Speaker 1: This is the Baseline discussing the hot button topics.
Speaker 2: Of the nb A. Welcome everybody, your tune to the Baseline.
Speaker 1: Calie Warrenshaw discussing the hot button topics of the NBA.
Speaker 2: This is our ownery edition of the Baseline.
Speaker 1: We got some really interesting topics taking place as we
Speaker 1: enter into the second week of the NBA season, which
Speaker 1: has been jam packed with a lot of you know,
Speaker 1: great NBA basketball play, some you know, like just really
Speaker 1: awesome performances from some of you know, the NBA's great players,
Speaker 1: some great quality matchups.
Speaker 2: Shaw.
Speaker 1: You know, listen, let it not be said, man, if
Speaker 1: if everybody is you know, kind of gearing themselves up
Speaker 1: for the Emirates NBA Cup, which is going to be
Speaker 1: taking place like what this upcoming week or probably in
Speaker 1: about a week's time. Yeah, it's it's like, you know,
Speaker 1: these guys, man, they they putting it in and they're
Speaker 1: putting in that work. So and there's some great games
Speaker 1: that are gonna be taking place, you know, around that
Speaker 1: time frame as well too. I'm sure at some point
Speaker 1: we want we'll even be speaking to that a little bit.
Speaker 1: But no, let not be said, man, NBA does not
Speaker 1: disappoint even after tip off, it went from tip off
Speaker 1: to tick off, ticked off.
Speaker 2: When it comes to when it comes.
Speaker 1: To some of the stuff that's been going on right
Speaker 1: now with with with some of these NBA players.
Speaker 3: I think very well said we have a lot of
Speaker 3: injuries unfortunately to kind of get to but as alluded to,
Speaker 3: tempers are already flaring across and it's interesting when pop
Speaker 3: culture kind of like bleeds his way into the NBA's
Speaker 3: overall ethos as well too. So we'll get into a
Speaker 3: little bit of that and some really interesting comments and
Speaker 3: some things happening around some of the premiere superstars in
Speaker 3: our national superstars in our game. This is gonna be
Speaker 3: a fun one man, a little bit. Only we're not
Speaker 3: gonna always be taking the high road here, I think
Speaker 3: on this one, We've got some things to say.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, look quick, lead off Shaw, did you see that
Speaker 1: play Celtics versus Hornets? Jason Tatum? You know Williams Uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean yo, what's going on right? Like even Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown spoke to He's like, yeah, man, I thought them
Speaker 1: guys were friends.
Speaker 2: Apparently not.
Speaker 1: He's like homie Homie came over and basically lit him up,
Speaker 1: like riding lot lights up. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: A wide receiver trying to go through his middle of
Speaker 1: the field.
Speaker 2: I didn't even I don't even know what was up
Speaker 2: with that.
Speaker 1: Now I understand that the speculation behind that was because
Speaker 1: of I guess the way that Jason Tatum a rebounded
Speaker 1: and just basically flicked off LaMelo ball like he was
Speaker 1: a like a tick on his on his jersey or something.
Speaker 1: But I didn't think it warranted Homie coming over, you know,
Speaker 1: three lanes falling down Michael Douglas style, you know, just
Speaker 1: totally just running trucking dude almost into the announcer's table.
Speaker 2: That's just crazy.
Speaker 3: Man. Grant Williams is a while dude. Let's say that
Speaker 3: he's one of the inomatic characters in our league. You know.
Speaker 3: Draymond Green immediately took to Twitter and you know, calling
Speaker 3: him a goofy and you know all that stuff. Goofy
Speaker 3: was the term of the weekend as well too. If
Speaker 3: you're following I think Draymond.
Speaker 1: I think Draymond was like, He's like, look, if you're
Speaker 1: gonna do it, do it right.
Speaker 2: He's like, Drayman's like, I'll show you how. I'll show
Speaker 2: you how it's done.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, but we'd but a weird situation. Whatever is
Speaker 3: going on there with Grant and JT, it's not really
Speaker 3: of any concerns or Charlotte. Hornets are one place and
Speaker 3: the Celtics from another space. And the Celtics, I think
Speaker 3: they know they're going to get some of people's best shots,
Speaker 3: both figuratively and literally.
Speaker 1: The one person that I probably would not want on
Speaker 1: the wrong side of it is Jalen Brown. There's something
Speaker 1: about Jalen Man, Jalen, Jalen, Jalen like quiet dude.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: He's He's the kind of person that I don't want
Speaker 1: to be on the wrong side of, you know how.
Speaker 1: He's just all real casual and then out of nowhere
Speaker 1: he just explodes it.
Speaker 2: He is. He's a he's a very strong individual. It's
Speaker 2: strong ass.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Man.
Speaker 3: He had the altercation with uh Duncan Robinson last year
Speaker 3: as well too, so I think he's he's shown that
Speaker 3: he's about that action.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: If people actually, if they want that smoke, yeah, he's
Speaker 1: got he's got a he's got a human door.
Speaker 2: If they all want that smoke, he aired out real
Speaker 2: quick for them. He'll make it really be known.
Speaker 1: And I especially appreciate the fact that Jalen Brown calls
Speaker 1: to that because that lets us know that, you know,
Speaker 1: no matter what people may perceive or think, those two
Speaker 1: they're tight right like they've been through the ups and downs.
Speaker 1: Obviously gott in a championship, but you know, seeing Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown stand up for his people, you know, for standing
Speaker 1: up for Jason Tatum and things like that, that just
Speaker 1: speaks to on a on a deeper level that you know,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter if them two are best friends, I'll
Speaker 1: still go through you, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So I respect that a lot.
Speaker 1: Anyway, as we're saying, the ticked off edition of The
Speaker 1: Baseline Cali Warrenshaw, so we appreciate everybody hopping off board
Speaker 1: with us this week. Be sure to get him my
Speaker 1: man Astro Sports NBA Get at me a gay face
Speaker 1: lead the Chows twinter handle at NBA. Based on available
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Speaker 1: all of the latest episodes of the Baseline being dropped
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Speaker 1: also the great family of content creators that are part
Speaker 1: of the nineteen Media Group family. Sea. Let's get right
Speaker 1: into some of the injuries, news and notes has taking
Speaker 1: place in the association. There's a ton of injuries that
Speaker 1: have taken place already within the first two weeks in
Speaker 1: the NBA and some key players going down. Polo Bancaro
Speaker 1: for the Orlando Magic has an oblique and is out indefinitely.
Speaker 1: I know everybody is obviously aware of the fact of
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard. He's been gone since the beginning of this season.
Speaker 1: Scottie Barnes suffered an orbital fracture, so he's gone for
Speaker 1: three weeks at least for the Pacers. Isaiah Jackson, which
Speaker 1: is that's a big blow, you know, as far as
Speaker 1: depth on that team, they're just starting to come into
Speaker 1: their own. He's out for the year with an achilles injury.
Speaker 1: Cee J McCollum and Herb Jones for the Pelicans, both
Speaker 1: suffering injuries, are out two to four weeks. Desmond Bane
Speaker 1: Marcus Smart respectively for the Grizzlies are going to be
Speaker 1: weak to week to week, but out of their lineups
Speaker 1: and will Yon Bogdanovic is out for at least a month,
Speaker 1: so so a lot of key players they're gonna be
Speaker 1: gone for a significant amount of time. It's interesting, Sean,
Speaker 1: because when you really look at it, to me, the
Speaker 1: one that stands out the most is the Apollo Bonkaro
Speaker 1: injury for the Orlando Magic. Even though this is a
Speaker 1: feisty team, you can clearly see Bonkaro has taken that
Speaker 1: next step and it sucks because he just dropped a
Speaker 1: fifty piece you know, during the week, and for him
Speaker 1: to be out now for this period of time, which
Speaker 1: I just think is a critical stretch of games where
Speaker 1: the Orlando Magic with this point last year, made some
Speaker 1: serious strides, put up those win totals, you know, got
Speaker 1: themselves in a really good space where they able to
Speaker 1: maintain for the course of the year. Be interesting how
Speaker 1: they're going to be able to manage without Bonkaro in
Speaker 1: their lineup.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Orlando is the biggest of the injuries. Especially they're
Speaker 3: expected to be the best team I think of all
Speaker 3: the all the teams that we mentioned here in general,
Speaker 3: they don't have They already lack scoring punch. And while
Speaker 3: I think KCP has been a nice addition to them,
Speaker 3: he's not going to make up one von Carrow has
Speaker 3: been able to do.
Speaker 4: So.
Speaker 2: Now, no, you don't see a fifty piece in KCP.
Speaker 2: Say that again, you don't see a fifty piece in KCP.
Speaker 3: No, no, no, I mean maybe I mean.
Speaker 1: K and KFC almost as similar. So you know, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm all right.
