The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Big Suey: The Worst Person To Make This Argument

Episode Date: July 8, 2024

Domonique expresses his frustration over how David's "character" on The Sporting Class somehow makes John Skipper look like a socialist...and David agrees. Plus, we put a bow on the bat boy story that somehow ended with an appearance on late night TV. Then, David and Domonique lead a wide-ranging conversation on the LeBron James-Bronny James story with the Los Angeles Lakers. How much of this is nepotism and how much does that actually matter? Has this been a ruse by the Lakers and the James Family to circumvent the salary cap? Is it okay to use ad revenue as a deciding factor in personnel decisions? These questions get answered while Jess works on her F1 minute and Lucy doodles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Now's a good time to enjoy Cuervo, the tequila that invented tequila. Go to Cuervo.com to shop tequila or visit a store near you. Cuervo, now's a good time. Trademarks owned by Bekle. SAB, the CV. Copyright 2024. Proximo. Jersey City, New Jersey. Please drink responsibly. Welcome to the Big Sui presented by DraftKings. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan LeBattard podcast.

I'm sorry. I'm not going to apologize for that. In fact, the only difference seems to be this show. A podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan LeBattard podcast. I'm sorry, I'm not going to apologize for that. In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging. I have been tempted in restaurants just walking past tables to grab somebody's fries if they're just there. That hasn't happened to you guys? I've done it. And now, here's the marching man to nowhere, fat face, and the habitual liar. Dominique loves giving notes on the sporting class.

That's my angry notes mostly. You don't like the show? No, I love the show. He just ends up arguing with you through me. Oh, why won't you just argue with me? Because I recognize that you are a character, and I will not get drawn in. I'll let myself take a minute to breathe.

It's like with anyone that you care about, you're like, all right, we're not gonna have this argument right now. So it's like, all right, David is representing a caricature of a monopoly man. David is obviously not as oblivious and heartless as he makes himself seem. So I yell at Pablo for making you seem like

you don't actually care about people, you only care about money. You could still call me. No, it would be a waste of time. I'd be totally fine. And I'd say, hey, David, that's really messed up, the way that you pretended like these people don't matter. And you would be like, oh no, just doing a show, Pablo,

I really love people, right? I also love that any time Dominique disagrees with someone, he just accuses them immediately of being a character. Every single time. Every single time we do a show, he's like, that's not really what you think. You can't possibly. You're in character right now.

Possibly really think this. I have to. You're a cartoon character. I have to. You're a Asian Marge Simpson. No, I just like talking to David Sampson and Don Skipper about business. I do too, and't like listening to it.

It's a great show, if you don't listen, you should listen. Do you get upset that he's on the show? Is it that deep? No, no, no, no, I'm upset that he doesn't provide the proper pushback, so like, I think it's somehow you. He's impugnient. Hold on, let me push back. How dare you? You, David, have taken a position so pro-corporation

that it makes John Skipper seem like a socialist. And I'm like, Pablo, what the hell is going on on this show where you have two people who represent the opposition to labor, and I'm in here like, yeah, get him Skip. What are we doing? You are now expressing the thing that David Sampson complains to me about, which is that John Skipper gets to be a socialist.

He does. Because he has a southern accent and a drawl. John Skipper gets away with stuff as chairman of this company that brings me to tears. It really does. You feel like a suspended bad boy. I feel like that there is nothing that any of us can do to change his character.

And what he's done is he's made the character himself. Why else did you fire people to cut it through? Yes, please. Not that quickly. Yeah, we have a top five. Subjects or anything? We have a top five we're working on here on the dock. Definitely getting the email from Dan after this.

Mine's gonna go to my ad ESPN, so I'm good. I love John. I'm gonna go to Lucy. You guys are, this is John Nose. John and I talk about this all the time. I was just saying, I'm not worried at all. I'm not in the sporting class, I don't know how the company runs,

it's running great, love it, everyone's happy. Keep up the good work, have fun guys. That's really great, thanks for that. You got it buddy. I'll tell you another thing, I someone for once. Oh, gosh. I think that you would do the same. Okay. I do.

