Lakers Are Rolling, Shaky Ground in Philly, and Some Hot Takes From NBA Legends | Game Over

Max. Yeah. Did you notice anything different with me today? I do. I do. I see that must be a Dean hat because I know what a I know what a CEO is. I know what a CFO is. I know what a COO is. That says CPO and I don't know what that is. That means product officer. What could the people on the chief podcast office chief podcast? Is that what it says in the podcast office? Yes. Oh, yes. You podcast officer and you know what what inspired this hat? What's that? It's because you put a whammy on stand on business Mondays and I came for paybacks. So now I can find a little flash in what I wear. If I have a little something you feel like you got to get me back. No, it's not a flash because I'll tell you once again. See, I know what you're doing. All you're doing you're in Dean. You're getting these little thing you're having to know and him. You're having some bougie croissant and a and a and a cap of cheese. Yeah. But but you got to you got to go all the way. You probably go to Orange County to get this just damn croissant. But nevertheless, now you come with these feelers on. Yeah. Old school. I had those in the 80s. Listen, I'm in jeans and a sweater right now. Was that just because I got the I got the few eyes on. Black memories. Or you could say those are those are nice. I'm getting ready to say that. The reason why those bring back memories. Some some guys that have a lot of respect for and a lot of love for as a kid wore those shoes. People like my uncle Lance number one, Bernard Sawyer, Kevin McDerman wore those shoes. Who else would have had those shoes on? My guy Steve Clark had those who's my neighbor and had a big ass dog named Ages. I just have the so Steve Clark was my barber. They had a dog so bit like a horse back when they kept the dog outside and his mom and grandma and live there. They were great. These were my people. Like I was like their son and I was only like Steve cut my hair to drop a bad diamond. He was the best barber in neighborhood. But I was so scared of this dog. I would climb out the window versus walking through the front door. Right. Because Acer was like it's like a lion in the house. By the way, dogs are outdoor animals. I know people don't think that because they bred them to be this small now, but they're really, you know, my guy Jerry Thompson had those belas. These are some special guys that I did I grew up for Uncle Lance. Uncle Lance. Yes. Uncle Lance is special guy. Yeah. That was that was and he had by the way, they had them in red, which I didn't I didn't totally love the all red color. I got it. I know you got the red and the white and the blue. It's fine. Max. It's okay. I'm a new balance guy. You see these? Yeah, I do. Well, you have your own deal. You're a signature athlete. You don't make me your podcast. I am a signature podcast signature signature new balance podcast. And now so the what this hat does is it brings order to the show. All right. So from here on out, when you want to break a rule, you get fine. There'll be a pink slip. It's a kangaroo locker. Listen, you know, I think I think the league is better. I mean, we can start the show in a second, but I think the league is better. I don't know if this makes it into the show when the when the coaches of the Celtics and the Lakers are both in the coach of the year conversation. JJ Reddick and Joe Mizzula are both in the coach. They'll judge to it. The most historic teams in our league. Yeah. The most story teams for sure. But did you see what Mizzula said about the coaching of the year award? BS. Don't ever mention that to me again. What the whole award is stupid. This is coach of the year or his words. Not mine. I mean, I hate it because he's a Celtics coach, but you got to love Mizzula. I love Mizzula. And by the way, he wins no matter who's healthy, no matter who's hurt. I was at the game, a league a game. I was out of the crew in the air. So at the time, I was there drove from Cleveland to Syracuse when they played. They lost that team. West Virginia team. Mizzula. And by the way, it was snowstorm. It's a thousand miles. But my girl, Crimes, who is Eric Bessel's mom, my girl, we was rolling. Right. She was driving. I was driving because she stopped in Cleveland. When you're going to recruit a kid and the mom is driving, that was my girl. Forget about it. But she drove from Alabama to Cleveland. First, then we hit the road again, rolling. She got the grandkids in the backseat. These are times you just don't you just I don't want to say you but Richard, they had enough money to get a no. No, there was no NIL back then. I know, but you know what I mean? No. Absolutely not. They should not have had enough money. I know what you're going right back then. If you're going to be right here, that's 180 grand. If it's here, it's a. But remember Blaine came in. He wasn't he he was the last one to join that Kentucky team after they already had and he was undersized and all that. He could defend it. One of the best undersized defender. So athletic had had a plus five or plus six wing spans on his last in the country. So, but no, listen, but no, those are dope. Those are those are really. Thank you very much. I give props when props to do Max. Listen, we got. But wait a minute. I also want to give you props on this. What's up? You were right. You were right. I thought about this. I watched a certain documentary last night. All right. And you are absolutely right about Michael George is the best basketball player ever played a game. You were absolutely right about that. You were. And I'm saying it. You were. You are. Seriously. You were. There's got to be a flip side. There's no flip side. You said it. Something. I'm being set up for something here. No. Are you not going to take your props? I'll take my props. All right. Now what's the what's the name of the fool's Max? I'm a fool. Right. Are you crazy? By the way, by the way, isn't the Brian James? We know why not see that. It's April 1st. It's April fools. The best basketball players listen. I think at this point at this point, Max is really big. It's not only is it Jordan, but it's not even a real close debate. Like I'll say this. If it's not a close debate, it was a whole world talk about it because this is what the kids in this generation of scene. This generation, right. This generation. But this generation kids only care about anything but Birkenstocks and and and the Brian James. That's why these kids think step these kids are argue Steph Curry's the best player ever. Come on. Well, you listen. I know you can't. I listen to the kids. They are future. We're in trouble. All right. Listen. We have a jam packed show. First of all, Gamer Max. No, before we even get to that, Lakers Tiger Woods. We got Tiger Woods Dan Hurley with the head, but we got. I want to talk about a clutch client today. Jaylin. I want to talk about that. I mean, we're packed today. We got to get to it. Let's get to it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cause I got to go to work. Yeah. Okay. Game over with Max Calumman and Rich Paul. Game over at Spotify.com. Yeah. Email us. And we're going to get to at least one email today. Well, if it's not a paragraph, we can get to more tomorrow. Yeah. Exactly. Game over is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA postseason is here. And FanDuel knows the only thing better than watching your favorite team is winning along with them. Let's be honest. FanDuel is the best place to bet the teams players and plays during their playoff run, build the same game parlay or try live betting and jump in after tip off. And don't forget with FanDuel, you get paid instantly when you win. Download the FanDuel sportsbook app now and play your game 21 and over in select states 18 and over in DC Kentucky, your Wyoming gambling problem call 1 800 gambler call 888 789 777 777 or visit ccpg.org/chat and Connecticut. Okay, Max. Good Wednesday. What we got a little Lakers dominate the calves. I can't really get out of a series about that. I come on. I knew it was something. I just by the way, you know, but think of how how stupid I am. I'm there going. What could it be that he said in me up for it's April 1st? You're so old you're looking to play April food. No, it's true. Okay. Or even when I was young who plays April food. But anyway, the point is since I criticized Luca, the whole reason. Here you go. Take it. I criticized man's talent. It's open. And then he got serious. He stopped complaining on every now. Look as in Luca offensively has been incredible. But more than that. And this is why I think JJ Reddick is in the coach of the year conversation. He is they've never been like below 500, you know, they've been up and down. They've had they've clearly had chemistry issues in the past. They've had they're trying to figure out their roles. You have stretches where it's just one of the three best players that they have on the floor. Sometimes two of them. So really three of them haven't played together. You have Deandre Aiton saying who's supposed to be their fourth best player saying they're trying to turn me in. They want me to be Clint Capella as that's a bad thing. All these things were fraying all the loose edges were fraying in a way that made it like this is kind of this is heading toward a disaster of a season. Not only is it not been a disaster of the season of a season. But they're like the chemistry team now. Like a lot of that. I know Luca deserves credit. Lebron deserves credit. JJ Retic is the coach. Right? Like he deserves a ton of credit for this rich. They've been they it's been unbelievable. Yeah, I think look