Speaker 3: You know, but it's time for Anthony Black in essence
Speaker 3: to be able to step above Franz Wagner, who had
Speaker 3: had a not a bad start, but you know, kind
Speaker 3: of like a middling start. I think to the season.
Speaker 3: Wendell Carter Junior can give them some offense, you know,
Speaker 3: a little bit, you know, from from the front court
Speaker 3: presidence as well. So those are the guys I think
Speaker 3: are going to have to step into this space. Cole
Speaker 3: Anthony as as a microwave scorer coming off the bench,
Speaker 3: no one person is going to be able to do
Speaker 3: what bon Carroll did, especially from the scoring side, but
Speaker 3: also some of the rebinding and the play creation that
Speaker 3: he was doing, you know, at that wing and kind
Speaker 3: of like forward position. So I'm concerned about the Ornlando
Speaker 3: magic here, but they they do not have I think
Speaker 3: the records and pieces in place in this is to
Speaker 3: sustain a long term injury. So when you stay out indefinitely, Yeah,
Speaker 3: it could be two weeks, could be three months. We
Speaker 3: don't We don't really know, I think at this stage.
Speaker 3: So hopefully he's back, you know, sooner than later. And
Speaker 3: for me, the other injuries, it's too to two key things.
Speaker 3: Scotty Barnes in Toronto at the beginning of the season
Speaker 3: of the team that really needs to kind of get
Speaker 3: things together really really rough. So now they can continue,
Speaker 3: they can't continue to build the continuity, you know, and
Speaker 3: then you quickly has already started the season on the shelf.
Speaker 3: Argie Berry started the season on the shelf. He's back
Speaker 3: now but playing well a great Dick is into the
Speaker 3: starting lineup. But now they need now they can't build
Speaker 3: around what is their centerpiece in Scotty Barnes here now
Speaker 3: for the least, you know, three weeks to a month,
Speaker 3: and that's just when he'll be reevaluated. So for Toronto,
Speaker 3: you know, we'll playing the play in hopes it's going
Speaker 3: to be a little bit of rough setting and then
Speaker 3: finally for me, well, it's I'm gonna just kind of
Speaker 3: hit this in two parts, New Orleans and and Memphis.
Speaker 3: I don't know if there are two teams that have
Speaker 3: being more injured in the last two years. I think
Speaker 3: we probably need to do some some research on that,
Speaker 3: but they seem to always have something going on with it.
Speaker 3: Zion and BI and c J. Mccoum alway has something.
Speaker 3: Herb Jones is now as you alluded to, I mean,
Speaker 3: they just they just cannot get get right. Luckily for
Speaker 3: mensive Memphis, they've been able to get some pretty good
Speaker 3: draft picks and they have some reserves on their staff
Speaker 3: on their team that have been able to pick up
Speaker 3: the verbial slack. But now back to New Orleans, I
Speaker 3: think it's going to be b I on Zion time
Speaker 3: as long as those two can stay healthy to do
Speaker 3: some of the heavy lifting while CJ and Herb Jones
Speaker 3: are Andrey Murphy are also out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you have to feel, you know, enamored
Speaker 1: if you're the Memphis Grizzlies that you have job back.
Speaker 1: Knock on wood, Jaron Jackson Junior is going to be
Speaker 1: healthy because you know, he has the injury bug as
Speaker 1: well too at times.
Speaker 2: But they have a deep team.
Speaker 3: Shaw.
Speaker 1: I was very impressed with the Memphis Grizzlies, and you
Speaker 1: know you were you you were high on them in
Speaker 1: the preview about this being a team that people should
Speaker 1: not be sleeping on. So I would be intrigued to
Speaker 1: see how much they can continue to keep that going,
Speaker 1: albeit having that shooting firepower in Desmond Vaine on the
Speaker 1: team and the fis of Marcus Smart, you know, defensively
Speaker 1: and really to help lengthen that that roster is obviously
Speaker 1: going to be helpful for Jenkins and the staff the team.
Speaker 1: I think to your point that I worry about is
Speaker 1: the Pelicans, albeit though that I've seen where the Pelicans
Speaker 1: seem to thrive without having you know, CJ.
Speaker 2: McCollum be that guy.
Speaker 1: I think maybe from a stability standpoint, you know, as
Speaker 1: a point guard kind of player, he should, you know,
Speaker 1: he needs to be there. But I'm seeing that this
Speaker 1: Pelicans team seems to Now maybe it's just a scheduling,
Speaker 1: but I've seen where this Pelicans team, you know, having
Speaker 1: Zion healthy and having brandon Ingram healthy, I think certainly
Speaker 1: lends to you know, giving them the ability to be
Speaker 1: a more dominant front court team, definitely, you know, not
Speaker 1: from behind the arc. Are are they thriving? But I
Speaker 1: think they may be able to get away with it
Speaker 1: with the type of matchups that they've had so far.
Speaker 1: But it, you know, again, we'll see of those two
Speaker 1: teams who can continue.
Speaker 2: To thrive with some of their key guys you know,
Speaker 2: not a part of.
Speaker 3: Their and don't forget for them has already been He's
Speaker 3: been out, You've been out first game of the season.
Speaker 3: So you know, three quarter three fifth of their starting lineup,
Speaker 3: you know, are on the shelf here in addition to
Speaker 3: Herb Jones and as I as I alluded to Trey Murphy.
Speaker 3: So whichever one you think is starting, between Trey Murphy
Speaker 3: and Herb Jones, those are all key role players for
Speaker 3: for that for that New Orleans team. So tough, tough
Speaker 3: sledding here for Willie Green.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, man your tuned to the baseline. Calie Warrenshaw discussing
Speaker 1: the hot button topics of the NBA. All right, so, uh,
Speaker 1: now that we're talking about the pain the hurt, clearly
Speaker 1: there's still a lot of pain and hurt going on
Speaker 1: in Toronto, and what I mean by that is, you know,
Speaker 1: Toronto's number one, you know, resident fan ambassador. You know
Speaker 1: he is the North you know, essentially self proclaimed that
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, a man, Drake, let it
Speaker 1: not be said. You know, he's he's he's let his onerous,
Speaker 1: onerous ways show, you know, expressing how he feels about
Speaker 1: the rosen Excuse me, because you know, if people have
Speaker 1: paid attention, and you know, the hip hop culture and
Speaker 1: the NBA culture are always co mingling. De mar Derozen
Speaker 1: appeared on Kendrick Lamar's They're Not Like Us video, and
Speaker 1: Drake made it, you know, made it be known in
Speaker 1: a space where it's kind of like, all right, if
Speaker 1: the Toronto Raptors, it's basically decided or eventually will retire
Speaker 1: his jersey, which is apropos because he is the cornerstone
Speaker 1: of that success that led them to the getting to
Speaker 1: this point where you know, despite what happened, you know,
Speaker 1: him and Kyl Lowry were the foundation, right, they were
Speaker 1: the reason why Drake felt like I can now rep
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, the six one more time.
Speaker 1: But now he's like, oh, if they put de Roses
Speaker 1: banner up there, alcohol up there and rip that down.
Speaker 1: I love De Rosa's response to that, by the way,
Speaker 1: that was awesome, But I just don't understand like it. Look, man,
Speaker 1: I get it. You know your fandomness is showing, so
Speaker 1: to speak, because you But to me, I think it's
Speaker 1: misplaced just because he decided to be on a video
Speaker 1: with someone he probably listens to more than you. Now
Speaker 1: you're showing your petty right now, you're showing your petty.
Speaker 2: That's me.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying he's showing a little bit of pettiness
Speaker 1: there by him speaking on something that's more basketball related
Speaker 1: than it really is related to the fact that he
Speaker 1: has an alliance, you know what I'm saying with an
Speaker 1: artist that he is in beef with.
Speaker 3: The thing about this is DeRosa is from the West,
Speaker 3: so I mean.
Speaker 1: He's from California, He's from Compton.
Speaker 3: It doesn't make any sense. And while DeRozan has made
Speaker 3: his hey, you know, as an NBA player, he is
Speaker 3: the Raptors all time leading scorer, So the idea of
Speaker 3: his jersey being retired there at some point is not
Speaker 3: far fetching any capacity. And so for Drake to kind
Speaker 3: of say what he says, because he's so salty about
Speaker 3: you know, losing an air quote rap battle if you will,
Speaker 3: you know, over the summer, which is now months old,
Speaker 3: and to be you know, Ice grilling them the entire
Speaker 3: time in the game, you know, and they call them
Speaker 3: a P word and all this other stuff like that too,
Speaker 3: Like it's I don't know, man, is Drake is on
Speaker 3: some different stuff right now? You know, I think and
Speaker 3: as you're lived to a little bit more owner than
Speaker 3: he should be at this point, you got let stuff
Speaker 3: like that go to de Rosan that really got nothing
Speaker 3: to do with any of this, and on all the
Speaker 3: things on the night that Vince Carter Jersey is being
Speaker 3: retired to. So what is happening? Bro? Like it just
Speaker 3: doesn't make sense.
