Club Shay Shay - Nightcap - Hour 1: LeBron & Lakers 4-4, Kerr & Tatum drama, Joel Embiid suspended

Episode Date: November 7, 2024

Shannon Sharpe and J.R. Smith react to LeBron James and Los Angeles Lakers 131-114 loss to Ja Morant, ROY contender Zach Edey and the Memphis Grizzlies. Later, Unc, Ocho and J.R. discuss the Golden State Warriors HC Steve Kerr says he has no regrets about benching Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum during the Olympics, the NBA suspends Philadelphia 76ers Joel Embiid and much more!04:11 - Show Start04:47 - Intro06:30 - Grizz beats Lakers32:25 - Steph Curry and Warriors beat Celtics51:30 - KD over Steph01:02:00 - Embiid suspended(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.)#Volume #ClubSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey there, it's Michael Lewis, author of Going Infinite, Moneyball, The Blind Side, and Liars Poker. On the latest season of my podcast, Against the Rules, I'm exploring what it means to be a sports fan in America and what the rise of sports betting is doing to our teams, our states, and ourselves. Join me and listen to Against the Rules on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search Against the Rules. Listen to Against the getting in on the action at DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. All 30 teams split into six

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Natural energy. It'll pick you right up. Oh, OK. Whoa. Now that's a rush. Smile for the camera. Ocho? Here you go, internet. Hello ladies and gentlemen and thank you for joining us for another episode of Nightcap.

I am your favorite uncle, Shannon Sharp. Ocho is running a little late so we're going to kick the party off. You know him, the three point sharp shooter, Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, the Denver Nuggets, won a championship in the bubble, the pandemic with the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the great three point shooters of our generation, of any generation, Mr. Swish himself. He's now an avid golfer, a wine connoisseur.

I guess you could call himself a Samoyee. That's Mr. JR Swish Smith. Thank you for joining us. Please make sure you hit that subscribe button. Please make sure you hit that like button and go subscribe to the Nightcap podcast feed wherever you get your podcast from. Every subscriber matters, every subscriber counts,

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make sure you grab yours while supplies last. So JR, as I mentioned at the top of the show, Ocho is running a little late. And so now our newest basketball contributor, JR Swish, please go follow JR on all his platforms and his podcast. His part three podcast on all platforms that's at part three, the letter podcast. That's where you can find JR on all social media platforms.

Oh, excuse me. JR, the Grizzlies whip up on the Lakers minus AD 131 to 114. Early in the day, Chet LaParte said when the Lakers lose, it's not gonna be a 40 year old man's fault. It's on Anthony Davis, not LeBron James' fault. We know a challenge had a lot of course things to say about LeBron over the course of the years, but you watch this game, you watch them play without AD.

It was close for a little while, and then the Grizzlies started raining threes, and then they pulled away. I mean, that's to be expected though. I mean, for one, the Memphis is playing at home, jobs back, it's a lot of energy in the building. But again, no AD, no Rui. The bench has been really suspect coming from the Lakers side.

So I mean, that's to be expected. It's a tough road game, especially earlier on in the season. You know, obviously when you're're the only number one, a or one B guy is out, depending on what day it is. I mean, it's hard to call Bron anything other than one or one. So but I mean, it's a tough situation. It's just a tough situation they ran into. And, you know, Memphis is going to be playing a lot better this year obviously because Jaws

back and the team is healthy but I mean that's a tough team to beat and to go in and walk in and Memphis is already a tough place to win in. Especially when they're playing at home and we know they're at the grind house we know how they got to get up and down the crowd get into the game. Jaws high fly his high fly of his a high act. He's levitating through the air. He's playing unbelievable. Obviously he has a lot to prove. He missed last year, had a lot of situations going on with him the previous

year, and he wants to show a lot of guys stepped up in his absence. You saw Ant Man. You saw a lot of these young players start to take steps forward in a place that he's supposed to have his foot on them by now. He had to sit down, you know, some off the, off the court issues. You look at LeBron in 35 minutes, he was 15 to 24, six of 11 from three, seven rebounds, six and six, 39 points. Uh, D'Angelo Russell, four, 12, 12 points. Austin Reed, seven to 17, 19 points. Uh, Cam Reddick did finish

strong with 15 points. But when I look at this, uh, uh, uh, JR, I'm looking at the lake and I'm like, bro, y'all bitch was suspect last year. Y'all brought the same bitch back. How do you expect to get better? If your bitch was suspect last year, you made no improvement to it. And somehow you think, okay, well, AD is going to be AD played good last year. Now he's played all over. He's never played this good, this early. Averaging 32 points, averaging 12 rebounds.

Give it to you on both ends. LeBron is doing what LeBron does. We know LeBron is gonna average somewhere between 25 and 27 points a game. At the end of the, he's gonna give you seven to eight rebounds, seven to eight assists. We know that, okay? We're the consistent third guy,

and then when those guys go to the bench, because LeBron can't play 45 minutes a night like he could when he was young, where are the points gonna come from, Swish? Who can they count on, especially bench points? Who can they count on? Honestly, to me, I would like, if I, and if I know Bron, how I know Bron,

I think he's doing it now with a cam reddish like you got a mode that one guy who's gonna be that bench Firecracker you like one thing off the bench. Okay firecracker dude Who's really like and that's one the one thing like I really loved about Malik Monk coming off the bench in Sacramento Because he does do come he can run pick a road. He can get a butter rim. He can shoot the three. He can defend. He can get your big stops.

He's an energy guy. You don't get the crowd into it. So like when you got guys like that, you got him. And that's the road I fit into a lot of times in my career is like when you got guys like that, you got to figure out a way to get them going early, especially if they already feel like, all right, I'm coming off the bench, the guy's in front of me, he's not better than me, but this is what's best for the team.

This is the role. So in order for me to play my role, I'm gonna need you to feed me like, all right, cool. I may not be eating steak and caviar every night, but I need a little lobster here and there. Like, yeah, yeah. You need a lobster crab legs or do you just put the bites in the meantime?

For sure, for sure. And plus he has to be able, also now, a lot of times you're gonna start off, LeBron's probably gonna be heading to the bench. So you'll be able to get your rhythm. Then when LeBron comes back in there, you're gonna have to find a way to mesh with him and AD while they're on the court also.

