NBA Insider Shams Charania, Wilder/Fury, The Browns Had An Open Casket Funeral For A Dog

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Speaker 1 So, y'all know that we're big fans of Cracker Barrel. And this holiday season, I will be sat at their table with a big plate of country-fried turkey.

Speaker 2 And, Brandon, I'll be right there with you, and I'll check it off my Christmas list in the country store while I'm at it. It'll make a nice holiday tradition.

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Speaker 1 On today's Pardon My take, we have NBA insider Shams Chirania. He is from the Athletic and Stadium.
He is the second biggest insider in the NBA game. He's only 25 years old.

Speaker 1 Very fascinating conversation with him. And we get an extra bonus.
See how the sausage gets made. We broke news while on the show, while he was sitting here.
We kind of held him hostage.

Speaker 1 We have a crazy weekend of sports to recap. The fight, college basketball, NBA, all kinds of things happened.
It was an awesome sports weekend.

Speaker 3 But before we do all that, when cool, creamy ranch meets tangy, bold buffalo, the whole is greater than the sum of its sauce.

Speaker 3 Say howdy, partner, to new Buffalo Ranch sauce, only at McDonald's for a limited time.

Speaker 4 At participating, McDonald's.

Speaker 1 Okay, let's go.

Speaker 1 Now in the street, there is violence.

Speaker 1 And then a lot of

Speaker 1 work to be done.

Speaker 1 No place behind a lot of washing.

Speaker 1 And then I can't blame all on the sun.

Speaker 1 Oh, no, we're gonna rock it down to Eli, Trick I van you.

Speaker 1 And then we take it higher.

Speaker 1 Oh, we're gonna rock it down to Eli.

Speaker 1 Harvey

Speaker 1 presented by far.

Speaker 1 Welcome to Pardon My Take presented by the Cash app. Today is Bad Beats Monday.
Hashtag Bad Beats Monday. If you had a bad beat over the weekend, tweet it at PardonMyTake at the Cash App.

Speaker 1 They will help you make you partially whole again. Today is Monday, February 24th, and we had an awesome, awesome sports weekend.
We had one, two, and four ranked teams in college basketball lost.

Speaker 1 We had Fury Wilder, which was great on on Saturday night. We had some awesome NBA games.
There was an open casket funeral for a dog.

Speaker 1 But the lead story, and PFD has been all over it, it is the fact that Trey Wingo tried to dupe the internet into saying that he had a bear in his backyard. And we're on to you, Trey.

Speaker 1 So that's actually the biggest story from the weekend.

Speaker 5 It was actually massive. It's Beargate 2020.

Speaker 5 We're all over the internet trying to track down exactly the history of this bear, how Trey Wingo may have come across this bear, Trey Wingo's own personal history with this identical bear picture.

Speaker 5 It's all, I'm like Pepe Sylvia,

Speaker 5 Charlie from Always Sunny on the wall, trying to figure out what the fuck is going on inside Trey Wingo's brain because he tweeted out on Friday night, there's a bear on my back porch and a picture of a cute little bear standing on a cute little railing.

Speaker 1 Mind you, it was like 8 p.m. and it was light out in the picture, but go on.

Speaker 5 It was light out in the picture. First red flag.

Speaker 1 He lives in Connecticut. Yep.

Speaker 1 Bear country.

Speaker 5 It was a great, great bear. I'm not taking anything away from the bear here,

Speaker 5 but it turns out that that exact same picture had gone viral back in 2016 when it really happened.

Speaker 5 And when it really happened, it just so happened to have happened at a house about two miles away from Tre Wingo. So it was actually a Connecticut bear.
It was a neighborhood bear.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 5 But Tre Wingo decided he would bring it back.

Speaker 1 It's baffling. It is one of the weirdest moves I've seen on Twitter from a guy that you thought you knew.

Speaker 1 You thought you knew that Tre Wingo, you know, like he'll do his radio show, he'll play 18 holes, he'll smoke a huge fucking fatty and call it a night.

Speaker 1 Instead, he's tweeting bears from 2016 and claiming they're in his backyard. And like you said, the craziest part is he's already posted this on his Instagram.

Speaker 1 So essentially, Trey Wingo is trying to go viral using old stories and thinking he is smarter than the internet. No person is smarter than the internet.
No man, no woman, no child, no dog.

Speaker 1 No one is bigger than the internet, smarter than the internet. So Trey, we're on to your shit, bro.

Speaker 5 I'd like an apology. That's all I'd like.
Yeah. You know what? I'd either like an apology from Trey or I'd like him to just roll with it.
Like we were talking about earlier.

Speaker 5 He could just post the same picture like once a week and be like, oh, look, look at this bear that I just saw. Bear Fridays.
And honestly, it was a pretty fucking cool bear.

Speaker 5 Did you see the bear, like the ear tags that it had? It's so crazy. The bear looked like it was a hype beast that had the off-whites hanging from his ears.

Speaker 1 It's fucking insane. I don't know what he's doing.

Speaker 1 It's so, if he had just said, oh, you got me, or played into it and been like, ha ha, I was obviously joking. Instead, he just went silent.

Speaker 1 So this is the thing I've been thinking about all weekend, as you have as well, PFT. And it was a great weekend.
So we'll hop into it. Let's start with the fight.

Speaker 5 Well, one other recommendation for maybe this was Trey getting people off the case of the one-year anniversary of him posting that steak tweet. Oh, okay.

Speaker 5 Which was last year when he posted that burnt-ass steak that looked like it had been cooked on the moon.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it was cooked on the moon. Yeah, he cooked it under the hood of a fucking F1450.

Speaker 5 It looked like it was cooked inside of Kirk Cousins' butt while he was sitting on aluminum foil on a grill.

Speaker 1 And so, yeah, maybe that is exactly what it was. He was trying to get everyone to, but now we're here remembering that.

Speaker 5 You know what, though? Didn't work. Didn't work, Trey.

Speaker 1 Didn't work.

Speaker 5 And what I'm going to do, I'm going to post that fucking bear every day until you post it again. Yeah.

Speaker 1 It's a bear-off. It's a bear-off.
All right, so we have the fight. Let's start with the fight.
Fury Wilder two.

Speaker 1 Not as good as one, obviously, because one was an all-time fight. Still a very fun, eventful night.
It felt like

Speaker 1 we have, like, it finally was one of those nights where you had a heavyweight fight, and it felt like everyone was watching, which has not happened in a long time. I actually,

Speaker 1 before we actually talk about the fight, I have a take that UFC has kind of ruined my brain when it comes to boxing. I used to love boxing.
I used to buy pay-per-views when I was a kid.

Speaker 1 I watched that fight, and I was like, why the fuck isn't he submitting him? Like, why isn't he taking him to the ground? Why isn't he kneeing him in the face?

Speaker 1 It's just there's a level of violence in the UFC that you expect when you see a fight. And you're like, I was sitting there watching, like, why isn't Fury just sit on him? He's got so much more mass.

Speaker 1 He should just fucking squeeze him out and put him in a rear naked choke. And it didn't happen.

Speaker 5 I had kind of the opposite take when I was watching it. It made me realize, like, I love boxing.
Oh, yeah. I love boxing at the highest level in a different way that I love UFC at the highest level.

Speaker 5 It's a a totally different sport, obviously. Like, the ref was being so annoying when he was slapping them on their backs and trying to get them to go apart.

Speaker 5 Like, he looked like a jockey that was trying to ride at Clydesdale when he was slapping Fury on his back.

Speaker 5 But he was doing it for a reason because it's fucking fun to watch two massive people just trade blows.

Speaker 1 The

Speaker 1 pregame analysis,

Speaker 1 like, I don't want to credit the internet and also myself, but watching the pregame and watching Deontay Wilder have to walk through the entirety of the MGM Grand. Like, the entire...
It was...

Speaker 1 They showed him walking to his locker room. And it was, no joke, 10 minutes of him just walking through the back rooms.
He was walking through a kitchen at one point.

Speaker 1 I said right then and there, I was like, he is going to be gassed.

Speaker 1 Because that is, everyone knows that feeling when you're in a casino and you've been walking around the casino for like maybe 20, 30 minutes.

Speaker 1 And you have a moment where you're like, wait, I kind of need to sit down. Like, I'm actually a little tired right now.
That, I don't care how good of an athlete you are. Casino steps are different.

Speaker 5 Well, it's more of a mental game at that point because if you're in a casino, they are pumping in that extra oxygen. So you're getting the blood, the red blood cells going through your body faster.

Speaker 5 However, when you get lost inside a casino and you feel like you're spinal tap trying to make your way backstage to the stage and you're just trying to find a bathroom to piss in, but every single corner of the casino looks identical with the slot machines.

Speaker 5 Right. At that point, it starts to take a toll mentally on you more so than physically.

Speaker 5 Yeah, exactly. It's like you're in a mirror house.

Speaker 1 And so, yeah, I agree.

Speaker 5 He did a lot of walking pre-game and then in the locker fight yeah wilder uh looked like he was stressing out a little bit he looked like he was thinking too hard you never want to be so serious

Speaker 1 yeah which i understand you should be serious before the biggest fight of your life but the the difference between wilder and fury when they kept on showing their locker rooms fury was hanging out fury was looking like it was he was gonna watch the fight not fight in the fight he was hanging out on the couch he was slapping that ass he was dancing around wearing a crown all the while multiple crowns wilder's just sitting there, like, fuck, I got a big fight coming up.

Speaker 1 Like, I'm going to stretch, stretch maybe too early. And then, on top of all of that, Fury gets carried out.
So, even less steps. I honestly think that

Speaker 1 Tyson Fury maybe had 15 steps on his Fitbit before the fight started. That's smart.
For the entire day.

Speaker 5 And you could tell with the legs that Wilder had on him. And he was getting carried out by beautiful women on a throne.

Speaker 5 That was an amazing entrance. I don't know who planned that.
It's probably because you probably can't get a DUI on a throne that's being carried by other people. Correct.

Speaker 5 If I understand the laws of Nevada correctly,

Speaker 5 it was awesome.

Speaker 5 And then Wilder's entrance was pretty cool, too, where he looked like a Mortal Kombat character with a red mask, with the red eyes that were blinking, and it was like glow-in-the-dark, kind of with spikes and shit all over it.

Speaker 5 Two great, great entrances pre-fight. And then they got into the ring, and Tyson Fury showed that having a 40-pound weight advantage was actually a pretty big deal.

Speaker 1 Shattered his eardrum.

Speaker 1 And I actually was shocked they didn't stop the fight earlier because wilder in like the fifth round was holding on to the ropes to try to keep up to like to stand up yeah and usually the ref will be like wait hold on you you aren't even standing on your own power right now and uh i mean tyson fury he his post fight the american pie treated it like karaoke night he is an electric guy the gypsy king like everything about him Tyson Fury or Manny Pacquiao now.

Speaker 1 Now we got to talk to him. Who's the best karaoke singer in boxing?

Speaker 5 I'd say it's probably Tyson Fury.

Speaker 1 Yeah. So it was a cool.

Speaker 5 It was very much so.

Speaker 1 It was cool to have boxing.

Speaker 1 And like I said, it used to be, especially the heavyweight division, like in the 90s and you're growing up, it's like, holy shit, there's two or three nights a year where it's like the whole world is watching boxing.

Speaker 1 That was the first time it felt like that since, I don't know, the biggest Mayweather fight that has happened. You know, it's been a long time.

Speaker 5 It used to be more like that back in the 90s because

Speaker 1 they buy the house. Mayweather McGregor.

Speaker 1 Mayweather Pacquiao was still too old. Mayweather

Speaker 1 De La Hoya was probably the last one where it was like, holy shit, it feels like the entire world is watching.

Speaker 5 Back in the 90s and 2000s, though, before the internet and high-speed streams, there would be like one neighborhood house that would get the fight. And it became an event that people go over to.

Speaker 5 Now you have to just do that on Twitter. And that's your, as Darren Revelle calls it, the world's best sports park.

Speaker 1 Also, you pay-per-view shamers, I see you. You guys get a fucking life.

Speaker 1 The people who pre-complain about the fight, they're like, I'm not going to buy the fight because it's probably only going to last like three rounds. And the undercard sucks.
It's not about the fight.

Speaker 1 It is about the fight, but it's also about the experience of buying the pay-per-view and being like, holy shit, I watched college basketball until my eyes bled on Saturday, and now I got a big fight to top it all off.

Speaker 5 I felt good once I hit, I smashed that buy button on a $79.99 fight. Fuck yeah.
You know what? I actually bought it faster than if it had said $49.99 on it. Yeah.
It was cool to spend that extra time.

Speaker 5 Absolutely.

Speaker 1 Absolutely.

Speaker 5 $40. I'm not good at math.

Speaker 5 But before the fight, did you notice that Wilder, when they were talking to him about how he's coming in at the heaviest that he's ever been, and what was his strategy about that?

Speaker 5 Was he trying to gain weight to compete against Fury? He was like, no, I really didn't. I don't monitor my body.

Speaker 5 My body is a vessel and it changes shape sometimes, but we don't pay attention to what that is.

Speaker 1 That's a great spend. Yeah, he looked okay.
For 19 pounds, you know, heavier, I don't know where he put it.

Speaker 5 Not in his legs.

Speaker 1 Yeah, because if I gain 19 pounds, you know it. You see it in the face right away.

Speaker 5 Right. Maybe that, yeah, it might have gone to just like in that one area around his stomach that the waistband of the boxing shorts covers because it did not go to his thighs.

Speaker 5 It did not go to his calves.

Speaker 1 Do you think in terms of body parts that can bleed, ears have to be up there for the worst?

Speaker 5 So my Mount Rushmore of orifices that you don't want to bleed out of, number one, I'm going to put butt.

Speaker 1 Oh, no,

Speaker 5 no, no, you and I are going to have a disagreement here because you don't want to bleed out of your butt. Bleeding around your butt from wiping is one story.

Speaker 1 If you said to me right now, would you rather bleed out of your butt or your eyeball? Definitely the butt. Eyeball would be the fucking worst.
Eyeballs, it can be. You're going to die.

Speaker 1 If you're bleeding out of your eyeball, death is imminent.

Speaker 5 You could be hemorrhaging. You could be experiencing some sort of outbreak fever.

Speaker 1 Or you could be Joe Biden.

Speaker 5 But if you're, yeah, you could be Joe Biden.

Speaker 1 You could be Bob Costas.

Speaker 5 They've all bled out of their eyes and they're fine.

Speaker 1 No, I'm talking real blood out of your eyes. I would rather take blood like a lizard.
Yeah, I would take butt over eyes or ears. Ears,

Speaker 1 there's a moment when Deontay Wilder's bleeding out of his ears. It was like when Clay Thompson was bleeding out of his ears.
You're wondering,

Speaker 1 is he just going to die? Is that just his brain leaping out? It is a sneaky vast.

Speaker 1 You shouldn't be bleeding out of your ears.

Speaker 5 For me, it goes butt,

Speaker 5 eye, ear, and then distant fourth is urethra. Because you can come back from everyone bleeds out of their dick sometimes.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 1 the ears, though, man, fuck, that, that sucks. And I, I mean, mean, I'm sure it didn't help his balance at all, even though afterwards he said it was just a cut.