he don't deserve any credit. That's who don't. I clear. We can leave me out of - Yeah, I think that part of a coaching job is to go through those rollercoaster rides, right? J.J. I think his experience as a player won. I think his experience of playing for several coaches, I think, you know, obviously the most talented is Mike Shoshesky. But when he left there, he played Doc Coachdom, Stan Van Gundy Coachdom, so he's had some great examples of coaches. And you can take bits and pieces from other places. He's been in multiple locker rooms with players to have some sense of understanding of, you know, how to massage situations. When you coach a team like the Lakers or the Celtics or the Nix, for coaching in itself is hard. You can coach the little giants, a very hard job. But when you coach teams that sit on those platforms and as much as we talk about the Lakers are now 12 and one and, you know, the offensive trailblazing that Luca has done and obviously the Bronn Austin and I think-- Luca Brokobi's record for points in a month by a Laker. - Yeah, I saw that. - And he was suspended for a game because of this tech. Yeah, no, he's been on the tear. But I thought Marcus Smart and what he's added to the team has really been great. And winning does help all these things, right? It's hard for you to be upset or it's hard for you to be selfishly, you know, prioritizing things when the team is winning. - But that's what I mean. - And there's this moment where it looked like it was all going sideways. - But that's part of the legacy. - When you actually publicly got in Luca's face, right? From that moment on, Luca's complaints on all the offensive possessions went down. He started getting back on defense. I think teammates, whether it's conscious or not, they noticed that. Now Lebron, who had to take time to study, how am I going to fit into all this, what's my role going to be and didn't have a lot of reps doing it because they were all heard at different times. Now they're playing together. It's second half of the season. Lebron, frequently will take the first several weeks at least of a season, four, six, eight weeks to figure out how this team going to work and then implement it, right? All those things. Deandre, eight and after making the first comments he makes, comes back and says, look, I have to face it, that I'm not the man on this team. I got to do, I got to make the hustle plays. Like, if you don't have the right captain steering that ship, that can all go sideways. - Yeah, but Max, I think. When you're on a team and you have big names, what happens? People come out and begin to the season, you make these assumptions or you make these predictions. We all, everybody predicts. And now being on shows, you have to predict. That's one thing. Then what drives traffic? You and I sitting up here, or we watched these shows, sitting up there talking about how great somebody is, doesn't drive traffic. So now you have all of this negative perception out there. The reality is this, you have to get your steps together when you're on a team. You've got to find chemistry, you've got to find rhythm. I'm pretty sure you, at your abominance for you, you tried to have a dance with a girl. She was a better dancer than you. She had better rhythm you. And you sit there like forwards, go up, trying to get just steps together. - What did you see the video? - Yeah, yeah. I got it from your case. I got stuff loaded just in case you pissed me off. - Yeah. - I'd been showing to the rest of the world. By the time you got your steps together, your ball misfer was over and you like damn. So you had to dance better at someone else's. And it's the same thing in life too. I think people put too much pressure on themselves to do everything tomorrow. Get your steps together. - It takes time. But the point is that from what's remarkable about the Lakers in this season, is it doesn't have to end up like this. It takes time, but a lot of times it can and will do it. - Well, the unfortunate thing is you have all this success, you have all this, this, these bright spots. And then a new season starts in six games. Playoffs. And when you're a team like the Lakers, people forget about the regular season. - But that's judging you on that. - That's the point. However far the Lakers go, they might not be athletic enough to deal with this team or young enough to deal with that team or deep enough to deal with this team. They may play it a way that doesn't lead itself ultimately to championship. That's whatever that is, that may hamper them. But what won't hamper them. It looks like right now is chemistry. Is people not buying in? Is people not playing together or not knowing their roles? They seem to have figured that out. And that's a great credit, not just to Luca and LeBron and to all, I mean Austin Reeves, as I always say, he always plays the right way. He's never a pro. But to the head coach, I got to give it a just like with the Celtics, Mizzula, like kept that whole thing together with spit and bubblegum. JJ Redick, JJ Redick has been and will be a building block for the culture of the Lakers. - Of a, of a, of a, going forward. He's a building block, 100%. - I wanted to talk about Tiger Woods state, you know, what happens when, so Tiger Woods gets a DUI and prescription pills are found on him. And - Is it your five minute max? - No. Okay. - And I'll let you know when it's five minutes. - Okay. - So, and you know, what winds up happening in these situations when it's a celebrity is usually a release statement talking about how they, they want to seek help, they acknowledge that they need to seek help, et cetera, et cetera. And that kind of damage controls because it casts them as a victim of substance addiction as opposed to the perpetrator of a crime, right? Because if you are involved in a traffic accident and you're under the influence, that's very serious. You know, people, innocent people on the road with their families and stuff can be, they can have their lives permanently altered or even ended by that behavior. So it is criminal behavior. And when, and some, when celebrities release that kind of statement, I think a lot of the times it rubs people the wrong way in a way because they know this is some, you know, publicist or PR from doing damage control. But I got to see this in Tiger Woods' case. Not, I'm not excusing any kind of driving under the influence. Isn't it pretty apparent what's going on? The guy was one of the two greatest golfers who ever lived with Jack Nickless. And in the middle of what should have been his prime, or at least his very competitive playing days, he had debilitating injuries, including back injury. I've been through that with the back. You can't even walk. You can't pick up your kids. You're crawling around on the ground sometimes. The guy from room to room. You can't put any torque or anything. I get that. So, but even if you're just a, a, a civilian, so to speak, right? You're walking around life with a normal job. If you're given prescription pain medication, it is not difficult to get addicted to it, especially if you have the means to acquire it, especially if your job requires that you have control of your physical abilities, right? Like, you can do it as pain-free as possible. I get it. I don't think this one, at least from where I'm sitting, Rich, seems that complicated. He was seriously physically debilitated. His job, his career requires that he play through it. He gets magic pills that help him play through it. He gets addicted to the pills. Pretty straightforward to me. Yeah, I think that's been the case in society in itself. Did you see that documentary called dope? No. You should watch it. It talks all about this. And obviously, these are just regular people. But what it talks about is you could be treated for the a toothache, right? And then you would get this opioid. And then eventually what happens is you would get hooked on them. But in this case, I was looking forward to seeing Tiger play at the Masters. I know he was trying to gear up to get there. It's unfortunate. I'm glad that nobody's got hurt or anything like that. That's the main thing. And obviously, it's always tough from a perception perspective because it's black when you type of woods, everything will be blasted out in media. But I do appreciate your take on it in terms of, I don't think he would be taking it if he didn't need it. You know, the other thing is what you just, I've had people in my life very close to me. I think most people have who've had a substance problem with one sort or another, right? And there was one incident I can think of. I don't want to go into details. But where if something bad would have happened, because I found out after the fact, I had to talk to them afterwards and say, listen, it's okay, because nothing happened. And you need to get help, right? If something bad would have happened, we'd be having a very different conversation, right? What you said is important. Thank God, nothing seriously bad happened because it could have. But thankfully, it didn't. And so, hopefully, you can deal with the addiction. