The Mismatch - Breaking Down Jrue to Boston, the Bright-Future Blazers, and the Sphere

Episode Date: October 1, 2023

After being included in the trade for Damian Lillard, Jrue Holiday is on the move once again as the Celtics acquire him from the Blazers for Robert Williams III, Malcolm Brogdon, and multiple picks (0...1:58). Verno and KOC debate how this affects the Celtics, as the move depletes their depth and adds pressure on Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford. Despite the overall haul that the Blazers got for Dame, the guys discuss how they could still make more moves and why the future is bright in Portland (25:27). Also, KOC shares his experience attending the U2 concert at the Sphere in Las Vegas (45:42). Got a question for Verno and KOC? Send them an email at nbamailbag@gmail.com! Or you can send the guys a tweet @ChrisVernonShow and @KevinOConnorNBA! The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out theringer.com/RG to find out more, or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:43 Welcome to The Mismatch, I'm Chris Vernon. is he does on this Sunday, a special episode from The Ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Colmer, Kevin O'Clymter, Kevin O'Clymer, Kevin O'Candellon, Kevin O'Fle-Sphere. Inverna! Oh, I've been looking at your videos and been so jealous if you're going to the sphere in Las Vegas this weekend. We're going to, I want to hear all about this fear. So make sure. I don't forget to ask you all about this at the end of the podcast.
Starting point is 00:01:20 Because we have come on today on this Sunday. Big news. Because there was big news this morning. We had wondered where Drew Holiday would end up. And we figured that there would be a lot of contenders that could be lined up to get his services, especially given the acquisition of Damian Lillard in the Eastern Conference by the Millwall. Bucky Bucks, that there are many teams that sit there and go, boy, sure would be nice to have Drew Holiday if you're going to have to deal with a team that's got Damian Lillard on it.
Starting point is 00:01:57 And so here we are on this Sunday talking about how the Boston Celtics annied up and they are the ones that acquired the services of Drew Holiday. when you first saw the news, as reported this morning, give me your instant reaction. Well, let's just first say the details. They gave up Robert Williams, Malcolm Brogden, a 2024 Warriors first, which is protected for the top four.
Starting point is 00:02:27 If the Warriors did land in the top four, it would become a 2025, unprotected pick. And also, the Celtics gave up their 2029, unprotected first-round draft picks. That's what the Blazers got in return for Drew Holiday. My first reaction, from the Celtic side of things, things was this is a massive W, a great acquisition for them. It replaces what they lost with Marcus Smart, except it's better. Drew Holliday is a better player than Marcus Smart. The questions
Starting point is 00:02:54 will be culture fit, what type of personality does this team take on? But as a player, Drew Holiday, in his three years with the Bucks, is a 40% shooter on catch and shoot threes, significantly better than Marcus Smart. He's a better decision maker, a better playmaker. He fits what Boston needs. And I think, you know, last week I said to you how for the bucks, going from Drew Holiday to Damien Lillard makes sense because Drew Holiday as amazing as he is on defense, he puts up Eric Bletsow style numbers in the playoffs on offense. Well, for Boston, that matters less. His playmaking, his shot creation is more secondary to everything else he does. Because you have Jason Payton, because you have Jaylon Brown, these guys are going to have the ball on their
Starting point is 00:03:38 hands a ton. Drew Holiday, it's more about the other stuff that he does well. The catch and shoot off from three, the ability to cut, to screen like Marker Smart does, and of course the defense against Damien Lower. This is an amazing acquisition. I said the bucks were the favorites after getting Damian lowered. I will now go back to my original choice with Drew Holiday going to the Celtics. This makes them the slight favorite over the Milwaukee Bucks. Yeah, and I think it'll flip it in Vegas as well from what I gathered. The Bucks had flipped it and now it's back to the Celtics and then they are followed everywhere by Denver
Starting point is 00:04:12 and then, which probably isn't giving Denver enough respect. I think the nuggets should be the favorite, but bucks and Celtics favorites in the east. Yeah, and then you've got Denver Phoenix and then Lakers Warriors because of their past, right? That are going to be in there. So, all right, um, let's take this one by one. Let's go with the Portland side first because this
Starting point is 00:04:38 is going to be the next piece. You don't want to talk about them? Okay. If you want to talk about the Celtics side. Yeah, let's talk about the Celtics side. We've already talked about them. They're flipping out. They had an Easter Conference Finals team. And there's four guys that aren't going to be a part of that anymore. Okay. Malcolm Brogden, Robert Williams, Marcus Smart, and Grant Williams. That's four of their top eight.
Starting point is 00:05:00 So this is kind of rare that you are flipping out four of your top eight guys. Nobody else, I don't think on a team. played more than 15 minutes outside of the guys that they've got, right? They've got obviously Tatum and Brown and Derek White and Al Horford are still there. And so those other four were the other four biggest minutes guys, most productive guys, on the team, the ones they counted on. And so they flipped four for two. And so I do think that if we're just analyzing the Celtics in this,
Starting point is 00:05:33 I love Drew Holiday. I think Drew Holiday is a great fit on the Celtics. I think you are certainly better with when you get to the playoffs. And you know, you may not be done augmenting this, but you're certainly better equipped to go into the playoffs, I think, assuming everybody's healthy. I do think you have put a lot of pressure on health. And I think you have put an incredible amount of pressure on health.
Starting point is 00:06:08 one big because you really only have Horford now. And so you could play small. Chris Stavs Porzengis? What do you mean? That Christaps Porzengis is 7-2. Okay. Janis is putting Porzengis into the fifth row.
Starting point is 00:06:21 M. Bid is putting Porzengis into the fifth row. Like, if you want to go, you're going into a war with a spoon with Porzengis being your only interior presence against some of the monsters that you've got to deal with to get to where you want to get to. And I do think that Robert Williams is a massive piece to have. When we're just talking about being equipped for opponent, this is great because I do think dealing with Lillard was something that they were going to be deficient in.
Starting point is 00:06:57 In the absence of Marcus Smart, you can't walk in with the guards that they had, Brogdon. Derek White. Derek White is an awesome perimeter defender like him. I mean, he's a great different. and nobody can stop dame not drew not white not anybody but you are attempting to make him work as hard making him work you are making him do it inefficiently and now you got two guys who can two guys and so on that side now the other side is you may not be as worried about like you may say hey we've got porzengis for yonis and we're not as worried about getting popped by joel mb
Starting point is 00:07:34 until he proves that he's going to, you know, Nicolioch somebody and take you out by himself. If you're not giving him all the attention in the world, then we don't have to consider him the same way that Western Conference teams sit there and go, well, we better have something to do with this guy. And you look around the rest of the conference and most everything else is pretty face-up, right?