Speaker 2: I mean, so what Drake?
Speaker 1: So Drake is gonna is gonna call a P word
Speaker 1: out when Serena Williams is out there at a game?
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, Like, I mean, how far
Speaker 1: do you want this thing to be taken? I'm not listen,
Speaker 1: I get it. You know, you feel some kind of
Speaker 1: way if you if you if you actually are in
Speaker 1: rap beef with somebody, and you know that there are
Speaker 1: artists who are actually, But that's how it's always been.
Speaker 1: Like if you put a microphone in front of half
Speaker 1: of these guys, they'll probably tell you right now they
Speaker 1: got Kendrick Lamar, you know what I'm saying, in in
Speaker 1: their in their eye music or whatever playing devices they're
Speaker 1: listening to before they're going game time over Drake, you know,
Speaker 1: And what does that matter?
Speaker 3: Have been interrupted to disagree because I think the majority
Speaker 3: of the league probably are our very big Drake fans
Speaker 3: and so forth and Star you even heard, like you
Speaker 3: would say basketball when they're playing. They're not like us
Speaker 3: over overseas in France and where in the case we're like, oh,
Speaker 3: you've Steve Kurr, like Steph and Curry like man, I'm
Speaker 3: kind of tired of this whatever like that. And he's
Speaker 3: in the West, you know, obviously Golden State, not you know,
Speaker 3: it's not La or Compton. But same time, I think
Speaker 3: Drake has the hearts, but he's he's maniacal in the
Speaker 3: way that he wants everybody, he wants, he wants everything,
Speaker 3: And I mean that's that's made him be successful, that
Speaker 3: you know, that level of greed. But now we're we're
Speaker 3: past greed and now we're at the point of petty,
Speaker 3: you know, and Drozan has really nothing to do with
Speaker 3: their rap battle appearing in Kendrick Mars video months old. Now,
Speaker 3: who cares, bro Like, let's let's keep it push it.
Speaker 2: I get you.
Speaker 1: But the only point that I'm making to this show
Speaker 1: is that once you start airing things out in spaces
Speaker 1: that you don't even a bye by or apply to,
Speaker 1: like you don't play professional basketball, right what they're talking about,
Speaker 1: what they are, what they're honoring DeMar DeRozan with, is
Speaker 1: something that you had no impact on. And you're saying
Speaker 1: you're gonna go and you're basically going to crap on
Speaker 1: on that because of the fact that he jumped on.
Speaker 2: A video with the guy that you got beef with.
Speaker 2: That's stupid. You get what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: It would be different if the playing field was level
Speaker 1: in something completely where the both of them had something
Speaker 1: to do with it. But as far as I'm concerned,
Speaker 1: when Drake goes out and says those kind of things,
Speaker 1: I don't think he recognizes that he's speaking to something
Speaker 1: that he was never applying himself completely to be. He
Speaker 1: never applied himself to be a part of the NBA,
Speaker 1: like it would be different if let's say, for example,
Speaker 1: was Jay Cole. You know what I'm saying, I can
Speaker 1: understand that because Jay Cole genuinely tried to play in
Speaker 1: the NBA, like he tried out and wanted to do that.
Speaker 2: That's all what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Like, I have no problem if you want to air
Speaker 1: out your beef, you want to speak some kind of way,
Speaker 1: you got beef with DeRozan, no problem. But to say
Speaker 1: when DeRozan, by the city and by the organization, who
Speaker 1: recognizes this right, the organization paid him to go out
Speaker 1: there and perform every single night and to give you
Speaker 1: a reason to be there.
Speaker 2: They are saying, we're.
Speaker 1: Gonna honor you because you are among one of the
Speaker 1: greatest players as a raptor, and now you're gonna basically
Speaker 1: come out and say something like, oh, I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: go down and rip down that banner because you know
Speaker 1: you don't deserve it because I got beef with the
Speaker 1: fact that you jumped on a video.
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, I don't know the full context of
Speaker 3: the of when it came out, because again it was
Speaker 3: VC's night and they're saying it. DeRozan will probably get
Speaker 3: the same honore at some point. So to even preemptively
Speaker 3: say that you don't know when that would be years
Speaker 3: from now, all that should be squash. So again it was.
Speaker 3: It shows a level of maturity, you know, on one
Speaker 3: of the great you know hip hop stars and you
Speaker 3: know currently today. But hey, that's that's what makes it fun.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 1: No, no, But like I said, I love what DeRozan said.
Speaker 1: He's like, look man, it's a long climb up.
Speaker 3: Good luck with that that plays the clip of Friday.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean? Well, he goes, I'll be
Speaker 3: talking again. So with the DBO stuff, so is from
Speaker 3: the West. Even utilizing that Friday clip, I think was
Speaker 3: you know, indicative of that. So a lot of a
Speaker 3: lot of fun here for us.
Speaker 1: I just found it so hilarious too because they were
Speaker 1: on a video. They were on a commercial together with
Speaker 1: freaking State Farm. You know, like it's it's it's like
Speaker 1: the WWE. Just who whoever's writing this up is probably
Speaker 1: former WWE people.
Speaker 2: You're two to the baseline.
Speaker 1: Cali Warr's Shaw discussing the hot button topics of the NBA.
Speaker 1: Coming up, We got to talk about the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Speaker 1: They are on one ten toes down standing on business
Speaker 1: right now as they are so far owning the NBA.
Speaker 1: But is all of that contender or pretender's gonna speak
Speaker 1: to that? And then Superstar divorces in the making. I
Speaker 1: know sometimes we talk about it from an entertainment space,
Speaker 1: but can you really believe that we might actually be
Speaker 1: doing this in an NBA space. Oh, we'll be talking
Speaker 1: about what that all means here on the baseline. But
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Speaker 1: nineteen MG more Baseline Cali Warrenshaw, don't go anywhere. We
Speaker 1: are back, Cali Warrenshaw Baseline NBA podcast. Time for us
Speaker 1: to talk about a team that is absolutely lit. Don't
Speaker 1: think we had them on our radar among one of
Speaker 1: the quote unquote contender like type teams, but they are
Speaker 1: playing like they are contenders. So the question is, Shaw,
Speaker 1: are the Cleveland Cavaliers from what you're seeing right now,
Speaker 1: right just right now, from what you're seeing right now,
Speaker 1: are they contender or pretender?
Speaker 3: Yeah, right now they are an absolute contender. But we've
Speaker 3: seen their style before cal like, we've seen them go
Speaker 3: on really good and long runs within the regular season.
Speaker 3: It's just the aspect of when they get to the playoffs.
Speaker 3: One do they execute in the way that they need
Speaker 3: to and two are they healthy enough to do even
Speaker 3: all of those things? All that remains to be seen,
Speaker 3: I think as we push forward into the dol drums
Speaker 3: if you will, of the NBA season into April, May
Speaker 3: and June. But right now, this Cavs teams looks real rushed.
Speaker 3: And I got to give all the credit to Kenny Atkinson,
Speaker 3: you know, kind of early on or what's six seven
Speaker 3: games into it, He's unlocked the Evan Mobley that everybody's
Speaker 3: kind of wanted to see why won't say it's been
Speaker 3: perfect basketball from Mobile. Mobley has been more aggressive and
Speaker 3: has not gotten into the way of Jared Allen when
Speaker 3: they've been playing together there. Scarlin also complimentary guys like
Speaker 3: Dean Wade coming in here and doing what they need
Speaker 3: to do to be able to face the floor appropriately.
Speaker 3: Donovan Mitchell still being his all NBA level stealth. To me,
Speaker 3: this is all credit to Kenny Atkinson. Fourth and defense
Speaker 3: right now, second and offense, third and net rating. Everything
Speaker 3: is clicking for the for the Cleveland Cavaliers, inclusive of
Speaker 3: their bench, which I thought was going to be the
Speaker 3: most suspect part of what they had going on here.
Speaker 3: But between that and Atkinson, those starters, they're doing a really,
Speaker 3: really god job to start.
Speaker 1: To see, I think what's impressed me about this team
Speaker 1: Shaw is their ball movement and the decisiveness that I'm
Speaker 1: seeing from their star players. I don't know if whether
Speaker 1: or not Kenny Atkinson established the pecking order on you know,
Speaker 1: who the primary you know players are, you know, I
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes it's you know, we get a little
Speaker 1: too into that whole thing. It's like, you know, he
Speaker 1: has to be the top tier scorer and he has
Speaker 1: to be the second score, like he has to be
Speaker 1: one A and one B and things of that nature.
