Origin Story of Brian Scalabrine’s “White Mamba” Nickname, Rory’s Masters Moment & NIL Drama

Speaker 1 I don't know what it was like for you, but man, I had a job and I got like paid a thousand bucks. Dude, I thought I was the richest dude in the world.

Speaker 1 Can you imagine having a million dollars and going to college? What is that even like?

Speaker 2 All right, welcome to another episode of Throwbacks. Please, if you can, follow us at Throwback Show.
Email us feedback at throwbackshow.com. Don't forget to subscribe to all our YouTube channels.

Speaker 2 Everything's just Throwback Show, you should know at this point.

Speaker 1 Maddie Ice, how's everybody today, bro?

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 well,

Speaker 1 I got to be honest with you, dude. My neck is killing.
My neck the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 1 Well, pulled a calf muscle last week playing hoops with you when you were in town.

Speaker 1 Still knotted up, feeling better. My neck has been bothering me for whatever reason.
So I've been trying. I saw a chiropractor for that last week.

Speaker 1 I'm sitting here and I'm just going to vent a little bit. And all my guys out there listening are going to understand this.
I don't have a lot of,

Speaker 1 you know, quiet places in my house, obviously, right? Like I have dogs. I have four kids,

Speaker 1 which is fine. You know, I don't have my own office.

Speaker 1 My wife has the office.

Speaker 1 You know, so you've seen my setup, right? Right. My pod and kind of my space.
I'm looking around this room right now, dude.

Speaker 1 And it's just honestly, it's starting to piss me off a little bit because I know that maybe you can't relate because you got a 9,000 square foot house in Ohio and you got so much space.

Speaker 1 But the, but my guys out there, like my, my, my garage has turned into my wife's storage space.

Speaker 1 And I always knew that, but like, I have a couch, I have a TV, I have a Peloton, I have all sorts of in here, my golf clubs that I'm looking at that have been used once in a year.

Speaker 1 But now I have, I have literally a stack of outdoor furniture chairs right in front of me. I have my wife's middle of her van.
By the way, yes, she has a minivan. The middle seat of Josie has minivan?

Speaker 1 Oh, dude, Kia Carnival. Shout out, Kia Carnival.
Hey, black on black. It's actually pretty.
Wow. Wow.

Speaker 2 Dude, I'm just, I'm, I'm,

Speaker 1 you know, I don't know what I am. I'm a little.

Speaker 2 You need some space. You need some space of your own.

Speaker 1 I, I enjoy it a little bit because it's like cluttery and it's like kind of dirty. I walk in here barefoot.
My feet turn black, you know, that type. It's like my spot.

Speaker 1 But it's just becoming like, I'm getting, I'm becoming my wife a little bit and i know you're like this in the fact that like i do like a little i do i do like things to be a little neater you know what i mean like in my workplace i like to come out here have a little coffee turn on the tv get ready to do throwbacks with you maybe rip some games and it just doesn't feel like my space you're a man without a country right now i've been there you remember i i lived in new york so i don't have my further what do i do

Speaker 1 uh

Speaker 2 You have a couple of options. Option one is you just, it's spring.

Speaker 1 Spring clean the shit out.

Speaker 2 Like just take a day and say, I'm not working out today. I'm not doing anything today, but I am just getting this garage in an order that I could see fit.
Or option two, sell the house.

Speaker 2 Sell the whole thing, start over, bro.

Speaker 1 Sell the whole thing.

Speaker 2 Sell the whole thing, start over.

Speaker 2 That's so funny.

Speaker 1 But listen, first off, by the way, I'm good.

Speaker 2 You are good. This is the honestly, everyone listening now.
I know Matt pretty much almost a year at this point.

Speaker 1 No, yeah, no, over a year now.

Speaker 2 And this is probably the most heated for a non-sports thing I've ever heard.

Speaker 1 I don't get, I don't, you know, yeah, I don't get that.

Speaker 2 You're calm.

Speaker 1 I'm very calm. I'm very West Coast personality.

Speaker 1 It fits me. I'm not heated.
I'm not. I'm just, I'm getting to the point where like, you know, this, like you wake up, you're, my, my neck doesn't feel good.
It's kind of pissing me off.

Speaker 1 My calf, like I start my rec league here in a couple of weeks and I need to be 100%. You guys are just looking at the spot.
And this was my spot. Like I put a lot of effort into making this spot.

Speaker 1 And now I'm just, I'm battling, dude. I'm battling the, I'm battling just all of the that's just, you know, coming my way, dude.
Like, there's just a lot of stuff that I can't control.

Speaker 2 And pack up and move to the Midwest.

Speaker 1 You could own probably your own city. I'd rather sleep in the fleas in my house than move to the Midwest.

Speaker 2 So you said you have rec league starting up. You know who after you brought me to play?

Speaker 1 Shout out Jason McIntyre.

Speaker 2 Yeah, after you brought me to play, do you know who, and I'm so happy for our guest today because this is someone I would want to go into a rec league war with.

Speaker 2 Like, if we were picking up a former athlete who still wants to compete, our guest today, I don't know what, I'm going to say his name and then you got to help me.

Speaker 1 What do we call him?

Speaker 2 Brian Scalabrini, everybody. The white Mamba.

Speaker 1 I can't wait to talk white basketball players with him.

Speaker 2 What are you going to call him? Because you guys have like the whole USC connection. You can call him Scal.
You can call him Mamba.

Speaker 1 I think I call him Brian. I think I'm going to call him Brian.
I call like no one calls him Brian. No, exactly.
That's why we're going to call him Brian.

Speaker 1 We'll see if he responds.

Speaker 2 If those of you who are going to be able to do that,

Speaker 1 I might call him Mamba.

Speaker 2 His one-on-one content against George the Messiah, West Ford Street in New York City was A1, top of the line. You must watch.
By the way, is that guy?

Speaker 1 Kitty good?

Speaker 2 No. I mean, like, he throws like those hooks.

Speaker 1 Like, I see him all over. Like, obviously, I get.

Speaker 1 I get what they're trying to do. Like, it's show.

Speaker 2 Like, is he good enough to beat Brian Scalabrini? No. Is he good enough to beat you? No.
Can he maybe, because he's got about 40 pounds.

Speaker 2 Can he back me down and hit a hook shot? Probably.

Speaker 1 I've played with guys like that. They just back you down and they just throw the behind the scenes.
Yeah, I'm making it sure.

Speaker 2 But he's a really great personality and he's built something really cool.

Speaker 2 He called out Scal because I feel like anytime any YouTube creator or any pickup player thinks, hey, what NBA player could you have gotten after? They picked Brian Scalabrini and he had to go.

Speaker 2 He had to go stand up for himself. And boy, did he.

Speaker 1 He did.

Speaker 1 He talked too. I love him.
Obviously, I mean, Celtics, NBA, there's a lot of stuff going on right now this week, a lot of play-in games.

Speaker 1 Playoffs kicking off, playoffs are starting some great matchups. Scow went to SC.
He was a part of a couple really great USC basketball teams right before I got there.

Speaker 1 Also, just, yeah, I mean, just he's got great stories. I think the guy is awesome.
He played on a couple NBA Finals teams, played with some Hall of Famers. Yeah, we'll get some playoff previews.

Speaker 1 There's a bunch of man. I can play on preview stuff with him too.

Speaker 2 And then

Speaker 2 I want to tell you my proud

Speaker 2 because you know my almost six-year-old super into Knicks basketball. I think he now can talk about eight players, pretty much the whole Thibodeau rotation.

Speaker 1 That's crazy.

Speaker 2 He gets mad when campaign comes in the game.

Speaker 2 He's starting to get it. And while I was leaving LA, and then once I got home, he was like, Dad, so I was teaching him all about the playoffs.
And he's like, so when do the Knicks play?

Speaker 2 And they announced it. And I said, that's all that.
Saturday, 6 p.m. And he's like, I don't really know when that is because this is when there's like, he loses concept of days and times.

Speaker 2 Like, could you put it in our family calendar? Because I cannot miss that game. We're watching it, right? And like one lone tear

Speaker 2 in the corner of my eye.

Speaker 1 You're doing your job as a father.

Speaker 2 Bri was like, you don't put anything in the family calendar ever. You always try to just memorize it.
And this is the one thing you put with alerts.

Speaker 2 I have, I have 15-minute countdown alerts in our family calendar because the playoffs are starting.

Speaker 1 That kid's going to be the general manager of the New York Knicks one day. And you're going to be,

Speaker 1 leaving voicemails like your mom leaves you to him.

Speaker 2 Well, it's funny because I took him to the game and I called,

Speaker 2 I said it was like a work trip. So he thinks I work for the Knicks.
He thinks throwbacks is like the number one Knicks podcast.

Speaker 2 And we, you know, I feel like no one even lets me really talk about the Knicks in the way.

Speaker 1 We talk about the Knicks during the World Series. We talk about the Knicks in the offseason.
We'll talk about the Knicks when they go on vacation after the first round.

Speaker 1 I mean, that's what we're going to do.

Speaker 2 Whoa, is that a pick?

Speaker 1 Are you picking the Pistons? No, I'm not picking the Pistons. But they're going to, I mean, they play Boston round two, bro.
They're going to get, they're going to get smoked.

Speaker 2 We're going to ask the white mamba all.

Speaker 1 You can't sit here and tell me right now, if,

Speaker 1 if you get through Detroit, which I, I, I, I, you made that a very big if just now. No, I'm just saying.
Like, there's no big guy. It sounds like it's a big if for you.
There's no guarantee.

Speaker 1 If you get through Detroit, there's no way in hell you believe that your New York Knicks are getting through the Boston Celtics. And it's really not an indictment on the Knicks.

Speaker 1 It's just I think that's how good the Celtics are.

Speaker 2 Here's what I'll give you, and then we'll leave the fight.

Speaker 1 You're going to give us fight. You're going to give us fight.

Speaker 2 We'll leave the rest for Scal.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I don't think there's any team I feel good about going into a series against Boston. I don't feel good about Cleveland.

Speaker 2 If it's the finals, even if it's OKC or even your Lakers, I really don't feel. I think when Boston's healthy and motivated, they are significantly better than just about every team.

Speaker 2 And then maybe it gets a little smaller when you start talking like Thunder, Lakers, Cavs.

Speaker 1 The West is wild. The West, I think, one, I mean,

Speaker 1 gosh, I mean, the Warriors clinched right the seventh seed.

Speaker 2 So Warriors, Rockets will be.

Speaker 1 I mean, the Warriors can make a run.

Speaker 1 I don't think they'll make a run, but like the West one through seven, because you have to include Steph and the Warriors in there, I think are all teams that can get to a finals.

Speaker 2 I'm saving it all for Scal because I'm also going to try to see if I could bait Scal into giving the Knicks a compliment. I'm going to see, because,

Speaker 1 He works for the Celtics. He's going to on your team.

Speaker 2 We'll see. I'm going to play some Mental Warfare early with Scalabri.
I already talked to everyone in my Knicks group chat.

Speaker 2 We're going to play a little Mental Warfare if the Knicks even get to the second round. According to Matt, Matt said, if, big if.

