The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: The Last Days of LeBron

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

Today's Crew: Dan, Stu, Chris, Mike, Billy, Jess. The Knicks are up 3-1 on the Sixers and the crew breaks down how these two teams are going in different directions. Are we becoming a Knicks show? The Timberwolves took out the Suns in a sweep and the crew breaks down the treacherous position Phoenix finds themselves in. Plus, draft grades are in and Chris has all the answers for how each team did on each day! Is his dad okay? You'll have to listen to his podcast to find out. Then, Chris Haynes joins the show to break down the NBA Playoffs, including tonight's game between the Heat and Celtics and the dynamic between Damien Lillard and the Milwaukee Bucks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Open an account today at questrade.com. This is the Don Lebatore Show with the Stugats Podcast. Today's episode is sponsored by DraftKings. Stay tuned because you'll hear more about DraftKings and all it has to offer throughout the show. DraftKings, the crown is yours. I'm curious what you guys think is the big sports story of the weekend because I think I would put the Phoenix Suns pretty high on the list given the amount of mortgage future that they did there, pun intended, given their ownership situation and how they've made money

off of mortgages. But I wanted to start with something that I don't know if the rest of you know I thought it was quietly reported about an NBA superstar last week that Joel Embiid is suffering from Bell's palsy that was reported by Woj did you guys know that was reported by Woj did you know that Joel Embiid? Once he reported it yeah of quite a lot but i'm not sure how you all reacted and whether you got the news because i think a lot of people missed that the left side of his face is drooping that he can't blink one of his eyes uh... that he's doing the the interview that joking noah said on south beach sessions you

gotta keep your head up there to give off good body language for your teammates. You can't put your head down, but he's kind of ashamed of what's going on with his face. And I just started reading about Bell's palsy, Stugatz, because I'm wondering what's going on, not with Joel Embiid's performance, but how he's feeling about life these days, being in the center of what seems like a storm, because these are symptoms that mimic a stroke. And one

of the things that I read is that when you, I'm gonna read straight here, do you feel ill with Bell's palsy from the internet? When first diagnosed with Bell's palsy, you should understand that you are unwell. It is important to get plenty of rest. And then there's this. People who live a continuous, stress-filled life are more likely to experience this health condition than those who do not. He'll get plenty of rest soon. likely to experience this health condition than those who do not. He'll get plenty of rest soon.

We talked about it some on Friday, and it was through that prism of the reaction to his bad body language after game two. It was explained later to us that that's why he didn't want to show his face, you know, because it hadn't been reported yet, so that explained a lot, and we actually, on Friday, we referenced

the Yokem Noah reaction to it too. I think a lot of people got an explanation for some body language questions that they had for him. And hands up in the air, we didn't know that. So you apologize and you move on. It's like a what more can this guy have kind of thing. Like when I saw that report, I was like, my Grammy had Bell's palsy.

I've never seen an NBA player with Bell's palsy before. There's no one else on that team and in that city that's going to get the blame for everything that's happening there, even as he puts up a 50 point performance in game three. That arena last night had an awful lot of nix fans in it can video get some of the nix reaction now that they're actually winning playoff games and look like they're going to win a playoff series and have a legitimate chance here yet

there if they can get past the paces they've got a legitimate chance to play in the eastern conference finals let's just put some b roll up on the screen of nix fans behaving in a way that is very Knicks fan because they really did fill up Philadelphia's arena in a way that made him be to complain after the game, like that that pissed him off. Yeah, you asked aloud, what is the big story from the sports weekend?

And to me, it's the New York Knicks and the fans legitimately having something to pound their chest over because I know the previous was it the Hawks previous time that they made it into the second round of the NBA playoffs it wasn't a team with a caliber superstar like Joel Embiid a team that was entering the playoffs with a fair amount of momentum because when Embiid played it usually meant good things for Philadelphia. So for me, it's for the first time in a long time, a legitimate team to get legitimately excited about

if you're a Knicks fan. That's the main story of the weekend. I don't know how many Knicks fans had Jalen Brunson breaking the postseason points record when he was traded last year. Nobody. He is so talented. For the Knicks. For the Knicks.