Because we know those guys are gonna get those shots when AD's off the court, LeBron's off the court. Obviously, your firecracker that's coming off the bench, he's gonna be allowed to get his shots. But when they come back into the ball game, now you're gonna have to find a way to seamlessly transition and blend in with those guys. For me, when I really think about that,

it's a lot of kudos to Mike Woodson because when I was with the Knicks and I did end up winning the sixth man of the year, he found a great package for myself and Mello to play within when Mello comes off the court and I'm in there in a situation to where I can be aggressive and I can be as aggressive as I want. Then when he comes back, especially in the trenches

when it's the third and fourth quarter, when he gets to that meat and potatoes of the situation, it's almost to where it's like, okay, he's the vocal point, but y'all still playing ping pong. Like you involved in it, but you like, yeah, it's a back and forth game. Then you got a stat rolling on picks and pick and pops. Like you in the situation to where now you got

a cohesiveness rhythm with all your scores which are key pieces. And for what T Lou used to do with a lot with Kyrie and Kev in the situation where Bron is going off or Ky is going off, he would find intricate plays for Kev to make Kev not only feel like he's a part of the team but feel good about when he, like he's involved to a situation to where

he's not caught off guard to where he get a, you might get a certain situation where they jump the screen, he get a pick and pop situation where normally they not gonna leave Kev for pick and pop. They gonna hedge and try and get back to Kev immediately. But you have those situations where you know what? He ain't got a shot in four or five minutes. Let me just double team to see what happened.

But if you plan that and if you're playing that way, you already have that cohesiveness within the group to where he not even tripping. He can get it off regardless. I thought I thought the Lakers got some really great looks tonight at three. The ball just didn't fall and In this in the like the second late in the second and through the third quarter. I think what? What was it the third quarter they would like seven six or seven or seven or eight from the three-point line? JR and so we look when a team catches fire like that you either match them or they don't pull away from you

That those are the only there's you. That's the only two options. You can't make enough twos when they're going seven of eight or eight or nine or whatever they went from the three-point line in the third quarter. If you either match them shot for shot or whatever the lead is they had, I guarantee you it's gonna be double digit. It's gonna be 13, 14 points by the time you start the fourth quarter, if you don't match that intensity from the three-point line and I don't think the Lakers have great three-point shooting

I think they got the shoes LeBron is creaky Kobe and Ozarks officer ease he's creaky. They don't have guys that you like. Oh, okay. They could just pull from here And it's good Christian, what's his name? Oh, Max Christie? Yeah, he got a ratchet. I can't lie. He got a ratchet. He just don't get, he's, a lot of,

I find him in a lot of times he's starting to offense, so it's hard for him to get, to catch that second swing rotation to be on the weak side. So, but I think he got a cannon though, honestly. I just don't think he's in that position a lot. But again, like for me, the hardest part about it is when you playing in this league and it's a three point shooting league right now,

like even I watched the Boston game, they shot 53 threes, shoot 53 threes in the NBA game. And there's only like 80, 90 possessions. Like that's a lot of, well, it used to be. Yeah, basically, every other possession. It was a point, I'm at the wine bar with my homie, I'm like, bro, this is the last eight possessions with all threes.

So it's like, if you don't have, if you can't, again, like you said, if you can't match the shooting, the team's gonna pull away, especially if you can't create stuff. So for me, a lot of those times, like, in especially over the last couple of years, I try to look at like the Lakers, like, what's your identity? Like, what's the identity of the team? Is it a scrappy team? Is it a front running team? Is your underdog team? Like, what type of team are y'all? Because that, that, if you can under like underline that,

cause I knew like for sure for us in Cleveland, like we was an underdog team, but coming out of third quarters, I knew for sure coming out of third quarters, the team was going to make a six to eight run coming out the doors. We just started off slow. That's just the way it was.

And no matter what, no matter how good we were at times, that's just the way it is. But we was underdogs. So everybody in that system, in that situation, we already looked at it like, no, we are, we were already underneath. So we're going to come back anyway. But this team I'm looking at it like, what's y'all, what's going to be the, like right now, even the guys coming off the bench, who's that guy that was on another team that's coming to this team and be like, ooh, like a Lou Will or like a, even a Nick Young or like who's that guy coming off the bench

and be like, hey man, we got a game plan around him. Like, watch out for this dude doing this. Like there's nobody. Right, the Lakers really, not since Malik Monk, have they had a guy that could come in and you know he can give me instant offense. They haven't had that guy and most teams have a guy that can come in and you know he can let it go. Lakers don't have anybody. The Lakers bench haven't improved because that's pretty much the same players they had last year and

they bench was suspect. So I don't understand what you thought was gonna happen even if AD's playing at his best level. LeBron is giving me what LeBron does. Still, they can't play 48 minutes. So you're gonna have to get, you need your bench to average what? Somewhere between 25 and 30 points? All day long.

Because you gotta have your main bench guy, six man guy, he's gotta be anywhere from 12 to 15. And that's gotta be any, like a given night, I need at least 12 to 15. I can't, how you going with three? And you know, because at this rate, you the third dude. Like, to me, it doesn't make sense because I think D-Lo has the game,

he has the caliber of game to fit as a third guy, but I don't understand why it's not. But what happened to it? What happened to it, Swish? I don't know. What's going on with you? I'm not gonna lie, bro. It's hard to play next to Braun.

It is. It's hard to play next to, when It is, it's hard to play next to him. When you got like, it's different when you go from a situation like, and I know not him as a person or as a player, but like, it's different when you go from a situation where you in Minnesota and nobody has any expectations. And then you go from a situation to where you were back in the show.

And you got those guys and they just wanted Chip in a bubble. Like granted, it was a couple years ago, however you want to count it, discount it, whatever, the Chip is the Chip. So when you playing for the Lakers, for one, and you got Braun next to you, that's a lot of pressure. Because the expectations are both ends. You know what the Lakers represent,

and you know every time theBron touches the court, the expectation of him is to be into the finals because that's the standard that he set. And that's what I tell people. It's easy. Hey, you playing when nobody gives a damn if you win by 25 or you lose by 25 versus you going and the stadium is sold out road or home, it's a sellout. That's a different pressure. And the expectations are, a lot of times,

not just what I tell people, a lot of times, some of the greatest killer of a player's career is expectations. Because not only the expectation that the player have for themselves, is that the expectation that you have when you go to an organization, and the expectations are to win. And they don't accept excuses, of why you didn't win.

They don't care. They just want you to win. And you in LA, LA, Boston have a different standard because they are the gold standard. Same thing with the Warriors now. The Warriors have built, excuse me, the Warriors have built themselves into that model over the last decade.

But we know what the Celtics represent. We know what the Lakers represent from the 60s to the 70s to the last decade. But we know what the Celtics represent. We know what the Lakers represent from the 60s to the 70s to the 80s. Even the Heat were roused. The Lakers. You know what you're getting. You know what you're getting. You know when you walking through this door

what you're getting yourself into. Right. And so I can just imagine, and that's why I'm playing with a great player. Yeah, they make the game easier, but they put a lot of pressure on your ass. Because they expect you to catch everything that they throw in your vicinity,

they expect you to be where you're supposed to be, they don't wanna hear, Johnny, wanna hear nothing but no excuses, the guy got a good jam on me, I stumbled down, I slipped, he didn't wanna hear none of that. Because guess what, while you out there horse-jacking around, the guy tried to hit me in the back of my head. Trying to take my head off.

