The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: It's Step-Dan Time

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

The Phil Collins story, The Artist Soon to Be Named Prince, Shaq's private NBA Finals prediction, and Terminal 5 at O'Hare Airport. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Rules apply Canada only. No purchase necessary. Visit the Tim's app for details. This is the Dan Leventor Show Show with the StuGuts Podcast. It's step-dan time. That's right guys. Dan's out. That means kids, we're all going to have ice cream today.

Yay! I don't really like ice cream. No? No. It's too cold. Froyo? It hurts my teeth. Hmm, how about that? I want to go to so many different places today.

There's so many different directions I wanna take this show, but I have to start with this story that I saw literally moments before we came on air. Because I was sitting in the eating area or outside in the living room, whatever we call this place right here, and Roy cackled. And I said, what's up? And he said, he started saying,

I was sitting with Jamel, Jamel Hill, and I said, the Phil Collins story. And Roy looked at me like I was crazy. And I was like, oh, so this isn't about the same thing that I saw, which is Jamel, on her podcast, interviewed Rommel Ross, the director, he's nominated for best adaptive screenplay for Nickel Boys, right? But he also played college basketball at Georgetown,

which is, that's a pretty amazing kind of background for someone in Hollywood. And he tells a story about one time where Michael Jordan showed up to play pickup hoops with the team. And they're like, oh, that's great. And it's like, and he brought Randy Moss with him. And he said, now guys, no, Michael Jordan is telling them,

guys, you gotta be cool, you can't ask for autographs or pictures or anything like that, but we have a special guest coming. And the special guest was Phil Collins. Oh, wow. Michael thought he was a bigger star than Randy Moss. Phil Collins? It is kind of crazy, Phil Collins come play ball with us.

That is wild. I've got him at five foot five. How tall is Phil Collins? You know what, he could be six two. Phil Collins whooping. Like what does Phil Collins' game look like? What do you guys think? He's five'6".

5'6", so he's gotta be shifty, right? Little small guard getting there. Point of attack defender. Yep. Like Scott Skiles, I don't know what. I'm thinking playmaker. Great passer, yeah. Yeah, you're doing hairline.

He's penetrating, feisty, right? Oh yeah, tenacious. Definitely a passer. I mean, who has the all time record for assist in a game? Scott Skiles. Doesn't he kinda look like Scott Skyles? He kinda does, the hairline thing. Yeah, receding.

Yeah, it reminded me of the only other story I can think of that rivals that as far as what? I knew this guy, he's an agent, and he is from Minnesota. And when he was getting his law degree, he used to play in this pickup game. And it was one of those things where it's like, it's a Sunday pickup game and everyone like knows someone through someone else,

you know the deal, you've been to these pickup runs where it's the same 15 to 17 people show up every week, sometimes it's this 12, sometimes it's that 12, but you know, it's the same group of people, you know them, but you don't know them outside of this 12, sometimes it's that 12, but you know, it's the same group of people. You know them, but you don't know them outside of this, really, right? So, Izzy, and Mike, and Rog, right? And so the guy, Rog, Rog was a premium shit talker, right?

Great basketball player, penetrating, dribbling, shooting, and talked the whole time. Rog was a big personality, right? So maybe like four or five weeks go by and Raj doesn't show up. And so one of the guys is like, hey, what was Raj okay? What's happening now?

Yeah, what's going on with Raj? And he said, oh, Raj is on tour with his band. And he's like, Raj is in a band? And they're like, yeah, cause you don't know these people's backgrounds and lives outside of this. And he said, and then the next year, Purple Rain came out. Oh no.

Rog, Prince, Roger, no. He was in a revolution? It was, no, it was Prince. Wait, it was Prince? It was Prince. Oh, Prince Rogers, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So Prince, like all the stuff about like the Charlie Murphy, E. True Hollywood story

about Prince being a basketball player and talking trash and being amazing and all that. Apparently, 1,000% true. 1,000% true. And obviously, it took a life of its own after it was told on the Chappelle show. But my question is this. Why haven't we heard about the Phil Collins stories?

