Welcome to this League uncut.
Rule of twenty four hour NBA News.
This you Chris Haynes. It's go time, Mark Stein.
It's so time.
Cut.
This League Uncut is underway in on fire. This should be a good one. Yes, indeed, another good one on the way, a fresh episode of this League Uncut. Mark Stein here with Chris Haynes. Conference finals historic conference finals historic, not in a great way though, with the potential of two sweeps. Has never happened in the sixteen team playoff era. This is actually season number forty of the sixteen team playoff format that the NBA introduced in nineteen eighty three
eighty four. Never at this stage have we had a potential for sweeps in both the West and the East finals. And we will get to that, all with Chris Haynes, who was attending and covering the Western Conference finals. But I think we should start. We're recording this not on Sunday night like we usually do. We're recording it on a Monday afternoon because of various reporting duties. And this morning, Monday morning, we were greeted by a rather newsy video
from Carmelo Anthony announcing his retirement. Not totally unexpected, because, of course, Carmelo Anthony did not play this season. He was not able to find the roster spot somewhere that he badly wanted. But when a well crafted player announcement comes out direct from the legend in question, and it's Carmelo Anthony himself telling us that he is indeed walking away from the game, it still strikes a chord. It still makes people wistful and naturally gets everybody thinking about
their favorite Mellow moments. Mister Haynes, did you cross paths with Mellow at all this season? Did you run into him anywhere? I haven't seen him honestly in ages.
No, I haven't.
The last time I spoke to Carmelo he came on my pod last year, I want to say a little bit over a year ago, when I was with Yahoo.
At the time.
You had a pod before this, Yeah.
I did. I did. That was the last time I spoke to him, I believe. So. I had to look at my text here this last time we text.
But the last time I saw him in person, I want to see what had to been when he was playing with Portland.
No, no, playing with the Lakers. I'm tripping playing with the Lakers.
Yeah, that was the last time we I saw him in person.
So always always a stand up dude. Man. The dude still could play, He still could hoop.
You know, it's always unfortunate when guys retired, not because their skill set isn't good enough to be on a roster, but just because.
Teams are going in a different direction.
Veterans aren't valued as much on teams like they used to be. I believe, you know, Carmelo would have played any role, any role asked. I think we're just in the era again where veterans aren't valued like they used to because they if they were a team like the Houston Rockets, would have picked up a key veteran that could kind of keep things in line, teach the youngsters how to be NBA professionals, like you know, something like what you Jonnas Hazen was doing in Miami, what DeAndre
Jordan is doing in Denver. So there's still some teams who who value that role, but not like we used to.
Now, that is one of the most important jobs in the NBA, and it's really hard for teams to find that guy. You're Eudonis Haslim, You're andre Iguodala, they're critical and every team wants one. And look, Carmelo, his Rockets career lasted all of ten games. I remember there was a lot of fear at the time that he might not make his way back into the league when the Rockets abruptly let him go. He ended up getting two seasons with the Blazers and then last season with the Lakers.
And you know, I know he played nineteen seasons in the NBA. From everything I was told, he really wanted to land somewhere this season because it meant a lot to him to have that chance to play a twentieth season. A nice round number, but let's be honest, this man's resume, it really doesn't need embellishment. He's a top seventy five or he's the number nine all time score in league history with more than twenty eight thousand points. Foba mellow
was its own monster in itself. You know, I will never forget being at the London Olympics and what was it, thirty seven points and fourteen minutes for Carmelo. He was an absolute monster on the international stage. And you know, honestly, from that draft class, you know, the famed two thousand and three draft class, my favorite guy to cover. I always just found him to be the most transparent and
you know, just loved talking to him. Didn't see him tons. Frankly, for me, I covered him much more in international settings than I did in NBA settings, because I guess I just wasn't in this, you know what, you know so long with the Knicks and you know, Denver we've talked about, you know I have. I didn't spend tons of time in either of those places. I do remember having a great sit down with Mellow when he first joined the Thunder.
He was in Oklahoma City for a year and that was a little bit closer to my neighborhood, so I was able to just see Mellow more that season. But on the Team USA stage, I mean, you know, Foeba Melo is a legend, and do not worry. He will be a first ballot automatic Hall of Famer when he's eligible four years from now.
Yeah, that's not even up for debate. That's not even up for debate. Yet.
He didn't he didn't get that elusive championship that superstars crave. Players in general, but superstars, it means so much more to their legacy to obtain that. But Carmelo man like when you look at his play, he's one of the last, like great back to the basket posts players that played the small forward position. You know, he's really a last of the throwbacks, the back to the basket, the pivots like he had the moves he had to moves, the reverse pivots like. He can get down and busy in
that paint man and overpower you. And you know, he was fun to watch. And then he could step out and face you up, hit you with the jab step killer jab step, hit you with the spin move off of the jab step, pump, fake dip under for the lay in, and people forget Carmelo used to be so athletic in his earlier years. You know, go back and watch some of his highlights. He had a total package, definitely, and so a lack of a championship should not diminish what he's accomplished.
