The Ringer NBA Show - Ep. 20: Kevin Durant to the Warriors and Team USA

Episode Date: July 5, 2016

On this week's episode, Juliet Litman and Chris Ryan discuss Kevin Durant's move to the Warriors and how players may be feeling about the change. Later, they discuss why Steph Curry and Draymond Green are like Hamilton and Burr, and what it all means for the Thunder. Finally, the two give their predictions for next season's Eastern Conference playoffs and talk Team USA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Did you know that the NBA has built a super useful bot? Yeah, like a chat bot, a robot you can talk to for basketball fans on Messenger. The NBA's Messenger bot is awesome. Just message it on Messenger to watch highlights of your favorite finals games and players. Message it to see the videos you want. Try it now by visiting nbabot.net. Again, that's N-B-A-B-O-T dot net. The NBA show, this is like kind of a sources say, but we're just living in such a surreal world. I don't even know what to call it. We're post-sources. We're post-sources. or something. It's the Players Tribune era. This is the Players Tribune era.

Sources don't matter. But I'm Juliet Littman. I'm Chris Ryan. I like to think we still matter, kind of, a little bit. It's been a wild, wild few days in the NBA. Currently, we do not know where Dwayne Wade is. He was last seen in a visa, but then potentially he was on a plane with Dan Gilbert and his good friend, LeBron James. And he's asking for two.

Dan Gilbert's good friend LeBron James or Dwayne weights? I don't know. You know, championships bring friendships. but Dwayne Wade is asking for two years, $50 million. Yeah. So that's what's going on right now. But yesterday, the bombshell was dropped. 8.45 a.m. on the West Coast, Kevin Durant announced he chose the Warriors.

Yeah. After a couple of days of meetings in the lovely Hamptons, do we ever find out what part of the Hamptons? I think it was Southampton, but perhaps I'm wrong. Do you have an opinion on that location? On South? Yeah. It's not my preferred Hampton, but it's fine. So he met with the Warriors, the Clippers, the Spurs and the Heat, the Celtics, and two meetings

of the Thunder, one in Oklahoma, one in the Hamptons. Yes. And it sounds like that second meeting in the Hamptons was to let them know he was leaving. Correct. Or, well, I don't know. Sam Presti said that he found out a few minutes before the Player's Tribune piece went up. But had sources within, like he's like, there are means known and unknown. Presti getting so cryptic with it.

So Robert Ludlam with it. he was saying that he knew how things were going. He said that there were indications. You wrote a really good piece about this. Thank you. Right away. I guess you had the weekend to mull it over. I had years to mull it over when you think about it.

It's true. Tell us just kind of like the basis of your piece, the thrust of it. Yeah, well, it was more just a kind of requiem for Russ and Kevin, which has been my favorite thing about watching basketball for the last five, seven to eight years. That's such a bummer. I in high school invented, just not really invented, but I had a concept called Buddy. Okay. Which I was really into, which was two or more people who were both colleagues and then had like a

parallel friendship and the interweaving of them. It was really based on the Ocean's Eleven crew of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon. Would we count as buddies? Yeah, I think so. But actually, the original buddies were Steve Francis and Catino Mobley. Like, I've always just really been into basketball friends. Yeah. And it's really hard as a, you know, someone who loves buddies.

It's really hard seeing Russ and Katie go separate ways. but I just reminded myself that Russ was at Katie's wedding and like their bonds are deeper than than basketball. I think that if you if you followed this team closely it was just always there was a real collegial feel you know a lot of these guys this was

a postgraduate experience for them or a post-college experience for them where they were in a smaller city like Oklahoma City and they were growing up together and that was really cool to watch you know it's like I don't really care about college basketball that much because the product is so bad, but I do love watching people, like, struggle and persevere and overcome obstacles and go through stuff, but also, like, those two guys were just the

most exciting two players in the league to me. Yeah, and also, we really followed the Thunder closely, and you got it this of your piece, differentiated between Thunder fans and Oklahoma City fans. And we were really Thunder fans. And just, like, when they got Deion Waiter, it was, like, being so invested in, like, where was his locker? They were a cult team. Like, it was, like, it was such a weird, weird, band of, like, players. I mean, when you think about Ross and KD, they have affected NBA culture in a way that, like, pretty much almost no one else has, like, kind of like NBA hipster idea was started with,

like, with KD in, like, 2011. Yeah. And on the same side, though, you could say that those guys have been somewhat, at least publicly. Because of where they were in Oklahoma, I don't think it was like the same thing as, like, the Clippers guys or the Knicks guys or even like the Heat guys where they were just, like, out and about. Yeah. Like Russell and KD, like, spotting them out in the same.

