Speaker 1: Drive Time on a Friday afternoon ESPN seven hundred, Porter
Speaker 1: Larson Tony Parks filling in for Spence. Check it's here
Speaker 1: a little bit of a football Friday, as of course
Speaker 1: super Bowl fifty nine awaits us on Sunday, but we'll
Speaker 1: take a little bit of a break from the football
Speaker 1: conversation talk a little poops with our guy, Howard Beck
Speaker 1: of The Ringer and Howard, I know that Spence tries
Speaker 1: to always get hip with you, I think is what
Speaker 1: he calls it. I'm not the guy for that. He
Speaker 1: always comes to me to ask like what the young
Speaker 1: people are saying, and I tell you, I just I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't have it for some reason, there's a disconnect there.
Speaker 1: Any idea, any any idea of the song we brought
Speaker 1: you in with you? Do you have any do you
Speaker 1: do you have any feelings on that one?
Speaker 2: So a little embarrassing on my part because I know
Speaker 2: the song which A signs, but the one that I'm
Speaker 2: most familiar with, of course, with the one because in
Speaker 2: the eighties by Sacramento rock band Tesla Let's Go, and
Speaker 2: I don't know the original artist, which I should know,
Speaker 2: so shame on me.
Speaker 1: You should not be embarrassed by that answer because Number one,
Speaker 1: this has been a topic on this show quite often
Speaker 1: because Tesla was my late father's favorite band. Like wow,
Speaker 1: Like there are autographs, there are pictures, there are I've
Speaker 1: been to don't even have account. I've been to twenty
Speaker 1: plus Tesla shows.
Speaker 4: Howard Beck.
Speaker 2: Wow, there's a piece of trivia or just factoi that
Speaker 2: I just did not anticipate in a million years. I
Speaker 2: never saw Tesla. They broke out when I was still
Speaker 2: living in Davis, not far from Sacramento. When I went
Speaker 2: to UC Davis, that was their time, that was their heyday,
Speaker 2: but I never saw them. They had some bangers. I
Speaker 2: liked them.
Speaker 1: The Five Man Electrical Band is the original, but yes
Speaker 1: Signs by Tesla's is the one. They actually got a
Speaker 1: little more, little more run and Spence always gives me
Speaker 1: a little grief because it's it's kind of uh, I
Speaker 1: would say guilty pleasure because I think Tesla put out
Speaker 1: some really really good songs. But it's the only band
Speaker 1: that I would in any circumstance associate myself with. It's
Speaker 1: like the hair metal type of type of out there.
Speaker 4: So there you go.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've seen Tesla live in windover in Sturgis, uh
Speaker 1: In Vegas. Uh as the designated driver for several of these,
Speaker 1: but yeah, there you go Spence.
Speaker 3: Spence would then say some like man just should check
Speaker 3: these guys out, fire rabbits, You're gonna love them.
Speaker 4: I'm like, who some Northeast saw them coffee shop? You
Speaker 4: never heard him? Who are we talking?
Speaker 1: All the All their songs are twelve minutes long. They
Speaker 1: sound like Dave Matthews trying to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't. I can't handle that either.
Speaker 1: All right, Howard Beck, Now that we've got seven minutes
Speaker 1: on Tesla out of the way, my my other is
Speaker 1: looking down in uh In in pleasure.
Speaker 4: There.
Speaker 1: I got to ask, super Bowl, how much does it
Speaker 1: move to the radar. I know you're not a football guy,
Speaker 1: but this is as much a pop culture events as
Speaker 1: it is a football game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't care. I don't even know if I'll watch.
Speaker 2: The NFL was my favorite sport of a kid, but
Speaker 2: I did my in adulthood. I just it's dropped off
Speaker 2: the radar for me. So yeah, I might just uh,
Speaker 2: I might just you know, binge something on Netflix on Sunday.
Speaker 3: Who knows.
