The Bill Simmons Podcast - NBA Intrigue, Luka Mania, Jack Nicholson Stories, and 45 Years Courtside at Lakers Games With Jonathan Tjarks and Lou Adler | The Bill Simmons Podcast (Ep. 367)

Episode Date: May 18, 2018

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons talks with Jonathan Tjarks about the Eastern and Western Conference finals and NBA draft lottery candidates including Luka Doncic, Deandre Ayton, and Miles Bridges (3:00), Then Bill sits down with music legend and 45-plus-year Lakers season-ticket holder Lou Adler to talk about witnessing NBA history, the Roxy, some incredible Jack Nicholson stories, and more (38:30). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Coming up, we are going to talk a little NBA lottery, leftover stuff, as well as maybe preview what we think might happen coming up for the rest of the conference finals here, especially in an increasingly fascinated Warriors Rocket Series. That's with Jonathan Jerks from the Ringer. And then the legendary NBA fan, the Laker fan, who has sat next to Jack Nicholson for the last 45 years or so, Lou Adler. We went to his house

in Malibu on Wednesday and taped a wide ranging basketball conversation with him that the bottom line is I'm just running out of people to talk basketball with that are on my level. I have to drive to random places to go meet people who've been to awesome games. And I continue to challenge myself for you, the listener, for this free podcast that I hope you continue to listen to for the rest of your lives.

Coming up, Pearl Jam. All right, we're taping this Thursday late afternoon, Los Angeles time. Why? Because there's no playoff game tonight. Jonathan Jarks is here. I'm still not saying it right. You're not saying it right. I wasn't going to say anything. Jonathan Jarks.

There we go. It's like a C-H. It's like a C-H, yes. Jonathan Jarks is here. Hey. You know what it is? I have that thing when something reads a certain way and you pronounce it that way, regardless of, it's almost like a speech impediment. We'll get stuck in your head the one way and you just, it's hard to get out of that kind of rhythm.

Certain names like Micah, Mika, things like, like things that seem like they should be spelled a certain way, but then it's spelled the other. It's like Jim Nance, the May Mays. Yes. Are you talking about memes? Yeah, exactly. The may-may's. I want to say may-may's are me-me's and not just memes. So you've been writing for The Ringer for really since we launched it. And every time we try to do a podcast with you,

it's some sort of terrible technological disaster. Well, now I have no choice. I barged my way in here. I said, I'm getting on this podcast. But you're on Ringer MBA show. You're a valuable member of that. Yeah. You're a draft expert.

You're an NBA expert. I hesitate to use the word expert. As Charles Barkley always says, only God's an expert. Well, but you bring a lot of expertise to the table. We'll go with that. We'll go with that. Connoisseur. I said this to Allison Herman.

I don't think of her as a TV critic. I think of her as a TV connoisseur. I think of her as an NBA connoisseur. I think of her as an NBA connoisseur. Yeah. I like to sample. You can do, you can break down

pick and rolls and crap like that, but you can also assess stuff and you have a big picture feel and all that stuff. Yeah,

the world of basketball, man, it's fun. How excited should I be? Actually, you know what? People are going to get mad that I talk about

the Celtics game. We'll save them for after. How excited should I be as a Celtic fan that Steph Curry does not look 100%? And it's a Russian is cut kind of moment right now for the Souths. The seemingly

invincible Warriors, but now one of their best guys doesn't look right. I think to me it's like if Houston drags this series out. Remember in 2016 when Steph had to go seven games, give him a five game series versus a seven game series. That could be go seven games. Give him a five-game series versus a seven-game series. That could be a big difference. I should be rooting for Houston

in a long series. I should root for Houston regardless. Why? They're not as good as Golden State. If you want to be in the finals, you want to play Houston, not Golden State, I would think. The Celtics do play Houston well. By the way, I have no idea if the Celtics are going to make the finals, but I've allowed myself to even start contemplating it with a 2-0

lead. I always say overreact whenever it just happens. Yeah. It's a good philosophy. They, for some reason, have defended Harden about as well as anybody. And it's not for some reason, actually. I should say Marcus Smart, he's pretty good at defending James Harden. Hey, Dallas is on Marcus Smart.

He's great. But, you know, Houston's really good and they're going to have home court. And I think the key with this Boston team, these first three rounds has just been they're really good at home. One thing I like, I think with Houston being exposed a bit, it's like if I'm going to let Harden score 40, I'm going to let Paul and Gordon do some things. And then let's make Ariza, Mbamute, Tucker, make them create shots.

Like test them. Like they did with Covington in the other round. Like make those guys get their own offense. He was my favorite player in round two, Covington. He was like, keep shooting, Rocco. Please put another one up. Yeah, I think what's really helped the Warriors and would help the Celtics or the Cavs,

whoever makes the finals, is Mbamute doesn't look right. Man, he looks, he can't even make a layup right now. It's sad. It almost is like, you know, in the hockey playoffs when you find out after the series

that somebody was playing with like a broken ankle. Yeah, yeah. Somebody else was playing with a punctured lung and they have all these injuries that they hid. Yeah, he had some quotes like,

I'm not going to dunk anymore. Well, that's probably not a good sign. Yeah. And they needed his length and athleticism, as Chad Ford, our old friend Chad Ford would say once upon a time. I like what D'Antoni did last night. It's just very peak D'Antoni. He's like, I have six

guys I trust. That's my guys. We're just doing it. I love that in the playoffs. And I never understand, like, Philly was playing 11 guys in crucial playoff games in round two. If you don't know who your eight guys are by the end of round two, you're in trouble. And then, especially when you have,

how many days do they have off? Four? Yeah, something like that. I also, I was talking to somebody about the rookie wall in the playoffs and whether it exists, who I won't name. And they were saying there is no such thing as the rookie wall because the adrenaline

from these playoff games is so profound that even if you're tired, you don't even feel tired. You don't feel it till after the playoffs. And Durant said that too. Durant was just flying through last year's finals and they played all these games. And then the moment it ended, he just crashed. Interesting. And I think with, with the six man lineup, basically, I think you can get away with that as long as it's not like game seven, where you've been playing every other day for the last week and a half and your guys just don't have their

legs. Situation like yesterday, it's smart. Just go with your best six. Split up the minutes. You get 240 minutes total for six guys. It's like, all right, 42 minutes and then 30 for the other guy. Let's go. I think it's the biggest thing is just like Kerr playing David West. How can you play David West? What is he going to do though? There's six through 12 guys that are atrocious. I think it's the biggest thing. It's just like Kerr playing David West. Like how can you play David West?

What is he going to do though? There's six through 12 guys are atrocious. They play six or seven guys too. I think they go Hamptons five, Looney Livingston. That's their seven. Maybe. Who's five?

The Hamptons five as a starters. Oh yeah. Yeah. Then Looney and Livingston. That's your seven guys. I think like. I don't even know if I'd play Looney. Yeah.

I mean, the level of basketball is so high right now. You gotta be good to stay on the floor. Like you've just got this level of play just getting raised. I've never, yeah, I agree with you. And I've never remembered a playoffs where there's just certain guys

who actually are probably good at basketball who just, you can't play them. Like Greg Monroe, I feel like offensively, if you played him enough, you can't bring him in for three minutes. If you played him for seven minutes and you're like, we're going to post you up and run the offense through you, he'd actually do a pretty good job.

And on the other end, you can't hide him. Wherever he is, he's going to end up with a smaller dude on him who's just going to go buy him. And that's it. And you got to take him out. Yeah, that's the thing about the play. It's the shape-shifting. It's like, we're going to find wherever you are.

We're attacking it right away. Like every minute is valuable. I mean, you look at 2016 with Kerr and that game seven, playing Vergeau and Azealia, maybe right there is a championship. And there was like five minutes left in game seven and Harrison Barnes was a section eight at that point.

He's just out. I can't talk about Harry Barnes. Mavs franchise player. Well, he just, for whatever reason, melted down in that series and current four guys. And it's like, who's my fifth guy? And that's really why they lost the title. He just needed a fifth guy for like three minutes

and couldn't find one. And Azili's out there just giving up plays to LeBron. The Celtics have, I think, seven and a half guys, I trust. They got seven. That's nice. send me in the in a home game maybe guarding LeBron or whoever

for four minutes I'm fine with but it's seven guys that I trust which Cleveland I think they have LeBron in love

and then at this point Tristan I guess you trust him that's it like at least he's gonna have energy the circle of trust is very small

but like George Hale looked like a corpse in game two I know he'll be better in game three but I was like when Tristan, I guess you trust him. That's it. Like the circle of trust is very small. But like George Hill looked like a corpse in game two. I know he'll be better in game three, but. I was like, they need George Hill and Rodney Hood. Like Matt says it all right there. Like those guys got to play well. And how can you have confidence in that? They're just not good. It's, I've been thinking a lot about game two

since it happened and LeBron throwing one of the all-time haymakers in the first half. And then they're up five at halftime. It's such a bad sign for that team. Now, I think game three, you're home. The Celtics have not been good on the road. You know, you get some calls. LeBron gets treated a little differently at home.

There's a whole bunch of factors that will help them. How many possessions could it go? Like, let's limit possessions. Could it be like a 90-85 game? Is that possible? Can they keep Boston totally in the half court? Slow it down there. They don't get back on D.

They don't really move on D. It reminds me a lot. There was this moment in the 2014 finals when I realized the Spurs were going to win. And it was like during game four. And I was just watching the Miami on defense. And I was like, they're just, the Spurs are just a second and a half ahead of them

on everything. Like they're running faster, they're moving the ball. And it's like, this will never change. They could play a hundred times. I do wonder if there's a piece of that with the Celtics series where the Cavs are so slow on defense. They don't like to get back.

