Down Go Warriors, Philly Melts Down & Ja Morant

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Mother's Day. So I am solo today. But that is just fine because we have so much to get to that we will get to starting right now. Here is what has missed the cut for today's show. Not on today's show is Brady and the Raiders talking ownership. Not on today's show is Matt Ryan seemingly not retiring but also joining CBS. And not on today's show is the fact that Bryce Young is very very short. I don't

think that's breaking news, and it is a massive concern. Yeah, you can't see Bryce Young if you're watching on YouTube, but we promise he's out there. Oh they actually edited him. Okay, that's unfair. I thought he was just being obscured by the offensive lineman, but instead they just made him much smaller than he actually is. What we will discuss on today's show is all things NBA Playoffs, and the entirety of the A block is going to be Lakers, Warriors,

Lebron and Steph. We will get to Jah, we will get to the Sixers, Celtics, we will get to Celtics Heat, and Lakers Nuggets. But to start today's show, we are going to do Lakers Warriors and Lebron's Steph. And it is not just because eight million people watched every game, seven and a half to eight million, I should say and it was the highest rated second round series on record.

It is not just because it was my pick that kind of went against the grain and I was taunted that, oh, what are you gonna do when the Warriors make you look like an idiot again? It the reason we are going to give this series the attention it deserves is because going into the series, my colleagues in sports media decided this was going to be a referendum on Lebron James versus Steph Kirk. How can a guy be the goat if he couldn't beat someone in his own era?

What will it say if Steph gets to four and one in playoff series against Lebron James? Is Steph actually the player of this post Michael Jordan era not Lebron James. That that is not a straw man, That is not a fa that is not fake news. Those are the conversations people were demanding we have. And then Lebron wins on a Friday night and by Monday, it's all look at Ah Lakers, Nuggets, all the Sixers melt it down again, au Tatum's fifty one, Keep it moving, Keep it moving,

Clay Stunk, what's Draymond's future? Can ad handle Joker, And I'm just sitting there listening to every podcast there is consuming as much as sports TV and media as I could, saying, Hey, we gonna do a final tally? Heere are we going to discuss that? This is now five times Lebron James and Steph Curry have met in the postseason, and five times Lebron has outplayed him. Oh, Nick, that's unfair, is it?

Let's go through them. Twenty fifteen Steph Curry. I disagreed with the folks who voted on the award, but twenty fifteen NBA Finals MVP voters said Steph wasn't even the most valuable guy on his own squad. That was Kevin, That was Andre Iguidala and his sixteen six and four. So why did a guy who averaged sixteen six and four win a Finals MVP over a teammate who averaged twenty six five and six. Oh because Iguidalah's real heroics were holding Lebron James to thirty six thirteen and nine,

holding him to thirty six, thirteen and nine. So twenty fifteen was no it was no question who outplayed who. Twenty sixteen, we know the story Steph calls Game seven the biggest game of his life, and then after after the game, calls it one of the worst games of his life. Lebron goes for thirty eleven and nine in the series, and Steph goes for twenty two, five and four. Twenty seventeen, Steph was really good, twenty seven, eight and nine. Lebron thirty four to twelve and ten on fifty six

percent from the field. In the finals twenty eighteen, Lebron has arguably the single greatest game of his career in Game one for the series gives you thirty four, nine and ten on fifty three percent. Steph twenty eight, six and seven. And then this series Steph Curry was quite good? Was he great? No more on that in the moment, Stephan, this series gave you twenty seven five and a half and seven and a half. Lebron gave you twenty five

nine and five and a half. The keynotes here on why to me, it is crystal clear that for the fifth consecutive series when they played each other, Lebron outplayed him. Is not only the shooting percentages, where Lebron's forty nine percent Steph's forty four percent the three point percentages, where Lebron was thirty three point three and Steph was thirty

four point three. But the series flipped by hunting Steph Curry and to a lesser extent when he was out there Jordan Poole in the pick and roll and the critical game. The fork in the road game of the series, Game four, involved Steph missing back to back ahead shots and then at the end of it throwing the ball backwards over the top of his head out of bounds.