Speaker 1: Despite that, I'm still gonna make you give us a
Speaker 1: final score. Everyone's doing it not happening.
Speaker 2: Three zero, three zero? Which way Philly City, let's say
Speaker 2: Kansas City?
Speaker 4: Why not?
Speaker 1: Three zero?
Speaker 4: Chiefs. I love it.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 2: Go go Taylor Swift team. That's what there's there's that's
Speaker 2: my contribution.
Speaker 1: Go go enter that with your bookie three zero and
Speaker 1: telling Howard Beck sent you. All right, Howard, we'll get
Speaker 1: to the the NBA draft or the NBA trades stuff,
Speaker 1: the latest on the hoop side, and we got to
Speaker 1: start with the big news of the week. We haven't
Speaker 1: spoken to you since Luka Doncic was traded to the
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Lakers, a kind of a franchise resetting move
Speaker 1: and NBA market resetting move and the talk of the
Speaker 1: league for this week and probably the focus of a
Speaker 1: lot of the league going forward. For now. I want
Speaker 1: to get your read on what you thought when you
Speaker 1: saw that notification or I guess when you started hearing
Speaker 1: whispers of it. Luka Doncic to LA for Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: And of course we'll get to the Jazz involvement and
Speaker 1: the pieces around it as well.
Speaker 2: I mean, like everybody else, just absolutely shocked and frankly
Speaker 2: it's been almost a week. I'm still shocked. I still
Speaker 2: I mean people around the league are still kind of
Speaker 2: in this same state too, where it's like, did that
Speaker 2: really happen? How is this possible? You know, why did
Speaker 2: the Mavericks make what seems like such a rash move,
Speaker 2: not only to trade him at all, which is just
Speaker 2: unprecedented for a player of his caliber at that age,
Speaker 2: but the trade him for as little as they got
Speaker 2: in return. And you know, sometimes your opinions soften on
Speaker 2: a really shocking move and unexpected move. It might soften
Speaker 2: over time you get a little more context, you get
Speaker 2: a little bit more you know, explanation, You kind of
Speaker 2: take a step back, and you know, take a deep
Speaker 2: breath and you say, well, maybe, but that's not the
Speaker 2: case this time. Like, there's no matter how many different
Speaker 2: ways you look at this, how many times you try
Speaker 2: to reassess or give them the benefit of the doubt.
Speaker 2: In Dallas, it still doesn't make any sense. And when
Speaker 2: it happened, my thought was, you know, look, we there's
Speaker 2: nothing that we've heard in the wake of this that
Speaker 2: we didn't already know around the league in terms of
Speaker 2: Luca being kind of a diva Luca being kind of
Speaker 2: a pain in the butt, Luca having bad work habits,
Speaker 2: Luca being difficult to play with for some some players.
Speaker 2: All of those things were true. But he's still one
Speaker 2: of the best players on Earth and took you to
Speaker 2: the Final just you know, less than a year ago.
Speaker 2: So none of this is new, and none of those
Speaker 2: things I think justify deciding to trade him at age
Speaker 2: twenty five, And none of it justifies trading him without
Speaker 2: having at least try to test the market and see
Speaker 2: what more you could get, because they just didn't get enough. Frankly,
Speaker 2: they didn't even get enough from the team they traded
Speaker 2: him to from the Lakers. Because Anthony Davis Waller great player,
Speaker 2: it cannot single handedly carry a team the way that
Speaker 2: Luka Doncins can. And you know, they didn't get the
Speaker 2: Lakers' twenty thirty one pick, they didn't get swaps, they
Speaker 2: didn't get you know, Dalton connector Austin Reeves, Like, they
Speaker 2: should have gotten everything everything. When you're trading an MVP
Speaker 2: candidate who's twenty five years old, you should get everything,
Speaker 2: and they got far short of that. So yeah, it's
Speaker 2: still it's still shocking, and it sets up the Lakers
Speaker 2: really nicely for their post Lebron years, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, turn is what shocks me the most. Right if
Speaker 1: you want to explain to me that you don't want
Speaker 1: to invest the super max into a player you're not
Speaker 1: sure is serious about the length of his career, and listen,
Speaker 1: I think some of that is maybe unwarranted on Luca
Speaker 1: because at the end of the day, while he does
Speaker 1: come into camp overweight, he does have some of those
Speaker 1: issues by springtime. Howard, by NBA finals time, he's right there.
