Gil's Arena - Gilbert Arenas DESTROYS the 80s

Episode Date: February 28, 2023

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Age is zero. Change the game. You empty, huh? Empty? Welcome back to another gills arena presented by underdog fantasy wolf wolf. Joined by the legend himself Gilbert Arenas. We also got Brandy Jennings in the building. What up, what up, what up, what up? Ladies and gentlemen, it is the last day of Black History Month. So I need all the white people on the staff.

Y'all owe us 10 pushups for reparations. If you're non-white, non-black, give us three. Just three. Fingertips though, fingertips. Are we got a lot to get into? We got one started. He's going, He's going. He's going.

Give us that 10. 10 for Obama. We are dedicated on this show, ladies and gentlemen. We got a lot to get into with the current. But before we get that, we got to hit the pass, Gil. So time for a new segment. We're dropping called What's Eating Gilbert Arena drop and call what's eating Gilbert arenas okay it's like Gilbert grape but Gil's arena so internet's been ablaze you know after your

controversial opinions on the growth of the NBA now you said and I quote 80s cannot compete with 90s 2000s and now it is a pointless argument Bill Lambert I don't know why he caught the slander but I do get it because it was February Bill Lambert cannot I don't know why he caught the slander, but I do get it because it was February. Bill Lambert cannot play basketball today. His defense does not work today. So a lot of people got in their feelings to get personal. I don't think none more than Chris Broussard and Rob Parker, two gentlemen I respect, host of the iCoupled pod on Fox Sports. And they were in their feelings. Did you hear what they said, Gil? Yeah, I heard it. Oh, you did. You heard all of it? Yeah, I got it translated Oh you did you heard all of it? Yeah, I got it, uh

Translated for me some transcriptions and all that good stuff translated for me a little bit So what's your response to them saying that that you don't understand basketball understand the game? I believe what they said You know, it's so funny. That's the same complaint we have about them that they don't understand the game because they've never played it Well my knowledge for the game um i was actually being nice right by calling them drunks i was being nice but if we want to see my knowledge of the game when it merged in uh what 76 the nba had a really big problem with the booger sugar from the NBA. Right? I was trying to spare, but, you know, since we want to talk about it,

70s, 80s basketball, the league was having a really bad image problem with the Tony Montana. That's what inspired the movie Scarface because all the NBA players were just coked out. Like, I don't even know why we even playing this game. The whole 70s and 80s NBA, like, league was just on drugs. They were just on drugs. Like, it was-

Performing, though. I would say they were performing. They should have. They was on that hard rock candy. That cocaine beer. Going up and down. Like, I don't understand what we're talking about here. Because whenever they make an argument or try to make a point,

they use the same six players. The same six players to make arguments. Okay, we're going to take those six. We're going to move them. How about the other fucking 450 players that played in it? You know the Knicks teams where they were throwing games for that drug. The Phillies teams where they were throwing games for

the drug. That's the type of league that it was. They were literally throwing games for drug habits. And you're telling me that's the era that's supposed to be this golden shit? It's only golden because it was the merge.

Then you had Magic and Bird being the face of the league at that point in time and race wars going on. You know, you had every black person, Spanish person on the West Coast rooting for Magic Johnson and Lakers because there was only fucking two TV channels. Either you're going to watch the Lakers or you're going to watch Boston. And then you had everybody over in Boston rooting for the legends. So what do you say? We're going to get into it a little bit. Normally we don't like to feed the trolls, but, you know, we were touched by it. We talked about it yesterday during our pre-production meeting.

So MJ and Akeem are part of the 80s generation. Cap. Cap Rooney? Cap? What kind of Cap? Okay see this is, so I can break it down. It's Chris right? Chris Moussard. Which one called me Willis? That was Rob Parker I believe. He's stuck in the 80s as you can see.

Call him Willis. Yeah that fucking show was like mid 80s. Different strong guys. We used to have those in the mid-80s, right? They're fucking stuck out there. So, this is how it works. All right, so we'll use the 80s. So, 1980 to 1984, those are your decade players, right?

You don't want to be drafted in 85 or 84, 85 or 85, 86, right? those were called tweeners that's that's your tweener years anybody after that you might as well look to the new decade because the fact that 77 78 79 players they go through your first three years so basically in the nba it's going to take you about three years before you can actually get into your groove, right? So those 70, those 70, late 70 players, they're going to be priming as soon as the decade starts in the 80s. So they have 10 years of work they're going to do. You know, anybody 85,

which is going to be Jordan, Hakeem, and Barkley, you have to come out the gates running, man. So even the great Jordan, he still don't make the first team decade Averaging 36 and all that because he still only played five years. He has five years worth of Stats versus someone who played that decade for ten years So when you do the decade count Jordan ranked eighth Hakeem raked if Barkley didn't even rank in the top 10 because of that because he started off the first two years so those

Players after 84 84 going on they're not gonna be all decade players So they will be priming in the following year. That's why Jordan is considered a 90s player Well Jordan did win four of his five MVPs than a 90. He did win one in the 80s He was a 90s player six finals MVPs came in the 90s. 90s player. He's the only defensive player of the year that came in the 80s. The only two people

I've ever heard called him an 80s player was Chris and, what was his name? Rob Parker. Call me Willis. Him. Those are the only two

people I've ever really heard him call Michael Jordan an 80s player. So I guess the question, if you're saying the game has evolved, 80s can compete with 90s, 2000s, is 80s play. So I guess the question, if you're saying the game has evolved, 80s can compete with 90s, 2000s,

is 80s Jordan better than 90s Jordan? Really? See, that's what you do. Can the 80s Jordan beat the 90s Jordan? No. Can the 90s Jordan, I mean, can the 80s Hakeem beat the 90s Hakeem? No. No.

So what they try to do is then say, Hakeem Olajuwon was whooping on Shaquille O'Neal. You mean Hakeem, the MVP the year before, beating on a third-year Shaq? That's just like Jokic, Embiid, Greek the Freak beating on Wiseman. Obviously. That's fucking obviously. Like, I mean, you know what I mean? The arguments you're making don't even make sense. Like, those guys are considered 90s players.