And you know there's warts with you have warts with in the.
Game of any player, any player of any mattitude, even star players. And I know, for the latter part of his career, his warts were talked about more so than what he could actually bring to a table overall, bring to a team overall.
Stein, he's a good dude.
Man, Melo is a good dude, Like he's really like class act, straight up, no nonsense. He's a guy that if he didn't like something you wrote or something you said, he'll hit you up. He'll hit you up and let you know how he feels about that. I've had that experience with him a few times and you respect it, and you respect it because he's never came He's never came out of pocket to me and Stein, that means you know.
He's never he's never been disrespectful, never came at a.
Place of disrespect. It was just straight up and he's just a cool brother.
Man. I got I got numb of love for Carmelo. Man.
You know you look at the last who Stein? Can you name the members of the Banana boat crew? Give me all the members Stein.
Isn't it? Lebron d Wade, Chris Paul and Mellow? Am I leaving somebody out? Do we throw Gabby Union in there?
She's probably she's probably a captain of the of that of that ship, that Banata ship. So Carmelo's gone. Now who's next? Well, Dwayne, Wayne was first Carmelo. Now who's next? We have Chris Paul and Lebron James left, and I want to make sure I get my facts straight because so I would allow you to talk.
But I believe those four members they are considered the four members of the Banana boat crew, but I think only three were on that boat.
Yeah, I honestly don't remember exactly who who was who was on the Banana boat?
Did you wish she were on that Banana boat?
No?
Okay, just asking, all.
Right, love, I love the water, but I'm I.
See, I see the picture, the picture, So quiz I was accurate. One of those guys, those four you named, one of them was not on the Banana boat. You got one, guess that's all I'm giving. Which player was not officially on that.
Boat, wasn't it Lebron?
No?
No, No, Carmelo was now on that boat. It was Gabrielle Union in the front, Dwayne Wade behind her. Of course Dwayne Wade had to be behind Gabrielle. It would it would not be appropriate if anybody else was. Do you have Chris Paul behind Dwayne Wade? Then it was Lebron.
See my memory sucks.
Yeah, there you go, iconic Visil and I gave you one.
Guess it's okay, So it's crazy. Carmelo wasn't in the picture, but he's synonymous with that group for sure.
That's his group. He's part of Banana Group, Banana Boat Crew for sure.
Yeah. Like I said, the romantic being the basketball romantic that I am. I was rooting for him. I was hoping somebody would sign him this season just so he could say that. You know, he did get that twentieth season in. But I'm with you, like I you know, I always found him to be, for me, the easiest to connect with and cover out of all those guys,
you know, with mister Wade. You know, I live in Dallas, so obviously they're you know, I think I I think I inherited some of that that Dirk Wade Dallas Miami tension. I didn't see Mellow as often as I would have liked, but every time I caught up with him. A great talker and a willing talker, which is what we want
most in our jobs. And incredible, incredible career, A beloved, a beloved nick I would love though, I would really love to hear his thoughts about this Denver team, because you know, before you know, the Nuggets did make the conference finals once in Mellow's time and had a really really good team, but that's as far as they could go. Would love to hear kind of what he thinks of this Denver run, because that series, you're that series you're covering, man, I mean, you know, I wrote it. I wrote it
in my Monday musings. I'm not waiting for the fourth win. And even in either series, the finals matchup is here, it's heat Nuggets, and I give the Celtics zero zero, you know, zero chance of being that first team in NBA history to come back from O three down. The Lakers, Okay, let's give them some sort of mathematical chance, but I just I don't see it. I think we can pretty I think we can pretty much skip ahead to the finals.
You're you're given, So why you give the Celtic zero and you give the Lakers a percentage?
I give the Lakers just the slightest bit of math because you know, they didn't lose two at home and then go to Miami in utter desperation and look like a team that was completely broken and frankly looked like it quit. I mean Boston's performance in Game three in Miami was just utterly unacceptable. I mean, they looked like
a team ready to be done. I'm not saying, you know, like I said, I'm getting I'm I'm not really giving the Lakers much of a chance, you know, But if you can feel better about either team down oh three, I would feel better about the Lakers situation than Boston's. Boston the Celtic. I mean we should probably start there because that was the most recently. The Celtics are a mess.