Speaker 1 All right. I like the Knicks, man.
I'm rooting for you guys.

Speaker 2 That's fair. I'll take that.
That's a big compliment coming from you. I'll take that.

Speaker 1 Shout out to the boys, man. You're raising them right.

Speaker 2 It's awesome. Raising them right, tear in the eye.
And we're going to do something real fast. We're going to do our all-time adventures driven by Nissan.

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We always tell a, a, a story and a unique adventure that we got going on.

Speaker 1 You already talked about the garage. Well, you already talked about the garage, Matt.

Speaker 2 What is going on in your life now?

Speaker 1 I mean, I want to preface this by just saying shout out to the wife who just

Speaker 1 fucking holds it down with the baby and the kids. And I travel all the time, especially in the fall.
She left yesterday. She's at Oklahoma doing some NIL presentations, being a boss.

Speaker 1 She's presenting from the football team, all the international athletes. So she's crushing it.
She's doing great. But that means that I'm solo.
with the kids.

Speaker 1 And I'm saying all four because Cole's 18, he's in and out, but he's here. I had to wake up this week with him and get him ready for school at 6 a.m.
while I was up feeding at

Speaker 1 4.30 with the baby.

Speaker 1 My adventure is just, I'm just, I'm in, I'm against the ropes. I'm in the trenches.
I'm 41. I'm an old dad and a young dad at the same time.

Speaker 1 I approached this week and these last couple days like I would approach a football game. I'm just mentally locked in, bro.
I'm mentally locked in.

Speaker 1 I forgot how to swaddle a baby

Speaker 1 because

Speaker 1 Josie, Josie has, I made notes, dude. For everybody that can't watch this, I made notes about my feeds.
Bro, I'm all feeded up. You can't, is it, that's a little glare.

Speaker 2 These are the reminders of your feedings and how to swaddle.

Speaker 1 Feeding, how to swaddle, videotape. I'm just like, I feel like I'm preparing for the Super Bowl and I've been preparing.
So, you know, the adventure this week is just solo, solo dadding it right now.

Speaker 1 The wife just, she crushes life in general.

Speaker 1 But, you know, every once in a while, I got to hold it down. I'm holding it down.
Donuts in the morning for the kids because I'm not making food. I'm just, it's just, it's no holds bar.

Speaker 2 You're going donuts, Matt. You can't make an egg, bro.
Come on, dude.

Speaker 1 Make an egg. Dude, I can't make an egg when I'm holding a baby.
I got two psychopaths. I'm also getting my oldest one.
I'm getting ready to work. I'm doing, it's hard, bro.
It's hard. It's hard.

Speaker 2 Don't, you know what? I guess now that's a quick route for you to become like,

Speaker 2 oh, mom's away. Dad's watching us.
Donuts for breakfast.

Speaker 1 Like your kids are going to love that because that's the only time it's just you know whatever allows for breakfast yeah there's not there's not a way there's no other way to approach this other than you just you approach it head on dude and you just you ride it you just go you're gonna get through it it's you know 48 hours and uh you know we're we're on our way well i will say too

Speaker 2 if you could fit it in figure out a time just do some have something nice waiting for josie when she gets home because you're going to be welcoming her back like like luca coming you know what you should do like you know what's going on you know what's waiting for her me you should play a thank you video like they did for luca when she comes home show all josie highlights with the baby you should do like a welcome home video

Speaker 2 That's really funny. We should do that for social.
Good idea.

Speaker 1 Anyway, when she gets home,

Speaker 1 she's getting all 6'5, 220 pounds. I'm about 220 right now.
I also gained a couple pounds this week.

Speaker 2 All right. Donuts for breakfast.
We'll do that. All right.
Thank you, Nissan. Again, go to nissanusa.com/slash Amarta to learn more.
Bring on the white mamba.

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Speaker 2 Do you really think European, like European basketball players think American

Speaker 2 white basketball players are soft?

Speaker 1 I mean, I think that's probably, like, I think that

Speaker 1 things are changing now. Right.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 seven years ago, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 Probably they do.

Speaker 2 It's hard for me. So, like, from the creators of the Euro step, you know, even though it's Genobly who really kind of mastered,

Speaker 1 man, those dudes are tough. I'll tell you right now, like, those guys when they were like 15, now the ones that make it, those guys when they're like 15 years old are playing against 25-year-old men.

Speaker 1 you put any

Speaker 1 any elite player in that environment where you where mommy and daddy is not there to save you or anything like that them dudes that come out of there they're going to grow up to be pretty savage and it would be the same thing here if we did it but we don't like you know 15 plays 15.

Speaker 1 matter of fact sometimes there's like some 18 year olds playing in you 15 right like yeah

Speaker 1 the double holdback the double back yeah it's it's over there it's like survival of the fittest man i remember when i I went during the lockout and I was playing on Wednesdays, the junior team would come practice with us.

Speaker 1 So I've been in the league 10 years at the time, and there'd be like some 15-year-old guarding me. And it was on every win.

Speaker 1 And the coaches were not soft on them. So things have,

Speaker 1 I think they have a mentality that, you know, if they had the numbers that we had, they had the athletes that we have, they believe that they're better at coaching basketball than we are.

Speaker 1 Well, we're talking Europeans and we're talking white dudes in the NBA. And I just, I, because I'm a Laker fan.
Okay.

Speaker 1 And well, I love you. We're Trojans and we just missed each other by one year.
I think I think you had left.

Speaker 1 But Austin Reeves had this quote and he said, you know, as a white guy in the NBA, I sometimes look at white players and I'm like, they're not very good. So

Speaker 1 it's a stigma that I think is real. What are your thoughts on that? Yeah.
I mean, it's just like this.

Speaker 1 If you're white, you got to prove yourself. And it's not, it just doesn't start in the NBA.
It starts when you're 12 years old.

Speaker 1 And, you know, like, if you're going to play against the best of the best, then you're probably going to be like one out of every 10 white guys compared to

Speaker 1 nine black guys in the gym. And that's just the way it's going to be.
But the ones that do and want to live in that environment,

Speaker 1 those are the guys that... you know, they're going to be a little bit tapped.
Like the Austin Reeves is tapped. Tyler Hero, Peyton Pricker, my boy Cooper Flag up in Maine.

Speaker 1 And I think there's a big shift happening because the game is becoming a more skilled game versus a more physical game.

Speaker 1 But no, no doubt.

Speaker 2 And like Austin Reeves,

Speaker 1 I've said this before. Yeah.
Like he doesn't move like a white guy. He's like shifty and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 He doesn't.

Speaker 1 Watch him. Like he's like, he's got like a Herky jerky to him that you just don't see.
And you don't see that with a lot of black players, but like you definitely don't see that with white players.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 I think he's nasty. I can't believe he was undrafted or whatever.
How does that look like?

Speaker 2 Yeah, you know, you guys got me thinking, too. I'm trying to think because I've been watching the NBA since I was eight years old.

Speaker 2 The Trent Tucker game was the first game I ever watched where I was like, whoa, this is a cool sport. Trying to remember like the first foreign player that I saw.

Speaker 2 that I was like, wow, this guy's unbelievable. I think it was Petrovic.
I think it's Drazen Petrovic.

Speaker 1 It was like the first.

Speaker 2 And then Sabonis' dad, not your Vitis, our Vitis.

Speaker 1 You don't remember like Tony Kukoach? You don't remember? I do, but I think Strawson was before Kuko. I think Strawzen was before.

Speaker 2 I remember like Marshall Lonis on the Warriors show.

Speaker 1 Yeah, there was a Lefty.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 so, you know, I don't know if you've told this story much publicly about how you actually got the white mamba nickname. Is that in Chicago? Is that when you were in Chicago?

Speaker 1 Yeah. And their fans? Yeah, I mean, yeah.
You know, like, I just was like, I was like a spoof. Like, I was totally fine with, you know, I know who I am.
I don't care what people think, right?

Speaker 1 So, you know, I always tell people, yeah, you know, we know for sure at the end of games, the ball is going to Kobe, the black mamba, and the ball is going to me, the white mamba.

Speaker 1 Now, we might be up by 20 when that happens, but we everybody knows where the ball is going. Now, you just got to try to stop it.
It's one thing to know. It's another thing to try to stop it.

Speaker 1 So, I'm like, I didn't embrace any of the going in at the end of the game when I was in Boston.

Speaker 1 I felt like, well, that's so disrespectful to the guys who who built the lead now in chicago hell no man i used to tell tibodo man hey tibodo we're up 20.

Speaker 1 you know first of all i'm not going to blow the lead and second of all you got to give these people what they want they don't want to see derrick rose right now they want to see me

Speaker 1 God yeah he's not doling out those minutes easily to anybody hey I was I was I was talking to my boy I said I said hey we're having uh scalabrini on he goes dude i please tell me if this is a true story he goes i used to see him working out at the equinox in westwood all the time wearing his chicago bulls outfit he said he said he saw you there a couple times rocking your whole chicago bulls like warm-up suit that's not true i don't i'm hey maybe it was

Speaker 1 i can tell you one thing right now i am not a uni I don't do the uni thing like and when you see a kid come to basketball camp I pull him and his parents to the side and I talk to them I say bro let me help you out first of all the glasses got to go.

Speaker 1 Get some contact cleanses. And then, second, second, and this is the most important thing.
I'm going to tell you, you can't show up wearing Tatum's shoes, Celtic shorts, and Tatum's jersey.

Speaker 1 You're never going to get any respect like this, right? I know you like Tatum, but it just doesn't work like that.

Speaker 1 Go buy the kid some white t-shirts and get a random mesh shorts because I want the best for the kid. This is the best advice you'll ever get.
Don't be a uni.

Speaker 1 So I can guarantee you, I've never been a uni. I can guarantee you.
But you did, but you did work it out the Equinox in Westwood. Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 That's, that's, that's, that's a good place to be working. I would work out there.
One time I worked out with, like, I didn't even know the guy. It was Justin Bieber.
He was in Beverly Hills.

Speaker 1 And it's amazing. Matt, you ain't gonna believe this.
After every set, after every set, he had three guys with him. And every time he would give full-on dap, like full-on, like, ro-hook.

Speaker 2 Yo, we did it. We did it.
We're here.

Speaker 1 And the next one, way to go, you look this swole. And he'd go to the next one.
I'm thinking, workout definitely over. You know, like, you know, I get it.

Speaker 1 Like, at the end of a workout, hey, man, good work today. Right.

Speaker 1 Dude, every set. 135.

Speaker 1 Every set, like you went to do shoulders, you came back and it was full embrace every time. Come on, man.
What is going on here? But I've enjoyed my time.

Speaker 1 I was working a little bit with Fox and enjoyed my time out in LA.

Speaker 2 I got benched for Justin Bieber.

Speaker 2 I played once in the NBA celebrity game in LA.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 I take that stuff way too seriously. I love pickup and all that stuff.
I'm like the only one who really tries in those games. And I already have my starting spot ready.

Speaker 2 Bieber was not slated to be there. So we're putting on our jerseys, getting suited up.
And I hear a bunch of women yelling in like the tunnel. It was over.
So I'm like, what the hell is that?

