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1:04

and gentlemen, welcome to The Right Time,

1:06

a Wave original presented by Perplexity. Subscribe, like,

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rate us, review us, give us five

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stars. You only give us four stars. I'm

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inclined to believe you are a hater.

1:14

It is that time of week when we

1:16

have a guest join us, coming to

1:18

us from Yahoo Sports. Vinny Goodwill,

1:20

what's going on? It just

1:22

had to go right back to the old thing,

1:24

man. Welcome to the sleepiest

1:26

time of year, the NBA playoffs. Well,

1:28

no, the playoffs have not begun.

1:30

The play in has begun. That is

1:32

not the same thing as the

1:34

playoffs. It is a very interesting distinction,

1:36

but the play in has

1:38

begun. The playoffs begin over the

1:40

weekend. We already had the

1:42

situation. Well, I mean, on Tuesday night.

1:44

I watched the Orlando Magic. I was going to

1:46

say I watched the Orlando Magic for the first time

1:48

in 14 years, but that's not true because they

1:50

was in the playoffs a couple of years ago. And

1:53

that was the last time that I said I

1:55

hadn't watched the Magic play since 2010. And I assure

1:57

you that the last time I had seen the

1:59

Magic play after the game, Dwight Howard was

2:01

hunched over because his back hurt so bad.

2:03

He was never the same and neither were

2:05

the Magic. And then I was

2:07

watching them play against the Hawks, man. That

2:09

shit, I told you, ain't look like a

2:11

play in that way. I'm gonna start calling

2:13

this the first four. Cause that's how that

2:15

looked at first. I saw a whole lot

2:17

of, the whole lot of, whole lot of

2:19

that kind of basketball. And then the magic

2:21

just pulled away and then trade a barge,

2:23

got mad and they had to send his

2:25

ass home. But then

2:27

we got the game with Memphis and

2:29

Golden State. I don't know what to

2:31

make of that game. I don't think it was

2:34

a good sign for the Warriors that they could

2:36

not just put that away because they seem to

2:38

say should have been in a position to put

2:40

that away. I mean, they won. Yes, but they

2:42

didn't. They had chances sooner to go ahead and

2:44

put that away. Like it was encouraging for Memphis

2:46

that they kept coming back as they did, except

2:48

for the fact that John Moran ankle thing looked

2:51

like it's about to be a problem. Look, there's

2:53

a lot of things that came up for me

2:55

last night. Like you never get the feeling even

2:57

when Golden State was up 20. that they had

2:59

put the game out of reach like runaway and

3:01

high remember how they used to do that they would

3:03

put you down in like maybe a five minute

3:05

stretch and then you'd be playing catch up the rest

3:07

of the way and you just didn't have enough

3:09

ammo to come back and golden state would do more

3:11

than enough to keep you at arms limp that's

3:14

not that team anymore that is just not

3:16

that team and they did the same thing

3:18

to the clippers over the weekend when they

3:20

were up 19 and you just never felt

3:22

like the clippers were out of the

3:24

game part of that is because Outside

3:27

of Steph, Draymond, and Jimmy Butler, you got

3:29

to find me another guy that you

3:31

can actually rely on to do something. Not

3:33

just a guy to score, not a

3:35

guy to set up, but a guy who

3:37

has a signature. Oh, if I put

3:40

you out there, you're going to dominate the

3:42

boards. Oh, if I put you out

3:44

there, you're going to hit shots. You're just

3:46

playing wild cards. And one wild card

3:48

you're not playing is Jonathan Kaminga. And that

3:50

might be like the weirdest case of

3:52

all, even though it's clear that it looks

3:54

like he doesn't fit. Are

3:57

you sure that Draymond is a rely on?

3:59

Yeah. I mean, put it like

4:01

this. He was on my ballot for defensive

4:04

player of the year. I can rely on

4:06

him to be in the right place to make

4:08

plays defensively, at least from the quarterback part

4:10

of it. Okay. There I'm with

4:12

you. The reason I asked that question was

4:14

they won that championship in 2022, but

4:16

he was awful. for significant stretches of that

4:18

postseason and we would have said going in

4:20

that he was the guy that you could

4:22

rely on like i'm just not sure once

4:24

we now especially with a guy his age

4:27

right because he's got to be what

4:29

35 at this point like once we get once

4:31

we get to that point and we start

4:33

talking about playing these games every other night

4:35

right that's going to be the thing for

4:37

the warriors is they have invested heavily in

4:39

those three guys that you mentioned and they're

4:41

in a youngster to be found there is

4:43

there there is there is no uh snapping

4:45

of whipping no these are these are grown

4:47

ups right they got they got us something

4:49

right like it's so helpful for the warriors

4:51

that jimmy can come in and steph doesn't

4:54

have to carry every single thing like there

4:56

are times you can say jimmy you go

4:58

get us this bucket jimmy we need to

5:00

slow this down a little bit so everybody

5:02

can get their wind and you go ahead

5:04

and make this happen oh and you'll still

5:06

get other people involved and get them shots

5:08

OK, cool. Right there, there. But these dudes

5:10

are old. And I mean,

5:13

Jimmy's not the most durable. Right.

5:16

Draymond, I suppose, is durable enough. And

5:18

Steph, you know, he's going

5:20

to get knocked around. Look, that's

5:22

the thing that I feel like is kind of underrated

5:24

throughout this over the past week or so. Not

5:26

that Steph didn't have a great game last

5:29

night because he had a great finish, right?

5:31

The finish looked like damn near the Olympics.

5:33

Right? Where you look up and you're like,

5:35

man, Steph is 5 for 18 or whatever

5:37

it was. It wasn't a sterling performance for

5:39

the first 40 minutes or so. That hand

5:41

was bothering him. He was shaking it around.

5:43

And luckily for him, he had Jimmy. Then

5:45

in the last three minutes, he made magic. The

5:48

thing for me, Bo, that catches me

5:50

is this. You hear that Scotty Pippen

5:52

Jr. holding, hounding him.

5:54

And he wasn't getting no

5:56

relief from the referees.

5:58

That is eerily similar. to what

6:01

a man thompson who's bigger

6:03

longer quicker and on my defensive

6:05

player of the year ballot

6:07

did to him a couple of weeks

6:09

ago and that's going to be the

6:11

matchup in this series is holding

6:13

you grabbing you shadowing you what you

6:15

gonna do about it and it's

6:17

so much more exhausting to play that

6:19

way we think of stuff as

6:21

being free and running around those baseline

6:23

screens and everything else man that

6:25

car stopping and then do you have

6:27

the stamina you make the point bo Do

6:30

you have the stamina to play every

6:32

other night? Maybe not in the first round because

6:34

they're going to stretch the games out to get to

6:36

the weekends. You're going to stretch the games out

6:38

between games two and three, even between one and two.