Speaker 1 Well, that's what I was thinking in real time, like drunk thought. I was just like,

Speaker 1 can you just lose your

Speaker 1 equilibrium forever? Yeah. Yes, yeah, just for never, you'll never be able to get it.

Speaker 1 Clearly, like, he got hit and like something like switched. Like, what if that switch just never turns back on? You get vertigo? Yeah.
You can't look up at it.

Speaker 1 Oh, we forgot to mention that Tyson Fury did the most disrespectful thing of all time and tried to lick the blood off of him mid-fight because he was so confident that he was beating him and going to beat him.

Speaker 1 So, and then we had the celebrities.

Speaker 5 Mrs. Fury is a very lucky lady.
Mrs. Fury.

Speaker 1 She's a very lucky lady. We had, yeah, Joe Tessetore had no, he's like, what is he doing with his tongue? Uh-huh.
Come on, Joe. Well, he's never eating a little.
No, he's Italian.

Speaker 5 Come on, buddy. You know.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Joe's not a junior soprano.

Speaker 5 No, people talk about that kind of thing if you're one of the fellas.

Speaker 1 Joe Tessator, listen, seems like a really nice guy, but his voice now is forever etched in just like a shitty Monday night game or a shitty college game at like noon. I just,

Speaker 1 he did a good job, but it's one of those things, and we talk about it when you have that voice trigger. Like when Beth Mullens comes on, I'm waiting for Purdue versus Indiana at 11 a.m.

Speaker 1 When Joe Tessador is on, I'm just waiting for, you know, the Dolphins to have to play the Texans on a Monday night in like week 14.

Speaker 5 When Jake Marsh is on, I get super excited because I know that the Catamounts are going to smash some shit. Kaboom.
Tic-tac-toe.

Speaker 1 Kaboom.

Speaker 1 Jake Marsh is in the studio right now. He is.
All right, so that was the fight.

Speaker 5 I have a question about Fury, though. How do you even get that big in England? I feel like most British people

Speaker 5 don't get that tall. Gypsy King.
Yeah, but I mean, I watched Snatch. Most of them were pretty wiry fellas.

Speaker 1 No, but there's always one big guy.

Speaker 5 They don't get a lot of nutrients in their system.

Speaker 1 It's like the big guy from Braveheart. There's always one big guy.

Speaker 5 One giant guy, but even those big guys, I feel like are just relatively big. And the food in England sucks, so it's tough to put on later.

Speaker 1 There's one huge guy per country for sure. Per group,

Speaker 1 per region. There's always only one guy everyone talks about, like, oh man.
It's big. Paul Bunyan.

Speaker 5 Yeah, he probably just still breastfeeds. He probably just never stopped breastfeeding.
What made you think that? No, that makes you huge.

Speaker 1 Like the

Speaker 1 nature of steroids.

Speaker 1 Lord of the Veil. No, what was the guy? The kid in Game of Thrones.
Come on, Hank. Thrones, your Thrones addict.
Bran. The fucking kid who was breastfeeding at like 14.
That little shit.

Speaker 1 He lived in the sky tower. Come on.

Speaker 1 You know who I'm talking about. Robin Aaron.
There we go. Finally.
What a pussy that kid was.

Speaker 1 All right. So we also had

Speaker 1 great NBA games. Hank, would you like to say anything about the refereeing in the Celtics Lakers game? It was bullshit, and it kind of ruined the end of the game.

Speaker 1 It was a great game, and then the last, I don't know, like two minutes took like 35 minutes, and the refs just, they did the thing where Jalen Brown wasn't out of bounds at all.

Speaker 1 They called him out of bounds, didn't review it.

Speaker 1 The goal 10, the goal 10, the craziest thing that isn't really getting talked about because they fucked up the end of the game so bad, but there was a goal 10 call in the beginning of the game that was like the most egregious thing I've ever seen in my life.

Speaker 5 But there was also a goaltend at the end of the game that didn't get called.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 1 Jeff Van Gundy had all-time sarcasm when he said they were did like

Speaker 1 second or third review, and he said, There's nothing more exciting than an instant replay review.

Speaker 1 People are turning. I didn't realize how much hate Jeff Van Gundy, I knew Mark Jackson because he's an idiot.
But Jeff Van Gundy is starting to get lumped in.

Speaker 1 It's like we always turn on our announcers. I I feel like they're getting their shine.
I don't know. I feel like Jeff Vanundundundu.
Oh, I still like the guy.

Speaker 5 I'm not saying him talking about Alex Caruso was so beautiful. Yes.
He just saw a young Jeff Van Gundy out there and he's like, this kid, his arms are sneaky long.

Speaker 5 That was the biggest compliment that he played.

Speaker 1 Jeff Van Gundy had a good point, though, about Brad Stevens and Brad Stevens' face and just his old whole demeanor. He's too nice.
He really is.

Speaker 1 He needs to rebrand, maybe get a different haircut or maybe a face style.

Speaker 1 He could do it with his shirts. He could change up his shirts or something.

Speaker 5 He could look a little bit more Mare Pete-ish.

Speaker 1 Yeah, he looks. No, he looks very...
No, no, no. We're saying the opposite.
Yeah. Because he got a technique.

Speaker 5 But people have turned on Mayor Pete now, so I feel like if people, if he looks more like Mayor Pete.

Speaker 1 He needs to go cool Brad Stevens. Right.

Speaker 1 Yeah, because

Speaker 1 Tim Van Gundy's point, which was a correct one,

Speaker 5 like a purple turbulent game. Maybe Dwayne Wade looks huge from the All-Star game.

Speaker 1 But his point was absolutely correct that Brad Stevens, like his face and the fact that he treats refs with so much respect hurts him because if he just raises his voice a little, he gets a technical foul.

Speaker 1 That was a bullshit technical foul.

Speaker 1 Just calling a technical foul with a minute left in the game is also who does that?

Speaker 5 Yeah, that's a big time let the boys play moment.

Speaker 5 And it did come down to the last second. But Hank, if you recall, two years ago, about this time, we did a Soggy Sorrows because the Celtics lost a mid-season game.
on a Sunday night.

Speaker 5 So people were asking if you were going to do it again. I didn't want to respond for you because I figured you'd want to really put yourself out there.

Speaker 1 I mean, they were the underdogs, so I don't think that would make sense. Going back to Tyson Fury, though,

Speaker 1 I heard this last night. I just wanted to confirm before I said it, but he was born three months early.
What? Three months premature, and the doctors wanted to give up on him or whatever.

Speaker 1 And it was like, his dad was like, no, he's a fighter. Fighter, yeah.
He's going to fight. He's going to be the heavyweight champion of the world.
Blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 1 And there's no way his dad said that, but I like that. I like when they're his dad betting on me.

Speaker 1 You're going to be...

Speaker 1 This premature baby in the NICU, he's going to be the heavyweight champion of the world. This is a badass line.

Speaker 1 How many babies do you think that was said about that just don't end up boxing one day in their life? Yeah, probably. Well, I don't know

Speaker 5 how many people look at a baby and say, this baby is going to beat the shit out of everybody one day.

Speaker 1 All the other babies are fucked. I said he'll be all right.
He will be 7 feet, 20 stone, and heavyweight champion of the world. And I named him Tyson after Mike Tyson.

Speaker 5 It's going to be a little disappointing that he didn't get up to 7 feet tall.

Speaker 1 Yeah, shout out Mike Tyson, by the way, who they had all the legends coming out, and he just walked out for Vander Holyfield's walkout.

Speaker 1 Didn't realize that they weren't talking about him until they said Atlanta, Georgia.

Speaker 1 Like, they listed all of Evander Holyfield's records and everything that he did, and Mike Tyson was just on another planet being like, that was pretty sweet. All those places I wasn't,

Speaker 1 but he's saying I was.

Speaker 5 It was cool to see Tyson, Lewis, and Holyfield all in the same building together.

Speaker 1 It wasn't cool to listen to Lennox Lewis.

Speaker 5 Lewis is not good.

Speaker 1 Jabber jabber. So you got a jab,

Speaker 5 you got a jab, and then you got to kind of with a jab, and you could jab in too much. Then it becomes a jabba's jab.

Speaker 1 Oh, all right, so barcelgold.com/slash PMT. You can watch us right now.
You can watch our interview with Shams. It's coming up in a minute.
We had great college basketball as well.

Speaker 1 Duke is all the way back. One, two, and four lost.
What? They are. They are.
Gonzaga had their usual loss out against the Mormons. That crowd, by the way, in Provo, those guys fucking party.

Speaker 1 Not party, party. Not party, but they party.

Speaker 5 They party as far as Mormons go. Sober to Dr.
Pepper.

Speaker 1 It was pretty fucking cool. Yeah.

Speaker 5 Kyle Van Noyer was pretty excited about it, too.

Speaker 5 Kyle was ready to soak. Yeah.
He was ready to soak. He was soaked some shit.

Speaker 1 Big time soaking. And also, watching all the games yesterday, it made me realize that as soon as Arizona gets eliminated, we need to put Sean Miller in a studio

Speaker 1 under bright lights and then judge all of our games on how much he's sweat through his suit because that Arizona, Oregon game was awesome.

Speaker 1 Peyton Pritchard, by the way, has definitely been at Oregon for like 17 years, but he had sweat through his suit coat, like fully through his suit coat, and that is a great indicator that the game is great.

Speaker 5 Yeah, it is. For Sean Miller, he's a very sweaty guy in general.
I've always understood if a coach has the back sweat through the suit.

Speaker 5 That's a Bruce Pearl. Or yeah, that's a big Bruce Pearl, or maybe like

Speaker 5 around the breast area.

Speaker 5 But it wasn't just the arms, it was the upper arms.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 5 Whose upper arm sweats? Professor. I think Sean Miller is...
See, this is why Sean Miller escaped the FBI, because when they interrogate him,

Speaker 5 you can't look at a man and be like, oh, he's pouring sweat. He must be lying.
That's just his natural homeostasis. He rolls out of bed sweating.
He just leaks.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 5 Yeah, he's got all these tiny little holes in his body. He just leaks like a strainer.

Speaker 1 To make a blue suit get darker blue is a wild move. That's so much sweat.

Speaker 5 He has to just rock just black suits, right?

Speaker 1 No, I think he just owns it. I think he owns the fact that he cannot stop sweating.

Speaker 5 Or let him go shirtless.

Speaker 1 Yeah, or, yeah, maybe let him just wear sweats. He should wear a sweatband.
Yeah. Just use that.

Speaker 1 Use everything at your disposal, Sean Miller.

Speaker 5 Go shirtless and wear, like, the double little, like, string sweatbands that college football players have on their biceps.

Speaker 1 Yeah, he should. Or maybe just a quarterback sweat towel.
Just be rubbing your hands on it the whole time. All right, the other last story before we get to our who's back of the week.

Speaker 1 The Browns, now, it wasn't a sanctioned event by the Browns, but we're just going to blame the Browns. Had a live casket funeral for Swagger with Swagger Jr., his son there.

Speaker 1 How does it not get sanctioned by the Browns?

Speaker 1 So they just get rid of the body and then I unfortunately have learned way too much about this. Apparently there is a funeral home in Cleveland that does this.

Speaker 1 They will do live casket funerals for Pokémon. Open casket, yeah.
Open casket. Sorry, it was a live stream of an open casket.
That was the part where it was like, why is there a live stream?

Speaker 1 To pay respects. Hold that.

Speaker 1 They do it and they get like $8,000 for these, which I guess if you throw that out there, if a funeral home is saying like, hey, you know what?

Speaker 1 No one's been dying recently. We have an off day.
Let's throw a couple of fucking cats and dogs into a casket

Speaker 1 and get $8,000 a pop on a Saturday afternoon. Kind of makes sense.
Who pays them? The people, the dog owner. So the Browns.
So the Browns.

Speaker 1 So the Browns, it was one of those situations where a family owns Swagger.

Speaker 5 Very fishy, but I'm telling you. So Swagger, you're saying was just licensed out like a mercenary?

Speaker 1 That's how fucking

Speaker 1 blackwater mascots. That's how a lot of these mascots work.
As a used dog salesman, you know how this goes.

Speaker 1 Ugly is not owned by Georgia.

Speaker 5 I've never licensed out a dog to lease to anyone. That's not how you do it with a dog.
You are either all in or all out.

Speaker 1 The underbelly is live mascots.

Speaker 5 It's absolutely sickening. So they had a live stream of this open casket, and then they made Swagger Jr.
Sit there, go sit next to his dead dad.

Speaker 1 And he had a boner.

Speaker 5 And he had a, like, naturally, like.

Speaker 1 He's raging hard about his dead dad. He's a fucking necrophiliac.

Speaker 5 No, there's nothing. That's absolutely natural.
If you're around, if you're around another type of your species and you see death, it's natural to get horny to be like,

Speaker 5 I have to procreate as quickly as possible because I'm going to die soon.

Speaker 1 Also, Swagger.

Speaker 5 What if he had humped his dad?

Speaker 1 Swagger died like three weeks ago.

Speaker 5 Things could have, yeah, that's what I was saying. I looked up his death.
His death was February 7th.

Speaker 1 I guess you have to keep Swagger in state for a while so people can still the country can come pay its respects. So he got embalmed.

Speaker 5 Have him lying. Yeah, have him lying in the middle.

Speaker 1 He should have just had a fucking parade.

Speaker 5 They should bury him at midfield of

Speaker 5 First Energy Stadium?

Speaker 1 Just when you think the Browns are starting to turn everything around, which they aren't. No, this is actually.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 if you were thinking that... They had a fucking open casket funeral for a dog.

Speaker 5 I actually think that this is more normal than most of the things that have happened to the team.

Speaker 1 It was so casual, too. I was just scrolling through Twitter on Saturday and someone tweeted at me.
He's like, wait, this isn't real. See, I thought I was getting punked.

Speaker 1 And then I searched it and I saw the live stream. And I couldn't.
And how about the people that are going? How about the people that show up? I think it's to see a dead dog.

Speaker 1 I think that's more normal. That's the crazy people.
No, that's.

Speaker 1 I agree with Hank. I don't want to see a dead dog.
That's more normal.

Speaker 5 We clicked on a live stream to see a dead dog.

Speaker 1 Oh, I didn't click. I clicked.
Oh.

Speaker 5 I clicked. Oh, thank you.

Speaker 1 I mean, no one wants to go to funerals, but you pay your respects.

Speaker 5 SJ was just like staring at the camera, like, get me the fuck out of this franchise. What a wild.
As quickly as possible.

Speaker 1 I mean, it's just it was a that was like one of those

Speaker 5 you think it's an onion title right and then you're like wow you're like wait this actually is real and of course it's the browns no other franchise is doing this after seeing what they that they made him go look at his dead dad i would be completely in favor of any other franchise kidnapping swagger yes yes

Speaker 5 swagger jr yes and and the father's body which i'm sure is probably still embalmed they forgot no they probably took it to like a playground or something to have neighborhood kids say goodbye to it.

