The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 1: Tony's Kon Knueppel Take

Episode Date: February 26, 2026

"They tryna make me Amin Elhassan!" Dan's inner monologue is very excited to talk about some NFL media news after Tony Dungy was let go from Football Night in America. Should NBC make a run at Philip Rivers or Smokin' Jay Cutler to replace him? Zas tests how much Amin knows about that. After Tony's Kon Knueppel rookie-of-the-year take aged extremely poorly extremely fast, he gives it another go... and it ages extremely poorly extremely fast again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stucats podcast. Big media news yesterday in the NFL world. I like media news. I like that kind of stuff. I don't know. It's a little bit nymph. Yeah. Yeah, I like it.

And yesterday I saw, and this comes on the heels of the whole Belichick Hall of Fame fiasco, Tony Dungy, out at Football Night of America. How about that? I read that and Tony Dungee is, uh, seems like a nice man. I've never understood his role. What makes him a compelling broadcaster. He seems really nice and also like really polarizing. Yes.

Well, he's been doing it for a really long time where you're kind of looking around like, how long has Tony Dungey been on TV? And does he add anything? I haven't, I don't really remember anything that he said. In fact, like his mom. moment on TV was kind of getting yelled at by Rodney Harrison. I'm like, all right, that's good. If his roles would be yelled at, I think I'm in on this. But usually these studio shows, they cycle through these talents. And he'd been doing it for close to like 15 years at a certain

point. Like what makes you keep that job? So Dave, what Mike is referenced in there, you remember this? The last time we saw Tony Dungey on television, this was ahead of the Super Bowl. And Rodney Harrison dressed him down over the Belichick situation. list that doesn't include Bill Belichick at the top is absolutely wrong. And a lot of those players that we mentioned, they're great players. I played with Drew Breeze. I play with Adam Dennetary, but there's nobody more deserving to be in that Hall of Fame than Coach Belichick. I've seen his greatness. I've seen him design defenses to stop your offense. And you just look at the players that he's impacted. He's been unbelievable. And when I look out throughout the Hall of Fame and

even a guy like Tom Brady, Tom Brady wouldn't be Tom Brady without Bill Belichick. And that's the disappointing part of it, coach, and you guys got it wrong. I don't think I'm speaking out of term when I say, Rodney Harrison, I believe, is legitimately dressing down Tony Dunjy there. Because if you were just talking about Belichick and the whole situation with Belichick not having made the Hall of Fame, I feel like he would have turned to the camera a couple times where he's like he's talking to America. He's talking to the audience here. I, I be like, he is straight up telling him, you're wrong, player. Yeah, well, he said two things.

One is shut down your offense, right? That's a direct one, not a generic. Oh, he shut down great offense. He shut down your offense. And two is you guys got it wrong. And so that's, I don't know. And Dungi refuses to admit which way he voted. He still is not admitted.

This is, I don't like this. I don't like this part of it. The idea that if you didn't do it, you should just say, I didn't do it. It wasn't necessarily mean that he voted against. Right. But you know what it implies, though. You got it wrong implies you and whoever it is that you voted like.

No, but, no, but Dungee not admitting it. I understand what you're saying. We're done. Look, he's trying to be, he's trying to do the admirable thing. No, no, no. Even I voted that way. I still wouldn't tell you because I believe in not sharing the vote. But in this situation, we all know not sharing which way you vote means, Tony, you know, all of us now believe you didn't vote for Belichick.

He could have corrected that. What is curious to me. First of all, did Rodney Harrison, Rodney Harrison likely, the producer says to him, the pregame producer says, hey, guys, we're going to talk about the Belichick thing. And obviously, Coach Dungey, you are a part of the committee. And Rodney, you're raw about this. So this should be a pretty good conversation. They're coached up for the conversation. Did Rodney Harrison say to the producer otherwise, I'm going to go at Dungee here. okay with everybody. I bet you he did. Bet you he didn't just go, just didn't

go in on his own. Like that big shocker, everybody. I'm going after my colleague. I bet you got sign off. And if that's true, did they say to him like, go ahead, feel free, man. Go ahead. Go at him. And knowing like we feel like he's run his

course for us anyway. Dave, I got to say, as someone who did a live studio show for years at ESPN, yes, you are prepped on the conversation. Sometimes they'll tell you who the, you know, So-and-so is going to take the other stance or whatever. But it's live TV, man. He could absolutely audible that.