6:40

I don't remember the exact schedule, but you're going

6:42

to have more than a day off. Maybe

6:44

that helps them. But once you

6:46

get to the second round, if they

6:49

get there. This becomes so much

6:51

less about talent and everything else. This

6:53

becomes a mental game of stamina,

6:55

a physical game of stamina. Do

6:57

you have it in you to perform

6:59

every other night against competition that's

7:01

likely going to be more talented

7:03

than you? me tell you, that

7:05

series, that's the one, not the only one, because

7:08

we had the same thing happening in these, but

7:10

what we know is going to happen in the

7:12

West, right? we know that we

7:14

are going to get the Warriors and the

7:16

Rockets and the Rockets to me are fascinating

7:18

at least in the way that they are

7:20

bouncing around in the pundit class because none of

7:22

us feel great about them

7:24

for two reasons they are

7:26

young And they don't

7:29

have the guy, right? That

7:31

seems to be the knock on them.

7:33

Forget about what they did in the regular

7:36

season. Forget about the fact that all

7:38

of us think very, very highly of their

7:40

coach. And forget about the fact that,

7:42

hey, look, Nico Harrison going a little too

7:44

far with that defense wins championships thing.

7:46

But defense does help, right? And the Rockets

7:48

got it. And they got it in

7:51

the fashion that you described, which is a

7:53

very April, May, June sort of defense.

7:55

But the West is all about. Old teams

7:57

and young teams. I think the only

7:59

one that's legitimately close to the

8:01

middle on that, we would probably

8:03

say, would be Denver. But it

8:05

feels like everybody else. And I guess you

8:07

could say the Lakers are a combination of

8:09

the two. Although I

8:11

guess the old is really just LeBron.

8:13

I would say Minnesota sits. Oh, I

8:15

forgot. They got Pops Conley out there. Oh,

8:18

see, I thought you might have been thinking

8:20

of them as an old team. I was

8:22

going to say they're a young team. But

8:24

see, that's why they sit in the middle.

8:26

Because you got. You got Conley. You got

8:28

Rudy. You got Eeyore over there. Julius Randle.

8:31

You got a lot going on. Does Julius

8:33

Randle count as old yet? Huh.

8:35

That's an interesting one. Julius

8:37

Randle came into the league

8:39

in 2014. I think of

8:41

the Clippers as being old

8:43

because we're talking about a

8:45

year 14 Kawhi Leonard. right?

8:48

We're talking about a year 16 James

8:50

Harden. I feel like a year

8:52

11, a year 11 and year 12,

8:54

year 12 Rudy Gobert, year 11

8:56

Julius Randle. For some reason, I feel

8:58

like they're on the other side

9:00

of the cusp. Like somebody's a

9:02

Leo, somebody's a Virgo, right? I feel

9:04

like they're on the other side

9:06

of it. But yeah, this is the

9:08

argument against the Rockets and it's the

9:10

argument against Oklahoma City. It's just

9:12

you guys are too young. But at least

9:15

with Oklahoma City, we saw them go to

9:17

the postseason the year before, right? We

9:19

have not seen the Rockets at all, right?

9:21

If they need a bucket, are we thinking

9:23

they go to Shingun? Is that where we're

9:25

looking at them? So we're saying you're going

9:27

to get buckets out the post? I

9:29

think the smart play would be to go to Shingun.

9:32

I think we would all agree the smart

9:34

play to go is to Shingun. Does Dylan Brooks

9:36

know that? Does Jalen Green know

9:38

that? Like, we can have all these

9:40

things, but clearly that message might

9:42

not be getting delivered and dispersed on

9:44

the sideline. And Eme Udoka ain't

9:46

exactly the type that's going to say,

9:48

guys, let's make sure we get

9:50

it to the big fella down low. That's

9:53

not exactly how he's going to describe this

9:55

thing. And for me, Houston

9:57

is built right now to

9:59

be a hellacious 82

10:01

game every other night. You can't

10:03

prepare for us because we're

10:06

go -hards. I'm very curious to

10:08

see how this works in a seven

10:10

-game series for those reasons you just

10:12

mentioned. The preparation, the lack of rest.

10:14

Like, if there's one thing you could

10:16

say about Golden State, or at least

10:18

their vets, they're used to the

10:20

dance of the playoffs. There's a cadence to this.

10:22

I don't know if Houston's used to the

10:24

cadence of this. To be honest, I don't know

10:26

if Buddy Hilde is used to the cadence

10:28

of this. And he's looked like cheeks the past

10:30

few games. If I'm Jonathan Kaminka, I'm like,

10:33

hey, man. you could throw me out there

10:35

and I can do a lot better than that.

10:37

Like he's supposed to be a vet making dumb

10:39

decisions. Like that just came to me because of

10:41

what I've seen from him the last couple of

10:43

nights. I wasn't trying to hijack where you were

10:45

going, but I agree with you generally that Houston's

10:48

concerns are valid. I

10:50

think Oklahoma city, I have concerns about them.

10:52

Like we talked about a little bit

10:54

on my pod with you on Monday. Who's

10:57

the second guy to go and

10:59

get you a bucket and go

11:01

and say, hey, coach, I got

11:03

30 for us tonight. Not a

11:05

ho -hum 30, but coach, Shea may

11:07

not have it because of the

11:09

matchup. I'm going to get

11:11

you 30. You're going to draw it up

11:13

for me to get you 30 tonight. Maybe

11:15

that's Jalen Williams, but we don't know that

11:17

for sure. Nah, you're right.

11:19

But I think in this series, it's

11:22

getting to that time of year. And

11:25

especially with some of these West

11:27

Coast teams where you all realize how

11:29

much you haven't actually been watching

11:31

some of these teams play basketball.

11:33

I had that moment when I was

11:35

watching the Warriors and I saw White Quentin.

11:38

A dude named Quentin Post. And

11:42

last night I heard them call him

11:44

Post. It wasn't until today that I

11:46

realized that he was White Quentin. The

11:48

Warriors are trying now three guys. I

11:50

knew about Guy as a name. I don't know

11:52

if I had seen Guy play. Like, then I

11:54

know Gary Payton. I thought Looney was getting a

11:56

little bit more burned. I mean, I've been familiar

11:58

with Buddy Hill throughout his somewhat lackluster career. But

12:01

I still think the Warriors are trotting out,

12:03

as you like to call them, a who's

12:05

who, a who. And I don't really so

12:07

much know if people recognize that's what they're

12:09

doing. Like, some of the cats that don't

12:11

play with you, you've heard of. You've heard

12:13

of Jonathan Kaminga. And, look, I got caught

12:15

when people didn't understand a point I was

12:17

making where I said I wouldn't trade LeBron

12:19

for Kaminga. And what I meant was... I'm

12:21

the Warriors, that's the guy I keep out

12:23

of the package. Not that I wouldn't do

12:25

it one for one, but that's like, you

12:27

got to keep something. Clearly they had that

12:29

outlook with Phoenix, right? Because they managed, I

12:31

mean, with the Jimmy Butler trade, they managed

12:33

to keep him in that one all to

12:35

not play him. And I get it doesn't

12:37

fit. Did you see where Brian Wither said

12:39

that he didn't even think that boy had

12:41

a uniform on? That's wild. I heard that

12:43

this morning when I got up. I was

12:45

shocked. I mean, Bo, it goes

12:47

to the question. if you're an old

12:49

team and we've gone through this just

12:51

in general, like practice of conversation, if

12:53

you're an old team and you're trying

12:56

to squeeze one more run out, do

12:58

you lean in on the old or

13:00

do you start over? Like, cause once

13:02

you start over, you're saying, give me

13:04

the pain. If you're leaning in, you're

13:06

saying there's a very minute chance that

13:08

this works, but I feel like we

13:10

owe it to X, Y, and Z.