LeBron's resting. They have all these like minus defensive players. And if you have good ball movement and you're pushing the ball, does that change? I don't know how you fix that. I mean, there's just so many holes to attack. Yeah. There's just so many spots. Like they need Korver. That's the thing to me is like Korver was like the big piece in Toronto and he just can't be out here against the ball. Wherever he goes, he's getting hit. Right.

And I, I could argue he should have played more minutes because Jr was getting 30 plus minutes. And I, if he's out there for that long, cause I guess Korver at least gives you offense. Like at least, you know,

he's going to give you that. I just judge it for myself. I'm scared when Korver's out there. I feel like he's going to score every time. Yeah. Jr is like, please shoot at home. He's a little different,

but, but yeah, they, you know, LeBron had a killer please shoot. At home, he's a little different. LeBron had a killer first half. Maybe Chetty Osman is the adjustment in game three. I was waiting for them to play him. He gives them energy at least. He tries. They got 65 points out of LeBron and Love and they lost by 13.

That's a terrible sign. That's why I think it's the third score thing. I'm going to give you two roads. Cavs get swept seventh game in Boston. And it's one of those two things. What do you think is more likely? I mean, I'm not going to bet against LeBron. I feel like he doesn't want to get,

I feel like LeBron at home, I just can't see them getting swept. I think LeBron's got at least a 45-40 game. I think seventh game is more likely too. I could see them winning game three. Game four is just... Kevin loves it. It's eight threes.

That'll be the one. LeBron scores 45. That's going to be the close game. If they get them 3-1, it's over. If they get it 2-2, it'll be a long series. That'd be my guess. Rockets-Warriors. Did game two change? I thought they were going to get

swept after game 1 and I love to overreact along with everybody else. Game 2 I didn't know if the Rockets would have the balls to do what they did which was enough with the ISO bullshit that works in the regular season and actually like attack more

and more slash and kick and they play it a little more conventionally and it worked the Warriors would be ready for a game three but I also wondered I was like I don't know if this Warriors team once they prove how great they are

then the next game it's like they don't have that extra like they don't have that step on the throat thing. It's like, ah, we already beat them. It's like, yeah, but you've got three more games left. It's crazy how fast it turned. They used to be this scrappy team. No one doubts us.

Now we are the champs. We don't care. We'll win whenever we feel like. We proved it again. The best bet of the year is probably betting against the Warriors after they've played an awesome game. It's like they won the title. It's like, yeah, we know, you're awesome.

But how about doing that two games in a row? Just resting on their laurels all the time. I honestly wonder if it's a lack of an alpha dog. There's got to be somebody in that team who just... Grant and Marcus Smart is in one-fif fifth of the player like KD and Curry is, like just from a ceiling standpoint.

But there's games where he's just like, we're not losing. I'm not letting us do this tonight. And the intensity and energy that he brings is so over the top. It gets the crowd going. And the Warriors don't have that guy. I've always kind of thought that the leader was probably Iuodala but he's getting a little old now like i don't know if he's got it bring it like that yeah it should be draymond he's just got the crack him and chris paul one of them's gonna go crazy in the series where they just do something snout something

crazy yeah chris paul does seem like he's hitting a tipping point of emotionally where if this series goes wrong he might create the greatest flicker foul we've ever seen in our lives. I loved in game one when he elbowed KD in the backcourt and then flopped after he elbowed the guy. That was priceless. He'll also, he'll go in these modes.

He used to do this with the Clippers too. I was always like, seeing it in person was so impressive where he'll just commit like 30 fouls in a game. He starts fouling in the first quarter. And then it's like, you can't call it a foul belatedly. And he'll, he'll just club people with his arms. I feel like with Chris Paul, he's like, I'm trying my best and I'm small and I still want

to win. So I'm just going to break the rules. It's my right as a small person to break the rules. It's very little Napoleon. Certain guys just set the tone early with that and get away with it. Covington, I felt like, was like that in the Sixers. It was very like the Patriots DB thing. And Marcus Smart's like that.

Where they just tackle people. Yeah. Marcus Smart's like, I'm playing like this the whole game, so if you're not calling me now, I'm just going to keep going. And then you can't flip it. But I think they really missed Mbamute, and I do wonder if they could have won this series with him I don't

I just think Durant's the best player in the series and ultimately they don't have an answer and there's going to be a moment in this series and he'll be the best guy because the thing I noticed in game two it seemed like Golden State lost the game in the first half they played like two or three really bad lineups they got Houston running and Houston

running got their other guy's shots. Like they're moving the ball, got Ariza's shots, Tucker's shots. If Golden State's scoring getting back on the half court, I think that really limits them. To me, it's Klay Thompson.

Durant's getting his points. That's just happening. Steph, we don't know. This feels like a Klay Thompson series to me. But Klay is like a cat. You never know when he's going to like

hop on your lap. Yeah, I mean. He might just be like, where's Klay? He's in the garage. I don't know where he is. It's like he's. Yeah, I mean. He might just be like, where's Clay? He's in the garage. I don't know where he is. It's like he's so vicious. Some of those shots in game one, and the ball swings to Clay and he's open.

It's like, what a helpless feeling. That's going in. Forget it. I'm trying to think. One of the things that's weird about this series is usually there's the 6th, 7th, 8th eighth, ninth man will swing at least one game. And in this series, it's clearly just our top six. Get your top six. It's almost like a pickup game.

To me, I'm looking at, I think, Durant and Harden, they'll get in theirs. To me, I'm looking at Klay and Steph versus Gordon and Paul, whichever of those two backcourts can just dominate. I think that's the key. So you do, you host a, what would your pick, by the way, if you had to pick? Who's your finals right now? Oh, Golden State and Boston.

Okay, even nuts. So you've contributed a ton to our NBA draft guide that's fucking awesome. Yeah, shout out to our editors in this team. The design's incredible. It's one of the best things we've done. And then you're also hosting the Draft Class Podcast on Friday with KOC,

Danny Chow, producer, the Iceman. Isaac Iceley. The Iceman, Isaac Lee. when we see where the NBA has gone, I don't understand how somebody like Mo Bamba can be considered a top five pick. Because I just, I'm always a look at the

series guy. Look at, look at here. All right. We have four teams left. Imagine Mo Bamba in this series. Imagine Mo Bamba in this series. And it's like, imagine Mo Bamba in this Cavs Celtics series. Who's he? Is he playing five minutes?

The answer is no, he's not. Here's the thing. Like to me, Gobert is a much better version of Bamba and Gobert last two years, Golden State, Houston, they just killed him. They killed him. And he's the,

he's the rich man's version of Mo Bamba. Yeah. And I like, I'm a Texas guy. Mo's great off the court, but I didn't get where you're coming from. I just would be, I think I said this on Zach's podcast this week,

Ainge and Bob Myers and the Warriors guys, Ainge and Mike Zahra and all the Boston guys, they realized about two years before everybody else, interchangeable perimeter guys with size who can create their shot and switch on D, ranging from 6'6 to 6'9. Get as many of these guys as possible. And the positions don't matter possible. And just the positions

don't matter. And I think you look at like Boston having these high draft picks and they like specifically targeted that type of player. They said, we're going to get Tatum.

I mean, even beyond Tatum and Brown, like if they had drafted bigs and point guards, who knows what they'd be right now. But they knew we want two way big wing switchable. Even Marcus is somebody

who can guard four positions. Yeah. I mean, he's like bigger than 6'4". Yeah, yeah, yeah. He plays like he's 6'7". So now that we know this, why aren't the guys in the 6'6 to 6'9 range,

why don't they have like a distorted value? Well, it is- Who's that guy, Zaire Smith? Love Zaire. He's like 6'2", though. Oh, is he? I thought he was taller. He measured out at 6'4 with shoes. I love Zaire, though. Oh, 6'4", though. Oh, is he? I thought he was taller. He measured out at 6'4", with shoes.

I love Zaire, though. Oh, 6'4", with shoes? Oh, that kills that theory. No, but I mean, he's great. He's a little wee bit Westbrook-y, right? Just a tiny bit? In terms of athletic ability? Athleticism?

Athletic ability with Zaire Smith is unbelievable. So who are 6'6"-6'9"-guys? To me, the guy is Miles Bridges, the Michigan State guy. That's my guy. I think he's been really, he's the guy I think is like hiding in plain sight in this year's draft. I feel like his floor is very high and then like maybe a ceiling, but 6'6, 6'7, 230 pounds. Really good shooter, good feel for the game. I think he can play right now in one of these series.

That's the one guy. It feels like that position has become like the left tackle in football where they do the draft boards and the quarterbacks are always at the top. And then, and then eventually the left tackle ends up going third or fourth because you go through the draft and team number three is like, we need a left tackle. That's the best left tackle. Let's take them. That's what Bridges is. I think he's going to be like that where he'll go five spots higher than I think people have him now the one thing yeah there is

a lot of big body wings in this draft I think there's a point guard glut I'm not as excited about Trae Young as I would have been 15 years ago as a draft pick because every fucking team has a point card yeah there's like how many Orlando Indiana if you go down the line there's maybe five teams that could genuinely

use a point card. There's even like Kyle Lowry. Let's say you wanted to move him. Who wants an old point card? Or Mike Conley. Who wants to pay $35 million a year for Mike Conley coming off two different injuries? And then you've got to pay him for three more years. And the other thing too, drafting a point card, we see it in Dallas.

I like Dennis, but you draft Dennis, we're going to be bad for a while. We've got a young point guard running pick and rolls all game. It's going to take years for him to figure it out. Could Dennis have played in either of these series? I think he could have been an instant offense guy, but I don't know if they trust him on defense. Probably not, honestly.