For the Knicks, yes. And I told 47 points at Philadelphia in front of a mixed crowd was one of the best performances I think a Knicks fan has seen in years. And it should be noted that they're doing all of this. Now I have my opinions about Julius Randall, the basketball player. I happen to think that, and I've always thought

that they're better without Julius Randall. But that being said, Julius Randall represents a large amount of their salary cap that is not making a contribution down this run. You start thinking about this team the way that it's constructed presently. If they can ever get anything for that contract, you have a team that is in discussion as a real title contender and actually an attractive destination rather than this idea of attraction. The amazing thing, Tom Thibodeau, we give him a hard time, we make fun of him, how hard he works his team, the defense stuff, but Tom Thibodeau, that perimeter defense of the New York Knicks was overwhelming in yesterday's game. They did not allow Philadelphia to get

a clean look at a three from like the third quarter on what happened in that fourth quarter to Philadelphia when Joel Embiid says we've got the better team when Joel Embiid during the last part of the season his return was something that made Philadelphia feel top of the conference good. The fact that they missed their last nine shots. They did nothing the end of that game. Mitchell Robinson is out. Hartenstein gets five fouls in one quarter. He's in foul trouble. Joe Ellen Bede has to carry your team there and here's Kelly Oubre after the game saying the only thing you can say to try to diminish Jalen Brunson.

Brunson's getting going after slow first two games of this year. What do you think has allowed him to get in the rhythm? 34 shots. I mean, yeah, he's a great player, great, great, great player. I love playing against him. I love his game. He has a lot of fundamentals and skill set to his game. But, you know, anybody shoots 34 shots that has skill, and that's a great player.

You know, they're going to be able to do well. And especially you get screened, you know, you're getting match matches, and you're trying to find the right matchups and things like that. Like, he's a great player. He's going to capitalize on those things. But, yeah, I mean, it's just, it was due to happen. Obviously, you know, JP is a great player. He's been playing well, doing this all year long.

So just because I say he shot 34 shots doesn't mean he's gonna stop shooting them because that's what they need him to do. So, but I think that he's just finding his groove. Tibbs is doing a good job of putting him in positions to get to his left hand and get into the paint. I have no idea if he's complimenting Brunson or not. I mean, the rare both. Yeah, I mean, the team overall is not gonna be super efficient you might as well have your your chief superstar be the one

taking the shots in hopes that he he finds a rhythm but I watch the Knicks and I know that the Pacers are playing an opponent that's riddled with injuries but you also look at the Mavs with Kyrie you see like these tier two and tier three acquisitions that Dan typically makes fun of around the deadline. Some of these aren't traditional deadline deals, but OG has made a difference. Them deciding to just capitulate on RJ Barrett and stop trying to convince himself

that he's going to be a certain caliber of player, making the move to be better right now has paid off dividends for them. It's paid off with Indiana, with Pascal Siakam. Yeah, so the really good minor moves to take your teams to the next level. now has paid off dividends for them. It's paid off with Indiana, with Pascal Siakam. With Siakam, yeah. Yeah, so really good minor moves to take your teams to the next level. I'm excited for Taylor to have the opportunity

to take the train to a closeout game. He is currently on an Amtrak from Miami to New York as we speak, and we will be checking in with him later. We will be. I was told he was on a bus. He's on a train. Yeah, train. Yeah, it's all ground transportation,

and it's all brought to you by our friends over at Game Time who Taylor tried to leverage his position here at Metalarc to get free tickets from Game Time, and the counter was, okay, but here's the conditions, and the conditions are he has to find his way over there using only ground transportation. So thank you to Game Time. By the way, download the Game Time app,

create an account, and use the code TRIPFROMHELL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. That is promo code TRIPFROMHELL. Are we at Nick's show now? I think so. Are we headed that way? Gotta game the Algos.

Well, we're definitely not a Marlin show. Second round, are we gonna be at Nick's show? It seems like a fun team, and we have multiple Nick's correspondents. We have round, are we going to be a Knicks show? It seems like a fun team. And we have multiple Knicks correspondents. We have Taylor on a train going to come in the game. I will be a Pacers show in the next round. What? This is a most likeable?

Look at the Knicks face, Billy. Is this most likeable Knicks team of my lifetime? Probably. It's pretty good. You mentioned Ononobi. I think they were like 17 and 2 or something when he was healthy after the trade. They had a very nice run when he was healthy.

Health Stugats is such an interesting thing happening in the playoffs because the Bucs are without their two leading scorers. When a team in the NBA is without their two leading scorers, they're 0 and 13 in the postseason. Giannis hasn't won a playoff game since 2022. He's had eight games, he's not played in five of them and lost the other three to the Heat.

Wow. Giannis has not, he's not won a playoff game since winning the championship, correct? That was in 2022, was it not? Yeah, and if you look at that championship, I got a lot of flack as it happens. I'm not sure about this season. It's so impacted by COVID.