I just think they are going to hugely regret. They will, they will maybe never get over what they've squandered this season. In last season, they had a team and a draw and a setup and a pathway to win at least one of these titles. And going forward, because of the new collective bargaining agreement and all the restrictions teams are
gonna face when they get into second apron territory. You go seventeen point five million past the luxury line, and you know, you can't put contracts together in trades, you can't add cash to trades, you can't go into the buyout market. There are restrictions on trading your first round picks. And remember this summer Jalen Brown is basically eligible for a three hundred million max over five years. Then next summer, Tatum is eligible for his own three hundred million dollar deal.
If you keep those guys, how on earth are you gonna be able to keep putting a deep team around them? And that's this Celtics team has depth and versatility and a bunch of great complimentary pieces with Tatum and Brown, and they didn't get it done. It's it's going to be tougher before we even get into the coach discussion. So I just think, you know, there are going to be some huge, huge, huge regrets and many sleepless nights for the Celtics when this thing is over.
The coach acknowledged, or the way it came off, with the way he responded, he acknowledged that he lost the team.
I don't know that he admitted to that exactly.
I agree, you know, yeah, because I see it the way things are, you know, how it was being interpreted.
Our pal, you know, our guy Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe, he asked the question, and he asked about losing the team, but then went on with a bunch of other parts of his question and the way Missoula responded, I don't think he was directly saying, yes, I've lost the team, but of course that was the way it was taken.
Yeah, exactly, So I don't think he's admitting to that. But I can't point to details as of right now because I haven't thoroughly investigated. But it sounds like there's a lot going on. Gary Washburn, who's been with that Celtics team for years, he said there is. I believe betwe there are serious issues internally over there. Once the season ends, this catastrophic we start to learn a little bit more. You know, some of those stories start to leak out, and I wouldn't be surprised they leak out
the night they're eliminated. That's how it seems to happen. Like soon as the buzzer sounds boom, here you go.
Yeah. Look, everyone points to Missoula and he's he's thirty four, he had never even been a front of the bench assistant. Of course, he's getting out coached by Eric Spolster. He was not going to win a May coaching matchup against Eric Spolster. I'm sorry. So we can pin all the blame we want on him, and look I after they beat Philly, I didn't think there was a scenario where Missoula's job could be in jeopardy, because that's that was another dire situation. You're down three to two Game six
in Philly, Boston finds a way to win. Jason Tatum rings up fifty one points in the greatest Game seven ever Celtics survived. I thought, okay, you know that that has to take some measure of heat off Missoula. But this series so bad. The Celtics are just lacking in so many areas. It's it's it's frankly been embarrassing. There's no way to dial the volume down on those questions now. I mean, his job is in the climate that we're in. For NBA coaches, you have to think that that's going
to continue to be a major question mark. And look, even before this series, I was hearing that Boston had interest in hiring both Frank Vogel and Steven Silas as assistance for Missoula next season. Because that's the thing. The Celtics didn't just lose email Udoka, they lost Will Hardy and then in March Damon Stodhomer goes to Georgia Tech so all the wisdom and veteran veteran coach, noess on that bench from last season from a finals team, It's
all gone and Missoula is going through it now. But I mean, look, you know to me that the two main guys, Tatum and Brown have to take a lot more responsibility. I mean, you know again on my scorecard, they've been more disappointing in this series than the coach. Like you said, Gary Washburn is alluding to some tensions that are maybe more palpable when you're covering the series every day and you see it. But the Celtics are a mess and the players can't duck responsibility here.
They cannot, but oftentimes they get a pass and it's the head coach. And I had somebody texting me yesterday they were asking, is is Missoula fired after this?
I'm like, how can he be fired?
They just made them the the permanent head coach, gave him a multi multi year deal, Like how can that happen?
Like, no, they can't.
But I's I agree with you, but let's let's flip this a little bit to the premise. Like I said, Like I started off with the premise of oftentimes the coach, your players get the pass. And this team went to the NBA Finals a year ago under Email Doka. The Celtics made the decision to let go Email Doka for what do you call it for improblem?
They said, a relationship that violated unspecified team rules. Yeah, that was there. Okay, that's what they said publicly.
Yeah, so they brought in Joe Missoula again, they brought in Joe Mosula. Let's let's remember they brought in Missoula from the back of the bench to become the head coach. And so for fans that don't understand that, you know, you have your top assistance, Your top assistants sit in the front of the bench, sitting next to the head coach, and then you have the back the bitch guys. Most of the times, the back of the bitch coaches are
player development coaches. They don't really contribute to strategy a lot. It's mainly player development where they get to learn and with the chances of with the hopes of eventually moving up to the front seats and eventually becoming the head coach. So this was Brad Stevenson's pick to leap fraud everyone else to get that head coaching job and Elite Frogs somebody in particular Damon Stottamar who eventually left during the regular season to take the head coaching job at Georgia Tech.
