The Bill Simmons Podcast - Kevin Durant Returns, Part One (Ep. 345)

Episode Date: March 28, 2018

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by self-proclaimed "Basketball Guru" Kevin Durant to discuss the distance between players and fans (5:00), growing the game of basketball (11:00), Twitter's impact on the NBA (19:00), the desire to master basketball (25:00), the All-NBA team (30:00), the revamped NBA All-Star Game (34:00), the Rookie of the Year race (41:00), the LeBron partnership (48:00), and the start to another KD mailbag (53:00). You can find the official Ringer web store here: http://bit.ly/ringershop  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode of the Bill Simmons Podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. In the summer of 2016, Kevin Durant used their powerful engine to figure out where to play, and they told him, go to the Warriors. You're going to win a title. They didn't, but they probably would have. 80% of employers who post a job on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within a day. They're the best at distributing your job to the best boards, identifying the right people, and inviting them to apply.

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I might call Jacko and defend the Red Sox because he's been torching them to me on text. So be careful or watch out for that. I torched the Yankees last week. He defended them. We might reverse it. Last but not least, Ringer merchandise. We put an initial six t-shirts and a Ringer hoodie and the green Ringer hat that we get more emails

about than just about anything. But all you have to do is go to theringer.com slash shop, and we'll be putting more and more stuff there as the year goes along. But we have some things there, including an Irrational Confidence Guide t-shirt that is pretty funny. Check that out. Coming up, Tate and I went to San Francisco on Monday night, and we taped a very, very long podcast with the one and only Kevin Durant. This is the fifth one or the sixth one?

Fifth one. I guess a couple of them we split into a couple of parts. But yeah, this was volume five. It goes for a long time. We're running part one right here. And then part two is we go into the mailbag section and some other stuff. But as always, lively. And I had not talked to him since last summer.

So there was a lot to cover. It got feisty at times. There are some really funny moments. His business partner, Rich Kleiman, is the other voice you'll be hearing in that if you remember the first time we did it we did not give Rich a mic and he just kept chiming in from 20 feet away as we kept telling him to move

closer now he actually has a mic which hopefully he didn't over abuse I thought he was pretty good actually it's a good one it's coming up right now. But first, our friends from Pearl Jam. All right, we're taping this in San Francisco.

Monday night. Kevin Durant is here. Rich Kleiman is here. This is episode five, right? It's episode five. Volume five. It's been a while. We haven't done this since...

One of them was a two-parter. One of them was a two-parter. We're taping this right after Markel Fultz's dramatic return which I was not expecting PG County boy glad he's out there man year four your coach did a lot of

talking about how hard it was going to be this is going to be so hard four straight finals people don't realize how hard this is this is a grind do you think in retrospect, why was there so much talk about how hard it was going to be? It almost seems like you guys had a built-in excuse before the season even started.

No, I don't do it. No, no. Because it's hard to win in the NBA. I know. It's hard, and especially when teams load up to beat you, it's hard. So did you go into the season, do you think, as a team looking back now, like, oh, man, nine months of this. I mean, it's not true that you, I mean, when you win a championship,

for me, I mean, for me and the team and, like, the guys, like, that high of being in the finals. Yeah. And playing, being the only team, two teams playing that late in June, that high is something that, as a basketball player, you just dream of. You know what I'm saying? So when you come back in September and you got training camp, it's like, do we really have to go through this when we just came from being primetime every night?

Plus the whole world's watching you play basketball. And they moved the season up. Yeah. So it was like, that's what we was battling right there. Then we went to China on top of that. Right. When did you go to China? We went five days in the camp.

So I want to say the 23rd, 24th. One of those days, but we went five, six days in the camp. And it was just like, you know, you're just so high up. Your emotions, adrenaline, everything is pumping in the finals. Everything. You got anxiety before you go to sleep the night before. You're just nervous.

You're anxious. And then you go through two months of summer, and then you back at it. What would you do differently about the summer if you could do it over again? Nothing. Okay. Rich, what would you do differently?

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing I do over the summer has any effect on anything period yeah what the hell is he doing he's not playing ball i'm just yo he knows asking what you learned though sorry and i did play a little ball in the back play a little crib i took bryce's money for a little ball yeah i had set a quarter up he talked about his how he posted up donny abrams that time yeah but that got shot down quick. Quick.

The biggest thing that's changed with you guys is this whole Silicon Valley investment. That's become like a narrative. All of a sudden, you're in these business magazines. A narrative? Yeah, it's a narrative. Or a fact? Well, both. Okay.

Because narratives sometimes aren't facts. Yeah, it's just kind of like our life. I know. What do you mean? Well, we've done five podcasts together, and we never really talked about that stuff. Oh, yeah. It was there. You never told me.

You never steered me the right way. It's about Kevin. And he was talking about basketball. It was about basketball, because if I didn't play ball, nobody would want to deal with me, right? If he's not playing basketball, we can't do none of this. Can't do none of this. Can't do none of this. Did you get more opportunities after the finals, or were they there all along? They were there all along.

I mean, once I came out here, you know, we sat down with some people and hung out. And they kind of seemed— You know what you said to me, though? What? You remember what you said to me in the locker room right after the finals? What? You're like, I did my shit now. Oh, yeah, yeah yeah i told him i did my job now you better step your shit up now too yeah i had a good year though you had a uh way better year than i had well you mean

this year yeah oh well different well you stopped well i'm just saying i did what you asked me to do yeah yeah you did uh well more than i actually. So in the locker room, like 20 minutes after, he's like, now you got to step your shit up, motherfucker. I was like, damn, I'm just trying to really enjoy it. I'm trying to enjoy this moment with you, man. He's still hyped for the competition. Yeah, that's what it's about, man. Shit.

It seems like this decade has become, I was just talking about this with someone in a podcast, with the players, the distance between the players and the fan is now zero. The players can go right to the fan. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No middleman. There's no middleman at all, which we've discussed.

But then also, it's this whole generation now of the players using whatever their salary and their platform and other connections to now create these little mini businesses, which I guess started with Jordan. Yeah. And then went through with Kobe and LeBron. Yeah. And now it's like your generation now is like all knee deep into it. Yeah, but you got to handle your business first before you have to really handle your business.

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like you can't come into the league expecting to grow your brand if you ain't did on the basketball court you got a hoop first right you know what i'm saying we spent like what before we really start getting to this how long we spent well you for the first seven years your career then us the last like four together before the two that we focused on building this enterprise this family office once we made it to the once i made it to the finals and we made it to the finals of the team it was like and we won game three and you know we're going back home

we lost game four going back home i'm like all right now this is kind of real you know i'm saying like we can kind of leverage this to, you know, kind of build what we want to build. But I had to hoop first. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? I wasn't coming into the league

thinking about my brand, thinking about anything but just playing ball. How much of, now, it's almost been two years, going to Golden State was because of this business stuff

you're doing now? None of it. Everything. So you didn't see any of that coming? No. Everything surrounds, everything evolves around the game. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

Obviously, I got other dreams and goals, and I think about stuff other than basketball, but we talk about this all the time. It wouldn't happen if I didn't bounce a basketball. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? I know who I am and what I Yeah. You know what I'm saying? I know who I am and what I am. You know what I'm saying?

