I've Been Waiting For You: Spurs Entering the Storm

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[00:02:00] I got that piña kilada in my hand. Liquid Death all the time. Sweet reaper, sweet siagave. Yes, sir. We got the Western Conference Finals underway. Eastern Conference Finals to come tomorrow. He is the one and only world-renowned, world-famous, cool, calm, and collected. He goes by the name of Mr. Logical. I'm down here in the Alamo.

[00:02:27] Apparently, I go left just a little bit quicker than Gina Carano. I go by the name of 2-5. Let's get into it. Mr. Loddickle, you know what I'm saying? That was shorter than a 200-meter race. Well, you know, I was thinking about it the other day, you know what I'm saying, since I got a son that's about to graduate high school next week. Congratulations. Thank you, thank you.

[00:02:52] And, you know, so we've been talking about love and, like, birds and bees and all that kind of stuff. So this is what I'm going to tell America right now. Get you somebody that looks at you the way that Charles Barkley looks at Max Struess. That's the secret. You know what I'm saying? In the world, I'm thinking it. Thinking what? It's like, thinking what? What are you talking about here, Charles? I don't think anybody was thinking that at all. Yeah, nobody was thinking that. But here we are, Mr. Logical.

[00:03:22] Finally, all year long, we knew all roads would lead here. You got San Antonio in one corner, Oklahoma City in the other corner. One, how happy are you? Two, what do you expect? Three, who wins? One, happy. I like it because it wasn't easy. Granted, this is one and two. But it wasn't easy.

[00:03:51] I don't think it was easy for anybody in the West. I think it was a grind. Yes. OKC swept their first two rounds. But they were in some battles with LA. They just overpowered them. I think San Antonio's battle with Minnesota, like, finishing them off in six. Guys are injured. Guys have to come off the bench. Guys getting ejected out of games.

[00:04:13] So it's not like one of those paths when we think about, as our most recent dynasty references with the 20, 16, 14, 15, 16, LeBron, Miami Heat, and the Cavs, and then the Golden State Warriors in that same time frame. You kind of knew it was inevitable, like, that crash course was going to be one team out of the East, one team out of the West.

[00:04:42] And they were losing, like, one or two games before the finals. And it's kind of lost a little bit of its appeal. But this battle, getting these guys here, and the fact that San Antonio has OKC's number, that's also a good thing. So I like it. Yeah, I'm here for it.

[00:05:02] You know, it's one of those things, right, where you've got to throw the cliches out the window a little bit because, you know, a lot of people have their adages. And this is what determines series. You know, all that kind of stuff like that. And to me, this is just one of those old school who wants it, right? You know, what up, Mike? You know, say one of those who wants it.

[00:05:28] Because on one hand, you've had OKC as the defending champion that a lot of people still don't respect. You know, like people like Mr. Loddickle, you know, talking about how if Halliburton didn't get hurt, OKC wouldn't even be the defending champion. You got Wimby out here talking about, you know, how good he feels against Oklahoma City.

[00:05:52] So as the defending champion, you're sitting out here all year listening to people tell you that the Spurs are going to take you out or they're going to be the ones that you have to go through to get back to the championship. On the other hand, you're the Spurs. You know what I mean? Like, are you overconfident a little bit? You know, because you've had success against OKC. Four and one this year against OKC. So do you and three of those wins, three of those four wins were by double digits.

[00:06:20] So do you and that's what Wimby on a minutes restriction. So do you feel, you know, that OKC is just another footnote in your journey to the championship? So this is one of those series where it's mano y mano, you know, man against man. And as we see right now, San Antonio's out here with a 12 to 3 lead. They got those long arms in the lane. I mean, OKC can do a lot of those things that they do, you know, penetrating.

[00:06:48] You know, they can't get those flopping foul calls because the Spurs can get their hands on the ball before they even do that. So to me, Mr. Logical, this series is going to come down to whose non-shooters can shoot better. So, you know what I mean? So is Steph Castle, you know, going to shoot better than Caruso? You know, J-Dub is back. You know, obviously Aaron Fox is out right now. You know, so I don't know, man. Like, I think this is going to be a great series.

[00:07:17] You know, Caruso with the back-to-back buckets just now. And as you mentioned, Caruso, that was going to be my point. Whose bench? I don't want to say do you trust. I think that's kind of like this antiquated way of everyone. Everyone says who do you trust more? Whose bench is going to play better? OKC. OKC has true scorers off the bench. They have true defenders off the bench. That's going to be the part that I'm looking out for.

[00:07:45] I think San Antonio does a great job of team basketball. I think Dylan Harper coming in. I was watching the game, the game six. And they sounded the same way you sounded when you were talking about them when we did the pot earlier that week. Like, this guy's a rookie. He shouldn't be able to come out there and play that way. And that's what they were talking about the entire time he was on the floor in game six.

[00:08:14] But OKC's bench, those guys play like that. Like, they come in and they make those kind of impacts. McCain is making the Daryl Morey firing more and more prevalent. If he wasn't fired, this would be the series I would get him fired anyway because I think he's going to have a great series. Just because he comes in locked and loaded. Like, listen, we don't need you to do much else. Play your role defensively and then attack scoring opportunities, however they come to you.

[00:08:44] Whether they go over top of the screen, shoot the long three, or beat him to the bucket. He was a top ten pick of the NBA draft a couple years ago. So he's a highly skilled basketball player. I think he just kind of has that autonomy to do that when he comes up with the second unit. I don't know who San Antonio really has other than Dylan Harper might have to play more minutes if De'Aaron Fox ankle isn't legit. So I still like OKC in this.

[00:09:16] I like the matchup of Chet and Wimby finally, someone who's kind of in his stratosphere. But yeah, I like OKC. I mean, I don't want to check it out and say seven, but I think realistically seven is probably, if I had to guess, that's probably the betting. I mean, that has to be the highest bet one. Like I can't see any one of these teams like going down in six.

[00:09:43] Well, see, like, so this is kind of the thing, right? Like I don't know. Who do you use to guard Wimby? You know, because when we see OKC match up with Denver, for example, you'll see Caruso take Yoke sometimes. Sometimes, you know, you'll see J-Dub kind of just roam around a little bit. So like I think that I like J-Dub starting out there. So the thing is, you've got to pull Wimby away from the paint when you're on offense. You know what I mean?

[00:10:12] Because Wimby can guard whoever he wants, you know, more or less to stay down in the paint. But if Chet is having a good game, you're going to have to assign that. You know what I mean? So this series lies in Chet's hands as well. You know, obviously SGA back-to-back MVP. So I assume, you know, Victor, you know, is going to feel a certain way about that. And that's just extra motivation in this series. He's just like he's not the MVP. Like I like Wimby, but like his, I understand his confidence,

[00:10:42] but you weren't even allowed to be the overall like minutes leader of your team. And like you're on a restriction. You're not, he wasn't MVP. Does he play great basketball? Yes. Is he an anomaly? Yes. But anytime he matches up with someone who's either strong enough or enough to frustrate him, he kind of disappears. Yeah. He might have level points in the game last series. He had a triple-double. What I was concerned about.

