The Mismatch - Kyrie Tears His ACL, Historic Bad-Luck Grizzlies, and Why Doesn’t KD Take More Blame?

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

Verno and Jacoby go through a string of bad luck for the Grizzlies, who’ve lost their past three games at home in the final seconds and are now without Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr (01:11). They then discuss Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who dropped 51 points against the Rockets; the reports coming out of Phoenix that the Suns could potentially move on from Kevin Durant in the summer; and the drama between Devin Booker and Mike Budenholzer (12:19). Next, they discuss the impact of Kyrie Irving' ACL tear and the Sixers' decision to finally shut down Joel Embiid (30:09). The guys then ask each other for some advice on some of the hottest topics around the league (40:15). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producers: Jessie Lopez and Tucker Tashjian Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. And join me to see that every week from the ringer.com. It's Dave Jacoby. What's happening to Verneau? We had the Knicks and Grizzlies on Friday night, the mismatch Bowl. And somehow things have gotten worse for the Grizzlies since then. I mean, it's been a tough go. I was out late, driving home, and complete silence from the arena last night.

As I watched a third straight game that Memphis has lost, So many times over the years, I have said, hey, you go to an NBA arena, there's a really good chance. You're going to see something you've never seen before. That's one of the things that I love about going to games on a regular basis is that there's many times when I leave the arena and I can say, man, I've never seen anything like that before or I've never seen that particular play happen or I've never seen something like that happen. Well, the Memphis Grizzlies have lost three straight games by two or less points via an opponent's winning shot within the final three seconds of the game. I literally saw history, Jacoby. It's the first time an NBA team has experienced such a streak since the Seattle Supersonics in 2002. Wow.

They're not even a franchise. Well, it's because those games are sort of a coin flip. And it's hard. The statistics will tell you there's about 12.5% chance of that happening. That's my math. Oh, no. Way, way, way lower percentage of the game. No, I'm a coin flip three times in a row.

Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Oh, okay. Well, I don't know necessarily coin flip, but I mean, look, the next one was an OG and OB and OV game winner. It is 100% my fault that the Aaron Fox had game winner on Saturday night.

100% your fault. I knew it. I mean, look, I, you did that. I prepared everybody for that, though, on Friday. It's fair. You called your shot. I said, I said, I'm scared to do this, but what the heck has happened to Deerd Fox? He had those two miserable games against the Pelicans, and then he backed that up with a

seven point game against the Rockets. And I'll be honest, he didn't even care about the Grizzly game until the very end, until the very end. As I said, I bet on him. to score 20 points. And I was not asking for much from the Airbox, 20 points. And I'm sweating it. And he got to 19 and 20 as the buzzer sounded.

But before we do move on to another debacle from last night, I do want to say, yeah, it was an OG and an OB shot that beat the Grizzlies. But it was Jalen Brunson in the fourth quarter that beat the grizzly. And Jalen Brunson created that shot by drawing so much attention that OG was open. And it was also the worst night of three point shooting that could ever be imagined with four for 31. for the Grizzlies on the night. Could not get a 3 to 4.

I mean, 13% for the night. And John Moran obviously missed a game winner at the very end of the game. But then it moved on, and then Saturday, they ended up losing to San Antonio. And then last night, lost to the Atlanta Hawks. This has obviously changed the standings a great deal as Memphis has moved down in the standings. And now huge showdown on a,

game they moved to ESPN on Wednesday night between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Oklahoma City Thunder, and there was extreme depression that went across the arena last night. As one minute into the game, Jaron Jackson Jr. landed on a foot and went out, hobbling, went all the way back to the locker room. Now, that is the moment. There is nothing more stressful than waiting for PR to put out what has. happened. And all I'm sitting there saying is, please don't be foot, please don't be foot, please don't be foot, right? Especially because he's had an unbelievable season. He's at like 59 games.

Obviously, you have to get to 65 to be eligible for awards. And so it's like if this is a foot injury and it's going to take him out for the rest of the season, this is just a tragedy. It comes back and they say ankle, which is a sigh of relief. What's not a sigh of relief is he never came back out to the bench, which gives you cause for pause. Obviously, it really messes up what was going to be an unbelievable Wednesday night showdown between Memphis and Oklahoma City because in the absence of Jaron Jackson Jr., Memphis's defense has been atrocious anyways, much less playing a team like that. that without this guy who is honestly what makes the whole thing go and has been the standby

for the entire season. So hopefully the news on Jaron Jackson Jr. is not so bad, but absolutely brutal. And then at the end of the game, there's been a lot of talk this year about the defensive prowess of Dyson Daniels. Desmond Bain tries to take Dyson Daniels off the dribble. He gets a steal. Whoopsie. Throws it ahead to Carreystle. vert, Carislevert finishes it at the buzzer and just mass depression. I mean, it was a tough finish. It was a sad. It was so sad walking out of that arena.

I mean, you have no idea. I mean, because it's the culmination of it's three home games in a row losing at the buzzer. It's different if that crap happens on the road. I mean, but having it happen at home is just traumatic. And to the fans that go to every game, Like, that's got to be so depressing. And it's, if you didn't see the game last night, it's a tie game,

1.30, 1.30. Lavert, who was, who was scorching hot, misses a three. So it's Grizzly's ball with, what, like, nine seconds left or something. Like, you just, like, the, the chances of things going as bad as they did are so low. Like, like, literally, the only thing you can't do is turn the ball. over and give up a transition layup. It's like you could do anything else. You could punt the ball into the air, probably be a kick.

You could throw the ball into the air and just let time run out. Just straight up in the air next to the Jumbotron. Let time run out and you're fine. When you're at that point in a tie game, this is, and again, maybe my fault, I turned the guy next to me and I was like, oh, please no overtime. That's not what I meant. That's not what I meant. Oh, you, so you're responsible for.

You're responsible for the Sacramento loss and you're responsible for the Atlanta loss. You, oh, wow, Bernal, you should not have admitted that. No, that's not fair. You did it. You are responsible for the last two laws. No. What I meant was make a game winner. They did.

Not damn. There was a game winner. There was a game winner. I really did. I said that. I said, please no overtime. Just make this, Bain. Not only did Bain not make it.

dice and Daniel steals the ball and then it goes the other way. I mean, honestly, it's impossible to lose like that. It should be impossible. It was a great finish from Lavert. It was just a really nice little like slow Euro to get a sliver of space to score. And then you're waiting like maybe it was a little late. It was not late. Well,

it was up and on the backboard when it turned red. So now you have this mass depression walking out of the arena, right? I've got to do the post game show for a third straight time after this happens. Jared Jackson Jr. is hurt. We don't know the severity of that. Meanwhile, I'm looking down my phone. The good news is SGA and the Thunder look terrible going into this Memphis game because he only had 51. 51. Oh, my God. I'm like, bro. If Jared Jackson Jr. doesn't play, we might give up 170. the two to sGA not just to two i mean look hey by the way anyone is in jeopardy by the way for all you thunder fans out there my my twitter account is deactivated on wednesday so you go ahead and you go ahead and you know send your tweet into space but quick before we get to um you know to thunder and sGA's performance last night in his season what is wrong with jah and why is he playing

Shoulder so earlier in the year, I don't know what happened in the New York game, but he, you know, early in the season, he had, shoulder took him out last year and he missed the season because of the shoulder after he had come back via suspension. And then this year ran into Daniel Tice on a screen earlier in the year and it took a huge chunk of the season out. And so now it obviously does give you, you know, reason for worry because had a day off with the San Antonio game, like did not play in the San Antonio game on the back-to-back after New York and then missed yesterday's game as well. And it is listed as the shoulder. And so obviously the concern is did this shoulder just never get right? because, you know, did you just try to battle through it and play with it? And what is, why is this lingering in the way that it is? But obviously, I mean, he had hurt the shoulder last year.

