Gil's Arena - NBA Ring Culture Is Stupid!!

Episode Date: March 15, 2023

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

There are very few things that you can be certain of in life. But you can always be sure the sun will rise each morning. You can bet your bottom dollar that you'll always need air to breathe and water to drink. And, of course, you can rest assured that with Public Mobile's 5G subscription phone plans, you'll pay the same thing every month. With all of the mysteries that life has to offer, a few certainties can really go a long way. Subscribe today for the peace of mind you've been searching for. Public Mobile. Different is calling. Why do fintechs like Float choose Visa?

As a more trusted, more secure payments network, Visa provides scale, expertise, and innovative payment solutions. Learn more at visa.ca slash FinTech. Agent Zero. Change the game. Put that respect on his name. Look, with the honor call for greatness, the chosen a few. They carry the gift of genius. Who do what they do?

Who possess Vanessa Bless with desire, it's true. Welcome back to Gil's Arena presented by Underdog Fantasy Wolf I like it when the whole crew does the woof woof Sometimes y'all be bullshitting, y'all don't really bring it But today, today we did it So I'm back with the living legend, Gilbert Arenas What's happening? Uh oh! You got the spunk!

Yes sir! You got the spunk! Yes sir! What the? Yeah! Yeah! I'm in control of the smoke now. I'm going to add a little bit to it. We got the actual champion, Rashad McCants back in the building. You know where I'm at baby. You know where the seat is going. So March Madness is on and popping so we're going to talk some college stuff in a little Wow. So March Madness is on and popping, so we're going to talk some college stuff in a little bit,

but technically we're an NBA show, so we're going to hit that as well. But first we've got to start with the biggest news of the day. Aaron Rodgers jumped on Pat McAfee's show. There's been an ongoing debate about where he was going to go. He was going to come back to the Packers. He announced his intentions to play with the Jets. But here's the thing. He's a Packers great, spent his whole career play with the Jets. Here's the thing. He's a Packers great. Spent his whole career there.

Super Bowl champion, Super Bowl MVP, four-time MVP. Was Brett Favre's successor. I think the Packers ruffled his feathers a little bit when they drafted Jordan Love and basically said that they're going to put the team on his back in the near future. In regards to Aaron

dipping to the Jets, what do you Aaron Dippin to the Jets, what do you think about him going to the Jets first and foremost, but what do you also think about the report that he requested that a bunch of his former Packers homies, the Jets had to sign them in order to make that deal go, along with OBJ? I mean, that makes sense to me. I mean, you know, he ain't at the rebuilding age. You know, so, you know, if he's going to, you know,

basically the Clippers of New York. The Clippers. The Clippers of New York. I mean, you know, you want to bring in your own squad, you know, people you believe in, people you know that can help you win right now. So, you know, requesting that the team gets, you know, these players that is going to make him successful, which makes them successful.

I mean, it's a smart move. So what you think? Man, that's a LeBron move. Okay. Yeah, he LeBron-ed it, you know. He's going to GM it, you know what I'm saying? Make sure I get my pieces that I need in a new market where, you know, New York is ruthless.

Yeah. So he can't go in there empty-handed. He can't go in there losing anything. And like my homies say, they got the number three best defense. They're rebuilding. They're trying to come up. They got some new receiver cores. But he needs people he can depend on.

Yeah, quarterback was definitely an issue for him was Zach Wilson. So I understand that. LeBron Angle, except LeBron, he went to the Lakers. Yeah. Not the Clippers. Not the clip. It's Gil pointed out Technically, it's the Kawhi Leonard Okay, when he was telling Toronto, you know, I want Paul George, you know I'll take a pick up for Paul George and somehow I think they missed the concept of he will take a pay cut for Paul

George and then said hey and then take a pay cut for Paul George and then said, eh. And then Clippers, I want Paul George. And it's like, all right, cool. Gotcha. And I was going to ask y'all, who's Aaron Rodgers of the NBA? But when we look back historically, I'm going to say it's closer to what Hakeem did with the Rockets back in the day.

He spent his whole career there. Won some chips. They tried to give him the $13 million contract. He was like, fucking, I'm going to go to Toronto. Didn't play out as well for him there. He was kind of washed at that point. Hopefully Aaron does a better job with his stuff. But let's keep this thing moving and shaking.

Now we're back to the NBA. So Damian Lillard hopped on JJ Reddick's podcast and had this to say about the state of the NBA. While I understand we play to win championships, we all want to win the championship. We can't keep acting like nothing matters. Like the rest of the stuff, the journey doesn't matter. We can't keep doing that. You know what I'm saying? So I feel like there are so many ways that the league is different. There are so many ways. And I think about it all the time where I'm like, man, I just don't know if I can just play a long, long time

because I don't enjoy what the NBA as a whole is becoming. So hearing what Dame had to say, question for both of y'all. Do you think ring culture is ruining the NBA? Ring culture? The culture that, you know, they devalue guys who haven't won rings. I know you're not a big team accolade guy, but it seems like the narrative nowadays amongst the average NBA fan, I'm not going to say hoopers like yourselves,

but the average NBA fan seems to think, oh, if you don't win a ring, you're trash. Right. Well, I mean, that's the narrative that's always been pushed is rings. That's what they've used to push over other athletes. To use rings like it, it actually determines how good you were as a player yourself. Like, there's, you know, Michael Jordan. There's also six players that don't play. That gets the same credit as MJ, right?

That they're winners, that they're champions. That they're considered like they're winners. Like, no, that's not how, you know, this shit works. Like, there's some guys who they're not fortunate to be in on a winning situation, in a winning culture. And you're saying their legacy don't matter because they wasn't fortunate to win a ring? It's stupid. Man, I just, first and foremost, I want to shout out to my boy, Dane. You came prepared.

You know what I'm saying? I got the shoes and the whole nine, baby. Coordination. I want to say, man, it's a big thing because I got the shoes and the whole nine, baby. Coordination. I want to say, man, like, it's a big thing because, like you said, the narrative is being pushed. And it wasn't when we came in the league. Dame came in in 2012.

I came in in 2005, and it was about body of work. It was about what you brought to the game and how you elevated the game. And that's why I always look at your career, and I'm like, yo, you brought a different dynamic to the game that elevated it. And then the bottle rings. It's about, man, if he was healthy, what he would have done to catapult the game to the next level. So you look at Dame and you say, how can you ignore the body of work and then also ignore where he's at?

You know, small market Portland, nobody really wants to go there and win. Not since the Portland team that made it to the Western Conference Finals. So I look at it, at the culture, and you say, man, the narrative's being pushed not by the players. It's being pushed by the media. And then the fans accept that, and they say, well, you know, he didn't win here. He didn't do this. It's like, but like we said about the KD when I did the role playing, I'm like, I already won two championships. Why y'all still mad at me?

Right. And so for Dame, it's like, I don't need to win a championship to validate myself as a player. I've already done that. And the respect from the players is really what you play for. It's like, as long as these other guys know that I was that guy, if I don't win, it's cool. If I do win, it is cool. But my body at work is going to speak for itself. It feels like that's a narrative that's been created, right? When we talk about this ring culture in the modern era,

this ring culture thing really spurned as a result of LeBron. When LeBron and Kobe were going at it and it was the debate, who's better. Wait, wait, come again? You said ring culture? Wait? You said that started when? When? When LeBron? That's when ring culture really started hitting it hard. So it didn't start in the 80s

with Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and them? Nobody was talking about how many rings does this dude got? Everybody always prioritized winning championships, Gil. But what I'm saying is, it became about rings when LeBron had all these individual accolades, but hadn't won a ring yet Oh, we're not good enough. Let's see wins around that you gotta win seven rings to be Michael Jordan Yeah, but Bill Russell won 11 and nobody ever brings that up You know Mike actually said in an interview that he's picking Kobe over LeBron because it's five beats one Exactly. So it was Michael.

Michael Jordan is the one who set the standard. And this is why. When they used the 11 rings against him, he said he has the most rings in a 30-team game. He has the most rings in a 30-team game. And that's why he should be considered. And that's how that worked. So he used metrics to get rid of Bill Russell's 11 rings. Like, oh yeah, that's cute.

