Club Shay Shay - Nightcap - Hour 1: Thunder beat T-Wolves to go up 2-0, Charles Barkley wants Tyrese’s dad unbanned!
Episode Date: May 23, 2025Shannon Sharpe, Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson & Roy Hibbert react to Shai Gilgeous Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves to go up 2-0 i...n the Western Conference Finals, Charles Barkley wants Tyrese Haliburton’s dad to be unbanned, and the NBA world is waiting on LeBron James offseason decision and much more!01:47 - Introduction03:30 - Twolves v OKC31:14 - 9th straight season MVP has no tattoos36:18 - Pacers-Kings Trade Revisisted42:17 - Barkley wants John Haliburton unbanned51:37 - NBA announces all defensive team54:22 - Awaiting LeBron’s decision58:11 - Demarcus Cousins says Steve Kerr doesnt develop younger players(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.)#Volume #ClubSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The Volume
Hello ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us for another episode of Nightcap
as you watch the OKC Thunder take a commanding 2-0 lead 118-103 over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
We'll get into that game in just a second.
As I said again, thank you guys for joining us for Nightcap.
I am your favorite uncle, Shannon Sharp, my partner and co-host, Liberty City's own.
He's been on the road traveling, but now he's back in his home establishment,
the bingo ring of fame honoree, the pro bowler,
the all-pro, that's Chad Ocho Cinco Johnson.
And we have a very special guest
out of Georgetown University.
He's a two-time All-Star, all-defensive player,
center of the Indiana Pacers, Roy Hibbert.
Roy, how you doing, bro?
I'm happy to be here.
Thanks for having me.
And I've been a big fan of both you guys.
Thank you, man, for joining us.
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The Timberwolves, whoo, just got beat by the thunder,
as he wrote that backwards.
But anyway, 118 to 103.
Shay was sensational again tonight.
38 points on 12 or 21 shooting.
One or two from the three point line.
He's aggressive as always, 13 or 15
from the free throw line. But he got great always, 13 or 15 from the free throw line,
but he got great help from Jalen Williams, 12 or 20,
26 big points.
Chet Holmgren, 22 big points.
Jalen Williams also chipped in,
he was their leading rebounder.
He had 10 rebounds, count him up, 10 rebounds.
Minnesota, at was very inefficient.
He did have 32 points, Ocho and Roy,
but took him 26 shots to get it.
One of nine from the three point line.
Remember the other night,
I think he was one for seven from the three point line.
And Julius just didn't have it tonight.
This is by far his worst game in the post season thus far.
Two of 11 from the four or three from the three point line,
only six points.
And that's not good enough to get it done.
I thought the bench played extremely well,
gave him 35 big points tonight, Ocho.
But there were starters that let him down.
Mike Colley, three points.
Roy, Rudy Gobert.
Now all of a sudden he don't look like Will Chamberlain.
He doesn't look like Shaquille O'Neal
when he got competent centers out there against it.
And Julius again said he only has six points.
Rory, I'm going to start with you.
I watched this game, Ocho, I watched this game extremely, extremely close.
Cause I wanted to see something.
I'm not sure Minnesota can get more than a game if they can get that.
Because the game will be close, Ocho.
And the next thing you know, they'll dart off and they'll be up by 15.
They will let back down to six and then they take off again and it'd be up by 14.
Watching this game, I'm just not, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm convinced they can't win
this series, but I'm not sure they can get more than a game of that Roy watching
this game, what is it that's been so impressive and they've been impressive
all year,
so I guess we shouldn't really be surprised by the Thunder.
68 wins in the regular season.
The MVP, they got a defensive player of the year,
excuse me, a defensive,
a defensive player in Lou Dort.
What is it that OKC is doing
to make it seem like Minnesota
doesn't really belong on the court with them?
Well, to me, to be honest with you, it's like the defense, a, uh, around the
three point line, as soon as Anthony Edwards crosses the three point line,
there's bodies around him.
So like the open space, the drives to be able to like get to the basket and have
those explosion and dunk at the rim.
Those opportunities definitely are not there.
And then the second thing for me is obviously
just the guys like Caruso,
I mean, you guys played sports
and the most of the superstars play well,
they need like the insular players,
the world players to play well,
Wallace, Dort, Jalen Williams, he's an all-star,
but on the defensive end, they were hunting out
and playing the passing lanes,
looking for tips and deflections.
You know, it only says they have nine steals here,
but I feel like they should have at least a lot more
on the stat sheet because any pass over the top
to get to Julius Randall, Dort would sniff it out
and then it would lead to a transition bucket
or Jalen Williams, he'd be up in the defense,
getting deflections, getting tips.
I think he should have way more than I think two steals
that he has on the night, but he was getting out,
leading the offense through their defense.
He was, and I think the thing is is that you're right,
they're loading up, they're not letting Anthony Edwards
slither through those creases, get to the basket on show
where he can get the A-1s, he got a couple tonight,
but they're doing a great job of loading up on him and they've got very active hands.
You see every time Rudy Goberg get off his rebound,
they slap it out, they get it going the other way.
And when you turn the ball over against a team
that have great wing players,
that means they in transition before you know it
because they're taking the ball away
at the top of the key, the three point line.
So they don't got very far to go.
It's not a one outlet laying up at the other end. O, the three point line. So they don't got very far to go. It's not, hey, one outlet laying up at the other end.
Ocho, you picked Minnesota.
What's been the most disappointing thing?
Because they've been very disappointing.
These games really haven't been close.
What's been the most disappointing thing
when you're watching Minnesota?
That you're like, damn, this ain't the team
that beat the Lakers 4-1.
This is not the team that beat the Warriors
and made it and did it convincingly.
What is it that's been most disappointing
watching the T-Wolves play?
Hey, honestly, just to tell you the truth, inconsistency.
Inconsistency, one game, you know, Julius Randall,
he goes off, he goes crazy.
Then we have another game where Anthony Edwards, he's been efficient, he's been inefficient
in both games.
He's putting up points, but he's taking a lot of shots to get the points.
He's not very efficient from the field, and he's passing games.
His help, he's not getting much help collectively from the starters as well.
The bench is doing okay, but the starters need to contribute a little bit more often,
as opposed to counting to offset what home, what Chet and Jayden Williams and
Shay are doing out there.
Outside of that, I mean, Anthony Edwards is being aggressive as he can, but
defensively they're smothering them.
They're contesting every shot and they're making it
very difficult for Anthony Edwards to get to the hole and get the points that he is getting.
After these past two games and looking at it, I'm kind of nervous for making my pick,
for picking the Wolves.
I thought they would have played much better.
SGA showing why he is the MVP, being very efficient from the field and getting
everyone else involved as well. And collectively as a team, defensively, I mean, they're doing
what they've done all season long. They won 68 games for a reason, end season, and to
see the Wolves down 2-0, I'm kind of shocked. I shouldn't be shocked, but I kind of am thinking
that the Wolves will play a
little better, especially after winning the previous series 4-1. And I'm kind of sad a
little bit.