Starting point is 00:08:02 like in terms of the contender teams when you're thinking about who you're going to have to beat and i'm not saying imbid's not face up but he is a powerful play it might be that you're just it might be a little bit of a thought of hey we think that porzengis can at least hold up or at least use his link against yannis you're going to do whatever you're you can against yonis uh but that the other guys are uh we're not worried about it We're not worried about not having Rob Williams. We're not worried about only having Al Horford as a big guy outside of Porzingis. Your depth is shot if you're Boston.
Starting point is 00:08:44 You have no depth. So these guys just have to stay healthy. That's it. I think you said a lot in there, Chris, that I disagree with. A, with Porzingis, look, he is not necessarily like the elite, you know, shop blocker that he was earlier in his career. However, he is a highly effective interior defender. Last season, according to Second Spectrum, he was fourth in the NBA defending pick and rolls.
Starting point is 00:09:12 Number one was Anthony Davis. Number two, Stephen Adams. Number three, Yonazza de Nacompo. Number four, Chris Abbs, Porzingis, allowing 0.93 points per pick and roll defended. He had a great year for the Wizards. On offense, he is somebody who had his best season scoring on the post. number one in the NBA scoring 1.29 points per postup. He was number five in the NBA at scoring off of closeouts when he's behind the three-point
Starting point is 00:09:38 line attacking off the dribble, whether a pull-up or getting to the basket, behind the likes of guys like Luca, Kauai, Brandon Ingram, Harrison Barnes, who are very good in that King's offense as well. So I think with Porzingis, the additive value of him on offense might outweigh the Slight loss and rim protection from Robert Williams to Chris Taps, Porzingis. And by the way, both of those guys have had their own health issues. Time Lord has been on a minutes restriction for years now. He's missed games.
Starting point is 00:10:09 Porzingis, there's going to be injury concerns as well. Forget minutes. He's got a games restriction for years now. I mean, look, you guys are going to, look, I know you Boston Pades of all, talk to yourselves into Porzengis. You guys are going to hate him. I disagree completely. By January, Boston,
Starting point is 00:10:26 fans are going to be on his ass. And I think this is going to be, look, I said back in whatever it was, May, before free agency, I wrote a thing on the ringer about how the heat should go after Christap Porzingis to pair him with Bam at a bio. Because I think with Porzingis, he is at the point of his career where he has found himself. A lot of the concerns that I had with him in the past, the post-scoring, the ability to beat a mismatch. We saw Boston and other teams put smaller guards.
Starting point is 00:10:53 Like, Marcus Smart used to effectively defend. Chris Stabbs Porzingis on a switch. Sometimes the Celtics didn't even have to switch. They just started smart on Porzingus. We saw teams do that. I don't think you can do that anymore against Porzegis. He's gotten very good at that turnaround jumper over those smaller guys. He's better at using his size advantage to get into the paint.
Starting point is 00:11:12 So I think with Porzingas, you're going to see him playing off of now, rather than off of Bradley Beale and these guys on the Wizards last year, now playing off of Tatum and Brown and Holiday as sometimes the third or fourth option, Feasting against bench units at times as well. Porzingis is in for a big season as long as he stays healthy. As for the depth aspect with the Celtics, I mean, their top six is, you know, dominance. That goes without saying with Tatum, Brown, KP, Holiday,
Starting point is 00:11:42 Derek White, who am I missing? I'm missing somebody. I just named five. Horford's the only other guy remaining. Forford, Horford as well. So I think you get six there. But then after that. Okay.
Starting point is 00:11:52 And all of those, right? I mean, Jalen Brown missed over 15 games. Now, he's not been, he's been pretty well beacon of health. He's fine. I'm not as worried about him. But Porzingis is a question mark, for sure. Horford is now in year 50. So that's going to be a question mark.
Starting point is 00:12:09 And so there's at least two of those. So you really got four. Hell, okay. That are like you're counting on. You have six. You have six and health is a concern. Health is a question. No doubt about it.
Starting point is 00:12:20 Depth-wise, that's where things are going to be interesting with Boston. And you mentioned how they lost four of their top eight. I mean, they have some interesting guys off the bench. It'll be interesting to see if they give Peyton Pritchard opportunity. During the regular season, he's not a playoff guy, but could he be a solid backup point guard? They added Delano Banton from the Raptors, a big 6-7, 6-8 ball handling guard. I've always liked him. It's going to be interesting to see how they figure out that backup point guard thing.
Starting point is 00:12:48 And then for Wing, Sam Houser is really good, dude. Like Sam Houser, knockdown shooter, high IQ player. What do you want to surround ball handling primary guys with shooting? So they have Sam Houser coming back. They added Sfima High Luke, a very good movement shooter out of free agency. They signed O'Shea Brissette, someone we've liked on this show with the Pacers of the backup guy. And then they draft the Jordan Walsh, who I think could be solid right away. He was very good in Summer League.
Starting point is 00:13:18 We'll see how it translates for the regular season. And so I think with them, the question's going to be backup five because of Horford's age, because of KP's durability. Is it Luke Cornyett who's okay? Is it going to be Nimas Keta from the Kings who had a great year with the G League? He was top three in MVP voting. Will he be the backup five? Boston doesn't have a lot of guys that are proven, but they have options. And so if none of those guys work out, that's going to force them to make a move.
Starting point is 00:13:48 They still have the ability to trade up to two future. first round draft picks and three first round pick swaps with eight second round draft picks in addition to some of those guys on the younger side of jordan walsh a peyton pritchard type that i mentioned they have the ability to make further moves which isn't something you can say about the bucks they're depleted at this point for the most part this they have bochamp they can do some stuff but boston has way more flexibility so that's the interesting x-factor here for boston and this kind of arms race at the top of the Eastern Conference. There's still another move or two for them that they can make to address these depth questions,
Starting point is 00:14:26 injury concerns. But there's no doubt about Boston today. They are a significantly better team than they were yesterday getting through holiday. So what do we disagree on? You just named off a bunch of these bums and said that, like, and he could be interesting and he could be interesting. Like, look, they're better at the top end and they're worse depth-wise. And what I'm saying is-
Starting point is 00:14:47 And I would rather have. and I would rather have less awesome guys for the playoffs. You're just putting a lot of pressure on hell. Wait, so you'd rather have Marcus Smart, Grant Williams, Robert Williams, Malcolm Brogden, than Chris Daps, Porzingis, and Drew Holiday. Basically, that's what you're saying, right? Well, that's basically what you're saying here, that you'd rather have those four than those two. I would rather have holiday, certainly. I'd like to have holiday.
Starting point is 00:15:18 I don't care as much about Well, that's because you didn't watch the Wizards last year. Nobody did. What are you talking about? What are you talking about? You didn't watch the Wizards last year? Neither did you. Shut the hell up.
Starting point is 00:15:30 Nobody watched them. Shut up. Give me a break. Their parents didn't watch those games. Give me a break. You out of your mind. You didn't watch the Wizards last year. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:15:40 No shit. No way. Like, were they even on TV? Seriously? I think Chris Tavis is in his prime. That's what I think. I think Porzingis has found himself as a player. It's only a matter of health.