[00:11:11] So something I was thinking about that I was kind of concerned about is like going back through the playoffs. Right. Like OKC has had their easy run. You know, you look at the Spurs, you know, they played over or undermatched Portland team in the first round. Then in the second round, you know, Anthony Edwards was compromised. No DiVincenzo. You know, and Julius Randle is on a got milk bottle carton right now. Yeah, he played poorly.

[00:11:40] But I think they matched up well. I just think that's it. Yeah, and that's what I'm saying. They're a younger talent and they go deeper into their bench. So eventually that was going to wear on Minnesota. Let's be honest. Buying cannabis shouldn't be complicated, sketchy, or low quality. That's why I want to tell you about mood.com. That's M-O-O-D dot com. Mood ships federally legal cannabis straight to your door. No medical card, no hassle. And here's the kicker.

[00:12:07] The quality is better than anything you'll find at your local dispensary. Yeah, I said it. Whether you're into edibles, concentrates, flower, or just looking to explore, you'll find it all at Mood. And it's not just the variety that makes them stand out. Every product is sourced from small American-owned family farms that care deeply about what they grow. It's cannabis you can trust, delivered discreetly, and ready to elevate your mood. And because you're a listener, you get 20% off your first order. Just head to mood.com.

[00:12:37] That's M-O-O-D dot com to get started. So San Antonio does have the sixth man of the year who just hit a three, by the way. That Kentucky Wildcat name, Keldon Johnson. You know what I mean? You know, Bissell has been playing out of his mind during the playoffs. You know, so I think the Spurs is pretty much, they're pretty much at the point where we can't call them young anymore. They're in the position that OKC was in last year. Like, you know, hey, they don't have that much experience. They don't have that much success.

[00:13:07] Well, they're getting it all right now. So, you know what I mean? So you can't even use the inexperienced thing anymore against San Antonio. You know, I think this series could go seven. OKC has 12 points. Real quick, to interrupt you because it just happened. OKC has 12 points. Caruso has 10. So, like, that's the difference. They're in this game and everyone else is shooting terribly.

[00:13:33] But they're down three points because Caruso, out of nowhere, has two threes and two layups. So can OKC... That's the difference between OKC and these other teams in the Western Conference.

[00:13:47] So can OKC win this series with SGA in the form that he was in against the Lakers as far as being more of getting the ball out of his hand, you know, being more of a playmaker, being more of a let's trap him. Can OKC win this series that way? Yes, because they scored 130 points in one of those games and only had 10 free throws. Well, the Lakers don't play any defense, though.

[00:14:16] I mean, they were defended enough to get the ball out of his hands. And like I said, right now, Caruso has 10 points. So we talk about defense and, you know, these guys are still going to be able to shoot the ball. And if you give them enough space, they're going to knock it down. Defensively, yeah, you can defend at the rim. But if a guy gets a good look at the good-looking shot, it might drop.

[00:14:42] And you can lose your defensive rating because, like, you know, a guy hit a tough shot. That's the thing here. They already had that on tape. When SGA is averaging 22 to 24 points, we still can score. They were averaging like 120 points in that Lakers series, at least 115. And, you know, you brought up Jarrett McCain earlier. You know, we can't forget about Isaiah Joe, you know, saying Cason Wallace, you know, off the bench as well.

[00:15:12] So this is where I wonder how effective a guy like Lou Dort can be. Because, you know, obviously he's out there to kind of be a menace and cause chaos and be a little dirty here and there, be the enforcer. But, you know, I don't know what he's going to be able to give them offensively. I don't – like what I'm afraid of – well, what I'm afraid of – He's like over three from three right now, though. Yeah. But he'll go four for four in the fourth quarter. That's the thing with Lou Dort.

[00:15:39] We'll get more to this in a second, but is Lou Dort going to end up being the Asara Thompson, you know, of this series? And I'll explain that later when we talk about Asara Thompson. Is the big guards in San Antonio – because, you know, De'Aaron Fox isn't playing tonight. So is playing against a guy like Harper potentially catching Castle on a switch, maybe Vassell on a switch. Is that going to wear down somebody like, say, A.J Mitchell, you know, who's a little smaller?

[00:16:07] Even though he's been dynamite, you know what I mean? But he can't keep up with them, you know, from a bottom standpoint. But that's the thing. You named – we've named ten players from OKC who we expect to make an impact and we have seen make an impact. I'm watching the game live. I'm at 234 left in the first. Where you at? I'm at 320. Okay.

[00:16:31] The next three – like, okay, well, the last possession, I think – what's the guy's name? Mitchell? Yeah, A.J. Mitchell. A.J. Mitchell got a steal, kicked it back to J-Dub. J-Dub. Yeah, I saw the dunk. Yeah, I saw the dunk. Yeah, got the dunk. And then McCain is going to get this play up here. So it's like they – and that's the hardest – that's the hardest sign to Mitchell to J-Dub. That's nothing to do with SGA doesn't go through him and they still got points out there.

[00:17:01] They got a steal. Yeah, SGA's not even on the floor right now. Exactly. And that's the difference between what you can get with OKC is that SGA probably doesn't have a point. And they're up. He's got one. He's got two points. He got one point. Well, he's got two points. I'm saying, yeah, he did hit a bucket. Yeah. Yeah. So they're up this point. Now they're up three points and he has two points and it's two minutes left in the first quarter.

[00:17:27] He's probably going to sit for another two game minutes and maybe another three game minutes into the second quarter. Just chilling. So outside of Wimby, who is the most important Spur in this series? De'Aaron Fox. He has to come back because they got – like I think the Spurs players kind of play in their roles well.

[00:17:53] And that the youth that we're talking about, there's not a lot of guys who are used to playing a different role. And then now they're on the bench because another guy came in and now they can just kind of fill back into that role. So these guys are kind of playing out of their position. And we talked about Dylan Harper being a rookie and playing above, you know, like you say, playing above his pay grade. That's the difference.

[00:18:19] I'm not sure if the Spurs guy – and I think, like I said, I know seven – I say seven because they went four-on-one against them on the year. But I think right now with the way that the emergence of some of these guys throughout the playoff run – because McCain wasn't getting that much run in the first round. Brennan didn't really need him. But then they were like, oh, let's see if we can get you in here and work you in.

[00:18:44] And I think with the Lakers, they were just able to figure out like, oh, this is another layer that we – this is another switch we can flip. In a moment where they were having – when it was tough. It was tough for them to get buckets in this first quarter. They put SGA on the bench for a little bit. They went on an 11-2 run.

[00:19:03] Yeah, see, and this is where it gets important, what we're watching right now, because when we off the floor, Luke Cornett in, who is a good defender within his own right, you know, who is a rim protector in his own right. But OKC's just going to the basket whenever they want right now. You know what I mean? Like he's not stopping a thing right now, you know, at least early in his – that he's been on the court. And, you know, you've got J-Dub. He's already four for six. And you're not making him work. That's the thing.

[00:19:33] You're not making J-Dub work. You've got to get him to shoot jumpers, you know, pull up at the elbow. But he's just getting to the basket at will right now. So obviously there will be adjustments and things like that as the game and series go on. But you know what I mean? But that's something for the Spurs to keep an eye on. And SGA's back in the game now, you know.