Even in the 90s, Shaq was 92? 92, and he's third team. He's third team all decade in the 90s. He's first team in the 2000s. You know what I mean?

So it's basically your following year where you come in. But again, you know, you move those six players out. Tell us about the rest of those cocaine ass hands. You know what I mean? Let's not forget. They was, let's not forget what the 80s basketball was really about. Like, let's really not, like, sugarcoat. I shouldn't have said sugar.

I shouldn't have said sugar because it was all on that. You know what I mean? When you're talking about this knowledge, what are you basing this off of? Research or did you actually? I played. You played basketball? I played. Were you an all-NBA level player?

I was three-time all-NBA. You did that three times. So, you know, when we're sitting, you gotta remember, I'm 92. I'm in, you know what? I got my cell phone. What, 2001, 2002? That was 2001. So I'm at the prime. I'm at the beginning of the era.

Now, so, you know, if nobody knows this, I'm gonna give you a list of the top 24 players in the 2000 Decade, okay, right the best

2000 Listen to these names. Let me know if you hear any name that came in 2004 2005 LeBron Kobe Shaq dirt DeWay Steve Nash, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Ray Allen, Chris Webber, Paul Pierce, Chauncey Billups, Yao Ming, Baron Davis, Carmelo, Tony Parker, Paul Gasol. That's my era. It's hard for, you know, certain players.

So the youngest players, what, LeBron James and Wayne Wade, you know, they came in with 2002, 2003. You know what I mean? So it's hard for anybody after that to make the team because you're losing to the mid-90s players that's priming right now. So that's what the Chris is in. What's his name again? Rob Parker.

Rob Parker. You know, like guys, like people like him who just watch games, they don't really understand it. So people that are like players that are in their tweening years, you can just be stuck. You can have a great career and not make your decade team because you came in at the wrong era so that's why jordan is not considered in 80s places you consider the 90s players because when he came into the 90s him barkley and those are the same people he used he used the tweening

player he was better off just saying magic johnson and bird but you know that was it that was the whole era magic johnson and bird if you the shooting, this is how you can tell. Shooting guards, right? Since we're not using Michael Jordan in the 80s as a shooting guard, but you can if you want to. We'll go with, you know, you got Clyde, you got Gervin, you know, over here. Right? They're in their own little, those are superstars.

Now, we got, was a Gus Johnson. Who was a guy on the Knicks who's high all the time? Who was it? The Ray Ray summary. Oh, figure right. Follow. No, not sugar Ray. I think the sugar.

I mean, anytime you say sugar, I'm pretty sure they lighten up right now. Michael Ray Richardson. and then you had Had to go overseas Hooper I always want to say Theo Ratliff, but it's a Theus Reggie Theus no Reggie Theus lander on the show. No, no, no Reggie. Hey, no, no Okay, so those those are the tops. Those are the top four shooting guards The last three couldn't shoot for shit, right? Just all they couldn't shoot the fucking save their life now Now we put them in the 2000s, right? We got kobe Dwyane wade

Allen Iverson who the fuck is those who they guarding? And then we come off the bench. We got Ray Allen, T-Mac, and Vince. What are we talking about here? They should drug test. Someone need to drug test Chris. And what's his name again? Rob Parker. Rob Parker.

They should be drug tested right now. I'm serious. This is embarrassing. And the last thing I'll leave with, I think they try to say that you don't know basketball. And I'm looking at a man who dropped 60 points on Kobe Bryant, not knowing basketball. If you knew basketball, you might who dropped 60 points on Kobe Bryant not knowing basketball. If you knew basketball, you might have dropped 120 on him, Gil.

I swear to God. Listen. 180. This is how great my basketball knowledge is. Bill and Beer, right? I said he wouldn't play in today's game. I really meant that shit. Because he wouldn't. I'm sorry.

You know he was drafted with Magic, right? He was drafted in the same draft. You wouldn't know him because back then they had fucking seven drafts. They had seven rounds. 170 to 250 people were being drafted

in the 70s and the 80s. Now, I want you to do math and tell me which league, which time is easier to make the NBA. 90s moving forward, 54 spots. 80s, 170 to 250. It looks like they were just doing David Stern's day you want play Come on come on It was just fucking picking anyone who touched the basketball at any point in life was on

Inside the draft like I there was a bum where I live And he was rambling Draft drafted in in in uh in in a sixth round back in 1985 No, he was right Anybody so so when I say Bill and beer wouldn't make today's NBA listen he was drafted in the third round third round If he was 10 years older, he wouldn't been in the league okay

let's just he wouldn't have been in this league right like we know what our second round looks like right 30 players in the second round 20 some players in the second round four to ten might play two years and above The 80s had five more rounds of bullshit, that's crazy, right? I never knew that No, they had five more ran its fucking 200 people coming in They should anybody anybody could just said anybody committed but this is supposed to be the toughest era It should be like you should have had one round and it's all super. You had seven rounds of peeping like post office got anyone who

anyone who looked like a basketball player. So look, I want to do this. Bron, I'm sorry, my guy. I have to do it. Jordan is back to go. Not on the last day of Black History Month. I'm sorry, Jordan is back to go. You're not on the last day of black history. I'm sorry.

Jordan is black back to go. I mean, come on. No, like he's back to you. Listen, this is why you got to be to go. If you ran a cocaine out of the 80s, you literally ran a cocaine out. You was running circles around him that in the 90s they had to clean they shit up that like like like he was a clinic by himself. so I have to give it to Michael Jordan he's back to go for what he did for the 80 he was whooping the ass so bad in the 80 you

remember the last thing when he said the teammates he was all in there doing bro yeah I remember that right yeah yeah I guarantee if you if you interview any of those players they don't even they won't they won't even remember playing with MJ. That's how high they were. They don't even remember the young star. It was on that Antarctica. Alright, Gil. I think you you've made your point and rested your case. Let's keep this thing moving and shaking. We leaving the eighties now. Hot tub time machine. Finally. We come back

to these 2020, 2023. Here we go, the real game. Now we got to talk about probably the worst news. It really ruined my black history month. I don't know how you guys felt about it. But LeBron James, foot injury, said I heard it pop against the Mavs, proceeded to come back in. I think suffered an injury in the third quarter, played the fourth, helped lead the Lakers to their third straight win.