Starting point is 00:15:55 That's what happened last year in Washington. He had his best season of his entire career. He's improved on his weaknesses, and he's still very good in the areas he was early in the heyday with the Knicks when people were all high on him as being a unicorn, right? I think Porzingis is a massive acquisition for Boston, the most underrated acquisition of the offseason. I've been consistent about that ever since it happened.
Starting point is 00:16:18 And now that they also have Drew Holiday and upgrade over Marker Smart, the guy that they gave up to get poor Zingis, it just makes this a grand slam off season for Boston. It puts them right there at the top of the league with the nuggets, with the bucks as teams that have a chance to win the NBA finals, and they still have the ability to make more moves. That's the difference with them that makes them so interesting entering this season. And I also think you are underwriting some of their depth guys, Chris.
Starting point is 00:16:46 I really do. Because yes, they gave up four and they end up with two. But that just means a guy like Sam Hauser, who is a 40 plus percent shooter in his NBA career, who played 80 plus games last season playing 15, 16 minutes. Maybe he becomes a 20, 25 minute per game player now that Grant Williams isn't there. He's a really good player entering the third season of his career. So I think for Boston, those losses from the depth department could be fulfilled with some of those guys who had mixed opportunities in the past, who now are, are fits around the,
Starting point is 00:17:19 those star level players. Yeah. Look, when you get to the point that they got to and they lost to Miami, I have no problem with them. When you ask me, would you rather have that than that? I don't know which one I would rather have. Obviously, we haven't seen the results of the new group. I am not as high on Porgzingas as you are. That's for sure. I might be even higher on holiday. I mean, I love him. And so taking a different tact when it doesn't work out, I have no problem with. I am just expressing that here are the concerns that you are, if you have, you have traded out this. And when you constantly have to always make the caveat, as long as he's healthy, as long as he's healthy, as long as he's healthy.
Starting point is 00:18:05 And I've been out on Porzingus since the Dallas thing. once you're a disaster with playing alongside Luca I said one time he was ever on a good team and it couldn't work and so I'm just not I'm not a huge fan to be fair I was I was also out on him in Dallas as well but I became in on him with Washington with his improvements in his game he did get better yeah and leadership is in the locker room and I do think
Starting point is 00:18:30 that you are going to have uh I think holiday's going to matter a lot when it comes to that they do not have like everybody's always talked about, you know, the heart and soul of that team, that franchise for the last 10 years has been Marcus Smart and he is no longer there. The guy that's going to get up in the locker room and he's going to, and you had a lot of winning with Smart and with Williams and with Grant Williams. I mean, those guys won a lot of games and had chances at the title virtually every year that they work together.
Starting point is 00:19:05 And so I'm always a little wary, but after what happened against Miami, if you want to pull the plug on that and go a different direction and try something different, I got no problems with it. I just, I think it's fair to wonder, even when you say if he's healthy, let's just assume that history informs us to say that there's going to be some level of poor health with this. With poor zing us specifically, you man. Yes. And at that point, you've got nothing in that front court. Your Wings. You're at Al Horford and Keta and Cornett. That's what you'd be relying on.
Starting point is 00:19:41 That's all I'm saying. You know what I mean? You're putting a lot on it. You're putting a lot on it. When you've got to, when you're, when you would say the two biggest hurdles are going to be a Yonah series and a M-B series. Nothing to, not taking anything away from the heat, right? Like, bam, bam and Jimmy, you know.
Starting point is 00:20:01 I completely agree that there's a level of concern. with Boston. You can also say there's a level of concern with Milwaukee. You can talk about their rookie head coach. You can talk about their lack of wing depth. You can talk about Miami losing the guys that they did with their lack of a big
Starting point is 00:20:19 move this off season. You can talk about the concerns with the overlap that the calves have with a tiny back court and two bigs that don't space the floor. Every team has concerns. Boston has fewer. Well, and this is now, I mean, we're seeing a couple of these teams that now have like the three, four big contracts,
Starting point is 00:20:37 and then the rest is fill in the blanks, right? With guys that are not getting paid very much. I mean, this is like Phoenix East now. I mean, I know that, you know, Derek White's contract's not real big, but they got the holiday contract, they got the Foursingas contract, and then they got Jailin, they got Tatum.
Starting point is 00:20:53 That's who's making the money on that team. And so I think with any of those that have the, you know, three or four big contracts, and then a lot of smaller contracts behind them, in the absence of somebody on a small contract that wildly outperforms it, it puts a lot of pressure on the big contracts
Starting point is 00:21:13 to stay healthy. And we'll see. I love Drew Holiday. And I do think that once Damien Lillard was attained by Milwaukee, they needed something to be able to throw at him. And he's going to have that FU mode playing against the bucks. it's an edge, right? You chose him over me.
Starting point is 00:21:35 That's real smoke. Yeah. Right? And so I think that that if I were Boston and I were going to say, okay, we got to deal with the Milwaukee in a series. Who do I want to have to face up and make life hard on Damien Lillard? It would be the guy that got traded for him that is one of the best defenders. we've had in the last decade. That's who I'd want to bring to the fight to take him on.
Starting point is 00:22:05 And so in that sense, I love that so much. I never liked the Porzenghis deal, as you know. I loved the Porzenghis deal for Brogden. I hated it for Smart. When that was Brogden that was going in that deal, that was amazing to me. Because nobody gave a crap about Malcolm Brogden in Boston. There's not one person that has a Malcolm Brogden jersey.
Starting point is 00:22:30 there's there's 50,000 50,000 including you that have Marcus smart jerseys it's true I do I do have a Marcus smart jersey it'll be it'll be it'll be hanging behind me or in front of me this season once I'm in the process of redoing my my room here where I record and my background is going to go from crappy to way better than yours I'm sorry and a matter of weeks hey you haven't you haven't seen this entire room and you've got about 20 years of collecting things
Starting point is 00:23:00 till you get to this. Stay in your lane. Stay in your lane. With your couple of jerseys and whatever you got. Stay in your lane. We're not going to get in a memorabilia warrior. Look, so Boston, I love the holiday deal.
Starting point is 00:23:18 I never liked the Porzengist deal ever. We're just going to start a war. Who can have a better background? On the next one. I mean, I literally, behind me, I have a autograph, lithograph of Willie Mays making the catch in the New York polo grounds. Get your weight up. God. Get your weight up.
Starting point is 00:23:42 Is that a picture of you with you and Tony Allen over your right shoulder as well? And Kevin Garnett, Celtics legend. Yeah. Yeah. Great stuff. The NBA season's almost here. So make sure you're ready for tip with Fandul. America's number one sports book, new customers get $200 and free bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet.