He had hurt, you know, a shoulder this year. And now sat out the last two games with shoulder soreness after playing five games in a row and starting to look like the old John Moran. Like he had started to come into his own. and which is desperately what they needed for the last home stretch of this season. And then that was stripped away. And so here's hoping he's able to play on Wednesday night against Oklahoma City, but that's what they're saying.

Vernal, before we move on to SGA's Big Night and the Thunder, I just have one simple question for you. With Josh's shoulder, with Jaron's ankle, is there a part of you that says we could be in the playing? Not that far away right now. Yeah, I haven't considered the play in. Five away in the lost column. Yeah.

About 20 games left to play. I mean, that's a cratering. You know what I mean? Without Jaron and Jha. I mean, they get Marant back and I think they can win their share of games to stave that off. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I've kind of looked at the floor being six. Six is tough too, though.

You want to be in four or five if you're in the Western Conference. Absolutely. I mean, honestly, if they could freeze the standings right now, please. There's not a Memphis fan in the world that wouldn't take that. Honestly. Of course. You would take your chances against Houston

and then you would take your chances against Oklahoma City because at least those two teams don't have 250,000 games of playoff experience combined, which is what is true of virtually the rest of the conference. whether it's the clippers, whether it's the Warriors, whether it's the Lakers, whether it's the Nuggets. One series. If you're the Memphis Grizzlies right now, let's go one series at a time. No, understood, but I'm saying that would be a welcome first round matchup considering the alternatives, which are really, really nasty. Correct. And I think the matchup you have next is Wednesday, which we should pivot from the Grizzlies to the 51 point game from SGA.

And, you know, I can go negative sometimes. I'm going to say this. I was watching this. I was watching this. one, it was closer than it should have been. The Rockets didn't play anybody. So if you just see SGA scores 51 against the Rockets, you're thinking that he's like going up against Thompson and Easton, and you know, but they didn't have Thompson. They didn't have Easton. They didn't have Van Bleet. They didn't have Benbleet. They're missing somebody else. I even can't mention it at the moment, because I forgot, but they weren't playing anybody. Like they're like, I think they started, they started Jock Laundale and Widmore. You know what I mean? And the game was like, I was expecting SGA to not score that many points because I was also expecting them to be up by 20 in the

fourth quarter. But it was like a eight point game at one point with like three minutes left. Did you see that stat yesterday that was going around that SGA would be one of the top five or 10 scorers in the NBA if he never played a fourth quarter? I was like, what the hell? No, I saw the one that said he's got, I saw the one that says he leads the league in 20 point games, 30 point games, 40 point games, and 50 point games. And I was like, I'm not going to say that on the pod because I'm too lazy to research it, but that can't be true. It just can't be true.

It said he averages. I think the number was 27 in three quarters. I was like, what the hell? Like if he didn't play the fourth quarter, which he rarely, I mean, in many cases, he does not. Also, from what I gather, obviously I was at Grizzly's Hawks, first big Reed Shepherd moment. 60 games into the season. It wasn't a moment. It was moments.

He started. Again, that's where they are. Like, one of their G-League guys started. He started the game. He had 25. He made some mistakes, but he was, he showed, he showed real flashes to the point where you're kind of like, how come it took this long for him to kind of like get some burn?

Like, he hit a couple threes in row. He was getting to the basket. Like, I think people look at him like he's like a Steve Novak, knockdown shooter type. But he can play. You know, he can go to the rim. And he was getting a lot of opportunity yesterday. It was a great Reed Shepherd game. But again, I do want to say that that was not a 51 point game from SGA.

There was a 49 point game from SGA because sometimes I like to get on my fan duel. And I might have put like $10 on him scoring less than 50 points. I think the over and under was like 50.5. And I forget who it was, but you took under 50. It was late. It was in live, right? But the rocket, I forget who it was for the rockets. It was somebody.

They drove and dunked. And SGA put the. ball back in when he missed the dunk while he was hanging on the rim. That is not legal. If you stand to lose $20, you're sitting there screaming at the television. Like, what are you talking about? You can't, you can't score while your teammate is hanging on the rim. It was like the refs just wanted him to get 51.

So if you didn't see this game, that was not the Rockets that he scored 51 against, and he didn't really score 51. So that's me, David Jacoey, being negative about a 51 point game from SGA. And I don't know what he's going to do on Wednesday. I mean, what do you expect? Who's going to, he would have got, Wells is going to pick them up?

Can we just not talk about it? No, we can. Because those are the two biggest stories. The two biggest stories are the thunder of the britties. I mean, you got one team, I mean, look,

in the absence of Jaron Jackson, Jr., um, I was very hopeful if you get, especially with the way they gave a, look, they didn't have their guys for the last two. and took terrible losses.

But if you assume they got their guys back, they did have a home run effort against the Knicks. Like they played a one-point game against the Knicks, and they went four for 31 from three, right? They showed, here's a good team coming into your arena. It went down to the last shot, right? And so the hope was, hey, you've got your guys, you can play against Oklahoma City.

Everybody knows how big of a game that is. Everybody knows. my my hopes for what got dashed the second jaron jackson junior was a lot wasn't it like in like the first two minutes it was the minute it was a minute it was a minute and a half into the game and as soon as he went hobbling back to the locker room my immediate reaction was oh my god i hope it's not his foot my second reaction was well that ruins wednesday you know but again who you look here's what we know and Lord knows I should understand it better than everybody.

In the NBA, you literally never know. Never know. We are shocked by outcomes every single night. So maybe even in the absence of Jerry Jackson Jr., you know, they could have some kind of home run effort. The Rockets, it wasn't like a tie game in the last minute last night, but the Rockets, you know, they hit a couple threes to bring it to win eight or seven or whatever it was. And again, this is a depleted Rockets team.

So there's not no chance. Oh, no, there's no chance to Grizzlies. on Wednesday. But here's the game, the game I'm going to tonight, which suddenly becomes very important for you. You're a Knicks fan now. Well, hold on. Let me just make a, let me just make, I'm just going to amend a statement that I made earlier. Gildes Alexander, I went, looked it up, is averaging 27.4 points through three quarters this season. So what's the abjian game? 31, 32? If he did not play in fourth quarters, he would still be four. fourth in the NBA in scoring.

God. I mean, because he's averaging, what, 31, 32? So he scores like four points a game in the fourth. That's how little he plays in the fourth. He would be in the top five in scoring,

playing three quarters. That is outrageous. Well, one of my buddies, shout to Francois. He's a mismatch listener. He's out of town, which means one of his seats

is available for tonight's game. So I'm going to the Warriors Knicks tonight. And all of a sudden you're a Knicks fan tonight. Because you're going to have to root against the Warriors as much as you don't want to. Like, Steph Curry is going to be on fire. And you, I know you love basketball. You're going to love it so much.