[00:19:53] So as you're looking at this, you know, so far, is there anything that the Spurs are doing right now that would give you concern if you were OKC? No, I think they're just – I mean, the guy's just playing good basketball, rebound defending. I haven't seen a lot of foul calls. It looks like San Antonio has two. I don't believe OKC's been called for a foul yet. Oh, they have. Yeah, the Spurs have shot some free throws.

[00:20:24] Well, I'm looking at the foul count under the thing. I just don't know. Yeah, I know Harper just took two free throws. I know Castle got an and one a little while ago. OK. I think Wimby got free throws on the second or third possession of the game. You know, but yeah, like Wimby's just a cheat code. That's all this is. You know what I mean? So, like, now I'll ask you the reverse of what I asked you earlier.

[00:20:51] If Wimby is having an off game, let's say he's having like a, you know, eight for 23 type game. Can San Antonio win that type of game? Not against OKC. They could get that off against Minnesota because Minnesota just didn't have the firepower offensively. And their best offensive player was Hobble.

[00:21:15] So, I don't know how, I don't know what his percentage was as far as health between, you know, 75 to 85 percent of whatever case may be. But he did have a hyperextended knee a few days before their series started. And he played a lot of minutes where he's supposed to be restricted in a few of those games. So, I can't imagine he was playing that close to 100 percent. Yeah. But that's why they were able to, that's why they were able to battle in that game where Wimby got ejected. Just because they could just do, they do things differently.

[00:21:45] But with OKC, you can't have two or three bad possessions in a row. Because it's very likely that they could get six to nine points out of your bad possessions, especially defensively. And that's the other thing, right? Like, you know, like I say in football, we talk about the anatomy of an upset. And usually when you talk about the upset, it's something along the lines of you got to force turnovers. You got to get out in transit. OKC doesn't turn the ball over. You know, OKC doesn't beat themselves.

[00:22:15] So, you're going to have to take it from them. Because they don't have to move it unnecessarily. We think about teams that turn the ball over a lot. It's teams that have one guy who controls the ball all the time. And everyone's trying to do everything they can to get the ball back to that guy. And people just jump in the passing lanes. Where it's like, OKC, you get it on the wing, attack downhill. Attack Wimby. Especially if coordinates in the game, attack downhill. Get to the rim. And then, now you're swinging out passes.

[00:22:45] People aren't just jumping in the lane. But if they try to constantly get the ball back to SGA of every possession, the way the Lakers try to get it to LeBron or Luka, the way the Cavs try to just keep getting the ball back to James Harden so they can run offense. That's where guys get their hands in there and they knock the ball away. Yeah. So, I'm going to go OKC in seven as well. And then. I think seven's a cop. I think we should stand on something. Do it. I like seven. Do it.

[00:23:14] I'm going to say six. OK. I'm going to say OKC in six. I'm going to give. I'm going to give. Let's see. How would this go? I don't want to say five. Let's be honest.

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[00:24:12] Every product is sourced from small American-owned family farms that care deeply about what they grow. It's cannabis you can trust, delivered discreetly, and ready to elevate your mood. And because you're a listener, you get 20% off your first order. Just head to mood.com. That's M-O-O-D dot com to get started. I think that's a little bit, that's a little much. Because I'm trying to figure out where does San Antonio get the wins?

[00:24:39] Well, I imagine game three is going to be rocking. You know what I mean? First Western Conference Finals since 2014. You know, I'll be at the Rock on Sunday for game four. So, you know, we'll see how that goes. I'm going to be the bootleg Jurassic Park out there. You know what I mean? I've always wanted to do that. So, we'll see how that goes. But I imagine game three is going to be raucous. You know what I mean? The fans down here, they've been thirsting for this for years.

[00:25:09] And this is a franchise with championship pedigree. You know what I mean? So, we'll see how it goes. But, Mr. Logical, over in the East, I tried to told you that the Cleveland Cavaliers was coming through. I tried to told you. You know what I mean? I said, tomorrow, Madison Square Garden. The Knicks off of about eight days rest. All right. I already know you're going to pick the Knicks. So, there's no need for me to belabor this.

[00:25:38] So, let me ask you, if Cleveland somehow wins this series, how will it happen? Cat and Jalen Brunson get suspended. Oh, both of them, huh? Yeah, both of them. Both of them, okay. I mean, I like this. I'm not going to disrespect Cleveland like that. I just think New York, I think they've been rested for a while.

[00:26:06] I think the way they kind of dispatch with Philly, I think the level of confidence is very high. I saw a graphic the other day, and I shared it with you and Chris. Over the last 41 postseason games, Jalen Brunson's numbers are comparable to SGA. You know, 29.9 assists. I just think that he hasn't been able to get to this stage.

[00:26:34] Are we safe enough to call him the best Knick now? No, you can't call him the best Knick. Okay. Okay. The Knicks are a legendary franchise. Even if guys are playing it better. Yes, they're legendary. It's a legendary city. It's a legendary franchise. It's... You can hate all you want, player. You know what the Knicks are? You know what the Knicks are? They're the NBA version of Texas football. That's what they are. Call it what you want. It's still legendary.

[00:27:02] When's that last NBA title, Mr. Logical? Oh, a long time ago. Way before... Yeah, we weren't even born. Yeah. Yeah. So, it's definitely... I said franchise. I didn't say they won a lot. Like, a lot of people don't win chips. Hell, two teams have won 40. So, it's not like it's a lot of opportunity for the other 28. So, but with that being said, I like the next opportunity here to make the NBA Finals. I think New York would be crazy.

[00:27:32] And Cleveland just went seven with Detroit. We talked about how Detroit really doesn't have a score outside of Cade Cunningham. And their bigs are aggressive and tough, but they're not... You know, they don't really give you any other layer besides that. Jalen Duren's supposed to be that guy. He's supposed to have his breakout playoff run. You talk about how he could be tied to his contract based off this performance or lack thereof.

[00:27:59] But yeah, I just think the Knicks are going to give you... They're going to give you gritty players. They're going to give you guys with a lot of familiarity between the Villanova Knicks. So, all of those guys playing together. Everyone plays their role. And shout out to Mike Brown. Because, like I said, last... Like, two months... Last month, me and you were probably saying, like, oh, it's Boston. It's Boston's conference to lose.

[00:28:28] And then Philly said, you know what? Hold that. We got it. And then I thought, okay, Philly and New York. I thought it was going to be a little bit more competitive. The way that Philly... Philly's wins over Boston, they were dominating wins. So, I thought they were going to bring that same kind of energy to New York. But the New York fans... It was like 70% in the Wells Fargo. It was. And I think that that kind of energy, I think it translates. I think it resonates. And once again, we talk about Madison Square Garden as one of the biggest stages in basketball.

[00:28:58] And you have a guy like James Harden who had really performed that well on the biggest stages. And Madison Square Garden essentially is the basketball stage. See, you know I don't even like James Harden, right? Correct. And you know what?

[00:29:16] Had a little technical difficulty here. I'm pretty sure he'll be back in a second. But what he's going to say is like, you're going to have me out here advocating for James Harden, even though I don't like him. He's going to say, you got to watch that game where he had 30 points.