When you got eight fucking teams, that's cute. How about when there's 30 teams? I think when Jordan came in, it was like 23, 24, then over the course of his career, they expanded, added obviously the Magic, the Hornets, the Heat, all those squads. But by the time he started winning rings, you already had 20, 18. Yeah, for sure. So he used that to jump in front of Bill Russell. And I was like, well, it makes sense.

So he has been the standard. He's been the standard at at six so Everyone's legacy if you're gonna be a great it's basically you have to get Seven rings right which is fucking impossible Yes at this point in this current because right now no I mean you can if if to two dominant players decide you know what, let's just go after these rings. Yeah. Right?

But no one does that because everyone wants to build their legacy first and then try to win later. I mean, the only person you could say is really close to doing that is probably Steph with the four rings. I'm saying that's still legitimate, but he just turned 35. LeBron, you could say, but let's be real, LeBron, you're 20 now. He's probably got two or three good years left. I don't envision the Lakers going on a three-peat. Now, what happens if Steph says, all right, I have the resume. Now let me just go ring Chase.

Yeah, yeah. Right, and get those. But that's where we are now where you have to sign bad contracts to build a dynasty. It's hard to build a dynasty now because players are, you know, you're playing great to get paid early. No one wants to talk about Golden State. The reason they became a dynasty is because the best player was undervalued absolutely steph signed a horrible deal his first contract that with the extension right after the ankle injury all the

ankle injuries and he got paid like you know drew holiday was making more than him you know he wasn't an all-star like so when he signed that contract it was it was a shit deal compared to where he turned out yep so you you got dray, you maxing out Draymond, you maxing out Clayton, then you still got enough money to sign KD to him. It's because of that original deal. So that's how the Bulls dynasty, everybody was underpaid.

That Scottie Pippen contract still hurts to this day with a seven-year, 18-million, whatever he signed. I'm pretty sure if you know Anthony Davis next contract he signs a you know five-year 85 million dollar deal oh yeah you know the Lakers is in a future you can sign two more max players with all the money he saved over but you know it has to be someone has to sign some really bad contracts for you know you to build this dynasty and that's not I don't see that happening anytime soon. And if you look at the ring culture, going back to what we were just talking about,

if Steph don't got seven rings, right, Steph is going to be like, damn, I'm never going to be considered better than Michael Jordan, better than these other great tier players because of the culture of saying, oh, you got to win this amount to even be considered this. So that's why Dame is pissed. Like, I can feel the energy of, like, why do I have to do this to be considered this when my body of work says this, right?

My body of work says that I've been put into work. So why do I have to win this amount of championships to do this? Like you said, Michael Jordan set that standard. Hey, man, Kobe's five championships of LeBron's one now LeBron went collected some some chips now he can say I'm mentioned in the category now I broke the record I did this I did that now what can you say a question who who has the most championships in the non big city I figured San Antonio Spurs what's it like it with five Spurs yeah and what why why were they winning team Tony Parker was under me nobody was underpaid yep so basically big time they're holding their whole team was under paid you Oh, shit. Going back to it. Ginobili was underpaid. Yep. So basically... Big time.

Their whole team was underpaid. You're like, we're trying to keep building. That was the excuse to keep them guys from being paid high. Wow. Like, Ginobili... I mean, Tony Parker was a... Was he already a two-time champ? Before he got his money?

No, he was a champion. He was already a champion. Already an all-star, I believe, when he signed his first deal. And it was basically $66 million. Yep. That was the max back then, wasn't it? Hell no!

$80 was the max. It was $89. $89. One thing you know is bread. I know what that max was. You know what that bread's going to look like. Well, let's go back to Dame. Do you give Dame any credit?

You know, we always talk about loyalty in sports and loyalty, and everybody's got to be loyal to the team. Let's go back to Dame. Do you give Dame any credit? You know, we always talk about loyalty in sports and loyalty and everybody got to be loyal to the team because we stayed on the Lakers. He didn't leave. Do you give Dame credit for not running from the grind

and staying with his Blazer squad and seeing it through? Listen, you want to give him the credit for being loyal, right? But loyalty from the players has never been questioned. It's loyalty from the owners that's always the question mark. The player is going to, the player really believe, players really believe that the organization is going to build a team around them, right?

So they're willing to sit there and stay and build their career and say it's going to happen and sometimes you get into this mode and you wake up, you're fucking 34 years old.

Yeah. Shit. And they're in the rebuilding. How many rebuilding seasons has he been through? Man. And think about this though. Is it the owner that needs to give him the chance by giving him opportunity to go to another team? There's a lot of conversation like it's not Dame

that needs to ask out. It's the owner that needs to do right by him by saying, man, we ain't going to be able to bring nobody in here to help you to win no chip for real. Like we respect your loyalty. We respect that you want to build here at Rip City. But, man, we want to see you win too. We want to see you win. Your loyalty should be awarded. And as much as I love Dame for his loyalty, it takes a lot for him to come out and express the way he feels.

Like he don't feel like he can last a lot longer in this league with the way that it's going because he just want to play. He just want to hoop. He's want to prove himself. But then again, it's like, hey, we want you to win, too, bro. We want to see you hold up that championship at some point. And it's a dynamic where it's up in the air right now. It's like it's push and pull. It's like, damn, man, what do I do? And I just want him to win, too. At the same time, I want him to be happy. You know what I'm saying? There's this big misconception about, I guess they call them empty stats, right? Not understanding this, what Dame has done in the last three, four, five years is harder than everything else.

For him to make the playoffs by himself is much harder. Like you can, like him scoring 40 every night to just compete versus someone who has three other players with him

going half-assed because they don't need to go that hard. Talk-ass because they don't need to go that hard Talk about it. They don't need to go that hard When I watch MVP's this is how I look at it if I take you off What does your team look like now if I take Steph Curry off right? He still has Jordan Poole He still has clay. He still has Wiggins. He still has Draymond, right? If I take KD off the Suns, they still have Booker.

They still have CP. They still have Aiton. If I take Dame off his team, AAU squad. Man. Adult fucking league. 24-hour fitness. Right?

So if he's in the playoffs, why isn't he considered an MVP? He's the only one in the group that has to go 100 miles an hour just to compete against other groups who are

basically going half-ass. And that's never... I've never understood that. Like, how've never understood that. Like, how are you an MVP because you have better players on your team? You have better players. You, of course, you should be an MVP.

You have this, this, this, this, this. I'm by myself fucking competing with you guys. Fucking five Bugattis and I gotta try to beat out all you guys. Well, you could say the same thing about Joker in Denver last year, right?

Yeah. Like six-seed MVP. But even this year with this squad, no other all-stars beside himself, you take Joker off that squad, the Nuggets. But that's what makes Embiid third because you do have Harden. You have other pieces that came to help you. No one. Who went there?

You take Embiid off the Sixers. But you still have something. We're not having these conversations. That conversation alone is like he's doing so much by himself. We're not giving him credit about how much more difficult that

is. That's so difficult to go out there every night, night in, knowing that you don't have no one to depend on and you can't half-ass it. Like Gil, you're so fucking brilliant when you talk about that shit. It's like, it's obvious that guys get to take half nights off.

They don't have to go 100% all the time. I could take this position off, this position off. Uh, go ahead, you do it. I'll sit out this game. Matter of fact, you run it. I'll sit out this game matter of fact you run it Like Dame is every night night in night out. I got a show up for my team They look they depend on me And so when you have that dependency and you a real leader and you cut from a real cloth There is no back and down. There is no night where my ankle might feel a little I got a me ice ice ice ice

I gotta be ready for tomorrow. And that's what I love about Dame. It's like he never gave in to that side of the business. He wanted to stay straight. So for the team not to get real pieces around him is not his fault. But like you said, it's a conversation that's not being had about half-assed as three players on one team and don't really have to go hard all the time, but then this one guy shows up and he's putting his team in position

every year and he's just not enough. So like the Kobe, here's a great example. The Kobe when he averaged 35 and didn't win, right? As players, all players said he's MVP.

Right? Voters said it's Nash. Right? Kobe averaged 35 because he had to. Right? They were supposed to be last place. They looked at that squad and they said, oh, this is last place. He wheeled them to the eighth spot.