Yeah, I think the thing is for me is that they're doing a great job of turning Minnesota
over and they're doing a great job of taking care of the basketball. They forced 14 turnovers,
turned those into points. They only had six turnovers. And the difference is, is that this is a team and like, we talk about this all the time.
You look at their wing guys, they're loaded with wing defenders.
They got six quality guys on a gift.
Forget, forget the starters.
When they come in with their role players, they come in with Caruso.
They come in with Wallace.
They come in with Isaiah Jones.
They come in with Wiggins.
Bro. Those are elite, they come in with Wiggins.
Bro, those are elite, they're elite defenders on the wing.
And you see, I mean, their deflections and tilts, even if they don't steal the ball,
Ocho, now they've, because they've gotten a deflection, they've taken three, four,
five seconds off the shot clock.
Now you in a rush to get into your set to try to get a quality shot.
They make you pay for every turnover, every bad shot that you take. You throw up something and all of a sudden you hit the floor.
They got the ball.
It's a head.
And the next thing you know, they're landing up at the other end.
Go ahead, Roy.
Hey, I want to say in terms of the Timberwolves, you know, Anthony Edwards
didn't do it too much this game, but from the last like thing, like three or four games, I feel like at the
beginning of the game when he gets to the basket, before he even feels the
contact, he's like screaming, looking for the refs to bail him out, and he misses
those chippies around the rim. I've seen him go body to body and just like dunk on
people. I know that's not always like how it goes, but he has that finesse euro step and everything like that.
And the next thing I will say is like,
I'm a little bit harder on big guys.
And I think something that you said earlier on
about Gobert playing against competent bigs,
you know, when I look at Isaiah Hartenstein
and his good connection with Chet,
man, that left-handed push floater is elite around the middle zone and around that baseline.
And then the fact that he can have that little hot push shot and then also have that high low
lob to Chet is great, but those bigs are doing well. I need to see Gobert make better decisions
when he's rolling to the basket, when he catches the ball, when he does dribble,
because you know, obviously he's not a great offensive
threat, but he needs to give you a little bit something
more than just dump off passes or just tip backs.
He needs to have good, you know, ball possession
and make good decisions or good,
crisp passes hit people on the numbers.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, Uncle Roy, even though, you know,
Roy's liability is the word I'm going to use.
No, I'm just kidding. Yeah.
Yeah, my bad.
Even though Rudy's a liability, offensively, you know, he seems so unorthodox on the
offensive end, but there are passes that are in there for layups, for putbacks that he should be able to make,
especially in the game of this magnitude as important as his game is.
And it just seems he's so out of sync unless he's on defense end, you know,
outside of no tipping the,
tipping the ball back in or catching a rebound and kicking it back out.
Like he has to, he has to be better in those games where he had 27.
And at the other end of the previous game where he had 24 in the last series, we need some of that magic in order for them to have a chance.
Because outside of Ant, man, and Julius has to be on point.
Yeah, Julius has to play better every game.
Yeah.
Outside of those two, it ain't looking good right now, man.
The problem is, is that when Rudy had that 27 point, 24 rebound gain, it made you forget.
In Utah, he was unplayable in the fourth quarter.
Last year, he was unplayable in the fourth quarter.
It seems that people forgot that.
He's never been an offensive guy.
And now he's not really giving you anything defensively.
He had one block.
So if he's not giving you anything defensively, what is his purpose?
What is his use?
Nothing. I mean, he's got to be able to give you some...
Roy, he got to give you something on one end or the other.
Yeah, you like to have him give you 12 points, 12 rebounds,
four blocks, and some alters.
He's not giving you any of that.
And what happened in the Lakers series,
it made everybody forget that Rudy
Goldberg has been basically his entire career unplayable in the fourth
quarter in playoff games.
That's, that's, that's his story.
We saw him against the Clippers.
We saw him every, we see him in the playoffs and it, for some
reason, people forgot, man, man, Rudy, the attorney, no, he hasn't.
He's playing against a team that didn't have bigs or didn't have competent bigs
And so now he's able to play 30 34 minutes, right?
They really normally plays 20 minutes and come for a quarter time. He ain't nowhere near the floor
Yes standing up when they call time out he's standing up looking over everybody's shoulders
Look at a y'all get that now cuz you know, I ain't coming back out there
He's got to give you more.
I mean, you think about this band gave you tonight.
Oh Joe, he gave you five points, nine rebounds, one assist and one block.
In 30 minutes, one block.
You talk about a four time defensive player of the year and
J and she getting that get into the basket at wheel.
He does not supposed to happen okay Jalen Williams get into the basket at
wheel
and I'm like well damn bro you supposed to be guarding the rim is the money your
security your top-flag security he's a y'all come on in here get that right
there don't wear that up. Don't have it anywhere.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey great help defender because if you look at big that he go against, they cook his ass every big that he goes against cooking.
I'm like, I ain't saying you got to stop your kitchen, but you can't let
them have 47 and 20.
I ain't saying you got to stop Joel and B, but you can't let him get 35 and 19.
Every big now when he goes against somebody now he's going, he going
to guess a Rui or he got to play
against LeBron he got to play against you know Vanderbilt oh he just eating
like that. I'm thinking Will Chamberlain. Now look at this right here again they're gonna have and
he's their biggest player so and unless you come in with a Nas Reid and Nas is
really not a back to the basket. He's not a low post.
He prefers to be like a stretch five on the wing.
That's where he likes to play.
Occasionally, if you get a mismatch, he'll go.
He did a lot more driving on the basketball, a lot more playing with his
back to the basket because he had a mismatch.
But if they don't get anything out of Rudy Gobert, something offensively or
defensively, Julius Reynolds can't give you six.
He needs to give you, if Ant-Man gave you 32, he needed to give me 24 to 28.
That's the only way they're going to have a chance.
When you got Shay got 38, you got Jalen Williams got 26 and Chad got 22.
That's the only way you're going to have a chance.
I don't believe they can win this series, Roy, but it's hard at watching this game.
Really, really like watching it and watching what they do.
It's just hard for me to see them winning a game.
Hey, Roy, Roy and Unc, man, that goddamn SGA, man.
I knew he was nice.
You know, I knew he was nice,
but man, he breaking the world spirit out there, man.
Defensively.
We have no answer for him.
Man, he get to his spot, he join files,
he's freezing the defenses, he has he,
hey, he put that elbow on him.
That forearm.
It keeps you raised to space.
He create that space for that shoulder like Carmelo
a little bit.
Man, I'm like, his toolbox is crazy.
You got a crazy toolbox.
And I saw Joe talk about the mid-range being
somewhat non-existent
in most of the players.
Man, his mid-range game is crazy, huh?
His mid-range game.
His mid-range, he points.
His midi, he's getting about 11, 12 points
just on mid-range alone, outside of threes and drives.
Because he works on it.
Everybody else wanna be at the basket
or they wanna shoot the three.
Nobody really works on the midi.
Look at the guys that really work at the mid. Look at Kawhi. Nice.
Look at Shay. Nice.
Look at guys that really work at the mid-range.
You got to really work at it.
Just like you put time in at shooting those threes,
put time in working on the threes.
Roy, you had a point you wanted to make. Go ahead.