13:13

to make this work and to some

13:15

degree bowl i want to see if

13:17

you rock with me on this i

13:19

thought about this a little while ago

13:21

me and you have caught hell for

13:23

things that we have insinuated or people

13:25

have believed we have insinuated about stephen

13:27

curry right you can't leave team to

13:29

a champion whatever all these things that

13:32

have made the blogosphere right have the

13:34

golden state warriors with their belief up

13:36

until now have they fully believed that

13:38

stephen curry was always going to be

13:40

that guy this long think about some

13:42

of the franchise moves that they've made

13:44

that looked like it was going to

13:46

be more for the future than it

13:49

was going to be oh man we

13:51

got Steph coming back next year we

13:53

gonna be good or I think the

13:55

counterpoint argument one could make is or

13:57

did they do like what seems to

13:59

be the Patrick Mahomes situation where they

14:01

thought that he was so good that

14:03

you could do these two things at

14:06

one time that's the point I mean

14:08

if I were trying to make the

14:10

argument that we did believe in him,

14:12

that would be the argument that we

14:14

would make. How they have managed this

14:16

over these years has been very, very,

14:18

very interesting. I always thought the two

14:20

timelines thing was a bad idea, but

14:22

they did win a championship on it,

14:25

right? I think they won a championship

14:27

the only year they could have won

14:29

a championship with the roster that they

14:31

had. But nonetheless, boom, they

14:33

figured it out. They made it

14:35

happen. Now, it's, look, when

14:37

a team like that team, when

14:40

we're looking at the possibility that they could get

14:42

run out of there by some youngsters, that's the sort

14:44

of thing that makes you really do a measure

14:46

of soul searching, except for the fact that you are

14:48

in on Jimmy. You extended him. You were in

14:50

on Steph. How do you

14:52

build around that? And what

14:54

if it's over, right? Steph

14:57

has seen better days. I think there's

14:59

no way around this. How long do

15:01

you keep betting on a six foot

15:03

three player? who is now in his

15:05

16th year in the NBA. I don't

15:07

know how long you keep doing that,

15:09

but I know all of this. Y

15:12

'all better go hard as hell this

15:14

year. I mean, here's the thing. The

15:16

counter to that is we were 23 -8

15:18

with Jimmy Butler after we acquired him.

15:20

Now, some of that is going to

15:22

be the trade deadline boost. You're going

15:24

to have some energy and everything. You

15:26

can't always extrapolate that into an 82

15:29

-game sample size of energy and boost

15:31

and all that. So if they lose

15:33

in the first round this year, they

15:35

can rationalize this and say, we were

15:37

one game away from possibly being the

15:39

fourth seed or maybe even the third

15:41

seed. So maybe you give us a

15:43

full season of Jimmy, Steph, and Draymond.

15:46

We can see what we can do.

15:48

The other side of that is them

15:50

dudes are all getting older. And like

15:52

you said, they're not going to get

15:54

healthier as they get older in the

15:56

way that Steph plays. I think Steph

15:58

would be much better playing with a

16:00

player. who's the center of the offense,

16:03

as opposed to Steph having to be

16:05

the center of everything. Because when Steph

16:07

has great games, it looks like he

16:09

has mastered the game of basketball, Bo.

16:11

It looks legit like he is better

16:13

than he's ever played. Not better athletically,

16:15

but just a better basketball player. But

16:17

when the games that are bad, baby,

16:20

they are bad. It's like he can't

16:22

dig himself out. He can't pull the

16:24

nose up, so to speak. And when

16:26

those games happen. you realize how reliant

16:28

you are on someone like Steph and

16:30

how unreliant you are on anybody else

16:32

on that roster. It's going to be

16:34

interesting. Who are you picking in that

16:37

series? Is this a changing of the

16:39

guard type of series that we've been,

16:41

even though we've had them for the

16:43

past few years when Minnesota put the

16:45

Suns out and we've had those series

16:47

before the past few years. We're waiting

16:49

on these young dudes to take it.

16:51

Houston ain't got the young dude. They

16:54

just got Dudes. Let me

16:56

tell you something. I ain't really no

16:58

tenfold kind of guy. You know what

17:00

I'm saying? I don't

17:02

so much engage in conspiracies.

17:04

You feel me? But I

17:06

know he's been out with

17:08

a calf injury. But is

17:10

there any chance that Scott

17:12

Foster officiates seven games out

17:15

of seven in this series?

17:17

Because on the other side

17:19

of this is quite possibly

17:21

LeBron and Steph one more

17:23

gin. There's been a host

17:25

of refs over the course

17:27

of our lives that magically

17:29

show up at certain gays. And

17:32

if ever there was a time. That's

17:35

Scott Foster's music. Dog,

17:37

I'm telling you right now. E -May in

17:39

that locker room telling them boys, going

17:42

to have to beat eight people. You know

17:44

that, right? going to have

17:46

to beat all eight of them. I

17:48

saw the Rockets play. I went to

17:50

Madison Square Garden and checked them out.

17:52

That I'm in excellence thing is real. Like

17:54

that is. And again, I think it's

17:56

something we talked about on your show.

17:58

The thing that people have to remember

18:00

about I'm in Thompson is that he's

18:02

22. I didn't realize that until we had

18:04

Gilbert arenas on this show. So yes,

18:06

this is a rookie who was coming

18:09

out of overtime elite or whatever. That

18:11

ain't no 19 year old. That is not

18:13

a kid. Like that's a grown man

18:15

out there playing. I don't know if

18:17

they can get the shots. Right. But

18:19

I also know. Golden State's going to

18:21

go stretches where they can't get buckets. Jimmy

18:23

Butler has a 25 -point first half.

