PMS 2.0 1360 - Feel Good Finals Friday with Udonis Haslem, Shams Charania, George Kittle,

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana.

More specifically, feel the Painbridge Fieldhouse, the host of tonight's Game 4 NBA Finals.

This show starts now.

Finals!

Are happening right here in this building this evening, and one man did not yell alongside everybody else.

That is because one man happens to be a three-time NBA champion, a 20-year NBA vet, an undrafted absolute doe.

Ladies and gentlemen, you Donnis has on the show.

I appreciate it.

Yeah, okay.

Just wanted to show those off a little bit.

I appreciate that.

Did not have those on during our walk up to this particular landing where we were doing the show.

As soon as we got here, he had Bagman or maybe Ringman.

I don't know.

I don't know who he is.

He pulls them out on the desk and it's like,

you D is going to wear one of these.

And I think the conversation was, you need to wear all three of those.

You've earned those.

Those are what everybody on the court tonight will be hunting.

The Indiana Pacers have never won one of those rings.

They've never been able to to hang a banner saying they're the greatest in the NBA, and they're currently up 2-1 in a series against the number one overall seed, Oklahoma City Thunder.

Now, there's lightning storms outside.

Notice how I did not say it's thunderstorms because we do not need what's going on outside to come into here tonight as the Thunder are sitting at five and a half point favorites on ESPN Bet, six point favorites basically on every other sports book, and they were six and a half as of yesterday.

If it would have remained six and a half, they would have been the biggest favorites in the NBA Finals in like forever or something like that.

So you're talking about about a team getting no respect yet again in their building in Tyrese, Halliburton, Pasco Siakam, Coach Carlau, Nee Smith, Nam Hard, who's an option.

Hey, this guy goes real Nam Hard, dude.

This guy goes real nem hard.

Dude,

no big deal.

And it should be electrifying.

A lot of stuff going on around the sports world, obviously with the NHL Stanley Cup finals last night.

Florida Panthers are supposed to take a commanding lead.

We'll talk about that.

And we'll talk about all the drama around the NFL.

We have George Kittle joining us here in a little bit to chit-chat about tight end end university.

Obviously, that is something that he has headed up for the tight end position.

I think they've made leaps and bounds, both business-wise and obviously on the field.

Can't wait to catch up with George, who just signed a massive deal with the San Francisco 49ers.

Sham Shirania will join us in about 10 minutes or so.

He'll probably break some news, piss some people off, get shit talked about him, and then he will end up being right down the road.

The Toxic Table is here at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt.

Ty, love the shirt.

This is Indiana.

This is Indiana.

And I'll tell you what, it feels a little bit different today.

You know, the last couple of times we've done the show from down here, obviously, you got the the crowd, you got all the Pacers fans going crazy.

I like this feeling.

It's kind of the calm before the storm, if you will.

Now, we're not going to say what type of storm?

The calm before a Halliburton storm.

Yeah, you can say that.

Maybe.

Coach Carlisle, Tricky Ricky storm.

Yeah, a McConnell storm.

A McConnell, a TJ McConnell storm.

A Matherin storm.

It just, it really does.

You know, I think everyone loved the idea of the Pacers winning, hey, underdog.

Nobody believes in them.

And then after game three, now I think the collective kind of feeling around the Pacers has shifted.

It's like, hey, here we go.

You know, they actually might do this thing.

I'm incredibly excited.

And I think they know what's at stake.

I think Tyrese knows what's at stake.

I think all the boys do.

And I think we're going to see a very spirited performance from the Pacers tonight.

Let's go to one half of the hammer.

Done.

Cowboys, UD.

Fucking keep up.

One half of the hammer.

Done.

Don't take me low.

Don't take me low.

That's team guy AP Tone.

Hembo sent me these stats.

If the line was to hold at plus six and a half for the Indiana Pacers, it would have been the largest home underdog in the finals in recorded history since 1991.

Now it's down to five and a half on ESPN Bent.

It's at six on all the other sports books.

If it would have remained at six and a half, it would have been the largest home underdog in the history of the NBA Finals, which I think goes to the kind of this conversation about the Pacers.

Oklahoma City is 0-8 against the spread on the road this postseason, which is the worst such record in single postseason in the history of the NBA.

Tonight, five and a half or six.

One half of the hammer.

Dad.

Cowboys, AP tone.

What are your thoughts on the lines tonight?

Oh, no, your mic's off.

Yeah, we're good.

Oh, no, you're not.

Yeah, we can't hear you.

Oh, no.

Check, check, check, check.

Check one.

Oh, shoot.

Good catch.

Do not play football.

Handheld, please turn it off.

Check off two.

Check one.

Check, check.

Okay, there it is.

Pacers have been basically disrespected disrespected this entire playoff run.

We go back to

the Cleveland series when they were minus, or sorry, plus 9.5

on the road against the Cavs.

They were dogs against the Knicks a bunch.

And then they started this series

plus 9.5 on the road against the Thunder.

And then 5.5 last game.

They've won two of the first three games.

They are still plus 5.5 at home.

They are still...

dogs in the series.

The Thunder are minus 220 to still win the series, even though they are down to one.

And you talked about the Thunder.

They have have not covered on the road yet as a favorite, but they also haven't lost two in a row in a very, very long time since 2024.

We've talked about it.

So tonight, once again, it's one of those situations where something could break.

Will it be a close game?

Will they win a close one or whatever?

I don't know.

They haven't covered on the road, and the Pacers have been doubted all season long or all at least playoffs long.

So it's an interesting.

They are still being disrespected.

This line is disrespectful.

The series line is disrespectful.

And UD teams love that when they're disrespected, right?

I love it.

I love it.

And I'm sitting there and I'm telling the paces, do not change the point spread.

Keep it.

Keep it exactly how you had it.

Don't change it now.

Stay your bad luck asses over there.

We fine over here.

We don't want you to come over here now.

Don't come over here now.

Teams know about it, though, right?

They're talking about it, especially in this modern era.

Now, obviously, you played for 20 years.

At the beginning of your career, sports gambling spreads, everything like that, very much frowned upon.

In our sport, in baseball, obviously, in hockey, in basketball, but now it's just like kind of more common conversation.

Players know about the spread and if they're being underdogs especially or disrespected in this particular fashion.

And you use it.

You use every single bit of it.

It's so damn hard to win a championship.

You need every angle, every edge, every inspirational quote, every win-win for the gipper speech.

Bring it all to the table when you're trying to win a championship.

You don't know the depths of hell I've dug to to get these three things.

Locking yourself in a room at night.

Nobody is around.

The room is dark and it's quiet.

I have not left the room all day.

It's been dark in here, but it's light out there.

Yeah.

Just to get these things.

You have to go zero dog 30.

So use it.

Yeah, I love that.

How about you just trying to find anything?

Hey, did you hear what that guy said down the street?

He said our team was ass.

Let me go ahead and tell the boys that people think we're ass down the street.

Let's go to college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, a man who drove through the storms to get here to Indianapolis Day.

What an honor.

Yes, it is.

Ladies and gentlemen, A.J.

Hawk, Hoggle.

Hawkle.

Beautiful, beautiful arena.

I've never been here.

So this thing is my first time.

This is amazing.

I love it.

Good feeling.

They built this in the 90s, I do believe, late 90s.

They just renovated it like a year ago.

The stadium is glorious.

The other night, it was very loud in here.

UD was here, obviously, covering the game.

AJ, you're watching at home.

It does feel like the home atmosphere in this particular finals has certainly helped.

Oh, gigantic.

That's what makes me, when I see that the Pacers are still dogs.

You're up 2-1 in the series.

They've been being disrespected.

We know that.

But with the line, okay, let's say the Pacers win tonight and they go up 3-1.

Are they still not favorites to win the series?

Like,

how's that going to flip it?

So at this particular stage, if you win the game three and you go up 2-1 in the finals, it's an 80% win rate is the stat.

I didn't make the stat up.

They're just saying that's the stat.

We're not talking about any of this anyways, though.

No, no, no.

Can't think about it.

Think about it.

Can't think about it.

Two wins away from a parade.

Wow.

A parade would be a good one.

Oh, my God.

Don't do it.

Don't think about it.

Don't think about it.

No, no, no.

I'm going to just give you guys one thing.

Okay.

There's only one team that came back from down 3-1 in the finals.

That was Cleveland Cavaliers with LeBron James.

It's only happened once.

So you guys, if you can get up 3-1, 3-1, and once again, I say you guys, but I'm with y'all because I speak the paces.

If we can get up 3-1, then we got a damn good chance.

Okay, how do you feel about Tyrese speaking about people that are talking about him in the media?

I love it.

Me too.

I do.

So you just talked about, hey, give me everything.

You guys want to make us the underdogs, the biggest home underdog

in finals history, recorded history, basically, with the spread in the sports book.

Oh, they're still favorites to win a series.

We're up 2-1.

Okay, all those types of things.

You want that.

Obviously, media is heard in this modern world that we're in.

Everybody has a phone.

Everybody sees the clips.

Everybody gets texted to clips.

Everybody knows everything.

Tyree said, like, when these people on these media are talking about me, it's like, how much do they really know ball?

And I think he's saying that because it's like, hey, these people are comparing me to pure scorers.

I'm a point guard.

I'm not a pure scorer.

So in his mind, it kind of disqualifies the conversation.

You don't even know what position I play or what my role is.

So you talking about me as out of pocket.

Now, Stephen A.

said, he was talking about me.

I don't think Stephen A.

was the only person to doubt Tyreese Tyrese Halliburton.

I mean, he was literally voted the most overrated player in the NBA.

Stephen A.

took that personally and said, a lot better players than you that have tried to talk about me.

It's like, okay, relax, dude.

Like, we understand you've been on TV for a long time and your job is to judge people, but it's not just Stephen A.

It's been everybody that has kind of counted out Tyrese Halliburton.

If you're James Johnson, if you're a Coach Carlisle, if you're around Tyrese, you want that to continue, it feels like that is kind of your style.

Like, yeah, Tyrese, everybody thinks you're ass, buddy.

That's the type of thing I think Tyrese thrives off of.

I love it.

Exactly.

And I'm saying to myself, stay in that role.

Stay in that underdog role.

Keep that chip on your shoulder.

A chip will make you a monster.

A chip will make you dig into yourself and go farther.

I hate to say I said dig into yourself.

But a chip, a chip will.

Are you bopping wood?

Yeah, that's a bop wood.

That was a bop woman.

That was a bop wood moment.

I had a bop wood moment.

But keep that chip on your shoulder, man.

Tyrese has thrived in that role.

Do not change that.

I hate when guys get to a certain level in their career and you change everything you did to get there.

I've thrived in the underdog road my whole career.

I still remember what Darren Lebertard wrote an article about me in high school.

And I love Dan.

Dan, you my guy.

But I was on Dan ass like white on rice about that.

Keep it all and use it all.

It will help drive you.

Yeah.

And you need it.

Yeah.

And I appreciate the fact that like everybody talks about how clutch Tyrese is.

And that's because he's a guy that like, he likes that.

Like he enjoys that pressure.

Yes.

And he will talk his shit back too.

I mean, that's why we got this.

That's why we got this.

All of it.

So it's like all of it happening.

I think it's good for Tyrese.

I think it's good for the Pacers.

You told us what we should look for is elbow pick and rolls with the big man.

Yes.

And what happened?

Yes, exactly.

As we were watching the game, actually, we're pretty boozed.

It might be a profit.

Reckon right there.

Yeah, we're in that swing.

Right where 118 is.

Yeah, we're boozed up right there.

And it was, I think, middle of second quarter.

And we remembered what you said.

It was like, hey, you did call it exactly what it was.

Miles comes up, picks up the sets of pick.

Tyrese rolls, bounce past to Miles.

Then we got that thing wide open.

Is it the same game plan tonight, or does Daggs have a plan for that, you think?

Definitely the same game plan.

I think Daggs will make an adjustment.

I think he's got to bring that five-man up a little bit.

Putting that five-man in the drop coverage against Tyrese Hellenberg gives him too many options.

He gets in the pocket.

He can get to his floater.

He gets a throwback because Miles Turner's a flare big.

He can do too much.

He can get to that skip play where he got to Nae Smith in the fourth quarter.

So there's too many options in that drop coverage.

I think you need to put pressure on him when he comes off that pick and row.

It was an adjustment that Tricky Ricky made was every time SGA got in that corner on that pick and row, he got blitz.

He had six turnovers in that game.

That's the most turnovers he's had in the playoff just from that small adjustment of just trapping him in a corner.

So, and a pick and row, I think they got to make some adjustments, but I went in the end.

I don't want to give OK two minutes.

I don't want to give him two minutes.

I'm going to make a few adjustments to make, guys.

I'm going to stick over here.

Ricky is tricky.

I mean, every game there's a new game plan.

Go ahead, Conman.

Yeah, what about just one day in between?

It felt like we talked about this a little bit.

The Pacers run so much.

Chet Holmgren, towards the end of the game, he looked like he was dragging ass.

There's a few other players for OKC.

How big is just having that one day quick turnaround?

Hey, you got to get right back out there, not much time for rest.

Because I feel like usually in the finals, there's two days.

They're trying to prolong this thing as long as possible.

But only having one day feels like a huge advantage for the Pacers here.

I think it has an advantage for OKC.

Because if you look at that last game, SGA looked tired.

That last layup that Siakum got, he didn't even attempt.

to go at that last layup.

And for me, that says fatigue.

And this goes back to Tricky Ricky.

We talked about that elbow screen with the five-man.

There were two screens.

There was a guard in the first screen, and there was a five-man five-man in the second screen.

If you guys watch that game, the first guy in that screen every time was SGA.

And also, every time SGA had Pascal Siakum, we're going to Pascal Siakum.

So when you have great basketball players on offense, sometimes your best defense is to make them work offense on defense and wear on them.

So they wore on them, man.

And this is something small that most people, the civilians and the common eye won't know, but this is something that Tricky Ricky has done over this series and it's taking a toll on SGA.

It's Tricky Ricky's style.

This team in Coach Carlisle, Tricky Ricky, he told us in an interview that during the exit interview.

It's so good.

Tricky Ricky's so good.

Yeah, we're going to see that.

Tricky Ricky College.

Tommy Harden not to call him that.

He might not like that, by the way.

You think he's going to like that guy?

I mean, if they win it,

bingo.

Out of respect.

Yeah, he does.

He probably does.

He understands this is out of respect there, but he talked to us about exit meetings last year after they get swept in the Eastern Conference finals at the Boston Celtics about the importance of like, hey, we need to be in better shape next year.

We need to be in better shape than everybody.

And it's like last year during the playoff series, every time they played against somebody, somebody somebody got hurt.

And they're like, well, the Pacers are playing against hurt teams, hurt teams.

It's like, no, the Pacers hurt the team.

I think because they run them.

People get tired, especially this late into a season.

So I've been pumped up about the fact that they are in shape.

They seemingly have it together.

I don't love the one-day rest.

Yeah.

I don't.

But if you're the Pacers, don't you love the momentum?

I mean, what an unbelievable win they got to go up 2-1.

I want to get back right on that court if I'm the Pacers.

But you know how it is when you lose a game and you're that other team.

You spend that day in the dark and you go deep down into your soul and you get that one day that just cut everything off and then you come out the next game and you're just so laser-focused.

I would have loved to catch them limping again like they were at the end of the game, a little bit tired, because you give them that one day and you get a mental reset and you go back to the drawing board and you start to figure things out.

And I'll tell you, as bad as that game was for OKC, all they got to do tonight is get back to their identity.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Shut up.

Don't do it.

What is that exactly?

Let me

be quiet.

Now, we need to tell them to keep doing everything that they don't do.

Game three.

Yeah, Coach Dag's too good of a coach.

I assume tonight they're going to have a whole different game plan because to your your point about SGA, they were harassing him a lot more than they had in the past.

And he was obviously

an incredible, he's an MVP, obviously, he had an incredible season.

He's an incredible goal bucket getter.

I can't wait to watch him for the rest of his career.

I mean, he is, I'm happy to be alive during the SGA era, just like Jalen Brunson.

After I got done watching him, I'm like, I'm happy I'm getting to watch this guy do his thing.

But I felt like Tricky Ricky had something to kind of disrupt him a little bit.