That's the same thing with LeBron. LeBron's like, bro, I'm closer to the end than the beginning. And the expect, see, the problem is, is that as LeBron has gotten older, they don't compare LeBron to anything else, but a younger LeBron. You can't.

And see, the expectations haven't changed for him. They expect LeBron, because once he a younger LeBron. You can't. And see the expectation to have a change for him, they expect LeBron, because once he went to all those final switches, they expect that to be, that's the expectation every year, no matter who he's playing for, no matter who's playing around. 100%. And trust me, as a player, as you feel that,

like I knew for sure when we were in the finals, like this is your seventh in a row, this is your eighth in a row, this is your eighth in a row, this is your ninth in a row. Like, bro, how many, like, damn. And I gotta make sure you win this joint. Because at the end of the day, like, regardless of the situation, like, when we won, don't get me wrong, we won, but when they start, when they show clips in 20 years,

they gonna show my homie, like this is, he came home and they gonna show him, and they're like, they gonna show me over here, like yeah, but they ain't, like it ain't about me, dog. This is, this is like, I knew that going in, like this is bigger than me, so like, for the situation, it's like, I look at it very, very different now, and I it's like, I look at it very, very different now.

And I hope, like, I wish I could talk to somebody like a Cam Reddish, because like, bro, you got an opportunity to really, especially when they be playing people like this, dog. Like, bro, if you could come off the bench and go out there and like just average 15 to 16 off the bench, be consistent with it. Take your shots.

If they don't go in, they don't go in, but you gotta take those same shots next game. That's the biggest problem, I think, with the Lakers right now is like, when you see dudes miss, they feel that monkey on their jacket and they're like, let me pump fake one dribble, two dribble, probe, kick it out.

Like, nah, bro, if I'm open, I'm open. I'm shooting that. Ain't nobody telling me different. Right. But you gotta have confidence when you shoot it. As you can see, Ocho is joining us now. Ocho, you got us? The man moving around now.

I think he might be muted. Twitch, earlier today Chandler Parsons said, the Lakers lose, it's not going to be 40 year old man's fault. It's Anthony Davis, not LeBron James. It's on Anthony Davis, not LeBron. What do you make of that? For me, it's just availability. Anthony Davis over the course of the years, I think people are getting fed up with A.D. and him being available, especially at his age,

and then seeing a person like LeBron at his age and being always available. But I think one thing that people don't understand about special specimens. Like I look at like Bron, you, Ocho, like y'all are like, y'all are different specimens than everybody else. Like I got a homeboy, like we used to,

we played together in Denver and we lived down the street from each other. We walk, we work out, we do all of that. I can still go to Burger King after that. I could go to McDonald's after that. He got to go get a salad because that's just going to transform different. But within that, with respect to AD, his body ain't built for this. Not in the sense of being available the way other people needs him to be available. His body is built for what he's doing right now.

Listen, bro, you gotta sit down, you gotta sit down. And same with Joel and B, like don't get me wrong, I understand like some of the older guys, you know, Charles Barkley or Patrick Ewing dudes who played 82 games every game and was those guys in that time. But at the same time, we not working with that. We not working with the same steel, titanium,

like this is a different, totally different metal. Yeah. Hey there, it's Michael Lewis, author of Going Infinite, Moneyball, The Blind Side, and Liar's Poker. On every season of my podcast Against the Rules, I take a broad look at various characters in American life. The referee, the coach, the expert. My next season is all about fans and what the rise

of sports betting is doing to them, to the teams, and even to my family. I'm heading to Las Vegas and New Jersey and beyond to understand America's newest form of legalized gambling. Listen to Against the Rules on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Everything's different now, Swish. You look at the baseball players, the pitchers don't pitch as often as they once did. They got a guy go three or four innings

because they don't want the guy to see the batters to see them the third time through the lineup. So you got middle relief, you got lefty lefty matchup, you got righty righty matchup, you got middle relief, you got a setup man, and then you got a closer. So the baseball players used to, you know, the pitchers used to pitch every fifth day. I ain't a case man.

To me that's way, that's more strategic. That's, but that's not necessarily availability. Or you guys, or you guys, it was thought of as a badge of honor for you to play 82 games. Guys don't give a damn about no 82 games. No, no, no, they ain't thinking about that. They don't care about that at all. At all. When we played, I mean, defensive linemen,

they wasn't no, oh, you playing 50 snaps and then somebody's gonna play 30. You played until you couldn't go anymore. And then you came out when you got tired. It wasn't no, okay, today you're gonna play 40, you're gonna play 40 of the 65 plays. Or you gonna, no, you gonna play until you get tired. So if we ran 70 plays, basically, you're gonna be out of the 65 plays, or you're gonna, no, you're gonna play until you get tired. So if we ran 70 plays,

basically you're gonna be out there 60 of them. I ain't gonna lie, like load management and all that, we didn't know nothing about that till the Pops started doing that with Tim and them, and that was still like, and that was like 2010, 2011, somewhere in that range. And it was like, bro, like we don't,

when I came in at 04, you try to play 82 games and you try to play 38, 40 minutes a game. Are you kidding? Like low management, what you mean? I don't care if it's the worst team. I'm trying to go get 35 on the worst team. I'm trying to go get 35 on the best team. It's just, that's the competitive,

usually that you put, you like, I grew up, couldn't wait to get to this level. I dreamt about this forever, to go sit down and nothing is wrong with me, or just be like, oh nah, you gotta, you know, you play 35 minutes a night, so you gotta chill the night, and then the day after tomorrow you can go back out and play 35. Like, I don't, I can't even fathomably think of that

in a game. Like there's no way I gotta play today, tomorrow, take a day off the next day we playing. Like that's, we playing. Oh Joe, you got us? Yeah, you can hear me? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

What's up, what's up baby? I just landed that. I landed, came straight to the hotel and got here as fast as I could, yeah. What's up, what's up, baby? I just landed that. I landed, came straight to the hotel and got here as fast as I could, baby. J.R., what's up, what? Hey, man, what's happening, man? Now throw something on the floor for me, baby. I'm gonna pick it up now.

We got you. We've been waiting on you. KD had high praise for John today, saying, "'He's the most athletic person I've seen.'" Swish, do you agree? Do you agree? Is John the most athletic person I've seen. Swizz, do you agree, do you agree, is John the Mass most athletic player that you've seen? The basketball player?