And you look at what's happened to the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns specifically. I mean, that was an NBA finals. I was coached by Monty Williams, who is right presently a punchline, and Mike Budenholzer, who lost his job promptly, quickly thereafter, it's a weird time in the NBA where you don't necessarily have these kind of flash in the pan generational type teams.

They usually have a longer sustained run. That Phoenix roster had Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton, guys that aren't looked at the same way. Let's talk. It feels like Denver could be one of those teams though, right? What does that mean? It feels like Denver could go on a run here.

Generational, yes. Yeah, a top that conference for as long as... Denver Minnesota is going to be a great series. Yes. I cannot wait to watch that. Anthony Edwards is 22. Kevin Durant is already saying that's my favorite player to watch in the league. He's 22 and I want to talk about some Sun stuff because they have zero first round picks from 2025 to 2030. They've got zero second round picks from 2024 to 2030. So they traded everything to have Booker, Beale, and Durant. Minnesota took their best punch yesterday.

That's Booker going for 49. That's Durant scoring whatever he scored, 33. And Beale getting nine. They owe Beale 160 million dollars over three seasons. They're paying those three guys more than four, 14 teams are paying their entire roster. And you're stuck. You would say, okay, maybe we could trade Bradley Beal, but who wants that contract for that production? Well, he's got a no trade clause as well, making matters worse. Pat Riley wouldn't take that no trade clause. Phoenix is, and this part's interesting too.

So Durant steps on the three point line and doesn't advance in a game seven and Giannis wins the title. Right. Durant is six and nine in the playoffs with the Suns. It's all built around those three guys. They were minus 51 in that series. It's the worst of any trio in the league. They're three guys and Beale in the middle of all that is a problem, Stu Gotz, because he was four for thirteen yesterday and you need something is minnesota is taking your haymakers from booker and derange you need to get something at home from somewhere else

and he's four four thirteen after saying i've never been swept today in my life i'll be damned if that happens i don't remember any bradley beal playoff games zero like I don't remember any of them That doesn't ever been swept. That's why that doesn't yeah. He hasn't been swept He has not ever been swept a day in his life in there, but I he's been there But I don't remember a Bradley Beale playoff game Do you like does anyone here remember a Bradley Beale playoff when Paul Pierce called bank he called game instead? Maybe maybe that one yet the they went all in on on Bradley Beale playoff game. Think when Paul Pierce called bank, he called game instead? Maybe that one?

Yeah, they went all in on Bradley Beal. The entire season kind of depended on him finally getting healthy at the right time and helping their team. And that would be the prism that you'd view that trade through. And now that this season has happened, you can promptly call that a failure in a bad acquisition

and one that has really hindered their franchise, they're probably going to have to trade guys like Durant even potentially this off season to see if they can start building up some assets. James Jones probably losing his job there. If you listen to Pablo Torre finds out, does this mean Isaiah Thomas just gets more and more control over that franchise? Hey, it's Mike. As you know, sports are a bit crazy right now.

It kind of feels like everything is happening all at once and you have to make some decisions to prioritize if you want to support your team or go out and see some of these games. Well, I've got a recommendation for you. As someone that loves sports and loves attending live sporting events, you're always hunting the secondary market for hard to find tickets. I've been out there in those streets and I know the best possible place for me and you is Game Time. It's an incredible app that is so upfront with its pricing. It's an authorized ticket marketplace of the NBA, which makes getting playoff tickets even faster and easier. Game Time, tons of last minute deals. You can save up to 60%

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Smooth like... New McCafe Cold Brew. Try it with French vanilla or caramel cream. At participating McDonald's restaurants in Canada. Don LeBretard. It's a three. The crowd goes into a delusion. Winning in the playoffs, not an illusion.

It's a heat check. He's on fire. Stugats. Karyosh Jalen Bronson. Thumbs up clutch, that's why we won. New York knows you are the best not the joke no more this is the dawn lebatar show with the stew guards i feel like we're burying the lead on the story of the weekend. Draft grades, Miami Dolphins, B minus.

Oh, wow. Vikings, B plus. Patriots, B. Want me to keep going? Please. Yeah. I do not want you to keep going. Saints, A minus. What is the Falcons draft grade?

Because that was one of my two biggest stories from the weekend. If you count Thursday as the weekend. Chris is bearing the lead on this website. He has the grade for each day of the draft for each team. Packers overall B, but day one they had a B. Day two they also had a B. Day three, B minus. Wow.