city, like any city was like a really huge occurrence because they were almost off in their own world. And I can totally understand why Durant did this. I mean, you know, when he said I've been here for nine years, I was like, wow, it's been nine years. That's a long time at one job. And even though it felt like his statement was completely written by his agent, you know, in terms of like saying like my mandate for this. I think that the stuff about wanting to be to evolve as a man. Yeah. And I was talking. the other day with a friend of our Zach Barron who wrote a piece on KD for GQ. And he was saying that didn't surprise him at all because Durant probably wanted to

like have a different life experience than just being in the same place he was the year after college for the rest of his life. Right. It's pretty wild. I mean like nine years in one city is a really long time. And a lot of people like kind of get the itch like around nine years after like, like, yeah, he's 28. Yeah.

I'm ready for a new thing. Yeah. Saturn's return. Is that what they call that? Yeah, Saturn's return. He made it. He's out of the 27. club, thank goodness.

Yeah. It's made it past. So it is pretty weird. It's like, I remember when Shoals wrote about the Thunder, I think, for GQ in 2010, when that was like when people when they were just like, oh, this team's so cool. Like, it was a real parallel to LeBron. Like, KD and LeBron have always had these kind of real parallel careers. Like, Katie very quietly signed an extension in 2010 while LeBron very loudly did the decision.

And in 2010, like, when that was happening, KD was like super committed. to his team and and I remember like that that was like one of the other thunder play video games together yeah that was like a big narrative yeah they were just like these dork kids who were basically like making their own fun in a city that maybe didn't have as much to offer as a new york or los angeles or apparently in oakland yeah you know what i think we need is like a francis ha about russell westbrook his best friend has chosen russle ha rossil ha or his best friend or one of his close friends has chosen to move on in the late 20s and he's left behind. So you think Russell's going to be like an aging 36 year old point guard in Oklahoma City who's still like talks about like

name drops Kevin Durant? I don't know, but this is a good question. What should the Thunder do now with Russell Wasbrook? Well, there's some talk among some of the Thunder buddies. I saw Royce Young and Anthony Slater both mentioned that they think it's entirely possible to strengthen Russell's resolve to stay with the Thunder. I don't agree. I don't, I can't really begin to to understand Russ's psyche and like what I don't think any of us know him I think because one of the coolest things about the finals was the or the Western Conference finals was it being completely apparent that Russ thinks that he is better than Steph Curry um and you want to know what Draymond might think that too yeah that's another more on that later yeah but at the same time

this is now like a at the best like a five or six seed team yeah yeah well yeah it's it's interesting. I think they should trade him. I think they just need to read it all. Like you're never like like like what do do you take de angelo Russell and Julius Randall for Russell Westbrook? No. Hmm interesting. I don't think so. Like we're like, there's only a few teams that he you could conceivably trade him to. Yeah. I know. I know. I'm sure. Yeah, exactly. So it's basically you'd have to. I mean, although with Russell, who knows? Maybe he's like I'd love to go to Milwaukee. That's true. I have no idea. That's true. I have no idea. That's true. I have no idea. He looks like he had a great Fourth of July weekend, though, hanging out with his family. Well, this is the thing that I've been thinking about is what if, like, it's entirely possible that everything we assume about these guys and everything we assume about how they feel about this stuff is, like, completely wrong.

Like, Russ might completely understand why KD did this. I bet he does. And at the same time as like, I like playing in Oklahoma, maybe I'll stay. I don't think Russ is pissed. I don't think, like, other players who know KD are pissed. Only ones who have been like, hmm, are like some, like kind of like throwing shade. him or dudes like Paul Pierce was throwing shade at him, which is absurd because Paul Pierce left the Celtics to go to the net so he got traded and then to with his old coach and the

clippers. Like it's just ridiculous. I know. I mean, it's the thing that I think the reason why we don't sound very energetic about this is aside from the fact that we've been talking about it nonstop for four or five days is because we've already done this in 2010 or like, you know, in 2010 when they, when the heat came together. I think. I think we assumed this was going to happen where it was like, well, what's the point of playing? And it was, you know, the Mavericks did it. This is like way better. These guys are going to make the key.