Speaker 2 And Bieber just walked, like it was a pickup game, walked into the televised ESPN game. It was like, do you guys mind if I run? Of course.

Speaker 2 And who do you think gets bumped out of the starting lineup for justin bieber you me i played three minutes that game and bieber would no didn't even have a jersey he didn't even have a jersey on he's not bad though i think right he's fine he's all right he could he's he's he's not your first i think if you're playing pickup isn't like brian mcknight nasty or something like that right brian mcknight notoriously nasty um you know who else was always um

Speaker 2 oh what was that dude's name it'll come to me there's someone else i'm another actor i'm thinking of that and by the way denzel famously could ball and got the bucket on Ray Allen and he got game.

Speaker 1 That was true.

Speaker 2 I think he kind of roped doped him. It was like, all right, let's do a rehearsal up and see I'm gone.

Speaker 1 And he laid it in. Jesus Shuttlesworth.

Speaker 1 Here's what I don't understand. Listen, I can't act and I can't play football.
Why does common people think that they can hoop? What is the deal with that? Scowling.

Speaker 1 I don't want, I don't, I never want to grab a football and tell some linebacker, yo, I'll run your ass over. I don't want, I would never want to be in a featured film like out there.

Speaker 1 I'd be like, I'm not an actor. I'm not good.
But why is it about basketball? What is it about basketball? I could tell you. Tell me.
It's the only sport.

Speaker 1 It's the only sport that you can kind of pick up and go play with your boys.

Speaker 2 I think it's because, yeah, you could literally, especially in like New York, there's hoops on every corner. I could wake up at 8 a.m.
with a ball. That's all I need.

Speaker 2 And I could hit maybe 10 collegiate threes in a row and be like, yo, I could fucking do this. I could play with these guys.
Like, like our guy.

Speaker 2 Listen, your stuff with George the Messiah, is that that was unbelievable because I know it's like a bit and he's like, but still, like, you showed up. You didn't just say, oh, I'll smoke you.

Speaker 2 You went there. Like, how, at what point did you realize, like, I got to just go there and just shut this dude up and just.

Speaker 1 blanket if you sprinkle in enough of that stuff every couple years just to remind everybody you know

Speaker 1 and i love to tell everybody you know like listen if there's 5 000 nba players if i'm 4 000 it's not a big deal but if i'm 5 5,000, the last best player in the NBA, the worst player in NBA history, I will go show and smoke you guys.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 everyone wants to challenge me. I just don't get it.
I just don't. Because you're white, dude.

Speaker 2 That's why.

Speaker 1 I understand, but just think about it this way: like,

Speaker 1 you could be soft in the league, and

Speaker 1 but if you're white and you play 11 years and your teammates kind of like you, there's no way you're tapped. There's no way you're,

Speaker 1 you can't be soft. You can't.
Like, if Garnett is stamping me, you think he's ever going to stamp some soft ass white kid? There's no way.

Speaker 1 So there is, I try to stay away from being like that. But, and, and you know, obviously, Matt, you must have seen some crazy people that come across it.

Speaker 1 They're, sports is full of people who can function that are nuts, right? Like, that's true. You have to be a little bit nuts to do this.
And,

Speaker 1 and so he, he challenged me. I was in New York.
We were playing the Brooklyn Nets. You know, I do the

Speaker 1 Celtics. And dude, West War Street was a mile down the road.
I was like, all right, let's go. Let's go.
Those videos. Well, first, I think you could, I think you're on to something.

Speaker 1 I think you could really like, like, remember the professor on Anne One.

Speaker 1 Like, I think you could, I think you could do something and like market and fucking make some money doing that shit because it's, it's awesome. I was telling, I was telling, I told Jerry this story.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 you, I mean, you're probably boys of Luke Walton because you guys were played at least against each other in college and the pro and whatever. And Luke, South Bay, dude.

Speaker 1 So we retired the same year in 2013. So we would like, we would go to the Equinox in Manhattan Beach all the time.
We were like, what do we do with our life?

Speaker 1 So we're like, he's like, Maddie, let's play in a rec league. So we played in a rec league.

Speaker 1 And so it kind of goes to your point. So Luke was, and Luke would always tell me, he's like, Luke played, what, 10, 12 years, role player, was perfect.

Speaker 1 Like, Phil loved him, Lakers, all that stuff, and had a great career. But he always knew like his role.
We play in this league, Scal, and like it was legit.

Speaker 1 Like it's a good, a couple kids like would come from the Drew League and play. Like it was good.
It was a good league. He probably averaged 35 a game and he was hitting, oh, he wasn't even trying.

Speaker 1 And he was hitting like the thing was he was hitting like eight threes a game. And I'm like, I didn't know if he shoots.

Speaker 1 He's like, he's like, Maddie, he's like, dude, just because I don't shoot in the NBA, like, doesn't mean I can't shoot.

Speaker 1 Like, I couldn't shoot when there was a 6'8 guy guarding me, obviously, because I wasn't going around him. But in this shit, he's like, dude,

Speaker 1 it kind of goes to your point of like, I think you had the famous quote, like, I'm closer to LeBron than, you know, whatever, than you are to me or something like that.

Speaker 1 And Luke Romani, he's like, dude, he's like, he's like, that's the difference between NBA and a lot of these other guys that don't make it. Well, I mean, so it's all processing, right?

Speaker 1 And you play the sport, which is, I think, as it for, from a team sport standpoint, the highest processor you have to be across the board, higher than a point guard, higher than anybody is a quarterback, right?

Speaker 1 So when you, if you mess around and play flag football, by the time that ball is like hype, you already know what you're doing.

Speaker 1 And you can kind of, you know, I'm going to pretend I'm doing this, this, and this, but I knew I'm always doing that, right? And that's just the way it is. And for Luke, it's the same thing.

Speaker 1 I always tell people, you ever watch that movie, Sherlock Holmes, where he's in that fight and he like props

Speaker 1 everything before it happened. And then he's like talking you through it.
Like when I play against like commoners, that's what basketball is like.

Speaker 1 But when I play against like Derek Rose or Russell Westbrook, I'm like living on an edge. Like I want the slightest little twitch and trying to guess right, right?

Speaker 1 But when you play just a dude out there, everything that they do is like, what should I have for dinner tonight? As you cut them off and you take the ball, then you outlet it.

Speaker 1 It's like they move so slow compared to like what you've done. It is.
Think about like when you're

Speaker 1 get behind the center. I mean, let's think about what you have to know going into that, right? Compared to playing flag football, you know,

Speaker 1 he hit like eight threes in a row one game. I'm like, I didn't know you could shoot.
He just smirked at me. I was like, no doubt.

Speaker 2 Listen, I've always been someone who knew. I even, I just played recently with Matt in a pickup game, and this dude was like testing him and said to Matt, like, you don't ball.

Speaker 2 It's like, the dude's wearing like, like, he didn't know.

Speaker 1 Scal, dude. I, I pulled a, my wife, I pulled a,

Speaker 1 you would appreciate, you'll appreciate this. So we're playing, we're playing at the Bay Club, right? We're playing Tuesday night, good, good games, right?

Speaker 1 Even like, like, actually, a little too young for me. Mozgov shows up, Mozgov lives in the neighborhood, like good, good players, high school, like it's a good run.

Speaker 1 It's like you would, you would be, you might not get tested, but it's like legit, legit dude. So, and my oldest son's playing, he's good, he's 18, like his boys are high school hoopers.

Speaker 1 There's this dude, and I'm not, I don't talk a lot of shit on the court because, like, I can't, like, I got two new hips, but like, I'm an athlete, I'm competitive. And so, this big dude's like 6'5,

Speaker 1 240, kind of athletic, and would just go straight to the rack every time. But every time he went to the rack, he'd call a foul.
Exactly.

Speaker 1 Oh, and he would flop to the ground. It's a look like a linebacker.
And after, and, and the whole like the crowd, all the guys waiting to pay the next game is like, oh, yeah, he's soft.

Speaker 1 Like it was the whole, the whole gym knew. So like after the fourth time, he flops.
But oh, one, after that, there was like a Phantom steal that he'd call foul. He wasn't even in the play.

Speaker 1 So I started getting fucking pissed at this point. I don't ever see matt flip the switch dude i was just like it was so because like you know you lose you're off the court for like an hour so like

Speaker 1 so then he starts talking and i did pull like i did pull like this was great i'm an athlete so like i was wearing my old houston texans like sweater thing that he got from the team yeah it was like i still have it yeah it was it was team gear dude and uh he's like he's like man you you're not a hooper and i'm like no man but i played in the league for eight years bit i was like saying all of this i was so hot.

Speaker 1 And Jerry told the story to my wife. And she's like, really? You pulled that card? I go, I go, please, you were not there.
And then the last part of the game, the last part of the game, he ties it up.

Speaker 1 This is after Jerry shoots an air ball, but we won't get into that point.

Speaker 1 He ties it up. And

Speaker 1 he pulls like a Draymond Green where I go to get the ball out of bounds. And he's kind of blocking.
And then he's like, puts his elbows in my, like, won't let me get the ball.

Speaker 1 And he elbowed me in the mouth. And I almost like, I mean, I wasn't going to fight him, but like, almost fought him, dude.
This was last week, dude.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's yeah i mean it's the whole thing is strange but once again but

Speaker 1 he's always the one like everyone thinks that they can hoop it's the funniest thing it is really the funniest what what is uh

Speaker 1 just speaking of soft and all that and and i'm curious because i i love like i love basketball i love i love all these pods where all these guys are like just talking right and and lately and and you kind of you i would say you fit into the old head right you played with you saw all the kg all those guys but you cover cover the game now.

Speaker 1 So you see all the youngsters. Um, what, what is like, what's your thought on this generation?

Speaker 1 Like, you see guys like Tim Hardaway coming out and talking smack and all these old school guys who you respect.

Speaker 1 What are your thoughts on just the game itself now and these players? Yeah, I think if we do this pod, and I'm just going to gas up the these players. They're amazing.

Speaker 1 Their skill level is off the charts.

Speaker 1 This won't go viral, but if I said something stupid like, hey, we would beat this team by 100%. Oh, yeah.
Then that's going going to go out and everyone will have a comment about it.

Speaker 1 But I think for the most part, I think a lot of old heads like respect the skill level of these guys. And I don't know if it's like that in football, like as the skill level, like this is like 10x

Speaker 1 compared to what we played, right? I'll give you an example.

Speaker 1 Like a dribble handoff to a

Speaker 1 handoff to a three, that would happen like three guys in the league could do that. Could do that.

Speaker 1 There's like eight guys on every team. There's two

Speaker 1 T League that come and get a ball off a handback and let it fly. And so when you add skill to the mix, it makes defenses a lot harder.
It makes everything more difficult.

Speaker 1 Now, I understand what this generation is saying. Like, you know, everything is protected now.
You don't want players going to the basket getting hurt.

Speaker 1 I get all that, but like, I don't think anybody can ever argue. Just like you could take our generation, like 2000 to 2010, right? It's when I played.