That's called going into business for yourself. Right? Like, is that what it's called? Yeah, he could absolutely audible that and say, I'm going to go more point. I can be hot on it, but I'm going to be pointed. Because hot on it is just everything he said minus your offense and minus you got it wrong. I agree. But I also think having done those pre-production meetings and everything else, they do sort of get a hint of

where you're going to take things. And I would not be surprised if Rodney Harrison said, given the gravity of like, I'm going to go at this guy who's a Hall of Fame voter, and I want to get into the Hall of Fame myself. And I feel like I've been left on the outside as well,

but I'm here to talk about Belichick. I could see them saying like, yeah, go ahead and do that. Go after him there. Because the other part of this is the people in the production meeting, those producers, they have no idea about contract negotiations. They have no idea like, oh, Dungy's not coming back. That's not something that they know. I know this because the first time they tried to get my ass up out of ESPN,

they gave me a deal that basically was like, you could be on TV 10 times a whole year. And I'd blown through that in the first two months because the producers who produced the shows that I did were not privy to that contract to all the conversation. As though that's a universal rule. I mean, some producers know what's going on. They know like this guy is running out the string here. He's not going to be back with us next season.

There's some producers. evolved it would know that. Yeah. How quickly do they call Tomlin for that job? I think Tomlin's not doing anything. And I think the biggest indicator is that he didn't even have like this goodbye from Pittsburgh, no goodbye to the press and his chums. I think Mike Tomlin wants nothing to do with football for a little bit.

I'm inclined to agree with you. Who's your choice, Mike? That's available right now? That's a good question. Now, I know that like these broadcasters have been really hot. on the idea of getting Mike Tomlin. Like they've reached out to him in previous years where his name wasn't in the mix, but I believe that Mike Tomlin, at least for the moment, wants to stay away from it.

If he decides to retire, Travis Kelsey? Yeah, I would really make a run and I know he's coaching and he's really enjoying that. I would love Philip Rivers on these broadcasts. Oh, yeah. That's a great call. Yeah, and remember when Jay Cutler first retired, there was talks of him being in a Fox booth booth and then he just never did that? No, no, he wasn't in the booth at some one?

Did he do a... I feel like he did a couple games. He did. He did, but they said, you can't smoke in here and he was like, well, I don't know. Maybe not in the booth is where I would just like to see his kind of energy, his toxic energy around the game a little bit more. Can I step in here on behalf of everyone who wasn't a former player who did a studio show? Can you not replace the coach with another player? Can we get another coach in there?

Because I see this a lot. More players, more players, more players. I went off the board because everyone's just going to naturally pick a head coach to replace him. I'm good. The coaches don't usually give me much. They give you some. There's a guy who's really good. He's probably going to be playing maybe for Davy Steelers coming up.

But Kirk Cousins on TV has been excellent. Yeah, he's been awesome. Like he breaks it down in a way that is super digestible. It's easy to understand what he's talking about from a quarterback's perspective. Like I think Kirk can do really well on TV. If you, if the goal is he, attention, and that is the game, as I've been told by a mean, that that's what you want. then I don't think you could do any better than Aaron Rogers. He would never do it.

He would never do it. I'm just, I'm floating out there. Yeah, and he'd be a huge challenge, by the way. Massive hypocrite if he does it. I think he would. I think he likes talking. We've never seen that before, a massive hypocrite. The hypocrites that turn around and end up being some of our most charming analysts that we watch on TV,

John Madden, people cannot fathom the idea. that until he left the Raiders, most of Football America hated him. He was a curmudgeon. He was not a delightful, heavyset fellow who just loves talking about our favorite pastime. Has that movie come out yet? No, there's still, no. Someone got, someone quit, right? Well, because the, yeah.

David O' Russell? There was a slur. That was. David O' Russell might have uttered a slur on set. Casually on set. And there were stories. Why do you do that? He's, he's, you know.

There's some stuff to him. David O. Russell is known to be a provocative. Did he do silver linings? Isn't that him too? Yeah. So he's been known to do provocative things to get the most out of his actors and like cross lines at times. And so it's not clear whether this was, again, part of this master plan of him to like, let me get something out of these guys. Or if it was just like Mike said, just casually dropped there.

But he said something. And one of the main actors, not Nicholas Cage and not Christian Bale, but someone else quit. I'm not working on. There's this class of director in Hollywood, and David O'Russell seems like an old school, like a William Freedkin type of director. Freakin' Absolutely. Yeah, there was a great documentary

on what a jerk he was on the set. And Michael Mann has also driven people kind of baddie on the set. I got a great freaking story on bat. It's not basketball, I assume, on Cinephope. Cinephope is a podcast I do with Zach Harper. We watch movies that are poorly rated on Ron Tomato and try to ascertain whether they're accurately rated

or maybe they didn't get a fair shake. Cinephope, you get it wherever you get podcasts. and it's produced by Anthony Mays. This week, by the way, we've got the movie Senseless, the 1997 movie Senseless, with David Spade and Marlon Wains. Yes, but on Sinapo.