But somewhere deep in your brain, you'd be like, this is not good for my grisleys. Well, he may not be able to play. Because he was limping. I saw he finished the game, though, right? I was watching the game yesterday. First of all, I don't pay attention to Hornets game. They're not going to watch the Hornets Warriors. For me, that's a foregone conclusion.

But it seems like it's up in the air. whether or not he's fair i think that's fair on a back-to-back on the road right i think that's that we might not see step curry and that really bums me out because that's kind of why you buy tickets to go to the warriors i understand i don't want to see pachemski in post i will say who do you think is you know there's times where you're feeling really down things just aren't going your way and then you look over and you go well you know what What am I complaining about? I ain't got as bad as that guy.

And I did have that moment of clarity last night. There I am watching Karras Levert hit a game winner. Three straight game winners in a row for the opposing team, and I have to sit there and talk about it for 30 minutes afterwards. And I'm walking out and I'm looking down at my phone, and I see the visuals of Kyrie Irving being... carried off the court. And it was one of those moments

where I was like, you know what? If I was a Mavs fan, I would be looking at Chris Varner going, bro, shut up. Great point. You think you got it bad? My favorite player, who I've got a shrine to in my game room,

has been traded. The guy we traded for immediately got hurt. He didn't even last a couple of games. and now my hope is at least pinned to make the play in, get him back, be mega dangerous. And now I'm watching. Which is on the board, which is on the board. It's not just that.

Of course. Gaffords out. Gaffords out. Oh, with their size. There's a world with you got PJ Washington, Anthony Davis, Derek lively. Yes. Kyrie. Like that's the team I do not want to play.

Yeah. Like that is a huge, huge defensive team with an offense, which is Kyrie Irving making things happen. That is a recipe for success in the National Basketball Association. Absolutely. And I think especially with you having the, now this may sound crazy. But with the Warriors, I think, as I told you after they made the Butler deal, getting all the way up to six. And they're very close right now. They get up to six.

I view Dallas as the most dangerous of those play-in teams. I do. Assuming health. Again, that's all we can do. But if you had all of their guys, that's a team, especially in the Western Conference, just given that they bring to the table what the other teams do not, right? There is Yokic, but the rest of those teams, the size could hurt them. and they have size in spades.

I mean, it reminds me of, and again, no one can replace LeBron. It reminds me of the bubble Lakers championship team. They were just bigger than everybody else. Just big. That's the team that reminds me of.

And it's like, you don't want to face them. Like Davis could be a real, real problem for a lot of teams that are listed as playoff teams right now. And then as you see Kyrie getting carried off last night, I mean, it looks bad.

It looks bad. And it's like, my God, really? Like, really? Like, as if we haven't been kicked in the dick enough. It's, you know? I ain't got it so bad is what I'm saying, Jacoby. When I look over there, I'm like, I would just be despondent. I mean, I wouldn't be able to say it.

Even before yesterday, there is a roadmap where, you know, they do these updates every week a couple weeks on the injuries. There's a roadmap. You're like, we get lively back. We get AD back. with just like two weeks of runway before we're in the plans or a playoff or whatever we're in, like there is, there's a roadmap to them being extremely competitive in the first round. Well, and you've, you've caught a break because the team that you, like, it's like you don't even

have to play that well because Phoenix has become an unmitigated disaster. Oh, yeah. That was the team that you were worried about like, okay, we don't play well enough. Phoenix is going to be able to get that 10 spot because you're probably getting the 10 spot, right? You're 9 or 10. But if Phoenix is going to, I mean, evidently Mike Boonezer is telling Devin Booker to shut up.

I'm glad you brought that up. Let's talk about that part because that when I read that highlight, again, we talked about NBA Centel last week. I was like, wait a second. Let me corroborate this information because it's one thing for the coach. I just never heard anything like this. Please pipe down is what the words were.

So my voice can be heard. You're saying that to Devin Booker. It's one thing if you say that in your 41 and 20, that's fine. You know what I mean? We can make little tweaks like that. But when the season is disastrous as this and a lot of that burden is on you as the head coach, I just can't, I don't see a world in which that's helpful. Because if you're Devin Booker, do you think Devin Booker,

went home, called his best friend on his phone on the way home after that conversation said, you know what, Coach Bud is right. I'm not giving him space to lead the team in the way he needs to. I'm the one who's holding this team back by voicing my opinions too loudly. He's right. I need to change the way I behave. Wait, wait, wait. Do you think he said that? What do you think he really said to his best friend on the car ride on the way home? Oh, oh, you said it. I thought you meant when he called Chris Haynes. Shout to Cretzines.

I thought that's what you meant. He said one thing. He said one thing. Isn't that who reported it? I don't want to get that wrong. It is who reported it, right? I don't. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't.

Again, I thought it was NBA Centel. So I thought it was like, seriously, I really thought it was NBA Centel when that report came out because it's so unfathomable that Coach Bud thinks telling Devin Booker to be quiet in huddles and to not voice his opinion to the team so much is going to turn this team around so they can lose in the plane, the 9-10 plane. It's insane. Devin Booker's just like, hey, Matt Ishbia, him or me, three words, him or me. One of us is going to be here next year.

Yeah, it was, Chris Haynes. It says it seems like the kind of situation where the team would want one of its leaders to step up and take charge. But according to a new report from Chris Haynes, Mike Booneholtzer actually asked one of his stars to take a step back. And then it says, weeks ago, Boonehauer's, called a meeting with Devin Booker imploring he tone it down vocally leaving the star shocked. Yeah, so it was, Chris Hayd.

Tone it down vocally. Just shut up, man. Like, seriously, shut up. Shut up. That's what, that's what Coach Bud said. That was the meeting. Shut up. But my thing is like, think about the chess board, right?

And this isn't just about NBA basketball. This is about anybody in social or professional situations, right? when you do something like that, which is pretty drastic, which is going to have an impact on your relationship with your colleague or your friend or whatever, when you're asking them to be less vocal, right? You have to understand how they're going to take that. Because like I said, Devin Booker didn't reflect and meditate on it and say, you know what, Coach Bud is right.

I should let him coach and I should be a player. That's not what he said. He walked out of the room and said, F that guy. I'm not working with him anymore. I'm either leaving this team or he's leaving this team. And then it got leaked to the media. That's how you know, right? That's a private conversation that became public and why did it become public?

Well, I don't think Coach Bud leaves that one to the media. I don't think Coach Bud leaked that one to the media. I don't think Coach Bud was on the phone with Chris. I don't think so. Right. And that's just, I mean, it's another, just another sort of page in the disaster that is the sons. But like, I was so shocked by that. I literally had to like, I was like, this came.

be real. This cannot be real. Well, I'll tell you this, right? He just called his last NBA game a few weeks ago, and I've talked to you many times about the impact that Hughie Brown had on me as a young reporter as I was covering all of his pregames and post games.

One of his standard things that he always talked about was the most important thing as a coach is to have your best players on your side. If you've got your best players, on your side, the other guys will fall in line. Now, Hubey at the time, he had all of these different standards of which he believed in

that made a team go. One of which was he always played. Now, at that point, it's a different world now. At that point, it was, there's 12 guys on a roster, right? He played a 10-man rotation. He had reasons for everything that he talked about. He said, I play a 10-man rotation because in that locker room, there's going to be 10 guys that know exactly what is expected of them. There's going to be 10 guys that know their role and what they are supposed to be doing every single night.