And anyone who is being honest would tell you that if the Lakers had lost the series and the numbers were identical and the reason they lost was because old man Lebron was hunted defensively and in the critical game missed back to back clutch shots and then had an egregious turnover, no one would be arguing, oh, yeah, Lebron played him to a draw. Lebron outplayed him nobody. But that's not where the revisionist history of something we just

saw ended. I then, from folks who picked the Warriors to win the series, some picked him to win the title. Now all of a sudden, Oh well, I mean, come on, it's like Lebron in twenty eighteen. Yeah, they lost, but you can't hold it against Steph. That team was no good. Really, I mean I actually agree the team is not very good, but no one agreed with me. I was a hater, I was a troll champion. I wasn't respecting the heart of a champion. Well, Nick Lebron's now got a d.

It's like when Steph had Kevin Durant. Yes, if all Steph had was Kevin Durant. And while I like Austin Reeves a lot and I think the other Lakers role players have been quite good, please do not insult my intelligence by saying, after Stephan Lebron, a next three of Anthony Davis, who's unbelievable, Austin Reeves and Lonnie Walker is in the same stratosphere of a next three of Apex pre injury, Kevin Durant, apex pre injury Klay Thompson, and Apex Draymond Green. Give me a break. These are not

the same. They're not and it's not an indictment on Steph Curry. Steph is one of the twelve greatest players ever, maybe one of the ten greatest players ever. But think about what that means because the entirety of Steph's case, all of his MVP votes, all of his Finals appearances, all of his first Team All NBAS, all of them have come from twenty fifteen to now, this nine season stretch that coincides with when Lebron went back to Cleveland.

So if after Miami Lebron had pulled an MJ and called it a career, I've got four MVPs, I've got two rings, I've got two Finals MVPs, I'm done. Four MVPs, two rings, four finals appearances. I think nine first Team All NBAS that would have been Lebron. Maybe eight first Team All NBAS that would have been Lebron's career from his rookie year through the end of Miami. That would put him as one of the twelve greatest players ever. Put him neck and neck with a team bird those guys, right,

So follow me along here. Lebron, his career before Steph even gets going, is a top twelve guy at a minimum. At a minimum, Steph then has a decade of a career starting after the Heatles era that he accomplishes enough to become the top twelve guy, and at the end of that Stephan Lebron meet in the playoffs again and Lebron outplays him. Think about it, what we're and we we take for granted, and we we become somewhat a

nerd to what we're seeing. Mark Jackson, beginning of game fourth quarter Game six, says, just somewhat flippantly, if I'm Lebron, I'm not coming out in this fourth quarter. Up to that point, Lebron had spent one minute on the bench. He had played thirty five of thirty six minutes, and Mark Jackson is saying just casually that the expectation, therefore is Lebron's gonna have to play forty seven of forty

eight minutes in this game. Now, he ended up playing forty three of forty four, and then they took everyone out in the final four minutes because it was a blowout. But he was going to do it. But Nick, I'm a Lebron guy, but we all know, you know he's not vintage Lebron. Agreed, But let's talk about what that means too. So Lebron James this postseason is averaging for the postseason. I'll give you the exact numbers, twenty three, ten and five on forty nine percent, twenty three, ten

and five on forty nine percent. It's his worst career playoff numbers. What is that comparable to the So again, it's twenty three ten five forty nine percent. Larry Bird's Larry Bird one of the ten greatest players ever, a guy who also didn't have a super long career and doesn't have long playoff runs like Kareem did into his much later years. That dragged down the averages Larry bird

career playoff averages. Remember, Lebron is twenty three, ten and five on forty nine percent in what's his worst postseason ever? Bird's career twenty three, ten and six on forty seven percent. So the worst we've ever seen. Lebron is damn near identical to median Larry Bird. I'll put it to you another way. The narrative that I somewhat agreed with after round one Steph Curry's thirty five and this is the best he's ever been might be true, might be the

best he's ever been. So think about that. We all agree this is the worst Lebron's been basically ever in the playoffs. So that's eighteen years, so we have the worst Lebron has come all the way down from the heights of you know, either the best or second best player ever, all the way down to the worst he's ever been. Steph keeps raising, raising, raising, and he's now the best he's ever been, and Lebron was just better than him, the best step we've ever seen, the worst

Lebron we've ever seen. And the series came down to Lebron James with the ball in his hand, hunting Steph Curry saying, get him in this switch, get him in this matchup. And then in Game six, Lebron scores thirty points on fourteen shots, playing an essentially perfect close out basketball game, which should not surprise anybody, because and this is what is baffling to me that seemingly nobody else I shouldn't say nobody, but very few of my colleagues

have picked up on that. While every other star that we you know, the last twenty some years, except for maybe Shank, treats at the very least each series and very often each game in the playoffs as a singular, enclosed event, Lebron correctly treats the postseason as a marathon, a twenty six mile race. And there is no use whatsoever to being the leader after six miles or ten miles or fourteen miles, if it means by mile twenty three or twenty four, you're out of gas. You don't

have anything left. And his ability to pace himself and find the moments. So he is and this is what he is better at. This is undeniable, better at than any player in league history. To make sure he is playing in the final game of the season and still has stuff left in the tank. It is not happenstance. It is not because of just the raw athleticism. It's not just because of the hyperbaric chamber. It's because he is mapping out these two months the moment the postseason begins.