He probably could have played the Jordan Clarkson spot for Cleveland. He wouldn't have been worse. That spot on the bench. No, no. In game one, the irrational confidence, instant offense, getting lost on defense every play spot. Yeah, yeah.

Whatever spot that is. Yeah, that's not long for this world in a big issue. So the big dilemma with this draft, every year we have to pit two guys against each other. That's what we do with the NBA draft. This year it's Luka Doncic. Did I say that right? Doncic.

Doncic. That's another one. I can't pronounce names. See, I read all these names and I never say them out loud and Isaac always kills me for mispronouncing them. And DeAndre Ayton, the center from Arizona. I am in Team Luka. I'm Luka all the way.

I'm Luka all the way. And I just don't understand why Phoenix would even deliberate on this. I mean, I think it just like, in theory, athletically, his size and skill. I get why you'd be interested in Aiden,

but to me, his defense is just such a question mark. I just worry about that. The thing with Luca, I always love when people are like, well, we're not positive about his athleticism yet. And his speed's not quite there and these little things.

And yeah, first of all, he's 18. And then second of all, we've seen this over and over again. We just saw it with Donovan Mitchell last year when he was in college. You graduate college.

All you do is train to play sports and you get a little bit better at everything see I was just talking to a European scout about this and he was telling me Luca has been playing ball for the last 18 months he's not been in the weight room working out and he's already like 6'8, 230. Guess what he's not doing

he's not on the fucking beach running with a parachute strapped to his back he's just playing basketball cause like if you get him cut up a little bit then maybe the lack of speed, he's just going to punish dudes. He's just huge. That's the thing I look on people and say, he's 230 pounds at 18.

He's a big old dude. Also like the kind of reps that he's getting. And I really do believe in this. And I think it hurt Philadelphia in the, in the playoffs. Like Ben Simmons, who's at Monteverde Academy or whatever, and has this wasted year at LSU.

He takes last year off. Now all of a sudden he's in the playoffs. And it's like, I just didn't feel like he had the big game reps. Yeah, I mean, people don't realize like EuroLeague Final Four is a huge deal over there. Yeah, he's 18. He's playing against,

basically those teams are what? As good as, I don't know, Orlando? Yeah, I mean, like I've been watching Real Madrid all last few days. They'd beat the Mavs, honestly. Yeah. They're better than five NBA teams. You're going to laugh though.

So the big matchup in the final four tomorrow, it's Anthony Randolph versus Jan Vesely at the four spot. Oh, wow. Look at that. But Anthony Randolph had a resurgence though, right? He wants to come back to the league. So like Lucas teammates, Jeff Taylor, former Hornets wingman, Rudy Fernandez, Anthony

Randolph, Gustavo Aion. Like they're all former NBA players in their late 20s. I like Gustavo Aion. The thing that impressed me the most about it is like this guy's 18, 19 and these grown men are like, Lucas, your team, go with it. Like you're so good, we're just going to let you run with it. So that's what blew me away with him is he's their crunch time guy, but he's also like, it seems like he's the leader on the court. He's 18. He's like a prodigy. The funny thing is like, if he,

if some guy misses a cut, like Luke is a hothead. He'll just cuss him out. Yeah. He doesn't care. It's weird. Like most young guys, an older thing team,

you think, Oh, he's the freshman, the varsity. He's trying to get his, get everyone involved. No, Luke is like,

I'm 18. I'm the best player of the Yankees on Europe. I'm just killing people my whole life. Like, I don't care. I'm the man. Yeah. And he's got crunch time chops.

He's got the step back three already. I mean, he's got crunch time moves. Yeah. His swag is phenomenal. Yeah. I mean, the Bengal tiger tattoo. Now, I was a big Rubio guy. I thought Rubio, I just thought he played in the 2008 Olympics in the gold medal game.

He was 17. He was playing against the greatest players we had and belonged. And after I saw that, I was like, I'm in on that guy. And then he missed the two years, comes in, goes to Minnesota. He's on a fucking crazy team. They have a million failed lottery picks and weirdness. And then really started to come together with Al Jefferson. And then Kobe fell on his leg and he hurt his knee.

And then it was like more losing. And it just was the, it's just perfect, perfect example of just wrong situation for the wrong guy. And if he goes to 20 other teams, it goes completely differently. But, you know, now he is what he is. He's a solid starting guard, but it's disappointing. I think Luka was better than him anyway.

I mean, Luka is 6'8", 230. And he's got a jump. Like the thing with Luka, what everyone's going to see is like, how good is that jumper? Because there'll be games where he just goes like seven for nine from three and just hits crazy shots, but he's only shooting 31% this year. Like he needs that jumper to be wet for sure. That's where his ceiling comes from. Well, considering he's five years older than my daughter, I have faith in him. I mean, 18 is so young. Yeah, it's incredible.

Think about, this is my case with Tatum. When, you know, the fact that he was 19 for most of the year and he's 20 right now, and the reps that he's getting in the playoffs, and it's like, this is the worst he's ever gonna be. Yeah. Like, all he's gonna do is get better every year from this spot where he's a crunch time guy on Yeah. All he's going to do is get better every year from this spot

where he's a crunch time guy on a team that might make the finals. You know? The one thing to watch the Luka, like it's kind of a reverse. So in Madrid, he's very much like Donovan Mitchell, where he's this young guy in this old team. So for example, in this Panathinaikos series that just ended. So the first game, they like press Luka, try to trap him, get the ball of his hands.

And then Madrid just switches it up and uses Luka off the ball. They have him running around screens and playing off. And it's like the whole team has kind of changed in like a snap. Like they're very well coached. I love their head coach.

He's good. They're very veteran. Like next year, Luka will probably go to a bad young team with a lot of culture around him. So that'll be an adjustment. It's like the reverse of most NCAA guys where he's going from like

being the man on a young team versus going to an old team. Whereas he's going from an old team to a young team in the NBA. Well, coming up, I'm going to tell you where I don't want him to go. But first, this break. Hey, have you heard about Sonos One? It blends great sound with Amazon Alexa for hands-free control of your music and more. You use your voice, you play songs, turn on lights, adjust temperature, do all kinds of things. It's actually voice, you play songs, turn on lights, adjust temperature, do all kinds of things. It's actually annoying if you have kids who just start barking orders at it

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This is a very important topic for me. And I know it's like the Celtics have had an embarrassment of riches and good breaks over the years, and I don't want to get greedy. I don't want him to go to Sacramento. The Celtics have Sacramento's top one protected pick next year. Oh, I was really going with that.

If they take Aiton, Aiton, he's not going to be an impact guy next year. No, no. He'll run the floor. He's a project. It would pretty much be Aiden's he's not gonna be an impact guy next year no no he'll block some shots he'll run the floor he's a project it would pretty much

be impossible for Sacramento to not finish in the top five of the lottery if that's the pick if Luka comes over I'm scared

the one thing to watch he could swing them by 12 wins I'd be curious to see how Luka and Fox work out. Because like when Luka goes Sacramento, he's got him.

And I read an article on Bogdan. They're actually friends. They know each other. Yeah. And so these two guys, like we're Euros, running on ball, off ball stuff is great. So where does Fox fit in? Do we need a 6-1 point guard who can't shoot?

Trade him. I don't know. It'll be interesting to see how that. They're both kind of elf. Luka and Fox are both kind of elf. Fox has a chance to be an all-star someday. Luka has a chance to be like a top five NBA player. So that'd be the big-

That's not even a competition for me. That'd be the big question is like, do they just move off Fox already? Well, I think he ends up in Phoenix. You think it's a smokescreen they're setting right now with Aiden or just- Yeah. Why'd they hire his coach?

Yeah, that thing doesn't make any sense to me. Red flag. Yeah. Luka, Booker, Josh Jackson. I love that. I love that three-man. Quinn Capella for $25 million a year this summer. And then the 17

forwards they've drafted over the last eight years. I think Clint's not going to go anywhere. Houston's got to keep him. It doesn't matter. I don't think what you offer. Clint's going to get $25 million a year from Houston? But how do they replace him though? How do they pay him $25 million a year? Write a check. Harden's making $40 million.

Ryan Anderson makes $20 million. Eric Gordon makes $20 million. I think Anderson's gone. I think they dump him with picks somewhere. Can't dump him. He makes $20 million a year. Nobody has the space. They're screwed. They're not going to be able to pick him up. My Mavs will take your bad contracts for picks. Oh, you'll take Ryan Anderson? We're open for business. Give me some picks. We'll take it.

Is Rick Carlisle leaving the Mavs? I've heard whispers. I mean, it's weird because they're going to be bad for a long time. He's happy now. He likes having control. He's not happy. I think he likes his kids being in Dallas, but I mean... It's overrated.

Turns out your kids can live anywhere. Guess what? Guess what? Every city has schools. The old Andrew Bynum line about banks. It's fine. You know what his kids are like Toronto. If I was a Mavs, I'd try to, I mean, what's the point?

They're going to be bad for a while. What if Cuban and Carlisle rigged this and Cuban's like, I want to get a first-round pick out of this, and I'll let you out of your contract. And they go to Toronto, and like, we want the Doc Rivers deal. First-round pick, and we'll let him out. Oh, Dallas would do that in a millisecond, right?

And then you hire Becky Hammond to change the culture behind the scenes of the Mavericks. That's the best move of all time. Don't bring her to Dallas. Dallas is a mess, man.

Yeah, that's true. No woman wants to work in Dallas right now. God, is that gone? That's just not gone away. Right. They haven't even.

