Gil's Arena - Lebron James Will CARRY The Lakers To A Title

Episode Date: April 5, 2023

Lebron James Will CARRY The Lakers To A Title According to Gilbert Arenas!! Other NBA Topics include, Joel Embiid's Big Night, Steph Curry and The Golden State Warriors and The Western Conference Playoff Picture. Gil's Arena is NOW LIVE. Every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Brought to you by Underdog Fantasy: Sign up here for a deposit match up to $100 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wendy's most important deal of the day has a fresh lineup. Pick any two breakfast items for $5. New four-piece French toast sticks, bacon or sausage wrap, English muffin sandwiches, value iced coffee, and more. Limited time only at participating Wendy's Taxes Extra. When does fast grocery delivery through Instacart matter most? When your famous grainy mustard potato salad isn't so famous without the grainy mustard. When the barbecue's lit, but there's nothing to grill. When the in-laws decide that, actually, they will stay for dinner.

Instacart has all your groceries covered this summer. So download the app and get delivery in as fast as 60 minutes. Plus, enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Age is zero. Change the game. Welcome back to Gil's Arena presented by Underdog Fantasy. Woo! Back with the living legend, Gilbert Arenas. We're going to see your shoes later in the show, but they really are. They really are. Let's see. Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Back with the living legend, Gilbert Arenas.

We're going to see your shoes later in the show, but they really are. You want to show them now? They pull them up. That's fluffy. Yes, sir. That's fluffy. We got Rashad McCants back in the building. Let's go.

Coordinating with the crowd always. Aw, man. It's coordination. Let me go ahead and let y'all know, I'm fresh from the Bahamas, man. I'm ready to rock. Oh, you came from the Bahamas? Fresh from the Bahamas, man. I'm a whole new me.

Okay. Meditated and everything. I know. I'm fresh from Bahamas, man. I'm ready to rock. Oh, you came from Bahamas? Fresh from Bahamas, man. I'm a whole new me. Okay. Meditated and everything. We're going to see. We're going to get it going on the show today. And we got the Glance LED ticker making its debut on the show. Shout out to the folks over at Glance.

If you want to get one, go to glance-led.com. Use promo code GillsArena. 10% off. Yes, sir. And while we're in the promoing mood, we always got to show love to Underdog Fantasy. If you still haven't signed up for Underdog Fantasy, they keep the lights on. They keep this show coming to you on YouTube, so we appreciate them. But make sure you

download the app. Use promo code GillsArena, and they will match your first deposit up to $100. You can get some bread, Gil. You're really hitting. bread, Gil. Yes. You really hitting. No, no. I've been getting smacked.

Still? Still. Still. You got to keep it light. Two or three or less. See, my problem is I always go four or five. Then somebody will betray me like Jerry Vanderbilt did last night. We didn't get that steal that I needed.

You got to get the insurance, though. You know, if you do the five, you got to do the insurance so you just cover your back. Bro, I did a custom bread down. It does, and I hate that. I did three with insurance, lost all three. Oh, shit.

I was like, I need more insurance. I need to share all three of these people. God, dang. We're going to get it back on track. And just a reminder to everybody out there, Gil's Arena is going live

starting next Tuesday. That's cool. April 11th. 11.30 a. starting next Tuesday. That's cool. April 11th. 11.30 a.m. Pacific. That's our time. 2.30 p.m. Eastern. You know you're not doing shit. You're going to be

in your lunch break with the West Coast. If you work a normal schedule on the East, you're going to be winding down. Boss is going to be getting on your nerves at this point.

Go ahead. Pull it up on the phone. Put the AirPods in. Watch the show. We appreciate you. A lot of y'all just YouTubing anyway. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Watch it whenever. Whenever you got time. But before we get into the important stuff, I got a quick one for y'all, and this comes from Reddit, so I just need to get your opinion on it. A woman went on a date with a dude to a restaurant. She likes to dip her food in ranch dressing, but the restaurant didn't have ranch dressing, so she dipped to a local convenience store, grabbed her a bottle of ranch, came back to the restaurant didn't have ranch dressing so she dipped to a local convenience store grabbed her a bottle of ranch Came back to the restaurant

I'm not I'm not really you know, but the dude on the day wasn't feeling it let her know about it So I need your opinions. Is she a keeper or a creeper? Ranch is amazing. Well You said I was a girl or so the girl on the day did it. She likes to dip her food in ranch, understandably. Are you trolling me? No. Why, has this happened to you?

You ain't never had ranch? No, no, this is a Kwame Brown thing. What? No, I swear to God. Are y'all trolling me? No. That's not a Kwame. Bullshit.

Is this his situation? Yes. Wait, are you serious? This came from Reddit. Did this happen to him? Because I promise you. Yes, he went to a French restaurant. They didn't have French dressing and he went and got French dressing from another place and came back and had his French dressing and he used to wear like a fanny pack with

French dressing in it all the time. Like are y'all shit? Are you serious right now? All that's happening is y'all need to end the beef, Gibbs. No, I'm just saying that. I really thought you was trolling me. No, this came from Reddit. This was actually a real thing.

He does not care. Promise. The ref dilemma. Oh, because I call him a female, too. So I just thought that was trolling. My bad. My bad. My bad, y'all. I thought he was trolling me.

OK. But in this particular case. Bro, you do not play fair. I don't care if she wants French dress. She gets a French. I mean, ooh. A wrench. Wrench. My bad. My bad. My bad, I mean, ooh. A ranch. Ranch.

My bad. My bad, y'all. This is innocent. It's innocent. Ranch. In the beef, yeah. If she wants ranch, then she goes somewhere else and get ranch.

That's fine with me. OK. What's going to happen after is all I care about. When is ranch meal kicking in? For real. When is drink money kicking in, sweetheart? I want to know if it was Hidden Valley or not. If it was like Wishbone, whatever the other one is.

You got to go. She got to go. Craft acceptable. No, seriously. I mean, some people are really picky about dressings they have. And some places just don't have good stuff. I used to go to Hooters in my college days. They used to do Wing Wednesdays.

We were starving college students. But they would overcharge for the ranch. Yes. So we would go ahead. Bring your own? Yeah. And I heard stories about your teammate, Brendan Haywood, when he was at North Carolina. He used to go to Burger King.

He didn't want to pay for the cheese. So he would just get the Whopper, no cheese, bring it to the crib, put the cheese on the Whopper. Really? Yeah. Yeah. True story. Really? From the legend Brian Morrison, UNC. It's Yeah. Yeah. True story.

Really? From the legend Brian Morrison, UNC. It's serious. Unbelievable. Come on. Come on. Ranch though. Teammates do weird things.

Juan Dixon used to bring his own sheets. To the hotel? To the hotel. Bench sheets on the hotel. Honestly, I could get down with that. He used to bring his own because he liked his thread versus the... He said, my thread count is 800 and above. Man, that's immaculate. That's an immaculate thread count right there.

You know they be doing the black light on it and you see... I just don't trust the hotels to change the sheets enough. He brings his own toilet paper. What? He brings his own toilet paper, his own sheets. They do be having some cheap ass toilet paper. They always got the one ply, which you would think. Yeah, you got to, it's wipes now, though.

You got to have wipes. You know what I'm saying? You see the vision. Baby wipes go a long way, guys. I'm going to give you that little tidbit. I'm sure a lot of y'all use it already. Don't look down on it. Don't give them that credit.

Don't give them that credit. And that ranch story was a real one. It wasn't a troll. I just thought you was trolling me. Just so we can clear the air. Clear the air. Okay. We're trying to have a mediation we want to get everybody together I just came from a meditation treat Gil you can't be bringing this negative energy he's telling me the story I'm like wait hold on I don't if people think I'm bullshitting go to Sally Jenkins uh story on

Carmen Brown 2001 and you will read that in there, trust me. It's right there so y'all don't think I'm trolling. Bringing the dressing with you, I cannot knock. I think that's a good move. That young woman wanted to go get her some dressing. She paid for it. She brought it back. The restaurant was hating though.

No outside food. That's why you got to be discreet. Hey, they've been doing the hot sauce. People carry hot sauce all the time, you know what I'm saying? Ain't nothing different about that. They try to hit you with Tabasco sometimes, it's like I can't, out of Tabasco, do better.

Do better. I fought with the Cholula though, when they got that. At least have the Cholula on deck too. But talking about food, we gotta talk about a lot of dudes that been cooking around the association. So let's show them some love with hibachi time. Here we go. Cook it up.

I just got, Baron on my ear said that was an A-plus segue, so I just want everybody to know. I'm working on the segue. I see y'all comments. I see y'all slander, and it's going to make me better. All right? I don't take any of it personal. Thanks.

Because I'm getting a bag from Underdog. Hey. All right. But first, let's start and Rashad. I know You get a little annoying we talk about these Lakers, but we got about talk about these Los Angeles Lakers LeBron Raymond James senior 37 point six assists five rebounds in the game winner versus jazz. All right a little tough fourth quarter Eerily similar to that Celtics game. He drove for the layup tricked it Lakers fans was a little nervous. Mm-hmm.ily similar to that Celtics game. He drove for the layup, tricked it.

Lakers fans was a little nervous. Mm-hmm. But let's look at Bronovan. Really out here getting it. Bronovan. Mm. He really did his thing. And he turned it up in OT,

dropping nine points, like I said, including that game winner. Look at that. Oh. Don't look like nothing wrong with that damn ankle to me. Here we go.

Oh, look at that clutch. Ah. Oh. Don't look like nothing wrong with that damn ankle to me. Here we go. Look at that clutch. Ah. Okay. Game winner. Okay. Another game winner to add to his resume. So why is he doing this every time?

He do this. Like every time. He averages 30 something. No, like in the clutch. I need this every time in the clutch. Give me the ball, I'm going to get a foul, or I'm going to get a bucket. Why is he not doing it throughout his career? We're going to talk about it. Yeah, I'm getting upset

with that. It's too late to get upset. It's too late. During his post-game interview, LeBron's teammates paid homage to the king. If you can make shots offensively, you've got to be able to get stops down the stretch, especially when you're playing against teams that can score. So, we had to get stops, and we did that.