And these are other great players in the league who have not figured this out. Kevin Durant, unbelievably efficient in round one, played really well in Round two, but could not pace himself and by the latter half of Round two fell off a cliff, as did his teammate Devin Booker. Joel Embiid game seven, didn't have it. Steph game six,

his legs were gone. We now all of those guys that I just mentioned had over the first month of the playoffs, each of them three four in Booker's case, probably eight singular playoff games that were more impressive than anything Lebron had done prior to Game six. But that's not the goal. Now. If you are Jalen Brunson, then and your team really can't win the title, then maxing

out in round two makes sense. But if you are on a team, you know, the one guy who I think gets the oddly better than almost any other star. And then, by the way, let me also add this, there's Jokic who and we'll see. We'll see how the conference finals work out for him, but Jokic appears to just be at an able to be at an A to a plus level every game and not slow down. Now, we'll see, but thus far he's been doing that. But

the one other guy who understands a la Lebron. I am trying to be in this for the long haul, and I can't be great twenty times. So let me pick my spots is Jimmy Butler. And you would you've

seen it the year they went to the finals. Jimmy Butler Round two against Milwaukee, huge spot, go for forty throttles down a bit in Game two, Game three, a chance to take control of the series goes for thirty then throttles down entirely, get to the finals down oh two of forty eleven and thirteen, doesn't have it the next night Game five, an elimination game thirty five twelve and eleven, and at that point he was out of Gasidonavin in game six. Same thing last year for Jimmy

in the conference finals. Now he was banged up. But in those conference finals they're in Boston for games three and four, he has fourteen points combined. He has thirteen points in game five, Game six of forty seven to nine, and eight. Game seven a thirty five and nine, playing all forty eight minutes. He knew he had to bring it every single game this year against Milwaukee, and then throttled back against the Knicks because he knows he's gonna

have to have it every single night against Boston. There's a strategy to this, and you would think the fact that's from twenty eleven to now, Lebron's seasons have ended with playing in the last game, playing in the last game, playing in the last game, playing in the last game, playing in the last game, playing in the last game, playing in the last game, playing in the last game, injured with the Lakers playing in the last game, injured, injured playing, well, we'll see if he's playing in the

last game. I you would think folks would realize there's levels to this, And on that note, I do worry that there is anybody that watches this show or is a fan of this. The stuff I've done knows. One of my favorite kind of thought exercise things is unintended consequences. This happens, then, so I one quick nonsports tangent. One of the most fascinating articles I've ever read was Gosh, probably a decade ago, and it talked about self driving

cars and self driving cars. The ripple effect of that is felt across basically every industry in America, for good and for bad. About if they're self driving cars, then people don't own cars anymore because they're just gonna be driving around. You're just gonna hop in. It's gonna be essentially like auto uber everywhere. People won't spend money on it, so people will have an extra thirty forty thousand dollars more small businesses will start. There will be that. That'll

be good. The bad will be The biggest employer in the country is truck driving, those jobs will be gone mechanics. That's all of the ripple effects. And the article again, I gave you the four cent version of a fifty

dollars article. I'm fascinated by that. So there is a really unfortunate, unintended consequence of the fact that we have witnessed in real time over the last fifteen years the greatest team sport athlete in American history, with the possible exception to Tom Brady, and so much of the people watching it and covering it have been dedicated to trying to pick at it or tear it away, and the

unintended consequences Now everybody sucks. What do I mean? Well, we not only got spoiled to the eight straight finals appearances nine out of ten years, consistent excellence, one bad playoff game a season. And because if the narrative while that was happening was this guy is either clearly either the greatest or the second greatest player ever it is impossible what he's doing, then we wouldn't hold anyone else