[00:29:40] But he also knows how many games James Harden has had more turnovers than field goals. So, he's going to bring that stat back up. But as we deal with this technical difficulty, I'm talking about why the Knicks, I think the Knicks have a real shot.

[00:29:54] I think the city looks like we're back. Sports reports and dealers still plans.

[00:30:25] Yeah. So, the Knicks, Jalen Brunson averaging 30 in his last 41 games of the playoffs. You got Cat always heavily criticized big, but he does exactly what they want bigs to do now. Can handle the ball from the outside. Shoots threes. I personally think I would like for them guys to shoot more shots near the hoop.

[00:30:51] But with this new stretch four, stretch five, positionless basketball, he does exactly what you want. It doesn't look aesthetically the way people want, a lot like the way SGA plays. But, and Cat just has like a cult following of, I don't want to say haters. But people do like to call out some of his flamboyant behavior. I don't want to say zesty because that's kind of disrespectful to a grown man. But, you know, just, oh my God, stuff like that.

[00:31:21] When he says stuff like that, it makes him look like he's not a tough guy. But to play basketball in New York, play basketball in the scrutiny of New York media, to live his life, you know, he's in a long-term relationship with a celebrity who's been connected to some of the most popular celebrities around the world in that major city. For him to continue to do that, not have any outbursts. He doesn't get ejected. He keeps his head in the game. He keeps his head in the game.

[00:31:47] Adenobi, Josh Hart, Kel Bridges, Alvarado. These guys just kind of know their, they don't kind of, they actually just know their role and they play it to a level that you can't, you can't expect them to come into a game and just mess up what they're supposed to do. They're going to do what they're going to do. You might not get a game where Josh Hart gets you 27 points. That's not going to happen. But he will guard the hell out of the other team's best player. He'll get a lot of steals.

[00:32:17] He'll take a charge. He'll get some block attempts at the rim. Alvarado will come off the bench. He'll make sure he tries to do his move where he's like sliding it behind the guy to take the pause, to take the ball away. And then Jalen Brunson is going to get the green light. But that mentioned Grimes coming off the bench, work with Ray Allen to work on his three-point shot, raises three-point shooting percentage, like 12 or 13 points from last year to this year.

[00:32:44] Big games in Philly, playing with a lot of confidence. And I noticed a lot of possessions where they were kind of, you know, bracketing Jalen Brunson. And it was just like Grimes kind of run the offense until Jalen was like, all right, let me get this ball and get my one-on-one on. So that's a big deal for a team that's trying to build. And like I said, with James Harden, I just – in Cleveland and James Harden,

[00:33:13] the nine-point comeback in game five was, like, I mean, in Detroit, coming back from that, that was points down with, like, two-and-a-half minutes left in the game. Excuse me. I think that was commendable. But I don't believe that's sustainable. I think James Harden has those games where he will go four for 12 and have five, six turnovers.

[00:33:40] And at the end of the game, you'll be like, why did you only shoot 12 shots? You're a primary ball handler, former MVP. Revolutionized how big guards handle the ball at the top of the key and anywhere outside the three-point line. Why are you going into games with zero shots and then leaving the game with 12 total shots and you play 40 minutes? You got to be a little bit more aggressive. And I think sometimes he doesn't really have that element to his game where he just takes over.

[00:34:10] So that's going to be Cleveland's – excuse me, their Achilles heel is – Donovan Mitchell can do it for sure. Mike's trying to get back in. You know, technical difficulties will be all right. So Donovan Mitchell is a guy that can get you 50. You know, he's a guy that can – you know, like I said, he had 39 points in the second half for one game. So he has that capability.

[00:34:38] But when you play a team like the Knicks, if they know James Harden is going to be passive tonight, then they're going to just crowd Spider. Knicks fans crazy. Then you got the role players. These guys are all shooters. They don't really do much else. I'm not – like Max Schroos did have that big silica's kid Cunningham, but that's not his game. He's more of a catch-and-shoot guy, a score by nature. Wade, another shooter.

[00:35:09] So a lot of their winnings will be predicated on how well they play offensively. But I still watch James Harden a few of those possessions late in the games where he just O-layed. Detroit just drove right past him for early, easy layups. So if he – back to James Harden as you segue back in. I watched – it was one – Let's be honest. Buying cannabis shouldn't be complicated, sketchy, or low quality. That's why I want to tell you about mood.com.

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[00:36:36] And Detroit was rushing down the hill, and James Harden was defended back. And the guy just looked, and he's like, James, they could do shit. And just drove right past him. James didn't even turn his hips. He just kept back-pailing. And the dude drove right down for a layup. And I'm talking – this was like four or five minutes left in a tight game. But Cleveland had the lead. But it was like you needed to be there to defend that so they don't get this easy layup where they basically ran out five seconds because it was like a long rebound.

[00:37:06] And he's got a quick layup. So, you know – Back to your James Harden point. Yeah. So, you know, James Harden, right? And you know I don't even like James Harden like that. But sometimes, you know what I mean, it's easy to bang on James Harden, right? You know, from the standpoint of the things that you're talking about. You know, he went two for ten in game seven. You know, he's got more of these games – or he's got a lot of these games

[00:37:36] where he has more turnovers than he does field goals. But James Harden saved that series as well in game five. Now, granted, as Wimby would say, he did it unethically. You know what I mean? The way that they accused OKC of playing, James Harden was the originator and creator of that. But there's a couple of things that I'm interested about in this series. So, what do you do with Evan Mulvey?

[00:38:03] So, during the Detroit series, he was able to guard Asar Thompson because Asar Thompson was no threat to shoot the ball. So, he was able to kind of play off, kind of be center field, if you will, and just kind of like – he ain't going to be able to do that against the Knicks. You know what I mean? He's probably going to have to guard Cat. And I think I like that matchup from Cleveland's standpoint of defense. There's a couple of motivations in this series.

[00:38:32] Mike Brown was not only fired by the Cavs once, he was fired twice by the Cavs. You know what I mean? Then you got Donovan Mitchell, right? New York City's own. Coming back home. Playing in the Garden. So, there's a lot to like about this series. Now, with Asar Thompson, the point that I was going to make earlier is that Asar Thompson morphed into Deion Sanders right in front of our eyes because Cleveland just said, hey, where's Asar?

[00:39:01] Throw the ball the other way. Don't go towards him. So, the good news is there's no Asar Thompson on the Knicks. You know, we'll see how healthy Adenobi is because I imagine that he's going to get the Donovan Mitchell matchup to start out at least. Mikael Bridges obviously is a great defender as well. Found his shot, you know, in between the first round in that Philadelphia series. I don't know if that's the real Mikael Bridges going off of

[00:39:30] what we've seen throughout the season. I don't know. Like, will the real Mikael please stand up? So, then on top of that, the Cavs, they're going to need some things. They're going to need Sam Merrill to re-duplicate his Game 7 performance. You know, Max Struess has broken the Miami curse. He's the first Heat player to leave Eric Spolstra. That wasn't a superstar that looks like he still belongs in the NBA.

