# Gil's Arena ERUPTS Over Ja Morant's Fresh Start, Giannis To Miami, & The Houston Rockets' Ceiling Part 1

An episode of [Gil's Arena](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1689097415), 18 Sep 2026, 1 h 13 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/895dfae1-64b0-4981-adea-b4b300f0d0f6/d9f272c8-3f62-406c-8a99-b4c901622828/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=d110bf8d-fc65-45fb-856f-b4b300f0d117

Gilbert Arenas, Nick Young, Marques Johnson, and Josiah Johnson bring you the best NBA show on the planet! This episode the couch discusses Ja Morant's fresh start in Portland, The new look backcourt of Ja and Dame, Giannis' next chapter in Miami + more! Presented by Polymarket - the world's largest prediction market. Use code ARENA when you sign up for a $50 bonus with a qualifying deposit of $10. https://app.polymarket.us/S8ac/ARENA 18+ Only. Restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Not available in all jurisdictions. Trading is risky. 100% loss can occur. See http://polymarket.com/tos for more information. The Polymarket US App serves as an independent software provider and affiliate of Polymarket US and Polymarket Clearing, the CFTC-regulated exchange and clearing organization. Follow Gil's Arena on socials: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/gilsarena0/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GilsArena0 Threads - https://www.threads.com/@gilsarena0 Twitter/X - https://x.com/GilsArenaShow Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/gilsarenashow TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@gilsarena TimeStamps: 0:00 - Cast Intro + special guest Marques Johnson 7:03 - Ja Morant fresh start 17:42- Expectations for Ja Morant with Portland this season 29:00 - Will Ja and Dame be able to CO-Exist in the same backcourt 38:50- Where could Portland be in the standings 44:30- discusses what caused Breakup between Giannis and Bucks 58:06 - Marquese when he first new Giannis was finna be special 59:21 - Prediction For Giannis with the heat (Timestamps may vary based on ads) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Welcome back to Gil's Arena presented by Poly Market and
[0:02] Speaker 1: powered by PlayMaker. How everybody feeling today? Hopefully they like
[0:14] Speaker 1: that too. I'm your host Josiah Johnson. I'm here with
[0:18] Speaker 1: NBA and 2K legend Gilbert Arenas.
[0:23] Speaker 2: Who is the.
[0:24] Speaker 3: Hardest working man in show business?
[0:26] Speaker 1: James Brown.
[0:27] Speaker 2: That was somebody's tag. That was somebody's tag. James Brown.
[0:29] Speaker 2: I feel good. The second hardest working man. This is
[0:31] Speaker 2: my ninth live this week. You have too many lives.
[0:34] Speaker 4: The hardest working man in the industry since James Brown.
[0:36] Speaker 4: Give it up for Gilbert Arenas.
[0:56] Speaker 1: We got NBA champion of the world, Swaggy P, Nick Young,
[1:00] Speaker 1: back here with us.
[1:00] Speaker 2: All right. Turn my light on, man. Turn his light on. Yeah.
[1:05] Speaker 1: And we got a special guest pulling back up to
[1:07] Speaker 1: the arena. Five-time All-Star, three-time All-NBA selection, Naismith Hall of
[1:12] Speaker 1: Fame finalist. Michael Jordan had his poster on the wall
[1:16] Speaker 1: of his college dorm. Currently an Emmy Award-winning analyst for
[1:19] Speaker 1: the Milwaukee Bucks. And soon-to-be best-selling author of the Crenshaw Chronicles,
[1:24] Speaker 1: an oral history documenting five decades of Crenshaw High told
[1:28] Speaker 1: through the lens of some of the school's biggest alumni, Also,
[1:31] Speaker 1: the co-creator of your favorite host, Marcus Johnson. Welcome back
[1:35] Speaker 1: to Gil's Arena.
[1:36] Speaker 4: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
[1:37] Speaker 1: Presented by Pauly Market Power, by Playmaker.
[1:40] Speaker 2: What's up, Dad?
[1:42] Speaker 1: How you doing?
[1:42] Speaker 4: It's all good, man. Just glad to be back. I
[1:45] Speaker 4: got to say this, though. A couple of things.
[1:48] Speaker 5: You should be like the player personnel director of podcasts.
[1:51] Speaker 5: So you move a shooting guard out, you bring a
[1:53] Speaker 5: shooting guard in.
[1:55] Speaker 4: You move a big out, you bring a big in.
[1:57] Speaker 4: I like the symmetry, man.
[1:58] Speaker 2: Good job. Like OKC, kind of like OKC.
[2:00] Speaker 4: Yeah, kind of like OKC. The other thing, last time
[2:02] Speaker 4: I was here, I almost got fired.
[2:04] Speaker 5: Because we were talking about the Bucs, and I was
[2:06] Speaker 5: saying how Dame Lillard told me this, and Dame Lillard
[2:09] Speaker 5: said that to me, and President Peter Fagan called me
[2:12] Speaker 5: in on the carpet. It's like, you can't be telling
[2:14] Speaker 5: everything that Dame Lillard tells you.
[2:16] Speaker 4: That's just privileged information.
[2:18] Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, boy.
[2:19] Speaker 5: You got me talking, so I had to just mention that. No, no,
[2:23] Speaker 5: I didn't really get almost.
[2:25] Speaker 2: Fired, but it was funny.
[2:26] Speaker 1: All good.
[2:27] Speaker 2: We'll get you talking again.
[2:29] Speaker 4: You got me spilling the beans.
[2:30] Speaker 2: We got it.
[2:31] Speaker 1: It's not Dame this time. It's the Greek freak, but
[2:34] Speaker 1: we got a lot to get into. Here's what's cracking
[2:36] Speaker 1: in the arena today. John Morant getting a fresh start
[2:40] Speaker 1: in Portland while Dame is making his return to the Blazers.
[2:43] Speaker 1: Will this dynamic backcourt duo put Portland in a position
[2:46] Speaker 1: to contend in the West? Giannis took his talents to
[2:49] Speaker 1: South Beach as the Heat finally landed the superstar they've
[2:52] Speaker 1: been waiting for. Which version of the Greek freak is
[2:55] Speaker 1: Miami getting this season? And Houston locked up burgeoning star
[2:59] Speaker 1: Amin Thompson with a five-year extension. What does this move
[3:03] Speaker 1: say about the present and future of the Rockets? But
[3:07] Speaker 1: before we get into all that, we got to talk
[3:08] Speaker 1: about something like we always do. Did you know these
[3:11] Speaker 1: sportsbooks is out here doing you dirty? The cash-out games,
[3:14] Speaker 1: the shady odds, them deciding when you can touch your
[3:17] Speaker 1: own money? Nah, it's time for something different. If you're
[3:19] Speaker 1: tired of getting ganked, delete your sportsbook app right now
[3:23] Speaker 1: and have no fear because Polymarket is here. Gil's Arena
[3:26] Speaker 1: is presented by Polymarket. Shout out to the good folks
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[3:32] Speaker 1: and you can make trades on damn near anything. With Polymarket,
[3:35] Speaker 1: you're trading against other users, not betting against a house
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[3:42] Speaker 1: to traders, them and the Rams are the clear favorite
[3:44] Speaker 1: to win the chip with 13% of traders. picking each
[3:49] Speaker 1: squad to hoist the championship trophy. But you already know
[3:52] Speaker 1: I'm rolling with the Rams, even though they got smacked
[3:53] Speaker 1: by the Niners in week one. With Polymarket, if things
[3:56] Speaker 1: ain't going your way, you can cash out whenever you want.
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[4:16] Speaker 2: In the world. Top flight of the world, Craig. Thank you.
[4:21] Speaker 1: It's getting quicker every day. It's getting less long with.
[4:25] Speaker 2: You every single day.
[4:27] Speaker 4: That's a long read.
[4:29] Speaker 2: I got time. I got time.
[4:31] Speaker 1: We got lights on in this building thanks to Polymarket.
[4:33] Speaker 1: We got five days a week. Shout out to everybody
[4:35] Speaker 1: who pulled up to this Friday show. This is our
[4:37] Speaker 1: first Friday. First Friday show. I mean, it's our first.
[4:40] Speaker 2: This is my first Friday at Gills Arena. This is
[4:44] Speaker 2: your second. Did they make me do a Friday? I
[4:47] Speaker 2: had to do a Friday one time. They sell out brothers.
[4:51] Speaker 1: They sell out brothers.
[4:53] Speaker 2: Yeah, they did a Friday, man. It's a great hit.
[4:58] Speaker 2: I was sitting there looking like.
[5:01] Speaker 1: The reverse Jackie Robinson.
[5:02] Speaker 2: Oh, that's hilarious.
[5:04] Speaker 1: Gil's Arena is everywhere you want to be, so shout
[5:05] Speaker 1: out to everybody watching the show on Twitch. If you're
[5:09] Speaker 1: watching on Twitch, make sure to follow our channel at
[5:11] Speaker 1: Gil's Arena Show and appreciate y'all for all the subs.
[5:14] Speaker 2: We everywhere, Gil Twitch.
[5:16] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[5:17] Speaker 2: Listen, I had a meeting with Twitch. Uh-uh.
[5:21] Speaker 3: And we got some things coming together because, you know, Twitch,
[5:26] Speaker 3: you got to, it's very different.
[5:28] Speaker 2: You got to be interactive with the Twitch crowd. What
[5:30] Speaker 2: do I got to do? No, no, no. We got
[5:32] Speaker 2: something to play. We got something to play with. Okay.
[5:35] Speaker 2: We get to be in real time with them. All right.
[5:38] Speaker 1: Shout out to everybody watching on Twitch. Be prepared for
[5:41] Speaker 1: some big things coming in the near future. Let's get
[5:43] Speaker 1: into some basketball discourse, though. After years of contention between
[5:46] Speaker 1: him and his former franchise, the John Morant era with
[5:49] Speaker 1: the Grizzlies officially came to an end this summer after
[5:52] Speaker 1: seven seasons. Memphis traded the former Rookie of the Year
[5:55] Speaker 1: two-time All-Star to the Blazers for the low-low, with the
[5:58] Speaker 1: Grizzlies getting Jeremy Grant, Chris Murray, and no draft capital.
[6:02] Speaker 1: Now John joins a Blazer squad that is creeping on
[6:04] Speaker 1: a come-up. Portland finished seventh in the West last season,
[6:07] Speaker 1: making the playoffs for the first time since 2021. before
[6:10] Speaker 1: getting the Gentleman's Suite by the Spurs, has a roster
[6:13] Speaker 1: featuring all-star in Danny Avdija, who is coming off the
[6:16] Speaker 1: best season in his career, and a loaded backcourt with
[6:19] Speaker 1: Dame Drew Holliday, Scoot Henderson, and a burgeoning star in
[6:22] Speaker 1: Shayna Sharp. Sharp expected to miss more than half of
[6:24] Speaker 1: the season, though, after a knee injury back in August
[6:27] Speaker 1: during an off-season workout. So during his first media availability
[6:30] Speaker 1: following the trade, Ja had this to say about his
[6:33] Speaker 1: new home.
[6:33] Speaker 2: Do you feel like you need a new start?
[6:35] Speaker 6: Do I feel like I need a new start? I mean,
[6:37] Speaker 6: I love it. I'm happy for it.
[6:40] Speaker 1: Why?
[6:41] Speaker 6: Uh, get to, you know, start fresh. Like you said, um,
[6:46] Speaker 6: new home, new team, new organization. Um, I get to show,
[6:51] Speaker 6: you know, the fans in Portland, you know, a different job. Um,
[6:55] Speaker 6: so it's like starting all over again.
[6:57] Speaker 2: What is a different job in your mind?
[6:59] Speaker 1: A different job.
[7:00] Speaker 2: What does that mean?
[7:01] Speaker 6: Um, it's a lot. I feel like over the years
[7:05] Speaker 6: I've grown a lot. You know, I learned a lot. Um,
[7:07] Speaker 6: mindset changed. Um, go into things differently now. So I
[7:12] Speaker 6: just feel like a more mature and just ready to
[7:17] Speaker 6: work job.
[7:18] Speaker 2: How do you see your fit on the court? I mean,
[7:20] Speaker 2: they have a lot of other guards that are kind
[7:22] Speaker 2: of play a lot on ball, you know, Dame, Drew, Scoot,
[7:25] Speaker 2: you know, Danny also plays. Like, how do you kind
[7:27] Speaker 2: of see your on-court fit going with this team?
[7:29] Speaker 1: I mean, I love it.
[7:30] Speaker 6: I feel like all those guys you named probably will
[7:32] Speaker 6: most likely unlock, you know, new parts of my game. And,
[7:35] Speaker 6: you know, I feel like I can do the same
[7:37] Speaker 6: for them. I don't feel like it'll be a problem.
[7:39] Speaker 6: You know, having us on the floor or making sure,
[7:44] Speaker 6: you know, minutes match or anything. I feel like we
[7:46] Speaker 6: all very unselfish and the ultimate goal is to win.
[7:49] Speaker 1: And, you know, that's what we're trying to do.
[7:50] Speaker 2: Do you care if you start or come off the bench?
[7:53] Speaker 1: Nah, I don't.
[7:57] Speaker 2: Bruh.
[7:57] Speaker 1: He got the Blazers polo on him.
[7:59] Speaker 7: He answered them questions right.
[8:02] Speaker 2: Yeah, the Blazers polo, the undershirt. He answered them questions right.
[8:06] Speaker 2: Too politically correct. What?
[8:10] Speaker 4: You think he had help?
[8:10] Speaker 5: You think he had a professional kind of image management
[8:14] Speaker 5: type team working with him?
[8:15] Speaker 4: Or is that kind of, you believe that's just all job?
[8:17] Speaker 3: That had to be all job because that question was,
[8:21] Speaker 3: that gets you slapped.
[8:24] Speaker 2: The audacity.
[8:24] Speaker 1: Oh, man.
[8:25] Speaker 2: To come off the bench? To come off the bench. Oh, yeah.
[8:27] Speaker 4: Come off the bench.
[8:28] Speaker 2: Yeah, that was crazy. That didn't even register. Me? Yeah.