Classic day three fall off. Bradley B has a 38 point game seven in 2017, but they lost by 10. Well thank you. He's got his though. That is a playoff game. And speaking of the draft, because you said B-, and I thought all of you were dancing around because the Dolphins were said to have the

second highest draft value. It was being reported, and I don't know what that means, but Warren Sharp, who famously came on our show as a prognosticator and tout, his information is really good. But he had one of the great disasters in the history of our show where he came on and we'd said again and again how good his information is and we say all the time having good information doesn't necessarily mean you can predict the results of things and I thought he went promptly 0 and 11 with what he picked. Stugatz corrected me and said, no, no, no, Dan. He went 1 for 10.

But the promo code that he offered us after charging $99 for a subscription to Warren Sharp information was then offering our listeners, hey, I'm so sorry about going 1 for 10, or I thought 0 for 11, that you can now have a subscription to everything I'm doing for a single dollar. Should have been for free. We should have paid for that in just the rest of his dignity. Warren Sharpe is like reputed to be a line mover too. Really one of the better prognosticators out there. The show brings everyone's analysis down except for ours because on Thursday we had I think the best Dolphins analysis of anyone watching the draft, which was that Chris really didn't want Graham Barton,

because Chris's analysis was that if the Dolphins took Graham Barton, the center from Duke, bust. But if anyone else takes him, he's gonna be great. Hall of Famer, 12-time Pro Bowler, for sure. And the Dolphins took Chop Robinson instead. A little glimpse into how nobody knows anything with these drafts. I'm pretty sure Mel Kuyper only gave out two A's

and one of them was the Cardinals. And if you look at this graph here, Cardinals are dead last in Warren Sharpe's graphic. So I don't know what to make of anything. Did your dad beat Mel Kuyper with more exacto's and zagakis than Mel Kuyper? Nine to eight. Wow.

Well everyone kind of had a good year with those first four picks. Yeah. But yes, he did beat him. How is your dad? I saw something that concerned me over the weekend. Well hold on, this part's interesting because, Billy, have you gotten some information on,

Chris, your father will use anything for clicks. And have you gotten information, Billy, on that post of his where his face is really banged up? Well, I was concerned when I saw it. I reached out to Chris last night. I followed up this morning, and the information that I got was, hey, how's your dad doing? And the answer was fine.

I go, what happened? And the response that I got was, you have to tune into the Greg Cody show with Greg Cody if you wanna know how he's doing. And I'm like, but how he's doing, how's he doing? And he said, well, you gotta tune into the Greg Cody show with Greg Cody to find out how he's doing. My dad's never said anything to me more serious

than if you say what happened to me on the show today, I'm off the wheel. I know he says that part a lot. Wow. But he said it again. His health is embargoed? Oh man. I know he says that part a lot. Wow. But he said it again. His health is embargoed? Oh man. I was just curious.

Our cast member and friend, Greg Cody, that's a shocking image that we've thrown up there. I mean AI is a crazy thing. It could be AI. Where can I find this episode of The Greg Cody Show featuring Greg Cody? Wherever you find your podcast, Jess. Wow.

Is it out now? It's out right now. With? His eye. His eye. Our YouTube number's just plummeted as everyone downloads The Greg Cody Show. It's a real his eye. Our YouTube numbers just plummeted as everyone downloads the Greg Kodiak show. It's a real black eye.

It looks like he has a pair of giant rolling stone lips around his right eye because that is some kind of swollen and that mark on his head makes me think he fell on his face. All right, I'll give you three options. Okay, he. Don't do this, you're gonna be out of the water. No, no, no, I can do this. Why are you doing this?

Don't piss off, Greg. Why? It's one of these three things. He seems to have been through enough. He either passed out again like he did with the bush, drunk. Choosing that. He either fainted again, you know, like he did at Highly. Coughing fit. Coughing fit. Or he got into a fight with Dave Hyde. He either fainted again, you know, like he did at Highly. What, coughing fit?

Coughing fit. Or he got into a fight with Dave Hyde. One of those three things happened. I was thinking like bee sting, or maybe he had peanut butter, he didn't know he had an allergy, one of those. You're telling me those are off the table. None of us have ever had our face look like that, right?