Get out of here with that movie. That movie wasn't that bad from what I remember. You may want to re-watch it. It was of the time. You may want to re-watch it. Absolutely of the time. What was it about? I didn't catch that one.

Senseless. I like that he takes an experimental drug and his senses are heightened, but he can't control him because he's Marlon and Wayne. Gotcha. So he's falling on. But,

On Cinephope. It's a riot. We did blue chips. The great William Freakin movie with Nick Nolty. What a movie. And Shaquillo O'Neill and Anthony Hardaway. Fow. Right?

It is an absolutely amazing. You know about Bush McCray? All about that, Bush McCray. You know about Leon Badeau? Dion Badeau. Leon Bado. That's not Leon. Bobby Hurley.

Neon Bajon. It's red, red, white. Cream and crimson. Shame the devil. The point is. What is? What is? Good friend and the

guy who played Tony in Blue Chips, whose name is actually Tony in real life, tells the scene about, you know, when Nick Nolty discovers that he was point shaving, he rushes up into the flat house, and he grabs him and he says, is it true, is it true? He's like, come on, it's just a couple, we won the game anyway,

you know, the tier and all that stuff. Apparently, freaking right before that scene, smacked him. Like, not like a, like a, like a, who did Nolte? No, he smacked Tony. Yeah. And Tony's thing was like, you know, you could have just told me, I want you to, I want you to really, you didn't have to do that.

But it's a great scene that comes out. But it goes back to what Mike is talking about. By the way, go back and listen to Cynophore episode on Blue Chips. If you go into Spotify and just search Blue Chips on the Cinefoil, you'll find it. We have all that conversation with Tony, who's incredible. But yeah, there's a class of director in Hollywood. It's kind of from yesteryear where it's like, hey, my job is to get the performance out of you. and there are no lines.

And it's not how I feel for real. It's not how I would actually act. But in this scenario where the cameras are here and the lights are on, I will do whatever it takes to get that performance out of you. David O. Russell certainly fits that bill. Yeah, and he's a filmmaker that is known to get these great performances out of actors. Michael Mann's really like one of the lone holdovers along with David O. Russell. There is a new school way to do that.

Aronovsky is a director that is often thought of as a guy that if you work with him, You're going to have a good shot at an Oscar because you're going to deliver the performance of your career. But a lot of those guys land on the wrong side. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. March is one of those months where we talk about celebrating women. And it's very, very deserved because when you actually look around, a lot of women in our lives are carrying a ton. Work, family, relationships, expectations, nobody notices or sees. I start thinking about the women around me, my wife, my mom, my sister, my friends, my coworkers,

people who somehow take care of everybody else while still trying to hold it together themselves. and it's a ton to carry. Therapy can be a place to put some of that weight down. It can help you figure out what's yours, what isn't, and how to set better boundaries so you're not running on empty all the time. BetterHelp works with fully licensed therapists in the U.S., and they handle the matching process for you.

You fill out a short questionnaire, and if your therapist isn't the right fit, you can switch at any time with more than 30,000 therapists, and over 6 million people serve. It's the world's largest online therapy platform with an average of 4.9 out of 5 session ratings. Your emotional well-being matters,

find support and feel lighter in therapy. Sign up and get 10% off at BetterHelp.com slash dLB. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com slash D-L-B. Hey, it's Mike Ryan, and I want to talk to you about the random midweek hang that you have with your friends. Maybe it's an NBA game. You get a text, hey, come over. You want to watch the game, and maybe you're like,

I don't know, I kind of just wanted to stay home. And then you think about it. After your buddy hits you up, and you know just the thing that'll make that regular hang, that regular midweek hang around the beach, around the basketball game into a special time, into a Miller time. That's right, this happened to me just last week. I grabbed a six-pack of Miller Light, said I was on my way, and next thing you know,

we're arguing about rotations like we're on the coaching staff, yelling about a miss call, and the game's coming down to the final possession. It was one of those nights that you look around, you take a sip, and you think, yeah, this was the right call. And my friendship's stronger for it. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Light. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to Millerlight.com slash Dan to find.

and delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Miller light pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories, and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Draft King's Sportsbook puts you in the middle of basketball's biggest star-driven moments. Bet player props. Bet live.

And when a game turns fast, Draft Kings has your back with early exit. If your player gets injured any time in the first. staff, your bet stays alive. And once it settles, you still get paid in cash. Download the Draft King's Sportsbook app and use code Dan. New customers bet just $5, and if your bet wins, you'll get $200 in bonus bets instantly. That's what code Dan. In partnership with Draft Kings, the crown is yours. Gambling problem, call 1-800-gambler. New York call 8778-8-8-8-Hope-and-Y or text Hope and Y. Connecticut, call 888-78-9-77- or visit ccpg.org. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino in Kansas, wager tax pass-through may apply in Illinois.