[8:31] Speaker 2: That was crazy. That was crazy. All right, man. Y'all
[8:34] Speaker 2: better train me again, man. We got to start with
[8:36] Speaker 2: the bullshit. Y'all got me effed up, man. I'm the bench.
[8:39] Speaker 2: Come on.
[8:39] Speaker 4: You're called the bench.
[8:41] Speaker 2: That's crazy. Do you see this team? Okay. All right.
[8:47] Speaker 2: So good job, but humble job. I know that's what
[8:50] Speaker 2: I'm saying. It's like, wait, no, I don't know if
[8:52] Speaker 2: I want this one.
[8:53] Speaker 1: Reflective job, out in nature, out in Portland, beautiful Pacific Northwest,
[8:57] Speaker 1: no sales tax.
[8:58] Speaker 4: Earth shoes, hiking.
[8:59] Speaker 2: Getting things for a discount. Yeah, that'd be nice. You
[9:02] Speaker 2: didn't like that? I like the answers, though. No, no,
[9:06] Speaker 2: I like the answers. Okay, my thing is it's going
[9:11] Speaker 2: to be always because, you know, I know the NBA,
[9:14] Speaker 2: I know how it moves.
[9:17] Speaker 3: I know the marketing and all of that. You want
[9:19] Speaker 3: the new job. You want a fresh start. You got
[9:23] Speaker 3: to have a fresh look.
[9:25] Speaker 2: Don't bring the Memphis YN look there. So if they
[9:30] Speaker 2: traded me, I would have got rid of all that.
[9:35] Speaker 2: Let that red on it.
[9:36] Speaker 1: Red in Memphis.
[9:38] Speaker 2: You think so? Jesus Christ had dreads, though. Yeah, so
[9:41] Speaker 2: shake them. Yeah, he had dreads.
[9:43] Speaker 5: Yeah, but Jesus Christ didn't have the reputation that John had.
[9:48] Speaker 2: Huh?
[9:49] Speaker 5: Jesus Christ didn't have the reputation that John had. He
[9:50] Speaker 5: said Jesus Christ had dreads. Jesus Christ wasn't doing all that.
[9:53] Speaker 2: I would have told him, you come in there, bring
[9:56] Speaker 2: back the pretty boy.
[9:58] Speaker 5: I think the big deal is going to be the
[10:01] Speaker 5: change of environment, leaving Memphis.
[10:04] Speaker 4: Memphis just got crazy.
[10:06] Speaker 5: It's been crazy for a while, but the last five
[10:08] Speaker 5: years it's been top five in murders per capita. Portland's
[10:11] Speaker 5: a whole different vibe. I just think the vibe for him,
[10:15] Speaker 5: small town South Carolina, going to Memphis with all the
[10:18] Speaker 5: The rap element, the Slim Shiesties and the Puglocks and
[10:22] Speaker 5: all that stuff.
[10:23] Speaker 2: The Puglocks. You know. You're an old man.
[10:27] Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm 70 years old, which you won't. But no, no, no.
[10:29] Speaker 5: But it's just time for a change. And then Micah Norrie,
[10:32] Speaker 5: I was kind of looking at his background. Now, he's
[10:34] Speaker 5: got the one-year deal right, kind of a make-good situation
[10:36] Speaker 5: up there, which is not ideal. but the fact that
[10:39] Speaker 5: he coached the Ant-Man in Minnesota for the last five years.
[10:44] Speaker 5: And not to say Anthony Edwards is difficult or whatever, but,
[10:46] Speaker 5: you know, he's kind of his own guy.
[10:48] Speaker 4: He's outspoken. He says what he wants to say.
[10:51] Speaker 5: And just the fact he's been around, Michael Norris has
[10:53] Speaker 5: been around that kind of energy for five years, I
[10:55] Speaker 5: think will help some.
[10:56] Speaker 4: But we'll see. We'll see.
[10:58] Speaker 5: I'm still not sold on that whole, you know, how
[11:01] Speaker 5: do you distribute playing time and all that. But with
[11:04] Speaker 5: Dame and Drew, I know both those guys through– my
[11:07] Speaker 5: association with the Bucks. And Dame is, you know, East
[11:10] Speaker 5: Oakland guy, but he's one of the most stablest guys
[11:16] Speaker 5: I've been around, even though everything he went through in
[11:18] Speaker 5: Milwaukee with the divorce and all that, but just a
[11:20] Speaker 5: great guy.
[11:20] Speaker 4: Then Drew is Drew.
[11:21] Speaker 5: Drew's going to be always one of the top kind
[11:23] Speaker 5: of Walter Kennedy citizenship award guys in the league pretty.
[11:26] Speaker 4: Much every year. I don't know if this generation, that's
[11:29] Speaker 4: enough to rub off, though.
[11:30] Speaker 2: I don't know.
[11:30] Speaker 4: You guys know it better than I do. I just
[11:31] Speaker 4: don't know.
[11:31] Speaker 5: I don't know if you even fight that because people
[11:34] Speaker 5: are expecting you to conform to how they are and
[11:36] Speaker 5: you want to like, no, I'm my own man.
[11:37] Speaker 4: I'm going to be my own man, do my own thing.
[11:38] Speaker 4: I'm not going to conform.
[11:39] Speaker 5: So you go the other way trying not to conform.
[11:42] Speaker 3: You know, like what I've noticed is players respect accomplishments.
[11:49] Speaker 2: Yeah. Right? So when you're talking about Ja and Memphis, when.
[11:54] Speaker 3: He's turning into who he is, Who's his peer to
[11:58] Speaker 3: look up to, to listen to? No matter what vet
[12:01] Speaker 3: is on a team, if you can identify with what
[12:05] Speaker 3: I go through, not from the hood or anything, just
[12:09] Speaker 3: being a superstar, who's teaching me how to move. So
[12:13] Speaker 3: I'm moving how my friends are moving. They want to
[12:17] Speaker 3: stay to the club and drink, and that's all I know.
[12:19] Speaker 3: So when Derrick Rose got there, That's his first time.
[12:24] Speaker 2: How does a superstar look? What do they do? So
[12:27] Speaker 2: the fact that Dame has that, hey, now we don't
[12:30] Speaker 2: do that. We don't do that. You got to move
[12:31] Speaker 2: like that.
[12:32] Speaker 3: You should see a lot of changes in how that
[12:36] Speaker 3: type of person moves. Because other than that, you don't
[12:38] Speaker 3: know if you don't have one, you know, that's teaching
[12:41] Speaker 3: you how to move like a superstar.
[12:42] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[12:42] Speaker 2: We think we can do the same thing as our friends. Right. Right.
[12:45] Speaker 2: If he wants to go out there drinking, come, you know,
[12:47] Speaker 2: we seen that taking 20 shots.
[12:49] Speaker 1: Right.
[12:50] Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't supposed to do that. Right.
[12:52] Speaker 2: I got to put it in a water bottle. You know,
[12:55] Speaker 2: give me some water. Fill it up with vodka.
[12:57] Speaker 1: So still take the 20 shots.
[12:58] Speaker 2: No, still take the 20 shots. But just put it
[13:00] Speaker 2: in the water. No, but somebody told me that. Hey, man, listen,
[13:03] Speaker 2: I wouldn't take shots in public. I was like, well,
[13:06] Speaker 2: why not? Everybody else doing it. He said, you're not
[13:08] Speaker 2: like them. You're on the billboard. Right.
[13:10] Speaker 3: He said, you sitting there taking 20 shots. You get
[13:12] Speaker 3: in your car. Undercover cops seeing you. They're going to pull.
[13:15] Speaker 2: You right over. Boom. They got you. So disguise it.
[13:19] Speaker 2: Drink at home.
[13:21] Speaker 3: You still get it.
[13:25] Speaker 2: But you know what I mean.
[13:26] Speaker 5: You said something interesting in terms of respecting accomplishment. So
[13:31] Speaker 5: would he have the same respect if it were a
[13:34] Speaker 5: Zach Levine, for example, kind of trying to guide him
[13:37] Speaker 5: and tell him how to be a perfectionist?
[13:39] Speaker 4: Kind of.
[13:40] Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
[13:40] Speaker 3: It's still one of those like you, I got to
[13:43] Speaker 3: be able to like, when you're telling me something, I
[13:46] Speaker 3: got to look at you and And say.
[13:48] Speaker 2: Oh, all right, all right. You know, he led the
[13:49] Speaker 2: league in school. He did. Or, like, man, shut your
[13:51] Speaker 2: sorry ass up. And that's what happens.
[13:53] Speaker 1: Right.
[13:54] Speaker 2: Right. Yeah. Right? Like, I was a bench player and
[13:57] Speaker 2: did it. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. How much you average
[13:59] Speaker 2: in the league? Six.
[14:01] Speaker 3: All right, if I want to average six, I'll take
[14:02] Speaker 3: your advice. Where the motherfuckers who average 20? Because that's
[14:05] Speaker 3: what I'm trying to get to.
[14:06] Speaker 2: You didn't do that. Like, you average. You didn't do
[14:08] Speaker 2: that to me. Yes, I did. You take 200 shots.
[14:11] Speaker 1: You take 200 shots. Right.
[14:12] Speaker 2: You know?
[14:14] Speaker 3: You know, during the game, I mean, before games, okay,
[14:17] Speaker 3: I'm going to take, you know, the six, you know, 12, 18,
[14:20] Speaker 3: I'm going to take 600 shots.
[14:21] Speaker 7: But everybody on your team then pretty much average six, eight,
[14:25] Speaker 7: like Bobby Serra, Mookie, Mookie, whatever.
[14:28] Speaker 2: I didn't see why I didn't listen to him.
[14:29] Speaker 4: What are the all-time great kind of consider the source
[14:31] Speaker 4: moments for me?
[14:41] Speaker 5: I was playing with the Clippers, and my teammate was
[14:43] Speaker 5: Cedric Maxwell. He got traded from Boston for Bill Walton.
[14:45] Speaker 5: He's one of the funniest guys, most intelligent. Could beat
[14:48] Speaker 5: an automated chessboard easily.
[14:51] Speaker 4: I'm struggling.
[14:52] Speaker 5: He's like, hey, Cap, let me see that. Checkmate handed
[14:54] Speaker 5: back to me in like 10 minutes.
[14:55] Speaker 4: I'm like, god damn.
[14:57] Speaker 5: So our assistant coach, Brad Greenberg, who was later our
[14:59] Speaker 5: personnel director with the Sixers draft, drafted Allen Iverson.
[15:02] Speaker 4: He worked in Portland for a while. But he was
[15:04] Speaker 4: an assistant, fresh out of college, St. Joe's, behind Jimmy Lynam.
[15:07] Speaker 4: So he comes up to Maxwell in practice.
[15:08] Speaker 5: He says, Max, I was playing in my wide league
[15:12] Speaker 5: last night, and I saw this move that I thought
[15:14] Speaker 5: would really help you.
[15:15] Speaker 4: Can I show it to you? And Max said, man,
[15:17] Speaker 4: you don't get the F out of here, man. A
[15:19] Speaker 4: wide ball, Brad?
[15:19] Speaker 2: A wide ball?
[15:20] Speaker 4: You're going to show me a move in a wide ball?
[15:21] Speaker 2: This is the NBA.
[15:22] Speaker 5: You're going to show me a move? You know, I
[15:25] Speaker 5: was embarrassed for Brad, but I understood Max's point.
[15:28] Speaker 4: You know, you get where I'm coming from.
[15:31] Speaker 1: Yes.
[15:31] Speaker 4: Wide ball?
[15:32] Speaker 2: Really?
[15:33] Speaker 1: Wide ball?
[15:33] Speaker 2: It might have been a good move, though. It may
[15:35] Speaker 2: have been. It may have been.
[15:36] Speaker 1: Wide ball.
[15:37] Speaker 4: Wide ball.
[15:38] Speaker 2: Great move for wide ball. Yeah, but.
[15:40] Speaker 4: Back to what happened, so anyway.
[15:42] Speaker 1: So looking back at Jai, Jai averaged 20 points, eight
[15:45] Speaker 1: assists in 20 games last season dealing with calf and
[15:47] Speaker 1: elbow injuries. And injury suspensions and off-court controversy limited him
[15:51] Speaker 1: to 79 games over his final three seasons in Memphis.
[15:55] Speaker 1: So he's got two years remaining on his deal, 87
[15:57] Speaker 1: million coming his way. This move seems to make sense
[16:00] Speaker 1: on both the basketball and business front with Nike headquarters
[16:03] Speaker 1: less than 20 minutes away. Blazers have an opportunity to
[16:07] Speaker 1: build on the success of last season. Obviously, Jai gets
[16:09] Speaker 1: a chance new chapter for himself. But Gil, when you
[16:12] Speaker 1: look at this... What's 20 minutes away? Nike Headquarters. Nike Store.
[16:17] Speaker 1: Nike Employee Store. 50% discount for those that know. No
[16:19] Speaker 1: sales tax.
[16:20] Speaker 2: Okay. You can come up.
[16:21] Speaker 1: Yeah, I get it. But Gil, what are your expectations
[16:25] Speaker 1: for John Morant this season with the Blazers?
[16:31] Speaker 2: We're going to see exactly what we've been seeing from John.
[16:34] Speaker 2: The excitement, the highlights, the wow moments, the The superstardom.
[16:42] Speaker 3: Now you have a team and you have teammates who
[16:46] Speaker 3: can keep the emotional side of them balanced, right?
[16:51] Speaker 2: You know, when I get hyphy and my other YNs
[16:56] Speaker 2: get hyphy, you know, it's one of those now, you know,
[16:58] Speaker 2: when I'm hitting big shots and Dame's over there, good job,
[17:01] Speaker 2: and keeping mellow. Like, he's going to teach them, you know,
[17:05] Speaker 2: it'll teach them how to balance those emotions.
[17:08] Speaker 3: So I think you're going to see a more efficient
[17:12] Speaker 3: style of Ja. He's going to be playing at a very,
[17:16] Speaker 3: very high level. Big high level.
[17:19] Speaker 1: High level. Swag, let's shift over to you. What are
[17:21] Speaker 1: your expectations for John Morant this season? First season with
[17:24] Speaker 1: the Blazers, new Ja, new team, new me.
[17:27] Speaker 2: I think he's just tired of it, tired of it.