That is a substantive, have any of you ever had, Izzy did, Izzy fell on his face one time in a way that Really caused him a problem. I've never crossed Dave HUD I've had a black eye like that, but the swollen part is yeah Why what it's really bad? How'd you get a black eye like that? Something hit me in the face. Oh Billy do you have a favorite story from the weekend? Just cheated a little bit because going pen Penix and the Falcons on Thursday isn't the

weekend. So, Billy, do you have a story that you thought was the biggest from the weekend? Well, Dan, we're down here in Florida, and there's lots of sports happening. Yesterday was a very bad day for South Florida sports. No one was close. Or Saturday, I'm sorry, was a bad day. for South Florida sports. No one was close. Or Saturday, I'm sorry, was a bad day. The hockey team was not close. The Panthers lost by 20.

Hey, Inter Miami had a great game. Marlins. The Heat lost by 20. Not enough people are talking about Inter Miami. And I'm wondering when we're gonna give them their flowers because you have the best player in the history of the sport down here playing every three days or whenever he feels like it and no one's watching him no one's talking about it we had a whole year about people

falling in love with this sport this team whatever I guess they raised prices and then everyone was like okay I'm out and no one's talking about this team anymore but that's not the story Dan story is the heat the center of the basketball universe is down here today I don't think anyone will dispute that and they heat have the opportunity to tie up this series when no one thought they The center of the basketball universe is down here today. I don't think anyone will dispute that. And that he'd have the opportunity to tie up this series when no one thought that they were gonna be in it. And I'm gonna tell you right now,

I was walking around this morning, minding my P's and Q's, but kind of poking around, seeing what I could find out, because we're right across the street from this arena. I'm feeling good about the Heat today. Why's that? I saw Cole Swider. He looks loose. Now, he hasn't played in a little bit,

but should he play? I'm telling you. He looked loose? That's your reporting. Chris Haynes is coming in here, into the studio in a second, as an information insider. You're challenging his role

with that exclusive reporting that Cole Swider walked across the street and looked loose? Well, I didn't say he walked across the street. I'm just saying I saw Cole Swider this morning. He looked loose. And there's a reason that I'm getting this out now because I don't want Chris to steal this story

because this could be a monster story. This could be the Swider game based on how he was looking. The heat's 15th guy is ready. Jessica is yawning uncontrollably. She's had a fit of yawns at your exclusive information. I stayed up so late yesterday down watching Baby Reindeer because I knew you were going to spoil it for me if I didn't watch it this weekend. she's had a fit of yawns at your exclusive information. I stayed up so late yesterday, Dan, watching Baby Reindeer, because I knew you were going to spoil it for me

if I didn't watch it this weekend. It's good. And also, I think my Knicks fandom should be revoked, because I fell asleep through the entire second half of the game, and it was like a one o'clock tip off. It was embarrassing. What's your review of Baby Reindeer? It was good, but I'm more fascinated by what's happened

since it came out, because people are trying to do like some detective work and the whole thing's gotten very ethically messy. Oh, is it because the star of the show claims that this is his story, a true story, and there's stuff in it that's not true? No, it's because he claims it's based on a true story and everyone's like, well, we have to find the real people

that it's based off of now. And that part of it has gotten a little weird. How so, just in that people are questioned. I mean it's a dramatic reenactment, right? Are they not allowed to take some liberties with whatever the story is? I think that that is not so much what the debate is around. I think like, it's obviously not a documentary, right?

So things are dramatized. It's more so that this guy made a story about someone who's a private person and was like, I don't want anyone to find out who this is about, who the actual identity of this person is, but fans of the show are like, we wanna find out their identity. And that part of it is weird and interesting because why?

Invasive, yes, nosiness, general nosiness. If your Stugatz, if your champion veteran, Bobby Portis, and your two leading scorers are out, you simply cannot get ejected, can you? Well, I mean, you can. But you can't. But you can't. Your veteran champion.

Left them out there alone. Bobby Portis and your two leading scorers are out. Giannis and Lillard are out. The remains of your team was a champion a couple of years ago you resigned there because you're a champion there you cannot get ejected in that spot not seven minutes in not any minute I'll give you that not any more quarter maybe seven minutes in you can't do that actually I you know what I think that Minnesota's coach, is it Finch? Minnesota's coach getting injured the last two minutes of that game. One of the great moments in Minnesota Timberwolves history

that he's about to celebrate with his players and then torn meniscus on the sidelines with two minutes left. And he can't even do the press conference he can't close the game out he can't do anything other than limp to the hospital we all have the power to shape the world we're connected to the world we share to each other I am future I wait in the world of echo discover the extraordinary with echo the spectacular new show by Cirque du Soleil opens May 8th under the big top at Toronto Lakeshore Boulevard West. Tickets at Cirque du Soleil dot com. The world is yours to create. Echo thanks its presenting partner Sun Life and its official partners Air Canada and MasterCard.