Speaker 1 Put it under a tree. I say, yeah.
We also did

Speaker 1 Larry. Can you imagine burying an Aaron? Don't.
Listen, that was different. Different people come out.
Well, that was different. That's a golden.
They just drive in a caravan ceremony.

Speaker 1 That's different.

Speaker 5 Also, we didn't have any of Larry's kids around us at the time.

Speaker 1 Yeah, we did have a baby there, though.

Speaker 5 Well, they have to learn about death stuff. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 1 And we didn't bring the baby. Someone else brought the baby.

Speaker 5 And they wanted. They forgot about the baby.

Speaker 5 They wanted the baby to experience what pain was like so it could grow up to be the heavyweight champion of the world.

Speaker 1 Also, Larry,

Speaker 1 all due respects, but Larry was like 17 million times the winner that Swagger was. Like, let's just call a spade a spade here.
Larry won.

Speaker 5 Swagger lost.

Speaker 5 He was a loser dog. I'll put it this way.
It would have been more appropriate for the Browns to put Swagger's body on like a little pontoon boat, light it on fire, and then

Speaker 5 push it out onto Lake Erie or just in the middle of the Cuyahoga River. I know that's kind of a fire hazard.
But just shove it out into a great lake.

Speaker 5 That would have been more appropriate than putting a live stream on Facebook for all of America to tune into.

Speaker 1 Fred Smoot should start a business where he does Viking funerals for pets. And he actually has the bow and arrow that lights it on fire.
Little Viking funeral, boat funeral.

Speaker 5 Where does the sex part come in?

Speaker 1 Well, if people aren't looking, he can do whatever he wants.

Speaker 5 Fred Smoot can have sex with your animal.

Speaker 1 Someone in the audience will have sex with Fred Smoot at some point.

Speaker 1 I mean, have you heard him talk? That's probably the guy is, yeah, he's electric. All right, let's do some who's back.
Hank, why don't you start who's back of the week?

Speaker 1 My who's back of the week is Astros' bad PR moves. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So, Raw Manfred in his, you know,

Speaker 1 last week was saying that the Astros' punishment is going to be being publicly shamed, and like, that was going to be the worst part. They're not going to get stripped.

Speaker 1 They're not going to lose their World Series, but the public shame is what's really going to be their punishment. They're going to have to have tough questions asked of them.

Speaker 1 The Astros are now taking all signs away from people attending spring training that have any sort of like joke towards the Astros cheating. Yeah, so they're screwed.

Speaker 1 Instead of publicly shaming them, they're now taking that away from any fan that goes to a game.

Speaker 5 And they're absolutely screwed because every time that a fan gets it confiscated, you're going to have like two million people making a, oh, they're stealing signs again joke.

Speaker 5 So there's really nothing that you can do to get out of this. Yeah, they've got to make some sign up or you're going to have a headline every single day saying Astros steal signs again.

Speaker 1 Or take, yeah, take away the World Series title and say, like, you can, no signs. Or signs, yeah.
You can have signs, and you can have the World Series title.

Speaker 1 They also, and obviously it's spring training, so it wouldn't, I wouldn't expect the starters to be playing game one of spring training, but it did kind of suck that the entire Astros team was a bunch of minor league guys who were just wearing the jersey and just getting booed so loud, and they did nothing wrong.

Speaker 1 Like, it's a bunch of guys who are trying to make the team who would be honored to be able to steal signs and bang on a trash can for Altuve and Bregman.

Speaker 1 But they had to go out there and just take the beating while Altuve and Bregman were playing golf.

Speaker 5 No, respect to those guys.

Speaker 5 But how funny would it be if the Astros just decided to keep cheating? Just didn't stop? Yeah.

Speaker 1 Just like setting

Speaker 5 the exact same system as like, I dare you to catch me again. Because now is probably the last time that baseball is going to be looking for them.

Speaker 1 It's the perfect time.

Speaker 5 It's the exact same thing. Right.

Speaker 1 Hiding in plain sight. You would never expect the Astros to cheat cheat again.

Speaker 5 Could fans, instead of maybe bringing signs into baseball games, try to sneak trash cans in?

Speaker 4 That would also be funny. That would be funny.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I'm in for all of it.
The Astros are going to be... The Astros cheating scandal is just going to be a year-long story that we're all going to have fun with.

Speaker 5 It's going to be a circus.

Speaker 1 We're going to have to ask the hard questions. Rob Manfred has told us they are not getting punished, so we must punish them.
PFT, who's your who's back?

Speaker 5 My who's back of the week is Ben Rothlisberger. Yes.

Speaker 5 So Big Ben was uh throwing some passes he has now graduated to the point where he's able to throw what looked like at least a high school size football I don't know I could I didn't get an up-close view of it but um yeah he was in a gym he looked good he looked happy good

Speaker 1 for him

Speaker 5 yeah no for for Ben it's obviously not a sliding side

Speaker 5 I wasn't like look at this athlete no it was a very slow release but he looked like he was about 280 pounds and tough to sack so uh he's been shaved now I'll put it this way big Ben looked like Big Ben.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 5 And that's all that we're hoping for. He's great.
He looks a little less like a guy that goes and lives in a cabin for a winter and writes below-average songs.

Speaker 1 We need him back because if they get the new playoff rules in a couple of years, Big Ben will just be in the playoffs every year. That was the one thing when they went through it all.

Speaker 1 The Steelers would have just made the playoffs every year. Yeah.
They've always, they're the model of never being worse than seventh.

Speaker 5 Yeah, like eight and eight, nine, and seventeen, after worse.

Speaker 5 How do you think Big Ben has been rehabbing up to, do you think he's been doing any exercise whatsoever?

Speaker 1 I would imagine he's like an elliptical guy for 15 minutes and then maybe 10 crunches.

Speaker 5 He's like a back row elliptical guy so you can get a view of the other clientele at the gym. He might

Speaker 1 a few crunches, then hits the steam.

Speaker 5 Yeah, big time steam guy. I was thinking about that earlier this week, where as long as you're sweating, that counts as a workout.
Absolutely. So Big Ben's definitely like a Schwitz guy.

Speaker 5 Hollywood workout. He's a sauna guy.
Probably the first guy to drop the towel when he enters a steam room.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 Let's everyone know.

Speaker 5 Probably

Speaker 5 a type of guy that you probably had to hide every single football in the house, every ball in the house from him, because if you just saw one, he'd pick it up and throw it.

Speaker 5 Yeah, so you have to put that on a bunch of people.

Speaker 1 But that's also everyone. Like, if you see someone throwing a basketball around, like, doing, you know, dribbling a basketball, you're automatically going to say, pass me the ball.
It's true.

Speaker 1 That's every ball, ever.

Speaker 5 It's just, it's what happens. It's probably like a dog.

Speaker 5 Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 1 Like, you want this ball right now? Yeah, there you go. Thanks.
You want that ball? Thank you. Look at it.
See? It's over there.

Speaker 1 All right. My who's back is spring.
Spring is back. We had a taste this weekend.

Speaker 5 Because of the Groundhog.

Speaker 1 Because of the Groundhog, but we had a taste this weekend. And there's something about those first few days when it hits like 50.

Speaker 1 And it's that something in the air where there's still no leaves, obviously.

Speaker 1 It's that raw smell. And you're like, March Madness is coming.
St. Patrick's Day is coming.
The Masters is almost here. It's just something beautiful about it.

Speaker 1 The sun feels like, oh my God, the sun's back. We're changing the clocks in two weeks.
I just put out part of my take spring break merch. Oh, that's the fuck, man.

Speaker 1 There's nothing better than that feeling of

Speaker 1 spring has some great drinking days, too. It does.

Speaker 1 You almost feel like. Especially in college.

Speaker 1 Yes, in college, and you're coming out of your shell, and you're like, oh, my God, it's back. Like that first day where, hey, let's fire up the grill.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's only 45 degrees outside, but 45 degrees in the spring feels like it's shorts weather.

Speaker 5 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5 I wore shorts today just because I could without actually like freezing my shins off but for you it's like this is your first spring as a dad so spring is sprung what you felt was like you stepped outside and it was it was uh Jim Nance's voice like going through the air like radio waves oh hello friends is what you sensed and you were like yeah let's do this I'm very I already got circled Father's Day and I'm just like hey it's my day now it's an extra birthday

Speaker 1 so they don't tell you when they when you become a dad you're gonna stare at your kid and be like why aren't you getting me anything no just be like hey sorry it's my day I'm gonna sleep which and watch sports.

Speaker 1 You know, kind of is everything.

Speaker 5 You know what's tough, though? This year, St. Patrick's Day is on a Tuesday.

Speaker 1 Yeah, but it doesn't matter in college. College kids celebrate it whenever.

Speaker 5 The closest Friday for myself.

Speaker 1 Oh, you're still for myself. You're still trying to get fucked up on St.
Patty's Day?

Speaker 5 It's like an amateur night. Yeah.
I don't fuck around with that.

Speaker 1 You're still going to get out there.

Speaker 1 Do they have a seniors division for St. Patrick's Day that you're entering this year?

Speaker 5 Listen, Tuesday night, I'm 35. You can still get fucked up on St.
Patrick's Day when you're 35.

Speaker 1 Because you're Irish. Yeah, I mean, you can, but I think there's Irish.

Speaker 1 It depends.

Speaker 5 If you're like with a bunch of people, like a chameleon when it comes to drinking holidays.

Speaker 1 If you're with like 24-year-olds, I think you'll fairly get some looks. Yeah, but be like, hey, what's up, man? But you're still doing this?

Speaker 5 I also can pass for like a 25, 26 years.

Speaker 1 You're wearing a kilt, yeah. Yeah, that's true.
Just wear a kilt.

Speaker 5 Yeah, everyone looks like they're dressed like a leprechaun.

Speaker 1 Not because you're height, but just because.

Speaker 5 I'm too way too tall to be a leprechaun. Right.

Speaker 1 But you should. Then you can drink all the.

Speaker 5 That'll draw more attention to myself.

Speaker 1 I'll be like, who's this taller?

Speaker 5 Who's this fucking giant dressed as a leprechaun

Speaker 1 yeah all right let's uh let's get to our interview we got shams chirania uh great interview we also broke news on the interview which everyone knows it now i really want that ball back you want and dude this is what the ball does

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Speaker 5 My favorites, like oven gold turkey or blazing buffalo-style chicken, paired with their classic Vermont cheddar or creamy Munster cheese, are sure to score big and help me elevate my entertainment every time, whether it's for a tailgate or a home gating celebration.

Speaker 5 Seriously, guys, it's a game-changing flavor for every gathering. Boarshead, committed to craft since 1905.

Speaker 1 Okay, here he is, Shams Trania.

Speaker 1 Okay, we now welcome on a very special guest. It is Shams Trirania.
Did I say that right? Yes, sir. All right.
So, Shams, we have to talk a lot of NBA. You're an NBA insider.

Speaker 1 You are one of the best in the biz. But before we talk NBA, we have to talk at least about your rise in your career because I think you had the same thought when you were looking it up.
You're 25.

Speaker 1 And I don't mean that as a slight, but it's crazy how much you've accomplished at 25.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 my theory is always if you wear a suit on your Twitter profile, it's just 10 years automatically. No question.

Speaker 1 Was that part of the plan? Like, I'm sure you've probably struggled with this.

Speaker 1 Like, hey, I want to be taken seriously and I'm young, which, you know, it's a, this business is very hard to be taken seriously when you're young. How did you do this?

Speaker 1 How did you manage to get to this point at 25?

Speaker 4 So I feel like I'm 35 in basketball years. Like, I think that's just how I've kind of...

Speaker 4 You know, every, you know, every year, like last year, I was 24, obviously. I'm turning 26 in a couple months now.
Like, I'm 36.

Speaker 4 Like, that's just how you know i've been doing this i was 17 and when you first like my junior and senior year in high school in your trier i was just cold texting cold emailing cold calling whether it's agents executives around the league you know the handful or so that reached out and like actually hit me back obviously i was like wow like these people actually

Speaker 4 because you know i kind of put myself in their shoes if i rep like five all-star players i'm probably not hitting this random kid who i've never heard of he has no real track record what like what has he done um but I mean, I always try to, you know, you hide behind kind of your maturity in a lot of ways.

Speaker 4 You get lucky, you got to get lucky. You know, people to hit you back, that takes luck in a lot of ways.

Speaker 4 And also shows you there are a lot of good people in the industry that want to actually hit you back. So, I mean, for me, it was just like luck.

Speaker 1 What was the lucky one? Like, what was the one that you can look back and you're like, I can't believe this guy texted me back, and it helped me so much.

Speaker 4 I think my biggest, like, the first story that put me on the map was probably Lu Alding. I don't know if you remember, but Lu Alding got traded from the Bulls to the the Cavs January 2014.

Speaker 4 I was 20,

Speaker 4 probably a sophomore in college. And I'll never forget it because it was like it was 11.15 at night.
It was an email that came through from someone I had been emailing with.

Speaker 4 And again, we weren't texting. We weren't on text levels.
We weren't on call levels. I'd never spoken to the person on the phone, but we were emailing.

Speaker 4 Probably had exchanged 500, 600 emails in the span of two years. And I got little tidbits here and there from that person.
I get an email 11.15 at night,

Speaker 4 dang for buying them in picks.

Speaker 4 And I get that. And I didn't even see it until 11.45.
I was watching a movie. And so I go to my Gmail and I see the email.
And I go to Twitter and it's not out.

Speaker 1 I'm like, oh, shit. I'm like, holy shit.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 And I tweet it out. And then I'll never forget.
I'm like running around my house, like, oh, my God, like, I did it. I got it.

Speaker 4 And like that, like, rush that went, because you know before then i had broken like you know malcolm thomas signing a 10 day with the bulls like shavlik randolph signing a 10 day with the celtics like different little 10 days and euro league signings and you know g league signings but that was like my first real like nba break and when i got that i think that you know it kind of validated the work that i was putting in up up until that point yeah um but That what that one for sure was probably like the one I would say.

Speaker 1 That's awesome.

Speaker 5 What was your cold email script like? Or when you were cold calling somebody, would you just be like, hey, this is who I am.

Speaker 5 If you have any information that you're not doing anything with, I'd be happy to take it off your hands. Like, how do you start to build those relationships?

Speaker 4 So I think for me, the biggest thing was not to come off as like, I want information at first. It was like, hey, my name is Sean Stranium.

Speaker 4 So I started off at Chicago now, which was a subsidiary of the Tribune. This is junior year of high school.
And I would just do that to get reps. Like, I would do Chicago now.

Speaker 4 They weren't paying anything, it was just somewhere where I could just get writing on. So, I did that for like a year, and then I pitched it to Real GM.
I'm like, yo, this is my work.

Speaker 4 I pitched it to them, like two, two, three other outlets, and they were the ones at that point, like Real GM, Hoops Hype, they were like the holy grail for me.

Speaker 4 Like, I would, me and my friends, we would just go on there and just hit refresh, like, constantly.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 4 Like, what's going on? What's going on? Like, who are the bulls getting it? What's, you know, I want to know. I'm like, no good free agents.

Speaker 1 But yes.