It was just reported yesterday that LeBron is going to be out for an indefinite amount of time with that foot injury, multiple weeks potentially. So we're going to do 0-100. I'm going to go match you first, and Brandon, I want you to jump in. What are the chances from 0-100 that the Lakers will at least make the play-in game this season? It was one state, but then 12, they got to get the 10.

But it's like, it's like, it's like I got to get the 10. So let me pull the standings up. It's what 75, 75, 62. Lakers are half a game out of 10th place. They are what? Two and a half games out of six. Who's in 10th right now?

The Pelicans. Pelicans. Yeah, go ahead and get at the Lakers. They can get in? Yeah, go ahead and get at it. I just bumped it back up to 99. 99? I bumped it up.

I give the Lakers. How you feeling, Brandon? I give the Lakers 50%. 50? 50%. They got AD, though. But no D'Lo. D'Lo's coming back soon.

He's hurt. D'Lo's out? Yeah, D'Lo's out right now. Yeah, he's hurt right now, so low D low coming back. So he's he loves out. Yeah, he knows all right now. Yeah, he's hurt. He's hurt right now. So he's coming back soon though. They got Vando. I mean easily.

Yeah, but I mean 30% I mean 15 15% it just always hurt and then Brian not being there is just I don't know. I mean, you know, it's even working to pick up the slack to Bronco. Let's say he's out two, three weeks and come back for the last 13 games of the season. If they can do it, I mean, you know, if they can get in that playing game and then get that a spot, I think, you know, they can get Denver or somebody like that out of there. Like like they could get

Denver up out of there. So, I'm gonna give you all a stat. AD without LeBron. Nine games this season. He's averaging 28, 16, two blocks a game. He seems to have been elevating 60% true shooting percentage. I don't like to do square analytics, but when it supports my arguments, I'll use them.

They got that squad. D'Lo and AD can't carry until LeBron comes back. I mean, if D'Lo comes back within the next couple games, you know, but for the most part, I mean, it's just A.D. out there and then the – The season's over in like a what, a month? A month. So, yeah, you got to get going. Yeah, I mean, LeBron is about half of that or at least three weeks of that.

I mean – Yeah. But do you guys feel like this is now A.D.'s chance to prove that he's that guy? He was balling earlier in the season, got hurt, didn't make the All-Star game. I mean, listen, if he can somehow will this team into the playoff game, even though they're half a game out, if he can do it by himself, I'm pretty sure we'll give him some credit, you know, in L.A. Yeah.

Okay. Because, you know, we – Yeah, okay, cuz you know we He's gonna NBA 75 list right so he's one of the 75 best players in the NBA ever if you're on that list. Whoa Whoa, that was that was on the curve. I Was gonna curve that wasn't like literally he's top 75 right now It's just curved but ad when he's when he's playing at his peak When he's locked in listen, he didn't have this he didn't have the stats to be top 100

Okay, so it was on the curve of his projection. I understood that part because I mean, you know Was he better than T Mac right now? No Dwight Howard right now. No, you don't have this You're not better than Dwight. No, right. Dwight. Dwight stats is better than goddamn Patrick Ewing stats. Dwight Howard should have been top 80s 90s. All right. So let's talk about LeBron, man. He missed 71 games in his first 15 seasons. 71. Yeah. He's missed 98 games in the last five seasons.

Wow. Should the Lakers have been low-managing LeBron more this season? Darviham even admitted he was playing LeBron heavy minutes, knowing he was battling injuries. I know how you feel about low management, but is there a certain point, the man's 38 years old, been in the league 20 years, where he should have the benefit of being able to low-manage a little bit more?

I mean, I think that came from him trying to get the record. I think he was just trying to stay in shape think that came from him trying to get the record. And I think he was, like, just trying to stay in shape and try to make sure he get the record. So I think a lot of that is just – and he likes to play. I think Bron just likes to play basketball. Like, I don't think he's thinking about minutes or anything like that. But at 38, I mean, you know, you could probably chill a little bit. Just a little bit.

But, I mean, let's just be honest. In the last two years, what team has he actually had to actually chill? Right? You know what I mean? You know, for the most part, everyone's been hurt. You know, you never really had Anthony Davis healthy for the last two years for you to let him ride. You know, you like so LeBron had literally for the last two years just try to carry this team when it should have been Anthony Davis carrying it. So, you know, unfortunately, you know, if you're Darvin Ham and you thought about load management, what would be your record?

What would be your record? It might be both. You'd be a bottom. It might be 50. Yeah, you'd be a bottom? It might be both. It might be 14. It might be 50. It might be last. Last in the record. In the Wimby Sweet State, giving that Wimby pick to the Pelicans.

So last question for you guys. You know, I think Lakers fans was on the front office, felt like they should have made a move in the offseason. They obviously waited right before the trade deadline, but came up with some big, big grabs. I think it was Rui Hachimor and then making the big trade, sending Westbrook to the Jazz and getting D'Lo, Van D, Malik Beasley, and that whole crew. But do you think they made the right decision

waiting until so close to the trade deadline versus last summer or earlier in the season? They was holding onto them two picks for dear life, knowing that potentially this could have been a situation where AD's going to get hurt, LeBron's going to get hurt, and we need to field a competitive team. Too little, too late, or is this squad gonna prove us wrong?