No, I mean, everything Ocho said was exactly right,
but to me also, like, the mental side of the game too,
seeing the guys get frustrated and just push Shay to the ground
and get assess the technical.
Yeah, get your ass down.
Creeping into their minds, you know?
And that to me is like another thing.
Like, you're just wearing them down, wearing them down.
I think the Timberwolves will get a game at their home,
but I agree with you.
I find it hard to believe that they can win this series.
Now, you know, with Gobert not being able to play
to the level that he has in the past defensively,
I would think they would go small with Nas or with Julius.
And the fact that they haven't been playing that well,
it's, I don't know where they go from here
for the next game.
I looked at my Pacers last night,
you know, Miles Turner, who I love,
who actually, you know, they drafted
to get my ass up out of there
to show their respect and everything.
He actually, you know, I feel like he was selfless.
He didn't like have a great game,
but like he wasn't in the game a majority
in the third and the fourth quarter.
And you know what, the Celtics, but the third and the fourth quarter and you know what the cell
I mean of the Celtics
But the other the Pacers went small with Toppin and Mather in at the four and the five for a little bit in Pascal
so I feel like the the the
The Timberwolves don't have a reliable
Four or five that can come in and take Rudy's spot that can give you some good minutes like my Pacers did last night
Well, and they played and they play TB Thomas Bryant came in give you some good minutes like my Pacers did last night.
Well, and they played TB.
Thomas Bryant came in and gave him some quality minutes
last night also.
And I think that's what you have to have.
It's kind of hard because, you know,
when you go, if you go small,
and you're talking about your Pacers,
you go small against the Pacers
and they mess around and go, all of a sudden,
they go Cat and they go Mitchell Robinson.
Now you're in a world of hurt because now they, but they're about to play a,
they just about to be able to pay tap and rebound and kick out.
Uh, even if you, even if you, even if they take, if they take out, um, cat,
they go Mitchell Robinson.
If you take out, if you take it's hard, cause he's, uh, look, all he's doing is
looking for lobs and to get rebugging extra extra chance, but the Knicks are a
big team.
Cause you go cat, you go OG,
you got McHale Bridges who's six, seven,
they got some athletic guys.
And so if you go small, relatively small,
if you say, you know what, we're gonna start Nas.
Then where you going?
You gonna play Jayden McDaniels at the five spot?
Cause he's your next tallest guy?
Yeah, yeah.
Unless you play Ju, unless you play Ju Reville at the five.
And then you got him trying to bang.
Okay, maybe he bangs with a Hardenstein and check.
That's, you know, baby, probably Hardenstein.
But they just gotta get more production.
Rudy Gobert gotta give them more than five and nine.
Mike Conley, one for six, one for four. That's not nearly nearly good enough and you use rental can't ever ever just give you six points
He's too good. He's been too good. He's been exceptional these playoffs
But like you said Ocho shade tonight five straight games of at least 30 points yet
38 eight with three steals 31 points
five rebounds nine assists 35 points four assists three steals 32 three and six
31 six and seven first player in five franchise history with five consecutive
30 point playoff games tonight he made more free throws 13 than the Wolf starters 12.
Hey, man, the goddamn minute the boy toolbox and we talked about him going to the free throw line so much. But when he put the ball on the floor, he is able to create every time he gets the ball.
Every time he gets the ball. Every time he gets the ball.
I don't, I'm trying to understand how it is so easy for him to get
ISOs or to have people pick.
And it's so goddamn difficult for Anthony Edwards to ISO.
There's very little creation where Ant has the ball.
You're not telling me.
Huh?
Go ahead.
Go ahead.
Go ahead.
I'm not telling you.
You're not telling me when it comes to, when, when he, Ocho. Go ahead, I'm gonna let you finish the ball. Go ahead. I'm just saying, you're not telling me when it comes to... When he...
Oh my goodness. When the SGA gets the ball on, it just seems every time,
not every so often,
every time he's able to get Iso,
he's able to create separation.
If he can't get the Iso, he's able to get it off the pick.
And it rolled. He gets to his spot.
He's so fucking efficient from the goddamn field.
It seemed like everything is working for him.
Then on the opposite side, I'm like,
well, goddamn, why is it so difficult for Ed,
not only the Isos, when he can't get Isos,
then he has very little creation,
because defensively, they still got them long and lengthy,
it's goddamn hard just to get a goddamn shuttle.
Well, the team, the Thunder are loading up.
And you see the difference is that they got per-wing defenders.
They switch one through five. Rudy go, where's Rudy gonna go?
He can't make no threes. So I'm not worried about it.
He's not an offensive wet. So they say, look, now one or two things,
you're either gonna start having to bliss him or trap him and make him give the ball up.
Because if you let him play what they let him play too much
one-on-one right now if you let him play one-on-one he's gonna get his at 30
plus 30 average 32 points that and you shoot and efficient now he's back into
50% you're not beating them you let him get his numbers and you let him be
efficient while he's getting his numbers okay you, you're not beating this team. J-Dub tonight, 26-10-5, his first ever 25-10-5 game.
You got checked, gave you 22.
Bro, it is really-
And they were nine for 33 from the three point line too.
So it's not like they were knocking down threes
and there was so much space you had to go tag a shooter.
You have a most dangerous shooter.
That's 27% from the three point line is not a good night.
And they were still unable to like get whatever they wanted.
I think the biggest thing is,
is because they're able to play five on four.
Because Rudy, they know Rudy's not an offensive threat.
So why, why am I guarding?
Okay, Ocho, I want you to ask me again,
why am I guarding him when he's not an offensive threat?
Yeah, you're right.
You're right.
Either he's gonna catch a lob
or he's gonna try to get a put back.
And the thing is it takes him so long to unwind.
So by the time he tries to bring the ball up,
they slap down, they got the ball out going the other way.
How many times have you saw that tonight?
Yeah, you're right.
Hey, Anthony Evans got to be on point. He ain't doing what he does.
Even if you're not efficient, you got to keep putting up points.
He was aggressive. I'll give him that. He was aggressive. Look, I think he's selling too much.
He got somebody out of, you know, the thing that happened was he took more threes this year.
He led the NBA and made threes. He kind of, and sometimes I think he falls in love
with it a little too much.
Right.
But I,
at some point in time, we just got to come to the realization
that the Thunder has been the best team in the West
and hoping and wishing and somebody, oh, they do this.
Shay is on damn near every night.
And I can see like, he's going to get to the fire line.
Yeah.
He's getting to the fire line.
They shot 24, they shot 24 free throws. He had 15 attempts.
He's, he's doing, that's what we want.
That's what we want to see.
Oh Joe, we, okay.
How did you get there?
At least Jay is like, you know what, this A, I'm the MVP,
let me show you why I'm the MVP.
I was efficient, shot almost 52% from the floor.
I led the league and scored.
It seems like every night that he plays, he's in the 30s.
Sometimes they're not always the most efficient,
but he's putting pressure on your defense.
He can also pass the ball when he had eight assists tonight.
And guys knocked down shot, Jalen Williams knocked down shot, Chet knocked down shot.
They shot 50% from the floor.
But I don't think you can beat them.