21 and over in most states. Void in Ontario. Restrictions apply. Bet must win to receive bonus bets which expire in seven days. Minimum odds required. Four additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.com slash audio. Limited time offer. Don Lebertard.

Doesn't matter anywhere. We could do it in Buffalo or Baltimore, Eva. He said you can do it where? Anywhere. Oh, whoa. Oh, that's crazy. That's crazy. That's crazy.

That's crazy. He said he could do it. That's crazy, murder. Murder. Tell him. Stugats. I had no idea of me and had that in his locker. That might be his best.

That's crazy. I'm not kidding. That's crazy, killer. It's two America's dead. You don't get it. This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stugats. I read a similar situation to that what you're talking about from Blue Chips recently with the movie Whiplash, where, you know, the very famous scene, you know, the very famous scene, you

where he is at a different tempo when J.K. Simmons smacks him while he's berating him that the smacking was not in the script. And he didn't tell Miles Teller that he was going to smack him, but he did it in the scene. And obviously Miles Teller, being a good enough actor, just rolled with it. Very similar scenario happened in the movie Starsky and Hutch. When Vince Vaughn slapped Snoop Dog, Snoop said that wasn't in the script. And he smacked the shit out of me. And I got upset. He said, he said, part of me was going to kill him, and part of me was like, you're an actor, stay with it. And they finished the scene and said, as soon as they finish the scene,

Vince Vaughn hugs him and says, please don't kill me. I just felt it. I just went within the moment, so they had a good laugh. By the way, that Cineaphoop episode, 214, Blue Chips. Amin, it is now time for a segment that is sweeping the nation. It's called, Do you know about that? I thought it was who he played for. Is this ball with Tabah?

Amin, I go over a few big stories in the NBA. Everybody learns a little bit, and we find out if you know about that. You ready for you know about that? Got to earn or got to learn? All right, I mean, so Matt Ishpia, he's the owner of the Phoenix Sons. He came out recently, and he said, that's why I give it. And he said next year of the All-Star game, which is being hosted by Phoenix, you'll be there. That's where you live.

Uh-huh. You live there. I do. Matt Isbiyah in order to ramp up the competition is offering a million dollars, his own money to the winner of the three point, to the winner of the slam dunk, and it will also be matched to charity.

You know about that? I did not know about that. I'm learning it right now, but I'll say a couple of things. Number one, I've gone on the record as saying next year is going to be the greatest all-star weekend ever, ever. ever hands down there's not a city in america that can touch us maybe new orleans but no one else

can touch us as far as hosting all-star weekend why it's just a combination of our weather is awesome our building is brand new ours are we have no traffic our things are all located centrally like all those stuff is downtown or old town scottesdale and even so there's 20 minutes car ride apart plenty of ubers super easy uh airport that's in the middle of town a lot of direct flights no one is to touch us. We are the epitome of Phoenix sounds nice, dude. It is awesome. Yeah, I never been. Everything is like 25 minutes away, though. It's one thing, but it's fine.

25 minutes? You live in Miami, bro. No, I know. It's fine. 25 minutes to get to the car. No, but like there's Glendale Scott's sale, like they're far away. There's not, Glendale, nobody's going out to Glendale. If you're All-Star weekend and someone says, let's go to Glendale for this, they're lying to you. They're trying to rob you as what's happening.

But to the Matt Isbia thing. This is what I like about Matt Ishbio. He's a guy. that isn't afraid to throw money at problems, right? Whatever it takes. So this idea sounds great. It sounds amazing. It's in line with a lot of stuff he's done to really improve the fan experience in Phoenix,

including dropping concession prices. There's cheap, there's a dollar waters, dollar hot dogs, dollar popcorn at Sun's games, every game, right? Having said that, an NBA owner offering a million dollars of his own cash to the winner of competitions who will be most likely playing for teams that are not his. That's tampering. Unless it's the three-point contest because he's got a guy named

Devin Booker a good win, that's cap circumvention. Interesting. Can he just get one of his companies to like be the sponsor? Yeah, no one would ever be able to trace that. No one. Well, maybe there's one guy in New York. All right, so Sonseil you know about that. He's got a podcast. That won best podcast, the sports podcast of the year. The haunted episode? What's up? The haunted episode?

Not the 100 episode. I think it's just overall. It's overall. But that's a piece of it. And by the way, we have a big episode dropping today about NBA gambling. We dug deeper with Pablo Tori finds out. And they're going to do a live live watchalong today. Zaz, that was a very long answer from Amin.

And I know he knows about that. That's why. Yeah, he does know about that. Can I very quickly just ask? Because you mentioned NBA gambling and point shaving earlier. Yes. I am one of these people. How does point shaving work?

