Speaker 1: It's time for Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: Holy crap, I don't know who the hell we think
Speaker 2: when we are gettle off our show, idiot.
Speaker 3: The kids are playing or tail off.
Speaker 2: The countries are screwing it up.
Speaker 1: Gold Play Inner Murals, Brother, gold Play Inner Murals.
Speaker 2: They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're really not.
Speaker 2: Who's the kid here?
Speaker 1: Who's the kid here?
Speaker 2: Are you kidding me? Now? Here's Nick Coffee?
Speaker 3: All right, let's get it started. Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome
Speaker 3: in the final week of Coffee and Company, fueled by
Speaker 3: Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. My name's Nick Coffee,
Speaker 3: Austin Montgomery alongside they strange here been a while, this
Speaker 3: is this guy new here. Yeah, we had we had
Speaker 3: a moment in the parking garage where you knew I
Speaker 3: was thinking it and you said it, and I couldn't
Speaker 3: disagree that because we had the nice holiday weekend off
Speaker 3: on Monday, which was great, and then you were out
Speaker 3: on Friday. Feels like it's been forever since we since
Speaker 3: we were, you know, in this position hopefully creating some
Speaker 3: magic today. That's what we try to do every day.
Speaker 3: But there's only a few more shows with us left
Speaker 3: because Austin's actually going to be out on Friday. So
Speaker 3: I'm gonna make the most of what we have and today,
Speaker 3: you know, throughout the week, I just want to give
Speaker 3: people heads up there. This will still be a show
Speaker 3: I do in fact prepare and we'll continue to do that,
Speaker 3: but I also want in my mind to just not
Speaker 3: really have any any map, if that makes sense, right.
Speaker 3: We're gonna end up where we end up in the
Speaker 3: three hour experience, and I don't really know where that
Speaker 3: could take us, but hopefully we'll enjoy ourselves and have
Speaker 3: some fun. And I do also feel like the end
Speaker 3: of May early June is usually the as far as
Speaker 3: sports for me specifically, and I know I'm not alone,
Speaker 3: but when it comes to like what we really are
Speaker 3: interested in when it comes to sports in this market,
Speaker 3: it's pretty dead right now. I mean, you do have
Speaker 3: college baseball postseason getting underway, and that's actually grown in
Speaker 3: popularity over the years, but we don't talk. Even if
Speaker 3: you end up getting into it more so than you
Speaker 3: typically would and you watch it on TV now more
Speaker 3: than you did a few years ago. It still isn't
Speaker 3: necessarily like a big sports talk radio kind of thing,
Speaker 3: but nonetheless, college basketball, college football, the NFL. I mean,
Speaker 3: that's really kind of what we eat off of around
Speaker 3: here for a good chunk of the year. And it's
Speaker 3: pretty dry right now. Right the dust is pretty much
Speaker 3: settled when it comes to the portal. We've pretty much
Speaker 3: exhausted a lot of the different talking points out there
Speaker 3: when it comes to the college football season coming up here.
Speaker 3: So we'll continue to you know, I'm sure get into
Speaker 3: some of that throughout these next four days at some point,
Speaker 3: But what I'm getting at is this is usually the
Speaker 3: time of year where I'm like, all right, we got
Speaker 3: from now until mid August where it's you know, you
Speaker 3: can you can basically take the guardrails off a little bit,
Speaker 3: if you will, and just end up in places that
Speaker 3: you know, people would typically say, what the hell are
Speaker 3: they doing? Why are they not talking about the depth
Speaker 3: we have on the defensive line this year? Or why
Speaker 3: are they not talking about you know, major League baseball?
Speaker 3: And I'm not really sure if anybody who says those
Speaker 3: things they're regular listeners, because I mean, you've never got
Speaker 3: that here. But it's a really long winded way of
Speaker 3: me putting it that it works out well for this
Speaker 3: being the last week because this is typically the time
Speaker 3: of the year on the calendar where I feel more
Speaker 3: comfortable and I'm not in my own head as much
Speaker 3: as far as bringing up anything, right, It's not like,
Speaker 3: well you need to only only you know, if you're
Speaker 3: gonna you're gonna talk about this, you know, do it
Speaker 3: when you have a five minute segment and not whenever.
Speaker 3: You know, it's prime time drive time listening, and you know,
Speaker 3: I'm just gonna try to not have any awareness of
Speaker 3: that and see where we where we end up. But
Speaker 3: you can listen to us wherever you are, whatever you're doing,
Speaker 3: as long as you have some type of connection, because
Speaker 3: you can listen live on the Aheart Radio app also
Speaker 3: listen live at seven to ninety Louisville dot Com. Certainly
Speaker 3: a lot on the docket today to react to from
Speaker 3: the long weekend. We'll get into the NBA playoffs because
Speaker 3: we have I mean, we've got my Pacers doing what
Speaker 3: the Knicks did, blowing a game that now has me
Speaker 3: worried about what happens tonight, because I mean, the Pacers
Speaker 3: have been the better team in this series for a
Speaker 3: good chunk of it. It's kind of tricky because they
Speaker 3: weren't really the better team for probably sixty five to
Speaker 3: seventy percent of Game one, but they pulled off an
Speaker 3: insane come back, and then also in Game two they
Speaker 3: were better and really kind of you know, it was
Speaker 3: a close, a really good game by the way, but
Speaker 3: the Pacers end up pulling it out and go up too.
Speaker 3: Oh and then of course Game three, I mean it's
Speaker 3: an endy. It looks as if the Knicks have decided, Okay,
Speaker 3: let's just go ahead and throw in the towel and
Speaker 3: see if we can survive Game four, send it back
Speaker 3: to New York with new life. Well then, you know,
Speaker 3: the Pacers let me down. That's not really what I'm
Speaker 3: sure they're thinking about letting me down, But they let
Speaker 3: themselves down because they should have won the game and
Speaker 3: they got sloppy. The Knicks give them credit. Carl Anthony
Speaker 3: Towns is a rare guy in a lot of ways,
Speaker 3: but man, he's a hell of a player, super skilled
Speaker 3: and just just a tough tough dude. And sometimes he
Speaker 3: doesn't necessarily sound like a tough tough dude, but he's tough.
Speaker 3: He's a really tough matchup, So I really, I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm if. I mean, I don't want to. First of all,
Speaker 3: I know a lot of you probably don't really care
Speaker 3: as much about the Nicks and the Pacers like I do.
Speaker 3: But I kind of feel like a loss here it's over.
Speaker 3: I mean I shouldn't say it's over, but like New
Speaker 3: York stole two back from you, and then you go
Speaker 3: into the garden needing to win two of the last
Speaker 3: three here, and you do. You will get a trip
Speaker 3: home in game in game six if we get there.
Speaker 3: But letting that one slip away when it was right
Speaker 3: there you were blowing them out, I'd be a liar
Speaker 3: if I said, as a Pacers fan, I haven't been
Speaker 3: thinking like that could have when that lead slipped away
Speaker 3: and the Knicks came back and took it from us
Speaker 3: and won. Credit to them again. And I think it
Speaker 3: was a collective effort on both sides, the Pacers doing
Speaker 3: things that left the door open for the Knicks, but
Speaker 3: also credit to the Knicks. They took advantage of it,
Speaker 3: and if they were able to win tonight, it changes everything.