Speaker 1: By Western Conference finals time, he's right there performing and
Speaker 1: being productive. And this is a results oriented business. So
Speaker 1: I kind of scoff it. It's some of those excuses
Speaker 1: for why he was moved on. I want to ask you, though,
Speaker 1: of all the conspiracies, of all the reasoning, of all
Speaker 1: the blaming of Nico Harrison and the talk of it,
Speaker 1: why have we heard almost nothing about the head coach
Speaker 1: Jason Kidd, a guy who, from what I hear in
Speaker 1: circles around the league very much likes to have his
Speaker 1: fingerprints on basketball operations more than he publicly puts out.
Speaker 2: He definitely had his fingerprints on this one. It may
Speaker 2: not be evident, but you know. The word around the
Speaker 2: league that I heard was that you know. And it's
Speaker 2: interesting because the press conference, the way Nico said it
Speaker 2: was like, no, I didn't bring him in, but I
Speaker 2: know what Jason wants in terms of didn't bring him
Speaker 2: in on the decision making on the trade itself, I
Speaker 2: have I have no doubt in my mind that Jason
Speaker 2: Kidd also had his concerns with with Luca, like whatever
Speaker 2: the concerns of the front office were. I think we're
Speaker 2: shared on the bench and you know, but that's that's
Speaker 2: the way you're supposed to operate in the front office, right, Like,
Speaker 2: don't don't put your coach in the midst of all this.
Speaker 2: You know, you know, it's your decision, you you take it.
Speaker 2: I don't know that Jason is the one who pushed
Speaker 2: for this, but I have no doubt that he approved
Speaker 2: of it. I'm gonna pop inside, guys and just throw
Speaker 2: my bag down real quick and then give me thirty
Speaker 2: seconds to get through security of your right back.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 4: Thirty second time out?
Speaker 1: Yeah, can you that's that's the I forget the official term,
Speaker 1: just on the shoulders, right, thirty second time out doesn't
Speaker 1: go to.
Speaker 4: The media, though, media, just stay here, how would be
Speaker 4: back here?
Speaker 3: I'm with you, every bit is surprised about the fact
Speaker 3: that they didn't get as much back.
Speaker 4: Clearly there's something under.
Speaker 3: The hood there where the Mavericks felt like this is
Speaker 3: going to get worse before it ever gets better. Last
Speaker 3: year was the best it can get. It was not happy,
Speaker 3: it was not great, although the results were good. Now
Speaker 3: the results are good and there's some difficulty going on here,
Speaker 3: So to move on like the Jazz did with say
Speaker 3: Donovan and Rudy, Look what they.
Speaker 4: Got for that. I mean that they got in the
Speaker 4: same way.
Speaker 3: If you don't think you could have been able to
Speaker 3: get something like that in exchange for Luca, I mean,
Speaker 3: that's nuts.
Speaker 4: That's where a shocker.
Speaker 1: That's where I feel like there's there's gotta be more
Speaker 1: that we're going to learn about that was under the hood, right,
Speaker 1: More we learn about, maybe of Luca, of what's going
Speaker 1: on behind the scenes, because although there are whispers there
Speaker 1: have been stuff, you know about the way he approaches
Speaker 1: the game, nothing to the level of trading him not
Speaker 1: opening it up for bidding. That is that's a crazy
Speaker 1: one to me. Howard Jimmy Butler, the move finally materialized
Speaker 1: and he is now in in Golden State. You look
Speaker 1: across the across the continent, and the Heat now have
Speaker 1: three all Stars under the age of thirty. So pat
Speaker 1: Riley in some ways gets what he wanted. There, give
Speaker 1: us your your latest on what the Heat made happen.