There were a lot of people in the organization who felt that Stotomy were not just more deserving, but was ready and prepared to take on a team of that manitude, a team with those personalities in that locker room. So with all that being said, Stean Missoula gets blamed as well, because at the end of the day, all you can do, yes, Tatum, yes Brown.
They they underperformed.
They're underperforming, no doubt about that, But they are expectations. The coach is in charge of making sure those players are being put in the right situation and players that have the right environment, that the players have the right mindset going into the going into the whatever game that is. And he's a rookie coach, but we expect this, this is what we expect. Like when do we expect a rookie coach that's coming from the back of the bench to come in and step in and do this. And
so we are seeing rookie mistakes. We are seeing that, and I think you still have to point some blame towards him. Should he be fired? No, because the Boston Celtics made the coach just this year, so they got to live with that. But I don't think you can dismiss some of the lack of adjustments that coach Massoulas made in the series.
Yeah, and look, it's gonna be and it's going to be fascinating to see how the Celtics deal with all of this after a playoff flame out like this? Would it be it? First of all, I don't think they can get both Vogel and Silas on the bench to
this point, based on everything I've heard. You know, Frank Vogel has been focused on his next head coaching opportunity, and if that doesn't materialize, and if he reaches the point of considering assistant jobs, my sense is that Dallas is the favorite to get him because Frank Vogel and Jason kidd have such a close relationship from the two years that Jason Kidds spent as Vogel's assistant on the Laker bench, and obviously they want a championship in the bubble.
So I don't even know that the Celtics can get both Frank Vogel and Silas. But again, this is such a spectacular unraveling. I don't know that he even bringing two recent head coaches onto next season's bench can kind of fix things or make things better. We're just gonna We're gonna have to see just how how quickly the Celtics can get passed whatever's going on in there. And like you said, I think we're just gonna hear more and more about it. And again, roster wise, Tatum and
Brown have been together for six years. At various points in those six years there have been calls break these guys up, trade Jalen Brown, and it's like, no, you don't break up two elite two way wings in their mid twenties. This is the league where the two way wing has never been more important, and Boston has two of these guys who are tremendous and should be just a great tandem to use as a team building platform.
But now, after all these near misses, all these playoff disappointments as a franchise, it's five conference finals in seven seasons, four conference finals and the six seasons that those two have been together, but they will have had no championships in that time and now it's gonna cost close to six hundred million to retain the both of them. So, I mean, Boston has a slew of difficult decisions. And again, you know, I feel like I've brought this up a
bazillion times in these playoffs. But like the list, you know, I think the Knicks and the Kings can come away from their playoff exits feeling great about their futures and proud of their seasons. But pretty much everyone else who has lost in the playoffs, it's huge pain, huge misery, huge suffering, huge questions about the future. And the Celtics really zoom right to the top of that list with the Bucks and the Suns and you know, the Blazers
of the Maps who didn't even make the playoffs. It's like, man, there are so many teams out there that have really, really difficult decisions this summer. And yeah, I cannot wait to see what the Celtics do. You know what, I've gone on and on and on about all the Celtics issues, but we probably should throw in a line here that
the Miami heat man absolute playoff marvels. They were down more than twenty points in the playing game to Atlanta, their first playing game, they were down in the final four minutes at home against Chicago, with Chris Haynes viewing his all white suit on the sideline. First game, second
game of the Heats postseason. Rather, Miami comes back, wins this one, and now they are on the brink of sweeping Boston into offseason oblivion and becoming the first team really in the analytics era to get to the finals with a negative nightly point margin from the regular season. During the regular season, the Heat where a minus point five in nightly point differential, and when you really study nightly point differential over the last quarter century, it's typically
a really strong predictor of playoff success. That's one of the lessons that I grudgingly have to hat tip that I learned from Professor Hollinger in all our years together at ESPN and I would do what we called the human power rankings every Monday, and then Hollinger had the you know, his automated system for power rankings that that would also that would run every day, and point differential
was a huge part of John's system. And you know, and that's because when you really study point differential over the years, you know, teams with a robust regular season point differential tend to do well, but the Heat continue to defy all reason with this team that's dealing with injuries, the lowest scoring team in the regular season, this negative nightly point differential, No Tyler Hero, no Oladipo, relying heavily
on Duncan Robinson and Max Struce. Caleb Martin and my fellow Big West Conference alumnus gave Vincent and all this evidence, all the statistical evidence that's supposed to say the Heat are incapable of doing this, and here they are, one win shy of another trip to the NBA Finals. But I have blathered enough about the East, Chris, It's time to turn it over to you. Update us on the West, the series that you're at. What I mean, how would you kind of describe the mood of the Lakers. I mean,
the Lakers KO the defending champs. I'm sure they thought this was their time. Now basically later tonight after this podcast drops, Lakers facing elimination, have to win Game four at home just to keep the series going.