Now, before we continue,

before we continue to chatter about the NBA Finals, last night, Stanley Cup finals,

what a most.

South Florida's GD right there is having the same reaction, I think, as all Panthers fans.

This thing was signed, sealed, delivered.

Back-to-back Stanley Cups were heading down to the Panthers.

All they had to do was just, what, complete a 3-0 lead in the first period?

Simple.

And then bang, all of a sudden, you're up 3-1.

That thing's over.

UD talked about how in the NBA, the only time any teams ever come back from being down 3-1 was LeBron James and the Cavaliers.

Well, in the NHL,

I don't know what the numbers are, but you get up 3-1, you have three opportunities to win one game, you're probably going to get that accomplished.

The Panthers were back-to-back Stanley Cup champions last night at one point.

And then the Edmonton Oilers said, I hate South Florida.

I hate everything about when Dolphins players come in here and bang on the drums

like Jason Taylor did last night.

And what we got was one of the most electrifying hockey games of the season.

Go ahead, Con Man.

Yeah, to your point, I believe the stat that was sent in was teams on the road, down 3-0.

Only one team has won that game, and it was in 19-12.

Yeah, there it is.

550 Stanley Cup final games in NHL history.

The Oilers become the second road team to come back down three goals.

But going to the game, Matthew Kachuk started it off.

The Panthers come out hot right away.

Chucky, five on three.

How you doing, Stu Skinner?

Still can't stop anything on stick side, and he makes a 1-0.

Second goal.

goal Chucky again.

Easy money.

Right now, if you're just watching this game as a spectator, I can't believe the Florida Panthers are just going to walk in and dominate at home and send the Oilers pack.

And bad turnover, not really Stew Skin's fault, but he does pay the price.

This was the last time you'll see Stewie Skin on the ice in this series, probably, because Calvin Pickard is now in.

Nugent Hopkins starts it for the Oilers.

Pretty good start here.

If you're watching, you're kind of thinking like, okay, maybe the Oilers do have something.

Maybe they have a little fight in the tank.

High goals were kind of the move for the Oilers.

Here, Nurse goes high as well.

Kind of the same type of goal for Edmonton.

Maybe that is Bubrovsky's tell.

I'm not saying that because he's been so good, but two high goals.

It looked pretty simple.

A little backhander there in front of the net by Pod Colzen.

I hope I said that right.

Pod Colzen, 3-3 ball game.

All of a sudden, third period.

Clap bomb.

How you doing?

Glove side on Bob.

Pretty filthy from Wallman.

And then you think it's over.

End of the third period.

There's no way there's going to be more madness.

Yes, there is a way.

Rhino, he kind of gets the little ricochet from Kachuck.

All of a sudden, you think the Panthers aren't going to blow this, okay?

Then you go to overtime and you think, okay, well, if this is going to happen to the Oilers, then maybe the Panthers are definitely going to win.

Huge scramble in front of the net.

Bob can't find the puck.

Puck squeezes out, squeezes back through his legs off the post.

Ridiculous.

After seeing this, I thought there's no chance the Oilers were going to win if the Panthers are getting this type of break.

But lo and behold, Leon Dreiseitel, he kind of comes up in the clutch.

Now, some people are saying, hey, he's not even shooting it.

This is a pass, kind of a lucky goal.

There are no lucky goals.

They're just goals that happen.

And the Oilers tie the series up.

Probably the best Stanley Cup final game we've had thus far.

If you're just watching for fun, if you're a Panthers fan, this might be the time you look back at it and say, holy shit.

We had this series in the bag.

Calvin Pickard, the backup goalie for the Oilers, comes in, saves the day.

Oilers, 2-2.

We're going back to Edmonton.

At one point in the first period, the Florida Panthers had 20 shots, and the Edmonton Oilers had like three.

I mean, it was a full-on pummeling to start that.

So to see the Edmonton Oilers have some fight, get the lead, and then Panthers answer.

I mean, that's everything that Stanley Cup hockey is supposed to be.

Let's go back to the truck.

Nikki Skates, what does this say about the Edmonton Oilers team?

Maybe, maybe McGee's dry sidel.

And I don't know.

Did they go back to Stu?

I guess probably not going to forward.

What does this say about the Edmonton Oilers there, Nikki?

It's incredible resilience, Pat, and

test of fortitude for their depth there.

You talked about the goalie change.

This is the same thing that the Dallas Stars tried to do last round with Peter DeBoer pulling his goalie, trying to spark his team and energize them and get a wake-up call for the guys.

It works in this case for the Oilers.

Pickard comes in, re-energizes the guys.

They go on this run here.

You can't go back to Stu skin at this point.

It's Pickard's net from here on out, and you hope they kind of carry this momentum in and go back home to Edmonton and just keep it rolling.

Because, like you said, this looked like it was over.

This looked like it was all Panthers.

Everyone was doom and gloom.

All of a sudden, the goalie change happens.

Couple penalties, couple power plays for the Oilers.

They get on the board.

Darnell Nurse really kind of helped spark this around too, the defenseman.

He scored a goal.

He helped set up a goal.

And then Dry Settle gets the lucky bounce deflection there in OT.

I mean, just what a moment for Edmonton.

And they got a shot now to bring that Stanley Cup back home to Canada for the first time since 1990.

And that was down there in South Florida, too.

Man, maybe the home court, home ice down there in South Florida just isn't what it used to be.

Maybe any more sounds.

Hockey's awesome.

We can't wait to continue to follow.

Will Connor McDavid get his first Stanley Cup?

Will Canada get their first Stanley Cup in forever?

Or will the Florida Panthers continue their dynastic run?

Let's get back to the NBA joining us, ladies and gentlemen.

Senior NBA insider for ESPN, Sham Shirania.

Oh, dude, Sharm,

Shams great to see you you look incredible you know I got inspired by UD UD came on outside almost 80 degree weather my guy had a tie on it was

90 I got I got inspired by UD

let's talk about UD UD how do uh players feel about insiders in the NBA we'll talk about in the NFL AJ how do NFL players feel about insiders in the NFL I think it depends on which one you're talking about yeah I don't think players like some it depends okay so I feel like in your guys's world because there's less players there's more more shit out about more people.

Like in the NFL, it's a lot like superstar-driven.

So I think like players in the NFL don't love insiders.

But they get, I think players respect the insiders and they know like, hey, they got a gig.

And there's times even when players that don't like the insiders will like understand and even use them, have their agents.

Yeah, you certainly need

to get that.

That's where it gets tricky.

Yeah.

Because you look around the locker room and it's something that should have stayed in-house that's got out.

So it's not the insider fault.

You need to control your house.

Who was the snitch?

Who's the guy that's talking to the insider?

He's just doing his job.

But we got a job to protect this locker room and protect certain things.

On that note, there was a Greek gentleman to put a tweet out after Sean's last appearance on the phone.

You know, does anyone else miss Woge?

Oh, Sham!

She dunked on you, brother.

I did see.

This is a funny guy.

I did see friend of the show, Adam Schefter, one underneath.

It was like, I miss him every single day.

And

when Woge retired, remember, remember they treated it as if he did pass away and everything like that.

Obviously, he committed a lot of time to the NBA and his reporting and journalism.

You had to do something or report something about Giannis and his pending potential move through another team, first time in 12 years.

What do you think about that tweet?

And when you get something like that, does it remind you of, oh, this is like when the Jimmy Butler conversation was happening down in Miami?

You didn't know about that one, UD.

You can speak to that one.

You end up being right.

I didn't know until I knew.

Yeah, yeah.

I didn't know until I knew.

I felt like I was coming.

People were coming at me with knives out there in Miami.

It's like you can't even step foot in Miami for me.

Well, I would like to talk about the Miami situation before we get into this for Shams.

Because Shams is brand new to ESPN.

You know, I think our experience is not everybody at ESPN would like to see you succeed if you show up at ESPN from an outside place and have an incredible resume following and are very good at your job.

So whenever that starts happening and people start burying Shams, start burying Shams outside, I think there's people inside ESPN, they're probably happy happy about that.

They're like, yeah, this ain't Woach.

This is a whole new animal.

And then lo and behold, Shams says, just like I fucking said it would, it ends up happening how it is.

That should have built some credibility, I do believe.

But we do understand that some journalists do like being right and don't care if they're wrong, and they will continue to act as if they were right at the time.

So, Shams, I want to let you know, I think that Miami situation was big for you in a new place.

But now with Giannis coming out again, I think you're back under siege and you're going to have to back prove yourself.

How do you feel about the tweet?

And how do you feel about the Giannis situation where we stand right now?

No, I think we're all good.

I really believe me and Giannis are all good.

I did see that.

And I would like to say, I think, you know, we all in the industry, I think, really miss him.

I worked with him for two years, two, two and a half years.

And so I learned a lot.

He was a great mentor to me, taught me a lot, made me better on a daily basis.

And so that respect is definitely there.

I definitely miss him as well.

He made me better.

But I will say, every single day, I'm just focused on what I can control.

Control the controllables.

Control the controllables.

Yeah, yeah, you do.

Yeah, you do.

You know,

you take it one day at a time.

I'm just focused on myself.

And at the end of the day, I very much trust my reporting.

What I reported, if we all, let's give everyone a debrief.

I said during the NBA draft combine week that Janz Ijidakumpo is open to exploring his best fits outside of Milwaukee.

I said, I didn't say he had assed out, but that's what I said.

And I 1,000% stand by that reporting.

That week, there were were a lot of conversations.

I'll just put it like that, in Chicago about his future.

And so,

you know, with him, his representatives.

And so that occurred.

And now we're, you know, fast forward about a month and a half later.

We're getting closer and closer to the draft free agency.

I did say on the show the other day, this is not something I expect at the draft.

This is not something I expect during free agency.

And it might never happen.

If you think about it, it's a massive leap to go from exploring trades, if you're Giannis, you're there for 12 years, and then asking out of a situation you've been for 12 years.

And at the end of the day, if the team is telling you, you know, we feel, if John Horst and Doc Rivers, from my understanding, believe this is a contending roster next season in the Eastern Conference, if that's what they believe, then, and if he feels like, listen, I'll have the ball in my hands, I'll be able to play more, and if he feels that way, and that's how he wants to compete for a championship, I mean, he has every right to stay in Milwaukee.

Do you think he's still going to miss Woge after what you just said?

No, I mean, we all should.

Yeah, for sure.

I don't.

I don't.

It leads you to nothing for me, but I do know he was big for basketball.

I understand he was big for basketball.

I'm a Bonnie's fan, so I mean, you know, let's go to Bonnie's.

I would like him to remain there.

Yeah, I'd like him to remain fully committed to the Bonnies.

Pat, we're here at the NBA Finals.

Yes, we are.

We've got the Kevin Durant market going on.

What is the Kevin Durant market right now?

Oh, we want to hear it.

Where's it going?

Before he goes there, I want to say this.

Since I've been to ESPN with this guy, does nobody puts in more work?

I've seen it.

Did you see his phone on free agency the day of Fray State?

After 21 hours or something.

You see that?

I had to ask him, like,

what's your personal life like?

How can somebody live like that?

Like, I had to ask him

because he puts in the work.

So you can guarantee that if he comes to the table with something, he's researched it.

He's 100% behind it.

And you can bank on it, damn it.

I like that you're doing what you did as a teammate for the Heat for the Show.

I appreciate it.

You did.

Hey, guys, Shams.

Shams, we need, I appreciate your work.

I I think.

We need to talk about, do you have a life?

Yeah.

Get you on.

Yes, sir.

You know, a lot of people would say that about me, that I don't have a life.

You know what I'm saying?

There's no such thing as a work-life balance if you want to have success.

Everybody that's been successful

has said that.

Now, you definitely have to be a human, though.

Let's never forget that.

Who had the biggest trade in the history of the NBA this year?

Oh, Sham Sharon.

He's got 100 million.

What was that?

What was that?

Oh, yeah.

Luca Dodge.

If you trade in sports, actually, I'm not going to say anything.

Probably not.

Wayne Gretzky's done LA.

Wayne Gretzky in LA back back in the day would be a conversation, but nonetheless, let's talk about a potential trade.

You just talked about Durant.

Go ahead, Kanye.

Yeah, there are reports today.

Kevin Duranti's going to get traded within the next week.

I forget who said it, but that was what NBA Central, and that's kind of where I get all my information.

Probably your burner if I had to guess, Johns.

What's the deal?

Central or Cental?

Centel, I use sometimes as information.

I'm not going to lie.

That account, I think it was like Tom Thibodeau getting fired.

Like, they put that, you know, obviously it's a parody account.

And then a week later, he actually got fired, and then they were like, we said it first.

Yeah, I mean, let's just also say

to the WNBA fans, they are getting killed by NBA Central right now.

They need to realize that that's a fake account and that they're just.

It's so close.

Yeah, NBA Central.

It's so cold these days sometimes.

He's talking these days sometimes.

Yeah, it's absurd.

But where is he going, Shams?

Is he going with like a Giannis-type trade?

Is there going to be some sort of combination of the same thing?

And when?

Yeah, there's not going to be a Giannis-Kevin Durant intermingling trade going on.

You said a week.

I think it could be even sooner than that.

I think there's some motivation with some teams, potentially even sooner than seven days.

You know, maybe in the next few days, we could get some Kevin Durant trade action.

There is some serious traction on conversations, on trade scenarios with the Suns.

They've had about six to eight teams reach out.

There's been interest.

There's been some offers.

There's been some negotiations.

But really in the last 24, 48 hours, I'm told the focus of the Suns conversation has been on a few of the teams.

And here they are.

The Houston Rockets, the Miami Heat, and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

I'm told those are the three teams right now where a lot of the focus for Durant lies.

There's some motivation

sooner than later.

So that is, it's a great question you ask, AJ, because he's on an expiring contract, about $54 million.

And so that could also come up as an issue here where

if there's a team that for sure wants his extension,

or will there be a team, we saw what happened with Kawhi Leonard in 2019,

or actually 2018, and then he won the championship in 2019 with the Toronto Raptors, where they just literally had no idea whether he wanted to be there, probably didn't want to be there, and they trade for him, they win a champion, then he leaves anyway.

So will there be a team, whether it's in this mix or a wildcard team, that just takes a swing and just

banks on themselves and hope that they can potentially make a deep run and keep him there.

But that's going to be the big question.

You said Houston, Miami?

Houston, Miami, and Minnesota.

Okay, let's get an answer about about Miami right now.

UD, would Kevin Durant fit in well in the Miami Heat culture, do you think?

I mean, Kevin Durant would fit in anywhere, but definitely I feel like he fits in the Miami Heat culture.

And I can't speak too much on it, but I would say he's a guy who comes in and just has to be Kevin Durant.

Yo, yo, yo, UD, speak on it, man.

Yeah, yeah, UD.

You know what I'm saying?

Matt can play.

I'm the vice president of planner development, fellas.

I got to keep my coins coming in.

So what I will say is if he comes in.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I get it.

I get it.

I get it.

If it happens,

he comes into a locker room.

room i get it now i get it now i get with the laurels this is why i show kevin first i know you got a couple of these but this is why i show him first but if he happens to come into the miami heat locker room he comes into a situation where you have a hall of fame coach already little spostra nostra you got a team that has a culture already

a team

a team that has a culture already so the questions that people have about kevin durant can kevin durant be your leader he doesn't have to be a leader in miami They already have leadership.

They already have a culture.

They already have a hell of a head coach who's a figure.

Is Kevin Durant going to respect the guy?

His accolades, MVPs, you know, Hall of Famers, scoring champions.

You can't just have anybody coach Kevin Durant.

Team USA they were together too, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Team USA.

So you can't have a guy that has no experience come in and say, hey, Kevin, you need to do this to win a championship.

Kevin going to be like, I got more champions.

I can tell your ass what to do to win a championship.

So you have a coach that has that pedigree and Kevin Durant's going to respect that.

So yes, the situation in Miami will work.

But at the end of the day, Kevin Durant has put himself in a situation and he's earned the right to pick and choose where he wants to go.

Yeah, I would love to have Kevin Durant here in Indiana.

Doesn't sound like that's a thing.

That wasn't even part of the conversation.

I know, I know how we can do that.

And I'm still his patients.

