You're listening to the Downbeat on ninety seven to one the freak man, I
have yours and flee and I have your sension. Please, well, the
real Slim Saty please stand up? I repeat, will the real Slim Sady
please stand up. We're gonna have a problem here. That story Elater nine
am. It's the down Beat six to ten each and every morning. Don't
miss tomorrow's show. We're giving away two pairs like two pairs modest mouse Pixies
tickets and we're gonna do it. And I don't know what these guys got
planned exactly, but I think they've on earthed some audio of a Dallas boy
band in honor of Justin Timberlake's return a Saturday Night Live, perhaps incredibly shocking
audio of the boy band history of our great city. You may not have
heard of some of these bands or the song. But don't miss the Mars
show. It's gonna be fun. It's gonna while we're gonna preview the championship
Sunday. Yeah, I have so much fun stuff. Absolutely love it.
If you only leave a talk back, participate in the show in any way.
You can always text us at the phone number two and four seventy seven
one nine seven one. We are keeping an eye on that. You can
call in this segment. We'd love to hear from you. We're gonna bitch
about the maps a little bit in a moment, or you can leave a
talkback be the iHeartRadio app little microphone bottom right hand corner. Thirty seconds.
Anything you want to say, anything that's on your mind, will get sent
directly to Kevio's laptop sitting right in front of him, and we'll play a
handful of those coming up in about twenty five minutes. We had something else
playing, but it was so spicy what happened at the American Airline Center yesterday,
we figured we want to jump back into this, and there's just problems
with our basketball team. We, of course the home of the Dallas Mavericks,
proud to be and proud to air every game on the station. But
we're not in their back pockets. Mikey, Yeah, we'll prove it to
you again here. I think most of us aren't. I'm not in their
back pockets. They don't give me any money. No, I didn't get
a seventy five thousand dollars bonus. Ben Skin show coming up in about forty
five minutes. Uh, no, I love this. I had real quick
if had I had gotten a seventy five thousand dollars bonus from the MAVs.
Everything's fine out there right side you kidding, You're incredible, Timmy. They're
playing hard out there. But really the injuries, it's only the injury.
Just that it's well coached and this ever's pulled in the same direction. It's
working. No, that is most definitely not the case. And uh,
I said, we're proud to host the games and be the home of the
MAVs, But I don't know about how much pride is going on with MAVs
fans or MAVs the team themselves. After just getting smoked for three quarters,
seeing come out you look pretty good, you're knocking down threes, and then
you just get embarrassed by its rivalry week. So you know what, perhaps
over the last five years at least, has been the biggest rival that the
Mavericks have had, the Phoenix Suns, a really good team loaded with really
good players. I wouldn't even say there's much shame in losing to the Phoenix
Sons. There are a hot team right now, but there is shame in
a lot of other aspects of what they're rolling out there. And I mean,
Luca and Kid seem to be the two, you know, touch points.
I suppose today, what's going on with Luca, I'd say what's going
on with him is he's the best, one of the best players in basketball,
and he absolutely lights everybody up despite being maybe seventy percent health wise.
But the Jason Kidd angle has seemed to be simmering, simmering and now boiling
as I don't I don't know what's going on with Jason Kidd. I don't
know what leadership he provides. I don't know what he does to lead to
victories. I know what Luca does. You can be mad at Luca today,
but I don't think anyone doubts that Luca is the reason for their the
main reason for their twenty four wins on the season. This is still a
above five hundred team, still potentially a good team. I don't know about
Jason Kidd. Does it spice that up when we're supposed to be all in
with Luca and Kyrie, right, like all in, let's go now,
right and a thirty and thirteen team fires their coach, Yes, Milwaukee says
I'm blessing around. I'm glad we said this yesterday, and I'm not kidding.
I don't I don't know where the line I might find out after the
show with a line of getting in trouble for Maverick's opinions is I have zero
problem with Ay fire Jason Kidd today and bring in Mike Budenholzer, who the
Bucks did get rid of. I love the idea of Doc Rivers. I
love Nick Nurse and Mike Budenholzer. They have titles, they have championships.