Speaker 3: I think a win tonight for the Pacers is I
Speaker 3: mean it almost means the series might be over it.
Speaker 3: That sounds like an extreme thing. But look, if you
Speaker 3: can get up three to one, yeah, I guess then
Speaker 3: if you slip up, then the pressure's there, like there's
Speaker 3: always gonna be some some some components or some pressure
Speaker 3: components as far as Okay, if you lose this one,
Speaker 3: then Mann, the pressure's on. But still to tonight just
Speaker 3: seems like an insanely important game in this series. Every
Speaker 3: one of them is right, you got to get best
Speaker 3: of boar out of seven. But if the Knicks win tonight,
Speaker 3: they actually have taken back all the momentum plus some right,
Speaker 3: because being tied to a piece wouldn't typically be what
Speaker 3: the Knicks would be view. I don't think the Knicks
Speaker 3: would look at that as like a great position. But man,
Speaker 3: after they got down oh two and had an old
Speaker 3: time melt down in Game one, if they can then
Speaker 3: just a week later find themselves with a best two
Speaker 3: out of three series where they get home court advantage,
Speaker 3: it's new life for them. So if you can't tell
Speaker 3: I'm a little scared about tonight, I mean, would you agree,
Speaker 3: Austin Like the Pacers lose this, then they get tight
Speaker 3: the butthole gets tight. Oh yeah.
Speaker 4: If there's any series I think from that that still
Speaker 4: left from either the Eastern Conference or Western Conference that
Speaker 4: I think is going to go to seven. I don't
Speaker 4: mean that the the Scaria. I think it might be
Speaker 4: this one. Oh dude, this this worries me. Bro'll lead
Speaker 4: is safe in the series. It hasn't been any game.
Speaker 3: Yep, that's so true. And I'll admit maybe there was
Speaker 3: just a you know, I don't think I had any
Speaker 3: factor in the loss, but karma, Like I thought to myself,
Speaker 3: we were watching the second half on the on the
Speaker 3: back porch, and they had such a nice, comfortable lead.
Speaker 3: I guess it was the end of the first half actually,
Speaker 3: and I'm thinking, like it's over and they're going to
Speaker 3: kill them. And sure enough, I look up, you know,
Speaker 3: midway through the second half and it's it's still in
Speaker 3: a good position for the Pacers. But then that fourth
Speaker 3: quarter it was a much different thing. I hate that feeling. Yeah,
Speaker 3: oh yeah, it makes it you know, it makes me
Speaker 3: feel alive. It's a little it's a little bit of
Speaker 3: a rush on the hammock. No hammock. I wish we
Speaker 3: had a hammock, but uh, just imagine you yeah, hammock. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I just realized I probably need to just in my
Speaker 3: mind think of things that I typically would say on
Speaker 3: this show that I need not to do when I
Speaker 3: moved to eight forty whas because I don't know if
Speaker 3: it would be a good thing. Probably would not be.
Speaker 3: In fact, I know it wouldn't be a good thing,
Speaker 3: and I need to not do it. Like imagine me, Hey,
Speaker 3: let's throw it to Scott Fitzgerald. The buttholes are going
Speaker 3: to get tight, right like that's you know, it was
Speaker 3: just it was a It was a It stood out
Speaker 3: to me as something that you know, probably shouldn't say anyway.
Speaker 3: There's no real added benefit, but you know sometimes there's
Speaker 3: just not I didn't even notice it. Yeah, well, because
Speaker 3: again that's just our style, right, you know, just shed
Speaker 3: some light on it, be to be clear. What I
Speaker 3: mean is is, and I think most people know, is
Speaker 3: that you're gonna get like, you're gonna get nervous, You're
Speaker 3: gonna get tight because you realize we had a momentum
Speaker 3: and now we've let it slip away. Uh oh, we're
Speaker 3: you know, we're up against it here. They've got us
Speaker 3: on our heels and I guess I should have said
Speaker 3: that rather than mentioning butthole being tight. But you know, again,
Speaker 3: sometimes it's just, you know, we're lawless at times around here.
Speaker 4: My old football coach used to say, so tight you
Speaker 4: couldn't put a nail with the jackhammer through it.
Speaker 3: I like that saying that's very very tight too. By
Speaker 3: the way, coach, shout out coach Stalworth. I'm always down
Speaker 3: for shouting out high school coaches. Good stuff. All right,
Speaker 3: So tonight again, we've got Game four of the Eastern
Speaker 3: Conference Finals. Last night, it was the Thunder that moved
Speaker 3: to a three to one lead after they got blown
Speaker 3: off the floor in Game three, that first game in Minnesota.
Speaker 3: And I kind of feel like the Tea Wolves are
Speaker 3: a little bit dead now. And for as much as
Speaker 3: we and I say we, I know I'm not alone
Speaker 3: have hyped up Anthony Edwards. And I don't mean just
Speaker 3: like around here on this show. I mean like he's
Speaker 3: one of the he's one of the bigger stars in
Speaker 3: the NBA. Is really really, really good. I do think
Speaker 3: it's gonna be something I remember for a long time,
Speaker 3: just because it seemed like a big moment one in
Speaker 3: his career. But also just in kind of the passing
Speaker 3: of the torch, if you will, when it comes to
Speaker 3: new stars of the league. But when Anthony Edwards participated
Speaker 3: with Team USA last year in the Olympics, it was
Speaker 3: it was a known thing. In fact, many of the
Speaker 3: superstars that represented Team USA would come out and say,
Speaker 3: he's our best player. He's that he's that special, which
Speaker 3: he is, but you know, he he doesn't have an
Speaker 3: element to his game that is that is, you know,
Speaker 3: super important this day and age. I know people call
Speaker 3: him a free throw merchant meaning shay Jodis Alexander, but
Speaker 3: he's a three level scorer. And I heard a really
Speaker 3: good breakdown and I do think at times it is
Speaker 3: almost it makes it watchable at times if you're if
Speaker 3: you because it's not uncommon to tune into the NBA
Speaker 3: and for you know, three four minutes of action with
Speaker 3: very little to no stoppages in that time. It's a
Speaker 3: rare thing for you to not see somebody really just
Speaker 3: selling a foul and just trying debate people into contact
Speaker 3: and manipulating the defender, which technically there's nothing against that,
Speaker 3: there's no rule against that, but like it's just it's
Speaker 3: not really entertaining to watch, but it's a huge part
Speaker 3: of the NBA now And for all these players that
Speaker 3: you know play above the rim and are vertical, guys
Speaker 3: like you know Anthony Edwards, who is just a specimen,
Speaker 3: just a freak athlete, can do can you know, can
Speaker 3: do a lot of things. But then you have guys
Speaker 3: like Sga who he's a he's a three level scorer.
Speaker 3: He's certainly a good athlete. He's really quick. But what
Speaker 3: makes him such a special player is a lot of things.