And there's going to be two that are discontent with their plight. But the 10 drastically outweigh the two. So the two end up falling in line. So you've got no malcontents. Right, because there's 10 guys that get in their car and drive to the arena, and they know what is expected of them every single night. They know when they're going to play. They know how many minutes they're going to get, right?

So he had this very standard. But in between keeping a roster happy by defining roles and letting those guys know what their roles are, but the most important thing was, and then those best players, they've got to be on board with you. because if your best players are on board with you, then the rest will also fall in line. And it's what I think about

whenever I see a situation like this. Because rule number one, that's how you get fired. That's how you don't get to keep your job. The only thing that matters is that Devin Booker is ready to go to war for you. That's it. Because he's the one that's going to be there, right?

Evidently, he's the one they're keeping. You know, all the talk is, and I know it's our next thing on the note, is the Kevin Durant stuff. And that's, you know, it showed up at the trade deadline. And now Shams reported on the Sons and Durant. Let me hear it. He said, quote, but this offseason, for my understanding,

the Sons and Durant would work together on any potential trade to a contender in a trade scenario. I would expect four to six contending teams some serious involved in Durant. Oh, hold on real quick. Breaking news. peep, beep, beep, beep, right in the middle of our show. It's a friggin torn ACL for Kyrie. Oh, God. Shams just reported.

Oh, God. Dallas Mavericks All-Star. Kyrie Irving has suffered a season-ending torn ACL in his left knee. ACL, I mean, that could have implications to next year, too. That's bad. Of course it could. It's March. I mean, you're talking about, at best, what, nine months?

Yeah. And then you've got, oh, my God. Oh, God. But you know what, MASH fans? Just terrible. I mean, I am so sorry, Mavs fans. At least you have the cowboy. Oh, wait.

I'm sorry. God, this is tough. Stop. Come on. This is tough. I'm a Cowboys fan. I don't know. The Star is good.

This is awful for the Mavs. Shams followed it up. I said devastating. Irving appeared in 50 of the Mavs 62 games so far, and is currently the only player in the NBA, averaging at least 20 points, 40% from three, 90% for the free throw line. The fifth season in his career with those statistics, second most all time to Stefan Curry.

He was playing so well. He was having a great season. He was playing so well. And again, like what we see is the two and a half hours a couple times a week that they're on the court. But he's the captain of the team. He's the leader of the team. He's a veteran.

And this has been a very tumultuous season for the Mazda before the Luca trade. I can only imagine what it feels like to be there after and during the Luca trade. And to lose him now, like outside of wins and losses is just catastrophic. And also, obviously, we talk about the way it impacts. We had just mentioned that that is a significantly dangerous team in our estimation when they are fully loaded. And if over the course of the next month, they were able to get fully loaded, we would view them as a danger for prospective play-in teams and then maybe even whoever they would face in a first round

off the table now, right? So it does change whoever can be that eighth seed too because I would have put them as a possible favorite to be the eight-sees given the circumstances. Oh, the hot blazers. Let's get back to the suns. I mean, maybe it is daylight for this train wreck that is the suns. Oh, God.

With, honestly, it is daylight for them. Oh, yeah. Because though they have been disgusting, it's like if you could just get to the play in, at least you give yourself a chance to possibly be a playoff team, not that they, I mean, and then just go get beat by a thousand by the thunder, I suppose. But it's a neck and neck race right now between the Blazers and the Suns.

And one team. I mean, and the best thing that could happen is like, hey, could you put a slowdown to all of the offseason? and discontent news that's going on. Like they have a chance here in the last 20 something games. And yet every day it's some kind of, you know,

ominous story about the sons or a look to the off season. Like everybody's already trading Kevin Durant. Well, in the Chom's statement, he said something like if, if things don't go well to end the season. And I'm thinking of myself like, what is the bar there? Like, like, what is the, how? What does this going well look like for the Sons? They beat that they sweep the thunder in round one after winning a couple playing games.

Like, I don't see that happening. I don't think there's a world in which they end this. They come out of this season feeling good about what they've got going on in Phoenix. They want to run it back. I don't see that happening. There's virtually no way they don't massively underachieve, no matter what happens the rest of the way. And no matter if the Mavs just crater. I also think it's important when you when you speak in the microphones about sports

to recognize when you're wrong because preseason I was looking at this team like me too. I mean. Don't they did a reasonable job building out a roster around it? Yeah. Yeah. I was like, well, they needed a point guard. They got a point guard.

You've got Beal, Booker, and Durant on any given night, those guys can get you 35. Like, they're going to outscore them. They might have some trouble. Nirkich. I didn't think Nerkers is going to play like. this you know what i mean like it just felt like preseason i had them as a contending team a championship contending team and thought the tious thing battling the blazers they're battling the blazers for the right to win two playoff games to play the thunder that's where they are

well i mean i'm and you can't be more opposite vibe wise than portland and the suns right now oh Like one is like what is happening. This is awesome. This is overachievement. And the other one is massive underachievement. One is playing with house money. The other one is going to that weird cage in Las Vegas where they take your thumbprint and you have to like call on this like weird black phone because you've overdrawn your checking account and they give you like $500 that they're going to take your pinky. If you don't give it back, I only know this from experience in my 20s.

It's happened me a few times. I'm going to say, don't ever give your fingerprint to get money in a casino. It's never gone well for me. I think it's gone well for anybody ever. I think they take the fingerprints and know which finger to take if they can't find you to pay the money back. Don't ever do that. I hope they don't use that technology anymore. Speaking of underachievement, we've been talking about this the whole year.

And I said earlier in the year, I said, look, pay attention when, if there's anybody that knows about tragic knee injuries. It's a guy that I covered in Memphis and it's Chandler Parsons and he's on that show with Michelle Beatle and Lou Williams. And earlier in the year, he talked about how they were just going to need to shut Joe L.M.B. down because it's just one of those things where it's like, you can't play. You can't play. Like we're bone on bone. It swells up every time. And you just, you're not going to be able to beat yourself. You're not going to be able to play. And he said that early in the year. What we've, finally got all the way to March, and the 76ers made their decision that they're just shutting

them down for the rest of the time, which obviously makes you wonder about, A, the contract extension, which they're already attempting to throw Darry under the bus for that by saying the owner didn't really want to do it. But also, just an organizational decision that they tried to, you know, the season started with at post Olympics, him coming into the season and them saying he's not going to play back to backs. And then there was that feeling like, hey, are they just going to like try to not get fined, sit him out a ton, play some possum, and then have him ready for the only thing that matters, which is the playoff run, right? That felt like the plan. Yeah, it felt like individual awards, like none of them championships are all that matter.

Like we, we all heard all of the rhetoric. And I just want to say like, hindsight's always 20-20. But this one is, come on. I'm just saying, like, Joel Embed, if you have a healthy operational Joel Embed, you've got a shot. You know what I mean? Right, but I'm saying from the very beginning,

it wasn't a healthy operational Joe Lambide, which makes you wonder, why did you waste all this time? Now you're going to be going into a surgery or whatever you're going to be doing, but you've waited until now to shut him down. Like you could have just said at the beginning. And then you could at least have him for next year to run it back.