Jason King Gott run out of his previous two jobs, and the one reason
we were like, Okay, sure, maybe it'll work here is because he
is one of the most gifted point guards ball handlers in NBA history. Guess
what we have the exact same thing. Guess who we need to be happy
and figure out how to make work the same dude. Bring in Jason Kidd.
Fine, it's not working. They don't look good. They're the furthest
thing from tight. Even when they are good, it's just because Kyrie Luca
and then a couple other guys maybe get hot from behind the arc. It's
not working. You're not a good basketball team. Maybe because you're so top
heavy with stars and the other guys borderline belong in the NBA. Maybe they're
that bad. I don't know. It's not working at all. It's bad
and the vibes are bad too. Now after what we saw last night,
and this is a it's a difficult thing to discuss, you know, obviously,
there's there's so many questions. I mean, we just don't really know
what Jason Kidd really brings to the team other than being a former excellent player,
a Hall of Famer, a championship winner. That really to me,
I don't know what he is as a strategist. I don't know what kind
of plays he's drawing up. I don't know how he if he's if he's
one of the top in the NBA at melding talent and coming up with the
right matchups, I don't know. I don't know either. But but there
and there's really no there's no testimonials or evidence of it out there, or
he doesn't really have that attached to his reputation. Rick Carlisle sure did,
was name one. If I say Rick Carlyle, if you say Rick Carlo
to me, the first thing he comes out of my mind is the best
strategists coming out of a timeout in the NBA, right That's but that's what's
attached to him. When you say, Jason Kidd, head coach, what's
the first thing he comes to your mind? Uh, you have to think
for a minute. I think that what comes to mind right now, and
today's a bad day to ask that question. Is Grant Williams getting his second
TECH and getting kicked out of the game, and Jason Kidd kind of looking
at his shoe and kicking his foot with his hands in his pockets. I
think of him never banging a timeout when we're in the midst of what are
nightly collapses. It seems the fourteen to two runs. Yeah, like Carla,
I'll be quick with the timeout. Fine, but watch any other NBA
game. The problem you bang one and stop this. The thing that I
see with Kid, though, is if he may not be the greatest strategist
of basketball. I know he's got a high basketball like you, but that's
as a player. I think it may be different when you're sitting on the
sideline and if his sole purpose or his the main purpose of him being here
is to be a connecting a factor to the team, being a former player,
being able to speak their language, being able to massage egos and keep
guys together. I'm not really seeing evidence of that either, especially right now,
and especially in light of what happened last night. He doesn't seem to
have this magical calming influence over his star. I'm asking this because I don't
know. Was Jason get hired because he's friends with everyone. I'm asking that
because I do not know, because Luca was tight with Jamal Moseley, who
was seen as maybe next in line when Carlisle left, and Jamal Mosley's now
the head coach of the Orlando Magic. And you know, the Orlando Magic
have a lot of young talent. They're kind of inexperience, but they're making
a little, you know, a headway like they had a Dirk was involved,
Finley was involved, Cuban obviously was involved. Like that's not the sole
reason he was hired, but that was a big factor in why he was
hired, right, Yeah, in other places. If he wasn't hired here,
would any other NBA team be running into the podium to announce the name
Jason Kidd as their next head coach? Like I don't think so. After
the ten years he had it his previous two stops. Now he was a
good assistant with the Lakers. You know that word? Yeah, I mean
now and I can't remember the damn name, and it's gonna bug the hell
out of me. But when they did go to the Western Conference finals a
couple of years ago, which is the feather in the cap and probably bought
him or lengthen the leash of what we all which fell out of all of
our hands last night. Those that were kind of clinging to Jason Kidds got
this was that the defensive coach, the assistant coach and I can't think of
his damn name that pulled these changes in that Clipper series, And like,
did that nuanced defensive technique that I watched half an hour YouTube video on the
things they changed? It was beautiful. God, yeah, of course I
was like Jesus, I watched hoops and I wouldn't. I didn't really see
any of that, But that all gets attributed to a different coach. Think
about this too, if maybe maybe they're just following Terry stunts, makes sense,
But take the year. I don't think that year is right. I'm
trying to look it up because I know what you're thinking. Uh, go
ahead, go ahead. That skin's yelling at his radio. I understand he
can run in here. It's not Sean Sweeney, It's not Jared Dudley.
