NBA Finals Preview, Justin Jefferson Contract & This or That

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without people losing their god dog minds. I mean, I understand there are some racial and gender angles to it, but ultimately this is just a sports story that is pretty it's it when you, when you, when you get through all the morass, it's not that complicated. Yet there is a whole lot of projection of people's own stuff being put on what's happening right now in the w NBA, And my, oh my, oh my, is it causing land minds for so many of my colleagues. Demons, how are you doing?

So I understand the WNBA saying we got to, you know, put Caitlin Clark on this world tour. But they had played as of Sunday as many games in the previous nine days as the Aces had played all season. Think about that, they had played as many games in nine days. The ace has played all season, so we are the going to start with that. But first we must get to what missed the cut. So here is what missed the cut. The Stanley Cup final is set. More on that in a moment. KD, We're going on his jumper

in the club. I just like Kevin Durant Moore and more every day. And the Bills sign an Olympic wrestler Demons much like last year. I have a crisp clean one hundred dollars bill right here. This will become yours digitally, at least via zel. If you can name the two teams in the Stanley Cup final.

So that group, for instance, yesterday saw Angel Rees gave a quote where she seemingly ends the quote with you know, they're not just watching because of one person, They're watching because of me too, and the quote end and it's like, wow, well, I mean that's kind of you know, more me than we What about your teammates or about the other rookies.

But then she went on immediately after that, if you extend the quote another ten seconds to say, you know, there's a lot of us and talk about the rookie class as a whole, kind of Caitlin excluded, it would appear that's fine, and folks are like, oh my god, look at how you're doing this, black woman misquoting her doing this, And it's like, I listen, there is a lot of race involved here, and we will get to it. But I promise it is not a woman thing or

a black thing. It is a sports media thing where if you give the internet and sports aggregators a piece of a quote that can be used against you, it will be used against you that is unfair, It is not great. It is why you have to be very careful of the sports media aggregation site or accounts. But that is not unique to aim. That is simply unique

to social media and how sports are covered. You then have so there's this this these folks who don't really know how the sports media sausage is made, that think things are being wildly things are wildly unfair, which they might be wildly unfair, but it's kind of just how

sports are covered in twenty twenty four. Then you have a group of people that feel like, in my opinion, I should basically be able to have any opinion on this topic, and you should thank me for having an opinion on the topic, because I usually don't talk about this topic. So the fact that I'm talking about it means if you're criticizing me for talking about it, you're in the wrong because I should just be getting credits

and plaudits and flowers for talking about it. And those two groups are gonna rip each other upon and I'm a stand on the sideline and says, it just seems to me like something we have seen before in sports. Now again, there is a clear racial dynamic to this that must be acknowledged. So I'll do that before we even get to the part that I've seen in sports before, which is there is a fraud racial history between the WNBA players at large and the media and sponsors of

the league. That is, this is a overwhelmingly black league that a wildly disproportionate amount of its most famous players ever have been white players. What is also true, if we are being honest, is if if you were to say what percentage of the w is black? And got that number, and then got and what percentage is white? And then said, okay, of the twenty greatest players ever,

what percentage is black? What percentage is white? For reasons that are I would imagine quite complex, and I have some theories on but I don't really have time or interest to get into them right now. There is a disc compared to the league as a whole, there is a disproportionate amount of the greatest players of all time that are white women, and so there is a weird

So that is true. What also is true is amongst the greatest players of all time, the white women have seen his seemed historically to been marketed and pushed and gotten more media love than the black women, which is why Paige Becker's a few years ago at the SPI's I thought, gave an amazing speech when she won Female Athlete of the Year, when she essentially got up there and said when she was playing at Yukon before she tore up her knee, saying, hey, I appreciate all of this,

but this is a league that has been mostly built by black women, and people that look like me consistently get these awards, and we need to be aware of that and try to maybe right those wrongs moving forward. Even though Paige Beckers was deserving of the award and one of the baddest college basketball players of her era before she got hurt and this new group of players came along. And by the way, Page is still one of the great college basketball players. She played Caitlin in

the Final four. That was the push off game, the bad foul call at the end of the game or the illegal screen I think it was. And she'll, you know, and she'll continue to be awesome next year. So there is all of that going on here, right, And that is real. It is real that Caitlin being portrayed as the conquering hero, an angel being portrayed as the villain.