[17:29] Speaker 7: I think he's got to find it himself and find, like,
[17:34] Speaker 7: who Ja is on his own before he tries to
[17:39] Speaker 7: get help from others, you know. I think he found it.
[17:43] Speaker 7: I think that's all John and I interviewed. Watching some
[17:46] Speaker 7: of his highlights on Instagram from this summer. Looking amazing.
[17:50] Speaker 7: Doing dunks and jumping like... Did you see that?
[17:53] Speaker 2: Jumping like I ain't never seen somebody jump. He's crazy.
[17:57] Speaker 2: And I.
[17:59] Speaker 7: Think it's only right he got the best shoe out.
[18:01] Speaker 7: The kids still love him. He in Portland, I feel
[18:06] Speaker 7: like Dame's going to help. He don't have to do
[18:09] Speaker 7: too much. He could be Like a better bang for him.
[18:14] Speaker 7: Jocker had the ball, kick out, Dane could spot up, shoot.
[18:16] Speaker 7: He could do a lot. Drew Holliday could, he could
[18:21] Speaker 7: even go small sometimes. Drew could play the four sometimes,
[18:24] Speaker 7: depending on who's out there. He did it in, you know,
[18:29] Speaker 7: he could guard a Jane and Daniels or, you know,
[18:32] Speaker 7: other teams go small. So, I think Dirk do it.
[18:36] Speaker 2: So, I think.
[18:38] Speaker 7: I think Drew could do it, too. So I think
[18:41] Speaker 7: they're going to be all right. They got a nice team,
[18:43] Speaker 7: for sure. You talk about jobs, it's an impact on
[18:45] Speaker 7: the culture.
[18:46] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[18:46] Speaker 1: The kids love the jobs, but the old heads love
[18:48] Speaker 1: the jobs, too. You see me, I'm rocking a pair
[18:49] Speaker 1: of jobs right now. Okay, okay.
[18:51] Speaker 2: Got them to plug over at Hibbett and Nike. Those all? Yeah.
[18:55] Speaker 1: Can't get these yet. Let's shift over to this side
[18:58] Speaker 1: of the couch. I don't think there was no Jaws.
[19:01] Speaker 1: Those ain't came out yet. What did they say on
[19:04] Speaker 1: the back? What's on the front? What's the first letter
[19:06] Speaker 1: right there? Is that a J? Those are team Jaws.
[19:09] Speaker 1: Team Jaws.
[19:09] Speaker 2: The Rosses. The Jaws. The Jai-ish.
[19:11] Speaker 1: The Jai-ish.
[19:11] Speaker 2: Headers in the building. I know you don't have a
[19:15] Speaker 2: bear spot.
[19:15] Speaker 5: He really thought he was going to get the Jaws early.
[19:18] Speaker 2: Jai-ish. Oh.
[19:30] Speaker 4: John Light.
[19:30] Speaker 2: The host with the most. John Light.
[19:32] Speaker 1: Well, let's shift over to this side. Obviously, you've covered
[19:36] Speaker 1: John for a long time during your time in the league.
[19:38] Speaker 1: What are your expectations for John Morant here? New chapter.
[19:41] Speaker 1: Got Mike Inouye, like you mentioned.
[19:42] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[19:43] Speaker 1: Seasoned vet assistant coach on a one-year prove-it deal. New
[19:47] Speaker 1: Blazers ownership, too, though.
[19:48] Speaker 2: Little, little. A little shady on that side.
[19:51] Speaker 4: Very interesting.
[19:51] Speaker 2: Very interesting situations.
[19:53] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[19:55] Speaker 5: Well, first off, to me, this is the last house
[19:57] Speaker 5: on the block for him. I mean, it's just he's
[20:00] Speaker 5: been down with a couple of years now. I mean,
[20:03] Speaker 5: he's got to make it happen right now. This is
[20:04] Speaker 5: his chance to reinvent himself. I like, as we talked about,
[20:08] Speaker 5: what he said on the introductory press conference with the energy,
[20:11] Speaker 5: kind of the positive attitude. You could see a little
[20:13] Speaker 5: bit of, you know, contemplative kind of introspection. He wasn't
[20:19] Speaker 5: all just out there just trying to be all out
[20:22] Speaker 5: there live and talk stuff and talk trash and talk smack.
[20:25] Speaker 2: I'm back. I'm back.
[20:26] Speaker 5: You know, you could see. I think he understands. This
[20:30] Speaker 5: is where he's got to make it happen. And then
[20:31] Speaker 5: as far as the coaching staff, initially I'm looking at–
[20:35] Speaker 5: Mike Inouye and his background, Minnesota, I'm kind of worried
[20:39] Speaker 5: about that a bit. But then when you think about
[20:41] Speaker 5: Drew Holiday and you think about Dame Lillard, as long
[20:43] Speaker 5: as Mike Inouye plugs in to those guys, I would
[20:47] Speaker 5: talk to them more than I would talk to Ja almost.
[20:49] Speaker 4: Like, what do you think I need to have?
[20:50] Speaker 2: How's it going?
[20:50] Speaker 4: You got a feel for everything in the locker room.
[20:53] Speaker 2: It's Ja.
[20:53] Speaker 4: He's cool. Everything's, you know.
[20:55] Speaker 5: I'd really, really plug into those guys, lean on those
[20:57] Speaker 5: guys to kind of figure out and engage the temperature
[21:01] Speaker 5: of how Ja is adjusting to Portland. That being said,
[21:06] Speaker 5: I mean, I love him. He's one of the most
[21:08] Speaker 5: dynamic players I've seen in a long, long time.
[21:11] Speaker 4: I love his.
[21:11] Speaker 5: Backstory where he was, you know, Murray State, but nobody's
[21:16] Speaker 5: recruiting him. And then a blow up like he did
[21:19] Speaker 5: after his sophomore year there coming to the league rookie
[21:21] Speaker 5: of the year, blah, blah, blah. So so he's just
[21:23] Speaker 5: got to turn it around. Now, this is this is
[21:24] Speaker 5: that chance that a few players, a lot of players get.
[21:29] Speaker 5: But for him, he's got to maximize this opportunity right now.
[21:33] Speaker 4: And so we'll see.
[21:33] Speaker 5: I'm hoping that he comes back and comes back with
[21:36] Speaker 5: the flourish and, you know, returns to the form that
[21:39] Speaker 5: we all love as basketball fans. But it's not a given.
[21:43] Speaker 5: You know, I got to say that it's not a given.
[21:45] Speaker 5: So we'll see how he responds. But the elements are there.
[21:48] Speaker 5: Portland instead of Memphis, Dame, Drew, new staff, all that
[21:52] Speaker 5: good stuff going on. So I'm pulling for him is
[21:56] Speaker 5: what I can say, man. I'm pulling for him big time.
[21:58] Speaker 1: Do we feel like the Blazers are a league pass
[22:00] Speaker 1: must watch?
[22:01] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[22:02] Speaker 1: This season. What?
[22:05] Speaker 2: Yes.
[22:06] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[22:06] Speaker 2: You don't think so?
[22:08] Speaker 3: It's one of those things with Jai is for a
[22:13] Speaker 3: normal player, this is your last stop.
[22:15] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[22:17] Speaker 2: No matter, I call it like that Chris Brown effect.
[22:20] Speaker 2: Year eight? Year eight, I'm 26. 27. I'm 26 and
[22:25] Speaker 2: my head can touch the backboard.
[22:28] Speaker 1: Right.
[22:28] Speaker 3: So there's things I can do that others can't. That's
[22:32] Speaker 3: why I am who I am. That's why you come
[22:34] Speaker 3: to see me.
[22:35] Speaker 2: So there will be moments where, ah, jaw's off, we're
[22:39] Speaker 2: off jaw, and he's going to jump over somebody and
[22:41] Speaker 2: do some shit that's just be like, oh, we forgot. Right?
[22:45] Speaker 2: Because he's still 26, 27.
[22:48] Speaker 3: So it's not like this is a 32-year-old who, like,
[22:51] Speaker 3: he's just now hitting his real jumping ability, and he's
[22:54] Speaker 3: going to be doing things.
[22:55] Speaker 2: Out there where you are forced To still invest. Now
[23:01] Speaker 2: that Nike has him closer, they get to control what
[23:06] Speaker 2: goes out about him for the next year or two.
[23:10] Speaker 2: And then hopefully in the next year or two, they
[23:11] Speaker 2: can repackage it out to the world. Because at the
[23:14] Speaker 2: end of the day, the way his style is, the kids, AAU,
[23:20] Speaker 2: is going to always want Ja.
[23:24] Speaker 5: If you're coaching him, do you walk on eggshells around him,
[23:27] Speaker 5: or do you coach him harder? I mean, where do
[23:29] Speaker 5: you find that? That's my thing with Michael Norton. How
[23:32] Speaker 5: do you– Coach Wooden used to say that you handle
[23:35] Speaker 5: horses and you work with players. How do you work
[23:37] Speaker 5: with John Morant in a situation like– you give him
[23:39] Speaker 5: a long leash to kind of do his thing, figure
[23:41] Speaker 5: his way out, or do you.
[23:43] Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, what are you coaching? The game? The
[23:46] Speaker 2: game is the game.
[23:47] Speaker 5: Well, I mean, but if he's out there and he's
[23:48] Speaker 5: not doing what you want, you've got to bring him
[23:50] Speaker 5: to the sideline. Do you just not– confront him and
[23:53] Speaker 5: let him walk to the bench and talk to him
[23:55] Speaker 5: in private, or do you actually get into him in
[23:58] Speaker 5: front of people where you can, you know, have the
[24:00] Speaker 5: opportunity for him not accepting how you want him to
[24:03] Speaker 5: accept it?
[24:04] Speaker 2: I look at, you know, a situation like that is,
[24:07] Speaker 2: you know, Dame, you're the veteran here, right? You see
[24:12] Speaker 2: the talent. You're going to need him.
[24:13] Speaker 3: Like, you know, you two are the combo, so that's
[24:17] Speaker 3: Dame's job, in a sense.
[24:18] Speaker 2: You know, players check players' More than a coach can.
[24:23] Speaker 4: A lot more effective.
[24:24] Speaker 1: Right?
[24:24] Speaker 3: There's already the pecking order. So, you know, Dame is
[24:29] Speaker 3: going to bring him under his wing, and that's how
[24:30] Speaker 3: that's going to move. So coach is basically you. He's
[24:34] Speaker 3: going to talk to Dame. Dame will relay the message
[24:36] Speaker 3: to everybody else. Why are you scared to talk to Dame?
[24:38] Speaker 3: John don't have a coach. Like, could you talk to me? Yes, motherfucker.
[24:43] Speaker 1: The players can.
[24:44] Speaker 2: I could be like, I understand what you went through.
[24:46] Speaker 2: Could Ted talk to me? You're a player coach, though.
[24:48] Speaker 2: Could Ted talk to me? That's different. Okay, it's the coach. No, no,
[24:51] Speaker 2: that's different. You knew his, son. I just grabbed a
[24:58] Speaker 2: little playbook, put your little suit on, man.
[25:00] Speaker 7: I got the court. He came different, though. Ted came
[25:04] Speaker 7: another way.
[25:05] Speaker 2: I know, but that's what I'm saying. It's like... That's what.
[25:08] Speaker 7: You could talk to Ja, I think, while trying to
[25:10] Speaker 7: yell at him or something. You understand what he's going through, too,
[25:13] Speaker 7: at the same time.
[25:14] Speaker 1: I think Micah Norrie's personality, this is what we've seen
[25:16] Speaker 1: in interviews and kind of his last situation. You look
[25:18] Speaker 1: at Chris Finch, kind of hard-nosed, tough coach. Don't sugarcoat
[25:22] Speaker 1: what I do. Micah Norrie seems a little bit more,
[25:24] Speaker 1: but that's Micah Norrie in an assistant coaching role. That's
[25:26] Speaker 1: not him with the power now, but I think he knows.
[25:29] Speaker 1: This is his one-year audition, basically, to be NBA head coach.
[25:32] Speaker 1: He's going to have to figure it out.
[25:33] Speaker 3: I don't know if Josh's problem has ever been, I
[25:36] Speaker 3: don't like the coach and I'm not listening to the coach.
[25:38] Speaker 3: That's probably not his problem. I mean, we know what
[25:40] Speaker 3: his problem is. It's being young with too much money.
[25:43] Speaker 2: Yeah. On the internet. Yeah. That's his problem. Yeah, I
[25:50] Speaker 2: got the Superman syndrome. Can't tell me nothing.
[25:54] Speaker 3: If I want to go strip club and they're going
[25:56] Speaker 3: to let me in with my gun with all those
[25:57] Speaker 3: girls around me, I'm going to do it.
[25:59] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[26:00] Speaker 2: I can't say I didn't do it. I did it.
[26:02] Speaker 1: Dollar bills on the club. Dollar bills on the club.
[26:05] Speaker 2: So those are the elements of a young player without guidance. Yeah.
[26:09] Speaker 3: I have more money than everybody around me.
[26:14] Speaker 2: I can do whatever I want. And you can't tell
[26:17] Speaker 2: me nothing. And the coach around him, too. Yeah.
[26:21] Speaker 1: So it was like, what.
[26:22] Speaker 2: Well.
[26:22] Speaker 5: And like I said, the environment, Portland versus Memphis.
[26:26] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[26:26] Speaker 2: I mean, I can buy shit in Portland. I can
[26:27] Speaker 2: get in trouble in Portland. I mean, Z-Bo got in trouble.
[26:29] Speaker 1: I'm not sure.
[26:30] Speaker 5: What the strip club per capita is versus the two
[26:32] Speaker 5: cities that.
[26:33] Speaker 2: I've been to. I don't know for sure, but I've
[26:34] Speaker 2: heard that they do have some.
[26:36] Speaker 1: Portland does have.
[26:36] Speaker 2: Portland, if you want to find.
[26:38] Speaker 1: $ 2 bills, whatever you're looking for.
[26:40] Speaker 2: Right, right, right.
[26:41] Speaker 1: Much like anywhere in the universe.