to that standard. But because a loud portion of the narrative was overrated, Ray Allen saved his legacy, Kyrie saved his legacy, Mickey Mouse Ring not as good as Kobe is scared all this stuff, then, either consciously or subconsciously, if what Lebron did wasn't jaw dropping impressive, then who's any good we now look at? And I'm guilty of this two degrees as well. Giannis wins a title, goes out in round two but is great, and then a really disappointing Round one. Man, maybe not as good as

we thought. Durant by our eyes, one of the greatest players we've ever seen. Man long time since he's been to a finals, even though he's been to four in his career. You know what's his legacy about? Anyways? Forget guys like Harden and Embiid who actually have legitimate pardon much more so, but postseason failures, nobody, nobody will hold up even Steph. Steph, Yeah, he's unbelievable, but missed the playoffs two years in a row this year out in

round two. I mean, he's great, but nobody is going to look good under the light of those standards because there was an impossible precedent set of what what Lebron has done is not what the best player in the league is supposed to be able to do. It's only what the best player ever is supposed to be able to do. But because not only do most people not think he's the best player ever, many people don't want to. At various points during this have tried to argue he's

not even the best player in the league. If that's the standard, if Lebron when he was doing this, wasn't as good as Duran, or wasn't as good as Steph, or at the beginning of it, wasn't as good as Kobe, then it's a fair standard. You want to be the best player in the league, you gotta do X, Y and z. But it's always been an impossible standard, and now everybody's gonna fall victim to it. Everybody. Luca, you are the second all time highest leading playoff score points

per game. You drag a team to the conference by you have a down year. I guess you're not that good. I guess we've overrated you for much. Dame missed the Bios multiple years in a row. Volume score. What else are you? Devin Booker? I just watched you score thirty six a night for three weeks of the playoffs, but you're out in round two and back to back years after making the finals. Yeah, but who cares? How good are you? Chris Paul all time legend? We thought, but

one finals appearance. These are some of the greatest players ever, but we're gonna end up disrespecting all of them as the unindended consequence of how we've discussed Lebron. All right, now to the Warriors quickly. We didn't talk about this on TV, but I will acknowledge I think the Draymond moment in the handshake line was something in this regard. So if people didn't see it after the game, the first people to the first person to greet Lebron is Draymond,

and it is a joyous embrace. And those guys are close friends and business partners, and they're both clutch guys. Got it? But you then saw that? And then the camera smartly cut to a disconsolate Steph Curry just beside himself. And it was, in my opinion, somewhat telling in this regard. Draymond at this point in his career to be great has to kind of go outside the bounds of the rules. I didn't like it. I thought it was wildly dirty. But stomping on Sabonis's Chest worked in Round one and

probably for them, was worth the one game suspension. Draymond was not gonna be able to do that type of stuff to Lebron. Lebron seen it too many times and it just wasn't gonna work. But he might have been able to do some of it to Anthony Davis. But because their friends and both clutch guys, it felt like Draymond in this series tried to play it straight, and at this point in his career, he's not good enough to have the type of impact they need him to

have if he's playing it straight. So I did think that was noteworthy. As far as what the Warriors do from here, all the reporting seems to be they are going to bring back Draymond and Clay. Here's the issue with that, and Zach Low pointed this out, and he's correct. I don't want to misquote Zach. Zach made kind of a tangential point off this that got me thinking about this. So I'm giving Zach credit, but I don't want to

misrepresent what he said. Zach pointed out that they want to bring back Clay and Draymond, but they're going to need to do it at significantly lower numbers. Clay has one guaranteed year left on his deal, so it would be as far as an extension goes, Draymond can opt out and get a new deal. There's two issues with that. The first one is you cannot credibly ask either one of those guys to take less money than Jordan Poole makes.

Jordan Poole makes thirty two million dollars a year. Neither one of those guys can you ask them to take less money than him unless he's not on the team. But trading Jordan Poole is not going to be easy because that right there might be the worst contract in the league. He is an unplayable playoff guy at the moment,

because here's the thing about the NBA playoffs. In the regular season, offense is drastically more important than defense, and in the playoffs, offense is still more important than defense. With this caveat, you can get away with playing an offensive zero in the playoffs if they do everything else, great, you can. The Sixers were kind of doing with PJ. Tucker. We've seen teams do it in the past. Guys who will just stand in the cour corner stay out at

an O'tucker can hit corner threes. But you guys know what I'm talking about. Guys that are either rebounders, great defenders. You can get away with playing those guys in the postseason, not huge mans, We can get away with playing them. You cannot get away with playing defensive zeros because the other team in the playoffs will scrap if they're smart everything they do. Force that guy into the action every single time and get a good look every single time.

