The Right Time with Bomani Jones - Vinnie Goodwill on the NBA All-Star Game, the New Face of the League, and the Luka Trade | 2.19

Episode Date: February 19, 2025

On today’s episode, Vinnie Goodwill of Yahoo Sports joins Bomani Jones to react to NBA All-Star Weekend. They start off the show by discussing the various issues with All-Star Weekend including a bad atmosphere (2:55), fans not seeing the stars perform in the events (5:05), and the constantly changing format. (10:30) Next, they move onto Anthony Edwards not wanting to be the next face of the NBA and if someone like Luka Doncic could be the alternative despite not being American. (11:55) After a conversation centered around who fans actually pay to see play and stars not coming from the traditional college route anymore, (35:41) they round out the show bringing up Luka again and explain why Dallas fans are still extremely angry following the trade. (46:19) . . . Subscribe to The Right Time with Bomani Jones on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts and follow the show on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok for all the best moments from the show. Subscribe to Supercast for Ad-Free Episodes: https://righttime.supercast.com/ Download Full Podcast Here: Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/6N7fDvgNz2EPDIOm49aj7M?si=FCb5EzTyTYuIy9-fWs4rQA&nd=1&utm_source=hoobe&utm_medium=social Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-right-time-with-bomani-jones/id982639043?utm_source=hoobe&utm_medium=social Follow The Right Time with Bomani Jones on Social Media:  http://lnk.to/therighttime Support the Show:  PrizePicks: Daily Fantasy Made Easy! Visit PrizePicks.com/BOMANI and use code BOMANI for a first deposit match up to $100! Visit BetterHelp.com/BOMANI today to get 10% off your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the right time, a wave sports and entertainment original presented by prize picks. My name is Beaumani Jones. Thanks for listening wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for watching us on YouTube. Subscribe, like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. He only gives us four stars. I've inclined to believe you are a hater. Also, check us out on Supercast. Get that ad-free version of the right time. Five dollars a month. Check us out on Supercast. But right now it's that time a week where we have a guest. Join us. coming to us live from Yahoo Sports with a bunch of shoes on the wall. Vinnie Goodwill was going on. What's going on, man?

How was the trip? Hey, man, you know. Somebody told me that the outs was like breathing in spring water. So I breathed into spring water. It was a, it was a good situation. You know what I'm saying? But enough about that, the people would be nosy. You took a trip to San Francisco.

Now, I got, I've developed this new thing where I go out of the country on President's Day weekend for a couple of reasons. Number one, I can work a vacation. without having to use no PTO, right? And number two, I try to avoid, like, times I don't feel like being on the air, right? Or for whatever reason I don't feel like doing the show. And coming off the All-Star game, there's rarely any fun reason to talk about the All-Star game coming off. And all anybody do is complain.

I was in a far-off land. I didn't even, like, see the game or whatever it was, but I kept up enough to know people were not pleased. people were not pleased at all with how the whole situation went. I would be honest with you, I ain't even figure out exactly what this 14 thing was that they was talk about. They brought in a busload of kids to play against grown-ups. Is that what happened? No, it was the winner of the Rising Stars game from Friday night.

Like, that's who was playing. Yeah. So it turned out to be, yeah. So it turns out to be like two 40-point games and then like the finale, which is another 40-point game or whatever it was. Like, honestly, I could have done without it. And All-Star Weekend is like one of those tent pole. You know, like, Bo, you get used to not getting any sleep for three or four days,

going out and kicking it every night. Maybe that's me turning 40, right? Maybe my sensibilities are changing just a little bit. But if y'all don't care, why should I? Like, that's how I feel about it. If y'all think this is a chore, why am I showing up for all this? Especially in San Francisco, like you said it. Bo, they should have had that in Oakland.

Like, that was screaming to be had at Oracle or whatever they're calling it. You know what I mean? I know for money reasons and the suites and everything else, but the energy at the practice site on Saturday was totally different than the energy in the building. Like, we can talk about the players a lot, and we will talk about the players, I'm sure. But the energy in the building, it felt dead. Like, and if you're expecting the fans to get up for the players,

they didn't help them any. I think the NBA has a blessing and curse for All-Star weekend, which is it's the only game in town. Yes, I understand that Canada was out here trying to whoop our ass in hockey, like a literal, literamentae. You know what I'm saying? Like, they're really salty about them tariffs up there. And I understand. Like, I can see why you would wind up being so myth. But I don't think anybody in here, I don't think we're about to run up on no Canadians, right?

We're not trying to knock the tunis and the loonies out of them behind these tariffs. They booing national anthem. Can you imagine if a bunch of black people booed to national anthem what the response from America would be? Like, look, I understand that maybe it's a little different because they're from Canada and so you can't tell them to go back to Canada

because they're already in Canada. Like, I do understand that, but can you imagine a scenario when 10,000 black people start... And by the way, if we were to boo the national anthem, it'd be about a hell of a lot more to some goddamn tariffs. I'll tell you that right now, right?

They started a revolutioning. He over here with some tax, right? We can't even sit down over nothing else. You know what would happen? You know what would happen? It'd be 23 and me. That's what it would be. We're going to find out your origin and we're going to ship your ass back to where you came from.

I ain't never been a guy on it before. But guess what? That's where you're going. Deportation, my dude. I did not really stop and think about this till right now. I try not to get into the one if it was black people game because I can play that all the time. I wouldn't get any work done. However, Canada was salty. Canada, they was, they was, was it three fights in nine seconds.