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Starting point is 00:25:18 Bonus issued as non-rethdrawable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook. fandal.com. All right. Let's get to the other side. I want to say this right off the bat. Joe Cronin in Portland,
Starting point is 00:25:34 this has been not all the way masterclass, but damn they're close. In terms of acquisition of assets when you have what is not a great position to be in. A super store player that most people around the league know that you need to find a land. spot for. And so, and who has got a $200 million contract that somebody's got to take on. Like, that's not an easy thing to be able to acquire tons of assets for. And yet, as of last
Starting point is 00:26:10 count, you have him with DeAndre Aiton and Robert Williams and Malcolm Brogden and Tumani Kamara and three first round picks with a 2024 a Warriors pick you mentioned 2029 unprotected bucks and Celtics picks 2028 and 2030 bucks swaps
Starting point is 00:26:36 which could be amazing in five and seven years from now you could look up and they're just now past the honest portion of the program and they're in a rebuild and now you're catching those bucks You're like those swaps. Now you're swapping for lottery, maybe even top five picks.
Starting point is 00:26:55 You never know. And he's got Brogden, who is six men of the year. He's coming off of that. So you'll be able to get assets for him. Robert Williams, who's, I mean, as long as he's healthy, as we say, he can change your defense for 25 minutes. He's 25 years old. You know what I mean? And he can change your defense for 25 minutes.
Starting point is 00:27:17 And I think if you're the east, you'd, want him to deal with the honest and Embed. And if you're in the West, you want him to deal with Yokic. So I actually think he's an asset that you can get stuff for as well. So he's not even done. He's gotten that stuff. And I think by the end of all of this, if he ends up with five first rounders out of this and maybe another asset, it would not shock me.
Starting point is 00:27:43 And I think that's pretty damn good considering we're just a long way from talking about Tyler Hero and picks is all I'm saying. The Miami Mafia looks pretty silly at this point. They really do. I mean, like, it's the, what Joe Cronin ended up getting, his only obligation was to the Blazers and to get the best possible return for them. And I think this is another instance in which the patience that is required when you're in this situation, when you have a star player that wants out, patience is the path to go
Starting point is 00:28:15 rather than urgency. It's the heat that should have been urgent. Pat Riley should have made a more aggressive offer right off the bat and try to get it done ASAP, knowing that his offer was ultimately weak compared to what other teams could put out there as we found out. Because the fact that he got all of this, I mean, say what you want about Robert Williams being injury prone or DeAndre Aiton being up and down with the Sons. As we talked about last week with Aiton, this is a new situation, young team. Maybe he's able to find a new version of himself, get back to that elite level on. on defense and maybe show new dimensions on offense.
Starting point is 00:28:53 Robert Williams, we know who he is. You have two 25-year-old centers that you add to Scoot Henderson, Anthony Simons, Shaden Sharp to help them develop and create this infrastructure with defense and rim running and rim rolling. And then you have all of these picks on top of that and the tradeability of a Brogden or a Williams, if you did want to flip him. It just feels like with the Blazers,
Starting point is 00:29:16 they're not quite done yet, as you said, Chris, but the fact that they got all of this already is just an absolute, you know, a plus job, in my opinion by Joe Cronin, given this tough circumstances with not a lot of teams that want to deem, and yet you end up with this hall. It's, you know, remarkably done, and it's set Scoot Henderson up,
Starting point is 00:29:35 set Shaden Sharp up. That's what matters most is positioning these young guys for a bright future. Yeah, they'll move off of Brogden. They want to commit to those young guys. That's already been reported. So they'll move off of Brogden. get what they can get for him.
Starting point is 00:29:50 There might be certainly is not going to be a lack of interest towards adding Malcolm Brogton who had a very good season for Boston last year. Sixth man of the year guy. Yeah. But he will be miserable there and they'll just move off of him and they'll try to get the asset for him. Williams might be one that you wait until February. And then it's like, hey now, either my big has gotten hurt.
Starting point is 00:30:18 or I'm in this mix now. I know what we're going to be having to go up against in the playoffs, and this guy can really move the needle for me. Or you just keep him. He's 25 years old. Totally possible. It's possible. I mean, you can.
Starting point is 00:30:38 You can't keep him. And maybe not, I just think, unless you think him and, and Aiton can man the court at the same time. And he just plays center and Aiton. more of a power forward or vice versa. That's a possibility. But I do think that you can get assets for both of those guys, Brogden and Williams.
Starting point is 00:30:57 And so this guy who most people don't really know much about Joe Cronin, I think he done a very good job. And he also, he needed this, and this has turned out very good, especially with this holiday deal, because I really didn't like the way that all went out at the end with the dame stuff where I know that he obviously did not have a very good relationship
Starting point is 00:31:20 with this guy at all. But that whole Haynes story about, you know, it's kind of like, this guy had a chance as an unknown to really be disliked by a lot of people because it's like, here's the favorite son, here's the best player who said, hey, I wish I was coming back.
Starting point is 00:31:38 And this guy, this guy, told me no. So the only reason I'm not there is because of him. And I, you know, Because he wanted to come back to give the heat more time. I love Damien Lillard, but that's why he wanted to come back. Look, that whole thing was just goofy. Because, you know, we, I remember when I talked about it today, it came out on my local show,
Starting point is 00:32:01 it's the equivalent of you've had like a long-term marriage and you want to leave her for some girl. And then that girl, you know, decides that she's not ready for the commitment or that can't happen for whatever reason. And so then you go back and you say, well, wait, I was only going to leave you for her. I don't want to leave you for anybody. Like, I was only going to leave you if I could have her. Like, I didn't mean I just want to leave. Like, if the choice is I either, if I can't have her, then I just want to stick with you. If I can have her, I'll leave.
Starting point is 00:32:41 Like in a second, I'll leave. I'll leave. I'm gone. But otherwise. I don't just want to be with somebody different. I just want her. And then you come back and you're like, and then of course, so him as the long-term devoted wife,
Starting point is 00:32:57 Joe Cronin in this instance, he's going, buzz off, dude. No, you don't get to just leave me for her. And then if he, otherwise you want to come back? Like, that's the way this works.
Starting point is 00:33:09 It's absurd. It's crazy. It's crazy, bro. And then, but he did kind of persuade at least a portion of the population to think that like this guy's a bad guy for telling him to buzz off after he said heater
Starting point is 00:33:23 if it's not the heat that I just don't want to go just anywhere like that's the only place I want to go like that's crazy come on I just I just think the whole the whole thing is just so it's silly because yes I understand doing right by Dan like he wants to go to Miami well you sent him to the bucks he has a chance to win multiple NBA finals right right okay so you did that
Starting point is 00:33:46 right but also if you're doing right by dame and just taking that crappy Miami offer you're not doing right by scut henderson you're not doing right by shadin charp and anfony simons and chris murray and all these young guys that you want to be part of your future you're not doing right by the fans and so it's like if you're doing right for dame entirely by taking that crap heat offer you're putting all these other young guys who you're invested in in a poor position i just i don't understand like I feel like you've got to just twist twist logic and it's just all emotion based about what dame did for the franchise well what the franchise did was pay him hundreds of millions of dollars over the years and granted they never won at the highest of levels they didn't win a
Starting point is 00:34:33 championship they only got completely demolished in the conference finals now i think the port trailblazers with Cronin and that reshaped front office. There's a path forward with this bright new team. They look like a bright future Blazers. I love the young core that they have right now. I love their versatility
Starting point is 00:34:53 for trades with picks. It's a fascinating position to be in right now. I feel happy for Blazers fans to be in this position. And it's all because of Cronin's stubbornness, not giving Dame what he wants. Actually, it wasn't about that. It was his patience for doing what was best for the franchise.