Speaker 1 because i was that person

Speaker 4 yeah yeah i was that fan like i wanted to know and so um so i i get to real gm and my honestly my text was i'm shamstrani i write for realgm.com um i'm covering the nba

Speaker 4 would be great to stay in touch do you have a time do you have time to talk and at that point it's just building a relationship because i've always been in the mindset if you're going into something saying i want you know like i want that's probably going to be a turn off from junk

Speaker 4 um So for me, it was just like genuinely showing that I'm in it for the long haul. I'm in it for a longer-term relationship.
This wasn't just like, yo, this is Sean's Trania, give me something.

Speaker 4 You got something?

Speaker 1 Like, I'm ready.

Speaker 4 It's more like, you know, this is who I am. This is what I'm trying to be.
Would never say how old I am. You know, you kind of hide behind the maturity level or whatever.

Speaker 1 Well, I know that that's probably awkward for you because you're probably sick of people being like, wait, you're 25. But I say it not as, oh my God, you're so young.

Speaker 1 I say it in, holy shit, man, like, congrats, because this is an impossible business to be in. in and I think a lot of times I mean we've both dealt with it where you know

Speaker 1 it's a weird business where you don't really get your shot until later in life which makes no sense because the audience we're going for is the younger audience so I mean congrats like that's incredible and I love that because I love anyone who grinds so I mean it it's it's weird too that you're 25 and you've been in it for would you say eight years now eight years yes that's why that's why I told you I feel like I'm 35.

Speaker 4 I really do feel like I'm you know I haven't seen everything. I feel like I've seen a lot.
I feel like I know kind of the ins and outs of things.

Speaker 4 And, and really, honestly, man, like, it's, it's the people that are in it. That I'm just like, every day, I'm like, damn.

Speaker 4 Like, you know, because again, when I was 17, 18, reaching out to these people who have multiple players, multiple all-stars, like, no reason to respond to me. Like, what have I done? Who am I?

Speaker 4 You know, but just shows that they hit you back and you never know. You know, you never know what someone might be for me or anyone.

Speaker 5 You also have a cool name, like a name that sticks in your head that people remember, and they're like, Oh, yeah, I'm going to text this guy back.

Speaker 1 I like that name.

Speaker 4 It's not like Sam.

Speaker 1 Yeah, right.

Speaker 1 Yeah, like, hey,

Speaker 5 Michael Smith.

Speaker 5 That's actually tougher to break in. You've got like a little bit of initial branding, right? When you hit somebody, it's like, oh, yeah, I'll hit this guy.

Speaker 1 And the Twitter suit. I mean, the Twitter suit.

Speaker 4 That's how I started going to games, though. Right.
I was 17, 18, 19 years old, going to games in Milwaukee, Indiana. Because I wasn't, the Bulls wouldn't credential me.
I did a. Of course

Speaker 1 need to keep your relationships, but I'll just say things and you can just laugh.

Speaker 4 I did a freelance piece for ESPN when I was 20, and that's when the Bulls finally were like, yeah, we'll credential you now.

Speaker 4 You're clearly showing you're not just in it to hang out with players or just come to the arena.

Speaker 1 Serious.

Speaker 4 But before then, I would go to Milwaukee games.

Speaker 4 I would go in a suit. That's just.

Speaker 1 Smart movement.

Speaker 4 I haven't changed anything else.

Speaker 1 Yeah, and I think it also is more to probably our immaturity because we don't wear suits and we don't really take ourselves seriously.

Speaker 1 So, like, we have you know, a friend, John Rostein, he comes in, he's like, Yeah, I've been wearing a suit for decades.

Speaker 1 Like, well, that's smart because people probably respect you a little differently, treat you differently.

Speaker 5 So, that also shows just our dumb brain. That like we see one person walk in the room wearing a suit, we're like, I'm like, What's up, dad?

Speaker 1 Look at this guy, like, hey, yeah, you're older than me. This guy owns a bed, but you're like 45, no joke, because of the suit.
So, you get your big break. So, then you

Speaker 1 tell me the path from after college. You You start working with Woge?

Speaker 4 Yeah, so

Speaker 4 I think that story kind of put me like in people's minds and thoughts a little bit more. And so,

Speaker 4 you know, that one was just relationships, you know, getting to know, you know, him, getting to know other people. And

Speaker 4 once, you know, that kind of formed, I mean, the team that we had, if you look back at that,

Speaker 4 I don't know if you guys remember like the team we had at the dream team, yeah. I mean, I was talking to a couple of those guys.

Speaker 4 Like, you know, whenever you see them in passing at games or events and, you know, Scalabraini, like Chris Manix, guys, like that.

Speaker 4 And, like, the way that we compare it, it's kind of kind of like the OKC Thunder. You know,

Speaker 1 so who are you? Are you Hardin?

Speaker 4 I don't know who I am. That's a good question.
But I didn't, you know, I ended up staying there. There was a gap year where I stayed.
You know, a lot of the people

Speaker 4 started to migrate, either, you know, go to ESPN, go to these different outlets, me, Chris Manix, Michael Lee, we stayed. You know, mostly our contract, we still had one year left on our deal.

Speaker 4 I still had one year left on my deal. And so I couldn't, you know, there was at the time I was 22.

Speaker 4 So there was some talk that, like, you know, try to leave your contract, try to end up at ESPN or wherever. Because obviously that's where my relationships were.
Like, I came in with those guys.

Speaker 4 But when I realized I was going to have to stay that year out.

Speaker 1 Were you looking for a short time?

Speaker 5 Yeah, probably like in your head when you're thinking about someplace to go.

Speaker 5 You probably thought you'd like to go to a place that doesn't have air going through the pipes when you're recording podcasts, right?

Speaker 1 Was that higher up on your list?

Speaker 4 Oh, no, don't give me Jeremy.

Speaker 1 James, at least give me Russell Westbrook. I stayed.
I stayed.

Speaker 1 I'll be searched. I'll take search.

Speaker 5 Have they retired your suit in any Houston strip clubs?

Speaker 1 Can you be James? I've never even been to Houston, but that might be next.

Speaker 4 But, I mean, I ended up staying, and I think that was probably the, you know, obviously it opened up an opportunity that and opened up a time I didn't know I was really prepared for at the moment.

Speaker 4 I think that summer ended up being big for me.

Speaker 1 And yeah.

Speaker 1 That's, I mean, it's a really cool story. So let's talk some NBA now.

Speaker 1 Where do we want to start? You want to start with Fire Guard Packs?

Speaker 4 Want to get that out of the way? You're the host, man.

Speaker 1 I mean,

Speaker 1 what is the, I'll phrase it this way. What, knowing everyone in the league, what is everyone else's thought of how the Bulls are run right now?

Speaker 4 I think everyone on the league is expecting some level of change.

Speaker 4 I think that everyone's, you know, for the last several years, I think there's been a thought of like, you know, this, you know, the front office probably isn't as where it needs to be, right?

Speaker 4 In 2020, it's a lot different than it was, you know, five years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago.

Speaker 4 It's a lot about relationships, a lot of like, like you need to be able to manage players, manage their agents, manage their camps.

Speaker 4 manage negotiations, manage your own front office, have depth in your front office, have create, like the constant, like the best organizations right now are the ones that, you know, there's like a constant flow of information in Intel.

Speaker 4 And now it's, you know, 2020, there's a lot of information information out there, right?

Speaker 4 So, having a front office that can decipher all that information and come up with creative ideas and creative ways to move you forward.

Speaker 4 And, you know, I do think the bulls are at a point now where they understand that, you know, we need to build out some depth in our front office.

Speaker 4 We need to build out some people that can bring those creative ideas. And it's not going to come from just like kind of doing what we've been doing for like 15, 20 years.

Speaker 1 I mean, it's, yeah, you just explained everything, and all I'm thinking about is like the fixes have been John Paxson hiring his brother and and bringing in Doug Collins, who's like 80.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I got nothing on that.

Speaker 5 But what I can't say, his son is younger. We got to get smarter.

Speaker 1 We got to get younger.

Speaker 5 Hire somebody that's got a talented son and then in hopes that he'll come work for your organization one day. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So, all right, so let me flip it then to the rest of the league.

Speaker 1 What would you say is the most forward-thinking organization, you know, or you can rattle off a few that are doing things the right way, that are always on the cutting edge, hiring more people, analytics, whatever it may be.

Speaker 4 I mean, I look at, you know, you got to look at the Thunder. I think they've done a good job.
The Nets, I mean, obviously getting KD and Kyrie.

Speaker 4 I think a lot of the Nets' situation has to do with creativity, but also information.

Speaker 4 Like being two, three steps ahead of the curve on like, all right, like let's plan out two, three, like the Nets planned out Kyrie Irving and KD like three years in advance. Right.

Speaker 4 Like that's how early they were thinking about it. That's how creatively they were thinking about it.

Speaker 4 Indiana, I think, has a great kind of culture already set.

Speaker 4 And, you know, what those guys have done, like with Victor Oladibo missing, you know, most of the season so far, for them to be a fifth seed right now, ahead of Philadelphia, I think that's a testament to the culture that they've built there.

Speaker 4 Those are the three that really come to my mind off the jump. But I mean, listen, they're great ones throughout.
Like, San Antonio has been well regarded at every stop.

Speaker 4 They have Brian right now running the show there. So RC Buford's kind of taking a little bit of a step back in terms of day-to-day operations, but they were really the model organization.

Speaker 4 You see, Sean Marks came out of there.

Speaker 4 Dennis Lindsey came out of there. Sam Presti came out of there.
So I think a lot of it has come through there, but you got to give the Clippers a lot of credit, too.

Speaker 4 Like, they've built out a great front office of just depth over there, too. Like Lawrence Frank, Michael Winger.
I mean, the list goes on and on. Like, their front office is five, six people deep.

Speaker 4 I think that's how you have to be now. Yeah.

Speaker 5 And what's going on in Cleveland right now? When did things become totally unsalvageable? Was it when that report came out about the thug slugs comment that he made during the film session? Or Or

Speaker 5 was there something that was much deeper brewing ahead of that?

Speaker 4 So we wrote a story in early December on the Athletic where we said, like, I mean, we had like three players, not quoted by name, but being quoted in the story as far as saying, like,

Speaker 4 basically saying that,

Speaker 1 Halo,

Speaker 4 this is not, like, this is not working. Like, we're over this shit.

Speaker 1 Shit. You can say, you can say shit.

Speaker 4 Yeah, we're over. You can say shit.
And that was all the way in December. And so

Speaker 4 he lost the team back then. And, you know, you kind of, and I kind of feel bad for him.
Everything I had heard going in was that John Beeline was a great guy.

Speaker 4 He always had a great reputation as a person.

Speaker 4 But just the instant he got in there, like, he did not mesh with those guys. And his, you know, one person described him as a dictator.
And that's not the way you talk to NBA players.

Speaker 4 It's not the way you behave with NBA players. And that kind of goes back to the front office regime, right? Like, you need to be understanding.

Speaker 4 It's a lot of taking on information that you're getting and then applying it. You have to make your own decisions, but you have to take what you're getting information-wise.

Speaker 4 And I don't think B-line ever did that. And he really lost the team then.
And then once that thug comment was made and he went back and said, no, I meant slugs.

Speaker 4 I think the players knew that that was.

Speaker 5 You've never said slugs.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 4 It's so funny to me. And I had a player tell me that that's bullshit.
Yeah, of course.

Speaker 4 That's not,

Speaker 4 you know. But at the end of the day, listen, like.

Speaker 5 Do I understand kind of what he was meaning?

Speaker 4 Probably.

Speaker 1 Like, you could, if he had said, guys, you know what?

Speaker 4 I said that. That's exactly what I said.
This is why I said it. Like, you guys weren't playing tough or whatever.
Like, I think the players probably would have respected it more.

Speaker 4 But then when you come with the, like, I meant to say slugs, I think that's where the guys are lost.

Speaker 5 Intelligence at that point, too. To be like, you'll buy this line.
You'll buy anything, I say.

Speaker 5 But I feel like with a coach like that, everybody, when you sign with the Cavs, it's like, what are you doing? You're a great college coach. Your system works in a college environment.

Speaker 5 It's not going to work in the NBA. You have to imagine that he had a plan, at least in his head, of how he could adapt.
Did he just not even try, or did he try and it went sideways?

Speaker 4 I think he thought that what his methods were in college were going to work at the NBA level, and it just wasn't even close. And it's crazy to think about because he had such a cushy job in Michigan.

Speaker 4 He would have stayed in Michigan for however long he wanted to stay.

Speaker 4 And now he's one and done in the NBA. Couldn't even make it to the all-star game.

Speaker 4 Like, I remember just working on the reporting of this story, and like that weekend, like around all-star weekend, a lot of high-level executives were talking about, like, hey, like, he's retiring, or he's stepping down at the end of the season.

Speaker 4 I'm like, what?

Speaker 4 No, there's no way, right? No fucking way.

Speaker 1 Not even one and done.

Speaker 4 No way. Not half and done.

Speaker 4 And then the more you track it, they were like, yo, he might, he might resign or he, you know, they're gonna, they might part ways during the week, like after all-star break.

Speaker 4 I mean, it's probably one of the most shocking like departures of a coach.

Speaker 4 I mean, in recent time, I think the last coach to last this little time was in like 81.

Speaker 4 So it was just, and then the guy is playing like the thug music after right like he says the line like you know i had a you know player walked into the team bus with like beats like like uh you know that that audio player that you had that you just hold in your hand yeah the pill thing yeah yeah just like blasting trick daddies i'm a thug and like beeline's sitting like first first chair like it's insane that's perfect i i don't know when this is going to air but i'm actually i bet on the calves tonight just like the the dead cat bounce back game where they're just think so yeah i mean like they will they'll play harder tonight they'll play hard for jb bickers right and they'll play harder just to be like oh he really was the problem because like kevin love now i mean i think we can all we all know that he was one of the leaders of i'm not really buying into this he's going to play harder to be like hey i'm proving a point that that was never going to work he said it i mean i think he said it showed up to camp like two seconds before the season started which was a pretty clear sign that he didn't want to be there but you know i've never seen it i've never seen a team kind of revolt or you know feelings feelings toward a coach kind of like quite like this like yeah one to 15 we're not even talking just the stars or just like select young players this goes to like the end of the bench like the 15th man and you don't you typically there's got to be like one guy that's like you know what i'm cool with this right

Speaker 4 yeah it was and and this you got you got to also point the finger to you know the front office and the ownership yeah for them to go and hire him um like you this they couldn't have saw this coming

Speaker 5 no i noticed that when big cat's phone just ding you instinctively grabbed at your phone. Do you ever get anxiety?

Speaker 1 I'm a free monitor

Speaker 1 at home. Swear to God.
It's beautiful.

Speaker 5 Do you get anxiety if you leave your phone in a different room for five minutes?

Speaker 4 Yeah, no question. I mean, I've missed, you know.

Speaker 4 stories probably because I'm like a minute late or 30 seconds late. So you just you always got to be on.

Speaker 4 I mean like going to school when I was a kid like I would walk out of classrooms for like 20, 30 minutes at a time because I'm just like I you know, I got to take this.

Speaker 4 People at the time, I don't think they knew why I was like leaving for like 20, 30 minutes. And the teacher would be like, hey, like, we need to talk after class.
All right, here we go again.