If Phil Collins is out here playing pickup ball with Michael Jordan and Randy Moss. But hang on a second. And Randy Moss could hoop, right? Wasn't he high school teammates with White Chocolate? Jason Williams and Williams, yeah, they were buddies. Prince is famously even shorter than Phil Collins. How did people not know that this little five foot two dude

wasn't Prince? Because he wasn't Prince at the time, he was Raj. Like, imagine, Izzy, you're not catching him at the peak of like, when doves cry. You're catching him as he's like, touring small venues, trying to make a living. The artist soon to be named Prince. There you go.

It's like a prequel. The other name, and this one will blow you guys away. You guys know who Bruce Hornsby is? Yeah, he has brains. That's just the way it is. That's one of my favorite stories. So Bruce Hornsby, another big basketball fan. So one day Bruce Hornsby gets to go to practice in Philly

where Alan Iverson is there. After the practice, he's like, hey, you wanna play one on one. And Bruce Hornsby won. Bruce Hornsby beat Allen Iverson in one on one. Somebody tell me how tall Bruce Hornsby is, that's all I care about. That's no way he beat Allen Iverson.

Dude, I'm telling you, some of these musicians. Six four. Oh wow. Okay. That's just the way it is. He could have just posted him up the whole time. He toured with the dead too. Did he?

I think so. Did he? The name's ringing a bell. Things will never be the same. So Phil Collins, we got him as feisty, we got him as durable penetration playmaker, defensively. How is he? Oh, he's a turnstile.

Yeah? I mean, first of all, you can post him up, right? Sure. Absolutely. He's probably gonna fowl the heck out of you in the post and say he didn't. I'm- All short people do that. See, I'm thinking Jose Alvarado, right?

Yeah, I think he'd be pretty good against all odds. Just like a pest. Just completely undercutting you at the knee, like not dirty, but walking right up to that line of, hey man, it's just a pick up game. By the way, the other story that Rommel Ross tells is from that game was that Randy Moss grabbed the rebound and then one dribble drops a dunk on Ruben Bumshay Bumshay,

which one of the great names in basketball history. You could have dropped a better name right there. Ruben Boomshay Boomshay. Who did Randy Moss just dunk on? Oh, that was Ruben Boomshay Boomshay. Also Georgetown, right? That's where they played? Yep, Georgetown.

Georgetown legends. The Cavs and the Celtics play tonight. And for almost everybody, this is the top two teams in the Eastern Conference. Peyton Pritchard is the Phil Collins of the NBA. There you go, that's another comp. Payton Pritchard, I could see Phil Collins. I could definitely see Phil launching from like 30.

But not with the volume though. Because remember, this is like 2003 probably, it's early 2000, so. He's not slashing to the basket. No, he is, but he's not shooting that many threes. He's pulling from deep when he does but they're not not too many right. Right yeah. Because that's like only to be used in the case of a nuclear attack. Can you imagine him

calling the playsman in his hand up like over there. Alright set a screen over here. Phil Collins like telling Mike get away Randy come here set that screen. He wants MJ to set the screen. And then like in a dead ball, he puts his arm around MJ's waist like, this is what I want you to do. And MJ's like, oh, OK. He's hand checking. Oh, man.

But yeah, no, Cav Celtics, Izzy, we often talk about why I have to see them do it, right? Even the Celtics, who won last year, literally up until last year, everyone We often talk about why I have to see them do it, right? Even the Celtics who won last year, literally up until last year, everyone was like, well, until they do it in the playoffs, I can't trust them. And the Cavs have been a team that's had

less modest success in the playoffs than Boston had had up until last year, right? They'd never been on conference finals with this group. Their best players have never been on conference finals, and Donovan Mitchell, he has been to the second round a bunch of times. But eerily, their season and what's happening to them is a lot like what happened to Golden State a decade ago.

Literally 10 years ago, Golden State was, oh, a nice little team. Go to playoffs a couple times, we'll go to second round. But no one would say this is a championship team. Then a new head coach comes in. Ethan Strauss did. Ethan Strauss did. And I'll tell you, the three people who said

the Warriors that year were gonna win a championship before pretty much anyone else. Ethan Strauss said it before the season started. Leandro Barbosa said it, I wanna say, like, in January. It doesn't count though, because he's on the team. But it was shocking. It was shocking. Like, in a post-game interview,

hey, great winter, you guys. How you guys feeling? I think we're gonna be championship. Like, what? Everyone was like, what are you talking about? It was such a, and it was just like, yeah, it's gonna happen. It was the same kind of confidence of Ethan,

