Nightcap - Nightcap - Hour 1: Taylor Swift, Lillard returns to Portland, Kevin Durant vs. Larry Bird
Episode Date: February 1, 2024Shannon Sharpe and Gilbert Arenas react to Unc’s previous comments about Taylor Swift, Damian Lillard losing in his return to Portland, and debate who is a better all-time player: Larry Bird or Kevi...n Durant. #Club #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to another episode of Nightcap Basketball Style.
I'm your favorite thunk, Shannon Sharp. He's your favorite number zero, Wildcat legend.
Agent Zero, Hibachi.
Gilbert Arenas.
I'm good.
That's what we got.
I'm good.
Hey, Unk, before we get into it, Unk.
Yes.
I heard your Taylor Swift comments and Beyonce comments.
Yes, okay.
Hold up. Let me get through the reverse.
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Okay, Gil.
Ocho and I were discussing the needle,
talking about the NFL, Taylor Swift.
I think she's been about 12 of the Chiefs game.
They're nine and three.
And it seems a lot of the NFL fans
are getting upset when they pander her,
even though the longest time that the camera has been on her,
I think it's been about 24 seconds.
No, it's less than a minute altogether.
Maybe all the time that the camera has panned on her, Gil,
if you add the time up, I think it might be less than a minute.
So she's been to 12 games.
If you add all the time cumulative, it's been less than a minute.
But fans are upset, realizing that you only ask,
I think someone said there was a stat that they only show about 18 minutes
because they're paying on the coaches and they're paying on everything else
what's going on the sideline.
So I was explaining why they do that
for the NFL. It's about getting a
new revenue stream, a new
demographic. Young girls
that don't even like football, don't know
anything about football, but they know
Taylor Swift is at the game. And if she
likes football, I like football.
Like Michael Jordan, he wears
Hanes. Mom, get me some Hanes
drawers. He drinks Gatorade.
I won't drink Gatorade too.
Them shoes, they got him jumping out the gym.
Hey, I'm going to need those there, Jordan.
So I don't know what you need to do, Mom, but I need to get those.
And so that's what Ocho and I was trying to equate it to saying why they're doing it and moving of the needle.
And your response, you don't believe that Taylor Swift.
I don't know. Go go ahead what did you want oh nah i don't give i don't care about no trailer so i i don't watch pancakes move okay i don't watch pancakes move like most of us don't really know
any of her songs as i could name one but you're're right. She moves the needle.
One thing she don't do is she don't get male followers
to fall in love with her
from her performance.
See, I was in a Beyonce fan
and I'm watching her perform
and she got the Freak'Em dress.
Oh, she did the Freak'Em dress?
When she did the Freak' dress. She did the Freakum dress. When she did the Freakum dress right there in the moment,
I downloaded all her songs.
I was so excited when she was out there popping it cuz I know Taylor Swift
came pop because she wasn't born with the backside Beyonce got.
So when Beyonce was popping it up, no lie,
I had this made on the spot.
Listen, listen,
I had to get the autograph.
I'm Beehive, I'm straight male Beehive.
You team, so you'll be- Yeah, I'll be the male version of it. I don't know Beehive. Oh, you're a team. So you're Beehive.
Yeah, I'm the male version of it.
I don't know what that sounds like,
but that one, yeah.
Yeah, this is.
Look, I've never been to a Taylor Swift concert
and the likelihood of me going,
my kids are grown now.
My daughters are grown.
I know my son's not going to,
that's not something he would want to attend.
But I've been to a Beyonce concert. Not this one. My daughters are grown. I know my son's not going to. That's not something he would want to attend.
But I've been to a Beyonce concert.
Not this one. I think it was Lemonade or the Renaissance Tour or something like that.
The last one in 2016.
And I end up paying $12,000 for those tickets.
It was two tickets.
I paid $12,000 for it.
So back in 2016.
And she was amazing.
It was two hours of nonstop entertainment.
And I know she has an unbelievable voice because I've seen her in situations where she's not trying to entertain and she's just singing and she's letting you hear a vocal.
So can she sing? Absolutely. But she's a entertainer because she's moving and she's dancing and she's singing and everybody is into it.
And so I don't know how the people took it as I'm trying to disrespect her and I'm saying to say Taylor Swift is better than her.
That's not what I was trying to say. And if y'all took it as that index is saying that she's bringing eyeballs that we didn't previously have.
That's all I would say. And you say, well, if Beyonce was dating an NFL player, I have to use the variables that I have.
That's like saying, well, what if there was an earthquake in Georgia?
Well, Georgia don't really have earthquakes.
So what if there are hurricanes in California?
I've got to deal with the weather and the variables and the elements that I have.
So it was a great conversation.
I didn't know, but I guess I'm going to have to know, Nigel.
You're on the same thing.
Kind of like when we say things,
people are going to take it and it's going to go viral.
I didn't expect it to be on the
Shade Room and Worldstar and all these
other stars. I thought
I did a great job. But people say,
well, Shannon says that she's as big as Michael
Jackson. I said, no, I didn't. I said, I think
she's the closest thing to Mike
that we've seen.
As far as clicks, as far as albums, as far as buzz that she generates.
That's just me.
I could be wrong.
Now maybe bring me somebody, and obviously I'm not talking about the Beatles
because we know what the Beatles were,
but bring me somebody that you believe generates the buzz like Taylor.
Yes, in the football world, they got something that they wasn't expecting.
They didn't realize they were going to get these followers from...
No.
So the fact that she's there,
because what happened is,
it didn't happen with Ciara and Russell Wilson, right?
No.
Two different types of people in this world, right?
Correct.
You know what I mean?
So, you know, there's only a few...
They didn't get it with Kim Kardashian,
we'd show it up with Miles Austin or something
like that either. And we know Kim
Kardashian is a drug.
She's a brand.
There's only a few
women
that can do that in just this
sport. Like when we thought she
was dating Austin Reeves,
Lakers' memonium, right? She Austin Reeves, Lakers were ceremonium.
She's been to the Lakers game.
It's just different. It's an all-male sport, so to have
a woman of her caliber just
supporting it, obviously her fans
are going to support her. Her fans are going to be automatic
Chiefs fans, even though they don't know
nobody.
To them, she plays.
She's going to the game tonight
and that's like an
open concert for her. I understood
what you were saying.
I get it.
Gil, I'm
not so sure Taylor Swift
knows the difference between a screenplay and a screen
porch. She knows
that the man that she loves or
she's dating plays football.
Probably didn't know
what position he played before she met
him. No, facts. I'm not so
sure she had ever been to a football game. I don't know.
Has she ever been to a football game? Ash, you know, that's Ash.
That's Ash of the Taylor Swift.
Has she ever been to a football game?
She was an Eagles fan?
Ash says she's an Eagles fan.
I'm not so sure if she's been to a game
how many games she's been to
but
after doing something
you get the hang of it
you get when to cheer
when not to cheer
you might not know what's going on
but hey, everybody else cheered
and they got the same gear on that I got on
so something good must have happened.