Speaker 1: I think what I'm just really impressed by is and
Speaker 1: I saw this the other night when I was watching
Speaker 1: the Cavaliers take on the Orlando Magic, which obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: it's a completely different thing of Paulovonkara is not on
Speaker 1: the floor, but the decisiveness in excuse me and Spider
Speaker 1: Mitchell with how he was trying to with how he's
Speaker 1: scoring the basketball, to me, it's almost like he read,
Speaker 1: you know, the the the scouting report on what it
Speaker 1: was going to take in order, you know, to jump
Speaker 1: on this team early. And that, to me, I think
Speaker 1: speaks a lot to the preparation and to your point,
Speaker 1: that's where the kudos does go to Kennyakis. I feel
Speaker 1: like this is a Cavaliers team that is coming in
Speaker 1: more prepared with who they're playing against and how they
Speaker 1: want to dictate, you know, the way that they want
Speaker 1: to impose their will against whoever it is they're playing against.
Speaker 1: And that's just something that you didn't get a sense
Speaker 1: was always you know, being embedded in them while JB.
Speaker 1: Bickerstaff was, you know, the head coach. Nothing against J. B. Bickerstaff,
Speaker 1: because I think he's a great coach. I do think
Speaker 1: that this was part of the knock on the fact
Speaker 1: that he couldn't get over that part of the hump
Speaker 1: because he just never was able to either make the
Speaker 1: certain adjustments or you just didn't see the consistency in
Speaker 1: this in his team's.
Speaker 2: Preparation for who they're being matched up against.
Speaker 1: Now, again, this is an early sample size, and to
Speaker 1: your point, Shaw, we don't know what this is going
Speaker 1: to look like once one of their star players goes
Speaker 1: down or there's injury that takes place.
Speaker 2: But I do feel.
Speaker 1: More positive about this version of the Cavs because it
Speaker 1: just feels like they all know what roles they have
Speaker 1: to play for them to be this kind of successful
Speaker 1: through the course of the regular season and for it
Speaker 1: to carry that momentum going into hopefully that postseason.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm gonna support your point in this way. At
Speaker 3: this at this current structure, nobody on this roster is
Speaker 3: playing over thirty minutes a game twenty nine point six.
Speaker 3: You can call it right at thirty, but nobody's over thirty.
Speaker 3: And you can attribute to the fact that they've been
Speaker 3: a couple of the games. They blown the doors off,
Speaker 3: so they don't know. Those stars don't need to be
Speaker 3: out there. But that is something to you where you're like,
Speaker 3: you're kind of getting that even distribution of minutes across
Speaker 3: the board from Dean Wade and Sam Merrill, even Isaac Occorro,
Speaker 3: who could be pouting talking about, Hey, I was a
Speaker 3: high draft pick. I don't have as large a role
Speaker 3: on this team than that I that I want to have. Remember,
Speaker 3: they don't even have Max Juce yet. He hasn't even
Speaker 3: been able to play a game, and he's somebody else
Speaker 3: who's going to come back and presumably space of four
Speaker 3: for them and defend a little bit as well. Ty
Speaker 3: Jerome is coming to this. You know, this guy's been
Speaker 3: kind of a little bit of a journeyman, but now
Speaker 3: he's playing well and you almost giving him ten points
Speaker 3: a game off that bench. To me, this is all
Speaker 3: a tribut to Atkinson and the role definement as you
Speaker 3: were alluding to that he clearly has he's established a
Speaker 3: pecking order and there's nothing like having a coach that
Speaker 3: brings in the direct with the structure. And again nothing
Speaker 3: against JB. Bickerstaff. We've had him on our show JB's
Speaker 3: a friend of the show. We like JB, but something
Speaker 3: wasn't clicking in the way that at least it is
Speaker 3: right now with Calves, and JB went on some runs too,
Speaker 3: Like I said, like I don't want to disparage him
Speaker 3: in that way, but right now this Calfs teams look different,
Speaker 3: and a lot of that has to do with the
Speaker 3: I think the aggressiveness too of Evan Mobley attacking, shooting
Speaker 3: threes and not being boldly just because he's air quote
Speaker 3: slider frame. He's going in there and he's punishing some
Speaker 3: of those small great stuff in.
Speaker 1: The Yeah, do you think Shaw, do you think that
Speaker 1: they are They are getting over this idea that Mitchell
Speaker 1: is supposed to be saving them. I think part of
Speaker 1: the struggle that this team has had in the last
Speaker 1: year and a half two years under the Mitchell aerosot
Speaker 1: to speak, is this perception that he has to he
Speaker 1: had to be the one to come in and save
Speaker 1: these guys, and these guys not realizing the potential of
Speaker 1: what they can actually help bring to this table to
Speaker 1: help him.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: It was always like what Mitchell was doing when he
Speaker 1: was in Utah. He comes over and they're supposed to
Speaker 1: help make this team so significantly better. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: just wondering if whether or not they're beginning to recognize
Speaker 1: that they're just other things they know that they could
Speaker 1: literally be great at doing. Like you see that with
Speaker 1: the way that Jared Allen commands, you know, the center position,
Speaker 1: that you're seeing more of that confidence more and mobile
Speaker 1: to your point, because I think that what his skill
Speaker 1: set brings be it different than what you get from Mitchell,
Speaker 1: what you get from Garland. That the expectation of what
Speaker 1: he needs to do and how he has to do it.
Speaker 1: It's a it's an attitude of being that guy that
Speaker 1: is saying, I know that I am a mismatch problem
Speaker 1: for whoever is going to have to deem me up,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, And I need to establish myself.
Speaker 2: I need to put my foot in the.
Speaker 1: Ground, draw that line in the sand about what guys
Speaker 1: are going to need to do to defend me. Rather
Speaker 1: than worrying about you know, when Mitchell gets off, when
Speaker 1: Garland gets off, when Struce gets off, Like you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, Like he doesn't have to worry about
Speaker 1: that anymore, because I think they all understand that like, look,
Speaker 1: if you start doing damage down there in the blocks,
Speaker 1: if you start doing damage even beyond the three or
Speaker 1: whatever the case may be. But there's just your level
Speaker 1: of aggression. It bodes well for everybody in the way
Speaker 1: that they have to change how they're defending and that debt.
Speaker 1: That just opens up the floor even more for guys
Speaker 1: like you know, like their backcourts, you know, for sure.
Speaker 3: And I think a lot of it too with Garland
Speaker 3: having the confidence. But I'm going to go back to
Speaker 3: your earlier point. Donovan Mitchell does not need to be
Speaker 3: a savior. He needs to just be a leader, not
Speaker 3: just but he needs to be a leader. There are
Speaker 3: there are differences in that, and leaders at times will
Speaker 3: have to say, you know, certain games, as he did
Speaker 3: in Milwaukee just the other night. You know, that was
Speaker 3: a very very close game for them, you know, and
Speaker 3: Mitchell hits you know, kind of on a broken play,
Speaker 3: hits a game winning jumper in essence, you know, to
Speaker 3: kind of steal it from them in a very competitive game.
Speaker 3: But what's not discussed, you know from our lens, but
Speaker 3: Donovan Mitchell brought it up at the end of the game,
Speaker 3: was the possession before that Isaacaccor dove on the floor
Speaker 3: and got them the extra possession. That's when we're talking
Speaker 3: about that level of role definement from one through fifteen.
Speaker 3: Everybody's like, hey, what can I do to help us win?
Speaker 3: Get to that next level? And I don't want to
Speaker 3: I don't want to steer it too far into my
Speaker 3: own fandom, if you will, but I'm going to say this.
Speaker 3: I think there's a lot of notes being taped on
Speaker 3: how the Celtics changed the way they played last year,
Speaker 3: the way Tatum and Brown needed to buy in, the
Speaker 3: way the the rest of that roster, guys like Peyton Pritchard,
Speaker 3: who was you know, frankly wanted to be out and
Speaker 3: leave the team, and they were able to get on
Speaker 3: the same page. I think we're seeing a similar shift
Speaker 3: from the Cleveland Cavaliers roster and understanding, you know what, Hey,
Speaker 3: here are guys. These are going to be the guys,
Speaker 3: and everybody else fall in line to do what's necessary
Speaker 3: and when when you're a leader. Donovan Mitchell, who the
Speaker 3: game winning shot, goes to Isaaca Coral and says, hey,
Speaker 3: it was his plan that got us a possession on
Speaker 3: national TV. That says that they're the appropriate amount of
Speaker 3: leadership permegating within that locker room. And that's why I
Speaker 3: think this CAP's run is for real as long as
Speaker 3: they can stay healthy.