I think that what would you do if you had access to an asset that you only had access to because of the job you had, and then you used that asset for your benefit? So let me be even more specific. If you had the ability you use that asset for your benefit. So let me be even more specific. If you had the ability to get tickets. Any level specific would be good. You have the ability to get tickets to an event and you get the tickets at X and then you sell them at X plus Y.

So how'd you get that job? It depends, I mean that factors into my opinion. How you got the job or what the job is? How you got the job. I have no idea. You're working for a baseball team where you get access to tickets as a benefit. Are you paying for the tickets?

No. Okay, so you're getting free tickets and then re-scalping them. Yes. Are you filling up the stadium? I mean, that would be nice. Get some butts in seats, baby. It's almost impossible that you are finding a way

to disagree with this. You really asked David Sampson for advice on how to fill up a stadium. I'm just saying that maybe you shouldn't have fired somebody who was getting butts in seats. How many times did this happen? It was caught. It was caught in an investigation that we did internally.

So this was not like- Let's make sure there's not a ESPN.com article about this also, by the way. So I'm asking like, was this like a one time, like a big event thing, because you had access to the stadium and it was like a desired event, or was this like someone was claiming tickets every day

and then selling them every day? So both, but one of the rules in baseball is every team gets access to playoff tickets, even if your team is not in the playoffs. So you could get playoff tickets if it's the Dodgers playing the Yankees. The Marlins get tickets to that. You get ticket strips.

So yeah, and I mean, that's obviously something that you are made aware of before you take the job. It's something that you shouldn't do. And I don't disagree with, I think, I find you to be a reasonable person, and I think that a lot of us come to our opinions based on the position that we're in and experiences that we've had.

And so I wouldn't say that I could never see myself behaving any way, or I could never see myself behaving like someone, or like you, frankly, in situations that you're in, if I had the life experience that you had. But given the experience that I've had and the things that I've seen, the things that I've experienced,

when I hear you say certain things, I'm like, it's kind of offensive to what I believe in and stand for. So I'm not going to defend someone selling tickets or committing fraud, obviously. But when you put it the way you originally put it, you have access to assets. All of us have access to some assets and we use them for some personal advantage all the time. I get a computer from work and I use my work computer to do things all the time. So I don't, that particular example is like. Are you profiting from that?

Or is it just things you're Amazon shopping? If you used your work computer to run a separate business, that would be a violation. Let's not talk about it. So the Bat Boy went on Letterman after this happened and said quote, honestly they never told me the reason for the suspension, he said. I guess I got in trouble for supposedly gambling,

but it was a dare. The money was just an extra part of the dare. I have no recollection of that. He went on Letterman? That is unbelievable. A week later, was his name Nick Cirillo? I can't. He was 19 years old.

He said he drank the milk in 59 minutes, but then vomited outside the clubhouse. So he did not collect the money. Wait, 59 minutes? You cannot drink a gallon of milk in an hour without vomiting. I'm not talking about the lemonade thing. I was picturing him chugging it all.

That is chugging, I mean it's. 59. It's like a sad lunch. Do you know how much I get? No, we're talking a gallon, not the quart. No, we know what a gallon is. What if it's a gallon of milk but in ice cream form? Do you guys think you could do that?

How much ice cream is a gallon of milk? It's more than a gallon of ice cream. So I believe if you did the math, let's say it's four gallons of ice cream, you probably could not do that. It sounds like you think you could eat a gallon ice cream though. I've never done it, but there are people who do. The Marlins think it makes you sick. Actually, the Marlins in this story, quote, have declined to comment. Cirillo, a bad boy, the past five years that he hopes to return for the next home stand beginning September 16th. Quote have declined to comment. Cirillo, a Batboy the past five years, said he hopes to return for the next home stand beginning September 16th.

Quote, I really miss working there, Cirillo said. I hope I can get back there soon. End quote. Let me ask you something. If you fire someone and then they go on David Letterman, are you gonna hire them back? Cause it seems like Nick Cirillo

made the wrong decision there. I mean, you're on Letterman. This was great for him. Where's Chris Cody when you need him? I mean, sounds like a, you wouldn't have gotten on Letterman if you didn't do the dare. I mean,'re on Letterman. This was great for him. Where's Chris Cody when you need him? I mean sounds like a wouldn't have gotten on Letterman if he didn't do the dare I mean for sure and he got 15 minutes this were the tick-tock era. He would have a million followers right now Oh my god shop. He'd be selling milk merch. He hucked to that milk I am so

I know I can we can we talk about that for a second? I hate that. I hate that. I hate that reference. I know. Can we talk about that for a second? How bad that reference was and also how much I dislike that Hawk2 is being advised by Shaq about celebrity now. That was in the docs.