I'm true to the game because that's just what I do. I was born to play the game. You know what I'm saying? And I'm not going to act like I'm just this other guy and forget about, you know, me playing at the highest stage and being on TV for playing my game, I'm not going to just ignore that and say, you know, just, you know, I was born to be creative and, you know, create this and create that. Without the game, none of this stuff would happen.

Yeah. It's not like if I bring him an opportunity or I bring him a deal or I want to have a conversation about a show that we sold or something and he says to me, no, no, I'm focused on basketball. It's not focused on basketball it's not like i can stop him but like no no we got to focus on we're not partners in that way right because everything starts with basketball then every opportunity from then on comes from that there's a scene in fade to black and jay-z's movie where his manager at the time comes in and he's got like a notebook of all these things he wants to talk to him about and you see he's jay's in the studio like in his zone and he like goes to the engineer to turn the music down so he wanted to go through and jay look at him he's like what

are you doing he's like i turn the music down and talk about work and he was like you can't turn the music down he's like if you turn the music down there's nothing to talk about there's nothing without the music and it's like that's our same mentality as soon as that i don't even bring anything up when i know he's in that zone i don't even engage him in it but i know when the time is right and we have a lot going on too so it really is about juggling when you know i have the the spots to bring it up and really focus on our business because i want him involved in everything how do you decide which projects like is there a limit of of things you want to get involved with because i found like in the past like the danger sometimes is when a lot of stuff's getting thrown at you you almost want to do everything just like

oh shit no i can do this i can do that see the thing is now i don't want to be on the red carpet i don't want to do commercials i don't want to you know i don't want to be on the red carpet. I don't want to do commercials. I don't want to, you know, I don't want to be popular. I don't want to be famous. You know what I'm saying? We're doing stuff that's like authentic and cool to us. You know what I'm saying? We might invest in tech, but that's not really a commitment. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah. A deep commitment where I got to do five or six hours on a video shoot or a set or any you know man stuff like that we just we come together and just do cool stuff and I'm like nah Rich I don't really want to do that and you know we'll collab and talk about it and you know he'll convince me that I should do it you know I mean it's like stuff like we we all we both agree you know I'm saying we collab on a lot of stuff it's not like he's telling me to do something or I'm telling him to do anything. We just come together on a lot of stuff. And it's like he knows what my vision is as a basketball player and as a man.

What is your vision? I just want to grow the game of basketball. I want to inspire more basketball players. I want to just grow the game. You know what I mean? I just love to play ball. You know what I'm saying? I want to inspire more basketball players. I want to just grow the game. You know what I mean? I just love to play ball. You know what I'm saying? I want to tell basketball stories.

I want to, and I also make a lot of money from playing ball. So I want to kind of take care of that, you know, side of it as well. And, you know, kind of do cool stuff. I like technology. You know what I mean? I like that type of stuff. Did you ever, did you think like five years ago, three years ago, you were ever going to care about technology? No.

When did that flip? I always cared to a certain degree. I mean, I always was on my phone, always the Xbox. I always was interested in the new stuff that came out and how we want to advance our advanced humanity. And then we just kind of once we came out here, we got in front of some important people. And, you know, I just started to get more and more interested in that stuff. And, you know, we just started talking through. How can you tell the difference between somebody that is a legitimate business possibility versus somebody that just wanted to have a meeting because they wanted to meet KD?

In one second. What's the sign? I can just tell from the email they write me. I can tell from the phone call. I can tell from meeting them. I really can. I think that might be one of my best skills. I don't think I have many other true on-paper skills, but I can read people really well, and I can read situations well.

We've built something that, to answer your question before, about when is it too much, it's probably there. But we're at the point now where I think we've lined up an incredible portfolio of projects we're developing on the content side, whether it's a TV show for Apple's new platform, or if it's his YouTube network, or if it's a tv show for apple's new platform or if it's his youtube network or if it's a show for fox and then we have 25 30 companies in an investment portfolio and though he doesn't act as a brand ambassador we serve as real you know active investors now

so if it's a postmates or a coinbase or an acorns we want to make sure that we can do what we can do from a business standpoint to help move it and then obviously um his foundation is not just something that like we check the box with like here's rich basketball player let's donate money i mean that's his number one passion he told me that from day one so i spend a good deal of my time on that we're building a standalone facility in in dc we partner with laureen Jobs and we're housing the college track program, which is her program and her curriculum that puts kids, you know, on a course to college in a neighborhood that they normally wouldn't have that opportunity. And that's the neighborhood Kevin grew up in. So we really are building this facility five minutes from where he grew up. So

all of this connects and all of this intertwines and it still connects to basketball. There's a focus on athletics and basketball within this center. So we're at that point now. Now we have to execute on all these things. But now we're in the mode with the playoffs. Yeah. When do you shut down? When do you shut everyone else out?

Like before round one? I've been in a shutdown mode for a long time. No, but you, like when we did the podcast after the finals, you said you hit a point where you basically cleared everyone out. Yeah, I've been on that since then. You stayed off your phone. I've been on that since then. But, like, I won't schedule another thing.

Oh, as far as that. Oh, no, yes. At some point you flipped a switch. Oh, yeah,

yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, we haven't really been doing much this year. We spoke at, he speaks at panels and conferences. Yeah,

I don't mind doing that stuff, but like commercials and like, you know, that type of stuff. You know, I just, i've been on that really the whole year my whole thing is like man i just want to get into the gym and get better and just really play the game you know i'm saying and like i don't really enjoy that stuff anymore you know i'm saying i don't really like it but i know you know it's a part of it but around this time it's

like you know it's about to we're about to kick into the real season so what'd you add this year i have my own personal answer for this but i want to see what you say i want to hear your personal answer first i think you see however i say whatever however i phrase this you're gonna get mad because i'm not gonna say you're trying harder on defense i think i think you realize rim protection was one way that you could go up one little tiny level this season. What do you mean? Protecting exactly what I say. I told you he was going to get mad.

He wasn't going to let you just say that like that. Well, as maybe backup small ball five slash speed around the rim a little bit more defensively than you used to be. My job is whoever I'm guarding, don't let them drive past me, and I meet them at the rim. You were leading the league in blocks like 40 games into the season, which is not something you've come close to doing before now that could be either a statistical fluke or it could be something was changing in how you played a fluke itest said you you were a little more actually reminded me of texas a little bit when you were like their only rim protector at texas and you just kind of had to do it you know I was really excited about just being the anchor on the defensive end.

You know what I'm saying? Like I can score with the best of them. I can score whenever I want. I can, well, get a good shot up whenever I want. Yeah. But my thing was, you know, I just want to lock down on the defensive end so we can kind of play with house money on the other end. You know what I'm saying?

That's what my goal was. And so if we get three or four stops in a row and we up 10 points, then we can kind of have some fun on the offensive end. Right. You know what I'm saying? So I'm like, you know, I'm contesting everything at the rim. I got dunked on three times in a game before because I'm trying to contest everything. Laker game?

Yeah, by Clarkson and Nance. Nance. Oh, yeah, Nance got you. Yeah, he got me bad. And I was so close to blocking that shot, but he is a king dunker, so I get that. And Julius Randle. But I was excited because I tried him. You know what I'm saying?