But it felt like trying to force him out on the court this year when obviously the guy's leg was completely shot. Like I mean, you saw it. I mean, God bless. We're lucky it wasn't like made of metal by the. It was. I mean, you saw the brace. It was ridiculous. And I just think back to that Christmas game against the Celtics.

I can't get it out of my head. That is what they signed up for, that. And Paul George is, we're going to talk about Joel and Bid being the big disappointing. Paul George has been equally disappointing. This team has been so disappointed. We don't even have to discuss it that much. But right now, they're not even trying to get in the plan or anything.

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You want me to start or you want to start? You start, Vernon. Help me out. why are there not greater penalties for losing challenges? Okay, so now I have been to a lot of basketball games in person. You are going to go to one tonight. I've been to a lot in person recently, obviously the nights that I'm not at games, I'm watching them on television.

There is not a broadcaster and or a fan that is a regular observer of the NBA that does not absolutely hate the challenges. It draws out these games. It takes forever. They go back to Sarkas. We get to see the replay on television. We see, oh, it was out on this guy almost immediately. Yet it takes forever for the game to restart afterwards, right?

I have in the past proposed there needs to be a 60-second clock. 60-second clock, a decision is made within 60 seconds. End of story. Okay? Watch the replay. somebody makes a decision within 60 seconds, but now we have put some pressure on this to happen. It dawned on me last night as I was at the game.

I was like, you know what? How about this? I'm just trying to fix this any way I can. So if I'm not going to win you over with the 60 second clock, how about this one? Greater penalties for losing challenges, right? I lose a challenge and now I, uh, I don't get to get my next challenge, right?

Okay, that's the grand penalty for losing the challenge. I say that we come up with penalties for everybody involved. The coach, the player, the ref, everybody. If it's wrong, now it's a free throw for the other team. So you want to dick around, you want to draw this game out, you want to take it forever. It's a free throw for the other team if you screw that up. You don't just lose your last challenge.

it actually is going to cost you a point in this game. Players, if you do the twirley bird with your finger and your coach goes to the nerd with the iPad behind him, who's trying to figure it out within 30 seconds, and then it gets challenged, and then you're wrong, and then you're wrong, that player gets fine. You get fined if you do the Worley bird.

By the team? Yes. No, by the league. If you do the Worley Bird and convince your coach to challenge and it's wrong and you get assessed a foul. So you get a foul and fought. Yes, I'm done with this. I'm done with the Worley Bird. I'm done with it.

Now, that's the signal, the Worley Bird. We all know the signal. Ruffs, if. It's challenged and you were wrong. And the team has won the challenge. You have to wear a clown nose for the rest of the game. Oh. Like that you get at Walgreens when they sell them for that month.

You have to put on the clown nose and you have to wear the clown nose for the rest of the game. I want severe penalties for everyone involved in these because I am for the complete eradication of this madness. I can't take it anymore. So if you would like to, let me help you out a little bit. You would like to help me out with this. Okay, first of all, I don't know how much I can help because at first,

like my brain and my emotions and our relationship went on a little journey during that rant. Because when you brought up the 60 second clock thing, I was like, brilliant. He's on to something. This makes perfect sense. I love it. But then when you went to the like,

if you lose a challenge, the other team shoots a free throw. My head's going through certain scenarios where it's a three point game and now it's a four point game. And then it's like you're kind of like the whole idea of the challenge at its core is there should be an opportunity for incorrect calls to be overturned. And I think we all sort of feel that way that there should be an opportunity for incorrect calls to be overturned. However, as it's currently constructed, it is inefficient. and ineffective, right? So you're saying,

let's put the clock up. I love that idea. But when you started saying that the other team should shoot a free throw, I just went through my head. That can go really wrong, really quickly. Like, it could turn a one possession game into a two possession game with seconds left on the clock,

essentially ending the game at a challenge. Instead of ending the game on the court, right? No challenge. That's what I'm trying to do. And then, okay, that one is ridiculous on its, on its face. And then the Wurly Bird is you can't fault a player. Yes, you can. For thinking that they did something right.

We've all watched games where the guy does the Wurley Bird and then they show the replay. And you're like, what are you even thinking? And also it's like there's five minutes left in the first quarter. You know what I'm saying? And you're up by 10. If you obviously, if you obviously fouled the guy, that's what I'm saying. If you obviously filed the guy and did the Worley Bird and cost us all there to sit there for 10 minutes, you have to be penalized for that. That cannot go unchecked.

I like the clock thing. I think the clock thing makes perfect sense. And not only that is you got 60 seconds. One thing I hate is, oh, it's obviously out on Derek Jones Jr., but now they're trying to figure out how much time was left. Like, that shouldn't take more than 10 seconds. It's like, oh, no, no. Well, they've made the call, but now they're trying to figure out how much time is left. The whole thing should be done within a minute.

I'm with you there. You cannot punish the players for doing the worldly bird. The league can't do that, right? Because they'll stop doing the worldly bird and start screaming at the coach. That's a completely, you cannot, you cannot punish that. It's insane. And the coaches themselves, what I do think they should have. Okay, fine.

You have to be at least a five-time All-Star to do the Worley Bird. Fair. Not five. There's no. No, all-star. You have to have made an all-star to do the Wurley-Bird. Yes, the only Worley-birders. Have at least one all-star appearance.

Yes. And when they do like the, the warm-up jackets and the all-star game, they should have like the amount of all-star games you've made, the amount of the awards you've won, and whether or not you're allowed to Wurley Bird. You know, it's like, and it'll be like, well, first-time Worley Burger, here we have. Look at that.

Victor Wemba Jama. Now he's allowed to Wurley Bird. That's fine. Now he's allowed to. Look at that. You heard that stripe. What they do in the NFL is they keep track. the media keeps track of the coach's challenge record.

And it's not spoken about as much in the NBA. And that is something that I think we could do a little bit more. I'm sure like the broadcast partners will get pushed back from the league or whatever, and that's fine. Now, another player in this whole scenario that you mentioned, which I always feel secondhand stress and anxiety from, is the guy with the iPad, right? Because, and the whole, they got 30,000 people looking at him.

and he's got to make the call and you think it's hard to be the player to do the Wurley Bird, that's easy. You think it's hard to be the coach to turn around and be like, what should we do, Bob? And it's Bob sitting there being like, I don't know, it looks pretty close.

You know what I mean? Like Bob is like, I don't know, it's like, this is a lot on me right now. What do you think? I got the iPad right in front of you. Bob is all stressed out. I always feel secondhand stress for Bob. But there's got to be no better feeling, though,

than watching the iPad and seeing it go off the other team and been like, challenge it. because you know your coach is going to be so happy with you. Yeah, yeah. And there's a self-satisfaction in your stomach after like the announcement goes in to overturn it. There must feel so good when you're Bob. But I don't want Bob's job because Bob has another assistant coach, right?