where it's like, if you saw what I saw, you'd know, oh, no one's beating them. And then the other person, and this one always shocks people, Shaq. Super Bowl weekend told me that. Shaq always goes against a grain. But there's nothing, it's a win-win situation for him. Because obviously if he's right,

he's gonna say, oh, sorry, before everybody. And if he's wrong, nobody's gonna remember, and it's Shaq. He's done it all the time. He never said it on air That's I think he said the late that Mavs were gonna beat the Lakers in that game against Luca that first time Okay, everybody else was like oh, no, I think you're gonna win They're not gonna let him lose and he just wanted to go the other if Shaq gives a prediction in a forest No one's around here. That's a bit of a look at me Louie, right?

Super Bowl we do private of a look at me louis right i'm a shot to see what we have private because this is how it went down he said who do you think is going to win a message what do you think is going to win big fellow and obviously his rhetoric on tv is give it to the big man you can't win shooting like all the tuition to a jumper's et cetera and he looked at me he said

nobody's been the light skin boys nobody i would want he's like and then he pulled out his phone and he showed, nobody's beating them light-skinned boys. Nobody. I was like, what? He's like, and then he pulled out his phone and he showed me a video of his son, who at the time, Sharif, was, I wanna say either a freshman or a sophomore in high school. And it was like, he's 6'9", and I said,

he said, everything I'm teaching him is perimeter. Shoot three is perimeter, like, that's the way the game is going. And I'm looking, I'm like, this is Shaquille O'Neal, the patron saint of throw it down low and why isn't the big man, da da da, and Dwight Howard needs to do more and all that stuff. And even he was so in on that as it's unstoppable.

But the rest of, I wanna say basketball in America was like, you can't win like that. You can't win like that. You can't win like that. And then they ultimately win. And then next thing you know, it's like, of course they won. And of course they became this. Well, they started off like 21 and two that year

and had a good amount of health that they were probably, LeBron called them, somebody called them the healthiest team ever. But if you're trying to get me to say that about the Cavs this year, you got it. I'm gonna say it. I think they're gonna be in the finals.

At the very least, I think they'll be in the finals. All the elements are basically copying that Golden State team. And if you go to 2022, Kenny Atkinson was an assistant coach on that championship team with the Warriors. And he is a damn good coach. They have all the elements. And I'll say this, I sort of like talked highly about it

when they made that trade, but the trade for DeAndre Hunter, I think is absolutely huge for them. Like they're gonna have stretches when their second unit with Ty Jerome and DeAndre Hunter, where they expand the lead. Like they're gonna do the same thing that Warriors team did,

where you brought in whatever Sean Livingston and Maurice Spates or whomever else. And Leandro Barbosa. And Leandro Barbosa and go on these crazy runs. I think Cleveland has all the elements and just need to stay healthy. Mike lit up at just hearing the name Moe Spates. Yeah, he's taking me back.

Little tiny hat. Little mole on his head. Yeah, little growth. Moe Speezy. The gator. Simpler time. Moe Spates, man, it's too long of a story, but one of the funniest pre-draft interviews we've ever had.

That dude was, because it was, first of all, we asked Billy Donovan and his staff, hey, what can you tell us about Most Fates? And all they kept talking about was his perimeter game. And we're like, what are you talking about? All he did was post up at Florida. And then he came in and his workout was literally all like three pointers and pulling up off the dribble. Like, what is all this? And it's like, Oh,

cause Billy wouldn't let him shoot. Speaking of Ethan Strauss in his book, wasn't there something about KD saying, how the hell did they call you mo buckets? If you've never averaged like 20 in the league, 20 that's with the calves in the Celtics tonight. I mean, obviously this is a battle for Eastern conference supremacy, but for you guys, how close do you think those teams are to Oklahoma City? Like, do you think that's just a battle for them

and Oklahoma City's gonna run away with it, win Western Conference and be- You just opened the door for Amin here. He is huge OKC fan, he believes they're going to win it all. I don't even think they're getting to the finals, but I can't really argue with him about this. This is my nightmare as a basketball media person who travels to cover the finals.

I think the finals are gonna be Cleveland versus Oklahoma City. Wow. Yeah. So you're all the way there on Cleveland being a finals team and you think Oklahoma City now is ready to just sort of run its way through the web. They've done it.