No. Yeah. Nah. You like Russ, you like D-Rose? The most athletic, I mean, D-Rose and his heyday, oh my God. But to me, honestly, the most athletic, I gotta go Russ, bro. At six, five, long arms, wiry, strength,

athletic, like explosiveness, intensity. I gotta go Russ. Man, heaven, heaven. I never saw Russ at his prime, in his prime. I only saw Russ a couple his prime, in his prime. I only saw Russ a couple years ago with the Lakers. But I saw Ja, and I've seen Ja on several occasions. The way that, and he a fan,

but if you look at his waistlines, his legs really don't match his body because he's really thin frame up top, but he got some legs on it he built he he built kind of like a wire receiver oh you know yeah he's not he's not wiry right he got some size to it from from waist down right and the way he can elevate and hang in the air and contort his body yeah oh we i haven't had I haven't had the pleasure, the opportunity to watch job close. I did see D Rose up close.

I've seen Russell Westbrook up close, but watching from TV, obviously TV does does you really does give you no really no justice until you see a player of that magnitude. But it is explosive. And John Marant looks from TV. I can imagine it looks that much more explosive in person So at some point at some point I got a watching play in person. Yes, when it comes to players at a very explosive That's that's your top three right there D Rose. Yeah, obviously Russ

Russ yeah Westbrook. I'm trying to think who else played that, that, that, that, that intensity. They play like they angry. It reminds me of Steve Smith. You know how Steve Smith, Steve Smith, like they, somebody did something to him, but who pissed you off? He did. They just played a game angry as hell. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, uh, uh, uh, D Rose with that app, with that, that point guard that could,

you don't normally switch. know this you don't normally have point guards That play above the rim Russ played above the rim a job plays above the rim D Rose could play above the rim But most of the time the point guard they play below the rim now Kevin Johnson was unique because Kevin Johnson can play above the rim but Now, Kevin Johnson was unique because Kevin Johnson could play above the rim. So it's a rarity when you see it, but Ja consistently is a, I mean, he's one of those guys and those guys do a lot of damage in the paint. Because if you look at Ja at the end of the year, you look at Russ when he was in his prime, you look at D. Rose in his prime, look at the point paint. So you have to be a guy to elevate in order to be able to get your shot off over those trees. Because if you, you know, John Stockett went

and played in the paint. You know, Jay King, the guys like that, they weren't playing in the paint. Now Magic was different, but Magic was fine. Tony Parker was the only one. Tony Parker was the only one. Yes, he was the only ground-based point guard that lived in the bank. Oh, we can't stop it.

That shit used to piss me off so bad, dawg. And they kept your ass in the pick and roll. You got him and Tim in the pick and roll, then you got the other big white boy pick and roll. My new infatuation in the pick and roll. The pick and roll, dribble drive, dribble hand off. I'm like, damn, do y'all run any other offense other than pick and roll? D pick and roll, dribble drive, dribble hand off. I'm like damn, do y'all run any other offense other than pick and roll?

Dribble out, come back, oh Scott, you can lay up. Oh my God, that should give me nightmares man. Pop used to kill us, who Pop used to kill us? Steph Curry scores 27, the lead to Warriors passed to Celtics, won 18, won 12. Steph Curry 27, Buddy Hill 16, and the warriors won their fifth straight game.

Jason Tatum led Boston with 32, Derek White had 26, six rebounds and JB did not play. Everybody wanted this to be a revenge game from Jason Tatum, considering what transpired at the Paris Olympics, which he didn't get, there were some DMPs and I remember telling oh Charlie. Hold on at the end of the day That man is the only guy that's on this thing. It's been a three-time first team all-in-b.a player He's the only one that has three consecutive first team all-in-b.a players

He's an all-star and he's the reigning and he's the champion and you mean He's not the only person though No, no, I'm saying Okay, three years He's the champion. And you mean to tell me. But he's not the only person though. You couldn't find. No, no, no, I'm saying. In the past three years, he's the only one that's been a three time. No, no, well obviously, Braun went like 12, 13 years in a row.

But when you look at it, Swish, you mean to tell me a man as credentialed as that, with no injuries, you can't find no minutes in the game for him? I'm talking about not none, zero. I think it was personal. I think it's, honestly, I think it's psychological barrier, like gang. Yeah, like I don't think it's, I think it's personal,

but it's not personal. Like it's a mental barrier that they break, like they trying to break down on you, like messing with you. I almost like how they, I wouldn't to break down on you, like messing with you. Almost like how they, I wouldn't say how they did Gil, because Gil was a completely different player, but like they just trying to mess with you, like trying to mess with you to mess with you,

because again, they know this game is going to come up, they got another game coming up in the West eventually, and then they got on after, they, they fuck around, see them in the finals, the way Golden State played. Go to State playin' unbelievable basketball. I'm tellin' you, the way they playin', like, and it ain't, to be honest, it wouldn't be a surprise.

I mean, is it not too early? Because teams are playing this early in the season? Being able to maintain that same chemistry, that same momentum. Nah, it's healthy. Late in the season, that same chemistry, that same momentum. No, it was healthy. Late in the season, it's still an 82 season game. Yeah, but it's, I mean, at that point it's health. Like for a team like a Golden State,

they got that pedigree. So they game, they style ain't gonna change. The style of the play ain't gonna change. It's just a matter of you can stay healthy at that point and then you can make adjustments. But to me, I like it when you talk about championship teams, that that ain't going to change. But like a team like a let me like a Orlando,

like it should can change a lot because the make that's just the makeup of the team. One dude go down and one dude can't like other dude getting too much pressure, stepping up, not really used to being in that position. That's a lot of shit that can go like up not really used to being in that position. That's a lot of shit that can go, like it can falter in that. But for like a team like the Celtics, man, I'm surprised honestly in the revenge game,

I'm thinking like, okay, JB gonna sit down so JT can go off. I'm thinking JT about to go nuts. Like don't get me wrong, 30, we at 32? 32, he had a good game. He start coming alive at the end, but you playing number. You were thinking of, you thinking of 40 before 50.

Like 55 and up bro. They just, that's disrespectful bro. You didn't play. Yeah, there were games he played in some game. He got some little mouthfuls. You the number one dude and you the number one highest paid player now. You the number, you own a cover of 2K.

You just wanted shit. Like, there's no reason for him not to be in the situation. You can't tell, you know, he didn't necessarily fit the makeup of what we had going on. What do you mean? This is what Steve Kerr said. Warriors coach Steve Kerr was booed at TD Garden. The crowd showed the displeasure

over how he used Tatum in the Paris Olympics. Before the game, Steve Kerr said he doesn't regret his decision. We've got 12 Hall of Famers and we just committed to quit. He stood on business. We've got 12 Hall of Famers and we juster. Wait, he said he doesn't regret? Let me finish the comment and we can respond. We've got 12 Hall of Famer and we just committed to winning and we won the gold medal. I don't give it a

whole lot of thought other than I didn't enjoy not playing Jason against Serbia. Not playing Joel against South Sudan. Those are not fun decisions but our guys are all amazing and committed to each other and committed to winning the gold medal. Yeah, but not playing Joel against South Sudan made more sense than not playing JT against Serbia. Serbia. Like no disrespect to like Devin,

like to Devin Booker, but when I look at Devin Booker and I look at Jason Tatum, like, ain't he three inches taller than him? But see, I think, let me try to play devil's advocate. Jason Tatum's like, you remember when they had the thing, and they asked who wants to play,

and Jason Tatum said, hey,, I go, I'll play. I don't care if I don't get no shots. I'll just play defense. Right. So he was like, oh, look, I ain't got no ego. Hey, we got Bron, we got Katie, we got Steph. This the last one they going to. It's about them.