Is it shn Sweeney? I believe it is. Isn't he still here?
I don't think no, no he, I mean Igor is not here anymore
obviously because Egor the Kokoksouth or whatever his name is. He was the coach
with Phoenix for a while. I remember he was the coach of the Serbian
team for a long time. I'm sorry, Luca's a Slovenian team for a
while. Think of this, though, If Jason Kidd is leading by example
and and Luca's looking to Kid for leadership, think about when when Kid got
here as a player, he butted heads hard core with Carlisle to the point
where Carlisle just kind of gave up and just said, you know what,
do whatever you want, dude, and it worked. I mean, so
if you all should get credit for giving up the keys to the car,
absolutely that being said is now granted. Jason Kidd was damn near a forty
year old veteran and a defined point guard in the history of the NBA.
Luca's a twenty four year old young man. I mean, you could look
at what Kid did with Carlisle is being very similar in a way maybe to
the way Luca plays on the floor. Maybe maybe it's just not a good
fit. Maybe Luca needs parameters and boundaries and direction. I don't know,
and ask you, is Luca like the temperament or the emotion whatever however you
want to call his essentially bitching hit the referees. Is it worse now than
ever? Or because like I said earlier in the show one of the announcers,
or is it just the accumulative because we're all mad about these collapses and
all these failures. Because the announcer said, he's not just in bursts yelling
at the ref like he'll spend a whole quarter yelling at the refs. He
said, it's constant, and it is kind of true. It's just always
yeah, And it's not like these big it's not big history onics. Typically
it's just like a load of mid key drone throughout the entire games in his
ear the whole time. I don't know, I don't know what would happen
if Luca didn't you know, did nothing buttoned up and don't do a cocky
smile at the refs, you know, but like do nothing, like because
he had a and one that it was definitely a shooting foul and he got
screwed. They're like, oh on the floor last night, and Luca just
kind of laughs and like like do the refs at this point are so sick
of it, They're like, you know what, you're gonna opposite effect,
dude, Well, let's also we did this earlier in the show. Let's
acknowledge and be empathetic to the plight of Luca, because were it not for
him, this team would be well under five hundred. I think they'd struggle
to have fifteen wins in this league right now, because not only is he
an automatic thirty points and automatic seven to ten rebounds and eight to eleven assists
a night, automatic even with also okay think about this too, the rest
of the team around him is very streaky, but the inconsistent. So the
teams that are defending the Mavericks can one hundred percent key on stopping Luca and
just say, you know what, We'll let the other guys get their stuff
because they're inconsistent. Anyway, and even if we don't guard him, it
still doesn't mean they're gonna put them in the net. That's knowing that that
the teams are trying their hardest to stop Luca and he's still putting up those
types of numbers and he's not getting any help, and he's getting beat up
and he's not getting calls, and it's frustrating. And then the media is
calling him out, and then you go on Twitter and Luca's a whiny bitch
and Luca's a baby. Fans are yelling at you to get on the treadmill.
So yes, it's it's got to be deeply frustrating, probably more frustrating
than any of us in this room could manage under that amount of pressure on
an NBA court, night after night after night. I would come on glued.
I would have been triggered three years ago and just lost it and started
throwing crap. Let's play this audio again from last night to reset, and
then let's take a couple of calls, because this is after the game.
Tim McMahon is the reporter that you're going to hear talking to Luca about Luca,
who, if you didn't know this, had a fan ejected from the
game. Uh, it was a it was his fans wearing a Devin Booker
jersey. So but this is a here's your audia from the post gam show
of things to bally. Look, what were you frustrated about at the the
second quarter when you got that technical? I know I saw you and you
said and all the time. You know that was not a trull. That
was not the only thing he said. But I knew you would be the
first one to to point out something like that, because I'm not going to
say what he said, but I knew you were going to be the first
one to put out something like that, So I just saw it. Man.