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's easy to jump down on people when things are going bad, but we should practice more of doing the opposite. Just banding together and trying to help help. Yeah. I mean, there is a legal consequence, by the way. Well, this is great. The law is just, I mean, but, but that's the thing about DUI that on the one hand, I have no sympathy because it's like, I'm on the road with my kids and you're drunk or something like that or under the influence, you're putting my, you do whatever you want with your own life. You're putting my kids lives in jeopardy. That's, I have zero sympathy. On the other hand, here's the problem. What does like alcohol and some other drugs do, it affects your judgment. So what you're asked to do right at the moment that your judgment is impaired is exercise good judgment. It is a difficult situation. It's easy to say don't ever do that. And on the other hand, in the moment that the person does it, their judgment's all messed up. - Well, what shouldn't affect your judgment is, you gotta go zillion dollars, you gotta get a driver. - You gotta get a driver. - Most people have to drive themselves around places, right? They can't afford-- - Tiger Woods gotta get a driver. Not the kind that you use on the course. - Exactly, not a titleist or cowboy. You need like a guy in a black hat in the tie. - Yeah, maybe he named titleist, but he's gotta drive you. - Yeah, yeah. - Paying a million dollars. Who cares? Because he's saving your life, he's saving other people's lives. - Tiger's watching this going, "Ritch, let me negotiate my own driver, salary." - He's worth it. - It's worth it. - What's a million dollars to a billionaire, especially, I would say this way. - It could cost you your life. - It could cost you the opportunity cost of you not paying a million dollars to somebody who is obviously needed. - Yeah, because that driver maybe needs to be a bodyguard also and also needs to have judgment to tell him, maybe give me those keys sometimes. - Yes, all of that, I think it's important. So yeah. All right, I will do a five minute max. - Oh God. - And this is on a clutch client actually, but we keep, I would say keep it a buck. Kids, you gotta keep it a million bucks if you're gonna talk about it. Clutch client. - You gotta, it's cost you for this. - You gotta keep, or keep it 100, keep it 90 kids, and I'll tell you why. - You gotta give yourself a little wiggle room. So I'm gonna talk about hurts. I'm gonna keep it at least 90. - Okay. - I know he's a clutch client, but I gotta be honest about it. - Be careful. - So there's ESPN has an article about hurts and the Eagles tension over play calling an offensive philosophy. And yes, the Eagles suffered from a bad OC last year and it didn't work and all that. This is how I see this situation. And this is coming from a person, Rich, who I was on ESPN for, you know, at first singing Carson Wences praises, right, when he was doing really well, then at a certain point, everyone was thinking he was playing well, but he was not playing well. And I said that for a long time. And when they drafted Jaylen Hurts and people were like, well, it's back up in blah, blah, blah. It was pretty obvious they want to replace Carson Wences. Everyone told me I was nuts, but that's exactly what happened. So I have some experience at least observing the Philadelphia Eagles and talking about their quarterbacks and being right about it. And let me say, and it doesn't come from nowhere. Do I hear things? Yes, of course. Jaylen Hurts from where I'm sitting, Rich. There was a reason he was yanked from the championship game. He was drafted in the second round, all those kind of things. When I was saying, hey, he's going to replace Carson Wences, people didn't believe me. In other words, if it was not like he was a sure thing the whole time, but he's by all accounts, a hard worker and extremely focused and motivated in all those things. And he worked himself to the position where he was not only the quarterback of a winning team, but a team that made it all the way to the Super Bowl. And in that Super Bowl, he arguably was the best player on the field on either team, arguably outplayed my homes. I don't know that he did, but you could make that argument who was right there. That game he did the first, the first one. The first one. Obviously the second one, but he had the first one. Then he makes it all the way back to the Super Bowl. And the reason part of the reason they make the Super Bowl is when he is needed the most, he plays his best. Not just in key games, but on key plays in key games. And it's not a small sample size. Over time, it's a big sample size. He's clutch, so to speak. You can follow with a case. Yeah, he only's very clutch player. And to me, even people who criticize him well, he doesn't see the middle of the field or he can't read zone or all he has is a deep ball and he's accurate, but he can't do, you know, all those things. It's like, yeah, whatever. Come in Eli Manning fan as a Giants fan. If you're telling me that you're durable, you show up, you're competent. And then in the biggest moments, you're in all time. Great. Everyone can shut up. That's the dude, right? He gets all the way back to the Super Bowl and this time wins. And not only do they win, they beat the brakes off of my homes and the chiefs. And he this time outplays my home certainly, right? I understand why Jalen hurts at that moment. Thanks. Look, I'm the man now. I've done it. I've gotten to two Super Bowls. I've outplayed the best quarterback anyone's ever seen twice in his mind. Right? I won one. The whole thing. Now I need, I'm going to start to assert myself. And I'd like my teammates also to do it the way that I do it. Obviously it leads to success. I'm a second round pick. A lot of these guys, because the Eagles are loaded, our first round picks, right? But I've worked myself. I've earned this thing. And here's the problem. On a loaded team, there are several things that need to happen. If you're not, you know, Josh Allen or Patrick Behoem's or John L.A. or Tom Brady or someone who it's like, who's either done it a million times like Tom Brady or Joe Montana or has other worldly talent like Patrick Behoem's or Josh Allen or John L.A. If you're a guy who's worked his way there, your teammates have to like you. And the ballers on the team have to look at you and think he's one of us. He's like that. He's he's the same kind of animal, a baller, right? That leaves you very little margin for error. And if your OC isn't great, now when you don't play as well, the ballers on the team are looking at you a little sideways. Or if you're not really well liked by your teammates, it could start to be a problem, especially if it seems like you don't want to run anymore. Or there is an issue with you, even if the pocket is clean or you need a clean pocket in order to do things. Whatever that is that people are noticing, if you are not well liked or if the ballers on the team think there's something off, you cannot assert yourself the same way. You can't insist that other people do things the way you do them or the way you want them to be done. Even if the way you do them is the right way in your mind for good reason. Look, where you came from to where you are, right? It works. People aren't out working you. Stuff like that. But if they don't believe that you're like that, it's really difficult to pull that off. And I'm not saying that the Eagles don't have a way forward because obviously the guy's been to two Super Bowls. He could have won two Super Bowl MVP's, right? Like could have it. So in a certain way, he is like that. But there is an obvious issue in Philadelphia. And I think people look at the quarterback and I know he's a client, but I don't think that happens by accident. That's my five minute max. Yeah, I don't know. I do. I would say that just the quarterback position itself, like you mentioned Tom Brady. Tom Brady had Bill Bellachack and he grew to become that guy, right? He was a six round pick. So it's not like he was in that locker room as the guy also getting to their to the Patriots. You have Bill Bellachack. You have older guys around you. You have professional guys. And Brady didn't have to carry the team over the first half of his career. He grew into that after eight, ten years. So by then the guy who could carry the fight then I just think playing that quarterback position for anybody is tough. What I will say is Jaden hurts in my opinion and I don't have my Mr. Bias had on him. I'm not being Mr. Bias, but I just think that he is the standard as it pertains to you talked about an athlete having the the willingness and the want and the perseverance and the capabilities to overcome what people would say would be detriment or setbacks and things like that. Then to get in position. Also it's a big difference between being in a collegiate locker room or high school locker room to a professional locker room. And as a quarterback, you're the one guy on the team. You're like grandma getting ready for the family union. You're responsible for everything. So they do money in this person comment making sure this is the right hotel. Cooking this food, etc. This receiver didn't get ball thrown to him enough. You got a massage ego. I may throw it to you, Max. But and you score and we, but this person's upset because maybe one more catch equal to another $500,000. You got to know the bonus structure of your receivers. Yeah, it's just so much on the quarterback that I think every Sunday we're just looking at one thing. And in this case, also, you know, everybody wants you to be who they think you should be versus allowing you just to be you. And you know, that could that could be perceived in certain way. So I don't, you know, I don't read too much into it. What I do know is that the Eagles have had a lot of success with Jaden Hertz as as quarterback. And I've seen guys get paid. I've seen them go to multiple super bowls. I've seen them win a super bowl. And you know, I root for the Eagles because if the Eagles don't win, Michael Price loses like 75 pounds Sunday. Yeah, it's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. The Eagles don't win. I'm talking for a kid. You