18:26

You guys should be blowing their doors

18:28

off, and they should not be able

18:30

to come back in any way, shape,

18:32

or form. And that's not the case

18:34

here. Like you said, the offensive weaponry,

18:36

like Shingun can give you 30. And

18:38

Shingun can create open shots in a

18:40

way that is like Jokic -lite. you know

18:42

what i mean like he's got the

18:44

creativity he's got the the passing skills

18:46

and everything else but if you don't

18:48

have a guy that from 25 feet

18:50

and out you can rely on to

18:52

go and get you a bucket i

18:54

don't know if this works but i'll

18:56

tell you this that i'm in thompson

18:58

every year we make a new star

19:00

every year there's a new star that

19:02

emerges and put somebody out and be

19:04

like man we see that coming because

19:06

we can only consume so much 82

19:09

game basketball what if this year is

19:11

i'm in thompson saying i'm putting you

19:13

guys out Hey, speaking of hounding people

19:15

and harassing defense. Now, granted, they weren't

19:17

playing the Hawks. But, you know, a

19:19

little bit of a reintroduction there to

19:21

the Orlando Magic. I

19:23

heard Stan say it on the broadcast. The

19:25

only thing about them boys is they hack

19:27

a lot. That tells you a lot about

19:29

what kind of defense and what kind of

19:31

gameplay they try to have. They playing in

19:33

a game against Jaron Jackson Jr. And we

19:35

talk about them being like, no, all of

19:37

them hack a lot. Like they, they, they

19:39

seem really annoying to play against. They also

19:41

feel to me like a squad has got

19:43

a bunch of low spades. Like I, I

19:45

still, I'm not all the way there with

19:47

people on Paolo. I feel like he's a

19:49

low spade. He a Trump, but I feel

19:51

like he a low spade. I like Franz.

19:53

I feel like he a low spade. So

19:55

what are we thinking? How, you know, they,

19:57

they going, they going to get a second

19:59

trip to Boston or they just going to

20:01

go this one time and they need to

20:03

see all the sites while they up there

20:05

during game one and two. They'll

20:08

get a game. I think with a

20:10

team like Boston, that's basically been, and

20:12

you think about Boston, we act like

20:14

they've been just on cruise control all

20:16

year. They're only like three games behind

20:18

last year's pace when they blew the

20:20

doors off of everybody in the league.

20:22

That's, you know, that's a game in

20:24

March or a game in January and

20:27

you're right back to where you were.

20:29

But I do think that with Jalen

20:31

Brown, that injury being under talked about.

20:33

your second best player your finals mvp

20:35

your east conference finals mvp having injections

20:37

in his knees that don't sound promising

20:39

it's not to say that they're going

20:41

to lose early it's not to say

20:44

anything crazy is going to happen it's

20:46

just something to watch In Orlando, the

20:48

thing that works for them is, both,

20:50

they hack, but they are so long.

20:52

They got 6 '7", 6 '8", 6 '9", across

20:54

the board. They're almost Oklahoma City -like

20:56

defensively in a way of at least

20:58

what they profile like. They don't have

21:01

the pedigrees of the Lou Doris, the

21:03

J -Dubs, and Shea Gilders Alexanders, but they

21:05

do have the collective reputation. The problem

21:07

is, you're playing the Celtics. Are we

21:09

trying to hurry and just get this

21:11

series over with so we can get

21:13

to the next thing? Or, you know?

21:15

Will, you know, somebody call in the

21:17

special and say, hey, man, let's extend

21:20

this another game so we can get

21:22

a game five, at least a game

21:24

five in Boston. I don't think they'll

21:26

get swept. I think Paulo can play

21:28

a part in getting you a game.

21:30

I'm with you. I don't know if

21:32

the Carmelo Anthony sort of, you know,

21:34

comparison bears out. Like, I don't see

21:37

all of that. see it. Don't

21:39

see it. Don't

21:41

see it. I say this, though, for

21:43

Boston. If they start talking about

21:45

injections in the knees, that is not

21:48

the first thing they've tried. They

21:50

have literally tried everything short of surgery,

21:52

right? Like that is them saying

21:54

that this is the step they have

21:56

to take means they have tried

21:58

a lot. The only thing that stops

22:00

me from taking the field over

22:02

Boston is just an outright lack of

22:05

faith in the field. Because for

22:07

me with Cleveland, thin

22:09

bigs, short guards. They've

22:12

won a lot of games. But again,

22:14

is that an 82 won a lot of

22:16

games that is sustainable over seven? We've

22:18

seen Donovan Mitchell be a very good postseason

22:20

player. So I don't want to ignore

22:22

what it is that he can give you.

22:24

But things I don't like, they have

22:27

two of them, even though I like all

22:29

of those players individually. The

22:31

question is, do you believe in

22:33

Evan Mobley? That is the question. You

22:35

know, I've been talking you about

22:37

Evan Mobley for like four years now.

22:39

Slim Duncan, all of that. Granted,

22:41

when you stick your shoulder in his

22:43

chest, he might buckle a little bit,

22:46

right? But that's not that often that

22:48

there's the big bruisers to do it.

22:50

Do you believe that he can be

22:52

the player that not just raises the

22:54

floor, that he's the raise the ceiling

22:56

guy? Because that's what I think he

22:58

is or he has to be for

23:00

that team to compete with Boston in

23:02

a seven -game season, whether it's a

23:04

healthy Boston or not. He's got to

23:06

be the guy who can defend Jason

23:08

Tatum. He's got to be the guy

23:10

that can control the rim and be

23:12

able to stretch the floor. You're asking

23:15

him to do three things that you

23:17

wouldn't ask a normal skinny seven footer

23:19

to do. And yet we're going to

23:21

ask that of Evan Mobley in order

23:23

for the Cleveland Cavaliers to make it

23:25

to the NBA finals. I don't know

23:27

if that's too much to ask of

23:29

him right now. The margin to East

23:31

this year is something that didn't matter

23:33

last year, but so much, which is

23:35

how much Porzingis are you going to

23:37

get in this? Isn't he their most

23:39

talented player? Brother, he is their

23:41

most talented player, and I don't even

23:43

keep up with whether he's healthy or

23:45

not at a given point in time

23:47

because it ain't got nothing to do

23:50

with tomorrow. It don't matter if he

23:52

played the last game. They probably won.

23:54

You know what I'm saying? Like, it

23:56

doesn't matter except when he came back

23:58

in the finals last year, it was

24:00

like, oh, we don't even really need

24:02

to watch these games. With that Walton

24:04

shirt? Like on the day after everything

24:06

and all the synergy. Do you know

24:08

how hyped Boston was? And I won't

24:10

even say hyped in an unnatural way.

24:12

They were Boston hyped. And you can

24:14

take that any way you want to.