She was down here at Dare Beach Club judging a bikini contest yesterday. She's at 13 minutes and counting. She has started to finally post on social media and she's releasing these documentary style, when they intro new contestants to The Bachelor, that is what she's doing. She's like, this is where I grew up.

Also, this is not what I wanna do. I do not wanna be Hot Tua forever. And we're like, girl, I'm sorry, that ship has sailed. This is way too late for that. I mean, she could parlay it. What's she pivoting to? I mean, like Theo Vaughn was on Real World, and Cardi B did, I'm just saying,

I'm not saying it's likely, but people do parlay these momentary opportunities as celebrities. If you have an actual talent, now people are looking at you. Howdy boo boo before she became a senator. Do we know her name? No. There we go. I mean, also.

I don't know it. I don't think that matters. I think what matters is does she have an actual talent? So like once you get the eyes on her. Are you gonna find out? The talent that she actually has, I guess, nevermind. That would be a whole different line of work that I think she said she doesn't wanna get involved in.

You're talking about the hot to a talent. I'm talking about the marketing. I'm talking about the hock to a talent. What? I'm talking about the marketing. I'm talking about the fact that she's taken advantage in monetizing this. She has it though. Like she just she like came out and was like if you see any merch that's not by me, if you see any social media, I don't have social media and it's like girl this is running out. You don't have time and you've waited too long that like I don't think she's gonna be able to capitalize the way she thinks she is. She waited 12 minutes into her 15 to get started. I just appreciate that you lapse into the accent every time you do her voice and it's pretty impressive

and you pull right out, it's nicely done. Well, I'm Southern. Yeah. I like slip into my accent randomly. Every time I talk to my sister, I sound so redneck after. I find it fascinating how TikTok has provided all these people with 15 minutes and everyone thinks they're all rich and they're not.

Like the girl on the couch. What? What? I don't know that one. The one who says she wants to- That's your, I think it's your algorithm, David. She wants a guy in finance who's six foot five. No one's heard of that. Six five, finance with blue eyes.

She's not rich. That moment passed too. finance to six foot five, no one's heard of that. Six five, finance, blue eyes. She's not rich. That moment passed too. She's trying to take advantage. Made a talent though. I'm trying to sing. Howdy folks, it's Mike. I'm headed to Chicago, get a nice old dose of summertime shy and I've never actually been

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guaranteed. Dan LeBretard! Pablo leads all of podcasting in reading while smiling if you listen to ESPN daily he sounds like he's having the time of his life stugats coming up next I'm gonna tell you how the Savannah bananas how do you know I'm smiling that's how I found my vocal range sometimes I just say Savannah bananas this is the done libertarar Show with the StuGards. It does take us a lot of energy to not talk about the things you've been talking about between segments. We'll save it for later. We'll save it for later because that one is really good.

I like that one. I want to start with something though that Dominique declared he did not care at all about, which is the Brownie James story, because David Sampson managed in four seconds to make him care, because David Sampson is exercised. I'm worked up. About LeBron and I want to understand why. The Los Angeles Lakers are so full of shit and LeBron is the key conductor of that and

it offends me. All they had to do was have JJ Reddick tell the truth when he was hired. All LeBron had to do was tell the truth about his involvement in JJ Reddick, his involvement in the operation of the team. None of them ever copped to drafting Brawny as though he was some sort of talent.

P's player development case study one is what JJ Reddick said. Give me a break. Then they gave him $7.9 million guaranteed money for a player that didn't deserve a nickel guaranteed. Then LeBron does a victory lap saying, I took less than the maximum. Look at me.

Meanwhile, the James family got more than the maximum, which is a cap violation, but the NBA will never investigate it because they suck at the teat of LeBron and the Lakers. Yeah, I'm worked up. Okay, so when I say someone is obviously playing a character, how can you pretend like I'm not being honest? That's not a character.