Speaker 1: And Jimmy Butler finally getting out of Miami, but not
Speaker 1: to not to Phoenix as he was rumoredly trying to force.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the Butler one is fascinating just because
Speaker 2: of the way that we got there, right and also
Speaker 2: not for nothing. But I'm standing in the battles of
Speaker 2: Barkley Center where the Heat are arriving any second now.
Speaker 2: Maybe maybe I'll just hand the phone to pat Riley
Speaker 2: in a minute.
Speaker 1: Yeah, can you can you get him on the show?
Speaker 1: For us is that.
Speaker 2: I'll effort, We'll see what we can do. So listen,
Speaker 2: I might be in the minority in this one. I
Speaker 2: love the move for the Warriors to get Jimmy Butler.
Speaker 2: There's not much lifespan left in the Curry era, so
Speaker 2: whatever time is left of him being able to still
Speaker 2: play at a really high level, which he is, you
Speaker 2: got to get him whatever help you can and you know,
Speaker 2: Jimmy Butler's a winner. He might be a pain in
Speaker 2: the butt. He might cause a lot of ruckus when
Speaker 2: things aren't going well, and especially when he has contractual
Speaker 2: beefs with the organization. But the Warriors gave him his
Speaker 2: two year extension, so the contract is not an issue,
Speaker 2: and the guy's a winner. The guy plays his butt
Speaker 2: off and at both ends. And the Warriors badly needed
Speaker 2: somebody else who can initiate the offense and get in
Speaker 2: the teeth of the opposing defense. And you know, Jimmy
Speaker 2: Butler's gonna draw fouls, He's gonna he's gonna, you know,
Speaker 2: get in the lane. He's going to distribute. He's a
Speaker 2: great passer. He's going to take a lot of the
Speaker 2: pressure I think off of Steph Curry. I love the
Speaker 2: move for the Warriors and for the heat. You know,
Speaker 2: look like the obviously things had run their course. They
Speaker 2: didn't get a ton back, but the real point of
Speaker 2: the exercise for them at a certain point was just
Speaker 2: to alleviate the headache and move on. And you know
Speaker 2: they were able to do that.
Speaker 3: How surprised were you that the Sons were not able
Speaker 3: to move Bradley Beal.
Speaker 2: Not at all. There's nobody around the league who thought
Speaker 2: that that Bradley Beal was getting moved. Nobody around the
Speaker 2: league thought that somebody was going to be willing to
Speaker 2: take on his contract, especially with the no trade clause
Speaker 2: in it. And yeah, look, the Sons, you know, starting
Speaker 2: with the Wizards, the Wizards made a very very very
Speaker 2: bad contract, you know when they you know, first gave
Speaker 2: Bradley Beal the contract with the no trade and the
Speaker 2: Sons made a very very bad deal in deciding to
Speaker 2: take on that contract and to not insist on taking
Speaker 2: the no trade clause out as part of the deal
Speaker 2: of acquiring him. So they're stuck with it, and there's
Speaker 2: nobody in the league who's going to want to acquire
Speaker 2: that contract. So the Sons have really screwed themselves.
Speaker 3: The Cleveland Cavaliers, I don't think made this splash of
Speaker 3: a move that turned as many heads, but to get there, Hunter,
Speaker 3: at least, it is something that I think does move
Speaker 3: them a positive step in the direction that they want
Speaker 3: to well, still trying to build their championship roster. What
Speaker 3: were your thoughts about kind of the move and what
Speaker 3: they were able to receive as they're on that mission
Speaker 3: to be the best in the league. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, listen, if you're weighing everything or assessing everything
Speaker 2: that went on in the last week, clearly like the
Speaker 2: Lakers are the winners of the trade deadline by getting
Speaker 2: Luca and then even by adding Mark Williams at center
Speaker 2: on top of that. I think, you know, people will
Speaker 2: disagree on the Warriors thing, but I think they're up there.