He did everything in his power to get them to the eighth spot. When you look at Nash's team, four of those players are top ten in three-point percentage. Three all-stars. Of course their fucking team is going to be good. How is this even the same valuation? You got three all-stars Versus him and some trash and he got him to eighth spot averaging 35 But you want to say well, he won't pass the ball to who know who the fuck is he passing the ball?

Do you think he will be averaging 35 points if he had somebody to pass it to that is the thing that people do not Understand if they never played the game. I don't want to average 35, right? points, if he had somebody to pass it to, that is the thing that people do not understand if they never played the game. I don't want to average 35. I'm averaging 35 because nobody else can fucking score. Now, if I have this person and this person and this person, I can average 20, 20 and 20. That's how that shit works.

Absolutely. That's how it works. And they don't realize, voters do not realize how that works Stop looking at the best team and it's the best player that is not the fucking best player if he has the best team He is not the MVP the most valuable player in the NBA. He's the most valuable player to that fucking team. Yeah Not in the NBA No, no, no, no, no knock against Dirk Nowinski in his in his right. He went to the championship right the year before that.

He lost to Miami, right? Which makes what them the second best team in the NBA. So when they start the next season, they're number two. Shack them. All of them got hurt. Who's number one? Dallas. Dallas. And he averages, what, 22, 24, and 10.

How are we rewarding this? What did he do? He didn't will them. They were second last year. They went to the championship. He didn't will them to, but he wins it because he's the and that's that's that's that's like some of them some of them them them mvps i'm like that's not the best player in the league right that's not the most valuable but reiterate like you just

said with kobe we as players we don't want to go out there and average 35 like that's not the mark because if you're a real player and a real winner, you know splitting the pot is what's going to get you the chip. When you have to go out there and wheel yourself 35 a game, it's exhausting, but it's what we got to do to get this win, or at least get close to opportunity. Just like you said, the fans don't understand that dynamic. Real hoopers don't go out there like, man, I'm going to average 40. Nah, man, this is what my team need me to do to win.

I'm going to do it. It's crazy to see that dynamic, though, of how fans, media might approach something. I've never been a fan of media being able to vote for MVP because you might sit courtside every game. You have no idea what you're actually watching. Whereas, you know, same thing we talked about last week when you guys say Kobe's top three, you know, ask the average fan, oh, he's this, he's that, whatever.

But you guys actually played, so you know what it takes, and you actually got to see it up close. A person had to try and stop it, had to try and score on him. So it's a different perspective. So when you're evaluating talent, right, and you're evaluating how great someone is playing, Dame is by himself technically, right? That means the defense is keyed on who? Him.

Talk about it. Double teams, right? Sagging doubles. Like, you know, they're keying on him. Triple teams if they have to. Like, he has to go through more obstacles to score. Has Klay Thompson ever been doubled in his career? No. He's never been doubled in his career. Right. You know, Curry gets some doubles here and there. Once he got Katie, no more doubles ever. Right.

So when you have other players, you have to play us one-on-one you have to play us one-on-one Dame that he don't get that luxury a fucking one-on-one basketball He's gonna get doubled if he goes on it white day. He has to set the pixel high So if you try to double it, he has enough room to get through it Like I remember I'm playing against Steve Nash. Steve Nash has so many fucking players on his team. We could not double. We're going to pick and roll. They're going to sag. He's busting my ass. Every time I come off the pick and roll, here comes a hard show. Now you see why? One for a flat. You have no help. Players like Iverson. Iverson is one man the rest of his team trash man

trash trash juice by himself finals, but y'all don't want to consider what he did was great that year Y'all something's wrong with y'all. Yeah, my myself LeBron James in that um when he went to the last finals right Same team. He just leaves to come to L.A. Same exact team. Last place.

Last place. Last. When Jordan left. Number one picks for, when he left to go to Miami, number one picks for several seasons. What I'm saying is, when Jordan left,

what, Bulls was still what, first or second in the East? When Scottie finished third in the MVP vote in that year. We went to go play baseball. That's how good they were. That Jordan can leave and they can still be balling. Boom. So are you taking something away from MJ for that?

No, I'm just saying. There's a difference. Just making sure. There's a difference. There's a difference. I like that. When one man has to carry a bunch of trash with him. When he was playing against Golden State, there was no fucking chance to win. Really, come on.

He has to neutralize. Let's just be honest. It's him, right? His matchup is Kevin Durant, right? Whose matchup is Curry on Golden State? I mean on the Cavs. Whose matchup is Curry on Golden State? I mean, on the Cavs. Whose matchup is Klay? Draymond.

You have to be able to neutralize. So he gots to neutralize this whole team. There was no fucking way he was going to win. No. But then we say, oh, he lost all these finals. Do y'all see what he has? Yeah. Like, stop playing.

Stop with the dumb. They with the dumb shit. Or at least become better in analysis of the game because when you're really watching, like you said, when you're a hooper, you step on the floor and you can really play. They're going to send their best at you. So the moment you step up, there's a guy picking you up 94 feet, denying the ball. There's a guy coming off that pick and roll. Look, we double and trapping him every single time, even in the post.

Go get him as soon as he catch it. Not on the dribble, on the catch. We're going from the baseline and from the top. We want the swing, swing to go to the corner. They're going to be just on the backside. We're not letting him win. So when you got that pressure and you still scoring? It's hard.

What? You're a monster because you can't be stopped. But then it's like, what are your utility guys doing? Like, do we have to depend on Eric Snow? AI had to depend on Eric Snow and Aaron McKee. Backside, I got to see what they're going to do. Or are you looking at guys like, dang, got to depend on Jeremy Grant and Anthony Simons? Like, they're not proven to be guys that's going to help. But they're on a team, so we got to depend on Jeremy Grant and Anthony Simons like they not proven to be guys is gonna help but

They're on a team. So we got to give them a chance He goes against go to say it's like they got a matchup with pool and clay and Wiggins and Wiggins comes back and Draymond green and that's tough. That's what I'm saying It's it's it's about neutralizing points. If I can't neutralize, I can handle my spot, but can they handle theirs? If not, someone has to make up the difference. And you're not giving the guy the credit

for making up the difference to keep them trying to win. So it's the last question I got for you on the Dame side. It seems to me, just as an outside observer, that Dame is a guy that really loves hooping. He'll probably do it for free. He's not doing it. You know, the money's great, don't get me wrong, but I just want to do this anyway because I love hooping.

So how many guys really love playing basketball? To be honest, unless you get under the hood, unless you get under the hood, it's really hard to tell. I can say this, you know, in this game, in this game today, there's more privileged kids coming from good back homes, backgrounds than in the previous, right? You know, it's coming from the inner city, and now you have privileged kids,

which means there's two ways to make it to the league right or just professional sports The first one that we all know is pain Right not being in this situation anymore. I don't want to live here. You know, this is the hood I need to get my mama out right? We know that story, right? That's the one we all hear about getting to the promised land there's another one love right you love it so much you can't let it go that's where that's where that's where all like the step curbies the clays the might Colbys, all of those, it's the love of the game that makes that side go. You know, so when these two meet, which one is more balanced? This one, because he was privileged, he already had it.

He already had the money, so he ain't giving up on the dream. That's his dream. This guy, once this guy gets the money, he already got himself out of the situation. I mean, if you want to break it down to two guys, you could say LeBron is the pain side, right? Trying to get him in a better situation. Somebody like Steph, and that's not to knock with Steph. Dad played in the league, came from a strong household. And that's a debate right now.

So it's not to say that coming from pain makes you ultimately better than the guy coming from love. Really, who's going to put that work in? And sometimes those dudes can be on an equivalent level, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no. No dead ass. It's just one of those things where, you know, it's when you're talking about who loves it. It's, you know, it's just

who can't stay away from it. You can tell the players, that's getting better. That's why I said, if I'm a GM and I'm a coach and I'm going into these drafts and I'm asking these questions,

I want to know who loves this game. So when you're interviewing players, right, and they're coming in and training, and they're coming in by themselves, I can't tell who you are by yourself. I can't tell what you are,

what you have inside by yourself. I need to see when you're in competition to see what happens. I need to see the mannerisms. The mannerisms let me know what I'm paying for. All right, well, fellas, let's keep this thing moving. We on the move. We on the air.