Zach wrote about this. Zach and Charks, Zach on ESPN and Jonathan Charks in the ring are both wrote about this. And Danny even did too. But just like this is, this is not a new landscape. This landscape is gone. No, it's like they had someone holding the KD spot and they upgraded from him. Like, KD is very, like Barnes wishes he could be compared to Kandah. They won 73 games with Harrison Barnes and got to the finals with a hurt Steph Curry and

Draymond Green who was kind of always on the precipice of being suspended. And now they added Kevin Durant. Yeah, it's amazing. You could make, you know, you could say like Festus and they don't have enough big man death, but they got Zaza. They got David Lee. If anybody is out there. They're going to get David Lee, right?

I think so. And then if there's anyone who's just like, Ray Allen, hang it, Ray Allen hanging around, like someone who's like, I'll come back. Baron Davis? I'll play for five bucks. Oh, my God. I bet Baron Davis would love to be on this Warriors team. Yeah.

Can we do a quick one through five feelings, feelings, like people who don't feel so great about this, who's, like, caught feelings on it? I mean, my number one is Steph. Yes. I wrote about this and the winners and losers. This is an L. This is the biggest L for Steph Curry. Let's put this out there now. Okay.

Steph to the Hornets. Steph to the Hornets. 2017. Look, here's, I'm Steph. Okay. I'm the face of Under Armour. You are? Two-time MVP.

Mm-hmm. NBA champion four minutes away from being back-to-back NBA champion. supposed to be the face of the league, supposed to be the new generation, and Draymond Green, my teammate, openly campaigns to have someone come in who is basically at my level, who is essentially brought in

as my insurance policy slash the new, like, best player on the team. Right. Steph and Draymond are kind of like Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr now. To put it in terms, like you can understand. Well, Draymond won the duel. Yeah.

So did Aaron Burr. I mean, it just seems like, I would feel away about that. I would be pissed. I would be like, you think we need someone else. Also, it would be one thing to, like, upgrade from Barnes. I mean, I don't think there's like a ton of like incredible small forward or forwards in general because KD is just like, I mean, KD is like a just totally one of a kind. But there's not a lot of other forwards who are like are necessarily a huge step out from Harrison Barnes.

Sure. So I don't know who else they could have brought in. But like, it's just such a, it's just a game changer. Grant's one of the three best players in the league. Yeah, it's also just that Steph Curry raised this team out of like decades of mediocrity. And he also like works very hard. Yeah. And like he's known as like being very humble.

And it's hard to imagine him stringing out his free agency like this. And I don't say that as like someone, it's like a Steph defender. But he just has a very different style from Kevin Durant, I think. It would just be very interesting of Steph. Because there was, I think Bill talked about this with House a little while ago that like the Warriors could offer it. that there's like a loophole where they could re-up him or give him a raise or something. And his deal is coming up.

It'll probably be the biggest deal in NBA history, I would imagine. I mean, no one should take early deals this year. I don't know. If I was Steph, it's like, why not think about it? I would feel disrespected. I would feel disrespected. And I'm not being a troll. I would feel disrespectful as well.

Don't people have things in their contract where it's like you can't hire somebody above me? You mean like regular people? Yeah, like executives. We'll be like, there's a clause in my contract that said, because if I'm like the C-O-O, you can't hire a CEO above me or something. Right, right. So, yeah, so Steph's like the number one person who should just not be happy about this. Yeah.

Plus, I don't know. I just feel like Kevin Durant. I mean, Draymond was already their, like, their leader. Even though Steph was their best player, it was kind of like an accepted fact that Draymond was their leader. And I can just see coming out of Team USA, Draymond and Clay and KD, like kind of all being on the same wavelength. Yeah.

And that's also weird for Steph. I mean, it's just, it's just bizarre. Another, like, hallmark of these gold state teams that kind of, that made them remarkable is that for every broken play, they had staff to bail them out. And he didn't do that in the finals, and that's why I lost. Yeah. And so now it was a step slower. And that meant his, like, he was turning the ball over.