Exquisite goat noises. Shout out to Angelo Russell, who led the charge. The rest of his teammates who followed suit. It's kind of weird. It's kind of weird. It's kind of weird. I don't mean to throw, like, gasoline on the fire, but I know one thing, one thing for sure, Jordan has never got those sounds from his teammates.

I don't think they can make those type of sounds. I don't think they even thought about it. As a man, I don't think he should... That doesn't feel natural. Were they saying goat at that point though? Were they making... Yeah, that's a goat. Okay. I sounded like a sheep to me. Were they saying goat at that point, though? Were they making? Yeah, that's a goat. Okay.

I sounded like a sheep to me. That's a goat. Sounded like sheep to me. It didn't sound like no damn goat. It sounded like a bunch of sheep out there. Like, yeah, LeBron, look, he deserve the praise. For his team, yes. Yes, for sure.

They love him out there. They know what he brings to the table. Let's talk about these Lakers, though. 7-1 in their last eight games. They're in the midst of a five-game road trip. It's the night against the Clippers in LA, but they are 4-0 on this road trip. But we got to talk about LeBron and his time with the Lakers. First four

seasons, I'm going to give you year by year. Missed the playoffs 2019. One, some would say, was the hardest championship in by year. Missed the playoffs, 2019. One, what some would say, was the hardest championship in NBA history, no home court advantage in 2020. Lost in the first round to the Suns, 2021. Missed the playoffs, 2022. And now we're here.

So people always talk about how everything affects LeBron's legacy. So how does this postseason affect LeBron's Laker legacy? Oh, you're lucky you worded it that way. Laker legacy. I already know. He brung a championship, right? He brung one, right? But as a wise man said, one is so close to none. A one don't count.

Or that one don't fucking count. It's close to two, too. Are you a bubble denier? I am. Pop that fucking bubble. Matter of fact, let me go ahead and bring this motherfucker. Uh-oh. You bring your daughter's wand.

This is my wand. What the hell you have a wand for? Oh, my God. We got Harry Potter. Don't ask me. Don't ask me what Harry Potter do. We got we got Harry Potter. Don't ask me. Don't ask me what Harry Potter do. We got the black Harry Potter. We do magic out here.

In that motherfucking bubble, we gonna pop that motherfucker back. That's a bubble, man. That's a championship. Yes. One win, four years. Bunch of injuries. I mean... Don't make no excuses. No, I'm saying what are we comparing it to? I mean LeBron and what the expectation was.

What was the expectation? Win a championship. Win multiple. Who said multiple? He did. When? When he got there. Oh, so he still got time then.

Until he's gone. Oh, shit. Until he's gone, right? You see that little smirk on his face? Until he's gone. You see that little smirk on his face? Let's talk about this season.

What do the Lakers need to do for it to be considered a good season? They started 2-10. Everybody remembers they're going to be the first team with a 2-10 start

to make the postseason. So already... We're talking about play-in, right? If they can get out of the play-in tournament and stay into the contention of just being a playoff team, I consider it a success. But if they go into the play-in and they lose, this is what, two straight seasons?

That affects the legacy as him as a Laker. As a Laker. Right? So it's like the first year you didn't get it, second year you got it. And like everybody don't want to say it's an asterisk beside that bubble. I do, even though he could consider it the hardest one that he's else outside of the bubble, now I can consider that being a part of the biggest legacy that we've ever seen, right? Because his storyline this year is so outrageous,

even with Bronny coming up and all this stuff. So if he can end it with a championship, we talk about a whole different dynamic of levels, right? But then if he loses and he don't make it, we like, what was all this for? What was all this talk for? It's like 73 and nine season with the Warriors. Y'all did all this to be right back down here to lose. It don't make sense.

I think that LeBron ain't going to allow that to happen. It's no different than his regular legacy. What does he have to gain, right, at this point? With his regular legacy, no one's going to put him in front of Jordan. So people saying anything he does right now affects it, no, it's not, because you're not going to put him at three. There's no close third to him being second. When it comes to the Laker legacy, right? Magic,

Kareem, Kobe, Shaq, multiple four or five rings. LeBron, the best he can be is five. Right? Five. Was he at six right now? What? Rings? No, just

for Lakers. It's hard to say just because of the limited time frame. Just for Lakers. Yeah. He grabbed five, six. It's hard to say just because of the limited timeframe and the tail end of his career. That's what I'm saying. You can't compare him to Magic, you can't compare him to Kobe, you can't really compare him to Shaq. Do you put Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, and do you put those guys up there too? Elgin was a bad boy.

I mean, everybody says Eurostep, not realizing Elgin Baylor was doing it. Even some people were like, oh, well the Eros were doing it over there. It's like, nah. My pops was even like, yeah, we were doing this back in the day. We just called it a sidestep. There you go. But you know how it goes. And do you put Wilt in there too?

How many championships he has? One? Two? Two. Two. Two over there. But that's what I'm saying. So he has an uphill battle anyway.

So it's not like his legacy would be affected because really he doesn't have a Laker legacy. Okay, let's think about the legacy we talk about. There's the social legacy, which is the new media, the new fan, and then there's the Hooper basketball player legacy. I think those are two dynamics that we got to explore. You say the players are going to have the utmost respect for the body of work that LeBron put in. And over the span of the years that he's played,

it's like it's undeniable not to put him up at the top five. You know what I'm saying? Of all time? Of all time. Top five. Two or one. Just my respect. You're perfect.

But then you look at the new media, the new fan, this is all they've been seeing for the last 15, 10 years. So it's like LeBron is all they know. They don't even want to go back and compare him to the older players because it's like comparing NBA Youngboy and Lil Durk to Jay-Z and Nas, you know what I'm saying? So it's like it ain't even worth it. It's really unfair. It's really unfair. It's all unfair.

The rules, everything. Like, even moving forward now with the mid-season tournament, that changes the next generation's legacies, right? Because that's going to be awards that are going to be given that are not accounted for now. I got a mid-season chip. Yeah, I got a mid-season G. What the fuck is now. I got a mid-season chip. Yeah, I got a mid-season chip.

What the fuck is that? I got a mid-season chip. Do you do a parade? What do you do? So that's going to be this new generation going forward that they're going to have awards that wasn't even given to, you know, so someone's going to be using those stats as goat stats. Yeah, I got seven midseason championships. I got two full season championships. Like, shut the fuck up.

What are you talking about? But just to play devil's advocate, they use all-star games as a barometer. My thing with all-star games is always, like, who had the best half season? Who were the top players? Obviously, all NBA is a better metric to who had the best season. But see, the reason All-Star is this thing is because there's a visual. Yeah. We get to

go there, we get to watch, we get to be a part of it. Yes. So, worldwide, All-Star looks great on your resume. For a player, right, it's all NBA. One is top 24, one is top 24.

One is top 15. Right. So, um, there's, there's players that didn't make the all-star game, but it was all NBA players. Right. Um,

that's weird. Um, I was technically, whoa, I was one of them. They didn't make the, I didn't, whoa. I was one of them. You didn't make the... I didn't. I wasn't originally voted in.

Okay. Right? I was a sub, replacement, and then I made second team. Damn. And then Rod Strickland didn't make it. He made second team. So there's players. So, you know, like, All-Star is fan favorite and coach's favorite.

Okay, yeah. But that All-NBA, that's... Hooper. That's Hooper. Yeah. So when I see, like, 12 All-Stars, one All-NBA. Yeah. Eh.

Eh. Man, you got to see. Eh. So really is, like, All-Star is the type of season that you're having... Team success. Yeah. You know, fan favorite. If your team's number one, they pick three players.

You can be the third player averaging 12 and four. And they're like, oh yeah, come on along, you're an All-Star. Like fuck no. The Atlanta Hawks. Kyle Korver, Millsap, all the way. They got smacked. Yeah, the fuck is wrong with y'all? It was a feel good story.

Yeah. It was a good season. Kyle Korver, Millsap, all of them. Yeah, the fuck is wrong with y'all? It was a feel good story. Yeah. It was a good season, because if you're playing at an all-star caliber as a team, the players inside of that that makes the team go are going to be considered all-stars, just like we did with the Detroit Pistons, when they had Tayshaun, Rip, Sean, C&C, all making... That was the reason I got... Team success. You know what I'm saying? That was the reason I got.

Team success. You know what I'm saying? That was the reason I got. You know, it's just what it is sometimes. Like, if it's a middle of the season award, you shouldn't use team success. Right? Because that's what the all NBA is for. Like, when you're talking about putting the best product out there,

it should be the best players in the NBA. 100%. Not the best players on good teams, right? Oh, this is a feel-good story. We're putting this guy in. No, it should be the – it's all-star. It's an event. You're telling everybody that you want this game to be played harder. Then put the best crop

out there. Stop just pulling motherfuckers because they got the number one team and you pulling these sorry ass guys into it. They're just fucking happy to be there. They're just happy to do what they want to be doing. They're sitting there fanboying it. Just fucking fanboying it. It's TV, though, if you think about it. It's TV and entertainment because it's boring to see the same great players make the same list every single year. But they don't. Most of the time.

True Young didn't make the All-Star. Oh, well, you are. Averaging 29. Shit like that. Put the best crop out there. Let them battle. The end of the season, that's when winning an All-List actually matters to those awards. But what if it's too many of them?

I think that's been the thing. It's been too many good players. We was talking about it. How do you take him out and then put him in, but they both deserve it? They both deserve it, but there ain't enough slots. No, both make it because there's somebody who's not there. There's someone on the team that shouldn't be there. Right. There's someone always... There's going to be at least three players on that team

that... All-Star? When the fuck did you make an All-Star? What if we made an All-Star averaging 12 and 5? With the new CBA, the All-NBA team is going to be positionless. So it feels like- That's interesting. It feels like there's going to be some cheating. Yeah, it's going to be some interesting... But you're going to have five point guards?