It's why Jordan Poole was a foul machine and unplayable in this series. So who wants a thirty plus million dollars a year playoff liability that his teammates don't seem to love. But you have to trade him if you're going to try and get Clay and Draymond to take less money. Here's the other hang up on getting Clay and Draymond to take less money. And this is the point,

zach mate. It doesn't actually allow the war It's not like you can go to Clay and Draymond be like, take less money, so we can add X, Y and Z. That's not the case at all. The Warriors are capped out with no matter what. If they have Steph Wiggins, Clay Draymond at any amount of money, they're capped out. So the only advantage to them taking less money is

it saves Joe lakeup money against the tax. And yes, the Warriors could you know, be kicked to the end of the draft seven years from now and things like that in the new CBA, but none of that affects Clay and Draymond. So it is just a discussion of we want you the multi millionaire to take less money because it will save the billionaire millions. That takes some real finessing, so we'll see. But it's not as easy as it sounds. And credit to Steph for being brilliant

enough to get them a title. They really had no business winning last year. But this is the end of the road for them. It's an unbelievable run. It's nine years, it's six finals, it's four rings. But they had they had a chance to extend this. They had the number, they had the number two pick, the number seven pick and whatever Moody was the number fourteen pick, I think, and they appear to have whiffed. They definitely whiffed on.

Wiseman Kaminga was DNB Coaches decision all postseason and Moody is was the youngest player in the draft when he was taken, I think, and while he was out there in some moments he's not ready yet. And Steph, as great as he is, is thirty five. So I fear, and by fear, I mean it does kind of delight me. Light years season and the Warriors window is closed. It's an unbelievable run, but it also does mean to circle

this back to Lebron for world what it's worth. When Lebron came into the league in the East, the Detroit Pistons were the team I think they went to was it five straight or six straight Eastern Conference Finals? I want to make sure I have it right. It started in three, three, four, five, They went to eight I'm sorry, six straight conference finals. They won a championship the very next year they were in Game seven of the finals.

Lebron ended that run with the forty eight Special. In reaction to the forty eight Special, the Celtics created the first modern super team in the East. They're at well, yeah, of the twentieth century. Of the sorry twenty first century. Lakers tried with Malone and Gary Payton didn't work, but in reaction to what Lebron did. The Celtics created KG Paul Pierce ray Allen. They had an unbelievable run and knocked out Lebron a few times. Lebron then ended the

Celtics Big Three in Boston. The death knell was the forty five, fifteen and five, down three to two, Game six of the twenty twelve Eastern Conference Finals. That was that they beat him the previous year, beat him again. That was that he then there is a budding dynasty in Golden State. They win a title. They then win seventy three games, execute a three to one comeback, have the unanimous MVP. Lebron so rocks them with the greatest

three game stretch in the history of the league. And I know, I say that a lot just kind of nonchalantly. That is undeniable. Down three to one to a seventy three win team, he went forty one sixteen seven, three and three, followed that up with forty one eight eleven, four and three, and followed that up with twenty seven eleven eleven, two and three and the greatest defensive play

in the history of the league. He so shook them with that that Draymond's crying in his car and they go get Kevin Durant, that teem's essentially unbeatable, and then Durant leaves and it's like, oh, they win another title. Oh my god, they're gonna go on another run. And Lebron ended that one too, and in the midst of it, in the in between, Lebron peeled to title himself with

the Lakers. So the Pistons era ended by Young Lebron, the Celtics era ended by Prime Lebron, the Golden State pre kd era ended by older Lebron, and the Golden State post Kde era ended by old man Lebron. Never see anything like it, never in the past, never will again as forty solid. So you guys might wonder what would this podcast sound like if Demands or Duora weren't a part of it. Well, that was forty uninterrupted brilliant minutes on this series with little NBA history mixed in

quick break talk the rest of the NBA playoffs. Next, What's Right?

Bobby Canavali. Watch Unstoppable now exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.

about sports. Midway through the fourth quarter of Game six, Jason Tatum was one for fourteen. The Celtics were trailing, and Philly was poised to be a massive favorite in Round three against Miami. Have home court advantage against whomever comes out of the West, Denver or the Lakers make their first conference finals since Iverson and one embied validate the MVP. Harden really shed some of the playoff choker stuff because he was so great in games one and four,

all of that. If the Sixers could close Game six, they had three possessions up to midway through the fourth before Tatum made us had made a single three to

get hot. They blew those possessions. And by the way, if Philly wins that, it's not just what it means for Philly, it's also Boston probably as a Really the news today is probably Missoula's been fired, and there's a lot of jail and brown speculation instead, and a lot of conversation about Tatum, who had been bad in the first quarter of Game four five, first three quarters of Game six, a lot of talk. Instead, Tatum makes a few huge shots, Philly can get nothing going. They lose.