So you are, David, David, you don't see the obvious reason why you are the worst person possible to make this argument? To make an argument that somehow LeBron James' nepotism is the issue here. So if you listen to nothing personal, I'm not against nepotism. I'm a beneficiary of nepotism. But how about admitting it? Why can't there just be a, why can't JJ Reddick acknowledge what the Lakers did for LeBron? You, as someone who ran an organization and has told us a number of times

about the many things that you have lied about, and you explained why you had to lie, are pretending as if you don't understand why they can't admit it. Like, what is, what are we doing here, Papa? I am giving my audience a lot of credit, and I am telling them that this is not the example that we would use when I would lie to people.

It's when there was a possibility that people would buy what I am selling. There is no one buying that Bronte James got $7.9 million because of his ability. I want to explain the specific financial criticism you're making though, because I don't think our Audience necessarily is following as fluently as you are assuming which is Ronnie James got guaranteed money, right? Mm-hmm. So how much guaranteed money did he get? 7.9 million over four years fifty-fifth pick in the draft second rounder, right? So guaranteed 7.9

LeBron took a pay cut of some amount. Just to be side below the max. I think it was like $3 million. 2.7, which helped the Lakers tremendously, kept them under the second apron. It also enables them to keep a draft pick like in 2032 is draft capital. And it gives them a mid-level exception of 12.9.

So there was a reason for it. And I guess you, I would think that you would understand that there are some business decisions and arrangements that are worked out in a way that are not always completely, like we had this conversation earlier and that's what surprises me is they didn't break any laws, right? So why is this particular,

and this is where I get upset with you and people like you is it feels like it depends on who is the person who is circumventing the rules in order to get an advantage without actually breaking them. That, that determines whether you're going to celebrate it as some crafty business maneuver or you're going to say, this is bullsh**. Like that's, that's what offends me about you. So thank you. And I love the communication.

What's crafty. If it had been crafty, then we're not having the conversation. Half the stuff I did never got to Letterman or got to the paper. Except for the time it got to Letterman. Except for the time it got to Letterman. Apparently at the time, Brad Penny said, it's ridiculous that he's getting six game suspension

for drinking milk when you get suspended 10 games for doing steroids. That's a good point. Listen, hard to argue with Brad Penny. So I would like to say this. We are currently not on ESPN. I work at ESPN. And when we do first take at ESPN,

I understand that we have to kind of, in order to, even if you feel like you have been one-upped in an argument and you lost, you have to kind of fight it out because we got to fill up the rest of the segment. It kind of undercuts the show if you're like, hey, yeah, you got me there. LeBron is better than MJ, we're done. But in this setting, David, we can stop this

and move on to one of our many other topics by you just admitting, yeah, Dominique, you're right. What I'm saying is completely unfair and completely, my opinion is completely predicated on who is the one who is circumventing the rules. That's all. I just wanna get that down. Yeah.

I wanna get it exactly right. Yeah, Dominique? Yeah. Is it yeah, Dominique? Sure. Not yes? You can go yes, whatever you're comfortable with. But this is-

Can I try to be a David Samson translator? I want to I want to workshop David spin of why he is criticizing some lies while also being the person who is most famous in our business for Acknowledging when he himself lied in a parallel position David has taken the the position in sports media of being the guy who is saying, if you can't fool me with your lie, I'm going to call you out for lying, and I'm the only one who can do that because I have been a giant liar.

Okay, so I think that no one. Accurate. No one here believes that they are being fooled by this lie. Like we had this conversation in the pre-show where I said, when people ask me to do something and I change my mind and say I don't wanna do it, I say, hey, I don't really feel like it, I'm good. Whereas most people I think make up a lie.

And I said, why make up the lie? Because the person who is receiving it recognizes that you're lying. And then you guys made the fair point that it's kind of like a courtesy where they know you're lying, I know you're lying. And then you guys made the fair point that it's kind of like a courtesy where they know you're lying, I know you're lying, but you care enough about me to make up some foolishness. I think this falls in the same category

because on its face, no, and I think a lot of the things that like when you would argue about sellouts or you would argue that you guys would lie about sellouts, you would argue that, right? We all knew it was bull, but we were like, all right, David, we appreciate you taking a shot at the lie. Like, I think this falls in the same category, and obviously you would never be so terribly offended

by a team president or a team owner misleading the public about how many tickets they're selling, or how good they think their team's gonna be. So when you are going into a full rebuild- It's different, though, in a salary cap. It's different though in a salary cap league. It's different in a salary cap league when we're talking about when you're screwing around with salary cap, salary floor.

