Gil's Arena - Sheryl Swoopes & Gil's Arena Talk WNBA Past, Present and Future

Episode Date: October 16, 2023

Sheryl Swoopes, Gilbert Arenas & Gil's Arena Talk WNBA Past, Present and Future as the WNBA's GOAT enters Gil's Arena to break down the WNBA Finals, How stars like A'ja Wilson can learn from former greats, NIL's impact on the game and the difference between the WNBA's generations. The Gil's Arena crew also breaks down Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard's debut for the Milwaukee Bucks and what freak time means for the rest of the NBA. Please Like and Subscribe!! Sign up for Underdog Fantasy HERE with promo code GIL and get a $500 first deposit match: https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-gil's-arena Gil’s Arena premieres every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 11:30am PT / 2:30pm ET. SUBSCRIBE:  / @gilsarena   APPAREL PARTNERS TUFF CROWD: https://www.tuffcrowd.com/ ADIDAS: https://www.adidas.com/us/agent-gil-restomod-basketball-shoes/ THE HOMETOWN FAVORITES https://thehometownfavorites.com/ Gr8ness: https://www.gr8nss.store/ Pre-Order Rashad's Book Here - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CD9ZQ3HD?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420 Chapters Show Start 0:00:00 Intro 0:14:40 Free Throw Dunks Are Back 0:17:51 Sheryl Swoopes Enters The Arena 0:25:13 Caitlin Clark and Iowa Break Records 0:26:43 The WNBA Now vs Then 0:34:48 WNBA Finals 0:45:35 Advice To A'ja Wilson 0:54:28 Prediction For WNBA Finals 0:56:51 WNBA History 1:01:36 NIL Impact on WNBA & Women's Sports 1:08:15 Fan of WNBA Superteam Era? 1:10:35 Freak Time's Debut In Milwaukee  1:36:27 Giannis' Travel Training With Hakeem 2:04:04 MostlyFans 2:23:46 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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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. Welcome back to Get The Red. We're getting my $100 fantasy. We're talking about flashing lights, baby. Flashing lights everywhere. They just been saying shit about me.

They didn't even fucking know me. This is my store. This is what I was doing with what nobody looked. Y'all don't know what goes on in practice. Or the locker room. Agency, bro! Change it again! Change the game. Welcome back to Gil's Arena presented by Underdog Fantasy World. It's Monday.

We didn't get canceled. We back again. How are we going to get canceled? Gil, you tell me. If Cam and them ain't canceled. How are we going to get canceled? Are you right? Ain't no way we get canceled.

We ain't doing anything as wild as this. Every day they be doing some crazy shit. I love it. OJ is on that show, bro. They canceled. They still on. Facts. Facts. The juice.

The juice. Minus the Pope. Gil, Chad want to know what's going on with the shoes. What is wrong with the shoes? I said, what's going on? I didn't say nothing wrong with them. I said, what's going on? Oh, no.

You know, it got a little fur in it, man. A little furby? Man, don't come at me, man. I'll be letting them... I'm just asking. No, no, they'll be letting all the NBA players wear that goofy stuff on there, man. I can try it. I can try it.

They'll be having league fits. Y'all be voting league fits, and I'll be seeing it. So that's what you're doing? Yeah, that's what I'm doing, man. You're trying it. I'm trying. Got your little furry sweater. Shoot my shot.

Got your little furry sweater. It's hot, man. You got me sweating. Got a little wolf up here. Okay. Turn up. Don't come'm for, man. I'm trying. Got that little furry sweater. Shoot my shot. Got that little furry sweater. It's hot, man. You got me sweating. Got a little woof up here. OK, it's hard enough. Don't come at me, Peter. It ain't real woof.

It ain't real woof. This is Gilded Arena presented by Underdog Fantasy. As always, we got Gilbert Arenas here with us and Rashad McCann joining us. Ah. See you rocking the Jets. They got the big win this weekend. Yeah.

I figured I'd make my own little Jets basketball jersey. You know what I'm saying? I like them Jets. They got the big win this weekend. Yeah, I figured I'd make my own little Jets basketball jersey. You know what I'm saying? I like them Jets over them Eagles. You know what I'm talking about? And we got a very special guest joining us shortly. But here's what's cooking in the arena today. The Liberty kept their championship

hopes alive with a Game 3 win in the WNBA Finals. But what do they need to do to force a Game 5? Free Time made its debut with the Bucs in the WNBA finals, but what do they need to do to force a game five? Free-time made its debut with the Bucks But how would the team how a team try to slow down the Bucks new dynamic duo Dame Lillard and Giannis and an old moon? And we're talking all things hoops in life We're one of the goats you see it But as always before we get into all that the show is brought to you by underdog fantasy if you have not done so already Download the app use promo code gills arena. They will match your first deposit up to it was the 500

500 Go ahead get it in. I'm do NBA preseason underway. I ain't one yet Fucking with me. I seen a dude. He did all hater pics. He did lower on everything. It was cleaning up I'll never win our Lord. He always play out. They mine when I lower What the hell is going on today? And we do mostly fans at the end of show we see all the fans in the chat get it the hate it started early On a Monday god bless you guys y'all wake up Thriving on negativity and we love every single bit of it, because you help run the numbers up, keep us employed. God bless y'all.

But drop a good Mostly Fans question in the chat. Make sure you use your underdog fantasy username, and we will give you a $50 bonus if we use that question on the show. Y'all been doing a great job. Some great questions so far early in this season, too. So keep it up. And if you can't watch a live version of the show, with us here on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts from, they got your back. So Gil, last week we talked a little bit about how free throw line dunks have lost some steam after MJ did it in the 87 dunk contest. He said the score just kind of kept going up.

No, no, no. For him. For him. Oh, just for him. Yeah, for him. I was going to say, James, James, James, fight white, help bring it back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me pull this out.

Let me pull this out. I'm down. I'm down Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me pull this out. Let me pull this out. I'm down. I'm down. I need a 50. Let me pull out the guaranteed 50. What? It is. But a Michigan State freshman, Cohen Carr, throwing his name in the hat during the, what was it, the MSU, I don't know if it was Midnight Madness or Madness.

I don't even know if it was Midnight Madness anymore. But took off from free throw line, double clutch, finished with the tomahawk. Let's watch it again. Right on the line. I mean, that's like MJ's 50 in the 88 dunk contest. It was around. We got another angle there so we can just get a little bit more perspective of exactly what Mr. Carr did. It looked better from that way.

I like that. That's James whitish. Yeah. Oh, yeah, look you look better from that way mmm I Like that that's James whitish. Yeah So cars listed a six foot seven and then boosties definitely boost you in but Gil gotta ask you 50 What's that's what you're you giving you already know? 51 50 and I'm gonna I'm gonna go the way I'm gonna do what do you wait them what if I give it a because I seen them between the legs one James White did between the legs from the free throw line came through you got to do more than that it can't be if I was a double pump that was a double James did that

first James did that first. James did that first. No, he did this one first. He did this one. He did like three different versions. Yeah, no, he did. Shout out to Flight. Yeah, man. Yeah, you're right.

He did. That's my man. But I went first, so I had the 50. I can't take it back now. Can't take it back now. So what's the best dunk that you've seen? We'll go in-game, in-dunk contest. I think it was 96 preseason, right to left crossover. Kobe dunks on Ben Wallace.

You like that one? Yeah. I'm in high school, and he's 19, coming in the league. He got all the hype, you know what I mean? And hit him with it. That's my memory. I got two. I got two. I want to say my two. One is Toronto, Vince Carter against the Pacers.

Baseline. Yeah. Lord have mercy. What was that? What was that? What was that? Yeah, what was that? What was that? Right? Um, and then it's a tie between Gerald green The women women and Vince Duncan over. Okay. Oh boy And then Olympics Frederick vice or whatever the president was it felt like that Olympic dunk. I don't think anything will ever

Bro, what? Yeah idea that's What it should have been an one that's what It should have been an A and one. That's what it should have been like. Just because you're down there. What you doing? The only thing that could have topped that up there was Lamar Odom.

I mean, Lamar, DeMar DeRozan, when he tried a 360 on somebody on the fast break. On the fast break, I remember that. And what about dunk contests? Dunk contests dunks. That's so hard because it has to be recent because these are the newest. Eric Gordon. It's got to be Eric Gordon.

Yeah, that's... Zach Levine. Yeah, it has to be. They robbed to observe a little bit of love. It's the newest, you know, Jason Richardson. Yeah. I mean, for those who don't know the cupcake dunk infamous it was my eye was my idea yes we were together trying to

put together a whole little array of dunk cuz we're going against the white Howard mm-hmm in Orlando right and I remember we was in New Orleans we have been practicing our dunks and it was a couple dunks that Gerald did in practice. He only wanted to practice once. It wasn't like we were like, he went through one little thing. I was like, hey, let's try this one. We're going to do this. We're going to do that. He was like, bet. Let's do all of that.

We got to the practice gym in New Orleans. Dwight started doing NBA 2K shit. We was like, man, we're going to lose. He's just throwing that bitch up high as hell just going to get it. Boom. I'm like, yo,

Dwight Howard, that Superman shit, when he just threw the ball. Yeah. That might have been the craziest. That was the same with you. I was with Jason Richardson. So, you know,

he got invited to a dunk contest and I had a dream. And I started looking at everybody's dunk patterns and I was like man you know most people are two foot you know he's two foot so I was practicing the dunk I was practicing the dunk right and I was like yo Jay I got a dunk for you so I was like you throw it up and you start with the windmill here here and then and then at the end you just hurry up twist your body throw it back, right? So he tried it. I got it

So you got him up with that. Yeah, so that was the first time everybody ever seen that he gave me Yeah, I was a drink this sick. He gave me 10 grand for that He gave me 10 grand for that done like he there's a video of him saying my two dunks the ones I won with Gilbert Created them and then the other one um is our second year inviting me again right and we was talking about you know windmill and stuff and I was like why don't you just go on a baseline and reverse it so we mean reverse it like reverse it oh my lord like reverse it bro we never seen that like that all he does is every single he so he never practiced it he just throws it and watch it bounce.

And he says, oh, I got that. Right? So we was like, I don't know if it works. I don't know. You were like, I had a dream. So he pulled it out. He's never done it since. Wow.

He's tried to do the dunk. He can't do it. And he can't do it. It was just that one time. Wow. It was that one time. That's crazy. Bro, because we used to do that dunk in layup lines do it, and he can't do it. It was just that one time. Wow. It was that one time. That's crazy. Bro,

because we used to do that dunk in layup lines because it was a two-hand windmill. Everybody loved a two-hand windmill. We all loved a one-handed one,

but to do the two-hand and turn, that means you were a dunker. Yeah. You were a dunker. I mean, I've seen him do so many crazy things, man.

Like, I remember the dunk, and I've never seen it. I just felt it right or fast break Richard Jefferson It was I think Moe Pete he smacked off the glass whore, you know what I'm spiked dunks boom All we heard was boom boom, right? So when Richard Jefferson smacked it against the glass Jay Rich caught it Duncan yeah, something's back like wait what what what? Wait what you know just practicing when I'm just watching him do crazy stuff like I can see his limit So when I was thinking the dunks it was like dog you can do this like if I can get like this closer

I know you can pull it off at me and that's he did That's dumb kill producer saying you need to charge 10 racks and do be a dunk contest consultant for real No, it was easy. It was easy back. It was easy back then. You know what he doing though You know, I know Gil doing saving it for Elijah That boy is a 2k. He's a these a avatar these dunks. they're doing now, man. It's like, ooh, I couldn't. I didn't. He doing some crazy shit. Well, let's keep this thing moving and shaking. We got a very special guest making her debut in the arena.

NCAA champion, college player of the year at Texas Tech. Four-time WNBA champ. Three-time MVP. Three-time defensive player of the year. Three-time Olympic gold medaltime defensive player of the year I got more. I like hearing that. Living legend. I don't get to hear it enough.

I'm over here. I had to whittle down the accolades. If I would have read all of them, we would have been here all day. We have time. We got time. I'm over here. I'm over here. I'm over here.

I'm over here. I'm over here. I'm over here. Oh, I'm over here. Why am I stuck so far away? Okay. Pull it close. Pull it in.

We are a work in progress. We're still figuring it out. This is cute. Pull it in. We are a work in progress. We're still figuring it out. This is cute. How are you doing today? I am wonderful. Well, thank you for coming all the way out here. It was far. I'm kidding.

This is nice. I like this. This is a nice little setup. I appreciate the invite. Okay. Oh, I got a bone to pick. Oh, Lord. You want to get it going? No, I'm a guest. So I got a bone to pick. Oh, Lord. You want to get it going?

No, I'm a guess. So I'll wait. It ain't that big of a bone. It's a little bone. It ain't a big bone. Okay, okay. It's a puppy bone, not a dog bone. Okay, okay.

All right, well, we'll get to the puppy bone in a little bit. Let's keep this thing moving. So Kayla Clark and the Iowa women's basketball squad made history Sunday night in their exhibition game against DePaul. Game was held at Iowa's football stadium and called the crossover at Kinnick. Set a new attendance record with 55,646 fans who were on hand to watch Iowa get the win. Record comes just weeks after Nebraska women's volleyball team set the world record for a women's sporting event where more than 92,000 fans pulled up to their game. So Cheryl, you're

our guest. We're going to start with you. What's the most packed game that you've ever been to? Not that one. But can I just talk about how crazy that is that they played on a football field to have 55,000 people like I was never in that type of an environment I would say probably the final four in 93 when we won it okay 20,000 um and then maybe in college at reunion arena uh around $15,000. It ain't close to $55,000. That's big though. In a football stadium, you see all those people packed in. It's kind of like,

it feels like too much. Why is it not in the middle of the field? I did have that question. It's on one end. So everybody over here right with binoculars like who is that? You up in the nosebleeds.

That's a good question though. I don't have an answer to it. Because I remember when we played San Antonio I think we played in the football arena. Okay. Alamo? Yeah, I think we played in the football arena and I was thinking the same thing. Like, why is it in the middle? I went to the Final Four a few years ago at the Superdome,

and it had it in the middle, but it was... A lot of space. You couldn't see nothing. I don't care if it's on the end, middle, wherever. 55,000 people, and we're talking about a college women's basketball game. Big time. Like, the fact that we're having that conversation and we're talking about it to me

Talks about how the game continues to grow like we're in a good place Who do they play The ball I would the ball and it's still it's still preseason, right? Yeah exhibition game. Why that should have been televised, you know, I should've been LSU. Ooh. That should have just been. For preseason? I know, but that's what makes it, because it don't count. It don't count against no one's loss, and you get that feeling. I like that. I like that.