Speaker 1: Listen to me, this is a a dangerous team right
Speaker 1: when when they when they get right and it seems
Speaker 1: like Kenny Atkinson is unlocking you know, that part of
Speaker 1: how they can get right, and that again I would
Speaker 1: I would caution people, you know, watch out for this
Speaker 1: Cavaliers team, because I don't think we ever questioned the talent.
Speaker 1: It was a question of whether or not they just
Speaker 1: you know, mentally, are ready to take that next step.
Speaker 1: And and I think maybe they truly believe that. While
Speaker 1: everyone is saying that this is really a race between
Speaker 1: the Knicks and the Celtics and maybe the Milwaukee Bucks,
Speaker 1: which now they've are you know, the way that they're playing,
Speaker 1: you know, you can almost dispel them out of this.
Speaker 1: It's like the Cavaliers want that same level of respect,
Speaker 1: even though they got to earn it. But you feel
Speaker 1: a little more comfortable about saying the Cleveland Cavaliers arguably
Speaker 1: the third best team, even though their record is is
Speaker 1: obviously better than but they can arguably be the third
Speaker 1: best team in comparison to who we've been putting up
Speaker 1: as your top tier teams because of what we have
Speaker 1: already seen, which is something that we didn't see even
Speaker 1: all of last year. We always felt like they just
Speaker 1: got by really talent on the talent, you know, we
Speaker 1: knew that they were just a talented team, but unlocking
Speaker 1: that sit that it comes together to see like the
Speaker 1: potential of greatness that can come from this. I mean,
Speaker 1: they they get into this mixshaw, oh, we're gonna have
Speaker 1: a hell of an Eastern Conference playoff run.
Speaker 3: They've always they've always had the talent, you know, And
Speaker 3: going back him into our rankings, they were six, seven
Speaker 3: and eight respectively. You had them seven, come Adams had
Speaker 3: had them eight. I had them six, you know, and
Speaker 3: even that, but they were the team to me that
Speaker 3: had the most boom or bus potential from that middle
Speaker 3: tier because of what Donovan Mitchell can bring to that.
Speaker 3: But Kenny Atkinson is a coach like he can do
Speaker 3: what he does, and you know the fact that he
Speaker 3: did not take that Charlotte job some years ago, I
Speaker 3: was able to kind of land in what seems to
Speaker 3: be a really great situation for him right now. It's
Speaker 3: just say hey all all the time, and that it
Speaker 3: needs to be, and I'm happy for him and the
Speaker 3: early success that he's had. All let's just continue see
Speaker 3: if the Caps can maintaining.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Kenny Atkinson, Man, you got a little Ray
Speaker 1: Donovan in him. Little Ray Donovan's probably why he chose
Speaker 1: to good to go to the Cats. He's like, I
Speaker 1: want to get my Donovan your tune to the baseline,
Speaker 1: Cali warns Shaw, discussing the hot button topics of the
Speaker 1: NBA coming up, Superstar the Voices in the making. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: Netflix has got a show, Hulu's got the Kardashians, and
Speaker 1: the NBA has got centers.
Speaker 2: You'll find out what we're talking about. Don't go away,
Speaker 2: we are back.
Speaker 1: Cali Warrenshaw, Baseline, NBA Podcasts. Final topic of conversation Shaw,
Speaker 1: Superstar Divorces in the Making. I mean, we're not trying to,
Speaker 1: you know, be like the National Inquirer or the Sun
Speaker 1: or anything like that, but I think we'd be remiss
Speaker 1: if we didn't start speaking on a couple of players
Speaker 1: who have recently been feeling some kind of way and
Speaker 1: have been airing out their grievances, sort of speak to
Speaker 1: the media and the public. Ear so Joel Embiid and
Speaker 1: Giannis Atitukumpo have expressed their displeasures with.
Speaker 2: The criticisms and the.
Speaker 1: Outright I guess you could say tenor and temperament that
Speaker 1: has been you know, shifted with either their organizations or
Speaker 1: them themselves, and it's led us to wondering, man like,
Speaker 1: damn like is it they just are having a moment
Speaker 1: or should we be looking at this on a on
Speaker 1: a macro lens right like a in a macro space
Speaker 1: that like these guys, I think they are lining things
Speaker 1: up for them to be like throwing up the deuces
Speaker 1: to their respective teams.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and just for a point of clarification, I think
Speaker 3: the Gianas report, if you're a fan of the NBA,
Speaker 3: you might have saw that. You know, executives are circling
Speaker 3: and monitoring the situation in Milwaukee as it continues to
Speaker 3: proverbally get worse.
Speaker 2: Here vultures on a car.
Speaker 3: If Giannis would would ask out and I like Janathan
Speaker 3: didn't say that out of his mouth, but he has
Speaker 3: been a little bit more tricky in recent years. You
Speaker 3: know about his commitment. But as you were saying off air,
Speaker 3: like they've done everything in essence to kind of keep
Speaker 3: him in tow, you know, making the moves around him.
Speaker 3: They've given him all the money that they wanted to.
Speaker 3: He's earned all that money as well too. But it
Speaker 3: is a little bit different from the Joel mb situation
Speaker 3: where I think the media, the organization to some degree
Speaker 3: and he don't all have their wires kind of on
Speaker 3: the same page, like things are getting a little bit cross.
Speaker 2: So they're short circling all over the place.
Speaker 3: I think that's a great, great analogy for it, you know,
Speaker 3: and it all starts, well, it doesn't all start. But again,
Speaker 3: as we all know, at to date Andbid had not
Speaker 3: played any games. And then there was a quote, you know,
Speaker 3: from an article by I believe his name is Marcus Hayes,
Speaker 3: a well known Philly journalist, you know, who went out
Speaker 3: and said joelan B consistently points to the birth of
Speaker 3: his son, Arthur, as a major inflection point in his
Speaker 3: basketball career. He often says that he wants to be
Speaker 3: great to have a legacy for the boy named after
Speaker 3: his little brother, who tragically died in an automobile accident
Speaker 3: when in B when his would when in BIEB was
Speaker 3: in his first year as a seventy six er. Well,
Speaker 3: in order to be great at your job, you first
Speaker 3: have to show up for work. Embiid has been great
Speaker 3: at just the opposite. Now, in his eleventh season, he
Speaker 3: consistently has been poor in his conditioning. This poor conditioning
Speaker 3: apparently seems to have the layedst debut to the season,
Speaker 3: as Inbid will not play in the opener and has
Speaker 3: not played in the beginning game since then. Embiid is
Speaker 3: ultimately frustrated, and I'm going to play a clip here
Speaker 3: from Embiid that led up to an altercation that happened
Speaker 3: over course of the weekend that we will then now
Speaker 3: speak on, you know, following the conversations and the altercation
Speaker 3: if you will, from Joe Ebiid and Marcus Hayes.
Speaker 4: You know there is I mean, I've done it, you know,
Speaker 4: from what I can tell you, I've been I broken
Speaker 4: my face twice, I came back early with the risk
Speaker 4: of losing my vision, have broken fingers. I still came back.
Speaker 4: So I'm not gonna see her and be like like,
Speaker 4: you know when I you know, when I you know,
Speaker 4: see people saying doesn't want to play. I've been way
Speaker 4: too much. I've done way too much, you know, for
Speaker 4: this city and you know, putting myself out risk, you know,
Speaker 4: for people to be saying. So I do think it's
Speaker 4: it's bullshit like that. Do He's not here, Marcus whatever
Speaker 4: his name is. I've done way too much for this
Speaker 4: fucking city to be treated like this, So don't wait
Speaker 4: way too fucking much. But like I said, I wish
Speaker 4: I was lucky as others. But that doesn't mean that
Speaker 4: I'm not trying to you know, I'm not you know,
Speaker 4: doing whatever it takes to be out there, which I'm
Speaker 4: gonna be here pretty soon.
Speaker 3: So ce y'all. That led to an altercation after the
Speaker 3: Sixers loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, where Marcus Hayes did
Speaker 3: the reporter actually got into the locker room and Embeid said, hey, listen,
Speaker 3: you can you can talk about me. You can say
Speaker 3: s suck, but basically will Smith and keep family his
Speaker 3: name out f in mouth. And there's various reports and iterations.