can't. So, but you know, look, these people have to do their job and write these articles and look, nothing's perfect. And I think everyone every day is under construction. So it's fine. I would say you brought up a couple of things there that or one point particular Tom Brady. It was like a self-fulfilling prophecy almost. He gave everyone this good sense that he's a winner. Guys like I'd bring up Derek Jeter because it reminded me right away. It's not just that he was a good player. It's that he gave you a sense you could trust him in a big moment, right? That he wouldn't even if he didn't elevate under pressure, he was going to stay the same steady guy. And that you could win a lot with that guy. After early in his career, Tom Brady was the quarterback who game managed, made the big throw and he had to relied on his defense. I'm not trying to underplay how excellent. He was also excellent, but he wasn't like Peyton Manning in the regular season. He wasn't putting up numbers that made you go, "Oh my God," right? Just like Jeter wasn't a rod in the regular season. Really good numbers, but not like, "Oh my God." And then something happened with Brady about halfway through his career, where he really did become that guy. They got him Randy Moss. He got him these incredible, this incredible offensive team. And he put up Peyton Manning numbers. But I guarantee you, even in that locker room, with those receivers, somebody was unhappy at some point. But he knew how to handle it. It was a real. He was well liked it seemed. But Brady over time took the step to the next level, but it took a lot of time. Then I think about Russell Wilson, who was put obviously in retrospect in the right situation. He could throw a great deep ball. He could run. He could do certain things really well, but he was put in the right situation. And that was born out because when they let him go, look at what happened with him. They bring other guys into Seattle and it looked similar to how it looked with Russell Wilson. A lot of that was the coaching staff and the stuff around him, not the discredit Wilson. But at a certain point, there was resentment on the team because Russell Wilson, it seemed, wanted to take that next step and assert himself a certain way. And as soon as that leaves little margin for error, like Tom Brady, it was a decade in that he really was like, then he started putting up those paid manning numbers. As soon as Russell Wilson kind of asserted himself and it seemed at least from where I was sitting to want things to revolve around him, it went sideways. You have to have a sense of who you are, even when you win Super Bowls or a Superbowl and you play really well, you have to, you know, you have to have a feel for other people for the people around you, you know, how much you can push, how much you can assert yourself without it falling apart. And that's something that hurts is going to have to figure out. Yeah, but C. Maxx, I think that the black quarterback deals with things. Well, there's a different racial component too. Yeah, I'm saying a different challenge from their own because if I want to act as a professional because this is what is happening. If I'm a family man, if I'm not, if I'm not diving so much into the material things or if I'm not, then I'm being judged a certain way possibly. And that could bring forth a disdain or a dislike in some capacity. You're saying so authenticity is important. People have to feel like you are who you are. And with that bumps up against you're saying for the black quarterback at times, it's as though that white people have a monopoly on being responsible doing this and behaving a certain way so that if you're black and a leadership position and exhibit qualities that are that are that that some would say white people in that position have a monopoly on, then you're not being authentic. Yeah, it's almost like that you know, you want to they want you to have street cred when you're not a street guy. And that's okay. It's okay for you to be you in my opinion. I'm saying I'm just saying it's sometimes it could sometimes if you're not one of the guys or people don't feel like you wanted a guy's, it could come with a little distance and you may just not be that person. And you know, I see it in the NBA all the time where everybody's different. You know, I mean, I may not want to go to this show or this place or a fashion show or whatever. I may want to put puzzles together. And I get I get there's an extra layer of complexity coming from. Yeah. And it's less about like the racial component of black and white. And it's more about just you got two different life experiences. And sometimes, you know, I think you can be your authentic self even if your authentic self doesn't fit into a stereotype or or even the kind of dominant culture of other people who look like you in a locker room, right? But you do have to have a balancing act. Yeah, but the issue is like in Russell Wilson's case, I remember him sending out a tweet when the Queen of England died. And I don't I remember seeing that going that I understand why that would, you know, like if Lennox Lewis does that, who's a British citizen, right? You're like, okay, I get it from the Queen. Those are a little bit he's he's from England. He gets it. But when you see an American athlete tweet about being sad about the, it's like, it's not nothing wrong with it. But like, why did you have to comment on that? You know, why are we? But I'm just saying it feels to people like, whether or not it's authentic, it feels in our code. We do more judging than anything. Yeah. We do more judging than fact checking than then then then getting the actual information. Judged first. So it's like, so now they make you not like Russell. No, I've never been around Russell Wilson. He hasn't been a great guy. Every time I agree, I agree. Ever. And I've been around in a lot of rich time. I've ever been around. People give you the sense that they are comfortable in their own skin. And I don't mean racially. I mean, just who they are. And other people give you the sense that they're not part of it. Sometimes it's like I would sometimes listen to A. Rod or Cam Newton when they were playing. And it seemed to me that they would say something. And they before they said it. And by the way, with Cam, you see, it has a big personality, especially now that he doesn't have to worry about being the quarterback or the face of a franchise, right? But it feels like they were running it through a metric in their mind where it's like, this is what I really think. This is how that'll be received. This is what I am in a position to say and still be a leader on the team. And it came out a certain way. Whereas guys, like I mentioned, jeeter before, everything he said, like it, or, you know, it seemed like this is what the guy really believes. And it's always the right answer. There's, but, but again, everyone's journey is different. We don't know the journey that these guys are taking. We don't know how they're being molded. Some guys may have, may actually think I have to do this exactly like this, like this, like this. If not, I'm going to be judged just sort of what I'm saying. Right. And then other guys is just, it's just naturally authentic. Right. When someone that's actually drunk the cool aid, when they answer a question, they don't need to run it through any kind of special like what, you know, we just had this conversation because the quarterback and the Anna, they were, they was kind of, kind of giving him flack about his, his post game. And those are, yeah, we had this conversation. But to end this, would you agree that all people, there's a 10% act in everybody. I started this by saying, I'll keep it 90. Don't keep it. Don't keep it. Don't keep it. I'll keep it 90. Yeah. 10% by saying, yeah, there's a 10% act in everybody. And you know what? No, no, no, not in everybody. So 10% act is okay. I'm saying when that act, when people start feeling like, that might be 20 years. 30% act. Then it's, then it's drunk. I agree with you on that. But it's okay. 10% is okay. 10% is okay. Yeah, of course. Of course. Like, you can't have, you cannot, if you were able to read someone's mind, anyone's mind, the innermost thoughts, their worst thoughts and everything, you'd be disgusted with humanity. I mean, that's, that's, that's human nature. You know, of course, you can't be 100% authentically, who you are in public all the time. Right? It is with your, is even tough, personal relationship. It's even tougher for the athlete. I've been in a lot of locker rooms. I've been around a lot of locker rooms. It's tough. It's tough being an athlete. And you see, I mean, we're, we're seeing it now with a lot of kids coming out and, and having different experiences is, is, is, is very tough being an athlete. It is. Um, Dan Hurley, head butt gate or head, head bump gate, whatever you want to call it. So at the end. Oh, I love that. At the end of Yukon and Duke. And, and Yukon's about, they've won the game. The ref goes Dan Hurley's, it's actually, there's still a little bit of time on the clock. And Dan kind of headbutts him. Now watching the video, to me, it's very clear. It was not done with hostility or anything like that. It's, but I gotta tell you, Rich, he could have been teed up on that call, on that play. He could have been teed up. He could have been, he could have been, and we don't know the relationship throughout the course of the game. Right. And we don't know the relationship off the court. Maybe they know each other or whatnot. It looks like he had an out of body experience. He was just like, because he was so, he, my man, they teed him up. They