Well, they hired this lady, Cynthia Marsh from AT&T and she's like restructuring, but like, it's just from what I understand the whole franchise, it was super like haphazard and she's like restructuring. But like, it's just, from what I understand, the whole franchise, it was super like half hazard and not very like organized well. Yeah.

So it's just, they need to start over basically. Who would be your dream coach? Do you have anybody out there that you like? I mean, let's get some good players in here. The coach has to come

after you get good players. Coaches. Get a nice guy who like, you know, him and Dennis could ice cream together. Like Rick and New Orleans didn't work.

Like I want a coach who's going to let a young guy grow through his mistakes. The problem with Carlisle, who I think is one of the best five or six coaches, is he's not a malleable coach. No, he has what he wants. Like, Brad Stevens would be like, hey, Jordan Crawford's your sixth man in the ship. Like, alright, I'll make it work.

Rick Carlisle's like, that's not my kind of guy. Yeah. It bothers me that he couldn't figure out how to make New Orleans Noel an asset. Unless New Orleans Noel just went off the deep end behind the scenes. Okay, so here's what happened, essentially. So Rick's like, I want my centers to roll hard to the rim, collapse the defense. And I want my centers to understand my defensive responsibilities. New Orleans was constantly freelancing.

And holding the hot dog. He wanted to prove he could get steals and blocks, and he wanted the ball on offense. And Rick's like, I'm not giving you the ball on offense until you've earned the right by playing sound positional defense. And so New Orleans wants the ball on freelances. So Rick just had no time for it. And he's like, I don't care.

I'm not going to play you. And that's what happened. If San Antonio called Phoenix and said, we'll give you Kawhi for the number one pick in the draft, what would Phoenix do? I'm not going to play you. And that's what happened. If Phoenix called, if San Antonio called Phoenix and said, we'll give you Kawhi for the number one pick in the draft, what would Phoenix do?

You'd have to talk to Kawhi's people. Like, what does he want? I mean, who knows what Kawhi wants, right? I would turn that down. I mean, if Kawhi doesn't commit to staying.

He only played nine games last year. Give me the 18-year-old kid with... I mean, Kawhi's Kawhi. If he's like, I'll come and stay there and sign a contract, I'd do it, but why would he do that? Kawhi and Josh Jackson would be interesting. I think they're both LA guys. Kawhi's in LA. It's actually a fun trade rumor because

it's semi-conceivable. It feels like Kawhi, though, is thinking about LeBron. I feel like that's more likely to... I would put my money on LeBron, Paul George, and Kawhi. I love that idea. I love it. Could Luka Doncic and Devin Booker

coexist? Yeah, I mean, I think that'd be perfect. Be like a great Euro thing. They're so great off the ball. I think it'd be fantastic. Not positive Devin Booker's ever going to be in a great team, but he's also another guy who's so young that it's stupid to even count anything out yet.

I think if you had Luka and Booker, then you want defense all around them because they're both kind of average athletically. So, Josh Jackson's not great for them. So, Bridges from Michigan State does not count as a sleeper. Who's your big sleeper? Okay, here's one. I love John T. Porter.

I love Michael Porter's younger brother. Oh, yeah. There's been some buzz that he's the better Porter. I think he, I think in terms of as a basketball player,

he's definitely a better, I mean, he doesn't have the athletic ability, but in terms of just basketball IQ, he's for sure the better Porter. You don't want to know what my dream is here? The Clippers take both.

Porter and Porter? 12 and 13. The Porter brothers. I really enjoyed when the Morris brothers were on the same team, especially because you couldn't tell who was who. But I really liked having them together. They're definitely two. They're not twins.

They definitely look different. No, they're not twins. But I just like when brothers are on the same team. That's cool. I like family. Yeah, family atmosphere. I like movies about families. I like basketball teams with brothers.

I liked when Horace Grant and Harvey Grant were in the league playing each other. I enjoyed it. I'm down. I'm down. I'm here about families. I like basketball teams with brothers. I liked when Horace Grant and Harvey Grant were in the league playing each other. I enjoy it. I'm down. I'm here for it. The problem is I don't think Michael Porter falls to 12. No, there's no way. All right.

Jonathan Charks. Hey. Going back to Texas. Texas basketball's in a bad spot, except for the Rockets, the other two. Yeah. The other two. Yeah. The other two are, this is rough. I was pretty bummed about the lottery.

Like when your team is bad and you don't win the lottery, it's like, we're never going to get out of the lottery. This is going to happen for years. We had that, I remember after Reggie Lewis died and we had all these bad contracts and you just kind of looked at it and everybody in Boston had the same realization, like,

wow, there's, there's no path. We are going to be terrible now for four years. Did you see what Cuban said about Harrison? And he's like, well, if you look at it, he could be like DeMar DeRozan, maybe. Like, this is like the ceiling we're selling the fans on. We might have DeMar DeRozan. Maybe. I actually admired how he just fought tanking for so many years, just refused to do it and backed veterans. Yeah, cubes. It was just so, just wouldn't buy into it.

But now he has no choice. I feel like he was just impatient. He just doesn't like to. Charks, what are you writing about this week? I'm doing a big thing on Luka for Friday I kind of go into his Real Madrid tape look at how his team is using him and how that's going to translate to the NBA

Oh great, check that out on TheRinger.com Thanks for coming on We're going to talk to Lou Adler in a second but first, if you're like me and you're not so great at planning ahead I've got good news Our friends at Hotel Tonight have an awesome app that helps you find amazing hotel deals at the last minute.

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Download the Hotel Tonight app now. I have told you about this app for a year. Just listen to me. Hotel Tonight. And now, the interview we did on Wednesday in Malibu, California, in one of his many houses. Music mogul, Laker fan, Lou Adler. All right, we're taping this in Malibu, California.

The famous Lou Adler is here, who I don't know if Jimmy Goldstein has now passed you with most courtside appearances at famous NBA games. I still feel like you have the most. Is that Jimmy Goldstein? Well, he's been to a lot the last 25 years, but you have like, you go back to, when did you get your tickets for the Lakers? Well, in 70, the latter part of 72

and the beginning of 73, it was just random tickets you know yeah wherever we could get buy a ticket it had nothing to do with season tickets

probably 74 maybe 75 so between Wes and Kareem Kareem came in in 75 yeah like 75, 76 yeah I actually met Kareem. Kareem came in in 75? Yeah, like 75, 76. Yeah. Yeah. I actually met Kareem when he was at UCLA.

Oh, yeah. He was here for four years. They wouldn't let him play the first year. Yeah. Freshman year. And then they had the no dunking role. There was a lot of obstacles against Kareem in college. Now he just wouldn't come out.

What, 76? Yeah. All right. All right, so he shows up. Then they talked about making the lane wider because they wired it. That's when you know you're good at basketball, when they're talking about changing the rules to try to temper some of the stuff you're really good at.

So Kareem comes, and then Magic comes in 79. But Kareem, those teams are playoff teams. They just couldn't get over the hump. Yeah. You know, he didn't have it. I mean, you would think for what they gave up for Karim and our whole team, actually. Yeah. Four or five players that there would be some kind of immediate impact because he had Milwaukee.

He had brought him a championship. Right. But it was just some mediocre seasons. I mean, they were okay better seasons yeah um then um yeah i mean he really didn't have the team around him that he needed so were you at so when well first of all when did you get courtside? When were you next to the bench? Probably, well, first we were, when I say we, it's Jack. Yeah, yeah. Because first we were next to the Laker bench at the Forum.

Okay. And we had two seats. You just had two for the two of you. One each. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. two for the two of you one each yeah yeah and um then when they moved to staples we went to four and we decided we'd rather sit by the visitors bench than by the laker bench first of all i love this. I love this conversation.

This is a conversation normal people don't get to have. Yeah, right. Like, which bench should we sit next to? Yeah, exactly. So you wanted the visitor's bench because you wanted to be around the people. Yeah, it was much more interesting to get a different coach every game. Yeah. And players, you get to know the...

And also the visiting players are always more forthcoming yeah than the lakers because they yeah see you all the time and jack is i don't know well he was very demonstrous during those days i was going to say demand but also different yeah also if he wasn't the most famous actor in the world, he was in the top three in the mid-70s. So I would imagine they all recognize that. Well, it's part of the reason that they started. You know, we started, I started to have, you know, hit records. He was having hit movies.

We were moving down. We started at the top. Yeah. Almost the exact same time range, right? Because you really, you started to have real success in the mid-60s and the top. Yeah. Almost the exact same time range, right? Because you really, you started to have real success in the mid-60s and 70s. Yeah. And same as Jack.

Yeah. So how do you decide to share one ticket each with the most famous movie star in the world at that point? How does that conversation even happen? Are you like at dinner one night and you're like, should we get Lakers tickets? Yeah, let's do it. Oh, no.

As soon as we discovered we were Laker fans and we're basketball fans in general and started going to the games and getting any ticket that we could, it was a no-brainer. Do you want to sit courtside? Yeah. So you're there. Staples wasn't for a while. So you had just the two for the entire forum run,

which takes you- I think so. That takes you all the way through Magic. I'm pretty sure. Yeah. And Jack is a crazy fan at that point because I lived in Boston during the- My dad lived in Boston actually for the 84 finals and I was in Connecticut, but I was going to the games.

And Jack came in for game five and seven of the 84 finals and was like giving us the joke sign. They put us in cages. Were you there for that? Yeah, for every game, including my oldest son. So were you telling Jack to calm down? You're going to get us killed? No, they put us in a cage they put us um they had these cages that run out across the top yeah um i don't know what they're little balcony boxes huh they were like little balcony boxes right like no they weren't

bad they were cages i mean they like a shark yeah i mean you couldn't get anything through it because they started throwing them but those were tough fans in those days oh yeah and there was no respect at all for uh lakers or a laker fan uh no matter who you were well i mean he was giving the choke sign to everybody that probably he probably wasn't helping he also pulled his pants down and gave him an ass. So you guys zoom in and zoom out for the games? Did you stay over? Were you like out of there?