She's about to win her first Super Bowl.
Here we go.
She's going to be down there like she's Patrick Mahomes.
So if I say Patrick Mahomes is the closest thing to Tom Brady,
she ought to say Patrick Mahomes better than Tom Brady.
Yeah, they always do that better.
I just said he's the closest thing to him.
I mean, if we say a football player, you know, well, this player, well,
Aaron Donald is the closest thing to LT.
Shannon said Aaron Donald better than LT.
Damn.
I could have swore I said Aaron Donald is the closest thing that I've seen to LT.
I didn't say he was LT or better than LT.
I say the closest thing to.
They need to click.
So they got to change the title to fit them.
So they can use.
You know how it works.
The game is a game.
Yeah.
Okay, let's get to this basketball game.
Dame Lillard in his return.
He goes back with the Bucs to where he spent the previous decade plus to Portland.
Portland wins the game, spoils his return.
119 to 116.
Dame had 25 points.
He was 9 of 23.
3 of 13 from the three-point line.
And they lose uh Anthony Simons uh hit a jumper and ends up winning the game by
three they file they miss the three-point Brooke Lopez missed the three-point shot uh they make
both free throws they're down by three they file Giannis he missed the first one so now he has to
miss the second one and they end up losing the game uh what What do you make of Dave's return?
Just as a player, right?
You're going back to where you started your career, where all your all-stars, where your all-NBAs, where your family is, where you really had your ties.
The game for Dame was won when he landed and he got to pick his kids up.
It was his kids' birthdays.
He got to be with them for their birthday.
He got to see all his family he left behind.
So just for him personally, that was a big thing.
For the Bucs as a team, right? Right? Like you're in, like, you, you, you,
like what do you do, like this is my thing with this team.
Forget that you lost the game, you lost the game to a team that got 15 wins.
No superstar on the team, no game changer on the team.
And the funny part about this, the last 20 minutes of the game,
starting in the third quarter, the only free throws Portland shot
was the last four seconds.
So that means that they didn't shoot a free throw throughout the nine-minute mark
all the way to basically the four-second mark.
So that means they was getting
nothing but buckets on your ass.
Yeah.
Because I saw what you call him.
What's his name?
Hold on.
Let me see.
Jeremy Grant.
Jeremy Grant,
he got going in the fourth
and seemed like everything
that he put up,
he was getting to his five,
elevating, boom,
knocking it down.
Simons did the Euro
step over
Beasley.
Got it. But I thought
what you call him played well. DeAndre
Aydin played well tonight. He got big buckets when he
absolutely had to have them.
Yeah, but I was surprised. I was expecting
Milwaukee to win this game,
considering everybody was a go tonight.
Giannis was a go. Obviously, Dane was
going to play because he's going in his return.
Obviously,
it's emotional going back. Like you said,
you spent the lion's share of your career there.
You're probably going to
be known for being in
Portland. Some of your best years,
now unless you win a championship, your best
years are going to come in Portland.
It's hard to see me. I don't think he's going to match the best years are going to come in Portland. It's hard to see me.
I don't think he's going to play, match the number of years that he played in Portland
and match that playing in Milwaukee.
Now, the only thing that you can do, because he's been all NBA, he's been an all-star,
all that other stuff.
Now, the only thing that he can do in Milwaukee is win a title.
And that's why he got out of Portland, was to give himself an opportunity to win a title.
But I thought the crowd was great towards him because he's been great as a player.
He's been great in the community.
He's been nothing but a model citizen.
But the Blazers played really well tonight.
And I think they wanted to because they had what?
DeAndre Ayton was 10 of 17.
Anthony Simon was 10 of 19.
They got Scoot Henderson was 6 of 11, got 15 off the bench.
They got another guy got 10 off the bench.
They played well.
Milwaukee really didn't get a whole lot off their bench.
Crowder gave them six.
Bobby Portis, who's their main scoring option off the bench,
he normally gives them somewhere around 12 and 8, 12 to 10,
but he's been known to give them 20 plus.
They got 17 points off the bench.
And Portland got 14, 20, got 35 off the bench.
So you're plus 18 off the bench.
Nine to nine, I mean, the free throws, Portland only shot nine free throws,
but they were 100%.
Milwaukee shot 18, they're 13 of 15, 13 of 18, 72%.
Milwaukee was terrible from the three-point line.
They got up 45, only made 13.
And Portland was 12 of 28.
They were 42%.
But Portland shot 53% from the floor.
So that tells me, as you said, okay, they only shot nine free throws.
They're a jump shooting team.
And you let them shoot 53%?
Damn! That's what I'm saying.
It's like, your problem with Doc,
I mean, your problem with
Adrian Griffin was no defense.
But Doc's
history is he doesn't have defense.
He don't have defensive schemes.
Every team he went to had a great
defensive team, and then over
the years, they slipped under Doc.
That is his history, right?
Yeah, he had Boston for that great year where they came in and Kevin Gardner, the defensive player,
came in. You got Ray Allen. They had a great group of defensive players. And then from there,
you slid defensively. Who you were in Orlando, Horobu defensively. When you finished with the
Clippers, when Clippers got great at defense, who did they bring in?
Paul George, defensive players, Kawhi, a defensive player.
So those two players automatically made the team a better defensive team.
You, as a coach, don't have defensive schemes.
You're not a defensive coach.
Right?
When you went to um philly philly i'm sorry but your point guard that was 611
was all first team defense right right and beat was a defensive player so you didn't
you inherited defense right so you going there with this defense, there's nothing in your history that says you're very great at defense.
I'm sorry to point it out.
There's nothing in your history that says that.
Yeah.
This doesn't look well because I think there were what,
30 and 13,
30 and 12,
30 and 13.
And you fire Adrian Griffin.
And this is what I know.
And I could be totally off base.
You tell me what you want.
Jason Kidd was the coach.
He's gone.
Boone Hoser was there for five, six years, won a title.
He's gone.
Adrian Griffin lasted 43 games.
He's gone.
Now Doc's in.
That's four coaches in about, what, six years?
Yep.
So we're not
going to say anything about y'all. I mean, y'all
is above reproach.
No, no, no. We're going to say exactly what
most stars do.
When they feel they are
bigger than the coach, and them
and the coach is bumping about something,
they use their power to get
rid of the coach.
And that is the instance in this,
right, and they don't realize that
they're going to have to adjust.
Like Dame, what he has to adjust to
is this, he was used to playing
under Adrian Griffin the whole 12
minutes, right?
He's used to playing the whole 12 minutes, right? He's just playing the whole 12 minutes, right?
And then he comes out at the top of the second, right?
That's right.
Well, Doc ain't like that, right?
Doc gonna sub you out at the three-minute mark,
and then he's gonna hold you all the way to the nine-minute mark,
which for a scorer, it's the dumbest thing in the world.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's getting to get a rhythm, it's the dumbest thing in the world.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He didn't get a rhythm.