Starting point is 00:35:09 not stubbornness or anything like that, just patience. And I actually think they're in one of those positions where they're going to go out, they're going to be competitive, they can win an amount of games. They might be feisty, dude. That's what I'm saying. Jeremy Grant's and like a Aiton with a chip on his shoulder. I mean, they're not going to be tanking. They're not going to need to take.
Starting point is 00:35:32 They're still not going to be as good as their peers, but they're not going to be as good because they're young. But they'll get a lot of good competitive experience. And not in one of these, we're going to lose intentionally, you know, 60, 70 games. Like, I actually think that they're going to be a night in, night out. They're going to be the team that other teams, a lot like Oklahoma City was a few years ago, where you're going to guys are going to go to the club the night before, guys are going to stay up late. They're going to be like, oh, I just got this team.
Starting point is 00:36:02 It's not going to be on national TV. It's not going to be a big game. It might be an in-between game on our West Coast road trip. and they're going to catch a lot of people. They're going to catch a lot of people just because they are, you're not going to be able to just turn it up in the fourth quarter and walk away with a win. And we saw that over and over again with that Oklahoma City team a few years ago
Starting point is 00:36:25 where teams were walking in there and just said, ah, shit, we'll try the last six minutes. And they just kept getting caught over and over again. And it was like, oh, shoot. Like next thing you know, they got a little confidence about them and Shaden Sharp's got 30 points or Scoot Anderson's got a big night or DeAndre Aiton's dropping 34 and 18 on you and you're in a world of crap because you took them lightly on that given night.
Starting point is 00:36:53 And so I agree with you. I think they're actually going to be a little bit feisty. I must say that we have spent so much time talking about this name deal and now we've gotten so much content out of it. I will give them credit for that because of the multiple trades. And there are still more to come as a result of this. But I wrote down like we'd be talking about all these names, Aiton, Robert Williams, Malcolm Brogden, and Yousef Nurich, and Grayson Allen, and Nas Little,
Starting point is 00:37:22 and Keon Johnson and all of these picks. And I think I speak for everyone in the NBA community when I say, Who in the hell is Tumani Kamara? And he is in all of these deals. And everybody keeps seeing his name. And it is the funniest thing to me that Tumani Kamara's name is the only one that nobody recognizes. Like, you'll see the report. And it'll be like, this guy you know, this guy you know, this guy you know, this guy you know.
Starting point is 00:37:56 And Tumani Kamara. And I think it would be the funniest thing ever if Tumani Kamara ended up because of coming awesome. And we look back. And it's like, oh, yeah, that was the guy that was in all those deals. And everybody was just like, and who is that? Like, who cares? Who is Tumani Kumar?
Starting point is 00:38:17 I swear to God. Kamara, Kamara went to Dayton. And he was a transfer there. And he had a really, really good season. Like, he's a good, versatile defender. He shot 40% on catch and shoot threes. He was somebody that they used in different positions. like they would use him as like a DHO guy, dribble handoffs, handling the ball.
Starting point is 00:38:40 He would do some stuff off the dribble. He was like a Swiss Army knife for Dayton. So I think when you project him forward in the NBA, he's six, seven. So he's not like a true big that would be using a role like that. But it'll be interesting to see him with Portland now because you could still use him in some of those types of situations. Oh, I got to tell you. You could do it with a smaller guy. So I look forward to seeing him how he develops in the NBA.
Starting point is 00:39:04 He's an interesting player. Oh, I hate that you said this, too, because I'm going to catch some heat from my Dayton folks. I've got the Dayton Flyers gear. I love Anthony Grant. And then that's where James Kane is, my buddy, who is the one that discovered John Moran at Murray State. He is an assistant for Anthony Grant. And so him and Grant come down to God. games sometimes. I've got the Dayton Flyers gear. And now that I find out this was their guy,
Starting point is 00:39:36 now I feel terrible. I feel terrible. Timaani Kamara. He's in all these deals and I should know him. He's a Dayton flyer, my Dayton Flyers. Of all things. But no, his name is in all of these like deals that are so funny. I find it the funniest thing ever. Because everybody else. It would be cool. Everybody, every other name is famous. It's like a famous name, you know, that people are having awareness of. It reminds me of years ago, the Rajon-Rondo trade to the Mavericks. The Celtics executive told me a long time ago, he's like, this is going to go down as the Dwight Powell deal. Oh. Because Dwight Powell was in that deal to Dallas as well. Well, Rondo, long gone. Dwight Powell. He's still going. Right? It's just kind of funny how sometimes things like that could
Starting point is 00:40:26 work out. That was a long time ago, man. He's still in. He's still going. He's just kind of funny. It's just kind of funny how, how sometimes things like that could work out. That was a long time ago, man, he's still in Dallas. Dwight Powell. Hey, every once in a while, it does happen. Like, we've talked so much about the bucks. Once upon time, Detroit threw in Chris Middleton and nobody cared.
Starting point is 00:40:43 Yeah. And next thing you know, the guy's going to have like this, you know, long-term NBA champion, $500 million in career earnings career. Jeez. Yeah. You know what?
Starting point is 00:40:57 And he was just a, And he was just the throw, like it was, nobody ever looked at that deal. It was like, oh, and Chris Middleton? Like, nobody cared. You know, all these years down the road, we're talking about him being the third best player on a team that could very well be in the NBA finals this upcoming year. I think all the way around, this has made things so much more interesting. And I do think this has been very, very good for the NBA.
Starting point is 00:41:25 I was left after this was done. done today, Kevin, thinking, and we are going to record a show on Thursday, probably, because we'd expect that there's probably going to be more stuff done. And we're putting this up. Yeah, we're going to do a show on Thursday, and we'll cover whatever happens on the in-between. That being said, this puts a lot of pressure on what you do in the Harden deal. It does.