Speaker 2: I know, the Spurs getting deer In Fox, But the
Speaker 2: next tier after those big splashy moves, I think is
Speaker 2: the Cavs getting DeAndre Hunter. I mean, they're you know,
Speaker 2: the Cavaliers obviously best record in the East, already having
Speaker 2: a great season. He's got size, he's having a career
Speaker 2: best year shooting the three. And if you're the Cavaliers,
Speaker 2: as much as you're probably very proud of and happy
Speaker 2: with what your team's accomplished so far, everything is going
Speaker 2: to be about can we beat the Celtics in the spring?
Speaker 4: That's it.
Speaker 2: Like, you know, all due respect to the Knicks, the
Speaker 2: Bucks and whoever else may emerge in the East as
Speaker 2: an opponent, but it's really about what do you do
Speaker 2: with Tatum and Brown? Can you beat the Celtics, and
Speaker 2: they've been spanked a couple times pretty handily by Boston,
Speaker 2: and you know, getting another big body out there and
Speaker 2: who can also stretch the defense at the other end
Speaker 2: is a plus. So nice move by the Cavaliers. I
Speaker 2: think it does have some risk. It does come with
Speaker 2: some risk, only in that you know, the vibes are
Speaker 2: great there, right, Like chemistry is really important. These guys
Speaker 2: obviously all love playing together, and you know Lavert was
Speaker 2: was playing really well off the bench for them, and
Speaker 2: so you change up the chemistry a little bit when
Speaker 2: and you change up the personnel. So I don't think
Speaker 2: it's completely without risk, but I like the move all.
Speaker 1: Right, Howard, rapid fire if you have to. We'll get
Speaker 1: your thoughts on on some local ties here. First off,
Speaker 1: the Jazz they get the Sun's twenty thirty one unprotected
Speaker 1: first five total second round picks. They bring in kJ
Speaker 1: Martin and they do all of that while helping facilitate
Speaker 1: a few trades around the league and only really getting
Speaker 1: off of a few contracts that they didn't have any
Speaker 1: intention of staying with anyway, your thoughts on on the
Speaker 1: Jazz return, although minimal, and what it says for the
Speaker 1: strategy going forward.
Speaker 2: It's been interesting actually to watch this in terms of
Speaker 2: the way the Laker fans are kind of portrays like
Speaker 2: Laker fans are gleeful that they feel like Rob Polinka
Speaker 2: got over on Danny Ainge by making this deal for
Speaker 2: Luca with the Jazz, and Danny Ainge noted Laker hater,
Speaker 2: noted hated former Celtics Right. I have a lot of
Speaker 2: Laker fans in my life and they are all gleeful.
Speaker 2: And social media has been as well about Danny Ainge
Speaker 2: presumably unwittingly helping the Lakers get Luka Doncic. So I
Speaker 2: don't know how that part's playing in Utah, but it's
Speaker 2: playing very interestingly in La. I don't know that. You know, Look,
Speaker 2: nothing the Jazz did, obviously was meant to move the needle.
Speaker 2: You know that it's they're just continuing to kind of
Speaker 2: mark the time and you know, keep their their heels
Speaker 2: cooled and and you know, add assets as they can.
Speaker 2: Am I surprised that they didn't move off of you know,
Speaker 2: whoever Clarkson or Sexton or Walkerkest or whoever. Like I know,
Speaker 2: the entire rosters and trade rumors perpetually but there wasn't
Speaker 2: really I didn't really pick up on anything around the
Speaker 2: league about anybody really aggressively going after any of those guys. So,
Speaker 2: you know, all all attention turns to, I think the
Speaker 2: lottery and the draft and what the Jazz do this
Speaker 2: offseason and are they keeping lowry marketing or are they
Speaker 2: try to acquire somebody to play with him. He becomes
Speaker 2: trade eligible again when the season ends, and who knows,
Speaker 2: maybe they're moving off of him too.
