¶ Straight to Voicemail - presented by Boost Mobile
Welcome in. We'll Drive with Nick Wright episode three five and this episode as always of What's Right with Nick Right, as presented by our friends at boost Mobile. This is our last show until after the fourth of July. I will leave from here to go do the TV show and then head out west for family reunion and then head further west for a vacation with my wife and kids.
So we did a long draft show last night. We will do a full draft recap show here today, hit on some other things, potentially get to that Rogers story that broke after our show on Tuesday, and then I'm gone after first things first today. So but this is kind of the right time of year to be gone. Maybe miss the very beginning of NBA free agency, maybe miss a potential Lakers trade. But aside from that, we
should be good. Demandsay, good to see you, Howard. All six eggs for the Snakes still doing okay.
One hundred percent, still going strong. No mold now that stuff you mean? He's great?
Okay, I didn't even know mold was a thing. This is a new anxiety for Demon's Egg's gonna get mold on them, and also a minor existential crisis of he is leaving town as well, and he is leaving those snake eggs alone in his apartment. I I you know, I I would imagine there were some Google searches of what happens if like power goes out in an apartment? Can someone get in?
I understand big bucket of water in there.
But there you go. And luckily we've got just bring your apartment keys with you and our friends at Blue Duck who are in LA if we need to overnight them to them. If something happens, I'm sure one of our LA based people will take care of you. I'm very confident in that. Right now, before we get to the act, well this is the actual show, but before we get to the NBA draft, straight to voicemail, brought
to you by our friends at boost Mobile. These guys want me so every once in a while of the producers, in a very kind way, set me up to fail. They expect me to ron Burgundy some of this stuff and just read what's written, and they want me to say Wimby stunned and China photo dump. So I guess that happened. The Pelicans in Washington trade CJ. McCollum for Jordan Poole that actually kind of actually is in the show, and Caitlyn Clark slumping maybe however, ruled out with a
left with a groin strain. I think I shouldn't say strain ruled out with a groin injury. I believe it's a left groin, which might have saved Wilds from the reverse take of the year with Wild's kind of soft launching the Caitlyn Clark maybe she's not good anymore take.
He didn't hard launch it, but soft launched it. Remind her to everybody out there, like rate, subscribe review one of the reasons to and again, these are things I don't totally understand, but it seems like, particularly when we do these live shows, the more people that click the like button, it like populates and more up and more YouTube hit feeds for other people. That's I guess why the like is important, not because it serves my ego,
but because it could expand our audience. So I don't really ever ask people to like the podcast, but I guess that's helpful, So please do that if you could. And the other reason subscribe is because sometimes we do out of nowhere two hour live draft shows that if you're not subscribed. You don't know we're doing all right, Demanse, Let's get to the draft itself.
Go ahead.
Yeah, So the draft was last night and you were obviously live for that.
Uh.
¶ Biggest takeaway from Round 1 of NBA Draft
There were some crazy moments in there, and one of the notable ones was the Pelican trade.
And here's your reaction to it.
Did New Orleans just ear Muff's kids? Nor Orlean's just fucking traded away their next year's first round pick unprotected to move up from twenty three to thirteen. That might be the most reckless draft day trade I've seen in five years. Yeah. So that, I mean, we'll get more into that in a second, but go ahead.
Yeah.
Another one was Brooklyn using all five picks in Portland, taking Yang twenty five picks early. What was your single biggest takeaway from the draft last night?
My single biggest takeaway was what New Orleans did. And listen, we will talk Cooper Flag, and we will talk Dylan Harper, and we will talk Ace Bailey. But I I have had a night to sleep on it, and I am more entrenched that Joe Dumar's first draft since taking back taking the Pelicans, Joe Dumars was not great in Detroit. He's a great player, but was not a great executive. And he was there for a long time, and then he went to the league office for a long time.
And this is gonna be this is where Man TV Show Today is gonna be a little tricky because we net Obviously, we all on the show say whatever we you know, think. However, there is I at times I feel not because of Brew, but I personally feel a little awkward because Brew has real relationships with a lot of people long term, and sometimes I realize, like halfway through a take, I'm like, am I talking about one
of Bruce's friends like it? And and so I don't know whether or not Brew has a real relationship with Joe Dumars, but I would imagine he does. And so it is that could be, you know, a weird spot on First Things First Today. But listen, as I always say, my only obligation is to the truth, and the truth is it's one of the craziest damn things I've ever
seen the team do. And it's New Orleans. If you weren't watching New Orleans really like Derek Queen, I, if you were watching our live draft show, I said, I wouldn't hate it if New Orleans took Queen at seven when they had the opportunity, that would have been a slight overdraft. Instead they go Jeremiah Fears, and so there's just so much. There's so much here that I find fascinating. One is Jeremiah Fears of high offensive upside, very questionable defender,
didn't really show efficiency in college. His direct comp is kind of Jordan Poole, who New Orleans just tray for a day before the draft. So you trade it for Jordan Poole, you then draft Jeremiah Fears. The other guy that they were clearly very interested in is Derek Queen, a guy I like a lot, but a guy that I said during the draft show not in athleticism, but in strengths and weaknesses as a player. Reminds you a
lot of Zion. Where can kind of play a little point forward is you know, has real questions defensively, Zion
wasn't supposed to but ended up having those. Is not going to be a great shooter, but and it is not going to be a real rim protector because he's not seven feet tall or even really like you know, a pro Zion is not even approaching seven feet tall, and there are some work ethic concerns, there are some why aren't you in better shape concerns, but the talent is really right there it New Orleans has that guy
in Zion. They take Derek Queen, which again I don't hate, in a vacuum, and some might say, well, that then allows you potentially more easily to trade Zion if you want to replace him with Derek Queen. All that would make sense if they had simply taken Derreck Queen at seven, or if they had simply traded made any other type of trade other than trading away what is potentially, potentially all things considered, the most valuable pick going into next
year's draft. And the reason I say that is not because I think New Orleans is the team most likely to have the worst record in basketball. The reason I say that is that's not what they traded. So they went from twenty three to thirteen. So to the cost to move up those ten spots, they traded away unprotected twenty twenty six draft pick that will be either New
Orleans or Milwaukee, the better of the two. So New Orleans has I don't know, a fifteen percent chance to be the worst team in the league next year, and Milwaukee has like, here's the question, what is the chance Yannis gets hurt slash? What is the chance or added to the chance that Milwaukee trades Giannis? Because whatever is that five percent? If that happens, Milwaukee's the worst team in the league. Milwaukee with Dame out potentially the whole year.