But the way that they did it gave them more room. So it's not as if like I don't understand the point that you're making. So you're saying that they're getting some unfair advantage over the other teams. That's what you're upset about. I'm saying they're giving LeBron James more than LeBron James is allowed to get. So he's getting over the max and he's getting credit for going under the max and that's what you're upset about. I'm saying they're giving LeBron James more than LeBron James is allowed to get.

So he's getting over the max and he's getting credit for going under the max and that's what bothers me. So we should point out there's also an argument, a strong argument that suggests that the Lakers cap is actually worse because they got Bronnie. But what David is saying is that LeBron and Bronnie and the Lakers are acting in concert.

It's an inside job. And so LeBron James giving money back is not actually giving money back because the family is getting the money. And so what this raises Dominique is I think it's an eternal point that I think you and I have talked about Dominique actually, which is like the max salary and salary caps and like

LeBron James giving something back what that says about a sport in which he can't get more because of course there are laws keeping his full financial potential in check. So by your own words the NBA has been sucking at LeBron James teet they have gotten more value from LeBron James and LeBron James' teat. They have gotten more value from LeBron James than LeBron James has gotten from them. Well, they've gotten more value from LeBron James than they've paid him. We'd agree with that.

The fact that the max salary exists is evidence to that. So there are very few examples where a company doesn't get a greater benefit from the action of an employee. Okay, so yes. LeBron's been paid 583 million in his career. Has the Lakers gone up in value by more than 583 million? Yes, that's why people wanna own teams.

Okay, so what it sounds like to me is they have found a way to, so if you were running a company and it had to be a sports team or not, and there was a way that you could compensate someone who's made you billions of dollars, and there was a way that you could compensate someone who's made you billions of dollars and there was a way that you go about doing it that was not illegal and it would only cost you a couple million dollars you'd obviously

do it and I hate that I find that it seems like I'm in the position where I'm defending the move that the Lakers did because like I recognize that is necky necky nepotism and I'm not a proponent of that in any way but I also don't care that much that they're finding a way to give a man who's made them billions of dollars to find a way to give his family seven million more dollars. That to me is odd and I can't believe that you don't see how differently you view these situations depending on the person who is making the decision or who is benefiting from this. Like I could use countless examples of how teams and owners in leagues circumvent laws and rules

in order to benefit a lot more than one dude getting $8 million and that, and to be up in arms today over that and not recognize the hypocrisy of that is confusing. Related, we still need David Samson's top five people he's fired. But proceed. Yeah, Dominique. Okay.

I totally agree. Okay. That in this instance, I have made a mistake with this position. That's low. And I think that we should go back to talking about the topic we were going to talk about. Hand up dance, baby.

You want dance? I'm proud of you, man. Good job. See, the good thing about admitting that you are before. Hand up dance, baby. You want dance? I'm proud of you, man. Good job. See, the good thing about admitting that you are wrong is that now, you're right. So great. You're exhausting, in a good way. I'm not.

Would you like a jelly bean? Nah, I'm good, man. Thank you for saying no. I'll get one anyway. That was nice. But I wanna get to the LeBron part of this for a second, because I do think- Sure, it's a real story. It's a real story because the most famous athlete

in basketball, maybe on the planet, Leo Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, notwithstanding, is figuring out ways in which he can realize the true value of being LeBron James at age 40. And so the strongest argument for why Brani was taken by the Lakers and why it's not a big deal is what Dominique was alluding to, which is this is just part of the way

that you make LeBron James whole. Right. And so the idea of is this a hell worth defending and dying on because they could have taken someone else or they may have cut in camp or just been a two-way contract. I cannot get exercised about this because I live in the realpolitik of superstar management.

The, and yeah, so there are benefits that come along with being one of the greatest ever to do it. Like there are benefits with coming along with just being rich in America. And one of the benefits is you get to tell your team who to draft at 55. And yes, you could make an argument that this is a spot, that this could have been Patty Mills,

or whoever was there, you could make that argument. It's a hard argument to make, but on the just baseline of ethical behavior, yes, you are right that it is unethical. If we accept that Brawny James does not deserve this spot, yes, I agree it is unethical to force him in there. However, the other arguments you could make is a defense of Brawny and that this is not great for him.