I mean- They're not going to do that. You know what I mean? The only thing I want to see is they need to show us how they vote for All-Star. Right? We should be able to see the metrics on how are you voting for an All-Star. Right? Let's see the metrics so everyone can actually understand the pickings of it.

Yeah. Because let's say you're averaging 29. I'm averaging 29. You're averaging 29. We're all guards. Yeah. Right? Only two of us are going to make it.

And then they're going to bring in someone who's in another position, like a power forward, who's topping this. He's averaging 20 and 7. He might have a worse record than you. Absolutely. And they're taking you out and putting you in. Then they're going to add the guy who's on the number one team, so we've got to figure out how to put him in.

That's that bullshit right there. I think the fans have like 50% of the votes, so already if you're in a small market, chips are stacked again. I asked a question to one of the homies. I'm like, all right. For the starters. All NBA, how do you leave Joker, MB, or Giannis out of the first team? And it's like you said, positionless.

They all three got to make it. That's why they're doing it. Yeah, they all three got to make it. And then it's like, what two guards are going to be in? It's like... No, they're slick as shit. They're going to make one a center. Oh, no, no, this is positionless.

No, no, no. Oh, wait, this one counts as positionless? No, next year, next year. So all we're going to do is put all three in. Damn. Yeah. Yes, yes to do is put all three in. Damn. Yeah. Yes, yes. Okay.

That was the conversation. It's like, damn, you've got to put all three of them in because they're the top three MVP candidates. And their numbers. They're not going to do it. They don't do that shit anyway. That's the reason they're going to change it. That's why Embiid's been getting screwed. That's why I told my homie, I'm like, Embiid hasn't made any of these teams.

So this year, it's like, he doesn't make it. Wait, he didn't even make second team last year? I mean, he didn't even make first team last year? No, he was runner up? He didn't make first team last year. How are you runner up? Totally. That's where the conundrum comes in.

What is going on? Positionless should have fixed it, but now somebody, as all these things happen, somebody's going to end up getting so let's let's pretend It's next year this year you have those three in First team which they all three deserve. Yep, and then what I said, dang I said I'm going Dame in there and y'all throw whoever y'all want in there just cuz I can't It's winning exactly. That's why I'm because I can't leave Dame out. It's winning. Exactly. That's why I'm like, I can't leave Dame out regardless of... 65 games, minimum two, so it's going to be...

But I'm just saying, because his team is not even in it, what's the other two players? Steph is one. Then they say Donovan Mitchell. So Donovan Mitchell, Steph, and then the three bigs. Or Tatum. Curry and Tatum, and then the three bigs. Or Tatum. Curry and Tatum, and then the three bigs.

Yep. I mean, last year's team, Devin Booker, Luka, Tatum, Giannis, Joker. So obviously Embiid was the I-man out there. But now you put those three in. And we're leaving Luka out based on record, right?

You know what I'm saying? It's just a weird thing but positionless is cool because I guess this has opened up their eyes because it's really hard that these guys have been fighting for MVP the whole year

and it's going to go down to when we hear who it is, we're all going to be like, okay. So you're talking about the other two aren't first team? Get the fuck out of here. Not a chance. That's wild. But let's talk about this Western Conference playoff hunt.

We got that full screen coming. And we're going to talk about these Lakers. So the way it shakes out right now, Lakers are the 7, Clippers are the 6, Warriors are the 5th, Phoenix right now are 4, Denver and Memphis are stacked. Memphis is stacked.

There's still some games to be played, some potential shenanigans that could happen. I think if Memphis wins tonight, they pretty much wrapped up the second seed. But let's talk about these Lakers. If the Lakers win their next three games, which is a big if, they are guaranteed the fifth seed in a likely meeting against the second seed. But let's talk about these Lakers. If the Lakers win their next three games, which is a big if, they are guaranteed the fifth seed in a likely meeting against the Suns. Now, they got a back-to-back tonight against the Clippers.

They played overtime last night. Still uncertain if, you know, LeBron, AD, D-Lo, what's going to happen with that crew. But I want to ask both of y'all, if you're the Lakers and you had to pick between the fifth seed against the Suns or going into the play-in with a chance to face either the Grizzlies or the Nuggets. What you doing? And right now I'm playing, I'm playing very well. We're playing as a unit. Everyone's healthy. Also Phoenix Suns is healthy. They're playing great as a unit.

I'll rather stay in the seventh seed thinking I'm going to face Grizzlies or SAC. I will actually take the chance to stay in that seventh seed. Or if I can get in the sixth seed and play. It'd be Sacramento. I think the thing is, and that's why I asked this question, it feels like there's going to be some collusion and some shenanigans between the Clippers and Warriors to not let the Lakers get that sixth seed. Because if it's Lakers sack, all bets are off. Yes, and that's what I will be doing too.

So you're trying to go into the play-in? Because that's another issue. If I'm going in the play-in, can you pull that back up, please? So standings right now, if you're the Lakers in the play-in. If I go in the play-in, I'll be playing, what, Minnesota? No, you play New Orleans at home. Yeah. And if you lose that game, you're playing the loser of Minnesota, Thunder at home.

I'd rather play New Orleans to keep the seventh spot to guarantee me playing Memphis or SAC versus jumping to the fifth seed to play another team that's playing very well right now. That's the Western Conference Finals. Here's my problem with it. You're playing extra games, right? The risk of the team or someone going down

in the play-in compared to you already having momentum enough to go match up against this type of team and beat them. With the momentum that you got right now, they're playing well, they're healthy. Why risk going into the play-in for someone to go down and then have an excuse to actually might win that play-in to get in and then face somebody that's got their energy, they're rested, they're watched. They're just watching y'all go hand a scrap. Y'all going for scraps.

I think the Lakers go for the fifth, face the Suns, and beat their ass. So here's the problem, though. So not only you got to beat the Suns now, but you're likely going to be facing the Nuggets in the next round. Where if you take that seventh, which, again, is a big if. It's all hypothetical. You play a bunch of bullshit. You get Grizzlies, but you're going to have the, it should be Kings Warriors or Kings

Clippers. You're playing one of those two teams. It's just a harder road. Remember what we talked about? It's an easier road. No, I'm saying it's a harder road to go that Suns route. But if you beat the Suns, Nuggets, and then whoever they throw at you in the Western Conference Finals, I don't think anybody can question.

I heard a bunch of whatever you want to call it. Sheep, goats, and all that shit, right? If I'm hearing that, LeBron shouldn't be sweating at all about going against the Suns, going against Denver. I want all the smoke. Cool. It's playoff time. It's my legacy's on the line.

All-time scoring leader. All of this stuff. Everything is in his favor bring them on Why go down here and play with the with the scrums? Just to prove that I don't want to I'm ducking smoke. Let's not duck the smoke I won't KD first round of knock him out not knock him out loss Let's knock him out. Well, right then we gonna go him out right then we're gonna go up against joker and we ad gonna show up knock him out you didn't think of you didn't think this one through that sun series is gonna be seven games which is an extra game anyway for them i thought you was a laker

fan i am huh i'm smart huh seven games that that that sun series is going seven it's not seven it's not do you know suns ain't no, right? They are. They playing well. They're playing better than the Lakers. Is KD the same KD that knocked LeBron and them off with the two MVPs? Is he the same guy that he was with the Warriors? He's not the same guy, right?

He don't have the same team either. Right. So LeBron, does LeBron look like he's a little bit better, stronger, faster? Nope. Right? He got enough pieces around him with the trade. LeBron, does LeBron look like he's a little bit better, stronger, faster, right? He got enough pieces around him with the trade. I'm like, all right. Remember, if we go back in the footage, I said if we can get the Lakers to the fifth, I trust them getting to the Western Conference Finals.

But look at the road. What I'm saying is they're going to get their ass beat up physically. Yes. By the time they even get to the championship, they're going to be exhausted. I'd rather you play a game against New Orleans. That's a practice game. It's too risky. That's a practice game.

And then I'm going to play a five-game series against whoever. That's only six games versus a guaranteed seven Mmm, so you think like then and then seven again? That's 14 games Lakers Grizzlies would only go you got Lakers of five against the Grizzlies five. What about against the Kings? five Oh You're reaching spicy five against sack and five against I wanted to say four

But the NBA got it like the shit up a little bit. They got to stretch it. So five. They got to go six. Go five. And that's a lot of wear and tear. That's either 10 games or 11 games versus a guaranteed 14 games. I don't trust Darwin to be able to manipulate strategies in those early games to be able

to say, all right, if I'm Denver, I'm looking at how they play in these play-in games and we're seeing how they play playoff basketball. That gives us extra time to scout, extra time to form our schemes, other than him coming in, beating up the first two teams that he hits, boom, boom. We got the Suns out of there. We get Denver out of there. We smooth sailing. But it took you 14 games to get both of them teams out. Right.

I'd rather go here, let Denver and Suns battle it out, let them fight for seven games, and then say, hey, you ready for this war? You already done patched up. You done already been patched up. It's like, you want to fight Mike Tyson first round.

No, no. No, I want to fight him 12th. We talking 12 games compared to 14 then, right? Because we talking about, you saying Lakers in five? Lakers in five again. Yeah, five.

Ten games. One playing game. One playing is 11. So, and then you talking about 7-7. I don't think it's going to go 7-7, though. That's tough. That's tough. And I do not want to battle Joker.

That's what I'm saying. You're talking about, look who. Okay, so match it up like this. Who does LeBron have to guard on New Orleans? Brandon Ingram. Okay, right. They probably put Vando on with Ingram. Okay,. They probably put Vando on Ingram. Now think about it, if they play sack who does LeBron have to guard?

Barnes. Who? Harrison Barnes. Exactly. Easy, he walks. Okay if he plays against Memphis who does he have to play against? Probably. Exactly. How about LeBron? I mean, how about Anthony Davis? Who do we got to play against in Memphis? Jaron Jackson. Exactly. So, why would I want LeBron playing against Kevin Durant first round? Right? First round, Kevin Durant.

Vanderbilt is going to take Durant. Huh? Vanderbilt will take KD. Vanderbilt will take KD. At some point, switch. Switch. LeBron will take Shamit. If Shamit.