[00:39:59] So, he's turned himself into a pretty good defender. You know, he was harassing Cade Cunningham, saving James Harden from being taken advantage of in a lot of ways that way. Jared Allen, you know, energy guy. You know what I mean? So, that's where I think Mitch Robinson is going to be a big X factor in this series because Cleveland can get out-rebounded, especially on giving up the offensive rebounds.

[00:40:26] They cannot beat the Knicks if they're giving up offensive rebounds. You know what I mean? Right now, you get to the benches, right? Deuce McBride's been looking good. Jordan Clarkson's been looking good. Landry Schammett, you know, has been looking good the last couple of games. But that's easy to do when you're up by 20 points. You know, in fact, the Knicks, seven out of their eight playoff wins this year, by double figures, four of them by at least 29 points.

[00:40:56] This is where Jalen Tyson comes in defensively. Can he provide plus minutes guarding Jalen Brunson, beating up Jalen Brunson a little bit off the bench? If the answer to that question is yes, then I like my preseason pick to make the NBA Finals. So, this series is interesting because we talked about OKC and San Antonio being the series that we knew we were going to get. Correct. You know, coming into this season, no Jason Tatum.

[00:41:25] A lot of people had Knicks, Cavs here. You know what I mean? This was supposed to be that matchup. You know what I mean? Like now, now that we're here, Mr. Logical, I'm going to say it like this. The logical part of me says Knicks in five. But I'm going down with the ship. Give me the Cavs in seven. Give me the Cavs.

[00:41:53] Give me the Knicks choking game seven in Madison Square Garden with Reggie Miller, hopefully, on the call. You know what I'm saying? With Reggie Miller jumping up on the call. He's there. Jumping up on the desk. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's just hopeful thinking. That's wishful thinking. No, no. I think Kenny Atkinson is a really good coach.

[00:42:16] I think that, like I said, Evan Mobley is a good enough defender to force the ugly cat that we don't like to see. You know what I mean? I think he can do that. The problem is, like I said, is Mikael Bridges going to continue shooting at the clip that he was. Josh Hart is kind of in that Asar Thompson frame of let him shoot. You know, but he's just more confident. He does. No, he absolutely does.

[00:42:46] But I want him to shoot. That's the thing I said about the Spurs. It's like there's an experience level that I think all these guys have played at. But I want him to shoot. And all those guys have kind of just played through all of these positions where they were the man or they were allowed to shoot more. I just think they fill their roles better without, like I was saying while you were trying to reconnect, every player on the Knicks knows their role.

[00:43:14] Now, you're not going to get a 27-point game out of Josh Hart. You might get 18 to 20 out of Adenobi. You might get a breakout game out of Bridges because, you know, he shoots the ball. And, you know, he has such long arms that when he shoots the ball, like he can't be defended. So if he's knocking his little mid-range jumper down, then I think you're good to go. But you're more likely. Yeah, he slapped him. He went through his arm. He hit him in the nose.

[00:43:42] I think his arm hit his face more than his hand did. But he'll get his free throws probably. They're still reviewing it. I mean, Courtney's not a dirty player. He just got a guy that's 7'2 trying to go for a dunk. And he's flat-footed. It's like, I got to do something. But, yeah, like I said, I think the Knicks players know their role, play their role. And night in and night out, you know what you got to get from them. James Harden and Donovan Mitchell are your superstars.

[00:44:11] And you're going to get a night from James Harden. When I was saying he's going to go 2 for 12 or 3 for 12. And it's like, yo, how did you not shoot more than 12 shots when you have the ball in your hand as much as you do? Like you said, game seven, where did he go? You said 3 for 10? 2 for 10. 2 for 10. Granted, they won that game running away. But it's like those games are happening too much in that guy's career. And I saw a graphic.

[00:44:40] It's like playoff games without winning a championship. It's Carl Malone, James Harden, John Stockton. And Harden. That's those extra ones because he went to L.A. And if this series goes 7, he will pass Carl Malone. Yeah. You know what I mean? So, you know, they've only played once this year without, like with the new lineup because, of course, Darius Garland was there for the first two matchups.

[00:45:07] But they played once, you know, since the James Harden trade. Cleveland won that game. Brunson and Bridges combined 12 to 36 in that game. You know, I think that it's a catch-22 for Cleveland. It's one of those things where which one weighs more because both series that they've played, they've gone 7. So, the good news is, you know, if the heat is on, they won't be rattled.

[00:45:34] The bad news is they went 7 both of those series against teams that I feel they shouldn't have went 7 with. So, that's where you get into, you know, where do you fall on that side? You know, the Cavs 0-4 all time in the playoffs against the Knicks. I want to see Keon Ellis this series, a little more Keon Ellis. That's another guy that's on the smaller side that can guard Brunson, you know, that can get out. A smaller guy?

[00:46:02] Well, from the standpoint of, like, not being 6'5", you know. No, but I'm just meaning from the standpoint of not always having to guard Brunson with a guy that's, like, 6'6", or something like that. Like, he's more speedy, like, you know, to where he can, you know, keep Brunson on skates a little bit on the other side of the ball. He's a factor from the three-point line. So, you have to be aware of where he is at all times. So, I would like to see a little bit more of him.

[00:46:30] They're going to put him in the game and Brunson's going to get two fouls on him immediately. He just might. Hey, you know what? You know what? In game one and two, they might. But once they go to Cleveland, that's done for, you know what I'm saying? But, no, I'm going to stick with my pick, Mr. Logico. I'm not going to be a coward, you know what I'm saying. I'm going to stick to my convictions. Give me Cavs in seven. So, next, you know, I want to talk about where do we go from here?

[00:46:59] Julius Randle has to be out, right? Like, you know, what's left for Minnesota to do to try to get back to where they were the past two years? Everybody older than Ant, besides Gobert, probably is on their way out. Well, let's see. So, we got the... Let's be honest. Buying cannabis shouldn't be complicated, sketchy, or low quality.

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[00:48:22] He, out of respect, maybe bring him back. I think he doesn't mind coming off the bench, and he knows his role. Kyle Anderson is 33. He's probably, you got to keep somebody, so I'll say him. You can keep him. And Jalen Clark is 25. So Julius Randle's gone.

[00:48:50] Yeah, well, I'm just saying that he's got to. You were doing him last year when he was in Denver. Yeah, I thought he was going to be some instant offense off the bench. But Minnesota doesn't need him because now Dasulu, you know what I'm saying, is doing that now. Well, talk to Philly. It's nothing wrong with having multiple guys who can give you points off the bench because they traded one of them. And then they needed him, but they got swept by the Knicks just now.

[00:49:19] I say you go young. So I would say I'll keep Bones Highland. I keep Dasumu. Julius Randle has some, you know, you just got to go ahead and cut your losses there. Mike Conley for his leadership. You keep Gobert for just obviously size and defense. And then, you know, you work around with Shannon. You see if you can keep him going. Nas Reed, I believe they got him on the contract for a couple more years.

[00:49:45] I think you just get rid of Julius Randle and a couple of the guys that were coming in. I won't give you much and bring in a couple of role players. So let me spitball this for a second. All right. So I was thinking about this a little bit earlier, right? All right. So Gobert, him and Julius Randle in that game six combined one for 12, three points and 10 rebounds.