Speaker 3: But I think he can get to the line as
Speaker 3: good as anybody. But also with that, it's because he
Speaker 3: has phenomenal footwork, right Like he you can't speed him up.
Speaker 3: He can speed you up, slow you down, and make
Speaker 3: you foul him. And sometimes it is just him, you know,
Speaker 3: he doesn't do it as bad as Brunts and Brunson
Speaker 3: is the worst I've ever seen, and just laying his
Speaker 3: big frame on somebody and falling down and then getting
Speaker 3: a call, and then at times he'll hook and holt.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's gifted at it. But you know, it's
Speaker 3: if you can do it and it helps you win
Speaker 3: and it's not technically against the rules, then I see
Speaker 3: why people are doing it. But what I'm getting at
Speaker 3: with SGA and Anthony Edwards, both phenomenal players, both are
Speaker 3: probably I mean those guys right there might be the
Speaker 3: two faces of the NBA in five years. I mean,
Speaker 3: that's just how good they are. So it's not like
Speaker 3: one's way better than the other. But I think the
Speaker 3: supporting cast that Shay has is actually better than what
Speaker 3: Anthony Edwards has. But also to me stands out in
Speaker 3: this series that Edwards is just not quite there yet.
Speaker 3: And look, we'll see, I mean SGA is in the
Speaker 3: Western Conference Finals. I mean they still have to win
Speaker 3: this series and then potentially beat the Pacers or the Knicks,
Speaker 3: and then if you win a ring, it does change
Speaker 3: everybody looks at you. But I just I've been really
Speaker 3: impressed with SGA in this entire postseason. And there's been
Speaker 3: a lot of talk about again free throw merchant and
Speaker 3: wanting to discredit how good he actually is by mentioning, well,
Speaker 3: he just gets to the free throw line a lot. Well,
Speaker 3: that's that check. That's a big part of basketball. And
Speaker 3: if you or somebody that can get to the free
Speaker 3: throw line a lot and score a lot of points,
Speaker 3: because you know, you make a lot of your free throws.
Speaker 3: In turn, you know what that does, It makes you
Speaker 3: a really really good basketball player. I mean, when you
Speaker 3: think of the guys in the NBA over the years,
Speaker 3: or even guys in college that were really really good
Speaker 3: at getting to the line and they shot a lot
Speaker 3: of free throws, they made a lot of free throws,
Speaker 3: how many of those guys would you classify as not
Speaker 3: good players? And I don't mean like I mean, anybody
Speaker 3: playing in the NBA or high level college is technically
Speaker 3: a good player. But when you can, i mean take
Speaker 3: all levels of it, high school, college, NBA. If there's
Speaker 3: somebody that is getting to the free throw line more
Speaker 3: than anybody else and it's not even close, that person's
Speaker 3: a good player, right because they're they're able to get
Speaker 3: to the line score a lot of points. So it's
Speaker 3: just one of those things that how that's now being
Speaker 3: used as well, he's really not that good he can
Speaker 3: just get to the free throw line. Well, it kind
Speaker 3: of works together. That's that's you know, that's kind of
Speaker 3: how it works. So anyways, NBA playoffs again, who knows
Speaker 3: what we'll get tonight because you just never know what
Speaker 3: This series in the East it's not. I haven't put
Speaker 3: any I haven't had any action on it. The last
Speaker 3: couple of days, I did a I did a player
Speaker 3: prop bet with Halliburton and Nie Smith and on Sunday
Speaker 3: and it did not didn't go well for me.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I've been on. I've been off the last
Speaker 4: couple of days too. It's been pretty eat.
Speaker 3: But we get back on it tonight. Pretty mean you work?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Why not? Why?
Speaker 3: Exactly right? Why not? It's something to do. It's a
Speaker 3: it's Tuesday, right, that's right. It feels like it feels
Speaker 3: like a Monday, but it's a Tuesday, which it.
Speaker 4: Feels like it's a Monday. But I already feel halfway
Speaker 4: through the week.
Speaker 3: Since I think we just recently had this converse, let's
Speaker 3: have it again because I'm having a brain fart. If
Speaker 3: we had four day work weeks and not five, wouldn't
Speaker 3: you agree that Friday off would be more preferable than
Speaker 3: Monday off, even though it's the same Technically it's the
Speaker 3: same schedule. It's three days off with four work days,
Speaker 3: but there's just something like Monday's Monday's great. Having off
Speaker 3: any off days a great day, right, Like we love
Speaker 3: off days and spend time with your family, especially when
Speaker 3: it's a holiday, that kind of stuff. But I think
Speaker 3: if you just have a shorter work week and the
Speaker 3: weekends extended in that regard, like what you do by
Speaker 3: adding Monday is just making it to where we get
Speaker 3: a little bit of a delay in having to return
Speaker 3: to our normal schedule and work week, whereas if we
Speaker 3: get Friday, it's like we got we got out early,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. And really, again, let's be honest,
Speaker 3: it's the same exact thing as far as the amount
Speaker 3: of time you're working and the amount of time that
Speaker 3: you're not working. But the way you can manipulate it,
Speaker 3: I just think it'd be if we did go to
Speaker 3: I don't think we're going to it. If we already
Speaker 3: to go to a four day work week, I would
Speaker 3: be all in on making sure that's a Friday that
Speaker 3: we don't work. I mean, look, I think you use
Speaker 3: this I try platform somehow, trust me. The amount of
Speaker 3: people who don't follow at all anything politically, and look,
Speaker 3: if you don't, more power to you live your life,
Speaker 3: do your thing. But and you just heard there was
Speaker 3: somebody out there that was like, yeah, I'm all about
Speaker 3: everybody getting three day weekends, there'd be enough people to
Speaker 3: where that you hit, you'd hit the ballot like you'd
Speaker 3: appear as receiving votes because enough people who don't care
Speaker 3: what he say. Hey, if all I gotta do is to,
Speaker 3: you know, go vote for this guy and there's a
Speaker 3: chance that he may win and eliminate a work day
Speaker 3: out of the week, I'm all in.
Speaker 4: Like that would be like the new legalized marijuana trend.
Speaker 4: And yeah, this generation everyone's gonna jump on that. No,
Speaker 4: I know, I listen. I absolutely agree because Monday for me,
Speaker 4: fundamentally in my mind, like that's to get back to
Speaker 4: work day. I enjoy having it off on days that
Speaker 4: we do, and I'll my goodness, I'll take advantage of it.
Speaker 4: I'll sleep in and the whole nine. But like it
Speaker 4: just messes up the rest of your week. We're having
Speaker 4: that Friday off. It doesn't do nothing. Like said, It
Speaker 4: feels like getting off early and then Monday. Now, give me,
Speaker 4: give me Friday off. Let me have my Monday that
Speaker 4: that kind of mental get back to work type of day,
Speaker 4: and I'll enjoy the Friday.