No, Josh. Josh Okobi. And then round two, Anthony Davis got to guard who? Joker. Yeah. You don't trust that? No. No, I don't want to.

I don't want my man beating up. You going to play this? I think Joker is already depleted. I think he's tired. I think Joker's too tired. And I think that's why they've lost every year is because the way he's played during the season, he burns out at the end. I think he's saving himself for that extra boost.

He ain't never did it. He ain't never saved himself for that. We ain't never seen it. That's why I don't trust it. I'm going to. I want to play New Orleans one game. It's one game. New Orleans. Who's the backup for Denver though?

If you get Joker in foul trouble, LeBron and AD get him in foul trouble. Thomas Bryant right now. Who's their back? Who is their, who are they going to depend on to take them over the top if we get Joker in foul trouble all four games? This man played too much defense, bro. I'm just saying. Players like us, man, scores, we don't get in foul trouble. That's the This man played too much defense, bro. I'm just saying. Players like us, man,

scorers, we don't give them foul trouble. That's the one thing we're not doing. So you know, I'm going to give you a bucket. So we're giving up buckets. Yes. But the Lakers...

Do one of these. Come on. Wow. Come on, man. Rotate, rotate. And just for the record, no seven or eight seed has ever won an NBA championship.

So just keep that in mind. You know, the Lakers could. Yeah, no 2 and 10 team. That's the fun of that. No 2 and 10 team has made the playoffs. No team has started 2 and 10. Listen, we're going. But it's a better road.

It's a better. It's a better road. Even. You mean an easier road? Better. Don't say easier. Better, better road. Even at the 6 seed. Less traffic. better road. Even at the 6E.

Less traffic. Less traffic. Even at the 6E, same way. Yeah. Easier road. I mean, even the Warriors are talking about that. The 5 is the hardest road. Being 6 or 7 is the easiest road.

Doesn't that give all the Laker fans the ammunition and the energy they need to go into playoff, though? If you see them at five compared to the two and ten start, all the expectations, all the... It sounds good going into the playoff, but then you gotta go see KD and the Suns to start it. And in their home, home court advantage.

TV, must see TV. Let's watch. Great ratings. Let's watch. This man wanna fight Mike Tyson. First round championship belt. Buster Douglas. Nah, give me a... Let's watch. Great ratings. Let's watch. This man want to fight Mike Tyson. First round championship belt. Buster Douglas. Nah, give me a couple. Let's go. Give me a couple practices first.

Let me go ahead. Boxer, I'll see you in a minute, bro. Let me go ahead and get my little shit together first. Yeah, I'll be there in a minute. Let's talk about these warriors. We got to talk about Steph. You know, we talked last week. We're talking about playoff matchups.

Didn't mention Steph because you know Steph is always going to deliver. He delivered last night 34 points against the Thunder. Where's the defense, man? Goodness. Jesus. They there. They trying. They trying, man.

Oh, Lord. Ooh. Ooh. I ain't seen that little package in a while. Steph doing his thing. So, Steph has scored, gone over 30 in three of the wow. Huh. Steph doing his thing. So Steph has scored, gone over 30 in three of the last four games. Warriors still got their road struggles,

but they are six and two in their last eight games. It seems like it's a team we're talking about, but this is the defending champion here. So are the Warriors the most slept on team in the West? Listen, if I ever said anything bad about Steph, man, I'm sorry. God. Damn. Year after year, man. God.

He do it. He do it, don't he? I mean, average of close to 30. Like, I'm sorry, but God. He do it. He do it. I know there's a lot of other great stories in the league, but this is the defending champion here. I know they've a lot of other great stories in the league, but this is the defending champion here. And I know they've been absolutely trash on the road.

But that's not a squad you want to see. Man, that man is good, man. God damn sorry, man. He can't do it by himself, though. He can't do it by himself, man. But this team has shown that they can turn it up, and they know how to play playoff basketball. Yeah.

You know what I'm saying? Right now they're the fifth. I think they're going to go their way to the sixth, keep that King series like Draymond was talking about. Because they also don't want to play against Kevin Durant first round. Yeah, I know they don't. I know they don't. Because that's a dream come true for KD.

So Lakers will lose tonight, right? Most likely. But who does Suns play? Let me pull it up sons are sons against the Nuggets tomorrow they gonna lose we take the sons of losing the Nuggets oh yeah oh no you don't want to be, nobody wants to be fifth. Right. So if the Lakers lose, I got to lose too. I don't think the Suns give a shit if they're fourth or fifth.

No, I don't think the Suns give a shit. Yeah. I'm talking about Golden State. Okay. If Lakers lose Golden State, they want to lose too. They're going to mirror it. It's going to be. See who can out lose each other.

I ain't never heard of... Niggas going, ah, we got to lose. All they want. God damn it. Sub. Sub them in. All right, so let's talk about some good news on the Warriors. A bright spot.

Andrew Wiggins missed nearly two months. He was dealing with a personal issue. The internet went wild. Made a bunch of false accusations. On this very show, I think a few weeks ago, we told them what it was. It was a family issue. It wasn't the shit that they were hearing out there. We didn't snitch.

We kept it very, very broad out of respect for Andrew Wiggins and his family. Now we found out that it was an issue with his father that had him away from the team. But he was back with the team Tuesday night. First time on the bench, he was in street clothes. But he got a standing ovation from the crowd. So for y'all two, obviously being expert hoopers, former NBA players, considering all the time that Wiggins has missed, what are your expectations for him in this postseason?

You know, consistency. When you think about his career so far, it's weird, right? It's weird how consistent he's been, but he's been called, like, an underachiever. Yep. He's been, like, he's been guaranteed every year 18 to 21 points, and we've looked at him like, this man's trash. Yep.

Right? I don't know why. Number one pick, that's why. But still. Expectations. looked at him like this man's trash. Yeah, right. I don't know why number one pick that's why but still expectations I Mean it's like, you know, it was one of those I'm like, I mean, yeah, he ain't no 27 and type guy but you know, he's been solid so I expected him I expect him to be solid, you know Well, I look at let me go ahead and pull my thing out again Always predicted that Wiggins would be the guy that come in and just do what the team needs.

Right? So now, I never really agreed with Kendrick Perkins, what he'd be saying. But he said some shit the other day that made sense. Like, it's not enough time for him to come in and be an impact player offensively that it needs to be. You don't have enough time with the team. Knock the rust off. But what he can do is take over what Iggy was doing,

giving that defensive presence, guard guys. At least you still got your physicality. You can move. And you ain't got to be hitting shots. You ain't got to do what's needed. Be the Kaminga. You know, run the floor. Get the easy buckets, offensive

rebound. I think that added to what they got now allows Steph not to really depend on giving the ball away to extra guys trying to get them in the rhythm and just depend on the team just having a defensive presence now because what the what's the one thing they lacked? Defense. Defense, right? So, now going into a team versus Phoenix, you got Wiggins that can actually throw another body at KD. That's, you know, athleticism that can affect them. Not necessarily

neutralize them, but give another body some more energy. But then also, on the other end, run the floor, give you a couple buckets. May give you 16, 15. You know what I'm saying? I like Wiggins in that side. For sure. So how long do you think it's going to take him to get the offensive side of the back?

Seems like defensive side is a little bit easier to get back. A playoff series, two, we're not going to see him, you know. Like when you're talking about playoffs, little spurts here and there will help. You know, scoring 10 in one quarter or 10 and a half, maybe having 18 one game. He'll probably pull out a 20 in the second round or something. When you're talking about the playoffs and you're playing series, someone needs to step up every game, right? You can't depend on Curry being excellent five games, seven games,

but the four games, you know, you can't expect it, right? So if someone can come in and fill a void for even ten minutes of a game, that's all he needs. He just needs to fill voids when he sees Steph is tired or Steph is out or Poole is having trouble. Just, you know, be aggressive enough to fill those voids. And that's really all he needs to do in this run. And like you do say to Joe, like it is kind of tough

for you offensively to try to get that stride when you got Poole who's in stride. Klay's still trying to find his openings where he can get his stride going and you know what he can do. You got other guys that are just out there waiting for the opportunities. Then you got Wiggs come in and it's like if you throw an expectation on him right away to be offensively compatible with everybody else, it's going to be difficult for his mind.

Because now it's like, oh I missed a couple shots here and there and they're disappointed. The fans are like, oh, we expected more. Don't throw an expectation on him right away. Give him an opportunity to gel, mix. I give it one series. If they can get through one series, the second series he can be more of a factor. All right, so now let's move to the Eastern Conference, this MVP race. Seems like it's taking shape. Jokers kind of dropped down a few notches. Embiid moved to the forefront with this 52 piece that he put on the Celtics last night.

Shot 80% from the field, 13 rebounds, six assists, two blocks. He gave them the McDonald's work. They threw in two extra nuggets. They're still chasing the Celtics for the two seed. They still chasing the stuff for the to see it It looked like they're not gonna get it But I think if you're an all-star voter in your mind you see a performance like this. Oh my lord, you know He looked like he wanted MVP does they called him? Oh my goodness man who's stopping that?

That's that Boston Seltzer, that small ass un... I said it, right? I said they ain't got nobody on the back line. They got an old ass Paul Horford who ain't athletic. You did. NB joined Wilton Kareem as the only center in NBA history with at least three 50-point games in a season. Obviously, Wilton averaged 54 seasons, so he had a few more, but that's some elite company

to be in. After the game, Doc Rivers had this to more, but that's some elite company to be in. After the game, Doc Rivers had this to say. MVP race is over. The man just scored half our points in an NBA game. I'm biased, but the MVP race is over. So Gil, I know you wasn't feeling it be like a week or so

ago, but did this performance lock up the MVP for MB? Yes. It did, and I think Philly fans need to apologize to me. They really need to apologize because exactly what I said is what he did. I said, he's averaging 31-33, and I think that's lazy. Yeah. He is the most dominant and skilled big man in this game,

and no one can stop him, so why isn't he averaging 40? No one can stop this man. What is Boston ranked in defense? Let me pull it up. Give me one second. Top four? Top five, at least. Top five, right?

