. And I mean I saw, I saw our old buddy John Hollander, you know, heat the same day that I came out and said this is the most mediocre West. And I came on here and said, am I too old to say mid This is the most Midwest I've ever seen? You know, John Road a piece that said it's the most it's the most intriguing and interesting West he's ever seen. But to me, the fact that all these teams are bunched at five hundred.

You know, the Warriors can't win a road game. The MAVs haven't been able to get Luca and Kyrie on the court together. You know, Minnesota, we haven't seen Karl Anthony Towns since November and they continue to be a five hundred team. The Clippers very up and down just on and on and on that after you know, and again Denver has been sucked into it. So I guess that's my long winding way of saying, I'm not ready to agree with Jenny even though she's got me beat

on a seniority in observance by five years. And I'm glad you you answered it like that, Stein, because she's been a professional baker in the San Francisco area to Bay area for thirty thirty years approaching thirty years. Her stuff is good. So even if you did disagree, Stein, you would not want to disagree that vehement lee publicly because you need to taste what she gots going on. You got you, you gotta taste these pies, these cookies. Stein,

she knows what she knows what she's doing. Again, you got the hook, you got, you got your own personal baker hook up. Why am I not? Why am I not surprised? Star? Listen you you know the way to a man's heart. I don't know if it's that way is still true today because I think you know, I ain't gonna go there, but it's still that's still the way to my heart. Food. Food, That is definitely the

way to my heart. Jenny, I appreciate you again. Follow her on IG Buttercup, Underscore Baking, Go go check her out. There is one more subject that I did want to hit with you before we go, because I was really interested by this. Because the truth is and again I do not want it. Damian Lillard, your guy had some really interesting comments on JJ reddicks podcast recently. But I do want to point out that he did kind of say something similar with us when he appeared during All

Star weekend. So I just I, you know, look you are. You are the NBA's foremost damologists. So I wanted to kind of get your take on all this. So first I'm gonna read what he said on JJ's pod, and so let me let me read that first quote. The NBA I play in now is not the NBA that I came into. I feel like I play for the love of the game. I want the competition. I want to know what it feels like to win. I want to see my teammates do well. I want to see

my teammates get paid. I enjoy the bonding part of it, but now it's like that don't count. Regular season, don't count. Get a ring. Now I want to rewind to this pod that we dropped right after the All Star Game game tape this with us the morning of the three Point Contest and went out and won the three point Contest hours after this discussion. Here's what he said along the same lines with us. The way the game has changed, I think it's become much more common, like, oh, you

need a ring, you know. I think it's about a outside pressure of you need a ring. You got to win a championship. You know, it's tough out here. You know, it's tough right now, especially with the access we will have to us through social media. How often you know, to discussed every little thing on TV. So it just comes with a lot of a lot of heat. You know, we under a microscope as far as you are what other people think of it. That leads guys to feeling life.

I gotta do what I gotta be win. Honestly, I think a lot of people just love to to see things just get mixed up. You know, they love a drama, and you know, then once it happened and they die off of it and then it's like on to the next thing. But I just understand that nobody's gonna have to walk in my shoes and live with any of

the consequences or anything. I never let that way into any decision or feel aboudy know, it does get irritated sometimes it's like everybody's telling me what I need to do and what I should do, as if they actually care, you know what I mean, they say it from a placement,

if they actually care, when I know they don't. So kudos to Jenny the Baker's favorite NBA scribe, Chris Hayes, because he's the one who arranged for Dane to talk to us from All Star weekend on his way to a morning practice hours before he won the three point contest. But you know he said he said what he said to JJ as well on the Reddick Pod, and that line got a lot of traction. The NBA I play in now is not the NBA I came into c H. What did you you know, what did you kind of

think when you heard that quote? Make the rounds this week? I think what Dame is talking about is the fact that how we're where, it seems like we're wiping away the regular season, we're wiping away the journey. And you know, in his in his situation, it's been like this for the last it's like that, I don't know, half a decade with him where people want him to hurry up and jump ship, and it's it's almost as if they're saying, we're not paying attention to you, we're not acknowledging you

until you get on a championship team. Therefore, everything you do right now in Portland will be as if you're doing it under a rock where nobody can see. And it's it's, you know, it's not validating them that I think that, and I think that's I think social media has something to do with that, where I know a lot of people feel social media has ruined the NBA.