Definitely, frustration in that locker room. Definitely.
I walked into that locker room after Game three. Check out the scene. Check out the mood, the vibe. I mean, it was. It was as you would expect. I would say this. Sometimes you go into a locker room where a team is facing elimination, and you would expect it to be quiet.
You would expect.
Guys to just be in a you know, just in a frustrated disposition.
But sometimes it's not.
On occasion, there are teams that you know, they still fill up beat because they're still alive, and you just you don't get the sense when you walk in the locker room. You don't get the sense that they're done, or you don't get the sense that they feel like they're out of it. I got that sense after Game three that they're out. I got the sense that, you know, there's some things I could probably say later, but I got the sense.
That remember them though.
I can't forget this, Yeah, I can't forget this, but yeah it doesn't.
And when I say done, I mean, I don't know.
Do they win tonight again? We're recording this Monday afternoon. Do they win tonight? I don't know, but I don't They're not coming back in this series. Beat this Denver Nugget Squad four consecutive times. Don't see it happening at all, just like we don't see that happening in the East.
But they made it this far. I don't see it.
But look Stein, I don't want to get myself in trouble with Nuggets.
Faithful.
We can't spend too much time talking about the Lakers. Mike Malone will coach Malone will pitch a fit. We have to show some love.
To the Nuggets.
Mike Malone is Michael Malone just keeps saying that stuff because he's convinced his guys that the world hates them. And there's this discussion, now, have we all been unfair to the Denver Nuggets?
All right, so let me ask that question. Man.
All we can go on is based off of history. In recent history, they've had great regular seasons and they fall short in the postseason. And they really have kept the same roster. Who thought Bruce Brown was going to come in and play like this, especially on the offensive end. He's having the best year of his career. Nobody thought he was capable of that. They're playing he's not, He's not starting, but he's finishing games. Bruce Brown has been a a that was a hell of a pickup. He's
going to earn his value in the offseason. They're a deeper team. They're just they're a great team. It's just that we've seen them dominating the regular season and then we've seen them fold in the playoffs.
So that's all we can ever go off of.
Now, when were talking about like ratings and you know, talking about that magnet who you know, getting eyeballs on the team, it's just like I enjoy watching them because I love hoops. You know, I play ball, I love ball. I enjoyed watching them. But Stein, would you agree that they are probably more casual NBA fans than diehard NBA fans?
What what do you think?
I don't know about that, but look, I mean I think the ratings numbers of Lakers Warriors in the second round were crazy, and that that probably backs that up to some degree, that that that a second round series could get the kind of numbers that Lakers Warriors did. And that's going to be the thing. I mean this, if it is Miami Denver, like we now all expect, the ratings talk is just going to be such an annoying part of this final because it's going to get
brought up all the time. There's no way around it. I mean, i've you know, I think I've mentioned it on here before that I remember still remember conversations with editors at ESPN when the Nuggets acquired Alan Iverson because in that Mountain time zone, I don't know, I don't know what it is, but the Nuggets have always struggled to get any kind of spotlight or attention out there. So I thought, man, you got Mellow and Ai. This is finally the Nuggets time to be a national darling.
And they weren't even with Ai. They didn't. I mean, they did that because I think it is that that for some reason, that time zone, that part of the world, the East Coast, is just not paying attention. I don't really have a better answer than that. It's just a theory that I can't prove. But I don't think a lot of people on the East Coast, unless they are absolutely NBA addicted, are tuning in to find Nuggets games. And you know, Yokic is still kind of like people are.
People are still like discovering Man, this guy's really good and he's just ridiculous. I mean, what he's doing in the in these playoffs is ridiculous. But yeah, I'm not looking forward to that part of it, and I don't feel like I've dissed the Nuggets. I mean, the reality is, you know, they did it to themselves a little bit. They finished seven to ten, They didn't finish the season strongly. They basically had the top seed in the West wrapped up, and just it was a very indifferent finish to the
regular season. I mean, Jokic even gave off the vibe to some that you know, he was trying to take himself out of the MVP race somehow because he didn't, he just got tired of the conversation and you know, just didn't finish with anything close to a flourish. But you know, fair or not, it's kind of the way we do it in the NBA that like the doubts are there until we see you do it, and now we're seeing the Nuggets do it. I do think that
I do. I feel really strongly that the playoff underachiever tag that Jokic's face has been that has been unfit because this is the second time in four years he's had his team in the conference finals. But the two years they didn't make it, there was no Jamal Murray. I mean, here's a trivia question for you. Who on the Denver Nuggets besides Jokic has been an NBA All Star? How many? How many Denver Nuggets?