An international game, right? I ain't even think they fought in that kind of stuff. It's going to get attention for good or bad. That's just what it's going to be. It feels like the world in a way has kind of outgrown all of it, right? Like the slam dunk contest. What has happened here, I think, is to me, you tell me, you tell me, if I'm wrong here. I don't think the slam dunk contests are however popular it is or is not, is a function of the level of star that participates in the slam dunk contest because stars have never really participated that much in the slam dunk contest. There will be some, right? So you have like Clyde Drexler would be in it for some years. Sean Kemp would do this. You got the Jordan

couple years. You got the Dominique Wilkins. But you go look at who the guys are who have won the slam dunk contest year after year. It's not a run through of the who's who of the NBA. And even in most of those cases, when it is a star player, it is a young star player. It is a rookie Kobe Bryant. It is a year two Vince Carter. Even Jordan, right? It was a rookie Jordan, a year three Jordan, and a year four Jordan. And I bet you year four Jordan does it happen if the game is not in Chicago, for example, right? You got to do something so superhuman to make somebody care about your slam dunk that you do that you're probably not going to be guaranteed to make it on the first time. Like, I think that I just, I don't know how possible it is in this

day and age to put together a truly entertaining slam dunk contest. Although if only Matt McCloon can hoop a little better boy, he'd be a whole different kind of legend if he could actually stay in the NBA. Yeah, yeah, the problem is he my height. You know what I mean? Like when I was standing next, I'm like, oh, I'm taller than you. Like, this is not how this is supposed to work at all. But I think you bring up an interesting point.

And my thought about that was, I wonder if we're just overstimulated. You know what I mean? Like as a basketball culture, we're not impressed by a damn thing anymore. You know what I mean? Like, I tend to believe that stars doing it is the more impressive thing rather than the dunk itself. Like seeing John Moran out there, seeing Zion Williamson out there. Yes. Or whomever it is.

Like, that's the thing that people want to see. Not can you jump over a car random dude. You know what I mean? Don't get me wrong. Yes. Mack McClung brought it and he brought it in the way that he had to. It's really hard to bring it for three straight dunk contests, especially at that height. But as far as the public's appetite for it, I think they want to see the who more than

and they want to see the what. And you brought the Kobe Bryant thing. The Kobe Bryant slam dunk contest was so bad, they ended the dunk contest after 1997. They did. Now, I do think this is interesting when you start talking about the who, because yes, we would have liked to have seen LeBron

in a slam dunk contest at some point. But that was 20 years ago when that would have been, like the window in which historically LeBron James does, it would have been 20 years ago. On one level, it's kind of crazy that Zion's never done the dunk contest on the other level. who wants to see him blow out his knee in front of everybody

with nobody else out there on the floor, right? John Morant, it's kind of crazy that he hasn't done a slam dunk contest. Anthony Edwards. It's crazy that they haven't done one. Now, again, all of them are now past the point where that is something that they should do. But it is wild that not one of them wants to do it. And look, you look at how far down

that they can get scraping the ball for players. It ain't just them that don't want to do it. Like, to me, you would think a mid-tier star would be like, this is my opportunity to introduce myself to everybody. Let me get out here and do this. Because look, even if I win a slam contest among some bums, if I win it, some more people going to know my name, it is fascinating to me that that's still,

that in itself doesn't really draw anybody out here to do this. They don't feel incentivized. Like, you don't look at it and say, man, if I win this dunk contest, I can get a Sprite endorsement or I can get something that as a mid-tier NBA player, I'm not going to get otherwise. Like, they don't look at it as a growth opportunity. Like, the thing that gets me that I find really fascinating about the whole

entire All-Star experience, these dudes tell us up and down, I'm a businessman, I'm a businessman. I know what, you know, I'm promoting this new thing, right? So they have a sense of business, but they don't have a sense of showmanship. They don't have a sense of the opportunity. Like, the fact that we don't have a, lack of a better phrase, both, we don't have a bad guy in the NBA, like a likable bad guy with personality that can jump in front of the camera or just an unlikable bad guy. I'll take one of those. Bill, well, we do have one. We do have one. We do have one. His name is Dylan Brooks. Outside of that, no, we do not have that guy.

I was thinking him, but he's not that. Okay, I was going to say he's not that good. But he's not good enough. He's not good enough to be part of that. Now, I will say, I would love to see those practices between Eme Udoka and Dylan Brooks. I would find that to be hilarious. But for whatever reason, the personality has been stripped out of these players for years. Like, Bo, think about this. Remember the three point contest? Remember the All-Star weekend in Orlando where LeBron wouldn't shoot the ball

last second against Kobe Bryant and he passed it to Carmelo and everybody got on LeBron. And then that became this referendum on LeBron's like clutchness and everything. anything else. That wasn't that long ago. We're not talking about All-Star weekend in 1993 or 1998 or whatever it was. That was 12 years ago and a lot of these guys are still around. Somehow they have lost the ability to care. And I think they're just too cool. They're too cool to go into a dunk contest. They're too cool to actually play in an All-Star game. And I think it's because they're afraid of Instagram and they're afraid of Twitter. And see, I wonder about that. I do like, I wonder how much of it is not wanting to be embarrassed.

Now, I think it wasn't that long ago we had a good All-Star game, right? Like, it was like the first year that they put was, what's the ending called? The one where they, like you got up to that point number. Yeah, right. The first year they did that, we got a really good finish. That's really all you're talking about what All-Star game truly is. You hope that you get a really good finish, okay? Right.

What I am curious about, though, is how furious people, law about the fact that it's not great. Nobody's All-Star game is really great. They had a problem in the NFL recently with the Pro Bowl, but the thing with the Pro Bowl was, we talk about them cats in the NBA not trying. That was an organized conspiracy of not try that none of us blamed them for

because it's playing a football game. But they had the option to dial it down to flag football and make it something different, and there's no way for you to dial basketball down to something that's not, you know, that's the equivalent of flag football. It doesn't have that. But people take it personally when they think the All-Star game is not good.