If you shoot 41% from the floor, 28% from the three, and you turn the ball over 14 times
against this team, you're going to get what you got.
Double digit loss. You'll get double digit loss.
Ain't no where around it, don't you? I wish I could give you some better news
for your team, but I can't.
We get some better play from that bench. You got to have Conley.
Conley got to show up, man. David Chinzo, he got to show up and do what he does.
Hit some of those threes, create some separation and do what he needs to do.
And just continue to be aggressive.
You just randomly continue to be aggressive and hope your supporting cast shows up.
And it's an uphill battle from this point now.
Yeah.
You might want to throw everything in the kitchen sink at him.
The Bits didn't play bad. They got three guys.
They only played three guys tonight and they gave him 35 points off the bench.
Uh, they only got 17 points off the bench.
So you dub basically doubled them up from bench score.
Yeah.
But when you have a starter gave you, I mean, your other starters outside of, uh,
Jay, Jay McDaniels and Ant-Man who gave you 54.
You got 14 points from the other three starters.
14 points. That is the problem.
In a playoff game?
Unless what unless Nasri go crazy and make six or seven threes,
Devin Chinzo lets you get like 50 points from,
and it's hard thing, like they only play with eight guys.
So to get 50 points from three guys is asking an awful lot.
Julius, I expect to have a bounce back game. Like I said, this is the worst game that we've
seen from him in the postseason this year thus far. Of the last four players to record a 25-point,
10 rebound, five assists, zero turnover game, and a conference finals, Kobe, Shaq, Jason Tatum, Jalen Williams.
Pretty good company, pretty good company to be in.
Points off turnovers this series, Thunder, 53, Wolves, 20.
Ant Man stayed up till 3 AM watching film of game one.
He'd probably be up till five watching film of game two.
He just got, like you said, look, the thing is, Ocho,
God once told me, he said, he said, you know what, I can go win any war.
If you give me the right tools to go to battle with.
Ant-Man going to war.
I'm not so sure he got the tools around him right now that's ready to go to battle with. Mm. Ant-Man going to war, I'm not so sure he got the tools
around him right now that's ready to go to battle with him.
They're sending him out there to battle,
and he alone right now.
Julius is going to have to be better.
I expect him to be better.
But Mike Carlin can't give us three.
He can't.
Rudy, you got to give us, Rudy got to give us
at least a double-double, Roy.
I don't think that's asking too much. Am I asking too much give us at least a double-double, Roy. I don't think that's asking too much.
Am I asking too much, Roy, for a double-double?
I mean, look at Mitchell Robinson.
He grabs offensive rebounds, and he does,
I wanna see the battle between free throw shooting
between Gobert and Mitchell Robinson,
and the New York fans just like love Mitchell
every time he goes to the free throw,
because they see the effort.
And I know I'm drawing the distinction
between these two teams and these two players,
but like look at Mitchell when he actually gets
into a switch, like he feels,
Timberdell feels comfortable with him out there
guarding perimeter players.
He gets down in his stance, he gets low,
he can move his feet.
Yes, sometimes he puts two hands on the body
at the end of a play and he might get picked up a foul,
but he's competent out there and he's able to move.
So I mean, there's similar type of players,
but one player, you know, I mean,
but yeah, I'm just gonna leave it at that.
Yeah.
In other words, Rudy Steeler.
Uh.
This is the ninth straight season, Ocho,
that the MVP doesn't have a tattoo.
Shay, Jokic, Embiid, Yannis, Harden and Russ.
Russ won the MVP in 2017.
He got tattoos in 2020.
Is there a correlation, anything going on?
Should we deduce anything from that Ocho?
No, it has nothing to do with it.
No, you know, some people, some people love the artwork. Uh, some of it has, has nothing to do with it, no. Some people love the artwork.
Some of it has meaning to it,
not just tattoos, just to be having them.
Really has no correlation at all outside of that.
I agree.
I mean, some people love that.
They say tattoos are addictive.
They say once you get one,
you gonna want two, three, four, five, six, seven.
Yeah.
That's what I hear. Everybody that, I don't really, I don't know if I've, four, five, six, seven. Yeah. That's what I hear.
Everybody that, I don't really,
I don't know if I've seen someone, Ocho,
with just one tattoo.
Normally you have multiples.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I got, I have 44 myself.
Outside of that, I mean, all of them have meaning.
Obviously, kids, family, scriptures from the Bible.
Imagine that, those things wrote in writing so I can read them. You can see him.
You can see him.
I mean, I'm not that dark.
I'm not that dark, especially right now with the light.
You can probably see it.
I mean, it's like taking a Sharpie writing on a piece of charcoal.
You can see him.
You can see him clear.
It's just, I mean,
I, I, I mean, I just, I don't feel clear.
You don't have no tattoos?
I don't.
You scared of needles?
No.
So why you don't get it on?
Man, I'm 57 now.
I think it's a bit late now, Ocho.
You should have got me when I was 17.
Man, it don't matter how old you are.
If you're going to get them.
Hey, you know, you can get your back piece.
You get your big back piece. They can put you to sleep so you don't got to feel the pain. When I go to sleep, if you want to get them. And you know you can get your back piece, you get your big back piece,
they can put you to sleep so you don't got to feel the pain.
When I'm going to sleep, I'm trying to go to sleep.
And when I wake up, I want to be in the morning.
I ain't going to sleep until the day I've tattooed.
And wake up at three o'clock in the afternoon.
That ain't happening.
Well, they can put, listen, you can time it
till you get put to sleep at seven, nine o'clock.
I know you go to bed early.
So you let me get this bad. So my first tattoo, nine o'clock. I know you go to bed early. Cause you're old. So, so you let me get this, this bad.
So my first tattoo, you wanted to be a bat piece.
I talked about the whole thing.
Like everything, like everything.
You could, we could put all your dogs.
You can put Teddy, you can put Titus.
They can, they can, you know, get your family.
Kay, Killian, Taka Bayer, Titan.
Taz, Tarzan. No. Yeah. No, Taz Tarzan.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, I wanted a tattoo.
I wanted a tattoo when I was in high school
and my mom told me no.
She said, when you graduate, you can get one.
Hell, I graduated, I ain't want it.
I wanted it when I was a junior.
Okay.
Because I'm a homeboy, everybody was getting them.
I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna get me a tattoo.
No, I ain't want a tattoo, I wanted my ears pierced. That's what I wanted on your ears
pierced. I ain't really never never wanted no tattoo. Right right. I only thought about it once.
I thought about getting my grandmother's name across my chest but I know how
adamant she was she was about doing mark. Say son boy don't mark up your body.
Yes ma'am. Well you got any tattoos? No tattoos, man I'm like my mom ran a strict household man from the Caribbean. She's from Trinidad
Oh, you slap me upside my head if she's if I got a tattoo
I got my ears pierced my friend my freshman year of college once I left the house and she was so mad
But you know, I said nah, I said no. Yeah
No facial hair
No earrings. No tattoos, Ocho.
You know, I gotta keep this patch though.
You know, I gotta keep the patch.
The sole patch.
Yeah, I gotta keep the sole patch.
Yeah, I think you should try to open a new leaf, huh?