No, we're talking about defense. Sorry, they're in my ear right now. Two? Let me see. Their defensive rating. Cleveland up there. Cleveland up there. Boston's tied for third in defensive rating.

So they're tied for third, and he just gave them a 50-piece McNugget meal, and they gave him two extra nuggets, he gave them a 50 piece now you tell me Why hasn't he really just taken over this whole season? Why hasn't he went into Kobe mode when Kobe average that 30 something James Harden mentality? He had that year that's in B. No one can stop this man And that's why I said he's lazy because this is, 52 is what I see him doing. No one can stop him. And that's why I made that comment.

I mean, he had that crazy stretch of March where he was going, you know, I think it was like seven or eight straight 30-point games. 30s. Ooh. He liked that kind of stuff. But when I'm saying he's a 40 guy, he's a 40 and 20, he's a 40 and 70, no one can guard him, period. So I was saying, and the Philly guy ain't hit me back since he's seen it.

I said, and this is what I did, tricked this little fucker. I said, hey, who's more skilled, him or Greek? He said, Embiid. I said, who plays harder? He said, Greek. I said, exactly. You just proved my point. Greek can't be him.

Ever. But if he got Greek's. That motor. That motor. Unbelievable. What do you have now? There you go. No competition.

No competition. And that's what I'm saying. So it's like I'm taking a jab, but I'm showing him the most high of a sport. Like, I'm not impressed with your 33. I'm not rolling. Give me 36 and above. I'm not rolling, Joe. I'm not rolling.

You're not rolling with that big? You know why? Because he dunked the fucking smoke with Joker. He might have been hurt. I don't give a fuck. Philly fans in his defense said he was hurt. He wasn't because he played the next game. Wait, Philly fans, they wasn't there.

Philly fans, they was in the comments. You know I read the comments. I wanted that game to happen because it's the only game that was going to show us the metric between the two during the season. We gave Joker 42 earlier in the year. Yeah, that's great. In Philly. We talking about now.

We're right. We talking about the deciding factor of you being the unanimous MVP. Unanimous. Now, granted, Gil has a great point. Like, ain't nobody can stop him. The 52 with the two extra nuggets. That's extraordinary, right? But I need that against Joker.

Give me 52-17 against Joker. We ain't ever having this conversation again. But the fact that that was ducked, like as a Hooper enthusiast, as a real basketball player, when we look at things like that, if I'm in the locker room with Embiid and he don't play this game. I'm like what's going on? What's going on? We not hooping today? Come on big fella. Big fella. What we doing? We hooping today? No, not today. Today's the only day for us to hoop. So the fact that we're having this conversation now, I'm like, hmm, numbers look good. 52 against a, you know, ain't no bigs out there. Like you said, Horford ain't going to be able to guard that. Grant Williams can't

guard that. But one guy that might be able to sustain that with a matchup where you got to guard him and he got to guard you? I want to see that. I want that smoke. That's Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield, that's Klitschko, that's heavyweight bout. But is it? It is. I don't think anyone's questioning who's a better player. Never.

I'm talking about the matchup. I'm talking about when we go head to head, when you knock him out, it's don't come back to me and say nothing about this guy. But I think that's what confuses people when we're talking MVP. I think people are questioning, do we think Joker's better? No, not a chance. Like, we're not saying who's a better player. This is not a who's a better player.

We're saying who's having a better year. That's all this is. If it's them playing one-on-one or something, Embiid would destroy the main every single time. That's not what we're saying. Who is having a MVP year, right? And that's where this big debate is. So, you know, even if Embiid scored 52-17, right, against him, and we give it to him,

and then he loses the next 10 games. Right? Right? Joker's back up top. Wow. Yes. MVP performance against an MVP candidate. You lose the next 10 games, and you average four, five points, and you're getting crushed.

You're, you're, you're, This is about an 82-game season. This is not how you did against me type of shit. That's not how it works. Even though as hoopers, we will say, yes, he's better than you, but you played well two games. How about the other 80? Or who we playing against. It don't matter.

You can't beat me for 52 and then duck it the rest of the games because that's not what this NBA game is about. That's what I'm saying about that one situation. It's like, don't play 81 games and then duck me on 82. Don't duck me on 82, bro. Like, finish the season on me. Finish it all. And that's why I'm like, look, that's why I respect the hell out of that critique because it's like, yo, you can't fuck with 52 against a boss. He's been doing it all season.

He had a long stretch. I just need that one game. I just need that one game to take it over the top. Hey, man, that's probably one of them games, man. Listen, you go in and you be like, man, look, my ankle hurt a little bit. I'm kind of tired. Shit, I don't want this motherfucker to get the best of me. Ah, you got a little hurt.

Some ice on there. A little hurt. Okay, we're going to talk Joker in a little bit, but it seems like he's still good. You said if Joker averaged a triple-double. Listen, when we're talking about... He's damn close. When we're talking about the season, right? We're talking about a full season, right?

You have three men out there just playing their asses off. This last week, all three still performing, right? Not one of them can take a day off. That's the bad part, right? Three of them can't rest. If Embiid shuts it down right now, and then Joker has triple doubles the rest of the season if Embiid shuts it down right now and then Joker has triple doubles the rest of this season,

Embiid lost this. Yeah. Right? Same thing if these two have a really bad week and Giannis, 48, 50, 48 or some shit, oh, he's back up top.

So it's one of those, this is one of those races where it's going to go down to the last game of the season. There's like that scoring title with Shaq and David Robinson and Shaq thought he had it won, so he set out and then

Spurs decided, hey, we're just going to give you the ball the whole game. Yeah, 72 on the cliff. He's just, come on big fella, we go and piss Shaq off. Yeah. Right? So it's going to be one of those things where it goes down to the last game because I swear to God, if I'm in beat and I sit out

and then Joker has 60, 20, and 17, oh, no. That would hurt my feelings at last. You know what I mean? Because he leaves that last impression. And it probably gets a bad team, too. Like, it's just one of them, like you said, a David Robinson-type game where they just throw him and get the ball every time. Get the ball every time.

So it's one of those things where it's going to go down to the last game. But at this point in time, I have him be up top. Okay. I'm with it. So you can see I adjust to shit. That's important. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I'm with it. So you can see I adjust to shit. That's important. Yeah. I'm with him up top just because No, no, I'm not rolling with the ducking

I'm not rolling with one game in a I'm not wrote but I gotta put him at the top of the heap Just because like he said he just broke it down beautifully like when you talk about those performances the statistics How the whole season has panned out, personally, I don't like the ducking. But globally, overall, you've got to put them up there. At one point, you said that if

Embiid could get the Sixers to a 2-1 seed, it would help his case more. They're going to be locked in at 3. We'll see. They still can make a push for the two, but I don't envision the Celtics losing their next two games. You know, this is a question, and I got to go back and look, right, or one of our fine gentlemen over there will do some research.

I think when the Kendrick Perkins and J.J. debate came out and it became a white versus black thing. I want to see Joker's numbers after that. I think, I think it, it seemed like he pulled back because the one thing he's great at, that's where it dropped. And I think he pulled back and let off the gas and really stopped searching. Like when you're talking about passing, you're really talking about getting easier shots for everyone else. Are those guys hitting those shots, though? That's the real question.

You're telling me you're hitting them all before he makes these comments? Everybody hit them all before he made these comments, and now it's like. Are they missing them on purpose? That's why I said if he averages triple-double, then, yeah, you know, that's impressive. Has there ever been a co-MVP? And that's what I was going to talk to you guys about. The big co-rookie of the year is never co-MVP. I just think the way it breaks down from a number standpoint to get there,

but I wouldn't be mad about it. I wouldn't. All MVPs matter? No. Listen. Right now, I have Embiid, right? He went from third to first. I got to wait for judgment on that

when the season's over with. If I'm sitting here like this, you know, splitting it, splitting it would be the fairest thing. It would be the fairest thing. And I don't know why sometimes when you have really tight 49.5s and really tight decisions like that,

fucking just split it. It's one of those things where sometimes you just got to fucking split things when it's that close and there's really no real winner. But right now, I have Embiid.

So if Embiid wins, should Joker be invited to the White House too? No, I have Embiid. So, if Embiid wins, should Joker be invited to the White House too? No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I see what you did there. But, you know, this is Hibachi time, so quickly, we don't have no topics around these, but we also got to show some love to Donovan Mitchell's had, what, four straight

40-point games, and Keegan Murray from the Kings becoming the first rookie. And that man's first team. Okay, yeah. That's his first team. Lil B. Wade. His first team guard. Lil B. Wade.

There's no question. And you got to show some love to Keegan Murray, too. Became the first rookie to make 203 pointers in the season. I think more of a testament to this game

and how it's played now. That's some wild shit to think about. Yeah. That rookie just pulling like that. Pulling. That was a bocce time. Now we're going to turn it up just a notch. Got to go zero to 100 real quick.

Real quick. Booty boom. Why not? Why not? That was a legally safe rendition of Drake. Zero to 100. All right. Let's talk about these Nuggets. We talked about Embiid. We got to talk about Joker. Nuggets lost to the Rockets last night. Damn. Joker was minus 21 in 24 minutes. Damn. Yeah, it was tough.

14 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, but 8 turnovers, 25 minutes. So, you know, after the game, Mike Malone had this to say about the first place team in the West. And I speak the truth. And me calling us soft tonight isn't something I'm saying to you. I just told our team that. And I dared somebody to challenge me that it wasn't true. No one did. Because we as a group were soft tonight.

I'm not saying we are soft, but tonight we were. I'm not saying we're soft, but we're soft. But we're not soft, really, but we are soft, but tonight we were. I'm not saying we're soft, but we're soft, but we're not soft, really, but we were soft tonight. So what are the chances, 0-100, that the Nuggets prove to everyone that they're not soft, even though they don't think they're soft, but they just play soft? I don't – you know, they've been number one the whole season.