Speaker 4 Dude, your life is a movie.

Speaker 1 They're going to write a movie about this. Like, 16 years old walking into the hallway and taking calls from GMs and stuff.
That's it right there. That's a movie.

Speaker 4 You guys got the first.

Speaker 1 Yeah, all right. Perfect.

Speaker 1 We will write it. We will write the movie.
If you're cool with some dogs with boners being

Speaker 1 there. So, Anthony Davis, any chance he goes anywhere but the Lakers in this offseason?

Speaker 4 I don't see it. I don't see it.
No,

Speaker 1 you don't

Speaker 1 toy with anyone?

Speaker 4 I don't see it. I mean, you know what? The Knicks, you know, we're in New York now.
Like, like, the Knicks, people don't believe it, but the Knicks were really on his mind.

Speaker 1 Really?

Speaker 5 The Knicks. God, I will never play for them on my mind.

Speaker 1 Man, could you imagine having to play for guys like that?

Speaker 5 That's the one team I do not want to take a steak dinner from, is the Knicks. That's how they were.

Speaker 4 The Knicks never put Mitchell Robinson and Kevin Knox together in trade packages to New Orleans. Just think about that.

Speaker 4 And if they did, they probably would have made it a little bit more interesting, but they never did. Mitchell Robinson had a great summer.
I think a lot of people had high hopes for him.

Speaker 4 They never put him in any deal. I do think if the Knicks did and put a pick or two, they could have made it interesting.
I do think Anthony Davis would have given them a strong opportunity to stay.

Speaker 4 He wanted to be either with the Knicks or the Lakers.

Speaker 1 So is he going to give even

Speaker 1 a meeting to the Knicks this offseason, or is it just Lakers?

Speaker 1 Because it's weird.

Speaker 1 I feel like Anthony Davis is in that situation where, yeah, of course he's rep by clutch, and yeah, that's LeBron and everything, but Clutch also is very empowering to the players, and keeping your ability to be a free agent and actually take all the offers is something it seems like Clutch is very high on.

Speaker 4 If their season doesn't go according to plan, like if they lose in like the second round or the conference finals, could I see him, you know, potentially, yeah, but I mean, the Lakers have everything he wants.

Speaker 4 Yeah. You know, the team he wants, the chemistry he wants, like, they have everything.
They've done everything in their power to make sure he's he's involved in all the moves they make.

Speaker 4 Could he take a meeting? Yes. But I just, I don't see a scenario where he's not a Laker.
Okay.

Speaker 5 Off the record, that's a little trick. You can say off the record and then record everything.

Speaker 5 And no one follows up on you then. But with LeBron James and the Lakers,

Speaker 5 how much of the budget for Space Jam 2 is going directly to free agents to circumvent the cap? Is this on?

Speaker 1 No, it's off the record. It's off the record.
We turned it back. There's some background on it.
There's no way they could get away with that.

Speaker 1 But if they were to do it,

Speaker 5 just something to think about. Yeah.

Speaker 4 Nah, there's no way they'll be able to do it.

Speaker 1 Bitcoin Bron paying you?

Speaker 5 Good question.

Speaker 1 I'm getting paid by him.

Speaker 1 All off the record stuff here. Okay, all right.
How about Giannis? Do you think it's good for the league that we're already talking about Giannis being a free agent, even though he's two years away?

Speaker 4 Yeah, I mean, that's what everyone eats up.

Speaker 1 like

Speaker 1 you know everyone eats that up i know everyone feels bad though for like bucks fans like if you have if you're a small market team in the nba and you have a generational star and you're trying to enjoy them and all anyone's talking about is like oh he talked to steph curry but the thing is they're so good that you don't hear it as much like yeah i think there's a difference between like like when he's going to be a free agent when lebron was going to be a free agent like i don't think the calves run this like like they're mowing through the league what are they 48 and 7 like yes it's not even close

Speaker 4 They might win 70 games this year. So it's like it's tough for them to get nitpicked and like, oh, is he going to stay? Like, it's not a topic when the team is that good.
Good point.

Speaker 4 But the one thing about Giannis that I think everyone around the league has understood, whether you're behind the scenes, whether it's from the agent community, for an office community, like the guy wants to win, period.

Speaker 4 And so the Milwaukee, you know, they have two years here, like, to try to win a championship, try to get to the finals, win a ring. And if they don't,

Speaker 4 like, that gives you all the signs. Like, he wants to compete, and he wants to win for a championship.
That's literally the only thing on his mind.

Speaker 1 Do you ever think, though,

Speaker 1 like, we always mock like the this league and the player movement, and we're fans of the NBA, but there is a little element of sometimes it feels like people are more fans of like Twitter, Instagram, free agency than they are of the actual games being played.

Speaker 1 Because, like you said, the Bucs are insane, they're so, so good, so good. And then, still, if you ask people, like, what's the Giannis story, it's probably where is he going? Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 You know, I do think the league office likes that, though. I do think that there is a part of them.

Speaker 4 I mean, for us to be always talking about the NBA on Twitter or on Instagram, like, I think that's a positive. I think that that's a good thing for the league.

Speaker 4 You know, obviously, you hope that the ratings continue to rise for the NBA.

Speaker 4 But, I mean, if you have everyone talking about whatever part of it, you know, you probably go with the headlines and nothing.

Speaker 5 Yeah, the buzz is good for the league for sure.

Speaker 5 Do you have a dream scoop?

Speaker 1 A dream scoop? Yeah.

Speaker 5 Donald Sterling died.

Speaker 1 Gar Foreman and John Paxon fired.

Speaker 4 You know, I don't want anyone.

Speaker 1 Brian Zerves is selling the team.

Speaker 1 Dream scoop. Dream scoop.
We're talking our dream scoops. What's yours?

Speaker 4 I mean, my dream scoop over the weekend was a John V-line situation.

Speaker 4 I thought I did an okay job with that.

Speaker 4 Very good job. I mean, all you can think of is the next one.
The next one.

Speaker 5 That's the right answer.

Speaker 4 I don't know what the next one is. I got to get back to you on that.

Speaker 1 Do you have any kind of rivalry with Woge when it comes to the the free agency and breaking news? Because people play into it. I think I'm guilty of it too.

Speaker 1 I think I actually tweeted like, hey, Shams, are you still alive? Just checking in on you after Woge.

Speaker 4 I'm sure everyone was tweeting.

Speaker 1 No, I actually definitely did. I saw the tweet.
I was looking at it before. But

Speaker 1 do you feel any rivalry? Do you get angry when you, you know, someone beats you by a second?

Speaker 4 Oh, of course, but that's with anyone, with everything.

Speaker 4 Like, that's someone obviously you work with for multiple years.

Speaker 4 So there's always like that level of respect and like that's a role model I mean him guys like him Brian Winhorse like Adam Shepherd those are all guys I looked up to when I was 15 16 years old like trying to see you know if I wanted to do this once I got caught playing basketball like I wanted to be in media I wanted to cover like I love the behind the scenes like all these fans now that I think follow me follow all these other reporters that was me like 10 years ago so I know like the passion and like the craving of information so but at the end of the day like you can only focus on yourself like because if you if you're worried about what other people are doing you're just i think that's a distraction in a lot of ways yeah is it bullshit that shefter tweets basketball news sometimes like we need to feed him leroy should feed him uh football news my dog breaks scoops yeah so don't hit me up let's get it going inside of leroy i can give you

Speaker 5 i can give you some football scoops so that you can actually get ahead of shefter on some stuff that's gonna really irritate him you you you know what you guys have broken some stuff we last like couple years

Speaker 5 leroy's broken a lot of stuff, about 60% correct. When you mess up a scoop, do you ever apologize or retract? Because Leroy has a strict policy of once it's out there, it's out there.

Speaker 5 It was true to him at the time, but there was a material change.

Speaker 4 I've never, I can't remember the last time I was in a situation where it's like, oh, you know, I put that out.

Speaker 1 I was wrong. You haven't screwed up anything?

Speaker 4 There's got to be one that you can. Oh, you know what?

Speaker 4 There was one. It was in the draft.

Speaker 4 But I wouldn't even call it a screw-up because, you know, know, like picks, picks are coming out. Yeah.

Speaker 4 I think I had the Cavs picking Keldon Johnson.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 4 I think at 26 or wherever they were picking, late in the first round.

Speaker 4 But, you know, these things change.

Speaker 4 Material change. We're doing it in real time.
So we're like three picks ahead.

Speaker 1 Yep.

Speaker 4 So you're on pick 26. Commissioner's on pick 23.

Speaker 4 And you get word that they're going with. Keldon Johnson.
So now it's at like pick 25. Then pick 25 happens.
Then you're like, all right, it's still going to be Keldon Johnson.

Speaker 4 And then you you get a text. No, it's actually Dylan Windler.

Speaker 4 So that was like the last one I can remember where I'm like, I think people thought I messed it up. But

Speaker 4 now that I'm explaining it, giving you context,

Speaker 4 there clearly was a material change.

Speaker 1 I like the terminology.

Speaker 1 I just steal it from the guy. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm sure you've seen his Twitter account, the guy Aria, out in LA.

Speaker 1 You've seen it.

Speaker 5 He's basically. Kawhi Leonard is not going to the Clips.

Speaker 1 Yeah, he is. You are everything that he thinks he is.
Like, he's a young kid who thinks he's in the business, and he just breaks

Speaker 1 completely incorrect tapes and scoops and then just says there was a material change. It's a good line.

Speaker 5 It's a great line because materials do change frequently.

Speaker 1 Things change.

Speaker 5 It's not a lie.

Speaker 1 It's going to be one way, and then when it is.

Speaker 5 Then I was wrong. Yeah, but I mean, in terms of a story.

Speaker 4 Well, your whole mind is a little bit more plausible.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yours is scary. I think yours would be.

Speaker 5 If you're a story to screw up, that's probably the least consequential mess up that you could ever have.

Speaker 4 And I told you where they're actually going. They're going to Dylan Windler.

Speaker 5 Right, right.

Speaker 5 You corrected it. Yeah.

Speaker 5 Do you have alerts set up on your phone for Woach?

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 Not for anyone. I think he has it for you.

Speaker 4 I don't know.

Speaker 5 Do you read it if you're like five seconds late on a story and everyone replies to you late? Do you read that and you're like, fuck. Yeah, they're roasting me pretty good.

Speaker 5 The teens are out here.

Speaker 4 How do I answer that?

Speaker 1 Do you answer no, because if you answer yes, then everyone's going to reply relate to you.

Speaker 4 No, of course it's no, but it's like sometimes it's like if, and it's not even, you know,

Speaker 4 if usually if I'm, unless I have something to add, you know, once the news is out, like if a signing is out, but I have the terms, right? All right, I got to get the terms out. Right.

Speaker 4 But if it's out and someone has the whole story, I'm probably, you know, fallback.

Speaker 1 Just retweet them.

Speaker 4 Yeah. But that's another fallback at that point.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 5 That's another shepherd technique, though.

Speaker 5 So he likes to add on sometimes terms, but if he doesn't have the terms, I think it was Adrian Peterson when he signed with the Cardinals a couple years ago, or no, with the Saints a couple years ago.

Speaker 5 He got beat on that scoop, and they said it's a two-year deal for Adrian Peterson to New Orleans. And Schafter quote tweeted it and said, yes, it's a two-year deal.

Speaker 5 And I'm told per sources that they hope to have Adrian Peterson on the team for both of those years.

Speaker 5 So like adding in a little nugget of inconsequential terms can actually make, now that's your scoop.

Speaker 4 Now you own that. I got to have consequential.
Yeah. You've got to have something that's like, all right, like, all right, I'm learning something in this tweet.
You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 So, um,

Speaker 4 but the answer is no.

Speaker 1 Are you, are you still a fan of like, can you root for the Bulls or do you not root for any team anymore?

Speaker 4 No, I root for stories. Like, people, like, like the relationships I have and the stories I have.
Like, there's a difference. Like, when I was growing up, obviously, like, I was a Bulls fan.

Speaker 4 Like, I remember sitting in environmental science class, like, seventh grade, like,

Speaker 4 waiting to see if the Bulls were going to get a TJ Ford. Like, we needed another guard that year, I feel.
And we didn't end up getting him.

Speaker 1 No, because we never do.

Speaker 4 But

Speaker 4 I was the fan, like the modern fan that exists now, like that craved information.

Speaker 4 And so I was, but then once I transitioned into like actually writing and like covering not only the Bulls, but like every team in the league, you just become a fan of the stories, and especially stories that I'm working on.

Speaker 1 Okay, so let me put it this way then, because I think it's a lot easier probably to make that transition when the Bulls are just terrible.

Speaker 1 If the Bulls ever get good again and they're in the NBA finals, will you have a little part of you being like, shit,

Speaker 1 I'm not rooting for stories, I'm rooting for a team here?

Speaker 4 Probably not. Okay.

Speaker 1 You are a big, I'm trying to cry. I'll be there.
You're a big journalist. I'll be there.
I definitely will be there.

Speaker 5 But you could have the best of both worlds and say, what a great story this would be if the Bulls won the NBA title.

Speaker 4 It would be a great story. I mean, they haven't won it since the Jordan years.
Whatever team is able to bring them back to that prominence,

Speaker 4 I thought at one point it was going to be those bulls, those Derrick Rose Bulls. I know you guys had Joke Joke came out here earlier.

Speaker 1 He was saying that it was I mean, that's that's the best Garpak's line is that they still did he tell me from Derek Rose It wasn't that 10-11 year.

Speaker 4 It was really 11-12 where they thought like I remember and that I was that was my senior year and that was when I was working on players like John Lucas III and Mike James signing like 10 days you remember that I remember those guys like they would come back every other week on 10 days.

Speaker 4 And I remember reporting on those stories, but like I knew that was the year these guys really mentally thought that they were going to win it all. And then obviously what happened happened.

Speaker 4 But, you know, whatever team ends up bringing them back to that position where they're a championship team, like they're going to be like legends in the city forever, probably.

Speaker 1 Yeah. What give me a team that's building something that you're like, you got your eye on? Because I feel like the NBA, you know, obviously you need a star.

Speaker 1 It feels like you need a star to attract a star. But what team do you see like, hey, that team, they're like one piece away or they're building something or they're thinking two years in advance.

Speaker 1 Maybe you're nets today, but three years from now.

Speaker 4 That's a good question.

Speaker 4 Great question. Put me on the spot.
Awesome.

Speaker 5 Thank you. Awesome question.
Thank you.

Speaker 4 Thank you. I like what Miami's doing right now.

Speaker 1 Oh,

Speaker 5 that's my heat.

Speaker 4 They already got Jimmy Butler. So it's like they don't.

Speaker 4 It's not like they don't have Jay Button.

Speaker 1 Jay Button's coming. That's what we call him.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 So it's not like they don't have a star already.

Speaker 4 But I think, you know, Pat Riley is positioning himself for 2021.