You might as well.
At 57?
Try something different.
How about at 57 in a month?
Hey, try something different.
And plus my skin, Ocho, you know as you start to get older, your skin gets thinner. You lose some of
the elasticity. It doesn't hold as much water as it once did and it tears easy. That's why you
notice when older people, as they start to get older, they like, they tear easy, they bleed,
you know what I'm saying? I'm good. Listen, I want you to understand something that we talk about
black folk. We talk about our skin. Yeah, I know. Black don't crap.
Now I understand what you're saying about the the lacticity and the water not
holding, but you're going to be just fine.
You're going to be just fine.
I am because I don't have no tattoos.
Oh, you keep saying 57 like you just oh my goodness.
Oh, I'm about to be 57 in a month.
You know, that's not that bad.
That's not that bad.
Well, I don't think anything changed in the next in the next five weeks
You on that Gary Bracka like life-performing like, you know what that that that that you know
Spin your blood put it back in your body. You do yourself fresh. No, no, no, no, no. I haven't done that. Uh, I
Heard about that. That's you know, we're, you know, where a lot of endurance athletes do that.
That's called blood doping,
where they take a pile of blood out and they spin it
and they, you know, put that little thing up in there,
put it back in there, you know.
Now you added more oxygen to the blood,
but no, I've never done that.
Okay, Ocho, let's revisit the Pacers Kings trade.
The Pacers received Tyrese Halliburton,
Buddy Hill, Tristan Thompson.
The Kings received Damontes Sabonis,
Jeremy Lamb, Justin Holliday,
a 2023 second round pick,
and a family-sized bag of potato chips.
Uh, holiday, I think if I'm not mistaken, any with the Rockets now, I don't know
who that 23 and 23 second round pick was.
Uh, the bag of chips have been long eaten.
Jeremy Lamb is dating the owner's daughter.
So places one that trade.
Absolutely. Absolutely. Please just win the trade.
Yeah. Absolutely.
Look, I mean look, DeMont, uh, Sabonis is a very good player.
You, uh, were you a teammate of his, Roy?
I was not a teammate. I was like a dare before him, two years before.
Okay. He, he, look,
Ocho, people don't realize how tall he is.
Sabonis is 7'1".
Yeah. People don't realize how tall he is out here. be here people think he likes know he's 7 foot 1 his dad was 7 3
Buddy Hill that we know he you know
He's all of a sudden. He's with the the Golden State Warriors now Tristan is back in Cleveland
Look, so bonus wasn't all-star player, but Halliburton and what he's been able to do.
Yeah, man.
He's, he's emerged to be one of the best in the game.
He does a great job of describing the basketball Ocho and he's not a high turnover guy.
He's a prototype.
I love him when he's aggressive.
Roy, when Ty, when Reese is, is, is, is aggressive.
Cause sometimes I think he's settled.
Sometimes I think he's trying to get people involved.
You know, he's the old, he's a prototypical old school
Magic Johnson, Stockton, Jason Kidd type of a point guard.
He's really not looking to score.
But when he's looking to score and put pressure on the defense.
Man.
Can I say something about last night?
I just want you to think about this.
Yes.
He had an opportunity to tie the game towards the end with the clock running down.
He said, I'm from the dribble behind the arc.
Yeah.
Like he had an AAU basketball game and I'm a heave was shot up in the bounce.
Yeah.
If everybody should have played the lotto last night,
if you were a patients fan,
cause luck was running through everybody's veins,
including brother Halliburton.
Yeah.
That's insane.
But not Roy in the ruling firm,
you go for the win on the road, you go for the tie at home.
I say that, go for the win.
You have nothing to lose.
You're gonna go back home to Indiana at some point
and play two games at home.
So you would wanna like go for the win
and split the first two games.
But I say the pace at which the paces play
allows them to have the freedom and effectively,
like you said, don't turn the ball over as well.
That's icing on the cake.
And then they spread the floor out so well.
I feel like the only real post presence really is
Pascal Siaka, Miles Turner, can pick and pop.
That allows him to, that allows Halliburton
to get to the paint.
But it's like a real good cohesive group.
It was a perfect storm though too.
Like I think Brunson getting those fouls
in the middle of the third quarter
when Nemhard and TJ McConnell,
like again, those role players that are attacking him
at all points, they don't allow him to take possessions off.
They try to get him in the pick and roll to switch
or they try to push it in one-on-one transition
and get right to the hole and see if he's gonna
either try to contest and potentially foul
or give up the layup.
It was a perfect storm for the Pacers last night.
Yeah, and the thing is they play with such pace as you mentioned.
And so now, knowing that Tim's only want to play like seven, eight guys, seven guys.
And you know he wants to play on 44 minutes.
Playing 44 minutes at the pace in which the Pacers play, you're asking an awful lot.
And you're right, Roy. When they keep attacking, they're like, look,
we're not going to let him rest.
TJ, don't you let him rest.
Halley, we know you're not going to let him rest.
Nimhar, don't let him rest.
Nesamith, don't let him rest.
Mappler, don't let him rest.
If he's on you, attack him.
We know what he is offensively.
So we want to attack him when he's on defensive end to try to take some of
that bite out of those legs. Yeah he also had those seven
turnovers too you know so it's wearing on and I feel like you know Tibbs like
you said is known for playing a very short lineup if this thing gets to a
game seven I don't know if those Villanova, all four of those Villanova Knicks
are gonna be able to be available to play if there is a game seven. So
where would you rank this trade, Ocho?
I'm not wishing injuries on anybody.
I hope everybody stays healthy.
But it's just history that's shown
that Tim's teams kind of like, you know,
the players kind of like fall off a little bit
because I feel like they were worn out.
Look, Demonti is a bonus,
because basically it's a bonus in Halliburton.
Ty Reese has been an all-star for a couple of years.
Subbonus has been an all-star for a couple of years.
Halliburton won a gold medal.
I think Subbonus was on the Lithuanian team.
They didn't win any medals,
but this trade is not worse than the Clippers getting Paul
George and giving up Shane Golanari in five first round picks and two pick swaps.
That's a worse trade than this one.
Everybody's probably thinking the Luka trade because it's so fresh in your mind and it
just happened.
But I mean, look, the Kings can't feel bad
because the Kings did have a Darren Fox.
Darren Fox was a North Star.
So they've had an adequate replacement.
It's just that Halle's had his team twice
in the Eastern Conference finals back to back years.
So I like reason.
Charles Barkley wants John Halliburton to be unbanned.
He paid his dues.
It shouldn't be indefinite.
He's been punished enough.
He would never do anything that stupid again.
Roy, should John Halliburton be permanently banned?
No, no, I think it's just like, you know,
I think it should have been like a one game
and then just move on to the next news cycle.
I don't think people need to like, you know, make this a big thing. I hope he's not banned
I don't know all the Pacers are flying me out. I'm getting flown out by the Pacers for game three
I'm gonna be there with my son. So hopefully I get to shake his hand. We'll take a picture and everything like that
I'll report back to you. All right, I appreciate that. I agree. I agree
Oh, I'm anxious to here with you say on that
But I think look he made a mistake
He got caught up in the motion and sometimes when emotion is high logic is low and you know, he ran on the court
Obviously, that's a no-no
He ran on the court then you know
I think I think what the NBA was concerned about it wasn't so much him on the court is what he did when he got
On the court. He went up into a player's face.