[00:50:14] Okay? So when I think of this for a second, and you know they had one assist too. So when I think about this, would it be crazy to do some kind of Gobert for Miles Turner type of swap where you get another big body that can spread the floor, you know, and you go a little bit different.

[00:50:40] So from the standpoint of you think of Twin Towers usually when you think of two big men on the floor at the same time. But what if I have a Miles Turner, Nas Reed that both can spread the floor where you can have possessions where they're both a little more out of the paint, open up that lane for Anthony Edwards to get down to the basket. I think defense is important. Well, Miles Turner's a good defender. But he wants to shoot threes. He wants to score all the time.

[00:51:09] Gobert's not out there wasting energy trying to shoot threes and dribble around people getting charging fouls and nonsense like that. I need a big – if you naturally could do that, if you're a cat, if you're Dirk who just happened to be seven feet tall to shoot, if you are like Brook Lopez when he reworked himself and he was coming off the bench and he wasn't my primary big, even AD when his ability to stretch the floor. If you have that naturally, that's fine.

[00:51:35] But if you don't, can you be a big down here, defend the rim, rebound, and defend the other team's next big? Like, that's what Rudy Gobert does for you. I think trying to make all these guys hybrids is not necessary. I don't need a truck that can also win a race in zero to 60. I need a truck that's going to be able to carry some dresses and mattresses and stuff like that. Like, that's what you need a truck for. I don't need a truck that I can race. And then what – What up, Casey?

[00:52:03] You're assuming that – not assuming, but is Milwaukee's – are they sellers? Well, I think – well, at the very least, they're getting rid of Giannis. You know what I mean? At the very least. So I would imagine if you're getting rid of a guy like Giannis, you're tearing it down. You know, Doc Rivers is gone. You're starting over. You're starting from scratch. But that was going to be my next question. Should Minnesota make a play for Giannis? Nah. Like, it's Ains team.

[00:52:33] I think you need – you need one superstar that's clear. It's clear to Ains your superstar. Now, keep the guys around him that are around his age that can grow. Like, case in point, OKC. They got SGA. They have all the young guys. These guys are growing in the stars.

[00:53:02] J-Dub, Chet are all under contract, over $200 million each. With SC, I think he's over $300 million. But if I'm Minnesota, what do I have left? That's your growth. But think about it this way, right? So I imagine – just off the top of my head, right? And this is just spitballing, like I said. Yeah. San Antonio and OKC might be a two- to three-year thing. You know what I mean?

[00:53:29] Where these are going to be the favorites in the West for the next two to three years. You know what I mean? I imagine – I don't know how it's going to work, but Denver's going to make a move or two. You know what I mean? I mean, the Lakers are going to have to try to fill out something around Luka. You know, forget Golden State. Let's get them out of here. We don't care about them. You know? So if you're Minnesota, to some degree, you're kind of starting out fourth or fifth already. Correct.

[00:53:59] So you know what I mean? There's no move that you can make and get anyone in the NBA currently over the age of 30 that's going to help you beat OKC or San Antonio. I think that there's a guy – There's no reason to deplete any draft stock. There's no reason to overpay for a guy that – Giannis is 30? About, yeah. Probably 30? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:54:26] So you trade for him and you got to pay him all that money. You create this expectation. You end up making other desperation moves to try to fill out this win now prophecy, which is not going to happen because the teams that are winning now didn't do the thing you're trying to do to beat them. Like, you might have to take a couple of years where you lose in the second round. It happens.

[00:54:56] Only one team advances per matchup. But you might be a couple of years where you are the team that plays well, you develop your star, you pay him, you put the best pieces around him that can develop the team. We've seen it not work with LeBron. If people just look at LeBron and the Sixers, the Lakers and the Sixers, they keep trying to microwave opportunities to jump to the top of their conference,

[00:55:26] depleting any kind of role players, any bench players, their picks. You got to draft and develop. And just be willing to understand that we are not a championship team. But see, it goes back to the... And getting one guy, if you traded four pieces for Giannis and he gets a tight, a calf string, he's out three to four weeks.

[00:55:54] But see, that kind of goes back to the conversation we were having last week, though. I don't think the Lakers, in particular, are in a position to draft and develop because Luka start in year nine next year. You know what I mean? But that's what I'm saying. Minnesota's not in that position. But they're going to be on the road. Like, they're in that desperation. No, no. I agree with that part. I do agree with that part. So I think if you're Minnesota, the move might be, you know, get rid of one old guy and bring in another old guy.

[00:56:25] Like, Minnesota, it might be as simple as getting somebody like a Drew Holiday. You know what I mean? Next to Ant that can play that perimeter defense. She's not getting Drew out of Portland. They love him. You might. You might. You might. Because Dame Lillard is coming back next year. They ain't going to play Dame Lillard, Drew Holiday, Shaden Sharp, Scoot. You know what I mean? You're probably better off trying to get Shaden Sharp. I think you're better off getting the younger guy. But I don't want him because he's going to – because he's basically – him and Terrence Shannon are going to basically cancel each other out.

[00:56:55] So, like – No, they won't because you don't have to play them at the same time. No, but they're the same player. They're the same dude. Okay. Well, if this one guy – if both of them give me 12 points each, then that's 24 points out of that guy. I don't have to play them at the same time. You can put – But that doesn't – but that doesn't address the main issue. The problem is that you need somebody to take the ball out of – Well, I'm talking about Minnesota. The reason – the difference is you have to get the ball out of – Yeah, they're going to be older if they get to go get older. Because Edwards isn't a point guard. He's not going to run that type of point.

[00:57:24] Like, remember, we talked about that, how OKC made him – Go see what Tyus Jones would be like. Okay, that's a good one. Tyus Jones is a good one. Yeah, go get Tyus Jones. But other than that – But he's small and is going to make their defense worse. These guys are 6'2". That's not small. It's small. Hey, when you got – If you're telling Tyus Jones to go out here and guard, you know, I don't know, J-Dub or SGA. Yes, he is. Once you're not guarding a superstar, you're fine.

[00:57:53] There's an Asar Thompson on every team. No, there isn't. There's a guy who can't shoot in every lineup. But he ain't Asar Thompson on defense. I'm just talking about it's a guy – like, there's a guy on offense that shoots poorly on every team. That you can just put your smallest defense on your – So let's get to Detroit. I just don't like – I just don't like the microwave. It's not going to work. Someone needs to be in a room to tell these people, if you think you're going to win a championship next year,

[00:58:24] you need to be – and you think Giannis is that piece. Minnesota, Giannis is not the key to your guys winning. So do not give up draft capital for him. LA, don't do it. Where does Detroit go from here? You know, Dennis Jenkins has a team option. No, stop that. We'll get there. Hold on. Hold on. I'm serious. Hold on. Let me walk through this. So Tobias Harris, free agent, you know, unrestricted. Kevin O'Hurter, unrestricted.

[00:58:53] They didn't play him anyway. He was a little injured. You have your restricted year on Jalen Duran. So I'm guessing you're going to let the market determine what he's worth. Dennis Jenkins has a club option. I think you bring him back because it's only $4 million. I'm not putting Kevin Duran on this team. Let's be honest. Buying cannabis shouldn't be complicated, sketchy, or low quality. That's why I want to tell you about mood.com. That's M-O-O-D dot com.