Speaker 1 And Pat Riley is a master at, you know,

Speaker 4 putting his nuts and his rings on the table and being like, come to miami listen to get andre godala andre igodala had no idea or intention in his mind to go play for miami this year like none like i'll rather just stay at home in silicon valley you know he had a part-time job in silicon valley and he was telling anyone who would listen like i'm good like what do you mean a part-time job was he like he had a part-time job yeah from google

Speaker 4 i don't i don't have the name of the firm off the top of my head but he's working for a firm and uh he's getting a cold call from andre guedala in the middle of the season he's selling uh

Speaker 5 he's selling like sales force subscriptions that's really what he was doing

Speaker 4 it's me so he wasn't thinking about it at all no but then pat riley got really engaged like i remember i i i said that they emerged as a suitor on tuesday morning and at that point i was like you know what it's probably not gonna happen let me just get it out there that they're a suitor at least get some buzz going and then as the day go what wore on it's like you know pat might call and talk to andre and then the next day it's like pat riley and andre gudal got on a call, and Pat sold Andre.

Speaker 1 Now, obviously, that's looking at his phone.

Speaker 5 Can it buzz? What do we got?

Speaker 1 Read it. Just read it.

Speaker 5 Just read it. Here, you tell me I'll have Leroy break it.
Just read it.

Speaker 1 What does it say on your team? I have something actually. Oh, you do? Breaking.

Speaker 5 Live news. It's a live tweet.

Speaker 1 Breaking moves.

Speaker 5 I go on a call. Can I make a good talk?

Speaker 1 Yeah, do it on air.

Speaker 1 I mean, we won't air this. They're at least we'd air this Monday, so you can't.

Speaker 4 I think Marke Moore has got a buyout. Oh,

Speaker 1 huh.

Speaker 4 I'm not going to see which contender he's signing with right now.

Speaker 1 Ooh.

Speaker 5 This is massive. Wait, where did Marcus go? I'm catching a second-hand rush right here.
Yeah. Yeah, Clippers.
Him and Isaiah.

Speaker 1 Ooh.

Speaker 5 Twins?

Speaker 5 And twins. Guys love twins.

Speaker 1 Did Marcus get his jersey retired and Marke didn't at Kansas? That was awkward.

Speaker 1 I saw that the other day. It was awkward.

Speaker 5 They've got now they've got two LeBron stoppers.

Speaker 1 We're watching Sham's Twitter, his typing style. He's got a loose pinky that's just floating out there.

Speaker 5 He's really only got two fingers

Speaker 5 on the right hand.

Speaker 1 Put the phone closer to the mic so we think people can hear you touching your phone.

Speaker 5 Yeah, this is

Speaker 1 breaking news, yeah.

Speaker 5 This is a young player, Rob.

Speaker 4 I gotta get on what I was going to next.

Speaker 5 This is why I put some work to do on this technique.

Speaker 1 Your finger age is a positive for you in your career. Like, Woj, I'm sure, is borderline arthritic.

Speaker 4 You know what? I've thought it helps me, and then there are times when I'm typing on my phone, and then like the story's out, and I'm like, you know what you got to do?

Speaker 5 You got to have a Blackberry strictly for business. It's got the keyboard on there.

Speaker 5 You might shave like a quarter second off.

Speaker 1 So what are you texting right now? Confirm?

Speaker 4 I'm hitting a few people to see where he's landing because I don't want to put out that he's getting bought out. I want to know where he's going.

Speaker 5 That is the Shams.

Speaker 5 That's the bonus. That's why people go to you for their news.
Because they're not just getting the transaction. They're getting the impact.

Speaker 4 You think so? Yeah.

Speaker 1 yeah this is also our breaking news yeah since it's on our show right so everyone credit us even though again it probably is going to come out much much later oh no dead end it's not happening twice how much money how much money would i have to give you for me to get to use your phone for five minutes no restrictions

Speaker 1 uh he's locked in What would you guess, PFT?

Speaker 4 I wouldn't. You could pay me whatever.
I wouldn't get it.

Speaker 1 You said that. $1 billion?

Speaker 1 Nah. What? You're out of your mind.

Speaker 4 No, actually, I'll probably do it.

Speaker 1 Yes, there you go.

Speaker 1 Jeez.

Speaker 1 What about the guy that the Morris twins tried to beat up because he fucked their mom?

Speaker 1 He might know.

Speaker 1 Oh, fuck.

Speaker 1 Alright, SeatGeek question. Promo code take $10 off your SeatGeek purchase.
Go to a basketball game. PFT.

Speaker 1 What?

Speaker 1 Let's put the clock on it. Let's bet this.
Okay.

Speaker 1 How much time do you think it's going to take Shams to get?

Speaker 5 I know he got bought out, and I was like, where's he going?

Speaker 1 You got to find out the extra detail.

Speaker 4 I don't want to say he got bought out, and then someone else says, oh, he's going here. Right, right.

Speaker 1 It'd be real short. What do you think?

Speaker 1 What's your guess? Amount of time he's going to find to figure this out.

Speaker 5 I'm going to go 215.

Speaker 1 All right, I'll go 325. Okay.
All right. The clock has started.
Let's see. I'm going to try to find it online.
Let's see.

Speaker 1 What is Markeith Morris liked recently on Instagram?

Speaker 5 Ooh, that's

Speaker 5 not a bad way to go.

Speaker 1 Morris.

Speaker 5 I'm going to check it out. I'll check out his likes on Twitter.

Speaker 5 Yeah, alright.

Speaker 5 This is pressure.

Speaker 1 I just put out the buyout. Oh, he tweeted it.
He tweeted it. Pistons forward.
Markeith Morris has agreed to a contract buyout at Leaks Versus Teller Athletic Stadium.

Speaker 1 So James Edwards did have it, but he actually said working toward.

Speaker 1 He works with us. I didn't even see it.
But you have the actual, he has agreed to a buyout. When did he tweet? Oh, he said two minutes ago.
Yeah, Yeah, but he had this by five minutes.

Speaker 1 Yeah, and he also said working toward. You have it confirmed.
It's bought out. Isn't everyone working towards a buyout? That's the goal.
I mean, there it is.

Speaker 1 So I just retweeted that for you.

Speaker 1 Let's read the replies.

Speaker 1 Lakers, Lakers, Lakers. I think it is.
Hippers.

Speaker 5 Sixers. Here he comes.
Sixers.

Speaker 1 Q6 finish snag.

Speaker 1 Damn, everything changing.

Speaker 5 This guy just did cry emoji, cry emoji, cry emoji.

Speaker 1 Woge is your daddy. There's a gif of J butt.
Probably going to Lakers.

Speaker 5 Announce him to Laker. So they misspelled Lakers, but they'd like you to announce him.

Speaker 1 All right, this guy's a Lakers fan. He said, all right, bro, if we don't sign this motherfucker, I'm done.

Speaker 1 L-M-A-O. Doesn't seem like he's done.
No,

Speaker 5 I don't think that he's actually laughing either.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Sixers, oh. A lot of Lakers going on.

Speaker 5 A lot of Lakers. Washington.

Speaker 5 Stanley from the office gift.

Speaker 1 I just got to that. That's a good one.

Speaker 5 He's asleep. I don't know what that has to do.
Oh, he's saying that it's a boring scoop, I think.

Speaker 1 James Harden,

Speaker 1 we got to find the. Oh, this is good.
It's a helicopter, and it's got the light and says, We got to find who the fuck asked. So, someone's saying, like, no one cares, Sean's like, who the fuck cares?

Speaker 1 Rob Palinka.

Speaker 4 I think it's the Lakers, but I'm not a 100.

Speaker 1 We got to get 100. We can go as long as you want.
Here's one of LeBron just looking at it.

Speaker 4 Are there any other good replies?

Speaker 1 No, nothing really.

Speaker 5 Everyone's just saying Lakers. Piston tank season.
Let's go.

Speaker 1 Power Boston.

Speaker 4 Someone tweeted Derrick Rose in Detroit. Yep.

Speaker 1 That's true. That's good.
That's good. It's the Will Smith.
All right, you're at two and a half minutes, so you've surpassed what PFT thought.

Speaker 1 Sean Bobby.

Speaker 4 We got to get the team, though.

Speaker 5 This one said most of Twitter is saying Lakers.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 5 But they're just random people that are saying fuck me right, Daddy.

Speaker 1 You make me wet. That's a weird one.
It's got a video.

Speaker 1 You want to retweet that one?

Speaker 5 Clippers lol Lakers have to get this move at veno on cork do you think that lebron do you think that lebron james has a veno problem yeah sheesh all right we're going to end this interview with you

Speaker 1 does leroy have anything leroy uh find out you need you need to ask him let me call him someone said to the lakers confirm but they use the spongebob font so i don't think it is it's probably not that yeah

Speaker 5 it's probably not that that means that it's not confirmed yeah if i understand memes

Speaker 5 okay let's see what leroy has here

Speaker 5 Leroy, you piece of shit. You were wrong about the New York Giants' job going to Matt Rule.
Ooh, that's hurt.

Speaker 5 That hurts.

Speaker 1 Ooh, my.

Speaker 1 Woach is asleep. Woach hasn't tweeted anything.

Speaker 4 I'm pretty sure the Lakers are Toronto.

Speaker 1 This is your scoop. We got to get it.

Speaker 5 Oh, I'm hearing that Steve Sarkeesian is going to be the coach of Colorado football.

Speaker 1 All right, I'm going to help you out. I'm going to quote treat you and say, anyone know where he's going?

Speaker 1 See if that helps.

Speaker 1 Get everyone talking about it.

Speaker 1 Anyone know where he's going?

Speaker 5 John Bayline going to Boston College.

Speaker 5 It's going to happen.

Speaker 5 Who said that? This is a report.

Speaker 1 Wait, no, stay on your marketing force. Don't get tired of that.

Speaker 5 This is Leroy's.

Speaker 5 This is Leroy's tip-in box here.

Speaker 1 Don't get sidetracked. Oh, he said,

Speaker 5 I had a dream that this was going to happen, so it's going to happen. Feel free to run with this.

Speaker 1 Okay, right now.

Speaker 5 So probably that's unconfirmed. Wait, wait, what's the team? Someone had a dream that he was going to coach for Boston College.

Speaker 1 All right, so right now I have one vote for New Zealand Breakers, one vote for Lakers, one vote for

Speaker 1 Clippers, one vote for Bulls. It would be pretty sick if he was with the Clippers, right?

Speaker 1 Yeah, so I said that was actually first reported by me if you're going to report that.

Speaker 1 I did.

Speaker 1 He's not going to the Clippers. Well, yeah, because you don't want me to be right.

Speaker 1 That's fucked up, man.

Speaker 5 All right, let's see.

Speaker 5 We need to get this. Which are not even until we get this.

Speaker 1 I mean, we'll edit it so it went by very fast. We'll make you look good.
I bet. But damn.

Speaker 1 This is... Who could I call? Oh, I could call Blake.
Should I call Blake? Blake Griffin? Yeah.

Speaker 4 Alright, I'll call Blake. Actually, you should.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I'm going to. Let's go.
We're trying to get to the bottom of this.

Speaker 5 You think Blake's in the no?

Speaker 5 Maybe?

Speaker 1 Got nothing better to do right now. He might be in Cabo.

Speaker 1 No, oh, tell me what me. Tell me what it means.
Yo, we're with Shams right now.

Speaker 1 We're trying to break a story literally on air, but it's taped, so we're probably not going to break it for like five days do you know where markief is going lakers or toronto oh gosh

Speaker 1 damn

Speaker 1 what what are we doing here he just got

Speaker 1 we were literally interviewing shams and he was like holy shit markief morris just got bought out and we won't let him leave the podcast studio until he gets the team so now i'm working my sources by calling you

Speaker 1 Yeah, he's calling the Lakers, but I don't know. That's what I'm hearing.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Okay, so we got one vote for Lakers from Blake.

Speaker 1 Do you have Derek Rose's number? You can FaceTime him in.

Speaker 1 Where are you right now?

Speaker 1 Where are you right now?

Speaker 1 I'm not with Derek right now. Oh, don't worry.

Speaker 1 Okay, are you with Marke?

Speaker 1 I'm sitting next to Markif. Where are you going, Markeith?

Speaker 1 Lakers.

Speaker 1 I don't know if you're fucking with us or not. God damn it.
Markif sounds a lot like me for some meeting.

Speaker 1 All right, fine.

Speaker 1 All right, well, thanks.

Speaker 1 We'll put your opinion into the pool, but we're trying to confirm it. So I'll let you know.
Yeah, I would say Lakers. Okay, okay.
All right, that's one vote. One vote.

Speaker 1 Does a vote count as a source? Nah. All right, your vote doesn't count as a source.

Speaker 4 Tell Blake, I said, what's up? He says, what's up?

Speaker 1 Sean says, what's up? Tell him I said what's up. All right, hey, he says, what's up?

Speaker 1 Perfect. All right, I'll talk to you later.

Speaker 4 I'm pissed that I don't have this right now.

Speaker 1 I can tell

Speaker 4 Fucking pissed I don't have this right now.

Speaker 1 I mean you got to get it dude. This is like this is your entire reputation on the line.
What is everyone doing tonight for the weekend? I'm eating

Speaker 5 good food going to a great Mexican place tonight. Nice.
Yeah, got reservations and everything.

Speaker 1 Oh, I'm going to fill up on chips.

Speaker 5 I'm going to fill TF up on chips.

Speaker 1 Did you eat a big lunch?

Speaker 5 No, I barely ate lunch at all because I ate 35 chicken wings last night and been pooping all day.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that was pretty good. Yeah.
Um, Hank, you going anywhere?

Speaker 1 Excited for our Alpha.

Speaker 1 Yes. Oh, very excited.
Yes, we do our predictions. Too late predictions.

Speaker 5 Yeah, I think it's gonna be Fury.

Speaker 1 Ooh, I think Wilder's gonna win.

Speaker 5 I just like both their last names. Like, what a cool matchup of heavyweight fighters.

Speaker 1 Fury Wilder.

Speaker 1 Wow. Yes.
Yes.

Speaker 4 Right now, I'm hitting like just everyone I know that might not.

Speaker 1 Yeah, fuck. All right.
Who do I know that would know?

Speaker 4 No, I mean, I do think it's the Lakers or the Raptors.

Speaker 1 I think.

Speaker 1 But I want to know. Oh, maybe.
Oh, you you know what? Risilla might know. I'll ask.
Let's call Rosillo.

Speaker 1 Oh, you got beef? No, no, no, beef. Oh, sounds like you got beef.

Speaker 1 We're going to get Rascilla in the mix. Yo, Rosillo.

Speaker 1 You're on the air.

Speaker 4 What's your beef with Sean's, dude?

Speaker 1 He's right here.

Speaker 1 I don't have any beef. Okay, good.
All right. I didn't see him last time.
We said, what's up? I didn't think you did, but I was like, so, alright, so here's the story. We're interviewing him, and

Speaker 1 got news about Mark.

Speaker 1 Yeah, no, he's freaking out right now. So, he got news about Markeith Morris getting bought out, and we told him he can't leave the studio until he finds out which team.

Speaker 1 And that was like 20 minutes ago, so he's freaking out.

Speaker 1 And I'm calling my sources, and then I was like, Oh, I'm gonna call Rosillo, and he and he had a face. And I was like, Yo, what's your beef with Rosillo?