Part of that I think is because people have a general tendency to like to whine about the NBA. And, I mean, look, I have a bit of this in me, I admit, right? We got good all dayitis in a different way with the NBA, with the other stuff. Yeah. But I do wonder if something has changed, though. Like it shocked me to hear Anthony Edwards say the thing about not wanting to be the face of the NBA. on one level if the argument was here's what I'm saying

here's what I'm saying it I found it interesting look his argument was the I'm a dog argument right that I just want to go out here and do my thing he said he said I want to go out there destroy people on the court and then go on about my business that is that's what he said he wanted to do the fact that he was so nonchalot about it

I thought was a bit shocking because by now so many of us have said this about him that I thought he would have got on board with it by now and realize it ain't really about your choice, little homie. This is the direction that it's going in. And he was like, hell, no, no, I ain't doing that. I think Anthony Edwards has an amazing amount of reflection. And, like, he knows what he looks at when he sees that mirror.

He knows what's out there about him in that way. Like, he's pushing it saying, you know, Victor's the face of league. He can change this. He, I've never seen someone so self-aware. That's the word. Like we think of young players as not really being quite self-aware. Ant Man knows what's out there about him. And he knows I'm 23 years old.

I'm going to make some dumb decisions. And I don't want that to be, I don't want the weight of all of that stuff. And I said to him, he's walking off and he's walking up from doing his mixed zone interview. And we're just chatting. Like we're legit just walking and chatting. And he basically tells me I don't want it. And I said, they need you. And he says, I know.

So he is really aware of what's going. on on, we just don't have a guy. Like, Bo, can you recall a period where we didn't have a guy? And I would say maybe post-Jordan, like the 99 through, you know, like the 0405, there was never a guy. Like we retroactively say, yeah, Kobe was there, but that's in terms of basketball excellence. It really wasn't like Kobe was there as the ambassador.

Nobody was that for a few years, we were in the wilderness for a minute. Yeah, I think it's a... So I want to stick on this thing with Anthony Edwards, because I... I think that what you say about self-awareness is interesting, right? But it also sounds... It sounds a bit self-serving more than it sounds to me as being self-aware, right?

Now look, man, you're out here doing these Sprite commercials. You can't tell me you ain't trying to do some of it, right? Like, the things that come with being in the face of the league, he's clearly out here trying to do, right? Like, he's... It's not like he's a person. He's not Tim Duncan, right? He's not completely unconcerned with all of these things.

No, no, no. He seems like what a bunch of these guys are or appear to be at this point is dudes who want the trappings, but don't want any of the responsibility that comes with those trappings. But the truth is, you're that guy, right? Like, I don't know how to, I don't know how to break this to him. Look at who you are. Look at your get down. Look at the way that people respond to you.

You are in this lane, right? are going to be an ambassador for this game, whether you want to be or not, you can't help it, right? Like, he is already, I would make an argument, he is already an ambassador and to a degree of face of this game at this point, regardless of whether he wants it or not, no, you're here, right? You might as well deal with what comes with it. I think the thing that we're messing up in this discussion, though, every time somebody talks about whether or not he's the face of the league, it is largely based upon the fact

that he is from America and we're going to have to get some of this xenophobia. out of our hearts. Like this is a, look, we've been stuck in Luca Donch's land for two weeks, right? You're going to tell me, like, I don't know if he's the face of the league, but it shows as hell sound like he's the face of the league the way everybody talks about it. These cats that come into the NBA from these other countries, they do the big thing, man. They speak good English. And once that happens, like, I don't think just because you're not, just because he not from here ain't make nobody not love Luca. To me, Anthony Edwards is correct. The face is going to be Victor, because what you need to be to be the face of the league is amazing.

That's the defining characteristic of whoever the face of the league has been. At one point, it was Dr. Jay, right? Because Dr. J. was amazing. It became like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, because they were amazing. Jordan, because he was amazing. You got to LeBron, because he was amazing. Victor is amazing. Victor get out here and start winning something,

and they start having maybe some rivalry starts. Look, the small market of Lever, It looks like it should be the rivalry of the future in the West, right? San Antonio and Oklahoma City. Two cities that need to be damn lucky they got teams and they're going to have teams. And they're going to have, we're going to have the skinny bowl back and forth with Big Slim Chet. And my man, Leslim from over there in Paris, they're going to be going at it. That's going to be the games.

But no, Victor going to be the face because we want to be amazed. And he does that. And Anthony Edwards also amazes us. I don't know why he would stop and be like, no, not me. Sorry, pimp, it's you for right now. I think part of being a face is wanting to be the face. I think that's the most important thing. Even more than being amazing is the want to.

Because the difference between LeBron, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant is KD doesn't want it. And then the view that people have- Right fast. Who is Anthony Edwards' favorite player? KD. There you go. That's what I'm saying. People view KD on a different level.

then they view him, then they view LeBron and Steph. And that could be for a number of reasons, but Kay has never leaned into being an ambassador for the game. I hoop, I chill, I do whatever. Steph and LeBron, they talk about league issues, maybe LeBron more than Steph to some degree. They've been an ambassador in a way that Kevin wasn't and isn't. So people, you know what I mean?

So I do think there's a level of want to that goes into this discussion, not just, are you amazing? because you could make the argument that Kevin Durant was the best player in basketball for a long stretch of time. Right. The argument that people don't make is because they don't see him as carrying the league. Now, I think you're correct about that. I brought up the amazing part, not so much to say that that is enough. But the idea that these cats from other countries can't be it.

I don't see that. Right. I don't see that. Like to me, that's not going to be the holdup in the future. I don't think that that will. you. I don't think I don't, again, I'm watching what's happening with this thing in Dallas. You're not, like, I don't, I don't, I think it's right. I think as long as you got a cat that comes out here and can communicate clearly with the fans, I think that I just don't think that's going to be the holdup

that it had been previously. Like, I just don't. Here's, I think here's the other part, though. And this is the question I asked you. If you make the argument that it has to be something. somebody American. And most of us think that at the very least, the three best players in the NBA are from other countries. Does it matter who the damn face of the league is if it's not one of the five best players in the NBA? We won't know that answer until LeBron James retires. Like, let's be perfectly honest. Yeah. No, but I'm saying. Right, right. But how can, but how can you be the face of the NBA if you've never been that guy? If the top three players remain, and it looks like until the foreseeable future,

Yokic, Janus, and I think we put Luka Donchitz up there in that space. Embed was there before we just had to lose faith in what his body could do. But let's say it's those three guys, right? And then we get Victor, who in the not too distant future will be up in that same space. What is this John Moran at the face of the league if John Moran's not one of the five best players in the NBA? If we don't think that John Morant is legitimately a guy that's going to be driving you to a championship.