He got to play.
No, no.
Here's why.
The last three minutes, most of the time,
you're in a penalty, right?
This is like being in a red zone.
You're in a penalty.
And then imagine taking out your best running back and your best wide receiver while you're in the red zone.
Right?
That's what this
is when coaches take their best player out in those three minutes right that is the most important
time in the game because one you're in a penalty most of the time other teams are subbing in right
which those players is cold so you can really push the tempo to try to get to the free throw line.
So this is a chance where your best player can take free throws because they don't file anymore.
But when you take your best player out, put some cold players in, they use that three minutes to get warm.
So they don't take advantage of the three minutes anyway.
Right?
So what's the best case scenario for the Bucs?
I mean, anything less than a championship
is this season a disappointment?
Yeah, no, the best thing
for the Bucs right now is
to go into the locker room
and say, hey, Doc, listen,
we changed our mind, right?
We're going to go with that
guy that gave us the win.
When you wasn't here, we fired the other dude.
The dude that hadn't, he wasn't really a coach, but we got a win, right?
Remember, one of the wins is when they didn't have a coach.
Wow.
Yeah, so Doc, pack your shit, and then we're going to go ahead and finish the season without you.
Because at the end of the day, we were good before you got here.
So they're 0-2 now with Doc, right?
Yeah.
And they 2-0 without a coach.
So how surprised are you
that a team makes a move
43 games into the season
and it's not somebody
that's on the staff that takes over.
They go completely outside.
Yeah, this is crazy.
This is called
connections.
Can't even be mad at Doc
for this. This is called connection. You really
have some pull because it doesn't
happen like this, right? As a
coach, you don't
want to be a coach that come in on
some, this is too much, this is too much
pressure for Doc.
He can't even handle the pressure when he got the team for the whole year.
Now you got to try to put in plays and learn they plays right here in real time.
You go down 0-3, you best believe you're getting killed in the media.
That's why I said this wasn't a win-win for Doc.
Because if you win the championship, it was like, well, they were 30-13 before they
got to you, dude. If you lose, it's
your fault because it was 30-13 before
you got there.
Help me understand this, Gil. I'm
watching the game. Why the hell y'all
just run and get the ball? You know damn well
you can't shoot no free throws. You're the
last person that should get the ball.
Everybody should go to the end
and Dame, gotta get that basketball. Dame and Lillard, gotta get the ball. Everybody should go to the end and Dame, gotta get
that basketball. Dame and Lillard, gotta
get that basketball.
You down a bucket.
No, you down three at this point
because they had just gone to the
free throw line and made two shots. So you're
down 116, 119.
Why the hell you throw the ball to Giannis?
Because sometimes
players can't get it out of their own way, right?
Right, and I said it.
I was crucial on Giannis and say, right,
you need to learn how to really play the game,
get into the post, dominate from short distance, right?
You dribble the ball up court trying to do the same right to left year roll, right?
We can see it coming from a mile away.
Like most of your buckets are you're trying to come downhill, right?
When you are slowing up, when your game slows up, what do you have?
You haven't learned how to play back to the basket to really be dominant.
So like MJ, MJ learned back to the basket
when he's still at all his athleticism.
He's understood evolution.
He understood that I must slow up at some point in time.
When I do, I won't be affected by it.
So he's so used to grabbing a ball, going full court,
doesn't realize, sir, this is not your time of the game now.
That's what they do. People who make free throws who can get it done, right? going full court doesn't realize, sir, this is not your time of the game now.
People have to make free throws who can get it done, right?
This is like Shaq getting the ball and
saying, hey, I'm going to try to do it myself.
And we're going to foul, and you go to the free throw.
You have to understand this game,
right? You have to understand who's on
your team. You've got to understand the
sacrifice.
Yeah, it was tough to watch
because I'm looking at him like, well, why did he
and first of all,
why are you passing it to him?
I'm not finna pay. I'm not finna
give you the ball because
I mean, of all the players that were on the
court, Giannis would be the last guy
for the Bucs that I would actually think
would make both of those free throws. Now
they foul and make them go down
to make two more, and then we got to throw the
ball to Lynn for the court and try to get it in.
But I'm not throwing. Giannis is the last guy
that's out there that I actually think
is going to make both of these free throws.
I mean, to be honest, he is the last
guy, right? That's not your
first option. Your first option is a guy who
shoots, what, 92% from the free throw line.
It's the guy that you want to the ball. But the problem with the Bucs is really there's
nobody else you can throw the ball to because they don't shoot free throws. So most of the
team, right, didn't shoot free throws this game. And they don't want those two to be
the most exciting. Well, like Middleton can't get his ass to the free throw line no more,
right? Easily just shoot jump shots all day. So for the most part, only
Dane... They only had four guys
shoot free throws the other night. Jay Crowder
was one for two.
Jay Crowder was one for two. Dane was
four for four. Brooke Lopez
was one for one. And Giannis was
seven for 11. Yeah, they're
a jump shooting team. They don't have nobody
to get to the basket
when they need free throws.
So they don't understand.
Hey, listen, if Giannis want to drive and get us in a penalty,
once he gets into the penalty, that's when you become shade.
Ah, ah, get you and steal you some free throws.
Yeah, they don't really have anybody that, I mean,
Brooke Lopez said one, but he doesn't play with his back to the basket.
He's hovering around the three-point line.
Dame, obviously, Dame is a guard. He's not playing with his back to the basket. He's hovering around the three point line. Dame, obviously, Dame is a
guard. He's not playing with his back to the basket.
That's not Beasley's game.
Giannis, that's not his game.
As you said, he's looking to get ahead of
steam and come downhill. I'm a Euro
step you. I'm a side step you. I'm a lay it up.
I'm a dunk on you. That's what I'm going to do.
But as far as getting the block, ball on the block
and turning around over his shoulder,
that's not what he does.
And he hasn't developed that aspect of his game.
And I'm thinking that's why he went down to Houston
to try to work with Olajuwon
to get his footwork right
because Olajuwon has worked with some of the greats
as far as footwork.
And I don't know how much of it connected with Giannis,
but it doesn't seem like he's comfortable with it
because he's still doing.
I don't see anything that with some of the cut-ups that I saw
that Elijah Juan was showing him.
I mean, you see Kobe.
You see it in Kobe's game.
You see LeBron shooting that fall away.
But, I mean, Giannis, I mean, I don't know if he paid him.
Maybe it was like, okay.
But at the end of the day,
you're going to have to trust
that what you learn,
you're going to have to put it into effect.
If you don't use it,
what good did you learn to trade
if you don't use it?
See, I called that out early.
$50,000, I said $50,000,
that's a ripoff, right?
It's a ripoff.
You're paying that much for a weekend.
You're not going to learn anything on a weekend.
Like, it takes you months to learn a skill for it to be natural for you.
I said, listen, Hakeem is great at footwork.