They like everything. I agree with you actually. Everything, every question mark you could have possibly had about them has been answered. They don't have a flaw. They don't have a flaw and they have the experience. They did it last year, now they know, they have that taste in their mouth. They've got all the makings of a championship team.

Would you ever sit out in NBA finals because you're like, ah, I just don't feel like going back to Cleveland. Because Cleveland is your least favorite city. Well, not my least. Really? It's up there. Chicago.

It's the one that I've heard you complain the most about. Is it your least favorite NBA city, period? Yeah, I was talking about NBA cities. Cleveland isn't the bottom. It's up there, though. I'm trying to think, what are the other cities? Sacramento. It means bottom five NBA cities?

You've always complained about Chicago. I don't like Chicago as a city. Who doesn't like Chicago? I don't like Chicago. Why? Are you only going during the winter? No. I don't like Chicago as a city. Who doesn't like Chicago? I don't like Chicago. Why? Are you only going during the winter? No. You don't like Portillo's.

You don't like summertime Chi? Dude, I've been to Chicago every season of the year and every single time I go, the weather is awful. Really? That's a flyer choice. There was one time, one time during the like, early pandemic or late pandemic, excuse me, like till 2021, I went, because I had to do training camp radio,

you know, interviewing the Chicago Bulls. And my flight wasn't until like 9 p.m. and I was done with work like at noon. And so my buddy, Sean Little was like, all right, let's hang out in Chicago because he's from Chicago. And so we went out and the weather was great. And I was like, man, maybe I've misjudged.

I went to this bar where they pour shots in an ice little thing and then you throw it and it hits the bell and all that. And I'm like, you know what, maybe I've misjudged this place. Maybe I've misjudged this place. And my flight was delayed, so I was like, okay, we stay a little longer.

So then at 10 o'clock, I'm like, all right, I gotta go, and I get to the airport at like 10.45, right? My flight's at one in the morning, because it's been super delayed. And it's empty, I'm like, oh, this is great, I'm gonna fly right through security, and I go and like, the chain link fence is down,

I say, huh, maybe the next one, and I keep going in my They're all closed. And so I asked somebody like, oh, yeah, this whole terminals closed You got to go to like the next terminal and then walk over my well that sounds silly This is why you hate an entire soul because of an airport So I kind of see where he's going so I go to the next terminal it's all closed so I'm like What do I do? I grab like some airline person and they're like, oh yeah, the airport's closed. The entire airport?

I'm like, what do you mean the airport is closed? So I call American Airlines and say, yo, I can't get in, my flight hasn't left yet, like they're not even boarding, but I can't get in, how do I get in? And they say, oh yeah, the airport's closed. I'm like, but the flight, the planes are still here. What year was this?

2021. Wow. I've been there before it opens. I had a 4 a.m. flight to Phoenix once, actually. And I got there at like three something to go through TSA. And I was just waiting for them to open up a lane. I've been traveling my entire life. Damn near 46 years at this point.

I have never heard of the concept of, sorry, the airport's closed, like it's a bank or a McDonald's or something. You know what, fair complaint. O'Hare, I used to love it, but I could see as a traveler why it would be somewhere that you hate, because now I don't live in Chicago anymore.

So I'm just going and experiencing most of my trip through how easy or hard it was to get through O'Hare. Now I hate it. There's just not... Awful. The new Delta terminal on Terminal 5 is actually not that bad, but I digress. Is it open 24 hours? Great question. I don't know. I do know that if you need to catch a rideshare, you have

to go back to Terminal 1. That's the other thing. It's bananas. Like, hey, every effing airport in America, dare I say the world, hey, every terminal has a rideshare pickup right there. Either on the curb or you go into like the parking lot, right? Oh Here's the only one Where hey especially don't let it be a blizzard yet. No, you got to walk back like 200 yard train thing

Yeah, go that way. That's a what is there like a tunnel or nope go outside and brave the elements I do love the tunnel with the moving walkway and the art Go outside and brave the elements. I do love the tunnel with the moving walkway and the art installation on the ceiling. Anyways, I digress. You went to a basic bitch bar in Chicago. You had a nice time, it was nice out. Maybe give it a fourth chance, fifth chance.