It's just funny. You always seemed to be the first one to put
some bad stuff about me. First of all, ninety percent of stuff i've
written that who's been good? I don't know. I was sitting two rows
behind us, all right, So it was the only thing he was that
time he said something. The only thing was what you reacted to. Yeah,
I was hearing the whole first half, right, Oh, you didn't
hear anything. Definitely acting. You put out something that was just the only
thing. But okay, final what was the final issue? Was the thing.
It's not the issue. I'm just seeing you seem to be the first
one to always put something bad about me. It's fine, it's all over.
Why did you ask for the fan to be ejected because he was cursing
me the whole first half too. Why didn't you ask for lo be ejected
in the first half because son never would a jacket fan. They pay for
tickets. But I enough, you know, it's a little bit of frustration.
If you turned your head and looked over at him after he said that,
that's I mean, that's what we saw. Yeah, that's fine.
The bad guy in the media, rh it's all right. You fairly portrayed
of the media. No. After the game, Luca goes to the locker
room, opens up his phone, looks at Twitter, and basically says that.
He says, yeah, I saw what you wrote about and you mentioned
the only thing that the guy said was about my training, which the guy
said, hey, you look you look tired out there, Luca, get
your ass on a treadmill. That's when Luca had asked for the dude to
be removed. Luca claims that during the entire first half he was cursing and
using foul language at him. But if that guy was sitting right behind the
media row, they would have been you know, and there are certain things
you should get kicked out of the stadium for. That is not even close
to one. No, you should be able to yell stuff like that,
that's part of the fun. McMahon did acknowledge that the guy was two rows
behind him and said, yes he was. He was very, very vocal
during the first step. Vocal was that kind of thing should be fine all
game long. Sure, and just because Luca got mad that this guy's yelling
because the game was slipping away from an embarrassing fashion. Right, Okay,
lookas say, you're the bad guy in the media, right, No,
I'm the bad guy. I'll be the bad guy. If you turned your
head and looked over at him after he said that, that's I mean,
that's what we saw. That's fine, Bead the bad guy in the media,
right. And the question was to be the bad guy. Do you
feel like you're portrayed negatively or unfairly to me? He said no. Uh.
You know, timmot Man has he asked the hard questions. He has
been one of the few. Now, I guess a lot of people have
talked about the idea of Luca might be leaving. But he's the one who
goes on the big ESPN podcast and we'll mention here and there what he's hearing
about Luca's happiness in Dallas. So that's a two or three year running theme,
it seems. Now. Don't go ahead, Mike, I've just a
couple of texts. See, that's the thing. Luca does bitch too much,
but not out of ten times he's right. Yeah, that's that's true
sometimes too. I mean, you're not gonna get every call, No,
you're not. When you hoist it as many times as he does. I
get that. I think he probably and I need to find this and maybe
I'll do it here. In a second, he probably leads the league,
or suppose to leading the league and drives to the rim. Let's go to
the hot line, or not the hot line, the phone line. It's
Nick and Sherman. Hello, Nick, you're on the down beat. Hey.
I just wanted to start off by saying, it's an honor to be
able to speak with the Dallas radio observers to be here. Really appreciate it.
That's kind. Don't be nervous. I'm I'm just like you, big
mind. I'm gonna come on, Nick, not really, but I do
have a chicken named after you, Big Mike. You gave well, you
can keep all the eggs, but I am honored. It's a rester.
They don't lay him. I don't know what that means. What do you
want to say? So I want to just point out some stats real quick.