And that made me more confident to try the next guy and the next guy. You know what I'm saying? I like when guys try near the rim because I think the YouTube slash Twitter era has made people actually less likely to challenge dunks because they don't want to end up on Twitter. Yeah, basketball is in a bad place because of that yeah we should get rid of twitter and i still enjoy it but i do think it's no don't get rid of it i'm just saying just like you it shouldn't change how people play yeah people don't watch games because they can look at analytics on twitter

people don't the eye test is you know I tell him about the eye test, man. You got to watch games if you really want to know what the game is about. You know what I'm saying? But, you know, guys not trying to get embarrassed

because they don't want to be on the latest meme or... Come on, man. What we doing? Basketball is about getting embarrassed. You know what I'm saying? We swung too far

with the advanced metrics this season. People started doing the five-man lineups. Come on, man. You're a little bit to blame for a lot of it. You're an analytics guy? No, I'm not.

I like it, but I don't like the five-man lineup and the plus-minus. I don't like analytics at all. It's information. I like field goal percentage, defense. I like field goal percentage. I like turnovers. Turnovers. I like rebounds. I like the goal percentage, defense. I like field goal percentage. I like turnovers. Turnovers. I like rebounds.

I like the real stats. But the true percentage, true shooting percentage, and effective field goal percentage, and all that stuff, come on, man. It's flawed. PER. PER. It's flawed. I like opponent three-point percentage. Yeah, that's real.

That's defense. Yeah, that's real. That's defense. Yeah, that's defense. It's funny. Your coach told me, what were the three stats that he said? Turnovers, opponent field goal percentage, and rebounds. Yeah. Were the three things he looks at. Yeah, that's all.

When I look at a stat sheet and at timeouts, I look at opponents, field goals, percentage, rebounds, and assists. That's what I look at. Not free throws? The funny thing percentage, rebounds, and assists. That's what I look at. Not free throws? The funny thing is the box score was great. The basketball box score is fantastic. That's all you needed. Really, you can learn a whole shitload from it. I was looking at free throw attempts.

I was trying to figure out what was going on with Carmelo, whether he was just hitting a different phase of his career or whatever. And you go back to earlier seasons when he's getting to the rim, you know, nine, nine, nine and a half free throw attempts a year. He's just four now. So it's like he's not getting the isos like he usually gets. You know what I'm saying? So it's like.

But that's something you can learn pretty easily. He's just shooting jump shots. But you got to watch the games to see that. And then I watch the game and it follows up. Yeah. I think there's a mix. That's not an indictment on Carmelo, though. No.

But I'm saying I look up numbers to see if they back up what I'm watching. Yeah. Yeah, you can't look at numbers first and then watch. Yeah, I think that's where we get into trouble is people. Because they're lazy. They don't want to watch games. It's too long. It's too hard to watch a game.

Or they're watching games, but half the time when they're watching it, they're looking at the internet versus actually watching it. Yeah, there's a bunch of culture vultures in the game right now. It's a bad place. When I watch it, I try to— Can I make a PSA real quick? Please, do it. All right, so all your blog boys and fan boys that's going to use everything I say

and create an article. Yeah. Watch a basketball game. How about you write that? I just want to say that. Because all these guys are going to write articles about and get real mad about what I said tonight. Yeah, probably. No.

Because last time they did. They like this stuff, though. They like it, but they're going to put their emotions into it. It's not about you. Watch a basketball game. Enjoy the game. Don't start worrying about me so much. I just wanted to say that. I do think the stats don't factor in situations.

You know, like if somebody has... Yeah. Do you want to order some more wine? Yeah, okay. I mean, just pick a red. Pick a bottle of red. So, yeah, I just wanted to tell the blog boys out there who are in their feelings about everything I say. Blog boys.

Blog boys is what I call them. You didn't really say a headline yet. No, but I will towards the end. You said we've been here for a while, right? Yeah. I'm excited to hang with you guys. You read this stuff, though. Why don't I? Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited to hang with you guys. You read this stuff, though. Why don't I?

Yeah. Why not? It seems like you take it personally because you had that whole thing that happened last summer. No, I'm not taking nothing personal. You did. You did have that thing. Because you did just say it the other day in a panel, which I thought was incredible. Not anymore.

Yeah, you said that you took a break. It did bother you a little bit. Yeah, that's like three four years ago now no i realized i realized that the love and the hate that you get from media fans everybody who watches the game is not real yeah i'm saying so i realized that now like video game characters is yeah it's like wwe it's like you know it's like entertainment it's the entertainment business i i was so naive to the fact that NBA game was the entertainment business. I thought people really, really, really genuinely loved the game like I did.

Some people do. Some people do. The majority don't. It seems like the OKC thing kind of – It does. I learned a lot because you – You still haven't recovered from that. What do you mean?

The OKC thing. I think that that was like a before and after situation, how that ended when they were so – How I viewed everything around – how I viewed just the NBA in general. Yeah. It was like before that and then now. Yeah, it was like before and after. It was just like you feel like – I feel like I could do no wrong.

And whatever I said is golden when I played for OKC. Now it's just like, what a decision. Boom. So many people flipped. I'm like, okay. I get it. I get it. But I really, it's still weird to me that so many people still feel a way to this day about that.

Even 21 months later. Yes. If you left Golden State this year and you re-signed with okc all those people who love you again yeah it would just flip back that's why i realized that the love and the hate really isn't real you know what i'm saying it's like all right let me just focus on what i really want to do is the master the game of basketball you know i'm saying instead of wanting to get love be loved by a certain group of people or not wanting to you know make anybody else mad or i just really want to get be great at playing the game you know i'm saying it once you once i came to golden state we won a championship and

you you know you felt what that's like it's like all right now the fans they mad they you know they come to the games we appreciate it but when it comes to perfecting my craft, they really don't matter. My family and friends really don't matter. You know what I'm saying? It's really about perfecting the craft. And so I'm like so focused on that, it makes me look like, you know, I've changed. You know what I'm saying? Well, I take shit too because we keep doing these podcasts.

I mean, we have a good conversation. You're the bag for Durant. We have a good conversation. Here's my defense whenever somebody teases me about it. You are one of the top three or four athletes in your sport depending on whatever the ranking is.

And you go through all these other team sports. Wait, can I ask you a question? Yeah. You should rank him based'm not gonna do that you think so instead of saying three or four i want you to rephrase that and say no no but the way i phrased it was because i'm i'm using it as an example so we take that a little too safe we take the time it was too safe a little too safe who rank is what are you going by if you don't think i'm happy one or two then say i think you're the third or i think you're the fourth.

I'm happy to do that in one second. I just want to finish my point. Top five athletes in each sport, right? You're the only one who has done a podcast series like this. Because I always feel like authenticity with athletes is one of the hardest things to find, especially the higher they go. You know why?