What squad? The squad they have now. D-Lo, AD, Malik Beasley, Austin Reeves. Bro, we just trying to, we waiting for next year, man. We're pulling the Clippers on it, man. All right, all right. 2023, 2024. Yeah, I'm just waiting on Kyrie to come. Yes. I'm just waiting to Kyrie. Okay

Baby, yeah, like we need after it seemed like after they beat the Mavs Kyrie might have been second-guessing like I like Luca I'm trying to get to LA LA right here. Okay, this where he needs to be. Let's talk about another bucket getter, your Adidas brethren, Dame Lillard. Now, Gil, after Dame dropped that freestyle on the airplane, good things have happened. Yeah. Dropped the 71 points. Mm-hmm. Only the eighth 70-point game in NBA history.

Oldest player to do it, I believe. Wait, wait. Say it again? Eighth 70-point game in NBA history. Oldest player to do it, I believe. Wait, wait. Say it again? Hey, 70-point game in NBA history. There's eight players that did that? I think a bunch of Wilks. I never knew that. I guarantee you none of them in the 80s.

Oh, Wilks. Only four players, but eight times. I guarantee you not in the 80s. None of them did. Will Kobe, David Thompson. Was David Thompson in the 80s? I don't know. We're going to confirm that with our

Well, I want to know Gil what are the chances zero to 100 that a third player scores already 70 points this season this season Rockets got like 20 more games Nobody's gonna rocket is capable of it right now. I'm saying but they're not trying to think of teams They're gonna give up that 70 piece No, they will but I don't know you know Dame someone just broke in we are live ladies the only person who's who has a team that can possibly do it will be game. Do it again. I don't know if anybody I don't think anybody's in a situation where they

have just freedom of just shooting like that. Donovan Mitchell? Donovan. Donovan Mitchell? Yeah, I mean, he has 70. But, you know, when that playoff, when you're in a playoff hunt, you're really crunching your team down So I don't see anybody really probably not this year. I can see I can see a lot more next year Yeah, and I can see a hundred-point game. I was gonna add that was gonna be my next question. Do you think in our lifetime?

Someone will break wills record. You might drop 101. Yeah, for sure. You think it's possible? Yeah, is the defense just that musty or the offense? Okay, let's let's stop is the defense just that musty or is the offense just that good? Listen, listen. Okay, let's stop. Is the defense that bad? Okay. It's not that the defense is bad. It's just the offense is way better than it was. You got to remember, from the time the game was invented, right, the principles of defense has never changed.

They have never changed, right? How you play defense has never changed. It's never evolved. You know, below the baseline, you push him this way, push him to his weak hand, go under on a non-shooter, go over on a shooter. Like, the principle has never changed. So what has happened is

since offense has the blueprint offense has evolved its game around the rules of defense so our moves back back but in the 80s right you probably had a 51 to 49 defense compared to office, right? Right now you're probably looking at a 8020 from office to defense. I gotta remember we keep creating moves We keep evolving the office the defense has no chance You gotta remember every rule that they add is to help the defense now you get them off the ground, right? And you try to they don't want to call it a defensive player stick his arm out there because we're learning off of the habits So it's not that the defense is worse. It's the office is just that much better now

So I'm but you had to play basketball to really understand that Chris and all you 80s players. What's the other guy's name? Rob Parker Rob Hawkins, right? Like Miss Parker Rob Miss Parker on Friday Rob Parker Fox Sports good man him and Chris are good dude. I know they're good dudes But you know sometimes you just got to educate the good dudes So they they get it from another lens. So this is deals arena. So I'm your humble servant So you do we do what you want to do or you're so they understand, you know It's not that the defense has gotten softer. It's just offenses gotten better

Like I can tell you this right now and I'm gonna look in the camera If you grab today's players and you give them the same space Michael Jordan had on isolations Barbecue shrimp time, okay, not even chicken strip. I'm sorry like you gotta be you think about our moves today Give us you got it. You got to remember back then. What about the hand checking on the physicality? You're not worried about that.

No matter still got to remember still got to remember like you're so I'm we're not that we're not the guards that sitting here posting up full court like back to the basket. You know, this is we're coming downhill hand checking does not matter. I'm coming full speed. You're not strong enough to stop 210, 220, coming full speed. Okay. So what ends up happening is if I have any guard on the ISO

and you have to lift up with your guy, well, you're not stopping me. The only thing you can do is clotheslining if you can get there fast enough. You know what I mean? So it's like, yeah, Jordan had a rougher game, but he had all the space in the world to work. Yeah, we can't hand check, but we still have a game where you can zone us. You can come over and fake double.

You can come over and sit on the other side of the block. So we all have our different type of, you know, you know, rules. So don't knock our rules, you know, don't knock our rules and say that was a better game, but it wasn't like even today. Someone asked me, hey, can you stop the players, you know, today stop them? No, I didn't have to guard someone trying to do the same thing as me. I'm not guarding someone trying to score 30 every night. I'm Calderon. I'm Jason Kidd. Listen,

if you bust my ass, you scored 24. You was averaging like 8 and you scored 24. That was a hell of a night for you. Today, you walking to a motherfucker trying to score 70. No, I cannot guard you. No, I cannot guard. I'm not that dumb Okay, I'm not gonna pretend that I can stop the next generation of players this is like this is like Bob Cousy, right

It's like Bob Cousy Black The bar cozy slander off like Bob Cousy Like coming out publicly and was saying that I can stop Magic Johnson Magic Johnson don't have shit on me What do you think that Johnson? That's what we're doing to this Sanguine so I'm gonna read you guys a tweet just want to get your opinions really quick. It comes from the legend Miles Brown. He said, anyone passes 81 and I'm giving it a double asterisk. Kobe was in a real game and really needed.

These BBL buckets are not the same. BBL. He was in a real game. Oh, because all these other games are fake and shut. Like, I don't. What is the? are fake and shut. Like, I don't... What is the... I don't know. Right?

I don't get the tweet. Like, they... Robinson's madder because he was chasing the scoring time when he dropped his 70. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Okay, he was chasing the scoring. For his own individual glory. What I'm saying, he was chasing the scoring record, right?

So that one should have an hash, to be honest, because Shaq set out because he thought he won that shit, and the Spurs decided we're going to feed you the ball the whole game so you can get the record. Was that on the Clippers, I think? Yeah, I think so. But what I'm saying is they purposely fed him the ball so he can get that record.