If Giannis gets dinged or if they just trade him, they become the worst team in the league. And the other teams that are in contention for the worst team in the league, most notably Charlotte and Brooklyn and maybe Washington, those teams are in the East Utah as well as
in there. So to give away that draft pick that might be aj Debanza or you know, or again it will almost assuredly be a top ten pick and has a real chance of being a top five pick for not not for a superstar, not as a package to get a player like Giannis, but to just move up and get a guy who, if you had not moved up and taken him, was likely going to fall out of the lottery. It's just incomprehensibly bad. And I was thinking yesterday like what version of this trade would I
have made if I were New Orleans. Would I have offered this unprotected twenty twenty six better of New Orleans or Milwaukee straight up for the thirteenth pick, not even including the twenty third pick. No, I would not have. Would I have done this trade demonse if it were the opposite, meaning twenty three thirteen to four twenty three and the worse of the two New Orleans Milwaukee picks, I wouldn't have done that either, because it's on the board.
They're both both bad. Like again, I don't I think Milwaukee should be fine, but they, more than any team in the league, are a one man show, other than maybe Denver, but even Denver, if Joker were to go down, you have other pieces you like it. Would I have traded twenty three and next year's unprotected number one to move up to seven, which again wouldn't have made sense because New Orleans already had seven, But you understand what I mean. I wouldn't have done that. So I think
this will go down. We have to see, you know, where these picks land, and we will see it. But I think this will be like the Hawks trading Luca for Trey, the tie of move that we reference for on Draft night that we reference for years and years and years.
Maybe the Pelicans front office is in love with that archetype and they're just backup planes. You know, if those the other two don't pan out, we're shipping them out of here.
I don't know, right, So you trade for Pool, your draft, a guy who maybe one day can be Pool, and Fears you have Zion.
And you've already seen what Pool and Zion are kind of like being in the NBA.
I don't yes, I mean, it's clearly something like that, Demante, but it if we right now, let me check on DraftKings, the the odds for team futures. Can we I just see finals? Okay, here we go conference winner in the West, New Orleans. There are I mean, that's the West is so funny. There are nine teams that are twenty five to one or better, so OKC, Houston, Minnesota, Lakers, Nuggets, Warriors, Spurs, Clippers, Mavericks. Those nine teams won through nine or twenty five to one.
There are then six teams that are one hundred and ten to one or worse. The Grizzlies, the Pels, the Kings, the Suns, the Blazers, the Jazz. The Jazz should be the worst team in the West next year. After that, the Kings and Grizzlies want to win. The Suns obviously want to win, and the Blazers just traded for a thirty six year old Drew Holiday. Now it doesn't mean those and New Orleans obviously wants to win. My point is only one team in the West doesn't want to win.
In Utah, You're not gonna, you know, fall into easy conference victories. I I just I am gobsmacked at this, and I maybe it's a nerdy look at uh the draft to be focused on this trade. I just think it's one of the most reckless moves I've seen a teammate in a very, very long time. And it also does show you this is one of the cool things
about the draft, the ticking clock factor. Like if this would have been done in right during the course of regular business, would cooler heads in New Orleans have prevailed and been like, hey, Joe, what if we offer them this exact trade, but just say the pick has to be top ten protected and they say no, and we say, okay, top five protected, then certainly you could have done top one protected like they you would have been able to
better massage or get a swap back or something. But because five minutes, Yeah, you want to miss out on your player, you gotta go. And the new I mean a triple plus to the new Hawks front office. What an opening few days got off some bad salary, added Chris STAPs came away with an absolute it is I don't know, a ten percent chance, No, probably higher fifteen percent chance these had a top three pick. It's unbelievable. It's really unbelievable. All right, we'll get to the big
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¶ Are Mavs contenders with Flagg?
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All right, demonte, let's get to the top pick of the draft.