You know, we're talking about social media, and then you know, people may say that we have a role Steins being insider us, we have a role in that where we're talking a lot about what a player is going to do, you know, what's going to happen in the offseason, what's going to happen at the trade deadline, who needs to be moved, who needs to be cut. Rarely we're talking about what players are doing or what teams are doing on the court. And I know that's me and Kevin

Durant have multiple conversations about that. He feels the same way, and he was somebody who who did a hat tip to Dame's comment to JJ, So I think that's what he's talking about. It's like nobody's really paying attention to the pformances out here. You know, somebody can have fifty points, right, so take Dame. He can have fifty points or that seventy one point game he has. Then the next day they're not necessarily just talking about Dame going off at

seventy one. They're talking about does Dame need to move on to somewhere else to be acknowledged, to be recognized, And it takes away from what that individual did in the game, It takes away from the teammates that help set you up to have that monster performance, and it's all about talking about where he should go, what he should do. Same same with KD, same situation. So I

think that's that's what he means by that. It's like we it's almost and I don't say I don't think everybody feels that way, obviously, but there are a lot of casual NBA fans who just go off the storylines and don't look at hoops. And then if you're judging strictly by social media, then you may find on social media that most of them probably just look at the storylines themselves. And so that's why social media is not

always a judge of what is truly happening. But I think that's what Dame meant probably in this totality when he when he had those remarks, and I guess I would my kind of my reaction to it is the reality is to me. You know, this is my thirtieth season.

I think this conversation has always been there, Like it's when I started in the nineties, there was tons of discussion about Patrick Ewing hasn't wont to ring, Charles Barkley hasn't won a ring, John Stockton and Karl Malone hasn't won a ring, and then you know my formative years in this job, you know, you you know, I always

say Dame is your Dirk. I mean, I watched Dirk Nvitski for the first ten years of his career be called soft, not tough enough, European, can't lead a team to a championship, can't do it on the big stage, and then Dallas wins it in twenty eleven and it totally changes the way Dirk is perceived, and Dirk instantly became a beloved figure when the truth is he was a great, great player for years before that championship two

thousand and six. There is no question the Dallas Mavericks unraveled in spectacular fashion in those finals when they blew a two o lead to Miami, but two rounds before, for me, still the best playoff series I have personally personally covered start to finish, Game one to Game seven, the way Dirk Davitsky played in San Antonio on Tim Duncan's floor and Dallas wins a Game seven in overtime

against San Antonio another one two thousand and nine. Nobody even talks about this when they go back in Dirk's legacy. Dirk was on probably the worst MAVs team he'd been on for years. They're playing a super rugged, physical Denver team that just had all kinds of really tough, defensive minded bigs to help out Carmelo Anthony and Dirk Navitsky in that series against Denver, a first round loss and amidst some real personal turmoil, the numbers that Dirk put

up in that series were just jaw dropping. So I mean, this guy was a great, great player before the champion, before Dallas won that championship. And I see a lot of similarities between what his first ten years like and a lot of the noise around Dame. But I think the difference Dame is talking about what it really is

is the noise level. It's just Dame came. Dame's first year was eleven twelve, is that right, twelve thirteen, So in this last decade, it's the it's the rise of social media, it's the way TV has changed that you know, even my last few years at ESPN fifteen fourteen, fifteen, fifteen, sixteen, sixteen seventeen, there were so many sports centers in a day, and those three years I was embedded with the Warriors

and I was on so much. So many of those sports centers have been shoved aside by your first takes and you're you know, those discussion shows that you know, you know, just the noise about legacy and about guy's careers and you know, do they need a ring? All

that discussion. It's really that's what's really exploded in you know, over the course of Dame's career, and I think that's why he's felt it so acutely just because the noise levels, the ring conversation has been there, Like I said, since I can remember Clyde Drexler in Portland, another guy who who had to hear it for years and years and years until he got traded to Houston and got to win one along Simon alongside a chem Elijah one. But

that ring noise, the ring discussion has been there. It's just this last decade the volume of it has just gone to insane levels and only seem to rise. So it's actually really good to hear when when Dame we're speaking with with JJ Reddick that he you know, he said real life, he's so into his real life that it enables him to tune out the noise because the

noise has got to be really, really annoying. Yeah, so I will say the noise level we have, you know, you have the talk shows and national talk shows who have these discussions, these topics that don't necessarily pertain to what he or any other players is doing in that particular game. It's always about what that player needs to