Speaker 1 I'm sure we're more skilled than they were in the 80s or 70s, but these guys are more skilled than we are. And I think maybe in 20 years, they'll be more skilled than this group, right?

Speaker 1 We're just going to keep on seeing more and more of it. And

Speaker 1 I think, and people ask me all the time, will this current Celtic team beat your 08 team? And I think they'd smoke us, right? Like, I just think

Speaker 1 we're seeing players at such a ridiculous level. And I think yesterday, your mama mentality thing in the back, it started all with like Dacobe Bryant and the stuff that he did.

Speaker 1 has now like pushed through to this generation individual workouts at 6 a.m you know making 500 shots a day and you know steph curry is like a product of that and we're going to start seeing more and more of that these guys love the workout they they they train they're they're they're more professional they they take care of their bodies it's just it's a very different generation and i i think they're just a lot better than we ever were that's just yeah

Speaker 1 so real quick jerry do you do i i do miss the like the center right like going through the posts and like you don't get that like do you miss that brand of basketball because now like i i do think like you mentioned kobe yeah but i think Steph, Steph, like, I think Steph changed the game.

Speaker 1 It's a lot like I always, I always compare to like Patrick Mahomes.

Speaker 1 Like, Patrick Mahomes changed the game, changed the way the quarterbacks play because all the off script stuff and just like, like, literally, my oldest son practices, which I don't necessarily agree with, but he'll practice the sidearm throw, which is fucking bananas.

Speaker 1 I'm like, dude, we, like, we were always like, you know,

Speaker 1 perfect, you know, perfect mechanics and this and that. I do think Steph changed the way

Speaker 1 like the game is played. Do you, do you, do you see it ever

Speaker 1 going back?

Speaker 1 What's harder to guard? If you were, is it harder to guard a guy in the pocket? Is it harder to guard like a guy scrambling around and making it up on the fly? No, yeah. I mean, you're right.

Speaker 1 No, it's hard. It's when a guy can do both, it makes it virtually impossible, which a lot of these kids can do too.

Speaker 1 It's just like, you, there's not, it's, it's, it's actually a great comparison because you saw like Tyler Hero last week, right? He pulled up on a wide open layup. I'm sure you saw it.

Speaker 1 And then again, circumstance are are down five, I think, whatever. And he hit a three instead of taking a layup and like, hey, let's foul, whatever.

Speaker 1 But like that mentality, a lot of people are like, well, that's the mentality now. It's like, hey, let's like a three is a high percentage shot for a lot of these guys.

Speaker 1 Quarterbacks, it's just taught differently, you know, like they're everything that's taught, it used to be taught from the feet up. Now it's like mechanics are out the window.

Speaker 1 It's like, hey, how can you get the ball through these windows? No look, like it's like legitimately taught that way, which is crazy. So I just, I love basketball.
I love watching.

Speaker 1 I love the evolution of it. I think that also goes into like, I don't think these players are soft by any means.
I think it's just the game has changed so much.

Speaker 1 Like you said, you have one through five, like you had true centers, power forwards, now like centers like Jokic. Like it's, it's crazy what these guys can do.

Speaker 1 So I think if you look at it this way, I think it'll be a little bit easier to digest instead of thin slicing it. Everyone's trying to get a dunk.
Right.

Speaker 1 And the best way to get a dunk is to have a bunch of shooters on the floor because that dunk, that space will open up with guys that are on the perimeter right we use this term like gravity like who what players have gravity now the lakers sign got luca and they got lebron and luca like both those guys command two players to them now it's just a matter of finding the open player i don't know like if you had a receiver that draw a double team every time like like that guy might get two catches but the rest of the people are the ones that are benefiting from it.

Speaker 1 Or if you had a nasty running back, then all of a sudden they got to put eight in a box. And all of a sudden you're just like, this is great, man.
I can deal with this all day.

Speaker 1 So it's all about gravity. And I think, like, skilled players or big men that can shoot the ball, create gravity, create space.

Speaker 1 And Jerry, like, if you want to know if the Knicks are going to win their series, Carl Anthony Towns has to make shots.

Speaker 1 And if he's not dominant, they're going to lose to Detroit because that's a hard thing to guard. It's that one that one five pick and roll with Brunson.

Speaker 1 If Towns is dominant, they're going to have a good run. If Towns is

Speaker 1 scoring 18, they're not because now all of a sudden the defense doesn't have to overcommit, which doesn't open up lanes, right?

Speaker 1 But it still comes down to if someone decided we're not going to leave Carl Anthony Towns, well, the Knicks are going to get a bunch of layups because of it. So you have to start with the origin.

Speaker 1 The origin is get a layup. And then from there, how do we get the best amount of layups? Yeah.

Speaker 1 If you have guys that could shoot, you're going to have more space and it's going to be a lot easier at the rim to make those decisions.

Speaker 2 Well, I wasn't going to say anything. I was going to wait for someone else to say the magic word.

Speaker 1 Nicks, you said it.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 let's get into a little bit.

Speaker 1 I already broke down the series. You don't need to know anymore.
No, no, let's break down the series. Let's break down when they play the Celtics the second round.
No, no.

Speaker 2 You better beat Detroit first. In all seriousness, in all seriousness, Matt and I were talking about this the other day, too.

Speaker 2 It feels like for me, again, someone who's been watching basketball intensely for years and years.

Speaker 2 And we've had such a run where it's like, you always first, you know, it was like, all right, well, it's probably either going to be LeBron or the Warriors.

Speaker 2 Like, we had these years and years where you could kind of at least pencil in one team into the finals, if not two. You really had a good fit, regardless of even what seed.

Speaker 2 This feels like the first time in a long time, the number one seeds are not everyone's first choice for the five. Obviously, Boston finished two.
To me, Boston is the team to beat.

Speaker 2 I think they're a nightmare for every team. Like, you could talk, oh, Boston's going to smoke the Knicks.
I'm like, who is the Celtics not going to smoke if they're healthy and motivated?

Speaker 2 But when you look at the one seeds, OKC, Cleveland,

Speaker 2 they get their respect. They won 60-something games each, but everyone I talk to, no one's talking about the Thunder Cavs finals matchup that's coming.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's going to be hard to happen, but

Speaker 1 I look at the Thunder and I think they're like flawless. I know everyone wants to point up.
point out, hey, they don't have any experience. I'm like,

Speaker 1 they're assuming, right? I don't hate that argument. What about when Kaysen Wallace is coming off the bench or Lou Dort is coming off the bench?

Speaker 1 I don't even talk about their offense yet and they're guarding people. Experience does not matter at that point.
And so I just think they like they are so physical on the perimeter.

Speaker 1 They got rim protection. They can rebound.
Like, dude, those guys are so good.

Speaker 1 So when you look at all the other teams out west, the only other team that I think is nasty and no one's talking about is the Clippers, man.

Speaker 1 Is Kwai Leonard going to be healthy? I watched Kwai Leonard play and and like I can make an argument against anybody in the world that he's the best player in the NBA.

Speaker 1 The problem is he never plays through an entire playoff series, but there's a if you see Kawhi Leonard on the floor and he's standing on the right side of the wing defensively, you cannot attack in that 15-foot area.

Speaker 1 You have to run different kinds of offenses. Like, you literally cannot go anywhere he's at and then let's let alone talk about the offense.

Speaker 1 James Harden, who's you think like he should be washed by now, dude's playing like great, great basketball right now yeah if that team is healthy they'll be good you know i don't know what to make of the lakers on paper they're not supposed to be a good defensive team somehow jj reddit got them playing great defense since the trade i don't get that one denver is a mess but they got the best player in the world so the west is

Speaker 1 incredible incredible so every series you know and minnesota's not no slouch like look at their record i think they're 18 and 4 over their last 22 and they got to go against the lakers they got a young guy that's pretty cocky and confident they're talking about random dudes that are confident Anthony Edwards believes he's the greatest player to ever walk on the pace.

Speaker 1 I love that.

Speaker 1 I love that.

Speaker 1 It's like flip a coin out west, and I don't care whoever gets you that gauntlet is going to be kind of worn down, but it would be an accomplishment in and of itself just to make the finals out of the West.

Speaker 1 Outside of obviously your Celtics, who we can talk about, and

Speaker 1 I mean, Jerry mentioned the Cavs. You didn't even talk about the Cavalry.
Is there a team in the East that scares you as a Celtics or just in general? Like, hey, this team, keep an eye out.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I think it's the Pacers. And because

Speaker 1 you don't have an individual player,

Speaker 1 like, I'm big into this gravity thing. Like, what makes defenses shift, right? So you like use things like a one-four, one-five pick and roll with the Knicks.
That's Brunson and Cat.

Speaker 1 That creates like a defensive problem. Well, the Indiana Pacers pace, no pun intended there.
That creates a defensive problem.

Speaker 1 Like when they sprint the floor and they're getting the ball over the timeline less than three seconds, 78% of the time. So they're pushing that thing.

Speaker 1 And when they do that it causes defense to overreact and all of a sudden now they just get a wide open shot and they don't take their foot off the gas so the celtics like to play controlled they like to cont uh pace the game in the second half they have to control tempo the ni pacers we we being the boston celtics swept them last year but every game was a dog fight so i'm it was i'm i'm worried about that team and i think they have more experience and they're flying under the radar which they're kind of playing with house money so you know i want to ask you too because matt always talks about you know part of the Super Bowl team with the Cardinals and like just the preparation for the Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 It was like, hey, treat this as any other week, right? Like you don't get caught up in the hysteria of the Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 And I feel like the NBA is so different because you're getting these teams night in, night out.

Speaker 2 Like this was the first time ever where I'm never ready to say, let's get the regular season over with so we can get to the playoffs.

Speaker 2 Now, it's usually because the Knicks aren't going to the playoffs for most of my fandom, but this was the first year I'm like, all right, everything's kind of locked in with CD.

Speaker 2 I'm like, we need to get to the playoffs because I'm ready to lock in on one team and one team only in that difference.

Speaker 1 I guess we all know what to look for on the court.

Speaker 2 You've been a part of teams that have gone on finals runs and championship runs. What's going on off the court in the locker room at practice when it comes playoff time? Are you preparing differently?

Speaker 2 And you now know, you know what a team needs to have vibes-wise off the court. That's what I'm kind of getting at here.

Speaker 1 Yeah, let me just, I'll just break it down really simply.

Speaker 1 like if you like me right i'm i'm not a playoff player because i i have to play it like 100 and there's nowhere for me to go right like my playoff my regular season preparation will allow me to do well in the regular season but then when everybody's prepared for everything there's like nothing you could do at that point right so it comes down to just having the best players right and so you're going into a game where everybody knows what you're going to do right you're preparing like hours and hours you're making adjustments based off of what they've done from the night before so there's not like this sometimes in the NBA, you prepare for a team in like a hotel ballroom for like 15 minutes before you go and play them in the regular season, but you're going to spend hours.

Speaker 1 I mean, I'm talking about hours and hours of film. You're going to watch your games and how they guard you, and they're going to cut that up.
And let's use my guy, Jason Tatum.

Speaker 1 He's going to watch every possession that Orlando guarded him and how they guarded him, where the help came from. So, it just comes down to the best players making plays.