Now you know how players are, Roy, when we lose. We're not the even. Loss is, and that's
kind of how we became what we became because losing was not okay with us. That's what kind
of shaped molded us to become the players we became. A lot of times you run up on the
right, the wrong player. No, let me take that back. You run up on the right, the wrong player.
No, let me take that back.
You run up on the right player at the wrong time.
And my bad boy help you.
Yarn is showed a lot of restraint
because a lot sometimes don't show people to fit.
Oh man, this is my opportunity.
Give me a, hey, let me hit that one with little Gary Blunt.
Remember little Gary Blunt boysise State? They lost to Oregon, guy ran on the field, no, Oregon,
lost to Boise State.
And the guy ran on the field, ran up in LeGarret Blunt face,
kaka.
So you just have to be careful.
I understand the NBA is erring on the side of caution,
but yeah, let him come on back.
I think he paid his due.
I think he learned his lesson.
I think, and Halle said it best.
Halle said, you know what, man, I taught him my pops.
He knows he can't do that,
but it should not be for perpetuity.
He missed the two home games that he had.
Let him come on back for game three and a
If they made the final I'm coming in there with a disguise
Yeah, I can't talk a couple of them with a beard. I'm gonna have me a beard. Yeah, I'm coming in with a disguise
I'm gonna see my son play
Yeah, absolutely. You have no choice. You got no choice. I think the band is a little too excessive
You know pops got to understand you can use choice. You got no choice. I think the band is a little too excessive You know pops got to understand you can use celebrate you can have fun
You definitely can't go in the court. You can't go in the court and you can't go in a player's face
I thought maybe there was a relationship or they might have known each other which is why I was able to do it because most
Of the time parents don't feel comfortable, especially after wins celebrating in another player's face
So I thought there was some type of relationship between Go-Bare and
not Go-Bare, between Yannis Pops and Helly's Pops and Yannis. Yannis,
that's all, obviously it must not have been so most of the time it wasn't comfortable
comfortable going to players faces like that but hey we get they got to let that
band they can't do it like that. And he had a towel with his son face on it. He like this. Yeah. But I
agree. I think we're, I think we're in a unison here is that look, I think he's
paid his dues. He's missed two games. I think now let him come on back, give him a steering warning, Mr. Halliburton,
that can't happen again.
You know, I look, everybody knows who he is, Ocho.
Your son is one of the star players.
And so they're going to give you a little bit, a little bit more leniency as far as
going on the court.
They're not going, Hey, get out that court.
They're like, you know, they probably Mr. Halliburton, can you just step back a little
bit?
So they're going to give you a little bit more grace.
We know, we know how that worked.
But yeah, I think he's learned his lesson.
And I don't think we'll have that problem again.
So I definitely think the, she should be, the band should be lifted
and he should be allowed to see his son play in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Jared McClain was reacting to the play where Brunson foul baited TJ McConnell last night
and McClain said,
Foul baiting is just smart.
Even when I talked to Joel Embiid about it,
he thinks he's just playing the game smart.
Roy, do you agree?
So I feel like this is always comes up,
like even before Harden, there was a guy,
Kevin Martin that played for Houston Rockets,
and he also played for Go To Sacramento Kings.
Yeah, Sacramento.
And he was the fray, he was a thin, frail guy,
kinda looked like Halliburton a little bit
in terms of like the body type.
Shot kinda like Halliburton too.
A little push shot.
But this is gonna be in the game no matter what.
I don't wanna be too long-winded here
But you know when I was playing um
LeBron against the heat the Pacers heat series LeBron used to do this thing where like he's always even before LeBron
The the Pacer heat series he would cuff the ball get to the basket
I would try to block the shot, you know
And I get called for the foul because you know when you cuff it
That's one thing when you try to lay it up. You can go try to block it
So I had to learn verticality jump straight up
yeah the concept so I had to adapt to the game I had to adapt to the game I'm not
gonna complain about it unless the referees in the summer said you know
what you know we need to address this then I could be like all right you know
what maybe I could relax maybe I could complain more but for me if the rules are
there and the offensive player is doing it,
it's always is on me to figure out how to work either in real time to figure it out
or during the summer when you're in the lab, you know, because I always used to work
on, you know, three things, offense, at least two things on defense in my workout
and then keep rotating those things.
So that's just how my mindset is.
What do you think, Ocho?
Yeah, honestly, I like it.
I'm most of the people call it flopping.
I call it manipulate the game as a DB.
Um, you think about it.
I'm not, I'm not saying I'm a DB, but there, there are many tricks to the trade,
you know, uh, trying, trying to help yourself, give me yourself an, uh, an
advantage when you play in the game.
Listen, putting your shoulder down,
being a little theatrical with your head movements
like Jayden and Brussels at times,
and drawing those fouls, it's a part of the game.
It's manipulating the game to get yourself to the line
and give you advantages that the ref
sometimes can't see in real time.
I mean, why not?
Until they find a way to stop it,
which you can't in real time, because the naked eye really can't see that, and you take advantage of it, why not? Until they find a way to stop it, which you can't in real time,
because the naked eye really can't see that,
when you take advantage of it, why not?
Yeah, Harden was really great at it.
A left-handed player, Jalen Brunson has adopted it,
and Shea is another one now.
Shea does a great job of getting that separation,
and what they're trying to do is create separation.
I wanna get my shot, I wanna get this shot off,
and Shea does it to get to that mini as good as anybody. Harden was doing it to get my shot. I want to get this shot off and, and, and, and shade does it to get to that mini as good as anybody.
Harden was doing it to get all which hardness trying to get all the way to the paint.
You only get to that float.
You go get to that dominant hand and lay the ball up.
So, uh, yeah, I don't have a problem with it.
Um, these guys have perfected it.
They understand how to get to the, how to, how to get to the free throw line, how to
manipulate, how you said, Ocho,
the defense and make you draw fouls.
A lot of them guys got that herky-jerky motion.
You think they're going to go for a shot and actually they give you the head fake and you
don't jump into them and now they jump and throw the ball up and now they're going to
get two or three free throw attempts.
So that's the part of the game and guys are are gonna have to learn how to defend without filing. The NBA announced there are defensive teams Dyson Daniels of the Hawks, Lou Dort, Thunder,
Draymond, Warriors, Evan Mobley who is defensive player of Player of the Year, Cavs, and Armin Thompson of the Houston Rockets.
Any problem with that first team defense, Roy?
Roy B. Jones, Chief of Staff, Houston Rockets
No, I love it. I think Evan Mobley exemplified being able to be the new type of big guy
who can not only score, but can actually move his feet, defend, and then guard multiple positions.
You know, I cover college basketball for CBS. And like one of the things I always talk about
is, you know, bigs have to be able to be mobile, can defend multiple positions. And he's the
prototype of it right there, right there and there. Not that many seven footers that are
moving around could do it now because of how the speed of the game. So I feel like I have no
problem with that. And more and more guards and wing players
on the defensive team to me is the trend
of how the NBA is going.