I think both. How'd you get out of there after game seven? Because that was crazy. They would lead us out. I mean, they were careful with us because eventually it got okay. They got more respect for the Lakers, more respect for the fans. But it was tough in those days. We were in New York mostly.

We'd fly into Boston for the games. Were you there in 85 when they won the title on the ground floor? Yeah, sure. I still haven't 100% recovered from that game. I was there for two game winners by Magic. Oh, this guy. The junior Skyhook. The baby hook. Yeah.

Yeah, I was at that one too. I still think we got hosed by the refs. When can I stop being mad about this? It's been like 31 years. Never. Thompson went over McHale's back, I believe, until the day I die. And I'm over McHale taking a rambus down I guess that's right so all right let's go backwards to the 70s were you at the Kermit Washington punching Rudy Tomjanovich game which one

when Kermit Washington punched Rudy Tomjanovich yeah you were You were at that game? Yeah. I came out early from halftime. Halftime we used to go into. They gave us a little room that we could sit in at halftime. And Jack actually came out late. He missed it. Oh, he missed it? Yeah. But I had just got to the court when I saw Washington running across.

Yeah, to punch him. Tom Jonovich just turned at the wrong time is what happened. And Rudy, I mean, he was running very quickly, Washington. So it was that kind of impact. But that was devastating. I i mean you could hear it you could didn't they say it was almost like hearing a splat it was way like hearing a watermelon hit the concrete or something that's that's a good definitely yeah that's what it was do you think he was dead it was horrible no i mean it was so shocking. It just held your breath for a very long time, you know.

And eventually, you know, I mean, his face caved in a half inch or an inch or something. Well, he walked off. He was covered in towels. And then they realized, like, his brain was leaking fluid or, like, it got super dangerous there for four or five hours. And horrible for watching. He wasn't a bad guy. He was a good guy. I mean, it was an emotional minute.

I think he was fine, but he was only, how much do you think he was fine? It wasn't much, right? 10,000. He got suspended for a bunch of games. Yeah. His career was over. Well, they traded him to Boston. So I was going to the Celtic games with my dad

and all of a sudden Kermit Washington showed up and all we knew is what we read in newspapers and Sports Illustrated. They didn't even have SportsCenter back then. So we get this guy and it's like you think this guy is like a lunatic and he was like this nice guy. He was very nice. Who just, you know, I think Tom Jonovich was running at him

and Kermit whirls around and throws this punch. He's 6'9". Yeah, they just met. Yeah. Fist and face, both going in different directions. Kareem threw a couple punches in his day. I think he broke his hand once. On Ken Benson.

Because he swung at somebody and hit the backboard or something like that. No, he broke Ken Benson's jaw was one of them. Yeah, he did. I don't think that was in LA though. No, I didn't see it. That might have been Milwaukee. I didn't see if it was. So were you going, what was the percentage of games you were going

headed into the Magic Era, like two-thirds? 43. Were you going to everything? Yeah. Because you were a pretty busy dude at this point. What was? You were one of the biggest pretty busy dude at this point. What was? You were one of the biggest music producers in the world. At that point?

The Roxy was open at that point, right? Yeah, we opened in 73. Yeah. Yeah, the 70s were really good for me. I want to get into that in a second, but I have more Lakers questions for you. Okay. So Magic shows up.

At what point do you know this is going to be the best Laker of all time? Well, I know something was different when everybody that was there, when Kareem hit the winning basket and Magic jumped up on him. Oh, and he hugged him. Yeah, that was the first game. You barely talked to Kareem, let alone jump jumped up on him. Oh, and he hugged him. Yeah, that was the first game. You barely talked to Green, let alone jump up and hug him. Right. And it was different.

I mean, it gave a personality to the team at that point, you know, which, and, you know, it made all the papers. It was a big change, magic coming, not only from what happens later on as a basketball player, but a personality too. And I, I mean, to give Dr. Buss credit, I mean, he had two choices that year in draft, Sidney Moncrief and Magic. And Moncrief actually would have been a better fit because Norm Nixon was a point guard. But he went with Magic, thank goodness. I mean, that was such a strange time for the league. I was fascinated.

I wrote an NBA book like nine years ago, and I was fascinated by that stretch when Kareem was the best guy in the league, that a lot of cocaine use and the ratings weren't great. They were tape delaying some of the finals games and stuff like that. And Kareem was kind of the face of it. And I remember when he'd come to Boston, which was really only like once a year, he just wasn't an inviting guy.

Like even as a little kid in the stands, you'd be like, oh my God, there's Kareem. And then it's just guys wearing goggles. He couldn't be less interested in whoever's there. He's just very detached. And that was the face of the league. And I think it was great. Yeah, that's true.

It's like I said, I met him while I met Kareem while he was at UCLA. And he was, and you understand it, you know, at seven foot two and growing up, I mean, and not 11, seven foot2 people around, and not basketball didn't have what it later had as far as the individuals being not only basketball players, but personalities, human beings. I mean, all those things that came later. Yeah. And you know what he's going through. I mean, he was very paranoid, extremely quiet, and extremely intellectual, very, very well read.

The first time he came to my house, the phone call was, can I come over? Yeah, come on by. Comes in the house. Do you have anything to eat? I said, yeah. I put out some stuff. Sat at the dining room table. You have anything else? I brought some more food out. Okay, if I take a nap? Yeah, okay. Showed him we're a couch. We laid down, went to sleep, got up.

Thanks. And then he left? Yeah, after he got up. Was he on the Lakers or was this you? That was Lakers, yeah. Wow. That's so, what a weird story. He was a weird guy.

He was a strange dude. I mean, he was for a long time. I mean, as we became friends, really good friends to this day. And not only to me, but to the world. He opened up a lot. If you would have said then, Kareem has a speaking engagement. Here you go.

There's about five minutes. Yeah, Jim Murray had the famous column where he interviewed his back once in the locker room because Kareem never talked to reporters. Kareem would just sit there. Well, that was wooden at UCLA. I mean, he protected them in that way. And most of his ballplayers, but especially Kareem, he didn't let them do a lot of interviews.

Kareem was my least favorite basketball player because it was Lakers-Celtics. The Bucs played theics in uh the 74 finals so i just my whole life i was against him and then in the 84 finals he threw an elbow at the head of my favorite player larry bird and came four and then from that point on i hated his guts more than anything and then he killed us in the 85 finals and even in 87 when he was pretty old he was still kind of unstoppable he kind of owned parish he could get whatever he wanted on parish centers all could play i he played till he was 40 oh yeah he played till through 89 he stayed one one year too long but that's everyone does

the centers that could play i mean you know guards couldn Right. But what's crazy is I never expected 30 years later, here was this guy, as you said, not only speaking engagements, but he's writing columns about pop culture and politics. And he's going on like Bill Maher show and things like that. And he's great. And I just never saw any of that coming. I think he's a really interesting guy. His time stories are always- Yeah, he's great. And I just never saw any of that coming. I think he's a really interesting guy. His time stories are always-

Yeah, he's a really good writer. Yeah, he's a good writer. So smart, yeah. So the Lakers, they win in 80. Kareem's greatest game, game four. He sprains his ankle. He comes back in and then can't go to game six. Magic wins game six.

I think he was at On the Rocks during the game or right before the ending of the game. He came back. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And yeah, Magic scores 41, I think. Something crazy.

The two stats that aren't brought up much, Silk, Wilkes had 37. I know. There's always the second guy who has the awesome game in those games. And Norm Nixon had nine assists. Oh, yeah, yeah. So you win that title. In 81, the Celtics are really good. So the Lakers, they just skip the finals because they do.

Two years, I think. In 81 and 86, when we had really good. So the Lakers, they just skipped the finals because they do. Two years, I think. Yeah, in 81 and 86 when we had really good Celtic teams, the Lakers just decided not to show up. We always showed up whether we had a banged up team or not to play you guys. Sometimes Lakers.

When I did TV with Magic, I would always make fun of him about 86. 86. I was like, where were you? It was our best team. We're waiting for you. And he's like, oh man, Hakeem and Ralph. We just waiting for you. And he's, oh man,

Hakeem and Ralph, we just couldn't keep them, couldn't keep them off the big fella. But, so then 84, the league takes off. And then the next, and the finals becomes this seminal moment for the league where it's like

bird versus magic, incredible seven game series, game four, the McHale clothesline, overtime, all that stuff. And it's awesome. See, when he hits the baby hook, we're already at the top of the steps.

That's when, you know, get him out of here. Oh, they're ready to get rid of you. Yeah. So we're at the top of the steps at that point. I mean, there was one game where they gave us helmets. What? Yeah, steel helmets. Jack must have loved that.

He loved the whole thing. It was, you know, Jack is a very pure basketball fan. And he's, so this comes along and that team comes along for a basketball fan to sit in LA and get that kind of team through the 80s. I mean, that's fantastic. And they dominate the West for the whole decade. And the two biggest challengers, I would say, were the Rockets, who fell apart in a year. And then the Mavericks were really good and they couldn't keep Roy Tarpey on the court.

That was the other team that really gave them trouble. Yeah. But nobody, you know, it was still Celtics waiting. Yeah. Wait for the Celtics no matter what. Yeah. So as this has taken off and you're this super successful guy in LA and you're connected to music and sports and you have,

you're in Malibu full time at that point? I'm both. You're in Malibu at that point, late 70s? Yeah, I moved to Malibu in 1973. Okay. So what are, I'd always heard that your house was like a famous house, that a lot of people passed through that house and there were a lot of- Some people stopped, you know, not some, but the one time I opened the garage and there's a bus parked in front of my house and they're starting to unload the bus, you know, and they're coming in for the tour.