Starting point is 00:41:53 A lot. Like, you got your two. they are so far ahead of the pack right now, those two, that you really have to nail that. And I also think that there's more onus on there being some finality to it. Like, I don't know how you make this happen,
Starting point is 00:42:16 and I know we've talked about patience, but, you know, with Media Day right around the corner and you just, you know, one of your peers just got Drew Holley, holiday, then the other one just got Damien Lillard, and you're sitting around with a guy that's having parties that says your GM's a liar at him. I mean, and you've got to try to get some return. And if you're Joe Ellen Bede, he's sitting back on his couch and going, what the hell? And the last thing he wants to do is show up at a media day and talk about James Hardin for an hour. And, man, like, we may have to jump back on a microphone tonight, because I do think
Starting point is 00:42:56 there's a lot of pressure to just get something done with that, you know, just to not have, and I guess it's made the return more necessary now than ever because of what you're going to be dealing with and know who you've got to get past, right? Oh, and did you see Joelle Embed's tweet today? He said, this off season was fun, laughing my ass off. Oh, my God. He made that post today, and like he removed, I don't know if he did this today, but he removed all of like the Troll L. Embedd stuff off of his profile on social media. So I think
Starting point is 00:43:30 Joel, I'm sure, is at a point right now where he's like, I don't, do what? Can I actually win a championship with this group? Is this where I want to be? Duel and Abed could be that next star available. And unfortunately, for Heat fans, even if he wants to go to Miami, they won't have enough for him either because of the amount of teams that are going to be out there that would be lined up around a corner to go get Joelle Embed. He's not even 30 years. He's not even 30 years old yet. So if that were to happen this season, we'll see what happens. It might have to wait until next summer, though.
Starting point is 00:44:01 And look, by Thursday, we'll know what's ever going on with Hardin. But I think that you're probably right now working around the clock. And I would not be surprised if they were pretty devastated that Boston had the goods to give up. I mean, Boston did give up a lot. They did. They gave up Brogden. They gave up Williams. They gave up two first round pits.
Starting point is 00:44:23 And so they, and I think that Boston probably did that going, look, man, this is, you know, you're playing for one thing. And if we don't get him, he might get him. So we can't be sitting around worried about if we gave up, you know, an extra pick or we gave up something, you know, they had to do something with Brockton. But if the prices that we got to give up Rob Williams in this case, then we got to give up Rob Williams too. but we don't want them having him and we think that this best equips us to deal with who we're going to have to deal with and I think I do think that
Starting point is 00:45:02 it was a signal that you are more worried about Milwaukee than you are Philly. Don't you? I do. Yeah, of course you know. Yes, you're not that worried about Philly. Yeah, that's for sure.
Starting point is 00:45:16 I was willing to give up my size to get the perimeter guys. that I want going to that fight. Oh, yeah. Without a doubt. Yeah. Without a doubt. Yes.
Starting point is 00:45:28 No doubt about it. Oh, a lot of, I bet it's going to be a fun media day in Philly. Woo. Whoa. I know. I'm looking forward to that. All right.
Starting point is 00:45:40 Before we get out of here, I got to hear about the sphere. I saw your videos. Got to, I got to, I got to be honest. I was a little jealous. I saw them.
Starting point is 00:45:50 The only two videos I saw from inside the sphere or pictures were you in LeBron. So I'd imagine. Me and LeBron, yeah. Yeah, you guys were there together, weren't you? Yeah, we were there together. A couple rows behind us was... And you just told him?
Starting point is 00:46:05 Katie Perry with Orlando Bloom was like a handful of rolls behind me and Jeff Bezos. Behind you? Yeah, behind me, yes. They were in the VIP section. I was not. And you and LeBron were sitting next to each other and you told him all night. I tell people all the time not to take you for granted. Yeah, all the time.
Starting point is 00:46:24 I just said between every song, I told them. And you said, LeBron, don't take the sphere for granted. Okay? I'm definitely not. So this is. Snoop Dogg was there, Dr. Dre was there, Paul McCartney was there, Sir Paul was in the house. Kind of wild. I've got a lot of questions.
Starting point is 00:46:40 First. Okay. And you got to, this is where you got to just be totally honest. What it costs you to get in there? 2000. What? Really? Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 00:46:54 One ticket. Yep. This is bucket list. You had to, you identified this as a bucket list thing. Yep. I had to do it. Because that sounds like me. If I got to, if somebody asked me like, you know, people go and do this to play Pebble Beach where Dwayne Way just did a home run no less or a holding one no less. But like somebody goes and plays Pebble Beach and they say, you know what, I'll do it. I'll stay on site. I'll pay the Greens fee. It's a bucket list thing that I'll remember for the rest of my life. I will pay. the money. Listen, like, of a lot of the concerts I've went to this year, I didn't pay anything. It's like, I'm on the list, friends are playing, PR lists. Oh, you don't know Bono? I mean, I'm just, so it's like, you don't know the end? You don't know the end? He couldn't just put you on the list. You know, but it's like, I have like so many friends and bands that I love. Like, I love Mount Joy, seeing them at Red Rocks. I didn't, you know what I mean? Like, I didn't pay to go to
Starting point is 00:47:57 Red Rocks. Like, it was just a blessing to be friendly with them and, you know, all that. It's like, I went to Mitzki a couple weeks back here in L.A. Mitzki, I don't know if you're familiar with that artist. She's kind of like an indie artist. Awesome, awesome, awesome artist. Her new album's great. And I was on the list for that show. It's like I didn't pay to go see Mitzki, but it was an amazing time. However, the sphere was, you know, in its own way. Like, Red Rocks, the beauty of Red Rocks is because of its natural beauty. The beauty of the sphere is because of just the technological
Starting point is 00:48:32 aspect of it. You've seen the videos from the outside with the basketball during Summer League, the smiley faces and the eyeball and all that stuff, the advertisements they've done on it. It's amazing on the outside. Inside, the videos
Starting point is 00:48:49 and the pictures do not do it justice in terms of the sheer amazement of what it's like in there. It is so immersive in ways that you can't comprehend unless you're in there. They have concerts there. There's a movie that plays there as well. If you, you know, if someone wanted to go for like a much cheaper ticket for a movie rather than you too, it fills your entire vision in a way like a VR headset.
Starting point is 00:49:16 Except with VR, the problem is like pixelation. Like sometimes you just see the little dots in the screen. Here it is 16K video boards, the size of three football fields, and when they have the cool animations and stuff like that, it's trippy in its own way, or it's beautiful when they show like the sunrise and the sunset and all the stuff like that. But even when they just have the performers on stage,
Starting point is 00:49:41 like it's weird in the sense that, like, you look at it, it's like you have a front row seat to the edge playing a guitar solo in your face, or Bono singing right in front of you. It's such a weird feeling that I've never had at a concert before looking at a video screen. It's just like a video board. Usually it's like slightly out of sync behind the actual performers. Here it is like perfectly in sync and it's 16K.