Don LeBretard. You're a big disappointment, Paul Pierce. My, I'm only upset right now that I don't get to do this in person Paul Pierce. How disappointed is it to be a Miami fan right now? Stugats. Brother, actually you make a really great point. This is the Don Libertard show with the Stugats. Tell me what confidence you can steal in your fan base that may not believe that you guys are legit. I think we believe it's everybody else that don't. If I got to hear one more phrase about Boston on national TV, when we win a game, I'm tired of hearing that man. It's one, one.

We've been to go to see how that repeat. He's Chris Haynes, senior NBA insider for TNT and Bleacher report. He's in town covering Celtics heat. He's about to head to shoot around across the street. Were you disoriented? Did you have trouble doing your job with Jimmy Butler because of the pigtails? Were you distracted or disoriented by that? Now, I got a glimpse of it before we actually went on air, so I was prepared, but I got

a little insight for you, a little behind, I peeled back the curtains for you guys. That led to that interview, which led to him saying what he said about the self-dicts paying too much attention to them. So before we went live, he got on us, me, TNT for in game two, we promoted Jason Tatum's shoe during game two. He was like, man, y'all better stop doing that.

Stop promoting a player's shoe during a game, especially while the heat are winning. During game two. He's like man. Y'all better stop doing that stop promoting the players shoe during the game, especially while the heater heater winning and so uh Then 30 seconds later we go live which which led to that So that's just give you some insight on where Jimmy was coming from with not not pigtails. Jessica Space a big difference. Okay. I'm sorry, put it on the poll please, at Leather Card Show. Fine. Do you know the difference between space buns and pigtails?

Pigtails, he's saving for next media day. Yeah, he's not coming back in this series. I think the most surprising result that we've gotten this entire postseason was Miami beating them that way. For sure. in game two. You do what with the idea that the Boston Celtics, if they're gonna beat you that's how they're gonna beat you but plenty of people are questioning whether they can do that or will do that in a two-point playoff game.

Everyone thinks and knows they can do that. They can do they've been doing that all season winning by 20, by 30, by 50. Are people saying do it in a close game? People are saying their mental toughness is fragile. Yes, that is something Charles Barkley and others have said. Say that about the Miami Heat? No, about the Boston South.

Oh, the Boston South, yes. I do think this is a different team, though. This is not the same Boston South as teams we saw the last couple of years where turnovers, bad shot selection has gotten the best of them. They're a deep squad. And you know, the way that they've dominated teams throughout the course of the season, especially with wins, they have a double digit win margin in beating teams. Like that's how they play. They want to get up, get fast. And you know, to the Miami Heat, do they have a legitimate shot? Like so game two, 23 threes, that's actually going to, you know, that's actually gonna help you.

But you know they're not gonna shoot like that on a night to night basis, not against this team for sure. You saw in game three, they struggle to generate offense. 84 points is the lowest point total of the season for the team. I was talking with Spo when I asked Spo before game three about how do you generate offense especially when you got Drew Holliday who's a lockdown

defender and Tyler Heero is probably their best, yeah he is their best perimeter offensive player and he said you don't want to have Drew just lined up on Tyler we want to move Drew around because if you just have Drew just locked in on Tyler then Drew has the, the physicality to knock Tyler off his spots. And we don't like that matchup. And now if you got a move and that's why the Heat do a lot of dribble handoffs, you get a move in space and create mismatches. That's how Tyler and other guys can get off.

But a heavy dose of that, I just don't know if that's gonna work in this series. You're very close to Damian Lillard. You were in his wedding? Yeah, I was, yes, in his wedding, yeah. And a lot of people are reporting that he's unhappy, which would make sense. What is your reporting? I think he was unhappy with how things were going. I mean, he's not unhappy being in Milwaukee,

that's for sure. He wants to figure this thing out and now unfortunately he's out with this Achilles injury, Giannis Anticupo's out with the calf injury. Right now I think their focus is you know trying to maximize this offseason, build some continuity together because remember that trade, when that trade happened you know they didn't have a full training camp. You know, they didn't have time to jail. So I think that's the focus right now. So it's a tough season, but not the way they wanted to start it off. But you know, it is what it is at this point. What can you tell me

about his personality and the difficulties that he may have had creating the messy public conflict that he would have had to create in order to get to Miami the way that he wanted to. Yeah, I actually thought he was going to end up here. You know, I actually thought at some point when all the dust settled, all the messiness got out the way, I thought he would get here. Didn't happen, obviously, but,

you know, I've talked to him about this. He wouldn't change anything. He doesn't feel the messiness came from his side. Well, no, it had to in order for it to happen the way that he wanted it to happen. It would have had to come from his side. Well, you consider messiness- Not from him directly. Yeah, you're talking about the messiness, the public trade request.