When it's nice out, it's a great city. Yeah, but it's just like, I mean, it snowed, one time I went in April and it snowed. So all you need to enjoy Chicago is to be there when the airport is open and you will once again love that city. And what else? And the weather has to not suck. Go between June and September, yeah.

And go to Midway. Yeah, fly through Midway. What did you say? Go to Midway. Go to Midway? Yeah. Is Midway like a Greyhound bus terminal, right? No, Midway's fine.

They actually just redid it. I used to only fly in and out of Midway. Is it closer than O'Hare? Depend- no, depending on where you're going. If you're going to the United Center, no. O'Hare is definitely closer. Okay. If you're going to the city, also depends where you're going, but- Don LeBretard! Again, started on the breakfast flan. Oh man, I've been singing a song to myself all morning while I'm- Breakfast flan, dun-dun-dun-dun-dun. Stugats! Have you never heard the Breakfast Flaunt song?

No, hit me with it. Okay. I wish I had some breakfast flauntin' Da da da da da da da da Breakfast flauntin' Da da da da da da da da Where can I find a breakfast like that? Da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da

This is the Don LeVatar Show with the Stugats. I think I like the Cavs tonight. Yeah. I mean, here's the thing. The Celtics are coming off of a big loss to Detroit. And so typically the formula is when they lose, they come back extra hard. I think I like the Celtics tonight.

Between Donovan Mitchell and Jason Tatum in the playoffs, who do you trust more? It's a crazy question, because one of them's been to the finals and lost one and won one. It's wild, because he can have the bigger games, but I don't trust him individually to take those good shots every time. I feel like he's going to come up and Chuck every once in a while it's

Gonna be like hey if I happen to be on this is gonna be great if not Hey, I'm gonna go you know five for 20 somebody else pick me up, and I know it was the bubble but individually Donovan Mitchell By head and shoulders had the best playoff series out of the two yeah, and that's where did he have two fifty-point games Yeah, yeah, he hasn't replicated. He was dealing with something the last go-round in the playoffs, right? Like he wasn't completely healthy. Last season? He was hurt, yeah. He was hurt and he ended up missing

most of that Celtic series, as did a lot of other people on the Cavs. Jared Allen missed a lot of time. Yeah, that was a huge one for them. So it's just like, it's one of those things where, I think we tend to, rightfully so, give the benefit of the doubt to the team that has the experience, right?

We haven't seen you, and again, I'm not even talking about the Celtics winning championship. But you gotta suffer, Jerry? But it's not even about them winning a championship. It's that the Celtics have a lot of playoff experience. Despite being young, all those guys have like 100 games of playoff experience. Jason Tatum has a shot to be the most playoff experience player ever ever yeah right because he plays every year in the playoffs and they more

often than not they go past the second round and so that and obviously with seven game series and all that stuff but ultimately I wonder for the Cavs is it enough when is it enough? When is enough enough, right? When have you? When have they shown enough? When have you, well no, we all know they've shown enough when they win the championship,

and they're like, oh yeah, of course. But the other part of it is, when is enough experience in order for us to be like, okay, the experience part isn't a thing anymore? It depends on what type of players you have. Like I feel like with Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown and maybe them not actually getting along, it takes a taste of every round

and it happens to be that way, right? They had the finals lost and then finals in one. So I don't know, I think for certain teams like the Warriors, what, there were a second round loss and then two years later won a championship. So I think you need to experience once or twice. Once you get all the sort of the nerves out about being at the bigger rounds,

because even as somebody covering it, I covered the league starting in 2000. When I got to 2006, it was covering my first finals. Even I felt the pressure. I was like, this is a lot. It is, yo, the finals is a weird time, man. It's because, conference finals actually is the weirdest. I say this all the time about the playoffs.