Whatever y'all need from me. Y'all need me to guard on the perimeter. I got you. Ant-Man, y'all need me to guard on the perimeter. I got you. Well, hell, hey, JT, check this out. Ant-Man, y'all need me to guard the perimeter, I gotcha. Well hell, hey JT, check this out. We got three big guns. This is the last war rate.

You down to be guarded on the perimeter? You good to be guarded on the perimeter if you don't score but six points? I just don't know how. I just don't know how. That's Jason Tatum. That's Jason mo fo Tato and you be to tell me you can't get three four minutes I don't came up the bench on the redeemed team Yes, this one's sound like

You got a fine time for Jasonum, bro. I don't get it. I agree. I said it when the Olympics was going on. It gotta be something internal. It gotta be something personal. Cause there's no reason someone like Jason Tatum, who just coming off winning a chip, is coming off the bench,

let alone not getting any minutes. Something isn't right. Even if you do have 12 Hall of Famers. Because if you think of, Swish, you remember, he was like the second best player in the previous Olympics, behind KBP. So how you go from being the second best player to not playing in a game or two and playing Liberty minutes in the office?

I'm missing something. When you say it's internal, I'm starting to think like, maybe they was bitter because he didn't show up when everybody else showed up, even after right off and winning the chip. Cause you gotta think he came late. Yeah, man, come on. He did come late.

They had a chemistry with the first unit, which okay, cool. If you got a chemistry with the first unit and you got Katie, Steph, and Bron out there, I'm never gonna tell you to mess that up. Go ahead, do that. But you mean to tell me, you can't find 10, 15 minutes for Jason Tatum on the second unit? Man, you gotta think about how good that team is, bro.

If you can't find time for Jason Tatum, right? Think about if Jalen Brown was on that team, where was he gonna play? Yes. We'll never know. He said, look, we committed to winning. Guys said they would do whatever it took to win the gold medal.

They needed that. We needed those last, those last two games from Steph Curry. LeBron, the first three games, LeBron was sensational. I mean, LeBron was sensational the whole tournament, but those first three games, he was obviously out of his mind. Played well the entire tournament. I'm not surprised that he won the tournament's most valuable player. Although people said Steph Curry should have won it for those last two games, I think LeBron should have won it because LeBron was great from start to finish.

Steph struggled the first three games with you three. I'm not gonna say he struggled, but I think LeBron just outwardly performed everybody that it wasn't even close. Like I think he, and it's not even like for me, it's funny because you know how guys go for certain things. Somebody going for yards, somebody going for stats or something like that.

It's like bro just be out there hoopin' and he don't be going for nothing and be getting everything. So I know it's hard for other people who just sit there like, cause a lot of, like let's just say the lot of the knock on Steph Curry was he didn't have no finals and VPs because KD. So the, so when it comes to legacy,

shit like that matters to a lot of people. When Buddy not going for it, he's just winning it, just playing off of himself. That's gotta be like the best feeling in the world. I can only imagine. Cause he's literally not trying to change anything about his game He's literally making it fit to everywhere. He goes It's incredible

Yeah, you say they step and have a good game early in like obviously the first We know with Steph being a volume shooter the way he is, especially when you play with the Warriors He's putting up shot after shot after shot after shot. Regardless, he's going to shoot. But you think about the amount of shots he took in those games. He just wasn't efficient. He wasn't taking as many shots. So it looked like he was playing bad as opposed to not being able to get in rhythm

because he was missing the few shots he was taking. Great point. Now, once you got some shots, once we got later into the later games, when you started hitting, he was hit. Give me a. As give me Steph's first three games, because there's a couple of games he had like seven points, he had like four points and he took some shots and give me all the first three games of stuff. But like you said, LeBron just just did it so effortlessly is that he was scoring, he was rebounding.

Obviously he was, you know, he was in charge of the offense and that's what he does. I mean, he's 6'9", he can handle the ball, he can score the ball, he can get downhill, you got to get out of his way because he's going to bowl through you. He's going to find the open shooter. He had guys, he had marksmen. I mean, think about it. He got Steph on one side. He got KD on the other side.

And then now what you're going to do, if you don't pack the lane, he's going to drive down the lane because your guy can't stay in front of him. And when you bring the guy to help, and it don't matter where you bring it from, because he knows where you're coming from and he can whip the ball, fill it across court. He can find them in the short port. He can find him. He can find them at the time. Let me ask you this. Would y'all agree that Lebron is probably the most all

around best player on that team? All around? Absolutely. So if you have, if you, I think you ask a hundred people, a hundred people that same question, I'm sure, 100 people are gonna agree with you, even if you're not a basketball fan. And if you know the game, you know, LeBron is obviously the most well-rounded player there is, or there was. We're not, the reason why I asked that,

so imagine having the best well-rounded player and the smartest player in the same person on that team. When you got Steph on one side, you got KD on the other side, you got AD, Bam, Devin Booker, Anthony Edwards, you, and you already the best at it, like bro, you read everything, no matter defenses, you see every defense defense whether it was Serbia

rush Was it southern Sudan like there's no package that you bought a throw at us that he's not going to capitalize on with shooters and weapons There's no chance in The first game on the 28th still played 21 minutes. He had 11 points next game to 31st He had 21 played 21 minutes. He had three points the next game the United States against Puerto Rico He played 18 minutes. He had eight points the next game against Brazil

He played 17 minutes and had seven points. So again, do y'all think you played well the first four games? But you're not naming the most important thing in the point that I brought up. How many shots did he take? Yeah, he didn't take that many shots. How many shots did he take? Because one game he shot really poorly from three. There were a couple of games that he shot really bad. And I think that's what, now those last two games,

he shot the ball out of his mind. And they needed, because you remember that one, two guys came out to get him, and he switched it in both of them, KD was wanting the ball, LeBron was asking for him to swing it around, and he's like, no, I got this one. That's what he put on that night.

Yeah, yeah. And that's, hold up. He made, in of the 17 points, he had three main field goals. Ashes trying to get me the field goal attempts and made it each. But look, it's kind of like an All-Star GameSwitch. You got the best players.

Everybody can't get, everybody's gonna get the same number of shots that they'd normally get if they was on their own team. Ain't enough shots to go around. You gotta be efficient at that point. Yeah. So, you know, LeBron normally takes 17 shots. KD normally takes 17 shots. Steph takes 17 shots. But damn. You 17 shots. Steph takes 17 shots.