[26:42] Speaker 2: Portland Trail Gangsters. Was that Trail Gangsters? I mean, they
[26:44] Speaker 2: found out how to get in trouble. The Jill Blazers.
[26:46] Speaker 4: Jill Blazers.
[26:46] Speaker 1: Jill Blazers.
[26:47] Speaker 3: They found out how to get in trouble, but, you know, it's...
[26:50] Speaker 3: You know, it's age, right? If you look at the
[26:54] Speaker 3: young players that's superstar potential and they're wilder than we expect,
[27:02] Speaker 3: look at the rest of the team.
[27:03] Speaker 2: Right.
[27:04] Speaker 3: The team is young, so they're all growing together. Usually
[27:08] Speaker 3: the stable-minded players, like a Shea, who was Shea's vets
[27:13] Speaker 3: when he came into the league?
[27:15] Speaker 2: Chris. He had Pat Beverly and Lou Will. Then Chris Paul.
[27:21] Speaker 1: Paul, yeah.
[27:22] Speaker 2: Right? So he gets to watch and see. I get
[27:24] Speaker 2: to watch Chris Paul and see how Chris Paul moves. Oh, okay,
[27:28] Speaker 2: so he don't do that. He don't do that. Okay,
[27:30] Speaker 2: all right. So you get taught, and that's usually how
[27:32] Speaker 2: that works.
[27:33] Speaker 3: If you come in and you're 19 and you're the
[27:35] Speaker 3: superstar and everybody around you is.
[27:37] Speaker 2: 19, 20, 21, y'all are teaching each other. There's going
[27:40] Speaker 2: to always be bad habits. Yeah.
[27:42] Speaker 1: So when you look at that backcourt right now, you
[27:43] Speaker 1: got Ja, you got Dame. Dame obviously missed all last
[27:46] Speaker 1: season recovering from the Achilles injury. But in the previous season,
[27:49] Speaker 1: he did play. 25 points per game, all-star, still playing
[27:53] Speaker 1: at a high level. Is that backcourt going to be
[27:55] Speaker 1: able to coexist together in Portland? It's a question, too.
[28:01] Speaker 2: Yes.
[28:02] Speaker 3: I mean, both players actually played with their second guard
[28:07] Speaker 3: being a scorer. CJ McCullough and Dame, that was his
[28:11] Speaker 3: best years. And then Ja and Bane.
[28:15] Speaker 1: Right?
[28:15] Speaker 2: So both players have played with another guard that actually scored.
[28:19] Speaker 2: So All they're going to do is just bounce from
[28:22] Speaker 2: one to two. Right? I'm the point guard. You take off.
[28:25] Speaker 2: You know, I'm the point guard. You're going to take off. Yeah, yeah.
[28:28] Speaker 3: So it's just going to be just this fast-paced dynamic.
[28:31] Speaker 2: Between the one, two, and the three. They're going to
[28:33] Speaker 2: score a lot of points at the one, two, three.
[28:35] Speaker 4: And Drew's used to that, too.
[28:36] Speaker 5: I mean, playing in Boston with Jalen Brown and Jason
[28:38] Speaker 5: Tatum and all.
[28:39] Speaker 4: He's into it. How old is Drew, like 37, 37? Yeah, yeah,
[28:42] Speaker 4: he's come off the bench.
[28:43] Speaker 2: He's the come-off-the-bench age. Did Drew come off the bench?
[28:47] Speaker 2: Did Drew ass on that bench? Right, right. 36, he
[28:49] Speaker 2: turned 36 in June.
[28:50] Speaker 5: Yeah, and so he's been into that accept my role
[28:53] Speaker 5: kind of mind. Not even accept it, but carve out
[28:56] Speaker 5: the role that's going to help this team be the
[28:57] Speaker 5: most successful.
[28:58] Speaker 4: He did that in Boston.
[28:59] Speaker 2: They couldn't go Ja, Dame, and Drew?
[29:03] Speaker 4: Well, I like your idea.
[29:04] Speaker 5: I mean, you could put Drew in like some small
[29:05] Speaker 5: ball threes or whatever, whatever, however you want to match
[29:07] Speaker 5: him up, yeah.
[29:09] Speaker 4: That might even help Drew.
[29:10] Speaker 2: I mean, you could if you want to lose every game.
[29:14] Speaker 2: Who's that three man right now? Huh? Who's that three man?
[29:16] Speaker 2: I hope it's somebody over 6'4.
[29:18] Speaker 4: Tumani Kamara?
[29:19] Speaker 2: Is that it? It was Shea Dork and Wiggins. Huh?
[29:23] Speaker 2: It's the same thing. Shea Dork and Wiggins. Shea Dork
[29:26] Speaker 2: and Wiggins. Shade. Lou Doerr. And Wiggins. Wiggins. And then 7'7.
[29:31] Speaker 2: They got the overseas move. 7'7. You see that? They
[29:35] Speaker 2: got that, too, though.
[29:36] Speaker 1: You got to Manny Kamara, former all-defensive selection, I think
[29:40] Speaker 1: second team, two seasons ago.
[29:42] Speaker 2: That's some bigs. Whose offense isn't terrible.
[29:45] Speaker 4: Whose offense is not as bad as I thought.
[29:48] Speaker 1: But I'm saying you have some defense. I think there's
[29:50] Speaker 1: a lot of concern between John Dame. Not to say
[29:52] Speaker 1: they're both cones, but from a defensive standpoint.
[29:55] Speaker 2: Who are they?
[29:56] Speaker 1: You. You got it?
[29:58] Speaker 2: They did it. Listen, right?
[30:04] Speaker 3: San Antonio was a great defensive team, right? One of
[30:08] Speaker 3: the best defensive teams in the 2000s.
[30:11] Speaker 2: Yeah. Was Tony Parker a great defender?
[30:16] Speaker 4: Off the top of my head, no.
[30:17] Speaker 2: Okay. Was Manu Ginobili a great defender? No, no, no.
[30:21] Speaker 2: I'm just saying. Tony Parker was a great defender.
[30:25] Speaker 1: Was he?
[30:25] Speaker 2: You don't know. Was Manu a great defender? You don't know.
[30:29] Speaker 3: The team defense was so structurally good, you don't know
[30:34] Speaker 3: individually if they were bad because as a team, they
[30:38] Speaker 3: were excellent.
[30:39] Speaker 2: Yeah. Right?
[30:40] Speaker 3: And that's all that was. Steph Curry wasn't a great defender.
[30:44] Speaker 3: but you couldn't take advantage of them because the team
[30:46] Speaker 3: defense was amazing.
[30:47] Speaker 2: So as long as the structure.
[30:49] Speaker 3: And the rules of Blazers defense is sound and you
[30:54] Speaker 3: just play, hey, they're on the side, push them here.
[30:56] Speaker 3: If your man beats you, you know, double back to
[30:58] Speaker 3: my guy and make sure I don't get that. As
[31:00] Speaker 3: long as everybody's doing their part, then you're not going
[31:02] Speaker 3: to be able to take advantage of a bad defensive player.
[31:06] Speaker 3: And the fact that Drew's holiday there, I mean, he's
[31:08] Speaker 3: going to teach him little things of more of help
[31:12] Speaker 3: side defense. which he's a great net guy. He's a
[31:17] Speaker 3: great net guy. Like, I've never seen anybody like him.
[31:22] Speaker 4: What guy?
[31:23] Speaker 5: What's the term you're using?
[31:24] Speaker 2: A net guy.
[31:25] Speaker 4: A net guy.
[31:26] Speaker 3: So there was things where I was confused on how
[31:31] Speaker 3: do you just remove one person and you still have
[31:34] Speaker 3: an all-defensive player in Giannis and Lopez, but they can't
[31:39] Speaker 3: stop nobody.
[31:41] Speaker 2: That doesn't even make any sense.
[31:43] Speaker 1: Right?
[31:43] Speaker 3: So when I'm watching tape back, I'm watching Drew. Where
[31:49] Speaker 3: Drew was doing things, I call it netting, where he
[31:53] Speaker 3: can sense someone getting ready to drive or he can
[31:55] Speaker 3: sense someone getting ready to back door, right?
[31:57] Speaker 2: And he's already there. So he'll leave.
[31:59] Speaker 3: His guy knowing that's not where you want to pass it.
[32:02] Speaker 3: You're going to spin back and try to pass it here.
[32:04] Speaker 3: And my guy is about to get beat.
[32:05] Speaker 2: I'm there. I'm cleaning that up. So he did a
[32:08] Speaker 2: lot of just moving You know, moving in spaces that
[32:14] Speaker 2: there were gaps cleaned up a lot of deficiencies that
[32:17] Speaker 2: you can't tell with film. Right? So he was the
[32:21] Speaker 2: most important to that defense. Right. So when you got
[32:26] Speaker 2: rid of him for offense, they really took a backslide.
[32:29] Speaker 3: So him teaching these guys on how to just clean
[32:33] Speaker 3: up just little holes into the game to make yourself
[32:35] Speaker 3: look like a better defensive player would be great.
[32:38] Speaker 1: When you look at this squad, Denny Avia coming off
[32:40] Speaker 1: a career year, Ja Dame, seventh in the West last season.
[32:46] Speaker 2: This team feels a little sneaky to me, like they
[32:48] Speaker 2: could do something. They got to figure it out first.
[32:55] Speaker 2: What's his name? Danny Avdia. Yeah, Danny.
[32:58] Speaker 7: If you hear him, how do you feel now? How
[33:01] Speaker 7: do you feel if you're Danny, though? I don't want
[33:04] Speaker 7: to start nothing with poor Danny.
[33:16] Speaker 2: Yeah. Those are not the style.
[33:21] Speaker 3: Like, Ja, his play is unselfish. It's not like he's
[33:25] Speaker 3: one of those selfish type of guards.
[33:26] Speaker 2: He's unselfish.
[33:28] Speaker 3: So I don't see those styles conflicting with each other.
[33:33] Speaker 3: The way they play, the way those three offense plays,
[33:36] Speaker 3: they should be fine.
[33:38] Speaker 2: Yeah. Right?
[33:38] Speaker 3: Because it's more moving, we're going to make these quick moves, right?
[33:42] Speaker 3: First time we seen Danny was Wizards. And it was
[33:45] Speaker 3: the garden.
[33:47] Speaker 2: Jordan Poole. Jordan Poole.
[33:49] Speaker 1: We've seen him before. But we averaged 24-7-7 last season.
[33:54] Speaker 1: I'm just saying, like, you know, break out year for him. Man.
[33:57] Speaker 7: I ain't going back. I'm not going back. You know
[34:01] Speaker 7: what I'm saying?
[34:01] Speaker 2: He might look around. What's so funny is he might
[34:03] Speaker 2: look around and have 10 assists. Now he has a
[34:08] Speaker 2: guard he can throw a lob to and another shooter
[34:10] Speaker 2: that he can pass the ball to. You got to
[34:12] Speaker 2: remember that year rolls... they have a skill of I
[34:17] Speaker 2: do everything, right? They're taught every position. So you have
[34:22] Speaker 2: a small forward, power forward type of guy who can score, pass, rebound. So,
[34:30] Speaker 2: you know, it's like when we had Turkoglu, right? You
[34:32] Speaker 2: have a guy who's gifted at seeing the floor also.
[34:35] Speaker 3: So you're going to do a lot of putting the
[34:37] Speaker 3: ball in his hand and then, you know, react off
[34:39] Speaker 3: of him also.
[34:40] Speaker 2: So I like the one, two, three. So the odd
[34:43] Speaker 2: man out is, what's it called? Who? The other little guard.
[34:47] Speaker 2: I can't think of his name. Scoot? Scoot, yeah. He's
[34:49] Speaker 2: going to have to scoot the fuck on. He's going
[34:52] Speaker 2: to have to scoot the fuck on, which is sad.
[34:55] Speaker 4: He had his moments against us last year.
[34:57] Speaker 2: Yeah, he had great moments. I think he looked good
[34:58] Speaker 2: in the playoffs.
[34:59] Speaker 1: Obviously a young, burgeoning talent, but when you just look
[35:01] Speaker 1: at what they got, and this is not even talking
[35:02] Speaker 1: about Shaden Sharp, and when he comes back. He put
[35:05] Speaker 1: up a dub a game last year, obviously.
[35:08] Speaker 2: That's what I'm talking about.
[35:09] Speaker 1: But he's not going to be back until at least February,
[35:11] Speaker 1: probably a little bit longer than that.
[35:13] Speaker 2: What is going on there? He fell off.
[35:16] Speaker 4: That means some moves made.
[35:17] Speaker 2: No, I'm just saying, like, why hasn't they given him the.
[35:20] Speaker 3: Like, you can see, like, I mean, the first year,
[35:22] Speaker 3: you can tell, like, just the natural point guard stuff.
[35:26] Speaker 3: But when you're talking about just raw athleticism, just getting
[35:29] Speaker 3: by your.
[35:30] Speaker 2: Man, like, just being that guy... Why are they holding
[35:34] Speaker 2: the leash on him so tight?
[35:36] Speaker 1: He averaged 21 last season.
[35:38] Speaker 2: I know, but that's what I'm saying. And it's still like, eh,
[35:40] Speaker 2: we're going to. We don't believe you.
[35:42] Speaker 4: How's he going to fit in? How's he going.
[35:44] Speaker 2: To fit in? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, he's going to
[35:46] Speaker 2: be chilling.
[35:48] Speaker 4: He's out until February.
[35:49] Speaker 2: Yeah, until, I mean, he'll get reevaluated in February. No,
[35:52] Speaker 2: I'm talking about Scoot.
[35:54] Speaker 3: I mean, you know, he got his, I'm talking about Scoot. Like,
[35:58] Speaker 3: you are, like, you are one of the guards we're
[36:00] Speaker 3: supposed to, Bad team, do you. You came in after Dame,
[36:03] Speaker 3: do you. Got benched the first two years. I think
[36:05] Speaker 3: you came off the bench a little bit last year.
[36:07] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[36:07] Speaker 1: Like, why are you not just letting them go out
[36:09] Speaker 1: there and say, let's see what you have? Yeah, started
[36:12] Speaker 1: 10 games. Played in 30 games last season, started 10, so.
[36:15] Speaker 1: It's because Wimby.