Last year in college basketball, even though Angels team won, there was a lot of race to that you cannot act like the LSU team overwhelmingly black Bayou Barbie Flage who's a rapper, and then the mostly lily white Iowa team that there wasn't racial dynamics of play. Of course there were, and we can be adults and acknowledge it. We could just like, by the way, and I think that Gabe Goodwin, our esteemed head of Blue Duck who runs this podcast, I'll give you a cross sport, cross

gender example. Once upon a time, Peyton Hillis was on the cover of Madden, and I bring up Gabe because I think it was his fault for reasons I don't totally remember. I think Sports Nation was involved, I think was I think it was Gabe's fault. I blame Gabe

for this. But the reason Peyton hillis a slightly above average running back for the Cleveland Browns on the cover of Madden, it's because he's a white running back and it was cool and it was an odd of the And here is the other thing that I that maybe because Demon's ay. So here's my theory on this. I think that maybe this that I am. I think I am kind of in the ultimate place of privilege when it comes to talking about these topics, because I don't

feel an additional pressure if I were black. I think there is an understandably pressure And tell me if you agree or disagree with me on this. I think there is a pressure on black commentators that, man, there is so much obvious racism in the world and in sports and everywhere that when a racial topic comes up, I don't want to be I don't want to seemingly be adding to it or be on the wrong side of it because I have an important responsibility or voice in

the space. Like does that I'm not explaining that exactly right? Does that?

at one point I will be unfairly accused of. I don't think being racially tone deaf, and I don't think being bigoted when it comes to race or not seeing the different levels of it. I'm just not worried about it. I think I have my entire life's body of work and track record, and I think I also don't have that additional pressure, like internal pressure because I am a

white guy talking about this stuff. So I just I recognize that's something of a place of privilege, but I just kind of call it how I see it, and I see a lot of race involved here, and people seem to be stubbing their toe on that curb, which is preventing them to getting to the obvious thing that is happening amongst the players, which is this girl is richer than all of us, more famous than all of us, is getting more pub and attention than all of us,

and she's a white girl. And you know what, that's bullsh We Our team beat her team in the National Championship game, and she got is the one that became super famous. With all that said, it's not because the it is the other piece of it is she is the best of all the rookies. She's the best of the draft class. She's the best of the gods basketball players.

Last year she was the best. So it is when Lebron James got drafted before even drafted him, when the Calves won the do you know what I'm gonna talk about here? Demon say you're left. So here's the thing. The Calves win the draft lottery. They have Ricky Davis and Darius Miles on the team. The yes and those guys are like, yeah, man, Lebron can help ride our wave. You know what I mean, he can ride our bandwagon. You know, I don't think a high school kid's gonna

come in and make a big difference. But we'll see. Those were his teammates, you know why, because he had just gotten an eighty million dollars deal from Nike that nobody was talking about the Calves. The Calves are like, damn it, this is bs. We're better than him, were older than him, were more established than him, and there was legitimate jealousy from his own teammates. Now, fortunately we didn't have to deal with the extra level of race on this one because it was all black guys in

the discussion. I can only imagine that would have been of all of the Lebron's stuff. Well, that's an interesting nat Lebron's entire career as exact identical, except he's a white dude. I wonder how so many things would be different, But it wasn't there. That's that's not complicated. Rookie hazing is not complicated, and hard thousand sports are not complicated. Now, is it interesting that Aliah Boston didn't immediately come to

Caitlyn Clark's aid? Yeah, it is. That is interesting. It's noteworthy. Is it interesting that Angel stood and applauded, Yeah, that's interesting. I don't think she likes Caitlin guess what, she's not supposed to. And this whole idea that everyone should be like fetting Caitlin Clark the other competitors, like, oh, we're all gonna make more money thanks to you, We're all getting all these accouterment. There's that word again, thanks to you.

That is not how athletes work. We would never say that about male athletes, never, And people might say, oh, well, you know.

the Detroit team when she was a rookie. Guys, So I don't I don't look an Angel got fouled like that last week and nobody gave h And I understand Angel's frustration with this. I also And so this is again where race must be acknowledged. The Chicago Tribune again, the newspaper in Chicago. That's where the Chicago sky obviously are from Angels team in the editorial, they about that foul. They they say, and I quote the foul committed by

Chicago skyguard Kennedy Carter was egregious. Outside of a sporting contest, it would have been seen as an assault. Pipe down, folks. You know what's also an assault outside of a sporting contest, A box out, a contest on a layup, shut up? And that that is race, right. The only thing that gets people all of a sudden flocking to we must protect this woman is a white woman in distress, particularly if it's a non white person putting her in distress.