Well damn. You got eight, you got nine. We gonna keep living with your 11, whoever rolling. Against Serbia the first game when he had, he was a four of eight. The next game he was one of nine. The next game he was three of eight. Quarter finals against Brazil, he was two of or three and then he went 12 of 19

He went eight of 13. See he told you he didn't even shoot them them first three games. We had low points He didn't even shoot over nine. I'm saying three of eight isn't bad. It's just that it's Steph that makes it He was three. He was three He was three or seven from three in the first game or six two of six zero one nine of 14 eight of 12 He kind of real he got that rhythm in the first game, 0 of 6, 2 of 6, 0 of 1, 9 of 14, 8 of 12. He got his rhythm. He got that rhythm in the semifinals against Serbia because remember at one point, Swizz, they were down by like double,

they were down like 18, 19 points. So he had to catch fire or they were going home. It's really that simple. If he doesn't catch fire and once he got it going, now all of a sudden they turned up the defensive intensity, Ant-Man, but, diving, making tough on the pass lane. Even KD, you saw KD sit in the chair. Them boys, hey, them boys ain't wanna lose.

They like, oh hell no, we ain't finna lose this. We ain't going out like this. It's a different kind of pressure when you gotta come home and people talking that, You know what I mean? Like, oh my goodness. Oh, they gonna be talking crazy because this ain't like a year's past where we didn't send out this.

We sent Steph, we sent Braun, we sent KD, we sent Jason Tate, we sent a Joel and B. We sent our generation's Mike, Larry and Magic. Yes, yes. And you come home with something other than gold? See, and the thing is, you don't win silver, you lose gold. So that's what that is. And think about it, the game,

it's like the Chinese losing table tennis. They created the game. You can't, no, no, no, no, bro. No, hell no. No, no, no, okay. Basketball, that'll be like us. We going to, if they brought NFL football, let's just say they brought tackle football to the Olympics.

If we never, if we didn't win the gold. I wish y'all wouldn't. I promise y wish I would. Oh my God. How that gonna look, Ocho? A game that we created here in the States. That's gonna look bad. That's gonna look bad.

Even though the European teams, they've gotten competitively better, tremendously. And it's a lot of them that are playing in NBA now. For us to go up there and lose and lose and we send our best, they would never do that. Everybody on the team was an all star. But here's the thing Swish and people like well and the world is catching up because they have a lot more players from Serbia, Slovenia and all these places. But everybody on the American team

is in the NBA. Not every Serbian is in the NBA. Not every Sublinian, not every Brazilian, not all the other, the French, the Greek, whomever. All of those players that's on that team aren't in the NBA. Every last one of those guys that was on the NBA in the Olympics, guess what they played. There's a few of those dudes on the other teams who got regular jobs.

Like they Masons that had at the crib. Like they cutting off road work or something at the crib. Nah, dog, everybody on the, everybody on the USA team, not only was they playing in the NBA, they was a, they're an all star. You, like all NBA player. All NBA player. If you lose that, could you imagine? Oh no. Oh no.

Hey there, it's Michael Lewis, author of Going Infinite, Moneyball, The Blind Side, and Liar's Poker. On every season of my podcast Against the Rules, I take a broad look at various characters in American life. The referee, the coach, the expert. My next season is all about fans and what the rise of sports betting is doing to them, to the teams, and even to my family. I'm heading to Las Vegas and New Jersey and beyond to understand America's newest form of legalized gambling. Listen to Against the

Rules on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. In KD three years with Golden State, they went back to back titles, which could have been a three-peat had he not been for KD's injury. When asked who's the best shooter with the game on the line, Lou Williams picked KD over Steff as the best clutch shooter. He's got everything. He's got a deep, deep Santa bag. Swish, you agree? Steph over KD, I think, yeah, I mean.

You know, he picked KD over Steph. I'm asking you, do you agree with Lou Will or do you say Steph is the best clutch shooter with the game on the line? I mean between the two, or is there somebody else you would take? Between the two I would have to go Steph, because I think Steph, to me,

I've seen Steph hit more go ahead buckets and bigger buckets. Yeah. That one he hit against OKC on that Saturday night? Oh my God. From about 40? And he brought them back from that. They was down 3-1. Yeah.

Well, that was, oh, and plus, Clay, that was also tonight that Clay had 11 made threes in that playoff game. But with Steph here, that's, I was like, and you can see him, like, I was like, I know damn well this man ain't finna line this thing up. That's what he draws. And I been damned. And that's what you call a mic breathing, bang!

Bang! Bang! I ain't gonna lie, bro. He, buddy, he's cold, dog. I used to hate him, I ain't gonna lie. Him and Kalei, I used to hate him. And that was cool with him at one point. We played golf together, went to CP wedding together.

We had a good old time, everything. And then out of nowhere, we get in this situation where we playing against each other in the finals consistently. I'm like, man, I hate this little dude. I hate, and I know he hate me at the time for sure. Bro, and I tell you, like, I, you can't do nothing but tip your hat.

At the end of the day, it's competition, but then that motherfucker good, dog. He the both of them. And the thing, but Swish, you know this, as being a shooter, to run as much as he's running and still have the capacity, the cardio capacity, to put that shot up and to go from one side to the other and the one side to the other.

I mean, Reggie Miller ran off picks, but damn, Steph running two, three, four miles, they seemed like a damn game and still have the ability to catch and fire and shoot with the consistency and the accuracy and the distance of which he's shooting it from. I think to a lot to the credit that you was just giving, one of our other dudes is kind of like built

like a wide receiver. Steph is actually one of the strongest guards I've ever played against. He's not, he ain't frail. Like he's not frail, he's very strong. He can, he's throwing people off, like he can get to where he gotta get to and he has enough strength to get to get it there

But it's like you look at it. It's just like oh he flopping or he's doing this Just just cause off of the way the game is quote unquote called in the way is played now, but dude is strong as hell I'm not gonna lie. Like he's definitely You gotta give him credit on the miles and being able to continuously run and move and stuff like that. But he's strong as hell, man. So when you coming off those screens, you got strong hands, he ain't thinking about much,

but all I gotta do is see where the target is at. Man, it's been reported Jason Tatum, a boy Steve Curran instantly walks off the court after the loss. You think they'll ever be cool, Swish? They'll not. I mean, I think so. I think they will just because it's like,

it's not really that, it ain't that serious. But at the end of the day, to me it's like, why do that now? Like you already made it as like, nah, it ain't that big of a deal. I'm a sacrifice for the team. We won, go, I'm happy, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. But then you wanna make a scene during the year,

you just walk off. Like to me, shake the man's hand. Dog, you lost, you won, whatever the case it was. It wasn't no bad blood then, right? So it shouldn't be no bad blood now in the public eye. And if it was bad blood, you should have addressed it when it happened. But now you're just giving me too many different sides.