And I'm saying this in this case, not as any indictment of him, but that's how we think of like the five best players in the NBA. Oh, Shea Gilgis Alexander, who is, guess what? Not from the United States, right? So we have to put him in this same space. Does it even matter who we say the best the face of the NBA is at the face of the NBA is second team all NBA? Yeah, that's fascinating. And the reason my only counter is, I guess the reason that baseball, I feel like, lost a lot of real estate. in the American lexicon

is because they did not have an American face as a face of the game. Like they did not have, like, and that's, you know, we're going to lean into, you know, Americana and everything else. Ain't none more Americana, I suppose football is now. But you know what I'm saying? Like, that's the fear, and my fear in general about basketball is, the NBA's got to do a lot more to stay.

Like, they have to constantly get in front of the American people to say, hey, we belong here, we're part of this. You know what I mean? Like that, that, that, that, element of it. I don't think they have to, but I think they think they have to. So if that being said, somebody has to step forward. Luca Donchich, I don't know if people have actually heard Luca Donchage say a lot other than, you know, some of the vulgar things that he says on the floor, but I think they project a lot onto him. Like, I'm not sure how much Luca connected with Dallas

other than Dallas saying he's our guy for whatever reason that he's our guy. Right. But that was, clearly that was enough. I guess that's what I'm saying, right? Like I think with baseball, baseball's amazing. He was amazing, right? Amazing did the thing. The difference I think, though, with baseball versus what we're talking about now is baseball's players from other countries weren't speaking English like that, right? Let me tell you who did captivate America as a baseball player.

He may not have been, I mean, at least for one summer, he was definitely one of the two faces, and it was Sammy Sosa because Sammy Sosa was speaking English with people. Watch what happens. in L.A. I think it was Dan Wojke. Is he at the L.A. Times now? I forget which paper. Yeah. He writes for it in L. But he made a great point about Luca that I had not thought about. The Lakers for the first time have a Spanish-speaking superstar because Luca picked up Spanish

playing in Real Madrid. He'll be there and able to communicate with a significant part of their fan base because you don't think about this too much because of the way you think about L.A. and Hollywood. But Nuisters, My brothers, legosta los Lakers, all right? They down. They got to do that can speak Spanish. You know what I mean? Like, I think the ability to communicate matters more than, like, really looking at it as

what country are you from. And so let's say this. Let's say that Luca Donchich, and we're going to talk more about him. In fact, you know what? I'm a whole of that hypothetical because we're right here at halftime. We're going to talk about this coming up and more. We've been a goodwill right here on the right top. The NFL season is officially open, but the NBA is only heating up,

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Sean, how the picks been going? You know, I believe I'm an expert picker in losing because this month has not been the best. But, you know, for all my picks now, I can focus solely on hoops and with the flex play. I can still cash out if my lineup isn't perfect. I can make picks with LeBron James and Luca Donchich, the new teammates, or, you know, maybe not on Anthony Davis, but I can make enough picks to get by. But make sure you stick around for the end of each show to hear my upcoming picks. And if you know me, you know, I'm always picking more.

There we go. So make sure you go to prizepicks.com slash Beaumani and use code Beaumani for a first deposit matchup to $100. That's prizepicks.com slash Beaumani. Prize picks. Daily fantasy sports made easy. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. We often hear about the red flags we should avoid.

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bit much. Let's say it happened this year. Let's say this year that the Lakers won a championship. I understand that that would take a lot to happen. Just throw this out as a hypothetical. Let's say the Lakers won a championship this year. And let's say, not even that they win a championship next year, let's say they come out the gate start the season at like 35 and 10 or something like that. You telling me, Luca Degas won't be the face of the NBA under those circumstances? That's a great question. I think when you combine the Laker Market, the Laker Mystique, everything else. Like, they haven't had a non-black face of their franchise since Jerry West.

Right? Right. All the time. And by the way, never did Jerry West really have it by himself. You can make an argument that Jerry West is never the best player on the team. Yeah. Yeah. Elginbeck.

Like, like that, this goes into a very fascinating territory because, you know, like the Larry Bird line when he said and they got people all riled up or whatever 20 years ago. And he was like, yeah, if you get a couple of white guys out there, it gets people excited. You get this white guy and that market, you might have something there. Like, I just, I think that part is fascinating. I think it's more fascinating than if Luca Donchish would say in Boston. You know what I mean? Like, I think this is, like you said, the Spanish-speaking part of it, the, you know, its own level of diversity, shall we say, being in Los Angeles. Like, I do think the marriage of Luca with the Laker franchise for what we,

consider the foreseeable future. I do think, you know, he's got a long time to be there. When talking about the face of the league, this is to me the place where Michael Jordan broke the discussion. And I think it's something that can be a little more difficult for people to grasp now because we're kind of removed from, we are removed from a day and age where the blackness of the NBA is an explicit talking point at all times. Like, I do think the league still moves in large part as it did in the,

era of David Stern where race was always the subtext of every decision and everything that happened and every criticism. I think it still remains the subtext of a lot of the criticism, but it's not an out loud discussion like it used to be. And so when Jordan retired in 1993, that was the first time that the league had to start considering, well, what are we going to do after Michael Jordan? And that became a discussion that persisted even after Jordan returned in 1995, right? It kept being a thing like, who's the next guy going to be? And you started having to have a having discussions about guys like Penny Hardaway and Grand Hill. And then that became Kobe Bryant. A key part of that discussion at every turn was the understanding in that time that a big part

of Michael Jordan's ability to be that face was because white people liked him. Right. He was polished. You can say all that, da, da, da, da, da, whatever. The big thing was, for whatever reason, white people were not threatened by Michael Jordan in spite of a lot of things that on its face would make people think, oh, okay, this would be it. And look, Mike projected wholesome, but Mike didn't project Sucker, right? Like, he went out there doing no Carlton Banks impression trying to make these people rock with him, right? He was just that guy and he had it. But what that meant was after that, every time we talked about a next Michael Jordan,