He couldn't get separation, all those things. Right. And now they also have Kevin Durant, not to mention my number, my number two, Clay Thompson. Yeah. It's just so, it's just so wild. I would also say that somebody who should, I mean, I'm sure he could not care less about, like, what day it is. But if I was Clay, I would be like, I would be like,

I went from being the second best player on this team to the fourth best seemingly. Yeah, it's true. It's tough for me. Just because there's not going to be as many shots. I just really, really think that, yeah, that's actually funny because Jarmond said that on Bill's podcast back in April. He was like, Clay doesn't care. All he wants is to get his shots.

And like, he knows he's going to. And like, maybe he doesn't get as many now. I think they'll all, I mean, there will be games where one guy gets hot and takes a lot of shots. And I'm sure that those guys will just be so psyched to play with each other. It's not going to be like the heat. There won't be this weird, like who gets to run the offense thing. Katie's going to have to adjust a little bit because I always sort of thought with the way Scott Brooks got roasted for this and Billy Donovan got roasted for this.

It was like, how could you not run these different kind of sets for KD and you should just be if you had a better shooter running a pick and roll with Kevin Durant, like it would just be unstoppable. But I think Katie likes to do hold the ball for seven seconds, jab, step, jab, jab, step, fade away. Sure. Yeah. He also, another time, like, he did an interview with Bill at All-Star. Oh, like, I mean, he's just going to, they're going to win 75 games next year. I mean, if they don't, it's ridiculous. Although I could see them not going for it because after this season, when they expended all their energy on getting 73 and then they came up short, it's like, what's the point? They have the time. They have the record. I remember Katie saying to Bill at All-Star 2014 in New Orleans that he just, like, he wanted to be the servant.

like he wants to like serve his team and that is the kind of mentality that I see going well in Golden State like with Iguidala and with Steve Kerr and like um I just I know that Steve Kerr is a huge Kevin Durant family we all have been and it would have been the same thing on the spurs I think it would have just been a little bit more I think the competitive balance of the league would have been a little bit better it was interesting to hear there were reports um that when Jerry West made his follow-up phone call. So the Katie met with the Warriors, I think, on Friday, right? Friday morning, yeah.

And then I believe Saturday, Jerry West and Durant spoke on the phone. And West talked to him about how he was still haunted by all the finals that he had lost because he only won one towards the end of his career and lost seven others and how it just haunts him to this day. And also talked about how Durant will never have to, like, work that hard for his shots again. And there is like a stat that Zach had in his piece. or I've read somewhere where it was like Katie's contested field goal percentage is so high that if he gets uncontested field goals, he might score 40 a game on 20 shots.

It's amazing. Yeah, it's like an ultimate pick your poison. But at the end of the day, and not to get into like first takey stuff, but that is like speaks to a part of Kevin Durant's psyche where it's like make it easier, make it more fun, make it more enjoyable, which I totally, totally get. He wrote on his shoes, have fun. Like he's looking, I support that. I'm also always looking to have fun.

Yeah. I just want to have fun all the time too, Kevin Durant. Let's hang out. So I totally get it. I do wonder how this will change Golden State's, like, death lineup, quote, unquote. Because when you have Barnes, you just stick him in the corner and tell him to shoot. But like with Kevin Durant, he's so much more dynamic than that. Is somebody going to be the Kevin Love of this team?

Right. Who is going to be the Kevin Love of this team? It's a great question. If it's Clay Thompson, I'm fucking flipping out. I think Clay Thompson... He's going to be just thrown on the corner. Yeah, because he's a good. releases.

This is the thing I loved about the warriors that nobody thought Steph. I mean, Steph was an incredible score, but it was his health that everybody was worried about in his durability. Clay, I think people were like, wow, the kick and shoot, but never really thought about as like a two-way dynamo. And I love the fact that the Warriors essentially got in a lot of the same ways that the Thunder got generationally lucky with three players. The Warriors got really lucky with three players that they drafted.

I mean, the Thunder drafted those guys much higher. And it was just like, I just really dug the fact that those guys kind of like were built up. They're homegrown. Yeah. That's what's fun to me about basketball. Totally. I dig free agency. This is such a crazy. It's so crazy how this is turning into a 12 month because the night that Durant got signed, that night, Jalen Brown and Ben Simmons played in Summer League. I know. I was like, I kind of want to watch basketball. It was crazy. The NBA has always been very good at marketing and they remain very good at marketing. Do you think it was an accident that the signings happened day after day after day rather than all at once? You mean with like Horford? It went Dwight.