[36:16] Speaker 7: Wimby been doing so good, and he was the second pick.
[36:20] Speaker 2: That can have an effect, too. You don't make the
[36:24] Speaker 2: same impact.
[36:26] Speaker 3: He's never got the shot, though. Like, I just don't,
[36:29] Speaker 3: I don't understand what Portland did with him. It's like
[36:33] Speaker 3: he's just never got, like.
[36:35] Speaker 2: Looked good early in the playoffs.
[36:37] Speaker 1: Had 18, 21, or 18, 31, 21 in the first
[36:40] Speaker 1: three games.
[36:41] Speaker 2: Then. Then donut.
[36:43] Speaker 1: And then five points in the elimination game.
[36:45] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Never seen that before. How many shots
[36:52] Speaker 2: did he take?
[36:53] Speaker 1: So, first three games. First game, game one, he took 11.
[36:56] Speaker 1: Then 17, then 18. Game four, he took seven. It
[37:00] Speaker 1: was 0 for 7 in game four. Came back, it
[37:02] Speaker 1: was 2 for 6 in game five.
[37:04] Speaker 2: I know. You know what that is. Someone said some
[37:07] Speaker 2: shit in that game three. Yeah. Passed the ball.
[37:10] Speaker 5: Player or coach?
[37:11] Speaker 4: You said teammate, teammate, teammate. Get off the ball, man.
[37:14] Speaker 1: All right.
[37:15] Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, that's. Oh, man.
[37:19] Speaker 1: My new job is coming. Yeah, 31 in game two.
[37:23] Speaker 1: They won game two. That was the only game they
[37:24] Speaker 1: won in that series. Obviously, yeah.
[37:26] Speaker 2: 12 coming.
[37:29] Speaker 1: Yep.
[37:29] Speaker 2: You're doing too much.
[37:31] Speaker 1: Just to put a button on this convo, when you
[37:33] Speaker 1: look at this Blazers squad, seventh in the West last season,
[37:35] Speaker 1: do we think they're going still on an upward trajectory?
[37:38] Speaker 2: Or is the West not strong enough?
[37:40] Speaker 1: I'm saying you got other teams in the West that.
[37:42] Speaker 2: They're going to stay around seven.
[37:47] Speaker 3: Someone has to play bad. I mean, the West is...
[37:51] Speaker 3: You're going to be fighting for the play-in probably with, what, 46,
[37:54] Speaker 3: 47 games?
[37:54] Speaker 1: 47 wins?
[38:00] Speaker 2: I mean, Jesus Christ. Because, I mean, you would expect
[38:03] Speaker 2: them to be at least stay the same of where
[38:06] Speaker 2: they were. Right? They did upgrade, but they lost, you know,
[38:10] Speaker 2: a couple wings. One of their better wings won't be
[38:13] Speaker 2: back for a while. So. Yeah.
[38:18] Speaker 1: When you look at the teams that were in front
[38:19] Speaker 1: of them last season, you got Thunder Spurs, Nuggets, Lakers, Rockets, Timberwolves.
[38:23] Speaker 2: And all of those teams, besides the Lakers. Have improved. Improved.
[38:27] Speaker 2: Or at least stay the same, you know. Yeah. I
[38:30] Speaker 2: also got, what, King, or no, excuse me. Who got
[38:33] Speaker 2: better behind?
[38:33] Speaker 1: No, no, no, no.
[38:34] Speaker 2: Excuse me.
[38:35] Speaker 1: But you got Mavs, Jazz. I don't think the Jazz
[38:38] Speaker 1: are going to make that big of a lead.
[38:40] Speaker 2: You crazy. You crazy. The Jazz? They ain't going to
[38:46] Speaker 2: be better than Portland now. What? Not much. I mean, Warriors,
[38:51] Speaker 2: I don't think are.
[38:55] Speaker 3: Jazz might be one of the teams that You're like, wait, third, fourth,
[39:03] Speaker 3: or fifth?
[39:05] Speaker 7: Dope or dog food? Which one did you take today?
[39:09] Speaker 7: Which one? Which one did you take this morning?
[39:11] Speaker 2: Is it dope? Or did you eat? A little bit
[39:15] Speaker 2: of both, because I was hungry, too. But I do
[39:18] Speaker 2: know this. Third or fourth, the jazz?
[39:21] Speaker 4: Who the jazz at? Who the jazz at? Who did
[39:23] Speaker 4: they pick up?
[39:24] Speaker 2: They got Peterson. They got Peterson. They got Fiatta. Is
[39:27] Speaker 2: Marken still there?
[39:28] Speaker 4: Marken is still there.
[39:28] Speaker 2: Yeah. no, no. So you remember.
[39:31] Speaker 1: George, George.
[39:32] Speaker 2: Who's going to back up? Keontae George. Keontae George. They're
[39:34] Speaker 2: in the same situation, though. No, no, they're not in
[39:36] Speaker 2: the same situation. They got Peterson and George. They're not
[39:39] Speaker 2: in the same situation. The situation last year.
[39:41] Speaker 3: Is this draft everybody wanted to tank for. You remember,
[39:45] Speaker 3: that was the team that got fined. Because when you
[39:48] Speaker 3: look at this roster, you're like, How are y'all losing?
[39:53] Speaker 2: No, no, no. This is a good-ass team.
[39:54] Speaker 1: How are y'all losing?
[39:55] Speaker 2: Marking it, Jaron Jackson, Keontae, George, Darren Peterson. Nurk's over
[39:58] Speaker 2: there right now.
[39:59] Speaker 1: Isaac Collins is over there.
[40:00] Speaker 2: Ace Bailey. And you know he's all of 6'11 now.
[40:04] Speaker 7: Same situation in Portland. No, no, no. I'm purposely losing.
[40:09] Speaker 7: Because of why? I want A.J. Remember, I want A.J.
[40:12] Speaker 7: It's only one ball. You got J.J.J. You got Marklin. Marklin,
[40:19] Speaker 7: whatever his name.
[40:20] Speaker 2: Lori Markin.
[40:21] Speaker 7: Peterson, George. George want to shoot still. He averaged 25.
[40:25] Speaker 2: He got a 5 for 157 extension. So basically you're
[40:29] Speaker 2: saying my 1 and 2 can put that ball in
[40:32] Speaker 2: the basket, right? My 3 can put that ball in
[40:35] Speaker 2: the basket, huh? My 4 and 5 are floating guys
[40:39] Speaker 2: who can put that ball in the basket, right? So
[40:42] Speaker 2: I have a fast offensive team that are young and
[40:47] Speaker 2: athletic with my 1, 2, and 3. Right?
[40:50] Speaker 3: And then I can go small ball and put Ace
[40:53] Speaker 3: at the four, who's all of 6'11, who plays like
[40:56] Speaker 3: Paul George.
[40:57] Speaker 2: I mean, there was a reason you find that. There's
[40:59] Speaker 2: a reason they got fined. Because it was obvious that
[41:02] Speaker 2: they were tanking for the season. Because they wanted another
[41:06] Speaker 2: draft pick. So I'm just going to be real with you.
[41:07] Speaker 2: You look at the Jazz in the West, you look
[41:09] Speaker 2: at the Wizards in the East. I'm not sold on
[41:12] Speaker 2: both teams. I think it might take them another season.
[41:14] Speaker 2: But I look at both those squads and it's like,
[41:15] Speaker 2: I wouldn't be surprised.
[41:17] Speaker 7: I look at both those squads and I see 12...
[41:19] Speaker 7: 12 seed.
[41:22] Speaker 1: Did they find the Wizards?
[41:24] Speaker 2: Huh? Who did they find last year? What teams did
[41:25] Speaker 2: they find last year?
[41:26] Speaker 1: The Jazz, I think the Pacers, too, maybe at some point.
[41:29] Speaker 2: They find the Jazz and the Pacers.
[41:30] Speaker 3: So, basically, they only find the team that looked like
[41:34] Speaker 3: they were supposed to be winning this year and said, mm-mm.
[41:39] Speaker 7: They don't got a better team than the Wizards on
[41:41] Speaker 7: paper with Trey Young and A.D.
[41:45] Speaker 2: They don't got a name. That team's name is not better.
[41:48] Speaker 1: Than it is. The Jazz were fine. 500,000 patients were fine.
[41:52] Speaker 2: 100,000. 500,000 fine. For overtaking. For overtaking.
[41:58] Speaker 1: You were taking too much.
[42:00] Speaker 3: So think about what I'm saying. That means the NBA
[42:04] Speaker 3: spotted that you're doing too much. You're making it too obvious.
[42:11] Speaker 7: But they just used to A.D. not playing. That's why
[42:14] Speaker 7: they didn't spot that.
[42:15] Speaker 2: They told A.D. to sit down. A.D.? They used to
[42:18] Speaker 2: him being hurt. A.D.? The Jazz? No, I'm talking about Wizards.
[42:21] Speaker 2: That's why they didn't get fined. Because they used to A.D.
[42:26] Speaker 2: being out. A.D.? Okay, yes. What does that got to
[42:30] Speaker 2: do with the Jazz?
[42:31] Speaker 7: But you're acting like they didn't tank neither. The Wizards
[42:33] Speaker 7: didn't tank for eight. They was just sorry last year. Well, technically.
[42:37] Speaker 2: Technically? Technically, that's what I'm saying. Technically, you know, I
[42:41] Speaker 2: might have, you know, if they, um, Trae Young, you know,
[42:45] Speaker 2: I'm just saying you don't have to play if you
[42:46] Speaker 2: don't want to. That's all I'm saying.
[42:49] Speaker 1: But we're going to give you this bread. I know you.
[42:51] Speaker 2: Want to play, but you don't have to. The bread
[42:54] Speaker 2: is still yours.
[42:55] Speaker 1: Still yours.
[42:57] Speaker 3: And I'm saying, I'm just saying, listen, if we're going
[43:01] Speaker 3: to probe, if we can probe everybody.
[43:06] Speaker 2: And you will find some.
[43:07] Speaker 1: Yeah, you're going to find some shit. All right, well,
[43:09] Speaker 1: let's keep this thing moving. Talk about the biggest blockbuster
[43:12] Speaker 1: trade of this busy offseason involving none other than the
[43:16] Speaker 1: Greek freak with Giannis and the Bucks parting ways after
[43:18] Speaker 1: 13 seasons and the two-time MVP taking his talents to
[43:22] Speaker 1: South Beach. Giannis has a new team and new jersey number. Dad,
[43:26] Speaker 1: you can't clap. Bucks still cutting your cut. Giannis, new team,
[43:28] Speaker 1: new jersey number is number 34. Will be staying in Milwaukee,
[43:32] Speaker 1: switching to number 7 in Miami. So Giannis leaves the
[43:35] Speaker 1: Bucks as the greatest player in franchise history. Let's take
[43:38] Speaker 1: a look at some of his career accolades and achievements,
[43:41] Speaker 1: if we can, please. So he holds franchise records for
[43:44] Speaker 1: most games, played points, rebounds, assists, and blocks, amongst other things.
[43:48] Speaker 1: NBA champion, finals MVP, two-time MVP, ten-time All-Star, nine-time All-NBA champion.
[43:54] Speaker 1: Five-time All-Defense. Also, Defensive Player of the Year. Won an
[43:59] Speaker 1: in-season tournament championship. All right, look crazy.
[44:01] Speaker 3: Won an NBA Cup chip, NBA Cup MVP. Like, imagine, imagine, imagine, just,
[44:08] Speaker 3: you know what? If you take off the NBA championship...
[44:14] Speaker 3: and the finals MVP, and then you look at that, right?
[44:18] Speaker 2: And you have that as your resume. And then a motherfuckin'
[44:21] Speaker 2: second or third option who won a championship by somebody
[44:24] Speaker 2: else said their career was better than yours. You know
[44:26] Speaker 2: how offended you'll look?
[44:28] Speaker 3: You see why the superstars who don't have championships be
[44:32] Speaker 3: so salty? Because that should be like 10-time All-Star, 9-time All-NBA.
[44:36] Speaker 2: Two MVPs.
[44:36] Speaker 7: Scottie Pittman got the same thing. Scottie Pittman got the
[44:39] Speaker 7: same thing, but better. What do you got? He does
[44:41] Speaker 7: not have MVP, Swank.
[44:43] Speaker 2: He could have. He almost got one.
[44:47] Speaker 7: He almost got MVP. You're joining the play, and they
[44:50] Speaker 7: were still the same.
[44:51] Speaker 3: But I'm just saying, but that's where the arguments be
[44:53] Speaker 3: coming from. You can take off the ring, the rings,
[44:57] Speaker 3: but when you look at somebody's resume, you'll be like, ah, damn.
[45:00] Speaker 2: The ring is just the extra shit. No, no, no.
[45:02] Speaker 2: It ain't the extra shit.
[45:05] Speaker 1: Also, a member of the 75th anniversary team. Also holds
[45:09] Speaker 1: a record for most career 30.10 rebounds, five assist games
[45:13] Speaker 1: in NBA history. Now his next chapter begins in Miami.
[45:17] Speaker 1: Getting to see firsthand what Heat culture is all about.
[45:21] Speaker 1: Hopefully he does not like chocolate chip cookies. Or he
[45:23] Speaker 1: could go south very quickly. But before we talk about
[45:25] Speaker 1: Giannis with the Heat, we got to talk about Giannis
[45:28] Speaker 1: with the Bucs.
[45:29] Speaker 2: Okay.
[45:29] Speaker 1: So when you look at this situation last season, obviously
[45:32] Speaker 1: you saw that kind of messy divorce, messy breakup. We
[45:35] Speaker 1: were all out there, too, towards the end of the season,
[45:37] Speaker 1: did a takeover for the Bucs-Clippers game. But you see
[45:40] Speaker 1: Giannis working out on the court. And we're all looking
[45:42] Speaker 1: at each other like, right? He looking real good. He
[45:45] Speaker 1: looking real good. He looking like he could probably go
[45:46] Speaker 1: out there and play. But what led to the breakup
[45:49] Speaker 1: in Milwaukee? And what was that final? season like for
[45:52] Speaker 1: Giannis with the Bucks?
[45:53] Speaker 5: Oh, man, it was, well, he played 36 games, I believe.