Speaker 1 And if you're not good enough to make those plays, then you're not going to win.

Speaker 1 So, when it comes to like the depth of everything, it's not just a normal game because usually the star players continue to get better as the series goes along.

Speaker 1 It's the reason LeBron went to eight straight finals. Like, he's the brightest guy of our generation, and he just kept learning and learning and figuring things out.

Speaker 1 It was a reason he came back from the Warriors down 3-1 because he just kept figuring things out.

Speaker 1 So, it's the high IQ players and the really physically gifted ones and the ones that have super talent that are going to make the biggest difference in the playoffs.

Speaker 1 Do you think

Speaker 1 I don't want to beat a dead horse with like the whole Tatum and the Olympics experience, right? And we all kind of agreed like

Speaker 1 kind of got screwed. It was such a weird thing, right, that he wasn't playing and Jalen Brown and all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 1 Do you, I don't want to like, I know that doesn't have anything to do with the season, the mentality, but you're around this team, you cover them, you see them.

Speaker 1 He's superstars show up and he's going to show up because he's a great player.

Speaker 1 Is there, has there been a change and also repeating, is there a change in the mentality that you've seen with these guys?

Speaker 1 Like it might meet, it might mean a little more this year as they approach the playoffs. I don't know what got into Tatum, but he is completely.
I think he's,

Speaker 1 you know, and this sounds stupid because like in the margins are so small. If I said, right.
If I said Tatum is 5% better, people could scoff at that. But in the NBA, when you're five percent,

Speaker 1 it's a whole lot.

Speaker 1 It's like a massive jump. Like, like SGA is like 5% better than he was.

Speaker 1 Right. So Tatum is just like, he's

Speaker 1 his processing of the pick and rolls, his double teams. Like he took, I think what happened last year, he didn't play well in the playoffs.
He didn't win conference finals MVP.

Speaker 1 He didn't win finals MVP. He didn't play in the Olympics.
So it's weird. You win a championship and no one really celebrated him.

Speaker 1 And the dude loves the work and he wants to get better and he studies the game and he's really mature about his approach. He's always had it since he's 19 years old.

Speaker 1 He's always been really mature in his approach. But this year is the first year I feel like it's unlocking.

Speaker 1 When you guys think of jason tatum you probably don't think of him as a pick and roll player his pick and roll efficiencies are off the charts like elite yeah yeah he used to be like an iso guy step back guy mid-range jump shot guy his decision making is unbelievable this year um yeah it's off the charts right and you if i said you asked it like just a commoner like name top five pick and roll players out there none of them would say tatum but tatum's numbers would prove that he's a top five pick and roll player so he's made matt he's made a massive jump.

Speaker 1 Like, you know,

Speaker 1 I can only equate it to like, there was a point in time when you were doing the reads and then one day it just clicked. And that's just the way it goes, right? Yeah.

Speaker 1 And for him, he was doing the reads and it was like sometimes happening and sometimes not happening. This year,

Speaker 1 I want to say like maybe he makes one mistake. And the crazy thing about it, when he makes the one mistake, he's telling like the third.

Speaker 1 wing coming off the bench, hey, man, that's my bad. I should have read that low man.
I'm like, when you're doing that, like immediately, that means like you're processing at a high rate.

Speaker 1 You know what you did and you know, you're going to be able to make the adjustment moving forward. So I just think it could be timing.
It could just be like after, you know, year seven and turning it.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Could be championship, get the, you know, that championship pressure in Boston off your back. It could be that.

Speaker 1 Or it could just be like over time, you just figure it out, or it could be motivated by the way the world treated him after he won a championship.

Speaker 1 I love hearing that. He's a superstar that I think doesn't get enough credit for what he does.

Speaker 2 He's absolutely terrifying to me in a playoff series. Like all my Knicks threads are like, we could be, you know, Knick fans are so optimistic.
Everyone's like, we're going to beat Boston.

Speaker 2 And I'm like, guys, I don't want to be the reality check here.

Speaker 1 Anything could happen.

Speaker 2 Like, lace him up.

Speaker 1 Who knows?

Speaker 2 I just don't think my Nick buddies have watched enough Celtics basketball this year because obviously they're trying hard. Do you know who I was,

Speaker 2 I just was wrong about? I did not think Joe Mazzullo was going to be this kind of coach. I think, and maybe you can give some of the credit with the way Tatum's going.

Speaker 2 And you look at the development of guys like Pritchard and all that.

Speaker 2 And Joe Matt, he seems just like a coach who only

Speaker 2 does that. I don't know what his personal life is.
None of my business. I just feel like that dude's up at three in the morning scheming for whatever, for the Hornets the next day.

Speaker 2 Like, I'm scared of Joe Mazzullo as a coach. He's a great coach.

Speaker 1 I'll give you, uh, like, he believes in what he believes. And it's just a matter of, it took some time for him to convince his players.
And like, you know, like the 53s, right?

Speaker 1 Like, I, I, me, we had discussions at the back of the, in the back of the plane. Like, I don't understand why you would take this shot right here.

Speaker 1 And he's like, to win big, you can never pass up an open shot.

Speaker 1 Like, so many times, if you look at just the playoffs, if you ever watch and you see a guy pass up an open look, watch what that possession turns to.

Speaker 1 There's a lot of times it turns into a turnover, a bad shot, shot clock violation. So So he's like, so why would I play differently in game 22 than I do in the NBA Finals, game seven?

Speaker 1 So he's always kept that approach. And with that approach, like these guys eventually just started buying into it.
They do not pass up looks. And here's the biggest thing.

Speaker 1 If I was a player and I missed like three threes in a row, I'm probably affected by the fourth, right? It's just like, it's ingrained in our head. Take it to the basket.
Do something else.

Speaker 1 Like impact the game differently. Like they don't waver from that.
And from top to bottom, bottom, from the 10th man to the number one guy, like that shot is open. They take it.
And over time,

Speaker 1 when you do that, you put a lot of pressure on the defense. And I think me having the argument with him on the back of the, you should take the ball to the basket.
You should get a better look.

Speaker 1 I was fired out wrong.

Speaker 1 Like he's proven to me that if you could change a player's mentality, that if you play the odds, right, if you miss four in a row and you take every shot the same and you're a 38% shooter, the odds are you're about to hit, right?

Speaker 1 You're about to hit three out of four right that's just the way it goes so he's convinced me of that and even though and he took the time to have that discussion to educate me in the back of the plane and i didn't believe him the first year is like i didn't know if i still liked him as a coach but i totally understand what his philosophy was that first year and it's definitely carried true with this like last two years Are you shocked at all with the success?

Speaker 1 You mentioned Reddick and just kind of what he's done. Are you shocked with the success that he's had?

Speaker 1 I know it helps having LeBron and he just had Luca, but the way they're playing defense, especially as just a player that just retired like a couple of years ago, yeah, shocking guys. Yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I can only use this one.
Like, I'm not shocked that JJ's having success. Like he's an impression, um, very impressive individual when you talk to him.

Speaker 1 Like he's, he's, he's a good dude and you think like he's really smart and everything.

Speaker 1 But dude, how the hell do you trade Anthony Davis, get Luka Doncic, and become like, you go from 18th to first in defense? What the fuck is that? That's crazy. That's crazy.

Speaker 1 Like, like, I just said, you know what? I don't know the game. Like, I'm supposed to do this for a living.
And I was like, does it? How'd you do that? How? How, how, how, what can you point to?

Speaker 1 Like, yeah,

Speaker 1 it does a few things, right? Like, he used it's some unique things. He, like, made Luca and LeBron, like, kind of like a middle linebacker, center field, whatever you want to say.

Speaker 1 Like, and then he put everybody else and he made him pressure. So there was all these things where, like, like a Jared Vanderbilt would pressure a guy.

Speaker 1 And then when he would drive, LeBron and Luca would pick that guy up. And then Vanderbilt would fly somewhere else.
So we had like five savages running all over the place

Speaker 1 and two guys that were telling everybody what to do. And that's the only thing I could point to.
Right. And then when LeBron went out, the defense went down.

Speaker 1 And then like, I just assume like they're going to get back to it. But it's amazing.
It's an, it's the most incredible thing from a coaching standpoint I've ever seen.

Speaker 1 Like in the middle of the season.

Speaker 1 I mean, like, but in all honesty, how's Luca Donchis like a good defender? But he like got it and he made it happen. Like that's, that's incredible.
And it's like, and he did it like overnight.

Speaker 1 It wasn't like, oh, it took a week or anything. Like they started guarding right away.
So I give him all the credit in the world. Even in my wildest imagination of J.J.

Speaker 1 Reddick having the perfect year, I would not expect you to trade AD to get Luca and all of a sudden go to number one in the NBA in defense. Dude, I'm manifesting Lakers Celtics finals.

Speaker 1 You got to have a little, you got to have a little just LA in your heart left, man. The SC.

Speaker 1 No, no, I do.

Speaker 1 I'm a big fan of all things out there. I'm not like one of those guys.
We lost to the Lakers in 10. We beat them in eight.

Speaker 1 Like, I don't care anybody says, man, I respected that team all the way. Like, all those guys, man, they were good.
They were tough.

Speaker 1 I'll tell you, the biggest one, like, everyone, Kobe was a savage both times, but like, Paul Gasol is night and day what he became. And maybe that's the influence of Kobe or whatever it was.

Speaker 1 But he does not get enough credit for turning into what he was in 08 with Garnett and what he turned into in 2010. But no, I'm a big fan of, I would definitely sign up for LA.
Austin.

Speaker 2 I think Caden Silver would too.

Speaker 1 Do you guys really now? If you're a Laker fan, I'm all for it. But like, do you guys really see him beating Oklahoma City if they match up? I, I, yes,

Speaker 1 we just beat them by 30 the other night.

Speaker 2 Matt's irrationally confident. And then they beat you by 30 the other the night after that.

Speaker 1 You had like a you're not, you're not worried about their top to bottom. I gotta be honest.
I was telling, I'm not worried, and you know more than me. Um,

Speaker 1 I think our path to get to the Western Conference finals is favorable. Minnesota, obviously,

Speaker 2 sucks are going to lose Anthony Edwards or Luca in the last two days.

Speaker 1 And then you're probably, I mean,

Speaker 1 who do you like in Houston, Golden State?

Speaker 1 Man,

Speaker 1 three weeks ago, I liked Golden State. And

Speaker 1 Traymon Green tried to fight the same dude, and he had like

Speaker 1 nice points on him. Same good.
I was like, wait a minute here. And you know, I'm a big Emay adoker.

Speaker 2 That's what I was going to to say.

Speaker 2 The Emei identity has broken through.

Speaker 1 That dude is unwavering in his coaching style. Like he does not

Speaker 1 treat any. He coached Tatum and Brown the hardest.
Like, I'm telling you. I love that.

Speaker 1 I don't know this for a fact because I've not experienced it, but it feels like it was like Emei Doka is part of the Celtic story to getting back on top. Like for sure.

Speaker 1 His, his demeanor, it was part of like their growth now, right?