Horford and then KD. Interesting. I didn't think about that. And KD had like an entire 24 hour news cycle to himself. I think that KD probably always knew he would decide on July 4th to like string it out, but I don't think Dwight and Horford were like that. Yeah, because it sounds like Horford was really contingent on KD for a while.

And Sam Presti said that it was really, like, Horford was really, really interested in coming to the thunder. Yeah, yeah. And I think also... I wonder if Horford had agreed to do that if Kevin Durant would have stayed. I don't know. I just don't know. I wonder if a team with Horford, you think a team with Horford, what Russ and KD and Stephen Adams and Victor Rolidipo beats the Warriors? Yes, I know, actually.

Stephen Adams is very good. Yeah, I agree with you. He's really good. I mean, that's the thing about the Thunder. And I was thinking about this when, you know, you wrote about this in your piece as well, like, what are the Thunder now? And Presti, for all of his, for all of the things who will criticize him for, great draft her.

Just great. Yeah. And so I, like, believe, like, you know, it's not going to be next year. It's not going to be in two or three years. But I feel like I keep quoting Bill, but this goes back to something. that Bill always says, like, you kind of have to, like, wait it out. Like, some teams are just like, we're going to wait it out until LeBron is done. Yeah.

And so, you know, the Thunder probably were not necessarily going to be the Warriors or it was going to be really hard. So, like, maybe they wait three years and they were four years. And they have, like, a great team again. I think that's the, like, what I'm not to quote myself, but it was like, definitely the Thunder's goal was to be the Spurs. It was a small market team that if they could land, a succession of generational stars could be relevant for multiple decades.

And if they had maintained Katie and Russ for the next four or five years, they could have at some point somehow found someone to be the next, to be the Kauai, to be the, I mean, Duncan and Robbins, like having Duncan, landing Duncan while you still have Robinson is like a once-in-an-N-B-A occurrence, it seems like. But the succession of good players that they've brought in there and the fact that they were able to get Lamarcus in free agency makes them a playoff team, makes them an upper-to-your-play-off team for the next five years.

And recognizing to trade for Kauai so early in his career. Yeah. So if the Thunder were able to pull something like that off. Who knows? Who knows how good Oladipo can be in a like a better system than magic? I think like Oladipo and Adams together are like kind of intriguing. Yeah, but it's just like as about as intriguing as as the jazz. Hayward and Gobert. Yeah, exactly. Absolutely. I want to talk about more people who are who should feel feelings over this. But first, let's talk about our sponsors. Chris. Yeah. I know we've been talking about basketball,

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Again, that's blue apron.com slash ringer. It's a better way to cook. Okay, Chris. So Steph is the number one person taking an L here. Yeah. No ifs ands or butts about it. Who else do you think should be like, oh, I don't feel good about this? I'm sure you won't, but Billy D.

And we've talked a little bit about, I've read a little bit about this, that there's been some rumors that Louisville is already interested in him. And just that, you know. I think he's going to be a good NBA coach. I think he's going to be a great NBA coach. I mean, like, he's already a great NBA coach. He beat the Spurs and then took games off of the Warriors at Oracle. Like, he has steel.

He can do it. Who knows? There could even be like a little bit of Ewing. or anything going there. Not like in terms of them being better, but I think that maybe he could create a system that's entirely around Russ. But, you know,

maybe like Russ doesn't play a point. Maybe you have Ola Depot bring the ball up and Russ is like a little bit. It's hard to imagine because Russ isn't that good overshuter. But I'm saying... The thing about Russ and Ola Depot together is both of them, their athleticism is their best quality, right?

So it's a little redundant. But I'm sure that he will have looked into... I'm sure that this is a gut check, you know? Yeah, for sure. Because if Westbrook leaves next year, you're coaching. And, you know, you'd have to imagine, I don't know what Adams' contract length is for. But if they trade Russell...

This is his fourth year on his rookie deal coming up next year, right? So he's due for a payday. And he's due, boy, will he get one with the cap of 2017? He needs to get so much money. He can pay for all of his 18 siblings dinner for, like, a long time. A very long time. So Billy Donovan, who else is catching feelings? How do you think LeBron feels?