I have a- He looks despondent, doesn't he? I have no space for arguing that LeBron James does not deserve this or is finding a way to circumvent the cap and all that stuff. That's the stuff that annoys me. So like, if you wanna talk about, like this is setting Bronte up for a failure, this is not good for him, they don't need the money, so why are they doing this, putting him in

this kind of lose-lose situation? I'm on board with that. I have a harder time getting on board with you saying, well, but the 55th pick though. But I can still get on board with that just on like basic ethical behavior. Howdy y'all, it's Mike. And since the dawn of mankind, we've cooked our food over an open flame and debated the best way to grill. One thing that is not up for debate? Grilling and beer always go together.

Even I know that, and I'm not the manliest American type, but I know that if I'm grilling out there, I need a Miller Lite in my hand. Why? Because Miller Lite keeps its simple, undebatable quality, and it tastes as Lite in my hand. Why? Because Miller Lite keeps it simple, undebatable quality, and it tastes as great as my barbecue. It's a beer that strips away everything that I don't need and holds on to what matters most, the light beer with the most taste.

Less filling and only 96 calories. Nothing says summer like a Miller Lite. It's the original light beer since 1975 and a perfect companion for all grill masters or wannabe grill masters across this great land. With a Miller Lite in your hand, grilling doesn't just taste great, tastes like Miller time.

To get Miller Lite delivered right to your door, visit MillerLite.com slash Dan, or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories per 12 ounces. Don LeBretard. He seems like a not nice guy and he's always been a not nice guy. I don't care for him and I hope he has the day he deserves. Stugatz. I hope he has the day he deserves. That's how I get people when they're really

mean to me. I'm not like go F yourself. I'm like, I hope you have the day he deserves. That's how I get people when they're really mean to me. I'm not like, go F yourself. I'm like, I hope you have the day you deserve. It's a great kind insult. Yes. It's beautiful. It's leaving it to the cosmos to sort it out. That's a less southern bless your heart. This is the Don LeVar Tar Show with the Stoogats.

This is the Don LeBathardt Show with the StuGards. The thing about what LeBron is doing, right, in his wanting of things, in his hunger to get ways to feel like he's being made whole, I think brings us to a point at which you guys actually probably have some philosophical alignment. Why is David grinning slyly while looking at the other side of the glass? Part of the email I also got was to make sure that Lucy and Jess are engaged. Oh, they are. And I was trying to figure out.

I'm finishing my F1 minute. You are finished, okay, thank you for that. That race, by the way, was unbelievable. I'm not here to talk about race. I thought you were gonna make a joke about me being Dominique's nepo baby for the week. That's what I thought you were grinning about. You're his security blanket, you're his pacifier,

I dig it, and Lucy was writing something so I didn't know what she was doing, so that's what I was. I wasn't working, I was doodling. You were doodling? Oh boy. Can you show us what you were doodling? Are you doing the S's with a bunch of lines that you then practice in your signature?

Recently I've started junk journaling, which is just you take junk that you then like practice in your signature? Recently I've started junk journaling, which is just you take junk that you like mail or like coffee slips or just whatever you have. And so I've been into scrapbooking and junk journaling, so I've been doing stickers. Oh my gosh, that's incredible. And little pictures. It makes me less sad when I look at like

my daily schedule and stuff, where it's like, oh I have work to do, but look, cute stickers. So you just grab any junk that's around? No, so it can be based off of what you did that day, or like, it's all random stuff. I don't think that's what she meant. I don't know what you mean.

It was a great race, which is why I'm trying to race to finish my F1 minute, because I wanna do it this week, and I'm not here tomorrow. It's not even here, it's not even for today? No, it's for today. So I was going to- I'm doing it right now. Can you do it right now?

Right now. I was going to criticize David for taking the show there, but it ended up in a great spot, but I do think that, last time I was here, David, I tried to help you become a better broadcaster and I'm gonna continue to do that. So it's been about four times since we started a show where someone made an excellent, like irreverent joke.