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[01:00:19] That's going to be 39. Injury prone. You're going to give up two second-round picks for him, 2031 to 2032. I don't believe that. What is he? Houston is probably going to have to clean house with their team because they're not even. To get Kevin Durant, Houston gave up Dylan Brooks and Jalen Green. You're not getting him for just the second-round picks. I was being a little hyperbolic.

[01:00:48] I'm just saying, like, you're not going to have to give up. You're not going to have to get up Cade. You're not going to have to give up, like, anything else. And great, Kevin Durant might not be the guy. But a guy that can score. Maybe a guy on one of these teams that are in the finals that is going to get a lot of runs, get a lot of looks, and you're going to get a chance to say, you know what? That Mitchell guy at OKC. What's his situation like? Are they willing to part with him?

[01:01:17] You could look at – I called him Grimes, but it's Deuce McBride, right? Well, Deuce McBride's the guy from the Knicks. Yeah. From the Knicks. Yeah, but Quentin Grimes, since you brought him up, you know, he's a free agent. Yeah. So it's like you just – you just might need guys that can come in and shoot confidently. Well, I mean, you had Malik Beasley, right? Like, he got cleared. You could have brought him back.

[01:01:45] Well, maybe that's something you look into in the all season. But you were a number one seed. You clearly have the structure and the bones to have a quality basketball team going forward because you're young. Your best player is getting – you know, it's going to get better. He's a matchup nightmare. You just get him somebody that's going to take some of this offensive workload off of him. And I believe you write it back. You stay with your physicality.

[01:02:15] You just get a guy that can put the ball in the hoop. I think they're – they are one or two, you know, moves away from being back in that one-two-three spot next year. So the problem is – I wouldn't panic there. Casey is over time. I wouldn't panic there. So, like, look. Sports are copycats, right? Correct.

[01:02:43] So there was a guy who came into the league by the name of LeBron Ramon James. And, you know, he was Mr. Do-Everything. So Detroit said, you know what? We got that in Cade Cunningham. Six-foot-eight-point guard. He can guard James Harden or Donovan Mitchell. He can get 10 assists. And he can score 35 points. But the problem is he can't do all those things. No.

[01:03:13] That's the problem with Detroit. Because, one, he's not as athletic as LeBron. You know what I mean? He's not as, you know, quick, you know, first step in that type of thing. And he's not necessarily a locked-down defender at this stage in his career. So you need someone who can do the dirty work for him. That's where Asara comes in. The problem for me is it's the reverse of the Knicks. So we talk about the Knicks from the standpoint of if you have Brunson and Cat,

[01:03:42] can you be defensively good consistently enough to win a championship? So if you're the Pistons, can you have Asara Thompson and Duren on the floor at the same time and be offensively good enough to get past the second round? You know what I mean? But that's the thing. That's the beauty part about sometimes when you fail or you come up short of your goals, they know they can't do that.

[01:04:08] But they also know that another NBA team basically, like you said, came prime Deion Sanders. Like, yo, anywhere this guy's guarding, you'll have a ball over there. So even in what might feel like a failed season, you step back. We got a young team. We were the number one seed. We're an inexpensive team because I don't think they're paying a lot.

[01:04:36] I don't think, like I said, OKC has three guys making over 200 million. Well, Tobias is 26 million coming off the books. Yeah. And Herder's at 16. I'm talking ABA big, like 200 million plus. Because there's a few teams that are paying two or three guys nearly 200. Or like if you look at Boston, they're paying two guys over $300 million. Maybe. They might not be after all this talk going on right now. Somebody is cutting that check.

[01:05:06] It's going to be on their books for a minute. Hey, we're going to get Jalen Brown. He might not be wearing green, but Jalen Brown will be collecting from the green team for a long time. We're going to get Jalen Brown and Stephen A. on Netflix. That was longer than Gina Carano. But yeah, so if you're Detroit, you can rest on that and simply say, Tobias is expensive, so we could probably come off him.

[01:05:34] Maybe as a, I don't know. I mean, Austin Reeves? Because I don't think you're going to give him that. You can't give him. Because you give him less years because he was with the. I think, I think Luca isn't going to let Austin Reeves leave. You know, but, you know. Luca's still got to get his check. Well, he signed his extension.

[01:06:05] Well, he could have gotten the bigger one, but Dallas did him dirty and traded him. Right. So, so something that we were talking about a few weeks ago happened today. Jamal Mosley, new head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans. So, you know, we'll see how that goes. There's, there's still a few openings, I believe. It looks a lot like J.B. Bickerstaff, too. When you, when you posted that, I looked, I was like, damn, I know what they say we all look alike.

[01:06:34] And I was like, nah. Yeah, it's a little bit. Well, I know Detroit fans were hoping that Mosley would come there and kind of be their defensive coordinator, if you will. You know, Orlando's still looking for a coach. Chicago's still looking for a coach. So maybe we're looking at one of these staffs that we're watching right now or something along those lines.

[01:06:56] I imagine there's a, if there's a list, there's a couple of guys on one of these benches of these Final Four teams that are pretty high up on. Yeah. And, you know, I did hear, unfortunately, you know, for Orlando fans, I did hear the name Tom Thibodeau thrown around.

[01:07:13] But just honestly, it's, it's the same thing when I hear about like a celebrity, male or female, that's starting like another public relationship with another famous person. And I'm thinking myself, didn't you see this play out already? And I get it. This person individually, you could be a different thing, but it's like, we've seen this movie before.

[01:07:43] We're going on screen seven at this point. It's getting ridiculous. Thibodeau is not a good coach for a young team. Right. He's probably better off having a camp where he just teaches defense. You pay $10,000 to attend his camp. Because we all, we see it happen time and time again. You run these guys.

[01:08:12] You don't, you don't care about the offensive end, which is where they needed the most help considering their last game at home. They scored 19 points in the second half of a basketball game in which they had a 24 point lead. I don't know why I'm a good coach. Casey, you seeing this?

[01:08:33] So, word on the street, Mike, you know, last I heard at least, the Bulls might already have their new head coach and he might already be a part of the team. A guy by the name of Wes Unseld Jr. But, uh, moving on. Mr. Logical. Yeah. Mr. Logical. Lane Kiffin out here running his mouth.

[01:09:06] The funny thing is, I, uh, Lane Kiffin was talking last week. We didn't have the show. And I was going through my, I play music when I'm, you know, cleaning up or play music when I'm just here, just kind of like, you know, doing my laundry, whatever. And, uh, a line little Wayne said, he said, talk shit like Lane Kiffin. I was like, how old is this song? This song's from like 2013, 2014.

[01:09:34] It's like, that is Lane Kiffin. Um, and that was like, literally the song was playing right after you text me like, yeah, we should talk about this. And then the song played on my phone sometime shortly after that. Like it was, no Wayne, I think he was rapping over somebody else's beat a camera, which way it was. Uh, but that's just what he does. I don't know why, but some people just get off on that. But on the recruiting thing. All right, America, let's, let's be honest here.