I could name one, I believe, and he's not playing. I think DeAndre Jordan made an All Star.
You got it is? That is the whole list. DeAndre Jordan, who, as you said early in this pod, he basically now is operating as their Eudonis Haslam. They're Andrea Iguodala, they're old head who kind of referees the locker room. That's basically what Jordan is giving them now. And he's the only All Star on that team besides Jokic. So incredible achievement for Jokic to have the Nuggets playing this well, and certainly Jamal Murray has has stepped it up two
or three notches since the regular season. But I don't think we were intensionally disrespecting the Denver Nuggets. But I will concur completely that the player underachiever stuff that k has had to hear, and the notion that you know, these playoffs will validate his two MVPs and he should give them back if the Nuggets don't do well in these playoffs like I never I never bought that. You give you give Jokics just a good team, and he will get he will take you places.
I'm gonna have to call out Sam Amic and I'm gonna have to inform Mike malonea this as well. Sam a mix of the athletic are a good guy. I saw him in Denver game was a game too, Yeah, Game two dressed casual, casual, you know it was the it's the the tire that we started wearing post pandemic. You know, everybody's loose, just casual. Then I see him Game three in LA suit tie, all dressed to the team, and I told him, I said, listen, man, you can't
be disrespecting the Nuggets like that. You can't come to Denver dressing all casual. Now you come to LA with Staple Center, and now you want to dress all. I say, I'm gonna let coach Malone know about that, because he's getting disrespected not only by us not talking about them enough, but he's getting disrespected by the media with our tire.
And so I'm looking forward.
To seeing what how Sam maybe is gonna come dressed for Game four tonight.
I'm not gonna say anything to him. I'm gonna do a little test and see if what you say on this podcast just reaches him organically. I'm not going to I'm not gonna wind him up. Craziness all around. Really, this has been one of the strangest seasons I can remember. It came up a lot during the regular season, weirdest, meekest West in modern NBA history, only two fifty win teams instead of the usual five. Memphis barely got to
fifty wins, Denver all alone. And now we've just seen complete chaos in the playoffs and you're doing the West. Will you be at all the finals? Some of the finals, Miami, Denver? Ready? Are you ready for that? Are you? Are you okay? I mean all right, No, wait a minute, what am I? What am I saying? You'll just do the South Beach games.
You are not going to get me in trouble with Mike Malone at a diver Duggets faith.
You keep calling Mike Malone. If you don't start saying Michael Malone, are you still saying Michael mallin? You're going to be in trouble.
Michael Malone, my apausis coach. I don't want no smoke.
But as far as my NBA Finals travels, I'm still debating on how I'm gonna tackle that.
Yeah, I already know you'll be at games. You'll be at games three four, You'll be at games three, four and six.
If there isn't, I plead the fifth, I plead the fifth.
All right, Well I've I've as usual, I've talked too much. You take us home, please, all right?
I got two items real quick. I want to get to the first item. Star Dave mcmhnimon of ESPN. He got us all together on a group text to play some media pickup and I was able to get us a location at LMU yesterday.
Oh wow, yesterday morning. So who showed up?
Myself, Tony Jones, Dave mcminnimon, your guy, Tim McMahon.
Who else?
My guy, Nate Jones over there with good Win Sports working with.
Dame who else?
Oh?
We details one guy in particular.
He probably the surprise talent of that whole media pickup game yesterday. Vic Lombardi, the studio host pregame host for the Denver Nuggets. He's a season vet. He came out there balling stein balling. Oh caught me off guard. Caught me completely off guard, got the hesitation move, got the in and out move, and transition, went to the bucket. I saw him do that twice. But let me give you a scout report. David min him and me and
Dave been Hooper for almost a decade. Spot up shooter knows how to move without the ball.
You know me.
You know I'm a playmaker, drive kick, get to the basket. You know I go dunk on somebody let's dunk. And now I didn't get a dunk yesterday, didn't even try. But that's my game. Hit the outside shot, Tibic Mahn my first time seeing.
Yeah, I need give McMahon.
Oh oh lord. Murray was out there as well with the athletic Okay.
How many flagrants did McMahon dole out Tim?
No, not too much.
Let me tell you why Tim didn't dole out too many flagers because Tim.
Was guarding stretched for Nate Jones.
So Nate Jones had Tim out on the perimeter for most of the time, so he wasn't able to unleash a pounding. So then I had to switch on to Nate to allow Tim to go guard somebody down, you know, on the block.
But Tim. Let me tell you about Tim.
I can tell that he hasn't played in a very very long time. I can tell that he's scared to use his limbs, his bottom limbs, just by the way he moves, so that lets me know he's probably had an injury in the past.
But with all that being said, seeing through all that pain that he's dealing with, with all that.