Vince Carter being another guy on that list, we always had it be guys that bore that characteristic as much as anything else, the idea that they were middle of the road in some ways in terms of their, in terms of how they presented themselves. Alan Iverson, in spite of what his popularity was in the fact that like it or not, he was the face of the NBA for a stretch, right? It wasn't necessarily positive from the bottom line. Right, but he was the face. But we didn't put it even when he was that face.

He was so much of the face that it interfered with Kobe Bryant's popularity because Kobe Bryant was too much middle of the road in that way. But we only look at the, we made the discussion about who the face of the NBA. NBA to be about that part of what Jordan was and to me ignoring the biggest reason was Michael Jordan was amazing, right? And so if we strip, if we just say to ourselves, well, why can't the face be American? We've just decided it has to be, but we don't have a great argument for why it is that the face can't be American. Why does the face have to be this, whatever it is? what if the face just becomes the face earns its weight into that place rather than an

anointment to it? And Anthony Edwards looks like a guy that could just get there, but then once you're there, yes, it becomes a discussion about whether you'll embrace it. I was talking to a guy who I don't think who want me to name him, but he made the point that we dropped the ball and how we dealt with yonis. Because everybody that wants somebody to, you want the dudes to go hard all the time, you want like a super success story and everything else. It was wrong. right there. He's that guy. You want somebody that'll go out here and play an All-Star game like Game 7? He's right there. And we skipped over him in large part because his peers treat him with substander respect for a man of his talents and accomplishments. Yeah, that's the thing I didn't get. Like,

maybe his game wasn't as aesthetically pleasing to some of his peers. Like, it wasn't as pretty, so to speak. So the quote unquote respect wasn't there and that admiration wasn't there in that way. but you bring up like a real interesting point. Like I just thought about this. Alan Iverson was such a face of the league. The dress code was because of him. Like for better or worse, like we knew the dress code as a response to the brawl.

The dress code was a response to Alan Iverson using the malice at the palace as the weapon to de Alan Iversonize the NBA. You know what I mean? Like that's the fascinating part of all that. He was so much the face of the NBA. they had to try to wash that shit off. Cleanse them. Remember the airbrush tattoos?

I forgot what cover he was on. It was the NBA magazine. Yeah. Yeah. That's fascinating. Now, here's the one thing you said about Jordan, or I'll get some subtext. There's people who come to you

and people who bring you to where, you know, where they are, right? Michael Jordan didn't come to you. Michael Jordan brought you to him. If there is a, commonality between himself and Anthony Edwards in that way, people rock with Anthony Edwards in a way that they don't necessarily rock with a guy like Cam Newton, even though they both are very much Atlanta kicking it sort of the same way. Like there is a charm to Anthony Edwards

that says, oh man, even though he's doing this crazy stuff, I like this kid. They find him 100 grand for cussing on there. I like him, though. Like that's the part that I will say speaks in your favor about Anthony Edwards being a face of the league. people are going to like him whether he wants to be liked or loved at all. He's doing it. He's just doing the Sprite and the Adidas stuff on his terms. When you're a face of the league, that is not on your terms. That is a lot of projection.

That's a lot of working around with people as opposed to you're doing the Nike, the Sprite, the Reebok, whatever it is. You're controlling a lot of that stuff. With the league, it's a lot bigger than that. Yeah. I think a fair criticism of the current general. of players, or so it seems. Kauai Leonard with the Clippers was a great example of this. He wanted all the perks and none of the responsibility

that comes with being that star player, right? This nation does not seem to produce megastar basketball players like that. Guys of that magnitude, even somebody like Jason Tatum, whose resume screams out superstar but doesn't feel like one. I'm not saying that what I'm saying is fair necessarily or even right, but I think that a lot of people would fundamentally agree with what I'm saying here. Like, as good as he is, right? Something don't, it don't feel like that dude, right?

Like, that's part of why he's not even the finals MVP this year they win. If there's something there that just doesn't, it just doesn't seem that way, right? He just doesn't seem like that dude. It's one thing that the country doesn't seem to be producing the megastars. It don't even seem to produce dudes that want to beat at. And I'm curious about that. Like, is that a function of us burning these kids? out and making them professionals when they're 12 years old.

Yeah, that's what it is. They learn at a very early age what not to say, what you're not going to do, because you're not going to mess up the bag. And that bag doesn't just mean the NIL era and everything else. Like, they have had personality scrubbed from them, responsibility foisted on them. Like, the good thing theoretically about Anthony Edwards is that he didn't come from that AAU, like, world where he was part of the machine.

Like Anthony Edwards got like bad kid energy. And I mean that in the most affectionate way possible. You know what I mean? Like that bad ass kid in your class and the teachers just like. It's the one that all the grown folks like, but they're like, hey, man, come come over here, little homie. We got to keep an eye on you. We ain't had bad kid energy since Russell Westbrook, right?

That's the, that's, we don't get bad kids anymore. We get all of these personalities scrub. Like the one thing about Jason Tatum that I think doesn't work in his favor, he's playing for a legacy franchise. He's been there for a long time. He came from Duke. But his game, I think, doesn't lend itself to saying spectacular. Like, he doesn't

have that otherworldly, amazing athleticism. No, it doesn't. He's right. Right. It's almost like, ah, yeah, he's really good. You know what I mean? Like, my friends, when they want tickets, they're like, hey, can you get tickets to see

this guy, that guy? They're never like, oh, man, I want to see Jason Tatum. That's no shot to him because it's not a mark on how good he is. It's about how much imagination he inspires amongst everybody else. Like my nephew loves Janus for whatever reason. I ain't ever heard him ask me about no Jason Tatum. Once again, that's not a shot at Jason Tatum. It just feels like to your point.