Because we feel like people tell us we're superstars we're superstars what do you mean really aren't well but i think there's part of it is we're not superstars but at some point at least i think with some of these superstars can i tell you can i tell you you have to protect what you have can i tell you a quick story it made me realize a lot it may sound weird but after we won the championship i had taco bell and it ran through me just like it would a normal person i'm like oh i thought i had a golden stomach i thought i i thought i was immune to everything i thought i was immune to everything but no you thought michael jordan like never never yeah because the way people would

that's the perception of it all like we just immortal we're normal fucking people who are really good at what we do but at the end of the day we go to sleep just like everybody else we really put on our pants just like everybody else we take a shit like everybody else so it's like it made me realize that like i am not keying anything because we won a championship. I just achieved what I want in my profession, just like a doctor who, you know, I don't even know. You know, just like you who interviewed Al Pacino the other day. Yeah. Barack Obama.

You achieved something that you would have never thought. You know what I'm saying? So it makes me realize that like that superstar word to me really isn't a thing. You know what I'm saying? So it makes me realize that that superstar word, to me, really isn't a thing. You know what I'm saying? It's just all a facade and all a fake. You know what I mean? When I go through normal stuff, it makes me realize that I'm just a mere mortal, but I'm really fucking good at basketball.

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And don't forget about the Ringer merch, the ringer.com slash shop. Back to Kevin Durant. I'm going to give you my first team on NBA right now. We have eight games left. You ready? Yeah. All right.

Davis at center. I have a vote, by the way, so this is not final. Okay. Davis at center. You and LeBron at forward. Harden at one of the guards. Other guard spot is wide open. Why?

Because Steph missed so many games? Steph's out. Steph only played 50 games. I can't vote for him. It sucks. That's bullshit. It sucks. He played 50 games.

What do you want me to do? So what? But you've seen within 50 games what he could do. Tate loves this. Oh, yeah. Let me see that one because I got a lot of shit to say. Thank you. He's going to miss 32 games.

Nobody's ever made one of the three NBA teams have missed that many games. Just ever in the history of basketball. First of all, awards don't mean a thing now because you guys don't watch games. You don't watch games and you don't care about basketball. It's probably 30% of y'all who care about basketball.

The rest of y'all look at stats because you're fucking lazy. So, like, I'm not that all NBA MVP and all those awards it's important to but it's not

really important to me I like it it gives context so you'll end up playing 68 68

7 66 well who cares if you there when the if you there when the it's a regular season

team if you there when it's nut-cutting time, you played the whole season in my opinion. So you got Lillard, Westbrook, or DeRozan for that guard spot? If you're not going to put Steph in there, you got to put Westbrook in there. Oh, look at you. I just understand the game.

I'm a guru. It's still open. Oh, man. This one's uncut uncut so you put russ first team if you're not putting stephanie you should you should build this as the final podcast between kevin duran and bill slack is this gonna get too much no he loves this. I love this shit. This is great. No, I'm billing it as the final. Oh, you don't like that I'm... No, I love it, man. Let me ask you about the All-Star game. Okay.

So, everyone was trying this year for whatever reason. I still think you guys made some sort of giant side bet that we'll never find out about. Nobody made a side bet. Everybody was playing so hard. No. We just wanted to play hard had we just wanted to play hard we just wanted you said lebron if if you win i'll make that uber commercial with you we did it before that all right uh everyone's playing really hard though which brought me back to the old days when the all-star game used to matter and there's this little hierarchy that develops and you it's kind of a little snapshot of who

the best players are and i liked it for the most part yeah it seemed like the right guys were out there davis wasn't out there because the numbers were his team had too many forwards i think so he ended up sitting he probably belonged out there um but like and bead was out there and i was enjoying that i was like oh and beat kind of belongs he's a beast that was kind of a moment for him right he's a beast that was my big takeaway because I was at the game. He was at the end of the game again. It was Russell, Kyrie, you, LeBron, and who was the last on your team? PG.

PG. Who was on the other side? And PG had to be out there, and that's why Davis was sitting because PG had to be out there for D. No, it was Steph. Yeah, Klay was out there. Klay was out there? Yeah.

Steph, James, Giannis, Embiid, and DeMar. DeMar was out there. Oh, yeah, you're right. You're right, my bad. And it was funny because Giannis was like a year away from being ready to give what they needed in that game because he's so used to having the ball all the time, but he had to play off the ball.

Yeah. And he didn't really totally know what to do. Yeah. And he didn't really totally know what to do. Yeah. And then the other thing that was interesting was Steph had the ball as a point guard. Yeah. But I actually would have played him off the ball. Oh, yeah. I would have had somebody else running the thing and had Steph coming off screens.

He's dangerous when he's coming off the screens. Well, the cool thing, though, is I was sitting in the stands going. I actually felt like I was watching a basketball game for the first time in 14 years. Like, why don't they do that? Why is it, oh, they should do this in offense, defense. You think you'd be a coach in the NBA? No. Okay.

I don't. Good. Because a lot of your colleagues think they can, and they're fucking idiots. My point was, in the stands, I felt like I was watching a real game. It was. And everybody was trying. The benches were all standing. It was good.

I think we started the game off with that energy. I think Dwayne Casey was good, man. He came into the practice the day before and was like, we're going to run a couple sets, but we're going to actually play some defense. You know, and his staff was really good at, you know, motivating us and giving us energy when we came back at the time. I was the guard and played defense and make the right play. It was fun, man.

I had a good time, man. I had a good time. So it was like an actual basketball game. Yeah, it was. You felt like you were playing pickup. Yeah, and then obviously, you know, you might give a few layups and dunks here because, you know, we don't play together, so we don't know exactly how to play with each other.

Yeah. But, you know, we tried. You know what I mean? We tried. We played. We had a good chemistry, you know. So did you Venmo the bet? That's got to be one of the only times you played with LeBron, right?

Ever? That was the only. No, in the Olympics. Olympics, yes, of course. Outside of that, yeah. Your team won. Yeah. So did Steph, did he Venmo the bet to you or did he just give you cash?

No, nobody had a side bet. Just like an envelope with hundreds in it? Nobody. I wish. Apple Pay? I wish. Steph's with Chase. It's like Chase Quick Pay.

Chase Quick Pay. So that's what it was. Or maybe like a stock tip or a Silicon Valley. We don't need any tips. No, we don't need tips. But no, it was all for the game. We had a good time. I tweeted after the third quarter that LeBron was going to steal the MVP

because nobody wanted it from Steph's team. Nobody was going to take it. It was the third quarter that LeBron was going to steal the MVP because nobody wanted it from Steph's team. Nobody was going to take it. It was just sitting there for LeBron. LeBron, I got to say, LeBron looks really good offensively. This is one of the best stretches I've seen from him. He's I don't know what happens. It's the all-star

break. I went from writing off Cleveland completely to I don't know what to think anymore and i'm not sure the conference i wish my team was healthy but it's just not jason tatum's so good philly's a year away jason tatum's good he's good philly's a year away toronto had a chance to really grab a lot from this playoff experience i agree i was saying to somebody, they reminded me of you in 2011, the OKC team, the year before.

Watch yourself, buddy. What? You had three MVPs on that team. I'm saying that year was like you learned everything you needed to do that year that set you up for the next year. So I could say 2010, whatever.

You had three MVPs on that team. We played against a team in 2010 that won the finals. I remember, Dallas. No. No, the Lakers. Yeah, yeah. They won the championship. The second one in a row.

We lost in five. We lost in six. Six. Those games were on NBA TV. I was watching one of them. Don't compare that. Not yet. I'm not comparing the talent.