So, as expected, the MAVs took Cooper Flag with the first pick, so they extended Kyrie and Gafford. The question is, if Kyrie ends up healthy, do you think that Dallas's contenders for Dallas ARC.
Do you think they are?
Yes? I do.
I knew I could tell just from the look in your face, So go ahead.
Yeah, I mean, I was just telling the guys this morning. The balance of defense and offense on that team also paired in with the way I know that's your guy, but the way that Luca was looking in the playoffs last year, it just kind of seems like Beakle might have had a grasp on the situation and what was going on over there.
And I like that team.
Like if Cooper Flag pans out nicely, I hate that it worked out for him, and you know he got that they ended up with the number one pick. But with that number one pick, that's a that's a squad right there.
So so that let's talk about the Nico piece of this and then we'll get to the team. Because Nico had a quote Nico said, Fortune favors the bold and on behalf of MAVs fans everywhere. I wanted to break
a TV. Yeah, it's you do not. You do not get to Trey Luca hold a press conference saying we did this for this year because we think we are better right now to win a championship this year or next year, and then end up bad enough that you're in the lottery and fall last backwards into the number one pick and then be like all part of the plan. If at that listen, honest to god, if at that press conference he had said, listen, we are all about championships.
I even though we thought last year's finals appearance was fool's gold, and we traded for Anthony Davis knowing he's injured and by the way, he's gonna take some time to come back this year. This is not about this season, and we may or may not even be back in the playoffs this year. We're okay with this because this is a long term play. And then you end up with Cooper, then you can say, told you a part of the plan. Didn't expect number one pick, but we
were going to add an im back player. Fine, they don't get to be like, we are doing this to contend right now, you fall into the and and then be in the play in and be trying to win the play in, lose, fall into the lottery, get the number one pick, and be like Bang told you. So that's first of all. But they are where they are.
Go ahead, well, yeah, Just to be clear, I don't want to give Nico. I don't want to give him any credit for this, Like no, the Luca piece of it, Like I kind of can see he's a little bit onto something. It was a crazy trade, but with it work painting out the way it did and then getting that first pick, I think they have quite the squad on them right now.
Okay, so that's the real question is do they And my answer to that question is I think right now they are more than a touch over rated. And here's why I listen. I heard uh and again this is not picking on him. I think other people thought this, but I heard this from I heard Steven A yesterday say that they think that he thinks they could be Oklahoma City's biggest competitor. I disagree. And the reason I disagree is this, I do not care how good you are,
how what your profile is in the modern NBA. In particular, rookies that have to be the focal point of a team's offense do not contribute to winning flatly. They just don't. Like I understand Magic was great as a rookie, he was not the focal point of the team's offense. Kareem was lebron as unbelievable as he was. That Cavs team missed the playoffs. Michael Jordan as a rookie, I think, averaged twenty eight points a game. That Bulls team won
thirty eight games. Okay, like asking rookies. Hell, take the MAVs with Luca Luca's first year he was Cooper. Flag's not going to be better than Luca year one Luca. When year two Luki was first Team All NBA, they won thirty three games. Now, obviously those guys didn't have an Anthony Davis on that on their team and eventually Kyrie Irving, but so they they should be better than those records. But the point that I am making is as long as Kyrie is out, and I do not
think Kyrie. I think expecting Kyrie to be back before the alls our break is foolish. I think Kyrie Irving, given his you know, knee history and injury history and his size in his age, and you just signed him to an extension, Rushing him back would be foolish. And until Kyrie comes back, you are going to be asking your primary ball handler and your primary creator to be an eighteen year old. Like I love Flags Upside because
of his age, but he's eighteen. He turns nineteen in December, and you know, maybe Clay as a bounce back year. He is not creating. Anthony Davis is awesome. He is not creating Gafford and PJ. Washington and Derek Lively are all useful players, they are not creating. You traded away a guy who could create a bit in Quentin Grimes for reasons I don't totally understand to bring in Caleb Martin.
So like your secondary main creator is gonna be Max Christie, the other part of the A D trade until Kyrie gets back.
He is. He's just not good at creating shots.
No, I don't Dinwitt, Am I wrong? I thought Dinwitty was a free agent. Maybe I'm the I don't so I think Dinwitty right now is the Uh. Maybe they bring him back, but he's so he's not on the roster right now. So they I mean so and Dinwitty is. I mean, there's a reason that Dinwitti's last few last contract was for the league minimum, you know what I mean, Like he he can be a microwave offense, but he is.
He was about to say, if it's if it's for the purpose of making it to where Cooper Flag isn't your main guy, then you know, well, din Winnie's the alternative.
Sure something, And maybe that's something. And free agency hasn't happened yet, and they obviously will you know, add some some pieces. They will add some things. I understand that, but I I do not think it is rational to expect the MAVs this next year with Kyrie playing. I don't know. I would say thirty games at best, And I would take the strong under on that with Anthony Davis.