Has been going.
But you know what?
There are some guys that normally makes defense
the all defensive team that wasn't.
OG Al-Anobis was not there.
Giannis wasn't there.
Bam wasn't there.
Derek White wasn't there. Holliday wasn't there. Bam wasn't there. Derrick White wasn't there.
Holliday wasn't there.
Do you think anybody was snubbed
that should have been on?
I'm surprised Yannis wasn't on
because Yannis has normally been on.
Yeah.
Bam.
It started with one of the better defending centers.
You know, he switched, can guard one through five.
Derrick White, we know what we think of him defensively.
That was one of the reasons that he was on the Olympic,
the US select team, the Olympic team.
So, OG, he's one of the defenders,
but I agree with you, Roy.
I don't really have a problem.
I'm surprised that none of these guys,
because Zubots or the Clippers made second team,
Jaren Jackson Jr., Jalen Williams,
Kamara of Portland and Rudy Gobert.
They could have, Bam or OG or Giannis could have
easily taken Rudy Gobert's place.
Rudy didn't have it this year and it's okay.
You don't keep having to put players on there.
Oh yeah, well he's been,
he's four time defensive player of the year.
If the guy doesn't have a season that warrant him being on there, don't put players on there. Oh yeah, well he's been he's four time defensive player of the year. If the guy doesn't have a season that warrant him being on
there don't put him on there. It's okay. It's okay if you don't put Rudy Gobert
on the all defensive team because I don't think he had an all defensive team
type of a season this year. Right. Maybe Drew Holliday. I feel like he's just an
always common presence on defense. He's up on the guards using his hands.
He gets under screens.
You know, maybe that could be a player,
but then again, you never know where their ranking was
on the defense event.
The NBA world is awaiting LeBron's decision
on his player option with the Lakers for next season.
Rich Paul said on the Rich Eisen Show today,
I think everybody's been on pins and needles for a while.
I wish I had an answer.
I don't know.
It's early.
I don't have a conversation like that.
I go into each year like he's continuing to play.
I've never even talked about that.
Physically, he can play several more years.
I don't think it's the physical aspect of it.
I think it's where you are mentally.
With these guys, I think we put so much on the individual. There's a lot of players to,
there's a lot of layers to success as an individual.
And I think when you think about him per se,
there's a lot of decision that has to be made.
You know, going into the locker room,
what's the roster look like?
What's the approach to each player is?
He's always going to get everybody's best shot. And so this is a team he's on with the history of the team.
Roy, I had to ask you,
what do you think LeBron's gonna do?
Is he gonna opt out, opt in?
What are some of the factors that will go into the decision
that LeBron is gonna make to either opt in
or opt out of that contract
I mean, I feel like he's gonna be in a Lakers jersey next year
He'll probably opt out and then probably maybe sign like a two-year deal a very hefty
Two-year deal probably finish out his career for the Lakers, you know
You know
it's hard for me with
LeBron because I want to believe him when he says that he's not a part of the front
office, you know, conversations, even though, you know, he would think the best player in the NBA
right now would have his hands in the cookie jar and everything, but they got to, you know,
he's going to be back, but they definitely need to upgrade like the big position.
Oh, they need to fill a band.
like the big position. Oh, they didn't feel bad.
They definitely need a center back.
And then obviously, you know, Luca and then, you know,
how he got thrown under the bus,
I feel like a little bit after
in terms of calling out his conditioning.
I feel like that needs to be like,
I mean, that's not what you're asking me.
LeBron's gonna be back, but I hope that they can,
you know, he can rub off on Luca a little bit
to like, you know, tighten up at the beginning of the season.
Well, they did hire a strength and conditioning coach.
And as we talked about a couple of nights ago, Roy,
I don't know if you heard us,
is that a lot of these elite guys, they have their own guys.
They work with, as far as weight lifting,
as far as physio and all that other stuff.
I know LeBron, Mike Macias is with Bron all the time.
And so a lot of these guys used to be Tim Brover, but a lot of these guys have
their own personal guys that they train with and do things with, but it's nice to
see, but I'm glad Lucas taking it.
And because, you know, I just feel like in the playoffs, he starts to wear down
and, you know, it seemed like it's back and he starts to move like he's 72 years old and he's barely 26. Oh Joe what you think?
That's not my fault, my fault. What do you think? What's LeBron gonna do?
Listen, he can opt out. I mean he could opt in. Either way he's gonna be a Laker.
He's gonna play another two maybe three years. I think he's gonna do everything
he can to stretch it long enough where he can play with his youngest son. Outside of that, with him and Luca had,
it was special last year. I think he wants to continue that. I think he's going to have
discussions with Jenny and Palenka about getting the big in there and getting some help.
So they can, they can keep, he doesn't want to just keep playing and keep opting in or opting out,
but building a team around where they can be in contention year in and year out.
And whatever necessary moves need to be made,
they probably made this season.
So they're just not going home in the first round
and actually contending for another title.
What was your point you wanted to make, Roy?
You know, if I move, I that one. I'll keep it moving.
DeMarcus Cousins who spent 2018-19 season with the Warriors says Steve
Kirk doesn't do well when it comes to developing young players. Boogie said the
lack of development could lead to Kaminga wanting out this offseason. I
think they lost Kaminga. I think Steve Kirk ruined that relationship this year
with the DMPs. We've seen this happen time and time again, when it comes to him
and dealing with young talent, he just doesn't handle young talent.
Well, he doesn't develop out of, out of the years he's been there.
We've only seen one guy develop under Steve Kerr and they ran him off.
That was Jordan Poole.
When it comes to young talent, I just don't think he handles it well.
Oh, I'm going to start with you.
Do you agree with what Boogie is saying?
No, man, obviously it was coming from a player of his caliber, you know, as
good as Boogie is, knowing the game and knowing the coaches and understanding
the players that he's had his hands and imprint on, he's absolutely right.
And there's an example of one that we've talked about this year.
Um, over and over and over.
Yeah.
Kaminga.
Yeah.
It may, it makes no sense, but you did.
It makes no sense.
And then when Kaminga does get the opportunity to play, look at the type of
goddamn games he's having.
He balls out.
He does.
This is who you had on the bench for whatever reason it may have been.
Come on, man.
Unexplainable.
Unexplainable.
Roy.
You know, it makes me think about the, the, the, it has to be, you guys know
there has to be synergy within an organization,
you know, and I know Mike Dunley, he took over, we played together while I was working
when he was in the Indiana.
And you know, there doesn't seem to be a synergy between like who he's paying and who he's
bringing in and you know, who the coach is playing.
I think about Mike Malone in the situation
with the Denver Nuggets.
Calvin Booth, I believe, was the GM or president.
And he's drafting certain players and bringing them in
and he wants them to develop them.
But Coach Malone was playing the older guys
and the guys that he can rely on.
So for me, and then the organization
ended up getting rid of both of them. So for me, and then the organization ended up getting rid of both of them.
So for me, there has to be a synergy there.