We were 21. That's my point. 20, 21 years old. Here yet. I'm not comparing the talent. We were 21. That's my point. 20, 21 years old. Here's why I bring it up. Everybody's like, they're too young, they're too young. No, they're not going to do anything this year. Then all of a sudden you were going toe-to-toe with the Lakers that year, and everybody was like, oh, okay.

Maybe this is going to happen a little sooner than we thought. I wonder if that's going to happen with Philly. I mean, Philly's good. You know what I mean? They got good veterans, too. They got JJ as a veteran. They got a bench. Yeah, they got Covington.

The Bellinelli. Bellinelli. Eliasova. We were an all-young team. You know what I'm saying? It's different. I think sometimes... What was that?

Yeah, the door just closed. I don't know. I don't know. I think sometimes NBA was that yeah door just closed on answered i think sometimes nba playoff history the team that is allegedly not ready sometimes sneaks up a year early like lebron and oh seven is another example where all of a sudden they beat the pistons and it was like whoa where'd they where'd this team come from and i do think this scene is set in the east for a team to do that. I don't think it's going to be Philly this year, but I don't know.

They're scary. Ben Simmons is good. He is. He is good. And Embiid is like what I saw in the All-Star game. He's a game changer, bro. He can change the league. You know what I'm saying?

Because he's a big that nobody can guard. Sarge has been playing better. You can't switch a wing player on him. He'll abuse him. He's good, man. Are you watching the other teams? You scout? Are we in the mode now where you're kind of checking out different offenses and stuff?

No, I play against them enough for me to know what each player does and what their system is and how they play. Because when I'm in the games, I'm really locked in the games. You know what I'm saying? I know exactly how Philly plays. They're one of the best passing teams in the league. Ben Simmons. Ben Simmons.

Nobody really guards him on the perimeter, so that's why he's able to kind of be free out there. Because nobody really – his jump shot is not there yet, so he's roaming around then boom he'd drop a pass down to mb for a dunk or covington out for a three boom or jj read it you know i like how confident he is now like he carries himself like he's like a 27 year old and i might be the australian in him but he's he's just got he doesn't seem like a young guy i see that i I agree with you.

He's very aggro. I think it's part Australian. Do you think he should be eligible for Rookie of the Year even though he got drafted but didn't play but he got to travel with the team for a year? Yeah, I just think that whole experience of just being around an NBA franchise for a year, you just got an advantage over the other rookies. That's how I feel. Like Mitchell was in college last year Like Mitchell was in college last year. Mitchell was in college last year. Yeah, he was living in the dorms.

And now he's saving Utah's season. Yeah, he's sleeping on couches. He saved Utah. They were done. I wouldn't say done. And B would have won last year. No, they were done. B would have won, but he spent two years away.

Like he didn't play for two years. He played 31 games in three years. You know what I'm saying? Like you don't have to worry about going to class or study hall or practicing or playing against UVA or Duke. Like, you're just traveling and working on your skill every single day. Somebody asked Mitchell why he was better this year than he was in college and he was like because this is my job now all i do is play

basketball yeah and prepare to play basketball and conditioned to play basketball of course i should be better he's he's been out of the young guys he feels i hate to say this, but he feels very young weight-ish. Feels like that first weight year with Odom and Karan Butler. It reminds me of that. That's what I like to do. That's one of my things. He's a little weight-ish. He's good who he is who he is.

Oh, stop it. I like comparing players sometimes. You don't understand because you can't be compared to anyone. No, it's not that. You were like, I remember I said he was like George Gervin crossed with T-Mac, crossed with somebody else when you were coming up. Who was the third? I don't remember.

Plastic Man? I'll take that. I mean, those are two good comparisons, but comparisons but you know let us be who we are man Damien Damien Donovan Mitchell is who he is he said he was better because it's his job now

yeah there's a lot of opening there there's a lot of opening to go to Louisville Katie's not saying anything I'm just saying Oh, with a lot of opening to go. To Louisville. Katie's not saying anything. I'm just saying.

I'm not. Yeah, we might not have college basketball in five years. Probably won't. It'll all be in Australia. Yes. Australia or Europe. I would like to see a 30-team G League that the teams actually spent some money on. All right, you guys are too distracted by this TV.

I feel like... It's tough. It's just funny because Rick Pitino just came on and we were talking about Louisville. That's not at all what we talked about. The G League being a 30-team league, let's say they had that when you went to texas you talked about what you loved about when you went to texas but if you could have played a professional season against better players and played a longer season and gotten a little better

coaching would that have been better or worse obviously i mean i would have enjoyed playing against you know some good competition and you wouldn't gotten the co-eds what do you mean the texas co-eds because you would have been like in sioux falls oh g league yeah i'm glad i went the route i went man i had a good time in austin you love texas love it then Then you had Seattle the next year. Love it. Loved it. It was an amazing time for me, man. I have to ask one question about the Golden State, how tired you guys were all season.

Because we got off that topic before I had the follow-up. It wasn't, you guys didn't have, like, the most grueling playoff run ever last season. It wasn't like, you know, the 98 Bull wasn't like the 98 Bulls just pulling it out. Just this knock down, drag out. You guys pretty much dominated and then played a five game finals.

Do you know how hard it is? I know. Explain it to me. You know how hard it is to be good every night? Explain it to me though. Because there are harder versions of that road you guys traveled last year

so we played Portland game one they were they coming at you they were up like 17 then no they weren't up 17 15

it was something we were watching see that's what I'm saying I did watch I watched the game you fucking blog boys don't watch the game we weren't down 17

you were down 50 you were down something we weren't down double digits We were tied up It was a close game I'll Google it Alright Google it It was a close game It was a close game

We ended up winning by double digits But it was a close game Portland was up Dane was hitting everything They were They were They were on 10 They were hitting everything

But nobody really challenged you And then the Spurs come And Kawhi gets hurt In game one Then that became an easier series Than you expected Yeah you. And then the Spurs come and Kawhi gets hurt in game one. Then that became an easier series than you expected. Yeah, it did. And then Cleveland, you win the first three games.

Do you know how hard it is to play against LeBron James? Explain it to me. Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. We couldn't bullshit with them dudes, man. We could not. They're too good. We're too good to come in the game and not try to win. You know what I'm saying? We couldn't come in the game and say,

all right, we'll play in the second quarter, third quarter, and win. We couldn't do it against those three. And the rest of the guys that had, Shumpers and Kyle Corver. We had to be on point against those dudes. If we weren't, we're going to lose the game. That's how talented Kyrie Irving is. He made me a believer last year. I like Kyrie, but when we played against him, I'm like, oh, shit.

This guy is a king hooper. If you hadn't beaten them in five, they probably wouldn't have traded him. Like, if that had been a seven-game series and they had come like almost so close. I don't know about that. At that point, you can't trade him. I don't know about that. I think he would ask for a trade either way. But that's my opinion.

You know what I would have said to him if I owned the Cavs? I'm sorry you feel that way, Kyrie. Training camp starts on September 19th. Oh, so you're just going to tell him that he couldn't leave? Yeah, I would ride it out. I would try to make it work. I don't want to trade one of the best 10 players in basketball. That's not one of my goals in the summer.