24:16

They were just happy to see that

24:18

tall dude walk through the building. It

24:20

was like, here comes Willis. That's what

24:22

it felt like for them. He walked

24:24

through the door. But he has finally

24:26

figured out what his game needs to

24:28

be. Now, granted, it is interesting that

24:30

with all that talent. I think he's

24:32

their most talented player. We'd agree he's

24:34

their number three option, and that's probably

24:36

best. So, like, you have to be

24:38

greedy in order to, like, fully and

24:40

properly make it happen. But, man, if

24:42

he's healthy through this, no,

24:45

then nothing we're talking about. That Jalen

24:47

Brown thing doesn't matter anymore if you

24:49

got poor Zingas playing, like, well. They

24:51

have such a talent disparity over

24:53

every team. And not just talent disparity,

24:56

but versatility disparity. Your three or

24:58

four best players are all great. at

25:00

three or four different things including

25:02

porzingis who's a seven foot three

25:04

i can score at all three levels

25:06

defend at all three levels and

25:08

be a secondary playmaker like nobody else

25:11

has their third or fourth best

25:13

players that can say oh yeah

25:15

i'm a defensive player of the year

25:17

candidate drew holiday derrick white like

25:19

you can't not everybody has those tools

25:21

in their toolbox but the thing

25:23

that gets me is this and

25:25

i don't think we say this enough

25:28

bo The difference between

25:30

year one and year two of

25:32

a veteran team, old

25:34

comes quick. And it's not old in

25:36

the way of numerically. You look at

25:38

the rosters, you're like, you know, Jason

25:40

Tatum's young, Jalen Brown's young. Absolutely. But

25:43

basketball, old as in you're playing

25:45

from April to June every single year,

25:47

October to June, October to May

25:49

every single year. Think about how many

25:51

Mays and Junes that Brown and

25:53

Tatum have played in since they have

25:56

come into the league. that's

25:58

probably another two regular seasons worth of

26:00

games on your body, high intensity. So

26:02

while you can be at your peak

26:04

in 2024, you can very well be

26:06

coming on your way down in 2025

26:08

and you don't know it until it's

26:10

too late. And by too late, I

26:12

mean, you're in the playoffs and you're

26:14

like, damn, I'm tired. This is going

26:16

to be a lot. We're going to

26:18

come back, talk a little bit about

26:20

those Los Angeles Lakers, just how far

26:22

we think they can go. This

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28:35

right, we are back here

28:37

with Vinny Goodwill, Lakers, Minnesota. This

28:39

is interesting because look, this

28:41

to me is the negative of

28:44

the NBA parody era. I

28:46

like the idea that we get

28:48

like rematches of the year

28:50

before the run over the climb

28:52

that we see teams have

28:54

to make to get there and

28:57

the expectations that come with

28:59

that climate, right? Minnesota

29:01

traded Carl Anthony Towns, which made them

29:03

worse. They're now the sixth seed after

29:05

they went to the Western Conference Finals

29:07

last year. But I don't feel like

29:09

we look at them as necessarily being

29:11

disappointing. These are just like the ebbs

29:13

and flows of the NBA as it

29:15

stands today. However... wasn't

29:17

that long ago that that team had

29:20

a chance to go to the NBA

29:22

Finals. And now they are playing against

29:24

a Lakers squad where what we're talking

29:26

about is the two guys up top,

29:28

right? They got Luka, they got LeBron.

29:30

They got two guys that can go

29:32

out there and win a game for

29:34

you or win a fourth quarter for

29:36

you. But we know when Minnesota's at

29:38

its best, that is a swarming defense

29:40

that gets at you and they have

29:42

at least one that guy. On the

29:44

other side, the Lakers are going to

29:46

imagine do a lot of going small

29:48

to try to play Rudy off the

29:50

floor. But you can't play Minnesota into

29:52

going small because Nas Reed can do

29:54

all that other stuff that can do

29:56

big man stuff and small man stuff.

29:58

This is like a styles make fights

30:00

thing. And I'll be on this series

30:02

at least to start the first couple

30:04

of games. And the thing that catches

30:06

me about this one is Anthony Edwards. Not

30:09

like the, you know, we make

30:11

the Vince, the Michael Jordan comparisons

30:13

and all that. Hey,

30:16

he should see food in the painted

30:18

area like our man Hubie Brown.

30:20

He should see food every time down.

30:22

Because Jackson Hayes ain't stopping him

30:24

from coming down the lane. And neither

30:26

is, you know, Dorian Finney -Smith when

30:28

they like to play small and

30:30

get him out of there. Like, there's

30:32

a lot of different ways that

30:34

Anthony Edwards can exploit. this Lakers defense,

30:36

a very good Lakers defense, mind

30:38

you. Like, they scheme very, very well.

30:40

They cover a lot of space.

30:42

They zone up. So it's not going

30:44

to be me beating you and

30:46

then finding a space to the basket.

30:48

I got to beat you and

30:50

then move around somebody else. So I'm

30:52

very curious, Bo, how J .J. Reddick

30:54

coaches this series. Or if they

30:56

look at this and say, you know

30:58

what, Julius Randle? You beat us.

31:00

And we don't think that you will

31:02

beat us. And maybe that's your

31:04

best bet. Because theoretically, from a physical

31:06

standpoint, who do the Lakers have

31:08

to guard that dude? Right.

31:10

So something that is interesting, you and

31:12

I have both been very complimentary of

31:15

the job that JJ has done this year.

31:17

Right. I think he's done a good

31:19

job. They're three games better than they were

31:21

last year. And

31:23

they ran that dude out of there

31:25

on a rail, right? This is

31:27

going to be an interesting test, right?

31:29

Because I think JJ's been good

31:31

for this for 82, but most of

31:33

us would say that they have

31:35

some roster shortcomings that make it hard

31:37

to believe that they can. Minnesota

31:39

is not the team to exploit it

31:42

with a big man, but you're

31:44

right. Anthony Edwards should be. Look, Anthony

31:46

Edwards, who I believe led the

31:48

NBA this year in May three -pointers,

31:50

had been doing a bit too much

31:52

of a Klay Thompson impersonation for

31:54

my personal taste. But it's time for

31:56

you to go downhill as much

31:58

as possible. Yeah, it's long time. Like,

32:00

it's time to take off that

32:02

Klay Allen Houston. uniform and

32:05

embrace your uh what's that embrace

32:07

your destiny type of thing go

32:09

break out that 23 and all

32:11

that go get mars blackman and

32:13

just attack them look the thing

32:15

for the lakers to me is

32:17

this If you're saying we

32:19

can be big enough as the Lakers,

32:21

you're also saying that means we're playing

32:23

a lot of LeBron James at four.