A tour? Yeah. I mean, they thought it does stand out. They thought you were like the Getty? Yeah. Maybe they thought we were the Getty. It stands out because, first of all, it's one of the first houses on carbon

that was built later than 50s and 60s. Right. And it's all rock, as opposed to beach houses mostly being wood. So it does stand out. I mean, from that, I mean, it was good and bad. I mean, the bus tour, that didn't happen. People did drop notes off and say how, you know, they liked going by and seeing the house.

I mean, it was good. And for the listeners who don't know anything about LA, Malibu is on the stretch. And it's basically a one-lane highway that goes on forever. And back then, the laws were a lot different. They didn't have the dividers in the middle and the little things. And it was not that bright. And it was pretty treacherous, right?

It was a real road. Yeah. And there's all kinds of crazy stuff happening. So you're having all these parties in the seventies. Well, are you, you're still having the parties. Oh,

okay. I'm saying that in the seventies, the seventies were crazy. Oh, okay. I'm saying in the 70s. Yeah. The 70s were crazy. They were good. Were they crazier than people like me have heard? Less crazy or as crazy? From your standpoint? Yeah.

They were as crazy as you were thinking. Okay. Yeah. So what's a typical Saturday night at Lou Adler's house? What's the mix of- There were no typical. Okay. Yeah. So what's a typical Saturday night at Lou Adler's house? What's the mix of- There were no typical. Everyone was different. That's what made it so good.

So how many people could you fit in there? In my house? Yeah. Well, don't forget I had it on the rocks. So that was an extension of my house. You know what I mean? So which was the party house? On the cliff or on the water?

I could put 150 in there. Yeah. So which was- And also at that time, 73, 74, I still had my house in Bel Air. So I had two houses. So when you wanted to let loose one night, where was the house? Was it the one on the water or was it on the cliff or was it Bel Air? Mostly it would be on the water? Was it on the cliff? Or was it Bel Air? It would be on the rocks.

And secondly, it would probably be Bel Air. And I didn't do that much out here in Malibu as far as those kinds of big parties. So who's your competition right now at these parties for the place? I don't know. You have there? Competition as far as what?

I don't know. Who else was having great parties? Who was on your radar? You're a competitive guy. I'd have a big Christmas party, but maybe one of the biggest house parties. But that was because who I might have been with at the time, the relationship that I was in. As an individual, I didn't throw parties. I wasn't that kind of party.

All right, but you said five minutes ago that these were crazy. These were crazy. You said they were as crazy as I heard. I wasn't thinking. So maybe your best part. I was thinking about the 70s, not the parties. No, the 70s. Yeah.

I guess the 70s. I mean, the parties, the 70s were wild. I mean, there were a lot more drugs in the 70s than there had been in the 60s, different kind of drugs. Yeah. There were, everything that had started in the 60s was blossoming in the 70s, you know. So none of the problem of AIDS that came down in the 80s. Yeah.

So we were right in the middle in the 70s. We learned how to do it in the 60s and was able to do it in the 70s and stopped in the 80s. It's almost like an NBA career. It's like an NBA career. Yeah. You were young in the 60s, and then you're in your prime in the 70s.

Nicholson seems like one of the most fun people. One of the what? One of the most fun people who's ever walked the planet. True or untrue? Yeah, yeah. When he's fun, I mean, he's, you know, I mean, Jack is really Jack in every connotation of when you say the name or talk about him. He's also very, very smart, very funny, and a sense of humor and enjoys a sense of humor and um single most of that time uh how did he manage that well he had a girlfriend for 17 years but right still single

sounds like leo yeah leo's another one nobody can down Leo. No. He just kind of keeps going and going. That's true. So what's the mix of musicians, actors, comedians, celebrities? When we're talking like 1978, when people are out. Like New York had, there was talk about Studio 54, all this disco scene in New York. What was the scene in LA? Well, it was a mixture of all of the people

that you just mentioned, because I guess it was around mid-70s. You know, in the 60s, musicians, for the most part, and artists were separate as a social culture than the film actors and actresses. That started to meld, come together in the 70s. And by 78, it was just like, if you went to whatever the spot was, where, you know, maybe it was the Factory or the Daisy or one of those clubs, it was everyone. It with a famous musician and artist. I can't comment on New York. I spent some time there.

Yeah. The longest I ever was in New York, I think, was three months. The longest at one time. But New York was wild because New York had the models. Yeah. LA had the actresses. Huh? LA had the actresses. Right. LA had the models. Yeah. LA had the actresses. Huh? LA had the actresses, right?

LA had the actors. They had the, sometimes in the 70s or late 60s, actually, the music business and music industry moved from New York to LA. But New York still had the models. So the LA, the courtside scene for Laker games, Doris Day always got credited as being like the first celebrity who sat courtside in the 60s? I didn't know that. I don't know if that's true.

Yeah, I never saw her there. But it felt like you and Nicholson really. I was a good friend with her son, Terry Melcher, but I never saw Doris Day there. It seemed like you and Nicholson really. I was a good friend with her son, Terry Melcher, but I never saw Doris Day there. It seemed like you and Nicholson made it a thing because then all of a sudden Diane Kane is there and then it just kind of snowballed. When we first started going, when Jack and I first started going,

the only other celebrity that I remember was Bruce Dern. Bruce Dern? Yeah. Okay. And the reason that I remember him, because he and Jack, who had very similar senses of humor and minds as far as statistics and memories and those kinds of things, used to trade barbs. We didn't sit together.

He sat totally different space than... I'm talking before we went courtside. Yeah. And Jack could yell something, and then you'd hear Dern yell something back. And Dern was cutting. He froze Lucius Allen at the foul line when Lucius, I guess, was with Kansas, maybe.

I'm not sure. He wasn't a Laker at the time. It's probably Milwaukee. Wherever he was, and he was at the foul line just about to take the shot, and Dern said, don't worry if you, something to the effect. The point that he was making was that Mike Warren from UCLA had better statistics than Lucius and decided not to play in the NBA. And he froze. He caused him to stop, look around, try to find the voice.

I miss that about the NBA because they play music all the time now. Yeah. In the NBA that I grew up with when you were going with Jack back in those days, you could really hear everything. They weren't playing music during games, during timeouts. That was Buss that started it. Buss started, I think he started music cheerleaders maybe. Or Laker girls.

I think he started all that stuff. And Showtime was as much about bus as it was about how they played. How'd you get along with him? I didn't know him that well. And he traveled in a, there's a guy that threw parties. Yeah.

That's a different circle than I traveled in. I asked Magic. Magic and I would spend all these hours together because you'd go to do the ESPN show and you'd do the pregame show and then it would be a doubleheader and you would just be in this room for six hours and there'd be seven games on and you just...

Jalen's on his phone and I've got Magic Johnson next to me. He's like one of the five best players I've ever heard who knew everybody and just started asking him questions and I'd wait until he got a little punchy and then I would ask him like alright Magic, Dr. Buss and Hugh Hefner are going

after the same girl on a Saturday night who gets her and he's like oh Dr. Buss it's not even close, Dr. Buss. It's not even close. Dr. Buss, there's no way. Hugh Hefner has no chance. Dr. Buss sounded unbelievable. Like really, I don't even know how he would have played

in the current era of a Playboy owner in 2018. I don't know. Different. Totally different. It would have been quiet. I don't know if People are different. Totally different. It would have been quiet. I don't know if that would have worked. Magic was responsible for most of the, well, certainly the championship parties at On the Rocks. Oh, yeah. That was because of Magic, yeah.

What about the Forum Club? That's where they went after the games. You never did that, son? No. Jordan comes in in 91 and steals the title from the Lakers in three games. Four years, right? Yeah, but it changed. It's 1-1, goes back to the Lakers, 2-3-2 series,

and the Bulls win all the games. I think the first one they lost was 4-1. Yeah. And that's it, Jordan, from that point on. Did he acknowledge you and Jack? Did he what? Did he acknowledge you and Jack? Did he what? Did he acknowledge you and Jack? Did he ever talk shit to you?

Not so much during the playing time. Afterwards, he sat with us a couple times. Bird was the one that always talked to Jack during the game. Oh, please tell me more. He would watch this. He'd hit a three or watch this and he'd do something else. I mean, he'd tell Jack what was about to happen. And then usually back it up, right?

When we were in Boston, we spent time at some bar that they all went to that Bird told us about and said, come on, Don, I forget which one it was. In fact, I think he was behind the bar for a while. Larry Bird was behind the bar during the finals? With Jack Nicholson? Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah. I bet it was the finals we lost 85

I'd have to look back I don't know what I'd look back on but check your records my mind I guess one of those years they lost and then Bird vowed not to drink the next year and I think he had his best season.

Oh, yeah. Because I think he liked to have his beer. Yeah. He liked to hang out. So when he was with Nicholson, they must have just been busting each other's balls the entire time. In a way, but there's tremendous respect both ways. I mean, that's the thing about the players that even on the opposite team,

he eventually knew how much of a basketball junkie and how much he knew and respected Jack for it. Who talked the most shit to you out of all the visiting players? Who talked the most to Jack? Both of you guys. Oh. Because, I mean, in the 90s, it got a little boisterous yeah

with some of those guys the Iverson generation Iverson was friendly because in fact I went to a couple of I took a couple of my boys to

Philly practices because Larry Brown was a really good friend of mine a friend of ours and so Iverson became a good friend of mine, a friend of ours. And so Iverson became a good friend. You know, he would always come over and say something, you know, talk.