Speaker 3: Are you kidding me, dude? I mean when it comes
Speaker 3: to Mondays, I gotta be honest with you. When I've
Speaker 3: got something really important that I have to do on
Speaker 3: a Monday, it changes my Sunday, Like i can't enjoy
Speaker 3: Sunday as much because I'm thinking of, you know, the
Speaker 3: Sunday scaries kick in, and I'm starting to think like,
Speaker 3: man if I could put that off till Tuesday or Wednesday,
Speaker 3: I need Monday to kind of to kind of reset,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying. I need Monday to ease
Speaker 3: back into the work week. Whereas when you just hit
Speaker 3: the ground running, I mean it's it's a little much.
Speaker 3: And again, the Sunday sun Sundays are gonna be different
Speaker 3: from me moving forward because now you know, for the
Speaker 3: last however many years, I get up like everybody else
Speaker 3: does to start the week on a Monday. But you know,
Speaker 3: it hasn't been at three point thirty in the morning.
Speaker 3: Now it's gonna be that early, and it's just gonna
Speaker 3: it's gonna be lunchtime on Sunday. I'm gonna be like, well,
Speaker 3: you got enjoyed the rest of your weekend. I gotta
Speaker 3: go ahead and start winding down because three thirty am
Speaker 3: is gonna come really early tomorrow. So and by the
Speaker 3: way this was. I was listening to the show that
Speaker 3: I know Terry had stopped by the remote today with
Speaker 3: Tony and Dwight out when you guys were there, and
Speaker 3: I don't know if you caught the they were just
Speaker 3: they brought up Tony retiring and how happy they were
Speaker 3: for him and whatnot, and then they mentioned how he's
Speaker 3: going to be able to, you know, sleep in a
Speaker 3: little bit more now, and then each each of them
Speaker 3: and I texted them all in a group shadow was like,
Speaker 3: thanks a lot, guys, but they just like it wasn't
Speaker 3: even as if they were. They they didn't spend any
Speaker 3: time talking about it, but they were unable. Dwight went
Speaker 3: and Tony Venetti and Terry Miners were all three unable
Speaker 3: to reference the morning show and the morning job that
Speaker 3: I just took that I'm now gonna, you know, do.
Speaker 3: They couldn't just they couldn't just move on without acknowledging
Speaker 3: how bad that would suck and how awful it would
Speaker 3: be to have to get up early. Oh yeah, mornings,
Speaker 3: that sucks. Mornings. That's awful. And I'm like, well, thanks, guys,
Speaker 3: really look really looking forward to it, which I really am.
Speaker 3: In all seriousness, but I'm well aware that here's my
Speaker 3: plan for the mornings. By the way, and for those
Speaker 3: who still haven't really picked up, or maybe you just
Speaker 3: haven't been listening, I'm leaving after this week and just
Speaker 3: moving down the hall and moving up your radio dial.
Speaker 3: So at five am Monday through Friday, I will get
Speaker 3: Kentucky in this morning news started as the host alongside
Speaker 3: with Scott Fitzgerald, John Alden, and John Shannon is our
Speaker 3: news anchor. It'll be from five to nine am. And
Speaker 3: really looking forward to it, but obviously it's a big
Speaker 3: lifestyle change to have to get up that early, and
Speaker 3: I'm gonna do most of my preparation at night before
Speaker 3: I go to bed. That way, I don't really have
Speaker 3: a lot to do by the time I get here.
Speaker 3: There may be some slight things to kind of just
Speaker 3: double check. There are some things, I guess you know
Speaker 3: when you go to bed early, there's things that could
Speaker 3: happen over the night or late in the evening that
Speaker 3: you missed if you went to sleeps Anyways, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: try to get most of that kind of stuff done
Speaker 3: in the evening and then I'm gonna try to get
Speaker 3: here by about four fifteen, and after the show, I'll
Speaker 3: probably stick around for an hour or two, talk to
Speaker 3: some sales folks, maybe work on some some video content
Speaker 3: that kind of stuff, and then I'm gonna like make
Speaker 3: it a priority to wear it is part of my
Speaker 3: daily daily job is to get an appen because if
Speaker 3: I don't, then it just becomes to where like it's
Speaker 3: just it's you know, eventually I'll hit a wall, and
Speaker 3: I don't want to hit that wall. Because with this
Speaker 3: big move, there's been many that have been happy for
Speaker 3: me and congratulated me, and I'm greatly appreciate that, and
Speaker 3: it's been it's been awesome to see how many folks are,
Speaker 3: you know, telling me that they can't wait to listen
Speaker 3: and that they're you know, they're they're happy for me
Speaker 3: and all that, and that's great. But there's also been
Speaker 3: mixed in some people who are like, just so, you know,
Speaker 3: that kind of a shift can really mess with you mentally,
Speaker 3: and then people are like, you know, I worked at
Speaker 3: UPS overnights for a long time and there was never
Speaker 3: a moment in my twenty years on third shift that
Speaker 3: I was not tired. Look, thank you really making me
Speaker 3: feel good. So again I.
Speaker 4: Used to work at a call center, and I would
Speaker 4: I actually prefer coming in earlier. I think my start
Speaker 4: time was five and I just got off at one,
Speaker 4: either twelve or one, and I would just rather take that,
Speaker 4: just go ahead and get my day out of the way.
Speaker 3: And there'd be some times or you'd just be hey,
Speaker 3: you're probably a lot younger though, right, like you know
Speaker 3: I was. I was like you could you had such
Speaker 3: twenty years old? Yeah, Like that's the whole thing. Like
Speaker 3: I if I didn't have a life, a lot and
Speaker 3: a family and young kids that keep me busy, and
Speaker 3: I wouldn't have it any other way. This really would
Speaker 3: just be me individually adjusting, and I'll without even like
Speaker 3: planning or having any thought towards it. If you just
Speaker 3: you know, if it just becomes routine, then you know,
Speaker 3: like I'll I'll create my own sleeping schedule without even
Speaker 3: really knowing what it is. But you know, I don't
Speaker 3: want to. My biggest worry is if I go sleep
Speaker 3: during the day like I've never I don't know if
Speaker 3: I've ever woken up from a nap and not been grumpy. Ever,
Speaker 3: I don't know if I've ever woken from a woken
Speaker 3: up from a nap and not been tired the rest
Speaker 3: to the day, of course, So I don't have a
Speaker 3: whole lot of experience with naps. I just don't. I don't.
Speaker 3: I don't sleep very often during the day. But I'm
Speaker 3: gonna have to and find some balance in.
Speaker 4: A little walk, little treadmillfaction or something just kind of.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like if I can, if I can get a
Speaker 3: nap in after I leave here whenever that maybe sometimes
Speaker 3: it might be eleven o'clock, so no, it might be noon.
Speaker 3: But if I can then get a little nap in
Speaker 3: and then get some some workout in rather it be
Speaker 3: the gym or just going for a run, I feel
Speaker 3: like that'll kind of be me restarting the second part
Speaker 3: of my day. That makes sense. Yeah, I'll find balance,
Speaker 3: but you know, we'll make it work. All right, Let's
Speaker 3: get to a quick break. But before we do that,
Speaker 3: let me set the table for you guys. There's a
Speaker 3: lot we can get into, and including Greg Sanky as
Speaker 3: he is h he's clapping back taking shots at the
Speaker 3: ACC and the Big Twelve, which I shouldn't even say
Speaker 3: clapping back, because I don't think the ACC took any
Speaker 3: shots at Greg Sanki or the Big twelve took any
Speaker 3: shots at Greg Sanky. They're just basically like, yeah, we're
Speaker 3: not gonna We're not just gonna agree with anything you say,
Speaker 3: because clearly you work for one league, we work for
Speaker 3: another league, and what you may think is best for
Speaker 3: yours may not be best for ours, and vice versa.