Speaker 3: But it's.
Speaker 2: It's hard to get a gauge on what exactly the
Speaker 2: plan is other than stockpile assets, keep tanking, hope to
Speaker 2: get Cooper Flag or somebody great in the draft, and
Speaker 2: then reassessed when July hits.
Speaker 1: And yeah, worst case scenario, you bring in kJ Martin,
Speaker 1: a guy who's proven he can play at the NBA level,
Speaker 1: and he's I think he just turned twenty four, so
Speaker 1: at least not that that's a needle mover, but it's something,
Speaker 1: and you mentioned it. There is a lot of talk
Speaker 1: around here about how that actually went down and if
Speaker 1: Danny knew and how that really did play out. I'm
Speaker 1: excited to learn a little bit more. If we do
Speaker 1: learn a little bit more about the inner workings of
Speaker 1: the Luca Donta trade. All Right, Kyle Kuzma, the former ute,
Speaker 1: Delon Wright, the former ute. Both of those guys played
Speaker 1: in the Sweet sixteen here at the University of Utah.
Speaker 1: They both got dealt on deadline day. Kuzma to Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: Delon to the Knicks, both of those two teams contending
Speaker 1: for the playoffs. Any movement, any needle moving with those
Speaker 1: two local guns.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look, Kuzma's hard to assess right now
Speaker 2: because he hasn't been on a team that had any
Speaker 2: hope of doing anything in so long. And I think
Speaker 2: a lot of people are kind of down on him
Speaker 2: or off of him just because he's become a guy
Speaker 2: who looks like he's just going for his numbers and
Speaker 2: not really doing much at the defensive end and all this.
Speaker 2: I think people need to remember that. And granted it's
Speaker 2: ardly has been five years, but it was five years
Speaker 2: ago that Kuzma was a really key part of the
Speaker 2: Lakers winning that championship in twenty twenty, and he was
Speaker 2: the guy who could score, who could shoot, who could rebound,
Speaker 2: and who could defend and defend multiple positions at his
Speaker 2: size and you know, he's going to a team in
Speaker 2: Milwaukee that is really trying to you know, get itself
Speaker 2: back into contender status and has two superstars to play
Speaker 2: off of, Like Kyle Kuzma can't just say I'm going
Speaker 2: to get mine on a team like the Bucks the
Speaker 2: way that he could in Washington, where there's nothing to
Speaker 2: play for other than yourself. So you know, I'm sure
Speaker 2: the Bucks are hoping they're going to get the best
Speaker 2: of him. He's still, you know, really talented player in
Speaker 2: his prime. I like the move, and it you know,
Speaker 2: it did cost them. Chris Middleton, who's a really talented player,
Speaker 2: was a key part of the Bucks championship. But you know,
Speaker 2: the word around the league is essentially that you know,
Speaker 2: Middleton is is pretty well cooked that you know, you
Speaker 2: know obviously he's had a ton of injuries and you
Speaker 2: know there's there's a lot going on there. I think
Speaker 2: the Bucks just kind of realized we've reached the end
Speaker 2: of the road, and you know, they got a younger,
Speaker 2: healthier player, so it's a good move and then DeLong
Speaker 2: right with the next So like the Knicks have severe
Speaker 2: depth issues, or at least did, and I think Thibodeau's
Speaker 2: been uh you know, riding his starters pretty hard. They
Speaker 2: could use another you know, uh, you know, spry, healthy
Speaker 2: body there who's you know, uh, you know, been around
Speaker 2: the league, knows how to win. I think it's a
Speaker 2: good move for them.
Speaker 1: Howard, we appreciate your time. I'll let you get to it.
Speaker 1: I know you're you're in the bowels of the Barclay
Speaker 1: Center and uh, not the place for a for a
Speaker 1: radio interview. We'll we'll set you loose and let you
Speaker 1: get to the hoops.