We got some live breaking news for y'all regarding the John Moran situation. Aw, shit. So, John's left the counseling program in Florida. Woo-hoo! But you're not going to like this, though. There's more. It's a dot, dot, dot.

The NBA suspending John Moran for eight games without pay for conduct detrimental to the league. This is coming from Woj. Con? Is that a game? The NBA is suspending John Moran for eight games without pay for conduct detrimental to the league. Apparently, he met with the league.

They finished their probe or investigation, and that's what they came up with. They jumping ahead of it. They jumping ahead of it. They got it. I mean, at this point you look at it, it's like, all right, we got enough evidence that this guy's been reckless. What's the evidence? So just the online surface of videos and the countless things that he's been doing. So here's the other caveat. He's eligible to play Monday versus the Mavs. So technically we've been talking about the situation. You've been saying it's not a suspension. It's been the team

protecting them. They're including those games. I think he has to miss one more game. So get up. Get up, Gil. I'm gathering information as we go. So he can play when? He can play Monday versus the Mavs. At home.

Let me double check. So it's Golden State Saturday, Mavs home Sunday. Then he gets to play home. Got it. Ain't nothing changed. Same shit that. So basically the Grizzlies outsmarted them fuckers over there. Or he might have been practicing the whole time.

He never was in Florida the whole time. He was in Florida. He's never there. Or he might have been practicing the whole time. He never was in Florida the whole time. No, he never was in Florida. He's never there. Right? Am I right? He's playing. Does Saturday go to state? Then Monday?

Yeah. So he's eligible to play Monday. Home game. I'm never wrong! Jump ahead of it. Make it. Oh, you're here! Man, listen, man.

Listen, listen. Y'all ain't going to keep listening. That's why we try to tell each other I ain't gay at all. That's already part of it. Let's go. Let's go. Home game. Home stretch, like I said.

Y'all, I'm light-skinned, so I tend to hate, but I got to give you credit on this. This is what you've been saying. They were going to save him for the home game. I like to see that the NBA has included whatever that was called, but that's a part of the suspension. Time served, as we say. Yeah. Because it's, to be honest, who knows if he's getting paid or not, all right?

Because I can tell you this. If you're my player, what's happening? What's happening? What's happening? I ain't really trying to piss off my franchise. No, not at all. Listen, I got fined. I remember, what was it?

His name was Ted Tapscott. And Ted Tapscott was trying to fine me for anything, right? I didn't do this fine. And I had to sit there, listen, you can keep sending the motherfucking fines up there all you want. They not fining me. All right? They not. We ain't playing that fine shit.

Right. Because this is what I used to say about fines. And this goes for all you guys out there fine. We make too much money, right? When it comes to petty fines, we make too much money for your fine to change my behavior. Woo. Right, so if I'm late to something and you're gonna fine me $1,000, or I do this at $2,500,

all that is is fucking pissing me off. Man. That you're just fucking pissing me off. Either just do it, don't tell me, or just stop. Because if you just keep trying to nickel and dime me, my ankle's gonna hurt and I'm going to get paid without playing.

So you're going to go petty on them? Ah! Ah! Right? And I used to tell that to Ernie Grunfield. Listen, with all the dumb fines and trying to let it go. Because all it does is just fucking piss people off

and it's not enough money to change the behavior. Like if you can fine me for being late 50 grand, oh, I'm not being late no more. So 50's... You fine me 50 grand, I'm not being late no more. 1,500? 10? Fuck off.

What about 10? 10 grand for being late? Or not showing up for an... I remember Ticket used to not show up to appearances and take the 10 grand fine. Like, fuck that shit. Appearances like team appearances? Yeah. Who the fuck showed up to those?

I'm just, I'm asking. It was a 10 grand fine. He was like, man, fuck that shit. I ain't going. Yeah. Bill it. Listen. I'm like, I'm an optimist.

My thing was always, I always pulled this. Hey, hey, hey. I get paid for 82 games. All right? 82 games. I don't see nothing in here that says appearance fees and shit like that. So, you know what I mean? So if I don't make it to this, you can't find me. If not, ouch. Ouch. You just throw it out there. You just throw it out. I don't want to miss no game. I'm playing against the starry motherfucking day. I'm about to get my points up. But you just said, ouch.

No more appearances. But, you know, I'm glad. I'm glad they figured out that felonious, probing conduct. Yeah. Conduct. Partying in a strip club. All right.

We got it. Let's move on. Old David Stern, Jr. He got in front of it. No, David Stern, Jr. No, David. Oh, David Stern, Jr. He got in front of it. No, David Stern, Jr. No, no senior would have gave him. Whoo. You to get you to put the hammer down on it. What?

Bully. He would try to bully him. So, David Stern, Jr. is more lenient. Yeah. So, you think this eight games is fair, unfair? The two games he got was fair these six games of you know

working on myself I get ready for fucking Monday yes that's fair as long as he's back that's fair that's it it's fair

Monday's fair you hitting a higher or lower on the underdog pick if he's back Monday no he's playing Monday are you going higher or lower higher okay that's what I was going to hire a lower? Hire. Okay.

That's what I was going to say. I'm going to hire. We don't give advice here. Who are you playing? Who are you playing? Dallas. Dallas at Memphis? Yeah, so it's Golden State, Dallas.

So, basically, they're on the road right now. So, you know, them four games they were sent, they're on the road. So, basically, all they did was just, they just added one more game. Okay. So, he has basically, starting Saturday, there's eight games, they have eight games, but seven of them are at home. So, you think Jot don't skip a beat, he comes back? No skip, nothing.

No skip. He's going to become vicious, boy. Oh, he Nothing? No skip. He's going to become vicious, boy. He's going to become vicious. He's dunking on the first motherfucker he's sitting on there. Yeah, I think he goes ham because he gets the calls. I think they need to get that entertainment value back. Because I think it's lost right now in the shuffle of the games that's been played. No Kyrie, no Luka.

We haven't seen any explosive performances. I'm not going to say that ratings have dropped, but let's just say this little scandal has put a little riff in the little rhythm. So Ja has to come and perform just to be like, okay, this is why. This is why we need him. Well, shit, I know I'm watching. I know y'all will be too. I just want the drop, cross, boom. Yah!

That's all the way, phone. Hey, everything. We all forgot about everything. Absolutely. All right, well, let. Yeah! That's all the way, boom. Hey, everything. We all forgot about everything. Absolutely. All right, well, let's keep this thing moving. Now it's time to go. Zero to 100 real quick. Look at our nice graphics, too.

Ooh, I love it. Shout out to Underdog Fantasy. All right, so let's talk about these Lakers. And I know people are going to be like, you talk about the Lakers all the time. Well, yeah, Lakers fans. That's what we're going to do. Lakers are currently 10th in the West. They actually beat the

Pelicans last night. Had a 40-point lead. Got a little scary in that fourth quarter though. D'Angelo Russell came through with a nice steal though to help preserve the game. But if they would have tricked that off, somebody would have been in Guandong. But they won the game. Guandong? They actually dropped to 10th in the West.

So after the game, Darvin Ham said that the team will continue to rest AD on back-to-backs, which means that AD will be out for the Lakers game tonight against the Rockets. Look, Rockets is one of the worst teams in the league, but just coming off beating the Celtics, and now essentially the Lakers don't really have a big. I think Winyah and Gabriel will get a ton of those minutes, but if he gets into foul trouble, it might be scary hours.

So the Lakers have one back-to-back left this season. That's April, I think, 4th or 5th against the Jazz and Clippers. So, what are the chances, 0-100, that AD plays a back-to-back this season, knowing that there's only one left in April? I don't give a fuck. I don't care, bro. Like, listen, this is not

a Lakers support channel, okay? this is not a Lakers support channel. Man. Okay? This is not a Lakers support channel. I don't care. I stopped caring when they did with Westbrook like that. Yes. All right?

They got one back-to-back left. If they say he ain't playing no more back-to-backs, I believe him. Just like I believe he said he was going to bench Westbrook for some trash, he did it. That man is a man of his word. I'm believing everything that goddamn motherfucker's saying. My question though is if we get to the point where that back-to-back

becomes essential to them making the playoffs but you're resting AD on back-to-backs to help make the playoffs and keep them healthy for the playoffs, do you get your ass out there and play back-to-backs to help make the playoff and keep them healthy for the playoffs. Do you get your ass out there and play back to back? I believe him. He made Russell Westbrook come off the bench, right? LeBron James was gone.