What if he don't want to be there? Then make it work. He's somewhere between 5 and 10. Tell me somebody in the league that can do what Kyrie Irving can do. He's somewhere between 5 and 10. Tell me. He preached in that can do what Kyrie Irving can do. He's somewhere between five and ten. Tell me. He preached in the choir. Or in the history of the game.

That can do what he can do. I think him and Isaiah Thomas have the best handle. Him, Isaiah Thomas, Detroit, not Celtics Isaiah Thomas. No, definitely not. No. Oh, stop it now. Don't disparage the 80s, KD. That's foul, bro.

Come on, KD. No, I'm talking about the Isaiah Thomas or the Celtics. No, I it now. Don't disparage the 80s, KD. That's foul, bro. Come on, KD. No, I'm talking about the Isaiah Thomas or the Celtics. No, I'm talking Detroit Isaiah Thomas. No, yeah, yeah. I understand that comparison. Yeah. Those are the two best handles I've ever seen. Isaiah Thomas or the Celtics, he don't really.

No, no, no. I'm saying Detroit Isaiah. Yeah. I'm talking about. You were never talking about Isaiah Thomas. I was talking about Detroit Isaiah. Oh, yeah, yeah. I understand. I understand you saying that Oh, yeah, yeah. I understand.

I understand you saying that. But, yeah, yeah. Those are my top two. I can go anywhere I want to go on the court at all times, guys. Kyrie, you know, playing against him in the finals made me realize how damn good he is. So, when we played against him, I knew we couldn't just come out there And just Dick around We had to play the game You know what I'm saying

Then you got LeBron James Who people call The best player ever to play Your buddy You know what I'm saying So Can we talk about the Uber commercial Why

Explain to me Why you're hanging out With the enemy Just explain to me As a guy who doesn't play sports Enemy He's the enemy How He's the me as a guy who doesn't play sports. The enemy? He's the enemy. How?

He's the guy you have to go through in the title. What does that change? If we go, what does that, like, so you want me to go to bed thinking about, man, fuck LeBron. Yeah. That's what I want. Are you still friends with Jalen Rose? I love Jalen Rose. Yeah.

Well, you got to compete against that. We did a podcast like a month ago. Yeah, so you're at the ringer. He's at ESPN. Yeah, why? Why? Why do you like Jalen Rose? I love Jalen Rose. Yeah, well, you got to compete against that. You did a podcast like a month ago. Yeah, so you're at the ring or you're at ESPN. Yeah, why? Why? Why do you like Jalen Rose? There's only one trophy.

I can't find out how much Portland was up, by the way. I've been Googling. Oh, bitch. They were definitely up double digits in that game. No, I don't think like that.

I don't think like that. They did go on a 15-2 run. Yo, they were up like four or five points at one point. It was a tight game. Tommy's going to figure it out. So the LeBron thing, there's got to be some sort of mental games going on because you guys are standing each other's way. You're hanging out.

You're shooting a thing. There's nothing. Yeah, I got to to trying to figure out this mental stuff man i you cannot figure out what people are thinking man you're not your resource that's why i'm asking you you're not that you're my resource so what is none of y'all your blog boys your blog boys you're not that good to figure out what people thinking man stop acting like you know what's going on in people's heads. You don't. So you're hanging out with LeBron shooting this Uber commercial.

Yeah. Do you talk about your teams? What do you talk about? No. You know CJ McCullough had 27 in the first half. Yeah, I guess that's in that game one. Yeah, but I'm telling you, you guys were down like 13, 15 in that game. No, we weren't.

Come on, how are you going to tell me? I was in the game. Yeah, they weren't down. I'm not down right now. What was it, 15 in that game no we weren't come on how you gonna tell me I was in the game yeah they weren't down I'm not down right now what was it I think it was Spurs game yeah it was Spurs oh I got it mixed up

Spurs we were down 20 oh yeah I've been googling this shit damn it blog boys that's a senior blog boys hashtag blog boys

blog boys I knew it was a game one blog boys don't watch games I watched a game what was Locker boys, don't watch games. I watch the game. What was the most they were down? Four.

Ah, shit. Damn it. You got to watch a game once in a while. I knew it. I watched it. I watched both of those. Want to do some mailbag questions? Some what? Mailbag?

Wait, rank your top five players in the NBA in order. Don't do that. Right now? Why? Why? Because I'm going to push back. Oh, my bad. I thought that was a good thing because we were talking about it before. You said top three or four.

Can I give you a group that has ascended? Yeah, I think that's fair if Kevin's okay with it. We're on the Kevin Durant podcast. Yeah, we are actually. I would say you and LeBron, Davis, and Harden, and Curry if he was

healthy. And Russell. I'd have Russell six. Let's not play this game. If that's a starting five... I don't look at guys' know what I'm saying? If that's a starting five. I don't look at guys as

rankings. I look at it. I'm saying if I was creating my starting five, my best

possible starting five. No, stop that. I think that's where I would create.

We're all elite and we're effective at the game in different ways. The coaches we play for

are supposed to utilize our skill. We're all effective at different parts of the game. I don't look at us as a who's the best, who's not, who's not.

We're all effective. It's a group of guys that are damn good. That's why we're friends. That's the group I was saying. That's why we're friends, right? Because we got mutual respect for each other's skill. LeBron, Russell, Steph, Kyrie, who else is it? Harden.

Jason Tatum. Not yet. You know what I'm saying? We all respect each other because we got a certain set of skills, and we don't look at, oh, this guy's better than me. No, James might shoot a step back better than me. I might shoot the turnaround J better than him. Kyrie got a better hander than everybody,

but I can get to my spot and shoot the, you know, we are an elite group of guys in the league. Like, we're not looking about, oh, Kyrie's better than me or James better than me or LeBron's better than me. How did I answer the question when he asked? I'm just saying. I said it was a group. You did. There's a group that levitates a little bit higher.

And usually that group is somewhere between five and nine players, depending on the season. Right? Where it's like you just know these are kind of the guys for that year. And the only guy that we lost from that group is Kawhi. Oh, Kawhi. Kawhi played nine games. Kawhi. I don't give a damn how many games he played.

But I haven't even seen him play in a year. You know how he plays. I know how he played. You think his game has gotten worse? I get worried when guys have an injury like that and they can't come back. Stop worrying so much. Why? You didn't accomplish too much for you to worry like that.

I get worried about – I worried when you broke your foot. Don't worry about it. You shouldn't have. Stop worrying I think some guys Handle injuries differently It gets in their head a little bit Kawhi is a

Derek Rose was never the same Kawhi is a King Hooper Alright I know King Hoopers When I see him Guys who played Their whole lives Mailbag

Go ahead. Who's the most underrated tough cover in the league as Burry Cline? CJ McCollum. Really? Yeah. A guy you get switched on and you're like, ah, damn it. Nobody. All right.

I feel like I could stop anybody. I might not stop him, but i feel like i could stop anybody i might not stop him but i feel like i can't uh multiple questions about whether there was a bet made between the all-star teams not a bet we just played mark lornetta wonders why haven't players fucked with the media more like a fake twitter beef where only you guys know it's fake just to mess with people. Because they take it too seriously, man. They really believe it's real. So, no, we can't do that.