I'm talking about in order to get what he actually wanted. He's the first superstar that this changed on, where you make this kind of noise and you don't get exactly what you want and I thought it's because He needed to go messier with what he I agree do more damage to his reputation that he wanted to do I agree. He would have had to go on public to go on public. Yeah, I agree with you on that in that regard Yeah, that's not that's not in him. That's not in his DNA right there Cuz he always you know, he wanted to make things work in Portland. That was his first option.

But they weren't putting the pieces around him to give him a legitimate shot to contend for a championship. So the trade request was made behind the scenes. Obviously that gets out. But yeah, he was not going to go public. Now had things going on longer? Possibly, but it wasn't at the state where he felt prepared and ready to go public. Now had things going on longer, possibly, but it wasn't at the state where he felt prepared

and ready to go public with that. What can you tell me about the wedding? The best wedding I've ever attended. Really? Best wedding I've ever attended. You had Johnny Gill was there, Tevin Campbell's song, Common the rapper was there, Snoop Dogg came, he rapped.

I feel like I'm missing a few, but it was crazy. That's a good wedding. Yeah, Dreymon Green came, Bradley Beal was there. All of his Portland Trailblazer teammates were there. You know, that was something. I've never experienced that. I saw that he gave all of his Bucs teammates T-Sos because he's got a deal with them and that struck me as something that was worth several

hundreds of thousands of dollars that he didn't have to pay himself because he's able to just get all of his teammates in a photo with great watching. Yeah he got it like that. I mean he's always been you know I think him, LeBron, there's some other guys, Steph, they're known for like, you know, giving their teammates outlandish gifts. I wouldn't call that outlandish, but they're known for doing things like that behind the scenes to kind of try to build some team chemistry

and build some closeness. Chris, throughout your career, you've done an exceptional job covering LeBron James specifically, and over the weekend, I thought there was a fairly surprising result with them battling back into that series, especially when you consider how Game 2 went. What do you make of LeBron's career right now as it stands?

Because not really on a title threat yet again, it's been a weird disjointed experience with the Los Angeles Lakers and now you got AD calling out Dorvin Ham publicly. Oh okay so I will say this about LeBron. When I took the job to cover LeBron, this was 2014 Cleveland Plain deal. This is after we left Miami, went back to Cleveland. So that was my first, I wanted to become a national rider and so I felt like covering a major beat because I covered the Blazers before that. I feel like covering a major beat would be my next step to becoming a national rider. And so I felt like covering a major beat, because I covered the Blazers before that, I felt like covering a major beat would be my next step to becoming a national rider.

So when I took that Cleveland job, when LeBron came back, I took it with the expectation that I would be covering LeBron's downfall. I thought he was going downhill from there. So I'm like, okay, this'll be. Welcome to my nightmare with Tom Brady saying he was in decline when he was 37. You thought LeBron was done at 10 years earlier

than he was done. And he made his career's winding down. Is it? Are you sure? Are you sure? That's crazy, because that first year covering 2014-15 season, he suffered an injury midway and he missed like 15 or so games.

And at that time, that was the most games he's ever missed in a season in his career. So I'm like, okay, well, this is something I can chronicle right here. Maybe I have a book and, you know. The last days. The last days of the program. It would still be on your computer.

The final days. Yeah, the final days. What a miscalculation by our basketball information insider. A real expert on the league. A totally reasonable thing to think that someone would just age like a human being ages. I was, that was my beat status at that point. You know, I didn't reach this level there. But yeah, that was 10 years ago.

He's since, you know, got a championship, you know, out of it, went to the Lakers out of it, and got a championship with the Lakers, two championships since then. You know, but it was a cool experience. One story I'll say about LeBron real quick. So I went in covering that team with the intentions of like, okay, I'm gonna try to be semi-hard.