And especially when you go back to the Final Four, right? Kaitlyn Clark, Angel Reed. I mean, I see where you're going. That's a good preseason. You're getting at least $80,000, $90,000 for that. That's a pay-per-view. We're going to pay-per-view that. We're going. It's a good preseason. You're getting at least $80,000, $90,000 for that. That's a pay-per-view. We're going to pay-per-view that. We're going to pay-per-view that.

It's preseason, and I was at home, right? So they want to play somebody they're probably going to beat. I'm not saying they can beat LSU, but I hear you. I'm there with you. I am there with you. But they didn't call and ask us what we thought. That's right. We played at the Courier Dome.

Okay. Syracuse. Syracuse. Syracuse. And that was like 05 going to, I think it was either Sweet 16 or Elite 8. It might have been Elite 8 before St. Louis. And then I'm not sure if Rupp Arena is bigger than Smith Center. I think we hold 26.

Oh, wow. You hold 26? Oh, yeah. Every game, 26. Oh, he said every game. Oh, yeah. No, no, no. What's the NBA?

22? Anywhere from 19, 20. I mean, 18 to 22-ish. Yeah, we was lit. But overseas, they be having guys. Overseas, we play at soccer stadiums. We played at O2 Arena. When we did overseas, we played the Celtics, Timberwolves Celtics.

We played O2 Arena. So it's a lot of people for sure. For sure. What's the loudest arena? It doesn't necessarily need to be the biggest, but what's the loudest, most turnt up arena you played in? Ring. I mean, it's mostly college, probably Oregon.

Oregon was, yeah. Oregon, the gore. The old Mack Court. Yes, Stanford. Cause they had that like, I think it was still, it was like that rubberish. Back then, like it was, so when they jumped up and down, it actually moved the rim. They had springs in the court.

I don't know if they still have them. They had springs in the court, so if you got the bounce right, you can get your slam ball on. Damn. You know, in college, fans are just a little different. Yeah. So it's usually, I think it's usually louder than in the pros. But for me, I would say when, like when the Comets, when we had a team, every time we

went to Phoenix or New York, it was pretty rowdy. It was pretty loud. And the fans we had in Houston were pretty rowdy, too. Okay. They turned up? Yeah. Comets, Liberty, that was classic every time. Every time.

You remember that? What? Yeah. It was good. It was good. It was a spoon. Oh, boy. Oh remember that? What? Yeah. It was good. It was good. With a spoon, no ball. All y'all was getting it in at the end. I got to say, the Warriors, we believe.

I ain't never heard no crowd. This was after Gil had left and Steven Jackson beating them. Bro, we couldn't even hear the plays called, to be honest. It was like really, since really since i ain't heard nothing since since like that's facts like they were so regular season not just playoff not just no regular seat like go to you're going to play them it wasn't even like you like we were the temple wolves yeah no reason y'all need to be this loud like There's no reason y'all need to be this loud. Like, I get KG on the team, but, excuse me, we can't even hear the coach talking.

They just loud. The music bumping. This was before E40 was sitting half. All that. We won, my first two years, we won 21 games. They were loud. Loud. And then the second year, like, we,

thinking about making a play, like, it was like, we got like eight games out of playoff and standing ovations. We make a comeback, just, I remember four rookies. We had four rookies and a Donald Foyle, and we were down like 20. And they put us in, and we made a comeback. I mean, they stood up, and I was like, this is the best feeling I've ever had. That was your rookie year? Yeah, my rookie year.

I remember telling Calvin Booth, you can ask Calvin Booth, I said, yo, watch when the Warriors play in the playoffs, that shit going to be crazy. I was like, we played the Bulls one year and you can hear they booze. Like, the booze hit your chest. The booze hit your chest. That was different. Right? And I was like, when they play, when the Warriors play,

watch how loud that arena be. Because we was losing, and it felt great. Utah was kind of loud, too, though. Utah got kind of loud. With Darren Williams and Boozer and them. They was making that little run. They used to be kind of lit. What were you still like?

You know. Y'all was mid, right? On occasion. Yeah, y'all was. Damn. You know y'all's made right on occasion. Yes, I think I was gone. I think it was too rich to make that he Played job No, no it wasn't the W Oh I don't know 30 Yeah, so a couple our players were clowning. Second half of overtime, he had 32. Oh. Oh.

But we didn't win? No, you came close, though. Dang. I know I left smiling. Yeah. You won. You won. You was on the phone. You was on the phone.

Yeah, you had a good game. Good old game. You lost, though. Did y'all win? No, but I had 32. I won. Y'all lost. So let's move. Let's talk a little bit about the WNBA finals things were looking shaky for the Liberty after the first two games You were at game one in Vegas next to LeBron What was that like the bronze next to you?

See you're sitting next to by the bra scene next to you, but Irish. You see? That's what I'm talking about. I'm just saying. That's the energy in here. That's what I'm talking about. Did you take up the leg? Because when they do sit with each other, it's always a league leg room issue. Like, they want to put their legs out.

Did you make a photo stuff up? Well, you know, I had my nice little skirt on, so I needed room. Okay. So I had to. And LeBron, do not get on my skirt. Young fella, young fella, relax.

Listen, there are so, there have been so many NBA players, current, former and just celebrities in general that have come out to support the W, whether that's Vegas and I don't know if y'all watched the game yesterday, but in New York. And to me, it's just good for the game.

It was game one. Aces did what they were supposed to do. The place was rocking. Jordan Sparks destroyed the national anthem. Ashanti at halftime. Y'all too young to know Ashanti? Mm-mm. Okay.

I got to check. I got to check. I got to check. We were all on the same page, right? It's just a good, you know, I said it's like, it's a good time to be a woman and to be a female athlete. Like, it seems to be the cool thing to do nowadays is to support the WNBA, and I'm here for it.

Okay. Let me ask you this. What's the difference now compared to when you, Cynthia, you guys were doing your thing? I believe that the style of play and the abilities back then were not too far off than where they are now. What's stopping the celebrities then from coming to the games when it was even more polarizing then. Y'all were on TV more in center spaces than we've had to fight for them to be now. I agree. And I've been trying to figure out that answer.

I told someone the other day, actually it was a current player, I said, when the league started, though, we were on Lifetime. And they don't even know what Lifetime is. Right? They were like, what? They were like, what? We were on Lifetime, and they don't even know what Lifetime is. Right? They were like, what? They're like, what?

We were on Lifetime. So to me, that was one thing, right? Like people couldn't find the game. And men especially were like, I'm not watching Lifetime. Right? But I think one of the biggest differences today, though, is social media. We didn't have Twitter and Instagram and every other social media they got. I think we had Facebook.

I'm not that old. Facebook was 2009. Facebook was the plan. No, I'm saying before the comments were... Oh, it was 2009? Facebook came out like in 3 or 4 dollars. What did we have in 1997? Before it expanded, it was like

2009 was the expand Space 99 My voice is will be over will be tells me I have mail every day That's all. Hey, man. You got that dial tone. You've got mail. You've got mail. My voice is whooping over. Whoopi tells me I have mail every day. But I do think social media makes a big difference because now it's like you can interact with the players, good or bad. Because, you know, people sit behind a keyboard and just go in. Right.

But the ability to interact with players makes you feel like you really know that player, and you become a fan, and there's a connection. So I think social media is huge, but when you have, like, I'll say this. It doesn't make me feel good to say it, but when an NBA player, like, signs a line, and they go out to watch a game, and they're like, and they show all these NBA players at a WNBA game, people tune in and they're like, oh, well, if LeBron James, and I'm joking,

but you're like, you were sitting next to LeBron. No, LeBron was sitting next to me. But my point being, if LeBron James comes to a game and the WNBA posts and they talk about LeBron James is at the game, people tune in. They're like, oh my God, LeBron James is there. Let me see what this is all about. So I do think that's one of the biggest differences is we didn't have social media like that. From a talent standpoint, like, I'll take any of our teams,

the first four years that won a championship, and stack them up against any team today, and I'm putting my money on us. Easy. Easy. But I also think our mentality, though, was different. And it's not to take anything away from these players today, but it was different. I love the fact that the league is still around. It's still growing. Players are doing crazy things in the league. And just from sponsorships, endorsements, you and I were talking about this a little bit before the show,

but it's definitely growing. And for NBA players to invest in it, Dwayne Wade being part owner of the Chicago Sky, Tom Brady part owner of the Aces, like, again, it seems like this is the time to do it. And it's okay to do it. What's the hard part about picking a certain woman to be the forefront of the wmba me and gil had this conversation about what he thinks the future is going to be with the jujus like some people like his daughter like other young ladies who

are up and coming right but right now we don't have a face other than Asia, who they haven't really put her there. You got Brianna. She's my face. Right. So you got Brianna Stewart. But when you were playing, like you, Tina, Cynthia, Teresa. Lisa. Rebecca.

Like, you guys had so many stars. Dawn. You had so many stars that were, we've seen y'all. Like, since watching those championship games, those playoffs, and then Wheaties boxes, you guys were, you had your own shoe. Like swoops. Like that was a thing that actually helped the WNBA survive to this point because you guys were the forefathers of the whole thing. So I look at it like, why is there such a reluctancy to push certain women and put them in the front and say, this is the new woman? I really don't know the answer to that. I don't know. When the league first started in 97, it was players still go overseas to play, right?

Just to compensate for the lack of income that we make in the W. But when the league first started in 97, there were not many players, but like myself and Lisa and Rebecca, who had had marketing deals with the league. So we didn't have to go overseas to play because in the offseason, the league paid us to stay here and market the league and push the league so that people, like it stayed fresh on people's minds because we only played in the summer, and we still only play in the summer. So in the offseason, if you're not a real WNBA fan, you tend to forget about the league and the players. And they don't do that anymore.

I don't know why it's, personally, I don't know why it's so hard for the league to say, we're going to put you and you and you in the forefront. You're the faces of the league. You're going to market the forefront. You're the faces of the league. You're going to market the league. I don't know why that is because to me Asia Wilson has done some incredible things in this league, not just this season. And

Asia should be the face of the league. That's my opinion. I think they try to put other players in front whether that's a black and white issue, a black and white thing, I don't know. But when you have a league that is 90, 93% black women,

like, we got to be better. You know what I mean? And Asia has worked for it. It ain't like she came in the league and hasn't done anything. So there are probably a handful of women in the W right now, if you don't even follow the league, that you probably could name. Right.

Maybe five or six for the average fan. So I don't know. As far as we've come, we've still got a long ways to go. Do you think because the way you guys started from the 96 Olympics, right? Mm-hmm. The group. It was the team. Like, even, you know, when I fell in love, it was Martin.

Like, the Martin episode. You know? Yeah. You know, that's it. It was the Martin episode. Yes. It was the Martin. I was a Martin fan.

That's where I still get that. I was a Martin fan, too. I was a Martin fan. That's where I get that. I'm not losing to no girl. I'm not losing to no girl. That's true I still get that. That's where I get that. I'm not losing to no girl. I'm not losing to no girl. That's true. That's true.

That's true. I'm not losing to no girl. Even though I had to get cold out my ear, I was like, are you really over here licking my ear? Yes, he is. He was. So because it was group things, do you think that's the mentality that the league has done? Like, it's a family, it's a team versus individuals where individuals is moves. Like, you need a Larry Bird in Magic and then you need a Michael Jordan.

I don't think so because that's not how it was in the beginning. Do you know what I mean? Like the 96 team, absolutely. To me, the W exists because of what that 96 team did. Like just putting it on the map and us showing people what women's basketball was about, and we were good, you know? And so then the league starts.

I think it was more about, all right, this is something new. It's different. So you had to put faces out there. You had to put individual players out there that people could relate to and connect with. And I don't really know why that's changed because if to me, listen, sports ain't always fair. And if you deserve to be the face or you deserve to be the forefront over some other player, to me, that's the way it should be. But I guess that's why I'm on your couch and not somewhere else. This is the couch to be on.

This is the couch. I do love your hoodie, though. I like that hoodie. I was going to add a couple of dashes. We on this. This is the accounts. We are. We are leading. I do love your hoodie, though. I like that hoodie. I was going to add a couple of dashes. I had a little whiteout pinned at the crib, but I don't want to mess it up to maintain the integrity. This is the 25th anniversary. I wanted to add them extra two.

I know. I'm there with you, but it's good. But let's talk a little bit about WNBA finals now. So, Aces went up 2-0 in Vegas, went back to Brooklyn. Liberty got that much-needed win to keep the series alive. What did both teams show you in game three? New York's really good at home. I think everybody knew that. I said going back home, they did what they were supposed to do, right? You've got to win this game or your season's over. To me, JJ showed why she was a 2021 MVP.

Like, on both ends of the floor. She scored whenever she wanted to. Defensively, she owned the paint. I mean, just throwing shit out of there left and right. And it was beautiful to watch. That's what she does. I also thought Stewie had a better game three than she had one and two because in Vegas she didn't play well at all.

And to me, Courtney Vandersloot, I'm a huge Courtney Vandersloot fan. I think she is the second best point guard in the league because I think Chelsea Gray is the best point guard. But I will say besides the players, the coach, Sandy Brandello made some adjustments in game three that I thought was the difference. By taking Stewie off of Asia and putting her on Chelsea Gray. That length that Stewie brings disrupted Chelsea's flow. Her shot, being able to pass the ball, being able to get in the paint.

Brilliant move. And then putting JJ on Asia. JJ's length bothered Asia offensively. The part that I don't understand with the aces, though, with Kia Stokes, you had Courtney VanderSloot guarding you in the paint. You got to score. You can't walk out of that game with a big old goose egg. Yes, zero.

No way. You can't do it. No way. But is that the coach not seeing the actual mismatches that oh, there's a way and be heard No, you can't call it on Bucket We both we both Kelsey and come on now So here to me here was part of the the good for New York. Because Stewie was on Chelsea, Chelsea couldn't really see, right?

Because Stewie is long. But that ain't on the coach. That ain't on Becky. Kia, every other player on the floor, you got to see that. Whether that's Sabrina guarding Kia or Sloot guarding Kia, it's a mismatch. Definitely. Whatever play the coach called, that's what we did. Like, we go to timeout, coach is like, run this.

We're like, okay. We get on the floor, we're like, y'all, no. We were just talking about this last week. You're in timeout, you're like, all right, coach, we got you. But then you go on the floor, it's like, y'all know we ain't back. We got to run that play. And it worked. So at some point,

you got to play basketball. So to me, that's what Sandy did. That's what New York did. And even though the Aces didn't play all that well, there was still a part where they could still win the game. I thought the biggest difference was when Chelsea got hurt. You could see the Aces, they were all deflated, especially not knowing what happened to her.