And they go out for beers after the game. And Gary says to Bob, but thank God I don't have that iPad. That's a lot. You know what I mean? I just have to work on the, you know, the out-of-bounds plays on off days. But you've got to be the iPad guy during the game. That's more stressful to be the iPad. the coach. And then the clown nose on the referee is towing the line between like certifiably

insane and also brilliant. Because what I immediately thought of is like an iconic moment. You know what I mean? Like a like a Michael Jordan push off jump shot. And in the background, there's a referee with putting it both hands in the air when the ball goes through the net. and he's wearing a clown nose because in the first quarter one of his calls got overturned and it's just burned into history forever. You know what I mean?

But I can also see crowds really getting into it like, wear the nose, where the nose? Where the nose? And it has to be a ceremony. Like the mascot comes out with a nose on a pillow like it's an engagement ring. And the guys is in total shame. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And it gets down on one knee and just presents it to him. Shame, shame, shame. Shades. The clown knows I kind of like. You might get some pushback from the referees on that one, but I do love the clown nose. But I think there is, I think they should be tracked.

But here's, here's what I'll help you out with. You should probably get some therapy. It's helped me a lot. It should probably help you. It's never going to happen. I love your clock idea. But one thing that I never want to get rid of is Bill Kennedy

making announcements into the microphone. Oh, my. here he is. After reviewing the play, the offensive player has the ball and is not out of bounds. Phoenix will retain possession on the sideline and has the advanced capability. The coach's challenge is successful. He makes the most of his moments. The best.

So obviously the Grizzlies Knicks game was the best one ever. When Brunson, yeah. And then he started laughing in the middle of it. He just broke character completely and started laughing. So obviously, you know, I know so many of the people involved at these Grizzlies games, and that was right at the scorers table. Oh, you know what was said? Yes.

So he's talking during he's doing whatever his bit is. And then in the middle, I had posted this. People could go back and find it on my Twitter feed if you didn't see Bill Kennedy. Which has been deactivated, by the way. it. Yeah, right. Well, you've gotten until Wednesday. And so he breaks character and just starts laughing in the middle of it.

So evidently, a guy stood up on the front row while he was staring into the camera and doing it and was talking. And a guy in the middle of it goes, spit it out, Bill! And Kennedy just. loses it and breaks character completely. He can't, he can't, he can't, he can't finish the review. I see. He can't finish the review. What happens is it, because if you're someone like me who doesn't have the, you know, doesn't know the guy in the front row of the game, it seemed like Jalen Brunson said something that made him laugh. No. I love it. Some guy, yes, some guy in the in the crowd said, spit it out, Bill. And he just, he just lost it. He uses those pregnant pauses. Like he'll pause to, just

to like get reaction. It's like someone once told me Dr. is such a good beatmaker because he uses like space, like negative space when he makes beats. That's how Bill Kennedy does announcements. Sentence by sentence, full,

full like second in between thoughts and he milks it. But I don't think the clown-nose thing is going to work, but I think it would really work well. Maybe we can do, get it integrated into Summer League or something. Maybe that. It's unbelievable. And I love Bill Kennedy, by the way.

Oh, he's the best. He's absolute best. I like him in refs on personality. Okay. We'll pick up the pace here. Help me out. Why is it? Despite plenty of statistical and eyeball evidence to the contrary,

that every day, more and more, I feel like the Lakers are going to the finals. Help me out. Why do I feel this way? Why do I feel this way? because it's all you ever see every time you turn on the TV is people talking about how awesome the Lakers are. Here, I'm helping you out.

Why do you feel this way? It's because there's one team and then there's 29 others. And I know Laker exceptionalism, the whole thing. But like, especially after post-Luca, you have an awareness of what they do now in a way that you do not have an awareness of 29 other teams. wouldn't even have to pay attention to sports really and you would know what happened with the laker game last night and so i think it is because you are inundated with lakers content constantly that you feel that way meanwhile they've been absolutely awesome and they've been great for a month and a half it's the defense it's also like what lebron is doing and i and i would just push back against that um you'll never believe it's but i don't consume a lot of ESPN that much anymore not not my favorite channel at the moment so so i'm not i'm not a not inundated with the Lakers information, but we all have league pass, right?

And long story short, I've got this TV that doesn't, I can't get league pass on, so I need a Roku. So when I go to the screen, it takes me like four clicks to get to league pass. And I see the list of games that are currently active. If the Lakers are active, I'm clicking on that one. I just am. I'm clicking that one. They could be ahead, they can behind.

I want to see Lucas LeBron. That's the best show right now. That's the best show in basketball. Here's the other thing. I also don't need to help you out on this. By the way, Finney Smith has been unbelievable. I'm telling you. They added Finney Smith.

They added Banderbilt. They've added a LeBron James who's completely different since the Lucas trade. Not since Lucas has been playing. Since Luca was on the bench and street close, LeBron James is just a whole new person. And gave Vincent. Also, can't deny. They got rid of DeAngelo Russell too. Like, which was addition by subtraction.

And so they've made some really wise moves. And like when you say, why do I keep feeling this way? A, you have an awareness. of it. B, they've been awesome. And C, and most importantly, it's because most recently, the biggest game that they played was a Denver game where we saw them wear Denver out.

After they had not been able to beat Denver forever, that had been their Achilles heel was the Denver Nuggets. So you saw them beat them. And the team that is at the very top of the conference still has to prove it can win multiple playoff series. Well, as much as you know. You're dumbass. your dumb-ass voice echoes in my head about veteran teams winning the playoffs.

They do blah, blah, blah. Now, I'm looking at Luca LeBron. I'm like, I've seen each of you, each of you carry your team to not playoff wins, playoff series wins. And now there's two of you with decent role players. So if you had a belief in them, if you had a belief in them, it would not be crazy. I mean, hell, they're already up to second in the conference. And if you have any cause for pause with the number one team,

which you may, but you also think this team has been playing great. And we saw them play against Denver recently. And so, of course, that's going to be the last thing in our mind. And that's one of the other teams that you would have to get past in order to achieve, you know, the highest level. And honestly, look, at the beginning of the season, I had Dallas as my finals pick out of the West because I thought it was the natural next step, right? They added Clay and then they, you know, the Lively's getting another year under his belt. and but that was because they have Luca. If you've got Luca, you have a chance every year.

I'm not trying to rub this in today, Dallas. I know I got it. It's terrible and I feel terrible. I feel bad saying that because I know some Dallas guy is just like, you know, as I say it, but it is what it is. All right. Next one.

Help me out. Why are you more grateful that the Knicks are good after being crap for so long? I just don't get this at all. You got one playoff series win in the last decade plus, which is last year that was one the first one since 2013. Okay? And the last Eastern Conference finals appearance was 24 years ago. 24 years ago.

So why can you not just be thrilled with the fact that the Knicks are one of the best teams in the NBA? I will recognize on a macro level, right, a big picture, everything is better nationally and in the city when the Knicks are good, right? Just the league is better when the Knicks are good. Massacre Garden lit up and the city, there's a vibrancy to the city now that the Knicks are good. And there's more Knicks hats. There's more Nick discussions. I was sitting at a bar on Friday over the weekend, and there's a Knicks conversation happening to my left,

a Knicks conversation happening to my right. It's exciting. It's good. There were some dark days. The Jeff Hornacek era was tough. The Derek Fisher era was tough. After Memphis, we got Fizzdale. That was tough.

That's known as the Alonzo-Trier era. They're tough. And those were three tough errors. And since Tibbs has been there, they have been a team that's fun to watch, a team with an identity, and a team that plays hard. So that's the part where I'm recognizing you have a point.