[45:57] Speaker 5: Once again, had some injuries to the lower extremities. It
[46:02] Speaker 5: wasn't smooth.
[46:05] Speaker 4: It wasn't an easy transition.
[46:07] Speaker 5: Between Doc being there and then it was messy at
[46:11] Speaker 5: the very end because Giannis really wanted to make history
[46:14] Speaker 5: by playing with his two brothers, Alex and Thanasis, in
[46:17] Speaker 5: the same game for the same team.
[46:20] Speaker 4: And it's almost like he was making a point.
[46:23] Speaker 5: When the Bucks were not clearing him to play, there'd
[46:27] Speaker 5: be media, there'd be executives, there'd be Steve Ballmer in
[46:30] Speaker 5: Los Angeles with the Clippers sitting next to him, and
[46:32] Speaker 5: Giannis at the very end of the workout, he started windmilling, 360ing.
[46:36] Speaker 5: I remember Ballmer turned to me and says, it doesn't
[46:39] Speaker 5: look like he's hurt. To me, that was Giannis, and
[46:42] Speaker 5: I don't have this for an unmitigated accuracy or whatever,
[46:47] Speaker 5: but I just believe he was trying to prove a point.
[46:50] Speaker 5: But when his representatives, I won't put it all on him,
[46:55] Speaker 5: but we understand how that works, but when they kind
[46:57] Speaker 5: of called the bucks on the carpet for not playing him,
[47:01] Speaker 5: saying he was healthy, you know, that really sat, didn't
[47:05] Speaker 5: sit well, understandably, with the Milwaukee people.
[47:09] Speaker 4: And so that led to.
[47:12] Speaker 5: A lot of friction and a lot of tension between
[47:16] Speaker 5: the two. Now, it wasn't I mean, the team was
[47:18] Speaker 5: not good anyway. The team was struggling anyway. So that
[47:21] Speaker 5: wasn't like the make-or-break aspect of that season.
[47:25] Speaker 4: But it just didn't end the way I thought it.
[47:28] Speaker 5: Could have in terms of just better understanding, better communication.
[47:33] Speaker 5: And to be honest, given so much, you saw the accolades.
[47:38] Speaker 5: Given so much to that city, that franchise, I would
[47:42] Speaker 5: have liked to have seen it on a higher note.
[47:44] Speaker 5: But after everything that happened, We knew it was time
[47:49] Speaker 5: for a move to happen. But for me, it was
[47:52] Speaker 5: a great privilege as a ball player to be around
[47:56] Speaker 5: him for these past 12 years, however long I've been there,
[47:59] Speaker 5: and to watch where he's come from. At the start,
[48:01] Speaker 5: I didn't know if he was going to be a
[48:04] Speaker 5: guy who's going to average 18, eight rebounds, four or
[48:07] Speaker 5: five assists, and be an all-star every two or three years, or.
[48:10] Speaker 4: If he'd be a superstar. And for him to kind of.
[48:14] Speaker 5: Elevate himself to just that elite status, And you talked
[48:17] Speaker 5: about the 30, 10 and five games. But but he's
[48:22] Speaker 5: got another stat in terms of averaging 25, five, five, 25.
[48:26] Speaker 4: 10, five assists, one steal, one block.
[48:29] Speaker 5: There's like five guys that have done that NBA history
[48:31] Speaker 5: about Bird and Kareem.
[48:33] Speaker 4: And guys like that.
[48:35] Speaker 5: Giannis has done it like five times, five seasons where
[48:37] Speaker 5: he's averaged those.
[48:38] Speaker 4: Kinds of numbers.
[48:39] Speaker 1: So.
[48:40] Speaker 4: You know, he's been a remarkable player. And for me,
[48:42] Speaker 4: just being around... And not only that, he's a quality person.
[48:45] Speaker 5: I just love him as a human being and to watch.
[48:47] Speaker 4: Him kind of mature.
[48:49] Speaker 5: We talk about maturity with John Moran, but just to
[48:51] Speaker 5: watch where Giannis has come from.
[48:52] Speaker 4: And I remember he asked me one day, he's like, oh, school,
[48:55] Speaker 4: how many kids do you have? I got seven. I
[48:57] Speaker 4: want eight kids. I want eight kids. So he's halfway there.
[48:59] Speaker 4: I think he's got four right now.
[49:00] Speaker 2: And I want eight.
[49:03] Speaker 4: I want eight kids. I'm going to have eight kids.
[49:05] Speaker 4: I think his wife, Mariah, heard that at that point.
[49:07] Speaker 2: But.
[49:08] Speaker 5: But he's just a great dude, man. Just a great dude.
[49:11] Speaker 5: And wish him nothing but the best down in Miami.
[49:14] Speaker 5: And even when I got into it with some Bucs
[49:16] Speaker 5: fans on X, Twitter, whatever.
[49:18] Speaker 1: We call it Twitter.
[49:19] Speaker 4: Yeah, just, you know, just.
[49:20] Speaker 5: In terms of like, you know, wanting to see him
[49:21] Speaker 5: fail this year and not have a good year and
[49:23] Speaker 5: do whatever. I miss me with all that. Everything that
[49:26] Speaker 5: he's meant to this city, a championship in 2021, two MVPs,
[49:30] Speaker 5: everything that he's meant to Milwaukee, metropolitan.
[49:33] Speaker 4: Area, the state of Wisconsin.
[49:35] Speaker 5: You know, I think we should all, as Bucs fans,
[49:38] Speaker 5: people pull for him to have some success down in Miami.
[49:41] Speaker 2: Man, Milwaukee don't got too much to root for. Swaggy,
[49:45] Speaker 2: your family in Milwaukee still looking for you.
[49:48] Speaker 4: You got family in the Cream City?
[49:50] Speaker 2: As of this time, all my family is there. Where's
[49:54] Speaker 2: Swaggy going to come back? Come to Pfizer for him.
[49:58] Speaker 2: They're still looking for you.
[50:00] Speaker 1: Yeah, so.
[50:01] Speaker 5: And then we got, you know, we got Jaime Jaquez,
[50:03] Speaker 5: who I love from UCLA. You know, Tyler Hero is
[50:06] Speaker 5: his local guy.
[50:08] Speaker 4: He's going to help.
[50:10] Speaker 5: Cleo Ware shot like 40% from the three-point line. I
[50:14] Speaker 5: love you guys' opinion on Ware. I haven't watched him
[50:15] Speaker 5: closely enough. I mean, you think he's not a star,
[50:19] Speaker 5: but how good do you think he could be in
[50:22] Speaker 5: Milwaukee with some consistent minutes maybe behind Miles Turner, with
[50:26] Speaker 5: Miles Turner? I'm not sure what they're going to do
[50:28] Speaker 5: with those two.
[50:29] Speaker 1: Cleo Ware?
[50:31] Speaker 3: Oh, I mean, nobody. I'm just going to go off
[50:35] Speaker 3: of history. Usually when Miami players leave Miami.
[50:44] Speaker 2: Really? Who left?
[50:46] Speaker 1: Who left?
[50:48] Speaker 2: I'm just saying, usually it's not the Jordans. You know
[50:51] Speaker 2: what I mean?
[50:51] Speaker 4: They're system guys.
[50:52] Speaker 5: They're system guys.
[50:54] Speaker 2: Yeah. A lot of them.
[50:56] Speaker 4: A lot of them.
[50:57] Speaker 2: Like who?
[50:58] Speaker 4: Oh, my God.
[51:00] Speaker 2: Every one of them since the last three years.
[51:02] Speaker 1: Who's that?
[51:03] Speaker 2: Shamar Moore, I mean, you know. Yeah, Shamar Moore.
[51:05] Speaker 3: They don't perform the way they look over there.
[51:09] Speaker 2: What's his name, Caleb? Yeah, Caleb.
[51:11] Speaker 3: They just don't look the way they was looking over
[51:13] Speaker 3: there in that system, right? You know, sometimes you got
[51:16] Speaker 3: to whip them a little bit, and everybody's system is
[51:19] Speaker 3: not like that.
[51:19] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[51:20] Speaker 2: When you leave.
[51:20] Speaker 1: LaQuinn Dickey and then you go back into, try to
[51:23] Speaker 1: assimilate back into the real world. You're telling me.
[51:25] Speaker 2: In the Little Rocks, try to turn them back into
[51:27] Speaker 2: Big Rocks. Giannis would have stayed.
[51:30] Speaker 3: I can say yes, because usually it's, It's more of
[51:34] Speaker 3: respect than anything. If during a time of we don't
[51:38] Speaker 3: look so good, can I make history by playing with
[51:42] Speaker 3: my brothers? And everything I've done for the city, all
[51:46] Speaker 3: of the stats, you can't request that.
[51:51] Speaker 1: The end of the Coop Bros store right across from there.
[51:53] Speaker 2: That's too much to ask for on a season that's considered.
[51:57] Speaker 3: Put me in at the end of the game. When
[51:58] Speaker 3: you put them in at the end of the game,
[52:00] Speaker 3: put me back in.
[52:02] Speaker 5: But now this is on the heels of somebody complaining
[52:05] Speaker 5: to the league and making a formal protest that he
[52:09] Speaker 5: was actually healthy enough to play.
[52:11] Speaker 4: The Bucks were looked at. There was an investigation.
[52:14] Speaker 2: Well, that was him saying it, though. No, no, but
[52:15] Speaker 2: I get it. But you can still, in theory... put.
[52:19] Speaker 3: Him in last 40 seconds of a game and he
[52:22] Speaker 3: walks up and down just to say it's history. Those
[52:28] Speaker 3: little things is what you're taking from the player because
[52:30] Speaker 3: it is history.
[52:31] Speaker 2: It's not just like, you know, the one brother's like,
[52:33] Speaker 2: I want to be the first one to play. Nah.
[52:36] Speaker 4: Not Alex, that's a young one.
[52:37] Speaker 1: The first three to be on a roster together, but
[52:39] Speaker 1: they don't think play an actual game together.
[52:41] Speaker 2: So you're talking about a season where it's down.
[52:44] Speaker 3: Something like that, if it was a playoff team game,
[52:47] Speaker 3: You wait for the last game of the season, right,
[52:50] Speaker 3: where usually Giannis wouldn't play.
[52:52] Speaker 2: It would be the bench guys. And then you'd be like, hey,
[52:55] Speaker 2: we're going to put you in either at the beginning
[52:57] Speaker 2: of the game.
[52:57] Speaker 4: Yeah, make history.
[52:58] Speaker 1: Go ahead.
[52:58] Speaker 3: Yeah, make history. Do like LeBron and Bronny did. You
[53:01] Speaker 3: just put them in. It doesn't seem like a– A
[53:04] Speaker 3: big ask. It's not a big ask. But it's an
[53:07] Speaker 3: important thing for the family.
[53:08] Speaker 2: But what I'm saying, as Giannis, like, yo, I want
[53:10] Speaker 2: to play with my brother. Yeah, go ahead.
[53:11] Speaker 7: It's Milwaukee we're talking about. You got to understand what
[53:14] Speaker 7: we're talking about.
[53:15] Speaker 2: It's Milwaukee.
[53:16] Speaker 1: But how do you mess?
[53:17] Speaker 2: But what I'm saying is. The Lakers could do it.
[53:19] Speaker 2: That's LA.
[53:20] Speaker 7: That's why we left Milwaukee. My family, because it's Milwaukee.
[53:24] Speaker 7: They're not used to stuff.
[53:26] Speaker 1: A fine city, though.
[53:27] Speaker 2: I don't know how they got my man right here.
[53:29] Speaker 2: I lose my superstar over a full 30, 40 seconds. Yeah.
[53:35] Speaker 2: It's the code. Did we get a minute?
[53:38] Speaker 4: When you say lose, what do you mean? When you
[53:40] Speaker 4: say you lose, you're superstitious.
[53:41] Speaker 2: Because once you don't do it, it's disrespectful. Now you're
[53:47] Speaker 2: purposely doing it. Now I must go. Now I'm going
[53:50] Speaker 2: to be combative.
[53:51] Speaker 4: But I think he was going anyway.
[53:53] Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know why.
[53:55] Speaker 4: I don't think there's a snowball.
[53:58] Speaker 2: Even if he's going, we are sensitive creatures. Right. We are.
[54:04] Speaker 2: And we're prima donnas. It is a real thing.
[54:10] Speaker 3: And we're probably one of the only sports because us
[54:14] Speaker 3: growing up, we're treated like gods when we have talent.
[54:19] Speaker 2: Right. We're going to get everything for free. We're going
[54:22] Speaker 2: to travel for free. We're going to, you're going to
[54:24] Speaker 2: wave to play with the wave, the fees, whatever that is.
[54:28] Speaker 3: Most of the time I ain't got to come to
[54:29] Speaker 3: the game. I mean, I ain't got to come to practice,
[54:31] Speaker 3: come to the game. Give me the ball, move out.
[54:34] Speaker 3: If you got a shoe thing, I'm gonna get all
[54:35] Speaker 3: the new shoes, right? You're going to be paying me
[54:38] Speaker 3: under the table. You're going to pay me to go
[54:40] Speaker 3: to the school. Now they putting kids in houses, right?
[54:43] Speaker 3: Everyone's cheering me on. Only time I get booed is what?
[54:47] Speaker 3: When I'm going on the road and you're booing me
[54:49] Speaker 3: because I'm better than y'all.
[54:50] Speaker 1: All right.
[54:51] Speaker 3: The first time we hear real negativity is when we
[54:55] Speaker 3: make it to the NBA.
[54:56] Speaker 2: 20-something years later.
[55:00] Speaker 3: And so when you're talking about an NBA player, you're
[55:03] Speaker 3: really talking about players being pampered. And that's why we're
[55:07] Speaker 3: so sensitive to anything. You yell something in the crowd,
[55:11] Speaker 3: you hurt my feelings.
[55:12] Speaker 2: And that's just the way it is. But Giannis didn't
[55:15] Speaker 2: have shoes and stuff growing up.
[55:17] Speaker 4: He's sharing them with the Nessus.
[55:21] Speaker 2: Once he came in there that year on dunk, trust me.