How do you successfully shave points and still win the game, but make sure you maintain the margin needed? Doesn't it feel like you should miss a lot of the time with that? Like, got to land in between, got to land right in the middle there. That's hard to do. Dave, I'm so glad you asked that question. I'm sure there are millions of people listening to it's like, yeah, I had the same question. Bob Lottori finds out on YouTube. About this.

We have video evidence of what? it looks like to point change. Wow. But how do you make sure we don't, okay, we're going to win. Well, let's score too many. Like we got to come in under five and a half there. It's got to be tough. It's not easy.

It's not easy. It's not lose some games. And it's got to look, and it's got to look natural. And spoiler alert, this guy did not make it look natural. Amin, the Los Angeles Lakers, they have hired Tony Bennett. That's right. The great Tony Bennett, former Virginia coach. That is not him at all that is on the video screen right now.

I love my heart, San Francisco. Different Tony Bennett. They hired Tony Bennett as a draft advisor. Does JJ Redick have to be worried? Do you know about that? I do know about that because I had a great conversation with Mike Ryan this morning about people who annoy you despite not having done much against you in their lives. Tony Bennett gets under my skin and he hasn't done anything outside of having a terrible style of play.

Right, well, that's it. And he quit when NIL came around, and he's just like, this thing, so I'm going to go. There was a game over the weekend where Miami was at Virginia. It was a really great game back and forth the entire time. Tough finish. Tony Bennett was in on the broadcast for 10 minutes. He got a picture and picture. I'm like, get this guy off the screen.

I hate him. And then news came out yesterday that he's helping the Lakers as a draft advisor. I'm like, I'm not happy for him. Stop. So you know about that. I do. I don't like him. I don't know why.

He didn't do much. but he sets me off. Not a national championship. No, I mean, he didn't do much to bother me. He just said one thing about NIL that, you know, landed the wrong way on the wrong day. I mean, you know about that, though? I know about that, and I'm going to tell you guys this.

First of all, JJ Reddick couldn't give two shits about the draft. He's worried about his team. It's not like the NFL where the coaches are very involved with, hey, what are we doing in this off-season thing? NBA coaches are very much focused on just coaching the team. Now, every once in a while they're coming and say, Hey, you know who's a hell of a player. I saw that guy on TV last weekend in between me getting lunch or whatever.

And front office is most of the time, say, yeah, coach, good job. We've seen him go back to work because the scouts have watched these guys for years. And the coach may have caught the second half of a March Madness game, and he thinks he's got an opinion. But to bring in a college coach, this is nothing to see here behavior in the NBA. Almost every NBA front office has a former college coach. And it's not for them to tell you. who's really good, this guy. It's because

of all the dirt. These guys recruited these guys. They scouted against them. They've got other friends, especially it's a former coach. They've got other friends who are actively coaching, and they'll tell you things about the player that you cannot see. It's all about intel. So I would say it's a good hire because Tony Bennett probably knows a lot of

current coaches. All right, everybody settled down. Sounds like you know about that. Amin? The San Antonio Spurs last night, they won at the Toronto Raptors, 110, 10.10. They don't lose anymore. They won 10 in a the Spurs. And even when Victor Wenbanyama doesn't have a big game, they had 12 points and 8 rebounds last night. Whatever. They still get a real good road win at Toronto.

Spurs never lose anymore. I mean, you know about that? I know all about that. The Spurs are on fire. And Oklahoma City better watch its back. Everyone's talking about Detroit. Oh, you might not have home court advantage in the finals to Oklahoma City. Guess what? They might not have a home court advantage in the conference finals. And it's even more steeped up when you think about, okay, so what? We'll just go on the road.

Yeah, go on the road against a team that whooped your ass four. More out of five times this year. Shout out to the NBA Cup for giving us a fifth matchup between the Spurs and the Thunder. Not only that, when you look at a young team like that, it's so much better to play at home in those big time scenarios than going to probably the best atmosphere. I'd say the best atmosphere in the NBA in Oklahoma City. It's fully loaded. It's insane.

To have those games, six, game sevens at your place with a young core like they do is a super big deal. Having said that, if Oklahoma City is healthy, I'm taking OKC over San Antonio. Really? All right. It sounds like you know about that. Amin, tonight, you have one. what we could call a tank off. The New Orleans Pelicans

are facing the Utah Jazz. But did you see DeJante Murray? Dejante Murray, he has been accused of requesting a trade before the deadline and he fired back on Twitter about that, all right? DeJante Murray tweeted yesterday, let's clear the air because

F a source. Me or my agent never requested a trade out of New Orleans. The whole organization know I was locked in to come back better than ever to help make this playing push. whatever comes after that. I mean, I mean, you know about that

17 and 42 playing push? All right, you know sometimes when you say like, hey, it's best to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. That's kind of where Dejante Murray is like, you shouldn't have said anything. Shouldn't have said anything.