So it's like you got to be some combination of amazing and a go hard. Right? Like I think those are the two things that captivate people. So case and point, one player who is decidedly unamazing, but sells a lot of tickets, is Jalen Brunson, right? Like, Jalen Brunson, the point of this is that it's not amazing,

but it's go hard, right? And people are bored with that. Like, I like, this is the discussion. I feel like I had on here, talking to Logan Murdoch about this the other day, but it's really interesting when you stop and think about it. How many guys do you really think people pay money to see? Not just their teams, but like the guys.

I think at this point there are people who pay money to see Yolich because it's just been so amazing. Yeah. at this point. People pay money to see Luca, people pay money to see LeBron. I don't think people pay money to see Anthony Davis.

Like that's the kind of distinction that I'm making it. I think people pay money to see Steph. I think people would have paid money to see Zion, but you know, you know how that all worked out.

Do you think people pay money to see Tray Young? I wouldn't, but I guess maybe some small child might want to. Not even small children. Man, look, I look at that dome and I'm like, man, I don't want to be that.

but hey that's a little too close now I'm with you I think there's only a handful of guys Lillard and Yonis Anthony Edwards I still think you'd be Jiameran just on the thought Absolutely

of John Moran Absolutely absolutely I think John Moran I think people still pay money to see Kevin Durant I don't know whoever paid money to see James Harden Like for his like this But I think we're probably talking about Victor

like eight to ten guys that people really pay money to go see. Yeah, and that's the definition of, you know, superstar and franchise player and all that stuff. Like, do you move units? Like, as great as someone like Chris Paul was at his prime, right? Were you going to see Chris Paul play? Like, you were acknowledging his greatness and all of that stuff. But did he inspire you in some way to entertain you? Like, you didn't deny his greatness, but it wasn't like, man, I'm going to see Chris Paul tonight, like that sort of thing. It's only been, as we as we have, 75 years in the league, Bo,

maybe 30 guys. Maybe 30 guys legit that you're going to say, I'm buying a ticket to see you play. Not about 30 great players in the league, but just awe-inspiring and you touching it in a different way.

Maybe 30 is a little low, but you see what I'm saying. Like, it's not your greatness being in question. It's about how you connect with either your game, your personality, or whatever, it is, it's not as many as you think. Maybe I'll say 30 is understanding it. Like I don't want to get people, get people riled up or nothing like that.

But it's not as many. No, no. Some jackass in the chat said, y'all use it a lot of I feels instead of facts. Because some things you just have to offer as a hypothesis, brother, like there's no quantifiable concrete answer to the things that we're talking about here, right?

Like that's what makes it such that the people who do this well at a league management level. It's why the guys who were good at it are actually great at it because what you're trying to figure out is what connects with people. And I know that people believe that you can data your way into this. But you can daddy your way to some right answers. You can daddy your way to things that might occupy people.

But I think there's something a bit more amorphous about what it is that really like captivates and holds on to people. And so I think there's like general things. Like again, the general aesthetic around your work ethic or just how shocking and amazing your physical gifts happen to be. or if you're somebody like Steph Curry, who I do think has shocking physical gifts, just not in the way that we think about physical gifts,

but then it also comes down to like the aesthetic around what he provides and the feeling that people have, like, oh, I could do this even though. No, I can't. No. Here's the other thing that we didn't talk about. The connection between college basketball and the NBA is such a thin thread that we don't get a chance

to see these guys until they get to the league. We don't know their story. We don't know their back. We don't see them in March making a Cinderella run or making a final four run or whatever the case may be. Like the Steph thing is interesting because he spent three years at Davidson and we got to see him make that elite eight run. I think it was in 2008. I think it was his sophomore year, right? And he still, I feel like, came out of nowhere as a face of the league.

Like he kind of crashed the party even though he had the college pedigree. maybe the next guy is going to be another guy to crash the party. Maybe it's not going to be Victor Wimbanyama as sole guy. Maybe it's not going to be Cooper Flag. Maybe it's going to be some guy that does not emerge from the AAU culture. And it's just the guy that's hiding in plain sight and then boom, he's there. We don't even see him because we didn't see Steph. We saw LeBron.

We saw KD. But we didn't see him coming. I think one thing that will help. the NBA very, very soon is that NIL is going to lead to college basketball. I want to be careful about saying it'll be overall better, though I think it will. But what I think is going to happen, though, is the talent is going to stick around a little bit longer. You're still going to have this crazy player mobility that we have now, which is basically free agency after every year.

But I think the guys, and we're not necessarily talking about the guys who are going to become NBA players, but the guys that were coming out. and they were only going to be second round picks, but it was just like my draft stock's not going to be any higher. I might as well get out of here. Or you might be able to stick around and make you some change while you in school. I think a lot of those guys are going to stick around and make that change. Once those guys stick around and make that change,

the overall level of play in college basketball is going to be elevated and it's going to make it a much more watchable product, which I think then will translate over to the one and done or the two-year guys. They're going to be more famous because college basketball, is going to be a much easier watch, and it has not been an easy watch for a while. There's going to be a whole lot of people that get back and be like, damn, when the shot clock go to 30 seconds?

You know, like, I think a lot of that, why the three point line all the way back there? Because I think a lot of people bailed on that whole operation. I think NIL is going to keep a lot of guys around. The college basketball then gets better. And then maybe from there we start building stars again, right? And you start having guys that when they're coming out, you know who they all.

Like, this last draft, that one stuck out to me. You know, when we had the French dudes going at the top, man, I ain't know who none of them people were. Now, you know what's funny that you brought that up? The number one vote getter amongst the guards in the Eastern Conference was a guy who did not make the All-Star game. And we saw this kid grow up in front of our eyes for better or worse, right? Lamello Ball, right?