This is not the – let's be honest. This is not the whole season. This is not the Bulls. This is not the 96 Bulls. This is not the Golden State 73 team. They don't have their foot on no one's throat trying to break no record. It's hard to gauge where they are mentally, but they're doing enough to stay number one, which says a lot about everyone else. If they've played this bad the last two months of basketball, and they're still up top.

You know, as a coach, as fans, as players, you don't want to lose to bottom-feeding teams like that, but just like anything in life, those are the easier games to lose because you're looking at them like, y'all are just trash. They're looking at you like, they're coming up to this game. These are the games that they want to sleep early. We playing the Nuggets. They number one.

We're going to sleep every, you know, that's those types of games. So it's not one of those things that like, oh, how'd you lose to them? Well, it's easier because they're going to play their hardest and we're going to be like, eh. Right? But are the Nuggets

one of those type of teams? I mean, I know they're number one in the West. Obviously, they lost. But what I'm saying is when you see them

on the schedule, like, when y'all were coming up and obviously a different time, but like, oh, we're playing Denver? I'm going to say,

it feels like Lakers. Lakers could be the last team in the league and dudes are going to get excited because of what that franchise is meant to lead, having all those championships. They're going to play in front of Jack Nicholson and Rihanna. Where did Houston rank that?

Huh? Where did Houston rank that? Last, right? In the West. They're last in the West. That means anyone they play in the West, that's a good game. That's a good game. For sure. On the schedule. Oh, shit, we about to play them? Let's go to sleep early tonight.

What? I'm putting it up. I'm putting it up. They getting hyped for every game, because everybody's in front of them. But even a team like the Kings, and more power to them, ended the playoff drought. When you're looking at that game on the schedule,

are you getting hyped for that game versus I'm going to play the Warriors? I believe what you said earlier, the softness, right, what he said. The Nuggets are soft, right? I believe so because they haven't dominated a team, went in and dominated teams they're supposed to, right? I think a team like the Kings with Mike Brown being able to say, we don't take no shit from nobody, right?

We are hard-nosed and we've shown it because we go out guys. Denver, on the other hand, has been number one all season. They could take the foot off the gas. Cruz, still be number one, still get a win. But don't dominate, right? When you're a dominant team and you know you're supposed to win a game, there ain't going to be no doubt about how we're going to win this game, especially against a team you're supposed to win a game, there ain't going to be no doubt about how we're going to win this game, especially against a team you're supposed to beat.

Now, beating them is one thing, but beating their ass is another thing. Like, when I beat your ass, you know when we come back in here, you remember that I beat your ass. So Denver don't got a beat your ass mentality. They don't got any of those players out there, maybe Brown, he the only one to play like I'm going a beat your ass mentality. They don't got any of those players out there. Maybe Brown, he the only one to play like, I'm going to beat your ass. Everybody else is just kind of finesse.

You know, finesse as hell. So I look at the situation with them like they've been soft all season. And anybody can go in there and beat their ass if you go in there with that mentality. And like you said, with Houston, if we go to sleep early and you see Denver on there, you're like, what's a light skinning is on the team? I'm going to go ahead and beat their ass. You feel me?

And then it's like they got nobody on the other side is going to combat that. Now, on the other hand, you got De'Aaron Fox. You got I ain't going to say Harrison Barnes. I'd probably say Malik Monk. Everybody else on that team is just hard-nosed guys, like they just want to play. And it's a difference. I mean, you're playing hard compared to just expecting to win. When you name those players, and I think about that 2004 Pistons team, right?

When we went into practice, and this is real crazy when you think about it like this. When we went into practice for them, we're trying to figure out how to score. Right? We're not doing none of their offensive plays. We're trying to figure out how to score against them because they were so dominant and brutal defensively. Right? We know Rip is running 1,000 miles an hour, coming off pin downs and moving and cutting. We know big game, Chauncey's going to do his damn thing.

We never focused on it. We're trying to figure outcey's going to do his damn thing. We never focused on it. We're trying to figure out how do we score more than 70 fucking 80? That is crazy. Even today to think about. We get 80 pieces. We can win the game. There's a moment

when they're playing and they're holding NBA teams to women basketball scores. 60 points. 60 points. 78, 70, 80. We're trying to figure out, hey, listen, if we can get to 90, 95, we're doing a damn good job. As a male NBA team.

Yes. That's how vicious they were on just the defensive side they didn't try to outscore you they just say y'all aren't going to score ever and that's when I look at talking about dominant teams you had the Bulls offensively

defensively you had Golden State offensively which they played defense too. But when you're talking about a team like that, it was just, they just manhandled you. Like I was like, when I'm going to sleep, it's like really trying to figure out, all right, okay, I got to attack from the top. All right, they're the weakest at the top. Stay away from the side.

Stay away from the side. Pick and rolls. You know, more isos where I can see Ben and Rasheed loading up from this side versus when I'm coming from this way, I got to go against Rip who's guarding me or Chauncey who's guarding me. Then you got Tayshaun. Then if I had sidestepped Tayshaun, then I have Ben. That's just a harder fucking roll. That's just hard coming from the sides And it was one of those things where if I got 20, it's a good ass game. Yeah. 20 is 50 against regular team.

But like that 20 then is like 30, 35 now. You know what I mean? No, no, no. 20 against them. No, what I'm saying is. No, no. 20 against them then was like 50 against a regular team. Yo.

30. 30 against that defensive team was 60 against Kobe wow that's how hard that team was and let me tell you this the metrics right the analytics behind Larry Brown's strategy defensively was field goal percentage right it came from North Carolina that's how we played in college we keep the field goal percentage under 35%, under 33%. We know it's going to be a low scoring game, right? So if we push the ball offensively, we run our half court sets and execute, we can keep the score low and have a high percentage field goal. So we keep you at 33, 35% field goal shooting. We shoot about 44, 45. We know we got an advantage. Now the sway is gonna be free throws.

So now it's about how aggressive is Chauncey, how aggressive is Rip, is Tayshaun being a factor. Then it's like, all right, Gil saying, if I get 20 we can we can we can win with Quran getting 15 or you know we got a chance no no I didn't say nothing about no winning good game. I had a good game. If I had 20, I had a good game. I ain't saying we was going to win. Well, you fucked me up. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to give that illusion like

this is going to be a winnable game. No, I was saying I had a good game if I had 20. Oh my goodness. Okay, so then my point being is the field goal percentage strategy goes for all the defensive teams

is to make them take tough shots, you know, scheme up, load up in the nail. Everything you said from the top to the sides, we know those rotations. We know how they're going to scheme up. You've got to do something different. You can't take bad shots, and that's what we see now. I look at the game now, I'm like,

look at these badass shots that need to be converted into points. That long ass 40 foot three pointer that didn't go in, we coming down. We scoring that. The reason I was taking advantage was both sides doing it. And the only thing I hate about the threes, the amount of threes they're taking is you have non-three-pointers takers doing it. There's just some teams that shouldn't

be playing this style. You don't have Klay Thompson, Curry, Durant on your team, Dame Litton on your team, Kyrie, you don't have those guys on your team, Dame Litton on your team, Kyrie, Luke. You don't have those guys on your team. Right.

Right? You got guys who you're taking, like, you know, I don't even want to throw nobody's name out there, but you're taking, there's guys in the league today that are taking threes like they're Ray Allen. Yes.

You're taking as many threes as Ray Allen did. Insane. Insane. Shit, it's big man shooting more than Ray Allen. Ray Allen. Christian Wood

and Jared Jackson. It's like, where y'all? Listen, I shot a lot of threes and you said a rookie had 205. Yep. Because he can just come down and just chuck threes. Like, this part of the game is everyone shoot as many threes as we can get. Like, no, not everybody.

Hold on, bro. Why are you shooting the ball? Why are you shooting that? Why are you shooting? I don't know. Like Patrick Ewing said, do you practice that shot? No, no. We talking about it.

It's like, bro, you had to shoot that. Let me go to the locker room at halftime, and I see five threes. 0 for 5. Just five threes. Who do you think you is? You think you let him hurt? Man, if he don't get your motherfucking ass in that block and shoot that motherfucking jump hook. So one more question on this topic.

We talked about the Nuggets, obviously, Mike Malone saying they play soft. Let's talk about the Rockets. And I want to know who's more upset

with this result? Nuggets fans because they got smacked by the Rockets or Rockets fans because this win isn't helping them in the Wimby Sweet Stakes?

Do you want to see your team, if I'm the Rockets right now and I'm a fan, like, lose these games? I don't give a shit

if you beat the Nuggets. It doesn't matter. We're in last place. No, second to last right now. Second to last. I mean, you know, you get a little bit more ping. The Pistons. You get a little bit more ping pong balls and a rigged draft.

Listen. Pistons are now the worst team with that. You know, they've essentially locked up. They've locked up the worst. And that's not a guarantee that you'll get the one, unlike the NFL where if you're the boobooist, you're getting the number one pick. These ping pong balls, this game of chances, we like to pretend like it's not some shit going on.

It goes back to the Texans, right? When the Texans won that last game and the coach was supposed to throw the game because they was going to get the number one pick. It was his last fucking game. He was like, fuck this. We're going to win this game. Ultimately, it's like. Wait, he got fired?

Yeah. Oh, Larry Smith. I think he got booted. Okay, how do you. Okay. Yeah, figure it out. How do you. Like, if I'm telling you to lose a game, right.

Now, the team was telling him to lose. but he knew he was on his way out. So he was like, ah. No, no, no. What I'm saying is if I'm going into a game as a coach and I'm telling my guys, hey, we don't supposed to win this game, what the fuck are they supposed to be doing out there? Exactly. Like, what is the actual logic of it? Like, you're telling the coach, we don't supposed to win this game.

All right, cool. Hey, guys, no, I'm not going to call no plays. I'm not going to get no first downs. Like, okay, we're going to take Steph out. We're going to take Klay out so we have less chances to win. And then one of my bench players out there scoring 40. How do you? Does that go on in the league when we talk about these things happening?

Yeah, because I remember it was years ago, but Pop sat out like Tim Duncan, a bunch of guys. They went to Miami. The NBA got pissed off about it. They almost fucked around and beat the Heat. But what if they did? You know what I'm saying?