But shout out to Mirren Fader of the Athletic. She wrote a very nice feature on DeJante Murray the other day that came out on the Athletics slash the New York Times. Go read it. It's not a tank of Tankoff on, tank off? It's not a tank off. Let me tell you why. New Orleans does not control its pick. It goes to Atlanta. Okay.

Because of the Derek Queen deal. So believe it or not, when you look at the New Orleans Pelicans and you see 17 and 42s like these tankers, nope, they're actually god awful. Honest to God. They have every incentive to try to win and they just can't do it. Not a tank off. Now the Utah Jazz, on the other hand, Lori Marketing, do you see this? Yep. Tell that. Tell that story. Got hurt at practice and needs an MRI. And, oh, my God, I think Lori might be shut down for the year.

This goes back to my whole thing about tanking. You can't stop it. But what we can stop is the egregious tanking. The egregious tanking of like, hey, we're up. Sit them. That's wild. But the, oh, my back, it's done. You can't stop it.

We had this a long time ago. In the NBA, they had this thing called the injured list. You only had a certain amount of active players, 12 active players. And you had three slots on the injured list, but you have to be injured. And didn't you have to miss three games? Five games. You'd miss five games if you're on injured list. So what teams were doing were they would say, Chris Cody has tendonitis.

And it's like there's no scan for that. There's no imaging for that. You just have to take their word for it. And so they were carrying 15 healthy players under the auspices. But he's hurt. We can always create the lie for why a guy can't play. You can never legislate against that. just got to live with it and legislate out the egregious tank.

It's amazing, though, Dave, because, like, the players who are hurt on the bad teams, the teams that are taking, everyone's getting surgery. It's like somebody's opening the door to the locker room of these bad teams. Yo, free surgery. Who wants surgery? Everybody's getting surgery. Me, my ankle hurts. I'm in, coach.

Also, though, the other side of it is it feels big brother. It's like sending in the feds to investigate this. And Adam Silver, ultimately, as they always... he say works for the owners. So what's the jazz owner's reaction to getting leaned on by the league? They want to tank. That

ownership group is not going to be happy with Adam Silver, right? Yeah, his reaction's going to be. I'm a jazz man. Finally, I got one more for you here. I mean, it sounds like you know about that. One more for you here. The Los Angeles Lakers the other night, well documented. Luca, LeBron, they hate playing with each other.

They lost the Orlando Magic. All right. But, but apparently at halftime of that game, going into the halftime locker room, D'Andre Aiton, he stinks, by the way. D'Andre Aiton was heard yelling, they trying to make me Clint Capella. You know about that? I didn't know about that, but what I would say to DeAndre Aiton is, you wish you were, you wish you were Clint Cappella. You wish.

And you know who else wishes you were Clint Capella? The Lakers. The Lakers. Luca, J.J. Reddick, LeBron. Like that's, but this is, again, Tony, we saw this come in the day they inside. A mile away. Like, this is who he is. This is a guy who got snowed into his own house and just said, ah, I'm not showing up to the game.

Right. This is a guy that slept on a floor because his mattress wasn't delivered. He's like, ah, guess what? Right. This is a guy who's notoriously unreliable and has a deluded sense of self. And so, yeah, this is what you get, Lakers. And one more time because the tweet is out. Pablo Tori is walking around the seats of New York.

and it says new investigation tonight, 5 p.m. Eastern YouTube, live watchalong of the latest episode of Pablo Tori finds out. We're getting deep on the point shaving and the gambling. And this one is a global conspiracy. It starts here in the NBA. It goes to college basketball. It goes internationally. You don't want to miss it.

It's the globalist. I cannot believe that quote from Aiton. I mean, to think it an insult, to be compared to a player that I think of more favorably than Gionandre Aet. Everybody everybody does. As if it were some sort of insult. Think about, think about like the weird

delusional bubble you have to be in. Whereas like, they're trying to make me, let me think, who's the most disrespectful name I can think of. Like I didn't say they're trying to make me Reggie Evans. Reggie Evans, again, a more impactful. Champion, by the way, champion Reggie Evans. Big three. Big three.

But that made more sense in saying they're trying to make me Clint Capella. Like, I'm trying to, what would be the name that would be appropriate? It would be like, they're trying to make me amino-Hasson. Like, that would be an appropriate name. Can you imagine if you said that to me? Man, I would be so happy. You wish, you wish they tried to make you amino-hassen.

Don Lebatard. Where the motherfucker-ro-eze at? Bring his ass on here. Where's the motherfucker-rois is a great question. Stugats. Running, huh? He running today, huh? I'm ready.