Speaker 2: Appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Let's take thanks man at Howard Beck of course at
Speaker 1: the Ringer and uh on this here radio program each
Speaker 1: and every Friday, the Daily assist, uh, the NBA Daily
Speaker 1: Assist here on the drive. I'm with him Tony on
Speaker 1: on a lot of that stuff. With the Luca deal,
Speaker 1: we're gonna we're gonna learn more about it, or we're
Speaker 1: gonna see Luca go to l A and learn from
Speaker 1: Lebron and maybe change something that that's the hope is
Speaker 1: that is that la wants to uh put a a
Speaker 1: tale on his career that he maybe isn't thinking about
Speaker 1: right now. Because that's the thing I talked about it
Speaker 1: there and kind of played Devil's advocate, where, yeah, he
Speaker 1: comes into camp at two sixty, isn't in shape, but
Speaker 1: he's there at the end of the year. That's fine
Speaker 1: for now, But when you're thirty one and you're on
Speaker 1: a super max deal, that's a different story. And I
Speaker 1: think that's the bet that the Mavericks are making, and
Speaker 1: it's the bet that the Lakers are hedging one.
Speaker 3: Well, sure, and this is a I mean, there's a
Speaker 3: transcendent talent. I mean, he's unbelievable. I mean it's unreal
Speaker 3: watching him, and I'm sure that the Mavericks had their
Speaker 3: disappointments with him. You know, when when you're winning, and
Speaker 3: even then it's irritable, but when you're not winning at
Speaker 3: you know, conference championship level, it's not irritable.
Speaker 4: It's infuriating. And so whatever the issues were.
Speaker 3: Behind the scenes between the two, when everybody's reaction was,
Speaker 3: how could you possibly trade a guy who's twenty five
Speaker 3: years old who does Oh yeah, absolutely you need to if.
Speaker 4: You feel like.
Speaker 3: That the good is never going to outweigh the bad
Speaker 3: to the point that this is going to get worse
Speaker 3: before it gets better.
Speaker 4: And you can see that happening like I one.
Speaker 3: I believe that's what Danny Ainge saw with Donovan, Mitchell,
Speaker 3: Rudy Gobert, whatever the dynamics were, whatever was going on
Speaker 3: behind the scenes, he could see that, you know, the
Speaker 3: Rensom repeat was not going to get them where they
Speaker 3: wanted to go, and so to get such a haul
Speaker 3: for each of those individually was remarkable for the Mavericks
Speaker 3: to get nowhere near as much as I think they
Speaker 3: should have been able to get for that, that's the
Speaker 3: stunning part. Now for Luca, you go to an organization
Speaker 3: where Lebron's not going to play forever. You could be
Speaker 3: a huge part of the face of the franchise there
Speaker 3: in a place like that, in another era when the
Speaker 3: page happens to turn, and in the meantime be a
Speaker 3: championship level and be a key part of that altogether.
Speaker 3: I'm with you going forward. Now, Luca needs some self examination.
Speaker 4: Hey. The self examination is you're getting away with some things.
Speaker 3: And I've seen that in my career being around NBA players,
Speaker 3: I've seen them have some issues and they get away
Speaker 3: with it long enough and just enough actually keeps them
Speaker 3: from being what they possibly could have been. I don't
Speaker 3: think that Darren Williams was as good as Luca. But
Speaker 3: that was my issue with Darren. I felt like Darren
Speaker 3: was just he was so good, but he was getting
Speaker 3: away with some of these other issues and some of
Speaker 3: these other things that documented.
Speaker 4: For long enough. Yeah, and I think he would.
Speaker 3: And by the way, he's been very open and honest
Speaker 3: and yeah, and you could see that. And I think it's,
Speaker 3: you know, Lucas still so good that he could take
Speaker 3: a team so far, even with some of the issues
Speaker 3: that he has. So I think that the Lakers now,
Speaker 3: as you said, they're hedging on that. They're saying, like, okay, man,
Speaker 3: different chapter your career. I don't know what it is
Speaker 3: in terms of diet, focusing on the entire twenty four seven,
Speaker 3: three sixty five.