And, you know, Chelsea going out of the game was... Whew! That hurt me. So it still remains uncertain. I mean, it probably looks like she'll at least miss game four, if not the rest of the series. So how will the aces replace Chelsea Gray's production? And how much does that hurt them now moving forward in this series? Listen, the aces are

they're still good but chelsea gray is by far the head of the snake chelsea runs chelsea is just good y'all like she is just nasty really good so to me and and becky said it at a press conference, there's not one player that makes up for Chelsea not being in the game. So, you know, Sid Colson will probably get some minutes. Kirsten Bell will get some minutes. But, you know, it's got to be Asia got to step up, Jackie, Kelsey. It's going to be a team effort because, listen,

New York's chances of winning their first championship ever just got a lot better if Chelsea Gray cannot play. I like Kelsey being able to step up to the plate now. She's kind of been playing behind the number one point guard. She's been kind of overshadowed, but when she needed to elevate her game, she has. Well, she had 29 last night. She does what she needs to do when she's forced to, right? And then Jackie, if Jackie's being aggressive, that opens up Asia, right? And it puts less pressure on the rest of the players when you got a three-headed monster. Now, they was always a four-headed monster.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Which is the problem. They don't really have a bench. They don't. And now if Chelsea's out, you just lose another player. Here's the thing I personally don't like

about Kelsey Plum having to play point. Like, to me, she's better when Chelsea is creating finding her versus her having the ball in her hand having to because you got to get Asia the ball yeah right so now you're having to play point you got to find Asia you got to find Jackie and because you're losing scoring if's out, you also got to find a way to get yourself going. It just, you know, game four in New York. That's what usually happens with like scoring guards, right? Yeah. It's like the James Harden effect, right?

Yeah. When you have the score, push the point, now they're going to overthink. Yeah. And I got to be the point goal. Mm-hmm. And you don't want to lose her scoring and her attacking trying to be a pure point. Like, you know, so you might

have to just keep her at the shooting guard and bring somebody else in to do all the delivery so she can stay in her place. Because you don't want to bring her in and then now she's overthinking. Yep. And that, to me, that's what will happen. And then, you know, Jackie Young can play some point. But even with Jackie, it's the same thing.

Yeah. You know, because game one and two, the Aces guards destroyed the Liberty guards. And game three was different because of the defensive change that Sandy made. Yeah. I mean, coaches always say, next man, next woman up. because of the defensive change that Sandy made. Yeah. I mean, coaches always say, next man, next woman up. And if Chelsea Gray cannot go, that's exactly what it has to be for the Aces.

Absolutely. But also, I feel this strongly about Kelsey Plum is that she's going to have to go back to who she was originally. Coming into the league, she was a dual threat point guard scorer. Who can pass? Who can do her thing? But when she's forced to be put to a regulated position, which is secondary to what

she's normally doing, she comes in. I'll need her to be that one. That first came into the league. She shot everything. She shot everything, right? So if you're losing, how much? 15 a game? Is Chelsea? Eight.

Oh, Chelsea, yeah. Chelsea, 15. But it's not about what she's scoring. It's about her production. Her leadership. You're losing, what? Yeah, 15. 15 plus the seven assists plus five rebounds.

But the dimes that she drops and asia out in transition like not only not only are you losing that from chelsea but it changes everybody's game yeah that's why i say that adjustment for chelsea is going to be to be a vet be efficient productive do what the team needs like you said the coach is calling something that's taking us out of whack and out of the flow let's huddle up and let's say now let's go asia a couple more times she's feeling it Do what the team needs. Like you said, the coach is calling something that's taking us out of whack and out of the flow. Let's huddle up and let's say, let's go Asia a couple more times. She's feeling it. She hasn't missed yet.

Let's put them in the pick and roll. Let's do some pin downs. I think just when Chelsea can control the game the way she does because she's one of those visionary point guards. She doesn't need a coach to tell. She knows what to do. Without her on the floor, who's the leader? Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

So it's going to force Kelsey to, it's going to, because as a point guard, you feel like that's your job, is to be the leader, and sometimes it's not. Well, not only that, Becky has that trust and confidence in Chelsea. Yes. Right? She like, Chelsea got it. Yeah.

You lose that if you lose Chelsea for the rest of the finals. Yeah. So you talked about Asia being the face of the league. I think we all agree we're a pro Asia Wilson show. She's carrying a torch following your footsteps.

I walk off every night. So she recently reached out to Dawn Staley, who was her college coach, to get your number, to reach out, to ask for some advice. So what advice did you give Asia Wilson? Well, the first thing I told her was, I don't know why you reached out to Dawn, because you should have my number. She just didn't save it. Because I gave it to her. I gave it to her. She just didn't save it. I was like, okay, that's important. New phone? No, you never know. Technology. These kids be on the NCC. That's what it was. She went to Android.

That's all I'll be hating on the Androids. The Androids is the green bubble. I'm Android all day. See? There we go. Team Android. Let's go. I'm Android all day.

Yeah. I got both, so don't hate me. Don't hate me. I got blue and green. We got the blue and the green. Don't hate me. I'm not going to tell you some of the stuff I told her. Yeah, we'll do it.

Because they're still playing. Okay. And it applies to the finals. Actually, when she called me and we talked for a minute, I said, listen, at this point, it's not about schemes. Y'all know New York. They know you. Like, you got gotta go who but you know i just said you gotta be to me you gotta be the the great player that you are you have to be aggressive

from the beginning it's the it's the finals your mindset has to be because this was mine when we play your mindset has to be they're coming to take something that you have that championship and so from the very beginning you have to set the tone so there's no second guessing about who is going to walk out of here with this but the other part to me i said and and it has to be personal right stewie won mvp you were mvp last year stewie won MVP. Like, I'm just very honest. Because if that's me, I'm like, that don't sit well with me. So you coming into my house, let me show everybody why they got this wrong. The first two games, I thought she went out, she did exactly what she needed to do.

And I thought game three yesterday, I thought she tried to do more in certain parts of the game. Because it's like we're losing this game. Now it's on me. Let me go make it happen. Instead of allowing the game to come to her. Yeah. But she's going to have to do that and then some for game four. Game four.

So in light of these recent developments with Chelsea Gray, what's your prediction for the rest of the WNBA finals? Do you think the Aces can still hold on and get it done, or are they going to be in trouble? I think it's going to go five games. I think New York wins game four. And, oh, so let me just say this. There's a lot of history there with the Comets and the Liberty, right? You know that.

So I've never been a Liberty fan. I just don't want the Liberty to ever win. We're on the West Coast. So I need the Aces to win. But I don't know about Game 5. I really don't. Chelsea Gray makes that much of a difference.

Was it 19, 20, 21 and 21 and 1 at home. Yeah. Yeah, but that's what Chelsea Gray. Mm-hm, yeah. I mean, look at- I'm not saying they can't. It just got a lot tougher. That's what I'll say.

Looking at the game last night, even when Chelsea was playing, they were down. They were trying to come back. She did. She goes down and makes it a little bit deeper of a hole. But I'm looking at, like you said, the adjustments that Liberty made was such drastic adjustments that going into the next game, going into game five, it's to say they take game four. Game five is going to be in vegas yep yep on friday so there's one day in between it to me is going to be who whose side are the refs on oh yeah because the refs are going to make the difference of the game and then you know usually

when the refs are making the the prediction of who side to take is who's the most aggressive you know who's playing at a certain pace and it's about intelligent at that to take is who's the most aggressive, who's playing at a certain pace, and it's about the intelligent at that point. Who's the more intelligent team? Who's getting bucked? I agree. No, for sure. But we already talked about the aces not having a bench, right?

I mean, Alicia Clark comes off the bench. She's going to defend one through five. And scoring-wise, Alicia's only going to give you maybe seven to ten points a game. My concern is, will they have enough scoring without Chelsea? Because, again, not only does Chelsea distribute the rock, I mean, she scores. And if Sid Colson plays minutes, Sid's a defender. Sid's not really a scorer like that. But I look, but listen.

You got to play out of body. But listen, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not going to count. Rondo game six. Rondo game six. Yeah, I'm not counting her out. It's going to be a grinding great game, though. Like, my question is, can they play a slower paced game and still win like last night was a slow paced game and the new york liberty controlled that pace

and if the aces are used to playing at a pace where they're high scoring everyone's involved slow it down can you make that adjustment yep that's i don't know the question because we i talked about jj i don't think the aces have an answer for her they don't know. That's really a good question. Because I talked about JJ. I don't think the Aces have an answer for her. They don't. So if she comes out, I know we're skipping game four. I'm at game five. If JJ comes out and does what she did in game three, she was a beast.

She was. I love her game. They lose by 12. Game 5? You putting some money on it? They be getting spanked on the road. You know what? They got spanked spanked.

They got spanked spanked. That is a good point because they haven't been playing very well on the road. Like, games 1 and 2, Sloot and Sabrina stayed in New York. Mm-hmm. They didn't even show up. So that could also be a factor. If they don't show up for game five, if there is a game five, then that's in the Aces' favor.

Yeah. So we asked our chat, but just to preface it. I don't know if I gave you the answer, but I don't know. We asked our chat, but I got to preface it. A lot of haters in the chat, a lot of fine people. It's like a 50-50 mix. They said 64% said the Aces were going to win the championship. 36% said Liberty.

They feel the beef you had. They feel that eternal beef. Yes, come on. But let's keep this thing moving. Let's talk about you a little bit. We got you here, so we got to take advantage of that. So you were a member of the inaugural WNBA season. I think the first player to actually sign a contract.

I was. I told you. When I came out, I was like, keep it coming. Yeah. Keep it coming. First question, when you signed that deal, did you have other players hitting you up, trying to pocket watch to see what you got to try to negotiate theirs,

or you just tell them, mind your business? No. You know, it was interesting because when the W started, and I don't know how many people know this, you know there was another league, the ABL. Yeah. So most of the players on that 96 Olympic team went to play in the ABL. Yeah. There was only, I think, three of us. Myself, Rebecca, and Lisa were the only ones

that didn't sign to play in the ABL. And there were players who were like, like, how can y'all not come play with us? But we had kind of heard that the WNBA was, the NBA was starting a women's professional league. So I had conversations with Val Ackerman, who was the first president, because back then it wasn't commissioner, the first president, and also with the late David Stern. And so they had said, when the 96 Olympics are over, we want to sit down and have a conversation. So that's when I

had a conversation with them. And I knew then, to me, that that was the right thing to do, right? You have the NBA backing a league versus this other league that no one really knew. And the owners of it, like no one, there was no certainty behind it, right? And to me, if the NBA is backing something, I didn't know how long it would last, but it was a good look, right? With the MBA co-signing and backing it and then the conversations I had. So the crazy thing is like, I don't even know if that was important to me.

Like how much money am I about to make? It was more about, damn, like this is really happening. Groundbreaking. And I remember flying to New York, sitting down, had the contract, signed it. I was like, wow. And then not longer after that, I found out I was pregnant. So yeah, that was a different story. I was like, oh, now what? No, but we never, like those players never call. We never had a conversation. It was just the fact that I didn't have to go overseas and play, and I could stay here and make... No, it wasn't crazy money. It was decent living.

I was happy. I got to stay home, and we were getting ready to start a women's professional basketball league. That was enough for me. So dope. So you talked about, you know, year one, its inception. I remember ABL, it's kind of like the ABA and NBA. ABA may have had the better talent at a certain point, but you knew David Stern was gonna let it ride. He was gonna get his David Stern on and squash whatever competition it was. And he did that real quick. It was like the AB who? Yeah, he did that real quick real quick but for you being there for year one now being able to go to games you're 27 and see the impact that you made what does that mean to you just to be one of the ogs in the game and to see the current problem women now carrying this torch for the future of the league i mean it's a great feeling you know the league started in 97 i had

my son in 97 i always tell people i feel like I had two kids, right? My son and then the league, because I take a lot of pride in where the league is today, continuing to try to promote the league and talk about the league. The part that I don't think we've done a very good job with, and I think it's better on the NBA side, it's just knowing the history. Like, Teresa Weatherspoon just got hired as a Chicago Sky coach, and me talking to some of the players, like, how does that make you feel? Are you excited about it? Because I tweeted about it. I think I was more excited. And to hear players say, you know, I don't really know who she is. Like I get not knowing certain players, but she's one of those players that you should absolutely know. A million percent. So then I look at myself and I'm like,

we have to do a better job of making sure the up and coming players, the younger players, they know the history of the game. And then even when you look at college and these women who say, I want to go play in the WNBA, but you can't name five players in the game. And then even when you look at college and these women who say, I want to go play in the WNBA, but you can't name five players in the league. Like that, it pisses me off. But then I'm like, we have to be better. So there's a great sense of pride that I have and I feel in being around the league and being around the game and continuing to talk about it, but there's so much more work that we still have to do. Yeah, that was my research when I was, you know, girls basketball, you know, high school, middle school.

Yeah. You know, I was like, I remember when the draft came up. I said, anybody watch the WNBA, right? Draft, and about 50 girls, only four said yes. Right? And I'm like, all right, so, and they 50 girls, only four said yes, right? And I'm like, all right, so, and they was like, where's Coach Buckner? I was like, oh, no, no, she's a freshman. She can't, you know, she can't go into the draft until she's a senior.

But you have to stay in school four years? Like, they didn't know none of that. Right? So, you know, high school girls don't know they have to go to college for four years. You know why? Because they watch the NBA. And they're like, but NBA guys can labor. And that's what it is. And it's the same thing with even like the Final Four this year.

And listen, the NIL deals have totally changed, especially on the women's side. I think it's great, but it's totally changed the trajectory of women's sports. And to hear Angel Reese say, I'm not leaving college to go to the pros, right? Because she's making more money in NIL deals than she would going to the league. But here's the problem with that statement. First of all, you can't go to the league right now. You weren't eligible to go to the WNBA last year. You have to go to college one more year.

Now, this year, if she chooses to go back, I think she can because of COVID and all of that. But, again, that's the educational piece that those young girls, they don't know. They hear the Angel Reeses talking about I'm not leaving, and in their minds, like, oh, well, so I can leave early to go play pro, but no, you can't. You have to go to college for four years. But we don't do a good enough job of educating young girls, making sure that they understand that.