Starting point is 00:50:08 And the sound, when I posted it about it the other day, someone's like, there's no way the sound in that building is that good. It's like, no, it is the best live sound I have ever experienced. I was texting with someone who went to the show on Saturday night, and they're like a big concert goer as well. They've seen you two a bunch of times. They said it was the best they've ever sounded, and you two has ever sounded. And it's because of this new type of technology that uses like a beam sound
Starting point is 00:50:39 to a particular place. And I guess it's some older technology that's been used in different ways, but it's never been used with audio until recent years. And it's like you're in a nice, room with two high-quality speakers playing and you're just sitting there in the middle of it like a listening room that that's like i've never experienced live audio that sounds so crystal clear where you can tune into hearing the bass or the guitar or the drums or just like singing it like along with bono and all that i like i i don't know it just it raises the bar for what's possible with
Starting point is 00:51:16 concerts even putting aside the visual element the sound which is crazy yes even like for like shut your eyes the whole freaking show and it's the it's the best it's the best sounding concert you've been to it is i mean like james dolin the nix owner he like he was like everybody has given credit to him like bono said during the show like you crazy bastard james dolin like thank you for creating this wondrous place new york times are a great feature on the sphere wrote about how dolin kind of sketched out the idea and brought it to people like hey is this possible is there something that we can create there don't Like, Jady and the straight shots, his goofy rock band and all that.
Starting point is 00:51:56 People have always said he's, you know, music is thing. He tried being a musician back in college before he ended up going in the family business with the Knicks. This is Dolan's thing. Like, Dolan has created. I don't know if it would be profitable enough for him to build a bunch of these around the world. I don't know if even the one in Vegas will be that profitable. I'm sure there will be nights. It's half full.
Starting point is 00:52:16 But this is his thing. Like, he found something here with the sphere. That should be his. You're trying to rewrite his legacy. This is the thing. I'm sure he'll hang on to keeping the Knicks and the Rangers because they're profitable. They fill it up.
Starting point is 00:52:32 They fill up 80 nights a year, right? But this is his thing, is the sphere. And I hope everybody gets to experience it, whether it's in Vegas or if they build more of these. But to me, I think this is going to become the go-to concert venue for experiencing the best possible live environment. it is. Oh, and it'll be the live videos and it'll be the live albums.
Starting point is 00:52:58 Like, same way with the Red Rock thing. It'll be live at the sphere. I can see that. Right. It's crazy. How many is it hold? How many is it hold? 18,600, I believe.
Starting point is 00:53:09 Oh, wow. It's massive. Oh, so that's NBA arena. Yeah. It's gigantic. It's gigantic. Wow. It's gigantic.
Starting point is 00:53:18 So it was filled up for opening night. I'm sure it will be for a bunch of. nights. Tickets are like expensive even aside from the resale market. It's like 300, 400 minimum. That's by far the most you've ever spent to go to a concert. Not even close. It's not even close.
Starting point is 00:53:35 Kevin O'Currency. Kevin O'Currency. Not even close. And I'll probably never spend that much again. I just felt like it felt like something that I had to do. I mean like I cried during where the streets have no name thinking about my dad
Starting point is 00:53:52 Like I just, there's just this beautiful scene where like the background was started with a sunset, with a sunrise and then the sunset. And then it went to this dark, you know, night sky background. I just looked up and could see like the stars.
Starting point is 00:54:07 Like it was just overcome with emotion just thinking about how thankful I was that my dad brought me to concerts when I was 16 years old to start off really this love. And I don't. And you're a massive YouTube fan, right? I mean, I like YouTube. I like their hits.
Starting point is 00:54:23 Yeah, but you're not like some, like, monocical I love. Like, you're a pink Floyd. Like, if you were going to see a huge one, like, there are certainly a lot of bands and musicians you are more passionate about than you are about them. A long list. I've never, I've never seen you two. So that was part of it. Like, it would be cool to see you two, but it was, I went to see you too, but also it was, I just, I just had a feeling this. place could be special for concerts.
Starting point is 00:54:53 And as high as my expectations were, they were completely exceeded. It is, it is remarkable. And the, like, I looked like when there are certain looks they had on the screen that lit up the crowd. Like, you could, like, look around and see everybody's faces. That's when I saw Bezos and Katie Perry and, like, those people behind me. I was like, oh, there's Jeff Bezos. There was, there's not a face without a smile or, like, you could see how, like, people,
Starting point is 00:55:20 some people were overcome. It was just so, it just invoked so many emotions within me. And I'm sure many people there felt the same way. It was, I don't feel like with my dad, like there's days where I don't think a lot about them. Like my mom does every day, she cries a lot more than I do about them. But it felt good to be in that place and to feel like I was with my dad. Like that's, what's one reason why I did it is because I was like, why would I not go
Starting point is 00:55:46 to this concert when I have an opportunity to do it? You'll never regret it. never never never you can make more you can make more money but you cannot yeah i can't replace that yeah i can i can like do like some you know i can i can go without some dinners and whatnot yeah right you know the concert it was more it also had points for my hotel and points for my flight it was like some stuff i got so some stuff i paid zero for so it was like all worked out in a great way you know you and i had this conversation um many years back and it did not hit me until i was later in life and so it's better for you.
Starting point is 00:56:23 But I don't know if it was something I listened to or something I read. But it was basically this whole thing. It was so persuasive to me because I was always like, make more money, make more money so that I can have this. And so I could have that, whatever. And then the kids can have this and the kids can have that. And maybe I could get that car or I could do this or I could get a house or I could get this. And one of the things that I listened to, either I've read it or listened to it.
Starting point is 00:56:49 But it was this whole thing very persuasive. of on spend your money on experiences. Yeah, it's true. And I took that to heart and it was the absolute best thing I ever did. Because if you were to ask my kids, there's not one material thing I have bought them that I think that they would care deeply about. And yet there is not a week that goes by that they won't bring up some trip or some place that we went to together or some game. that we went to or some something we did something we did rather than something that i bought and i think that and and i and there have been times where i've spent entirely too much
Starting point is 00:57:36 or what i thought on something and i've never thought about it one second what i spent on it because it was worth it and i think that's the i think that's the lane you're in on this you'll never you'll never think twice about that money but no and and you would do it all over again because of what you this the the memory that comes out of it yeah right i mean it is no doubt about it and i'll always you know remember the way i felt there yeah um and the fun that i had that's cool you made me want to go man they already have a schedule of events yeah so so you two is playing 25 shows that's their residency What?
Starting point is 00:58:18 They have 25 shows between, like, last Friday night, and so they've done two already until December 16th. Oh, wow. They have shows on the off nights during the in-season tournament. No. Yes. So on the off nights, yeah, on the off nights of the in-season tournament in December, they have shows then. I would 100% be open to go on one more time or seeing the movie. They have a movie that plays there.
Starting point is 00:58:45 It's called like a postcard to earth or from a. Earth. And I'm sure that's probably incredible too. Like next time I'm back in Vegas, I want to go see the movie. So they're going to do it like the Vegas thing where it's residency's not one-off one-off concerts. At least for now. At least for now. So Dolan told the New York Times in his article, he said how they have their next two residences booked. And he wouldn't reveal who they are. He said they're big names. I speculate that Paul McCartney could be one of them. And the reason why is because A, he was there, opening night, he was there. B, his last show of his current tour is December 16th in Brazil.