Now, that style may not be, may not scream out winner, right? But the numbers and the metrics show that he connects with people in ways that we don't see. Like maybe it's a TikTok thing. I've heard LaMello is big on TikTok, and I don't know exactly what that means, right? But if the NBA is trying to consistently chase whatever this voting block is that they can't necessarily see, I feel like the NBA fan, like that voting block consistently changes and moves

like every three or four years, like what they want, what they're willing to accept, what their desires are, I feel like that changes more than maybe any other sport. and the NBA has a hard time getting in front of it because it changes so consistently. Like, I'm very curious what this like lamello ball thing or what that symbolizes to people because we don't see it, but we're at a different age.

Somebody sees it. We need to figure out why. Yeah, and the league, they're in a trick bag with him because until he becomes a much better basketball player, they cannot push him. You just, you, like, you got to, I'm always very careful about this. Cam Newton got in trouble on this.

Remember I talked about this before. You got to be real careful before you get out here and call somebody a loser. It is the most insulting thing that you can say about somebody. But I tell you this, I don't have any evidence that he is a winner, right? He is playing for a team that does not matter

and puts up a lot of stats that ultimately do not matter. but it is a bit terrifying for him. When you look at how high his usage rate is and look at how that scales to some of his advanced statistics, man, speaking numerically, because I'm not going to pretend like I watch that team play all the time, but speaking just off of those stats,

those are some of the emptiest calories I have ever seen. Like this is, you thought Brad Beale was empty calories. Like when Brad Beale post John Wall, if you thought that was empty calories, I don't know what you think this is. We were having a few of, colleagues and I, during all stuff, were having a conversation about

great player, but loser, right? Not like, like loser, like, you said, like, it's a very touchy thing, so you need to go just go out and spot off names. But maybe some of the names were like, oh, yeah, he's a big loser. And it would be people that you wouldn't expect

because they're on this top 50, top 75 list, or whatever it is. But you know it when you see it. Big loser. I'm not saying Lamello, big loser. I'm with you. He has not shown

any vestige of being big winner. Right. That's what it is. Like it feels to me that, and keep in mind, this is a dude

that's been playing professional basketball since he was 15, 16 years old. Something's got to change there. If I'm the Hornets and I can find somebody to get me off of this, I would,

except to your point. He is clearly somebody I was about to say that he's somebody that people would pay money to see because what we're talking about, I don't know if that translates to spending money to see or the problem is he people, the people who would pay money to watch the mellow ball play basketball don't got no money. Maybe that's the, maybe that's the situation that we got. But he clearly, he clearly captivates. Yes. But he doesn't connect with the paying public. Like the paying public is something different.

Like for one, and that's a discussion for another day, I guess. The common fan has gotten priced out of the NBA out of NBA arenas. Like, you don't, like, there's a reason that the energy in San Francisco and the energy in Oakland was totally different. It's because totally different demos. There's a reason for that. And it's a matter of who does, I'm going to say middle America, because that's kind of insulting. But it's a matter of what the paying customer is willing to connect with and who they view is that. Clearly they connect with Luca Donchich, because they was out there bringing out the undertaker, like,

the urn in the casket, bro. Did you see that? Dog, we didn't, we didn't have time or other discussion went longer than I expected, but I have never, I'm just, we try to get five ten minutes off of this before we roll out. I've never seen people this mad about anything in my life. And I think my four U tabs on these various things somehow have concluded that I want to hear white people really mad about Luca and not that black people don't disagree with the move. They just not nearly as mad about it. I ain't never seen this level of anger.

You and I talk about this. Whenever the Lakers go play a game in Dallas for the Mavericks, that's the kind of thing that could break your relationship between your team, like the guys on your team and your city because that arena is going to be rooting against the home team. And I don't think Dallas has ever rooted for the Lakers. Like this is not one of those relationships where you walk in and you give a polite clap. Like, you know, like Dallas don't put the Lakers out of the playoffs before.

and the Lakers don't put that outside of the playoffs before where people remember that and now you're the enemy but you're not quite the enemy you're like our guy like I don't know what to do with that like the only thing I can compare if the Lions traded Barry Sanders in his prime

like I quit the Lions because he retired because of that bum franchise I would be completely undone if they had to go to trade the best thing that ever happened to them. Can you imagine? Like, you did it with Dominique. And that seems like that hurts more than a retirement. An interesting difference, though, is Lucas still isn't even the greatest player in the history of the Mavericks. Like, we still remember that guy, but that guy showed up in L.A.

for the first game of the Luca era. Yes, he did. I don't, I don't know how, also, what terrible luck for the Mavericks that after acquiring Anthony Davis, it's not simply that he got hurt is that everybody on their roster that's taller than me seems to be hurt. And so they have nothing like, it sounds, as you right now, it sounds like I understand why you made the trade. It sounds like you need this big men, right? Like it's more clear than ever why you might want to try to make that move. But they all hurt. They all hurt. Everybody. And the crazy thing was Anthony Davis put up one of the best quarters of his life. Like, hey, he's killing it. Y'all think, y'all think when they said AD, y'all meant like Antonio Davis?

Did y'all think that's who y'all traded for? Like the Davis boys out of Indiana back in the day? No, no, no, I'm that dude. And maybe he came back and played a little too early and pushed himself and put himself in a spot. But from a basketball perspective, Bo, can I say I understand what Dallas is thinking about with that one? You win with Biggs?