And you know, if you if you right now as a MAVs fan, if you were like, hey, eighty is gonna play sixty five games on the nose, you would be like take it, like, you know, I'll sign up for that immediately. And with Cooper Flag being the youngest kid in this draft class, and you know, having a lot on his plate. I don't think in twenty twenty
this coming season, the MAVs are contenders. I do think that if Kyrie comes back from that knee injury and looks like he did before the knee injury, and Cooper Flag is the guy that a lot of people think he can be that in the season after this one, they can be really good. So I don't. If I am power ranking the West going into this coming season, I personally would power rank it thunder Rockets, Lakers with an asterisk, the asterisk being I'm assuming they are going
to add a major piece in the next ten days. Nuggets, Minnesota four five, Golden State six, and then Dallas alongside
¶ Will Spurs make a trade?
the Clipper Clippers seven eight. That's where that's where I think they will be for next year. Now, in two years, I think that could be different. And that does not, by the way, take into account much of what the Spurs can potentially be. And so let's get to the Spurs here. Demonse.
Yeah, so everybody figured he was going to go number two to the Spurs, but nobody else but oh Dylan Harper, Sorry I specific, but they still have.
Harper, Castle and Fox. What is do you think they're going to trade something.
Yeah, so here listen. It's an interesting triumvirn of guards because I like them all, but they all not only have kind of, at least at the moment, a weakness, but it's all the same weakness, which is, they all like to do most of their damage inside the three point arc. And none of them are great perimeter shooters. Castle and again Castle, these guys are young. Fox isn't Fox is thirty three percent for his career, Castle last
year twenty eight percent. Dylan Harper at Rutgers was not a was not great from three himself, and so and I'm pulling it up right now, or at least I'm much okay. They switched it to his pro stats. At Rutgers he was thirty three percent. So those three guys having you can play a three guard lineup at times you cannot play a three guard non shooting lineup. I also think the Spur so Dylan Harper was a no doubt gotta pick him guy at number two. I also think the Spurs are really going to ease in to
the Wimby era. They're gonna let Harper, Fox and Castle compete try different things. And one of those guys is going to be a key piece in a major trade like that? Is that I am very confident in now. I think they would love to pair Harper alongside Wimby for the next ten years. But if Yiannis were to come available and the Bucks want Harper, then you trade the Bucks Harper like if a and if Joannis doesn't come available, but a different tier type of guy does,
and who would that be? Katie just got traded. There's the top tier guys who are just not coming available. Let me pull up my latest King of the Hill just as a quick, uh kind of a shorthand for me of the best players in the league. So Yo Kic's not coming well, I mean, yo, we don't think yoj coming available. Josh Cronky's like, we don't want to trade him, but you know, shit happens. So who's a
good example. Okay, here's a great one. Let's say Devin Booker has a change of heart after another shit year in Phoenix. It's like, you know what, I can get my cars shipped to Texas and I I want to
play in big games. I played in the finals as a kid, and that you know, next level star player, but not yoh, honest, then you maybe you don't have to trade Harper in that, but you trade Castle and Fox like there's different You have now I think three legitimate assets that other teams would want to varying degrees like. And now the tricky thing is on the Fox point. This is am I right about this? Yeah, this is
the last year of his deal. So the other thing that could happen is that Fox walks after this year. I would imagine that's not how this plays. I would imagine that they would try to, you know, pally move Fox at the deadline if need be, so they get something back from him. But they have Castle and Harper on rookie deals. They will see how all of them
play next to Wimby. But the Spurs right now are in a I think a very good position, but a unique position because their four most valuable assets or players are all guys who like to shoot, except for Castle is not a big shooter, like to shoot threes, and I'm including Wimby in this, and none of them are guys who are that good at shooting threes.
So the say it again, He says, you got to take Wimby out. Then you said, not good? What do you mean he's not terrible? I like Winby shooting threes.
Wimby doesn't need to shoot nine threes a game. Shooting nine a game. I mean, I like Wimby's a Wimby's shot diet and I don't like that term, but it's become like a new term. Shot Diet needs to get needs to reflect a little bit more that he's the tallest guy on the court by six inches most of the time. And so I the the spurs you take, Harper, you figure it out later, but you don't. Those three guys are not going to be there, you know, forever
what I know? Oh, by the way, like, rate, subscribe, review. If you're watching on YouTube, click the like button. Please. If you're watching on YouTube, not subscribe, please subscribe and subscribe to us on iTunes and Spotify. We have a live question from someone watching on YouTube.
Yeah, RULESAI, what about Devin vessel.
Vecell, So listen, I the no all good? I yeah, I mean he's right now. I think their fifth most valuable piece, if you will, like he is, Wimby is their most valuable piece with a bullet huge gap, and then Dylan Harper is now their second most valuable piece with a bullet huge gap. And then Castle Fox is kind of eye of the beholder. I don't think Castle
will ever be as good as Dearn Fox. But dude, is the fact that Castle is so much younger and for at least the next three years on such a great contract, and Fox is a guy you're probably gonna have to max out, you know, or come close to it a year from now. Does that make him more valuable than to that team than to others or you know, two different teams. And so I think that I think the Spurs have very interesting choices ahead of them, but I'm very confident that their long term plan is not
Castle Fox Harper. I also think it's totally fair, and
¶ Who is the best in the West?
it's not totally fair. I know I'm right. When they traded for Fox, they didn't think they were gonna get the second pick of the draft. When they traded for Fox, Wmby was still healthy. They were fighting to get to play in They didn't think, you know, we're our point guard of the next decade is gonna be taken care of in this draft. In Dylan Harper, it's just how it turned out, all right, Let's get to the rest of the West, demase, So.