Pretty much everyone. I mean, the visiting teams were all friendly, you know, for the most part. We never felt that animosity. Lakers during the games, well, the 80s guys, because we were off-the-court friendly, Norm Nixon being one of my close friends. I was really good friends with Magic still, Cooper. So there was that kind of acknowledgement all the time.

Eventually it got to Laker teams that, maybe because they were younger than us. Yeah. Also, they had a game face on. Kobe never once acknowledged me in a game. Never. As much as he came up to the scores table, looked straight at me, no recognition whatsoever.

For all the years that he was there. Kobe, not surprised. That guy. He won you some titles though. He gave us good, I'd rather take the titles and have him say hello to me or hang out with me or anything. Kobe versus Magic versus Kareem versus Shaq. How would you rank them, greatest Lakers? Oh, I wouldn't rank them.

As far as excitement, it's Kobe and Magic. You know, as far as between Magic and Kobe, Kobe is an individual of excitement. You know, you can put on a documentary of his greatest shots and all. Magic was everywhere. And Magic also made his team and the players better. I mean, those are, you know, unsaid things or said things about those guys. But that's the difference between them.

That's the difference between. Interesting about Jordan was that he was a little bit of both yeah yeah that's why uh i i revere the bird magic style because those guys just made their everyone better i actually think the way durant when he he's not he doesn't always do this but when he's really going well, he can get all the points that he wants to get, but he's also making all the right plays, and he's fun to play with.

Yeah, he's getting 15 rebounds, and he's got 10 assists. LeBron can kind of go either way. I'm not positive he makes other guys better. They kind of have to fit into what he's doing. I don't know that he's had the team yet. He's had a lot of good teammates. I think the closest was Miami, right? When he had those guys and he was the focal point

and like that 27 game winning streak they had. Yeah, maybe so. And that was like the best we've seen with him fitting in with a team perfectly. I don't think he's had the right team since to show all those talents or to take those players to another level. If you look at who he has, Kovar is going to shoot the three no matter who he's with, but what else? That's what he likes though. J.R. Smith is going to be J.R. Smith.

You know, and that's what he's got. That's why Boston's beating him. They have a lot of older players, three-point shooters, and guys who can't create their own shot. They had a guy. It was Kyrie, and they traded him. You know, they are different teams. Boston is similar to Golden State in that three or four guys can bring the ball up. Yeah. And three or four guys can start the play.

That's not true of Cleveland. In a way, it's not true of Houston. I mean, obviously Harden and Chris Paul can do it. That's not true of Cleveland. In a way, it's not true of Houston. I mean, obviously Harden and Chris Paul can do it. Yeah. But after that, you know, whereas Boston, that's why Boston's going to give Golden State a really good series. You're jinxing.

I know what you're doing. You're jinxing the Celtics right now. Who am I jinxing? We're only up 2-0 in the series. You already put us in the finals. You're a Laker fan. I see what you're doing. No, you're the celtics right now we're only up two nothing in the in the series you already put us in the finals you're like i see what you're doing you jinxed us i can't see them coming back the ones that i may have jinxed is houston but yeah you know what the the celtics team even though the talent is totally different and the style is different they do remind me my i thought the best team that the Lakers had of all the teams was the 82 team, which was when Magic was like

almost basically a triple-double every night. Nixon was the point guard. Wilks was still at the peak of his powers. McAdoo was there. They got that great McAdoo season. Then they had Kareem, and they would run, and they had this press.

They had a combination that was really good. Yeah. Defensively, they were interchangeable. Yeah. The Celtics team reminds me a little bit of that. The new one? This current Celtics team, the athleticism that they have reminds me a little of that 82 Lakers team.

Yeah, they might be even better than that. I mean, they don't have, really don't have a magic, but they have a bunch of the other players that are at a really good level. And look out for next year. I mean, they're getting three superstars back, aren't they? What's it like being, after you had this basically 50-year Laker run, and then Kobe rips his Achilles, and now it's been five years or six years of just being a doorbell.

It's horrible. Not a typical thing for the Lakers. It's a horrible time. To be honest, I went to 11 games last year. This last year. Part of that is the team. Part of it is, a good part of it is, it used to take me 32 minutes to get to Staples.

It's an hour and 20 now. And I get there and the coach from the opposite team stands in front of me. Carlisle, I won't go to a Dallas game. Carlisle stands in front of me. And Carlisle, he not only stands in front of you, but he spreads his jacket for some reason. So I take a picture of his back, you know, and I write on it, how was the game? This is what I saw, you know, and I send it to him. So he sends it back. He says, I'm a big friend. You know, I like all that you do. The next game, he stands in front of me.

So how many coaches do that? Because Brad Stephenson does that. Not quite. Almost all of them do that. Popovich doesn't do it. Steve Kerr doesn't do it. Steve Kerr doesn't do it. And I always say to the other guys, do you really have to stand?

Jack stands up and he leans over their shoulders sometimes. So, I don't know. But the trade-off is you get to hear everything in the huddle. I wouldn't trade the seats. I mean, on the other side, Luke Walton stands in front of those guys. Well, the move would be to go across, right? Then you don't get blacked. But then you wouldn't hear.

Yeah. I mean, it's different. You know, from our seats, it's like stopping at a playground and sitting next to the court, you know, and hearing the guys talk and all of that court talk is... What's the best argument you've heard in those seats

between teammates? You must have heard a few. It was probably Reggie Miller and Kobe Bryant. Oh, going at each other. Right on my seat. Do you remember what they fought about? No. Something that, I mean, they must have been trash talking.

I can't imagine what else. I mean, the way they play, they weren't near each other very much. Yeah. But they fell right over my seat onto the scores table, actually. Oh, wow. Yeah. So you got some camera time. Yeah.

I try to pull them off. When did you start getting recognized as the Laker guy? Oh. 80s? Through the 80s, I guess. But then it really showed up after that. I mean, pretty much, how are the Lakers doing? I get that a lot.

What are the Lakers going to do? I mean, wherever I am or if I'm driving around or something, I get those kinds of questions. Or a Laker guy. Where's Jack? I get that a lot. Do people mistake you for other celebrities? If what? Do they mistake you for they think you're another

actor or something? Yeah, they think I'm Donald Southerland. I was going to ask. I thought that in the 80s. I thought it was Jack and Donald Southerland. There's a website. Oh, there is? Is it Donald Southerner? I was going to ask. I thought that in the 80s. I thought it was Jack and Donald Southerner. There's a website. Oh, there is? Is it Donald Southerner or Lou Adler? You guys should have a picture together.

You should take them to the seats. I think I have one. We don't look that much alike. You should take them to a game to prove you don't look alike. Send them to a game. Quick break to talk about NetSuite by Oracle. Has your company outgrown QuickBooks? Our shared spreadsheets, manual processes, and legacy systems costing you time and money.

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which is called Crushing the Five Barriers to Growth. Learn how to acquire new customers, increase profits, and finally get real visibility in your cash flow. Someday you'll have four houses like Lou Adler. Get NetSuite's guide, Crush the Five Barriers to Growth, at netsuite.com. Right now, once again, that is netsuite.com slash BS. Again, it's free. And while we're here, don't forget to check out the Ringers NBA draft guide.

We talked about it with Charks earlier. We are continuing to update that throughout these next five or six weeks as we head into this draft, which I think will get more and more interesting the moment Luca tells everybody I'm either going to Phoenix or I'm staying in Europe and then it's really going to be on anyway back to uh our new friend Lou Adler I forgot to talk about when uh the Roxy took off so it's you opened the Roxy in In September of 2018, Neil Young opened.

Maybe he'll come back. Neil Young opened in 73. Yeah. He opened in 73. When did it become like every good band had a- It happened right away. The only other club booking those kinds of acts was at Troubadour. And people were trying, artists were trying to avoid the Troubadour at that point.

Where was the one that Doris played at in the 60s? What club? Was that the Troubadour? Oh, Whiskey Man. Yeah. So you had? We had the Whiskey, Roxy, and the Rainbow, that whole strip. And how many people could you fit in the Roxy in the 70s?

In the Roxy? Yeah. For Bob, no, the Clash at Midnight? Yeah. 1,300. Once you got your spot, that was it. Yeah. You couldn't move.

Because the club really, I think it's 480 is what uh the most that's pushing it yeah but there were 1300 bars people getting drinks or they're already taken care of before they show up they were just standing yeah yeah that was a midnight show. We had already had the show before that. And then we did a midnight show. So what was the peak moment? What was the best show? Clash, Bob Marley. Marley? The second show, maybe first or second show in the United States.

Cheech and Chong opened for Bob Marley. Yeah. Those two, those were maybe the two. Yeah, maybe. Because Springsteen had it. Every show, yeah, Springsteen played. Because he had a great concert album, and I think they had like 10 songs or something

from when he was at the Roxy yeah that was really doing the Springsteen thing yeah I was growing up

I was one player that wasn't me yeah that was that was Lou Lou was doing that what was what was the best basketball game you've been to

just out of gear best best NBA best Laker game what was what was the best basketball game you've been to just the best best best laker game what was your number one i think the one in boston probably was oh when they won the title yeah when the magic hit the hook you know oh the other also because that was the second one, right? Yeah. That's the one there was so much going on. I think we were blown out really bad in the first game. I mean, it was embarrassing, that game. And then-

Well, so 85 was the Memorial Day Massacre. Yeah. 87 was 2-0, comes back, Celtics win game three, and then the Junior Skyhook game four, and then you have it.