You know what I mean? Like, I'm supposed to lose the game as a coach. So, all right, from my side, the only thing I can control is subbing. That's it.

Right? Subbing and play calling. At this point, there's no play that says I can guarantee I'll be under-fucking-defeated. Right? So, I'm the warrior. says I can guarantee we ought to be undefeated. I'm the warrior. I'm like, okay, let me go ahead and take out

Curry. Clay, you sit. Draymond, you sit. Poo, you sit. Wiggins, sit. I did my job. Hey, fellas, don't worry about no plays. Go out there and play. These motherfuckers go out there just hooping.

You got to hope. I get fired for that? Bitch, I did my job. You should have worried him, too. Why you didn't tell these motherfuckers to throw the game? That's what I'm saying. Like, how do you, as a football player, you say to Texans, as a coach, what am I telling my running back not to just, all right, when you get it, just fall?

And I don't think they're saying it. Quarterback, just throw interceptions. They're not, hey, go out and lose. But it's like,. I don't think they're saying it. Quarterback just threw interceptions. They're not, hey, go out and lose, but it's like, look, we're the worst team in the league right now. If we lose this game, we get the number one pick. But he was like, well, shit, y'all going to fire me anyway. No, you're hoping that you got losers on your team. You got to hope.

Them niggas are loser niggas. We don't really care about winning. If I get the opportunity to play and I got game and these niggas are sitting, oh, it's 50 ball. I'm trying to win and be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we won tonight. On me. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I don't understand that concept of going lose the game everyone has to be involved in. If I'm a player and I get you take all the starters out,

that looks like the indication of losing. Yeah. But there's guys on the bench who ain't played all season, and you think they're going to go in and what, just chuck up shots to miss them, kick the ball out of bounds? I'm trying to figure out what does everybody think, go in, lose the game. Me, for me to lose this game, all right, here's the ball. Check it

from half court. Hey, kick the ball out of bounds. Hey, hey, steal it. Oh, there you go. Like, I mean, what the fuck are you playing? Playing regular basketball, you fuck around winning because somebody's on fire. Well, you said in the real hooper, Alavrashad, like you said, like shit, even in college, I didn't play that much, but I got in. It's like, I'm trying to get these stats. I can't. You already fucked up my stats by not giving me enough time I got to come in here and do some so at least the per 36 or the per 40 look good Like I don't build your resume man

It's like being down 30 and you get in the game with 10 minutes left or down 40 when I get I got 10 minutes Whatever oh my resume. I'm trying to go 10 for 10. I'm trying to bring the team back. By the time it's two minutes left, I want it to be down eight. That's how I, when I checked in and we was down 20, by the time I came out, we was down seven. Well, because that's a fuck you to your coach as well. Absolutely.

You didn't want to play me? You should have been playing me the whole time. What I'm saying is, let me find out. Let me be a coach and I know this team is tanking. You are purposely trying to lose this game

so you can get benefits. Alright, well, fuck you. You're starters out, I'm going to send all my starters out. I'll fuck around and say, hey, we forfeit. Hey, can I do this?

Forfeit. Forfeit. Forfeit. Yeah, you get the win. Yeah, you lost. Like, what I'm saying is like, what are we doing here? Like, this is ridiculous.

Yeah. That's why I say we should not be trying to benefit the mindset of something like that. The mindset of your consciously going into a situation, purposely doing it. How is this

part of the game when you have sportsman like conduct rules where if I'm up 20 and you just shot on me and I come down to score, you want to fight me for trying to score when you just tried to fucking score on me. We have that part of the game. That part. Right?

We have, oh, they're stat patent. We have that part of the game. But you don't have tanking and losing and you're not frowning upon this bullshit. You're rewarded. Here you go. Like a generational talent. No, no. Let's just say Detroit and Houston, they both have the last game, right?

And then both teams decide, we're going to sit all our players out and you're going to reward one of these motherfuckers. That just, it don't work with me, man. It happened with me. I was with Minnesota my rookie year, end of the year. They set KG down. I remember the game before I had 28. Next game in, they didn't want to put me in because I had that, I'm trying to win. They was calling plays for Mad Dog to shoot threes.

It's documented. They was calling play. Dwayne Casey was drawing up Mad Dog. All right, look, we're going to do Mad Dog. Everybody like what? Playing with the game. But we ended up getting Randy F you at the fourth or fifth pick I think we were supposed to get Brandon Roy ended up getting Randy Foy

But they literally did that for the pick and for me to witness that it was so cuz I was upset one that ticket would Do that Right, but it wasn't really up to him. We talked about like certain guys being like hey, we just gonna sit you down The same load management. This is just, we're just going to save you. No, you say some dumb shit like this. Like, hey, you know, it's your last game of the season. We're going to play you about five, ten minutes.

And you're like, oh, hell no. Don't play me at all. Don't play me at all. And just for the record, we got our crackpot research team, Mark Madsen, one for 16 from three for his career. Come on, man. And he never hit that. 0 for 7 in 2006.

That was the game. That was the game, bro. So it was like, to see that live, I'm like, yo, yo, like, this is real. This is a real thing. I know, it's a real thing. And when you, like, you need to put a stop on tanking. The reason is this. We fucking work too hard at our craft.

Yes, sir. We practice all summer reading your stupid-ass rule books that y'all change and penalize us for being too great at it. You stick your fucking hand out there that's called illegal defense. If I go up, that's a illegal defense. If I go up, that's a fucking foul. If you don't like it, tell them to move their fucking hands, right? If I get you and I make you jump

and I jump into you, stay the fuck down, right? There's too much training going into this sport, legacies in this sport for tanking to be okay. It is. Like it's tanking to be okay. It is. Like it's tanking to the,

that should be a part of gambling. That should be considered like gambling, right? Point shaving. You're point shaving. You're purposely doing this shit for a reward. Talk about it, man. You're purposely doing something for a reward. What is the difference between

motherfucker pay me $20,000 and miss a couple shots? Hmm. I'm purposely doing it for a reward. Same shit. Integrity. The integrity of the game is being compromised. Yep. It's been compromised,

but they don't look at it like that because they think it's okay to win these sweet steaks. And that's a once-in- a once in a lifetime generational asset. Who's going to suck enough to get this dude who can make us not suck, but really we still going to suck because we have that loser mentality. Now we're going to fuck up his head because we are a literal organization, but now we're going to switch it up and we want to be winners now? Yeah, I mean-

Think about him, if he's a winner and he's like, y'all motherfuckers was losing on purpose to get me here. So what the hell are you going to do now that I'm here? Purposely lose for the next pick so we can try to build a franchise around you. Come on, man. It's wild. Goofy. It's just goofy. It's just goofy

bullshit. Like it just, it should be a whole different metrics. I'm not going to reward last place. Nowhere. Why aren't players speaking up on it though? Shouldn't it be our job to say we're not

fucking going out here to fucking lose on fucking purpose? What is that? Because the players don't know. You suck anyway, you're ready to go home. You're ready to get the fuck out of there. You don't really care. That's why, if you're on a bad team,

this is my last question for you all, you're on a bad team, and what part are you mentally checking out and just looking forward for this season to be over so I can lock in and get to the off-season routine and get ready for the next year? Shit. Motherfuckers be before All-Star break.

Some people right after All-Star break. After All-Star break. Man, listen. When I was in go to state my first year, they had a countdown. I'm hearing by second. By the second, I'm hearing how many seconds we got. It goes days, months, minutes, seconds.

Like god damn, y'all ready to go. Like, ready to go. Cars is being shipped. By the time we get to the last week, motherfucker got a futon in their goddamn house. And that's the only thing. Yeah, that's the only thing they got, a goddamn futon. They done shipped everything they got because they know they going. This is crazy as hell.

But that's what I witnessed. Yep. Right? My last game, 32. Man. No, the Lakers. I got money to get. I don't know what y'all talking about.

I'm not passing y'all the ball. Get the fuck out of here. I don't got to see y'all tomorrow. So you can't really say that it's everybody on those teams. It's usually the core guys who played a lot of minutes during the season. They checking out. The other guys is like, man, I got a lot of basketball. Not everyone on the team they checking out. The other guys is like, man, I got a lot of basketball. Not everyone on the team is checking out, but as a coach,

you just need enough. Yeah, yeah. If you're trying to lose, when you're talking about tanking, it's not tanking as in, hey, players, we're not trying to win this game. We're trying to get Wimby. Because as a player on a

team, you're like, I don't want no motherfucking Wimby. I'm supposed to be the man. What the fuck? Fuck a Wimby. I'm the motherfucking man right now. He's taking my position. Right? So you're not,

a player is not trying to, what's the name? But at the end of the day, as a coach, I know everyone's strengths and weaknesses. Right? So I know who plays well together.

So I know if this guy is a fourth quarter player, I'm going to bench him. I'm going to take his minutes. I'm going to do this. I'm going to take his minutes. I'm going to do this. I'm going to fuck these rotations up. I'm going to call these certain plays. I'm just going to get the rhythm

out of the guys who need the ball. And as a player, right, as a player, and you have a certain average in your stuff, and you know this is about to happen, you got to be on that bullshit too. Yeah.

Like, I'm not, you got to be on that bullshit. If I know you fucking want my minutes, like players, I've seen it. Players have clauses in their contract. Free throw clauses.

Let's say, 20 points a game, you get an extra 2 million. 19.9, nothing. Right? Motherfucker got 20.1. Check him in in the game.

Two minutes in the game, sub his ass out. 19.9. Because here it is. Why the fuck does a losing team want to give up an extra $2 million? That's nasty. Sub. Sub out. Our bad.

But then you got teams like the Bucks. I think Drew Holiday hit that game minimum. Get your ass out there. Sub. Make sure you get your bread. That's nasty. He's on the winning team. That's my point.

They don't care we winning. You think a losing team want you to hit your marks? You got to be smart too. If I got 20.1 and it's the last game of the season, I know they don't want to pay me the extra 2 million on a...