The West is as dangerous as ever. Obviously, Katie just went to the Rockets. It's gonna be the Lakers first full season with Luca, and teams like Spurs and the MAVs could take the leap.
Yeah. Who are the best players? Who are the real players in the West?
Yeah, So listen. I did this a bit on I think there is a it's clearly Oklahoma City at the top, but I think the next best two teams are the Rockets and the Lakers. And I the LUCA over correction. Negativity has gone too far. And I did this on the TV show yesterday. I just want to reiterate it. Luca five best players in the league. Okay, Joker is thirty, he won his title at twenty eight. Giannis is thirty, he won his title at twenty six. Tatum is twenty seven.
He won his title at twenty six. Shay is twenty six, turns twenty seven in two weeks. He just won the title. Luca the youngest of all of them, twenty six, will be twenty six during the first couple months of next season. The idea that he is behind schedule or off schedule is incorrect right now, Shae understandably, his star could not
be shining brighter. I get that, and he deserves it. However, and we also can't compare Luca and Shae career numbers because Luca was good instantly and Shae grew into it. So if we simply just take the last two years for Shay, which are far and away the best two years of his career, and compare them to the last two years for Luca, which includes far and away the worst year of his career. This past year, the numbers
are identical. Playoffs and regular season identical, except for Luca beats him in assists considerably and rebounds by a bit, but the scoring and efficiencies are nearly identical. One guy made the finals demanse and lost to a team some people thought was going to turn into a dynasty in Boston. The other guy made the finals and went seven with a team people thought was the most unlikely finalist in modern NBA history. So to add like, I don't think it's fair to be like, well, you can win with
one guy, you can't win with the other. Now, Shay is coming off as best year, Lucas coming off his worst. That's undeniable, but it is there's too big of a discussion gap amongst the two. So that's one of the reasons that I am a believer in the Lakers, and I'm gonna do this in reverse order three two. One second reason I'm a believer in the Lakers is I do think they are going to make a substantial move
in the next week. I think they are going to address some of their roster holes, and I think they have the assets to do it. And the last reason I'm a believer in the Lakers is, let me call it a informed opinion that people that think Lebron is resigned to the idea that he's not like that making finals and competing for championships, that that phase of his career is over, are unabashedly, unequivocally wrong. Now, maybe if your opinion is whatever he thinks is going on, you
know doesn't matter, you know that phase is over. That's an opinion and you're allowed to have. But if you think Lebron is like, Okay, at this point, it's just about playing with my son, you know, at some point having a farewell tour. I love the game. You can debt that right now. And I think these finals and watching Oklahoma City struggle with Indiana and watching what these finals looked like. Only Surge emboldened Lebron to feel like
I can get back there. And so if you have Chip on his shoulder, Luca wants one last dance at some point deep in the postseason. Lebron and some slight roster tweaking, that to me makes the Lakers a contender.
You think Austin Reeves is there next year?
Probably not, maybe at the beginning, probably not through the year. I just think Austin Reeves he's your most valuable, tradable asset, and because of Luca, he's a little redundant. When you have Anthony Davis there, Austin Reeves is critical because without Austin Reeves, your only creators the oldest guy in the league and Lebron. But with Luca there, he becomes. And I really like Austin. I you know what I mean. The I was the first person tell you Austin Rives
better than Bradley Beal. Everybody called me crazy, but I just think sometimes he is right now a luxury and the Lakers have some necessities. So I would put if I were stacking it, I should have started. I think the Nuggets, I should have said included them. I think they are a real player based off the strength of Yokich alone, and I think they will, you know, manicure around the edges, and maybe they were over Michael Malone and maybe what we saw them do in the playoffs
under Adlman is something sustainable. And then we see Michael Porter Junior come back healthy and Aaron Gordon come back healthy. So I'd have them for Lakers three. The Rockets, to me are they can win the championship. And I say this with no disrespect du to Oklahoma City at all, but man a Lakers Rockets Western Conference Finals, which I
think check me on this, producers. I think we got that once in league history, and it was nineteen eighty six, a team's second year, when everyone thought we were gonna get Lakers Celtics in the finals. Again, I know the Lakers. The Rockets beat the Lakers in the playoffs in nineteen eighty six. I think it was the conference finals and the the Lakers.
Okay, the hold on the Lakers won the series.
Though, hold on a second that that's wrong. I'm just telling you right now.
The the you asked the producer, I'm.
Telling you right now. I'm telling you right now that reads to me. I'm about to be This is a good lesson for everybody. PA pause the show, but stay on the air. What they just put in the doc reads like it was some AI bot wrote it one thousand percent. It's what it reads like. And I'm here telling you that AI bot doesn't know what the hell it's talking about.
That.
I'm telling you right now you cannot trust the AI chat bots when it comes to uh sports history. So I'm just the I'm gonna do my thing here.
Am I gonna get good here?
Oh? Wait?
No, it says uh nineteen City versus Houston.
Okay, everybody stopped? Does everybody stop for a second?
Okay?