When the playoffs start, there's so many teams playing, it kind of feels like a regular season night. Like, for just, everyone's kind of playing, obviously the level of basketball is higher, it's more intense, but because there's so many other things happening, you don't feel like it's actually that special. Then you get to the second round,

and there's two games a night, the Eastern Conference game and the Western Conference game. But you still feel like there's a lot of stories and things being talked about, eight or however many different teams. Then you get to the Conference Finals. And in the Conference Finals, there's one game a night. And then you feel, oh man, everybody is watching just us. So when Asar Thompson crosses you up and turns you around and you look like a moron, in the Conference Finals, everybody is watching just us. So when Asar Thompson crosses you up

and turns you around and you look like a moron in the conference finals, everybody's gonna be on that. Like it doesn't fly under the radar like something that might happen in the first round or even the second round. Then obviously the finals, you've got all that time. The difference in the finals and conference finals is not only are you the only game of the night,

but also when I don't play, there's nothing. There's just that void where game one is Thursday and game two ain't until Sunday. And so we're sitting around waiting to see what's gonna happen. I wanna ask this of Scal when we talk to him later, Brian Scalabrine, but do Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown hate each other?

Are we gonna go back after all these years and figure out this was a Kobe Shack situation and neither of them liked each other and they could've won a lot more if they actually got along? Because I just get the sense that they can't stand each other. And I've read that a couple of times, but there's really nothing backing that up in terms of information.

This feels like the Bradley Beale, John Wall conversations of like a decade ago, right? We're like, oh, and they're like, no, we're best buds. And then afterwards, like, I mean, this guy's cool, but I couldn't stand playing with him. Oh my god, okay. Do we think Scowell will actually give us a straight answer on that?

Absolutely not. Darn. Absolutely not. I thought basketball was dead, by the way. It's not bad. It's in total shambles. What a great start to the show. I got called a coward and a traitor, Mike,

because one oddball, I just said that I could see both sides of PK Subban's argument, and I get that NHL looks pretty good right now compared to the NBA, especially after All-Star Weekend. A coward and a traitor. A coward and a traitor. Not American anymore. I agree.

It's a PK Subban acted in bad faith. You have to disclose exactly why you don't watch it at the very beginning beginning before you make character assassinations. Oh, that's the recipe? Yeah. Yeah. And you also have to wear your bias on your sleeve. Like for one, the primary reason why I don't watch a sport anymore is because the Miami Heat stink. And I've seen this and I've been bored by their approach for the last two years. They didn't care about the regular season. So I responded in kind. But secondarily, because my team is no good, it allows me to see all the other flaws in the sport and not care as much. But I do want to salute Donovan Mitchell,

because yesterday we were talking about, not necessarily through his own actions, but it just hasn't worked out for Kevin Durant, like the decisions he's ended up making. And some of these things are out of his control. Like I'm sure in a vacuum, he'd prefer to have gone to Miami than Phoenix, but he gave a couple of destinations, and he ended up going to Phoenix. There are certain things out of his control. His teammates getting injured. Although, you do take that as a data point

with Kyrie Irving. You have to account for Kyrie Kiring when you decide to team up with him. But it's worked out on the opposite end, I think, for Donovan Mitchell, and he doesn't have the same amount of title or bust pressure surrounding him the way that Kevin Durant does. He had the opportunity to play hardball with the Cavs,

he decided to extend. Again, would Cleveland have been his top destination? He didn't have that much influence over it? No, he probably would have preferred to go somewhere else, but it's worked. He brought along a fledgling franchise, became the face of it, and now they're legit title contenders. It's really worked out for Donovan Mitchell. I have a different, slightly different way

of looking at the way I predict. I think Cleveland is going to make the finals in the Eastern Conference. I think, man, I don't even know who I think is going to make it in the West. Probably OKC if you really break it down. But if you tell me who are the two teams. Wow, what a huge NBA finals for Adam Silver.

At this moment in time, Cleveland, OKC, that'll get him. But this would be a more exciting one. David Stern will crawl out of the grave. I'm like, stop it. The two teams that I'm most afraid of in respective conferences is Milwaukee in the East, because to be honest, and now with Kuz, just another option there, and Golden State in the East, because to be honest, and now with Ku is just another option there,

and Golden State in the West. Come to my side of the... I wanna talk about Golden State. How is Steph Curry 36 years old, man? That's wild, he still looks like he's the babyface assassin. His game's gonna age with grace because of his sound. I guess I'm always gonna be worried about his ankles, but he's shown that, but I do have questions

because they've played really well with Jimmy Butler in terms of wins and losses. Oh boy. But I also look at Jimmy Butler's stats, I'm a little confused by it. He's shooting 43% from the field, he's like one for 14 from three. It's almost like that's why he needed a star in Miami

so he could struggle a little bit. 100%, 100%, but a lot of the people making, like Stephen A. Smith, if I watch first take on Mute here, and I'm assuming that Jimmy Butler's lighting the world on fire because every highlight that they show is him playing within the offense, and then I look at the numbers, I'm like, this doesn't really make sense.