Speaker 1 But so I'm a big fan of him i just look at that team and like when i just started the whole thing by saying like i'm not really a playoff player like i play really hard i'm really smart whatever but like when the level goes up there's nowhere i can go i kind of feel like that about the houston rockets like when everyone's playing hard like do you guys just become average but i think they're an exceptionally hard playing team like it's almost like i don't know how sustainable it is against the warriors but I watched the Warriors last night.

Speaker 1 I don't know if it's just time stamped or anything, but sometimes they could be like, you watch them, you're like, man, that team can win a championship.

Speaker 1 And sometimes you think, how are they going to make the playoffs? So like, I don't, I don't think it's a cakewalk.

Speaker 1 So on that one, I'll pick Warriors only because of logic, but dude, the Rockets are savages.

Speaker 2 So the other puzzling thing to me before we start to wrap up and let you go is, you know, we're talking a lot about coaches. I agree.

Speaker 2 I love Eme, like that was the perfect hire for the Rock of like such a young team of a bunch of, they're basically like angry, hungry Wolverines, you know, just running around.

Speaker 2 But now we also have the best best player in the world, or arguably, Jokic, and all the stuff that went down with now two coaches. And who knows if Memphis ends up getting in by the time this airs.

Speaker 2 Have I've never seen in all my years of just watching as a fan, I've never seen a coach of the best player in the world on a good team who just won the championship two years ago fired.

Speaker 2 Have you ever even heard of anything like that? And what are you thinking as a player? Like, I just don't, that was shocking to me. I don't know if you were shocked by that.

Speaker 1 We all can, we all can. I'm sure Matt and Jerry, like, we all can identify dysfunction i think

Speaker 1 i think the nba is just sick of it like yeah screw screw like just so much money in at stake screw coaches and gms arguing over stupid right what are we doing what what are we doing

Speaker 1 yeah

Speaker 1 let's be honest man let's be honest like i know like we're all living a good life and everything like that like do we really got to be childish about this like yo just get along they're arguing over the eighth man you've got the pulling yokic on your team and you're arguing over the eighth man like don't you just pick jokic going like tell these guys to shut the up to complain.

Speaker 1 Exactly. Like, what are we doing right now?

Speaker 1 Like,

Speaker 1 I get it, man. It's NBA, this ego involved, all that stuff.
But come on, man. Like, why at this point in time, you have a coach in a GM not talking? If I'm an owner, so I'll be like, fuck it.

Speaker 1 You guys are both gone. I don't care.

Speaker 1 I tell you what, dysfunction as I mean, I know in the past it used to be fine. Like, I guess Jerry Krause and Phil Jackson never talked or whatever, whatever.

Speaker 1 Like 2024, whatever, 2025, no more dysfunction in sport, man. Let's get on this shit.

Speaker 2 Well, we see everything now, too. You know, it's not like you could really keep anything behind closed doors with social media and every player now has a podcast and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 I wanted to ask you this, too.

Speaker 1 Do you think if

Speaker 2 you were.

Speaker 2 currently a player now in your third year or whatever in the same role, do you think you would have been a part of the content creation as a because first of all you'd have been awesome

Speaker 1 if i would have made it well no what i'm saying is like if social media and youtube were around when you were playing like do you think you would in your offseason be like you know i'm gonna launch a pod with mike miller or some i don't know i don't know i don't know if i would have made it nowadays i'm just being honest like I know that everyone loves to like look like, oh, if you would have played now, you would have shot more threes.

Speaker 1 It's like, no, I actually played because there was like eight guys that can shoot the three. So I was a knight.
So great. I worked out.
But I'm not sure.

Speaker 1 I'm not sure what I would have done and how I would have played it. But if I did, I would have would have done some fun stuff probably.
I didn't start doing a lot of that stuff till I got done.

Speaker 1 You know, like most athletes are smart asses by nature and they kind of.

Speaker 1 And then once they kind of get done, they don't give an F you anymore. And they just like start doing stuff like that.
So I do regret.

Speaker 1 I do 1000% regret not embracing like being the 12th man off the bench as a player in Boston.

Speaker 1 I should have totally embraced that. In Chicago, it was a blast, man.
I, like, I would do commercials. Like, you know, me, I'm the guy that comes in when we won the game.

Speaker 1 But I didn't, I wish I would have embraced it early. I would have like totally ran with that.
That would have been the one thing

Speaker 1 because, you know, there were times in Boston I would start and be playing playing time and rotational minutes and stuff. But I thought it was so disrespectful.

Speaker 1 i totally would have embraced that that would have been the one thing that i would have gone with and uh you know still been professional along the way but i think i could have really milked that just going back to usc what's what's your best memory because you're on some good basketball teams and what's your best story or memory from the usc days yeah you know it wasn't i guess it started to change now it was kind of still like not that nice when you were there right like yeah nowadays it's freaking amazing right you were yeah yeah yeah all right i'll tell one story this is kind of crazy so i remember i would i would be the guy that had to do all the fundraising for the galen center so if you guys see where they play now like i probably raised like a hundred million dollars of that like they weren't sending anybody else they were sending me right

Speaker 1 so there was that and then all the recruiting trips and taking the recruits out and like you know it's funny how you have to like so

Speaker 1 what do you want to get into

Speaker 1 it's always like like yeah you know like when mom and dad are there they're doing prayer before the meal. And then dude's like, yo, we want to get wild.
Where are we going? Take me out.

Speaker 1 Take me to the hospital. Who was the biggest friend? Like, all right.
So what do you want to do today? You know, well, all right. Well, me, I'm going to go.

Speaker 1 And they'll tell the parents, we're going to go look at the dorms. And then dude's like, no, we're wilding out.
Right. So I did that.
That was a fun. Like all the recruiting stuff was good.

Speaker 1 The one thing I don't know if it changed because like at the time the football team wasn't very good. Right.
You guys were there.

Speaker 1 And even like Carson Palmer's there, they got really good when when Carol came and you guys were good.

Speaker 1 But it felt like the football players back in the day, man, they just, they kind of like mad dogged you. Like, you know, what are you doing here? You're the basketball team.
We're the football team.

Speaker 1 So I don't know if it got better. Like when you guys were good, everything is all good.
But at the time, we were like the talk of the school.

Speaker 1 And even though it's a football school, it's all the way football. Yeah, but you guys were rocking, dude.
Yeah. And the team wasn't, the football team wasn't doing very well.

Speaker 1 So I remember going to parties and feeling like, like record scratching.

Speaker 1 The basketball players are here. So that was the one thing that I wish, like this going through it, like athletes should all stick together.
You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 So that was the one thing that I felt like could have been.

Speaker 1 I was close with, cause I was, I, you left and I was, I was fresh, I was a freshman, I think when it was still Clancy was still there. Oh, so you were a freshman.
Carson Palmer was his.

Speaker 1 Yeah, so I backed up Carson for two years. So, but we didn't overlap.
I think you'd left right when I came in.

Speaker 1 but i was a part like i was there with nick young and like gabe pruitt like we had a couple good teams um i actually this is a true story i was lead i was i was my senior year i was done so i was i was getting ready for the draft and combine and that's when oj mayo was coming in and and he was a one and done everybody knew it and i don't know where oj came i don't know where he was from but virginia i was on i was on a golf cart it was me because they asked me they're like hey i was tim floyd who i love tim floyd he got in trouble for doing all that but i love tim floyd and so they asked me, like, hey, OJ Mayo's on campus.

Speaker 1 Will you, like, I don't know, fucking talk to him, whatever. So I was on a golf car.
It was me, OJ Mayo, OJ's dad, and whoever was driving.

Speaker 1 And they were just asking me, I said, bro, I said, dude, you're coming to LA for one year. You're going to be a fucking God here.
Just come.

Speaker 1 And I think they went to the tournament. So I'd like to say that I did somewhat help recruit OJ Mayo.

Speaker 1 I'm sure there were some other things that went down to get him there, but we were always tight with the hoops, though. So that culture shifted for sure.

Speaker 1 those guys, like the Craven twins, were my boys, like, we were all, we had some good teams. I was a big fan of those guys.

Speaker 1 I always ask this question: like, I tell you what, I don't know what it was like for you, but man, I had a job and I got like paid a thousand bucks.

Speaker 1 Dude, I thought I was the richest dude in the world. Can you imagine? Can you imagine having a million dollars and going to college? What is that is it like?

Speaker 1 Like, if you have a million dollars in college, you might as well be Jeff Bezos, to be honest with you. Dude, just driving down, driving down the row and your new whip, just

Speaker 1 like I hear now, like the football players got Lambos, Lambos,

Speaker 1 what is going on here?

Speaker 1 I think the average, I think for college hoops, I think it's like 300 to 500,000 is like the going, is like the, like the level bar of like what it's going to take to pry a play, to pry like an average player, like a 12-point a game guy away.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Like that, and that's the low, obviously some of the higher profile guys.
That's that's nuts. Could you imagine how much

Speaker 1 how much slossin's we would have went to? Oh my gosh, or how about just being like a regular dude, and we show up pockets back? Like

Speaker 1 that dude has no chance. Oh, dude.
Can you imagine just walking in and be like, Yo, everybody, first one's on me. Bow.

Speaker 1 I can't even imagine. Because when we were there, we're like, fuck, I got 15 bucks.

Speaker 1 You got 15 bucks left on your car. card.
Then they're like, there was like dollar beers on Tuesday. We had to do, like, can you imagine what that was like?

Speaker 1 We would have, we, we would have, how many, oh, okay, last one, dude. Now we're talking the nine.
I try to, I try to explain, Jerry, like the nine. Oh, the nine.

Speaker 2 I've been to, hey, I live in 20 years, L.A. I went to the nine.
I've been kicked out of the nine.

Speaker 1 I've been in the nine oh.

Speaker 2 My boy was the bouncer.

Speaker 1 Walking in with the floor, walking back with the floor, like three inches of beer, just walking through a fucking just puddle of beer,

Speaker 1 going home somewhere. That

Speaker 1 it can't exist anymore does it oh yeah it does oh my gosh i would have thought torn down condos well they rented they renovated it it's it's same size but like it's nicer inside i mean i haven't been in like a decade but they renovated it a long time ago i feel like you guys should go grab every if you're both in la at the same time you guys need to meet up for a beer hell yeah for social if if yeah celtics do it we're we're going we're definitely going what's been that'd be amazing

Speaker 2 there let's go that would be so great man you're the best dude yeah thank you man and you know i don't even want to say good luck to the celtics i don't think they need it and also too uh i have to say you're you're awesome calling the games i i like when guys call the games and they they you know not that they're like taking shots there you call it like call me a homer dude no no no no

Speaker 2 i don't think you're i am a homer i'm a homer you are it's funny i think you're not full homer and i don't think you're full but by the way i watch nick games it's breen and clyde frazier like there's no negative nicks talk on the nicks broadcasts.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 So, no, I think you do a great job calling the games, and that's got to be a lot of fun walking around Boston calling the games.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. I don't pay for much.

Speaker 2 There and the 9.02, you ain't going to pay for a beer over there.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah, we're going. So, Lakers Celtics will run it back and we'll go get a drink

Speaker 1 done. Thank you, man.