For sure. So that's not a real game situation. Anyway, the last thing on damn is the hundred a real game. I mean, I mean, we'll got like who was it all of those. Who was that hundred point game? Five, five, five, six mailman. So we can sit here and depict everybody's era you're for sure So let's last thing on Dame and you know, we talked about Dame not running from the grind being loyal to the Blazers

Yeah, this is a they'll never give me credit for what I've actually done They better hope I don't win a championship for the Blazers So what are the chances zero to 100 that Dame can win a chip with the Blazers? Zero I'm saying zero. Ooh that Dame can win a chip with the Blazers? Zero. I'm saying zero. And it's not Dame's fault. No, it's not. It's just nobody's coming to Portland.

I don't know. It just ran its course. I think it's just running its course now. Why do you feel like people aren't rocking with Portland like that? Because for me, when you look at Portland, no sales tax. Because it's just... Reasonable strip club. Marketing. Food is great.

Number one in food. Most strip clubs in the country per capita, $2. They got pock pock. They got all types of good food. Beautiful wineries, like the Chosen Family. Listen, it's still, it's still, like, even though we're in a social media era, it's still a dinosaur thinking where you're talking about marketing

dollars right so LA New York Miami Chicago Boston DC top six they have an advantage over everyone because they have a market where you can sell shoes you know we can do all this you know I mean because you know just like anything your money doubles when you're in big markets. So everyone always thinks about the bigger market teams You know, it's like it's one it's just one of those things where until you know until Players see dollars being made in other cities, just like someone in Los Angeles. Until that happens, players are going to always

keep trying to come to the big cities. I think you should leave. Who? You still feeling? I think it's time for him to leave. I'm not being loyal to no NBA team. Unless they're going to give me a percentage of the team or something later on. That's illegal. I tried.

Or something, but I just feel like the loyalty thing is like, alright. Well, you can't get percentage while you're an active player. Well, if I'm going to stay here, then... But, you know, listen. It's always better to

know the owner of the team than the general manager. You know what I mean? Owners are businessmen, right? Yeah. And just like anything, just like a student going up to a Hall of Famer and really asking questions about getting his game better, asking an owner about business and really being, you know, into it. Oh, they're going to give you the blueprint to be successful after basketball. So, you know, I don't know

if that's the case with Dame, with his with the owner owner groups over there. So it's hard to really say what's going on. But, you know, he's really loyal to them. Even if he wins, even if he wins a chip is gonna be like Toronto's chip No one really remembers Mm-hmm. No one remembers. We're not gonna remember for damn though and leading that Blazers squad to the mount up We'll try but like it's gonna be hard. What year did Toronto win? 2019 And I'm a Warriors hater no, I'm about to somebody I said name the fourth the last four championships, right?

It was like go to state Golden State Cleveland I was in the early for their losses. It was a beautiful thing to see Kawhi was in his bag He was Are you Canadian? No, there's only a Canadian remember. I listen to Drake, though. Exactly, without thinking. Drake and Lightskin do. No, it was at one of those finals games. Twitter brought us up there.

We got to see the Warriors get smacked. I remember I was sitting. They had us in a suite, but we were right next to Steve Nash. And they had all these T-shirts, and I wanted to grab a bunch of them just to help them remember this loss. The suite was locked. But anyway, that's neither here nor there. Time for another segment.

We got trust issues. So let's talk about, Gil, your favorite city, Milwaukee Bucks. That is my favorite city now. See? We done converted. We got Brandon. Bucks and six. All right.

Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. The corner of the Bucks and six term. So Bucks have won 14 straight games. I don't think it's getting talked about enough.

It's almost like they keep winning, we just forget about it. But they have now jumped the Celtics to first in the East as of this taping. Do you trust the Bucs to win the East? Do I trust? I mean, I do because they've been there, they've done it. They have the experience. They have arguably, you know, right now, top two, top two best player in the league right now.

That's willed the team to the playoff, to the championship, and literally just had a fourth quarter performance at the free throw line. That's, you know, for him, that's just, that was the most impressive thing, that he hit free throws in that game. What was he, 20 for 28, something like that? Something like that, yeah. Yeah, like, just unbelievable. So, you know, they have the experience,

so I do believe that they can get to the finals. Okay, you rolling with that? Of course, you already know. And Giannis is the best player in the league right now. He's better than Joker. Whoa. Yeah. KD. Huh? KD? KD not playing. KD's not playing right now. KD's not playing. He's on the roster. Yeah, but I did that shit that KD won. Right? I named him two. I said you're two right now. He's like, why am I two? I said, because you're not playing. He said, well, I'm on a roster.

I was like, oh, shit. I mean. I was like, okay. I was like, you're not playing right now. He's like, I'm on a roster. As long as the Bucs stay healthy, though. As long as the Bucs stay healthy, yeah, I think that's just the biggest thing, staying healthy, middle 10.

And I want to see Joe England. Joe. Ingles? Yeah, Ingles. Yeah, coming to himself a little bit more, like, down the stretch stretch for him because I think he's going to be a big piece. Especially in the playoffs. Yeah, playoffs. So big news out of Milwaukee.

We saw that Mark Lasry, who's one of the ownership group, sold his share of the Bucs to the Haslam family. They own the Cleveland Browns, I think the Columbus crew on Ohio. But the Bucs had a total valuation of $3.5 billion, the third highest American sports team behind the Broncos and then the Suns, which recently just sold to Matt Ishbia. Man, you're a Milwaukee guy. When you hear that, is that wild of you to think that this small market team is now the third highest selling, or based on valuation franchise, in the history of sports?