So why is it working so well? Is it competition that they're going up against? Or is Jimmy Butler doing things that don't necessarily show up in the stat sheet that clear things up for Steph and alleviate some of that pressure? Yes, the answer is yes. It's all of those things, right? Number one, Jimmy Butler's arrival

has made Steph Curry sit back up like Marty McFly in the Enchantment Under the Sea dance after his parents' kiss, right? Like, Earth angel, Earth angel. He's playing that guitar hard now, right? In a way that he was fading. Dude, it looked not great for Steph Curry. He looked like, dare I say it,

like Father Time was knocking on that door. And Jimmy Butler gets there and all of a sudden, this dude is revitalized, right? Jimmy Butler offers the perfect counterbalance in terms of interior play and more importantly, attention. It's simultaneously made both of their lives a lot easier than it was a month ago, where it's like, oh, there's somebody else

you have to worry about every single night. Jeremy, tell me, you didn't feel this deep down in your heart, when Jimmy is sitting there drawing up a play in the huddle, you know it's exactly parroting something that Spoh has told them in the past. And then it absolutely worked. I'm just like, dude, don't do it, man. It's really, it's been interesting to see the reaction

both nationally and locally to the Warriors winning as much as they have and the things that have been put on display within media and social media about Jimmy and his game, things that weren't necessarily being celebrated the last couple years until playoff time and now are all over every highlight reel that you could possibly see. So it's interesting to see that it's hard to watch Jimmy embrace the Warriors franchise the way that he has and it's really amazing to think that you know He's willing to lavish every single

Every single franchise he goes to with the praise of being the greatest franchise that he's ever played for and everything is great and I'm allowed to be me and he pooped his pants Well, he did I asked for a poop just pass out there They said they did not ask him about it, which means he pooped his pants exactly. Yeah, cuz if you don't he's like no I wasn't cool for just sat on some ketchup or whatever by the great job by Jeremy playing don't look now Cardboard cut over here Riley's a menace. I thought it was a statue. Why did you let him pick your nose, Dare Bear? Pat Riley? Yeah. Pat Riley's allowed to do anything. There it is.

Use some tissue. I think it just shows, by the way, the folks that they are trying to use or they had used in the past, even if you go to the Jordan Pool, Otto Porter, you don't need to be that competent to be able to play with that group and have Steph sort of carry you.

And obviously Jimmy is beyond competent. He can have a bad day on that team and still win and have a comeback win against the Magic because of Steph. And he, unlike, there was nobody on that Heat team that he was constantly trying to set up, right? There wasn't what. That's just kind of funny, right?

Is like, this Heat team this year really could've used that Jimmy Butler. Like, Tyler Hero taking the leap that he has offensively could've been helped out a lot by a guy going downhill and creating things for. It's also why you can't dismiss like, the Gabe Vincent, Max Trus stuff. Sure.

And how that became some sort of resentment that Jimmy kept. Which is so interesting, right? Because all anyone complained about was that they kept running it back, and yet all they did was tweak this roster around him the entire time. They just didn't cash in on trading the young all-stars

that they had, the young guys that would become all-stars, to get him some other individual co-star that, who knows if they would have had the same amount of success as they've had the last several years. But it is interesting to see a revitalized Jimmy because this was ultimately the perfect scenario. You're not the guy, but you've gotta be the best number two in the league 25 times to make a deep playoff run.

Like 25 times total, regular deep playoff run. Like 25 times total. Regular season and playoffs included. You need to be your best 25 more times and then you can coast for the next two years. I love the idea that you said, oh Jimmy says, oh I'm allowed to be me, right? I'm allowed to do whatever I want, right? And it made me think of, in Hollywood,

these directors, these movie makers, being allowed to do whatever the hell they want. The Oscars are on Sunday, and one of the movies that's up, or two of the movies that are up, are The Brutalist and Wicked. And both of them are incredibly long movies. And I sat there and I thought to myself, as I watched Wicked, you know what, man?