I've also seen some conversations about Kevin Durant as a player.

Like, let's remember who we're talking about.

Yeah.

He's going to be 37 in September.

We do know this, but he is one of the best players still to this day.

He made his 15th straight all-star team this past season in a year that he's played.

He obviously missed the 2019-2020 season.

So all three of these teams I think are looking at this as like, if we get Kevin Durant in the fold, I mean, if you're looking at it from Minnesota's perspective, Houston's perspective, we can legitimately contend for a championship.

And the East right now is wide open.

So if you're in Miami, and you've had a chance to pair Kevin Durant with Tyler Hero and Bam Adebayo.

So that's really where the focus has been on those three teams in the last three, four, five years.

And Lesbostra Nostra.

That's a great name.

Him, too.

I didn't know that was a thing.

Lesbostra Nostra, baby.

It's wide open.

You know, the Patriots have been the bat-to-back.

I'm sure the Celtics will still be good.

How important is...

Wait a minute.

See, that was disrespectful just there.

What?

He didn't even know it.

The East is wide open.

Yeah, it's.

How is it wide open?

And we got a team right now.

See how you can see how easy it is to disrespect the Pacers?

Oh, yeah.

It's boring every day.

In the city, in their building.

Yeah, I understand.

He's been saying this for a couple days.

Shams does this.

This is corporate Shams.

I am just saying what teams believe in the Eastern Conference.

But look at the Pacers.

We didn't expect them to be here, right?

So could there be a team next year?

You mean we

did.

We did expect them to be here.

Well, did most people around the league expect I to be here?

Does it know ball?

Did I think so?

How important is you doca for KD?

Because obviously, they have a really good relationship.

When you doca was in Boston, a lot of KD to Boston down.

I love him, too.

Is that why he's going to Houston?

Yeah, like UD for

players.

How important?

Because you're a Boston guy.

And I tell you, every time we were in a series with Boston, I would look down to their huddle, and it wasn't Marcus Smart.

It wasn't Jason Tatum.

It wasn't Jalen Brown.

It was Eme Odoka.

He was the leader of that team.

He was the guy that gets followed.

Yes, and he's a guy who will challenge you, not just mentally, but physically too.

Like, what you want to do?

You want to squirrel off?

We can squirrel off.

But at the end of the day, before, like I told you, before I let you take down these other 12, 13 guys, I'll whip your ass.

That's Eme Madoka's mentality.

So he is a guy that Kevin Durant respects and will come in that locker room and we'll fall in line.

But now if you bring a first-year coach, Kevin Demerick might be like, eh, you don't really know that.

Sean, why don't you start doing a little bit more research?

Tricky Ricky and Kevin Durant would get along very, very well.

Let's move off of the Kevin Durant story.

I don't love that we have Miami Heat personnel here not telling us how much they're trading for Kevin Durant and when that's going to happen.

But you got to do what you got to do.

And I understand Ryles will get a little riled up if you were to get it right away.

AJ, AJ, amen.

AJ has a question for you.

Shams, are the Knicks any closer to finding a head coach?

And did they have a plan in place before they fired Fibs of, hey, this is who we're lined up, we may have locked in?

Yeah, usually when you fire a coach like Tom Thibodeau that takes you to the Eastern Commerce Finals for the first time in 25 years, you would hope that there is maybe someone lined up.

But we see right there, they've gotten five denials of permission for current.

They obviously didn't expect that.

They didn't expect to get denied all these.

I don't know if they expected, you know, out of all those, Billy Donovan has one year left on his deal.

So, you know, that was the most recent one that they requested, and that one was denied.

And Billy Donovan is staying in Chicago.

So think about it.

The Bulls, the Hawks, two teams that

you can't really consider as contenders.

The other three can have a case that we're going into next season and really have a legitimate chance to contend with this.

Is this normal?

Is this normal?

Because we have a 100% unorthodox.

Okay, so we have a Knicks fan in the back.

His name's Bruce.

Everybody knows Bruce.

Everybody loves Bruce, except for if you're watching a Knicks game with Bruce, everybody hates Bruce.

Sure.

But that's how Bruce would like it.

And that's how I think a lot of Knicks fans would like it as well.

He said that he's flipped his mindset from, oh, the Knicks have no idea what they're doing to, I kind of like that James Dolan's treating all these other NBA teams like they're a mid-major.

Like, you know, how after March Madness happens, some mid-major coach does very well.

Some big school comes in and says, Congratulations, you now get an opportunity to coach at a big conference, and we get you a bigger deal.

The Knicks are kind of doing calling around to other NBA teams, hey, we know you got a good thing going, but we would like to congratulate your coach.

He now has an opportunity to come coach at Madison Square Guard.

Is this normal?

Like, it sounds

wild just to call a team and be like, Your head coach, Listen.

We want that.

And it's like, stop.

It's not like this happens behind the scenes, as UD knows.

But this is, as far as since I've been covering the league and when I talk to GMs, this has never happened.

Like a team is just going to call around, go one by one by one.

I mean, at this point, if you're not requested,

it's like disrespectful.

Who are some coaches that maybe aren't being talked about?

Is it assistant coaches?

Because like in our world, in the NFL, UD, you probably know these people better because it's a smaller community, seemingly in the NBA than it is in the NFL.

When a general manager is hired, we have no idea who this person is.

They're like an assistant scout or a regional scout or assistant vice president of personnel.

We don't know the people.

So you just got to hope that they're good.

In the NBA, do people normally know who the coaches are going to be, UD?

Do you normally know of the people that get these head coaching opportunities?

I think a lot of times you do.

A lot of times you do, you know, especially if you're one of the top guys.

I didn't get that luxury.

They didn't ask me a damn thing about who they were going to bring in for coaches.

But when you're that guy, you get to have a seat at that table.

and have those conversations.

When they talked about the guy that they brought in in Phoenix, they said that that conversation was had with Devin Book of

part of that.

He was a big part of that.

So if you're an organization, I think the times have changed.

I think now you have to give your star players a seat at the table and have those conversations because there's a time now where players are getting coaches fired.

When I came in the league, the coach would go to the GM and say, I need this player, I need that player, this is how we're going to win.

Now, the players go to the GMs and say, we need this coach, that's coach, and this is how we're going to win.

So it's completely flipped the script.

So you have to have these conversations with your players or your ass might be out of there.

So on that note, New York Knicks, Jalen Brunson's dad i think he's been an assistant coach for the knicks jalen brunson is the star for the knicks i watched him seemingly make every shot every time he had an opportunity rick brunson gonna be the head coach hell no you can't pay for your daddy that's not no no my understanding that's why i deal with that in baseball now with my son that's you know

no

this is nothing against rick brunson but you cannot have that and i'm there you know you know you got we all got kids we go to these games and the coaches

and his son is terrible and he getting getting all the playing time.

You like, get your son ass out of here.

Yeah, but Jalen obviously is going to be the guy.

But it isn't because he treats him any differently.

It's hard to balance.

But who is, who are some of the names for the Knicks?

But to answer AJ's initial question, I think from the Knicks' perspective, it's going to be a very patient search now.

I don't think they've fit in the middle.

It has to be.

I'd want to say a no.

And it has been patient.

Well, I think they didn't plan on being patient.

They do the requests as an opportunity to learn whether that coach is attainable, whether we can talk to him, do more research.

Clearly, they were denied on all those fronts.

So now, when you look at the Knicks, I think they're going to look at more head coaches, former head coaches that are available in the marketplace.

So you think of guys like Mike Brown, Taylor Jenkins, potentially others.

Michael Malone is also out there.

Michael Malone.

So I think now that they've gone through this exercise of all these head coaches, current sitting head coaches,

they've gone denied by five.

Again, in their mind, there's no other vacancy in the NBA.

It's just them.

We have time to see what research can we do with other teams.

Sometimes, usually, as UD knows, like let's be honest, a lot of this happens behind the scenes.

This one happened very publicly and in front of everyone, and they're calling the team to do their due diligence.

So now

I expect them to look today, tomorrow, and over the weekend into some former head coaches, maybe even assistant coaches at the NBA level right now.

I love everything about it.

Good luck to the Knicks.

They'll have a coach before next year, we assume, but this is

been very public.

They will.

I can break that here now.

They will have a coach before next season.

Put on the Seat Geek Tickets.

You're right.

Put on the

Is this public reason?

You do his research.

Is this only public because of you, Shams?

Like what the fact that they were denied, or would this have been behind the scenes if you didn't report it?

Well, you never know about that, but once you call a team, once you call a team, like they're not saying it, they're not saying we're stupid.

Does it have to go through the league office?

We have to request it.

It's usually team to team.

But once you tell a team, think about it.

Think all the people that could know.

It's the GM.

It's his entire front office.

It's the ownership level.

It could be a lot of other staffers, staffers, the coach himself, people around the coach.

So by the time you're done, like the Knicks are reaching out, understanding that it's possible this is.

Honestly, I just thought the pecking order was bad.

No, and I'm being honest.

Like, you got to go after guys that you really have a chance.

Why are you wasting your time on guys that you don't have no chance of getting?

Email Doka just sat at the top of the West all year with a young team.

There's no way in hell they letting him go.

Jason Kidd.

Fitch just went to the Western Conference Finals last year.

Jason Kidd.

They got number one overall picking up.

Jason Kidd went to the Western Conference Finals last year.

You know, these are coaches that are building something that's treading in the right direction.

You'd be crazy as hell to let your coach walk and go to the Knicks.

You know how hard it is to get a good coach?

Yeah, agreed.

Last question here for you, Shams from Tone.

Shams, another organization with a really good culture, the Philadelphia 76ers.

There's rumors there, but what?

You said really good culture.

Culture.

Culture.

Culture.

I'm being sarcastic.

Culture.

Sixers culture.

Because we stopped trusting the process.

Yeah.

A long time ago.

The culture station.

There's rumors they're looking to potentially go up in the draft.

Would that involve one of the Embiid or one of their star players?

Or what's the situation going along with that?

I mean, every team at this juncture of the season is going to be active to try to go get a player, right?

Like, you know, if there's a player you like in the draft, there's a player you like in trade.

But, I mean, they're making the normal calls.

I have not heard any seriousness to, you know, much, much of their draft chatter.

I'm sure they're going to call the Spurs about potentially moving up to two.

I'm sure they're going to also get calls from other teams below them at three to move up to that level.

So these conversations are all gonna be very fluid.

I think if you're the Sixers, though, it all starts and ends with Joel Embiid's health.

Is Joel Embiid gonna be healthy?

How's he gonna be over the offseason?

He had surgery late in the season.

So

for them and Joel Embiid, it's making sure he gets through this offseason fully healthy.

Can he be himself?

That's the only chance, realistically, they have to compete for a championship.

Anything else we need to think about tonight?

I mean, this game, for me, when I watched game two, the bench was massive, obviously, for Indiana.

Like, what was the discrepancy?

49 to 18?

Game two is okay to see the bench.

Yeah, it's always been the bench.

It's the bench.

And at the end of the day, it's Tyrese.

When Tyrese Halliburton plays the way he played in game three,

you know, whoever wins game four, I think, is in a great position to win the series.

All right, I appreciate that, Sean.

Thank you for all the intel.

Thank you for all the hard work.

Thank you for your friendship.

And I appreciate you just burning bridges all over the the place.

You're the man.

Appreciate you guys from day one.

Ladies and gentlemen, Shams.

Thank you, Shams.

Thank you, Shams.

Thank you, Shums.

You're the man.

Get the hell out of here.

Yeah, great suit.

How about he had it buttoned when he sat down and then he unbuttons it when he stands up?

I think that's the complete opposite of what you're supposed to do.

100% the complete opposite.

But I appreciate that he did that.

Yeah.

Thank you, Shams.

He's unbelievable, Shamps.

As clean as a board of health.

Well, not everywhere, though.

Yeah, yeah.

Board of health clean.

Yeah, yeah.

He's the board of health clean?

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, from the world of the NFL.

Yeah, absolutely.

Good to see you.

Your mic's off.

Yeah.

I know.

There it is.

How'd it go out there?

Pretty good.

You got the battle?

Pretty good.

No, I'm good.

Okay.

Did you go unload on a couple toilets in here?

Yes, I did, real quick.

And now I feel great.

Okay, I like that.

You know, there's an Iowa Hawkeye legend joining us.

Really?

Ladies and gentlemen, one of the founders of Tight End University.

It's going into its fifth year this year, also giving back to the community with the Nashville Big Brothers, Big Sisters program.

There's going to be many tight ends in attendance that are currently active, legends in attendance as well, trying to change the trajectory of how people talk about the tight end position and how the tight end position is played.

One of the founding fathers of tight end you, ladies and gentlemen, guy just got a massive bag, George Kittle.

Yay!

George!

George!

What's up, boys?

Dude, great to see you, man.

We're here at Gainbridge Fieldhouse for the NBA Finals.

I I know you're a massive Pacers fan.

If you would like to let that out a little bit louder, we'd be okay with that.

As you can see, I'm here at the Tighten University School just getting ready for the summer with all the boys.

I like it.

With all my friends and sponsors here.

Yeah, I'm actually, you know, I love the Midwest, but I'm an OKC Thunder fan because that's where I went to high school.

So that's tough for us.

Starting this off with a little bad blood.

It's over.

That's tough.

I saw that text you sent me.

Game one.

You're welcome.

Yeah, game one.

George said, this one's over.

ha ha wanted oh i didn't say that

i see the

sideways eyes yeah and then tyrese halliburton says uh actually give me that you know it's been a great series it's been a great series uh a great battle and also learned that you're oklahoma guy i had no idea that was the case for high school uh let's talk about the classroom that you're in Brilliant idea you're like the classroom yeah you're like a NASCAR driver you're like a NASCAR driver you don't even have to talk about all the sponsors because boom they're all around you that's brilliant

they're everywhere I just point to them and they just show up.

It's fantastic.

Gatorade water

kind of got shit.

Gatorade water.

Yeah, they kind of got the shit out of the stick.

They're right behind your head there.

I'll just.

There we go.

Here we go.

My favorite is the dude wipes.

My favorite is the dude wipes.

Look at those.

Do you use dude wipes as well?

Oh, yeah.

Okay, it's a bath for your ass.

It's great.

Oh, it's a bath for your ass.

I thought you said it's bad for your ass.

I was like, oh, no, it's a bad.

I'm trying to say, what is it?

Bad to clean your ass?

I love the do-a-way.

It's fantastic.

We got the Gatorade Water.

We have Bud Lights, our big sponsor this year, which we're really excited about.

They help us put on our Bud Light concert where we have a bunch of country music artists perform for the boys and a bunch of fans.

Old Spice is there, you know, because sometimes you work really hard at Titan U and you just want to smell really good.

So shout out to Old Spice for coming in hot.

Henders is going to come bringing in a bunch of really good food.

So, you know, we have a great, rape setup for Titan U this year, year five.

Greg Olson's excited.

Travis Kelsey is excited.

We've got some surprises coming in hot it's gonna be it's gonna be a good good good year i appreciate what you guys have done how you've built it the brand the teu has become and i don't know if you know this travis kelcey is now 10 feet tall did you see that last night did you see him

he might taylor's taylor was wearing huge heels i i mean those things and travis's head was hitting off the roof this dude might have grown this offseason he might be 10 feet tall yeah because taylor very tall right 10 feet tall does look

at all the children around it those are adults that he's walking around.

Travis Kelsey might have grown this offseason.

He might hit a growth spurt at 30 plus.

We might need to look out for Travis Kelsey having a year of a lifetime for the Kansas City Chiefs.

He hasn't taught us that at Tight NU ever how to grow in your 30s.

Hopefully that's a topic this year.

Okay, let's talk about it.

Let's talk about tight end university a little bit more.

Whenever it was being pieced together by, obviously, you, Greg Olson, Kelsey, the goal was like, hey, we need as tight ends to kind of maybe rally a little bit more, but also a little bit more respect on the position.

I think that has happened over the last five years.

I think the tight end position has obviously become much more prominent on everybody's team.

What is the goal every single time you head down there or you live there, but every time these tight ends flock to Nashville?

What is the goal for the weekend?

The number one goal is to put on a fantastic event for all these tight ends that are giving us, you know, three days of their time, them and their significant others, their kids, their families, whoever shows up for it.