Like I don't know how to take it. I know how to take it. I told Ocho at the time, Ocho told me, you think, I said, man, that man got pride. That man done been a three times, all the first team, all the NBA player. He been an all-star game MVP. Done been to all these all-star games.

He won the title. And you mean to tell me you treat that man like he the 12th or 13th man on a regular roster? Oh, hell yeah, that man got props. But am I thinking, do you think it bothers him or do you think somebody, people getting in his ear to where it should bother him? Both.

Be a positive. I mean, I think it should bother him, but I don't really think it bothers him like that. Like, I don't think it puts them in a position to where like, like a, like he want that, that smoke. No, but here's the thing though, Switch. It's almost like, you know how some guys on a team and you win the ring and they don't really contribute.

When people go back and look, when people go back and look at it, what you think they gonna say about Jason Tatum and that 2024 Redeem Redeem team? He ain't do nothing. That's exactly what he gonna say. You know what they gonna say, that man got two DMPs.

That's Jason Tatum. That's definitely Jason Tatum, bro. That's definitely Jason Tatum. I assume you see to me, that's what we were like, for me, I would be upset. I would be more upset and I would have voiced it, like I'm not happy, Brandon, we won, and I'm happy for the team,

but I feel as though I should've been playing in this situation. But now you making it like, I don't mess with dudes after you already told people you rock with dudes. Like that's what, like, what you doing? Well, he said, when they asked you about it, Swish, he said, it was definitely humbling. You know when a guy said something is humbling?

You know he feels some type of way about it. Yeah, it's a humbling experience. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, if it's a humbling experience, like, for sure. Yeah, it's a whole lot of experience. Like, all right. Switch, when the last time you think Jason Tatum didn't play in the game, that he was healthy to play?

Probably elementary. Nah, probably not in elementary, bro. Yeah, it might have been elementary when his dad probably held him out. Probably like, nah, you ain't playing today because you did something wrong or something. That's the only time. But he's, yeah, it's hard for me to believe that he's ever not been the best player or the second best player on the team.

It's hard for me to see any other scenario, Swish. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I find it hard to believe that he's definitely not one or two. But even on that team, he could be four or five. Yes. So, but I'm saying, but I'm saying to not think about it, switch this man, they play what they play 40 minutes and he didn't play a single minute. Yeah. Think about it. Even when he didn't play a single minute? Yeah. Think about it.

Even we didn't get a blowout. We done, hey, we up, cause there are some games, hold on. Let me see what you got. We beat, hold on. As you're taking it out. But I was looking, we beat some team like 122 to 87, 115 to 83, and you been to the table, you couldn't find.

No minutes in there for you. Boy, at that point, it's disrespectful. You not gonna throw throw buddy in there for a minute and a half and shit like that Like you can't do that. Well, you know, hey, you don't dump don't be the whole game. So you buy what you keep Yeah, disrespect is already done. You know poop don't demand the whole game. So if you pee on his foot, it ain't that bad switch So if you pee on his foot, it ain't that bad, Switch. That's tough. That's tough. I'll be hot. Bro, I don't know.

So let me ask you this. Who would you rather be in the show? Would you rather be JB and not get picked? Yeah. Yeah. But they had already chosen the roster before he went on this hot street before you won Eastern Conference player Eastern Conference MVP and won the

The final before we won the lab bird award before he won the bill russell award. They'd already had a big now Okay. Oh, I know what you said. You said when kawaii got when kawaii got left out brain jb But it seemed like who did they want his teammate? Why don't you say it, you said when Kawhi got left out, bring JB. But it seemed like, who did they bring? Their teammate. Their what, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ooh, yeah, ooh, ooh. Yeah.

You get final, you get not only Eastern Conference MVP, you get finals MVP, you win the chip, your man is on the cover of 2K, he just signed for, you know, both of y'all signed for the bag. But then you don't even get picked? I don't know, I'd rather be Jason Tatum, at least I got picked. Yeah.

But I'm trying to think, did I, I thought they might, but I was like, when you look at it, okay, they got LeBron, they got KD, Jason Tatum. Who's the other three or the four that they had on the team? Because Derek White was a guard, Holliday was a guard, Steph was a guard, Ant-Man was a guard.

So you have four guards, okay? You got Embiid, you got a D or you two bigs. Did they have another big? Bam. So yeah, so that's it. So that's seven. You got 10. So you got two, you got two vote. So you got book. Yeah. I forgot book. Yeah. Hey Halliburton. Halliburton gotta go. He gotta go. He gotta go. The band, hold on. You gonna cut the band?

You already, the band that went through all that. He's with you. What you mean? He the dude in class project sitting in the back like, hey yo, we got an A? Hey, cool. Word. He got, hey, he got an A. He got an A.

They did no participation. No, I can't, they do no participation. No, I can't say he did no participation, you showed him for practice. He gave good after the practice, he gave the schemes. He brought the cardboard. You know, you got this one kid that the parent got money and they should have done it by the cardboard paper.

And the markers. He got all that, for sure. The NBA suspends Joel Embiid for three games for shoving Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes. The altercation stemmed from a column published in October by the Inquirer. That column written by Hayes criticized Embiid for missing games, but mentioned both Embiid's brother,

who passed away tragically in a car accident, and Embiid's young son, who he named after his brother. The story has since been edited to remove mentions of either relative. Hayes will continue covering the Sixers following the incident. Was a three game suspension fair switch? No, hell no.

No, he's like at the end of the day for real, to me, you gotta like, you gotta draw the line somewhere. If you wanna critique me and my game, no problem. You got all of that. You can critique me, you can talk about me, you can talk about my availability, you can talk about my money or my salary,

because everybody talking about it anyway, you can talk about my minutes, my shots, all of that. But you talk about my son, you talking about my dad brother? No, no, no, no, no, that's where we draw the line, dog. I gotta put hands on, I gotta put the paws on you, dog, hands and feet, straight up. I don't play, we don't play none of that. I told you.

Listen, that's part of being a journalist, part of being an analyst, it's one thing to be able to critique. But what he did was, it was in bad taste. It was in bad taste. You didn't have to go that route. There's a there's a way to do things and get your point across without doing it that way. He did that on purpose, purpose to jig and knowing that it would catch headlines and catch fire and it would upset him. He knew that.