And at some point, you know, once, you know,
I'm not sure if he, at some point,
is he gonna be the Golden State Warriors coach forever?
Maybe there might be a timeline where he may want us to be
like, hey, you know what, maybe when stuff is done,
I walk away and he's just gonna go with the players
that he knows as well.
But if there's not a synergy between the front office and the players,
if the front office is bringing in players that they need to develop
and he's not playing, there's gonna be an issue there.
And if you're not winning, it's gonna exacerbate the issue, you know,
the next year and the next summer, that people are gonna be unhappy.
You need to build for the future.
Steph and those guys are getting older and older and older and father
time is undefeated.
But you know, the problem that they're having is Roy and Ocho is that
most teams, when you're trying to compete for a title, you're not
relying on young players.
You're going with your core guys.
Now see, you look at OKC, you see how OKC did it Ocho?
They got rid of all the old guys that say, you know what, we're
going to take these lumps right now,
but we're gonna build this thing together.
We're not in, hey, we're not under no illusion
that we're gonna compete for a title.
But when we compete for a title,
we're gonna be able to compete for years and years to come
because all these guys would have grown up together.
You see, the problem is you got Steph, you have Clay,
you had Draymond,
you had Loom, you had veteran guys Iggy before he retired, you had veteran guys.
Man I ain't got time for the young guys be making no mistake Roy, because you
know hey the one thing a coach, you know this in football, coaches hate
mistakes and rookies gonna make mistakes. That's just the way it works
And it seems like and you see like Steve Steve ain't got no problem Put no guy on the bench and he put Jason Tatum on the bench
So you know he got a damn problem put Kamika on the bench
Go ahead on Joe you gonna say what?
Listen, I won't say you talk about young teams, you know in allowing young team to do what they need to do
But those young teams when you have a young team like OKC, you know as in, in, in allowing young teams to, to do what they need to do. But those young teams, when you have a young team like OKC, you know, as you
use, for example, you can do that when you got SGA leading them.
Yeah, but I'm saying, but you see what they did.
Think about it.
Oh, they trade for SGA.
They draft Jalen Williams.
They drafted a lot of these guys.
Yeah.
Chet Holmgren.
They say, Hey, they go out and get a couple of pieces to add.
Veteran, Isaiah Hardenstein.
So now, they go get Lou Dora.
They say, oh, they go get a Caruso.
Guys that have played, that know how to play, that plays their role.
Got to see the problem that Kaminga has.
Kaminga is one of them young guys like, bro, I was trying to go get 30.
Well, in that outfit, Steph is supposed to get 30.
You supposed to get like 10, 15.
Hold on. So you think that might be one of the reasons
why you got Kaminga on the bench?
He said that it's hard to get a flow when you out there
with Steph because the office is run for Steph. Yes.
Well, he's looking off Steph.
He's looking off Steph.
Yeah, he's looking off Steph. He's like off stuff. Yeah, he's looking off stuff.
He's like, nah, bro, I got this right here.
You go under the corner.
So Camille is one of those that needs his own team.
Yes.
Just like Poole and that's it.
And that's okay.
That's okay. Just understand that. You you probably not going to win as much.
Jordan Poole like, Jordan Poole like, yeah, it's nice.
The average 20 plus.
But we're going to be in the lottery every year.
Yeah.
So that's the sacrifice that you have to make.
And a lot of times guys have to sacrifice their game.
When you play with other historically great players, you kind of have to make. And a lot of times, guys have to sacrifice their game. When you play with other historically great players,
you kind of have to sacrifice.
They get, you know, hey, it like pop.
He get the big piece of chicken.
So, okay, you ain't getting the breast, Osho.
You get a drumstick, you get a wing.
Okay, you get a short thigh.
Mm-hmm.
HE-HE-HE-HE.
But, uh, and so that's the thing with Kamiga, I think.
Do I do, I think he's good enough, but if he wants to play there, he's going to have to
understand how to play within that system.
That's crazy.
Cause he needs the ball.
See, it's not like Katie.
Katie is efficient.
Katie didn't need the ball.
You're Katie 15 shots.
Katie go get you 27, 30.
Cause he's daddy Fisher.
Yeah.
Clay is a sketch and shoot shooter.
Kaminga needs the ball, cause he wants to drive.
He wants to put the ball on the floor.
He ain't trying to catch and shoot.
That's not what he is.
That's not his skillset.
So it's going to be interesting
to see how this thing plays out.
Roy, we're going to get you out of here on this one.
You played with a young Nicole Yokich in Denver.
Did you know, was there any indication when you saw him in
practice and you watched him, um, when he was on the court in the games, did
you have any indication he was going to be this?
So I'm going to say this real quick.
That was my last year in the NBA.
I was on three teams in one year.
That's why I knew my ass was done.
And I was only in Denver for like a month and a half.
So I was like a sabbatical, but I can honestly tell you this.
That man, I did not see him lift the weight.
I would see him in the locker room and like his build is not what you expect.
And I did not think that he would like go on to be like a three time MVP
and everything like that.
Uh, to me, what he's done is incredible.
Sometimes I do feel that, you know,
towards the end of the series, you know,
even as great as he is, having the ball in his hands
a little bit kind of like flows down the offense
and not allows other people to get going.
I think Jamal Murray could have gotten like 10 plus more
shots, but they've won a championship.
They know what they're doing.
But I did not expect him to be as good as he is.
I saw Jamal Murray when he was, I think,
a second year player at that time.
And he was still, he had all the right tools.
So that's him.
I didn't think they were going to be as good as they were.
So tell them where they can find you at, Roy.
Social media, you got a YouTube page?
I have a YouTube page, but I started a speaking business.
You can check me out at royhibrick.com.
If you're looking for a speaker, I'm your guy.
A lot of things I talk about is my whole motto
is stand tall, start small.
I know you guys, and athletes, can figure out like,
hey, you may look the part,
but if you don't put the time in, have the good mindset,
and obviously you work on your mental as big as you are,
you're not gonna be able to succeed on the court,
in the field, in the C-suite executive type space,
unless you put that in.
So that's what I'm working on,
RoyHibbert.com, H-I-B-B-E-R-T.com,
and you can check me out if you like to.
You got an IG, you got a Twitter page?
Twitter is Roy underscore meets underscore world.
And then on Instagram, Roy Hibbert 55.
All right.
Roy, thanks for stopping by, man.
We appreciate your insight on the game.
OKC, Minnesota and all things NBA.
Hey, when you get some free time,
stop back by and chat with us, bro.
Hey, hey, hey, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
I want to throw this out there for you real quick.
What's that?
For, for, for, for, uh, your, your Shaysha,
your other channel, there's like that.
I got to set you up. You got to do an interview
with my agent, David Falk, uh, MJ's agent.
I got, I got to be the link in between
or something like that, though, man.
I know that, uh, you're a LeBron guy,
and then David Falk is obviously a big, uh,
uh, Michael Jordan guy.
If that's ever a thing,
I would love to be the in-between. No strings attached. Just trying to, you know,
absolutely. I love that. I appreciate that, bro. Got you. All right, Roy. Thank you, man. Enjoy
the rest of your evening and we'll talk soon. Got you. All right.
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