Man, that's big time right there. This is such a Disconnect is such a disconnect and it's you know, it's a disconnect and it's it's it's sad when you think about a player in college who's making millions of dollars off of NIL deals who says I'm in no in no, and I get it, like I'm in no rush to go to the WNBA because I'm making more money in college than a professional female basketball player. Yes. Well, the dynamic is completely different if you really think about it. Like Angel Reese is like a goddess on her campus compared to what she would be if she went to a WNBA. She would just not necessarily be just another player. She would be.

But she wouldn't be the star that she is in college. She would be just another player in the WNBA the first few years. First few years, yeah. Because, and this is, listen, I say this because people are like, oh, you're just hating. I have no reason to hate. Like I told somebody this, I've been there, done that.

You're trying to get to where I've been. The reason why I say that is because, like, people are fighting for jobs. And there aren't a lot of spaces, not a lot of spots. People are fighting for jobs. So Angel Reese coming to the WNBA, it's not going to be what people think it's going to be her first couple of years in the W. And there's so many players that I could point to that that's happened to when they came out. Sabrina left Oregon and when she graduated, came to the WNBA, people were like, oh my gosh,

she's going to take the WNBA by storm. Like, I don't think people truly understand how good these women are. Like, no, you don't just leave college and come to the W and do what you did in college. Right. Like, these are fully grown-ass women who are good, right? And they're like, oh, no, no, no, I can't wait for you to get to the league. 100%. That's what it is. You got first-round picks, not major rosters. It's wild. Right and they're like oh, oh no no no I can't wait for you to get to the league 100% First round picks not your rosters. I'm just this is wild lunch me we talked about it is

So your comment squad, I think it's safe to say first super team WNBA here. She forced Force ratio y'all started out as a super team. No, no, no. Okay, well you did not. Super team, like that, somebody made that up. Somebody on the NBA side. 1997. Y'all was a super team. That wasn't the terminology. Yeah, that wasn't the terminology.

We didn't leave to go make a super team. You're right, you're right. But that talent, y'all deserved your own little game. Let me clarify that. So Tina was the first player drafted, right? And so when the league started to grow the fan base, players were appointed, allocated to teams from areas they're from.

So I'm from Texas. So they were like, oh, you're going to Houston. I was like, okay. And then the coach got to pick another player. So Coach Chancellor was like, oh, I'm going to take Cynthia. He called her Cooper. I'm going to take Cynthia Cooper. Cynthia had been playing overseas.

So any other team could have picked her. So I was first. He picked Coop, and then Tina was drafted. But a player people totally don't know is Jeanette Arcane, who's from Brazil, who was everything. So my point being, yeah, when you look at that now, people probably like,

oh my God, you guys are a super team. But somebody made that terminology up. But I got you. Like the war in China, I would say. Built. Homegrown, home built. Super team is when you... Y'all started that super team stuff on the NBA side. Yeah, super team is when you leave and go connect with each other.

If you're at home... You can't make a homegrown super team? No. The Lakers and the Celtics have had super teams. Yeah, those are super teams. But what I'm saying is when you're drafting your own players... Drafting magic. And you guys are creating your dynasty. It's just a dynasty. That's it. It's not a super teams. But what I'm saying is when you're drafting your own players... Drafting magic? And you guys are creating your dynasty right there.

It's just a dynasty. That's it. It's not a super team. Dynasty is... Deanna Stewart leaving Seattle to go to New York. Courtney Vandersloop leaving Chicago to go to New York. John Quayle Jones leaving Connecticut to go to New York. They built the super team.

So when you look at the super teams now... That's the super team. That's the super team. If you leave and create super teams... He's not super teams. If you leave and create super teams, so are we saying, if we say y'all got drafted, it's the original term. So the Warriors are not a super team,

they're a dynasty. Dynasty. It was a super team when Kevin Durant came. Okay, but that was, before that, dynasty, now dynasty. Before and after. So the Spurs, the Spurs are a dynasty. Okay.

The Celtics, now we got it figured out. Super team. Super team. So we got to figure it out. Super team. Super team. So we got the aces and the liberty. He is like, okay, whatever,

but let's go. No, these guys giving me a hard timeline this Monday. But we got the aces and the liberty leading the new super team charge.

Do you think that's good or bad for the league? I don't know what the league thinks. I personally don't like it. Listen, I want to play against the best. Talk about it. I want to beat the best.

Talk about it. I don't want to go build this great team and just dominate. It's boring. It's boring. Especially right now, right? Because, yeah, we just added a new expansion team for 2025 in the Bay Area, which will be good. But we, no, it is boring, right? It's boring.

What? It's boring. It seems like that's how the NBA started. That's why I was born. No, we in Boston and Magic. I mean, Boston and Lakers. Out of 10 years, between the two of them, eight championships. So were they, are you saying they were super teams or they were dynasties?

They were dynasties, but they were better than everybody else, right? So it was just them two every year. But to me, that's still different. Yeah, they were better than everybody else, but players didn't leave here and go to the Lakers. But what it does is, wouldn't it irritate everybody else to want to compete? Like, if I'm an owner and I'm losing my players because I don't want to pay, it makes me now want to say, all right, I'm going to jump on board. Now I'm going to start paying to keep my own.

There's only so many teams that can do that, I feel. They're all billionaires. Okay, you're talking NBA side. No, no, no, no, no. I looked at the WNBA. They got money. They need to stop playing. They do have money.

You need to listen to this. $10 billion. No, they do have money. The lowest one is about at like $900 billion. They do have money. So they need to go ahead and open up the wallets, stop playing. So if there are more super teams,

then okay, I'm cool with it. But like right now, the narrative is great, right? The commissioner's happy. The two teams that everybody wanted to be in the finals are in the finals, the two super teams. But like the Aces dominated. Like I stopped watching games because I'm like, they're going to beat them by 30. To me, that's boring basketball, and that to me is bad for the game.

Because people already like look at the WNBA and they're like, oh, they're boring. I don't want to watch. And then if they just happen, somebody for the first time happens to tune in to a game where the Aces are beating

whoever, I won't say a team because they'll be like, why you pick that team? Right? The Aces are beating somebody by 30. They're like, this is why I don't watch women's basketball. Yeah.

But they got the best coach. They got Candace Parker on the bench. You got Asia. You got all this. I'm not mad about her getting the money. Don't get mad at me. You know what I'm saying? I'm not mad about that.

They got a lot of advantages. Mark Davis is breaking bread. Listen. Think about it. Mark Davis is doing exactly what he should do. Absolutely. Absolutely. I love everything about it.

By far, to me, the best organization, the best owner. He takes care of his players. He brings in former players. So, you know, the Aces used to be Utah, which was in San Antonio. Now they're the aces. So Mark Davis was like, anybody that's ever played for this organization, I'm going to bring you back. I'm going to put you up.

I'm going to take care of you. He paid for a former player's wedding. He takes care of his own, and I ain't mad about it. We need more owners like that. Do you think that's one thing the W's missing that

the founders are not a part of it? They're not part of the ownership. They're not general managers. They're not coaching. You, Lisa, let's... I do. Y'all shouldn't be in college basketball. It should be...

Y'all should be here. Do you know why Dawn Staley is at South Carolina and I'm in the WNBA? Because she getting paid. Yeah. Is that the difference? What about Lisa

in the big three? She shouldn't be in the big three. Like, why are you in the big three? I have a league here. I need, like, advice.

And it goes to creating super teams. You got Becky league here. I need, like, advice. And it goes to creating super teams. You got Becky, who is a credible, like, magnet. You want magnetism, right? How do you get that magnetism if you like, Derrick Fisher's not gonna Derrick Fisher's not gonna. That's why I brought up Spoon.

So to your point, it frustrates me because I do think the league should do more to keep former players involved, whether that's at the league office, being over whatever it is, or with a team. So when I look at the Aces organization, they have Becky, who's a coach, Jennifer Azee, who played in the league, Natalie Williams, who played for the league. They're all in the front office. Nikki Fargus, who was the coach at LSU, she's at the front office. Mark Davis went out and said, I'm going to bring all these women. Come on, do it.

And I love to see former players involved, whether that's coaching or front office because to me nobody can teach these young women what it means to be a professional athlete better than someone who's done it right and and that's everything from playing what it takes retirement are you planning for a retirement let me tell you what I did or didn't do like there's to me it's bigger than basketball it's bigger than teaching them the game. It's about teaching them life. Right. And so just making those connections and I think there's a miss, right. And it's not to take anything away from the other coaches, but you go coach somewhere else. Like let some of of us do it. Yeah, coaching college. And so to your point, right?

Yeah, Lisa Leslie coaching in the Big Three. Some people are like, oh, it's great for the game. What game? What game? Right, what game? Yes. I look at Swin Cash with the Pelicans, right? Swin's role and what Swin has done for that organization is phenomenal.

So people are like, do you think Becky Hammond should go coach in the NBA if she's given that opportunity? I say no. No. Because to me, if they're good enough to go do it, coach, front office, VP operations, if they're good enough to do it on the NBA side, why do we want to lose them on the women's side? We need them, right? Like, we need them over here because there's so much they have to offer,

so much they have to teach, so much they can do. So I was like, no, and I get it. The money is better, but no. Stay right here. We're fighting for something. Like, I've always said it when I used to see Candace and um I can't remember her name plays for the Lakers always on the panel TNT they're talking basketball NBA basketball right and I'm like okay when you turn to the WNBA you know you got Lawson you got Rebecca up there

but they can only do so much when you want a diverse panel of women talking sports, right? And I always said, why is it that Candice and the other girls are fighting so hard to be on the NBA stage when the WNBA needs you? We need growth. We need expansion. We need promotion and marketing but if you're always fighting to be next to us it's gonna be hard for us to hand down to you when you're always sitting next to us and the the complaint was with Draymond remember Draymond saying like we're not gonna give you all no money we're not gonna do this we're not gonna do that because it's like well y'all got a whole

market that's untapped with beauty supplies and all the things that women spend money on. And it's like, how can this not be tapped into when you're not even putting your energy as women into it collectively? Well, I think a lot of it is also stuff like this, like conversation, like talking about it, like bringing it to the forefront. And I think back to what we talked about earlier, now it's like the thing to do, right? So I think all these different companies, these beauty companies, they're now looking at the WNBA. They're now looking at these women saying, you know what, there's an opportunity there.

Like, yeah, these women are tough and they're strong, but they're also beautiful. Like, not only should we be doing endorsements for sneakers and sports apparel,

like, listen, I'm going to do my lashes, I'm going to get my nails done. I'm going to get my hair done. No, I'm just saying. So, like, I do. I feel like there has been a missed opportunity there. But I think people look at it like, again, like a swing cash and say, well, you all should be happy because we're giving swing an opportunity to work with the men, to work on the NBA side.

And my response to that is, who are you doing a favor for? And it's not to say that Swin doesn't deserve it because everybody loves her and she's really good at what she does. But when I look at our league, I'm like, damn, we need her. She could help us.

Yep. She could help grow this league. She could help grow any franchise, any organization. And I think we will eventually get there. But I'll also say this, and then we can move on. There is lack of opportunity on the WNBA side, right? There aren't enough teams, there aren't enough roster spots. So it's like, people are like, well, there's more opportunity on the NBA side than the WNBA side. And so I think

that's why when opportunity comes, people are like, I got to go. But we talk about opportunity for our former players. Mm-hmm. Having the opportunity to actually coach or assistant coach. Mm-hmm. As many as there are

behind the bench, you only have a select few that's in the... It is. It is a lot, but... Now, right? Yeah. Go ahead.

Why? Paying for nothing. But you're giving... Okay, so like, when I went back to the Wizards, right? Yeah. Go ahead, girl. Paying for nothing. But you're giving, okay, so like when I went back to the Wizards, right? And, you know, everyone's, I'm like, man, they got a, is that the Wu-Tang Clan back there? I'm like, what is this? And I was like, where's all these players coming, like all these ex-players? I'm like, what is this? And they were like, yeah, we got a coach for every player now.

So a coach taps in with the player. He's responsible for that player. And I was like, finally, finally, I said all the training I did by myself, the fact that you have someone like, if we had this for the players that was on my team, it would have been so much better. Wow. Like this is, the fact that these guys still can't shoot that, with personal coaches, that just blows my mind, right? You got all these personal coaches in there. You gotta be real. This is still how you shoot, okay.

Is that on a player or on a coach? Both at this point. I mean, you got personal assistants that helps you rebound. I had to hire ball kids from high school. This is 2005. It's like you have to

it's that thing when we start getting the money we'll start doing it. No. First, you're already losing. If you're already in the negative go in the negative more to make it happen. It's just like anything. If I need to turn over myself, if I want to be a king, I have to act like one first product. I need this, this, this, this, this. Yeah, I might lose two, three, four million this year, but over time it's going to translate into success, so that turns into money.

You have to do it to receive it. You can't, you know what I mean? And I don't think they get that part. I don't think they get that you have to lose before you win. Like, you know, if you're going to, you know, make it a tax write-off, make it a big one then. I'm not going to go into negative $100,000.

I'm just going to negative $10 million to make a point. I'm not making any money now. All tickets free. Tickets is free. Come on in. Come on in. I need to make this building rocking so you can put us on TV. Put us on TV every game because you see my atmosphere.

Someone needs to push it to the limit. Well, the NBA is just not getting it. They just not getting what he's saying. Maybe the last two years, they start bringing in the former players because we are now voicing that. We're saying, look, man, y'all just brung in who? You gave him this job, and you left Rasheed out and Reggie Miller and Kenny Smith. All these dudes are analysts on these shows. Chris Weber, Juwan Howard, Penny Hardaway.

These are all coaches that have to resort to going back to college. Patrick Ewing on the Orlando bench for all them years. And then you're like, well, Pat, you Pat. I know. So, like, and that's the thing. Like, I don't, I think every former player should be given an opportunity. Yes. But there are certain players, like a Patrick Ewing.

Mm-hmm. No brain man. Yeah, like there are certain players that if Pat picked up the phone and call You should be like what what do you want to do? What do you want to do? And think about that pack and pick up a phone right? Let's give them a New York Knicks job Yeah, right pack and pick up a phone now think about what that coaching staff will look like Just him. What do you think the coaching staff will look like? You are you're gonna have Reggie milk you will have like you will have elite minds to help him who who is And I'm getting off for a second. Are you good? Like what Dion is doing?