Well, I mean, they did a lot of history of sports well i mean well they did a lot of upgrades so you know they did a lot of upgrades in the uh the deer district the um you know the new arena and things like that so mark came in and he did his thing um but it's just hard with a small market you know for him to sell his stake and things like it's just hard because it's like you know they won it before right so it's like you know the city you know the city is trying to come on the up and up but it's still small it's still a small market so it's kind of, you know, they won it before. Right. So it was like, you know, the city, you know, the city is trying to come on the up and up, but it's still small. It's still a small market. So it's kind of like, you know, even when they do win it again, if they do win it again, it's still kind of like, all right, well now what? Like it's not, it doesn't like you said, like LA, New York,

they all have this, it's just like another, it's like always something else that can get it going. And it's just like, I don't know, Milwaukee's always going to be like just in the middle to me. I mean, I hadn't been to Milwaukee until my dad got a jersey retired, I think, 2019. That was my first time out there. And I was like, I actually fuck with it. I mean, everything you hear about Milwaukee versus getting there. I haven't been there in the summertime yet.

I know they do that big concert series. It's supposed to be like super turnt up. Yeah, Summerfest. Okay, first of all. Summerfest. Milwaukee's fire. Listen, I'm just, you know, Summerfest. Okay, first of all. Summerfest. Milwaukee's fire. Listen, I'm just you know, this is no disrespect

but white people making that kind of money in black history must be illegal. I'm sorry. That should just be illegal in February alone. You gotta do it January 31st or March 1st. Come on, man. I gotta hear 3.5 billion just being like

come on. Come on. You know what's wild, though. I got to hear 3.5 billion just being like, come on. Come on. I need some more money in my life. And we got to talk about this. On the last day of Black History Month, when you look at these crazy team valuations, it all traces back to former Clippers on O'Donnell Sterling being mad at his side boo for taking pictures with Magic Johnson and Matt Kemp. Because he's forced to sell the team. Ballmer comes in and pays $2 billion for it.

And everybody says, well, fuck, if the Clippers are worth $2 billion, what are the Lakers worth? What are the Cowboys worth? What are the Broncos worth? I mean, to be honest, your worth was what someone's willing to buy and pay for it. But Lazary and that team, that group, bought the Bucs in 2014 for $550 million.

Now I think he owns a third of the team. He's gonna walk away with close to like 1.2 billion. What is the Clippers worth now? They have to be at the four. Not sure the latest value. They sold for two billion. You know, they're definitely not worth anywhere near. The Clippers valuation is like 3.9 billion right now.

It's great. We got these little ear pieces. Y'all be thinking I know all this shit. I really don't. We got the legend Barron in here giving me all these great notes and nuggets. And I'm not going to lie to you guys. I'm going to keep it real with y'all. This is how we make TV. No, no, no.

I know my shit. I know. You don't... Wait. I got one, but I know my shit. But I... They feed you the same shit. No, but he's talking to you.

That's why I ain't yelling this shit out. The last thing I want to tell you about the Bucks that we're going to talk about. Giannis was on the Daily Show. It was a segment with Samanaj. He was reading some jokes, kind of clapped at KD and Joker. Could barely keep a straight face, though. But if you're those guys, even though he's doing it in jest, he's Greco-Nigerian, you know what I mean?

He's just happy to be in America, getting a bag, winning championships. Do you take any offense to those jokes? No. You know what I mean. With Giannis, you see his personality. Even when he's reading it, after he's trying to put his own little spit, like, oh, I really like his game. You can see he's just a very good-hearted dude. He respects the game. He knows what it

takes to be great. As a player, I'm not going to be offended by what he said. I'm going to be offended by just the notion of what was said. You know, just the notion, just the thought of I got to keep jumping to win championships. But KD don't care. Brandon, you're KD. And he tells you, I get to try to carry your own team. If I'm KD,'t care. Brandon, you can tell you, bro. I get to try to carry your own team. If I'm Katie, I care. I care.

Just like Katie's a little more sensitive on social media. So and these are two guys that can meet in the finals. Like this can really be in the finals. And like you said, the outside is going to blow it up. Yeah. Like the outside is going to be like, oh, you see what he said? This and that. So it's in the back of your mind

No, like don't like, you know, it's like I'm not like, you know, we still competitors So you say one little thing I'm gonna still feel away at some point You're gonna feel it but I mean he's not gonna take it like no no no, I'm not gonna be mad at him. Yeah. Yeah It's just something like if the Suns end up winning it, KD, he's going to, you know what I'm saying, the whole game is going to be off the chain. This whole game will be a thousand. You never really want to give them material to troll you, right?

Just give them an easy one. You don't want to give a star player ammunition to focus on you. I did that shit with Dwyane Wade once, and trust me, it's not a good look. Someone asked me about the Miami Heat, right? So someone asked me, oh, you know, you got the Miami Heat. I said, what do I care? I said, Dwyane Wade can't shoot.

We're just going to do what the Olympics did to him. Just sit in the zone. And he heard that shit. He heard it and I heard it. So while I said it, I'm watching the games. Like, okay, we're going to play them in like two weeks. And then you just like, you look at that. Okay, 38 getting ready for you

Damn it like and then and then so when he came to town I called Hey, man, listen a how you doing the way this Gil? You know that the thing in the paper about two weeks ago that wouldn't even that was misconstrued. You know, we used to go say that shit quick. Ah, it was misconstrued. He's, ah, yeah, cool, right? You know how you watching the player warm up? It was the flat. He was looking like, yeah.

He had 30 to 40 that game. But the way he didn't even look to take a jump shot. Spins, spins, spins. Oh, he had me in a spin cycle. So goddamn fast. Like I'm looking at Larry like, hey, man, do your job. Do your job, man. I got I got a I got Gary Payton.