I see it. It's just that nobody's ever done any. like this before. But I do agree with you and I do think that I think you can disagree with something while understanding it, right? I get why people disagree. I am shocked by the levels at which people say they do not understand. And I again have never seen a situation where a team has been like this dude is fat and lazy and the response is so. I've never seen that before. That's brand new. people. Right, right. That's that's brand new as far as I'm concerned. I've never seen anything that came close to it. One thing I do think that does not come up as a thought. I've seen the argument that people

make that now that Lucas with the Lakers that the Mavericks have fired them up and you're going to see da da da, well, okay, that don't really matter, but so much to them, he don't play for them no more. If they thought that they could fire them up by keeping them, obviously I think they would have fired them up by keeping them. Somehow, I never heard anybody say, and maybe this happened almost too much because he got hurt, but I hadn't seen anybody make the argument of this going to light a fire under Anthony Davis. And clearly, at least for one night, it did, right? Can you imagine, how insulted would you be if you were Anthony Davis the way people was out here talking about him? Like, he was Antonio Davis. Right. Like, in case y'all didn't know, I didn't melt down in the finals when I was in the NBA

finals. I maybe very well could have been the MVP of the NBA finals the last time. I was there. I wasn't a guy who melted down in a fourth quarter of a game. I had to win picking up a fifth foul and then cursing at everybody for a challenge when clearly it was a foul on me. Like he's looking around like, I got a ring. I'm one of the best bigs in the league, period. And y'all treat me like I'm a bum, I bet. Like, that's something that I don't think we really factored in there. And yeah, like, Beau, since we start liking fat people. And I would say that like me, like the only, the last fat person that we liked was what, Charles Barkley? Yeah, and that was up and down. Yeah. And one thing about Charles also, Charles was not NBA fat. By Charles was college fat,

you know, but once he got in there, but no, it's, I've just, I've never, I've never, I've never seen the backlash like the backlash that that has happened here i've never seen it i want to see how this continues the lakers are interesting lebron did that weird thing at the all-star game if you wasn't going to play that's fine if you wasn't going to tell nobody that's fine least you could do is wear matching clothes for the picture like everybody out here wearing the same thing in the picture that that was a pro what was he protesting i don't know i wish i knew i will i will tell you this one last thing because i think this is a point that i don't think has been brought up at on anywhere any level we think of Luca Donchich as 15-year guy.

He's going to be with your franchise for 15 years. You've got time to figure it out. These GMs, and I've told you this, and I've said this in general before, in the NBA, only plan for two to three years. And then you're going to have to figure out something else. Like the rebuild, the contending, like other than Oklahoma City,

and maybe that's going to be a litmus test two for how this works, you only got a two or three-year window, and then you've got to figure something else out because of the way the money works. You don't have time to plan for 15 years or 10 more years. That's not the NBA anymore. I still just laugh at the idea that Luca Dachish offends Nico. His very existence offended Nico Harrison.

Like, Nico Harrison called that man a loser. That was what this whole thing was, why did you trade him, man? I can't have no losers up in my space. Like, that's what, and if you believe somebody is a loser, Don't you have it's him or me. If I believe my star player is a loser, one of us has got to go, but only one of us can trade the other one. He got to go. That's if you're drawing that conclusion, if you've said either through his habits, how he played in the NBA finals or whatever or whatever ancillary evidence you have gathered, if you have said this guy's a loser and I'm trying to win, I can't, Bo, who's the last loser that we've turned into a champion?

like the last legit loser that we have turned into a champion. Not a winner who wasn't a champion, but a loser, a bona fide loser. No, you're right. And look, I want to be clear. Neither I nor you is saying he's a loser. Nope. But Nico did.

And if you think it, you got a boy, you better hope like hell, you're right. Like we're going to, this Laker season still is going to be interesting. next year is going to be really, really interesting. This trade will fascinate for such a long time. Like even now, the fact that we can still get something to talk about out of it is amazing. I feel like I'm more sure than ever than next year is going to be the LeBron retirement tour. Logically, I think it makes sense. And it'll be funny because he's not the dude to just retire at the end of the year.

He wants his gifts. He is going to get his things. he's going, are they going to give him, like, I don't remember this on the Jordan Retirement Tour. Did they give him gifts? No, because remember, like 98 people were ambiguous about that. No, I'm talking about the 03 one. I'll talk about 03.

O three, I don't, maybe his last game in a couple, like in Chicago or. Like, Korean got a gift everywhere. He got a boat. He got a motorcycle. He got a motorcycle. Kareem Abdul brought on a motorcycle? Yeah, Milwaukee gave him a motorcycle. Wow.

Yeah, LeBron wants the retirement tour of our retirement tours. Like, I can just see all of that happening. It'll be the Coach K retirement tour. Like, it was so funny. People are like, we know Coach K won't want a retirement tour. Like, oh, you don't know Coach K. I mean, what do you give LeBron when he don't put your ass out of the playoffs year after year? Hey, LeBron, thanks for destroying our dreams.

Here's a gift. Taranto's going to give him a giant middle finger. That's what they're going to give him. Toronto is going to give him directions to the airport. That's what they're going to get him. I can tell out of here. Presented by drink. Couldn't have come a day sooner.

Couldn't have come a day sooner. But that is Vinny Goodwill. Check out the Good Word podcast available. We're all fine podcasts. I giving away for free. Check about at Yahoo Sports. My brother, I appreciate you. Hey, appreciate you, bro.

All right, man. Sean, we got prize picks for the Pete Bo. Yeah, Bo, I sure do. Basketball is back tonight. So let's take Luca Donjic against the Charlotte Hornets, 41 points rebounds and assists. I'll take more there. LeBron James, 23 and a half points. I'll take more there. He sat out of the All-Star game to be healthy for this matchup against the Hornets. And LaMello Ball, 24 and a half points. Let's take more there as well. I didn't realize, by the way, that Aaron Gordon said,

if you put my four dunks up against Vince Carter's four dunks, objectively, I think my four dunks were better. Insane. Even if that's true, you just keep some thanks to you something, my brother. But ladies and gentlemen, thanks a much for joining us here. On the right time, we do this. three times a week. That was Sean Yu. He handles everything behind the scenes. Thank you, sir. Remember, follow the right time. Subscribe, like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. We'll talk to you guys in a couple of days. Take it easy.