The the in nineteen eighty six the NBA Finals, without a shadow of a doubt, guys, were the eighty six Celtics maybe the greatest team ever against the chem Olajuan Ralph Sampson Rockets. That is not up for debate. So the I my question was was the conference finals Lakers Rockets?
All?
Look that up? The Rockets beat the Lakers in the Conference finals. For one, guys, audience, AI chatbots don't fucking know sports. I'm telling you right now, ask like when you're done with the done with the show, ask an AI chatbot, like very basic things like tell me the top ten running backs in the NFL right now, and they're gonna spit at you, Adrian Peterson like. So it's just maybe they're good for some term papers, but they're
not good with sports. So the the Rockets have played the Lakers in I the conference finals, I believe that's the only time. I believe it's nineteen eighty six. I know they I am looking at it now. I know they played in nineteen eighty six, but I think that's the only time. Sorry for the sidebar point, I was trying
to make it with no respect to Oklahoma City. A Durant Lebron conference finals, which we've never gotten by the way, we got it, and a Durant Lebron playoff series that felt like a fair fight, which we've only gotten once ever, in the twenty twelve NBA Finals, which I know listen Bron won in five. But that was a great series until Game five. Like those first four games all were in the balance in the fourth quarter, and you can say that wasn't a fair fight because the heat were
veterans and the Thunder were young. A fun fact that no one believes, but it is true. Twenty the Heat over the MAVs they lost in twenty eleven. The Heat were the same size favorite over the MAVs in twenty eleven, minus won seventy five as the Thunder were over the Heat.
When the Heat won their first title with Lebron and Wade in twenty twelve, the Thunder were minus won seventy five favorites going into those finals because the Heat, remember they had lost the year before, and they had damn near lost to Boston, and the Thunder had just like exploded onto the scene and become this seemingly unstoppable force
of nature. Again, this is off top of my head, but the that Thunder team in the conference finals played the Spurs, who the Spurs had won demons the final ten games of the regular season and then were ten to zero in the playoffs, up two to zero in the conference finals on a twin any game winning streak and then the Thunder one four straight and made the finals like that Thunder team. It was like, holy shitty, yeah, and so it was really a remarkable thing. But okay, sorry,
we're way off topic. The point I'm trying to make is I think the Rockets have all the pieces you need if Durant stays healthy.
Yeah.
I like Shingoon as the fulcrum of the offense. I like that Durant ads scoring. I think they're gonna get more from Shephard. I think Udoaka is excellent. I like all of it. And then there's Oklahoma City that has everyone coming back and everyone but Crusoe is super young and should only get better. But there's a lot of plays to balance there. One hundred and five game season. Are you satisfied after a championship? You know, does the
Oklahoma City got lucky? All putting quotes that the injury bug hit them early instead of late, Like, it's not right to say Oklahoma City, you know, had great injury luck this year. They you know, key players missed real time, but they suffered it early in the year instead of going into the postseason.
So type of man for Katie with the Rockets.
You know, the Rockets already being a nice team, them trying to mitigate his injuries.
Yeah, yes, and no, I would. I think you've got to be careful with a guy who's thirty seven. I don't think that they're going to put him on like a sixty game plan. And I also think for a lot of these legends, they want to be eligible for the awards, and that sixty five game marker is like they they want KD. I'm sure is I bet KD is pissed that he was not eligible for All NBA this year. It's like I played sixty two games, I was All NBA caliber and so yet you know what
I mean. So that's what I think they'll do, all right, real quickly, remind you, guys that this is a message that applies to ninety nine percent of you listening right now, because that's how many of you can be covered by fast and reliable service on the Boost Mobile network with ninety nine percent nationwide coverage. And if you don't think you deserve a deal, well listen up. You've got another
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¶ Why are Achilles injuries up?
to ninety nine percent of you, But I'm one hundred percent positive. Boost Mobile just gave all of us a really good freaking deal in store offer thirty five dollars. Device set up fee may apply, requires credit qualification, ID verification and activation on sixty dollars plan taxes, extra five G speed not available in all areas. All right, demonte, Let's quickly get through some of this other stuff before I got to go.
So we talked about the Halliburton Achilles injury on Tuesday. Dame and Tatum had the same injury in the playoffs, and a handful of other guys like Jontae Morey who tour his during the regular season. So you're obviously not a doctor, but what do you think of the uptick of the Achilles injuries in the NBA?
So this used to be an old guy injury, It doesn't seem to be that anymore, Like people suffered Achilles tears that were old pro athletes or sorry people in your situation, pal, where it's like guys who just didn't do yeah time off, didn't do like you know, didn't stretch or you do everything. But it wasn't young prime. It wasn't people your age, like when you suffered yours who also played basketball at he you know what I mean, right, and had professional trainers and all of that. And so
I have heard a bunch of different theories. I don't I this is not my theory, and I would credit the person whose it is, but I heard it secondhand, and I don't know if this person wanted their name associated with it. But I think it's a fast and eating theory, and that theory is the shoes are too good.