32:26

And the same things that we talked

32:28

about with Golden State and saying you

32:30

got to play every other day and

32:32

the physicality wears on you and the

32:34

holding and the grabbing and the fatigue

32:36

and everything else. That applies to 40 -year

32:38

-old LeBron James as well. It's just

32:40

that he has Luka Doncic to handle

32:42

a lot of the ball handling duties

32:44

so that he doesn't have to. Like,

32:46

he's going to get 20 to 25

32:48

just by accident, right? But how much

32:50

is it going to take out of

32:52

you to guard some of those big

32:54

dudes? Remember, he's dealing with a groin

32:56

injury that, you know. whether he's nursing

32:58

or not or whatever it is, but

33:00

I don't know if you get a

33:02

groin injury better by just sitting for

33:04

a week and then coming back and

33:06

playing and then sitting for another week

33:08

because of this play -in thing. Like, how

33:10

much of a collective toll is this

33:12

going to take on him? And for

33:14

Austin Reeves, look, you must have forgotten

33:16

this, Bo. His rookie

33:18

season. We just thought, oh,

33:20

man, this is a

33:22

nice, cute story. The NBA's

33:24

Instagram account or YouTube

33:26

account had an hour. Long

33:29

video of Austin Reeves' highlights

33:31

from his rookie year during his

33:33

rookie year. Baby, that screenplay

33:35

has already been developed. It's not

33:38

just asking who was playing

33:40

Austin Reeves. This was 30 years

33:42

ago. Hey, Jason Bateman, come

33:44

on down. My favorite thing

33:46

about Austin Reeves is how matter -of -fact he

33:48

is. He talk about it, man. They be

33:50

out there. They be like, yo, I'll go

33:52

check the white boy. And he's like, you

33:55

ain't going to do it for long. I

33:57

love that he has just come to understand,

33:59

okay, this is going to happen. Like, I

34:01

think I saw this on his Wiki page

34:03

that he won the state championship in Arkansas

34:05

over Malik Monk's team. And Malik Monk was

34:07

a five -star recruit, went to Kentucky, you

34:09

know, has had a pretty good NBA career.

34:11

And I think he looked at it that

34:14

same way. Like, all right, but I don't

34:16

think... don't think you understand. I've

34:18

been busting y 'all's black asses my

34:20

whole life. This is what it's been.

34:22

This is how it goes. But

34:24

one thing to note, as I talk

34:26

about the Lakers have those three

34:28

guys, the thing that Minnesota has is

34:30

Minnesota has three excellent perimeter defenders.

34:32

They got Anthony Edwards, they got that

34:34

boy Nall, and they got Jaden

34:36

McDaniels. They got three dudes they can

34:39

throw out there at you. Yeah,

34:41

and usually teams only have two. or maybe

34:43

one and a half, and that's where, man,

34:45

you got to put your best on Luka,

34:47

you take your chances on LeBron, and whoever

34:49

it is with Austin Reeves, you ain't even

34:51

worried about shading help. You're just saying, hey,

34:53

man, whoever it is, you on your own,

34:55

do your best, we'll try our best to

34:57

help you, but we can't give it up.

35:00

Minnesota's got lymph. Like, that's

35:02

the thing. You can put

35:04

Anthony Edwards conceivably on Austin

35:07

Reeves and feel comfortable. Remember

35:09

in that series against Minnesota

35:11

and Dallas last year, Ant

35:13

-Man was worn out by guarding Kyrie.

35:15

It was hands -on shorts, doubled over,

35:17

all of that, because so much

35:20

had been taken out of him in

35:22

the previous series, and you couldn't

35:24

hide on Luka Doncic or Kyrie Irving.

35:26

LeBron is not that type of

35:28

guard where he's going to put that

35:30

much pressure on you. Like, LeBron

35:33

takes the game. a little bit easier

35:35

he's not going to be going

35:37

end to end running around screens he's

35:39

not going to be doing this

35:41

steph curry thing it's can you withstand

35:43

the physicality maybe that's where the

35:46

advantage is because those minnesota dudes are

35:48

a little on the skinnier side

35:50

and you don't want anthony edwards guarding

35:52

lebron james and risking himself getting

35:54

into foul trouble like the chess match

35:56

here between chris finch and jj

35:59

reddick is going to be really fascinating

36:01

Well, I think your move of your

36:03

Minnesota is absolutely put Anthony Edwards

36:05

on Austin Reeves. And we're just going

36:07

to do our best to just

36:09

shut this whole thing down as an

36:11

idea, right? And let the other

36:14

guys whose fouls cost a little bit

36:16

less. Let them go deal with

36:18

the other cats. I mean, here's the

36:20

thing. Do you believe that LeBron

36:22

will sit firmly in the spot of,

36:24

okay, Luka's time to

36:26

turn it up is right now.

36:28

Or do you think LeBron thinks,

36:30

OK, it's my time to turn

36:32

it up right now? Because I

36:34

don't know if you've seen the

36:37

media machine has been out the

36:39

past day or so about telling,

36:41

relitigating the Miami Big Three. And

36:43

last I remember, those were three

36:45

superstars who came together. And now

36:47

I'm being told it was two.

36:50

So I think Rich is getting,

36:52

from what I can tell. Because

36:54

I need to listen to the

36:56

whole, whole thing. But it

36:58

sounded to me like the point he

37:00

was trying to make was that Chris

37:02

Bosh humbled himself and moved back to

37:05

a role. Not so much that Chris

37:07

Bosh wasn't capable of being that dude,

37:09

but there wasn't room for three of

37:11

those guys and that he made the

37:13

sacrifice as a professional, did the other

37:15

things that needed to be done, but

37:17

they weren't calling no plays for Chris

37:20

Bosh to go win no games. Right.

37:22

That is me cutting Rich the benefit

37:24

of the doubt as strong as it

37:26

possibly can be done, because quite honestly,

37:28

I just can't imagine he's that would

37:30

not have been a smart thing to

37:32

say. How about that? Let's just throw

37:35

it out there. I think the reason

37:37

we believe it is because of what

37:39

people think they know about Chris Bosh.