They didn't have an all time meltdown. In the third quarter of Game seven, Tatum breaks Steph's game seven record. We went seventy six years of the NBA with nobody's scoring fifty in a game seven. It's happened twice in fourteen days. Steps record stood for two weeks and now Docs fired Hardin has a three for eleven total afraid, embarrassing, no show. Embeed not only doesn't validate the MVP, but

goes in the other direction. Has the worst playoff game of his life in Game seven, particularly when you include the fact that they hunted him defensively and now Docs fired and who the hell knows and Boston is a massive favorite to go to their second straight finals. Man, those margins, man, So I happen to like Miami in this series. I think Jimmy in this series is more reliable than Tatum, and you can't even be like, well, yeah,

maybe he's more reliable, but Tatum's peaks. I mean, Jimmy had fifty six in a playoff game a few weeks ago. Jimmy's peaks are as high as anybody's this postseason. To me, he's more consistent than Tatum is, and he's had some time to get that ankle right. But the real reason I like Miami in this series is because the Spolstra missoula mismatch that might be coach one versus coach thirty. I mean, that is as big of a coaching mismatch

as you will ever see in a conference finals. So I like Miami the other news since the last time we talked, predictably is Phoenix ran out of gas and the Nuggets ran rough shot all over them. So Mani's gone. Everybody likes MANI I get why you'd fire him. I didn't realize this until after the fact. A lot of reporting after the factors like, oh, yeah, we all knew this was coming. I didn't know it was coming. But I guess I'm not just plugged in that Ishbo wanted

to get his own guy. So be it the h The noteworthy stuff from that Phoenix series and we'll get to the Denver side in a moment. Is you can't play these guys forty four minutes a game and then they're gonna stay super efficient. You just can't. I was wilds and brew kept laughing at me in round one when Phoenix kept winning games, and I kept saying, I'm less confident in them. I'm less confident in them. They

were a five man team at best. That then Chris Paul got hurt predictably eight and was a no show and then literally couldn't play, which is not shocking, and Durant and Booker's efficiency falls off the map, and they just weren't built for it. They need to find a way see if they can move Chris for rotational pieces because they need more playoff bodies. But the real story in Phoenix is just a totally bizarre five years of

Kevin Durant's career. Kevin Durant went to three straight finals in Golden State, and in twenty nineteen, he has a calf injury in round two against the Rockets, Minces the entire conference finals, comes back, probably early against the Raptors in the finals, and tragically pops his achilles. He played eleven minutes in that game, that is June of twenty nineteen. Those are the only eleven minutes of playoff basketball post round two we have seen from Kevin Durant in the

last five years. That's incomprehensible. Twenty twenty, he's out all year because of the achilles. Twenty twenty one, Kyrie gets hurt, Hardens hurt, hardens them back. They have the duel with Giannis. They lose twenty twenty two, swept in round one. Twenty

twenty three, he forces the trade to Phoenix. They're out in round two in what was not a particularly close six game series, and he turns thirty five before next season starts, and it is just a bizarre end of his prime because when he's been out there, he's been so good. Now he wasn't great this postseason, but he was good and nothing to show for it, absolutely nothing to show for it. So I think Phoenix is in

really rough shape, really rough shape moving forward. And I really didn't like Devin Booker skipping out on all the media stuff. I think, if you're the best player on a team or the co best player in the face of the franchise, so much worse than Dylan Brooks. Devin Booker didn't do post game availability after Game six, after the second straight year at home in a closeout game, they're down thirty at halftime. It's mortifying, and then he skips the exit interview. Guy's been in the league too

long to do that, in my opinion. So I think Phoenix has some really rough choices ahead the eyes. We have to trade Aighton. That's another I mean, I threw this out there on the TV show. There seems to be more momentum towards it now eight and for Pool with a few other things kicked in. If you're the Warriors is an interesting idea, but that's probably not what