Ah, coach. So do you do that? Do you do that? Oh, nigga, I come in that motherfucker with universal boots. Motherfucker, I don't know what ankle hurt. I come in, I start walking on one ankle and put the boot on the other.

That's how dumb I am. I come in the building with one boot on the right one, switch it to the left. I got a universal one. So you ain't even dressing out. Hell no. Not giving them the option to even sub you in. No. Yeah, I like that.

I like that. No. Because they do that shit. They do it. I've seen it. Yeah, they'll sub your ass in. Man, I've seen the weirdest. It let me know early on the business, because I'm on a losing team.

So one player got a free throw clause one person got a weight clause one person got um 20 points calls like so i'm seeing all this the nuance and how everybody's playing the game right now i got a guy who has a free throw clause in and he hit his mark he's shooting 73 73%. He gets an extra $500,000 for this, right? But he didn't have a minimum or maximum. So he just had a percentage. Right. He don't want no free throws no more.

So he ain't taking no layups. Wow. Jumpers only. Wow. Jumpers only. Not a free throw in sight. And when we're in a penalty, oh, that's when he's the least aggressive. Oh, just passing it.

Oh, hot potato. Don't want to. Right? Because he wants that extra $500,000. So you can see how the game, little clauses like that, affects the game. I think it's bad for the game when you have incentives because incentives really becomes a selfish thing towards the end of the season. Yeah, for sure.

And it can work against you because when you're talking about averaging certain things, you got to remember those teams don't want you to average certain things when their money is involved and there's no winning involved. So when incentives kick in, no, bitch, I want all my money. I don't want no, you make an extra, listen, because if you're telling me I get an extra 20 million dollars to make an all-star team or all NBA Bitch, they know winning coming here Nobody getting nothing. All right. This is all extra tip

Hey, I'm open. I know you are but you ain't got extra 20 to get you ain't got an extra Nobody get that ball. I know you Know you are. I know you are. But so am I. You don't got no claws. I know you are, but so am I. But you don't have no claws. They don't claws everybody up. I have his ass subbed out. Coach, get him out of here.

Get him out of here. Right now. I'll give you two million dollars, coach. Coach, get him out. Listen. Listen. If y'all Listen, listen, listen. It's so cold. If y'all think, listen, listen. I'm so calculated.

This is how calculated I am. When I didn't get voted on the All-Star game, and then they put me in, I sent every coach in the Eastern Conference a fruit basket. Thank you for your consideration, blah, blah, blah. Every year I made the All-Star game, those coaches got a fruit basket. Edible arrangement? Yep, from Gilbert Arenas.

God damn it, I want to keep. I don't know if it was edible. I should have sent all bananas. But, hey, listen. Think about what I'm doing. I'm putting my resume in, goddammit. All right, if you want a fruit basket, goddammit, vote for me. Good-ass fruit basket.

Good-ass fruit. All right, before we go, Rashad, you talked about that Mark Madison story. So I just want to read off some details from that game. We glossed over it a little bit. But all seven of his three-point misses from that season came in that one game. It was the season finale. Yeah, Gil. He was one for 15 from the floor for the game, 0 for 2 at the line. Yeah, Gil.

He hadn't taken a three-point shot in 135 games in like 1,600 minutes prior to that season. And in a span of nine minutes in that game, he literally took 44% of his career three points. I can't make this shit up.

I'm not over here to motherfucking throw no gas up in the air. I'm going to tell you how it is, what I've seen. I've seen this shit. Now, nobody got fined, huh? Nobody got fined, fired. They didn't even make a conversation about it. Nobody got fined. You can play with the game like that.

Nobody got fined. You can play with the game like that. Nobody got fined. We partied afterwards. I mean, it's the end of the season. But what I'm saying is that no one gets fined for even introducing this. Yeah. Like, this is not, like, that's what I'm saying. Like, I worked, listen, ain't no damn way that would have happened while I was playing. Because either not play, don't put me on the court with this dude. Not with him, I don't take nothing personal with Mark, but the fact that coach, you would

even do this. So that means I'm not playing, right? That means none of our starters was playing. That means none of the top eight that worked their ass off is playing. So you basically playing the last five, they're going to play 48 minutes. And then we can sit there like some fanboys and cheer these sorry motherfuckers off. But what we're not going to do is we're not going to pretend this is a regular

game. And then you sitting here doing this. I did this once. So coaching AAU, we're 2-0. It's a three-game championship chance. I'm 2-0, and then they told me before the game, right,

they said, all right, look, this game don't matter. You guys, who you're playing against, you're going to play again in the championship. The way the schedule worked out, so you're playing the same team twice. So I said, so this game don't count. They were like, no. So I said no so i said all right all right look team listen i'm usually hard on you fuckers right your parents over here crying and looking at me bad because i'm not putting your sorry ass in and they paid this money but like i tell them you sorry

right and i don't know what sport that sorry gets in the game like it's normal. Look at the NBA roster. There's players on that team that you've never seen before. But they on the team, that's your son. But we have a free game to give away. So, guys, go out there. You guys think y'all Steph Curry. How about this?

This is the rule. All y'all shoot threes. Only. I don't want to see a layup in sight. If you even think about going to the layup. If you even think about doing a motherfucking move. Move. I'm subbing you out.

All you getting benched. Right? We are pressing teams. I don't want you to press. I don't want to show them nothing we do. I want to scout them. Yep. Right?

We're going out there and watching them. Chucking threes like, no, this shit look horrible. Ooh, that was a bad idea. These motherfuckers suck. Right? But I'm watching them. I want to watch who their best player is. Okay, he's lefty. He does this.

He does that. They beat us by like 30. Right? They tried to use that as the championship game. Yep. And said, why we want to put them in the championship? So I told, use that as the championship game and said, why we want to put them in the championship?

So I told, so they came up to me and said, all right, look, so that was the last, you know, I know you don't want to get it beat down

like that again. I said, wait, hold on. You're not going to do that to our kids. You said this was a giveaway game. I, as a coach, gave my team freedom

for the first time, right? You put that fucking trophy away. You can put our name on it. We're going to beat the shit out of the Sarri-ass team. Right? So you can go tell a little dude over here who's smiling and shit with his little parents, he's going to have a hard next game.

Championship game blew them the fuck out. Yes, sir. Press for the beginning. But I told my team, all of them, hey, this is a fuck around game. This is a fuck around game. But if you sit there in warm ups, you slept early, and then now you come into the game and Mark Madsen out here shooting motherfucking threes.

And I'm like, what's this? Let me know beforehand. Oh, fuck that. I'm coming off a national championship. I'm rookie season. I'm coming in. I got a winner's mentality going through the whole season in which I'm fighting for my minutes,

trying to get on the court to help the team win, which Dwayne Casey didn't like to play rookie, so I didn't had the opportunity to come in and help my team the way I wanted. So with my mentality, I'm like, man, I'm coming from a culture of, we don't give them country boys nothing. Fuck them

You mean to tell me he get to shoot seven threes You're not drawing no plays up for me to come in and give us a chance to win. It's a bad look. What? So what does that do to my mentality as a as a young player coming into this league saying this is how we doing business? I Mean I'll say shit here. We are 17 years later And that's some shit if i'm in your position like I will remember that for the rest of my life And you see this motherfucker did 17 Detail details because i'll still be heated because i'm like yo

This is what I had to deal with for four years and we had this conversation on the first time I came on y'all show Like what is it like being a guy that cares so much about playing and everybody else is like what we doing tonight we just got toasted by 40 you don't care bro I can't sleep like what do I need to do to do more and then it's like damn man they really don't want you to do more because they're trying to get this pick next year and that's the that's the that's the double-edged sword that no one's paying attention to. When you're a bottom-feeding team, right, you are purposely losing. You have a loser's mentality.

What are you actually drafting? Man. You're drafting a winning mentality. Absolutely. You're drafting a guy who's been winning for years. That's why he's that good. That is a clash. Man. When you think about

it. You got to somehow turn this losing mentality to winning mentality overnight not to offend him. Yep. Because what happens is there's more of you to offset him. Yep. Because what happens is there's more of you to offset him, right?

He's coming in trying to fit in at first. Yep. And he's going to consume more losing mentality than what he was accustomed to. What a real vet was like, hey, don't get used to this.

There's some bullshit over here. Do not get used to this losing. That's why you be hearing shit like that because you're taking a fucking, you're picking a winner to a loser's mentality. Now, when you think about winners and winners, the greatest of the greats,

Magic Johnson didn't go into no losing situation. There was no loser mentality over there. Real talk. Right? There was no losing mentality. Tim Duncan, that was a no losing mentality franchise.

Right? Those were winning mentalities. So when you're talking about drafting and you're a tinking team, you're sitting there getting somebody like Winby

who's winning mentality for a reason. Scoot. Henderson. These guys are animals. And you're taking them into a situation where you guys are fucking borderline losers. What does it make you?

It turns you into an alcoholic. You know what happens? You go out and you fucking drink away your sharrows because we're losing. You're trying to figure out how to cope with it. You don't have, you don't, it's like, man, I'm going to go party because you know what? We fucking lost.

And I remember doing interviews and it was like, well, you're five for five, 20 points, man. How do you feel? Who gives a fuck? We lost. What the fuck about 20 points? We fucking lost.

I'm trying to figure out how to win because that's what I care about. So then it's like like I keep hearing this losing thing and it's unacceptable throughout the locker room. No one else is mad like me. It's like maybe I'm doing the wrong thing here. I'm caring a little too much. Let me go out with them and stop being the outcast. I'm being the guy that's like the difference maker and the energy in the locker room

So let me just fit in with the guy. So we're doing tonight guys I guess we shouldn't be talking about Kobe 60 and talk about how many bottles we pop in tonight Sounds like sounds like a locker room Not to end on a down note, but this is some real shit man so we appreciate the conversation discussion I think for you people out there try to be a winner being a loser is easy facts

it's easy being a fucking loser yeah if winning was easy anybody could do it but that's our show for today we appreciate y'all pulling up to Gills Arena presented by Underdog Fantasy tomorrow our last show for the week and then we will be live all next week see y'all tomorrow