do to solidify his legacy. But I think social media the noise and social media is so because players live in social media, and so that is a noise that you know, when you came into the least I players have to deal with that. Like, think about this, if you were a player, say you're Michael Jordan, right, You're Michael Jordan, and I'm a fan. Say I'm a fan of Michael Jordan. If I wanted to try to reach Michael Jordan, first of all, we were we were you know,

we were poor, We weren't get any tickets. But if I want to try to reach with him, I was write him a letter and send it via mail. And what's the chance of Michael Jordan reading my letter? Of the millions that Jordan ain't reading that, so you couldn't get to him. So players backing up those days, not just players, stars, movie stars or whatever, you had people around you that would kind of feel you in on

just how people feel about you. You know, just just just check the vibe around the world about what they're saying about you, your brand and whatever your people told you. You believed it and be like it was okay. But you didn't have to deal with hearing Joe's Moe and Minnesota, Ben Bruce in Miami, or you didn't hear that type of stuff. You know, you didn't, you weren't bothered by it.

And those are the people. Those are the same people, the same people that would try to get at you back in the day, but they couldn't if they saw you in person, they wouldn't do anything but ask for an autograph, for a picture. But the noise of today where they can actually get to you. They can actually hop in your mentions, they can hop in your dms, they can talk all that shit, they can talk all of it to you. And these players, they see it that they live in it, and it gets into them.

And that's why I think, you know, there's a you know, we're having a lot of you have a lot of players with issues with depression and anxiety. You know all this social media plays a big part, plays a big part in that. And it's tough. It's just a different error. It's a different area with these players are playing amongst and um it's it's in a lot of ways, it's very it's very much tougher. And I know a lot of older guys I don't like to hear that, oh

we had, it's a different animals. Charles Barkley will not get on social media because he know is going to trick or something, He's going to go off on you and say something, tweet something at you. So he was advised not to get on social media and he is fine with that. So I think that's why that's another big reason why the noise is louder today. Yeah, look I gotta and you know I'm by no means innocent here,

I'm guilty too. I look at the standings, I see where Portland is, and my instinct automatically is Dame has got to be miserable. The guy is playing, he's maybe having his best statistical season individually, and they are, you know, entering Thursday night's play, they were two and a half games out of a playing spot and having lost four in a row and heading in the wrong direction, and it just seems like it's it's just sad that Dame has come out of the surgery as well as he

has playing just absolutely fantastic, just an offensive marvel. And you know, they, you know, they thought they had upgraded the team around him, and they're they're they're more than a move or two away the way this looks right now. So I mean, I do it too, And you know

I don't know him like you do. So it sounds like when you listen, you listen to him with us, you listen to him with JJ Reddick and I you know, it's it's a great skill for him if he can tune out the noise because a lot of people are wondering, Okay, thirteen games left for the Portland Trail Blazers. They are see two and a half games back of the final play in spot. It's not looking good for him right now.

Dame is doing his thing. It's team wise. They still i mean new GM, but still facing some of the same obstacles of not having h not having the pieces needed to to be a real threat. So I'll say this Dame has about I'm gonna say he gotta probably about five or six more games left before Portland probably shut them down for the season. There there's no use of playing the duration of these games, so look out for that. Things keep these next five six games, they

they keep struggling. I was saying he's gonna be okay with that, because I mean, he's really been fighting that notion of playing for draft. I mean, he's gonna have to He's gonna have to be okay if they're not. If they're not in contention to jump in that player, you know, at that point it's not it's probably not worth it. So that's what I'm saying. These next five six games, you know, we'll see if they can make some ground. If they don't make any ground, then I

think you got to pull the plug. I think that's what's going to happen if the results are not that good. All right, Well, we covered a lot of ground today. Is usually went in some surprising directions that I did not anticipate. But that's ah. That is Chris Haynes's particular talent. He gets me. I like to map it out, and he likes to get me off the map. So there you go, everybody. We will be back very very soon,

back with our usual Monday morning episode. We do plan to tape Sunday night, get back on our usual schedule. In the meantime, please please please rate, review, subscribe, so this League Uncut comes right to your phone directly and promptly. Chris and I back with you in just a couple of days. Hopefully this is plenty of good weekend who listening for you? Be good? Everybody talks soon and that'll

do it for us, see you next time. This League Uncut is and I Heart Radio Production Chris Hanes, de Mark Steyne