[55:24] Speaker 2: They was hiding them in the basement. They pulled them
[55:26] Speaker 2: out of the whole country. How you get out of
[55:28] Speaker 2: there without a visa? When you got talent, they gonna
[55:32] Speaker 2: figure it out. No visa, no MasterCard, no American Express.
[55:36] Speaker 1: Honestly.
[55:38] Speaker 2: When you actually think about it. Wait, how did he
[55:42] Speaker 2: get here? How did he get here? I'm crazy. Smuggle
[55:46] Speaker 2: them out, bud. Smuggle them out. Just like them do
[55:49] Speaker 2: the fruit, huh? Just like them do the fruit, put
[55:50] Speaker 2: them in that crate. So you've been with the Bucks
[55:55] Speaker 2: since 2015?
[56:13] Speaker 1: I think that was Giannis' third season when I think
[56:15] Speaker 1: you joined the.
[56:15] Speaker 2: Was it? Okay. Yeah, I did a little research.
[56:17] Speaker 1: Okay.
[56:18] Speaker 2: I forgot to. It's been a long time.
[56:20] Speaker 5: So he's coming off of like 17 points a game.
[56:22] Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
[56:22] Speaker 1: This was kind of right before.
[56:24] Speaker 5: Broke through with the 22, the most improved player, blah, blah, blah,
[56:27] Speaker 5: which I thought was bogus because I thought he had...
[56:30] Speaker 5: Thought he had surpassed that when he was named an
[56:32] Speaker 5: all-star that you know, I like the most improved player
[56:34] Speaker 5: going to a guy You know I'm saying from from
[56:37] Speaker 5: goes from 7 to 13 or 7 or 9 the
[56:39] Speaker 5: I don't know that just just that's just my I
[56:41] Speaker 5: think the league likes the big names because it's last
[56:44] Speaker 5: year It's sexier.
[56:45] Speaker 4: Yeah, and so yeah, so.
[56:46] Speaker 1: Anyway, but go ahead But was there some specific moment
[56:49] Speaker 1: you knew Giannis was gonna be a problem for the
[56:50] Speaker 1: entire league not the hype But like an actual moment
[56:52] Speaker 1: you saw it was I just he's gonna be the guy.
[56:56] Speaker 4: Ah Well, it happened.
[57:00] Speaker 5: I think it was that year, my first year or
[57:02] Speaker 5: second year, I can't remember.
[57:03] Speaker 4: We weren't going to the playoffs.
[57:05] Speaker 5: So that was the year that Jason Kidd put him
[57:07] Speaker 5: at the point guard, point forward, whatever you want to
[57:09] Speaker 5: call it, and put the ball in his hands. After
[57:11] Speaker 5: the all-star break, that was when Jason stood on a
[57:14] Speaker 5: chair and kind of saw what Giannis was seeing from
[57:17] Speaker 5: his perspective and kind of walked him through some stuff.
[57:19] Speaker 4: But he put the ball in his hands.
[57:20] Speaker 5: And then from that point on, the all-star break, end
[57:23] Speaker 5: of the season, the average, just spitballing, but 23, 13,
[57:28] Speaker 5: and seven or eight assists.
[57:30] Speaker 4: Had four or five triple doubles.
[57:31] Speaker 5: And that's when, for me, it was just like, wait
[57:33] Speaker 5: a minute, okay, we got something special here.
[57:35] Speaker 4: We got something really special.
[57:36] Speaker 5: To see a guy that size being able to drop
[57:39] Speaker 5: triple doubles as much as he did from that point,
[57:44] Speaker 5: all-star break on to the end of the season, that's
[57:47] Speaker 5: when I knew that we had an MVP level kind
[57:51] Speaker 5: of a talent as opposed to a guy that was
[57:52] Speaker 5: just going to be a periodic all-star. Good player, great player,
[57:55] Speaker 5: great player. But superstar player, that's when I was convinced
[57:58] Speaker 5: that's what we had.
[57:59] Speaker 2: Okay.
[58:00] Speaker 1: All right, so, good, let's shift over to you. We
[58:02] Speaker 1: talked about Giannis a little bit this week. You seem
[58:05] Speaker 1: to be very high on this Miami Heat squad, despite
[58:08] Speaker 1: some of the question marks with this roster. You do
[58:10] Speaker 1: got Giannis, Brock Clay Thompson, and Tim Hardaway Jr. Have
[58:13] Speaker 1: a strong core of Wiggins, Davion Mitchell. You got a
[58:17] Speaker 1: very good team, don't get me wrong. I don't know
[58:19] Speaker 1: what's the deal.
[58:19] Speaker 2: Yeah, what are your expectations for Giannis in the Heat
[58:22] Speaker 2: this season? You got them one at first, you said.
[58:24] Speaker 2: You said one. I just want to make sure. I
[58:25] Speaker 2: have them, yes. You got... Utah, top three, four, and
[58:31] Speaker 2: you got Miami.
[58:33] Speaker 3: I have Pat Riley bringing a bunch of YMCA players
[58:36] Speaker 3: to the championships because of how he.
[58:40] Speaker 2: Practices them. Now you have Giannis there.
[58:44] Speaker 4: You said Pat Riley. You meant Eric Spolscher or you
[58:46] Speaker 4: mean Pat Riley?
[58:47] Speaker 2: You know who's up top.
[58:50] Speaker 3: So you have this system, and if you look at
[58:54] Speaker 3: all freak of natures that Pat Riley's had, from Magic
[58:58] Speaker 3: and Kareem when he got that, from when he went to.
[59:01] Speaker 2: I mean, whatever he did in New York, there was
[59:03] Speaker 2: no freaks there. Come to Miami, right? He come to Miami,
[59:06] Speaker 2: he gets Shaquille O'Neal, right?
[59:09] Speaker 3: And that was probably, when it came to clashing personalities,
[59:12] Speaker 3: that was probably one of the worst, you know, clashing
[59:16] Speaker 3: teams that it could have been.
[59:17] Speaker 2: He got them a championship. Then you get LeBron, get
[59:20] Speaker 2: him a championship.
[59:20] Speaker 3: So now you got Giannis coming over there with Bam,
[59:24] Speaker 3: and Giannis actually goes hard.
[59:26] Speaker 2: Then I have Klay, Who's a champion? Who's a professional?
[59:31] Speaker 2: You got Wiggins.
[59:32] Speaker 3: So I have the perfect recipe of basketball minds.
[59:38] Speaker 4: I'll throw Jimmy Butler into that mix also.
[59:40] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He got him there. He got him there.
[59:42] Speaker 5: Against us, I mean, he averaged 38. He outscored Drew
[59:45] Speaker 5: like 38 to 18 over like six or seven games.
[59:48] Speaker 5: So it's just like, yeah, he was.
[59:49] Speaker 1: Yeah, when you guys were one, right, and they were
[59:50] Speaker 1: the eighth seed and obviously made that finals run.
[59:53] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
[59:53] Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't have nobody that Giannis is going to
[59:55] Speaker 3: clash with and be like, oh, we need to get
[59:57] Speaker 3: the ball. Like, Bam is a willing passer. Like, you
[1:00:00] Speaker 3: have the perfect setup. And everybody is smart basketball players
[1:00:04] Speaker 3: over there.
[1:00:04] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[1:00:05] Speaker 1: So.
[1:00:06] Speaker 7: All them players you named was totally different from Giannis, though.
[1:00:09] Speaker 2: Which one? You got Bron. You got, who was it, D-Wade? No,
[1:00:14] Speaker 2: I'm talking about freaks. So Bron, Shaq, Bron, Shaq. But
[1:00:19] Speaker 2: it was D-Wade. It was D-Wade. Shaq helped, but it
[1:00:22] Speaker 2: was D-Wade. I mean, I'm just talking about the freaks. Like,
[1:00:24] Speaker 2: when you're talking about unicorns, when you're talking about the
[1:00:28] Speaker 2: next level type of athlete, he's actually done had them all,
[1:00:33] Speaker 2: in a sense. when you're talking about top five players
[1:00:35] Speaker 2: of all time, people don't say Pat Riley had them all. Magic, Kareem, Shaq, LeBron,
[1:00:44] Speaker 2: he's had them all. Right?
[1:00:48] Speaker 1: So, you know what I mean?
[1:00:49] Speaker 2: So I'm just like, so when he sees something that
[1:00:52] Speaker 2: he wants, when he gets it, he knows how to
[1:00:55] Speaker 2: put the pieces together.
[1:00:57] Speaker 1: The rest of them years, he's.
[1:00:57] Speaker 3: Just trying to manage and trying to figure out how
[1:00:59] Speaker 3: he can leverage some of this talent to get what
[1:01:02] Speaker 3: he wants. And Giannis is that actual next guy, and
[1:01:10] Speaker 3: I just think they're going to come out hot and
[1:01:11] Speaker 3: they're going to be, they got the talent to match
[1:01:15] Speaker 3: the grind.
[1:01:16] Speaker 5: Well, and that's the thing about Giannis, because he gets
[1:01:18] Speaker 5: knocked all the time. Well, he can't shoot from the outside,
[1:01:20] Speaker 5: but it doesn't really matter with him.
[1:01:22] Speaker 4: You know what I mean? Because he's so good, broken.
[1:01:27] Speaker 5: Court situation, open court situation, defense is broken down in transit, whatever.
[1:01:31] Speaker 4: He's so good at finding a way to get himself
[1:01:34] Speaker 4: to the back.
[1:01:34] Speaker 5: And he's going to get to the free throw line 10, 11, 12.
[1:01:37] Speaker 5: He may only make 60% of those, but the volume
[1:01:41] Speaker 5: is so high. And he's going to give you, I mean,
[1:01:43] Speaker 5: he can score 27 to 28, 29 points a game in.
[1:01:47] Speaker 4: His sleep almost. I mean, he just plugged and built
[1:01:51] Speaker 4: that way.
[1:01:52] Speaker 1: But 30 points per game on 60% field goal shooting,
[1:01:54] Speaker 1: I don't think the.
[1:01:55] Speaker 2: I mean, he's going to get to it. Right, right, right.
[1:01:58] Speaker 2: He's going to get to it.
[1:01:58] Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah.
[1:01:59] Speaker 2: I'm just saying that.
[1:02:00] Speaker 5: You know, there's everybody talking about the mid-range and the
[1:02:03] Speaker 5: Spanish range, this and that.
[1:02:06] Speaker 4: I got beyond that with him. To me, it's just
[1:02:09] Speaker 4: not going to happen.
[1:02:09] Speaker 5: He's at a stage in his career where he's just
[1:02:11] Speaker 5: not going to turn into some great outside shooter. But
[1:02:13] Speaker 5: you look at the numbers that he's able to put up,
[1:02:16] Speaker 5: he's still an impactful player because of his ability to
[1:02:18] Speaker 5: get to the basket and finish. When he gets to
[1:02:20] Speaker 5: the bat, he's got the biggest hands. He's got the
[1:02:21] Speaker 5: great athleticism. He's and he's got that point forward kind
[1:02:25] Speaker 5: of skill level handling the ball so he can get
[1:02:27] Speaker 5: to his spots.
[1:02:28] Speaker 4: He can get to where he wants to go.
[1:02:29] Speaker 5: He I mean, he worked to do handling a lot
[1:02:32] Speaker 5: during the last couple of years. And I mean, just
[1:02:34] Speaker 5: watching him work, man, he's he's he's he's an incredible player.
[1:02:37] Speaker 4: He's a special player.
[1:02:37] Speaker 1: And things have a chip on his shoulder to just major. Yeah.
[1:02:41] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[1:02:41] Speaker 4: Prove a point. Prove a point season for him.
[1:02:44] Speaker 2: An angry Greco-Nigerian. Just being honest. I do like the
[1:02:50] Speaker 2: player Milwaukee has in the draft. Who's that?
[1:02:57] Speaker 4: I meant from Tennessee.
[1:02:59] Speaker 2: I like his talent. Okay. You're talking about a 6'11,
[1:03:00] Speaker 2: 7-footer that can play 3-4-5. Yeah. I think the draft
[1:03:06] Speaker 2: slept on him. I think he's going to be special.
[1:03:08] Speaker 4: What about our Arizona guy?
[1:03:09] Speaker 2: Braden Burris. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, he went there too?
[1:03:13] Speaker 4: Yeah, we got Burris. Yeah, we got Burris and.
[1:03:16] Speaker 5: That's going.
[1:03:18] Speaker 2: To be a nice little thing to roll. One second.
[1:03:19] Speaker 2: I said Milwaukee is going to be better than Miami.
[1:03:24] Speaker 5: You know what I mean?
[1:03:29] Speaker 1: Go sit over there.
[1:03:32] Speaker 2: That's where that delusional shit comes from. They got the
[1:03:37] Speaker 2: same team, though. Milwaukee just went to Miami. The same thing.
[1:03:47] Speaker 2: Went to Miami. No, no, no. I'm tired. It's cold.
[1:03:49] Speaker 2: I'm going to just take this. No, I get it.
[1:03:50] Speaker 3: You're right. The team went there because the one player
[1:03:53] Speaker 3: was the team.
[1:03:53] Speaker 2: Thank you.
[1:03:54] Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying.
[1:03:56] Speaker 2: One player went there. Oh, man. Woo! Want to bet
[1:04:00] Speaker 2: on that?
[1:04:00] Speaker 4: We'll be better than people.
[1:04:02] Speaker 2: I think we'll be better than people.
[1:04:03] Speaker 4: People have written Miami off.
[1:04:04] Speaker 2: We would have bet on that. But that Miami. Milwaukee
[1:04:07] Speaker 2: could be better than Miami? Yeah, I bet. But, all right,
[1:04:12] Speaker 2: say they like five and six. That counts, though. If
[1:04:15] Speaker 2: they're with their five wins of each other? Yeah.
[1:04:19] Speaker 1: Five wins. Five wins.
[1:04:21] Speaker 2: Ten grand. Ten grand. Damn. Five grand. All right, let's
[1:04:25] Speaker 2: do the same for Utah then, too. What? You said
[1:04:29] Speaker 2: top five. Top five? Yeah. Uh-oh. Yeah.
[1:04:33] Speaker 4: Give me a reason to watch.