Speaker 3: And yet he's in full defense mode. And yet it
Speaker 3: just brings me back to what I've said for a
Speaker 3: long time now, how could anybody think this would ever
Speaker 3: work without real issues? Because again, everybody's out for themselves,
Speaker 3: as they should be because it's their job. So we'll
Speaker 3: get into that. Also, how about this. I never even
Speaker 3: realized it at all, never even thought about it. But Indiana,
Speaker 3: the Hoosiers, they've never had a mascot. Did anybody know that? Well,
Speaker 3: now they're getting a mascot, and I think it's you know,
Speaker 3: at this point, Indiana's such a brand in college athletics,
Speaker 3: and the Hoosiers such a rare thing. Like, I don't
Speaker 3: really know what you could do that wouldn't seem weird
Speaker 3: and unusual to start, but everybody needs a mascot to
Speaker 3: an extent. So we got a lot to get to
Speaker 3: stick with us. It's coffee and company the final week,
Speaker 3: and we're feel about Thornton right here on Sports Talk
Speaker 3: seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Now back to coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 3: That's right, coffee and company fuel about Thornton's here on
Speaker 3: Sports Talk seven ninety. Thanks for hanging out with us
Speaker 3: here on a Tuesday afternoon. It feels great to say
Speaker 3: that it's Tuesday, because it certainly feels like a Monday.
Speaker 3: But short weeks are always great, and it is our
Speaker 3: final week here, at least for me, so I'm going
Speaker 3: to make the most of the time that we do have.
Speaker 3: And I didn't mention this in the first segment, as
Speaker 3: far as things we can we can get into and discuss,
Speaker 3: and I guess there really isn't any There isn't really
Speaker 3: anything to there's no breaking news or anything like that.
Speaker 3: But Mark Pope yet to hear, and maybe he's heard
Speaker 3: and just isn't public yet, but there's not been any
Speaker 3: official public acknowledgment that that Kentucky's getting back their star player.
Speaker 3: And I feel like, you know, maybe there's a chance
Speaker 3: that he's already told Pope. He just wants to wait,
Speaker 3: and I don't even really know what the deadline is,
Speaker 3: but it's got to be getting close. At least I
Speaker 3: would assume that it's getting close as far as the deadline,
Speaker 3: because you're seeing a lot of guys who participated in
Speaker 3: the draft combine that didn't get great feedback or maybe
Speaker 3: they just wanted to go through the process and did
Speaker 3: not expect at any point, you know, to get any
Speaker 3: type of indication that the right time to go pro
Speaker 3: would be now, But they just wanted to go through
Speaker 3: that experience because there's a lot of value that comes
Speaker 3: with it. But anyways, as far as what happens with
Speaker 3: with you know, the guys that are left, I feel
Speaker 3: like the majority of them, I mean, there can't be
Speaker 3: many that have that have I mean as far as
Speaker 3: guys who have a really tough decision to make, I mean,
Speaker 3: I feel like most of those guys have already decided
Speaker 3: what it is that they're going to do. But otega
Speaker 3: Oway is clearly Kentucky's top player next year, regardless of
Speaker 3: who they brought in. And maybe I'm wrong, like maybe
Speaker 3: one of these guys who transferred in, like Jalen Low,
Speaker 3: who was really really impressive, It sounds like at the
Speaker 3: g Lee combine and then that got him an opportunity
Speaker 3: at the actual NBA Draft combine. Like maybe he's their
Speaker 3: best player. But I always felt like otakea Away was
Speaker 3: their best player last year, but like nobody really acknowledged
Speaker 3: it because I guess they were of the belief that
Speaker 3: it was going to be either Jackson Robinson or maybe
Speaker 3: even Lamont Butler. But Go Takeaway has does not have
Speaker 3: really any I mean, it says here that the draft deadline,
Speaker 3: let's say, let's see here, it says the college eligible
Speaker 3: prospects have until May twenty eighth at eleven fifty nine pm,
Speaker 3: So it's tomorrow night at midnight is the deadline to
Speaker 3: submit paperwork stating they no longer intend to go through
Speaker 3: the process. So Kentucky is going to know one way
Speaker 3: or the other. And I don't know enough about otake
Speaker 3: Away if he's somebody that has the personality or maybe
Speaker 3: he's shown to really I don't want to say take
Speaker 3: advantage because that sounds like I'm being critical, and I'm
Speaker 3: really not. If you have this moment and you realize
Speaker 3: it's such a big deal that you're coming back to school,
Speaker 3: I mean, for you to, I guess play into that
Speaker 3: now if you if you start messing with fans and whatnot,
Speaker 3: that's that's a little bit of a different situation. But
Speaker 3: I think most would love the thought of knowing you
Speaker 3: can announce, hey, I'm coming back, and you're just going
Speaker 3: to get showered with nothing but love and praise because
Speaker 3: people are so excited that you're back. So if a
Speaker 3: lot of us were, you know, in this position when
Speaker 3: we were a lot younger, I think we probably would
Speaker 3: do a lot of these things that current players and
Speaker 3: recruits do because you know, I think it's human nature
Speaker 3: to want to be wanted. And clearly I think otega
Speaker 3: Oway knows that him coming back is going to be
Speaker 3: a big, big deal and he's going to make fans
Speaker 3: wait till the last minute. I guess to have it
Speaker 3: because there doesn't seem to be any real fear that
Speaker 3: he will not be back yet as of right now,
Speaker 3: at three point thirty three, he is not. I guess
Speaker 3: made it official as far as letting anybody know. And
Speaker 3: this goes back to the awkward conversations that that you know,
Speaker 3: we've had over the years. As far as I guess
Speaker 3: recent years, more than anything, is if somebody is not
Speaker 3: going to hit the portal, do they need to tell
Speaker 3: us that? Right? Used to be well, why would they
Speaker 3: go anywhere? Why do they need to say anything? Well now,
Speaker 3: because it's a reset every year, meaning you can do
Speaker 3: whatever you want. You do feel as if guys would
Speaker 3: need to say something for you to feel.
Speaker 2: Sure.
Speaker 3: I mean, Casin Pryor is a good example. He announced it,
Speaker 3: I think on I mean he think he announced it
Speaker 3: right as the portal closed, because that was the you know,
Speaker 3: he didn't mention anything about going pro or even entering
Speaker 3: the portal. It just was an announcement with a very
Speaker 3: nice cinematic video put together that told us he's coming back,
Speaker 3: And there was never really any mention or acknowledgment of
Speaker 3: a real tough decision. But because of the new world
Speaker 3: and what it is, I think everybody can read the
Speaker 3: room right like, we know you can leave if you want.