The theory being that in the past you slid a bit when you planted, your shoes gave a little, and now the grip on the bottom and the tightness in how they work, that the shoes don't give at all, and so the pressure puts on your joints and everything else. I think that's interesting. I heard Doc Rivers talk about how guys used to just play all the year round on blacktop and everything, and because of that, their knees went,
but their achilles and everything was fine. Obviously a huge part of it is, while the season's always been eighty two games, the amount of movement you have to do, particularly on defense, and with how spread out the game is, there's just so much more start stop, that puts pressure on it. I know some people have questioned if it's about guys specializing in things. I saw a pretty interesting negative Twitter video.
Say it again, the negative step or different.
Yeah, no, that's exactly what I was gonna say. We must see the same thing that like this, this, like net what they called a negative step, like this backward step to get going is not something that used to be done. And it's how a bunch of these are happening.
So I don't know. I do know that I truly believe this needs to be at the forefront of Adam Silver's agenda for the next eighteen months because you cannot have the achilles in the NBA become Tommy john in baseball, where it's just oh yeah, this half dozen guys are out twelve to eighteen months with an achilles, and particularly because baseball you have you know, the numbers are just so you have more players, you have more pitchers, the numbers are different.
But god, I don't know if we ever talked about it on Tuesday, but do you think, like now, if a player feels like calf tightness, it's like an instant three months out, Like it's just like.
Not three months but I I think it's three to four. What I was told by a long tenured NBA player was a calf strain you have to simply take a month off, and even if you feel like you can play, the only way it heals is if you simply rest it for a month. And I that seems dramatic. Now. The other the other piece of this that I would say is figuring out what leads to calf strains and how to prevent those. And some of that is preventative, Like yeah, like I know that, and again I don't know.
What I do know is that most soft tissue injuries, not all, most are preventable, like hamstrings, groins, quads. Usually those are. It is guys who regularly have them are not doing all the things they need to do. I don't know how calves work. I really don't.
Man in the NBA now mandatory joga, I don't know for the guard.
But it is, but it is. It's stunning that this is where we're at. And I thought Jay Caspi and Kang had a really interesting tweet where he was like the majority of people watching the finals have no idea if they're watching zone or man de man defense but they all know what an achilles tear looks like. And I'm like, damn, that's right, Like we can all diagnose from TV. Oh wow, look, yeah there was that thing where you saw it snap up, go back. We're like, yep,
we know what that is. And that is in a Again, this is not apples to apples obviously, but the same way we know watching football when a guy the fencing posture, we're like, oh, that's a concussion, you know what I mean, Like we just we know it. And so John in the chat says, more players now than ever wear low
top shoes. Yeah, I don't know, I don't know. I do know that this should be a top top priority for the league because the only year, the only I'll take the NFL, which seemingly is a ratings you know, not seemingly is a ratings behemoth, unstoppable for us. The only year of the NFL had real ratings you know, issues is the wrong word, but dips was the year all those quarterbacks got hurt. People. There there is a star and there's no league where the star power matters
more than the NBA. And out you know, the achilles not a quick one either, Like what has changed is we have seen guys come back and be as good as they were. What has not changed is it's twelve to eighteen months. You look at me skeptical about as good as they were.
Yeah, I was about to say, I think it's actually been pretty rare. But the guys Katie's like the only
¶ Could DEN trade Jokic?
person I think that's torn as Achilles recently that like came back and was the same or a little bit better than when here Achilles.
So no, that's fair. But again in the past that it was old guys, so you'dn't expect him to be better. The only other like Star that I'm thinking of that we've seen the full run of other than KD is Clay. But Clay suffered multiple catastrophicyuries in the same lay, you know what I mean. So that's a different situation. I do think Tatum will be like old Tatum. I do. Maybe I'm wrong, But but what doesn't What hasn't changed, demon'say is oh and now you're back in six months, right,
Like that's not that's not been the case. All right, Let's go to Joker real quick before we.
Go, uh So, Nuggets president Josh Crockey had some interesting things to say.
So, Yeah, he says, I think that.
There are rules around it that we need to be very careful of with our injury history. The wrong person gets injured, and very quickly you're into a scenario that I never want to contemplate, and that's trading number fifteen. So he tried to clarify that they do plan on extending him. But what will be the purpose in saying something like this.
I think it's a big mistake. I think he made a big mistake. And I when I say a big mistake, I don't mean like you can't recover from it. But I think it is a significant mistake that he needs to clean up with Joker Joker right, because what he's
talking about. If I'm Joker and I guess off my horse and somebody shows me this clip, I reason, I think it's totally reasonable for him to be like, hold on a second, what you're saying there is are you telling me there is a scenario where I want to be a nugget and you guys decide you're trading me? Because I didn't think that's the deal we had. I thought the deal we had was as long as I want to be here, I will be here and and so like the and I know Kronky's like it's you know,
it's only a catastrophe whatever. Like if I'm Joker, I'm like, that's not how this works. Just so you know, the way this works is the only way you guys trade me is if I come to you and say trade me. And by the way, I expect if I do that for you guys to be like please please, mister Joker or no, like no, no, no, and so uh I the you can ask the follow up here if you'd like.
On a scale one to ten, how scared your producer Daniel will be about the Nuggets messing this up somehow?
Well, I I think they've already kind of messed it up over the last couple of years and not really letting him defend his title in full. I don't think they're going to trade Joker, but I do think that they need to tighten up, Like I just think they need to tighten up. Argent says, should the Bucks trade be honest for jokers? Straight up? Denver would not do that? The Bucks would do that, like the I think that right now.