Alex from Cleveland wants to know, I watched the Undefeated X Uber video you did with LeBron. See, uninterrupted. Uninterrupted. Uninterrupted. He said undefeated. Unfortunately, not surprised that two of the most recognizable athletes in the country talk about politics were being asked by some to stick to sports.

Why is it we don't hear commentators asking teachers to stick to teaching or doctors to stick to medicine? People look at basketball as a real thing. It's just a child's game. We play in a child's game, like we plan a child's game so people don't really respect our intellect intellect yeah they just think we just dumb athletes who just play a sport and based off all our physical enemies when really the game is is all more mental than physical alex wants to know, have you ever considered

not speaking out about a public issue because of the potential backlash? No, not because of the potential backlash. It's more so like I don't really have enough knowledge on the situation. So when you speak out, you've studied

everything you need to know and you're coming at it from a position of strength. I think that's what everybody should do. They should know what they're talking about. Even politicians don't speak out on every issue. Yeah. Well, I agree with you.

You're describing the perfect country. We're imperfect. What's imperfect about our country? Like the stuff with the march this weekend. you think about saying anything no i support i support you know what people that really are in it and really took time to you know you know be a part of it, but no. How much were guns around when you were growing up? D.C.? What do you think? I'm asking you.

They were around... I seen my first gun when I was probably nine years old. Eight years old. My grandma had a gun. On my dad's side, I had a gun. Shia wants to know, isn't it time for you to get into a high-profile relationship with somebody like SZA, Zoe Kravitz, or Rihanna?

With SZA? Nah. High profile, you get on Cover Us Weekly? Come on, man. What do I look like? Does that even exist? The only reason I brought this up is because of her follow-up question. Also, hey Rich, are you single?

Asking for a friend who... Personal, personal... Nah, hold up. Chill out. I want to hear this one. Yo, relax, yo. Yo, personal shit don't go on on this podcast she said

asking for a friend who may or may not live in New York and may or may not be Jewish what a good offer forward that email

bro Jacob from LA wants to know you deal with a lot of dumb basketball criticism from Twitter and TV radio talking heads every day as we discussed earlier the Laura

Ingerham criticism felt different more vicious more personal when you saw that clip was your reaction any different than when you hear other stupid things about you she doesn't know me so I didn't really take it personal she's one of my close friends that said that I would have took it personal, but she doesn't know me.

She don't know where I come from or what I believe in. She used her emotions to, you know. Her emotions got in the way on that one, so it's all good. She just don't know who I am. That's very diplomatic. Yeah, but also when someone is so ignorant and says something so so stupid so openly she's speeding up the process of hopefully one day things being fixed in this world because she's being honest she's really being honest about how

absolutely racist she is yeah and it's taking the mask off a lot of people and then it's people that have been ignoring the fact that that exists every day everywhere with people that you're right next to the people that you think really love you and that's how people think so then you can start figuring out some kind of solution so in some ways i remember telling kevin that morning of all-star weekend and i was infuriated and then i was like he wasn't as mad and it was like what's up? He's like man, of course she feels that way Like it was like he just was it was not that it was it was less offensive to him But he wasn't surprised whereas like for us I think because we're non racist white people

There's like we just assume that people maybe would think how we think too, right and people don't think about that But she was just like an outward racist. So i don't think you were really surprised by it i'm not gonna get mad over a woman who doesn't know me who says some type of says some shit like that like come on she's supposed to the irony was she started the shut up and dribble thing inadvertently and then that became a thing came with that became the legacy of it. Go for her. She's probably really lonely right now. Yeah. I feel sorry for her.

I hope she gets some help one day. CJ wants to know, he says much love, by the way. Are any topics off limits when it comes to trash talking on the court, in your personal opinion? Yeah, you don't talk about family, kid. You don't talk about none of that. Keep that on the basketball court. You don't talk about family. Have you told Draymond this yet?

He never talked about it. He don't take it that far. He's done it once. There's one story with one teammate. Yeah, stop believing in stories. It was at the game. It was at the game. I could hear it. Come on, man.

Stop it. Somebody's sister was saying something. Was it the game that Portland was I was at the game. I could hear it. Come on, man. Stop it. Somebody's sister. Was it the game that Portland was up 14 on the board? You don't talk about kids. You don't talk about none of that stuff, man. We keep it at the game.

Jamal from Birmingham says, I've noticed lots of veteran superstars are giving Donovan Mitchell a ton of love both on and off the court. Oh, yeah. I want to see how that love

feel when Donovan Mitchell's starting to threaten him. Threaten Jamal from Birmingham? No. I want these NBA stars, whoever this is, when Donovan Mitchell's starting to. There won't be the love anymore? No. Hell no. They ain't going to love him no more when he's starting to, you know.

People start to say he's better than some of these NBA stars, whoever it is. You know, they ain't gonna love him no more. One of your weirdest things is when you get mad when I compare a player

to another player. Stop that. You like everybody to be like their own unique model of human being. Yeah. But that's not fun. Yeah.

I like when people have pieces of players I watch. I can be like, oh, there's a little of this. Don't be a culture vulture, man. Culture. Don't be a culture vulture. man. Don't be a culture vulture. I don't even know what that means.

Start comparing each other to, no. Let these dudes be who they are, man. Donovan Mitchell is unique in his own way. All right. I still like my T-Mac, George Garvin,

Plastic Man. I'm not going to know. I'm not going to know. What is it when, what does a rookie have that, Mitchell where the guys like at your level are like what do you see in somebody like that where you say oh that I like that guy that's one of us what is is there a trait you look for is there a competitiveness or like a fire like he comes at you what is it? When you just don't care.

Donovan Mitchell took 36 shots the other night, and I was like, wow. He really just tried to win that game. Right. You know what I'm saying? He reminded me of Dwayne Wade. Yeah, he doesn't really. Young Dwayne Wade, though. You almost went along for like one second.

You're right. I understand the comparisons, but I try not to do it. But I get where you're going with that. But I just like when they, you know, Donovan Mitchell's going to learn from that 36-shot game. You know what I'm saying? It's going to make him better. And he's going to have the room to take 36 shots and learn from it.

You know, his coach could sit him down and say, look, Donovan, like, you know, I like your aggressiveness, but like 36 shots is a lot. And he's going to figure out that, you know, he can have – he had 35 points that night. He can have 35 points without getting 36 shots. A lot of rookies don't have that opportunity. And I like that he has that opportunity. You know what I'm saying? I like that he's learning from his mistakes.

I like that he's, you know, figuring the game out by shooting a lot of shots and being aggressive out there instead of just, like, watching film or sitting on the sideline. Like, I like those type of guys because I was that type of guy. I can relate to him. You know what I'm saying? Because I was taking a lot of shots my rookie year. You mean when P.J. was playing you at the two-guard? him. You know what I'm saying? Because I was taking a lot of shots my rookie year. You mean when PJ

was playing you at the two guard? Yeah. You know what I'm saying? I can relate to him a little bit more than Jason Tatum or Josh Jackson.

You know what I'm saying? It's not like they're bad players. Right. I really like those players. Different situations. Yeah, but I can relate to Donovan Mitchell's

situation more so than Jason Tatum. You know what I'm saying? Well, you also, you played Tatum twice and he had deer in the headlights of both games. Yeah. I've watched him all season and those were like two of his four worst games of the season.