Being said, I can see, like hoopers can see if a guy used to be able to play, and Tim had some post moves and some pivots that I seen in there throughout all the chaos. I seen it, and I'm like, Okay, I think he Tim used to be able to hoop when he was when everything was working properly. Now he started off slow, but then he got his rhythm back. But I tried. I made a mistake. I
saw Tim running on it a transition. He was running on the wing, and throughout the day I would not pass it to Tim on the wing in transition.
I'm only giving it to you in the post.
But I said, let me try him out, because you know, in the NBA today you could give it to anybody on the wing and let him go.
I gave it to Tim on the wing.
He dribbled, tried to pass like it was just an awkward pass, and law picked it off and went and scored. And I said, Tim, never again am I passing to you in transition? Get your ass back in the pain? He said, I completely understand, my bad. But that's that's that's that's pretty much.
You know, Tony, you said, you said, Tony.
Tony, I poop with Tony. So Tony is a floor general. He's going to get everybody in the spot Tony who Tony played college like like me?
So Tony is a floor general. He gets everybody in their sets, keep the offense going.
And then you know, Tony has a big body, so he takes you down the post.
He was posting a Vic Lombardi getting him up in the air. Uh for the and one. Tony's a hooper, so no surprise.
I think I think Nate Jones secretly wants to be a media member. He's tweeting all night commenting. I think he wants I think he wants to you know, he's he's in the agent business, but I think he secretly wants to be a media guy.
Native is he understands us Nate understands and one thing about like a lot of agents or a lot of person there who work within the agency. A lot of them have I always say, have disdain towards the media. But Nate, Nate gets it. He gets us, you know what I mean, he gets us. So I don't know, I've maybe out of asked him if he has a secret fetish for wanting to be one of us. I don't know why he would, but he was out and Nate Nate is a shoot. So I was guarding Nate Nate,
he's shooting deep. He's shooting steph threes and and the the the court that we're playing on is the NBA three point line and that's when we played off of that, and so he's shooting deep. So Nate is a floor spacer. He would admit, he say he's getting better shape. But you know, Nate, Nate's cool. He's a hooper.
That's the first item.
I really don't know, like how many guys from my generation still play. You know, it's been years since I participated. But I mean in the nineties, like the media pickup game, especially at the finals and especially at the finals All Star but especially the finals was such a big deal. Like Buker, Chris Brussard, Kate. I just saw Casey Johnson at the lottery in Chicago. I should have asked him if he's still playing, because Casey's still in great shape.
But all of us fifty somethings, I don't know if anybody. I don't know if any of us are still Sean Powell, I don't know if anybody still plays. Something tells me Broussard can still can still play a little bit.
Well, let me tell you something. You're not finished yet. Don You only finish if if you allow your mind?
Oh, I'm finished, believe me me. I don't. First of all, I don't know that I ever really started, but I am. I am way finished. The last The last time I played, I think the last time I played in a media game was the year the Thunder were in the finals, because I remember, if I remember Michael Cage, Thunder broadcaster, played with us. Obviously, former NBA player Brent Barry definitely played, so I remember Brent. Brent kept passing me the ball took me about six tries to finally knock one down,
and he was hooking me up. So that the last time I remember playing, Like I said, we just more than a decade ago. There were former NBA players turned media members who were playing and that was that was interesting. But yeah, no, I'm I'm done, man, But I'd love to watch. If I was with if I was at this series, I would have been there watching LMU. Man. I have fond memories of LMU. That was the LMU is where the Lakers practiced when I was a Laker beat writer many many many years ago. Wow Shaq and
Kobe their first year together. LMU was the was the That's where the Lakers.
Practiced, great great hospitality.
It was last minute that they arranged to open up the gym for us, So I appreciate them for doing that. And I also want to call out two individuals. One I've already called out today, Sam Maymitt calling you out, Vincent Goodwill calling you out that those two did not show. Were scared, they were punks, whatever you want to call They were scared to come out and play with the rest of the out of shape media. I don't want to hear about I'm out of shape. I'm out of shamed. Who is in shape?
Does Spears still play?
Nah, Spears don't play anymore. I didn't even I didn't even waste the invitation. Spears didn't play.
But he lets me, He'll tell me I'm calling out Sam. I'm calling out Sam, and I'm calling out Vincent Goodwill.
That yahoo. So Steinn, that's my first item. The second that was good.
I like that. That was good.
Second item might be better than that.
So Stein, one of my partners, one of my home he's from Fresno, sends me a text and he was like, bro, guess who came into the barbershop. Remember you know, Fresno's my hometown. That's my town. I'm the informal mayor of Fresno. I'm like, all right, who came in the barbershop? So he sends me a little video. It's video of Yanni's just talking to everybody, just like like talking trash Giannis
after the kompo. So for context, everybody, Yannis's girlfriend, the woman he has kids buy that is my cousin Mariah or all from Fresno.