There are what would they for jokers? Straight up? The Bucks would would take Joker over you honest.
Uh, yes, because of the contract. I do think Jokers are slightly better player at this point, and because they might have to trade Giannis anyways either way, and they don't have their own pick so they can't tank. I think there are right now. I think there are three players that teams would not trade straight up for Giannis, Joker, Shay, and Luca. And it's not to say, by the way,
¶ Will Rodgers retire this time?
Shay and Luca are better than Yannis. I don't actually think they are necessarily. I'm just telling you because of the age difference, and Shay obviously just won the title of that stuff, they wouldn't trade him them for for Joker. Oh, Wimby as well, Thank you, Daniel Wimby as well. Wimby. I didn't think about that because you couldn't trade him straight up because the salaries. But yeah, Wimby, I don't think. I don't think san Antonio would trade Wimby for Joker.
I think Jokers like that's an interest. I don't think they would. Maybe they would, but I don't think they would. All right, let's do Aaron Rodgers real quick for it. We get to the listener questions.
He's hinting at retirement against that time of year, he said, I'm pretty sure that this is my last season. That's why I just did a one year deal. Do you believe him?
So here's the thing. I do think this is Aaron rodgers last year. I also do not think Aaron Rodgers is a credible narrator, and I think the media needs stop treating him like a credible narrator, even of his own life, because within five minutes of him saying I'm pretty sure this is my last season, he also said, paraphrasing, he doesn't like being in the public eye, and when he's done playing football, he won't be in the public
eye anymore. And the only reason he is in the public eye is because he's playing football, which is just an uproarious comment from a guy who, in the last thirty six months has tried to become the full time host of Jeopardy when that did not work out, flirted with becoming the vice president of the United States. And one of the reasons we know about those things is because they were discussed in the documentary about Aaron Rodgers produced by Aaron Rodgers. Like Nothing screams whoa, whoa, WHOA?
I hate this intention, like you personally paying a camera crew to follow you around to create a movie about you. Like, So I just don't. I don't find him to be a credible narrator of his own events. And also, and I'm just going to wink at this, do you guys, remember when Aaron Rodd was asked, of course you do, because he thinks this is the end all, be all of any issue anyone could possibly have with him. Is this one comment? Because God knows, he hasn't done anything else.
Wildly aggravating when he was asked if he had gotten the vaccine and he said, yeah, I've been, I've been well, he didn't say hey, he said I've been immunized. And then he was like, I didn't lie to you, guys, I'm not I'm not saying anything I am saying. There was a very similar turn of phrase about at his introductory press conference about his wedding ring that I found interesting, that's all. I just found it interesting. And so I
¶ Listener Questions
just don't find Aaron to be a reliable narrator of events you care to share. Well, he was asked what he was wearing and he said, it's a wedding ring or somebody said, is that a wedding ring? And he said yes, But I I know, I know what for everyone else that would mean. I also know that it wouldn't necessarily be a lie.
I'm not married.
Again, I didn't say I didn't say all that. I'm just simply saying that it's that's all. That's all that he said. And so I find I find all that fascinating. But again, I'm sure Aaron hates this because he hates the attention. All right, let's do some listener questions real quick.
Mary asked, isn't there a snake watcher like for dogs and kids?
I mean, maybe you have to let someone in your apartment. We didn't set this up the other time.
Yeah, no, I don't. I don't. I don't think there's Yeah, I don't.
I really appreciate that, Mary, But yeah, I'm just kind of banking on the week being gone.
You know, it's not gonna spread. I'm gonna check on every the day before.
It's gonna be good. It's gonna be good. And also I have homies out here. If it really comes down to it, of course, But uh, and Noah asks which Western conference big versus Guard is more likely to be the new Kobe versus Duncan for this era, Wimby versus SGA or Wimby versus Luca.
I mean I would say Wimby versus Luca, but I'm again I'm a Luca guy. The All right, let's go to John and then we gotta get out of here.
John ass who do you see flag behind?
Uh?
Or who do you see flag being? Like in the future, I feel like he gets better defensively. We got another pivot.
Listen, Scottie Pippens one of the greatest perimeter defenders of all time. That's to me too big of an but he also should be a better offensive player than Pippen. So like who is who is the the the I don't know. I I don't know what the comp We don't need to read that last one. I don't know what the comp is for Flag. I do. I know that they're gonna hope he can be a you know,
a do it all point forward type. But I think people throw around the Pippen defensive uh comps to Willy Nilly like the like Jada Jalen Williams for the thunder he should he might end up. He already has had a better offensive single playoff game than Pippen had his whole career. But Jalen Willis will never be Scotty Pippen defensively. Scotty, I mean Scotty Pippen had a multi year stretch where he was every year either best, second or third best
perimeter defender in the league. Like that's to me, too big of an ask, All right, reminder everybody like great subscribe review all of that. We appreciate it. Great job too, Blue Duck today, Great job to Demon's, a great job to the volume DraftKings and boost Mobile. Terrible job by our future AI overlords. Talk to you guys on first things first today and then after the fourth of July. Right here, see you guys later. What's right,