Tell me why. Because I think he's 19 and he's playing against the Warriors. I think he got nervous. It's not true. I know. He's a baby. When he plays you next year, I bet he'll have a little sea legs. You know, it's been good for him and not good for the Celtics.

Yeah. There's been games where he's the only guy who can create a shot with four minutes left and they're just going to him. On Sunday? Yeah. You need, if you want to be, if you need that, you need what Donovan Mitchell is getting, you need what Jason Tatum is getting right now.

He hasn't been forced to do that yet. You need that. Or just get thrown in the fire. Yeah. That's the best teacher. Kyrie missing is a weirdly good thing for him. It's good for you. Cesar from Brooklyn wants to know,

if Scarlett agreed to date you, but only if you retired after the season, what would you do? No. I'm sorry. Hold on. He's still thinking about it. I would go eat sushi.

See, maybe retire for six months. Oh, you said retire. That's why I said um, no. Oh, I didn't hear that. You could always retire and then come back. Hell no. She's not that important. Who would get more technicals?

Dave G wants to know. Coach Draymond or player Draymond? Coach Draymond for sure. Tate thought player Draymond. It's a good battle. Coach Draymond would get text for sure. Because he'll be like, this is a tactic. You know what I'm saying?

This is a way I'm going to get my team going. That's true. He's trying to fire everybody up. Yeah. This is a way it's going to get my team going. That's true. He's trying to fire everybody up. Yeah. This is a question from me. Do you like Players Night on TNT? Yeah, I like Players Night. All right, explain why you like it.

Because I don't fuck with these blog boys. Yeah, but that's what the play-by-play announcers are, blog boys. They are. I want to hear players talk about the game. But the problem is the players are pretending to be broadcasters. Yeah, I understand that. They're not as good at broadcasting the game. Just hang out.

Yeah. Don't try to be a playboy. But they know the game. They know the game more than these blog boys. Okay. All right, you're going to like this one. This is either going to be the best question or the one that you're going to hate the most. All right.

From Jack in Maple Grove, Minnesota. He's a blog boy. He's a blog boy. Sounds like a blog boy already. Is Migos similar to the early Thunder Days with you, Westbrook, and Harden? Great together, but you don't see their full potential

until they're by themselves. There's a lot going on with this question, including the inference that Migos needs to break up to really reach their full potential. Your son on Instagram the other day broke down Migos in the perfect way. I know. My son loves Migos.

My 10-year-old son. Yo, I love Migos. How did he break him down? He ranked his top three favorite Migos members. But he really gave real elaborate answers. Yeah. He loves Quavo the most because he's good at sports and he's a badass. Can we really have a segment on this?'t this is why i brought this up on this

put the ipad down so we can talk about okay all right so who's quavo out of the group i don't know you you're all gonna have mvps yes he's quavo who is no i'm not quavo well you were the oldest one is quavo the oldest one no he is yeah i, I think he is. He is an uncle. Uncle? Yeah, he's an uncle of one of them. Who's takeoff? I don't know. Do you want to see

my son's video? No, I don't want to see your son's video. You don't want to see my son's... Not right now, but I bet you will. I was going to...

I do, later. Later. I saw it. It was amazing. I love your son. I was driving. He was in the front. You asked me who he laid it at. I was going to show it to you. I love your son. I'll to ask you who he laid it out

I'll show it to you later so who's Quavo you said I'm Quavo who's takeoff and offset Harden's takeoff and Russell's offset Tommy thinks Harden's takeoff and Russell's offset

yeah I would say that yeah I would say that. Yeah, I would say that. Do you think they have to break up to reach their full potential? They better not break up, in my opinion. No, I don't think so. Because I would argue it would have been, there's a fun alternate universe where the three of you

stay together and maybe you reach all your potential anyway, but you're all on the same team. That would have been hard. Do you think it would have been hard? Yeah. Because of the law of basketball, that somebody's got to be the alpha at some point? Somebody explain what alpha means.

At some point, there's four minutes left. What does alpha mean? Because I keep hearing this term. Who created that? It's gotten bastardized but here's how what does alpha dog mean well normally it's like alpha male alpha dog

where it's like it's in a room and you know like there will be blood or something where like Daniel Day-Lewis is the alpha dog who's the alpha

of the 85 Celtics well Bird was the alpha explain what alpha means but here's what it means here's what I think I perceive it as meaning for basketball. Okay.

You're in Cleveland. You're up 2-0. There's three minutes left. Cleveland's got the crowd behind them. They're about to win. And at some point, everybody's got to look around and somebody's got to be like, I got this. That's how I interpret Alpha for basketball.

So you're saying I said that? I think in that series you did I didn't say it though No but you didn't need to Like the 08 Olympics in Greece When Spain's coming at them And they're rattled The crowd's into it

And Kobe's like I got this guys It makes a couple plays You just gave the ball to the best player right? Yeah Do you need to say that? You don't need to say it. No, you give me the ball. Coach, give me the ball.

I think it just happens. If the balance is right on the team, it happens. In the game of basketball, shit happens. And when teams don't know what that balance is, you have situations like 2011 Miami, the first year when they lost in the finals. And Wade and LeBron were like equally good. And then things started going wrong. And the balance, it wasn't there.

And it wasn't really there until the next year when Wade kind of hurt his knee. And LeBron's like, I got this. And he went up. Because basketball is unlike any other sport. At some point. The energy of basketball tells you who the best player is. You don't have

to say it. You don't have to go and tell everybody what to do. You don't have to be the main guy in the huddles and talking shit. No. The game is going to show you. When you're out on the court, it's going to show you who to get the ball to at certain moments. Sometimes they needed to get Wade the ball. Sometimes they needed to get Wade the ball.

Sometimes they needed to get Braun the ball. The game dictated that. No person can do it. That's why I love this basketball game so much because the energy of the game dictates whatever happens out there. We have part two coming up.

We're going to put it up at some point on Thursday. I'm not telling you when. You're just going to have to keep refreshing our we're gonna put it up at some point on Thursday I'm not telling you when you're just gonna have to keep refreshing our website waiting for it to come up uh it gets really crazy in part two it it the wheels come off in a lot of different ways in a very fun way so that's coming don't forget about uh the ringer merch now available all you have to do is go to the ringer.com slash shop and you can get our coveted green hat as well as we have a hoodie up there. We have about six t-shirts.

We're going to be adding a whole bunch more as the year goes along. So stay tuned for that. Don't forget about the recapables. Atlanta is Thursday right after Atlanta ends on FX. Then we have it and then on Sunday right after Billions on Showtime. Me and Mally Rubin

doing it. And if you haven't subscribed to Ringer MLB yet, Jacko and I might be on there this week, going back and forth about the Red Sox. And then Shaq House golf podcast, the Masters. House and I are going to be there next week, but the big Masters preview of Shaq House I think is Monday. I haven't been

this excited for a Masters all decade. Plus I'm going. What's better than that? Anyway, part two of Kevin Durant coming up tomorrow. Until then. Thanks, Dave. I don't have feelings with him. On the wayside,'m a person never lost

And I don't have to be