Phoenix needs. And then there's the jaw situation, and I have I could do twenty minutes on this, but so much of it is what we discussed the first time. So here's here's all I'm gonna say about the jaw situation. The point is not whether or not he broke any laws. Talked about it for again, and people got mad at me because I guess I accurately under stand history. But obviously there is a different and hypocritical reaction from the media and the general population when it's black guys playing

with guns than white guys playing toy soldier. We know that. And all the proof anyone that's arguing that I'm wrong about that, go look up the Moulford Act, where you had the NRA and Ronald Reagan uniting to pass gun control measures. Again, Ronald Reagan is the governor of California. The NRA came together to pass gun control legislation. Why because the black panthers were marching around with guns and

it freaks people out. So of course there is a level of me that, from a righteousness perspective, say, as Job broke no laws, we are insane in this country. About guns, which is why what he did in that car is not breaking any laws. So what's the problem. But the logical part of me and the logical part of everyone knows what the problem is. There are a lot of things you can do that don't break a law, but that will get you in trouble with your employer.

The NBA if job posted on Instagram a home made sex tape three months ago, and the Grizzlies suspended him and Adam Silver talked to him. He's like, I'll never do it again. I learned my lesson, and then a week after being eliminated from the playoffs, posted another sex tape. Guess what he'd be in a lot of trouble, not illegal breaking no laws can still get in trouble if Ja, tweeted Jaron Jackson Junior is the league's most overrated defender.

Can't believe he won Defensive Player of the Year. Well what about his First Amendment rights? Yes, broke no laws

would be in trouble. John Morant and his buddies clear there are now the incident where he fought the seventeen year old and the seventeen year old's father says he had a pistol in his waistband, the incident the mall with his mom and the security guard, with the security guard says Joh threatened him, the incident at the volleyball game with his mom and the student where the students said they threatened him, the shotgun Willie's video, this video,

and most importantly the Pacers team bus where they say they had a laser pointer ostensibly attached to a pistol pointed at him that we're at a half dozen gun incidents. It's insane, and I there's no easy solution here. But this is heading down a dark path and everybody can see it seemingly but JA even as Dufus buddy who started the Instagram live, so one hundred people, I mean, how let me look how many people and we don't even have that many people that watch this thing live.

We've got almost four thousand people watching this right now that Dante pac Dufus his IG live had one hundred and twelve people watching right after an IG live literally cost jaw thirty nine million dollars. That's how much money that is contract would have been bumped by if he made all NBA. He didn't make it out thirty nine million. How much is this next one gonna cost him? And

that's again assuming the best case scenario. The best case scenario for Job at this point is that these two Instagram lives cost him fifty million dollars five zero, and that's it. The worst case scenario is that folks don't take too kindly to him throwing up sets and playing with guns, and this ends horribly, really bad and scary, and color me shocked. That's seventy two hours in an alleged rehab in Florida. Didn't get this all fixed? A man I was lucky enough to call a friend, and

a true legend passed away. Sunday. We'll discuss that and answer your questions next. What's right? All right? Welcome back in. We'll get to your questions and you guys can add some more if there's some good ones in the chat. In just a second. Diora will be back Thursday. She's traveling this morning back from California, but I just want to mention. So Sunday we're in California at my wife's

aunt's house, having a nice mother's day. We had a really nice surprise ninetieth birthday for my wife's great grandmother, my wife's grandmother, pardon me. The day before and I checked Twitter and I see that Doyle Brunson passed and I was I didn't cry, but I almost did. Uh. Doyle Brunson. If you don't know, he's they call the Godfather of poker, one of the greatest poker players of

all time. I for a sports analogy, he would be like Bill Russell, unbelievable success, unprecedented success in the early era of the World Series of Poker, and a you know, gambler for seventy years. A guy who was drafted to the NBA sixty five years ago, got hurt, couldn't play, and became professional gambler who was a die hard sports fan in sports better who took a shining to me because of my work on Coward Show and the fact that I gave out winning NFL picks. And he and

I became friends. And I was lucky enough this December to be in Vegas and he invited me to his house to watch Chiefs Bengals. Eighty nine years old. And I get to his house and his nurse lets me in. He's old, old man and he's got in his office three computer monitors two TV screens and all these betting outfits open and tells me that for the last however many years, such a legend man eighty nine years old.