And from that, I want to have a great time.

I love you.

Oh, no.

Oh, no.

Sorry, Kyle.

Oh, no.

That's crazy.

Yeah, that is crazy.

Kyle Uscheck just knocked my phone over.

It's crazy.

Shout out to Juice, by the way.

What up, Juice?

There's a Harvard guy right there.

He's not used to that stupid classroom, sponsor's classroom.

He's used to a smart classroom.

Good to see you, Juice.

Good to see you, Juice.

Yeah, so we're trying to put on a first-class organization, a great, great, great run.

And I really, we just want to, we're going to establish a brotherhood of tight ends, right?

That's what we're trying to do.

Like, you have all these rippies, you know, these young guys that have a lot of questions.

They have questions that they don't even know to ask yet.

And so hopefully at Titan U, they can learn a thing or two.

They can have some fun.

Maybe drink a Bud Light to 312.

Whatever they want to do.

Maybe use some old spice.

Maybe drink some Gatorade waters.

Mix it in with a Bud Light.

Whatever they want to do.

Send us some fun with the boys.

We're just trying to have a good time.

That's what we're trying to do.

I appreciate that.

Nashville is a great place to do that.

UD has a question for you, George.

Please.

George, man, big fan of yours, man.

Everything you're doing out there in San Francisco.

My question is, because you already kind of answered it.

My question is, did you have young guys there?

Because you said tight end you.

I'm a huge University of Miami fan.

So I've been a fan of the tight end position for a long time.

You go to Jeremy Shockey's, the Greg Olsons, the Kellen Winslow Jr.s.

And I even played a little tight end back in the day, if you look at me.

I'm sick.

Yeah, I played a little tight end in the defensive end.

I got hit in my knee coming off the head, and I quit.

They folded OG up real quick.

I made 10th grade and I was done.

But my question was...

How do you have the young guys in and like implementing those guys and everything?

And like, what's the process?

Because when i bring young guys into the mind heat locker room the first thing i try to do is understand those guys background where they come from and that just helps me lead those guys so how do you get that one-on-one time just to understand these guys because these young guys are different and every young guy needs to be have their buttons pushed differently that's very true you know i would say there's not necessarily how much like button push i need to do like what i'm trying to do is make these young guys feel as comfortable as they possibly can be talking to guys like travis kelsey talking to guys like tj hawkinson mark andrews dallas goddard and like who were all in their shoes at one point.

And so like you put all these guys in the same room, guys sit, you know, whether they're sitting with their team, whether they're sitting with other rookies, other vets, whatever it is.

It's just like try to just start that conversation.

And then like, what's a fun thing we do too is, you know, we have teachers come up and you said Jeremy Shocky, he's one of our guests this year, which I'm pretty excited about.

Like he's going to teach a little bit, talk a little bit about being a vet.

But one of my favorite things that we do is we take everybody that's been like a year seven or older, put them in front of the classroom and just kind of shares their story and like what they thought was the key to their success.

What was the key to how did they play in the league for seven plus years?

Because the NFL is, it's not for long, right?

It's three years is the average, is the average career.

And so, all the guys who have made it past, you know, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 years, they've done something right, whether it's their mindset, whether it's the way that they approach the game.

And if we can just teach these young guys that, maybe we'll put them at an advantage going into training camp.

Not for long, not for George Kittle.

How big was the deal he just signed?

What was that?

76.

16.

Georgie.

Georgie.

The Niners have been paying a lot of money.

We just talked to general manager John Lynch yesterday.

Feels like the team's ready to get back to their standard.

Connor has a question for you, George.

Yeah, George.

Hope the barbecue went well yesterday.

Great to see you at WrestleMania, by the way.

It was great.

We did talk to Mr.

Lynch, and he mentioned how you guys had 100% attendance at the voluntary period for the San Francisco 49ers this offseason, which feels as though I don't know if that's been the norm, but have, did you guys have a group text like, hey, last year is not what we're about.

Let's get in here early and have everybody be a part of it.

And what was it kind of like being back with the boys earlier on this season and, you know, celebrating with everyone as you got paid, Fred got paid, and Brock Purdy got paid like half a country, basically.

He did get paid half a country.

Good for him.

He's buying everything from here on out.

Hopefully he pays for the Halloween party this year and it's not me and Juice anymore.

$76 million can put together quite a Halloween party.

265, though.

Yeah, 265.

265 could put together a better one.

Yeah, this guy had a roommate, though, in the first four years.

He's making $100,000 a year.

Yeah, he's fine.

Yeah, he's going to live like he's still got a roommate.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's going to dress like that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Backpack.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

All right, anyway,

the Cole's King.

Let's see.

Now you can call it.

Would you ask me?

The voluntary.

The 100% voluntary workouts.

So it was great this year.

At the end of the last year, we played a lot of seasons going into January, February, and all that stuff.

And so like when the season ends, you just want some extra time to get away from everything.

And this year, your season ends in January.

You have that extra month off.

Whether you vacation, take care of your body, whatever you do, that itch to play football and hang out with the boys comes back a little bit quicker.

And so I think everybody just wanted to be back in the building.

And having everybody there, just practicing every day, working out together every day, sitting in meetings every day, it's just really fun.

And you like kind of build that team chemistry a little bit.

Like most of our guys, I'd say like we probably had like 10 to 15 guys that wouldn't show up until phase three.

And now everybody was there since phase one.

So you just build those relationships a little bit quicker, get to see guys make plays.

You know, we have a ton of free agents.

We have a ton of young guys.

A lot of, there's like, there's some openings on our roster, you know, that, you know, that's pretty obvious.

We had a lot of departures, key departures, and a lot of opportunities for young guys to step up and take advantage of those opportunities.

So seeing those guys, you know, kind of make some cool plays or no TAs was kind of fun to see.

And hopefully, that just carries over into camp.

You know this because you've been in the NFL a long time.

And we talked to, you know, John Lynch is in two ring of honors in the NFL: Bucs and the Broncos.

And when it's all said and done, we assume he'll be in the Niners ring of honor as well.

Played in the MLB, too.

Yeah, he's a Major League Baseball player.

I mean, John Lynch is a special, special individual, obviously, as you all are over there.

Dang.

You okay?

What happened?

Nothing.

I just filled some latte.

I didn't know if that was a button.

You're drinking a little bit.

We talked to him, though.

When you have a team that's good for a long time and people get paid $76 million at the tight end position and $265 million at the quarterback position, you have to depend upon those young guys.

Like that is something that has to happen as you're building up the roster.

Has there been extra emphasis by the OGs to get these young guys caught up quickly?

I assume, yes.

You know what?

That is, that has definitely happened.

I would say that.

We had,

what's nice when you have everybody back, you have like more opportunity in team meetings and like player meetings, just to kind of talk.

And so, like, guys are going to speak up.

Like, hearing Christian McCaffrey talk a bunch of this OTAs, like, not forced, not like he wanted something to say, just like he was asking questions.

Yeah, what did he say?

Hold on.

John told us he spoke at the end of the about the 40 days off.

What did he end up saying?

40 days away.

40 days away.

Sorry, not off.

Yeah, see, that was one of the things he said.

He literally said, he was like, hey, I like how Coach Shanahan says it's 40 days away, not 40 days off.

Because it is.

It's a way where you're by yourself.

I'd say just one thing from his meeting that I'd be comfortable sharing was

Christian likes to say, like, you have to be selfish with your time as an NFL football player if you want to be great.

And whether that is like, hey, I'm not going to go on my, I'm not going to do this family vacation.

I'm not going to go do this boys' trip with these guys.

Like, I'm going to spend these 40 days

training my butt off to be in the best shape possible.

So when I get back, I can earn a spot and I can help this team win a lot of football games.

And that was one of my favorite things that he said.

He said that a couple of times, but just emphasizing that to the young guys.

It's like, this isn't like your 40 days of, oh, wow, I got to go on vacation.

I got to go, you know, you can go golf a little bit, all that stuff.

But it's like, this isn't the 40 days off.

Like, go train, show up, earn a spot, help us win football games.

Yeah, Jesus Christ had 40 days as well.

See what the Niners do with it.

AJ has a question for you, George.

Yeah, George, what's your relationship like with head coach Kyle Shanahan?

He's a guy that seems to be like a player's coach, but also at the same time, holds you guys accountable.

Is that something that's grown over the years, like your relationship?

Obviously, the superstars, but also with every guy on the roster.

I would say yes.

One of my favorite things about Coach Shanahan is that he has like a 24 7 open door policy like if somebody has a question for him someone wants to know where they stand with the team um someone has an idea he his office is always open now you know let's say he's in some private meeting or something like that but like any player can go in at any time um and so i really really respect that about him me and kyle have a great relationship um you know i like to golf with him down in cabo in the offseason and then i like to win football games with him in the fall um so there's just uh he holds us all accountable he definitely puts a lot of pressure on all of the guys on the team that, you know, have to help us win games.

But he doesn't like, he doesn't like one of the thing he does really well is like, he doesn't put guys in a position where they're not going to succeed.

Like, he doesn't ask guys to do crazy things.

He was like, look, I drafted you for this reason.

This is what I know that you're really good at.

I'm going to try to get you to do this as many times as you possibly can.

And he does that for the entire roster, which is pretty special.

Like, he's not out there just pulling stuff out of his ass.

He's pretty smart when it comes to that stuff.

I think he could, though.

I've seen him throw a football pretty boozed up down by the beach.

I assume he could pull some shit out of his ass.

We only got like a minute.

It was sick.

He had a cool hat on, always does.

We have to go in like a minute here with a hard out, so we appreciate your time.

Ty, how's Iowa going to be this year?

George, I think we're going to win a national championship this year.

We got Mark Kronowski.

We got the FCS Heisman.

All the boys are back.

They're ready to go.

I mean, just go ahead and wax poetic really quickly about why Iowa's going to win a national championship this year.

You know, it was fantastic.

I literally just saw a tweet from some Hawkeye account.

I was like, hey, guys, you know, Burbeck's going to win the Heisman this year.

Let's just say we make it to the College Football Playoffs with the win of the Big Ten Championship.

You know, we lost in the semis.

Would that be a successful year?

Would that be a successful year, or would that be a disappointment?

And I was like, we've never made it to the playoffs, so I think making the playoffs as a start would be successful.

West Virginia is trying to win national championships.

I just want to let you know that's the standard that I want.

I got it.

Ladies and gentlemen, tight end you found

all-pro legend.

You're on real pass.

Also, an unbelievable wrestler, ladies and gentlemen, George Kidd.

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Finals!

Finals!

You got it?

You got it.

Listen, guys, when I come from the bathroom, I got a, it's a reset.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, this is a reset.

I think a lot of people would be surprised that

the only guy up here that didn't have the rhythm or the.

It should not have been the brother.

You're right.

It should not have been the brother.

You're absolutely right.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have three-time world champion, 20-year NBA vet, Eudonis Haslam.

We appreciate you, UD.

We have the Toxic Table at Boston Conner and at Ty Schmidt.

We have one half of the hammer.

Don.

I got it.

Boom.

Yes, you did.

A.P.

Todd.

I got to be better, though, guys.

I hold myself to a higher standard.

You're a great teacher.

Just so you know.

I hold myself to a higher standard.

We think you need to be better, too.

It's funny.

You said it.

Boston who helped me get all these.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Tone, do we know anything about the gambling on tonight's game?

Is there any updates on anything?

I know the line has moved from 6.5 to 5.5 on ESPN bet overnight.

It is at 6 on some other sports books.

Anything else we need to look at?

Yeah, the movement from 6.5 to 5.5 overnight, as you said earlier in the first hour, 6.5 would have been the largest home dog in NBA Finals history.

It's not like 5.5 is that much smaller.

So still disrespect to the Pacers at minus 5.5.

It's exactly what they were in game three when they won that game.

They're They're still

dogs to win the series.

The Thunder are minus 220 to win the series.

Obviously, the sports books think the Thunder are going to get tonight and then have home court advantage in that three-game series to finish this thing out.

SGA is also minus 220 to win the MVP.

Tyrese has crept up to plus 300 to win the MVP if the Pacers win.

So it's really kind of a two-horse race there with Siakam.

I mean, no one really, people were not shocked, but kind of a little bit shocked that Siakam won the Eastern Conference final MVP there.

So it's kind of a three-horse race in that one, depending on who wins.

But no, that's what we got for tonight's gambling action.

Okay, it's back to six and a half on ESPN.

Bet just got the update.

So that would be the largest home underdog in finals history if this was to remain.

Once again, OKC against the spread on the road this postseason has not been fantastic.

SGA to score 35 plus points right now.

Even money.

Even money.

Yeah, that's because even Coach Carlisle understands.

You can put 34 on the score sheet for SGA before the game even starts.

We shall see how that gets handled.

Chet Holmgren, he had a fast start last game.

Fast start last game.

Was kind of going at it in the fourth quarter.

He's getting buried because of what Miles Turner did to him.

That could be a big bounce back game for him.

10 plus points feels easy.

Oh, that's rebounds.

I'm sorry.

Never mind.

Pascal Siakam, total points, 20 plus.

That feels easy.

That feels like a bet.

And then Tyrese Halliburton, total assist, 10 plus.

That feels easy.

So this feels like a pretty good low prop bet here.

There's only six people that have betted, I see.

I think it says six underneath the flame.

Is that the maximum amount of betters they've had on ESPN bet?

I'm not 100%.

I hope that's not.

That is all the users they actually do have.

That feels like a pretty good bet.

I think we should maybe think about handling that.

Or was it a six-legger and we just didn't scroll down?

Okay, yeah.

I think it's just a total people, yeah, because there's no bets in.

Okay, knees made total three-corners made is three plus.

That feels good.

Jalen Williams, total points, 20 plus.

That's the only one.

Now he can do that.

Jalen Williams can do that.

That's minus 160 or 180 there.

160.

160.

Man, LASIK's starting to wear down.

You used to be able to see that pretty clearly.

The 6 and the 8s obviously blend together on TVs, but Jalen Williams, 20-plus points, interesting.

I think that's the only one.

Everything else I really like on that, and I like that Jalen can go absolutely him.

That's on ESPN Bet right now.

Shout out to ESPN Bet.

Shut up.

Yeah.

See you agree.

And shout out to the Pacers for being the biggest home underdog in the history of the NBA.

NBA Finals tonight.

Coach Carlisle Tricky Ricky definitely loves everything about that.

Now let's pivot away from the NBA Finals because we have a man who's the Super Bowl champion, the all-time leading tackler for the Green Bay Packers, and obviously a man who is a father of 10.

AJ Hawk is here.

Thank you for making the trip to Indianapolis.

You traveled over from Ohio.

You grew up outside of the Cincinnati area.

You are a Bengals fan.

You actually got to finish your career, I believe, with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Cincinnati Bengals are currently operating like the Bungles.

This is not the modern Bengals.

This is like 10 years ago Bengals situation.

There's been conflicting reports.

Schefter has told us specifically yesterday that the clause that they're trying to wedge into Shamar Stewart's contract is not normal.

Then I saw somebody else on the internet say, no, this is a normal clause.

Don't feel like it's normal because the way it's been handled and the way everybody's reacting to it.

Our guy, Teddy Karras, one of the leaders of the Cincinnati Bengals locker room, was interviewed yesterday and he came out and said, there is no resentment towards Shamar Stewart or Trey Hendrickson in this locker room.

We just hope the deal gets done before actual football takes place.

This isn't desirable by any means, but we are not holding this against Shamar.

We heard Shamar talk about the situation.

He was very professional.

He said, hey, like, I would like to be here, but I can't be a guinea pig in this entire thing.

AJ is a Cincinnati Bengals fan as a guy over in Ohio.

I assume he got some Bengals fans' friends.

What is kind of the thought and a convo happening around this particular Bengals situation that feels like it's from yesteryear with the Bengals?

Yeah, it does.

It's like the same old Bengals.

I'm around a ton of different Bengals fans.

I grew up a Bengals fan, like about 40 minutes from Cincinnati, and there's not many people against Jamar Stewart where I'm from.

Like the people that are talking about it, they're thinking, man, man, the Bengals are trying to do this again.

They're trying to get one over on their players.

And I think when you see a guy like Ted Karras come out and talk about there's no ill will, there's no hard feelings, the players know.