Ultimately, I think this is a win for him. But I could be convinced the other way. Based on social media, I think he's feeling fine. Yeah. I mean, like, you know, what does he have to worry about really? The Warriors had to bring in KD to take him down. He saved Cleveland. He saved Cleveland. He had a great vacation. Yeah. I think he's feeling good. Might be recruiting Dwayne Wade as he's being. I mean, I don't think anybody is going to want to be the target practice when they get to the finals against these guys. You know, I don't think LeBron wants to get swept by this young team. Sure. But lots of things can happen over the course of a season. That's really true. Like injuries. Sure. Who knows? Yeah.

That's the other thing about these warriors, though, is like, okay, if one of them gets injured, they're still totally fine. I also don't like cheering for it. I don't like, I think this is the problem is that when the heat happened, until they went on that like 20-something game run of wins, it was really, you know, it's difficult to like work up the energy to be excited about them, you know, even though they play beautiful basketball. And I don't like being my primary interest in a sport to be rooting against something to happen.

but I also have no motivation to like be like, I hope they win 82. I know. That's so stupid. I know. We just watch you win 73. That was enough. Yeah, the season is way too long. There's so many teams.

There's so many players to have it all be a fail complete that that the Warriors are the champs. It's kind of tough. I can't. I would love to know like what Adam Silver really thinks about this. I think they heft up. I think so too. I think they screwed up. I think the salary smoothing stuff really could have.

It's really. weird. Well, I think the worst part is probably going to be the team USA. I mean, but let's say that his deal was expired next year and they were able to get Durant or something anyway. It's like, let's say there was some reason what, like, what is Barnes on that team? I mean, he's probably

glad to leave. He's the freaking towel guy. I mean, like, what is he going to do on that team? First of all, he just got $94 million. That's great. Congratulations, Barnes. But I just feel in Texas, so he gets to keep a lot more of that. In Texas. He's with his friend, Andrew Bogut. Okay, he's good. You're right. I take it all back. He works. He's going to be on a

team coach by a great coach. That's true. Hopefully, although I really do feel. With the other Curry. I feel like Barnes and Seth Curry should become best friends. But I feel like Harry B is also like a real Rick Carlisle benching candidate. Interesting. I don't know.

He's all like mild mannered though. I know, but Carlisle will just bench anybody and like just play JJ Barrella. The Mavs are an interesting team. They're starting five is Darren Williams, Wesley Matthews, Harrison Barnes, Dirk Nevitzky, and Andrew Boggett. Okay. Yeah. How many, how many. games.

Sure, they'll be good. Yeah. I don't know. I mean. Rick will get into the playoffs. He always does. What else? Who else is like, comes out as a loser on this one?

I think it's actually the Spurs. Yeah. It's like a really, it sucks. Although. I will say that I like that. That is one team that if they pace themselves right, I want to see that in the in the, in the playoffs. Totally.

I want to see everybody against them in the playoffs. And I want to see, I wonder with the seating and the way the seating has worked out in the last couple of years where teams don't quite land where they're supposed to, like, you know, like a spurs, like, what if the Warriors have to go through the Spurs and the Clippers next year? I was going to say, I could see the Clips being the 8C and the Warriors being one and that being like a six game series. Yeah.

And like, just being annoying. In a weird way, I like really hate the Clippers. Like, I just feel like they're a JVT, like a JV organization. And it kind of like, I'm just like, ooh, the Clippers. Okay. Interesting. But I don't, I mean, the Clippers are, this isn't. In some ways, maybe a worse free agency for them than it was last year, even considering the fact they got Deauntra Jordan to come back.

But they've made no moves. They gave Austin Rivers $35 million. Yeah. And brought Wesley Johnson back. Yeah. I think Wesley Johnson deserved more money than Austin Rivers, by the way. I mean, I guess if they're healthy who, like, you know, for once they're all healthy going into the playoffs. And they have no pressure on them because nobody's expecting them to do anything.