The problem with Hakeem's footwork is he learned it playing soccer at 10 years old.
So that means he wasn't a basketball player.
He just used what he had in his brain and he already knew basketball.
So when he does the move, it's instinct to him.
He don't know how to give it to them.
So I said, first, before you go to Hakeem, you need footwork.
He can give you the move to match your footwork.
And I said, with Ocho Cinco's footwork, I'd rather you pay $50,000 to go learn the ladder drill and the footwork drill from football players or soccer players.
Then once you have independent foot and you know how it works, then take your happy ass down to Hakeem and learn the moves that go with this footwork.
But he's giving you a move with your footwork
and it doesn't work.
So what ends up happening is you tried this shit
the first of the game, you traveled,
I called it out on you,
and then the rest of the season,
you went right back to what you know.
Because that is not part of your game.
You want to learn footwork.
Soon as the season is ending, you go learn.
You start working on that today.
That's before you get to the basketball court.
Or if you go down to Elijah Juan to work on footwork, okay, let's just say you're going
for the weekend.
Now you have to implement that, Gil.
So the whole summer, while you're doing
it, I'm doing this. I'm working on
it. It's a situation
where sometimes, you know, we learn
something and then we think, well,
okay, that's what I learned. I'm going to the
game. No, you got to practice it before you get to
the game. Because if you don't, it's kind
of like the thing with Tebow. If you
look at Tebow when he was going to Tom
House and he's throwing gurus, he
was fine until he got in a stressful
situation. Because the muscle,
the memory will revert back to what I
feel most comfortable doing.
And so he felt as long
as he was not under stress, he had a
nice, compact throwing motion.
But the moment he got stressed,
he had that elongated throwing motion.
So Giannis, as long as he's comfortable, okay, he might try to footwork.
But if he get in a stressful situation, he's going to go back to,
I got to get down here.
Damn my feet.
Let me Euro step.
And a lot of times he charged because he got a charging foul late in the ball game.
But you have to,
whatever you learn, you have to
implement it away from the situation in which
you learned it. That's the only way
it's going to stick, Gil.
And I don't know if people
understand that.
The Celtics now lead the East
by five games. This is their largest
conference lead since 2008.
The Bucs are five
games back. The Knicks are six games
back. The Cavs got a monster night
from Donovan Mitchell, or six and a half.
And Philly is
fading slowly, but surely
with seven
games back. And with Joel Embiid
being out, we're going to get to him a little later,
they're going to probably be, whoo, might be
later than that. The Suns, there was another
return.
Kevin Durant and the Suns
travel back to Brooklyn and beat
them 136 to 120.
KD's return
to Brooklyn was his first since the
trade. Hold on, let me find this
game right up. Where's
this game at?
Let me get the full scoreboard. You know, I got me a little new toy up here, Gil. It's game right up. Where is this game at?
Let me get the full scoreboard.
You know, I got me a new toy up here, Gil.
No, I won't.
Where is this game at, Ash?
What?
I don't see it.
Oh, here it is.
Okay.
Yeah, but yeah, you know, it's real fancy, Gil.
It's real fancy.
You know, I'm up here hitting stuff.
Man, come on.
I don't need that.
Hold on.
You're showing your age, y'all.
Yeah, man.
And my eyesight.
You can't do that online, huh?
Hey, you see, I'm up here squinting.
Okay, I got it.
Brooklyn, Brooklyn.
There it is.
There it is.
There it is, Gil.
There it is.
Box score right there.
Kevin Durant scores 33 in his return.
He was 10 of 16, 11 of 12 from the free throw line.
He was 10 of 16 in 38 minutes.
Nurkic had an outstanding game. He was 11 of 15, 69 from the free throw line. He was 10 of 16 in 38 minutes. Nurkic had an outstanding game. He was 11 of 15,
6 of 9 from the free throw line.
Bradley Beal was 3 of 8,
5 of 6 from the free throw line. He had 12,
Devin Booker 9 of 17, 4 of 6
from 3, and did the
Mikael Bridges.
If you're crazy, buddy,
has 22 points. I'm not surprised
that they got Kevin Durant,
and Kevin Durant played extremely well in his return.
That's normally what happens when guys go back.
And I meant to ask you, and we'll get it in this segment,
about going back to your former team.
You know, you get traded, or you leave via free agency,
and you go back to the team where you started your career,
or you spent some time.
But what did you like about what you saw from the Suns,
and what you saw from KD?
I mean, the Suns is clicking, right?
You know, they're clicking.
They're finding their way.
Every other night, every night, someone new is performing.
You know, they do have a big three,
and it seems like Bradley Beal is really, like,
sacrificing his scoring for the betterment of the team.
He realizes they don't really need him to try to be dominant right now.
So he can just get a feel for this game, make sure his body's working.
So the fact that Bradley Bill hasn't went there trying to be dominant,
just getting a feel for the game, get everybody involved,
and let the two guys who's been holding it down do their thing.
They've been clicking very
well. I mean, 136 points,
right? You play Brooklyn, obviously. No one
thought you was going to lose to them.
You know, you go back to
Brooklyn and you do your thing. I mean, you know,
no one thought Kevin Durant was going to go
there and not play well. Yeah.
They got at least 30 points every single quarter.
First quarter, they got 30. Second points in every single quarter. First quarter, they got 30.
Second quarter, they got 34. Third quarter,
they got 42. Fourth quarter, they got
30. And
I don't know who Brooklyn thought they was going to
beat, letting the team shoot 62% from
the floor, 50% from the three-point line.
I'm just surprised how poorly
they shot from the free-throw line.
The Suns, they were
24-32 from the free throw line.
They shot 75% from the free throw line
and shot 62% from the field.
Well, I mean, that's the big man.
You know what I mean?
That ain't really the...
That's a...
Nerkich.
Yeah, you know, Nerkich is going to bring that down.
Other than that, you know,
the best players, what they do at 16 for 8.
Well, Eubanks was 0 for 2.
Okoge was 2 for 3.
We don't count them.
Nurkic, Bradley Beal was 5 of 6.
KD was 11 of 12.
And Nurkic was 6 of 9.
But they all go plus 20, plus 16, plus 17.
Bradley Beal was plus 1.
Devin Booker was plus 19.
They've already played more games together.
The big three, Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant, and Devin Booker
have played more games together than KD, James Harden, and Kyrie played.
Wow, that's crazy because for the most part, Beal just came back.
Right.
But, you know, and that's really the downfall of the Brooklyn experiment, right?
Yes.
It wasn't that they failed, right?
We never actually got to see how powerful they are.
When we did get a glimpse of them, they were unstoppable.
What they did- Yeah, James Harden
having a triple-double.
Yeah, that championship
Bucs team, what they did to them
game one, they made Bucs look like
baby basketball.
They didn't even belong in
the playoffs, but
obviously they got hurt.
So we can talk about how it was
a big failure.