That's my my vision is like who is that in the NBA or even WNBA? Right. Because Deion has given a lot of people opportunity. Yes, yeah. Yes, he has. And he has, in a very short period of time, completely turned that program around. You got sidelined full of celebrities

So just like that helps him in recruiting You could do the same thing on the NBA W me side with bringing free agents a hundred percent They don't that's what said they don't they don't get there. They really don't I've had conversations. They don't get it I do like I do the research. Most of the NBA championships, if you look at the coaches, they were former basketball players at some point. Yep. Right? You know, Pop played in the Army. He was intelligence.

So he understands the mind. Like Rick Carlisle. Yep. Your championships are won by ex-players. Yeah, I mean, Steve Kerr. Phil Jackson. Like, when you think about it. Pat Riley.

But they don't look at it. They don't look at the details in their things. Like, you have to really, like, sit back and say, okay, this is my business. This is, I'm investing in greatness. If I want my players to be great, I need a great coaching staff. I great mentors I need I need everything like I need the apex of everything to be on this sideline like I can't just hire

this this person and then who is he gonna hire what is this background what is this about this is a friend of a friend of a friend what is he but what is he bringing to the table just Just besides being my friend. Yeah. And that's why when I ask players about Spoon, the excitement of it is her mindset

and her competitiveness and no, she didn't win a championship but she was there. She gets it. She understands it. And this is the part where I would say she was part of the Pelicans coaching staff. So she has all the tools that it's going to take to build an incredible organization at Chicago

if they give her time to do it, but also the people that she will be able to put around her because of the respect that former players have for her And other people too. She to me. She could be the Deion Sanders of the WNBA And have open wallet policy. I don't know about that. No Even with this show, right when we talk and I say hey if you want me to build a great show Don't tell me what I can and can't put on it. Right?

If I think this, if somebody in the staff says they need this camera, that's the camera we're going to get. Yeah. We're not even negotiating about it. Right? You know, if this is the person we need to go hire, our producer, don't. Let's do it. Don't. Don't tell me yes or no.

And if you want to be great, you're not going to be able to do that. I'm not even going to ask you. I'm not asking you for your approval. I'm telling you this is what I need. Yeah. Right? And that's how it has to be. If you say, all right, you're going to be my head coach.

All right, don't tell me who I need to put on my team then. I'm going to go interview and I'm going to hire my assistant, this and this and this. And I think sometimes when you hire a head coach and then he's limited, he's thinking about his job. So now when he thinks about his job, he's going to pick dummies around him because they're not going to challenge him. No, I need smarter people

than me because at some point I'm going to be looking here. They're going to be looking at the bench. They're going to be looking at this one. I say, all right, get in. I need my coach to say, hey, nah. been he been doing bottle flips the whole time versus them just saying that's a good one coach oh man that's not a good with like now I got to watch the feeling like yo how'd you let me stop him in right but you need you You need greatness in heightened

greatness. And I don't think organizations is doing a great job at that. That's a great point. Accountability is everything. Yeah. Right. But the one thing is with the coaching staffs is when you have that job and you are invested in keeping that job, it's literally, let me die on my shield. Let me die on my shield let me die on my sword because I'm gonna pick my team we're gonna get the credit for this because of the way that we did it or you're gonna criticize me and if it don't work out that's on me to fire me I'm saying like I put this team together I did all this but if you're putting things into my web that I don't think

belong like a train like a fitness trainer or a nutritionist, it just doesn't mesh. All my guys are either sick or injured all the time. And it's like, man, let me bring my guy in. It's already handicapped from the beginning. Yeah, it's handicapped from the beginning. But I know, I trust, I know we're going to work together. He or she will be what I need. I don't think, to your point, I don't think enough organizations,

and to me that's on both sides, I don't think enough organizations see that and understand this is what we need to do if we want to be great and if we want to win. Isn't Warren Sapp, Warren Sapp is going with Deion. That's what that brings. Yep. Because as much as you talk about what he's doing, every time a media goes at him, someone who's a star, who used to be a star sitting at home is like, I'm about to help him. Yep.

Right? Like I'm not doing nothing. I'm going to go help him. Yeah. Right? Yes. Warren Sapp, I'm going to go help him. Yeah. Right? Yes. Warren Sapp, there's going to be someone else. Even kids he's recruiting. There's kids that's recruiting that's like, I was going to go to Oregon, but how they did that, now I'm going to go here.

Yep. Like, that's what that does. Yep. Right? You trigger other great minds to say, I see what he's doing. I'm going to go help him now. I don't even really do football like that, but I do Colorado. Me too.

That's all it was. And a lot of it, honestly, is because I'm like, hmm, let me see who's showing up today. Yes. Who's going to be on the sideline today? Come on now. Let's think about it. Let's think about it. Yeah. One sap, Michael Irvin, two of his best friends.

Yes. T.O. T.O. Think about it as a player. These ain't guys that are too far gone because Mike keeps himself relevant. Warren is going to be Warren. But it's Deion Sanders. Then you got Michael Irvin telling you as a receiver what you need to do.

You got Warren Sapp telling you as a defensive player what you need to do. You got Deion Sanders in the back. Like, he's covering all the bases. Imagine if he brings Emmitt Smith in there. Imagine if he brings Corey Aiden in there. Imagine if he brings Steve Young in there. It's like, what? And you're talking about all athletes.

But what about people who are showing up who aren't athletes? There you go. If you're just a person, like, I'm just a fan. So there are times when I see just, like, celebrities, actors, singers on the sideline. I'm just like, oh, my gosh. You've never seen anything like it. It's crazy. Never seen anything like it.

But, you know, what I love is that Dion is Dion. Yeah, never changed. Like, he just continues to be Dion. And to your point, or your point, when we were talking about changing lives, not just on the court or the field, that is what Dion is doing. And to me, when you talk about sports and coaches, that's what it should be. Because your career is going to end at some point. Yeah. Your playing career is going to end at some point. Yeah. Your playing career is going to end at some point.

Has that coach prepared you for life after your career is over? That's all it's about. What Colorado did. You got to think Colorado first. Colorado. What Colorado did is WNBA, right? I don't know how I'm going to pay you. I don't know how.

But we're going to pay you. I'm going to write this check. I'm going to write the check. I'm going to write this check. I don't need you to put it all in at once. But we're going to get it to you. And that's what it takes. Like, I don't know. We can't afford you right now.

But we believe in your talent. And we're going to make it up to you. So here it is. And we're going to let you be you. We're going to let you be you. That's an investment. That's a high risk, high reward investment. Yes, it is. And that's what I think, that's what creates the greatness of organizations that you have to take the chance to say, hey, look, I want to build championships and I don't know how we're going to afford you, but this is what I'm going to pay you, right?

And we're going to get to it. Just hear it. Now do you. Go back to the Lakers when they got Shaq. When they paid Shaq that money, got him out of Orlando, they had to kind of promise Shaq, like, hey, man, I don't know how we're going to win a championship, but we got this boy named Kobe Bryant.

We just got him. And Jerry West is telling us that he's the one that's gonna take us there But we need you big fella. We got some buildings. We got some buildings we can sell you Speaking of organizations that are trying to be great and win championships Damian Lillard made his debut with the Bucs Sunday against the Lakers. Gave the basketball world a glimpse of what the freak time era will look like. Lillard was only 3 for 10 from the field, finished with 14 points, but Giannis dropped 16 in 15 minutes, went 7 for 10. After the game, Damian reflected on his first appearance with the Bucs

and what it was like playing with a two-time MVP. Having another guy out there that's dominant, you know, he can dominate a game and win you a game. So, you know, we come out, first play of the game, first couple plays, and they blitz me. You know, they trap me, and the guy that I'm releasing the ball to is Giannis. So I'm just like, I can do this all night, you know what I mean? So Yannis also had some high praise for Dame in his post-game press conference as well. I've known the Bucks for at least my 11th season. I've never seen from the first play of the game somebody be double team you know and

it was it was a surprise it's a preseason game regular season game it's not the uh in-season tournament game playing games it's it's a preseason game you know he was double-teamed. So it's insane. So Giannis also dropped a tweet of the Bucs' new big three, plus Malik Beasley in the background. He said, the season can't start soon enough. That's a nice-looking squad. So Gil, start with you.

Thoughts on Dame's debut with the Bucs? No, I thought, you know, I knew the whole move was going to be great because, you know,

both players are getting something that they need to keep thriving. You know, him getting doubled, you know, in preseason is just a game

playing that they were used to, that team. We're going to double them as soon as they come off a pick and roll. And, you know, when a season starts, what ends up happening is whatever you were doing with Dame in Portland,

you're going to have to change now. And what's going to happen is he's going to probably be doubled because that's what we're used to doing, right? Not realizing that you have to update your playbook also to cover this matchup. So they're going to get off to a really good start and when December comes around and everyone has to adjust, that's when Damon Greek is going to adjust to everybody else and it's going to be that Amari Stoudemire, Nash look. And trust me, that was very hard cover.

Ooh. Well, you know. I say the glasses. You know. I say the ring. Because I just said this the other day. I said we're going to throw both of them. We're going to throw them both.

But that was me in my defensive mind of what I would do as far as how the defense should be prepared for two stars like this well it ain't like we haven't seen two stars play on the same team before but the one thing that's not gonna happen is the defense is not gonna play defense like we know should be played defense in the NBA is not where it used to be where we had strategies and schemes to stop you know two powerful players and even when you did like Amari and Steve Nash, you couldn't because they spread the floor and they made sure they made you pay on the weak side. And that's what we was talking about as far as taking the ball out of Giannis' hands,

rotating quickly off that pick and roll, making him make a play. And last night in preseason, he made it early, which is going to make it tough for every single team to play that way. You're going to have to actually let Dame come off the pick and roll. You're going to have to make the switch and stay with your own and make Dame either get 30, 35, you know, and hope that he has a bad shooting season. You know, but it's like if you're going to play double and let Giannis be Giannis on a weak side with mismatches it's going to be tough for everybody you know I'm saying then you got Chris Middleton you got Bobby Fortis who can hit shots you know so you got Brooke Lopez who can hit shots so that was that's

what takes them over the top with all the other teams is the Dame puts pressure on your defense either the front four or the front two or the back two. It don't matter. But my little prediction that I had, I'm going to have to go back to the dawn board on that. It ain't that it don't work. No, I really feel like if you're on the back side and you're rotating early and you get out of that double team and you get to the weak side quickly, there's still a chance for them to still not make a play. But I don't think that the NBA plays hard enough right now defensively to stop

them to like that. They don't play defense until the playoffs. So, um, listen, I'm, I'm happy for Dane. I don't, I don't know if anybody ever thought he would really, truly leave Portland. And what was it, two years ago? Was that two years ago Milwaukee won the championship? I think Dame, to your point, two things. Giannis is exactly what Dame has been needing. Dame, no doubt, is hungry for a championship. I think he is on a squad now that he could possibly get his first championship. That one-two combination with Dame and Giannis is

going to be ugly. So when he's talking about his preseason and they're doubling Dame, they're practicing. Yep. They are. They want to see what happens. Yeah, like, is this what we're going to do when the regular season starts? I don't know. You know, to me, the scary thing, though, is I don't even know if Giannis has really played up to his ability. There you go and And by adding Dame, I think that just takes Giannis's game to a whole different level like Milwaukee's gonna be You know, it's funny once he get better came a larger one for work down You know what's funny is Every time I've said what you just said, right? Everyone kills me for it not realizing as an athlete

As an athlete we can we can watch A player. Yeah and say oh he has more in his tank Right. You're like, oh, who are you? He's a champion. He's a two-time MVP. Did you say that? I'm like, but I'm saying he can get better. What is y'all problem? I'm saying he's this. He can

get better. If he gets better, he's going to be this. I didn't know that was a bad thing. He really could be unstoppable. That was the conversation with him saying about Embiid. Like we have, like between me and him, like he has the takes that everyone understands

and I have the takes that everyone misunderstands, I believe. Oh, okay. When I go into my conversations with him about certain things, he'll say, Joel Embiid, if he played a little bit harder and had... That part. If he played with Giannis' motor, he would be... No, you're 100% correct. Right?

I say that all the time. And if Giannis actually created some offense down low in the post with that energy, he would be next level. So these are two different takes that are that are similar very similar with just you know energy effort, but also detail Kind of goes through the motions. Yeah, and Because we played we can I can see like I can see what Vince Carter would look like with Kobe's mindset. Mm-hmm Right. I I know what Shaq will look like. Oh, that's scary with the kobe's mindset right like scary and so when you say it and people are like whoa he's top 50 he's top well he should be number

one right why are you mad at me you're like why are you getting mad at me because i said he can be number one like you're making it seem like i'm saying he's suck i'm saying no he's great but if he did this he would be so much better. It's like some guys are just so gifted that their gifts hinder them from seeing themselves in real time. Like I'm telling you, like if he took himself out and say, all right, I'm this good just playing the way I'm playing now. Yeah. If I really decide to buckle down and really detail, boom, boom, boom, where can I be? That's what I'm seeing.

Where you could be. You can be here. Don't get mad at me because I'm seeing it. Right. Push it to the limit. Push it to the limit. I see how good you are, but I see so much more. Yeah.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. So if you're the Bucks, how are you maximizing Giannis and Dame to get the most out of the offense? What? Yeah. Oh my gosh, yeah. So if you're the Bucks, how are you maximizing Giannis and Dame to get the most out of the offense? What? Yeah, that's a good question. Yeah. What do I have to do? How am I maximizing?

How are you maximizing Giannis and Dame to get the most out of the offense? Dame, Giannis, play. What do you mean? Like, play. Like, 48 minutes. I maximize it by putting 48 minutes. Never sub in the mouth.

That's what I'm doing. Because at this point, I think Giannis is at the point where he wants more wins. Dane wants his first wins. That alone is maximizing. They're both hungry. These are not guys who are satisfied where they are because they need more. Someone needs one, one needs more. So it's like, y'all going to go out there and play. I don't need to sit here and draw up a whole bunch of plays because y'all are going to see it faster than I can draw it up. I don't have to worry about you guys or this team itself

lacking something. You guys' hunger is going to maximize everybody. You guys are going to come in here wanting to practice every day, wanting to do whatever it takes to win. So, you know, this is the easiest coaching job that, you know, that coach is going to have. All he has to do is just manage time, manage days off, and just making sure, you know, are we going to stay in Miami a little bit longer than we go to

Orlando? That's his job right now. That's his job. The flight schedule. That's where he's going. You know, who are we going to go with? That's it, coach. Other than that, they're going to do what they're going to do. There is an elephant in the room, though. Uh-oh. Because we had to. It's not my saying, though. I don't want people to get it fucked up if not me saying it. It's just what's being said. How are you going to make up for the defensive lack of presence? If Drew Holiday, all defensive, when Dame gets there,

Dame's got to pick up the pieces there. You lose Grayson Allen, you lose Drew Holiday to defensive pieces right so if Dame is going to pick up that piece does he make all defensive does he pick it up to that type of pace I think that he's always wanted to I don't think he's been pushed to have to because you're in Portland and you're you're you're carrying the bulk of the offensive load. It's not a responsibility, need to say. But now you're on a championship-type team that's had that. Can you do that?