Anthony Davis was gone. They played a man named Juan in front of Westbrook. Juan? Somebody named Juan Carlos something. Juan Carlos. Oh, no. No JTA. No JTA slandering the show, Gil.

Over Westbrook? I'm not darkening him. What I'm saying is that's how stubborn the man is where you have Westbrook on your team. He's a third option. Your first two options gone, and you still got Westbrook on it. You know how far you had to go in your bench?

You had to get people from the D-League and you just going to start them. So if he says AD won't play back-to-backs, I don't give a shit. If it's the game he's supposed to play against the Clippers and this game is supposed to be the championship, that man going to do it. For sure. He going to be benched. For sure. Hey, he better get his ass out there.

That's all I'm saying. They show me. It's Laker. I need Jeannie Buss to go ahead and make that OG call. They're about business. Strict business. Strict business. Zero. So you think he...

Fit his ass down. Please. He ain't playing that shit. He's from Saginaw. So if you're the Lakers, you risk... He's probably the borderline of Flint and Saginaw, so that's a whole other man. Man. He got the...

Between both of them, that, woo, he got a whole other beast. Tough upbringing right there. Looking like Deebo, but... So you just think, no shot? No. Ooh, ooh, ooh. Do you agree with it? If you, Darvin, have, and I need AD to go out there and give me a dub, and if you don't play,

and I got no AD, Bron, and look, they're very well might beat the Rockets tonight. So if it's the game between, like Clippers is the last one? So the last one, I think April 4th, 5th. Oh, now I got more games after that. I think there's, what, one or two more games after that? It all depends, situational. So if the situation is we need to win this game against the Clippers

to get in the playoffs, you saying AD chill? You said who's the other two teams? So for what? The last two back-to-back. It's Jazz Clippers. Then he won't play against Jazz. He'll play against Clippers. He can't do both.

He can't do both? If he's playing back-to-back, because hopefully LeBron is playing, and then LeBron can play against the Jazz 80, and LeBron can play against the... He's got to play chess at that point if he's going to be... Get his ass out on the court and go get us this dub. Listen, listen. Hey, Coach is the one who said that bullshit out loud. Go pull up on him.

Hell no. You want me to get my ass? Hey, Darvin. I'm just like the rest of them. I talk behind the camera. So Lakers still have a roster spot open. And Winyah Gabriel is probably going to be playing a ton of five in 80s absence. So should they make a move for a big man?

You got Boogie Cousins out there. You got Dwight Howard out there. You got UCLA legend Moses Brown lingering, who could at least give you some minutes. Because Mo Bamba is likely out for the rest of the season. Who? You haven't heard the Shaq West song? First of all, we're talking about a dude who averaged 11 minutes.

He was out already. I don't mean to be rude but let's just come on if I need a big if I need a big going into the playoffs if the relationship is good you need a big now you know what I'm saying

if the relationship is good with Dwight Howard and the you know the Lakers then yeah I'll go him because one I know he's going to be in shape. I know if we end up playing the Joker, I know he can handle that matchup.

He got that mind control. I know he can handle that matchup. So he'll be a guy that I'm looking at. All right, fellas. Next up, we got to talk about the team the Lakers beat last night, the New Orleans Pelicans. They've been dealing with the injury bug all season. They were first in the Western Conference back in December. A lot of people thought it was Fugazi, and they were correct.

They're 12th now. Let's talk about Zion. So Zion's been battling an injured hand, and he'll be out for at least another week. But this season, he's putting up 26-7 and 5 assists but he's only played 29 games. In the last three seasons including this one, so 29 games

this season, 61 last season the year before that, 24 games. So now we're going to do a little role playing. You guys are the Pelicans. What are the chances 0-100 that the Pelicans will trade Zion? We had this conversation. We did. And that's why that was a very spirited convo. So that's why I had to bring it to the show Since you since you were the GM and you you had your math

Let's go hundred percent. You know, are you chain? I'm trading them. I'm trading him just because the inconsistencies, the market, and he needs to be somewhere bigger. He needs to be in a bigger place. He needs to be in a bigger place. Wait a minute. That is not what you said. That's what we talked about. No, no, no.

That's what we talked about. Remember we did our math, right? It was like how many games can he play to make you happy as an owner? Financially. I said 50. 50. Right. And he only averaging 29. He had 29 this season. 29 this season, 61 last season.

And then 24 the year before that. Right. So I'm saying that he not going to make the 50 to make it matter. You don't think he'll make the 50? He not going to make the 50. So we have to get rid of him just to get our pieces right. But 50, as long as he – so if he misses 31 games, you're happy with that? I'm happy with that.

Okay, I agree with that too. Okay. So if he missed 32 games, he only played 50, y'all rolling. Like if he played 50 games a season, his 50 games, the excitement he brings, the dominance, I can live with that as an owner. 100%. But now if you're the owner of the Pelicans, you believe that he can actually do that? What's the discipline around the organization? Now this is where we talk about organizational stuff.

Is the organization disciplined enough to keep him on track? Is the medical staff good enough to keep him on track is the medical staff good enough to keep him on track does he have a world-class nutritionist that's going to trim him down and keep him healthy that's really the variable like all right man we need 50 games out you big boy yeah there's no denying when he's on the court What he brings mm-hmm, but he got to be on the court to be able to do that And if you're the Pelicans and it's like look we draft this guy supposed to be our franchise guy But you've seen what you know happened in the go bear trade You've seen what they got for KD not to say you can get some on that level, but you can get close to that

Would you consider making that move? He's only what 23 man on that level, but you can get close to that. Would you consider making that move? He's only what, 23? Man. 23. And I got him to win to the end of my contract. You got him for a few more years. He's 25. He's still peaking. He's 22.

He's 22. 22, no peaking. He's 22. 22? No. Nah. No trade? No. 22? No. And he signed that five-year rookie max.

22 years old? No. I'm saving. I'm not. Right? You keep it low. At 22, it's kind of hard. Because he's still in the young phase of I know what he's eating. Chicken nuggets, burgers.

You're going room service. I mean, what are you going to do, right? You're going to cut off his room service? Have guards at the goddamn door so he can't go to dinner. Keep somebody at the door. Make sure no teammate orders food for him. I mean, you know what I mean? I played damn near 42 minutes a game, and I gained weight during the season.

What were you eating? Hamburgers, fries, chocolate cake. Chocolate cake? Hell yeah. It was my pre-game meal. You're in this before the game. You eat chocolate cake before the game? Yes.

It was a hamburger with two cheeses. I like the two cheeses on it. Different cheeses? Different cheeses or the same cheese? Two different cheeses. Oh, wow. And then I had two sodas, a chocolate cake with two scoops of vanilla ice cream. You were drinking sodas before the game.

That's a lot of dairy, boy. I wasn't lactose. Shit. You were drinking sodas before NBA basketball game. It was my pregame lunch and my dinner. So after the game, same thing. Same thing. Or no, we usually went on the road.

But the night before the game and then lunch on the game, that was. Same thing. Or no, we usually went on the road, but like the night before the game and then lunch on the game, that was my meal. That was my hotel meal. You couldn't tell me I wasn't going to kick your ass with it either. You wasn't going to tell me I wasn't about to give you a bucket.

So if that's my meal and I'm training three times a day and I'm gaining weight, you can only imagine, it's hard. My question is, what are you building around Zion for me to say, I'm going to invest in keeping you here, right? Let's say we keep him. We get these 50 games.

Do we depend on B.I. and McCullough to be his support system? What kind what are we building around him as a franchise when those guys are healthy? I mean they healthy but that's the big winner if they've shown what they're capable of not today listen, they have a they have if They're healthy in Zionists when we see him at his peak plan Are they better than? Sacker Sacrament is there better than Sacramento? So I just want to get this nut nugget bi and Zion played in 93 of like a possible 281 games together

No, I get all that. Okay. I'm saying if those guys are healthy and plan are they better than like the young Kings? I don't think so because they don't have that point guard to drive it. I think Zion would have to play that point forward for them to be that good. They have five assists this year? Jesus Christ. Yeah, five assists. But you don't think they're better than the Kings at full strength? Nah.