Speaker 1 All right, guys.

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Speaker 2 All right. That was awesome.
The white mamba gotta love scal. It's time now for a flavor of the week presented by Wendy's.
Clock in for sweet treat time with Wendy's classic Frosty. Get one now, Matt.

Speaker 2 Maybe you make a little stop for breakfast for the boys. Get some Frosties.

Speaker 1 Dude, Frosty's calling.

Speaker 1 Frosty is a little bit more.

Speaker 1 Frosty's calling my name later. That's for sure.
Boys are getting whatever the hell they want.

Speaker 2 Flavor of the week, even though it was last Sunday, right? So we're a few days removed. Everybody got their Rory Masters takes off.

Speaker 2 You watched more golf than you've probably watched in a really long time.

Speaker 1 Unbelievable ending. It was.

Speaker 2 And it kind of brought up more so like, so Rory's the flavor of the week, but it's, it's the question now.

Speaker 2 You know, I feel like the whole country, if not most of the golf world, was rooting for Rory to win, whether you were a Rory fan or not, or a golf fan or not. Can you think of some other times?

Speaker 2 And I have some names here for you where everyone seemed to be so clearly rooting for the same outcome and look where Rory stacks in that list, which I think he's almost number one at this point.

Speaker 2 Even though he's won majors, he's never won the masters, which is its own thing.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Well, first of all,

Speaker 1 it was unbelievable for golf. We all know that.
And

Speaker 1 to miss the putt. for par on 18, which like, I don't want to say I could have made it, but like, I feel like I could make that, you know, like that.

Speaker 1 It's more of a make than a miss for him that's like making a layup right and uh and so I was like I my heart sank because I was like damn you know I part of me was rooting a little bit for Justin Rose well he was on fire he was on old guy but yeah I think to answer your question guys that we're rooting for and this one you're gonna this one's a little bit

Speaker 1 you're gonna understand why I was thinking about this in football and and and you have guys like you know, Josh Allen that go against Mahomes.

Speaker 1 You kind of root for like one, super talented, but like good guys, like good guys, good, like do everything right on the field, do everything right off the field.

Speaker 1 I'm rooting for Jared Goff, dude. Goff.
I was thinking about this. I'm thinking, like, I'm thinking of NBA, like, you know, Chris Paul.
Like, right, like, I'm just not sure he's ever going to win one.

Speaker 1 You root for some of the guys that never won one. Obviously, they're retired.
I think with football,

Speaker 1 you know, Jared Goff won. He's one of the greatest dudes out there.
Just an all-around great dude.

Speaker 1 Led LA to a Super Bowl. Didn't play particularly great in that game.
Lost.

Speaker 1 Got shipped out to Detroit after a Super Bowl. And he was an afterthought.
After

Speaker 1 the Rams.

Speaker 1 The Rams go and win a Super Bowl with Stafford, which makes Goff look even worse, even though Goff had a great career in LA. And now

Speaker 1 he has Detroit Lions relevant for the first time in God knows how long.

Speaker 1 And they've been really, really close the last couple of years, but they've fallen short. And not necessarily on him.

Speaker 1 It's just one of those guys that you're like, I'm not sure if he's ever going to win a Super Bowl because it's just so hard to win a Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 But man, I'm rooting for good guys who do it the right way

Speaker 1 and who and who have a shot. And I think he's got a shot.
So

Speaker 1 it was hard for me to think about hockey and all these other sports, but like there's a lot of quarterbacks in the league that you kind of root for.

Speaker 1 Goff is one of them for me.

Speaker 2 So, and some of those other player athletes that you would be rooting for to do the thing,

Speaker 2 you go way back. A A lot of people like Clyde Drexler, happy when he won.
Jason Kidd. Then you get into KG, Kevin Garnett.
Anything is possible.

Speaker 2 Dirk was a pretty, you know, I wasn't a big Mavericks fan, but I was super happy for him. Jerry West, obviously, back in the day, football-wise, Elway.

Speaker 2 You know, Elway went a very long time without getting one. And he kind of had that right.
And then most recently, Stafford and Saquon. Saquon, you know, and I'm a Giants fan.

Speaker 1 But Saquon's only been playing for like four years.

Speaker 2 But he's a running back, so he might only play for eight. You know, he might only be in his prime for seven or eight.
He might not get that many chance, that many seasons.

Speaker 2 So then when you start thinking of the next guy,

Speaker 2 I like your golf call. Obviously, in football, we'll all be looking at Josh Allen and Lamar, too.

Speaker 1 Of course.

Speaker 2 I think you can't say Aaron Judge in baseball because no one feels bad for any Yankee ever. That's just not a thing.
No one's going to be like, oh, I'm so happy for the Yankees and Aaron Judge.

Speaker 2 That's not a thing. I got one for basketball, and it's going to involve the team you love that we got some time.
We got years because the dude's only 25.

Speaker 1 Tell me, Luca. Tell me, Luca.

Speaker 2 If we're having this conversation in three years, if Luca and LeBron and the Lakers don't win the title in three years, then you start to do every media head will do the when's Luca gonna get his championship, his defining moment, right?

Speaker 2 But I think he's just, I just don't think it's gonna happen.

Speaker 1 It's also just how

Speaker 1 like you're the arguably the best player in the world, right? Your top three, top four, whatever you look at it.

Speaker 1 You just led your team to the NBA Finals and how he was done so dirty the way he was done, right? We don't need to rehash it.

Speaker 1 And then when they go back to Dallas, what, a couple weeks ago, just the emotional tribute and he's bawling the whole time. Like, like, you just, like, that's the hard part about sport, man.

Speaker 1 Like, I've been there, like, you know, when, when you're, you're, and again, I'm not Luca and I never was, but when you're, when you're a part of a city and you're helping there, and then all of a sudden you're just like, peace, you're out.

Speaker 1 And, and. you're Luca Donchich.
Yeah. Like, you're just rooting for the dude.
He's likable outside of like, I know he complains a lot about calls and stuff, but like he's a likable dude.

Speaker 1 I think, feel like every teammate loves him who's played with them. And you're right.
He's, he's a superstar that I hope wins a championship. And I was rooting for him in Dallas, man.

Speaker 1 I was like, yeah, he's musty TV. He's fun to watch.

Speaker 2 So if the trade doesn't happen in three years, if Luca doesn't win a ring, it still would be the same conversation.

Speaker 1 Like, I feel like you just expect him to win many. Oh, for sure.
And I feel like if he, like, I found myself rooting for him, I'm sure you did too last year in the finals.

Speaker 1 If he stays on Dallas and my Lakers aren't in it, like that's the team.

Speaker 1 I wouldn't say he's like my favorite player, but that's the team I'm rooting for. You're pulling for him.
You're happy on their front. And I like Kyrie.
Like I like those guys.

Speaker 1 So I'm happy he's a Laker. And yeah, I hope I hope

Speaker 1 it's just hard, dude. It's hard to win championships, man.
Like it's just, it takes, it takes. A lot of things to happen and go right for you to win a title.
So hopefully he gets one.

Speaker 2 Shout outs to Wendy's. I actually think I am going to get a Frosty for that 6 p.m.

Speaker 2 knicks playoff game it just i just had that vision of me on the couch with a wendy's with a frosty and just watching the game with my kid it might we might do it really quick on

Speaker 1 because you're a golf lover and i and i'm a and i'm a i'm i like watching rory

Speaker 1 and we don't have to go too deep in this but watching the emotion and like dude winning the masters bro like the way he did And

Speaker 1 especially after giving it up, like you, I think we all thought he was just, gosh, he's going to choke this away, dude. This poor guy, he's going to choke this away.
Yeah. And he, dude, he.

Speaker 2 Because all he has to do on 18 is hit the green. Now, I'm not saying it's an easy shot, but for Rory McElroy to just, the drive is the hardest thing when you get to 18 and you have a lead, right?

Speaker 2 That's the thing where things could go wrong. You could cost yourself a shot with the drive.
Once you hit the fairway, like you did,

Speaker 2 to be where he is, it's like, look, even if you put it to 40 feet, 30 feet, I know Augusta is not the easiest place to two putt, but just you got to get it on the green.

Speaker 2 Then he puts it in the bunker, and then he still hits a great shot. He played all the hits.
It was the perfect roller coaster ride.

Speaker 2 I actually, I didn't turn it off, but I was solo with the boys and I dipped out with them to get them outside doing stuff.

Speaker 2 I didn't want them to watch TV all day when I'm watching the Masters, thinking Rory had it well in hand, a four-shot lead.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 2 I'm like, I'll come back and I'll power through and watch him win and get his green jacket. And then the texts started coming in.

Speaker 2 Greenfee, Max Greenfield, everyone's text. Are you watching watching this? And I went, son of a bitch, you blew it.
I knew it. The minute I saw it.

Speaker 1 He double-bogeed one. And that was when it was like, so, and also on the playoff hole, because Justin Rose was playing better than anybody.

Speaker 2 He was on five feet.

Speaker 1 Even Justin Rose's approach shot, his second shot was 10 feet from the pin. Yes.
And then, and then, or 11 feet.

Speaker 1 So that's a, you know, he missed the birdie, but that's a, that's a makeable putt for him. Rory just puts it within five feet.
Like that, that, that, it was unbelievable.

Speaker 1 I, it was, I was, it was, we've heard it all week, but it was so great great for golf.

Speaker 1 The buildup, Bryson being in the finals, obviously he didn't play his best, but then Justin Rose coming out of nowhere.

Speaker 2 I just wonder if he goes on a run now, like the whole proverbial monkey off the back, right? Like, and golf is so mental, as we've seen with his round. Like, I wonder now, does this set up for Rory?

Speaker 2 I think it's his fifth major. Like, does this set up now for him to just have a monster? He already won the players, which is a huge tournament in its own.

Speaker 2 So, does this now set up for him to go on a crazy run?

Speaker 1 We'll see. All right.
Oh, man. Shout out.
By the way, shout out Justin Thomas, our boy. I know.

Speaker 1 He finished strong. I think he finished his back nine on Sunday where he was like minus three.

Speaker 2 Chipped in on 18, I think, to finish it off.

Speaker 2 He never quite got it going.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's tough, man. It's tough.

Speaker 2 Although he did have a moment in round two where he eagled whatever it was, two or three when he chipped in.

Speaker 1 I think he eagled one or two.

Speaker 2 I think it was two.

Speaker 2 And then he had like a five foot birdie putt to go three under when rose was leading at seven that would have put him right in the mix it's just golf is hard man we always love this is a jt show though we love him all right should we do a little mailbag i i took a sneak peek of this one and i think this is one that you are very uh a person i would if i was scrolling on social media i would stop to hear your take on this do you want to tee it up i got you all right so will in tennessee What's up, guys?

Speaker 1 I appreciate your perspective on pretty much everything. So I really need your help with.
Thanks. Thanks, Will.
I really need your help with how to feel about my vols right now.

Speaker 1 RQB just up and left because of an NIL dispute. Should we have just given him what he wanted or did the school handle this the right way? This has been the number one discussion.