I got Gary. I got old GP right here, man. That's funny. Yeah, he bought man. I don't even think we beat them. The whole season. I think I'm too. I think we all the the he games were 2 and 13 Is he the 2 and 13 the 0 and 9? Yeah. Yeah, it was I don't think I beat them until I got to Orlando oh he puts he put ass open on me from from then and from then on but it was a

Listen, it was a hassle, but that was the last person I've ever said shit to when it came to the game time You ever had experience like that? It's a game time. I think I think I had a moment with like Nate Robinson We had got into it because I had I had I was talking I think I had got him in Chicago and then he was like and then he was trying to get me back in In Milwaukee and we and I was talking let's talk it like clowning out of town on the court Like clowning like doing all this stuff back there. Yeah, you weak like have my nuts to the ground Then next thing, you know in Milwaukee he yeah, he was he was getting ready and I remember Monte coming in the locker room

He was like, you know, you know, he can out there ready for you tonight, you know me I'm just like, man, whatever. Nate Robinson, he come off the bench behind Kirk. Was it Heinrich? Yeah, Kirk Heinrich. I'm like, man, whatever. God at me, though. And I got kicked out that game.

And I got kicked out. I was, yeah. It happens. So now it's time for Mostly Fans. You know, we don't have Only Fans. We got Mostly Fans. We got some lovers, some haters. But NBA's been talking about getting rid of this one-and-done rule.

It's pretty interesting now, especially with the landscape of college and NIL where you can literally get a bag on the level of a rookie contract. So, Gil, if the one-and-done rule ends, what would you do if you were the best 18-year-old hooper in the country? You going straight to the league, getting that bread, or if I gave you an NIL deal, say, come to Arizona, and we'll pay you more than you can make off that rookie contract. What you saying? I mean, I want to be in the NBA.

So I'm going to jump to the NBA because I want to start my money clock. And I want to start, because you got to remember, usually it takes about three years to adjust. So by the time I get to, if I'm 18, by the time I get to 21, I should be playing like an all-star type of player. So I'd rather just go to the NBA instead of going to college. Brandon, what you doing? 18, and yeah, I'm going straight from High school to the NBA

And but but like the other point like I'm not thinking three years. I'm just going like like my whole thing I'm not like trying to do but I'm just going I'm just going just to just cuz I think I'm ready That's an O kill averaging 35 Here this is the one thing like about NIL deals that I don't like These parents are pimping their kids out. Oh for checks because you gotta remember think about 1718 16 you don't have your own bank account Right. You don't have a financial advisor. So any company that's coming to you is dealing with your parent. They can have advisors now, though.

Yeah, but you listen to your parent. So any deal that's coming your way, your parent has talked about this with whoever. So it's never in your best interest. It might not be in your best interest, like the overtime league or whatever. Like, the kids are not making the decision. It's the parents. Like, you know, you're throwing $200,000, $300,000 at a kid. Of course that parent is going to be like, no, go to that league because this is bills.

I can pay off debt. I can pay off student loans with this. That kid ain't really seeing that money. But how is that any different going to overtime league versus hey come to Arizona We'll give you that 300 you can live in Tucson You know the seventh wonders of the world when I get when I get the Arizona you don't know me My parents don't have access to that, you know, I can I can open up a little bank account myself, you know That's why I said the heist this high school part is horrible because these kids are gonna be they're gonna be pushed

Each and every way these deals like I see parents already like already money It's all about it's all about money and trying to figure out what bag I can get for my son So I can get a piece of that hasn't that been going on though since the beginning of time I think even back in the day parents was always leveling up getting good shoe deals guy might be on Case with team one day next next thing you know pti come in take them to the night that's what i'm saying but you've seen it back then now you see it where it's legal so you just see these kids just flying from team to team but just being put in bad situations like some of these deals like for all you athletes

that's trying to move to the nba you're thinking about brands. Think about your brand yourself. You are your company. Every deal you sign is attached to you. If you are a big name, make sure you're signing deals and you're linking up with companies that match your name.

No matter what kind of money someone's going, if it's Juan Carlos taco stand and they're giving you $100,000, no. Right? You don't want that part of your resume because when big companies look at who's dealing with you, they're going to be like, who is this?

I don't want to be tied to a player who's going to, you know, that's why when you look at, you know, I'm dealing with Hublot, I'm dealing with Oakley Glasses, you know what I mean? I'm dealing with Ferrari. High class wants to be around high class, so you really have to be careful with NIL deals on who you actually sign your brand to. Yeah, I think the most important thing, and I've signed new brand deals on the scale of you gentlemen, but you got to rock with shit that you actually use.

Like Underdog Fantasy, for example. Me using that app, hitting it, pick them. You know, they've been playing me. I don't blame Underdog. I blame coaching. I blame officiating. Kevin Herter. I needed him to get 12.5.

He had 11. He went to double overtime. That was Mike Brown's fault. You would have won by more, Mike, if you put Kevin in and let him get a three. Oh, Tatum messed me up too. I had him one and a half blocks and steals. He had the steal in the first quarter. Didn't get that. I couldn't get a steal or block the other three.

Come on, man. God damn being six people just hating out there. Yeah, that's interesting what you said though about, about the parents, like how they are now, like with it. Because I remember me doing my deal, 18, trying to sign with Under Armour. And, you know, I remember my mom being in there, Sonny Vaccaro, all this. And I just remember, like, the agent and they were all fighting because my mom was trying. And it just happened to Luca, too.

I remember his mom was getting a percentage of everything on his name, and that's what my mom was trying to do at 18 Like just because I didn't know yeah, so you know how do you feel about it? That's your mom, right? You know I'm saying Oh Sonny McCurl was like fuck no like Sonny McCurl said hell No, he's like this is this is his like this is his thing like you're not gonna get a percentage off Everything that he makes and my mom was still be getting paid now Okay, like you know saying think about that like if you a, if she would have signed and got a percentage of everything, that'd mean anything I do.

But I guess as a kid, 18 years old, cause I'm thinking like if my parents would have came in and wanted some bread as 18, I would've been like, yeah. And that's the bad problem with it. Like you don't want to say no to your parents, you know, who raised you and they're gonna put that guilt trip on you.

But at the end of the day, like, I don't want to be obligated. I'm your son. Yeah. So if you're telling me everything you did for me is for me to pay you back. You know what I mean? I dealt with that a lot. I dealt with that a lot. This is like early.