Speaker 3: We know if you did leave, you would have a
Speaker 3: lot of options and probably a lot of potential, you know, money,
Speaker 3: So what are you gonna do? I do believe I
Speaker 3: tend to side more so with let's not let's not
Speaker 3: be stupid here, meaning let's not insult people's intelligence. You know,
Speaker 3: the whole Like, why would I need to say anything
Speaker 3: until he's.
Speaker 2: Hit the portal?
Speaker 3: He's here, You're right, but you're not you know what
Speaker 3: I'm saying. It's just it's it's different. So anyway, so
Speaker 3: take Away may not have any kind of a plan,
Speaker 3: but I suppose there is. This isn't one of those
Speaker 3: things where you you you just ride it out and
Speaker 3: if he's still on campus in June, then you know,
Speaker 3: you're good to go with this. He does actually have
Speaker 3: to do something. There's actually something that needs to be
Speaker 3: done in order for him to be able to come back,
Speaker 3: and that is submit paperwork stating that they no longer
Speaker 3: intend to go through the process. And I would assume
Speaker 3: he's either done that or he's doing it now. And
Speaker 3: it's just kind of a waiting game, I know. With
Speaker 3: with Mark Pope, he he did his interview with KSR
Speaker 3: last week, and it sounds like he wanted to do
Speaker 3: that interview once he knew for sure what his roster
Speaker 3: was going to be. And I guess that doesn't mean
Speaker 3: he couldn't have a last second, you know, change of
Speaker 3: the roster, because maybe Away had had the decision to
Speaker 3: you know, maybe Away to change his mind and told
Speaker 3: him at the last second. Who knows. I guess that's possible,
Speaker 3: but I'd be highly, highly, highly shocked if he doesn't
Speaker 3: come back to Kentucky because again, the amount of money
Speaker 3: he's gonna make is more than he would make even
Speaker 3: if he probably gets drafted in the early second round
Speaker 3: or late first round. So it says here that the
Speaker 3: when it comes to the different mock drafts that are
Speaker 3: out there, the vast majority of them don't have him
Speaker 3: getting drafted. However, Sports Illustrated they have, They've all, they've
Speaker 3: they've been the one that seemingly has had him in
Speaker 3: the second round for quite some time. They currently have
Speaker 3: him going fifty eighth overall, and you've got let's see
Speaker 3: CBS Sports Updated is its latest mock draft, but always
Speaker 3: not in it. Same thing with Clutch Points, which is
Speaker 3: actually a pretty now reputable NBA outlet. But nonetheless, I
Speaker 3: would say he comes back to Kentucky. But I'm trying
Speaker 3: to think. If I'm a Louisville fan and I'm in
Speaker 3: this position, I'm sorry. If I'm a Kentucky fan and
Speaker 3: I'm in this position, I think I would be comfortable
Speaker 3: and not worried about it, but you know, just knowing
Speaker 3: that he could have a last second change of heart
Speaker 3: that would be that would I guess that would probably
Speaker 3: make me a little more nervous. Then again, like to
Speaker 3: go back to what we talked, what was a couple
Speaker 3: of weeks ago, we played the sound as somebody was
Speaker 3: doing the somebody was doing on NBA TV. They were
Speaker 3: having the five on five scrimmages and they had not
Speaker 3: only the play by play guy and a guy doing color,
Speaker 3: but they brought in I think it might have been
Speaker 3: Jonathan Givoni of Draft Express. I'm not sure who it was,
Speaker 3: but it was an analyst. It was basically stating that
Speaker 3: now with guys like oh, take away, the decision becomes
Speaker 3: much easier because you might get drafted, or you can
Speaker 3: for sure go back to college and make more money
Speaker 3: than you would make even if you did get drafted.
Speaker 3: And that was him. So it really came down to
Speaker 3: the only scenario where he's not at Kentucky next year
Speaker 3: would be that he got some kind of a late
Speaker 3: guarantee from a team that they're going to take him
Speaker 3: in the first round, or that he just hates being
Speaker 3: at Kentucky. And I don't think that's the case at all.
Speaker 3: But even if he did, I think the amount of
Speaker 3: money he's going to make to be at Kentucky would
Speaker 3: make him not hate it as much. Again, if he
Speaker 3: even did, and I guess the other scenario would be
Speaker 3: that he would be worried that his draft stock may
Speaker 3: actually be better now because he doesn't think Kentucky's going
Speaker 3: to be very good next year, and that could that
Speaker 3: could hurt him. I don't think that's true, and I
Speaker 3: don't think he would see it that way. So again,
Speaker 3: I would say all signs point to him to him
Speaker 3: coming back now one of the probably one of the
Speaker 3: best players that hit the portal, But yet there really
Speaker 3: wasn't a whole like PJ. Haggerty was at Memphis with
Speaker 3: Penny Hardaway last year and was a first team All
Speaker 3: the mayor I believe, if not first team, he was
Speaker 3: the second team All American. And he committed to Kansas
Speaker 3: State today. And this is a guy who really the
Speaker 3: momentum in the coverage of his recruitment would have been
Speaker 3: so different had he not or I guess his agency
Speaker 3: is representation as handlers, had they not handled it the
Speaker 3: way that they did, right, because when you come out
Speaker 3: of the gate, entering the portal and having your representation,
Speaker 3: your agent. I guess let guys like Gary Parrish, Matt
Speaker 3: Norlander and Jeff Borzello, Jeff Goodman, let those guys know, Hey,
Speaker 3: you're requesting at minimum four million dollars and you want
Speaker 3: to run the show, you want to be the point guard.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think even though we're all about getting
Speaker 3: good players in the portal that can help you win,
Speaker 3: I think a lot of people realized there's not going
Speaker 3: to be many programs that'll that'll that'll take that right
Speaker 3: that not only is that way too much money for
Speaker 3: a player, even if you gave him half of that,
Speaker 3: that's still an insane amount of money that I'm not
Speaker 3: sure many if any, actually get for nil. But also
Speaker 3: you're bringing in a guy to your locker room. Let's
Speaker 3: say it's a locker room that's already kind of in
Speaker 3: place with some guys returning, and you know, this guy's
Speaker 3: showing up and there's no competition because he's already been
Speaker 3: given the point guards by like, that's just not an
Speaker 3: ideal scenarios. So he did not get pursued heavily by
Speaker 3: many big time schools. And I think it's for those
Speaker 3: reasons I just mentioned, and I think there were a
Speaker 3: couple of schools. It sounds like they did try to
Speaker 3: pursue him with a look, we know what you're asking for,
Speaker 3: but like, let's let's let's have a conversation here, Like
Speaker 3: you're not getting that anywhere, and we can give you
Speaker 3: something we think is not only a good deal for
Speaker 3: you from a money standpoint, but also you'll play in
Speaker 3: a really good system with a really good team and
Speaker 3: get a whole lot of notoriety. So we got that off.