The last however many years, he and a friend every NFL Sunday go down the board and say who they like against the spread in each game, and any game they have disagreements on is an auto fifty thousand dollars bet he and his friend and he spends every NFL Sunday sweating their five or six disagreements, just the coolest thing ever, eighty nine And then his nurse comes in and he's like, oh, I owe you one hundred bucks

and says to me. He's like, I let her pick a game every week and give her one hundred dollars free roll. And he opens his file cabinet or desk drawer deep, you know, probably this high desk drawer, not like a skinny one, like like a file cabinet, and I swear to god, there's at least one hundred thousand cash in loose hundreds in this drawer. And I'm just sitting there and I'm like, this guy won the World Series of Poker forty five years ago, has ten bracelets,

was a golf hustler, was playing in Texas carthouses. His stories are unbelievable. He's almost ninety and he's still just out here doing it. Fifty grand a game for NFL games one hundred thousand plus and loose cash in his office, just living the life man. And then in March he texts me, ah, this makes me sad. Man. Uh, He text me, Hi, Nick, March, maddness almost here and I don't have a clue. If you have the time to

message with me some picks, I would appreciate it. And then he writes, better yet, if you come to town, come out to my house and we can sweat them in together. And I wrote back, I have no college basketball insight, but if I do, once the bracket posts, I'll send you what I find. Not sure when I'm in Vegas next ball, I'll hit you as soon as I know. And he said thank you. And that's the last time we talked. And he's eighty nine, lived on believable life. But it's sad, but salute to the legend

Doyle Brunson Man. And I'm really really grateful and glad that randomly, out of nowhere he befriended me and I got to spend an afternoon watching the Chiefs Bengals game. Last game the Chiefs loss all right. Some fan questions Noah Rodriguez two part question, which team deserves to win the draft lottery and where do you personally want to see Wimby go the most. I think the Magic kind

of deserve it. Even though they won last year, they have been They've been so unlike they were unbelievably lucky getting the number one picking back to Becca. Years ended with Shack and Penny. Then they had terrible lottery luck for a long time. I think the Magic deserve it to a degree. I wouldn't. I'd love him to go to Dallas obviously, for Luca, Portland for Dane would be fun. Oklahoma City would be fun. Uh, Houston has the history there. I don't want to see san Antonio. Get him san Antonio.

David Robinson then tanked a year and got Duncan. Now I've tanked a couple of years. I don't want him to go there, And I don't want him to go to Detroit or Charlotte. Really don't want him to go to Charlotte because they're terribly run coach. Mystic says is Doc rivers in the conversation for worst postseason coach ever, I mean thirty two elimination game losses, three blown three

to one leads, four more blown three two leads. It's not great, but he does have a title and a Game seven appearance in the NBA Finals that they could have won. But it's not great. Josiah Diaz says Eric Spolstra submitted themselves top ten coach of all time since the Heatles, he's always has a competitive team with lesser talent. Celtics fan, I believe he's gonna make Missoula look silly.

He's certainly on the cusp. I think he's probably already there, and I think he's the biggest matchup edge they have from Troy Duffy says, great take on Lebron. Evidence by our inability to name who the best player in the world is currently we expect because Lebron the best player in the world to play in the finals every year. That's exactly right. That's the problem. The problem is it's not that Lebron set an impossible standard because Brady did two,

but nobody was out there saying, actually Brady stinks. Nobody was out there saying, actually, Brady's not that good, and so we are able to appreciate it and not hold other people to that standard. Beach Bead says, how do you think the media will look at the Lakers' bubble ring if they go on to win it all? Listen that the only reason people disrespected what happened in the Bubble was it's all revisionist history. It's all because the

Lakers won. During the Bubble, people were saying, this is the highest level of basketball we've ever seen, because guys are more rested, there's no travel, there's great sight lines. The games were unbelievable. But because Lebron won the title, people wanted to retroactively take away from it, which maybe I would have listened to if it's like, oh, well, they didn't have to go on the road, but they

were the one seat. But the fact that it was Lakers, Nuggets heat Celtics in the final four and this year it's the final four again, those arguments are falling even flatter. Oh, Nick, the teams are different. Not the best players. Lakers were Lebron and Ad Nuggets were Jokic, Murray and Michael Porter. Junior, The Heat were Jimmy Bam and Hero, and the Celtics were Tatum, Brown and Smart. That's who it was then, that's who it is now. Gig says this most impressed

ring for Lebron No. Twenty sixteen, most impressive, most important, and there's no question about it. Three o'clock today on FS one, I give out my pick for Game one Lakers Nuggets. I'd love to do it here, I'm gonna save that for the TV show because we're twelve and zero. Take that, you stupid Corgy. Talk to you guys Thursday. What's right,