This is like early. Because you're 18, but they know you got a bag. Yeah. And my pops don't. Yeah. And I'm not. I'm signing 1.2. I'm just thinking, all right, like, let's go to Italy. But remember, I'm still trying to get to the league.

So I'm just like, this little money is like, here, man, you know, buy my mom a crib, boom, boom, that should be enough. But you know, it was more just like everybody. And then we hit the recession too at that time. Remember, Obama had just got into office. It was some rough times back then. It was just, I wasn't ready like all that.

I'm glad I went to overseas. I was away from everything. Did that keep, I mean, because I got to imagine if you was out here, you was at Arizona, the amount of people that would have been hitting you up. All the time for money. Now, Arizona would have been easier because he would have detached for a year. Just like he did in Italy. You're detaching.

But you're signing your deal because you're becoming a pro. Yes. Yeah. See, so you got a taste of it before you got there. Yeah. So I saw everything. See, that's what I said. So if you really want to know who your friends is right here, the high school kids and all

that, these NIL deals will test your friendship and test what your parents is about. Like, you know, in the black culture, we're taught to get rich to give it back to our parents, right? Instead of get rich, raise your son for your son to be in a better position, for him to get rich, for him to put his, you know what I mean?

That's how to move it forward. Instead of getting money and then going back, taking care of it. How are you supposed to build if you're taking care of everything behind you? And, you know, that's the thing that we've got to get out. And it's easy to target the black kid that has just a single parent mother. That's the easy one to get through. Because now they both don't know. And she don't know. So she's just like, well get to. Because now they both don't know. And she don't know.

She's just like, well, you know, let's go. You know. I want to ask you, how instrumental was Sonny Vaquero? We hear that name. He's a legend in the game. You know, they got the new Michael Jordan movie about to come out. He's been doing work for a long, long time. How did you end up connecting initially?

And at what point did you realize, oh, this is somebody I could really trust to be in my corner? Well, I was, I was, I had just graduated from Oak Hill. I was coming home. I was waiting on my SAT score, and they had flagged it. And I was in the car with my mom. I was listening to Michael Thompson play Thompson's dad. And he was on a radio show talking to Sonny Vaccaro.

And Sonny was just like, you know, I don't know why these kids just don't sit out for a year, make the NCAA, you know, like, you like, pull their cards and maybe sit out, go to the G League or go overseas. And then that's just when it just clicked in my head and I called Sonny. And Sonny was like, yeah, young fella, I can get you some workouts, went to Vegas, boom, boom, boom, did it in two weeks. Next thing you know, I'm off to Baltimore meeting with Under Armour, signed an Under Armour deal. Next thing you know, I'm off to Baltimore meeting with Under Armour, signed an Under Armour deal.

Next thing you know, a month later, I'm in Rome. I mean, two weeks later, I'm in Rome signing my deal with Sonny. And Sonny was just like, yo, young fella, I just need you to stay here for the whole year. Once you do this, basketball's gonna change. And then the rest was history. Next thing you know, I come back, I get picked to 10th. That's wild. And I didn't even play all year.

So it was just, it was a blessing because I didn't know where I was going to go. I mean, Luke Olsen had just retired. He left, Gerald Bayless said he was gone. So it was like the plan was there, but it just, something was just telling me to do something else. Yeah, it's like, even with my kids, I tell them, I say, listen, when you're listening to people talk, listen, right?

When people start talking about money, I said, you don't want to do deals with people or listen to people who don't have money about money deals because they have an interest in it, right? You want to listen to people who have no interest in the money side of it. I don't want no percentage. So that means I'd invented the deal to make sure it benefits you and you only. You know what I mean? So I got to mean, my son is, there's NIL deals coming. Rob Markman You got bag coming already? I mean, I imagine.

We're working on it. We still got to jump through a whole lot of hoops of shit. We're going to get them over to UCLA. We got a whole lot of shit. We got to weed the fuck out, you know. We're going to get them over to UCLA. Take care of them. But, you know, it's like, you know, he listens to me because he knows I don't want anything

or need anything. So if I'm telling him this is a good situation, he knows that it's for his best interest. Has nothing to do with me. And parents, that's really what you should be worried about. The money will come. I mean, you know what I mean? You'll be fine.

Just stop. You're thinking small when you should be thinking big. You should be trying to put him in a position where he can make $400,000 or $500,000 million. Instead of looking at this $200,000, you're trying to figure big, you should be trying to put him in a position where he can make four or five hundred million. Instead of looking at this two hundred thousand, you're trying to figure out how you're going to get this, and I'm going to get a new truck, shit like that. Yeah. Yeah.

That's our show for today. Another Tuesday. That was a horrible ending. What do you mean, Gil? That was a good button. You got somebody, you got something on your chest you want to get at? What's his name again? Roker.

Joe Roker. Rob Parker. There it is. Okay. Yeah, now you can finish. I just wanted to make sure. Rob Parker. They're going to watch the show, Gil.

We got a material for their show. We got some more from this one. They should. Oh. Like and subscribe. Oh, no, no. I did. Like and subscribe. I did this for, because I know they probably don't look at all decade teams

You know the all decade that you guys did the NBA did So, you know point guard shooting guard small for and power for it I'm removing the centers because the centers is not here today since basically early 2000s So there's 40 spots that you guys picked. You probably, Chris, you probably picked. Of the top 10 greatest in each position, let's just say

80s have six. 2000s, 13. Six, verse 13. If you want to add Barkley Jordan and Hakeem, then the 80s has nine but then the 90s has three. However you want to do it. The 2000s have 13 players that you guys voted in top 10 yeah do your research that's some facts for that ass we appreciate y'all this has been another episode of gills arena presented by underdog fantasy wolf wolf hey they need to be drug tested you know it just can't be

going on shit like that it's just just spurting out shit. Talking about, yeah, we're going to do this. Come on, man. Pee in a cup. March 1st. You get the rest of Black History Month to figure it out. But not in one of our Gills Arenas cups. And this is lemonade. We'll see y'all tomorrow.

We'll be here all week, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Like and subscribe to all that good stuff. It's Gil's Arena.