But Powell, Kauai, and Lamarcus, and if Danny Green can shoot. if he gets his mojo back. And if Tony Parker stays healthy and Manu can give you anything. I mean, I just, I'm just throwing stuff with the wall here. But I'd like to see that in seven games. Yeah, I agree with you. And Popovich could maybe come up with something. I mean, I don't really know what you can come up with because simple math says somebody on that team is going to be open. Let's talk Knicks for a second. Sure. I think the Nix will make the playoffs with their five of Melo, Noah, Rose, Courtney Lee. And let's see. Who are going to be the Eastern Conference playoffs teams? Number one's cast. Number two, Boston, probably. Raptors again. Raptors? Raptors are the Clippers East, basically. Bucks? Yeah, I'm going to put the Bucks in there. Okay. What is that? Four or five? That's four. Do you think the Hornets make the playoffs again? That's five. Hawks? I don't know. I'm not sure. They have Dwight. I'll give him seven. I think coach Bud's again. Get them there. What about the heat? Think the heat make it again?

Yes. Pacer's seven. That's Paces is eight. So no wizards. No, no wizards. They're done. That's actually a competitive East though. Yeah. I mean, but it was this past year too. It's competitive. And the Nicks aren't in there. And it's true. So who just did I bump out? Nixon whiz. Right. Or Nixon, Wizards out. Yeah. I'm excited for this Pacers team. I feel like they could be fun. They could be fun, yeah. I mean, I'm most excited for the wolves next year. What's like the one move that like is just so stupid, but you would like to see happen still this week? any trades you're like lusting after i also i would like you know a lot of it would just be okay nice try you know like i was just thinking like what could new orleans do to get somebody

oh my god anthony davis and they just don't even have anything we got a free anthony davis and get them on the team can we just can we make the pelicans kentucky and all the kentucky all-stars get to go to the pelicans buggy john wall Anthony Davis. Bloodso. Bledso. Rondo? You want Rondo? Sure. Coach Rondo. Assistant Coach Rondo. Boogie Minder Rondo. I'm going to get you excited. Okay. Team USA is here. I know that it's like a little bit of a bummer because of this Katie situation. A couple wrinkles in Team USA now. Let's just run down the roster. My favorite thing in basketball is Team USA. I also thank you Team USA for putting a Clay Thompson shirt up for sale. I bought one. I wasted $45. Yes,

I did. Here's who's on the squad. Kevin Warriors Durant. Fuck that guy. Just kidding. I really like KD. I'm happy for him and I hope he has the personal growth he's looking for. Okay.

As a lover of the movie Francis Ha Ha ha, I just understand what he's going through. So Kevin Ha. Draymond, the recruiter, Green. We're going to come back to that in a second. We'll end on that. Clay Thompson. Yeah. Harrison deposed Barnes.

Kyrie Irving. Sure. Who else is on this team that I'm forgetting? Oh, DeMarre Derozen, Kyle Lowry. Bugie. Boogie. That's eight. Okay, we got the Raptors duo, never going to win a championship,

Lowry and DeRosen. Their friendship is really cute. They're now the new leading, like, teammates slash friends. Day the North, come on. They the North. Elder States been Mello. Yeah? Jimmy Butler, Jimmy Buckets, out here for himself.

Jimmy Buckets, that's who we got to get on the Thunder. That's who, no, I want to see Jimmy Bullitts. Buckeets go to the T. Wolves and I want the T. Because I think Jimmy Buckets, Carl Town, Andrew Wiggins, and Chris Dunn or whoever they Chris Dunn and Zach Levine that they could keep, if they

could keep either in a trade with the Bulls. Trade buckets to Tibbs. Let's get buckets back. And you know that Tibbs wants a piece of this Warriors team. OTP. Oh my God. Oh, okay. And also, last but not, I'm sorry, two more. DeAndre doesn't deserve a Jordan and Paul George. Oh, my God. P.G. Back on

USA Glory. So our leaders here, Kevin Durant and Mello. This is such a recipe. Is Kevin Durant a leader? Well, I bet you say he needs to work on his leadership skills a little bit, I think. Yeah. And this is a great opportunity for him. Mello's never happier the one he is playing international basketball, and I like a happy

Mello, so I'm looking forward to it. Right. I'm looking forward. I'm really looking forward to Clay and Draymond and Kevin Durant boxing out Stefan Curry in their friendship group. And I just feel like Bougie could have fun in Rio. I don't know. I just love Team ESA.

They're going to travel. last time has happened Kobe Bryant was shirtless at a party in Barcelona. I love, I mean, should we be so lucky? Team London was great. Jimmy Butler is going to fucking love traveling.

He's looking forward to the glory. He loves the fanfare. I just know that he's going to deliver from me. What about the super bacteria? You know who else is going to fucking love just partying? He's like going to be at the Copacabana? Speaking of super bacteria.