Speaker 1 So, long story short, where's Markeith Morris going?

Speaker 1 Um, I'd probably say

Speaker 1 Western Conference. Oh,

Speaker 1 so that eliminates the Raptors?

Speaker 1 No, I have no idea. I have no idea.
Did he do, like, what kind of eye roll was it? Was it like, hey, that guy's awesome? Or was it

Speaker 1 keep everything in the room? Yeah, no, it was.

Speaker 1 I don't know.

Speaker 5 It was like... Keep everything between us.
It was kind of weird.

Speaker 1 It was more like.

Speaker 5 You know what it was? It was probably jealous. He's talking.
Hey, what's up? It's PFT. Hey, Ron.

Speaker 5 It was probably Shams just being mad and jealous that Big Cat had your number because he thought that he was your best friend.

Speaker 1 oh was that it shams he won't answer he's just texting right now trying to figure it out i i wouldn't say it was a bad eye roll it was more like a i think he actually might have now that i'm replaying in my head he was mad that i would tip you off to mark either morris letting you get the tip the the scoop yeah i'm not really i'm not really in that world like i have information at times and every now and then i'll send out something or if i think something's right or wrong i'll be like hey this is kind of what i'm hearing but you know i think if you're a 24 7 information guy, you probably look down on anybody else that dips their toe into it.

Speaker 1 It's kind of like a year-round draft guy that then has to hear from like talk show host who four days before the draft is like, you know who I love? Yeah.

Speaker 1 And you're like, dude, you didn't even watch him. You just read my mock draft.
So maybe it's just the Lakers. I don't have a confirmation.

Speaker 1 Oh, wait, wait. Is the Lakers confirmed?

Speaker 1 He doesn't feel confident. I agree with you.
They're a frontrunner. They're front-runner.
Oh, frontrunner. What the fuck?

Speaker 4 Leader in the clubhouse. That's all I can say.

Speaker 1 He has a lot of nervous energy. Okay.

Speaker 4 That's all I I can say.

Speaker 1 If he looks down on me dipping my toe in the information thing, I actually would agree with him. Yeah.
So was that what that was, Jobs?

Speaker 4 No, that was I keep everything in-house.

Speaker 1 Oh, he wants to just keep everything in-house. So I'm going to do this right now.
Bounty, 500 bucks to whoever gets to scoop first. Can you call someone?

Speaker 1 I could. I don't feel like it does.

Speaker 1 Can you just

Speaker 1 call back and say a team, and we wouldn't care. Can you just tell us who to call? Yeah, I don't want to get it.

Speaker 1 I don't want this a turn of the Kawhi thing where people start having Kawhi's kids enrolled in elementary schools outside of Toronto.

Speaker 1 Oh, you should check Shaft kids school thing. Like, that kid still has to go to school in Toronto when his dad left.
Oh, he does? He goes to school in Toronto.

Speaker 1 Oh, I'm making fun of the idea of going back to the rapid because he was enrolled. But I do like that idea that

Speaker 1 somebody should do an interview with him, although he doesn't do them. Where you're just like, hey, how tough is it on your kid right now? Like, going back to Toronto?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I'm reading this report from June, and man, that sucks.

Speaker 1 All right. let's get an update.
Yeah, so if you do hear anything, I honestly think at this point, Shams is never getting this scoop. Like, we're gonna die.

Speaker 4 I mean, we kind of got ahead of it, though.

Speaker 1 We said, but we don't have the team. Yeah, no, we said Lakers.

Speaker 1 But the Green is a front runner. I need to run with this.
I'm pretty sure. Yeah, you're right.
You're right. No, you're right.
This is what I do love about information, guys.

Speaker 1 It's because they're in such competition with each other.

Speaker 1 Is that they'll do sort of the vague, like, all signs point to the Lakers when they know it's the Lakers, but they can't actually say it's the Lakers. Yes, Ryan.
And then it turns into a vague.

Speaker 1 Ryan is going to be a little bit more like that. And then there's the parasite information.
Ryan, what's up, man?

Speaker 1 What's up?

Speaker 1 You're going to laugh. Sean's going to laugh about this.
My favorite is the parasite information people that don't actually have any good information.

Speaker 1 And then, like, somebody will break, like, here's where he's signing.

Speaker 1 And then the person, like, two minutes later who had nothing to do with the story will say, sources have told me the locker room loves his fit. Yep.
Yep. Oh, we'll do that.

Speaker 1 We're going to do that too, Sean.

Speaker 1 Really? They love his fit? They just signed him.

Speaker 1 Oh, man. He's he's freaking out.
Like, this has literally been like 20 minutes that he's just been stuck in our studio. That dude, those information, it's brutal.
Like, yeah, lights.

Speaker 1 I can't believe anybody dates that.

Speaker 1 Oh, wow. That's a little bit of a low blow.

Speaker 1 He says he can't. Do you have a girlfriend?

Speaker 4 No. Exactly.
No.

Speaker 1 That was his point. It's tough out here, man.
It's tough.

Speaker 4 It's kind of like if you leave, you know, when you leave the classroom for 20 minutes, right? Yes. And the same, you know, the teacher kind of was like, all right, we got to talk.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 It's the same thing if you're on a date.

Speaker 1 Since Since he had news, like, he was in the news business as a college kid. Did he ever go out like on quarter draft Wednesdays and miss a scoop because he fell asleep? Like, no, never did that.

Speaker 1 No, no.

Speaker 4 I was fully engaged, but fully engaged. But there were times where you'd go to like

Speaker 1 lunch dates. Your wildest college story, like when everyone's like, dude, we went on this ridge.
You're like, dude, do you remember when John

Speaker 1 Salmons got bought out from a 10-day contract? That was me. That was me.
It was the wildest night we've had.

Speaker 5 Do you have any scoops that are now beneath you to report

Speaker 1 um there are more there's some there are a lot now that like you know now we're just back in the interview right you're part of you're tagging along yeah you just asked a real question

Speaker 5 uh ryan do you have any questions for shams yeah

Speaker 1 um

Speaker 1 let's see here wow you're really unprepared for this this is good no i don't want to waste it it's like my one wish yeah uh

Speaker 1 let me see here let me see

Speaker 1 um

Speaker 1 is did russell westbrook prove

Speaker 1 he's one of the toughest competitors did russell westbrook prove he's one of the toughest competitors in the nba because he went at lee and marquise chris in a blowout against the warriors

Speaker 4 good question that was weird that was like why is like why is mike danton even having him in the game yeah at that point you know yeah probably better off resting and preparing for saturday you're gonna just do this you're gonna be like yana staying or going?

Speaker 1 Yeah, we did that. We covered that.

Speaker 1 This isn't your first podcast. Yeah.
He talked about

Speaker 1 how the Bulls need to reconfigure their front office. And it's like, oh, well,

Speaker 1 so you mean hiring John Paxton's brother and Doug Collins isn't getting younger and smarter?

Speaker 1 That seems personal. Yeah, that was personal.
He didn't actually respond to that because he's got relationships, whereas I do not. Are we ever going to get this?

Speaker 1 Hey, Ryan,

Speaker 1 we might be here till six. What was the end of that story about, we were trying to remember this, when Mark Heath and Marcus tried to fight that dude that fucked their mom?

Speaker 1 That one,

Speaker 1 I don't know anything about.

Speaker 1 Again, I'm not, I sort of dabble in conversations about information, but I'm going to let somebody else add to that.

Speaker 1 All right, well, if you do hear about where he's going, please call back or text so that we can beat Shams to the scoop. It's now going on.

Speaker 4 You know, you have to keep this in mind, too, though, why this might drag like a day, because the Lakers would have to cut someone.

Speaker 1 Oh, the Lakers have to cut someone. Who would the Lakers cut, Ryan?

Speaker 1 I don't know. They're getting rid of all the draft picks that LeBron didn't like.
So,

Speaker 1 I don't know. I'm going to have to pull up the roster now.
All right, pull up the roster. We got time.

Speaker 4 This might take a day. Let's just get back to it.

Speaker 4 I don't want to.

Speaker 1 This is not going to take a day. Come on.
It might take a while, man. I'm not going to lie.
All right, let's look at who Lucas.

Speaker 1 What's going to happen is an agent is going to find out his kid is getting cut. That's how you're going.
Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 So we've got to figure out. Now this is working.
So now we've got to figure out who the Lakers are going to cut, and then we call that agent.

Speaker 5 The agents of the players that are prime targets. Right.

Speaker 1 Not Caruso.

Speaker 1 No, no, you can't get rid of Caruso. Dude, he's an all-star.
Yeah, I mean, his minutes...

Speaker 1 He probably plays like less minutes based on what people...

Speaker 1 Like, I'm not saying he's not good, but you look and you're like, oh, wait, he doesn't play a ton. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Well, they can't get rid of Giannis's brother. Oh, I forgot they had them.

Speaker 1 LA lost their minds. That was like two straight days of LA radio.
Of like, will LeBron take a pay cut? How will that offense work? And you're like, you know, it seems a little early to be doing this.

Speaker 1 That's like when the White Sox signed John Jay. I'm not even sure.
And they're like, he's best friends with Manny Machado.

Speaker 5 Not feeling good?

Speaker 1 Do you get vibes? No, eventually.

Speaker 5 Do you get vibes, though? Like, you're feeling just the vibes of the scoop right now, and you're like, it doesn't feel right.

Speaker 4 It feels like it'll take some time because the Lakers have to cut someone.

Speaker 4 My experience, like, sometimes when a team has someone to cut, it's sometimes it takes the player a while to finally admit, like, yeah, I'm going there.

Speaker 1 Taylor Jay Lee Horton Tucker.

Speaker 1 He's pulling him up right now. He's only played in two games.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Because Cook, I mean, I can't imagine they're going to get rid of a guard.

Speaker 1 Yeah, fuck.

Speaker 1 All right, this whole buyout thing is so overrated, though. It turns into this massive arms race, and then everybody's like, we got this guy.
Like, how is Reggie Jackson even gonna play for that team?

Speaker 1 Right, all right. Well, the Clippers, all right, good stuff, though.
Um, yeah, this has been great stuff. So, uh, I don't even know how much we're gonna keep.

Speaker 1 I actually think if you don't hear from Shams ever again, we kidnap them. So,

Speaker 1 all right, well, good luck. All right, thanks.

Speaker 1 All right, that got us nowhere. So, what should we do now?

Speaker 5 If you were to guess, you're thinking like 12 hours on this one?

Speaker 4 I'm guessing a few hours.

Speaker 5 A few hours, okay. We can order some pizza,

Speaker 1 We'll just stagger our piss breaks. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Don't leave. All right, do we have any last

Speaker 5 wrap it up? Is there any scoop that's beneath you?

Speaker 4 I wouldn't say beneath, but more like, you know, at the athletic, we have so many writers now, like, for all these markets that, you know, if I'm able to ever share, like, kind of, you know, if it's a 10-day, you know,

Speaker 4 G-league call-up or,

Speaker 4 you know, two-way contract. Like, I always try to, you know, we have so many hardworking guys.
I always try to look out for some.

Speaker 5 Do you ever get confused to all the different types of contracts that exist in the NBA? Because that's honestly the most confusing part of following the league for me.

Speaker 5 He's like two ways and 10 days and all that stuff.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I used to be, but now I feel like I'm pretty good. But I mean, I remember one time I reported that Tony Roton had agreed to a three-year deal with the Knicks.

Speaker 4 And the funny part is it really wasn't my fault because... Literally, the Knicks at that point, they were being led by Phil Jackson.

Speaker 4 They were negotiating a three-year deal with the player, but they can only offer two years.

Speaker 4 So they agreed to a three-year deal, not knowing that they can only offer two. And so at that point, I didn't understand the contracts and everything, like, you know, the salary cap.

Speaker 4 Oh, I didn't even know, like, oh, the Knicks could only do two years. Yeah.
So I reported three.

Speaker 4 And then after that, a bunch of people were in my mentions saying, they can only do two. They can only do two.
And so I looked kind of like, you know, stupid.

Speaker 4 I had to go back and fix it, but now I feel like I have a pretty good understanding. Gotcha.

Speaker 5 Do you agree with Chris Broussard that texting and DMing on Instagram are the same thing?

Speaker 5 Ooh, good question, PFT.

Speaker 4 You're just asking about the question in general.

Speaker 5 Could you say, like, I was texting with Kevin Durant the other day, but in reality, it was just him talking shit to you on Instagram.

Speaker 1 Yeah, he was calling you a bitch on Instagram.

Speaker 5 Is that texting?

Speaker 1 I think you need to.

Speaker 4 Probably need to separate the two. I would agree.

Speaker 1 That's fair. That's fair.

Speaker 1 All right, Shams, thank you. Appreciate it.

Speaker 1 Maybe next time you can actually actually break some news.

Speaker 4 No, it's confirmed. It's the Lakers.
Lakers!

Speaker 5 Lakers!

Speaker 1 Let's go! What an end!

Speaker 1 Fuck yes!

Speaker 5 That was awesome!

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Speaker 1 Okay, let's do a few segments here, and then we got a Monday reading.

Speaker 1 First up, we have a tattoo roast of your boy, Hank, Jason Tatum, who is quickly becoming,

Speaker 1 you know, that a guy is having like an ascendant year when he starts getting the top 10, top top 10 in the league overall. I thought you were going to say because LeBron dedicated an Instagram post.

Speaker 1 No, I mean, he's been incredible.

Speaker 1 That's simply incredible.

Speaker 5 And then when you have an older guy that's about to become a free agent, like whisper stuff into his ear after the game, that's when you know that you've reached that elite.

Speaker 1 They're linking up. But he did get a new tattoo on his back.

Speaker 1 Huge tattoo. God's will.

Speaker 1 God's will.

Speaker 1 No apostrophe, though.

Speaker 5 God's will. God's will is? So God's will.

Speaker 1 He is God's will.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 1 But there's no apostrophe.

Speaker 1 Yeah. God's will is Jason Tatum.

Speaker 5 Yes.

Speaker 5 If his name was William, that would actually be pretty sweet.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 I think it's a great tattoo. But even if people think it's not a great tattoo, everyone, when they're 21, you know, that's when people make bad decisions about tattoos.

Speaker 5 That's true.

Speaker 1 He's no different than any other kid.

Speaker 5 That's going to be the Boston version of the Sublime tattoo. Every kid that turns 20 is going to get the God's will

Speaker 5 right across their shoulder blade.

Speaker 1 I mean, it's not as bad as LeBron's, the chosen one on his back. It's at least

Speaker 1 tattooing his shoulders. No, he's a big guy absolutely.

Speaker 1 Just because he got the chosen one tattooed on his back when he was like 17, he doesn't want people calling him king.

Speaker 1 I don't know who came up with that. King idea to call him king.

Speaker 5 Well, that's a shout out to God too. To the Bible.

Speaker 1 Remember when he had Bronnie Jr. Change his number? Change his number because he doesn't want people to think of LeBron James when they see LeBron James Jr.

Speaker 5 Oh, wait. That makes a lot of sense.

Speaker 5 So he got this tattoo. He got roasted for it online.
I noticed because it was like poking out the sides.