Speaker 3: We can we can talk about that type of an
Speaker 3: arrangement if you're interested. But it sounds like he stuck
Speaker 3: to his guns and did not And I kind of
Speaker 3: respect it because I get the feeling this guy, who
Speaker 3: by the way, is a this will be his sixth
Speaker 3: year playing I believe, started at TCU, then went to Tulsa,
Speaker 3: they went to Memphis. Now he's going to be at
Speaker 3: Kansas State. So maybe he knows he'll never play in
Speaker 3: the NBA, and he's not worried about anything other than
Speaker 3: cashing in as best he can making money in college
Speaker 3: because when he plays pro, rather it be in you know,
Speaker 3: the G League or in Japan, China, somewhere in Europe.
Speaker 3: He knows the big payday is now, so he's just
Speaker 3: gonna do whatever he can and basically just pick whichever
Speaker 3: program pays him the most money. And I'm not sure
Speaker 3: if Kansas State and Jerome Tang were able to do that,
Speaker 3: but it went from being PJ. Haggerty is likely going
Speaker 3: to end up going to NC State to play for
Speaker 3: will Wade, and then I guess they wouldn't. I guess
Speaker 3: they wouldn't give him the amount. I mean, it sounds
Speaker 3: to me like this guy really did, in fact, try
Speaker 3: to just squeeze out the biggest payday he could get.
Speaker 3: N C State wasn't willing to pay I guess what
Speaker 3: he wanted, and I think they were initially going to
Speaker 3: be his biggest offer, and yet they ended up taking
Speaker 3: the guy from Texas Tech who transferred last week, who
Speaker 3: announced his decision in C State. So although there are
Speaker 3: two different players, right, Haggard, he's a point guard, this
Speaker 3: guy from Texas Tech's more of like a wing or
Speaker 3: a hybrid four. But now it's not about competing for roles,
Speaker 3: it's about competing for the budget. Right, who you know
Speaker 3: if you're paying this guy who just played in a
Speaker 3: find or an Elite eight with Texas Tech. He's not
Speaker 3: coming for cheap, so that I guess eliminated NC State's
Speaker 3: ability to pay him what he wanted. So then it
Speaker 3: was he's going to go back to play for penny
Speaker 3: and he may not get the most money, but he'll
Speaker 3: get a lot of money and it'll work out well.
Speaker 3: Then Kansas State steps in, So I think just maybe
Speaker 3: I'm forcing it here as far as connecting dots, but
Speaker 3: I think this guy just went to the highest bidder
Speaker 3: and Kansas State was able to find the money and say, hey,
Speaker 3: let's let's make this work. So, I mean, there's still
Speaker 3: such a a stenshet of negative tone when you talk
Speaker 3: about guys just out out for the money, just chasing
Speaker 3: the bag, going to the highest bidder. Right, there's a
Speaker 3: tone of it as if they're doing something wrong. But
Speaker 3: I surely that will eventually fade with college sports fans,
Speaker 3: right because this is this is their job. Like you
Speaker 3: at your job, you're gonna do whatever you can to
Speaker 3: make the most money, right, I mean, maybe not everybody.
Speaker 3: Maybe there's maybe there's a compromise to where you will
Speaker 3: take a lower salary because you don't get responsibilities that
Speaker 3: bring you stress. Like everybody's got to find their own balance.
Speaker 3: But at some point, we as a society will no
Speaker 3: longer have that negative tone to the conversation about guys
Speaker 3: just doing whatever for the money, because hey, that's this
Speaker 3: is their job. They'd be I mean, if you really
Speaker 3: consider it, you're not being responsible for your future if
Speaker 3: you're not constantly resetting and I don't mean constantly transferring,
Speaker 3: but I mean constantly reevaluating your worth and what you
Speaker 3: can get. Because from here on out, when these guys
Speaker 3: leave after a four or five or sometimes now six
Speaker 3: year stent of playing college sports, they're gonna be starting
Speaker 3: their professional life. Maybe it'll be playing pro in another country.
Speaker 3: Maybe it'll be playing pro in the NBA, you know,
Speaker 3: or maybe it'll be maybe on the football side. You know,
Speaker 3: you just there's just no market for you in the NFL.
Speaker 3: You're a great college player, but you just don't translate
Speaker 3: to the NFL. Well, you can leave college after four
Speaker 3: years and say, yeah, I'm not going to go to
Speaker 3: the get you know, maybe you do the undrafted free
Speaker 3: agent thing for a year and then you know you're
Speaker 3: out of football and you can go play in the
Speaker 3: XFL or the UFL. But if you've stacked up a
Speaker 3: ton of money because you play four years of college
Speaker 3: football and you had a big time an IL deal,
Speaker 3: you can just start your life, and you know, maybe
Speaker 3: you are more able to just walk away from competing
Speaker 3: in the sport you grew up loving because you know what,
Speaker 3: you got five million in the bank and you can
Speaker 3: go start a business, right you can invest in things
Speaker 3: like I just I think in the you know, twenty
Speaker 3: years from now, if I mean, I just think there's
Speaker 3: going to be so much that these guys have available
Speaker 3: to them to start life that really won't have anything
Speaker 3: to do with them playing pro sports. It'll be them
Speaker 3: maybe being businessmen. You know, who is it? The guy
Speaker 3: who played at North Carolina for twenty years and just
Speaker 3: just finished school recently. I can't think of his name, Bakhat.
Speaker 3: I don't know if people know the story. It's not
Speaker 3: super interesting, but you know, it's not something you typically
Speaker 3: hear about from a college player ending his career. But
Speaker 3: he did not get drafted. He has been in the
Speaker 3: G League, but he made an insane amount of money
Speaker 3: at Carolina. Right well, he's buying hotels like apparently he
Speaker 3: is investing in buying hotels and that you know, he's
Speaker 3: gonna I don't know if he's gonna have his own
Speaker 3: chain or what it is. I'm not sure if he's
Speaker 3: like a minority owner and like a company or what
Speaker 3: it is. But he's using a lot of money he
Speaker 3: made in college to be in the hotel business. And again,
Speaker 3: that's not super interesting. It's not something you typically hear about.
Speaker 3: But I think that's just an example of that anybody
Speaker 3: who's out here just trying to get as much money
Speaker 3: as they can during this period of their life. Not
Speaker 3: only is there nothing wrong with that, I think it's
Speaker 3: foolish if you don't, to be honest with you, all right,
Speaker 3: quick break, we'll come back. We've got a lot more
Speaker 3: to get into, including Greg Sank. Really, I think just
Speaker 3: confirming that there needs to be somebody above all of
Speaker 3: the conferences, you know, maybe a commissioner of college football,
Speaker 3: not a commissioner or four commissioners of different conferences trying
Speaker 3: to work together when clearly they aren't and they shouldn't.
Speaker 3: It's not their job. So we'll get to that in
Speaker 3: a lot more. Keep it locked right here on Sports
Speaker 3: Talk seven.
Speaker 1: Ninety now back to coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's
Speaker 1: on Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 3: Who knows what ends up happening with the rest of
Speaker 3: the NBA playoffs, but I'm glad that I've had the
Speaker 3: last couple of weeks that I've had as a Pacers fan,
Speaker 3: because I'm not to the less as far as excitement
Speaker 3: that I would be if Louisville was playing in like
Speaker 3: the ACC Tournament tonight or something. But it's been a
Speaker 3: while since I've been into the the playoffs quite like this.