You know, that was the order. There's a way. Yeah, but I think. I use the term, which I don't believe that's the way they put it. Yeah, but I think, I use the term, Swish, I don't believe that's the cup of water that caused the Atlantic to flood. I believe Marcus Hayes has been writing these articles and Joellen Bede has been fed up

because what is causing is that the fans in Philly is starting to question him. And you remember, Swish, he said, I've done too much for this city for the fans to be talking this ish like question him. And you remember Swish, he said, I've done too much for this city, for the fans to be talking his ish like they talking. So you can tell the constant mentioning, well damn, when Joe L is gonna come back? Oh, he just signed a three year deal for like 130,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's been a continuation. Yeah, his health has been an issue. We know Joe L and B would have been the first pick in the draft, had he not had been an issue. We know Joel Embiid would have been the first pick in the draft had he not had that back issue. And the caveat, when you mention the Sixers all the time, I'm not saying Marcus Hayes is right,

but the caveat is always Joel Embiid's health. If they healthy, they can make a deep run with Paul George, Maxie, but if everything is always, since Embiid has been in the league, everything is contingent on his help That's good. But I mean that's true. Everything is contingent on from the sixes standpoint on Joel's health has been like that Since even when Ben was there it was like that

But my thing is yeah All I've done for the city, what do you do? All I've done for the city, what do you do? You put up some boys and girls clubs and something around there, what do you do? He ain't went to not one final. He ain't went nowhere, what do you do? But Swish, that's what a lot of times players don't understand.

Although the fans in the community are very appreciative and receptive for what you do, they want you to win a title. do. They want you to win a title. They'd rather for you to win a title than put up a boys and girls club. They would rather for you to build a title than give books to a library or something. Because at the end of the day,

that's kind of why you're there. Although they're very appreciative of anything that you do outside of that. I don't want people to take, misconstrue this and say what Shaddaf said. No, but the fans are not looking for you to come into a city and say, okay, he gonna rebuild a city. Oh, he's gonna, all the libraries

and all the parks and the playgrounds, he's gonna repave the blacktop. Nah, bro, bring a championship. Last time I checked Philly is still one of the murder capitals. Like, what you stop, violence? You stop guns? Like, what happened?

I'm trying to understand, like, what you stop? Violence? You stop guns? Like, what happened? I'm trying to understand, like, all you did for who? They paid you a lot of money. What did you do for who? What? What they did a lot for you? Be grateful. Yes.

Like, let's not get it twisted, bro. Like, this is where, like, for me, where I, like, I don't, I find us in this weird space to where we're entitled. So like, well, you're not entitled to anything. You're entitled to scrutiny just like everybody else in this game, but you're entitled to a certain type of scrutiny.

So that's where for me, it draws a line for what the reporter said, because I don't think he deserved that. But you ain't above nothing. Well, sometimes I think, sometimes guys do things in the community and they think that makes them above criticism. No. And it's not.

I don't care what, I don't, hey, you see LeBron could build an I Promise school, but if you don't play well, the fans are gonna be upset. And the writers gonna write stuff that's not flattering. And that's their job. I can't look past where he built the school. He played bad, so since he built the school, I can't say anything negative to him.

That ain't how it works. Well, then you gotta, just don't tell me you did this out of the goodness of your heart, because that's not why you did it. You did this out of credibility down the road, like I can get away with some shit, like, all right, cool. Like, all right, I can skate. Like, no, that's not why you did it.

You did it out of the goodness of your heart, right? So let's keep it that. Right. So you said this to you, it was excessive. Oh, Joe, I know you said it was excessive. I'm not surprised because you know what you know, Adam Silver and the director of punishment, Joe Dumars, what they're trying to do now, we can, we have to have a level. I understand you might disagree with what he said, but we got to have a level. We can't have that line crossed.

I mean, it's such a bad precedent when you look at it as far as the organization and the NBA as a whole, it doesn't look good in totality. But at the end of the day, you gotta have these people, like the reporters gotta answer to something. You gotta realize these are people now. They got feelings, they got emotions. Just cause people, see people think,

Swish and Ocho, you know, we you and I have talked about this. You gotta realize these are people now. They got feelings. They got emotions just cause people see people think Swish and Ocho, you know, we you and I have talked about this Yeah, just because you make a lot of money. You ain't got no feelings now. You should be able to take everything No matter what somebody say Somebody pay you 30 40 50 60 million dollars man If somebody was paying it's easy for you to say that it's easy if a person make it 25,000 or 50,000, but I tell you what, you ain't gonna let your boss talk to you in any kind of way. If you was making 75,000, you make it 25,

your boss all of a sudden you get a raise of 100,000. You ain't gonna let your boss talk to you? Yes, yes. For a normal person, if you put him in a situation, yeah, you would take more getting 60 million But would you take more? In your it put it frame it in your thing you make what if you make fifty thousand you make seventy five Your balls you get a raise to 125

You feel your balls or somebody can say whatever they want to say to you stupid enough you stupid be they could talk to you any Kind of way? No sir. No sir. No, no, no, hell no. No sir. You know what's funny? You know what's funny? Bosses and those in positions of power

know who to fucking play with like that anyway. Yeah. So you know who you can get away with being slick at the amount of people. 100%. Yeah. You know. And I guarantee you, I know NB won't have the most issues with that reporter

writing anything crazy in this part of the album. Or nobody else. Nah. No, nah, nah. And I think the thing is, that's why, you know, sometimes you just say, you know what? I'm gonna go ahead and go in exit stage left. Yeah.

Cause you only going to A. Cause like my grandparents say, boy, if you gotta always keep being the bigger man, you hanging with too many small people. I'm not finna keep letting you take your damn shots at me. And you keep taking the shots, keep taking the shots. And you're talking about A. No, that ain't a part of nothing.

Cause I ain't taking no shots at nobody. And then I'm just supposed to sit there and take it. Why? Man, please, let me just go ahead. I ain't gonna lie, me and my piece would have to see him. I might let one or two of them slip, but like I said, I was very, very, very clear with how I expected, can I treat people

how I wanna be treated, Ocho? I do. And if I don't rock, my thing is switch, I don't know how you operate. But if I don't rock with somebody, it ain't no, man, I wonder if he, man, I wonder if he rock with me, man. You know.

I ain't in your face, I ain't in your circle. Hey, I'm over here, you over there. I'm going my way, I don't mention your name. Hopefully you don't mention mine. We cool. Now we not cool, but we straight. No, no, no. We cool. I'm talking about Icy.

I mean, he, you, you decide. I'm Antarctica. You decide, Poe. We cool. Right, right, right. That's it. I'm just trying to figure out why people feel they got to talk to. We cool. We cool. Right, right, right. That's it. I'm just trying to figure out why people feel they gotta talk to, oh, talk, just cause you,

you know, you could talk to somebody any kind of way. Nah, man, it was just words. Okay, well go get them words to somebody else because I ain't about that, man. All the, I'm just gonna stay out of it. All that lip boxes and find you in a bad situation. I'm telling you right now. That's the age, That's the A. The volume. Hey there. It's Michael Lewis, author of Going Infinite, Moneyball, The Blind Side, and Liar's Poker.

On the latest season of my podcast, Against the Rules, I'm exploring what it means to be a sports fan in America and what the rise of sports betting is doing to our teams, our states, and ourselves. Join me and listen to Against the Rules on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search Against the Rules. Listen to Against the Rules on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.