That is race. And like, I just feel like we should be able to hold multiple thoughts in our head at once. And I do want to go back to the basketball piece of it because I like Angel and I have supported Angel. I you and I had a whole thing on this show when she talked about what she had been going through. I think I was in comparison to some of the other members of sports media. I think I saw that for what it was better than most and I really like Angel. So this is

the say it again flip flopping. No, I'm not flip flopping. I'm not, but I am going to make.

all these guys. Beverly's like, you don't know what they said to me. I shouldn't have thrown the ball, but you don't know what they said. Dylan Brooks has like, call me Dylan the villain. Then he's like, it's a media construct. There is only one person who actually wants to be the villain. Luca. Luca actually wants to be the villain. He wants to go in your building, tell you to go bleep yourself, swagger, do all of it. Everyone else wants to pick and choose when they're the villain, right,

and it's hard. Lebron tried it for a whole year and then was like, that was miserable. I don't want to do that anymore. Okay, So that's not what I was gonna say. What I was gonna say is this my advice.

She is having, in my opinion, the second best rookie season. Some would say Cameron Brinks having the second best rookie season, second or third. But there is a wide gap between what she's doing and what Caitlyn's doing, just like there is a wide gap between what she what Caitlyn is doing and every other.

just like Caitlyn is. The Caitlin's numbers this year fifteen and a half points, five rebounds, six assists on thirty five thirty splits. Angel who's been the second best rookie is ten and a half points per game, nine rebounds, two assists on thirty five percent from the field. Cameron Brank who's been, you know, the second or third best rookie, nine points, five rebounds to assist on forty seven percent

from the field and really good defense. And then Riquia Jackson ten ten points per game, three rebounds, no assists because she's a big on forty nine percent from the field. Thing is this, if folks want to make the argument that Caitlin Clark is getting undue attention. Somebody in her rookie class got to go out there and out player and that hadn't happened, just hadn't. And that is again,

that's a sports conversation. And I'm not gonna act like I had this kind I set everything exactly perfectly here and that And also, by the way, we should wait and see how Camilla Cardosa ends up looking. She's only one game after missing the beginning of the season. Uh. In our first game she played really well eleven and six on five to seven from the field, So we'll

see how, you know, how she does. But the fact the matter is, guys, there is a what is so cool about this is we have another sport now that enough people are following that it is a national conversation. And I implore folks who have been following the WNBA for years, don't be WNBA hipsters. Please don't be the fan of the band that loved it before it, you know,

was going on worldwide tours. And then she towards the new fans and gate keyp and be like, well, if you weren't here shooting with me in the gym, guys. It's better the sport growing is better for everyone. Okay, I do ask that. I also ask the Johnny Cume latelies, and I think I am a cross between the two groups. I think I obviously watched and followed more WNBA than the average person, but that's because I'm in sports for

a living. But I also was not you know, I knew enough about the WNBA that last year I placed a very significant bet before the season started on the Aces to win the title, and I placed a very small bet on the Aces to go undefeated for the season, but not enough to act like I am. You know that I'm a WNBA League Pass subscriber, and I am I've never talked about it on the TV show side from maybe a segment or two and seven years until

this rookie class headlined by Caitlin. So I'm a bit of both, right, But I beg just like I don't want the folks who were always fans to gatekeep, I would like the folks who are new to the party to not act as if A they are experts on everything WNBA related, and B please do not act like everyone needs to give us credit because we arrived at the party there is this weird thing going on where it is like, well, now that I am talking about your sport, I am doing you a favor, and therefore

I should be above criticism for my takes on it. Na man, Just like I said when when Diana Tarazi during the NCAA tournament, I thought had I thought had a bad take on Caitlin and the WNBA. By the way, Diana looks like she might have been more right than I was on that, and what I said was a bad take. It looks like maybe I was wrong and

she was right. It is in battle, and I said, and I disagreed with Diana's take, And it felt like a lot of people disagreed with it, but were almost afraid to say they disagreed with it the way they would if it were Kendrick Perkins discussing Victor winbin Yama. It's like, no, man, that everybody's everybody's grown here. Everybody can find for themselves to a degree. We don't need