Starting point is 00:59:27 The last show of the U2 residency is December 16th. If Paul McCartney, he's trying to get these big names to stir up hype and get people to pay big money to go there, blah, blah, blah, this and that. Paul McCartney would fill up that place every night. or it could be Snoop Dog and Dr. Dre. They were their opening night. They've been around for, they've been around for decades.
Starting point is 00:59:56 They have an audience, an older audience, and a younger audience. I think like either of them would make perfect sense. YouTube made sense as like the first act, maybe scheduling-wise it also worked out. They've also kind of always been progressive with using tech at their shows.
Starting point is 01:00:11 It makes sense they were first. He'll probably do some legends too, though, you know, because that's a big... One-offs. Well, you know he has that huge relationship, the consistent thing with, like, Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden, or maybe you could drag Elton John out to do a last hurrah, like, you know, kind of 20-something shows at the speed.
Starting point is 01:00:31 I could see that, those... I think you're probably more in line with the McCartney and doing these, like, only these acts that have, like, 50 hits, like you do does, right? like these people from would come from all around the world to see rather than you know. I think
Starting point is 01:00:52 one-offs could work if what I read online as people were talking about well some acts are reluctant to do shows there because of what is required from a creative standpoint to build visuals and all that for for a short amount of shows. However I
Starting point is 01:01:07 just think like some of these bands already have their trippy backdrops if there's ways to adapt that or if there's people within this sphere, you know, infrastructure that can do that for the bands. I think like an EDM show, they played some like EDM songs before you two
Starting point is 01:01:24 came on. Like the sound was amazing. Like I just imagine that place. Some of those like Beyonce or a cold play. Like they got these extravagant setups already. Oh my God. I cannot imagine. The creativity involved in those. Oh my God. Yeah, yeah. I can't imagine. I really can't imagine.
Starting point is 01:01:41 Like as amazing as it was with you too, I still left feeling like, oh, my God, they're just tapping into the potential of this place. Like that video that I posted of like the numbers going up and the screen and then dropping down. Right. That was one moment during the show where it was like, oh, my God, it feels like the ceiling is dropping in here. And I can't imagine that like bouncing up and down during like an EDM show or like a Tame Impala show or like a trippy psychedelic rock band like that. I mean, the potential is unbelievable in that building. It makes me sad that Prince is dead.
Starting point is 01:02:14 Oh, I know. It's so up his alley. I can you imagine him planning something out in there? Dude. I mean, I hope the sphere is a massive success. Sounds like it will be. I hope so. It's all brave reviews, including yours.
Starting point is 01:02:30 Dude, like, everybody I know is like talking about it. Like, besides the fact, even people who don't know I was there, it seems like people are talking about it. So I hope it's a success so more of them can be built because it is something that could change live entertainment forever. I would go that far with how special of an environment it wasn't there, the product, the sound, the visuals.
Starting point is 01:02:54 Oh, man. It was amazing. You might remember when we were there for Summer League, I played that golf course that they used for the match, the win. It cost a fortune as well. Talking about experiences you always remember, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 01:03:09 But that's fierce. Like when you're playing that course, There's two holes. It's in the background. People were like, was that that eyeball? And I was like, dude, I would have,
Starting point is 01:03:20 there's no way I could have played if the eyeball was like. It was like a basketball or something when I played. But if it would have been like that big frigging eyeball while I was trying to tee off, I'd have lost my mind. It was crazy. It was fun, though. I mean,
Starting point is 01:03:35 like, I think it will be a huge success. It's so, people need to see it to believe it. When you're in Vegas, it's so damn cool. at night to look at. It's just cool. When I was with my mom in Vegas, like about a month ago, we drove out there. Yeah. And so like we drove by the sphere a couple of times. They have a space
Starting point is 01:03:55 on the side of the road with like conned off for people that drive off to the side of the road to take photos. Like people, people, people drive by just to look at the sphere from the outside because it is so amazing looking. It is unlike anything that any, you know, you've ever seen with your own eyes. And the in person, man, if anybody's, able to go, whether for the movie or for the concert, I highly recommend it. I can't wait to see the movie there, man. I don't even know what it's about. Postcard from Earth, I assume, some nature-y stuff, right? But I just want to go in there experience it. The sound is amazing. Yeah. I can't wait. I'm for sure. I'm for sure going to go next time I'm out of Vegas.
Starting point is 01:04:34 Hey, man. In season tournament, I know if the Grizzlies don't make it, you might not be able to come. But that would be dope. man, I would love to be at the end season tournament. I did resent the NBA for doing the whole in the off days, all of the teams that aren't playing in the in season tournament are having games. I know.
Starting point is 01:04:55 Because I'm on the home game broadcast. And so there's no, like, I wish that it was like time off where that was kind of just on center stage. Like everybody else wasn't playing on the other night. that it was kind of just made special because I would, I would already have it planned out. But yeah, who knows?
Starting point is 01:05:20 Certainly, it won't be too terribly long before I'm back out in Vegas some way, somehow, and I will for sure go there. Maybe depending on how the schedule works out, there's a chance you still could. Maybe, maybe, yeah, exactly. Like, maybe it could still work out where you come out for the finale of the in-season tournament, even if the grizzlies aren't in, and then you stay for Sunday football because I see the Grizzlies.
Starting point is 01:05:44 Oh, yeah. They have a home game Monday, December 11th. So that be when you'd have to be back. Monday the 11th. We'll see. We'll see. We'll plan it out because I'd love to go back. Who is Monday the 11th?
Starting point is 01:05:55 Mondays are always the Mavs. The Dallas Mavericks. I swear to God, they always play on Monday. How'd you know? That is crazy. I swear you see, I'm not looking at a schedule. No, you're not at all. I don't know why they always play on Monday.
Starting point is 01:06:10 Yeah, you got you got. Dallas, Dallas on Monday, October 30th, and then Monday, December 11th. I told you. I don't know why they always play on Mondays. Oh, my God. It's like every year. It's like that. It feels like, all right.
Starting point is 01:06:25 Last year you had them on Monday, March 20th. What? I told you. They play on Mondays. I don't know why. Very strange. Yeah. Maybe it's like some inside joke at the NBA office.
Starting point is 01:06:37 Like, hey, we're going to put Dallas and Memphis on a Monday. can't put that game there we've got to have Dallas and Memphis anyways Kevin it is always a pleasure It's been a fun week And we're going to record something After all these media days
Starting point is 01:06:52 And maybe Harden gets moved Or maybe there's some other movement Throughout the league Maybe Brogden gets moved for something Or Robert Williams does But there will inevitably be a bunch of stuff That happens between now and Thursday So we will reconvene on Thursday night
Starting point is 01:07:05 And try to go over everything Thanks for our gig in a producer Jesse Lopez as always and Kevin, I'll talk to you on Thursday. Have a great week. Must be 21 plus in President Select States. Fandul is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC.
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