Speaker 3: And yes, last year the Pacers beat the Knicks in
Speaker 3: Game seven, but that was in the Semis, and if
Speaker 3: you can get past the Knicks, which you still should
Speaker 3: be able to do, I mean, you should take care
Speaker 3: of business tonight and then really, you know, maybe you
Speaker 3: end up you know, I think if you win the night,
Speaker 3: you got a good chance of ending the series in
Speaker 3: New York and that in game Game five. But we'll see.
Speaker 3: But anyways, it's just been a lot of fun to
Speaker 3: see them now have a chance to actually get to
Speaker 3: the NBA Finals for the first time since they lost
Speaker 3: to the Lakers, I think it was. And one of
Speaker 3: that one of those three pet years that they had,
Speaker 3: and then on the West, obviously the thunder are a
Speaker 3: real scary matchup. They're that they're that good, but they're
Speaker 3: not scary, and maybe they should be, right, maybe they
Speaker 3: should be scary, but they're not scary like the Warriors
Speaker 3: when they were rolling three through the NBA. Who else
Speaker 3: on the West has just been in recent like really
Speaker 3: it's been the Warriors, right like, even whenever there's been
Speaker 3: like down years for them, you've had the Nuggets who
Speaker 3: were in the Nuggets have been kind of a force,
Speaker 3: I suppose for a little while. But anyways, it's open,
Speaker 3: it's there if you can. I mean, this is the
Speaker 3: first time really in my lifetime. My dad and I
Speaker 3: we went to dinner on Saturday. Shout out to my
Speaker 3: dad and happy sixty fourth birthday to the weekend. Yeah,
Speaker 3: so we were talking. He had me as a friend
Speaker 3: on Facebook. Hell yeah, I like to hear that. He's
Speaker 3: he's the man, and he's of course somebody that got
Speaker 3: me into the Pacers and that's why I'm a Pacers
Speaker 3: fan of this day. But we were talking and he
Speaker 3: said something that to me, it's so obvious, yet I
Speaker 3: hadn't really even given it any thought, and that is
Speaker 3: that this is the best opportunity for the Pacers to
Speaker 3: win an NBA title in my lifetime. And I'm not
Speaker 3: really sure it's close because their best chances when I
Speaker 3: was a kid, you know, they had to get past Jordan.
Speaker 3: That wasn't easy. Jordan, the Bulls, those teams were great,
Speaker 3: but Michael and his crew in Chicago, they were pretty
Speaker 3: tough to get to get passed. And then whenever Jordan
Speaker 3: stepped away and the Pacers franchise was still in a
Speaker 3: pretty good spot. One year they lost to the Pistons,
Speaker 3: which really killed me because the Pistons, that's right when
Speaker 3: they had it rolling and Tayshawn Prince, former Kentucky Wildcat,
Speaker 3: blocked Reggie Miller on a breakaway lay up and changed
Speaker 3: the entire series, and obviously they ended up losing. And
Speaker 3: then at one point I think this might have been Yeah,
Speaker 3: this was before the Pistons, but at one point they
Speaker 3: did win the East and they went on to play
Speaker 3: Kobe and Shack in LA. So, yeah, they've had other
Speaker 3: good teams, they've made the finals in my lifetime, but
Speaker 3: they're best teams. There's been a goliath in the way.
Speaker 3: Jordan the Bulls, Scott, the Lakers teams that went on
Speaker 3: with a three peat with Kobe and Shack, and then
Speaker 3: also even the really good teams with Paul George what
Speaker 3: roughly seven, eight, nine years ago, however long ago it was,
Speaker 3: we had to get past Lebron in the heat. And
Speaker 3: I know it sounds like, well, yeah, you got to
Speaker 3: get past really good teams if you're gonna win the
Speaker 3: freaking NBA title, and you're right, But I do think
Speaker 3: there's a difference in getting past a team that's really
Speaker 3: really good, like the Thunder or even the Wolves or
Speaker 3: maybe the Knicks. That's a different thing. It's a different
Speaker 3: type of challenge than having to get past the nineties Bulls,
Speaker 3: Kobe and Shaq when they were in their prime in
Speaker 3: LA in Miami, Lebron James. So it is more open
Speaker 3: right now than it's ever been. And I'll say this,
Speaker 3: I don't think they're that scary, but we wouldn't know
Speaker 3: because we don't fear the Thunder because they've got SGA,
Speaker 3: who's the MVP of the NBA, and I think it's deserved.
Speaker 3: But the most talked about thing in regards to SGA
Speaker 3: in the last week has been that he's a free
Speaker 3: throw merchant. He's not really that good. I mean, that's
Speaker 3: an outlets thing to say, but it's been said. People
Speaker 3: don't seem to realize that if you are really really
Speaker 3: good at getting to the line and you make a
Speaker 3: lot of free throws that you shoot, that works out
Speaker 3: to where that's an equation to where you're a really
Speaker 3: good basketball player. And know, by the way, he's good
Speaker 3: at a lot of other things too. Jalen Williams is
Speaker 3: probably the best player in the NBA that nobody knows
Speaker 3: who he is. This is such an overused thing as
Speaker 3: far as a saying, but it's true. He could walk
Speaker 3: into a lot of places nobody would know who he is,
Speaker 3: and he averages twenty points per game on the best
Speaker 3: team in the NBA. You would know who chet Holmgrin
Speaker 3: is just because he's a giant and he was such
Speaker 3: a phenom coming out of high school that he had
Speaker 3: more I mean, this, dude, Jalen Williams, he would dis
Speaker 3: Santa Clara. Nobody watched him in college, and then he
Speaker 3: goes to Oka See, probably the smallest market in the league.
Speaker 3: So I don't fear them like I do the other
Speaker 3: great dynasties we've talked about, but maybe I should because
Speaker 3: they look really, really good, although hard for me to
Speaker 3: say somebody is that scary good. When they lost by
Speaker 3: fifty points in Game three, I mean they literally did
Speaker 3: loose by an insane amount, which tells me, yes, you're good.
Speaker 3: But part of me says that you getting beat by
Speaker 3: that amount in any point in the playoffs automatically keeps
Speaker 3: you from being included into that group that you just fear.
Speaker 3: And again, I think the nineties Bulls, Kobe and Shaq
Speaker 3: in La and really, I still believe Miami Lebron was
Speaker 3: the scariest Lebron we ever got to watch, just because
Speaker 3: he was playing angry because he couldn't believe that people
Speaker 3: were upset with him about the decision, which obviously didn't
Speaker 3: work out for him. All Right, we'll talk a little
Speaker 3: more about tonight's Game four between the Pacers and Knicks
Speaker 3: in a little while. We got two more hours left,
Speaker 3: and I hope you will stick around with us at
Speaker 3: his Coffee and Company, Nick Coffee. That's me Austin Montgomery
Speaker 3: alongside two more hours left on Sports Talk seven ninety