It wasn't a big failure because
they didn't play well together they just didn't play that was it and they didn't have the patience
and we hear i remember when yannis lost his first game with doc rivers said we got to have patient
it's going to take time i say it's funny that you say that something that you was unwilling to give
adrian griffin was time and say now all of a sudden it's going to take time
now that you have Doc and you said but it
seems like well it seems like
James Harden was unwilling
to wait or give or take
time because seemingly he wanted
out it's funny how
they brought all this
thing together and none of those guys
are there now James got
out first and then Kyrie and not Kevin Durant and what could have been
or what we thought was going to be really never came to fruition.
Yeah, sometimes visions, your visions that you have sounds good.
I mean, the plan is here.
You just didn't execute and executing the main goal, being healthy.
Them playing and getting
out there, learning each other, that was
going to happen because for the most part, they
practiced together in the summer. They played together
in the summer. I watched
Kevin Durant the first year they got together.
Kevin Durant
brought the whole
Brooklyn team here in Los Angeles.
They was working out with Mamba.
So Kevin Durant and the Nets, DeAndre Jordan and them, they were here playing against John Wall and the Wizard team.
So the Wizards and Brooklyn Nets was practicing against each other, going up and down seven, eight games.
And them two, Kyrie and Kevin, when I say they were unstoppable, they're going to 11,
KD got eight, one game, Kyrie got eight the next game. They were really just torturing.
And I was like, yo, these two dudes is just unstoppable, they're unreal, right? So it's
not like they didn't put the work in together. Just when it was time to really perform in that game, they just wasn't healthy.
It just happens. next. In this episode, I'm joined by Anjali Sood, CEO of Tubi, for a conversation that's
anything but ordinary. We dive into the competitive world of streaming, how she's turning so-called
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What others dismiss as niche, we embrace as core. It's this idea that there are so many stories out there.
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Get a front row seat to where media, marketing, technology, entertainment, and sports collide.
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Listen to Good Company on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
In the fall of 1986, Ronald Reagan found himself at the center of a massive scandal
that looked like it might bring down his presidency.
Did you make a mistake in sending arms to Tehran, sir?
No.
It became known as the Iran-Contra affair.
And I'm not taking any more questions in just a second.
I'm going to ask...
I'm Leon Nafok, co-creator of Slow Burn.
In my podcast, Fiasco, Iran Contra,
you'll hear all the unbelievable details of a scandal
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The things that happened were so bizarre and insane, I can't begin to tell you.
Please do.
To hear the whole story, listen to Fiasco, Iran Contra on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
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What's it like here?
You like,
I wanted to ask you this in the first segment,
obviously Dane went back.
We had two guys going back into return to big guns.
Dane went back to Portland.
Katie went back to Brooklyn.
What was it like for you?
What were your emotions like?
What were you expecting the crowd to be like?
Did you get a video tribute?
I think I read something where Kevin Durant says he didn't
want it, didn't think he deserved it.
But what was your return like when you went
back to teams that you formerly played for?
Okay, so when I went
back to...
I played two years with Golden State, so
that was short stint, right?
When I went back, it was...
I just bust their ass. Game winners.
I own that, it was, I just bust their ass, that game winners.
I own that city, right?
Now, Washington, right?
How I left, right?
The gun thing got treated, didn't say bye to nobody.
When we came back to Orlando, I'm not even gonna lie to you.
I was trying to get a DNP that
whole time.
What?
Because I didn't leave.
I was a hero.
I was a hero, right?
So I felt embarrassed.
I felt like I shamed everything
I stood for.
If I went back, It was more of that.
I'm the Scarlet motherfucking letter out there.
Right, right.
Hey, I got adultery on here.
Yeah.
Stupid.
Yeah.
You got that G.
You got that G.
Yeah.
You know, like.
So I was, I was scared.
I'm not even gonna lie.
I was scared.
Like, oh shit, I'm gonna get booed.
Like, oh man, I don't want to play. It was one of those times where I was scared. I'm not even going to lie. I was scared like, oh shit, I'm going to get booed. Like, oh man, I don't want to play.
It was one of those times where I was on.
I just went back last summer for Legends Night.
You know how many times they had to call me for me to okay?
Because I'm like, I don't want to go there and get booed.
Right. You know what i mean like getting booed for being a he me coming in your city
you booing me because i'm busting your ass understandable you booing me for the home
i built and stuff that means i really disappointed you right because you really
were disappointed in my behavior
and I was like yeah I'm good
so when I got there and they gave
me a cheer not even gonna lie man
that was like the best feelings like I hit game
winners all over again
you know mine
was different because I didn't want to go
I didn't want to go back I was scared
I think that for
me
Gil I I was scared. I think that for me, Gil, I played for my teammates' respect,
my coaches' trust, and the fans' appreciation.
And I played for them in that order.
And I think the thing is that I played 14 years.
I played 12 in Denver.
I played two in Baltimore.
I don't think any of the fans think I shortchanged them.
I don't think a lot of the fans know exactly what I did
in order to make sure I played from, you know,
taking the injections and having the fluid drawn,
40 cc, 60 ccc of fluid drone up my knee
just to get out there and play.
Not being able to play practice the whole week
and taking those shots in my butt and in ankles
in order to get out there to play.
But that was my choice because I understood that I wasn't going to,
this is not a 20-year career for me.
This is not a 30-year career for me.
And when I'm done with it, I didn't want to have any regrets.
I'll take the double-repaired hips.
I would take the broken collarbone.
I would take the weakened immune system because of some of the things that I did.
But at the end of the day, I never wanted to look back and have any regrets.
That's why I ate the way I ate.
That's the way I trained the way I trained. That's the way I trained the way I trained.
That's the way I lived the way I lived.
So football doesn't owe Shannon
Sharp anything. Shannon Sharp
doesn't know the game of football anything.
And so I think for me,
now, the Ravens fans
might not feel the same way about me now,
but the Broncos,
but I tell you what,
that organization and the way I prepared
and what I did while I was there,
they hold me in the utmost
regard. The Broncos
and the fans and the
coaches, none of the coaches are still there
but a lot of people are in that building.
They don't have something, you know, like the
training staff is probably
turned over. Equipment staff
is still pretty much still there.
It's new ownership.
So I'm not so sure that I know any other.
I've met the new owners.
I've met the Walton Penner group that owns the Broncos now.
But that's what I did.
I wanted my teammates respect.
I wanted my coaches trust.
And I wanted the fans to appreciate what I did every Sunday.
And so I think I got that.
People who, when he said
60 cc's, right?
Just so you can understand what that looked like.
This is about 40
to 60 cc's of fluid
in the knee. Which means if this is in
your knee, right?
You can't bend it.
Because it's swelling, it's taking
away the muscle in your thigh. Right? Yeah. You got to bend it. You know, because it's swelling, it's taking away the muscle in your thigh,
right? Yeah.
You got to get it injected
out. And I'm getting
sometimes I'm getting drawn off both knees.
So I might have 80
cc's total. Gil, I remember
I told him
I was telling Ocho this other night,
a guy clipped me in a
game in high school.