to be overly protective of Caitlyn Clark. She's a badass, fierce competitor that also, despite a grueling schedule, seemingly not a very good team and massive scrutiny is handling herself. Fine, I say, seemingly not a very good team, Tom take it's the number one pick them back to back years or two and nine because like you said, But let me, let me give one other prediction that I know is gonna end up being a classic Category two. Caitlyn Clark

from this moment forward is gonna have Banana's numbers. So here's why. So they have had multiple back to backs. They have played eleven games. No other team's played more than nine. The Aces have played six. Because of that, the rest of the way here, they don't have a

single back to back. They have massive So they play on the seventh, the tenth, the thirteenth, the sixteenth, the nineteenth, twenty first, twenty third, twenty seventh, thirtieth, second, sixth, tenth, twelfth, fourteenth, seventeenth, then a month off because of the Olympics, an Olympic team that we don't know if Caitlin Clerk's gonna make or not, and then again in September and August, a relatively light schedule compared to the field because they already

had their tough part, so they're gonna have more rest. They also have already played. You play the Liberty four times, They've played them three already. The Liberty might be the second best team in the league. You play Connecticut four times, They've played them twice already. Connecticut's a top three team in the league. So the schedule is gonna get softer. She's got her legs underneath her, she's gonna have more rest,

and she's gonna ball out. And by the way, I hope the rest of the rookie class does as well. I'm rooting for all these girls, but we've gotta be able to acknowledge. Of course, there is a racial dynamic here. Of course, there is a very typical jealousy dynamic here that would exist no matter the races, but is heightened because of the racial dynamics here. And of course there is just some sports competitiveness here, which is Angel Reese

thinks she's better. She beat her in the National Championship than Caitlin got her get back the next year but didn't win the National championship. And Angel they are going to be rivals, and that is great for the sport. All right? Did I manage to do that without saying I made anyone famous or calling anyone a bitch I think I did? Wow? Did that get me a medal for it? Quick break? Right back? What's right? All right? Welcome back in What's Right with Nick? Right? All right?

And after a nice half hour on the WNBA and racial and gender dynamics in America and a little slight media criticism, I suppose let's get right to the NBA Finals. De Monse, go ahead.

the Raptors were gonna beat the full strength Warriors. And then this fact of the matter is this, since the trade deadline, the MAVs have had the best events in basketball, and with this starting lineup, they have played this year on a sixty five win pace, which is what the Celtics played all year, a sixty four to sixty five win pace. So I do think that this series is

relatively even. And if it's relatively even and one team has an all time legendary player and the other team has Jason Tatum, then I'm gonna go with the team.

end up being wrong and everyone people are now. Yesterday the internet got mad at Zach Lowe for saying I thought something obvious, which is Jason Tatum is somewhere between the six to seventh eighth the best player in basketball. That is not an indictment, It is just the truth that now, can you win the title with that? Yeah? Is it super rare? Yes? So like I now, does

the best player always win? No? If that were the case, Lebron be ten for ten in the finals, So obviously, Well, I think that's a little you know, that doesn't always work with team sports, but it does work more often than not. In the NBA, however, I typically if the other teams got demonstrably and clearly the best player, you need to have massive team advantage. And Vegas thinks the Celtics do. I do not. I think that there is a huge gap between Luca and Tatum. I think there is,

right now a minimal gap between Brown and Kyrie. Now, the next three best players in the series are Celtics Chris STAPs, Drew and Derek White, But the next three best players after that are MAVs in PJ. Gafford and

uh Lively. I'm leaving somebody out the Oh yeah, Derek Jones Junior could be on there, but the that's right, and so the and then you add to it what to me is a pretty clear and maybe Celtics fans disagree with me here, coaching advantage for the Mavericks and the fact that the Celtics have been hit or miss at home while the MAVs have been absolute killers on the road. And I like the MAVs in this spot and so well, I think plus one eighty five is crazy.

I also think it's very on the board Boston wins Game one, which is why I might wait to bet the series, because if it's plus one eighty five right now, it'll be like plus three hundred or plus two sixty after Boston wins Game one if they win Game one. But I also might just pull the trigger on bet it beforehand. But I'm going to roll with this being Luca's moment and that I don't think the Boston crowd is going to get to Kyrie, but I do think

the Boston crowd is going to get Luca going. I think the Boston crowd going after Luca, is going after Kyrie is going to be good for Luca. I am curious, Demons, however, your feelings going into this finals versus two years ago when your Celtics were playing the Warriors. And I have other questions Celtics related for you, but your feelings going into the finals since the Celtics are your team.