Like the players respect when a guy also stands up and says, yeah,

you're not going to push this through because I'm a rookie and I should be scared to publicly say no and not sign and miss minicamp and miss all of OTAs.

So I think if you actually listen to Shamar Stewart speak and not just read the words written out that are typed, it's hard not to be on his side.

The Bengals feel like the last team that thinks that they're like almost smarter than all the players.

Like it feels as though the business side of the NFL, all the players have learned it.

And the Bengals drafted Shamar Stewart.

I think the assumption was to replace Trey Hendrickson because Trey Hendrickson, their entire contract beef.

And now it's kind of blown up in their own face because they're trying to slide in something to Shamar Stewart's contract where these guys are so business savvy from the NIL.

Like we've talked about this with college players coming in.

They're going to be better with contracts and NIL and deals.

Handling money.

Handling it and understanding it.

And this is kind of like the first time we're seeing it where the Bengals front office puts in this little thing that they've never used before.

And they try and get one over on Shamar Stewart.

And now they just look like idiots because they got Trey Hendrickson, their veteran pass rusher, pissed off.

Now they got their rookie pass rusher pissed off.

Like, how does this even happen?

How's business happen in the NBA?

I don't know, because I just see everybody get paid.

A seventh guy is getting $80 million.

How is it handled in the NBA?

And do people in the locker room, like for instance, in the NFL locker room, anytime there's a holdout or any business stuff happening, when they come back in the locker room, there's a, hey, welcome back, welcome back.

Is it the same in the NBA?

No, because we don't hold out.

We don't have to.

We ain't showing up without a check.

That's not what we're doing.

That's crazy to me that you draft a guy and then this guy shows up and goes through a certain amount of practices.

No, I didn't practice.

He was in the building.

He didn't never know.

He was in the building.

He just wasn't on practice.

Okay, but he showed up.

Yeah.

But you drafted him him correctly.

For us, once you draft,

depending on where you got drafted, you're signing on that dotted line.

That's for us, too.

It's already set in stone.

So for me, it's weird because you drafted this guy.

You obviously have plans for him to be a part of the future.

Why wouldn't you want him in as soon as possible?

You would want to make that happen to get that guy in as soon as possible.

Get him acclimated, get him around the team, get him buying into the middle.

They need him.

Sam Hubbard, another edge rusher, retired.

So when the season comes, you hit the ground running as a football player so you can be your best version.

So we ain't showing up without a check.

Don't say they're trying to protect themselves down the line if something happens.

Unless you're undrafted like me, I showed up without a check.

We got to try out that.

We got a choice.

You know what I mean?

But if you get drafted, you ain't showing up without a check in the NBA.

Well,

here's another thing to think about that I guess Shamar is handling it much more maturely than we could have imagined.

It's probably because of the NIO and everything like that.

But if you look at what the Philadelphia Eagles did to Saquon Barkley, Saquon had like three years left on his deal.

They wanted to pay him so Saquon was happy.

Like, hey, we want to give the appearance, at least, that we care about Saquon.

We want to take care of you.

Guess what Saquon is?

He will run through a wall for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Not that he wouldn't before, but he's like very thankful for the Philadelphia Eagles.

To set your business relationship up with your first-round draft pick like this, there can be some like cold,

cold-hearted, yeah, there's gonna be some residual effects, too, down the line.

Next year's first-round pick, like the agent,

if you're the agent next year and you're first round, you have a first-round client and he goes to the Bengals, they're gonna say, all right, well, we're gonna read this contract multiple times.

We're going to go over and over it because we don't want them slipping something in here.

But Shamar is like, you know,

when Tyrese got traded here to Indianapolis, like the reason why I think Tyrese is such a great leader of this team for this city is because as soon as he came here, he like wanted to be a pacer, wanted to be a member of the community.

Like Shamar gets drafted to this place, and the first experience he has with the Bengals is, oh, they're trying to screw me over like they've never done before.

Like that's just not a good way to start a partnership.

Like that's not a good way to start a business relationship.

And it's like the Bengals fans that get mad about us talking about it, but it's like, this is the reality.

These aren't Madden players.

These are humans.

Okay.

So whenever you try to sneak something into a humans contract that's a guinea pig type thing and they go, no, we're not going to do that.

That there is feelings now that you have just set up.

So I can't continue to say this, but I guess I should.

Like the Bengals literally just shoot themselves in the foot here for no reason.

This contract is going to be nowhere near as big as Trey Hendrickson's contract or as big as Jamar Higgins or T or Jamar Chase or T.

Higgins's or any of these Joe Burrows or any of these other guys.

It's a rookie contract.

It's slotted.

To your point, whenever you say in the NBA, it's slotted.

The new CBA with the NFL, these things are pretty exact on what the deal is.

So like trying to game it a little bit.

I don't know what,

the pros and cons of it.

I just don't really see it.

The risk is not worth the game.

Exactly.

The risk is not worth the game.

Like with Trey Hendrickson, they're going to have to pay him a lot of money.

So if you want to play hardball with him so you can save yourself some money, understand that shit happens to vets all the time, especially if the number's 40 million that you're comp in there.

But with the rookie contract, you know exactly what you're going to have to pay him.

So just sliding this in to like piss him off almost.

I don't, now granted, rook ass rook.

Okay.

That's how I viewed it.

Like, yo, you're a rookie.

I don't want to hear you talking about your contract.

Then we learn like, well, they're putting a clause in there and nobody else puts it.

I'm like, okay, so I actually respect.

And then the rookie talks.

I'm like, this guy's actually kind of composed because there is a feeling of him potentially hating the Bengals because this is initial, because he already got paid by Texas A ⁇ M.

He's gone through this entire thing before.

So now you're like trying to put a little clause in a contract.

Like you're trying to, I don't want to say screw him over, but that's probably what his agents are telling him.

And do you think he's going to go, you think a second contract comes up?

He sees what's happening with Trey and he sees what's happening with himself and his rookie.

You think he's looking forward to a second contract negotiating with them?

No, he's probably just going to hit his four years and be like, all right, I'm going to go somewhere else.

And once again, don't want to bury the Bengals, okay?

Because I understand that the Bengals fan base are a great fan base.

Their atmosphere over there is awesome.

The Bengals team in the history is all good.

Ohio.

Ohio.

We love Ohio.

We love Ohio.

We're close to Cincy, but this is a stupid thing.

The fans that under, I think, honestly, the majority of fans I'm around, they understand.

If they've been Bengals fans for a a long time, like they get it.

Like, they're not blaming Shamar, at least the people that I've talked to.

I mean, a lot of people, though, I think, like,

like we said, before you watch that video, if you just read an article and you read the quote, it's like, this guy's an asshole.

Shut up and get ready to play.

But also, then you hear him speak, and it's like, oh, never mind.

No, he's not.

He's doing what he needs to do.

And also, it's interesting because the whole knock on him, or not knock, but like what they talked about during the draft process was like, this guy needs reps.

That was his whole thing.

That's why he only had four and a half sacks in college.

Was like he needs the reps to kind of get where he could be because we know he's a physical freak.

So

for them to deliberately be like, hey, we know you need reps, but we're going to do this and create a situation so you're not going to be on the field.

It just makes no sense.

I mean, to a guy who's controlled everything he can control up until this point, and that's what we talk about with guys.

We can control what we control, the work we put in, staying out of trouble, the hours, watching the film.

To get to this point, and there's something that's out of your control, has nothing to do with you, is stopping you from being on the football field.

That's got to piss you off.

You do not want to start it like that.

You don't want to start it like that.

I got added at an Instagram story.

He's working.

Oh, I saw that.

Yeah, they added the LA agent, LAA agency, I think is the agency that reps them.

They added me in a story, and they're like, Shmore's still working.

Of course, he is.

Of course he is, but he's not with his teammates.

Dude, he needs to be on the field.

He needs to be with his teammates.

He needs to be on the field with those guys.

If he was there, like the perfect situation, he would have been there with Trey, learning from Trey.

Yeah, but with that being said, TJ Watts not signed either.

He's not going to be able to do that.

Great point.

Yeah.

Pittsburgh Steelers fans are talking about it.

We're not going to compare these two situations.

And we have a veteran leader in Aaron Rodgers leading Will Howard, our future quarterback, and he is mentoring him and shit out of it.

We have.

Well, I just want to say we should run the video of Will Howard talking about Aaron Rodgers.

And what Aaron Rodgers came out publicly and was like, hey, I'm here to lead this guy.

I'll be in every meeting.

I'll be in every practice.

Anything he needs, I will give it.

He did the same thing with Jordan Love.

I think Aaron took a lot of respect out of it.

Here's Will Howard talking about the relationship with Aaron thus far.

When he says that, he's like, hey, I don't want to overstep.

I'm like, dude, like, you're

like, please, like, please, by all means, tell me whatever, whatever you think.

He said, Aaron told him I don't want to overstep or anything like that.

And Will's like, bye, you tell me whatever the hell you want.

How hard is it as an OG to not want to piss off a younger guy, but also tell him,

you're a good player, you don't know shit.

Like, is there a balance there whenever you try to talk to me?

Because you talk about pressing different buttons and everything like that.

OG is a necessity, I think, to a successful career.

I had Adam Vinatari.

I was incredibly lucky for that.

I don't know who AJ would say he had, but there's always a veteran that like looks out.

Will Howard getting Aaron Rodgers here seems like a great situation.

You have been that for a lot of people.

How do you start that relationship and how those conversations go?

Get him to let their guard down.

I love what he did early.

I'm not here to overstep my boundaries.

That's what Aaron Rodgers says to you.

You're crazy.

That's what Aaron Rodgers says to you.

Immediately, you're already in awe and he comes with you with that and completely just knocks you off of like, oh, wait a minute.

This is what.

And now you've let your guard down.

Now you've allowed Aaron Rodgers to come in and have those conversations with you.

And as you build that time on the field and off the field, because both of those things go hand in hand, I believe the time you spend with somebody off the field and on the field continues to build that brotherhood, just helps you trust that person, you believe in that person, and you know that person was the best for you, regardless where you play at.

Those are the things that help.

So I think immediately him telling that kid, hey, listen, I don't want to overstep my boundaries.

I just want to help you.

That automatically let the kid let his guard down.

And now he's more willing to listen and follow aaron rodgers just from the jump now he will build that time and that rapport with him where he will respect him and listen to him more but he started it off perfectly hey jay why is it why is this print madonna prick like this with these guys

isn't that funny isn't that funny how it i mean he seems to be a good teammate but i think also how you come after how you come after the guy if you're the old dude I mean, when I first got in the NFL, what, 2006, I believe, there was a big, everyone was saying, kid, kid, kid.

Like speaking down to you, calling people kid.

And I lost my mind when guys would do this.

They'd be like, grab your short kid, let me tell you about how it is.

And

whenever that happened, I instantly shut down.

I never heard another word from that person.

And that happened from a couple of different people at times.

And so how you come at people, I think, has a big part of it.

So to say, like, hey, I don't want to overstep.

I mean, Will Howard's, what, 24-year-old, 22-year-old.

He's like, I was watching you play when I was five years old, Aaron.

Like, for that to be how they start everything, like, that's a huge deal.

Everything starting with Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, even this, I think, is a home run for Jensers.

Yeah, so far, everything everything has been absolutely perfect.

Everything he has said, everything he's done as far as like speaking in front of the team his first day, telling them that he's all in.

He went to the Cam Haywards golf outing to be with the boys, everything he's done with Will and all the other quarterbacks.

Yeah, everything so far, you know, and it's obviously it's just June, but everything so far has been perfect.

Massive, massive day here on ESPN.

A historic event begins.

The College World Series live from Omaha, Nebraska, kicks off today, literally following our show.

This is something that I think we all look forward to.

We don't know College World Series baseball.

We don't know college baseball, I think, going into the College World Series.

We followed a little bit closer this year because West Virginia almost had that spot.

Jumping down.

That LSU has down there.

Close.

Almost had it.

LSU's Go Ball Club.

Go Ball Club.

Ty, what do we need to know about the College World Series that maybe those of us who don't have all the info need to realize?

Well, I think the best thing about it, like you mentioned, like it's impossible to actually follow this all season long unless you're a fan of one of these teams in the SEC because there are, I mean, it's like college football.

There are so many players, so many schools.

But if you want just like a quick bird's eye view of the College World Series and why it's so special.

First College World Series was in 1947.

So it's been around a while.

But it moved to Omaha in 1950.

It used to be at Rosenblatt Stadium, which is one of like the real cathedrals of baseball.

Absolutely beautiful.

They moved to Charles Schwab Field, which is a little bit bigger, but it's still awesome.

This year in particular, so if you don't know, it's an eight-team double elimination bracket, kind of like an old school tournament.

They'll have a winner's bracket and a losers bracket.

The two teams remaining will play a best of three series to crown a champion.

We have a good field this year, okay?

Five teams in the field have previously won a championship.

Everyone knows about LSU, kind of the creme de la creme.

They've won seven.

Arizona used to be really good.

They've won four.

Oregon State, three, UCLA.

And then Coastal Carolina also has won that.

My winner.

Okay.

That's my

winner.

That's like Deshanticler.

Yeah, exactly.

Louis,

the game we are leading into.

They will be playing at 2 p.m.

today.

And then the other schools, Louisville has made it six times.

Arkansas, who is the top seed remaining.

This is their 12th appearance, and they've been runners up twice.

They've never won it, but they have a very, very good baseball program.

And then everyone, if you're looking for a dog

to hop on, Murray State is making their first appearance.

And then we've talked about this quite a bit.

One of the things that kind of, I don't want to say, outshines the baseball on the field because it doesn't, but the Jell-O shot competition.

Oh, yeah.

And Rocco's pizza and cantina.

You can see it started in 2019.

Genius of the owner to start this.

LSU bought 68,888 Jell-O shots in 2023, which is the all-time record.

And then it's also got a good cause here.

You know, for the Jell-O shots are five bucks.

A dollar of each shot goes to a local food bank, and then another

50 cents goes to the greater food bank of Omaha.

I believe they were going to do an update at 1 p.m.

of where it currently stands.

And this is kind of always funny and where teams will kind of talk a little bit of shit about each other.

In years past, you know, you have institutions like Stanford and Virginia who are very good at baseball, but maybe a little bit more buttoned up.

You know, people not trying to go down there and just get real boozed up.

And then you got the SEC schools.

You got the LSUs, the Tennessees, the, you know, had West Virginia made it.

Schools like that who like to have a good time.

They're coming in and just getting real boozed up, buying in droves.

And then also just overall, like the play play on the field, we talked about Paul Skeens.

He kind of took over the world when LSU was in the national championship a couple years ago.

There are seven players in this year's field that are projected to be first-round picks.

They're headlined by LSU's pitcher, Cade Anderson.

So, again, you know, there's a lot going on right now with the NBA Finals, with the NHL Finals, everything going on in the NFL.

But these games will be sprinkled for the next 10 days or so.

And it's an exciting brand of baseball.

It really is.

You're probably not not going to see too many pitchers' duels.

You're going to see a lot of home runs, a lot of stolen bases, a lot of great plays.

So if you find yourself with nothing to watch and you want to just pop in in like the fifth inning or something like that, usually these games will provide fireworks.

He's talking about it being exciting games.

The over-under for Murray State and Duke.

Murray State won that game to get into the tournament.

The over-under was 16.5.

Wow.

Love that.

That's a base trip six.

That's the baseball 16 and a half sir.

They hit the under, but like their game before that, they scored 19.

There's a lot of runs in these games.

Cannot wait to watch.

The Roccos gimmick is brilliant.

Brilliant.

I mean, they get people coming in here and buying 68,000 shots.

Yeah.

Five bucks a pop.

I'm a little disappointed in Florida.

I would have thought we'd have did better than 4,100 or something.

Yeah.

It wasn't an early exit.

Maybe it was an early X.

I did that in my year.

What's going on?

We got that out of the way early when I was there.

I read at the bottom of that Debone graphic, and there was a lot of words on that graphic.

Shout out to Debo and piecing that together.

Go ahead and took $1 from each shot goes to the local food bank, while another 50 cents goes to the Heartland Food Bank in Omaha.

So it's actually $3.50 per shot that is going to Rockets.