I got 225 cc's drawn off my knee.
What?
That was a balloon.
Man, that thing hurt so bad.
But you're right, Gil.
And basically, when you have fluid on your knee,
your body is trying to tell you something.
Hey, bro, you're not right now.
Now, I'm trying to give you a warning.
You need to have, hey,
it's to check in your life zone,
but I'm not heeding that warning.
Someone asked me, and I was like, yeah,
you know, you have a limp, you're walking
with a limp, you know, you can't bend your knee,
you can't flex your knee.
Would you do it all over again? I said,
hell yeah.
I mean, there's not a
lot of athletes that wouldn't do it again.
Right.
Like when Kevin Durant tore his Achilles, and I said, do not blame the coaching staff.
Do not blame anybody for the Achilles.
There was no medical staff in the world that was going to convince you not to play in the
biggest stage of your life, in the championship.
You know what I mean?
And I said, if we erase your mind 100 times, you will go out there 100 times.
And he said, you damn right.
Right?
Oh, for sure.
You know what I mean?
Like it's, you know, we, we put ourselves through the body.
We put ourselves through these situations because that's what makes you great.
Yeah.
We know.
Um, let me ask you this.
Does Katie need to win?
Does Katie need to win a title
outside of Golden State
to crack the top 10?
You got him in the top 10 now?
I mean, by the time he's done,
I mean, is Larry Bird in the top 10?
Hell yeah.
Then he better than Larry Bird.
I mean, all I know is Larry Bird
got three consecutive MVPs with three titles and two finals MVPs. I mean, I know is Larry Bird got three consecutive MVPs
with three titles and two finals MVPs
I mean you know in the year where your team
is dominant and hold on
he got him in the era where Magic Kareem
and Jordan now you told me Jordan
ran the 80s but I know a white
guy that could not run a snail
and could not
jump Ash
and Ash got four left feet
but it's the team the team was dominant right you remember he has And could not jump Ash. Yeah. And Ash got four left feet.
But it's the team.
The team was dominant, right?
You remember he has three. He was dominant.
He had three championships, two finals MVPs because someone got another MVP because he choked in that final.
But they won.
Yes.
Yes, he scored eight points.
But people forget that.
But see, they're too young to remember that he scored eight points twice.
Cornbread Maxwell in 81 won the finals MVP. I'm old enough
to remember because Larry Bird was my favorite player.
So when I talk, listen to
me now. Go ahead. You know, so Larry Bird
dominated in his right, but
you got to remember, let's not
forget that the 80s wasn't
the 80s was drugged up, right?
Them players, you see, I can burn past
a crackhead, right? And a crackhead
was not hard to get by.
Half those dudes were trying to hurry up and get to the next fix.
So he out there having a good old time with them boys out there.
So I do value his greatness.
Trust me, just being a white boy, it reminds me of Luca.
You out here doing work.
You out here letting black history money know, hey, hey, hey.
I got some for y'all asses too,
but KD is a whole nother beast.
Right?
You got him in the top ten right now.
I got him as the second best small forward ever.
I got one.
I'm going to put you to the test.
How many people you think got him ranked ahead
of Steph Curry at this moment?
As you and I sit in and have this conversation.
It depends.
Are we talking fans?
I don't know what the pins are.
The pins are an adult garment.
That's what the pins are.
So I need you to give me something more than the pins. I think
the NBA players and
ex-NBA players will have Kevin
Durant in front of
Curry.
Because you got to call him Curry.
I don't think he is.
You remember Curry's first
four or five years, right?
His accolades ain't there. Like, people
don't realize that
three-point record
he has,
Trey Young is blowing that out at the same time.
Right now, at the same
time frame that they're playing out, Trey Young
is surpassed because he had the ankle injury.
So he don't have the stats that
Kevin Durant had at that same age.
So accolades,
if you're going to acculate it or point it, whatever,
Kevin Durant is still going to be in front.
We're looking at Kevin Durant like you joined him to win.
But you have to do this too.
Two of Steph Curry's championship came because of Kevin Durant too.
And two of them came without him.
Yeah.
KD don't got any without him.
He got two without KD. And he has two final, and he has two MVPs. One of them came without him. Yeah. So KD don't got any without him. He got two without KD.
And he has two final.
And he has two MVPs.
One of them are unanimous.
I don't know how.
I don't know how.
I don't know how you put KD in front of him at this present time.
Because of the totality of it.
Right.
I mean, that's what I'm saying.
Depending on who you asking.
Right.
You know, we're going to.
When we talk about Kevin Durant, we're talking with like a, like
Put the poll up. Who we got?
Oh, you got KD?
I thought you were gonna put KD in still.
Right, you look at, you look at
We gonna let the chat decide.
Okay. You look, you look
at, you look, when you think, when you say
Kevin Durant, you already
snow at it. The idea
because of because he left
OKC.
I ain't got no problem with leaving OKC.
But that's why
the most part, he was down 3-1,
you went to the team, and we kind of
frowned upon when you say his
name, so he won't get the
best review, period.
That's why I said, if you ask Hoopers and say,
who would you take?
This is a true story. Through the grapevine, when. That's why I said, if you ask Hoopers and say, who would you take? This is a true story.
Through the grapevine.
When him and Kevin Durant,
when Curry and Kevin Durant
was up at the same time,
they only had one max to give out.
They offered it to Kevin Durant,
not Curry.
They offered it to Kevin Durant.
We're maxing you.
And he said, no, this is not my team.
You give it to Curry, I'll take whatever's left over.
Most likely that let them know that he was going to leave.
But he turned down the max and gave it to Curry and said,
this is your team.
I'm just here passing through, basically.
Well, I think the thing is, what hurts your and his argument
is that KD was on a team
that was up 3-1 and Curry came back.
Curry has four titles
and two of them without him.
And he out-MVP'd it.
So I'm just trying to figure the argument,
even if you say,
well, he's a better player,
what's your argument?
He can do things that Curry can't?
Mm-hmm. Everything.
Except win titles
without Curry. Yeah,
but I mean,
listen, I
get the titles thing,
but, you know, when
you're just talking about a player and you say,
who are we going to draft? You're drafting Kevin
Durant first every single time.
You're not even going to think twice
about it.
Because here's the thing. I mean, when did
we start counting titles?
Ain't nobody was counting titles until Jordan got a bunch of them.
Yeah. I mean...
Ain't nobody counting no titles when nobody
counting MVPs until Jordan
got a bunch of them.
And then all of a sudden, they matter.
Yeah, because that was the standard of greatness.
So, you know what I mean?
But, you know, for the most part, for the most part,
we just think about like if, you know, we say, all right,
we're going to draft somebody, right?
Even though Curry is as great as he is,
you're going to go with the guy who can play multiple positions.
So you're going to go with KD.
What KD does, it can't be replaced.
Right? He is
a dominant force.
He is that dude.