I think it's because you don't have the right to see it. We never see it, that's why. So it's really hard. You don't have enough basketballs out there for B.I., McCullough, and Zion to get off. You need a point guard to facilitate that, and they don't got that point guard to facilitate getting everybody involved. But you only need one player to get everybody involved, just like Sack.

Sack, the guy is what? Darren Fox? No. Sabonis. Sabonis. That's what I'm saying. They don't have a Sabonis. They don't got nobody willing to say, I'm going to be the guy that's going to sacrifice

getting y'all the ball. Well, technically, you don't run plays for Zion. But you would. No, you never. As he gets better, you have to. The way he scores is just like slash and cut and backdoor and clean up. You know what I mean? It's one of those type of games.

So, like having him on a team is actually a benefit because you don't really need to run offense for him to be great. Which is a weird thing. It is. I've never seen someone that dominant without actually having to go through. Just the ball finds him. Just the ball finds him. So if you could play 50-20.

We're not getting rid of Matt 22. Say this shit next year, maybe. 22, no. Keeping him? Keeping him. We're keeping him. Concerned at all about the injuries over the past few seasons, though? Yes.

Yes. So how do you do to address that? I mean, okay, let's try it like this. I invest how much into him? Five-year, 193-mil extension. Five-year, he'll go jump to 230-something if he gets an All-NBA. So my job as an owner is saying, you know what? I invested this much already.

This is what I've gotten out of it. I'll take the initiative. I'm going to spend a million dollars a year on his body. So I'm going to say, this is what you're going to do. I'm going to spend my money. I'm going to have the best of the best all year round. I'll give you a

butler. I'll give you a masseuse. I'm going to give you a trainer in-house. I'll pay for it in-house so you can work out throughout the day, stretching and everything. I'll pay for it in-house so you can work out throughout the day, stretching and everything. So I'll spend that extra million dollars to keep them on a quarter extra

20, 30 games. Because it benefits me. Five million saves me a wasted contract. So basically your approach as New Orleans would be like Leonardo DiCaprio. You're not trading anyone under 25. Okay. Well, I mean,

I'm looking, I look at that scenario. I can't take credit for it. I can't take credit for it. I look at that scenario though like, well, what happens if that doesn't play out? Like if your investment in him

doesn't convert over to him being able to like accept the accountability that I gotta get my body, right? Look, he's investing this money in me. He still doesn't do it. It's gonna be like this is I am problem This is not a investment problem. This is a he don't want to do it. No, he can't do it. He's 22 How long do we wait for him to do it? I paid five. If I already paid 195, I'm going to pay extra five. I already invested 195. So I'm just trying to protect my asset. But look at what your investment already has panned out. 29 games.

Yes. 61. That's why I'm going to throw an extra million dollars a year. To put a fire in his ass? No, like LeBron, right? He's not LeBron. When did LeBron start paying a million dollars for his body? When he got to a certain age.

Right, so a certain age. So I'm like, I got 195, this is my future, let me go ahead outside of him. I know at his age he's not actually capable. He's 22 years old. By himself. You know, it ain't no, this ain't no diet die Show me a 22 year old on a strict diet in sports, right? You're right, right? Ocho Cinco still eats McDonald's You know, so it's like one of those things where I'm saying, you know what? I'm just gonna throw in an extra million on my behalf and I'm gonna put the people around him

Yeah, you know and that's and I don't I think sometimes owners give the players too much credit. And the owners is not protecting their investment. They're not protecting their investment. The investment that you made to protect it is pennies on a dollar at this point. It's pennies on the dollar at this point. It's pennies on the dollar. Like when Toronto, when Kawhi was basically saying, I'm lonely here. I'm lonely here. I want to be in LA closer to my family. I'm willing already to pay you this.

All you need is your family. Bring them on out. All right. So I'm just thinking. I don't know if he's in inner city. I don't know if you got friends. Do they got passports? If they don't got passports, I can hook that up. You know, do they have, you know, child support, you know, you know, at that, at that, uh, that time was 5,000, 10,000. I'll pay that. I got some fly, you know, some, some, some flights. It'd cost me what an extra $200,000 a year to make him happy that his friends can come back and forth your phone bill now

People don't think about little things phone bills his friends can't call cuz they can't afford a phone bill Our cheap ass ain't trying to do it either. Yeah, we don't we even though it's a little money We try to have a motherfucker Right. So it's one of those things where it's like it it's going to cost you $200,000 to keep him. Yeah. $200,000 extra a month, I mean a year, to keep him? Deal. So you're basically saying the owners need to put the money where their mouth is.

They need to get, they need to, common sense ain't that fucking common sometimes. Common sense. You have American, Steve Francis, right? Number two pick Toronto or Vancouver picks him. He don't want to be there. There's a reason. You need to find out what the

it's too far. Even though it's right here, it's too far. So you have to try to get inside the mind to make it feel like home. It feel like the States. Absolutely. And that's something that you got to pay out of mind to make it feel like home and feel like the States. And that's something that you got to pay out of pocket sometimes because it makes sense. Like, it's like, it's like, I gave you enough money. You do it yourself.

And that's what they do. Like I'm 21, bro. Like you go to any, have y'all seen the doc? LaMelo Ball. Y'all seen LaMelo Ball's house? The big-ass house? Crazy. Right?

Crazy as hell, right? Nice. I guarantee you, two rooms of that motherfucker decorated. Oh. Two rooms. Just sitting in there. Two rooms, the other damn 12 empty. Man.

He's not an interior decorator. He don't know what he's doing. He's just going to go, he's just going to decorate the rooms he associate with. Yep. You know, he's not going to furnish the whole place. He's not going to do,

he's not Michael Jordan. Even if he has the 20, 30 million dollars a year, he's going to live how his mind tells him. It's going to be short room. You'll have NBA players that's played in this league

for five years and they whole house ain't furnished yet They live in like the yin-yang toy. You're living like college kids The college kids Right all right you've been a teammate's house and like how long you been here? Like four years. Shit. You ain't just moving here? You ain't got no living room, furniture. You ain't got no kitchen. Look, I just eat in the room.

I just eat in the kitchen. I ain't got no friends. I just eat in the room. You make $12 million a year. What you talking about? You ain't got no friends. All right, well, let's shift over to the college side. Obviously, March Madness is tipped off with the first four, Tuesday and Wednesday.

We got the actual official tournament starting on Thursday. But we want to go back to— Tomorrow, Thursday? This Thursday, Gil. Why you say Thursday like we do not shoot every day? Because for the people at home that don't know what day it is. I thought it was Tuesday for the longest today until y'all told me it was Wednesday. Common sense ain't coming, man.

It'd be a blur. You got to tell them. You got to tell them. You got to tell them sometimes. I don't like all this. I don't like all this. Y'all in the chat know what I'm talking about. So it starts tomorrow. Because if they watch this a week from now, they're going to be like, oh, shit, it starts tomorrow?

Okay, I got you. I got you. I'm just saying. But back in December, Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo had some interesting things to say about the NCAA transfer portal. He said, my biggest fear of the transfer rule is anyone going to learn how to fail. And that's the problem nowadays. Back in our time, you wanted to transfer,

your asset had to sit out a year, and then you had to hope that your skill set was still good to go when you came back. Nowadays, you sign off somewhere, you're at North Carolina, you're at Arizona, I'm not feeling this shit, I'm out. I can play the next year. So are you rolling with the NCAA Transfer Portal? Listen, it ain't rolling or not rolling because it's here. And I think parents need to actually realize what is actually happening because it's kind of our age.

And we're we're we're thinking that it's, you know, if I go to this school. Right. And I transfer. I got to wait a year. Boom. Now that players can like transfer and then be available that trickles down to high school yeah what happens in high school now is these coaches don't have to worry about like if i offer you and say we're looking at you and you're like all right you know i'm gonna think about it wait i don't have to wait a week no more no fuck you going to the next kid i'll just wait till march and oh kid was all conference in his league he's to be a senior next year, he put up 18 a game. You killed in high school, but shit, I can just go get him.