Yeah, correct.

So $68,000 times $350,000.

They do $100.

Congrats, Rollins.

The Colossal Carolina manager, the team Tony, paid.

That's like the feel-good story of the College World Series, too.

I mean, I don't know the exacts of it, but I guess the last time Coastal was in the College World Series, his son actually was just coming off having a stroke, really young, a serious medical problem.

Son's all good now.

I think he's a freshman in high school or something.

Son is now coming with him to this College World Series, first time since they've been back.

So that's kind of like the feel-good story.

Yeah, that is.

Pretty emotional, I would assume.

As Gainbridge Fieldhouse is getting filled with yellow shirts for the gold out that will be taking place here tonight for game four of the NBA Finals.

Obviously, 9,126 days it had been since the last time the Pacers hosted an NBA Finals game.

This place was upside down two nights ago.

We assume the same for tonight.

It's Friday.

Yeah.

You know, a lot of working people out here in Indianapolis.

So Friday night is normally a celebration.

Yes.

Think about having one here.

Yeah, I think everybody's thinking about having one.

It's a good night to have one.

Hey, thank you, shirts, people.

Thank you.

Looks like the throwback Pacers logo on it.

Does shirts.

Yeah,

I'm getting a little bit of throwback vibes, even though we want a different outcome from when I was playing.

I'm getting a little throwback vibes walking in here, and I'm looking around.

Let me tell you something.

This place, you feel this crowd, and you feel these people and you feel these fans.

Okay, so that's being talked about a little bit more, I think, especially with the building being there.

OKC obviously got a lot of credit for their fan base, which I think is warranted, especially from watching.

I haven't been there just from watching.

The Indiana Pacers fans weren't getting a lot of love.

You know, they're like, hey, Oklahoma City, that's a tough place to play.

You know, with the Heatles, whenever you guys came through here, there's a lot of big games.

It was back-to-back-to-back ears, I believe, with Roy and Paul and Lance and everybody.

Those were great times.

This place is a tough place to play.

And these fans take a lot of credit in like, hey, we can make this.

They know ball here.

I think that's a big deal.

Not only the team, but these fans will challenge you.

There's teams where you walk into certain arenas and it's just noise.

You don't even hear it.

Whatever you say.

And there's teams where you walk into the arena and you feel the crowd.

You feel the energy.

You feel it inside you.

You get those little butterflies.

Oh, yeah, bombing.

Yeah.

Feel it deep inside of you.

Yeah.

Yeah, you feel these fans when you walk in here.

So I don't, I don't, you can say what you want to say.

I call them civilians, civilians that have no clue what the hell they talking about.

This is a damn good fan base here in Indiana.

Oh, yeah, and I'm happy that it's being spotlighted.

Same with Oklahoma City.

Now, you talked about it, I believe, TJ McConnell and what he means to the team.

TJ McConnell was on the young man in three as opposed to the old man in three podcast.

And this was his answer.

I can't wait to hear your thoughts, Ud.

I genuinely believe that playing hard is a skill because if it wasn't, everyone would do it.

And, you know, when I came in and like, I'm trying to tell you about this guy, Chris Babcock, he's like,

you need to stand out.

Nobody, he's like, nobody picks up full court.

And you need to make that your calling card.

And so we got in the gym three times a day, got in elite shape, and he's like, You're going to pick everyone up full court, and that's what you're going to hang your hat on.

And it's something that I've created an identity about.

And

if you play really hard and make life hell for the other team,

I mean, the other stuff, like the offense, that shit will fall into place.

But

if you're going and playing to exhaustion, and every time you're out there, like I said, it just gives you a chance to make a roster and to get more minutes.

I mean, I feel like I've made a 10-year NBA career on

just outplaying people.

You have to have skill, obviously, but just making life really difficult on both ends.

UD, you said you were getting chills listening to that.

It's very obvious that that is how TJ plays whenever you watch.

He's a Pittsburgh kid.

There's not a lot of Pittsburgh guys that make it to the NBA.

We're more of a hockey, obviously, football town.

But him carrying that into the NBA finals and being spotlighted 10, 5, and 5, first player ever off the bench to do that in front of his grandpa, who was here

and everything.

But what do you think about TJ McCono and how big of a tone setter is that for the entire locker room?

That is a huge tone setter.

And let me tell you something.

I've never seen a coach have a problem with the hardest worker.

No.

So all you kids at home that's complaining about your coach don't like you, he don't play me because I've never seen a coach have a problem with the hardest worker.

Just be the hardest worker and everything else will figure itself out.

I came into the Miami Heat and Keith Askins pulled me to the side and said, you know how you're going to make this team?

Defend and rebound.

He didn't say nothing about scoring the basketball.

He said defend and rebound.

Guess what I did?

Be the leading rebound in the whole history of the Miami Heat.

Hell yeah.

That's what I did.

There was one play in practice where the ball literally dribbled past.

It was a shot that went up, went to half court.

I chased it, grabbed the ball, Riley blew the whistle and looked at me.

I said, oh shit, I thought I did something wrong.

He said, why didn't you stop?

I said, because the play was still going and I didn't hear a whistle.

He smiled at me and laughed.

Later on that day, I found out I had made the team.

Hell yeah.

Just because I was the only guy that was willing to chase that rebound.

TJ McConnell is the only guy that was willing to pick up 94 feet and turn your ass and pressure you.

He's the only guy that's going to get five steals in however many minutes he got in the game.

And you see the look in his eye when he was yelling to the crowd.

That was some scary shit.

He is that guy.

And you believe those guys.

That shit gave me the chills.

TJ McConnell is a guy.

Not only is he playing against these guys in this series, when he plays against the Miami, he's the guy who I look in the locker room and I tell guys, watch this guy.

We got to watch TJ McConnell because his effort and his energy can overturn the whole game and make that team get energy and effort and play the way he's playing.

AJ, he said playing hard is a skill because if it wasn't, everybody would do that.

That's real in football, too, I think.

It's so real.

I've said for a while, I think durability is a skill as well.

It's something you can work on through.

Like, obviously, there's bad luck and people get injured, no question.

But I think you can work yourself into good enough shape to where you can be a durable player.

But also, when you talk about playing hard, it makes so much sense how he lays it out there.

But yeah, of course, why didn't everybody do this?

Because it's super hard to do.

You have to get your body and your mind 100% ready in the offseason and all throughout the season.

Like, the season starts doesn't mean TJ McConnell's not working.

I'm sure every single day he's still working, continuing with everything.

And I cannot imagine what it's going to be like tonight when he checks into the game for the first time.

The city of Indianapolis.

The city of Indianapolis, Indiana, hearing TJ say that, are like, yeah, yeah, that's our guy.

I got bopping wood.

He's stealing inbound passes.

Like, that is literally who he is.

Yeah, he's a Duquesne Duke.

And then he transferred to Arizona.

He's a Pittsburgh guy, which we love.

But yeah, when you talk about igniting a crowd,

TJ walks onto that court, the place goes crazy because they know exactly what to expect.

That little white fellow right there is about to lose his mind on this court.

And also, he has a mid-range jumper that he kills to his spots every single time.

If you're Oklahoma City, like a lot of the conversation going after game three was like, hey, you got to make adjustments so that Matherin doesn't do that or McConnell doesn't do that or whatever.

And obviously, he's not scoring 20 points, so he's not going to kill you.

But is there anything you can do other than just like, hey, when when this son of a bitch comes in the game make sure he doesn't turn the game on its head because that's exactly i mean the the momentum completely shifted every time he touched the court i mean you can't be caught off guard anymore at this stage of the game you cannot be caught off guard by anything you can't be caught off guard by the adjustments that rick carlis making you can't be caught off guard by tj mcconnell you can't be caught off guard by obie topping on the other end we can't be caught off guard by aaron wiggins at this stage of the game there should be no more caught off guard.

It should be your best version against our best version.

Who's going to impose their will for 48 minutes?

And another thing about TJ McConnell, what we see him do on the basketball court is nothing because how he has to prepare to be able to play that way, to your point, what he has to put his body through in the offseason to be able to play this way and compete this hard.

A lot of guys play hard for two or three minutes at a time and then they slow down.

Conditioning is not how fast you get tired.

It's how fast you recover.

For this guy to be able to play that way, he has to work his ass off in the offseason.

And he's also made a name.

and had this 10-year career.

Like you would think in this day and age, he would be a three indeed guy.

He'll hit a three he will hit a three and they will give him the opportunity

he gets the ball at the three and everybody's like yep like it's like a pickup

go ahead and he he takes his time prove to us that he's gonna

it's all net and we're just gonna keep giving it to him

yo listen i hate that about basketball bro i understand that the percentages say that he's not gonna make this shot but you're just gonna keep giving guys wide open shots it's bad habits in my opinion it's bad habits you talk about the bench and obviously TJ McConnell was a massive piece of that, had a NBA Finals record-breaking night.

There was also another man that punched his ticket into Legacy Forever.

Matherin becomes one of the only five players in finals history to have 25-plus points at the age of 22 or younger.

Look at that list of who's who in the history of basketball.

Matherin, always been a guy, right?

Just kind of looking for the right opportunity, has found one here with the Pacers UD.

Yes, and I mean, I was the one who picked him before that game to be the X Factor coming coming into that game.

Yes, you actually were.

Up until that point, he had not really been Benedict Matherin.

But I'll tell you one thing about this guy.

When the man came in the lead, the man said he ain't scared of Braun.

I played Braun and I beat Braun.

So he is not lacking confidence at all.

So I was sure this guy who has been a third leading scorer throughout the season at some point will have to get it going.

And shout out to Carlow because it's easy to pull him out of this series because he has not had it going early.

But he stayed with him.

He kept going.

And I think that infused confidence into him.

And also you get confidence from your guys in your locker room.

And his mama and sister came from canada to see him play so you got your family coming over can we talk about canada because something in the water uh-oh

basketball like not in the hockey like not hockey

something in there in the similar shape similar like it's something in the milk in in canada man because sga the county

nimhard i mean these guys

Brooks.

Oh, Dylan Brooks.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, damn.

Oh, no.

I mean, Dylan Brooks is a great conversation.

Last year, he was a big part of the convo because he was just pest.

Yeah, this guy's a pest, the pest, the pest.

Does every team have one of those?

And would TJ be considered the guy for the Pacers?

Who's that guy for?

Yes.

Every team has a guy in the locker room that you can't get rid of.

Every team at every sport, even football, there's a guy in every locker room that probably gets no praise, but you cannot get rid of this guy.

If you get rid of this guy, all the shit, it goes to shit.

Every team has a guy in your locker room like that.

TJ McConnell is that guy here.

Obviously, JJ plays that role here.

So they have two guys here, but most teams have one guy in the locker room.

If you lose that one guy, all hell is going to break loose in there.

You've been talking about smacking wood and bopping wood and deep inside of you and all that stuff.

I mean, that's been on you, not on us.

You have the freedom to say whatever you want.

Deep inside, but I'll bop a little wood.

Is there different floor?

Like, is there some floors that are better than others?

And the only reason I'm asking you that is because in the NFL, there's been a lot of conversation over the last few years about the state of play and the state of grass in the fields and turf and everything like that is the wood all basically the same or is there some places that are shite versus some other places the woods all the same if you're saying there's the wood problem in the nba where all these people playing the woods all the same this is crazy

once again this is you

this is not all the wood is not all the same but not all wood is created equal yeah not all wood is crazy

but on basketball courts in the nba

the wood is all the same there should be no excuse about the court okay that you're putting in the hoops Different rims, though, different.

Every now and then, you might have a guy that dunks on the basket in the layup.

It might be a little crooked.

I want to see that.

And we'll adjust that before the game.

We'll tell you straight before the game because most guys, when they get in there, they shoot free throws, they line their right foot up because they're right-handed.

And we can tell you immediately if the basket's off.

So we make that adjustment early.

But there should be no problem with the court when you step on the basketball court.

If you're talking about the basketball court, do you worry about the wrong things?

Okay, so you're looking for excuses.

Let me tell you about what is happening in the NFL.

There was a movement.

It kind of got quieter, but there was certainly a movement about every field having grass field.

Yes.

Okay.

So then the owners talked about how, well, we don't know if the research says that a grass field is actually the safest field.

There's actually a certain type of turf in certain times of the year that might be safer than grass.

It's all a bunch of shit.

Legit, it's a lot of shit.

But right now, what a lot of players are saying, it's weird that when soccer happens here in the United States of America, you're able to put grass pitches down.

And then whenever we're playing for your money, millions and millions of dollars, you're not able to do it.

Here's MetLife.

They put a grass pitch down for the, what is it called, Gumpy?

This is the FIFA World Club Cup Championship Super Duper title.

This is the FIFA Club World Cup.

And how many teams are in this and how long is this happening for?

It goes for a month, 32 teams in it.

Wow.

You'll be there tomorrow, right, down in Miami?

Yeah, for the opener, Miami.

They keep it there for the season.

Egyptian champions.

So J.J.

Watt has actually come out a couple of times and said, because he is in the soccer world.

So he obviously owns Burnley.

I assume he's gone to a lot of these games that come over to America that happen in football stadiums because they want to be able to fill it out.

And then obviously a lot of these soccer players and soccer teams say, we're not playing on turf.

We will only play on grass.

Now, obviously, these NFL stadiums will say yes to the soccer people, even though they have no respect for soccer, most of them.

They will do that.

But whenever the NFL players say, we will only play on grass, they say, it takes a lot.

We don't know if that's the right move.

That is certainly a talking point.

But JJ has come out and said, some of these grass fields on top of the turf fields are shit, too, because they're sliding around.

It's not necessarily the right answer.

That looks beautiful.

I think it adds to the fodder.

But I think what J.J.

Watt mentioned was like, this doesn't doesn't mean that this is a good grass field just because it looks good.

It could be a good grass field.

But it could be a great pitch right there.

Yeah, but it looks nice.

And I believe this one's in Washington, right?

Is that where it is?

Met Life, I mean.

Met Life, okay.

So New York, New Jersey.

In football, like, if you're tackling people on that by October, right?

By the end of October, beginning of November, that's probably garbage.

Because in some of the, like Arizona and Vegas, they take the grass out for the walk.

They take it outside.

Green Bay.

Green Bay has grow lights that roll up and down the field all winter, though.

Yeah, and I wonder what the cost of that is for Green Bay.

I got four of it on.

You've seen those grow lights before.

Behind a full standard.

They're probably massive.

Those grow lights melt the snow off the roof.

Be careful.

Yeah, they do that, and then they also.

They were helping a couple guys I know run a business in college.

Oh, yeah.

A couple of those grow lights.

I don't know if it was Bush or Mid, but I do know those lights were certainly in there.

Yeah, the NFL players will be pitching for grass fields forever.

And every time the soccer players get a grass field in the NFL stadium, NFL players are going to get more pissed.

I mean, that's just how it's going to go.

But my point to that, if the wood that we're playing on in the NBA is detrimental to the health of the players, then I believe that we would have that discussion as players and say that it needs to change.

So I'm fully behind those NFL guys if this is detrimental to their health.

And from what I've watched, because I watch a lot of football,

the Dolphins.

Oh, you guys are great.

You guys are dead.

How you going to do this here?

You can have your opinions.

You guys can have your opinions.

Listen, I'm sitting here proudly saying I'm a Dolphin fan and we ain't won a playoff series in over 20 years right now.

So just let you guys know.

Hey, Gumpy, Gumpy, Gumpy, how do you feel about the loyal to the Soil Dolphins fan like you, Bub?

Yeah, I appreciate it.

24 years, it'll be 25 after this one coming out.

See, we all notice that.

Yeah, they did.

We all know it.

No, he's a Dolphins fan.

He is a diehard Dolphins fan.

Almost quit on him this offseason.

Yeah, I almost started just worrying about it.

I'm not going to quit.

I mean, from a kid,

when they black out the games, I used to sit across from the stadium and you could watch this on the big screen.

It was Joe Robbie Stadium then at that time.

It wasn't pro player, and it was Joe Robbie.

And I used to watch in the great Dan Marino, and you know, my favorite Dolphin player is of all time.

Y'all don't even know him.

Oh, Jensen Jensen.

Jim Crash Jensen.

Okay.

Anybody know Jim Jensen?

No.