The reason I'm upset is I've always said this. This is a Jacoby thing that you'll hear me say over and over and over again. Happiness is a function of realistic expectations. And what's happened in this. season after last season they exceeded expectations. I think they would have, they would have beat the Pacers if they had anybody in that series at the end. And it was so fun and they had this toughness,

this identity, they played defense, they felt like lunch pale guys, right? And then we're going to improve upon that. We're going to bring in Kat. We're going to bring in Bridges. I don't know if Kat's a Nick. He doesn't feel like it.

Bridges have five first round picks. Great. They're not great picks. So like, you know, you can say five first round picks. but it felt like this was the championship run. This team is built to compete against the Celtics. This team is built to win the Eastern Conference finals. And so far this season, it's been wonderful to watch Cat be integrated.

And Bridges has had flashes, like when he defended Jha on Friday night. Sorry to bring it up again. But I just don't see this team beating the Cavs or the Celtics in a seven game series. And it's been chronicle that they have not just lost to the Cavs, the Thunder, and the Celtics, they've been blown out by those teams. And teams above 500, which isn't that high of a line, right? Teams have a winning record that are 12 and 14 against. Teams that have a losing record, they're 28 and 6.

Now, that's not that drastically off the sort of norm in the league, but it just makes me feel like this team that got blown out by the Cavs and Celtics, and then we're up big on the Sixers recently. them back in the game and got a win. It took a last second Memphis miracle on Friday and then go overtime against the heat. Sorry if I'm not like head over heels about this team. They lost to the good teams and they barely squeaked past the mediocre and bad teams over the last five games. I just don't feel great about this team. I don't feel great about their defense and without sort of like Jalen Brunson standing on his head in the fourth quarter.

or an overtime of games, they would have a much worse record. And that is why I'm just like not, I can't get jazzed up about a championship run. I can't. I don't see it. I don't see them getting past the second round. Isn't it awesome to just have an awesome team

that's going to be playing playoff basketball? That was last year. That was last year. Okay. That was last year. It was awesome last year. And when you bring in bridges and cat, the expectations go higher.

What it takes to satisfy me. And you like last year's team. Yes. And it was because they felt like they just like, it just felt like they were a team that came together with an identity and a philosophy and embodied the city. Lunch pale. Yes. And they overachieved. It's always fun to watch your team overachieve than to wonder what's wrong. And if they face the Pacers, the Bucks or the Pistons in the first round, which they likely will, I would expect them to win that series. but I also expect it not to be easy against all three of those teams.

That's why I'm not so happy about the Knicks right now. Sorry, Nick's fans. What you got? Okay. I really need your help on this. We spoke at length, not just today, but basically all season long,

about the disaster that is the Phoenix Suns. So this is more of a psychological breakdown I need from you. Why is it that I put zero, Zero blame on their best player, Kevin Durant, for the disaster that is the Sons. Why is it that I give him an emotional pass for this entire debacle? I put none of it on him. Why is that?

Because you've had 15 years of understanding what he is, that he is a great individual player, maybe the greatest forward score we have ever seen. In fact, the greatest scoring forward in the history of. the NBA, but he has never been confused with a leader on any team he has been on. He has never been confused as the leader of the team or the heart and soul of the team. And so the reason that you look at it now is because you've got over 15 years of evidence to suggest that that's not who that is. That's not who that guy is.

So you're expecting a completely different version of a human that we have witnessed for 15 years. Guys, sometimes people, there are people that are born leaders, and that's not what he is. 20 second time out. Fine. That's the off-the-court stuff. That's the sort of like the non-counting stats, non-box store stuff, whatever. But just as a basketball player, shouldn't he be able to carry them to more wins single-handedly? Shouldn't he just have some takeover games that win them five or six games this far in the season?

Not at this age. He's Kevin Durant. I got to. is doing it. I got it. I got you. He also played for the friggin sonics, Jacoby. Well, Step in LeBrona just as old.

I got it. Have they had Achilles injuries as well? I mean, look, we know what he is. And at this point, he is not the guy that you can build out a championship roster around. He's not the guy anymore. He is a great individual scorer. Right? I mean, the reason you don't is because you have an understanding of what he is.

I feel like that's why. That's why you're not sitting around going, why aren't they, you know what I'm saying? Why isn't he carrying them to something? Because you've never expected him to be the guy that carried anybody to anything. I guess. But every time I think about the sons, I blame Coach Bud. I blame Bradley Beale. I blame Nerchage.

I blame Matt Ishbia. I don't blame Kevin Durant for some reason. yet he's their best player and he's playing fine and he's doing his thing. Virtually no great player ever gets blamed. We make excuses for all of them, despite what LeBron James has to say. Nothing has ever been LeBron James' fault and everything has been LeBron James credit. End of story. No one has ever said they lose because of LeBron or they lost because of LeBron.

They say they lost because of this coach or that coach or this player or that player. Right. everybody else is always to blame. The great player is never to blame. Yeah. I've said famously on your local show that, like, Anthony Edwards didn't have a great series into that season last year. Right.

Into that series. But like, how much did you hear about it? How much did you hear about it? Never. Never, never hear about it. No. No. So that's just the culture of the NBA.

Very rarely is the best player, the one that gets it. You know, in the end, they say they can't win the big one. Or they, you know, we talk about their accomplishments in the end. But very rarely do we look at a team and say the problem is them. We say the problem is all the stuff around them. And many times we are justified in that. To wit, there are those that said like, uh, Curry may, you know, he's not the same curry as always.

Well, you added Jimmy Butler and guess what? Kind of looks like old Steph Curry to me, huh? So what was it? Was it Steph Curry or was it what was around him? Let me push back. James Harden gets the singular blame for all the failure failures in Houston. Well, that's because he threw up all over himself when it mattered much.

Okay. But, you know, that's a superstar getting the blame. I would say even Luca Dodgers to a certain degree gets all the blame for the shortcomings in the playoffs for the Mavericks. So it's not just superstars. I think it's more like unique to Durant. I think it's more unique to Durant, honestly. That might be fair.

Help me out. I just had this exact thing happen to me Saturday night at the Grizzly game. So as you know, I got into when I was in, well, you may not know. But when I was in college, I went an intern for a AA baseball team one summer because I wanted to get a job in sports. I hated it. And then the next summer, I got an internship at a sports. at a sports radio station in St. Louis. And I worked there over the summer.

And I loved it. I loved it. I thought this, this is a dream. This is what I want to do. I want to do this. And that's when I decided that was one of the summers when I was in college. And then I went back to college and I decided that's the kind of thing I want to do. I got to figure out a way to get there.