could lose the game. They could cost him the game, which would have been a damper. Yeah. That would have really been March Madness. Yeah, right. That would have really, you know, about a damper or would have been like made it even more awesome the whole game, because who knows what it would have been. It would have been an ambulance outside at the ring, because somebody would have passed out. Right. Because that's too, you can't take too much time. Too much trouble. That high, that low, that back up, that high. Right. And I think that's what happened. As a coach, you're looking at this and you're saying, damn, we lost. Hey, you know, he's had success and stuff, but he's so competitive. You still want to win. And it's like, damn. And then something like that happens. He had an out of body experience. I think that's right. And I think Dan Hurley, who's won back to back national titles, could win three hasn't happened since wooden, right? Like part of what makes him great. Obviously he's in the middle of greatness is that he's got to screw a little bit loose. He's not he's not like everyone else. Yeah. Right. He's perfect for college and he and it reminds me of someone you know pretty well, who's in the NBA, Dream on Green. Dream on is not like everyone else. And that's part of what makes him great. Yeah. Dream on has a little bit of a screw loose and that's part of what makes him great. Guys like Dan Hurley and Dream on Green have to kind of ride the crest of the wave of that little thing that they have that's different than other people in order to be great, right? In order to get the most out of themselves. Dream on, I think you need to come on the show because Max thinks you have screwed. Little screws. Yeah. And we have a two box here. You can tighten up these groups. But but guys like that. That's why I rich. Like this is what I would say about Dan Hurley. He's got to be care like. Do I tell him he's got to be careful or not? So my daughter Mira brought home like a 95 out of 100 when she was in the, maybe the third. In here, Mira, maybe in the third grade and she was so upset she tore up the test. And I didn't know what to tell her because on the one hand, so I told her that. I said, I don't know what to tell you. On the one hand, you got an A and you should not feel bad about that. And you shouldn't beat yourself up about that. That I don't like that. On the other hand, you are demanding it like a certain standard for yourself. And I don't want to tell you not to do that either. I agree. I know one more thing you should have told her. Huh. You're last smart and I ever thought I was. I never got a 95. So, so, so, but so she was so like, so that's the thing about guys like Dan Hurley and Dream on Green. So I'm saying this with that thought in mind, okay? But that's what makes him great. That that's what makes them great. And yet you have to be careful. Dream on green and the warriors are up three to one. Dream on has X number of texts. Whatever the rule was at the time was it's still 60. I don't remember. But and the next test, right? The next tech he's suspended for a game. Now LeBron James knows this and LeBron James, you think that? I don't know. No chance. LeBron baited him into that foul. Let me tell you something. Drainman took the bait. I'm giving LeBron credit. People are like, oh, the league gave LeBron a gift. No, no, stop. Yeah. You have you guys like the trick for it. By the way, then Drainman almost won MVP had the warriors one. Drainman would have won MVP. Yeah. Would have won MVP of the series. Yeah, but that's what I mean. Guys like Dan Hurley or Drainman green on the one hand. Don't be careful because you want to ride that thing to be great. On the other hand, you have to know when you're someone who walks up to that line, don't let people push over. Dan Hurley could have been there. That team could have lost behind that. Just like the warriors probably lose because Drainman gets suspended a game. So does are you saying that? So why did Dan Hurley get the benefit of the doubt in that moment? Well, listen, here's something that's I've seen pop up, which it's unknowable, but actually I should ask your opinion. If Dan Hurley were a black coach, tech, he gets a tech. Absolutely. Okay, if I'm the ref, Dan Hurley doesn't get a tech. And if he were black, he doesn't get a tech. If I'm the ref, I'm not peeing up someone in that position. However, I am looking from where I'm sitting. If it's a black coach or a white coach, I go, what are you putting your hand touching the ref for in that situation? Well, here's why I say that because I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm saying I think that's unknowable. Why do you sell? I mean, why do you say duh? No, hundreds of years of American history. But my knee jerk reaction is tech. But I do agree with you in terms of it's unknowable only based upon the, the entirety of the game. And on top of the, the one thing that makes it probably not a tech is they were up. So now as the ref, you're saying, well, he wouldn't do this. If they were down, different stories. So I would say that. So the rest of them say, bring him some news that wasn't great. The ref said, hey, there's still time on the clock. Yeah. And they were like, hey, something good just happened. But I'm just saying in that moment, the reason why I didn't go overboard about is because they were up and showed what that said was he's excited about the moment. And he's like, oh my god, I can't believe this happened. And the one thing that he did was just like, he couldn't do anything else. He's just like, ah, you know, it's like I would think he would want to say, let's, let's go, you know, something like that. And that would probably happen if the coach was black as well. If they were up, no. If they were down, both of those coaches, would a black coach feel comfortable enough putting his head on a white breath? That's a whole another thing. I just don't know if it's comfortably, no, but it's just may not even be in your nature. That's probably not what's up. I think a black coach would have probably, you know, that key in peel skit. I was just thinking key in peel. Yeah. I think a black, that's what Dan Hurley would do. A black coach would have probably did something totally different. Probably would have hugged them or probably would have gave them a hug. I mean, you could raise a magic key in peel skit where like the white coach is like dropping WWE help hellbos on the ref and not getting picked up. Yeah. Yeah. And getting teed up again. Something like that. He probably wouldn't have done something like that. I was too quick with my response. I would say it's circumstantial in terms of. But it is like, we don't have to avoid. That is the elephant in the room with something like that. On the one hand, I understand people, if they're watching or listening to this, some people being like, oh, why does race come into a home? You live in America. I mean, I can tell the wait. Yeah, but I'm the same way sometimes Max, we can't. Can't make everything racial, although I won't. Did the thought cross your mind? Yes or no? No. Me? No. Okay. It didn't. It crossed my mind. And I think, as I said, I think it's unknowable. I wouldn't want to see a guy get teed up no matter what. I think that's a bad spot to tee up someone who clearly is just excited and doesn't mean any harm. But that's because I wasn't looking for a reason to hate on it, though. Right. Yeah. I was, it was just, it was a bad break further. To me, the bigger theme is Dan Hurley. I'd like, you want to walk up to that line. By the way, another one like this, except he was more over the line. Was Dennis Robbins back in the day, right? When you are, when part of what makes you great is your brain is not wired like other people, you, you want to use that, but you also have to be careful not to mess up in the wrong situation. But I disagree with what you said. Just no way, LeBron. He paid on come on. He's a very smart guy. I mean, it's very smart in the bad. As I'm watching this, I'm watching this. I'm at the game. I'm at the game with price. We got great seats, right? No, there's no bait. I'm at the game. I'm watching. I was dead. That's what's on my mind. I'm like, no, sorry. I'm not at that game. I'm at the game seven. But on that game, I'm watching that game on TV. Right. No, game seven is what I'm thinking. I'm watching that. I watch that game on TV. But I'm watching that thinking. I remember what I was thinking when I saw the play, which is, damn, that's smart. He's big. LeBron gave him a little extra. And you're going to pay somebody you bait and Steph Curry. Not just not a bait, no. But if Steph had one more tattoo, go, yeah. Yeah, but I'm saying, I just think that was a heated, well, it's not what I think. It's what I know. That was a heat of the battle thing. And that leaves me, Max. Taking credit away from LeBron, giving your guy props. I think his credit is pretty nice. I always thought that was a super high smart play from LeBron. Yeah. Okay, this leads you to what? You got a great rich. To my get rich quick, which is believe half of what you see and none of what you hear. Okay. I get the chance to. You, as you just said, you tell the people something that's totally wrong based upon, you know, what they saw, which is, which is trying to help out a clutch client. Apparently, not true. But you're trying to have out a clutch client. No, you're not doing any of these. You just, you antagonized all the clients. Not antagonizing anyone. I'm giving LeBron credit for a super high IQ move. No, no, no. It's enough, enough. But believe half what you see and none of what you hear because again, going back