He played every damn thing.

He was punter, long snapper, linebacker, tight end, quarterback.

What's his name?

Jim Crash Jensen, number 11.

I fucking played every goddamn position.

He played every goddamn position the dolphins ever had.

Jim Jensen, huh?

Jim Jensen.

Jetson?

Not the Jetson Steve.

Joe Jensen.

Let's go to college, shall we?

Maya Lesnar

has won her first NCAA championship on her first throw in shot put.

Obviously, the daughter of Brock Lesnar out of Colorado State.

We've gotten a chance to learn about this story for the last few years.

She has committed her entire life to throwing shot put.

Now she's an NCAA champion on her first throw.

She beat everybody else.

19.01 meters.

Gumpy, how far is that

in American?

Good question.

I have no idea to be fair.

It's 22 yards?

Yeah, I think a meter is what, two and a half feet?

No, a meter is...

3.3 or 3 feet?

Yeah, it's longer.

It is 3.3.

100 yards is 110 meters.

110 yards is 100 meters.

Yes.

Right?

So that was like 22 yards.

Whatever the case.

She's going to be representing the United States shortly.

Go get us gold medal and congratulations, Maya.

A lot of hard work.

Obviously, for that.

Can't even tell

that she's Brock's daughter.

She would not only throw a shot put further than everybody at that place.

I think, from my understanding of her workouts and everything,

she would also beat the ass of everybody else if she had to.

And

that's what we were looking for, you guys.

I can go for that for sure.

Yeah, congrats.

She should be incredibly pumped.

I know her family has to be jacked up.

Daniel Jones is QB1 currently for the Indianapolis Colts.

Paid him a big deal here to compete with Anthony Richardson.

Anthony Richardson hurts his shoulder.

Here's Shane Steichen talking about Danny Dimes as an Indianapolis cult.

Very pleased with what we got right now.

He's been doing a hell of a job.

Really smart football player.

Learned the offense very quickly, making really good decisions out there through OTAs.

Obviously, we want to carry that over to training camp.

But he's done a really good job.

Great command in the huddle.

Ultimate, bro.

Great Jim Ursay t-shirt there, G-Y-M, for Jim Urce.

It's his birthday today.

Happy birthday, Jim.

We appreciate you.

Also, we need need another one here, Jim.

So let's make sure we're buzzing around, dropping buckets.

Okay, so we bring in a veteran quarterback into a veteran locker room.

We've done that here in Indianapolis like 40 times.

You go all the way back to Phil Rivers, Carson Wentz,

Matt Ryan, you name it.

We've tried this a lot with veteran quarterbacks.

I think the difference with Danny Dimes is his body type and his play style fit perfectly for a Shane Steichen type offense, but he was also like run out of town, like almost down.

Like, I don't want to say no confidence because you have to be confident as quarterback, but it's almost like he has a chance to find a new home.

UD, if you were a vet in that locker room, welcoming in Danny Dimes, who appears to be QB1 right now, as Anthony Richardson's shoulder is injured, what would the messaging be to him, you think?

I mean, this is a new opportunity to have a fresh start and show that you're a winner.

I remember when he was with the Giants and he got paid and they didn't pay Saquon and everybody questioned that move.

This is an opportunity to start over and show that you can lead a team and be that guy that everybody thought you could be.

Also, with him coming into that locker room and playing the position, I don't see that much difference between him and Richardson because they both can make plays with their feet.

They both can throw the ball.

So to me, it's like you get a veteran guy.

Listen to

a veteran guy who's been in the league for a period of time.

So you think he already has the professionalism that Anthony Richardson needs to work on.

So also,

I think it's a win-win for both sides.

You get to groom Anthony Richardson.

You bring him into a situation where you don't have to change the offense much because he can make plays with his feet just like Richardson.

And also, this is a redemption story.

It pays you to be the guy.

You weren't the guy there.

You have a chance to to be the guy here.

UD.

Wow.

Football guy.

Let's go.

Yeah, you Bopwood and all that stuff.

AJ, Danny Dimes big.

Okay.

Huge.

I got a chance to run into him two Sundays ago, maybe the day before Jim Mercy's services.

I got a chance to run into him at this event or whatever.

And he's huge.

And I don't think he gets talked about for his size or athleticism enough.

That's why I enjoyed UD saying like, hey, him and AR play a similar style of football.

They very much do.

Now, granted, two very different people, I think, two very different types of players, but they have a similar skill set.

That's good for Shane Steichen.

I think it's good for the Colts.

He's tough to tackle, and I think Shane's going to kind of empower that out of Danny.

I think Shane loves him.

I mean, watch that, when you see Shane speak about him, he looks like,

he's not putting it on.

He's excited to say good things about Danny Dimes.

But, I mean, Danny Dimes is in the prime situation.

Hey, I want to be the next.

I want to do what Baker Mayfield did.

I want to do what Sam Darnold did.

Let me find a one.

People wrote me off when he said, but I didn't write back.

That's what he missed.

Yeah, the TMTM.

For Danny Dimes, it couldn't be a better situation for him.

It's not a good thing ever when anyone's hurt.

Anthony Richardson's shoulder.

We don't know how it's going to be, but it's giving an opportunity to Danny Dimes.

So

with the offense, it's beautiful.

It's given an opportunity for the Colts to see Danny Dimes as the guy.

You know, like in the meeting now, because AR is injured, Danny Dims.

That's the thing, too.

Like, people don't understand.

I think there needs to be a clearly defined role of who the quarterback is.

When there's two of them, it's weird for everybody.

Coaches, players, players need to know: hey, we all know, like, if you're on a football team, we go as our quarterback goes.

If our quarterback sucks, we might be average.

We're not going to be good.

And if our quarterback's great, we can win the Super Bowl.

And that's kind of how it works.

Yeah, and there's something about Danny Dimes, I don't know what it is, but that's 17 on him.

Just reminds me of Puzzle Man.

I don't know what it is, but it really, he's got some mobile Peyton Manning in him.

Role definition, you just mentioned.

Archmith.

Does that happen in the NBA where it's kind of weird?

How can you compare it to two type of quarterbacks?

Is it like two shooters?

That was a question I was going to ask for AJ here because in the NBA we have road definition and it is it immediately.

And I think the great thing about the OKC Thunder is they understand the pecking order.

As great as Chet is, as great as Jalen is, they understand that SGA is the big dog.

As great as we were with the big three with CB and, you know, LeBron, I'm CB and D-Wade, and we had the little 12, we understand that LeBron was the big dog.

So you have to have road definition.

Even when we get to the playoffs with the Miami Heat, Spo would call us in the office and we would sign a separate contract to commit to the things that we needed to do to win that specific series.

This is the sting of ours.

This is not a real contract, but do you agree to be the sixth man?

Because it was times where in this series against Indiana, Shane Battier started and I would come off the bench.

But in other series, I would start and he would come off the bench.

And I had to agree to that in the contract with Spo.

Do you agree to enjoy somebody else's success and be ready when your number is called?

Yeah, that's all that kind of shit.

Quick.

Yeah,

he's getting ahead of that.

He's getting ahead of any conversations.

He's setting the tone.

He's setting the precedent on, hey, here is your role.

Are you willing to be excited for other people's success?

And if not, don't come.

But like, anytime we'll say some things

or a coach will say some things in a press conference and they're saying that to get the team.

Like, I like that our team is a hard-working team.

Like, who knows if our team's a hard-working team?

But you're letting the world know and you're letting players know, like, hey, we're expecting you to be a hard-working team.

Like, I enjoy the fact that, like, hey, are you willing to be a guy who's happy for somebody else?

That's a coach telling you, like, hey, this is what I need out of you.

This is what we're going to need this year to have success.

You obviously were able to do that.

I've never heard of that.

And so clearly defined roles.

If that's what leadership is.

And if you don't sign up, this is what you are.

That is frowned upon from your teammates.

I would have asked you.

Well, if you sign, you're probably.

Be the guy that don't sign up.

Watch what happened when your ass.

come in that locker room.

I'm the guy that don't.

You're probably.

Yeah, yeah, it's out of here.

Yeah, I would have said that.

What's the superstar saying?

Like, so say

you're the guy on that team.

You're LeBron.

What kind of contract does he sign then?

Are you willing to lead this franchise?

Yeah, like, this is all on you.

Yes.

I mean, that's an easy thing.

You can't lead by example.

Oh, my God.

It would be times on the court, guys, where Sebron would tell us, don't even look at Spo.

Listen to me.

Really?

And it's no disrespect to Spo because we understand how a great leader of the story.

Spo had to like Stra is.

Spo had to like he was taking ownership of him.

He loves when guys police themselves.

Hold on.

This is a genius style of leadership.

This is like a great way to just set like.

You can't complain later because, hey, look,

you know the deal going in, but

the football team should do this.

Like, to a wide receiver, like, hey, do you, will you sign a contract saying you're going to be the best third option as a wide out this year?

Will you block for our run game?

Will you do that?

Like, that immediately sets.

Bad football coaches keep you in the dark.

Bad football coaches don't tell you, like, all of a sudden, like, wait, why am I not in on third down anymore?

All of a sudden, there's a game.

Like, I've heard people talk about that.

That's genius.

I mean, I was not happy to not be starting.

i'm not happy but you weren't surprised by it yeah and guess what i'm gonna sign that damn contract and be ready when it's my time do you think that that's why a lot of teams are moving away from like the big three because that was so you know that was so hot for a couple years there but because it's harder to clearly define roles when you have like three alphas and it's like we don't know who i mean obviously in your situation like lebron is lebron but in a lot of these other situations you get the big three and it's like well one night it could be his night one night it could be his night is it a lot harder to define roles when you have a situation like that?

I think it's a lot harder because the financial aspect of it.

Now, when I was playing, you could put together a big three and put quality around it and get what you want.

I don't think you can do that now.

You look at the OKC team right now.

SGA is going to get his bag.

Is Chet going to be willing to take a pay cut?

Are Jalen going to take a pay cut?

Because everybody took a pay cut when we were playing.

LeBron took a pay cut.

Dwayne took a pay cut.

Chris Bosch took a pay cut.

I took a pay cut.

We all took pay cuts.

So now you look at the financial side of it.

Are these guys going to be willing to take pay cuts to bring in the pieces that you need to actually be championship contenders?

And I think that's where it gets a little tricky.

Both of these teams.

don't have the luxury tax.

First time ever, I think, since the luxury tax was put into place that these two teams don't have it and they're in the NBA finals.

So obviously the luxury tax is a salary cap.

And if you go above it, you just have to pay a luxury tax.

We talked to Ishbia, the owner of the Phoenix Suns, and obviously it has not worked out.

But he said, like, I'm paying everybody because my fans don't care about me having to pay a luxury tax.

Here, with the way they've been able to construct the rosters, they've been able to get dogs at cheaper prices.

But when you have success,

those dogs are going to get paid.

Yeah,

everybody's going to get paid.

So you have to be able to redo that.

Like the Pacers, if they pay Miles Turner, they're going to get into luxury tax, which means it's going to cut into some other people.

It's like with the Oklahoma City Thunder, obviously SGA, because he's been there.

His Super Max is worth more than everybody else's.

It's like 300.

Success almost causes a lot more problems for your roster construction, but obviously neither of these teams care about that.

Yeah, Matherin's going to get $100 million somewhere, without a doubt.

We kind of had that conversation, I think it was yesterday or the day before, like Benedict Matherin's starting for

20 teams

in the NBA.

He's probably the Wizards, yeah, one of their all-time leading scorers if he starts there and just plays there the entire time.

But also back to that heat thing, kind of awesome for Spolstra to let LeBron be like, hey, don't listen to the head coach.

I'm LeBron.

I'm the franchise player.

Listen to what I have to say.

And that's kind of why this series is awesome, is because both these coaches are so far ahead.

Like, tonight, will it be OKC's adjustments early and then Carlisle has to make adjustments after the first or second quarter?

Or how does that go in-game?

Because obviously, like you mentioned, SGA six turnovers.

They're doubling him when he goes to the ISO in the corner.

But how do the adjustments?

adjustments start tonight and then you know continue to happen throughout the game.

I think the adjustments start first with OKC because they were the losing team.

So I think the losing team is more,

they need to make more adjustments.

They need to make them sooner.

But I think where Carlisle has thrived and where he has won is the end game adjustments.

The adjustments he makes in the game.

When you look at game one, he took five guys out and put five guys in in the fourth quarter when they were down.

They were down and it was around 930, 940 in the game.

They went on a 15 to 4 run after that.

Then in this game, he comes in, he goes small.

Then he comes back with Miles Turner, who hadn't been playing well.

and look what he did defensively you what he brought to that team so it's just the in-game adjustments that i think tricky ricky rick carlisle has been making that has pushed him over the hump so i think more so in-game adjustments for indiana and before the game the adjustments to start the game will be okay

it can get icky sticky with tricky ricky

it can really uh obviously we have the nba finals tonight here in indianapolis indiana that game will be played on abc at 830.

I assume UD will be on the pregame coverage.

We can't wait to watch you there.

You've been crushing it here for us.

We appreciate you taking time out of your life to join us.

Obviously, the NHL Stanley Cup finals will continue tomorrow night.

There is obviously the FIFA World Cup Club thing, super duper tournament happening all around the United States of America.

There is also a major taking place in Plumboro, Pennsylvania, the eastern hills of Pittsburgh in the U.S.

Open.

To give us a little bit of an update on that, let's go to one half of the hammer.

Down

Cowboys AP Tone.

Yes, the U.S.

Open, the 125th U.S.

Open at Oakmont Country Club in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, started yesterday.

As of the last chance I got to check, which was about 20 minutes ago, there was not a top 10 player in the world who was under par.

So Oakmont is showing her teeth.

The leading score yesterday was minus four.

She hurt her.

Huh?

Her teeth.

Yeah, she's showing her teeth.

Like a fish.

No, I mean, the golf course.

A boat.

Oakmon happens to be a her.

I'm a boat.

I don't know what to tell you.

Yesterday.

She is beautiful.

She is beautiful.

She is beautiful.

She is tough.

She is expensive, too.

A lot of us from Plum never got to play at the Oakmont Country.

Oh, no, we did not.

She is prassy.

She's prassy.

Unless you were a caddy there, you got to play for free on Mondays after 6 p.m.

As many holes as you could get in.

Wow.

And if you're a caddy there, you would hold on.

You don't have to have experience.

I caddied there for a summer.

Okay.

I wasn't mature enough, but just for a summer, I was...

If you were a caddy at Okama, you would want to hold on to the job because obviously the tips are big because playing there, you have to have a lot of money.

So obviously the people with a lot of money, you would assume normally, although there has been some assholes in the past, I guess, that have a lot of money that don't tip well.

We don't need to dive into those stories at all.

But at Oakmont Country Club, you know, the tips are big.

You're in at Oakmont.

It's like a good job.

Yep.

Okay.

If you get it, you should

hold on to that job.

Tone decided to have a little bit of a crack.

That's a night.

I slept in, missed the tea time.

They don't have that there.

I'm done.

You're out.

It's kind of how that works.

Hey, great night, Tony.

It wasn't worth it.

It wasn't worth it.

Yeah, we know.

We had a lot more of those nights.

But no, back to back to Oakmont.

The top 60 and ties make the cut.

The projected cut line right now is right around

plus five.

So I wanted to highlight kind of some of the big names that are around that number.

Rahm is at plus three right now.

Bryson is at plus three right now.

He's going to start his day.

Scotty's at plus four, so he's right around that line.

Rory, plus four.

He's got to start his day.

Speeth is at five over.

DJ's at plus nine.

He's probably not going to make the cut.

He won the last time the open was at Oakmont.

And JT is at a plus 10.

So that's something as far as big names are doing right now.

JJ Spawn was a story from day one.

He shot a 31 on the front nine, which is a record for the U.S.

Open.

Right here, you can see his kind of story of the day.

On 15, he makes a par save.

He was 18 of 19 inside 20 putting yesterday.

He was huge.

He was four.

He gained four strokes putting yesterday, which was the best in the field.

No bogeys for his round yesterday.

It was the second time.

That's happened at the last two Oakmonts.

His putting has been unbelievable.

He just teed off a little bit ago.

He parrot on one.

Let's go to Victor Hovlin.