Celtics and then left and then came. Oh no, he was there too, he was worsh You're right, because he was there, then left to Philly, then came back when they played for the season. So yeah, everyone but Chris STAPs essentially has been there. Drew hasn't been there with Boston, but he's been there with Milwaukee obviously. Uh, here's the gosh it. I was gonna ask you another question.

And that is my biggest prediction of this series is you demons are gonna leave midway through this series. Have a visceral dislike for Luca from the whining and the preening and the screaming and.

of them energy wise on the offensive end. Now, he'll probably hunt you know, switches and stuff anyway, but that'll be interesting to see. I also think, you know, we'll talk about him more on Thursday. How Kristaps is gonna look when he comes back is one of the biggest storylines of this series. All right, let's move on because we have Thursday. We'll do like an all finals show on Thursday. Go ahead.

So I think you are going to see maybe not for Justin Jefferson caliber players, but for that next caliber wide receiver, the really good guy. But isn't you know, top five in the league. Smart teams say we can get eighty five percent of that production by a guy in the draft for ten percent of the salary. We're

just not paying. We are not. The Chiefs have basically said we're gonna draft and develop wide receivers in corners because that's what college football is producing, and we are going to pay our offensive and defensive lineman along with the quarterback. Wild's had an interesting thought, which was, under the current salary cap structure, can you basically just have fifty million dollars for your quarterback and your wide receiver

one and split it up as you see fit. So like for the Vikings, you know you have Justin Jefferson on the rookie deal, I'm sorry, on the record setting deal. And then a rookie quarterback for the Dolphins. Right now, you have Tyreek and Waddle on these crazy deals, but they haven't paid to a yet. The Cowboys have Dak on this huge deal waiting to pay CD. Maybe when they pay CD, do they then not bring back Dak. The Bills, Josh Allen makes a ton of money. They

trade Stefan Digs the Chiefs. All the money goes to Mahomes, they draft receivers. It is an interesting thought by Wilde that I didn't really I hadn't really considered on that level, but I now the Eagles are trying to do everything. Pay Davante, pay aj and pay Jailen Hurts, but they're kind of borrowing a lot from the future. The Niners. You paid Debo, you seem hesiten to pay Ayuk and Purdy makes nothing, and so I get why the Vikings would do it, But I also think some of these

wide receiver contracts are not gonna age. Well, all right, let's play a quick game of this or that.

not gonna be scouting like lower level international prospects. I just wasn't and so I, uh, maybe in another life, yeah, it was cool and I probably should have followed up on it more than I did, but I didn't. And in another life maybe, but right now I just just Avid fan, all right? Next?

Americas thing. This is there are real There is a real racial dichotomy about how often you need to you know, scrub like your calves versus whether or not when you're in the shower, as Jason Kelcey put it, you wash hotspots and just kind of let soap and water and gravity take care of the rest.

than the non white community. I also think that Jason Kelcey one of the there are certain things like there's also like a real racial division about do you just use the bar of soap to clean yourself or do you use a washcloth or washt owl. There's a lot of things that again we don't talk about it, Like I'm not talking about how I shower, how I bathe because I understand better than Jason Kelcey. There's certain things better just keep to yourself. It's just no wins in this.

There's just no there's no upside in this. And but it was. I think Jason Kelsey has taken a lot of arrows for an opinion. A lot of people share, but they're not brave enough to say it. I'm not saying where I stand. I've also been married to your mother for fifteen year of married eleven years with your mother fifteen years, so I maybe have adjusted whatever my potential previous bathing habits were. Who knows. All I know is it's no one's damn business. Quick break, get to

your questions next? What's right? Hey, welcome back in What's right with think? Right? Demondsey, We're back. We didn't even know it. We weren't paying attention. All right, Let's get to the listener questions right now? Go ahead?

they will get their credit. But right now, I'm just not that interesting in it. I'm just not and I don't think they're gonna win, all right.

I'll see you guys on Thursday for a finals gambling show. What's right? Hey, thanks for watching. If you're still here, do me a favor. Hit the subscribe button, then hit the bell so you can be notified when we have new episodes. After you've done that, one more favor, go to your favorite audio platform of choice and subscribe there as well. Don't forget we're live every Tuesday and Thursday ten thirty am Eastern Ish ten thirty five, ten forty.

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