And we all like let it sit there and let the people who get it get it and appreciate it. And you stopped the show to point everyone's attention to it which I think makes the joke less funny So let's just let's just let it fly. So when we made the sexual jokes only that applies to know it's all it's all Jokes. Yeah, I think treatment. I think so Yeah, I would I would I would refer to your notes Yeah, Dominique. I have a question

So do you are you guys saying basically that the Lakers and everyone is pretending, because like as soon as Brawny got drafted after allegations of don't draft him or he's gonna go play in Australia, then we get like as soon as he gets drafted, Nike tweets out, oh, fairy tale story, and the Lakers tweet something out.

Are you guys suggesting that that is all being done, that they're all saying this is not nepotism? Everybody on every network came out on the air to say, you know what, this nepotism claim is unfair, but also completely unrelated. Nepotism has existed in the NBA forever, but this is not nepotism, this is a different thing. But we're also gonna tell you,

nepotism has existed forever. Go look at who's coaching over here, there, blah, blah, blah. So are you guys suggesting that this is all being done as a ruse so no one can suggest that something illegal is being done. They have to go over the top to say, you know what, we actually believe that Brawny deserves this so no one can accuse us of kind of skirting the salary cap. There definitely is like a super sweet 16 vibe to this,

where everybody's sort of like celebrating this kid and they're going way over the top. But I also wanna be fair to the story because while we're talking about like, is it reasonable to draft like the, truly, like the DNA of LeBron James with 55th pick? In a vacuum, I'm like, yeah, let's roll the dice there. Honestly, like I don't even,

I think it's not unreasonable just on that level alone to be like, let's take a flyer on this kid. Like a horse stud. I think that the bloodlines. Good I believe Tom Habersdorf did the research where it was like over 60% it was some statistic I won't butcher it if the sons of NBA players were a college they'd be the best performing college when it came to NBA performance in the history of the modern NBA. 49% of NBA players are related to an elite athlete, either professional high D1 or an Olympic athlete in some sport.

So if you're talking about bloodlines, like yeah, give me LeBron. Give me LeBron's bloodlines. Truly. I think what David no longer wants, but what he said he wanted at the beginning of this was them to acknowledge that this was a farce and this is a circumvention of the salary cap. I think it's impossible to prove because he is, if you look at the players around him,

like you look at the college stats average, and like he falls in line with other people that you can point to, and those people obviously have more potential than him. I think it's close enough that it's a ridiculous argument to try to wage against someone who you feel like you owe so much to. So like that's kind of the issue.

Dominique, are you really pouring tears out for LeBron and saying that they owe it to him to draft a son and his stats aren't comparable to anyone who would get picked? His 5.8 points a game is a college freshman. Don't let the facts get in the way of him. Wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on. We gotta zoom out on the story here, right?

Because I think we are so like at the Earth's mantle of this story, because we're in this business, that I do think it's worth remembering that when you tell the story of Ronnie James to a normal person, they're like, this is the greatest story of all time. So Ronnie James, LeBron James' son, maybe you've heard of him, right?

He has that name, he has that pressure. LeBron has flip-flopped between, I want my son to be his own person, to also being named me. He is very contradictory in that way. All of these things are true. But when Ronnie James has his heart stop on the floor as a college freshman, and he's at USC,

and has to go to the hospital because he might die, and then he comes back, and of course he's not gonna be as good. Maybe he should be better than 5.9 points a game to Kravitz's argument. But the point is he's back and the Lakers draft him. You're like, this is on paper, way too on the nose to be real.

And so I'm just reminding everybody that the idea of Bronnie James being bad at basketball, there is some context for why his performance was underwhelming and why also you might think that this from a, again, let's introduce another variable into this, from a marketing perspective, do players ever get drafted because of marketing, David? Do they ever get signed because of marketing?