Speaker 3: We don't even have all the full details other than
Speaker 3: that Embiid did lay hands on the reporter, you know,
Speaker 3: pushed him in the shoulder. By by what people are saying,
Speaker 3: and then the Philly media team, the sixers media team
Speaker 3: asks people to clear it out, and you know, and
Speaker 3: they try and try to de escalate, but Embiid was
Speaker 3: turned up and ready to rock and he did not
Speaker 3: care about his professional career because he felt he was
Speaker 3: assaulted as a human being by the words that that
Speaker 3: that that reporter had had put out there, especially with
Speaker 3: how how sense of that has to be for anybody
Speaker 3: who's lost somebody in their family. Your thoughts on, you know,
Speaker 3: the seventy six ers situation with Joel Embiid, not just
Speaker 3: with the reporter, but just kind of in general, what
Speaker 3: is is this all kind of leading to what might
Speaker 3: be a messy divorce with him and the franchise.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I'm glad you laid everything out here with this,
Speaker 1: right and I'm gonna try to be succinct about this.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna really try. I can completely understand Joel Embid's
Speaker 1: a frustration. I really could. He has every right to
Speaker 1: feel frustrated at the same time as a as a
Speaker 1: as a an athlete, as a professional athlete. And if
Speaker 1: this is about you know, your legacy, if this is
Speaker 1: about what you want people to perceive you to being
Speaker 1: and stuff like that, there's a time and a place
Speaker 1: for how you go about handling these situations.
Speaker 2: Okay, so, but this is this has.
Speaker 1: Kind of always been Joel Embiid's problem. It's it's how
Speaker 1: he goes about handling the situation. It's not so much
Speaker 1: as what you say, it's what you do. And I
Speaker 1: feel like that was a perfect situation where you really
Speaker 1: should say less and you should really just do more.
Speaker 2: Right, do more. That it puts it on.
Speaker 1: The those that are opening up this space for them
Speaker 1: that have no idea what's going on to speak to
Speaker 1: that situation and then you can help dispel that myth.
Speaker 1: I will say this right, I don't like when people
Speaker 1: who say that they are journalists. And I'm not questioning
Speaker 1: the credentials of Marcus Hayes. I'm not questioning what he's
Speaker 1: done as a journalist. But this is what happens when
Speaker 1: what you're supposed to be doing is journalism, but what
Speaker 1: you are speaking to sensationalizes putting facts out there because
Speaker 1: you have an opinion about either a player or the
Speaker 1: situation that's going on with the player. And when you
Speaker 1: when you don't define those lines properly, this is what
Speaker 1: you get. Right, you could run the risk of you
Speaker 1: being blackballed, you not getting access to the star players.
Speaker 1: And think about it like this too, Shaw, When you
Speaker 1: put stuff like that out there, what are other guys
Speaker 1: in that locker room thinking if they confide to speak
Speaker 1: to certain things and situations, if you're an anonymous source
Speaker 1: or whatever the case may be, that it's going to
Speaker 1: allow you to come out and say things in an
Speaker 1: editorial fashion, in an opinionated fashion that really is not
Speaker 1: completely based than all of the facts that are going on.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. I just felt like he
Speaker 2: took it a step too far. If you want to question.
Speaker 1: Joel Embiid's availability because he's constantly injured in whatever the case,
Speaker 1: may be, no problem, but you don't take his words,
Speaker 1: and then you don't take and you take that situation,
Speaker 1: you flip that in some way to say, oh, he's
Speaker 1: using this as a prop and excuse.
Speaker 2: You don't know that.
Speaker 1: You're not there, you're not meant to be there, You're
Speaker 1: only there to speak to the facts. Had he done that,
Speaker 1: I don't think we would have gotten to that particular point.
Speaker 1: But again, if we're just talking about what this does
Speaker 1: for Joel Embiid, I just think it further cements. Joel
Speaker 1: Embiid is just he's done with Philly, not that he
Speaker 1: wasn't done with them before, but I just think he's
Speaker 1: literally done with Philly, and I'm gonna speak to something Shaw.
Speaker 2: We didn't talk about this. I didn't think about this.
Speaker 1: Until we were talking about off before off year because
Speaker 1: I was trying to figure out, like, what's a good
Speaker 1: correlation to what's going on here.
Speaker 2: Remember what happened with Derek Rose. You remember what happened.
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about everything happening exactly like how it's
Speaker 1: happening with Joel Ebid. I'm saying there gets to a
Speaker 1: point whereas you as a player, you begin to realize
Speaker 1: that this situation that's going on is not good for
Speaker 1: your well being and your family's well being and your
Speaker 1: longevity in the NBA, especially when you're not getting the
Speaker 1: back of the organization to help you out when it
Speaker 1: comes to these type of matters. And I feel like
Speaker 1: this is what's going on now with Joel Embiid. He's
Speaker 1: at a point where he's just like, look, if you
Speaker 1: guys can't appreciate what I've done at this point, If
Speaker 1: you guys can't appreciate the sacrifices I've already made, given
Speaker 1: the circumstances and everything like that to heck with you,
Speaker 1: you know, and I get it. My only concern though,
Speaker 1: when it comes to Joel Embiid is the fact that
Speaker 1: by saying it and doing it in the way that
Speaker 1: he does. If he's talking about trying to get his
Speaker 1: bag again or going elsewhere, there's some other organizations, very
Speaker 1: well known organizations, you know what I'm saying, traditional old
Speaker 1: school OG organizations are looking at this like, look, as
Speaker 1: great as he is, do we really want to be
Speaker 1: thrown out that kind of money For someone like him,
Speaker 1: with that kind of attitude and the way that he
Speaker 1: handles things, he may not be ready for that line
Speaker 1: light that we that we have in our market. If
Speaker 1: he's talking about being elsewhere, yeah, I.
Speaker 3: Think very great points. Cl One thing I do want
Speaker 3: to tap into is, you know, having some having been
Speaker 3: somebody who who's written before, I've had some access to players,
Speaker 3: and you do have to think about, Okay, well how
Speaker 3: am I going to paint this. You can be critical,
Speaker 3: and but you have to be fair, and I think
Speaker 3: trying to bridge or thread the needle if you will,
Speaker 3: to some like the way that he's currently behaving and
Speaker 3: be that is as if it's some sort of dishonor
Speaker 3: to his family. Is I mean, it is it is.
Speaker 3: It's an absurdity that, as somebody who's been in the
Speaker 3: journalism feeling, I don't have the credentials as Marcus Hayes,
Speaker 3: like I just I could never and what what What
Speaker 3: irritates me more about this whole situation is not it
Speaker 3: wasn't like a blog you know, you will, and the
Speaker 3: aspect of just saying, okay, well whatever, I just put
Speaker 3: this out on my own independent website and I have
Speaker 3: you know, millions and millions of followers. No, the Philadelphia
Speaker 3: Inquire is a national, you know, media entity with editors
Speaker 3: what editors like, yeah, go ahead, you know what, boom,
Speaker 3: let's do that and let that be clickworthy. Like I
Speaker 3: just I just don't understand, you know that. And I
Speaker 3: understand it's a tough market to be in. And I
Speaker 3: understand that it's free press and you know, amendments and
Speaker 3: you got to be able to you know, free speech,
Speaker 3: et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But there's a line
Speaker 3: I think of humanity that was crossed here that I
Speaker 3: don't be able to come back from and the beat said, listen,
Speaker 3: I don't I think even said like I've read some
Speaker 3: other stuff this morning, and they're like, well he apologized
Speaker 3: in the moment, and he's like, I don't want your
Speaker 3: ef an apology, like it's too late, like you've already
Speaker 3: crossed cross because forever beef, you know, like Na said,
Speaker 3: some beefs are ever last thing. And I think with that,
Speaker 3: you know, if in bead ultimately then ask out. I
Speaker 3: don't know. I don't want to say that this is
Speaker 3: a straw if you will, but it's hasn't helped. And meanwhile,
Speaker 3: Paul George, you know, flies himself over from the LA Clippers.
Speaker 3: He too has yet to play a game, and he's
Speaker 3: sitting here and lot, yo, what the is going on?
Speaker 3: I thought I left some drama on the West side.
Speaker 3: I come over here to Philly and it's just as
Speaker 3: much drama kind of going on in the same situation.
Speaker 3: It's so early. The Sixers can write the ship here
Speaker 3: from a record standpoint, and you know, go on to
Speaker 3: win a bunch of games and be competitive the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 3: That I don't want to overstate or understate that that fact,
Speaker 3: but it's not great. It's not great to where we are.
Speaker 3: And if Embiid were ever to be like, you know what,
Speaker 3: I've had enough of all of this stuff. Yeah. The
Speaker 3: problem with that last thing I'll say is that he
Speaker 3: has a general manager who plays hardball when it comes
Speaker 3: to that. You know, you saw the Ben Simmons things
Speaker 3: played out. You saw the James Harden things played out.
Speaker 3: So if Embiid were to ask out, it's not going
Speaker 3: to be a pleasant situation, I think for all part
Speaker 3: of the involved. And Darrel always very comfortable with being
Speaker 3: uncomfortable real.
Speaker 2: Quick because I want to go over to the Ji
Speaker 2: Honisty real quick as well too. Shaw.