We often villainize the studios, like, oh, they wouldn't let the director and his vision or whatever, like, just let him make the movie the way he or she wanted it to be made. And now I'm like, you know what? They were right, man. They were right.

Hey, get this thing under 90 minutes. Oh, 90 minutes? No, I mean, I felt this way last year, too, with Killers of the Flower Moon, which was a movie I was really excited to see. The acting was really good in it. The movie was, or I'm sorry, the book was amazing. And then the movie, it's just like Martin Scorsese made no choices.

Like, he left everything in. And so it just had a three hour, three and a half hour long runtime and was just very, very long. And so I think a lot of people just didn't watch it because it's just such a three hour, three and a half hour long runtime and was just very, very long and so I think a lot of people just didn't watch it because it's just such a massive time commitment which is a bummer because it's an important story.

I can't imagine trying to watch that in a theater. Oh, I would have been so knocked out. Man, I loved it. You watched it in theater? What, Killers of the Flower Moon? Yeah, I saw it at the Alamo Draft House, I loved it. I really liked the movie too, but I think it could have been better.

I also saw it by myself, which I kind of dig. Going through movies by yourself. Going through movies by myself, especially a theater like Alamo Drafthouse, it's gotta be a really stinky movie for me to not enjoy that experience. But this year, Wicked, like you said, Jeremy and I got in an argument about this yesterday

because disagreement, we had a disagreement. The Wicked went to the East, bro! She came down in a bubble dog They stretched it first of all they made it into two parts And so what I won the fact that it like part one is as long as it is and it's two hours and 40 minutes Long and you don't find out what happens. Are you a wicked hater one? I Thought it was a good movie, right? I was I thought a great movie. I was very- It is a great movie.

I was entertained. I just think it could've been better. Exactly, it's just like, dude, like you said in the break room, make some choices. So- Same with The Brutalist, like, the first half of the movie is pretty good. I'm following.

We get that sleeper bod from Adrienne Brody. Then there's a one minute intermission. And then the second half of the movie is another hour and 40 minutes long. And I'm not exactly sure what the point of it was. I'm a studio head. And my filmmaker comes up to me and says, OK, the movie's going to go like this.

And then there's an intermission. I say, get out of my office. I don't care who you are. Way too long. Intermission? Well, with Wicked, they're trying to capitalize on the intellectual property and get two movies out of that if you're gonna spend the amount of money that you have.

On marketing too. Yeah, on marketing was crazy. Like ginormous marketing. But at the same time, this is a show that like, everything that happened in the plot of the first half, outside of one thing that they add to do, fan service and service back to the original Broadway performers,

where they added a scene that killed about 10 minutes. It's all plot that happens before. The difference is you're taking something that's a Broadway musical that paces really fast. There's no giant landscape shots or beautiful scenery or waiting 10 seconds between lines delivered. You're going at a pace because it's a Broadway show. So you're taking something that at that time

works in an hour and a half before an intermission and just automatically becomes two hours, 15 minutes, two hour, 20 minutes, and then where Jess and I agreed is they kind of, they ruined the momentum of Defying Gravity, the final song, because they cut so many times between the songs. Yeah.

They milked that shit in the school where she gets her hat and all that. I'm like, I fell asleep there in that point. In the theater. Great nap. Here's where I was officially like I'm lost. Cause I was like, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were so good, like they carried that movie.

I thought the production, the set, everything, the costumes were amazing. Where I was officially lost was during Defying Gravity, which is, Wicked's not my favorite musical, but I think Defying Gravity's one of the best musical numbers on stage. It's like the huge crescendo before the intermission in the Broadway show, and there were so many breaks during it, it became like a 25 minute long scene,

and they showed like six different camera angles of her like picking up a broom, and I'm like, I'm like, come on, like,. This was the moment you're waiting for, and then they kept cutting it up and bringing it up. I know Wicked Heads were upset about that specifically, but man, I wish it was just one song. Make some choices, man. Make some choices. That's all we're asking.

I'm gonna formulate a list of top five places to take a nap in. I'm pretty sure number one is at the movies but we'll give you all of that when we come back. Hey folks, happy winter time. You know winter time is a great time to hang out with friends, maybe take a hockey trip. It's what I did with my friends. Hockey time quickly became Miller time, responsibly of course because Miller Light was made for me and my crew of

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