Speaker 4: Maybe being all around Lebron Lebron.
Speaker 3: James can help with that. I mean, there's a lot,
Speaker 3: there's a lot that goes into.
Speaker 1: That and still all of that included. If that is
Speaker 1: your concern, you're hedging your bet now on a thirty
Speaker 1: two year old Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving. Yeah, long
Speaker 1: term right, which to me, okay, yeah, if if, if
Speaker 1: that is your concern with Luka Doncic. I like Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: and when Kyrie is right, I love what he brings
Speaker 1: to the floor. But I just don't see how that works.
Speaker 3: It was so much more. It's very odd there was
Speaker 3: so much more out there. Yeah, I mean there are
Speaker 3: teams out there who would be willing to say, wow,
Speaker 3: you know what, we'll give you this that I feel
Speaker 3: like he's a key part, even the Lakers alone. I
Speaker 3: thought Howard pointed that out really.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, even within the Lakers, you could have brought
Speaker 1: a whole a whole different uh return back. It's it's interesting.
Speaker 1: I wonder, Tony if there is something that, something maybe specific,
Speaker 1: that Nico Harrison, the Mavericks told the Lakers about Luca,
Speaker 1: maybe medical, maybe something there that brought the price down
Speaker 1: in exchange for not opening this up to market. That
Speaker 1: is the only conspiracy that makes sense to me. Is
Speaker 1: there anything Is there an I ri I that we
Speaker 1: haven't seen? Like That's that's it. That's the only thing
Speaker 1: I can think.
Speaker 3: Of something like that, because if not, you're looking at
Speaker 3: a scenario where you can say, and by the way,
Speaker 3: Jazz fans who want to see their team winning sooner
Speaker 3: rather later.
Speaker 4: I got it.
Speaker 3: I'll listen to you there. But in terms of giving
Speaker 3: something up and getting something back, I mean, you got
Speaker 3: a GM that just you never feel like, wow, we
Speaker 3: could have got more, yep. I mean if you were
Speaker 3: to tell me sixty percent as much as the Jazz
Speaker 3: got with Donovan and Rudy when it was known there
Speaker 3: were issues, I would have been like, that's pretty good.
Speaker 3: When I saw it, just how much they got, I thought, man,
Speaker 3: that's that's remarkable work. So the other thing I'll say about, yeah,
Speaker 3: the trade deadline, I don't think it could have worked
Speaker 3: out better for Jimmy Butler. I never saw it working
Speaker 3: out quite that well, especially with the two years added on.
Speaker 4: I'm going, my gosh, man.
Speaker 1: Yeah, then giving him more money, then giving him more
Speaker 1: time on the end of that is a win for
Speaker 1: Jimmy Downard, his agent.
Speaker 3: The one I'll say is the Bucks with Kuzma. I
Speaker 3: like the Bucks for Kuzma. I don't know if I
Speaker 3: like Kuzma for the Bucks. Okay, that's fair, and I
Speaker 3: like Kyle but I man, I'm going, wow, Milwaukee, like.
Speaker 1: Three years ago, I would have really liked it. I agree,
Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzman today is a different player than he was.
Speaker 1: You know, when you're a six nine wing whose value
Speaker 1: in the league is based on, of course your ability
Speaker 1: to create on the offensive side knockdown shots, but also
Speaker 1: your ability to match up physically with other front court players.
Speaker 1: That downhill slope it comes quick, and yeah, Kusma's not
Speaker 1: quite the guy he was three years ago, The Delawn
Speaker 1: Right one I like in New York as a Knicks fan.
Speaker 1: That's a versatile guard. Always room for a guy like
Speaker 1: that on your roster as long as he is healthy.