Speaker 1: But here's here's the problem, right, It's the problem that
Speaker 1: both Darryl Moury and Joel Embiid have. What do you
Speaker 1: have to stand on for you to play hardball? Maury
Speaker 1: has not led this team to an Eastern Conference finals,
Speaker 1: Maury has not gotten him to an NBA finals. And
Speaker 1: Joel Embiid, for all his efforts, Yes he's got an MVP,
Speaker 1: but what does that mean nothing? Because there's still other
Speaker 1: teams that are still better than him his team, and
Speaker 1: that will wind up still being favored even if they
Speaker 1: make it into the playoffs.
Speaker 2: You get what I'm saying. So clearly there is a
Speaker 2: problem here, and I guess what I was trying to do.
Speaker 1: And I know at some point, y'all, we're gonna revisit
Speaker 1: this because Joel embiid is you know, he is good
Speaker 1: at you know what I'm saying, egging things on, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, and he's willing to take it.
Speaker 1: That's the one thing I think people forget. Man, he
Speaker 1: doesn't do this without knowing that he is going to
Speaker 1: shoulder this, and he will carry this, whether you want
Speaker 1: to consider it petty whatever, he will shoulder that.
Speaker 2: That's fine.
Speaker 1: What I'm just saying is is that for Joel embeat
Speaker 1: and what his future may hold, and what his future
Speaker 1: may tell because he's his his legacy is already immersed
Speaker 1: in the process, and we're now at this particular stage.
Speaker 1: Now now we're going to move to another stage should
Speaker 1: he choose to go elsewhere. Do you really want that
Speaker 1: perception to carry with you that everywhere you go it's
Speaker 1: always this, you know, this level of I don't want
Speaker 1: to use the word chaos, but it's just PANDEMONI.
Speaker 3: In one place. So it can't say everywhere he's gone.
Speaker 3: He's only been in one spot.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, But I'm saying the iterations of your
Speaker 1: of your career. Let me use that better, the iterations
Speaker 1: of your career. Do you want another iteration of your career?
Speaker 1: You be versed in controversy and chaos of things, right, Like,
Speaker 1: because even when he makes comments like I don't see
Speaker 1: myself playing back to back, why are you saying anything
Speaker 1: about that?
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: The season hasn't even even hasn't even started, and you're
Speaker 1: already speaking about things that even you don't know whether
Speaker 1: or not you can and can't do.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, And so that all you're doing.
Speaker 3: Is adding introject from this standpoint, because like, and we
Speaker 3: say this all the time, right and we had a
Speaker 3: lot of conversation about even that, but we we as
Speaker 3: media members podcasts as a whole lot like we it's
Speaker 3: so strange, like we do. And I'm not criticizing it.
Speaker 3: I want to be clear about that, but we want
Speaker 3: it both ways. We get frustrated when you know players
Speaker 3: are well, you know, a great game, I tried, hord
Speaker 3: blah blah blah, blah blah, and then when they give
Speaker 3: us something to talk about, as we have now been
Speaker 3: talking about for the last couple of weeks, like we
Speaker 3: also hold hold them to a different standard too as
Speaker 3: well as too like it's a it's a it's a
Speaker 3: weird juxtaposition. But I agree in the aspect of the
Speaker 3: statement itself came seemingly out of left field, because I
Speaker 3: don't know how he got to that, to that, to
Speaker 3: that end conclusion that yeah, this might be something for
Speaker 3: the rest of my career, not just you know, this
Speaker 3: year as he's trying to you know, maintain or injury manage,
Speaker 3: if you will, but in be as somebody, as we
Speaker 3: continue to say, and as you just said a little
Speaker 3: while ago, he knows how to push buttons, but he
Speaker 3: seems to be like somebody who wants to also pick
Speaker 3: and choose when the buttons can be pushed back on him.
Speaker 3: And that's where I think we're having overall diskonde oft.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but he ain't Kevin Durant, Right, Kevin Durant can
Speaker 1: push buttons all he wants, but he has got a
Speaker 1: resume that allows him, you know what I'm saying. We
Speaker 1: sat here, we questioned the way he goes about doing
Speaker 1: things oh my god, childish, petty, whatever. But he's been consistent,
Speaker 1: he's never told you differently, he's never shied away, and
Speaker 1: nothing is not without it being deliberate. So that's when
Speaker 1: you know that Kevin Durant knows exactly what he's doing.
Speaker 1: There are times where you wonder, like, are you really
Speaker 1: doing this for the greater good or whatever your own
Speaker 1: purposes or is it just you're in your moment, you're
Speaker 1: in your feelings and you just got played, like you
Speaker 1: got duped into coming out and saying something like this
Speaker 1: when it didn't even need to be said. And I'm
Speaker 1: not saying it because I wanted to be a boring
Speaker 1: you know, like, yeah, of course we want to have
Speaker 1: conversations and we want there even to be some controversy.
Speaker 1: But I do think that some of the comments that
Speaker 1: he is making, I don't see where that even is
Speaker 1: even beneficial in the general sense with what we talk
Speaker 1: about with the NBA culture and for someone who is
Speaker 1: an MVP player, right he if Nikola Jokic was doing this,
Speaker 1: we would be like, what the heck is talking?
Speaker 2: What's going on here?
Speaker 1: Like you know what I'm saying, Like kats will be
Speaker 1: rolling in their grays or former MVP players be like,
Speaker 1: I would never say that.
Speaker 2: I would never say that, Like that's just absurd, you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. All I'm getting.
Speaker 1: All I'm saying is that I don't know, like it's
Speaker 1: coming from a different space. Finally, y'all, I just want
Speaker 1: to get to this thing real quick about Giani's and
Speaker 1: it was something that we were talking about off the
Speaker 1: year when Jana's out to Ducumpo. My biggest pet peeve
Speaker 1: is that if if Yannis wants out right, very much so,
Speaker 1: but he hasn't said that. If if he wants out,
Speaker 1: I honestly think that she should be because I don't
Speaker 1: know if there's just some miss going on with the
Speaker 1: way that the organization sees what kind of team Yannis
Speaker 1: should be should have around him, or whether or not
Speaker 1: Giannis's influence about the kind of players and the roster
Speaker 1: and what he I don't know if it's completely all
Speaker 1: salted in its assault BA into this idea that you
Speaker 1: know Giannis has a full say of what's going on.
Speaker 1: I me personally, again, this is conspiracy theory thought process here.
Speaker 1: I still think that Giannis is still hung over at
Speaker 1: the way things were handled with them moving Drew Holliday
Speaker 1: off that roster. And while I know that he gets
Speaker 1: along with Damian Lillard and everything like that, there's nothing
Speaker 1: about this team from the last two years that you've
Speaker 1: seen that gives the feel that he has control of
Speaker 1: what's going on.
Speaker 2: It's either that or Yiannis doesn't care.
Speaker 1: And we're like putting the blame on everybody else and
Speaker 1: not really focusing on how Yannis does not have that
Speaker 1: that it factor in him, like that you know that
Speaker 1: monster desire that you know we saw prior to winning
Speaker 1: that championship, and it's it's not something where it's I'm
Speaker 1: blaming him. What I'm saying is it's just like you
Speaker 1: don't get the feel that this is gonna be like
Speaker 1: that Bucks team that we were so enamored and gunning
Speaker 1: for and saying we hope Giannis gets that that first ring.
Speaker 1: We're not seeing those iterations of those type of Bucks
Speaker 1: teams since they won that championship.
Speaker 3: I'll back this up by saying, for me, with Giannis,
Speaker 3: I think he has created for a very long time,
Speaker 3: like the humble superstar, like that's been the them, and
Speaker 3: that he's operating within After you receive a certain level
Speaker 3: of success, you win multiple MVPs, you win an NBA Championship,
Speaker 3: it's very hard to maintain that same level of humility.
Speaker 3: You're just operating within a different are, Like what you
Speaker 3: do is different. It is, and I'm not excusing it,
Speaker 3: but I think we're starting to see the aspect of
Speaker 3: him now truly being into stardom and what that what
Speaker 3: that means, and how an organization capitulates to what his
Speaker 3: whims are as a generational type franchise player, that that
Speaker 3: he is so the nice guy who came from the
Speaker 3: humble beginnings. All those things are still true. But it's
Speaker 3: like how we talk about, you know, with rappers, Like
Speaker 3: at some point, yeah, you're wrapping about being on the street,
Speaker 3: but now, hey, you're making millions and millions of dollars now,
Speaker 3: so you're not cooking up crack anymore. Bro, Like that's
Speaker 3: not the same life. You're like you are in a
Speaker 3: different space. Now you're sipping champagne and you're going to
Speaker 3: the met Gallery or whatever the case may be. So
Speaker 3: your your your are is different and as a result,
Speaker 3: your position changes. And I think that's what we're seeing
Speaker 3: with with Gianni's everything that made him who he is
Speaker 3: very much the the the the crux of of of
Speaker 3: those things. But he's changed somewhat and his level of
Speaker 3: expectation is different, and the organization is is feeling the
Speaker 3: results of that, and they've again they've answered to that.