This is the Don Lebatar show with a Stugats. I still can't believe that time in Portland where he was iced dip. As if that were like a... Like a reasonable, like you could have just done it like a penguin and slid on your stomach. Well, when you're describing, I mean, that story right there and the mattress story, it sounds like when D'Andre Aiton, in any walk of life, of his life, if he's presented with some kind of roadblock or a problem, he doesn't have solutions. Look, he's an immature guy.

He's been an immature guy since the day he's set foot in the league. And again, like, living in Phoenix, I saw and heard all of these things firsthand. like, look, how do you win with a guy like that? Now a lot of people are like, I mean, they went to the finals. Yes, they did. They also had Chris Paul and Mikhail Bridges and Devon, they had an incredible team and all he had to do

was basically just set screens, rebound, and catch these lobs. And must I remind you, he tried to do one of those in the finals, and Yana sent that shit back to Milwaukee or wherever. But the point is, it's like, we have a saying in the NBA. I don't know if you guys have this in the NFL, Dave.

You say, the Tiger doesn't change. changes stripes. He just changes jungles. You know about that saying, Dave? Yes. Thank you. So, like, meaning like guys are who they are. Yeah, there are some outliers where, oh man, he really changed from early in his career. But for the most part,

guys are who they are, particularly if they've always been rewarded for who they are. So DeAndre Aiton comes in the league, he's the number one overall pick, right? Number one overall pick. Those first four years, we're looking at him and like... And was that the Dunchitz draft? Yes, absolutely.

Luca Donchich, Trey Young, Jaron Jackson Jr. Right, Marvin Bagley. But anyways, he's there. Those four years,

we all, so he's already rewarded a comment number one. Those four years, we see all of these signs of someone who's not, doesn't quite get it, doesn't quite get it,

doesn't quite get it, gets to restrictive free agency, gets a max offer sheet from the Indiana Pacers. So clearly, you're telling me I'm doing stuff wrong, I just got the maximum allowable salary. And guess what the sons did?

They matched. So clearly they agree. So there's at least two people who think I'm awesome, right? So then he gets traded to Portland from Yusuf Nurkich, which is crazy when you think. And by the way, Tumani Kamara, who's a really good player for the Blazers, was part of that deal as well. So he gets to Portland.

And in Portland, he says, my new nickname is dominating, and they were holding me back. And I had to do all these things. But I'm going to get here, and I'm going to do everything. And he doesn't do anything. He does the same stuff that he did. And what does he get? And now he's a free agent.

It's like, what's his reward? The Lakers, one of the most glas. Emeris teams want me to come from Portland to Los Angeles to play next to LeBron and to play next to Luke. And I'm sure they told them. They're trying to win a championship and they need me. And we need you. They probably told them that we need you here. And guess what?

Minimum? No. We're going to give you way more than minimum. So again, in his mind, I'm awesome. I've done nothing. You guys saying, I'm doing it wrong. I went from one of the worst teams in the worst markets to the best teams to the best markets. But this happens all the time in that league, right?

And though that's why we say the tiger doesn't change his stripes. He just changes jungles. He's just the same person going from place to place to place. Is that your worldview for real, though, that nobody can change their stripes? Not that nobody can change their stripes. Is that the vast majority of people are who they are. I generally agree with that, but I also then look at guys, like the one, the name that always comes to mind with that is the Honey Badger.

Tyron Matthew was undraftable. He burns tree, don't you know? He's in, he's at college and he, uh, and he burns some tree. He'll never change. I mean, he really did become one of the great teammates of the last couple of decades, right? Of course, like I said, it's not a universal truth. Zach Randolph was radioactive at one point in a day. He's like the best guy, it seems.

Radioactive. Burnt his way out of Portland. Burns his way out of New York. Burntes his way out of the Clippers. It was like, yo, when the clippers are like, I can't do it, dog, that's pretty much the end of the road. He gets to Memphis and it's not just dominates, but it's like you're around people. that understand you. And also part of it is, and this is why I always say a lot of this.

It's a beloved grizzly. And beloved guy. Everyone loves Zibo now, right? But I remember when it was like toxic, don't touch him. But again, it also comes back down to what I like to call basketball mortality. Sometimes you see guys and they're going through stuff and then they realize, oh shit, my career is about to be over? And that sometimes inspires the change. I'm not saying that happened to Zach Randolph, but I see it a lot around the league where guys are like on the customer.

being out of the league, and then they realize, man, I got to get my shit together. And they figure it out. And then, you know, you mature, you grow, whatever. But if you're always rewarded, you're always rewarded, Dave, then there's no impulse or incentive to change one quick example. My bad, Tony, one quick example, right? Stefan Marbury, I'll never forget this. He gets traded from the Sons to the Knicks.