37:41

Yes. Because if it were Carmelo Anthony

37:43

and whatever they say the original iteration

37:45

is, nobody would say that Carmelo Anthony

37:47

in 2010. wasn't a superstar,

37:49

even though someone, if those three

37:51

had gotten together, somebody. was going to

37:53

have to go and do the

37:56

dirty work and do, as they say,

37:58

the Drew Holiday thing. Well, that's

38:00

where it becomes interesting to me because

38:02

I don't think that that would

38:04

have been a better team with Carmelo

38:06

than it would have been with

38:08

Chris Bosh. Because the thing that Bosh

38:10

did for them, and this isn't

38:12

a make you a superstar kind of

38:14

thing. This is actually a bit

38:16

more in line with like a Rasheed

38:18

Wallace type of situation, which is

38:20

Bosh ushered in an era. And

38:22

it's not that he's the first

38:24

person that's ever been capable of this,

38:27

but I think that he was

38:29

the person that spelled out the particular

38:31

importance of a defender who could

38:33

guard, a big man specifically, who could

38:35

play defense horizontally as well as

38:37

he played defense vertically. That it was

38:39

less about blocking shots than it

38:41

was about rim protection. So what that

38:43

meant was you could go small,

38:45

you could put Bosch at five, Bosch

38:47

could protect the rim, but also

38:49

Bosch could switch. on the pick and

38:51

roll, and Botch could go from

38:53

sideline to sideline along the baseline. And

38:55

that literally changed the direction of

38:57

NBA basketball. Carmelo Anthony could not do

38:59

that, I don't think. No, I

39:01

mean, it's not just so much about

39:03

what you're capable of doing, it's

39:05

what you are willing to do. And

39:07

to a lesser degree from Chris

39:09

Botch, you had Lamar Odom with the

39:11

Shaq, Kobe, Andrew Bynum, Paul Gasol,

39:13

Lakers, that kind of fit that, but

39:15

he had less. overall

39:17

responsibility because that team was so talented i

39:19

know we like to say yes that

39:21

that team was kobe and the kobe airs

39:23

but that team was really really good

39:25

and you could have a guy like a

39:28

lamar odom have the profile of what

39:30

you just said with chris bosh but like

39:32

you just said when the floor gets

39:34

spread In today's game or back

39:36

then in 2013, 14, when you really

39:38

start to stretch the floor, three -point

39:40

shooting became more paramount. Space became more

39:42

paramount. Defensively, you had to have somebody

39:44

that could move his feet at the

39:46

top of the key, be able to

39:48

switch in the middle of the floor,

39:50

and recover to get back to the

39:52

rim if your guards were caught in

39:54

advantageous switches at the rim. It wasn't

39:57

many guys that could do that. And

39:59

we know Carmelo wasn't going to do

40:01

that. Brad Beal said he wasn't going

40:03

to do that. In Phoenix. How

40:06

dare you call me Drew Holiday.

40:09

Hey, I told you one of

40:11

my favorite quotes ever with Glenn

40:13

Robinson playing for the Spurs and

40:15

they asked him something about playing

40:17

defense and he said, I can't

40:19

remember exact words, but this was

40:21

a fair paraphrase. They knew who

40:23

I was when they signed me. Spike,

40:28

to me, get

40:30

out here and play defense. Why

40:32

are we even here right now?

40:35

That's the crazy thing about, and I

40:37

think to some degree, it's a

40:39

function of the salary cap, Bo, and

40:41

the Supermax contract. You can't have

40:43

more than two dudes making big money

40:45

anymore. like you can't have

40:47

that third guy making max or veteran

40:49

max money maybe a rookie max but not

40:51

like a grown man max because that

40:53

third guy is going to have to do

40:55

all the things that your first two

40:58

guys can't do and don't want to do

41:00

and then he's going to be taking

41:02

up such a huge chunk of your salary

41:04

cap that you can't do much around

41:06

him like that's an undertow sort of thing

41:08

about this new CBA and how Phoenix

41:10

self -destructed and how any team that has

41:12

three dudes on a max, I think maybe

41:15

short of the Celtics and Porzingis, maybe

41:17

because Porzingis is on a full max, but

41:19

you can't get three guys on a

41:21

max anymore. Maybe that was Rich's larger point

41:23

that we might've missed or that maybe

41:25

he didn't extrapolate on is that you can

41:27

have LeBron and Wade back then on

41:30

a max. Maybe you can't have Chris Bosh

41:32

on a max anymore. Hey man, me

41:34

tell you something about booting holes with the Suns.

41:36

and what that story points out. For those who have

41:38

not heard this story, when

41:41

Bootenholzer first got the job, he calls

41:43

a meeting with Brad Beal, and

41:45

he tells Brad Beal that he needs

41:47

to play more like Drew Holiday

41:49

for the team. And Brad Beal, who

41:51

has won bupkis in the NBA, told

41:53

that championship -winning coach,

41:56

LOL. That is what

41:58

he said. Let me tell you something.

42:00

When this is all said and

42:02

done, in all likelihood, Drew

42:04

Holiday, there's a good chance that he will

42:06

be in the Hall of Fame. It's

42:08

not great. I don't think he's a Hall

42:10

of Famer, but there's a world in

42:12

which Drew Holiday makes the Hall of Fame.

42:15

There is no world in which Brad

42:17

Beal makes the Hall of Fame. And he

42:19

asked Brad Beal to play more like

42:21

this guy. And Brad Beal was like, you

42:23

got me confused with somebody else. Hold

42:25

on. Hold on. You got me confused with

42:27

Drew Holiday. Let me be more specific

42:29

because to him, that was not a noble

42:31

goal. And I wish we had known

42:33

about this story sooner because they could have

42:35

fired Mike Budenholzer that day. It

42:37

is amazing how little it takes

42:39

to lose an NBA team. And I

42:41

don't know if he lost the

42:44

whole team, but he lost that guy.

42:46

And he did lose the team

42:48

because that guy wouldn't even agree to

42:50

be traded. You stuck with the

42:52

dude that won't do what you say.

42:54

Well, you couldn't trade him because

42:57

of his no trade clause that But

42:59

that's what I'm saying. You

43:01

told him to do something he doesn't want

43:03

to do. Not only did he say no,

43:05

he wouldn't even say yes to leaving. He

43:09

said, my family likes it here. I

43:11

like it. I don't want to go. You're

43:13

going to have to take Phoenix away

43:15

from me for my cold, dead fingers. You

43:17

are just going to have to shoot

43:19

me. It's

43:23

funny. You talk about Drew Holiday. He's

43:26

not a Hall of Famer, but he's

43:28

going to get in the Hall of

43:30

Fame. And I think there's some categories

43:32

of guys who you're looking at, you're

43:34

like, man, he's not a Hall of

43:36

Famer. But his accolades say that he's

43:39

going to get in. Like, Drew Holiday

43:41

is going to play his way into

43:43

the Hall of Fame. If he gets

43:45

a third NBA championship this year, which

43:47

feels... likely as we've seen any other

43:49

champion repeat since the 1718 Golden State

43:51

Warriors, how can he not be in

43:53

the Hall of Fame? Look, man, after

43:56

they put Michael Cooper in the Hall

43:58

of Fame, todo es posible. I

44:00

don't get that one. That,

44:02

Bo, I will never understand that

44:05

one. Never. Bruh,

44:07

I don't say this with any malice.

44:09

How is Michael Cooper in the Hall

44:11

of Fame and somebody like, you know,

44:13

Bill Lambert ain't? Like Michael

44:15

Cooper, I don't think he ever averaged

44:17

double figure points maybe one time in

44:19

his entire career. Like if I'm thinking

44:21

of looking back at a playoff series

44:23

and I'm like, man, look at all

44:26

these Hall of Famers on the floor.

44:28

Never once did I say, man, there's

44:30

Larry Bird and Michael Cooper, two Hall

44:32

of Famers going head up against each

44:34

other. So you know what I do

44:36

think is interesting about that happening is

44:38

that the Lakers standard for retiring jerseys

44:40

is you got to be a Hall

44:42

of Famer. I don't think that's how

44:44

Jersey retirement should work. I think it's

44:47

much more about, like, personal, intimate sort

44:49

of relationships with, you know, what it

44:51

means to the people who are there.