Kyrie Irving. He does not scare Zika. He's going to have a great time. I just, I love Team USA. I'm really excited. I'm really, I'm glad we're ending on this positive note. These guys are going to love being in Rio. They're going to love the Olympics.

They're going to wear the red, white and blue proudly. Maybe it'll be good for Mellow too. He's always, you know, he could work on his leadership a little bit as well. Lead his team to the playoffs again. It's a good way to, I mean, in a league that will be definitely a lot, there will be a lot of strife. There will be a lot of boundaries, you know, next year team boundaries. No boundaries. No boundaries.

Just the red white and blue. I'm just, I'm so excited. The best part of the Summer Olympics is the basketball. I just, I love it. I know Clay's going to shine. Clay's going to fucking win some games to the squad. He did a great job at Fibah. I'm just really excited.

I feel like he needs my support now more than ever. He needs a really good Rio because he's going to be standing in the corner like playing with his fingernails for most of the season. Yeah, I know. And I can't stand for that. Over under is 10 shots, I think, on Clay per game. Who do you think is more likely to leave the Warriors? Clay or stuff.

You really do? Yeah. I love it. I'm starting. it right now. Steph. We'll see you in North Carolina next summer. What's the buzz? It's Steph on the Hornets.

One lingering question, we can spend the next 12 months addressing this. How can the face of Under Armour be on the original Jumpman team? So here's, let's do this really quickly. Let's end on the darkest possible note. Yes. Accepting, like, so without anyone getting massively injured, what is the darkest timeline for the Warriors? So here's a couple of things.

Okay. Steve Kerr, love Steve Kerr, don't want to. anything bad to happen to him, but let's just say his health is jeopardized for his back problems. Maybe it's just that it's just too stressful to sit on the bench. So he becomes like kind of emeritus emeritus. Emeritus coach. Emeritus sounds like a disease. And Mike Brown takes over the warriors. So Mike Brown coaching the Warriors. And Draymond starts to question him and is like, I'm the coach. One note about Mike Brown, he's a defensive specialist. Last time I checked, Ron Adams is a defense specialist. Yeah. What are we doing here? I don't know. I don't know.

What's happening in the Warriors? Are the Warriors crumbling already? Okay, so Steve Kerr off the bench, Mike Brown takes over, Dremont Green leads a mutiny. Steph starts making noises about, you know, wanting to see what's out there for him and his family because he would like to maybe grow as a man and involve as a man, and maybe he has a public mandate to do it. I have heard Aisha wants to go back to North Carolina. Okay, just like, just like Bron did, right?

Mm-hmm. You know, so then we've got Steph wanting to leave, Steve Kerr off the bench, Drayman and Mike Brown fight, Kevin Durant realizes he's made a terrible mistake and realizes that like the soothing balm of Oklahoma was what made him who he was, not this IPO hunting Silicon Valley culture that he's stepping into. And also, they realize that while they have the best starting five of all time, Zaza and David Lee are not exactly a bench. Oh my God, Zaza. I forgot he's in the mix here. Zaza, David Lee and Sean Livingston are not exactly like the bench that they need. And depth is what wins championships.

That's what I'm saying. Wow. Final question for UCR. If Steph left and they had an opening a point card and they brought in Russell Westbrook, would you like be in on the Warriors? No. No. Just like I'm, you know, I don't need reboots.

I would love for Russ and Katie to reboot it somewhere else. I would love for Katie to be in a year. I'd be like, I'm going back to Oklahoma. I would love for Russ and Katie to go to the late years together. I would like to be the only thing that's worse than the Warriors. Basketball is more fun when the Lakers and the Knicks are competitive. Okay. Team USA, let's do it.

Thanks for listening to this. I'm bringing your NBA show. Working on getting some big guess. So keep listening to this show all throughout the summer. This is our time to shine. Katie, good luck. Go Team USA. Team Mobile is changing the game for good.

For a chance to win a trip for four to game one of the World Series, make your picks in TeamMobile's Home Run Derby Bracket Challenge at temobile.com slash MLB. No purchase necessary to enter or win. It ends July 10, 2016. opened illegal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia, 18 or older voidware prohibited for official rules and complete details. Visit MLB.com slash bracket challenge. Also, thank you to MBABot.net.

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