Speaker 1 And I'll try to keep this as short as possible, but there's so much, there's so many nuances and layers to this whole thing that we're dealing with in NIL.

Speaker 1 And a lot of it, to answer the question, I think a lot of it, it doesn't even fall on the school or the player.

Speaker 1 It falls on the NCAA and the lack a governing body that has created a system that allows us to have it. It's just, it's, it's a shame on them.
And we all know that. Everybody knows that.

Speaker 1 And college athletics needs a commissioner. They need somebody to put rules in place.
That's, that's one thing. So that's a, this is a result of that.

Speaker 1 I, I, this one's interesting to me because I'm a dad of a kid who's getting recruited. I'm about to sit in meetings and, and get pitched NIL dollars to my son over the next eight months,

Speaker 1 which is really going to happen.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 there's this battle of like, what's best for my son or what's best for his future, short-term gain versus your long-term future, all of these things, right? And

Speaker 1 this situation makes me sad because from a player's perspective, Jerry, and just from that side, being in the locker room and especially being a quarterback, I hate that these types of situations may or may not jeopardize someone's future and and jeopardize the way we view them the perception of them whether they're in the locker especially at the next level because a lot of this stuff surrounding nico and tennessee and i and i i'm not i'm not even blaming the kid like i don't really think he's at fault at all um it just it just is it just makes it more challenging and difficult when nfl teams and that locker room at the next level which is no joke those are grown men and you have all of this this perception and and the holdout and this and that, and you're chasing this.

Speaker 1 It just,

Speaker 1 I would just caution players to stop chasing

Speaker 1 this short-term.

Speaker 1 This isn't even low-hanging fruit because he's obviously getting paid a lot more money than a lot, but the short-term gain that possibly jeopardizes your long-term future.

Speaker 1 And your future and your goal is to play in the NFL and make millions and millions of dollars.

Speaker 1 That's one thing. I just, you are, your value is what a school will pay you or what a work will pay you.
I get that.

Speaker 1 And I just worry about this situation that sometimes the grass isn't always greener. And

Speaker 1 when you have

Speaker 1 representation and people that may or may not have your best interest, maybe they think you do, but they don't. Things like this happen.
And again, it's, it's, it's,

Speaker 1 I think to answer the question, um, I don't necessarily think he probably

Speaker 1 outperformed his contract. You know what I mean? Like, it's not a knock on him.

Speaker 1 I just don't, I think you could look at it from Tennessee and say, hey, like, we're not going to pay the 4 million or whatever it is that they're asking for because we don't think you're worth that.

Speaker 1 And that's fair because that's the world we live in. And if he, if they think he's worth that and they're going to go chase it somewhere else, like.
there might be a reality check coming.

Speaker 1 So that's the, that's the nature of this business, man. That's the part I don't like.

Speaker 1 But at some point, I think like these young men, they're not kids anymore. These young men, like we, we need to figure this out and they need to have better people around them.

Speaker 1 I don't know what the equivalent would be in acting and all that, or if you're an act, like coming up in the world and you maybe like these young TV stars that are, that, that make all this money and then all of a sudden it's like, you know, you get, you see all this, the horror stories, like they take this or they get advantage, take advantage of this and these networks or these, whatever.

Speaker 1 It's just, it's, it's the world we live in, man. And you just, you hate to see it.
And I root for all the kids. I root for them getting paid.
I really do.

Speaker 1 But at some point, like you have to look at the big picture. You have to.
And a lot of these kids just don't.

Speaker 2 You know, you just made me think of something too. Cause part of my question almost is like, now, how is this also so public? Because that's where I think we're going to get into some trouble too.

Speaker 2 And I think that's just the way it is with sports and with athletes. We discuss professional athletes' contracts all the time.

Speaker 2 With acting, you could maybe only think of a handful of times where there's been big contract disputes, whatever it was, the cast of friends negotiating together and getting a million.

Speaker 2 Hollywood's always done a good job of keeping the monetary value of people's contracts out. Like, you really don't know how much people are getting paid in TV and on screen.

Speaker 2 Athletes and sports, we've always, because it's almost like a content thing for media to discuss their contracts. Now, when you start doing it in an unregulated marketplace that is NIL right now,

Speaker 2 and it's, you, you could see how the tide could turn on a young person or a parent or whatever, where now everyone's talking about it and they're in the limelight for something that has nothing to do with where their career is ultimately trying to go.

Speaker 1 I'm all for players getting paid for. Yes.
And again,

Speaker 1 I'm a father to a son who's getting recruited. Like, so I'm in it.
And, but I also cover college football. I also know.

Speaker 1 schools, ADs, coaches. I know agents.
I know, I know everybody in this business and I hear everything.

Speaker 1 I would like to think to myself that, hey, son, Cole, I'm going to, this is my, I always tell him, I always tell him this all the time. I said, hey, buddy, this is my opinion.

Speaker 1 Doesn't mean it's right or wrong. This is just what I think.
And this is just, these are the people that I can talk to.

Speaker 1 And this is how we can all make an educated guess or an educated decision on what's best for your future, whatever that is, right? And that's how I always say them.

Speaker 1 I never come at him and say, well, you have to do this because this is the only way.

Speaker 1 Now, I might think some of these are the only way because I've seen it play out a million times but i never want like i and if i don't know something jerry and i'm sure like you're you might be if i don't know something i will go ask somebody who's an expert in that or i will go at and i do that now and so like when you see a lot of people who just are kind of taking control and they think they know everything and what's best and like that's not always the case like sometimes you need to take a step back like i know the type of player my kid is i know his personality i know what motivates him i know the things that he struggles in I know all of those things.

Speaker 1 So then how can we build a team around somebody that we can get the best out of that every opportunity? And now it has to do with financial, like, now it has to do with money. And that's okay, right?

Speaker 1 Educate. It's, it's, it's a lot, man.

Speaker 1 And again, it's, it's unfortunate that both sides are going through this, but at the end of the day, like you're, you're, these are, these are grown people helping making these decisions and they're not always the right ones.

Speaker 1 And I hope it all works out. I really do.
I hope everybody, I hope, I hope Nico finds a home and balls out and Tennessee moves on, all those things.

Speaker 1 But man, it's just, you see, I mean, thousands of kids enter the portal and thousands stay in the portal and because they're getting bad, bad advice.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's, I never thought I, I would live long enough to see this day where we're discussing, you know, opt-outs in the situation, opt-outs in college football.

Speaker 2 Like, you know, if you told me five, 10, eight, 10 years ago, that's going to be a big discussion on a podcast that you're going to have with Matt Leinert, I'd be like, yeah, all right, sure, that's going to happen.

Speaker 2 So, yeah, I'm going to be watching. Again, yeah, again, at the end of the day,

Speaker 2 you hope it all works out. And

Speaker 2 I don't even have anything to offer. And that's what I wonder.
Like, my kids are not probably going to be getting NIL deals. And fortunately, like, I know that.

Speaker 1 No,

Speaker 1 your kids are going to be on the other side. They're going to be GMs or AIs.

Speaker 2 Well, that's what I mean. Like, I almost wonder, like, what do you say to the young man or woman or whoever that doesn't have anyone to really guide them?

Speaker 2 It's almost like, but that's that's the thing where I think it becomes tricky. You're a good guy.

Speaker 2 You want the best for your son, and you would probably help another young athlete if they came to you for advice. Some people maybe don't have that outlet.

Speaker 1 I understand that. It goes back to when we had Kurt Warner on, and all these young quarterbacks, they don't take advice.
They don't take advice from, you know, Hall of Famers that are just there.

Speaker 1 And again, I get it. Like, do I want to go call? Maybe it might help.
And maybe it's just a phone call. And

Speaker 1 I understand that because a lot of like all of these young men and women, right, in all sport, they come from all different areas.

Speaker 1 Like, like, whether it's like, you know, financially or they come, whatever, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 It's hard to keep the bad advice away, maybe.

Speaker 1 But it's hard to keep the bad advice away. But also, like, I don't know.
I just feel like.

Speaker 1 There's, there's so many outlets now through social media,

Speaker 1 who you could, you could message anybody. Like, you could message.
You're right.

Speaker 1 I mean, again, you have to find people you can trust, but there, but there are, there's so much access out there to people and good people that, you know, a player could reach out to a coach, a former, like, I think of like, I think of urban.

Speaker 1 Even what Josie's doing, like, in speaking in local hello, there's people everywhere. Yeah.
Yeah. Or just people who are like, hey, here, I can guide you to these people.

Speaker 1 And you do what you want, but at least you have a bigger circle around you that can at least help give you advice or give your family members advice.

Speaker 1 It's, again, I know it's not that easy, but you know, there, there are, it is a, we do live in in a world where there is a lot more

Speaker 1 access.

Speaker 2 Wow, good question from Will.

Speaker 2 I'm glad we did this because I was going to ask you one way or another. I'm glad someone put that in the mailbag.
So I think that's a good way to close. I'm going to be getting ready.

Speaker 2 To me, it felt like a very long time from the Super Bowl to NBA playoffs. Normally, I'm a basketball nerd.

Speaker 2 I even struggled this regular season to like lock in. I loved all the trade stuff.
I didn't even lock in the way I normally do. Now it's time to lock the fuck in.

Speaker 1 I was going to say your energy level is fucking high. Let's go.
Let's come.

Speaker 2 You have not seen, you saw a little psycho, Jerry, last year. You're going to see a whole different psycho this year because the ceiling is high.
So,

Speaker 2 yeah, man. Thanks again to the white mamba for joining us.
We'll be back next week with some, I mean, there'll be NBA playoff games in the

Speaker 1 next week.

Speaker 1 We're going to the draft.

Speaker 1 Come on, bro. Stop.
Who cares about the NBA? We're going to the NFL draft.

Speaker 1 We're going to be in Green Bay, Wisconsin next week with throwbacks, with triple option with our guys with Mark and Rob and Urban.

Speaker 2 Giants are doing, they're talking to Shador. It's so, this is good.
The Giants are going to be the team. And I'm saying this is my favorite team.
They're going to change the whole draft.

Speaker 1 Like, by the way,

Speaker 1 Shador will be there at three, and so will Abdul Carter. They will have their pick of who they want.
Travis Hunter's going too, guaranteed. Oh, my God.

Speaker 1 So you're either going,

Speaker 1 you're going to have a room with Russ, with Russ Jameis, and Shador Sanders, or you're going to have a premier pass rusher and maybe win eight or nine games

Speaker 1 and be right back in the same spot next year I'm just going to try not to freak out I can't wait I'm excited I'm excited to see I'm excited to see what the Giants do because they hold like you said they hold the they hold the big chess piece I think as far as they're the team do they re do they get shador a lot of people think shador might fall a little bit you know Abdul Carter is the safe pick and a talent there and that's who the patriots are probably praying for that the giants don't take so they're going to empower everything.

Speaker 1 Maybe, maybe smokescreens and they say they're going to take Abdul Carter and the Patriots flip-flop that and get another, you know, like, and then the Giants pick four. I don't know.

Speaker 1 There's going to be some shit that goes down. And we're going to be there, dude, front run.
Let's go.