Right? You might not like him because he's
emotional. You might not like him because
he's quick to leave
to go try to win. You can't
knock him for that because if you're going to throw
chances. But I thought he liked to grind.
He said that he didn't want to leave Phoenix because
he loved to grind. No, when
he said he loved to grind, that's him personally.
Oh, okay.
Well, there was a grind in
OKC. There was a grind in Brooklyn.
But the only grind that he didn't have
was to go to state. But the
problem is this too. You have to really think
OKC, right? They go to the championship
as a young team, right? Yes.
They go to the championship.
What happened after that?
Oh, James Harden left. James Harden left.
They wouldn't pay the extra $4 million
or extra $14 a year, right?
They paid Obaka.
They misplaced their money in a sense,
right? And then from there, your team
got worse. So when you were free agent and you're
looking like, damn,
yeah, we was up 3-1. Yeah, we was up
3-1. You know, but
we didn't win it, right? So
since we didn't win it, are we that
good?
Who are we trying to get?
Nobody?
You're not trying to get nobody? Like all the
free agents out there, you're not trying to get nobody? But let me free agents out there, you're not trying to get nobody?
But let me ask you a question.
Who are you going to get?
It's kind of like some of these teams.
Who are you going to get to go to Portland?
Who are you getting to go to OKC?
Who are you getting to go to Cleveland?
LeBron James, as great as he was,
couldn't attract anybody to Cleveland.
So he had to go.
And I got no problem.
I've never had a problem. I mean, I'm
looking at it like, well, damn, they were 73
and 9. Damn. Maybe you go to
New York, go somewhere else. But okay,
he left and went to Golden State. I don't got
no, I have no problem with a
guy leaving because in those
times, Cleveland, OKC,
really, bro? Man, you think I want to
go to OKC? I would break, if I got a family.
Bro, I ain't trying to raise my family in Oklahoma. And that I got a family. Bro, I ain't trying to raise my family in Oklahoma.
And that ain't no knock on Oklahoma.
I ain't trying to raise my family in Cleveland.
That ain't it.
Now, if I can get to Miami, if I can get to L.A.,
and that seemingly, you know, a team that I know.
I'll go to Boston.
Boston ain't my first choice, given their history
and how they treat their players.
Now, maybe it's a little better now, but I'm not so sure if they were to lose in the finals again.
You might hear some of the things that they said to Russell and some of the things they said to some of their own Boston Red Sox players.
But that's not we'll talk about that another day in time.
But I don't have a problem with KD leaving. But my thing is, like I said, I just need people, like you said,
the basketball players, because it seems like the criteria change
if I like a player.
Because if I like the player, rings don't matter.
And if I don't, they matter.
But that's how it is.
We're going to always look at the negative on somebody.
We're going to look on the negative if we don't like them, right?
We can say LeBron couldn't get anybody to Cleveland, but then knock him for not winning
so many championships with the roster he had.
He couldn't get nobody to Cleveland.
It's easy to get people to Chicago.
It's easy to get people in LA.
It's easy to get people when you are in a top
10 city. And I think people
need to understand this. When you look at
the top 50
greatest of all time,
37
of 33 to 37 of those
players are from big city teams.
Boston, New York,
LA,
Philly, Chicago. it's the same group.
Golden State,
it's going to be a top six city.
So what ends up happening is,
if I'm a free agent, right?
If I'm a free agent, and you in LA
and you say, yo Gil, come down,
I'm getting 150 here and
y'all can offer me 120,
that means 30 million, how can I make that up? My shoe contract doubles because I'm getting 150 here and y'all can offer me 120.
That means 30 million.
How can I make that up?
My shoe contract doubles because I'm in a bigger city, right?
The market goes up.
Everything goes and heightens in certain cities.
So I'm going to make the money back.
So I'm going to go.
If I'm going to Cleveland, there ain't no goddamn doubling my Nike contract.
There's nothing in those cities.
So you might need to try to get a Tim contract.
Yeah, like even like Shea, right?
I'm sorry, people.
If you're OKC fan, Shea,
for him to touch his greatness,
he's going to have to leave.
We don't know who he is.
As great as he is right now,
no one knows him.
The poll is KD ranked higher than Steph
29% says yes
71% say no
I'm not going to say nothing about your chat
but they're football fans
Shaq said KD
would join the GOAT discussion if he wins the title
as the bus driver
you agree with that he as the bus driver.
Do you agree with that?
He's a bus driver.
What?
He flipped the bus.
What you talking about?
He was the bus driver.
Sit down.
I got y'all.
2017, 2018 season wasn't Kevin Durant.
Right?
Steph Curry only played 51 regular season games that year.
Buzz driver.
Come on, follow me, y'all.
In the playoffs.
Remember, first round.
Curry wasn't there first round.
He wasn't there first round.
He came in against New Orleans.
Kevin Durant dominated every series when they played Houston. Kevin Durant averaged
35 in that series.
Hold on. Didn't Kevin Durant miss
two series?
Hold on, Gil. You do realize when
Kevin Durant had that Achilles injury now,
he missed two series too. That's the next year.
They didn't win that year. Yeah, but I'm saying
they got to the finals without Kevin Durant
in the playoffs, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But we're talking about driving the bus. Randy in the playoffs, right? Yeah.
We're talking about driving the bus. He drove the bus in 2017-2018.
He was the bus driver.
I don't think he's the look.
He was the bus driver.
He's never going to get the credit that he deserves
because that's Steph's team.
That's Steph's team. That's Johnny Gill.
That's Bobby Brown.
That's Ralph, Ronnie, Ricky.
That's them. Now,
in order for you,
you got to go somewhere
else and start your own group. And Phoenix
might be the... Now, Brooklyn
would have been great
because that would have been something that he assembled.
He brought this together. He was
supposed to be the leader of the team.
And I think Phoenix works out great for him. Kevin Durant works best when all he can do is play he brought this together he was supposed to be the leader of the team and i think i think
phoenix works out great for him kevin durant works best when all he can do is play basketball
he doesn't have to be a leader he couldn't do that in brooklyn gill but that's yeah but if he
went to brooklyn and he added all those but what's the difference because he's no i'm saying he wants
to just play he let he let clay he let Steph, he let Draymond be the leaders.
He just hoot.
Now he's in a situation that's book.
He's still in the background, and he gets to hoot.
When you put something together, I put this together at night camp.
I put club station together.
I can't just sit back.
Now, if I go somewhere else, I can sit back and say,
my joint, I just get to do me.
We put that together.
So he has to be at the forefront.
And I don't know if he's comfortable being at the forefront.
He said, I don't want to lead.
I don't need to lead.
I want to hoop.
I want to play basketball.
Okay, but let's just look at it.
Just look at it from this standpoint, right?
If Curry played 51 games in a regular season, right?
Yeah.
Someone has to lead them while he's done, right?
Yes.
Right?
Okay.
Right?
First round, Kevin Durant.
I mean, Curry's not there.