He's the other, one of the other big names in the top 10.

This is him on 17, his eighth hole of the day.

He chips in for Eagle to go three.

That's still good.

And that's God.

So Vic Hovlin moved to three under there.

I believe he finished his day at minus two, so he is still in the top five.

Then the other guy who's lurking around the top 10, a future U.S.

Open winner, or sorry,

past U.S.

Open winner.

Brooks Kepka in a tough spot there, chips it over the sand.

What's he going to do here in this tough spot from the fringe?

Bertie Putt here.

Don't.

Birdie Chip.

Birdie Chip.

Oh, that's greasy.

That's greasy.

Brooks nails it to go three under there.

He had a little bit of a rough stretch.

He dropped down to minus one for the days, but he's still in the top 10.

Those are the big names right around there now.

Okay, you do you a golfer down there in South Florida?

I'm consistently inconsistent, but I'm a Brooks guy.

He came to a couple of Miami Heath games, and he lives in Boker, so Panthers fan.

He's a big Panthers fan.

Maybe they should have him bang the drum instead of

obviously you got big hockey stick clubs.

Clubs are probably taller than me.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I got custom clubs.

I got custom clubs, but

I got work to do, man.

I'm still in the phase where my guy be having me do this shit.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm still doing that shit right now.

So I got work.

I got work to do.

I probably ain't on y'all level yet.

No, no, no.

I quit.

I got

before I did it.

So I don't feel bad if I quit because I'm this damn close.

We got my rich friends keep telling me.

I'm like, yeah, we don't live down in Miami.

Yeah, we don't mind going out there and burning through some trees,

maybe having a little bit of a time out there.

So I ain't the only one that likes to do that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Also, there's a former, there's a current first sergeant who is, what do you say he does out on the golf course?

Booms.

I believe he says.

Yeah, what micro-dosing?

Yeah, he said, they tell me it's micro-dosing.

I don't know what it means, but I know I like golf more.

I got friends, my rich friends, Dwayne, they won't play with me because they say by the time we get the whole 18, they can't see.

I'm like, okay, what's the problem?

Yeah, exactly.

That's the point of playing.

Dwayne Wade, I think, hit a hole in one out at Pebble Beach.

He brings that shit up every time.

I was like, man.

We'd like to give a thank you as we head out here on ESPN and we continue digitally on YouTube, ESPN Plus, Disney Plus, and TikTok Live.

Big shout out to UD for something, buddy.

Hell yeah.

Thank you.

Appreciate you, dude.

You are amazing.

We can't wait for tonight's game 8:30 on ABC NBA Finals game four.

Obviously, U.S.

Open this weekend, Stanley Cup finals this weekend.

We'll be back for an overreaction Monday.

Shout out to the entire crew that moved this set inside from outside in less than 12 hours.

Thank you to all the workers here.

You guys did a fantastic job.

Absolute legends.

And we'll be back after a massive weekend of sports.

We'll see you on Monday.

Be a friend, tell a friend something nice.

It might change their life.

We're in this thing together.

Never forget it.

Pacers in five, baby.

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Okay, we're still alive.

We're still live.

People are still watching.

Okay.

We have had people that have joined the show.

They thought as soon as it was over, they were in a clear.

They bury somebody immediately.

Now, if you would like to bury somebody now, is a good time to do that.

No.

But just know, if you do that, people will hear you.

No, I ain't burying nobody.

Let's go around a horn here.

Let's go around a horn here.

UD, you will go last.

Okay.

Prediction of tonight's game and score.

We'll go to one half of the hammer.

Cowboys, AP tone, your thoughts?

I think it's going to be Halle on a game-winning.

So he's had game-winning layup, pull-up, three-pointer.

I think he's going to get to the bucket again.

Pacers by one tonight.

Okay, who wins the U.S.

Open?

Ooh, I think right now,

let's go call him Colin Morakawa.

Colin Morakawa ends up winning.

Okay, no highlights or talk about him in your entire region.

He's even right now.

You know, he's lurking.

Okay, Morakawa potentially winning the U.S.

Open in Tone's eyes.

And he has Halley getting a one-point win for the Pacers in game four.

They would go up 3-1 in a series.

Wow.

UD basically said that's a winner for the Pacers.

Ty Schmidt, don't know if you'll be in the arena tonight.

Still going to try to convince you to do that.

How do you see tonight going?

Yeah, we'll see.

Still think about having one tonight.

Maybe have one here.

You should think about it.

I should think about having one.

I know.

I know.

Last game in front of game three, I said I thought that Tyrese was going to have a triple-double.

I was off by one rebound.

Pretty close.

So I'm feeling the predictive juices are pretty good right now.

I like the Pacers to win 110 to 106 tonight.

Wow.

Close affair.

But I think Tyrese, and UD mentioned it, Miles Turner didn't play particularly well last game, except for defensively down the stretch.

I think he's going to have a big bounce back night.

So I like the Pacers.

I don't think the Pacers have played that great.

I don't think so either.

Any game.

They shot like 30% last night.

Now, granted, that might be OKC's defense.

Like OKC does that to teams, but I think if I'm the Pacers, I'm thinking to myself, we have yet to play a good game and we're up 2-1.

Now, OKC makes you not play a great game.

I think that's kind of their thing.

And then OKC thinks they gave away that first game.

We should be up 2-1.

Both games at home, we should have won.

So both teams obviously feel that they should be playing better.

Connor, how do you feel if tonight goes?

Oh, man.

I mean, I am a believer now.

Start thinking about it.

I really.

Are you thinking about having one, David?

I really need it to be.

I'm actually, I'm not really thinking about it anymore.

I will be having one.

There isn't really a concern or a cause to not have one.

It's Friday.

It's Jim Mercy's birthday.

It's the first time the NBA Finals.

I've been in Indianapolis in 25 years.

So I will be having one.

I'll be having, you know, I could almost argue I'll be having two.

Okay.

To 20.

To 20 to 50.

So, sure, I will be having one.

I really want to say the Pacers are going to win.

I really want to.

And I believe in the Pacers to win the series now.

What's that sound like?

It's just going to be,

it's just hard to imagine the Pacers winning again.

I didn't think they were going to win game three.

So

it's nice that we sit here at Pacers 2-1.

But because I can't see it is why I think it's going to happen.

I still think the Pacers are winning.

Okay.

Okay.

The Pacers in six, three, one.

Because this is game seven.

They win tonight.

They're going to win it.

They win tonight.

Go to OKC, lose, come back home, win it on a Thursday night, Indianapolis.

And we hoist.

We hoist.

As we hoist.

The mayor, Hogsett, anybody, whoever he has.

I haven't seen him.

Whoever has authority cancels everything for next Friday.

It's a party in the streets.

Does Hawkset have authority?

That's a great question.

How is Hawkset doing?

Has anybody seen him in years?

Streets look good.

They actually made a one-way street, a two-way street now.

And it has made my life significant.

Thank you, Hawkset.

I'm ready to go, Hawkset.

It actually has.

Get around the city.

Big weekend.

AJ, you're a big basketball.

And Luvig Oberg was.

Oh, you got Olberg?

Yeah.

Okay.

Little bonus.

Little bonus.

I told you, I'm having two.

I'm having 20.

I'm not just thinking about having one.

I am having one and something after.

You're having ones.

I'm having ones.

I think, as Conman said, this is game seven.

And I heard someone on the elevator when I was coming up here say this is like this is basically a game seven.

I think Pacers won 118, 114 tonight.

I think Brooks Kepka finds a way.

What's he at?

Is he even right now?

Yes.

I think think Brooks finds a way to win.

I listened to him talk about his coach went crazy on him on Monday of this week and started yelling at him to wear even Justin Tommy.

Oh, yeah, in the ship.

He came and asked him if he was okay because it was that, like, it was a pretty serious conversation he had.

And Brooks said I needed that.

So I would take Brooks, even though I continue to, I don't understand why they keep mowing the rough with all the push mowers at Oakmont.

I don't know if you guys want to.

I have to.

What do you want?

A tire marks?

You want tire marks?

You want just a bunch of stuff?

Yeah, it's like every other golf course on the planet.

Oh, wow.

There's Augusta.

It's not every other.

I know it's not.

It's Augusta of Pittsburgh.

Why do we got to have 75 dudes walking in single file next to you?

I'm sorry, you don't like guys having jobs?

Yeah, we can't talk to Tony anymore.

That's a good point.

Someone wants to outsource.

Wow, maybe robots will do it next.

I think Brooks wins it.

I think Brooks wins at probably 60.

Okay, that's that.

How about the game tonight you got to pick up?

118, 114 Pacers.

118, 114.

Oh, yeah.

Okay, I like that we're dancing up in the high numbers who are running out there.

And the man whose opinion matters more than anybody else's.

If you'd like to give us a U.S.

Open prediction, you can certainly do that.

And in the NHL Stanley Cup finals after your Panthers kind of blue, they can do a prediction there if you'd like.

I am going to give you a U.S.

Open prediction.

I am going to say Brooks.

Okay.

I'm going to go with him.

I got a chance to meet him when he came to the Miami Heat game through Kyle Lowry.

So I'm a huge fan of his.

So I'm a loyal guy.

You guys know this.

So I'm staying with the guy that I know.

I'm loyalty.

And just hear me out, guys, here.

I had this series going seven games, and I always had Indiana winning.

So they always say that the playoffs doesn't start till both teams win a game on the other team's home court.

OKC has not won a game on this home court yet.

I think tonight they will get one.

They will get one.

Sure.

But this would not stop the Indiana Pacers because the confidence that these guys have, they believe they can go anywhere.

anytime and beat anybody.

I believe they're going to have to hoist that trophy up away from here.

So you guys might have to take the party in the streets to OKC.

Okay.

I mean, not a bad idea.

I believe they will hoist that trophy up game seven in Oklahoma City.

So tonight, I believe that OKC gets it, not because I believe they're better, because they have to.

Yeah.

I just gave you the statistics on going down 3-1.

It's over.

I believe they have to, and I believe they would come out and they would play with that desperation.

And once again, Oklahoma City hasn't lost back-to-back games since December of 2024.

Yeah.

That's a long time ago.

So many things have happened since.

The Philadelphia Eagles have won a Super Bowl since then.

Let alone alone everything else that has happened in the world.

Yeah, I was just saying.

The Florida Gators won another national championship in basketball.

That's true.

Congrats are Florida Gators.

I think the Florida Gators are actually going to be a good football team.

I think they got a chance.

Big fan of love Gators.

I like Florida Gators.

I won't go big.

You ever eat anything fancy?

You ever eat any Gator?

Yeah.

What type of Gator is your favorite guy?

Well, if you look on my Instagram page, I went Gator hunting with Birdman.

Whoa, oh, shut up.

Wow.

Yeah, me and Bird.

Yeah, me and my guy, Bird.

That's my Bash, bro.

So you like wrestling.

Me and Bird was thinking about being like tag team wrestlers after we retired.

We'd love to to have you.

Yeah, me and Bird was going to be like tag team, and we were going to call ourselves the Bash Brothers.

You guys remember the Mighty Ducks?

They had the Bash Bros.

We called ourselves the Bash Bros.

I think Bash Brothers second, you guys maybe be the Bang Bros.

No, no, no.

Bang Brothers in Miami.

Yeah, down there in Miami.

Miami.

The Bob Bros?

Yeah, the Boppin Bros.

You guys drive a bus into the ring?

Bang, nice.

I don't know if my wife wants me to be the Boppin Bros.

I guess we'll just have to do Bang Bros.

I guess that's what you guys have to do.

You shot that thing right in the head?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Was it tied up?

Because I've heard there's been some.

I thought I liked to watch the show on TV.

Ooh, ooh, them.

I thought we was going to get him back to the boat and put some chicken out there and shoot him and then just pull him into the boat.

So what I realized is how we did it in Florida is we ride around on the I live near the Everglades.

I live in Southwest Range, so I'm close to the Everglades.

So we ride around on the back of a pickup truck.

It's a lot of lakes.

You can see the Gator's head sticking up from the lake.

Oh, yeah.

So now you're in the back of the pickup trade.

You got to take aim.

The only way you know is you got them is if they go belly up.

Now the problem is in the state of Florida, you have to go get it.

Indeed,

I didn't know that.

I was like, damn that, I don't want to go.

Their friends are probably around.

The guy that took us was like, no, it's state and law.

If you kill it, you have to go get it.

So now I have to go in the water and pull it.

And I'm about this high in the water.

Oh, shit.

Oh, that was shit.

Look at that monster.

Which one killed who?

What's the bang bro?

You know, I killed the baby because we had been riding for an hour and a half and I was just ready to kill something.

Okay.

Bird rated three hours.

Bird waited three hours for that big boy right there.

and he got him.

So I got the baby, but damn that.

I killed the gator.

Did you make some boots or what did you guys do?

Yeah, I skinned it and yeah, I made it.

You guys eat them?

You guys eat it?

Yeah.

What you have, little gator nuts?

Little gator bites.

Was that fried gator?

Raw gator.

They say it tastes like chicken.

They ain't lying.

Yeah, gator on a stick for her.

Yeah, maybe two gators on a straight.

Maybe baby gator on a stick.

All right.

Well, I'm a non-biased journalist, so I'm not going to do a prediction.

Oh, sure.

Yeah, you should have been able to.

But you just got the shirt on.

That says.

Yeah, Pacers by by 30 tonight.

Okay, we're going to get the hell out of here.

Have an incredible weekend.

Sports are going to show up for us all weekend.

Thank God for that.

We're back on Monday.

Hopefully, by that time.

Yeah, we'll start.

We can start thinking about it.

Yeah, we can start thinking about having one.

We're going to know more.

Start priming that pump.

We can go right down the main drag, right?

What's the pump?

Priming that pump getting ready to celebrate.

The pump.

Oh, he's priming the pump.

Yeah, it's priming the pump.

Like you're priming the pump, like you're starting a lawnmower or something.

Okay, oh, right.

I'll be there at an OKC partying with you guys.

You're going to look over your shoulder.

You're You're going to be like, God damn.

Yeah, we did it.

She made it, Jimmy.

To be clear,

UD, much like every other basketball player we've met, other than TJ McConnell, I guess, which is why his story is so interesting, we won't be looking over our shoulder.

We'll be doing...

You guys are so tall.

Great point.

So tall.

Great point.

So athletic.

And

you have been so cool to us.

We appreciate the hell out of you.

You look amazing.

Once again, I don't know how many seats you have, but it's fantastic.

And also, the entire internet said, tell UD, thanks for using this platform to recruit Kevin Durant to the Miami Heat.

I did no such thing.

Well, that's what the internet's saying.

And they're never wrong.

Don't listen to the internet.

Thank you.

Perception is not reality.

You guys know that.

Sometimes.

Reality is

reality.

Maybe Kevin Durant's a member of the Heat.

He'd look good.

Maybe he comes to the Pacers.

Maybe.

Wherever he goes, he's going to be Kevin Durant.

That's one thing we do know.

He likes the internet.

Straight bucket.

He likes the internet.

Straight bucket.

bucket he will dance in the internet yes he will oh yeah he get he get them he get them fingers going i'm gonna let you know how you feel i love it same with yannis i love it yeah how about yannis being like as soon as shams talks

sick of this i'm gonna kill this guy

all right thank you all for hanging out with us this week we're incredibly lucky shout out to the pacers taking care of us allowing us to do this from here uh once again shout out to the production crew that put this whole thing together and uh shout out to sports for being the greatest thing that's ever existed we do appreciate you all so much for allowing us to do this for a living Be a friend.

Tell a friend something nice about changing your life.

We're in this thing together.

Team on me,

UD, anything final things to say before a great weekend?

Go Panthers.

And lay off Bobby over there.

Bobby had a couple mishaps in the go, but he'll be all right.

Bobby, I got you.

Paul Maurice, you a hell of a coach.

Looked bad last night.

Don't do that.

Think about having one here.

We should think about having one.

Maybe think about having one.

Everybody should think about having one.

Sure.

We have an opportunity to have one.

You got to have one.

Have one.

Because life, we don't know when it's going to end.

Oh.

So if you have time right now to have one, maybe

without having one.

Take your opportunity.

Team on three.

One, two, three.

Team.

Goodbye.

Thank you, UD.

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