I can go get him. It can hurt this type of player. Let's say you're the third best player in your position. So you're the third best point guard in the country. You're the number three. And you saying, all right, I know, I'm, you know, I got you five, you know, I'm going to narrow it down to my five. Oh, that shit don't work no more. That shit don't work. All that. This is y'all. Y'all parents try to do that decision shit now.

Yeah. We're going, you know, we're going to top out. Listen, last year, the freshmen, those top three guards didn't like their situation. Right. The sophomores, those three guards didn't like their... Now I got six top guards who got experience. I don't need your little ass no more. Man. I do not need you. I got six guards that's better than you, that's older. I don't need to focus on you no more because they can transfer and come play now.

So now there's not as many Scholarships. Yes being given out Yeah So if someone is offering you someone that's interested in you and I don't think parents look at this when someone offers you a contract, I mean Scholarship a scholarship That is free money Look at his it's money

so when you saying yeah yeah I think about it you think about the money that's money that's paper that's what you're talking about that's paper that's treated like paper you just told someone

100, 200, 300 thousand dollars free scholarship that, yeah, I got better options. I mean, keep my options open. All right, keep your options open, little motherfucker. What that sound like, though? Sound like college free agency, right? Yep. College free agency.

It's at a whole other level, and that's another one of Enzo's points that it makes it a lot different. There's no restricted. I'm just saying. I'm torn, man. I'll present it to you like this, though. For the longest time, let's say you're at a smaller school. You make the tourney. Your coach kills.

Oh, I'm going to be here forever. I'm going to be your father figure here. Oh, shit, I just got a better offer at another school. I'm going to go take this back. See y'all later. How much do the coaches need to be accountable in this situation as well? Because I'm saying, Gil, oh, you come play here, you're going to be starting, we're going to run everything around you, then you come and it's like, oh.

Yes. Well, think about it. Think about it. Let's say Michigan was your number one option, right? And you decided to go to North Carolina, right? And then you and North Carolina don't get along. Yep. Right?

Where are you going? I'm trying to go to Michigan. Michigan. Right away. Now, everybody who... Now, let's say I came... I signed up to Michigan, right? Then you just came in. I'm done.

Absolutely. Now, I got to hit the portal next year. Or sit behind me. Or sit behind you. Right. Yeah. Depending on what year you are, shit, I'm... Let's say he's a freshman going into a sophomore and I'm a freshman coming in and the team

was about to be around me. Now it's around him. Yeah. But now I got a transfer somewhere. Now I messed up. And that's what the portal's about to happen. And these parents better adjust because I can see the shit coming. There's going to be top players. Like if you top 10, 15, 20, you can still get squeezed out. There's going to be players that's in the top 25, top 25 in the country. That means you can be a McDonald's All-American having to go to fucking prep school because your ass

couldn't get into the D1 that was supposed to be there because I'm in a portal? You're talking about fucking 3,000 kids could be in a portal. That's the thing about the portal. Everybody goes in, they don't come out. Of course. Everybody don't come out though. Of course. What do you think?

Because it's situational, right? I love the take because I agree 100%. But there's a whole other side of it, right? Like Imani Bates, right? His situation particularly. But I look at when I was at Carolina and I was faced with the, I'm about to transfer my freshman year. And I'm about to leave. But I'm like, I didn't come for this school

for the coach to push me out I came for this school to put my name in the rafters so I had to make a decision like I want to outlast this but if the portal was open oh yeah I might have went to you I would because I get to play right away and I know that wherever I go, I'm going to show up and I'm going to be a factor. So having that option instead of sitting out a whole year, that really was the decision maker. I do not have the leniency to sit out a year and waste a year because I don't want to be at this school. And that's why I stayed. Because I'm like, nah, I'm not going to let him beat me.

And I can't afford a whole year of sitting out because I don't know what I'm going to waste. Right. But then you look at all the other players that have these situations where the coach don't fuck with their game or he don't get along with the teammates or he homesick. He all the way in UConn. He's from L.A. like Marcus Williams, right? You look at situations like that, and it's like, if the transfer portal was open, there are more options there where I can leave here and go play right away. And it don't matter who in front of me or who behind me, because I'm out of a situation where it could have buried me, and I didn't have an opportunity to showcase my talent because the coach didn't fuck with me. So I'm torn because the portal is there for a reason

and it's there to give you an option. The fact that you can play now, it's a big step, but I understand the family dynamic. The parents need to understand that, hey, you could be stuck in limbo in the portal and not have anywhere to go. One, because think about like, when you're talking about a portal, we're not talking about 20 to 30 kids, right?

We're talking about hundreds and thousands of kids entering the portal, which means 90% of you guys won't even have the fucking stats. Right. You just got this old namesake alone. Stat, you're talking, we're not talking about Amani Bates, right? Where he's the number, he's Gatorade player of the year. Right? Now, he can go into the portal and then, but now, he's a three.

Right? He's a three right he's a three so now all everybody who's looking for a three has frozen what they're gonna do that's what I'm saying

they're frozen hold on Amani Bass is free where you going where you going where you going now we just gonna wait until he picks a place

now now what happened to a kid that you averaged two last year you four five I don't know what the fuck you do so now I don't now Now, what happened to a kid that you averaged two last year? You four or five. I don't know what the fuck you do.

That's the situation. Now, I'm hesitant too. It's one of those things where it's a trickle down effect. I remember when... what is his name? Jake, no. Reddick, no, not Reddick. I'm thinking Reddick. Team.

Luke Recker. Luke Recker. Oh. Luke Recker, Arizona. He's from Iowa, right? Or am I true? No, no, no. He was from Indiana.

Indiana. Luke Recker from Indiana. Mr. Basketball. Mr. Basketball. All the way to Arizona. Man. Right? Mr. Basketball. Mr. Basketball. Churr. All the way to Arizona. Right? He's sitting out that year. Now, this is what he has to look at. He has to look at me, freshman.

Jason Gardner, freshman. Lamont Frazier's coming in a junior combo guard. Then you have Reuben Douglas, who's a two guard. He's a sophomore. Then you have Richard Jefferson, who's a sophomore, who's a three man, right? Then you got Ricky Anderson who's a three man. Now, what ends up

happening is he's ready. He's like, okay, cool, okay. I beat out Reuben Douglas, a freshman. So now you got a freshman backcourt. Now you got a freshman backcourt, which makes it hard for him now. So now he has to sit a year wide. Two freshmen's game there.

Then he has to battle Richard Jefferson for playing time. And Luke Walton coming off the bench, right? So he's sitting there like, oh, shit, I can't. Sound of the room. Then he dipped to Iowa. And then, like, so as soon as the season started, the season, it's not like he went, the season, we're talking about three months into school.

So the season, we played our first game, first game, like it was one of those red-blue type games. Red and blue, I killed, became a starter. Reuben Douglas dipped, he raised his hand too. Yeah. My own too. Two freshmen started, One's faster, more athletic.

Then you have Richard Jefferson. I'm trying to make it to the NBA myself. I got to leave. Then he goes. Then he transfers to Iowa. Wow.

See, I knew Wrecker Iowa, but I forgot he started Indiana and then came over to y'all. Now think about it. If he was allowed to play that year,

he just lost the fucking year. Yep. He would have just lost that year because he can play. Now the same thing happened. He would have lost that fucking year. Yeah. He would have just lost that year because he can play. Now he has, now the same thing happened.

He would have lost that year any goddamn way. Absolutely. Because he didn't know I was going to be that good coming in. And you know what I mean? He didn't know the dynamic.

He don't know what's going to happen. When you're hitting that portal and you're sitting there wondering, just like free agency, watch the NBA, right? You going to the free agency thinking, you know, I'm by my agency. I'm about to make $40 million. I'm about $30 million.

There's only so much money out there. You don't sign. If I offer you a three-year 20, and you're like, oh, no, I'm good. A week go by, all that money cleaned up. You're like, hey, that three-year 20. No, no, no, no, no. I got a three-year five. Or you can take a one-year two.

That's happened to a lot of players. That money dries up. Those scholarships dry you up. I think it's leverage based. If you're good enough to do it. Because in your case, if we had it now or back when we was playing, you're at UNC, you want to dip, but they got NIL bags. Somebody comes through and says, look, Rashad, I got a million dollars for you if you come.