Speaker 3: But if he does ultimately want to ask ask out,
Speaker 3: I would not be surprised. And you know, for rival
Speaker 3: executives to be circling, maybe there's smoke, but you know,
Speaker 3: when again, when there's smoke, there's fire. And whether that
Speaker 3: ends up being Brooklyn in New York, a very demanding
Speaker 3: market that would completely elevate his his shoe game and
Speaker 3: all those other things, or an organization like Miami, you know,
Speaker 3: with their culture building efforts and things of that nature.
Speaker 3: I don't know that Giannis is going to be a buck,
Speaker 3: you know, for the rest of his career. So I
Speaker 3: want to throw this question back to you kind of
Speaker 3: dual fold betting man. Would you bet that Joel Embiid
Speaker 3: and Organis will be on their respective teams for the
Speaker 3: entire of the career or wish one would you think
Speaker 3: we don't even name name a team? Or do you
Speaker 3: think wish one would potentially ask out or would they
Speaker 3: both ask out.
Speaker 1: I see the Bucks probably figuring out a way. I
Speaker 1: don't think Janis hates the Milwaukee Bucks, but I don't
Speaker 1: think he is enamored with this the way that the
Speaker 1: Bucks organization is structured. And I think if there is
Speaker 1: another unsuccessful campaign that takes place, like say this year,
Speaker 1: I think they're cleaning house. I think Horse will be
Speaker 1: on his way out the door, Rivers will be on
Speaker 1: his way out the door. And you start from scratch
Speaker 1: again with Giannis again saying I told you so right,
Speaker 1: like so you know, like maybe now they'll value with
Speaker 1: what he really wants and desires as to how he
Speaker 1: sees this team a little bit, you know, as far
Speaker 1: as what he wants to you know, kind of have
Speaker 1: on that court, you know what I mean, Like he
Speaker 1: wants guys that roll with him like that. Okay, But
Speaker 1: to your point, could be a different perspective as it
Speaker 1: comes to Joel Ebiid, He's out. I'm sorry, man, Like
Speaker 1: you just don't say the kind of things that you're
Speaker 1: saying right now. If you're Joel Embiid and if you're
Speaker 1: Darryl Moury, I don't know how you save because unless
Speaker 1: he wins a championship, which you tell me, Shaw, you
Speaker 1: think the Philadelphia seventy six is as constructed right now,
Speaker 1: is gonna win a championship?
Speaker 3: I mean as constructed right now. No, But they have
Speaker 3: other moves to make, and we have not seen what
Speaker 3: is supposed to be the iteration, the best iteration of
Speaker 3: this team take the court yet. So I need PG
Speaker 3: and Bid to play some games alongside MAXI, you know,
Speaker 3: give me fifteen to twenty games to kind of assess
Speaker 3: what that looks like for their long term outlook. But
Speaker 3: right now it seemed like we may never get that.
Speaker 3: But I don't want to be too much of a
Speaker 3: prisoner of the moment there until I can see what
Speaker 3: they look like, you know, cohesively.
Speaker 2: How long do this didn't beat have on this contract?
Speaker 3: I don't know off the top of my head. I mean,
Speaker 3: that's obviously something you know, can kind of look up
Speaker 3: because then he just re signed, you know, I think
Speaker 3: that was last summer, so he's probably got you know,
Speaker 3: three years and you know, maybe a player option something.
Speaker 1: I mean, if he if he if he if listen
Speaker 1: if if embiid you know what I'm saying, quote unquote
Speaker 1: gets the gets the uh what do you will call it,
Speaker 1: gets the gauntlet if he if he if he wants,
Speaker 1: if he chooses to try and snap his fingers to
Speaker 1: make the existence of the remaining of his contract goalway
Speaker 1: so he can leave the Philadelphia seventy six ers, then
Speaker 1: I think we'll worry. I'm just saying, if there's anyone
Speaker 1: more incentivized, you know, to demand to get out from
Speaker 1: underneath all of this, it would probably be Joel Embiid.
Speaker 2: But I think the only way is left.
Speaker 3: So as you're talking, there's two years left, so this
Speaker 3: year and next year, no options or anything like that nature.
Speaker 3: So you know he's going to be extension eligible here,
Speaker 3: and so you know, will he play out all of
Speaker 3: next season? You know that remains to be seen. Understanding
Speaker 3: that that would be his last year after they just
Speaker 3: signed Paul George, you know, for a four year deal. Uh,
Speaker 3: you know, this could get really really interesting here quickly
Speaker 3: for the Philadelpia seventy six.
Speaker 1: Er, They're gonna have to win a championship. This is
Speaker 1: the only way that you may be able to salvage
Speaker 1: having Joel Ebid there, because it's like I think, as
Speaker 1: far as he's concerned with maybe the exception of Tyrese Maxey,
Speaker 1: which doesn't necessarily have to be about the player or
Speaker 1: players as much as it is about the organization doing
Speaker 1: what's necessary to have his back. And I tend to
Speaker 1: wonder at times if whether or not the organization truly
Speaker 1: does have Joel Ebid's back. I think if they did,
Speaker 1: they would not joelan b would not be coming out
Speaker 1: saying some of the things that he's been saying.
Speaker 2: They would have basically curtailed a lot of this already.
Speaker 1: And maybe they just, you know, capitulate because he is
Speaker 1: their star and they find it funny and it's cute
Speaker 1: and all this other kind of stuff. But I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: he is accelerating the timetable of fans demand that this
Speaker 1: team gets to an NBA finals, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like they want to start seeing results, Like they don't
Speaker 1: want to hear Joel Ebids talking anymore. They want to
Speaker 1: see him on the court producing MVP like kind of
Speaker 1: numbers because he essentially teased them, Hey, I'm an MVP
Speaker 1: worthy your player. But my problem is I still have
Speaker 1: not figured out a way either one to stay healthy
Speaker 1: or two to put my best performance when it matters
Speaker 1: most to get us to the Eastern Conference finals and
Speaker 1: ultimately the NBA Finals.
Speaker 3: This is their best year. And I'll close with that,
Speaker 3: this is their best year. He's got to stay healthy. Well.
Speaker 1: It certainly doesn't help that we were talking about the
Speaker 1: Cleveland Cavaliers just before we were.
Speaker 2: The Cleveland Cavaliers. Shaw have entered the chat okay, so
Speaker 2: that does not help.
Speaker 3: That's because of the Sixers and the Box have failed
Speaker 3: here to be the beginning part of the season. So
Speaker 3: while you know, two teams that we thought were going
Speaker 3: to be at the top there they are struggling here
Speaker 3: to begin the season. But it's only what sex seven
Speaker 3: games in plenty of time for things to turn around
Speaker 3: and turn around both sides, you know, and whatever injuries
Speaker 3: could happen to anybody at any point, your sprained ankle
Speaker 3: away from dropping three four spots in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 3: So I were wishing all these teams the best of
Speaker 3: health and hopefully that they will all be fully whole
Speaker 3: and we'll be able to see a competitive fees and
Speaker 3: conference in the way that we thought we were going
Speaker 3: to going into the season.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, So what say you, listeners, right like, if you
Speaker 1: had to be a betting man. Who do you think
Speaker 1: would be out the door first for their organization? Would
Speaker 1: it be Joel Embiid or Yiannis Attatakumpo you know? Or
Speaker 1: does Hell's freeze over and the idea for both? Weighing
Speaker 1: on your thoughts, man, We'd love to get your perspective
Speaker 1: on this as always show, another awesome show, a great,
Speaker 1: great discussion, you know what I'm saying. It definitely livens
Speaker 1: things up right before we get ready for NBA Cup.
Speaker 3: Yes, sir, yeah, wait for the MBA Cup. Here Klay
Speaker 3: Thompson making a turn to Golden State I think in
Speaker 3: the premier game for dollars and Golden State there. So
Speaker 3: we'll have much to have some conversations about that here
Speaker 3: in in the coming weeks. But this has been a
Speaker 3: live one. Hope our Pensil listeners enjoyed it and let
Speaker 3: us know your thoughts.
Speaker 4: Here and all that.
Speaker 3: We had beefs, we have injuries, and we got speculation
Speaker 3: on Superstar Divorces man, a lot of great stuff. I mean,
Speaker 3: like like a novella on this point.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, man, We just we just attract speculation everywhere
Speaker 1: we go. For another speculative episode that I can't wait
Speaker 1: to have with my brother from another mother, my man,
Speaker 1: mister Warrenshaw. Once again, we appreciate everybody hopping on board
Speaker 1: with us this week for the baseline Cali warn Shaw.
Speaker 2: We appreciate you guys, you know we do, and we'll
Speaker 2: catch up with you next time.