to another article that came out yesterday had my phone blowing up about, I'm like, where are all these people calling me about? I don't know what's going on. You even called me and say, hey, it's just, it's just true. I'm like, what are you talking about? Well, next year, five teams. Can't you guys just enjoy this year, please? Well, that was a Dave McMendaman and, um, Dave McMendaman is my man. He's doing a job. He has to do his job. But can't you just enjoy the, but also, um, wait, who else was on that? Nick Menneman and can we, oh, can we look up that article real quick? It was everybody. No, it was, um, Bontemps. It was Tim Bontemps. Yes. Who by the way, Tim Bontemps, when he does his straw poll, talk about influential, he got M.B. to an MVP. Because when the straw poll came out and Yokech was about to win MVP, again, there was a big reaction. And suddenly the straw, you know, the odds flipped. So, Bontemps has some influence. Yeah, but they're name and teams. You got all this speculation. You got every article. And what happens is you just have these algorithms pick up. And everybody's talking. So you're saying there's no truth to those five teams? - There's no truth to any of it. I don't know, first of all, I don't know what's happening. - Remember when you just said, believe half of what you see and none of what you hear? I don't know if I believe any of that. - I'm telling you. - We don't know what's happening? - I do not know. He don't know either. He don't know, we don't even talk about it. - I mean, I know. - Well, if you know that you did not need to be talking to you, but we don't talk about it. The conversation was exactly what we do talk about, what he talks about or anything is, man, just enjoy the moment. The man's playing minutes with his son, meaningful minutes. - By the way, all the tip last night had a chase down in the block. - The first player of the game is 41. - And honestly, it's unfair to, again, people have to do their job. The lakeers are 12 and 1. They're playing well. - The boss has been a huge part of it. - Why are you talking about some stuff about next year? I mean, I get it, you have to talk about it. I understand that. No, I'm not saying I have a feel for this business. Trust me, I do. But it's just like, oh my God, I don't know. Nobody knows. I don't care what article is written. - I know exactly. - I don't care what tweet is out there, who says they knew what-- - LeBron knows you know and I know. - Nobody knows anything. - You're gonna say Mav knows. - He don't know anything. - Okay, let's put it this way. One of the teams that came up-- - Friends don't know anything. - One of the teams that came up-- - Twitter friends don't know anything. - Where the flip-flips. - Nobody knows nothing. - Can I say something right now definitively? - LeBron James ain't ending his career with the Clippers? - With the Clippers? Stop. We could take that off. - I like the Clippers. - Process, I'm sure you do. They're very nice, whatever. It's a cute team. LeBron James ain't ending his career with the Clippers. Stop. So that's out. And then who else wants it? The Nuggets, he ain't going to Denver. And by the way, why, well, the Warriors, the Silicon Valley Steps, because it's not a championship team. - But why is there even a conversation? - I'll tell you why. It's LeBron James. He's no one's ever played at this level at this age. He's playing at this level. Second grade is playing whoever lived. - I'm changing the topic to-- - Put that in there. He's in the same thing. - Moving on quick. - I'll give you three teams. - You don't like giving me any teams, because I don't care. - There's the Lakers who can afford to pay him the most, because they have his bird rights, right? That's the most likely team. Then the tide for second most likely, or second most likely team would be the Cavs in a return to Cleveland, because they have a very good team. - Max. - And the third most likely team would be the Nicks, because if LeBron James could somehow figure out a way, the Nicks won't win the championship this year. If LeBron thinks he could help them win a championship, and they wins one in New York, what a way to end a career. - Max, those are the only three teams. - If you ever-- - If you ever waste your time in your life, you just wasted a lot of time. - I think that was fun, actually. - For yourself, since the kid who plays in his room, by himself, won't anybody else play with the toys that he made, just got-- - You saying I'm gonna take my ball and go home? - Yeah, you just playing by yourself in the room, which is like, what is that? I told you, if I'm telling you it was a waste of time, hard-headed Max will still go-- - Have you loaded and punch out? You know what I mean? You got that, you don't need anybody else. - And you're wrong. We know who the best player in the world is, or ever is. Now have some serious things to talk about. Some real things to talk about, that matters. - Yeah, yeah. - The other day on a show I like to watch, with my guy Lou Williams and Buggy and Chandler. - Run it back. - And Pito. - Run it back? - Yeah. - Run it back on the fan doing that work. - Beats you. - There were the Robert Parrish was on there, the chief. - Yep. - Who's not a hater, by the way. - Yep. - I rode with the chief. - Sure, a legend, but you know, the new talking heads and this new generation of basketball, like to put guys like LeBron, Katie, Kauai, a head of Larry on all time lists. Does that bother you at all when you hear things like that? First of all, when I already respect those guys, they not even the same conversation with Larry. You know, like I said, the best of the best is hard to get a seat at that table. The only one that I think may be able to get a seat at that table, other than obviously the broad and the rent, but the old school, I'm talking about the new guy. Maybe the big fella up there in Denver. - Okay. - All right. - Yo, good. - Yo, good. - I like this. - Yeah. - Yo, good. Yeah. He may have to bring out another seat for him. (laughing) Oh yeah. - So Max, actually now that we saw the playback, I'm not sure what he said wrong there, but what do you think about that? - First of all, I don't think he said it. - First of all, he's talking about LeBron. - LeBron is dead. - Nobody, nobody, sir. - But LeBron's better than Bird. LeBron is, sorry, LeBron is greater than Bird. - He didn't say it wasn't. - Yeah, he said, he, at first, he said, that it could be get a seat at the table. - No, he said the best of the best, it's hard to get a seat at that table. The only one that I think maybe able to get a seat at that table, other than obviously LeBron and the rent. - Right, but that's a seat at the table. He's saying put ahead of Bird. He started out by saying, "That's not even a conversation." This is the thing. LeBron, okay. LeBron in his day was greater than Bird in Bird's day. Barely. - You're going viral. - Hold on, barely. Like, in other words, when people say it comes down to LeBron or Jordan, whatever, I have Jordan firmly won, but I do think that clearly too is LeBron. I'm not saying that's starting to argue with us. I mean, that there's-- - There's no argument. - Like LeBron is, it's not like anyone else is next to Jordan, right? Like that's the closest to Jordan is LeBron. And that's, he's ahead of Bird. But when I say barely, people sleep on Bird. Like, I love Magic. Just like you're like, "Oh, your anti-step." I'm not. But if Steph was ever the best player in the game, it was 2022. It's not his fault, but he played in the same era as LeBron James. And throughout their careers while LeBron was still in or around his prime, he every year was better than Steph. I mean, I don't mean regular season. I mean, when the whole thing was done, he was clearly the best player in the game, better than Steph. So if you're saying Steph is the greatest player, Steph was playing the same era with LeBron. And LeBron was always better than him until LeBron got old 'cause he's older than Steph. And in 2022, Steph went crazy and went crazy in the finals and he was the best player in the world. Same thing with Magic and Bird. I'm not anti-magic. Magic at the age of 1920 as a rookie. Wins the championship, jumps at center without Karim in the game and gives him 42, 15 and seven. That'll never happen again as a rookie. Magic was all world all the time. Greatest point guard ever. Bird was better than Magic. It's not by a lot, but the two played contemporaries. And it wasn't controversial back then. Bird was the best player in the game. Post the decline of Karim and then Moses popped out for a year or two before Jordan, Larry Bird ran and until he hurt his back, Larry Bird ran the NBA. He was Jordan before there was Jordan in terms of his position in the game. And Rich, in terms of basketball IQ, the only guys with a basketball IQ on Bird's level ever were Magic and LeBron. And I understand why he brings up Yokech 'cause maybe Yokech. - Well, here's what I'll say and I'm researching something just so I can. I don't think you, I don't, I think when it comes to Larry Bird, you get no argument from me about anything. - Well, you put LeBron over Bird. - Yes, yeah. - Me too, but I'm saying is at their peak, it's close, yes LeBron, but Bird was so great that at their peaks, it's close. - But Bird, first of all, Robert, - And he's a head of KD, wait. Bird is a head of KD and a head of KY. Bird can control, when Bird joined the Celtics, they were a 20 something win team. The next year they were a 60 win team. Sixth, Robert Parrish, the Chief, and then I respect all the former players and he's a champion, Marta a champion. Of course, he's supposed to protect his teammate, Larry