[1:04:34] Speaker 1: Yeah. Y'all rocking with y'all to support the cast? I mean,
[1:04:37] Speaker 1: you got Clay, Wiggins. I love them.
[1:04:39] Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and even... Maybe on Mitchell Jovich.
[1:04:42] Speaker 4: Mitchell shot well.
[1:04:43] Speaker 2: Bobby Portis.
[1:04:43] Speaker 5: Mitchell shot 40% from the three-point line.
[1:04:45] Speaker 4: That shocked me.
[1:04:46] Speaker 2: Yeah, now he's... You know what I mean?
[1:04:48] Speaker 5: That really, I didn't... It didn't compute that he would
[1:04:51] Speaker 5: be that good of a three-point shooter.
[1:04:53] Speaker 4: He's like 39-5 or something like that.
[1:04:56] Speaker 2: And he played defense, right?
[1:04:58] Speaker 4: And just a great on-ball defender.
[1:04:59] Speaker 2: Yeah, who Milwaukee got again? What's Milwaukee starting five? I forgot.
[1:05:05] Speaker 2: I forgot. I don't know. Hockers, Hami, Hami. They're going
[1:05:09] Speaker 2: to roll the dice on that.
[1:05:10] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[1:05:10] Speaker 2: Since anybody's at that point.
[1:05:12] Speaker 5: You got Miles Turner coming back there.
[1:05:14] Speaker 2: You know the reason why Miami was in the play-in?
[1:05:17] Speaker 1: You got Rollins.
[1:05:18] Speaker 2: You got Rollins.
[1:05:19] Speaker 4: You got Kevin Porter.
[1:05:20] Speaker 5: Kevin Porter is coming back. That's going to be something
[1:05:23] Speaker 5: to figure out. You got some pieces.
[1:05:26] Speaker 2: I like Jang or D-Ang, whatever.
[1:05:28] Speaker 4: Yeah, Usman Jang.
[1:05:30] Speaker 5: Usman Jang from OKC had a great second half of
[1:05:33] Speaker 5: the season.
[1:05:36] Speaker 2: I think people are sleeping almost. Yeah, I'm not going to.
[1:05:38] Speaker 4: Taylor Jenkins, a new coach. He's an energetic guy.
[1:05:40] Speaker 5: I love the energy and kind of what he brings.
[1:05:42] Speaker 5: He got Memphis from 40 wins to 50-plus wins.
[1:05:45] Speaker 2: You believe Utah, though. I can't believe in Milwaukee.
[1:05:51] Speaker 4: You're not buying all that.
[1:05:53] Speaker 2: We watched Milwaukee last year without Giannis, right?
[1:05:55] Speaker 1: We watched them with Giannis, too. This is a different
[1:05:57] Speaker 1: Milwaukee now. You watched Milwaukee last year without Giannis. Now
[1:06:00] Speaker 1: they've got.
[1:06:00] Speaker 2: It.
[1:06:02] Speaker 4: Was a Milwaukee built around Giannis.
[1:06:05] Speaker 5: Now you get to kind of change the personality of
[1:06:08] Speaker 5: the team.
[1:06:10] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[1:06:11] Speaker 3: We watched the personality of the players that was playing
[1:06:12] Speaker 3: without Giannis and it was their team.
[1:06:15] Speaker 2: Didn't seem like they was playing too hard out there.
[1:06:18] Speaker 2: They couldn't know.
[1:06:21] Speaker 1: They had the cloud of Giannis Ling at the Nassus,
[1:06:23] Speaker 1: Alec the Ho, at the end of the.
[1:06:24] Speaker 2: Cooper on the floor. I get it. Street Pfizer for him.
[1:06:27] Speaker 5: A lot of major distractions last year.
[1:06:29] Speaker 4: It's just with that whole, is he staying? Is he going?
[1:06:32] Speaker 4: What's going to happen?
[1:06:32] Speaker 5: You know, it was, it was, it just kept everybody
[1:06:35] Speaker 5: just on pins and needles. You didn't know it was
[1:06:37] Speaker 5: going to be traded by the all-star break. You know,
[1:06:39] Speaker 5: before the all-star break, the trading deadline, it was just,
[1:06:42] Speaker 5: you know, just a lot of uncertainty with the, with
[1:06:45] Speaker 5: the franchise.
[1:06:45] Speaker 2: And then, yeah. Yeah. When people say that, like I,
[1:06:50] Speaker 2: What that got to do with me in the game?
[1:06:54] Speaker 2: It's a distraction. Like, I would know. No, no, it's
[1:06:57] Speaker 2: not a distraction. My shots is my shots.
[1:07:00] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[1:07:00] Speaker 2: If I don't see his name on the board, 30 shots. Okay.
[1:07:03] Speaker 2: If I see his name on the board, I get
[1:07:05] Speaker 2: 15 shots. I'm going to know that before the game.
[1:07:09] Speaker 3: What's going on on the outside, I don't know how
[1:07:11] Speaker 3: that is affecting me. players the way players pretend it does.
[1:07:16] Speaker 3: Like the coaching staff or whatever, that ain't cool. But
[1:07:19] Speaker 3: we know he ain't been in practice for the last
[1:07:21] Speaker 3: two weeks or whatever. So whatever they're saying he's going
[1:07:23] Speaker 3: to get traded, that's irrelevant to the team itself because
[1:07:27] Speaker 3: he's not there anyway.
[1:07:28] Speaker 4: But style of play. So style of play.
[1:07:30] Speaker 5: So you construct the lineup based on Giannis being the
[1:07:34] Speaker 5: heliocentric guy.
[1:07:35] Speaker 4: The ball's going through him.
[1:07:36] Speaker 5: He's got a 35% to 37% usage rate.
[1:07:39] Speaker 4: Now he's not available. 36 games. And you've got.
[1:07:43] Speaker 5: guys who can't create their own shot consistently. It kind
[1:07:47] Speaker 5: of throws everything off a little bit. Ryan Rollins, it
[1:07:50] Speaker 5: didn't bother him too much because he could put it
[1:07:51] Speaker 5: on the floor. Kevin Porter Jr. had some injury issues.
[1:07:54] Speaker 5: He had a solid season, but You've got the Gary
[1:07:56] Speaker 5: Trenton juniors, the catch-and-shoot guys, the catch-and-shoot guys that are
[1:07:59] Speaker 5: relying on Giannis, creating gravity, drawing double teams, now kickouts
[1:08:03] Speaker 5: and all that.
[1:08:04] Speaker 2: The sorry players. The sorry players are having anxiety.
[1:08:08] Speaker 7: When Giannis is here, I get my ten points.
[1:08:12] Speaker 2: When he's not here, I'm strapped. The A.J. Green. It
[1:08:15] Speaker 2: does end it, though. I get it. It does and
[1:08:18] Speaker 2: it don't.
[1:08:18] Speaker 5: The A.J. Green, the guys that need that gravity that
[1:08:22] Speaker 5: Gianna creates in order to.
[1:08:24] Speaker 4: Get them open shots to help them.
[1:08:26] Speaker 2: When they come back, you're like, damn, man, I can't
[1:08:29] Speaker 2: get the shot. No, that's the creative part.
[1:08:31] Speaker 3: The players that need those open opportunities because they can't
[1:08:35] Speaker 3: create their own shots.
[1:08:37] Speaker 1: It's like, damn.
[1:08:38] Speaker 2: Back to the corner. Back to the corner I go.
[1:08:41] Speaker 7: I used to feel like that.
[1:08:42] Speaker 2: You're not playing today?
[1:08:44] Speaker 1: We'll see how the Heat fare this season. It'll be
[1:08:47] Speaker 1: a Giannis with a chip on his shoulder. Gil, you
[1:08:49] Speaker 1: think they'll be number one in the East? I don't
[1:08:50] Speaker 1: know if I'm ready to roll with that, but we'll
[1:08:53] Speaker 1: talk more about that in one second. It's time to
[1:08:55] Speaker 1: try and finesse some bread on Polymarket. This is Put
[1:08:58] Speaker 1: That on Some. We're going to give you some trades
[1:09:00] Speaker 1: on Polymarket app, and you've got to pick a side
[1:09:03] Speaker 1: and put that on some. So first up, we're talking
[1:09:05] Speaker 1: on us in the Heat. Let's take a look at
[1:09:08] Speaker 1: their projection for 2027. Heat were 10th in the East
[1:09:11] Speaker 1: last season, record of 43-39. This season, their win projection
[1:09:13] Speaker 1: is 47 games. 74% of traders believe they will get there,
[1:09:20] Speaker 1: while 76% of traders don't think that they will get there.
[1:09:24] Speaker 1: Let's take it to the couch. Swaggy, we'll start with you.
[1:09:28] Speaker 1: Will the Miami Heat win at least 47 games this season?
[1:09:33] Speaker 2: No. You don't think the Heat will win 47 games?
[1:09:37] Speaker 2: I got money on it, don't I?
[1:09:40] Speaker 1: No, the Bucs has got to be with them.
[1:09:42] Speaker 2: No, no.
[1:09:43] Speaker 1: If they get to 47, Bucs.
[1:09:44] Speaker 2: Has got to get to 42. I thought he was
[1:09:48] Speaker 2: betting on Miami being number one, my bad. No, we
[1:09:50] Speaker 2: were not betting. We were predicting, Swaggy. No, me and him. Okay. Yeah.
[1:09:54] Speaker 2: When we're on Polymarket, we're doing strikes. Predicting the future.
[1:09:57] Speaker 2: I'm saying no.
[1:09:59] Speaker 1: You don't think so.
[1:10:00] Speaker 2: All right.
[1:10:00] Speaker 1: Let's move over to this side of the couch.
[1:10:02] Speaker 4: Miami, 45.
[1:10:03] Speaker 1: Josiah's father. When you look at the heat. 47 wins
[1:10:09] Speaker 1: this season.
[1:10:09] Speaker 4: I'm honored to be called.
[1:10:11] Speaker 2: Of course you are. 47 wins.
[1:10:13] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[1:10:14] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[1:10:14] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[1:10:15] Speaker 4: I think so.
[1:10:17] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[1:10:17] Speaker 5: A couple of more moves to be made, but between
[1:10:19] Speaker 5: Bam and Giannis and Clay and Wig, I mean, they got, yeah, yeah.
[1:10:25] Speaker 2: That whole team is what, 35 and over? No. Bam,
[1:10:30] Speaker 2: how old is Bam?
[1:10:30] Speaker 4: Bam, 30 yet?
[1:10:31] Speaker 2: Is he 30? Up there.
[1:10:33] Speaker 1: What is he? 28, 29? Yeah, you know, he's... Yeah,
[1:10:37] Speaker 1: turned 29 in July.
[1:10:38] Speaker 2: You know, so... He's the youngest player. Okay, Wiggins is.
[1:10:41] Speaker 5: And Giannis got a lot of mileage.
[1:10:43] Speaker 4: He's about 31. He'll be 32 in December, I believe.
[1:10:46] Speaker 4: I mean, but Giannis, you know, basically rested this year.
[1:10:49] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[1:10:49] Speaker 4: This was a year off. 36 games total. You know
[1:10:51] Speaker 4: what I'm saying?
[1:10:52] Speaker 5: So, and then the motivation, new organization, prove a point,
[1:10:56] Speaker 5: all that stuff. So, I really believe this team, I'm
[1:10:59] Speaker 5: looking at them to win 50 games.
[1:11:01] Speaker 2: Miami.
[1:11:02] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[1:11:02] Speaker 3: They averaged almost 121 points last year.
[1:11:07] Speaker 2: Yeah. Am I tripping?
[1:11:08] Speaker 5: No, they upped their tempo last year. The pace was
[1:11:12] Speaker 5: a big thing for them last year.
[1:11:13] Speaker 2: Miami? Yeah. That's got to add Hero, too. No, Hero
[1:11:18] Speaker 2: didn't play.
[1:11:18] Speaker 1: See?
[1:11:18] Speaker 2: Hero played 33 games. No, he didn't. What, second in
[1:11:23] Speaker 2: the league, right? 121 a game? Yeah.
[1:11:25] Speaker 5: No, they're paced. They're paced. They had this tour at
[1:11:28] Speaker 5: pace last year. That was a total change in their approach.
[1:11:31] Speaker 2: Norman Powell was the all-star last year. And they don't
[1:11:34] Speaker 2: got him.
[1:11:35] Speaker 1: No.
[1:11:35] Speaker 2: So basically, I sub in them two for Giannis and Klay.
[1:11:40] Speaker 7: And you think they at the same pace as Hero
[1:11:42] Speaker 7: and Powell? They don't shoot threes, that many threes. They
[1:11:47] Speaker 7: be throwing it up. You got Clay and Tim Hardaway Jr., though,
[1:11:50] Speaker 7: swagging on that one. Clay 37 years old. He's not
[1:11:53] Speaker 7: running up and down that court no more.
[1:11:56] Speaker 2: They got... Wiggins, they even run in the beginning. He
[1:12:03] Speaker 2: been old since. And they averaged 121.
[1:12:05] Speaker 3: Now you have a fast break demon added with shooters.
[1:12:11] Speaker 2: I mean... What? Shooters? Stop saying shooters. What shooter? Clay? Clay, yes.
[1:12:17] Speaker 7: Is Clay a shooter? But he's an older shooter. He's
[1:12:19] Speaker 7: not running full court all the time now. You had
[1:12:23] Speaker 7: Tyler Hero. He's young still. He played 33 games. All right,
[1:12:27] Speaker 7: you got Powell still running all-star.
[1:12:30] Speaker 4: He's not there.
[1:12:30] Speaker 2: I mean, he didn't really run. He's bow-legged, so he
[1:12:32] Speaker 2: didn't get up there. But I'll give it to you. Jaime,
[1:12:34] Speaker 2: he moved the pace. Bam, young, moved the pace.
[1:12:41] Speaker 7: We're not waiting for Giannis to get it and do
[1:12:43] Speaker 7: the Euro 20 times a game.
[1:12:45] Speaker 1: No.
[1:12:46] Speaker 2: We're not doing that. The pace is different. They won
[1:12:50] Speaker 2: 43 games last year. I'm taking.
[1:12:52] Speaker 4: Okay.
[1:12:53] Speaker 2: I'm taking.

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