Speaker 1 of his shirt. The plastic.

Speaker 5 Yeah, that's what I don't like. I don't like it poking out the sides.
Either like the, just like straight up be all tatted or have the Kevin Durant business tats.

Speaker 1 Also, another Boston icon, Ben Affleck, also has a great back tattoo. It's a dragon, right? Yeah.
Or snake. But it's just a theme, you know, if you want to be the guy in Boston.

Speaker 1 The big-ass tattoos on your back. Yeah.
Hey, you're right. He's 21, so why not? Go do it.
Go get a crazy tattoo. And maybe you can fill it out and throw an apostrophe.

Speaker 1 The good news is that you can put an apostrophe in there.

Speaker 5 That's true. It's easier to add that than it is to

Speaker 5 have it it taken away. Do you think he's going to add it? I think so.
I think someone will. I think he will.

Speaker 1 Because he, again, he is top 10 player in the league.

Speaker 1 If he wants to be the best player in the league, he cannot have grammatically incorrect tattoos.

Speaker 5 That's what kind of sucks.

Speaker 1 I mean, Kevin Durant, people didn't know he had tattoos until he was five years old. They were all grammatically correct.
They are. Yeah.

Speaker 5 He has a W across his stomach. You can look at them all.

Speaker 1 That's why he's going to sign with the wizard.

Speaker 5 It's tough to spell check somebody's back. They don't make a program for that, really.
That's true.

Speaker 1 That's true. And it really sucks for the tattoo guy who probably thought he nailed it and was like, this is going to be sick.
I'm going to get so much business from this.

Speaker 5 Well, he was referred to him by Brock Osweller.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 5 So Brock Osweller, man, you just can't get those apostles. What is he doing?

Speaker 1 Brock Osweller is just hanging out right now with millions and millions and millions of dollars and just hanging and just probably spending it on stupid shit. He does have a Super Bowl ring.

Speaker 4 It's true. So that's kind of cool.

Speaker 1 All right, seeing red, Jim Boylan is addicted to calling timeouts with the Bulls completely out of the game with like 30 seconds left. He did it again on Saturday night.

Speaker 1 Zach Levine got upset, rightfully so, but Jim Boylan called the timeout with 30 seconds left, down 10.

Speaker 1 And when asked about it afterwards, he said, is there a chance that maybe I'm more competitive in those situations? I think I have to own that.

Speaker 5 So is he,

Speaker 5 does this make him tougher to bet on or against?

Speaker 1 Well, so he, his line of thinking is it's a young team and everything's a teachable moment. And also the Bulls had one random game where they came back from like down eight in 40 seconds in November.

Speaker 1 So he in his mind is like, we're about to come back at all times. He also, I think Jim Boylan is so disgusted with losing.
He is a football guy in a basketball guy's suit.

Speaker 1 He's so disgusted with losing. I think he uses timeouts at the end of a game to literally stop time to delay the inevitable loss.
I got you. Like he can basically say, look,

Speaker 1 it's almost like the end of Sunday night football when you're like, I don't have to go back to work as long as Sunday night football is going on. It's overtime in Sunday night football.

Speaker 1 He's calling timeouts, being like, we haven't lost yet.

Speaker 5 Two things about that. One, I think if you call a timeout at the end of regulation,

Speaker 5 you can get your team to listen to you. Yeah.
They're a captive audience. After the game,

Speaker 1 maybe not so much.

Speaker 5 They go in the locker room and they do whatever they want. So if he really wants to yell at somebody, he's like, I have to do it while we're still on the sideline.

Speaker 5 Also, they'll completely tune me out.

Speaker 5 The second is it's better to call too many timeouts at the end of games than just to not call enough than to screw up by nothing.

Speaker 1 Can't take away

Speaker 1 you.

Speaker 5 Absolutely not. You got to use them up.

Speaker 1 Maybe he wants to make sure that no one can look back and be like, hey, what's that, man?

Speaker 1 The Suns went on a 15-0 run. Why didn't you call timeout there?

Speaker 1 He had one left.

Speaker 1 He's basically eliminating all the incriminating evidence that he's a bad coach.

Speaker 5 Yeah, if you're a coach,

Speaker 5 you want to be seen coaching as much as possible. Right? So it looks like you're busy.

Speaker 5 That's actually a secret to work life in general. It's just always look busy.

Speaker 5 So Boylan, by using timeouts, he's making sure that at the end of the season, Gar Pax, when they go back and they, the heavy analysis they do probably is how many timeouts did our coach use? Right.

Speaker 5 They're like, oh, he's been working hard since the chart.

Speaker 1 He did have in the post-game conversation, he said that he talks to John Paxton every day, and John Paxton was like, yeah, I love that you're coaching them hard.

Speaker 1 I don't think either of those guys like pick their head out of the sand and see what's going on around them because Jim Boylan telling the media and by way of the media, the fans, that he has approval from John Paxton, who everyone fucking hates, that doesn't really.

Speaker 1 He thought he got us there. He thought he checked me.
He's like, hey, listen, order from on high. I'm allowed to call all the timeouts.
Okay, so yeah, all you guys are fucking idiots.

Speaker 5 Yeah, not exactly the person you want to me bring up as a reference. Bad reference.

Speaker 1 Know your audience. Right.

Speaker 1 All right. Last up before we do Monday reading, we have a quick all-you-a-think that was actually breaking news.

Speaker 1 Madison Baumgartner has been participating in rodeos for the last few years under an alias. What is it? Mason

Speaker 5 Saunders.

Speaker 5 You think?

Speaker 1 This is so fucking good. And then he got...
So someone from the athletic uncovered it and asked him about it, and he wasn't really upset that.

Speaker 1 Like, you would think

Speaker 1 the initial thought would be Madison Baumgartner saying, hey, I'm pissed because now, like, a team could basically put this in my contract that I can't compete or they could take back some of the money if I get injured.

Speaker 1 He's just mad because his alias is blown and he can't just go and enjoy a rodeo without being hassled now.

Speaker 5 Do you think he ever dated a girl named Mason Saunders as well? Probably. That's probably where he came up with.

Speaker 1 Or, no, do you think he made his wife be one?

Speaker 1 What was the name of the thing

Speaker 1 when we had Lockwood in here? Remember his mom and his aunt aunt and his wife were all Cody Lockwood? Yeah, they were something. Jess Lockwood.
Jess Lockwood. Jess won again, by the way.

Speaker 1 What the fuck are we doing? Second championship. Do you remember that?

Speaker 1 They all did the same thing.

Speaker 5 I don't remember it.

Speaker 1 Maybe Rodeo Clowns. I do say, no, we don't say the same words.
I got tagged between them. Apparently, they're like the power couple of because of

Speaker 1 fuck, I'll look it up. Yeah, look it up.
But so either way, I would imagine that

Speaker 1 Massive Baumgartner had his wife maybe be Mason Saunders and do barrel racing. Barrel racing.

Speaker 5 That's right, right. Barrel racing.

Speaker 1 On the tip of my tongue.

Speaker 5 Apparently, everyone recognized him when he was doing this, but as part of the rodeo code,

Speaker 5 they all kept it silent. They're like, we don't want to blow your cover, Madison.
We know you're doing this for the love of the D.O.

Speaker 5 What's the abbreviation for

Speaker 1 the love of the Rode?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 5 I like D.O. The D.O.? Yeah.
You just love to D.O. like the rest of us.
It's part of the lifestyle that the outsiders won't understand. So we'll keep your secret for you.
I like it.

Speaker 1 So keep doing it, Madison. Everyone just looked the other way.
Yeah.

Speaker 5 He said that he can't stop because it's just part of who you are. Just roping cattle.
Facts.

Speaker 1 Facts. All right, let's finish with a Monday reading.
What is W-I-B-T-A?

Speaker 5 What does that mean? Would I be the asshole?

Speaker 1 Oh, would I be the asshole? So it's kind of something like the am I the asshole or whatever the other one is. All right, so would I be the asshole? This is the

Speaker 1 heading here. Would I be the asshole if I asked my 5'5 fiancé to wear man heels to our wedding?

Speaker 1 Nah. Okay, hold on.
This is good. 5'5 is.

Speaker 5 That's a little bit much. Well, it depends on how tall she is.

Speaker 1 Yeah, all right. So a little bit of context.
So, me, 24-year-old female, my now-fiancé, 25-year-old male, have been together for three years. I'm 5'3, and he's about 5'5 and a half.

Speaker 1 That's bullshit to not round that up. Yeah.
Like, round that fuck up.

Speaker 5 He's 5'7. He's 5'7.

Speaker 1 Come on. Since we're both short, height has never been an issue for us.
When I wear my usual heels, we're about the same. If maybe I'm an inch or so taller.
On to the issue.

Speaker 1 As a bridal gift, my grandmother gave me these absolutely beautiful Jimmy Chu high heels to wear to my wedding.

Speaker 5 By the way, grandma knew exactly what she was doing.

Speaker 1 100%. Exactly.
Grandma's 5'9 ⁇ .

Speaker 5 Yeah, grandma understands exactly what's happening here, and she is sending you a message.

Speaker 1 Yes, I love them, and they're definitely not something I'd be able to afford for myself, so they're a true luxury for me.

Speaker 1 The only problem is that they'd make me about three to four inches taller than my fiancé.

Speaker 1 I know it wouldn't matter to a lot of people, but I can already hear all the annoying comments people making about me being taller than him.

Speaker 1 When we first started dating, a lot of people would say things like, oh my god, I couldn't imagine dating someone under six feet. You guys are like the same size.

Speaker 1 Plus, how potentially awkward the photos could look if I'm towering over him. That would be actually very funny.
I mean, listen,

Speaker 1 you want to make it a memorable day? You fucking get, you look like Tyson Fury fighting Deontay Wilder. Do that.
That's how you make it a memorable day.

Speaker 5 To have him pull his pants up like to his nipples?

Speaker 1 No, fucking smash his ear in and have him bleed out his ear.

Speaker 5 Because if you do pull your wedding pants up to your nipples, it will look like you have longer legs. Yes.
That's a good strategy to go about.

Speaker 5 Listen, it sounds like you're marrying Mike Bloomberg, in which case

Speaker 5 he's got enough cash where he should be able to afford some seamless heels. How many inches can you?

Speaker 1 He has enough cash to have everyone have an NDA at the wedding to not make those comments. That's true.

Speaker 5 Yeah, you can't discuss the wedding photos until they've been photoshopped.

Speaker 5 So how many inches can you get off a heel if you're a guy?

Speaker 1 Well, here we go. I wouldn't know.
I've never tried. All right, so I'm thinking about asking him to wear platform dress shoes or those inserts for his shoes to make him taller.

Speaker 1 It's called the air shifties, but I'm worried he might be offended or feel like I don't like him for him. But I'm also afraid if I don't wear the shoes, it might hurt my grandmother's feelings.

Speaker 1 Wow, this is really a tough one.

Speaker 1 I'm the first granddaughter to get married, and this wedding is a huge deal for her.

Speaker 1 My fiancé is very comfortable and confident with himself and his height now, but I know he has made fun of it, or people have made fun of it in the past, and I'd hate to be the reason those feelings come back for him.

Speaker 1 So would I be the asshole if I ask?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I think you would be.

Speaker 5 No,

Speaker 5 I've changed my mind. The fact that you're 5'3

Speaker 5 tells me that you could go ahead and ask...

Speaker 4 If you were taller than him already.

Speaker 5 And you asked him to wear the heels. Let's say that you're 5'6, 5'6 ⁇ .

Speaker 1 Yeah, true, true.

Speaker 5 I see what you're saying. Let's say you're 5'7 ⁇ , and you are wearing these heels that put you up to like 5'10.

Speaker 5 First of all, that's an asshole move to be 5'10 above a guy who's like 5'5 when you don't have to be. Right.
And then you ask him to wear heels too. I think that's more of an asshole move.

Speaker 5 At this point, it's like, haha, I'm short too, but I'm wearing these heels. Do you mind?

Speaker 1 It's actually a nice heads up. It actually, you don't even have to ask him.
You just have to give him the heads up. Be like, hey, I'm wearing these heels.
They make me 5'7.

Speaker 1 Heads up. Let him decide if if he wants to.
Because as long as he has a heads up, he can do whatever. Also, can't you just shave?

Speaker 5 Well, he's not going to have heads up. She's going to be.

Speaker 1 True. Well, unless he gets the platform.

Speaker 1 What if,

Speaker 1 why can't you just shave heels? Is that crazy? Can you just shave heels?

Speaker 5 I don't know how heels work. I'm pretty sure you sham, like, put him to a deli slice.

Speaker 1 Yeah, right. I think that's what Elaine did.
Yeah,

Speaker 1 absolutely.

Speaker 5 Absolutely. You can shave heels.

Speaker 1 Shout out Mike Florio. Uh-huh.

Speaker 5 I'm going to be wearing heels next weekend.

Speaker 1 You're going to wear heels?

Speaker 5 I'm in a wedding next weekend.

Speaker 1 And you're going to wear heels?

Speaker 5 I think I'm going to be a bridesmaid.

Speaker 1 In

Speaker 1 a zillion beers wedding? Yeah. You're going to wear heels? I think so.

Speaker 5 Actually, I don't know. I'm probably going to wear a dress.

Speaker 1 Really? Yeah.

Speaker 1 Okay. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So how about anything else you want to say?

Speaker 5 No, I'm just thinking, like,

Speaker 5 it's going to be fun. Yeah, it's going to be great.
Wearing a dress in Vegas is actually going to be probably a great time.

Speaker 1 Great, great time.

Speaker 1 You might make a little extra money at the bar.

Speaker 5 Yeah, if I probably won't have to buy drinks for myself. I'll shave.

Speaker 4 Yes.

Speaker 5 But I might get addicted to it if I end up putting out a pair of high heels and all of a a sudden I'm six feet tall.

Speaker 1 That's true. You'll just be the high heels guy.

Speaker 5 I'm going to make everybody else wear heels, shorter guys wear heels around me.

Speaker 1 I mean, that would be a true alpha move. It would be.
Just make everyone come to your heart.

Speaker 5 If you're so self-conscious with your height that you start cross-dressing just so that you can get taller, like three inches taller.

Speaker 1 But if you do it, like it would be... If you wore lifts in your shoes, that's a clown move.
If you wore heels, that's a, I'm so confident in myself, I don't give a fuck.

Speaker 5 It's an alpha move. Right.
I will dress up as a woman. Checkmate.
And be six feet tall.

Speaker 1 Checkmate.

Speaker 1 All right. That is our show.
We will see everyone on Wednesday. We're going to be in Indy for the Combine.
Gonna hopefully get a few interviews out of this, out of that.

Speaker 1 But we will see everyone on Wednesday. Love you guys.

Speaker 1 Take

Speaker 1 on

Speaker 1 me

Speaker 1 take

Speaker 1 me

Speaker 1 on

Speaker 1 I'll be

Speaker 1 gone

Speaker 1 I wanna say it

Speaker 1 But be so little away.

Speaker 1 Further than life is okay.

Speaker 1 Say it after me.

Speaker 1 It's no better to say that somebody's here.