Do you need to? I'm not asking if he needs to, because you say about the defense in the back. That's what I'm saying. I've heard the conversations, and to me it's a pointless one because, okay, he brings defense in 18 points. He doesn't bring any defense. He brings 30-some points plus his one-on-one skill.

Like, he overweighs whatever he's going to lose. How many guards are going to outscore Dame? So, for the most part, he's going to win his matchup, right? But is your matchup won strategically on offense? Is it just an offensive matchup that you're winning because there is defensive field goal percentage, defensive three-point field goal percentage? All of these things are things that Drew Holiday brought to the table.

Yeah, but he didn't bring what dame is bringing so i why why do you need to be why does it need to be drew holiday when they got rid of drew holiday so whatever drew holiday brung they were like and we don't want it is that what happened first team all defense we don't want it we want we need someone to score yannis has trouble scoring scoring when they buckle down. Defensive-wise, I have three people who play first team, first team, first team. So we're... I already have Pippen, Jordan, and Robin back there. Steve Kerr don't need to play no defense.

But the difference is, are you going to outscore everyone? No. All season long? But I don't need to. We're not acting like we have one defender back there. I already have three more. Right? I have three.

I lost one coup. I got three. Yeah, but I think. It's like Curry, right? As much as you want to sit there and target Kirby, you can't because the rest of his team... He got him. But they did. But they did target him. And how did that work out?

They won. Four championships. No, they targeted him in Cleveland, and that was when they targeted him. No, but what I'm saying, they targeted him in everything, but they've won four championships, right? Yeah. Listen, when you... Because I'm a huge Steph fan, but Steph ain't the best defender. Yeah. But to your point, they've won championships.

But I think Dame is... I feel like Dame's like he got something to prove, right? Yeah, for sure. Because he's here in the talk, too. Everybody... Drew Holiday's a hell of a defender. But I think Dame, at some point, though, it becomes personal. Yes.

So Dame steps up and is like, okay, let me just show you. I'm not all about scoring. There's other stuff I can do. But to your point, that ain't why they brought him there. Right. Like, we used to, Coop used to say this all the time. She was like, God, he put me on this earth to play defense. She played no defense. She was like, God didn't coach. She told, she was like, God ain't put me on this earth to play defense. She ain't play no defense.

She was like, God didn't put me on earth to play defense. He put me on earth to score. And I'm going to do that. And so because we knew Coop was going to get beat almost every possession. And what's going to happen? But we were ready. Like we were ready. So it was like, all right.

Team defense. Yeah. You think it perfect the hardest person to score on like as a score Who are you gonna protect more right as a team you're gonna if Dame is Playing defense you guys gonna set up your deep your you're the rest of your defense for him getting beat Yes, drew holiday gets to play one-on-one. Yeah, right, so I Want to go against drew holiday versus Dame because if I'm going against drew holiday The back line is not ready for him to get beat right so when I beat him It's easy Dame they're prepared for him to get beat so when I beat him

Here comes John is here comes right like it's it's harder So whenever I did my my matchups. I have Damon Jones here, right? I can you can see the back line raise y'all's ready the bra ready Zeke is ready. No. No, we're gonna set this ball We're gonna set this pick with LeBron. Yeah, right now. I got LeBron on the ice. Oh, no one's ready Leah yeah, right so it's in theory you hear what they say, but in reality, that's not how to work We were just like alright cool right, cool, bless you. We got you. Because we know you're going to put up 30 every night.

But that's the difference is the team has to make the adjustment because they're not used to, oh, we got to protect Drew. Drew got his. We know Drew got his. We've been with Drew for this long. We don't have to depend on Drew getting blow-by's another that he gonna handle his but now the adjustment is we got to be ready to help Dane Now how that's what I'm saying. Like we never see we haven't seen those adjustments rip

I tend in play no defense in Detroit none No the maskless rip? Both. Both. Both didn't play no defense, but you couldn't take advantage of them. You couldn't take advantage of them because no matter what you did, what are you going to say? What are you going to blow by me?

Look who's back there. And you're sitting there like, yeah, you're right. You know, that's just, it's really hard when you have multiple, and they're holding people to 86. You know what I mean? It's a different game. I'm going to go to a current situation.

We talk about the liberty. Like, Sabrina and Courtney VanderSloot can't defend their shadow. But JJ is in the paint. Waiting. Yeah, so it's like when Chelsea or Kelsey or Jackie go buy one of them, it happened yesterday. JJ's right there like, all right, come on. But the first two games, playoff basketball,

you put us in a deficit 2-0 because of these little things that we need early on. But that was the coach's fault because you should have subbed him out. Or they need to have accountability. You sub them out because you think, oh, because they can't play defense, you've got to sub them out. And especially if you're not scoring because they weren't scoring either. So at that point, like your liability on both ends. 100%.

And that's not me. And I was just about to say that. That's not me saying that Dame will ever be a liability. I think the number one thing for him is to take the challenge. Not to diminish what he's already doing, but to understand that you're not just going to come in here and think that I'm not going to play no defense. We have a team now, and I'm protected.

For sure. He wasn't protected before in Portland. He didn't have rim protectors. No, he didn't have nothing. You know what I'm saying? So now he has people he can rely on and when you get back to like the college basketball, when you hear people

talking defense, I got your back, I got your help, I got your this, I got your that. That is invigorating. If y'all don't know what invigorating is, look it up. That's energizing. Yeah, I was going to say, it sounds like energy. Energizing. You know what I'm saying? That's a different, you know what I'm saying, a whole different, from a Hooper standpoint,

when you hear that, oh, yeah, we in here. It makes a difference. That's going to really energize Dame to beef it up. I think he has the ability to make at least a third team. Man, that man ain't making no damn NBA defensive team, and he do not care when they win their championship. All right? I'm sorry. How many defensive teams

Steph thought about making? None. Do defense win championships or offense? Theory? Never seen a game. Not theory. I didn't ask you about theory. I'm not asking you about theories. I'm not asking you about theories. That's what they say. They say defense wins championships. Yeah. A defensive

team that still has offensive players and put buckets in the... Usually the championship team is ranked in the top ten defensively. Usually. That's fair. I would agree with that. Defensive players on a team. Like Michael Jordan played defense, but if you took Michael Jordan off his team and he still got all those defensive players, hell no, they don't win the championship. I agree with that. I was going to say, it's both. You got-

You need someone who's going- I'm not saying you don't, but you got Giannis who is both. Yeah, but what I'm saying is like this. If I have Dame and I'm playing against Steph, right? And Steph is cooking Dane. I am NOT subbing Dame out for a defensive player. The reason the reason is this When are you gonna challenge him offensively because if he can just come out and play offense Right and then on his defense he gets to chill and rest up for more offense. You can't win that matchup, right? So to attack this tiger, you need a tiger. So what's your... So I need my tiger to attack his tiger, right? Offensive, we're just going to go back and forth.

You're just going to go back and forth. Yeah. Yeah, because if you're just playing defense, you're not... There's only one way. But what you just said is if Steph is torching Dame, I'm not going to... Dame is torching Steph, too.

I need Dame to torture Steph. So if we just trade baskets at this point. Cool. Right? But it's trading baskets. But that's when someone else is coming. No, what I'm saying is. That's what I was trying to figure out what the adjustment is going to be for that.

What I'm saying is, I'm never going to put a deep. It sounds ignorant, but I'm never going to put a pure, just a defensive player on the offensive player. Because that defensive player, I don't care who he is. He's losing his matchup every night. Right? just a defensive player on the offensive player. Because that defensive player, I don't care who he is, he's losing his matchup every night. Right. If he's a guard and he averages five, but he's supposed to play defense,

going against a guard that averages 30. If he does a great job, that guard has 20. That's still plus 15 that someone else has to make up. Giannis. Someone has to make it up. He has to win his position, plus add more because of someone else. I'm never doing that. Right? This is not 80s basketball this is not this is not 80s basketball, but what is right? There's a balance

The balance is I need my I win your position So if you bring in people one Wednesday position if you bring in a PJ Tucker to guard Steph when he's hot, right? Not to say you have to take Dame out, but you have to put somebody on Steph now on the other side You got Giannis who can't be guarded the same way Steph can't be guarded. So there is the balance. Who are you going to put on Giannis? The same person who was guarding him before. He's getting killed. Giannis is killing him, Steph is killing him.

And I'm pretty sure the guy who's guarding him is just a defensive player too. Probably. That's where that coach is. That's why I said that's the leverage. So it balances out there. So if you're going to sub or not sub Dame out, he needs to be placed in the position

where he can now be the X factor. He has to be the X factor. And listen, you scored 25-30. It ain't all that defensive shit, man. Listen, it does what it says.

It all sounds good, man. And y'all, it's the overthinking of this. I just know when you're talking about Chess and you're attacking You take off one piece to try to stop one piece Y'all realizing that the piece that you're stopping when he's on defense He's getting all his energy back like when guys put defensive players on me. I'm not even looking at you you make it hard

think about when, what happened to the Lakers, right? 0-4? When Lakers put their defensive teams up, the recent ones. Oh, I thought so. Right? When they go in and they get Caruso and they put all these guys, right? If I'm guarding, what made it hard for LeBron and AD? It makes it hard because instead of guarding you, I'm just sitting all my eyes here.

Right? I know you're not going anywhere. You're not going to backdoor me. And when you do get the ball, I'm going to just jump. You're going to dribble a little bit and pass it. Now they're going to do the pick and roll. We're going to sit here and watch some more. I don't have to worry about you because you're here for defense.

You're here to stop me, pick me up full court. But I get to rest. That's the worst thing you want to do to an offensive player rest him you want to run me you want to backdoor me you want to cut in you want your guarding ain't out there for offense no that's what hurt that's what hurt that's what hurt miami right when you have defensive players in and then you have players on denver that wasn't there for scoring but what they did was what duck in go the lob. It put more pressure on them because now they can't set their defense up. They just ran the offense. That's the thing that I was trying to get to. When you run an offense

that gets everybody involved, it's not necessarily about the mismatches. This is about execution at that point. But the defensive side, you look at the 0-4 Lakers versus the 0-4 Pistons. There was no counterbalance of an offensive juggernaut on the Pistons that offset Carmelone, Gary Payton, Shaq, and Kobe. But what happened was they set a defensive strategy that neutralized the fuck out of the Lakers. And that's where you look at the Spurs. You had four scores on that team, though. Whose? What team? The Pistons? Yeah.

No, there wasn't four scores on that team. So Rasheed Wallace is not a scorer? He's's a defensive player Rasheed Wallace was a deep he's a dual threat but he was more defense Rasheed Wallace yes receive Wallace no he was great at defense but he was top three but he was both he was that he was a combo bit but he's but offensive him in the rear him and rip were the office of. Offensive score, two. Tayshaun can score, but they played together.

And Big Shot was a scorer. They all played together. But what I'm saying is their scores, they're not just, like they're not Ben Wallace.

What do you mean? They all played cohesively where they didn't have to score a big amount of points. No, no, no. Not being able to, not scoring

and not being able to score is two different things. Like Ben Wallace couldn't score. No not being able to not scoring and not being able to score two different things Like Ben Wallace couldn't score no matter what you didn't while it's hood school Oh, wow, you do men. He cannot man. What you talking about? Man Wallace can play bro play what? basketball Basketball, bro. Okay, because he's in the office where he not getting the ball Come on, man. So you talking about it team the team decided to throw him in the ball 20 times, he was going to be some scoring jerk. Man, he wasn't going to be no goose egg, zero points.

No, no, no. I'm pretty sure he has a bunch of goose eggs. Why, though, Gil? It's not because he's trash. It's because he played on the team. He don't need to score. It's called your role. Before he was on that team, he was zero. He was still being a defensive player because he was a defensive player

that's because that was his role like if you gave draymond the ball a hundred times and say yo go go give us 40 it's not happening you listen draymond would disagree with you i'm pretty sure he wouldn't uh he's already said it no he didn't yes he did podcast p he said man i am a guy who go out and get mine but it's when people areging off me, it makes me think that I can't play. And I know I can play. And I know I can score. Knowing and doing it is two different things. There's 15 players on the team.

14 of the players think they're the stars of the team. Right? Am I right or wrong? Right? You're wrong. You're wrong, and you know you're wrong. 14 players on the team actually think they are the stars, and they think they should be getting the minutes, just because you

think it took me to see it. It's basketball, man. You fit into a position on a team where you're in a role. This is my role. I know I'm not the star. If I played on one... Everybody thinks that they are better than what they are, and what they are. And especially those who are like on the bench.

It's like, man, just let me get in the game. And then they get in the game, and you're not better than what you thought you are. Some, not all. Reality is reality. I can tell you, it's a lot of teams that won championships where guys knew their role. No, I agree with that. There's not no, I think I'm better than Kobe, I need those shots. No, you know that's Kobe Bryant. You know that's Shaquille O'Neal.

You know that's Michael Jordan. You know that's Gilbert Arenas. You know these are guys that are better than you. You're not going to go in the game thinking I need those shots. I'm going to fit in, get in where I fit in, where I'm at, what I need to do. I need to screen for Gilbert. I'm gonna fit in get in where I fit in where I'm at what I need to do I need to scream for Gilbert I'm gonna I'm gonna bring argument like knowing you're knowing knowing your role is knowing your role But saying okay, let's take Kobe off and you get the 20 shots. Can you do it?

No, it ain't about can you do it? You just said you think you can do it? Yeah, everyone thinks they can everyone I think they can go out of it. Yeah, you didn't you didn't work that Kobe put in. That's what I'm saying. The thought process. You think Ben Wallace put in the work to pull stuff 100 times? Listen, bro. When they throw the ball down to him, do a move, big fella. I was down there with them, bro. Get the ball back out here.

Speaking of somebody putting in the work, we got to talk a little bit about Giannis. After spending some time with Hakeem this summer. Don't say that. Don't say some time. Don't say some time. Anything over a second is some time. Stop triggering. Anything over a second. How much time did he spend with him? Three days. Stop triggering.

That is not spending some time? Thank you. What do we call it? If you spent three days with somebody, what do we call that? Three days. Thank you. It's some time. No. Some time is like weeks. Weeks. So what would...