44:53

So I hear people who make the

44:55

argument that, like, Memphis is going to

44:57

retire four of those guys' jerseys. They've

44:59

already retired Zach Randolph's jersey. They've already

45:01

retired Tony Allen. They will retire Marc

45:03

Gasol. They will retire Mike Conley. It

45:05

doesn't matter they never went past the

45:07

conference finals. They mean something to those

45:10

people, right? Michael Cooper means something to

45:12

Lakers fans, right? Like that is

45:14

a Jersey that the Lakers should retire,

45:16

but could not because of the standard. So

45:18

it gets Michael Cooper gets into the

45:20

hall of fame where he does not belong,

45:22

but at least that does get his

45:24

Jersey retired where he does belong. That's the

45:27

way that I'm choosing to look at

45:29

what I find to be a preposterous decision.

45:31

I think that is a very positive,

45:33

a very, you know, that's an unbow like

45:35

way of looking at these things. Like

45:37

you're evolving in a way I would say

45:39

that. Yeah. I mean, I already said

45:42

it was a preposterous decision. Like I've, I've,

45:44

I've, I've, there's nothing like, I don't

45:46

need to make that point any harder. Yeah.

45:48

But sometimes you, sometimes you drive it

45:51

home. I do think it's about what you

45:53

mean to that franchise. It's not about

45:55

what you mean to the league. Like it's

45:57

Jersey retirement should solely be about what

45:59

you did when you were in. that particular

46:01

jersey and the lakers maybe they're like

46:03

man we don't have space for all these

46:05

banners and retired jerseys and nba cup

46:08

uh banners that we're gonna have over the

46:10

next few years so maybe we can't

46:12

have michael cooper up there and then michael

46:14

cooper makes a hall of fame like

46:16

i get it but if i'm byron scott

46:18

why he in the hall of fame

46:20

and i'm not what he do that i

46:22

didn't do like this becomes like remember

46:25

the line was tracy mcgrady And

46:27

at least you can make the

46:29

argument talent -wise, Tracy McGrady defined

46:31

a post -Jordan era of NBA basketball

46:33

with how he was able to

46:35

play from two to three, but

46:37

just he never had the team

46:39

success. The scoring title gets you

46:41

in the Hall of Fame. I

46:44

think there's literally one scoring champion

46:46

that's not in the Hall of Fame.

46:50

And Derrick Rose didn't lead the NBA in

46:52

scoring the year that he won MVP. He

46:54

just averaged like 25. does derrick

46:56

rose get in he is not

46:58

a hall of famer to me

47:00

um but he also unlike michael

47:02

cooper is not a five -time

47:04

champion yeah he is an mvp

47:06

he's an mvp but that's a

47:08

correlation causation sort of situation you

47:11

know a worthy mvp me and

47:13

you might disagree on that i

47:15

think he deserved the mvp in

47:17

2011 i am willing to concede

47:19

that there is an argument i

47:21

also know hateration holleration when i

47:23

see it i used to think

47:25

that But even as a

47:27

voter, I've gone back and

47:29

forth. That's my first year having

47:31

to vote. But being the

47:33

guy on a 61 win team

47:35

and you were better than

47:37

the three superstar team by a

47:39

considerable margin. That is fair.

47:41

That is fair. Isn't

47:43

that an argument for Shea Gilders -Alexander

47:45

this year? That you're the guy

47:48

on a one superstar team? Also, don't

47:50

forget Dwight finished second that year.

47:52

And I think Dwight had a case

47:54

also. um the thing

47:56

for me was and you could probably

47:58

I don't know if you remember this but

48:00

you could go back I was always

48:02

skeptical of how good the three superstar team

48:04

was actually going to be because I

48:06

did not think that the pieces fit very

48:08

well together um I I thought they

48:10

were losing the second round of the playoffs

48:12

all year long right like clearly I

48:14

was wrong about that part so for me

48:16

The three superstar part didn't matter as

48:18

much because Carlos Arroyo was opening night running

48:20

point and Joel Anthony playing in the

48:22

post. I always thought that that would be

48:25

problematic. That was pick

48:27

a veteran player on the

48:29

back end. You might find

48:31

yourself starting for the Miami

48:33

Heat. At what position? Any

48:35

position. Remember, that wasn't the

48:37

Greg Oden year, was it? That was like

48:39

toward the end, right? Greg Oden came

48:41

toward the end, yeah. Okay.

48:44

Mike Bibby, I felt like, got

48:46

considerable run as a starting point

48:48

guard. Yeah, they signed him in

48:50

the first season, and he got

48:52

a standing ovation. Oh,

48:58

man, that era was so great. Don't

49:01

you miss that part of

49:03

whether you like the team or

49:05

not, that was must -see TV.

49:08

every night and it didn't feel

49:10

exhausting it didn't feel like the

49:12

season was long for those guys

49:14

it felt like what are we

49:16

going to see and learn and

49:18

talk about tomorrow that's going to

49:20

actually be something that is meaningful

49:22

and not something we scraping the

49:24

bottom of the barrel with America

49:27

followed a basketball team like

49:29

it was a baseball team in

49:31

the sense that if you

49:33

follow a baseball team, you follow

49:35

it for all 162 and

49:37

you take every up, down, whatever.

49:39

The Miami Heat became that

49:41

for the nation. It was it'll

49:43

never, ever be anything like

49:45

that time. And I actually think

49:47

that he deserve a little

49:49

more credit in this sense. Exhaustion

49:52

did them in as much as

49:54

anything else in 2011. They collapsed at

49:56

the end. You saw LeBron just

49:58

didn't have anything left by the time

50:00

all was said and done. But

50:02

no team has ever been under more

50:05

scrutiny for four straight years. And

50:07

they held it together way better

50:09

than I think we've ever given them

50:11

credit for. I can't even think

50:13

of a second team that even comes

50:15

remotely close from end -to -end scrutiny

50:17

for years. Like even Golden State of

50:20

the Kevin Durant years. by the

50:22

start of year three you could tell

50:24

where it was going and it

50:26

wasn't like oh man we lost

50:28

so we're upset no no if you

50:30

could tell the toll it was

50:32

taking on steph on draymond on katie

50:35

on steve kerr on all of

50:37

the principal parties involved at the start

50:39

of year three that was a

50:41

three -year thing boat like i tend

50:43

to think that we as it goes

50:46

along we think man kevin was

50:48

there for five years the man

50:50

was there for three years even michael

50:52

jordan was exhausted by the tail

50:54

end of the the last dance balls

50:56

and that was a three -year thing

50:58

now granted you know you extrapolate

51:01

on his career as a whole but

51:03

that exhaustion is real man jordan

51:05

never tried a fourth Ladies

51:07

and gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us here

51:09

on The Right Time. We do this three

51:11

times a week. Sean, you handles everything behind the

51:13

scenes. Thank you, sir. Remember, follow The Right

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