Bird. And on top of that, he's not, it's Larry Bird. So I don't, but Larry Bird, himself, who never, obviously never played against LeBron, but he was a GM in the front office with the Pacers against LeBron. He's always had admiration for LeBron and others, by the way. He's never been a hater, never a guard. So no, I thought, I, look. - He was the best, back then, people didn't shoot the three so much. He was a great three point shooter. Had he played today? - Answer, he was a seed of competitive. - He would average eight to 10 threes a game, shot clearly over 40% if he played today. He was a genius rebounder. By that, I mean, the way Rodman, wasn't just like Charles Oakley's a great rebounder, but Rodman had not just athletic ability, but this sense of how the guy shot it, how it was gonna come off the rim, where he needed to be, Bird had rebounding ability like that. Bird defensively for that era, when everyone was gambling on passing lanes and knowing when to double a guy, Bird was an excellent defender in that respect. He was like, he was a passer on, like in terms of really controlling an offense, him and LeBron and Yokech, because magic, yes, but magic couldn't shoot like those guys. And actually LeBron can't shoot like Bird or Yokech. I mean, from certain spots, yeah, but not at, yes, but not as pure shooter. Not a Yokech, that's a stretch. - Right, well Yokech, you know. - Yeah, no, right, you're right. For his position, yeah, you're right. The point is, Bird has become criminally underrated. He's like, he's top 10 all time for sure, and I would say after you get by Jordan LeBron, And the big bird is like, is the next guy. I'm afraid it by who I mean, most of these lists comes out. It's not like these lists are being made by the people that Robert Pairs is saying who I or at the table. This generation will tell you KD is better than bird. KD could join teams. Well, that's what they saw play. They have to see right. But like KD could be is a whole time great player. Obviously, but bird at his best. Right there, you have a team that's going to win. And if you give him players, they're going to make deep runs in the playoffs and win championships, right? When he was healthy, KD is not that kind of player as great as KD is. Bird was like a bird team can't be bad. Not possible. What do you mean? He was on the Celtics with Parish Johnson, Mikael. But what I'm saying is when they got bird, there was a 20 something win team. The next year they won 60. Okay, 60 and also parish wasn't parish before bird got his hands on them. Dennis Johnson was old. He was a great player, but he was older and you know, but that's why he's Larry bird. He's not Larry dog. Yeah. Fine. Yeah. I think it was other than saying he's better than LeBron, which he's not. He's right about. I like to chief. Hey, by the way, that's not the only guy in America. Do you see John Stark's comments from strong talk on men's health? Do we have the we have the clip? I was going to quote him, but we have the clip. Check this out. Yeah, I think what Michael made his teammates better because he grew them. Yeah, he grew Scotty. He grew, you know, a horse grand. He grew BJ Armstrong. LeBron really didn't grow nobody. He joined talent. You know, the main talent had to come to him. You know, there's like this first trip to Miami where he went down and joined the way and weighed and Chris Bosch, you know, recruited Chris Bosch and they had a hell of a team. Then he came back to Cleveland because of Kyrie. That's the only reason he came back. I truly believe that is that he came back because he knew he had a killer there. You know, Kyrie was no joke, you know, and then obviously he head out to the Lakers and he brought Anthony Davis with him. So Michael took these homegrown guys, drafted guys and he raised them, helped raise them and made them into the player that they became and he just put the sprinkle pieces around him and he made them a championship team. So that's where I give him the advantage over, you know, over the bride is that he can take just simple pieces and and make them into something that's great. You know, sponsor. I thought that made no sense. And I'm a big, I mean, I like John starts. I have again, from a final respect for the guys that played, but two things could be true. First of all, I think sometimes people say things without having a context. And I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, right? You're up on these platforms. You got a short minute and you're always going to be biased to your, the years that you play, your generation. But when you talk about growing people and he mentioned homegrown, what the homegrown context tells me is those people were brought to the team by the decision makers on the team. That's not Michael. Michael was not the decision maker. Michael was a player. I don't think Michael decided who came where. Scottie was drafted there. You go and get a second act of a Dennis Robins Tony Kuko. Tony Kuko was drafted there. You added guys Ron Harper later on later on, Bjarre Armstrong, etc. So when guys have these conversations and I hate to make it about LeBron because in my position, but it is what it is. We have to talk about it. It just makes no sense to me to say these type of things. You can say that yes, Michael was successful because the pieces that were placed around him, he never had to leave. They replenished and they were able to I believe grow together. And all the pieces made sense and they fit. They put the triangle off and saying and Michael, his growth came from being open and willing to play within a system because that system. And trust his teammates allow him to fill Jackson of the triangle. The system allowed him to develop the trust in his teammates and also to become very efficient. They simplified things great. That's not a knock against LeBron, right? Because I would say this on the other hand, research you know, yeah. And it's no offense to anybody. But on the other hand, the 2006, 17 that a 22 year old took to the finals, Shannon Brown, Daniel Gibson drew good. And they're huge. It's a journey just I'll go skis. I'll go skis. Right. It's a journey. Damon Jones, Duane Jones, Daniel Marshall, I Renewable, Pavlovitch, Scott Pollard, Eric Snow, Bearjow and David Wesley. And there's not a finals team. It's not a final step. And they went up against Duncan. It's not even a team that you're going to play off. Parker, except even if you, so if you replace LeBron James with an all star caliber player, that team does not go on a deep run in the place. No, replacing with any all first team all NBA in this current. And back then, there's some guys who get at least take them on a run in a week or conference, but maybe not to the fight. But like that's, you know, okay, that and the sixers team Iverson took to the finals are the two worst finals teams. But okay, so you talk about coaches, right? Yeah, let's talk about the coaches on that staff. Hank Egan, Melvin Hunt, Chris Jant, Cooster, Kenny Nat, Mike Malone. Mike Malone became a head coach. Melvin Hunt probably could have become a head coach has never got the job, never got the opportunity. Chris, Chris Jant is still coaching state coaching. Now, let's go to the, this is a, I think it's a 2019 Gibson, Hickson, a Gowskis, Darnell Jackson, trade Johnson, Terrence Kenzie, Sasha Pavlovich, Joe Smith, Watties, Erbiac, Bearjow, Ben Wallace, Delante West, Jawahit Williams, Mo Williams, Lorenz and we got some names on that team. Mo Wims became a all star, right? Yep. We read about four or five six names there that were on championship teams at one point or else we're all stars or else we're very good players. Yeah, but not a team right not in the moment. They wasn't these guys wasn't in their prime. Ben Wallace was the thing I say about what Stark said, Rich. No, but wait, wait, before you say let me finish. And then obviously the 2010 team, there was Shaq who was at the end of his career. Antoine Jamison, Cedric Jackson, Darnell Jackson again, Danny Green, who was a rookie or whatever. You have Moe, Sebastian Tillford, et cetera. Leon Poe, the point I'm making is when you have these guys going these shows and say things they haven't done the work. So now you talk about he had to go places. So you telling me in life, if I'm in a position to where things aren't getting better. And there's a pressure and an expectation on me to actually be better. And I have to be dependent of someone else who won't trade JJ Hickson for a Marry, Stodemire making decisions for me that my career is up against. You're telling me to sit there or is it the right thing to do to go elsewhere? Are you saying go elsewhere where you have to climb this mountain? What are you talking about? That makes no sense. So going to Miami, I was one person that was against it in the moment. But in hindsight, it was the absolute right thing to do. And you win, right? Because now I get to make the choice. I didn't make the choice to get drafted. I was the number one player. I was drafted by the team with the number one pick. It's up to that team to do certain things. Then coming back, different dynamic. Now I'm better educated. I understand what it means to win. I have different representation. I'm educated differently on the situation. And yes, what are the bright spots when you're going to look, if I'm going to look for a house and I have kids, what am I looking at? School district. I'm looking at crime. I'm looking at layout, et cetera, so on, so forth. I'm looking at property value, all those things. So going to another team, of course, I'm going to look at the positives of it. And in that case, it was. Kai, what LeBron did in Miami was act as part of