Yes. Of course they do. You have to have a ability, you have to have a baseline ability. I think the point is that it is- We'll do stunts like Adam Greenberg. No, but marketing also plays a- You even told us that you guys signed Itro

because you thought that you would get a ton of ad revenue money. Yes, but Itro had to be able to play. Right, right, right. We're just saying, is it a factor? Yes, it's a factor. It is not a deciding factor, but it's a factor. Bronnie James, it's a great story,

but are we saying his cardiac arrest is what made him not a good player I'm saying that it's a factor as to why he wasn't as good as he would have been had his heart didn't know that not stop I know we I know he had the cardiac arrest I didn't really how could it not affect I'm not saying he would have been a first-rounder Bronte James from the very beginning was always overrated as a prospect when it came to like he's LeB son, is he gonna be the next great NBA? Certainly not, certainly not. But I don't know, is his ceiling now,

Kravitz is the biggest NBA nerd here, I wanna sort of indulge his criticism here. Bronnie James' ceiling to me seems like a guy who if he really cares about defense, right? He's like 6'2", hyper athletic. We see guys like that in the league. We do, but if you're talking about like a Davion Mitchell or Drew Holliday, those guys were elite college players. Elite college players, not bench guys on mediocre teams.

It's not to say, Brian, you can't do it. It would just be fairly unprecedented because of his college career. I think we're having two conversations and saying, the point I was making when I said that his stats are comparable to other people is that he is not so bad that you cannot justify drafting him. He's not so bad that you can say this is an obvious case of cap circumvention. Is he actually a real prospect to have a career? I think we all would agree it's probably unlikely because as Charlie has yelled at me on my show many a times, he's a 6'1 small forward. Like he's a catch, he's a small catch and shoot guy. That's very bad. And yeah, that doesn't work in the NBA.

Suboptimal. But the point that I was making was you can look at this story and look at the bloodlines and look at all the information that we have and say that we are drafting on potential. And that's what all NBA drafts are Baseball you recognize even more so it's even more based on potential So if they were to hold some sort of hearing it'd be pretty easy to defend this this choice without

Saying we did it because of marketing say he is the son of the best player that we've ever seen He played high-level college basketball. We hope that he'll get better. This, at this spot, 55th, we've never had anybody make the team before. We're taking a flyer on somebody here. Why did he get 7.9? That's, that's, that's the hard, I was about to say,

the hard part to justify is the contract. The reason why he got 7.9 is because his daddy has meant so much to this league for the past 20 years. Agreed, agreed. It sort of hurts the argument a bit. Oh yeah. And they could have done it better.

They didn't need to give him four years. So okay, let's do something that I like to do sometime. Let's be defense attorney for an unpopular person, in this case for the James Laker Industrial Complex. Would the move have been to just keep him like on a two-way deal, to totally minimize the reward so that he begins to have to earn it feels like his spot? I think you treat him the way any drafted player gets treated, except for the fact that he's going to make the opening day roster, assuming LeBron's healthy. He's going to play in the first game LeBron is healthy so they can have the father-son moment. If it's opening day, it's opening day.

But after that, I assume LeBron is smart enough to tell JJ Reddick and Rob Palenka, hey, after that, I wanna play with them in one game for one minute. Then we've made history after that, he's gotta earn it. They're gonna make plenty of money off of this particular marketing gimmick. I would say that this falls into a category that frankly most

arguments that we have fall into is these small decisions don't matter. It's something like people who did not like this move don't like this move. Whether you give them seven million or thirty five dollars there it's not going to change their mind. I think maybe you give them more ammunition to argue against it but it's not going to change the way they argue against it. I think it's a mistake to think that the difference between the reaction to LeBron James Jr. being drafted is predicated on how much they paid him. That to me seems absurd. It gives you something else to point to, but I don't think anyone who is offended by the Lakers drafting LeBron James Jr. would

say, you know what, if you would have gave him a two-way contract, I'd have been cool with this. But it's the fact that you gave him the money. Like that to me feels. I wasn't offended by the fact that they drafted him. I thought it was a great marketing move, so cool, father son, it's never happened in my lifetime, never happened again.

I can't think of another example where a father and a daughter have never done this before. So I'm all in, and ESPN and TNT are gonna take full advantage, and I love that. So that's not my issue, I just think the issue surrounding the announcement and then the actions after the draft is what has bothered me. Something Charlie and I talk about on our show a lot

is the tension between sports and entertainment. And I think that this is where it gets really uncomfortable, is when you make money by entertaining people, and when decisions can only be justified by how many tickets are gonna be selling. Makes it real tough. Thankfully, we have the former president of Marlin to tell us all about how to sell tickets.

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