At least you can now finagle and finesse that. That's what we've seen a lot in other sports. In the portal? If you're good enough to go to the portal, I'm saying if you're a good player and now can leverage Arizona, you have a great breakout freshman season. I'm going to the league. Not good enough to go to the league, though,

hypothetically. You ain't on the board. You got numbers, but it's not enough. They're telling you, hold on the board, but you got numbers but not enough not it's not enough. They tell me they tell you hold on I'm good enough with old on I'm Enough for an IL deal but not for the league And you telling me someone gonna give me an NIL deal for a million dollars, but I ain't good enough to be in a draft Yeah, y'all on drug you That's based on fan base I ain't good enough to be in a draft. Yeah, y'all on drugs. You know, you are doing it.

And based that's based on fan base. If someone giving you a million dollars, they see something if you see it, they see it. Let's talk about Julian Newman. Like all right little high school guys who build up a fan base to a certain point, right? We'll bring you over here for this million because we know you got a fan base. You got a following. Yeah, right. I said I was following you ain't a fan base. We got a following. Yeah. Now this following, you ain't good enough to get to the league yet.

Yeah, but you're going to get there. But you can get there. But that's how schools are moving now. And I like to see a lot of schools, UCLA, how they start to move. Like, we got a ton of bread. You can just start, all right, dude, you come over here. We're going to break you off. That's what I said.

It's going to get, a lot of kids are going to get hurt. It's not going to be, it's, there's only so many scholarships. Right? So, like, imagine if, you know, Arizona, you know, we don't talk about UCLA. Arizona has. You're going to talk about us when we advance farther than you on this tournament. Yeah, I won't. Stop.

You have three scholarships, right? Three scholarships are going, right? And then that portal, they got, we want you, we looking at you, we looking at you. And then that portal hits and three dominant players come by and they want to come to Arizona. Those three players that was looking at Arizona, done. Yeah, right. And then, and you've already said, I'm gonna choose uh Arizona and I'm through the oh you know through the other hats now what is up happening now you gotta hey

that's what I'm saying it's not like it just it hurts. I know like this person's left. So it freed up this this scholarship. Yeah, but it's hurting another scholarship. So it's one of those things where you have to really be mindful. All everyone, everyone from high school, juniors, seniors, everyone has to look at what's going on in them portals because them scholarships are not going to be available. So if you a top tier player right now and no one's calling, there's a reason. Well, it should be criteria based. I think they need to put a criteria into the portal that the top five, the five star, four

star players are the ones who get the attention. They are the one. Because like you said, if you average in two and you want to just get out just get out You can be stuck in the portal because don't nobody really needs you but that's that's your dream That's the choice you have to make by doing yeah There's the other side to and then we'll move on a lot of people don't realize that these scholarships are one year renewable They think are you signed a scholarship you getting it for four years like right? I just have the option Is your dear to your beer to your year. For the longest, bro. I researched this.

What do you mean longest? This is 2013. Even when I'm like, yes. Since 2013. Since I looked. It should have been before that too. One year renewables. Now most schools aren't going to do that because it's a bad look to be like, oh, we offered

you a scholarship, but you get somebody like Deion come in like, oh, I can get your ass in the portal now because I'm bringing Louie with me. National letter of intent. Oh, that's because, no, no, no. See, damn, that hurts. National letter of intent. It's in there. See, no one's ever used it. Rare occasions.

Rare occasions. Now, you can use that shit all you want. Yeah. So, I can snatch your scholarship away from you. 100%. Yeah. Every year. Every year. Every year.

When I'm saying no one's ever done it. But back in the day, it happened. It just wasn't publicized. Yes, it's happened. It's happened many times. Like, yo, like. They talk. The coaches even threaten you with it.

Like, I'll take your scholarship. New coach came in. Yeah. You know, new coach come in like, yo, you're not my guy. Not my guy. And they'll bring you in and be like, hey, man. No, I've known that. But, I mean, Jesus Christ. All No, but you ain't a man But I mean Jesus Christ

But let's let's keep this day moving. Oh, yeah, I'm like Dion. Yeah. Let's say everyone your contract baby Besides my son Time for mostly fans Gil so March Madness underway Rashad. I'm gonna start with you. Everybody always talks about their favorite March Madness moment. Well, I want to know, what's your most heartbreaking March Madness moment? Could be a team you played on. Could be a team you was a fan of coming up. I'm going to go with the Villanova UNC Heartbreaker.

Ooh, number three. I'm not going to say I was cheering for UNC at the time, because I was going through my own little shit with them. But you were still watching. But I was definitely still watching. I still got love for the team, so I'm rooting. And that sequence between Paige hitting the jumper and then them coming back down and knocking that thing down, bro, that-

Chris Jacobs. Just as a fan of basketball, it's heartbreaking to be like, ooh, y'all thought y'all had it. That's when you sleep. Like, I see a guy like Gil, you don't give up on the play with two seconds left. I always got a chance to win the game. Yeah. And I feel the same way.

Like, oh, how much time we got? Give me here. Let me shoot it from here. Game. Over. Cry. And that moment was detrimental to UNC because we definitely thought we had that shit in the bag.

And it was a heartbreaker. Girl, how about yourself? What's your most heartbreaking March Madness moment? We all know this. I think you just keep doing that shit on purpose. You keep trying to throw it in my face that we lost the national championship. Was it a fair game? Hell no!

So wait, you supposed to have one of these rings? I went there. See, here you go. You supposed to have one of those? We went there. We got cheated, man. 22 missed calls. Whoa.

22 missed calls. Yeah, when SportsCenter ran it back, it was 22 missed calls that they should've called. Who's calling that? We had a play like this. Just so, Jason, J Will, because we don't call him Jason, J Will, right, has two fouls in the first. So, Jason Gardner dribbles in front of him.

He falls on Jason Gardner. Jason Gardner's dribbling on the floor like this, they never called the foul. He's on top of him, laying on top of him. Refs never called nothing. So go and get up. That second half? First. First half.

So there'll be three fouls on the first half. Yeah, that's it. Oh, shit. That's the end of the game. Somebody, Dunleavy, or what's the name, going in for the lip, and he just pushed him out of bounds. Like, pushed him.

Two hands. Flew. Nothing. Yeah, so stop this shit. Stop this shit or you're going to be on timeout. You know that was my moment. You made it to the final, but you could have had a- What was yours?

Mine is different. I'm going to go recent. You had that Chris Jenkins game where I had the Jalen Suggs, Gonzaga, UCLA. They tied it up. He hit the half quarter. That shit is heartbreaking. I feel for those kids. I share a similar situation, though.

This is the thing about the Pac-12, Pac-10 that we get got on. They always treat us like we soft, we West Coast, whatever. Then we get to the tourney, and they be blowing the whistles like we these physical, grinded-out teams. Same situation. I think Johnny Juzang got a bucket, should have been an and one, didn't call it. They come down, not hit the half-quarter. Johnny should have left after that series.

Johnny be tripping. We should train Johnny, man. Johnny, before he was at UCLA. I like Johnny, man. No, after that tournament, I don't know. Whoever convinced him to come back to college. That was a bet. He should have left Fire hot like you doesn't you got a house of you ain't that fast, right? I mean your game is a little slow. So

You you say they say you top five go. No, dude coming back to school for top five You post go if you top 10, no, but I'm what I'm saying is about that. It was top five Yeah, like they were like him like they were trying to figure out who you know him sucks are for sure go go There ain't no point of going back to school. There's nothing there's nothing to gain. I need to win a championship Alright, is that a you feel you see la thing cuz I was what ends up happening. He didn't even get drafted He didn't drop it Toby Bailey one of my favorite players all time on that 95 team killed i think had like 26 and 6 in the natty game but then came back same thing with jason capono capono had a killer freshman year a follow yeah miles simons miles simons should have dipped you got to leave listen the

longer you stay in college they get to depict your game. Yes, they do. They get to look at your game and see your flaws. So when you have all this unknownness, go. Man. And on that note, it's time for us to go. And Gil, before we go, zero you got to remember today. Yeah. Zero you got to remember. Light the smoke. But we appreciate y'all. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's drinking. We're going to sip up. Sorry to tell you, we will see y'all tomorrow, which is Thursday, which is the start of March Madness. We appreciate y'all for plugging in with us. We out.