a de facto GM squad, where it's like, my GM won't get me players, but I can join forces with Wade and Bosch in Miami. That's you still have to develop chemistry. You have to figure out how to play together. It's not the same thing as KD parachuting into Golden State. Let me tell you if he chose Chicago Chicago wins, but the big right, but the big of course, but the Bigger thing to me about Starks is argument and obviously I grew up watching You know when I was in high school I'm watching John Starks on the nicks as the second scoring option behind Patrick you and but I Don't like it when people make weak MJ arguments because you don't need to make weak MJ arguments In fact for now on everyone I'm gonna send everyone the talking points on MJ You could just repeat my talking point because I have the arguments, but but the point is like people will do this a lot He LeBron had to go other places to win MJ will look you could say MJ scrimmaged against Pippin and that made Pippin a better player I wouldn't doubt it right that makes sense that would happen But actually and Doug Khan's good coach, but they brought in Phil Jackson Michael learned how to trust his teammates Pippin developed into a great player Grant developed a very good player. They they did it. It's nothing against Jordan Everyone needs teammates, but he was not in the same position where he was forced to look elsewhere because they wouldn't bring anyone in I don't know why that's an argument for people. I don't know why people make the argument By the way, if you're a Jordan's border, you don't need these arguments are bad arguments. They're good arguments These are not them that they say well in Michael's era he got hacked so much look at LeBron Trying to sell calls because they play in different areas. Yes LeBron fakes selling calls and everything like everyone does nowadays Because you're rewarded for it. It's an issue of incentive you think LeBron James at 260 pounds was gonna have a problem playing in the 80s or 90s He would have been great in that even just to say to speed up everything. Yeah, no Those guys were of course it's so it's the argument that Jordan played in the tougher era or that Jordan had to stay in Chicago where LeBron cherry picked and move around those are weak arguments There are strong arguments those are not them and what it makes it sound like to LeBron supporters John Starks is it makes it sound to LeBron supporters that there aren't better arguments that you're reaching because LeBron is in fact the Goat well need to reach you don't need to reach but what I will say is Hat LeBron played on any of those next teams John Starks. We have a ring if you or maybe two on James to the nix and then yes Okay, of course they win at least two rings if you know Should maybe if you had one of the greatest players ever to a powerhouse team. So what does that tell you? That Starks is argument. Okay, okay, we can move on. Yes. That's not a good argument. Let's go some emails Oh, no, yes, quick mix loss to the rockets. That's three in a row for the next now. Yeah, that's that takes some concern You know why I'm concerned why you put someone like Thompson on on Brunson It's a whole different ballgame. He's a small guard. You put a long defender on it's a problem They just the you like athletic teams are gonna be a problem for the next yes, that's that's Athletic teams are problems for every team Steph Curry cleared for full contact scrimmage. You think you're you surprised he's gonna come back. No, he loves to play basketball And he's Steph Curry. Well, that's it. Be surprised he's coming back. No, I know can't have both ways nothing to play for this year Yeah, but you can't complain about all these players make so much money and then they don't want to play if he's healthy He wants to play he wants to play Someone you may be familiar with a LeBron. I think it's pronounced James Now has the most wins if you include playoffs because he passed some unbelievable man. Yeah, it's something I mean I Can't even keep up with the awards You know the the the The house of 3 3 0 is gonna have to be the house of 3,000 and no There's no more room in the house. Yeah, but these awards. Yeah, it's no, I mean like we play at that level for this many years unbelievable It's a blessing you all right. You want to do you want to do it? Yeah, let's do it. I mean we've been going a long time. How long we've been going? All right, we're in overtime. Let's do one email. Let's do one email. I'll do it get Kelly KP from San Luis High game over team the way versus hard debate has been popping up again I think it's a perfect entry point into a bigger conversation better versus greater I can understand the argument that hard and might be the better player where I feel much more confident in saying that weight is Undoubtedly greater his game consistently elevated when it mattered most I love to hear your thoughts only idea of better versus greater and where you think weight and hard and land and all-time shooting guard rankings Thanks and keep up the great work. So first of all I invented better versus greater and this is a misapplication What is going on here's here's better is this is the argument. This is the mistake people make when they say like a KD is better than bird. Let's say right? Well, of course he's better than bird strictly better It be in the same way rich that every top 10 sprinter in the world today is better than Jesse Owens, right? They run fast you can object. You don't have to make it subjective time it He wouldn't place place in the top 10 now None of them are great because better is strictly speaking how effective you are You know how well you do something what level you can reach If you pluck them out of their primes just playing how they played how would they do against each other and greater is how you Failed against your contemporaries because the more recent athlete has the advantage almost always over the older athlete Because they built on what the older athlete did because training gets more sophisticated Etc. Even when I make that comment about Jesse Owens people say well, it's not true because if you substitute the equipment and blah blah blah blah blah He would be just yeah, but you didn't he was running with that equipment. That's that's the time he produced So that's better or greater who's better But in Wade and Harden's case yes when you say better because they're they're Their contemporaries who overlap even if their primes didn't exactly overlap Wade is better because If your argument is that Harden is better in all these situations until it matters most and then Wade is better Those games are higher leverage. They're there worth more if you are better in those games you are better Period so Wade is better than Harden if you want to argue Harden shot it better He was actually better because his prime came later than Wade So the game had evolved and he evolved with it and so okay fine, but that's a separate argument. Yes, Harden has MVP Wade has a championships has in top 75 and a finals MVP Wade is The number three best shooting guard of all time was it his When he when he no, yes, is he still Michael Kobe? Yeah, oh, that's always that but I think you have to include Jerry West at West's best probably hard probably probably Wade is for Okay, if you're including a logo on a jersey post a great post three point shot. Yes, Wade is probably yes And I co-wis a three not a two co-wis a three and I think James Harden James Harden is Right there and if if there's anybody that I would like to see win a championship one day be a part James a good guy And a great James Harden and a great player, but he's forth on that list. So yeah, he's and he's and and but even if you say that's what I mean about better and greater It's not how if you're contemporaries and one and one guy's better in the regular season and the other guy's better in the playoffs The guy who's better in the playoffs is a better player and you know what if you're not quite contemporaries because Harden's prime coincided with a three point revolution more than Wade's did then even if Harden is better He's not as great because he and his era was not at the same level as Wade was in Wade's era Wade was other than Lebron and Kobe the best Player it's certainly the best non-big and basketball two different styles two different players both very good Yeah, but that's it the only reason Kobe is greater than Wade is he's two inches taller like Wade is six four and almost as good as Kobe Bryant at his best and by the way an Ultimate competitor between Lebron and Jort between Jordan's finals and Lebron when he started taking over in the finals the best finals anyone had was Dwayne weighed against Dallas. Yeah, that was the best finals anyone had between Jordan and Lebron and it was unexpected and he took He took he took he took the wheel nobody gave him that he took over the wheel and drove the car. Okay, all right, that's good show Max. Yeah, yeah, good Wednesday We got another one on Friday got another one on Friday. Yes, we do we're gonna We didn't leave anything we got to everything we wanted to get to everything. Yeah took a look I'm running late for my meeting you gotta go. Yeah, all right We want Friday Max Kelly and Rich Paul game over game over spotify.com we do the emails Yeah, see on Friday all right 21 and over in select states for Kansas and affiliation with Kansas star casino or 18 and over and Present in DC Kentucky or Wyoming gambling problem call 1 800 gamble or 1 800 my Reset call 1 888 789 777 777 or visit ccpg.org/chat and Connecticut or Visit md gambling help dot org in Maryland. 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