85 was great. Magic wins that one too. Oh, yeah. Under the basket shot. 87 was cool because I feel like Magic and Bird

were both as good as they were ever going to be. You know? And they were, you're talking two top five guys at the peak of their powers. Bird was like on this crazy, crazy run. Both of those games were fantastic. I mean, series. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Both of those series were fantastic.

I mean, that Boston team. Have you had a better one? 86 was my favorite, the one when you guys didn't show up. We sent you an invitation to the finals. You RSVP'd yes, and then we were waiting. And all of a sudden, Hakeem and Ralph were there. We were like, who are these guys? Do you have the same attachment to the Kobe teams or not really?

Yeah, as far as excitement, not as far as, because i was so friendly with the 80s teams yeah it was like watching not only great basketball and great basketball players but friends that i would see later that night you know at the club at the rocks on the rocks so um yeah that was Rocks. That was different. What's your best Jack Nicholson story? Do you have one? I have a lot, actually. As far as basketball, I mean, there was a game.

He got into a shoving match with the Dallas coach at that time. What was his name? In the 80s? It must have been the 80s or 90s it might have been. Don Nelson?

No, no. He wouldn't have got in that one. Oh, Dick Mata? Yeah, Dick Mata. Mata was not a happy guy. Not, never, you know, I mean, he was, he had a mean face on him all the time. And he, he and Jack somehow,

Jack stood up at the same time that Mata was walking by and there was a quick shoving match. That would be, you know be pretty good. But the one game where Lakers security actually came to me and said, if you don't quiet him down, we're going to take him out. And I said, that's something I'd like to see. I'm not going to quiet him down. And They didn't come and get him because that would have been something. Was he one of those at his peak yelling at the refs, going nuts, like one of those fans, or just sitting there and enjoying the game? There was a period he was always at his peak.

I mean, there was a stretch where it was, what's he going to do next? And he screams, he yells. But he always has picked something out of the game that he can yell about. And what he liked to yell a lot was, by yourself. He liked to tell the guy guarding somebody that it's okay to stay right there that he was by himself you know so he yelled that a lot um but it's like i say he he knows basketball yeah really well he's not just a screwy fan you know or or uh an obnoxious fan. He's always, it's about something that if you're gonna be a yeller,

you should be yelling at that point. It's something that referees, he went after a couple of them. They probably deserved it. They probably deserved it. Probably went after- Well, you had Jake O'Donnell. They were all arrogant at that time.

Jake was the most arrogant. Yeah. Except for Dick Bovetta. I mean, he was just a nice, sweet guy. But yeah. Well, of course you liked Dick Bovetta. Of course you liked Dick Bovetta. Wasn't he reffing in 2002 Kings game six?

That's right. He shot like reffing in 2002 Kings game six? That's right. He shot like 30 free throws in the fourth quarter. I'm surprised you didn't take him to dinner after. Yeah. What's the other one?

Oh, the head of the umpires. What was it? He was really arrogant. Daryl Gerritsen. He was really arrogant. Yeah. And his son tried in the beginning,

but it didn't work for him. The one we hated in Boston was Jack Madden. He screwed us over in the 73 Knicks series. There was this legendary. He just killed us in this game. And the fans hated him. And he would always stick it to the Suns. That's what was so interesting about those guys. They could have to go after a team.

Oh, yeah. They would have grudges. It was a crazy time. Now these guys, for the most part, they try to do every game the same way. Most of them you don't even know they're there. The guy the other night who I don't like either made some bad calls against Cleveland. What's his name?

Game two, you mean? What's his name? The game two Cleveland bust? Trying to think. I didn't notice the refs because we were getting good calls. You don't notice them anymore. They don't have much personality. There's a couple left over, but not really.

All the good ones are gone joey fantastic james cagney of the referees oh yeah he would talk to the people courtside too he talked to us a lot yeah he talked to a lot of people now the guys are afraid i i kept in touch with him for a long time um what's the most somebody offered you for your seats for a game? I don't know, $25,000, $30,000, I guess. Nobody tried to Godfather offer you? No. Because they knew you were

probably going. You didn't care. At that point, no, I didn't care. We were going to the games. They can get it a lot cheaper now if they ask do you have to have yeah you went to 11 yesterday do you have uh you have an inside track on lebron for next year oh i think he's coming yeah do you want to you want to make your pitch maybe he might listen oh he's already got a house you know he's got. Oh, he's already got a house. He's got two houses. Yeah, he's got three things, projects. I mean, it makes sense for him.

I mean, the only reason would be that he didn't is because he's looking for a championship. Yeah. And you go to Philly, maybe. But I think he's looking at a different time in his life, a different part of his life. He should come. I'd love to see him.

I think I've been making this case for a year since the last finals. I think what he's done when he changes, it's always about a narrative. So when he went to Miami, it's like, here's my new life in Miami. I'm here to win a title and play with my friends. And then it's like, I'm going back to Cleveland and I got to bring them a title now. What's LA? Well, to me, LA is like, I want to learn from Magic Johnson

and become a billionaire and become, and I want to own an NBA team and I want to bring the Lakers a title and then I want to become the guy and I want to own my own team and become a billionaire businessman, who better to learn from than Magic Johnson? Yeah, exactly. And I think that's the narrative.

And also, by the way, the team might be good. That's a conversation that'll decide for Magic and him, I think. Yeah, and I think they have a good relationship. Yeah, I would imagine. And respect. Well, let me throw this theory at you. So you have cap space to sign two guys, but you also have some trade assets.

And there's a scenario where you sign LeBron, you sign Paul George, and then you trade Brandon Ingram, Kuzma, and Luau Dang's contract to San Antonio, you get Kawhi. Then you have Kawhi, Paul George, and LeBron. You keep Lonzo. And then maybe you sign Boogie Cousins on the minimum. You have, in the middle of that, Pop never wanting to trade anyone to LA,

no matter who he's getting. But if they think Kawhi is leaving in a year, which he is, if you wait a year, he's just gone. But if he trades before, he's going to get a lot of good offers, besides going to LA. Ingram's pretty good.

I think Ingram's a nice piece. I don't think he'd trade Kawhi to LA. You wouldn't do it for Ingram and Kuzma? It's deeper for Pa You know He's a different kind of guy You know I mean would I make that trade? Knowing that he's leaving in a year

If I had him Yeah I'd send him anywhere to get those two guys Kuzma's a he's a player you know I would I would do the trade it's funny though I would do that trade but with uh sometimes biases end up not having like we got the Celtics got Kevin Garnett in 07 and the Lakers probably had a better offer like they had Bynum and Lamar Odom and a couple draft picks.

And Danny H and Kevin McHale are best friends. And Kevin McHale didn't want to send KG to the Lakers. And he sent him to Boston. That was really why he did it. The Boston trade was better, I think, than people remember. But Lamar Odom and Bynum is a pretty good centerpiece of our trade in 2007. Yeah, that would be interesting if Pop was just like, screw those guys.

I'm not helping them. Do you know him? I know him. He's like that. Yeah. He's the greatest. Isn't he one of the greatest that ever came along? Oh my God.

But how he's kept that franchise going and how those guys stay in San Antonio. So you've seen all these dudes since the 70s. Who do you have as number one? Number one, what? The best basketball player you've ever seen. Player? Yeah.

Oh. It's the five players. It's Bird, Jordan, Magic, Kareem. Then the other slot's open. Is it Kobe? No LeBron. The millennials are going nuts right now. Well, that's what I made open. Yeah.

Those others are a lock for me. Kobe, LeBron. And who do you want with that team knowing how those players play yeah who do you want kobe or lebron i would want lebron yeah i to me it's like bird bird lebron michael and magic have to be four of the five and then after that you figure out the fifth whether it's Kareem. You can take Bill Russell. How can you not go with Kareem,

the greatest scorer of all time, the greatest shot of all time? It's unstoppable. There's a Russell case. Huh? There's a Bill Russell case. For defense? Yeah.

Because I have all those guys on my team, and maybe I just want the best defensive player ever. The Kareem case is, if I need two points, that's the number one guy you would go to ever. Go to the middle. It also opens up all this. It's great for Bird to have Kareem. Yeah.

Yeah, that'd be pretty fun. It took me a while to get there with LeBron being in that conversation. But about five years ago, I was like, oh, come on. He's got to be there. I think Duncan would be interesting, too, because he'd be so selfless as the fifth guy. That was a nice player. Yeah. I really enjoyed him.

Still recovering that the Celtics didn't get him in the lottery. But we've had a lot of luck since. I think we covered everything. We good, Tommy? We covered everything. We good, Tommy? We covered a lot. Good, Tommy? Yeah. That was great.

All right. This was great. I hope to see you next year. Well, next year it could be Lakers-Celtics. That's right. You have LeBron and Kawhi and Paul George. I'll come back. If that happens, I'm coming back.

We're doing a sequel. I'll go to 42 games. Thank you very much. Yeah, thanks. Thanks so much to ZipRecruiter. Don't forget to check them out

at ZipRecruiter.com slash BS. Thanks to Sonos. Don't forget, they're offering the listeners of the Bill Simmons Podcast 10% off one order of $2,500 or less for any product on Sonos.com.

This offer available for a limited time only. Cannot be combined with other discounts or promotions. Use the promo code Bill10, that is Bill10, at Sonos.com to receive this offer. And I would highly recommend the Sonos one. Don't forget about the Ringer NBA draft guide. Don't forget about all of our awesome podcasts. Ringer NBA show is going to happen Sunday night, hosted by John Gonzalez,

coming off Rockets Warriors game three. And then the day before Celts Cavs. That's it for this week. Hope you checked out all the other podcasts that we did on this feed. And enjoy the weekend. Go Celtics. On the wayside On the first I never I don't have

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