After spending some significant time... What terminology... Hey, Josiah, ask him what terminology do you need to use for the three days? No, you say... For the three days. You say he... Deal with 72 hours without a coach. I went to visit my homie.

I went to visit my homie. You say he spent three days working out with Steve. He spent three days. Don't say you spent some time. I'm just saying, because when I hear some time, I'm like, damn, he moved to Houston? Like, was he there all summer? He moved to Houston for three days. Sometimes.

Now, to the weekend. To the weekend. When someone. That ain't sometimes. That's enough time to go to Trail Burger, get some workouts in. Yes. Go catch up with Slim. The headline shit, he spent a couple hours.

Hour and a half today, tomorrow, hour and a half. So he spent the full five hours. Here's my thing. You can't go put in some time with Dream for three days. Why not?

Thank you. You can't put in three days and think You're ready, but he that ain't the reason why he did it. That wasn't the reason why he went that Context is this okay. It's Hakeem Olajuwon. Yes? One. I get to work out with the dream as a fellow Nigerian African countryman.

I've never had this opportunity. Greco-Nigerian. I worked out with Kobe. I worked out with KG. This is my opportunity to work out with him. I don't care if it's two days, two hours, two months. They don't even matter. So that's why he went down there?

That's what I'm saying. So to diminish the time, wherever long he was down there, he wasn't going down there to say, I'm going to use these three days to say I got better and got ready for the season. I went down there to see what Dream can possibly give me. Well, let's see what Dream gave him.

Listen, I don't even got to say it. I know what he gave him same shitty gator Let's take a look The same thing He gave you well then be doing MVP. He didn't give Joe well, I'll be well and be never worked out with him You don't have to oh, oh, you don't have When you want to be a team Elijah one or you want to be a teamjuwon and you're down here doing Hakeem Olajuwon moves and footwork?

No, we're not going to do that. You average 33 a game? No, you're not. You don't need to go meet Hakeem and work out with him. You already got his shit. No, we're not going to. You already got his shit. We're not going to give you.

Now, Giannis don't got it, so he need to go meet him. You're not going to just give somebody who has footwork and say, this is Hakeem's product. Hakeem's product has to be from Hakeem. No, it doesn't. It does. No, it does Can we see the clip? Michael Jordan Kobe Bryant didn't work with Michael Jordan Go back go back beginning so I missed the beginning travel

Wait did they call it? Did they call it? Did they call it? That's the track they call it Okay, so it's not a travel. So if I rob a bank and don't get called, I'm a bank robber. No, you're not. I'm a bank robber. No, you're not. I'm serving you. What I'm saying?

No, you're not. That is such a travel. I know. Did they call it? It don't matter. Just because you didn't get caught, like I don't care about none of this. It's the beginning. Come on, man. It's the beginning.

Same thing. Same thing I said. What was going on? One minute the beginning same thing same thing. I said what was going on That is a bad travel, but not They call it did he travel of course he traveled When it first happened I said well you you going all the way down there. You're spending $50,000 for it. I said, you're going to spend $50,000 to travel because of this. Like, it has nothing to do with it.

It has nothing to do with it. When you went down there to spend some time with the kids, what did you say? No, because of the time. Look, the timing is this. He wanted them to be perfect. The timing is three weeks, three days, or five days before training camp. If you really want to go down there and work on your postgame and say you're working on your postgame, that should have started in the summer. So the fact that the narrative is he's going down there to get better, you just take away every great person who put in months of training to get better to make it seem like it can happen in three days.

But he never said No you change your narrative how cuz you said he went out there to learn this and know That's what you get when you get there. And what did he get? He got to talk to his day. He got to talk to his hero But at the end of the day, What are you talking about? At the end of the day, you can say whatever you want. He never said I'm going down there to get better. No, he didn't. When? Show it to me. Show it to me.

All I'm saying is he just happened to prove your point, bro. My point is already proven. It ain't. It's proven. It ain't. Yes. Because he went down there for three days. He came back for three days. Travel. But they didn't call it. But they didn't call it. They didn't call it. I didn't call it better call. They did call it Did they call it? No?

No, they didn't not a travel. Oh my god first movie Traveled I said you go see somebody's head play you like man look he carry carry carry look he carrying But ain't nobody calling carry, but you So who's the hater somebody in the stands keep saying Carrie. He not carrying cuz they not calling it Obviously Jamal Crawford man. He should say he carry all the time Jamal said this to me say amen I've been doing this for 15 years and he called Carrie once on me stop saying that It ain't no carry if they don't call it cool, so if I my question is Stop saying that. It ain't no carry if they don't call it. Cool.

My question is, like, if he was only wanting to talk to a king, just call him on the phone. He went around the world with him. Why you gotta call him on the phone? He wanna go see a man. So he wanted to go work out with him. And learn that. So he could get better. He wanted to spend some time with him and learn so and learn that so he could get better

Mm-hmm. You want to say just like a question just like Chelsea Gray Sam It's been a dream of mine to work with Cheryl swoops if I could just get a day If I could just get a day, but I'm not just gonna think what day but if I saw would you do that? That's all she got Then you don't then you don't want to get better I'll give you a day. But if I saw you. Would you do three days? That's all she got. No, not three days. That's all she got. But I have a conversation. Then you don't want to get better. Right, that's what I'm saying. She's not saying she's trying to get better. She just want to work out.

I just want to talk to my icon. No, because my thing is this. I don't want to just get in a jam with you for a day, because you're wasting my time. Thanks. What if she got $50,000 for you, though? That's not my point. We can talk. Okay.

She got $50,000 for you, though. We can Okay. She got $50,000 for you, though. Say it again. We can talk. In the gym? For $50,000. I got $50,000 for her. Exactly. For $50,000, we can talk.

And you can show her some stuff? Yeah, for $50,000. You can show her some stuff? We can spend some time together. Look at her and say, I saw some stuff for $50,000 now. For $50,000. We can get in the gym for an hour.

You can spend some time. I'm really here. That's all I wanted to hear. Will you get her? Thank you very much. Is she going to get better in that hour? No. Okay.

But hey, both sides are pleased, right? I'm pleased. You're pleased. We're good. Because at this point, all you're really wanting to do is say, oh my God, I'm a fan. I love you. I just want to be in the gym with you. I got 50,000.

I'm like, all right, cool. Let's go to the gym. And I'm a champion. And I'm an MVP. And I'm all these. And we're both from where we're from. And I always wanted to meet you and figure this out. I'm sorry.

I'm not. I'm sorry. That's what you do when you're getting posted. No, you got to do all this See listen at the end of the day see at the end of the day all you guys Who said he was going down there? He's gonna get back this package you fucking seen it, but we didn't I said you said I said it you killed me product there big product product You can't change the track. You can't change. We can't change the footwork

We came with no expectations and y'all didn't actually pay a came so it don't matter. There you go So you had the internet going nuts after your viral travel tweet from your Twitter account, but the legend Milton Chevas- The ball with both feet on the floor lifts his right foot, making his left foot his pivot foot. Then he lifts his pivot foot before releasing the ball to start his dribble, making that a travel. As he starts to spin, he ends his dribble on left foot for gather, pivot foot step one

on right, non-pivot step two on left. Legally pivots and steps, and as you you can see his defender makes contact with his pivot foot Which is why I believe this portion wasn't called a travel But I do believe he does need to be more disciplined with his pivot foot And I know y'all been mad at Gil for the whole Hakeem thing, but he does make a couple valid points Let's check out Melo in the lab with him as well He rips it through and lifts his pivot foot before releasing the ball to start his dribble, which is a travel I believe that should be corrected on the spot in this clip

He's in the lab with JaValecgee and amari stoudemire amari rips it through and lifts his pivot foot before releasing the ball to start his dribble making that a travel as well and here we go to a separate workout him demonstrating lifting his pivot foot before releasing the ball to start his dribble traveling there as well but then marching or tight tries to move and does the same exact thing lifts that pivot foot before releasing the ball to start his dribble Traveling as well and then another rep right after the same exact way And here's how came demonstrating again ripping the ball through lifting his pivot foot before releasing the ball to start his dribble travel there as well The details are always everything especially when it comes to teaching and in multiple different training videos I see the same

That was so funny to me. Who the fuck is this nigga talking about? That was so funny. Show me a nigga that said, tell him to bring his ass out here and show what's not a travel. Shout out to FBW basketball. I hear everybody talking about what is. Break down everybody else's footage. Oh, man.

I was going to say, I can show you a travel. My 16-year-old son, we did the same moves, and I can show you what is not a travel. I'm calling travel every time you take a move You can't travel you can't travel you can't carry my son has my son has football dribble. Yeah, we do it I don't I don't I don't play that when they don't call it. I don't play the

Call it. I don't play the 50,000 take your money put you through a workout If you come to me and say I want to get better at this. I'm going to have all your tapes ready. I want to see what you do. Why are you traveling? Okay, you move too fast. You're too athletic. We need to slow you down.

So I need to emphasize, stop you in real time. Like, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm more detailed. Tell him. But if this legacy, if his legacy protects him from calling out his travel, right, his championships and how great of a legacy he was protects him from being a trainer, okay. Gilbert, why don't you just tell the world what you really want to tell them? Tell them.

No, no. Tell them that you're just a better trainer than he is. Oh, that's no cap. So just say that. So why didn't you just say that? Whoa, whoa, whoa. You don't have to trash him. You don't have to trash him.

Hold on. You don't have to trash him. Hold on. First of all, this is not even a competition about who's that. Just like when he says our careers are not the same. I can't argue with the goat with that. Did he say that? Top three?

No, I'm saying if he did, I can't argue with our resume. No, but this training shit, don't pretend. No, but but this training shit don't don't so don't No, no, no say that cuz he's not though. He don't need to challenge me. This is not even a conversation But he wasn't but don't you're telling him what I'm saying is don't try to make it sound like I'm saying something That's real like you can come over there work three days and think you might to get this whole package I'm about to get his knowledge I'm by the that's not how fucking greatness works in the fact that you are Diminimizing it to make it seem like it's that easy, but you keep doing it like that's why he went down there Gilbert

Stop doing that bro. So he was not going to work with a king. No This is how this is how he justifies that travel. Oh, he was just going down and hanging out. I was going to pay $50,000. I'll say this. If we could pull up footage from Giannis last year before he rocked with Hakeem, I bet you could pull up some travels. All I know is I can't wait to see them. I bet you can pull up some travels.

Them two big ass Econics stomping you out, girl. Hakeem. But you stomping me out because I'm right. I'm trying to figure out what the problem is. What's the problem? What's the real problem here? Am I right? Like, if we said Jordan is a horrible general manager,

would we be right or wrong? Right? Then I don't want to hear nothing about, oh, he won six championships. He did this. What does his legacy of playing got to do with this? What is his legacy of his got to do with his this? What is his legacy of his footwork on how he played

have to do with how he's teaching? It's a difference. All great players are not great teachers. All great teachers are not great players. Right? So stop trying to mix it up and say, oh, I'm attacking him. I never said he was soft. I'm not mixing nothing up, man. I'm giving you facts.

The facts is travel. Yes, that's the only fact. But if you're saying that you went and taught your son his moves and did it better than him, bro, that's you saying I'm a better trainer than him. I am. That's all I'm saying.

Just say that. But it wasn't a competition about... It has nothing to do with training. It has nothing to do with training. Like, if you're going to go teach and you're going to have dreams, workout stuff, take it serious. But there was no reason to back him. Like, if you're going to go teach and you're going to have dreams, workout stuff, take it serious.

But there was no reason to bash him. I didn't bash him. What would you call it? What would I call it? What would you call it? Saying, damn, if I pay $50,000 for the camera. Let me say it again. I'll be damned if I pay $50 million, $50,000 a week to go down there and travel. Is that bashing him or is that my opinion?

And then everyone gets mad, then I got to go pull up the footage to show y'all the travel. Y'all made it more longer than it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be quick, quick quick quick quick And then we move on but y'all trying to prove a point to me knowing that you're not gonna prove a point to me If I've already studied every damn play that he's done did I don't went through every video So you're not gonna beat me on it. I can show you more travels And more travel we traveled out we traveled out. We're not unloaded videos on top of videos on top of videos You can y'all gonna keep going. I got text message on top of videos on top of videos. Y'all can keep going.

I got text messages on top. Text messages on top of text messages. We don't want to see the text. How about this? Before we end. We don't want to see the text. Is he the only one that travels? Let's try this. Is he the only one that travels?

Let's try it like this. He's definitely not the only one that travels. Of course not. So why are we highlighting him? No. I made it a thing. I came out and said, whoa, 50,000 to go down there and travel.

Ooh, hell no. I did that. That was my response. And then my response triggered feelings. See, I think that's the problem. Everyone is, their feelings, like your feelings doesn't change this. It doesn't. this it doesn't

how you feel about his career oh he's tacking a legend I'm not tacking a legend I'm talking a trainer is he a legend in training is he a legacy trainer like if I ask these questions y'all gonna act like I'm an asshole

if we go every summer to the trainer that's asshole if we go every summer To the trainer that's getting us better Right every summer like we where we get your haircut from you go back because he's doing a good job right training every summer You go back to the trainer who's done a great job And if I say how many players that went to Hakeem went back for a second time and the answer zero? Am I wrong for saying it? Am I the hater? Like when is reality reality?

This has nothing to do with his legacy. It's it's I mean, it's 300 million. So if I mean 300, yeah, 300 million. If I'm worth 300 million and you're going to pay me 50,000 and sit there and say, yeah, do that, yeah, do that, I'm with it. We're going to take it. I would. Just don't try to make me feel like I'm saying some shit that I'm off my rocker. Because like I said, USA basketball was a D team, F team.

Everybody laugh. And then A is gold B is silver C is bronze and D is what? Nothing go home what'd they get? Go home y'all can just say y'all can just say I was right again

I don't know nothing about B and C definitely not D give me the gold shout out to MDW basketball for that travel breakdown and see. Definitely not D. Give me the gold. Shout out to MDW Basketball for that travel breakdown. There's a lot of great videos where he explains stuff that's not a travel.

He's trolling me now because I'm going to go follow this now. I got to go find out. I'm giving credit to the bear. He better be a hooper. He better be a hooper. He be doing some elaborate

shit sometimes. He be like... Footwork. Now, he's with footwork. And so he breaks down all footwork and what's travel, what's not travel.'s with footwork. And so he breaks down all footwork and what's travel, what's not travel. But the problem...