I'm gonna try to be a semi-hard reporter. If I'm gonna make my mark, I gotta take that angle. So it was the first year remember you guys Kevin asked tough questions. Yeah, ask tough questions and write tough, you know tough articles and He was being real tough on Kevin Love at that time, you know It just wasn't fitting Kevin Kevin Love was the third wheel and it well, you know The Chris Bosh kind of role and I remember Bron tweeted out something I don't know if you guys remember he was like fit in or fit out

it was like a very cryptic tweet and so everybody believed he's talking about Kevin Love so then I went and wrote a story about you know how I feel like LeBron is not handling his leadership responsibilities the right way you know it did good numbers did good next good. Next day, locker room. LeBron finishes his media address. I'm waiting for him to say something to me. And we didn't have a relationship really back then. He didn't say anything to me. So the media gets excused out the locker room. Last minute, LeBron, come on. Chris, come here. I'm like, oh, shoot. All right. So I go over there, and he was like, listen,

I don't have a problem with what you wrote. He said, if that's your assessment, if that's your analysis, fine. See, the only problem I had with you is that you didn't come to me and ask me, why am I handling this matter in that way? And I can tell you why I'm doing it this way, because I see things that you don't see. I'm around these guys. So that can tell you why I'm doing it this way because I see

things that you don't see. I'm around these guys like you so that's the only thing I'm like at and so from that point I was like you know you right from that point on like even when I'm breaking stories stories that may be deemed negative to the player, GM, coach, whatever, I will always call that player coach, GM, whatever, give them a heads up, let them know what's coming. And sometimes they may say, hey, it's not that way, give me a different perspective. I may change course, most times I don't, but at least they know, when it's coming from me,

they're not gonna find out on Twitter first. You're one of the few reporters that has a good relationship with Kevin Durant. That franchise has bleeped on how it is that they're built over the next couple of years and Booker was yelling at the T-Wolves bench, we play team ball, we share the ball, and then as soon as the Suns are eliminated it's reported that Kevin Durant was unhappy with his role in that offense. What is true about Kevin Durant in Phoenix? What is not true about Kevin Durant in terms of public perception?

Well, I talked to him, what, the last time I talked to him, probably a month ago, and he told me how he was enjoying the process of trying to get acclimated to playing alongside Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. He enjoys, one thing about KD, like, he likes new challenges, and he considers himself a basketball

aficionado and so with that he embraces new paths and this is no different. Like this is something he wants to conquer. He wants to he wants to you know bring the sons of championship and do it with those two guys. Now with that being said have there been times this season where he's been maybe a little unsettled in his role and how he's being used? Yes, because he's being used differently.

His points, excuse me, his field goal attempts are down. He's still efficient, still one of the most efficient players we have in this league. So yeah, there has been some frustration at times, but you know, Bradley Beal shares the same frustration You know, I know he had nine points in the closeout game. The Timberlake's closeout game shot shot badly There's a clip of him Soon as he fouls out

Vogel extends his hand for a high five and then Beal kind of like Shoves his hand out the way not a good look As far as Vogel, what I will say is this, is that I know Frank Vogel personally. I know he wanted a point guard on that roster. And the front office believed that bringing a point guard over would take the ball out of the hands of Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant. And so, you know, I think they didn't see eye to eye. So that's the end of that front office. That owner's not gonna sit around and tolerate very much. I think something's gonna happen. I don't know if, whether it's the front office or it's the coach, something's gonna happen. But nothing

could happen with the players. They're locked in. Never, never. Especially, you know, Bradley Beal still has that no trade clause. You know, they have 50 million a piece for those three around there. So, nah, nothing can happen to those guys. But they're a top-heavy team. So, they have to find some balance going into next season.

They're bleeped. They're bleeped. Yeah. No draft picks. The're bleeped. Yeah. No draft picks the rest of the decade. Ann Anthony Edwards is now in the division and OKC is the youngest team in the league and it's done. Like they made all of those moves they're not gonna be able to fix that. The old people are out in the NBA. It's the young people's time. Yeah and the thing is like even with the

Phoenix Lakers they're gonna have a similar look like they may have a similar situation where they may be contemplating a change that the head coach got job. And look, whether it's valid or not, I don't know. But what I will say is, who else is out there? Who else is out there that's gonna take on Phoenix, take them to the next level? Who's out there for the Lakers?

Bella Check. Not a bad idea. Chris, last week, Dan was talking about a list that was sent to him. It's the top 13 centers in the NBA that are better than Bay. Thank you for being on with us. Did you send the list? We appreciate seeing you again. It was not Stan Van Gundy. Thank you Chris. Good seeing you.

Thanks for having me on.