And obviously I had internships or whatever way back when. Then I worked at the radio station as a producer and worked my way up. And that was kind of my, that was my intro into getting the job that I had dreamed of, the job that I wanted. So a mom of a kid came up to me at the game on Saturday night, and she said, my son is in college right now, and he really wants a job in sports. What should he do? And I'm always at a bit, you know, and I get this question.

weekly, honestly, weekly. Yeah, yeah. And it's flattering because it means, you know, there's people that want to, they see what you're doing and they want to be able to do it and I've always been intensely grateful of the position that I've been given. But in terms of

a roadmap to do it, I feel like things and technology have changed so dramatically since I did it that I find it difficult because I can't just say do what I did, right? Here's, I tell them, here's what I did. But I don't, I don't know if I should say,

like, hey, try to go get an internship at a sports radio station. Sports radio stations are dying all over, right? Like the world is now on the internet, then I'm doing podcast now and whatever else. And so help me out. What should I have told that mom when she said, my son is in college. He wants to get in, he wants a job in sports. He wants to be a podcast or a sports. commentator, whatever else. What should he do? Okay. See, I get this a lot, too, and I give very similar answers. But there's sort of two categories. People want a job in sports. But when they're talking to you and I, when I was a producer at ESPN stacking the A block for Sports Nation, I didn't

have a lot of people coming up to me saying, what should I do to get a job in sports? Because I would say, oh, you know, be an intern, go to the PA program, whatever. I think a lot of the time people want a on-camera opinionating speaking into microphones role, right? And the first thing I say regardless with two young people is be humble. If you can, work for free and be an intern. Work for free if you can. I understand that not everyone has that option because that is when you can get your foot in the door in a low-stakes environment.

is they will let you work for free and work hard and you have to humble yourself. You will be getting coffees. You will be getting dry, bringing dry cleaning and getting dry cleaning. You will be sweeping floors. You will be taking out trash. You'll be doing all of the dirty work and just observe and work hard. And one of the things that I loved from a gentleman who didn't work that hard for the Pistons, but while the Phoenix Suns were in the finals, they played a clip from

the locker room before game six. And he said to the Monty Williams is who I'm talking about. He said to the Phoenix Sons, this quote, stick with me forever. And this is something that I tell a lot of people in my life and something I say to young people when they ask me this question. Everything you want is on the other side of hard work. And that's what he said to the Sons.

And that is applicable to all walks of life. And that's something that I say sort of be humble, work for free, observe, build relationships, and everything you want is on the other side of hard work, right? That's mainly what I say. However, people clearly want to be sort of what we call like talent or speaking to microphones or be on camera, whatever that case may be in that regard. What I tell them is, is have a routine and make content daily. And even if it's for no one, just do it daily for yourself. and it'll feel like it's worthless, but it'll help you because you will be bad.

You'll be bad. You know what I mean? It's like, imagine taking like a seven-footer that's never touched a basketball. They're not going to be good on day one. So you're going to be bad, but be bad behind closed doors. And make sure you stick to a routine. So you're consistent about it. You can't just do it once and pretend you're going to be good.

Reps will make you better. Reps will make you better. And then when you feel like you're getting okay at it, you've done it for a few months, then you start a YouTube channel. You're going to get four views, five views, but now the barrier of entry to be quote unquote on camera isn't like it was when we were 22 or 23 years old. There's only, there's only like 70 jobs in the whole country. Now you can have a job tomorrow making content about sports on YouTube by yourself. So my thing is be humble, work hard, everything he wants on the other side of work, observe, do the dirty work.

and also if you want to make content make content there's no barriers of entry anymore you can make content on your phone learn how to edit do that you want to be a content creator create content it's that simple you can do that now there's the technology is such now that you can actually do it tomorrow so don't ask me about it go do a show for yourself tomorrow in your basement there's your last one i'm just going to keep that recorded and play that for the next mom that that's a little long thank you yeah edit it down a little bit Okay. This will be short. Help me out. Okay. Why do I not give a crap about the Oscars whatsoever at all? At all.

Because you didn't see any of the movies. I've never heard of these movies. My wife is like, Anora, it's about a prostitute. I'm like, okay, now I'm in.

You should have told me that before. You should have told me that before. I thought it was a stripper. She's actually a prostit. I don't know. That's what my wife said. I haven't seen the movie. I haven't seen a trailer.

I haven't known what's about. The Brutalist. No idea. what that's about. No idea what that's about. I don't know what any of these movies are. I haven't seen. I'm sorry. I want to apologize to Sean Fennacy. I love you very much. Well, that's why you asked me to help you out. Like, that's why you don't care. But in the past, I don't have to care. I used to care about these things. I felt like, I felt like there were bigger movies being celebrated, movies that I had seen.

If you were to say to me, what should win best picture, I'd be like, wicked. I think, everybody loves it. Everybody loves it. It's too long, but everybody loves the movie. Go watch that movie and tell me it's bad. It's not. It's good. Why is that, why is that not best picture? I'm watching sports all the time and so I very rarely, like honestly, I think you and I had this discussion when you went to go see Nosferatu or whatever. I can't remember the last adult movie that I went to the theater. I think the last time I was at the theater, I saw Inside Out too, which I loved, by the way. I see every kid's movie comes out. I see every single kid's movie that comes out.

Yeah, yeah. So I only see kids' movies as well when I go to the theaters. But I loved Inside Out, too. Why didn't that win? It honestly, I was, I loved Inside Out one. When Big Bang died, I died a little bit myself. When I asked people about Anora and whatever, everybody loves it, right? I was like, um.

And then they explained it to you, right? And you're like, wait, like, so I see you said it's prostit. I was like a guy falls in love with a stripper. Like, that's like the tale is old as time. Yeah, there's a song about that. What guy has it? Every, every, yeah, every single guy, every single guy that's ever been to a strip club thinks that the stripper likes that. That's the whole point.

Yeah, it's the whole experience. There's the complete experience. I just, I just, I just don't care about the Oscars. I used to care. It used to be a thing. I would sit down and watch the Oscars. And now, because you also used to see all the movies. But that's just, that's our age.

thing that's having kids once you have kids again i've i saw i saw the kids movies this year you want to have a kids movies discussion i can have a kids movies discussion i've seen but adult movies i don't huh i've seen every kid's movie wild robot yeah killer killer film wild robot yeah i see all the kids movies but i don't see uh any very rarely do i see the adult movies i'll go out of my way to watch some of them though there you know what there is no a one Ward Show that I used to care about, that I care less about now. There's no bigger gap than the BMAs. When we were kids, like when we were like 17, the BMAs meant something.

Everything. The moon man meant something. It meant something. Everything. Everything. The BMAs were like a night where it was like I was excited three days, but it was like the Super Bowl. It was like the pop culture Super Bowl.

And now the BMAs, like I was watching a trailer for the VMAs. they ran through the list of performers. And I was like, are those, is this like chat GBT just spitting out now? It's never even heard of any of these people. Any of them. I don't think we're just old. I appreciate your help, buddy. Before we get out of here, here is the aforementioned Bill Kennedy at the Grizzlies Knicks game.

I gave you the behind the scenes. What you cannot hear is the fan that evidently was in the front row yelling spit it out Bill. but you will know when that moment takes place when you hear Bill Kennedy trying to read off the challenge at the Grizzlies Knicks on Friday night. The out of bounds call has been overturned. There is an approximate foul charged to heart, resulting in Memphis retaining the ball.

Jalen Brunson, get out of the way. And going the full lanes of the court. The coach's challenge. is successful. See, Jalen Bres gets too much credit for that. Shout to the guy in the front row. And I also do remember that that was kind of some BS, if I remember correctly.

I didn't like that call. Thank you to our executive producer Jesse Lopez, as always, and Jacoby. I'll talk to you later this week. Must be 21 and over in present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 over and present in D.C. Got a gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler

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