The problem is, like, traveling just never gets called. So was that a travel on Giannis? No. Because they did not call it. The more you know. Stole some skittles from the store and he'd get caught. But still a thief. I'm not a thief. He's still a thief. How? Who's going to prove it?

You. You. You know that. Yeah, but you know that. I don still a thief. I'm not a thief. You're still a thief. How? Who's going to prove it? Huh? You. You. You know that. You know that. I don't know anything. You know you're a thief. I know I wanted some skittles. You went in there to steal it. I wanted some skittles. You didn't get caught. You're still a thief. What considers you a thief? You stole it. It's when you get caught.

No. Yes. That's called a dummy. At that point. If I throw this if I throw something through that glass and break it and y'all don't see it I still know I broke it. Yeah you know nobody else know. It don't matter. You know you're a thief. Yeah I ain't thinking about that

no more. Give me some coffee I'm gonna go Be careful. Yes you will. Going to give me a coffee I'm going to go and nothing happens. You're gonna think about it. Sorry. So we got big glass windows right here that you walk into, but every once in a while somebody will bang their face on it. Just walk right into it.

No, who'd you say? You said some. He said someone. Some people have done it. Just you. I didn't want to. Just you. Other people have done it.

You did that? Other people have done it. This is your style. Long time ago. It was so perfectly clean. When it first got here. It was so clean. He said Other people did that. This is your style. Long time ago. It was so clean. When it first got here. It was so clean. He said some people did it. Some people did it.

He didn't say I've done it. He said some people. I'm not a snitch, Gil. I'm not a snitch. I can't do it to myself. Is that some people on the couch? Nah. He never done it.

I ain't never done it. I ain't never done it. Some people in the room. Y'all days are coming. And now we got more cameras in here. It was so pristinely clean, though. It was. I was just minding my business.

You walked right through it, huh? Wait, did anybody see? No, we didn't have to tell people here. Did you turn to see if anybody saw you? The crew is cool because they keep things to themselves. You know, you had a whole forehead. Nobody knew until just now. A whole forehead is this.

It was a little oil stain. As you guys know, I'm cocoa buttered out. Oh, my gosh. It was a little cocoa butter streak. I was walking through the airport yesterday. Nothing to fry. I just tripped. But I didn't fall.

But I turned and seen like you saw me. And the worst of it is always that one person. The lady walked by. She was like, it's okay. It's on Twitter somewhere. It's on Twitter somewhere. It's on Twitter somewhere. All right. Twitter somewhere. It's on Twitter somewhere. All right, let's get to

most of the fans our last segment of the day. Oh, my gosh. Cheryl Swoops, we appreciate you being here. That was funny. Legend. Coming from Houston.

If you see a came out there, see? Uh-huh. See? Yeah, we're going to do that. Yeah, we're doing that. Yes. Yes.

She don't want to be tied to this. Don't do that to me. She don't want to be tied to this. She's like, don't do that. I'm not. I never. She's like, I don't want to be Talked too much I need to see them show me that move Come on, Cheryl. Leave him alone. Just so you can be like, hey, trap. Pull the whistle out and hit him with it. I'm a fire king. That's a trap. That's a trap. You got to leave him alone.

It wasn't a trap 30 years ago when his feet was moving a little bit faster. I'm trying to protect this man's man. I'm trying to take the little bit of lead in the legacy he got left, man. But you know,

when you make it quick, it's even more of a trap. Back then, you're quick. Okay, here. This is the reason. I think this is what... This is the problem. Hakeem's secret to that move,

all his moves is he did the footwork before he already got the ball. So most of the time when the ball was in the air, he was already on the goal. So the one-two foot was already. So when he did the move, the feet were already planted. Now when you get the ball, you're trying to do the move, not realizing that first step was already done before he caught it. That makes sense.

And I think that's what. That's the part you can't teach. Teach. That's the part you can't teach. He can teach it, but he's 60 now. It's not like he's 20-something when he was doing it to really, like, all right, post me up. Now, you see, I'm moving already. One, two, go.

And so because you can't teach that now, that's what you get. But that's the point. You get to travel. You give them the elements and allow them to figure it out. Yeah, no doubt. When you practice it, you're like, I keep traveling and I know it. What am I doing wrong? You put the ball down first. Yeah, no doubt. You know what I'm saying? Like, when you practice it, you're like, I keep traveling and I know it. What am I doing wrong? You put the ball down first,

then make the move. So, first question comes from King Ladderose's underdog, Handel. What is the biggest what if in your basketball career?

You are esteemed guests, so we'll start with you. What is the biggest what if in your basketball career? What if? Yeah. Ooh. Ooh.

What if? Ooh. Ooh. What if... I had worked out with Akeem Olajuwon? No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. You already heard. You already heard.

I love her. You already heard. No, I'm kidding. Dream, I love you, Dream. I love you, Dream. Oh, no, no, no. Throw the views up. We're going to get the views up today. The views going up today, girl, I love you Dream. No, no, no. We're going to get the views up today. The views going up today.

I gotta think. What if? I don't know if anybody's asked me that. What if? Go around. Mine is, what if I never came back to the locker room the day I got injured? So what happened was we were on a back to the locker room the day I got injured. So what happened was we were on a back-to-back of Bobcats. So we were rolling when we had half a team. Everybody started getting healthy, so Coach started to put him in,

and he started messing with the lineups right before we were getting ready to play off. So we're playing Bobcats. We end up losing to them, so i'm kind of heated like why are we still messing with the lineups when we're trying to get ready for the playoffs right um so usually in a back-to-back i get to the gym at 5 30 on back-to-backs right um the regular days i get there at three o'clock so some told me get there early right so i actually got there early so I never I never did uh shoot around um or walk through on back-to-back games so Antonio Daniels so I'm sitting there got my clothes on Antonio Daniels do it and then we made him have our you know guard conversation so I'm there before go we do our hand and I go sit So we in the gym, getting ready for the game, right?

And then Deshaun Stevens says, hey, coach, are we going to do the lineup before Gil got here? I'm thinking, before Gil got here, I was here from the beginning. And he's, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Goes, erase my names off and put a whole nother lineup. I was like, oh, man, now, hell no. I'm not on this bullshit right now. All right, y'all. I'm out, right? So I. I Y'all I'm out right

I'm leaving like I'm leaving and Quran came in like come on man. Like it's about us. It's not about him You know, we got to get ready for the playoffs and why not? Why are we playing this dumb shit? Right like y'all had a conversation before I got here thinking I was gonna be late when I wasn't late like come on now We're not doing it, man. And then went out there, admitted into it, clip. And I got clipped and I got hurt. That wasn't safe.

Dang. That's crazy. What if I would've just stayed home? That's a good what if. I would've got suspended, you know, a couple games. That's cool.

I would've had the rest of my career, though. That's a good what if. Moral of the story, keep your ass at the house. Keep your ass at the house. Don't come early. That's a good what if.

Man. Oh, I know he got a lot of them so we gonna. Everybody ask me what if. I would say what if I would have stayed with Chloe. What? I think I would have. Them child support checks would have been good. What? What? Pick up from soccer practice. We're going to soccer practice today.

TMZ, make sure they're there. Kanye, where we going to lunch, bro? We're going to lunch. Where we going? It's me. It's me. We out here now. I want a feature on the album. What's up?

Yeah, babies and all kind of shit They highlighted your basketball career, but I think this is appropriate Let me give you context got them I'll get that shit cuz if I would have stayed with her Probably would have went to another team Got on the team made made the team, because I had my own show. Ratings are ratings. You know what I'm saying?

I might have still been around right now coaching somewhere. You know, could still be a different player, different person. That's real. I could have been fat, too. I don't even know. Let myself go. Fat with fat pockets. I get it.

Fat with fat pockets, man. You know what I'm saying? Now I'm cheap with my... That's me. We made our way around. That's a good what if. I would say what if... You had time, too.

You had time, too. Hmm? You've had time, too. I've had a few. But I would say what if, kind of on your path, Gil, what if I never would have had back surgery is probably my biggest what if. Because I think if I wouldn't have had it, I probably would have played longer and could have set some records

that people talk about today. But I had back surgery in 2010 and was never, 2008 actually, and was never able to come back and finish my career the way I wanted to. Damn. Do you wish the WNBA started earlier? I don't know.

Do you know what I mean? I don't know that because I think I wish maybe I could have played longer. The WNBA started, for me, it was like right on time. Because when I graduated from college, I went overseas for five months. And then the 95-96 Olympic team was put together. So we trained together for a year. Then the WNBA started. So the timing of that I thought was perfect.

That's a good one. No one's of that I thought was perfect. Yeah. That's a good one. No one's ever asked me what it is. Yeah. So last question comes from underdog username, Mash, oh my gosh. God, just read the names. That's what they pay me to do. I got to pick some better underdog usernames.

Mash, oh my gosh. The McCansby. So many. McCansby got me. It's like early AOR. You can take whatever you want. It's all the names there to be. College emails.

College emails. College Yahoo names. Oh my god. As an NBA fan from Indiana, I root for the Pacers. My question is, who's an underdog team that could possibly win a chip or make noise this season? Underdog team winning a chip? Whoop whoop. Whoop whoop. I guess the only underdog team to a chip. Whoop, whoop.

Whoop, whoop. I guess the only underdog team to, Boston maybe? Would the Lakers be considered underdogs? I'm not going to say the Lakers. I know. Are the Lakers considered underdogs? I mean, picked to be 7th seed

by the folks who make the odds. That's not even a playoff team. That's a playing team, Gil. That's underdog-ish. Whoop, whoop. Yeah. I would say Lakers if it was, because I can't consider Boston an underdog.

No. They dare. No. They dare every year. They're not an underdog. It's like Sacramento. Woof. The Clippers?

Clippers. They count? They're not an underdog. Clippers not? Phoenix definitely ain't an underdog. Not at all. Dallas? Golden State ain't.

Dallas ain't no underdog. Houston's an underdog. Chicago? Chicago? You're just naming teams that just Dallas ain't no underdog. Houston's an underdog. Chicago? Chicago? You just naming teams that just ain't got no chance. There ain't no chance there. Ain't no chance in hell. Under the damn house.

He was chilling on them. They ain't got no chance. I thought it was like underdogs to like, you know. Like Denver was like an underdog. Was he? Yeah, kind of. Nobody really put him in. Well, since he's from Indiana, what? Indiana? I don't know. Like you know like Denver was like an underdog Indiana what Indiana I don't know I mean, you know reasonable under But that's what's gonna start the season but nobody really played right right right they just under the radar what's gonna happen Lakers Bucks I've already said we was a fighting

That was the final Final we need that bag back y'all all said no no no no no no we just like we just like your fans So you know who you got? We're not who you got not as a delusion or as clipper for you guy. Who you rolling with? Golden State gonna go get it Golden State who I mean I'm not on the East He's hoping you say I'm not no she's not gonna say Miami Nuggets running it back. Miami Nuggets running it back. They're going to run it back. You know what? I like Denver, though. I do like Denver.

I don't know. I'm just saying Golden State. I don't know who they're going to play. Golden State, you just fucking don't play. Well, Cheryl, we appreciate you. They need a big, though. Sorry. Oh, no.

You're all good. They do. They do. They don't get it, though. Do they? They need a big L. They got Looney. No, no, no no looney is like

what's so funny is just like uh like coaching right there's no big that can play in that offense and be productive true because the offense is geared for you know guards absolutely and i think that's what happened to wise man just like that's just a bad situation for you because that's steve kerr's a guard and it going to revolve around what he's. Looney getting what, 10 and 12? Yeah. He's loving it. He ain't tripping.

We're going to ride that Looney train on the pick-ems this year. You already know. Oh, yeah. He always come through. You said like brewing with the twisties. All right, Laura, eight rebounds. Thank you to me. I'm about to tell you thank you so much for pulling up to the show.

Can I give you my bone? Oh, can you give us your puppy your puppy bone to pick? Well, the longer I sit here the bigger the bone gets What happened now? Cuz I'm just I'm just checking out the room the setup like it's so nice. Oh Yep Check him You guys not not even gonna lie Oh, she said, where my jersey at? Where my jersey at? You guys, I'm not even going to lie. Where my jersey? The jersey's...

It ain't got to be mine. No, no, no. It does have to be yours. Just so you know. Just so you know. Just so you know. Here we go. Huh?

Yeah. He's prepared for this. Watch him go upstairs and just not come back. He's prepared for this. Watch him go upstairs and just not come back Watch him go upstairs and not come back. Let me see. Let me see. He talking just so you know.

Let me see. I need, let me see. You can have us here waiting until tomorrow at 1130. He got an old ain't Steve first. Okay. Let me see. Who hollering at me? Okay.

Okay. Don't bring me no Lisa Leslie. No, no, what I'm saying. No, no, no. I'm saying. Don't bring me no Lisa Leslie, Jeremy. No,, no, what I'm saying. No, no, no, I'm saying. Don't bring me no Lisa Leslie jerseys. No, I'm saying I do have. I do have. You know what?

I love Lisa. You do have. It's just, it's small. But here's my question. Where was that jersey? It was in the... His VIP section. It was in the VIP section.

It's a VIP story. No, so you guys' jerseys are hard to find. But you know somebody. Like, I had had to trade I had to trade for it Would you give Lisa Leslie in exchange for the Jersey? He I can't help you with Lisa. Let's make it you got me with yours. I'm me But I don't want my jersey out there. No, no, no. You see how it's a little smaller?

You see how y'all jerseys are just a little smaller? I don't care who it is. There's a couple I can pick on this wall and say they shouldn't even be up there. Oh, no, no, that's facts. No, no, no. I'm not saying a name. Trust me, there's one.

I got one. There's one, two. I got three, four's one, two. I got three, four, five, six, there's about seven that should be right here. Yeah, trust me, I know. I mean, redecorate or something. No, I'm kidding. No, no, that was my idea. I wanted both.

I do like this. It's hard to track, it's hard to track. Any other bombs you had to pick? Nope, that was it. Okay. Like, I'll do something. I have my list. I gave him a list.

I have my list already. It's been three months. I'm just glad you pulled one out, though. Yeah. I walked in, I was like, oh, no. Mm-mm. This is an issue. Well, Cheryl, we appreciate you pulling up.

It's always great to have Ghost here on this couch. Thank you. You're three times MVP. I appreciate it. You already know. Say it louder. Three times MVP. How many championships? Like already know. Say it louder. Three-time MVP. How many championships?

Like three, right? Four. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. four. Let's go. I appreciate y'all. Thank you so much for pulling up. Awesome. Thank you. Another episode of Gil's Arena presented by Underdog Fantasy. Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!

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