Kevin Durant averages 27 in that series.
Curry comes back second round.
He averages 24.
Kevin Durant averages 27.
In the Western Conference Final, Curry averages 25, Kevin Durant,
going against James Harden, averages 35 in that series, right?
Chip, Curry averages 27, Kevin Durant averages 28.
Who is driving the bus in this playoff race?
No matter whose team it is, when you say he don't get no respect for driving the bus in this playoff race. No matter whose team it is, when you say
he don't get no respect for driving the bus
in this playoff series,
in this season, we're not talking about the
Achilles. We're talking about that second championship
where he won the final. He
carried from the beginning
of the season. I don't know.
The guy averaging, you got Steph
averaging 28 and you got Clay averaging
22.
It's hard to see somebody carrying them now.
I can see if Steph averaging 16 and Klay averaging 14, but damn, 28, Gale?
28 and 51 games.
No, but I'm saying the series in which they won.
And rightfully so, I believe Kevin Durant deserved both finals MVP.
But if you look at Steph
Curry numbers, I
ain't looking at it like, oh,
oh, KD,
these guys. Steph averaging
27-28 for the series.
Wait, okay, first series,
zero versus 27.8.
Second zero, Curry averaged 24, Kevin Durant averaged 27.
Western Conference Finals, Curry averaged 25, Kevin Durant averaged 35.
The chip, Curry averaged 27, Kevin Durant averaged 28.
Yes, that's what I'm saying.
27 to 28, that ain't carrying, Gil.
What I'm saying is that I averaged 10 more points than you the series before.
What I'm saying is when you're talking about totality of body of work, he is the bus driver in this sense.
He is.
And we can't say that he didn't lead.
He didn't lead.
Every round, he led the team in dominance.
And I said that championship ring was held by him.
He can say, well, that 2017-2018 season,
throughout that whole season,
that y'all had to really ride on my back a little bit
because Curry didn't play.
Curry wasn't there most of the season.
And then he missed the first round.
And y'all really had, like, he can say he won that.
He can at least, out of the two championships,
if we're going to challenge one, I'm pretty sure he can sit back and say,
no, one of those I can say I really put in that work.
Right.
So let me ask you a question.
Let me ask you a question.
Let's just say for the sake of argument, we take Christian McCaffrey
and we put him on Kansas City
and they win the title.
How much credit do you think he's going to get
when they got Patrick Holmes already
and they're already going to the Super Bowl?
Not a lot.
Kevin Durant.
He joined Steph Curry.
They had already gone to two NBA finals.
He had won one.
They had lost one.
And he had joined a team
that was 73-9.
And I think that's the problem
that people have.
People say,
hold on, hello, KD.
We ain't got no problem
with you leaving,
but you had a 3-1 lead
and everybody keeps saying that,
oh, they wanted him,
they begged him to come,
but you had a 3-1 lead
on the team that you joined
and they were 73-9.
And so this team was the team that you joined, and they were 73-9. And so, this team
was already successful
before you joined. Okay?
Now, Christian McCaffrey
go joins Kansas City, he's not
going to get nearly the credit
because
even though the 49ers went to the
Super Bowl a couple years ago,
he put them over the top, so he gets
a lot more credit, like Kevin Durant
would have done had he won
in Brooklyn. But when you go
to a team, and they already have
major success before you
got there, it's hard
for people to see you getting the credit
that you believe you rightfully deserve.
No, no, no. First, listen, the first
championship, he's going to a 73
and 9 team, right? Yes. They favored to win it, right, no. That first was in the first championship. He's going to a 73 and 19.
Right.
They favored to win it.
Right.
Boom.
They win it.
He wins finals MVP.
Right.
Yep.
I'm talking about that very next year.
Right.
The very next year.
Curry playing 51 games.
If Kevin Durant's not there, what does that team really look like?
Right.
Right.
Right.
So someone has to hold it up.
Patrick Mahomes.
Right.
You got there 16 or 16 weeks, 18 weeks, 18.
And you're missing eight of those. Right. No, they're not going.
Yes. So that means there was someone there that held it up while you were gone. Right.
That's what he did. So that's what I'm saying. As a player, I'm like, well.
The first one, OK, I rolled y'all back.
The second one, y'all rolled my back a little bit.
And that's what I'm saying.
The second one, he can say that, okay, I had to carry us to the playoffs.
I had to carry us through that Houston series that, you know, I'm going against James Harden and I dominated averaging 35 a game.
Like I averaged 35 a game. Like that means this is me. I'm going against James Harden, and I dominated averaging 35 a game. Like, I averaged 35 a game.
Like, that means this is me.
I'm unstoppable.
Right.
To get us.
Go ahead.
Go ahead, Freda.
That's what I'm saying.
So, you know, as a Hooper looking back, it's one of those, you know, I got two, but I really earned one.
Right.
You know. And the thing is, is that it's not as,
like Shaq averaging 35 and 16,
even though I think Kobe's last,
the last championship,
Kobe averaged what,
like 27, 28?
Is that Shaq was just so dominant.
Yeah.
I mean, he give you 36 and 16?
What the?
I'm like, bro, come on now.
And that was, Kobe was, every year you saw Kobe like damn
he was like 21
22 and then he went like
24 and now he averaged
what did Kobe average the last year they won the championship
cause Shaq averaged like for the championships
he averaged like 35 and 15
35 and 16 through the 3 year run
where did Kobe average averaged like 35 and 15, 35 and 16 through the three-year run.
Where did Kobe at?
Was that a 27-year?
I think it was that last year and, oh, what?
They won, what, 2001-2?
So it would have been 28-01?
Is it 0-1?
0-2.
He averaged 25 maybe that year.
What did he average, Ash?
25.2.
25.2.
Yeah.
Because he averaged 29 in the playoffs.
Yeah.
Kobe averaged 29 in the playoffs.
Right.
And when you remember Shaq filed out with that one series he filed
when Shaq filed out against
Indiana.
And Kobe was like, I got you, big fella.
I think that was the moment
that he, it really darned like,
man, hey, I really could do this thing by myself.
Yeah, I don't need to.
Hey, you know,
hey, hey, hey.
That'd be the problem. There'd be moments in
games and things that happen and you feel like you can do this without the other. There'll be moments in games and things that happen,
and you feel like you can do this without the other.
And I think that's what happened with Kevin Durant and Westbrook.
When Kevin Durant went down and Westbrook had to hold the team
and he's really dominating.
I know he's looking like, yeah, I can see myself doing this for a while.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's it. I ain't going to lie. I can see myself doing this for a while yeah yeah that shit not even gonna lie
Gil we put a poll up
poll up
who wins another ring first
KD
74%
Cowboys 26%
damn
ain't got no faith in the Cowboys
then what's wrong with the boys man
like y'all got so much money y'all just don't know who to buy, man.
Go down to Tampa, Florida.
Go ahead, whatever Michael Irvin in was on, boy, go ahead and lace them up, baby.
You know?
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