Are twelveth in offensive rating. When Rick Carlisle was last year, they
were six, and they were thirteenth and d the Maths are now seven or
twenty second in defensive rating. They're just absolutely falling apart. And we hired
Jason Kidd because supposedly he was a defensive guru who masterminded the Bubble Championship for
the Wakers. So I just didn't understand it. Yeah, none of it
really makes a lot of sense to all of us. That's kind of why
we're open discussing, you know, all options and trying to consider all of
these variables and put them all together. And still even after doing that,
we don't really know what Jason Kidd does. Yeah, I don't know.
That's like, look at by the way, I just found out, look
a third in the league and drives per game, So he goes Shay John
Morant and then him nineteen drives per game nineteen times. You drive to the
hole, they're not going to give you the call fifteen times. It's not
terribly realistic. So and especially if you're that big and can withstand the damage,
yeah, and not not lilt, you know, because you're getting foul
a little bit like maybe somebody like John Morant. Does you know you can
withstand that and just buwl your way to the basket. You may be getting
smashed, it doesn't look like you're getting smashed. The contact still there,
you're probably not gonna get the call. I don't mind Luca bitching because he's
always has and he always will. But what I don't like is the trajectory
of it. And it seems like it's getting worse. Yeah, And if
you'd have told me two years ago it's going to get way worse, I'd
say, how it can't. The technicals are just going to flow in like
the incoming tide. What I don't like is as this is progressing, the
public perception of him is changing, because before the public perception of Luca was
this guy is a real unicorn in every sense of the word. We've never
seen anything like it. This guy is putting up Magic Johnson numbers. This
guy is putting up Oscar Robertson numbers. He's going to be a top ten
player in the history of the league. And now as this stuff continues and
incidents like last night, the commentary on him is he is a whiner.
He is a baby. He's a baby bitch. Yeah. Look, just
like in radio, no matter what you do, you are what your ratings
are. You know whether you're fair, how they're compiled, whether you could
be doing the funniest, best, most futuristic sounding radio show in the world.
If you don't get ratings, that's not what it is. It's not
good. Luca's mad because they're losing. If they were winning, the public
certainly isn't mad about Luca. Luca do whatever the hell you want, bitch
like crazy, because obviously we're all happy with his play on the court,
especially since he's banged up. But he's mad that they're losing. And when
you lose games like that and you get embarrassed by a team that you really
want to be Because he probably doesn't like Devin Booker a whole lot or or
of the Suns, it makes it that much worse, and then it says
I can't do it. Lucas says, I what else can I do?
And that results in it and he gets mad the inadequacies of his teammates,
probably mad at the franchise for not putting better teams around him. He wants
to win, and I don't think anyone would question that, right. The
dude wants a win. So yes, when you're not winning and you're losing
an embarrassing fashion and there's nothing more you can do that will lead to me
blowing my top. And that's where he's at right now, and I don't
think it's fair. We're I don't think the fanbase is turning on him.
But it's the shortcomings and the quote bad side of Luca that does seem to
get highlighted in times when you're getting smoked on national TV. It's a great
freaking point, man, Make that a promo the next Yeah it was too
long? Did they say that again, real, real fast, and maybe
edit out about two thirds of it. Don't just still make the same point.
No, don't do it well. Well, beyond this, the MAVs
play the I believe it's the Kings tomorrow night. No, who's the Friday?
They got a Friday in that game Tomorrow night and they're Saturday they play?
Because you're going right, big mic the I'm going Saturday. Who they're
playing? I know? Back to back? That is that good for the
MAVs another back to back? We're sitting there going these guys are all hurt
all the time. We get the Hawks tomorrow night at Atlanta, so we'll
see who gets a technical him or Trey Young is their second in the league
with nine technicals. And then uh, Sacramento on Sunday, sec Crimento back
at home eight o'clock. You hear those games here on ninety seven to one
The Freak. Make sure you catch that pregame show with our buddy Kevin Gray.
Well he's out there. Check have him on maybe next week or in
a couple of weeks. Uh, coming up next, a few things I
want to want to hit. We'll give you a little snippet of the new
Justin Timberlake song right. Also what happens when God makes you run a cryptocurrency
scheme? Next to ninety seven one The Freak