This is in 2004, right? 2003-2004. The very next season. So that year, the Sons had one of the worst records in the league. He gets traded to New York. the very next off season, the Sun signed Steve Nash. And it's like Steve Nash

with the same four dudes that you played with, you played with Leandro Barbosa, you played with Amari Sadamire, you played with Sean Marion. You guys were awful a year ago, and now they've got the best record in the league, this is midway through that season. He would end up winning MVP.

And the New York media, you know, Frank I Solos and those guys, they love to start shit. Hey, hey, Steph, you always talk about you're the best point of guard in the league, but Steve Nash took the same squad you had, and he's got the best record in the league. And meanwhile, like, you guys weren't that good.

What do you have to say about that? And Step Marbury said, last I checked, I got Max and he didn't. So clearly, he's doing something wrong and I'm doing something right. And that's the impediment to growth. And Stavon Marbury has changed and grown since then. But again, it just highlights the mindset. He's like Chinese Michael Jordan now, right? Absolutely.

He is the greatest player in Chinese basketball history. But the idea that if I'm always rewarded for the way I do, things. I'm not even going to say behavior. Just the way I do things. Then why would I ever change? I want to go back to the Zbo point really quick. We're not making Zeebos anymore. We're not making Zach Randolphson with the 6-8 guy back to the basket.

I saw a highlight real on Twitter the other day. Me too. I saw the same one. And I'm like I would love to watch this player today. I love the back to the basket. Let's just pound that rock. Bit of a small big. He's kind of a tweener. He should be faster. I'm a punish you. He'll get a shoulder

with a little lefty fade away. We saw the Same video of Zach Randolph. It's funny, but also it's like that we saw that Memphis Grizzly's style and that team die right before our RRs, right? In the playoffs, right? They were playing against the Warriors. They were up to one and everyone said, oh, that pretty boy three-point shooting thing was going out the way.

And then the Warriors did one move and it was checkmate. It's like Harrison Barnes is going to guard Zbo. We're going to put Draymond on Gasol and we're going to put Andrew Bogot on Tony Allen, who was all world deep. but couldn't shoot. And that one move, checkmate. They never won another game. And it's like their whole thing fell apart. It's a style of basketball that cannot be played anymore because people, if you cannot make the defense be honest with shooting, we're all just going to collapse. Tony has a funny con canipal take. My con canipal take is actually great. But I told you, what was it, a couple of... If you do say so yourself. No, I do. The day I said, we did bet the castle and I said, con can't know what does rookie the year over Cooper Flag. That night Cooper Flagg. went out and had 50 points. So again, it was off to a rocky start, but I think my take is solidified.

And the take I have versus the take I gave a mean earlier. How many compliments can you give your take? Solid opinion. This is a solid opinion. So I want to read you some stats. Concanipal is one of three players... Now, are you reading this because you are making a case for Concanipal to be rookie the year that he won't win?

Yes, because they're going to give it to Cooper Flag because of the media pressure. But Concanipal is one of three players ever with 1,000 points, 300 rebounds, and 200 assists in his rookie year. Larry Bird, Steph Curry, the only other two to do it. 50-40-90 games. He's on pace. He's got 17 right now. He is almost on pace to beat Steph-Frey.

That's not a thing. 50-40-90 games? Yeah. You had a 50-40-90 season. He's also on pace for a 50-40-90 season. No rookie ever has done that. Okay. He's got 203s in 58 games fastest ever.

And he's on pace for 284-3-pointers. And that's where the take started shaping with Amin, where I think if Con Cohn-Kinip can stay healthy and continue to be an elite shooter, he at one day, maybe, take over Steph Curry's three-point record. So watch this. So then we looked up what Steph Curry has for his career.

Which is still going up, by the way, because he's still playing at a high level. It's like a thousand more threes than the next closest guy. He's at 42-33. So then we said, Tony put in chat GPT and said, yo, how much would Conconinable have to average in order overtake? That's a good use of chat GPT.

Yes, it is. Excellent. Chad JVT came back with, Khan Knappah would have to have 15 straight years of hitting 284-3s this season. So then I was like, oh, let me see how many times that's happened. It's happened eight times in the history of the NBA. Someone hit 284-3s.

Six of them are Steph Curry. He also had a 403 season, which kind of boosts the average there. Is Clay another one of those? Actually, it's more than six times. It's like 12 times, but six times are Steph Curry. The only person who's done it twice, other than Steph is James Harden, who's done it twice.

Who's number two on the list of all time three is made also. So it's like you have to be in legendary territory, but he's having one of the most incredible rookie seasons that we've ever seen. Like 50, 40, 90 as a rookie a mean, that's never happened before. Cooper flags better. Lions.