Whatever.
So Jannis is in Fresno visiting family. My my younger cousin, Mariah's sister. She graduated not too long ago. Mariah's other sister graduated as well. So he's down there attended some graduations and hanging and kicking. So he goes to Phase two Barbershop and Stein Phase two barbershops. So anyway, I'm gonna get to the text. Miss Me and Janni's had a text exchange. So Phase two Barbershop is a barbershop on the west side of town in Fresno. Like the
it's the roughest area in Fresne. That's where I grew up at, right, So I first of all, I was like cool, Jannis went over there. I like that, you know, that's cool Pat Riddle Sprigger, which is my big cousin. That's Mariah's dad. He took Giannis over there. So I text Giantis. I said, I see you all up in my city. Liaugh out loud. And then Yanni sends me a video clip of him hanging with some Fresno kids and he says, Fresno loves me man. They I said, I see, I said, my partner sent me a video
you in a barbershop. I said, I'll let the streets know that you're good so you can walk safely around town. And he laughed out loud. He said, they're trying to convince me to play for the Warriors or the Lakers. And so I'm talking to it, and so I said, listen, can you got to understand people understanding, Friendsnoe. We're right in the middle of the Bay Area, in the middle, you know, in between the Bay Area and LA So you're either a Warriors fan or you're either a Lakers fan.
Now we don't we don't have too many Kings fans and Fresne so that's only obvious like that, I said. So I said that that is expected. I said, that's expected. Then he talks about how he's only had a haircut twice. He's only went to a barbershop twice since he's been in America. Only went to a barbershop twice since he's been in America, and those two times have been at
Phase two barbershop. And that tripped me out, so that you know, obviously he's gotten a haircut more than twice since he's been in America, but he's only went to a barbershop twice, and that's at Phase two barbershop in Fresno. And he told me to let them know that they need to put a put his jersey up in the barbershop.
But I'm here.
The report that Fresno was recruiting Giannis to either play for the Lakers or the Warriors. So I'm gonna tell you this so if anything, if anything happens, I don't I'm not.
I don't have any intail or anything.
If anything happens where Giannis ends up playing for the Warriors or the Lakers, you can blame my city.
My city has something to do with it.
Nine five five nine, yet nine two oh nine, depending on how old you are.
Yeah, there you go.
I have not been to Fresno for more than thirty years. I think I now again. When I was I've told you this when I was in school for at least part of my time, and Fresno was still in the Big West with us. Not all my years of school, but at least at the beginning, they were still in the Big West. Still remember the legendary Ron Adams coaching
and Titan gym. I can still see that, But it's been more I don't think I've been there since the early nineties when I was covering minor league baseball in Vicealia. But I would love to be with you and see Jannis. I can't even imagine Jannis and Fresno. I so badly want to see what that looks like.
Phase two Barbershop is a very small barbershop, obviously black on legendary barbers that have been there for years. Man, So it's a cool like it's one of the marquee spots on the west side of Fresno. Like, if you had to get a cut on the west side, most people will probably refer you to Phase two. It's been there for a while. And just to see Yanni's in there. In the video he showed me ya us is just talking.
He's just my home, my homeboy. He was just like really surprised with just how open was and how much engaged you was. And you know, he enjoyed it, man, So that was cool.
You gotta do a story with him where you and him hang out in Fresno for a day. I want to see that.
That would be cool. I don't know how long he's he's there. He went there for some graduations, so he might have left, uh today or yesterday.
But I don't know that Milwaukee residents love this story. But that was good.
Yeah, probably I didn't see you.
I didn't see you taking us there to end this show, all right? That does it for this edition of this League uncut By the time Chris and I join you the next time, I think both the Heat and the Nuggets will have secured their spots in the NBA Finals. We are likely looking at a at a long the break before the finals could be as many as eight days. If both of these teams will have finished finished off sweeps.
Denver goes for the sweep in LA later tonight. Miami has the chance to sweep Boston on Tuesday Final start June first, and this is going to be potentially yet another great development from Miami because if there is that long break, I have to think the Heat will go to Denver way earlier than usual and actually be able to get some extra time in the altitude that they wouldn't have normally had for practices had these two series
gone six or seven like they're supposed to do. All Right, we covered a lot of ground and again many many hat tips and congratulations to Carmelo Anthony on an absolute Hall of Fame career. Stein and Haynes Back with you later this week. Until then, please rate, review and subscribe and that'll do it for us. See you next time. This League Uncutta is an iHeartRadio production suck a lock up. Chris Haynes and Mark Stein