[01:10:03] There's racism. Um, it's a lot of racism all over the country, but a lot of it's kind of centered around some of these places that are really, really connected to the clan. Mississippi is one of those places. I didn't write the script for them. I didn't send them the uniforms, but they put their fucking cloaks on their horses. Cause that's what the clan does. It's racist down there. And I'll give you a personal experience.

[01:10:32] It had nothing to do with Mississippi, but it was like, I wanted to be an air force. I was a recruiter. So I went and talked to my flight chief. He used to be a recruiter. He's like, where do you want to be a recruiter? I'm like, well, hopefully I want to stay in Utah. I was trying to find out any way where I could stay in Utah. And get as close as I could to retirement to the point where I was so close, they wouldn't move me unless I, you know, ascended to a certain rank and I got a special duty that I would have to like, you know, kind of apply for.

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[01:11:31] And it's not just the variety that makes them stand out. Every product is sourced from small American owned family farms that care deeply about what they grow. It's cannabis you can trust, delivered discreetly and ready to elevate your mood. And because you're a listener, you get 20 percent off your first order. Just head to Mood dot com. That's M-O-O-D dot com to get started. So I was like, I was trying to ride that out. I was trying to get from like 13 years to about 17 and a half, somewhere around that range.

[01:12:00] He was like, yeah, you know, if you want to be a recruiter, a lot of people don't. The fact that you want to do it is one thing. You want to stay in Utah. I'll be honest with you. They probably won't put you out east because you're black. Because that part of they might not welcome you just kind of, you know, being around in certain neighborhoods. I'm like, hey, I don't want to go where I'm not wanted. I'm not going there. So for Lane Kiffin to say like, hey, sometimes it's a little tough.

[01:12:31] Maybe he has a conversation with, you know, one of the, you know, he's going to recruit and an uncle or parent says something that's kind of like, I don't really feel like dealing with this. And I'm pretty sure he's going to deal with the same thing in Louisiana. But I think in Baton Rouge, it's probably a little bit more. The culture is probably a little more indicative to the types of players he's going to get. So it's, you know, if you want to win football games, you got to have a lot of fast black football players.

[01:13:00] These are just the facts. If you want to win football games in Utah, you get a bunch of Polynesians, a bunch of Pacific Islanders. That's your niche. Oregon, that's your move. California, that's your move. You want to win games from Texas to Florida, a lot of big, strong, fast black dudes. That's kind of hard to do in a state where like you got to deal with the clan coming to campus because they don't like DEI or whatever the hell these people's problems are. So here's a couple of quotes.

[01:13:29] So this is where this all started. In Vanity Fair, Lane Kiffin did an interview recently. So one of the things he said was, quote, hey, coach, we really like you. But my grandparents aren't letting me move to Oxford, Mississippi. That doesn't come. This is Lane still talking. That doesn't come up when you say Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Parents were sitting here this weekend saying the campus's diversity feels so great. It feels like there. Here's the key word.

[01:13:59] It feels like there's no segregation. And we want that for our kid because that's the real world. End quote. So I was looking at this and I said, come on now. Ole Miss and LSU's black populations can't really be that different, can they? Okay. So, you know, so I went around. I looked over a couple of different websites. So as states, they're the two highest states as far as black population.

[01:14:28] Mississippi at 38%. Louisiana at 33%. When you break that down to LSU and Ole Miss, though, LSU's at 19% and Ole Miss is at 11%. Then you had Sark come out and talk about Ole Miss and their basket weaving and how they don't take education seriously.

[01:14:48] So, on one hand, Lane Kiffin has a certain point because him and Mike Leach did go to the Capitol and help change the Mississippi State flag a few years ago. Rest in peace, Mike Leach. But at this point, Lane Kiffin is just dirty recruiting. He dirty macking. You know what I mean? Like, the damage is done.

[01:15:10] You already left a team that was on the brink of a playoff that made the national semifinal because you chased the money. Seven years, $91 million. I would have took that money, too. The end of Mr. Logical had up. Up until Miami's last possession. Mr. Logical and I. It wasn't like he left them high and dry and took all their players and they got mollywhopped in the first round of their playoff. They had a lead. Like, he left them in good hands. I still think it was a snake move, but he didn't leave the cupboard bare when he left.

[01:15:41] Yeah. And, you know, and on top of that, you know, Lane Kiffin, to Casey's point, is basically James Franklin South. You know, he's 5-11 against top 25 teams, 5-6 at Ole Miss. Oh, I'm sorry, top 10 teams, 5-6 at Ole Miss. You know, he's 13-24 against top 25 teams. So, you would imagine, because me and Mr. Logical had this argument, that you feel like you could be better at LSU.

[01:16:09] You know, I said that LSU was the better job. Mr. Logical said, this ain't 1990 no more. We all got NIL, so there ain't no such thing as a better job right now. Lane Kiffin disagrees. But that brought up a bigger topic. You know, I started seeing people around social media asking if black players should boycott SEC schools. This is a problem.

[01:16:39] I know historically in our country we've gone to the boycott. Traditionally, labor laws, labor laws in America haven't changed without some form of a strike. There has to be some kind of force to fight the forces that be.

[01:16:59] The problem with the boycott is that the solidarity and the security isn't there with the boycott. Case in point. There's not a group that will organize it to the point where there won't be anyone who crosses the proverbial picket lines. Because inherently people are selfish. Dort is out here shooting like you want to get fired.

[01:17:31] There's the ties that really bind us are there. Yes, we have connections because we're black, filled with America. But ultimately, people still want their own individual opportunities. And I think that's why a boycott would never work. Because you are a cornerback, running back, whomever. And the 10 of you say, hey, we're not going. They will get 10 more people who want to play football on your spot.

[01:18:00] Because there's no solid. There's nothing connecting all the people other than we want you to boycott because the South is racist. People are like, listen, man, I don't care. I just want to play football. We've been racist my whole life. We've dealt with that whole life. But if I can take care of my family, that's all that matters. You can be racist all you want. But I'm going to take these opportunities to take care of my family. So y'all can boycott.

[01:18:28] But I'm going to be out there for my two days to make sure I earn my spot, to get my NAL money, to get my mom out of here, to get my dad out of here, to get my sister this, to get my family this. Because God forbid somebody has a kid. You're in college and I got a kid. This is my way out, either through the degree or through football. I'm not risking all of that for this idea that everyone isn't going to be on board with. So a couple things.

[01:18:58] Well said. And I was trying to look at this from a more macro level. Yeah. And thinking of it this way, the SEC schools are football factors. And first and foremost, you know what I mean, if I'm on a player of that level, I'm trying to go to the NFL. So these schools have the best facilities. You know what I mean? They get the TV time.

[01:19:27] You know, they get the benefit of the doubt from the college football committee, the top 25. You know, they're in the rankings every week, even if they're unjustifiably so. But on top of that, I have a problem with wanting or putting this at the feet of 18 to 22-year-olds. Yes. You know what I mean? You don't have options. I've been playing this game.

[01:19:55] My son's played since 2016. He was seven years old. Imagine being 19 and you have people on TV telling you to boycott. I'm like, yo, give you a check back. You give you a check back. You don't want to deal with this. You give you a check back. You come down here and tell me, listen, you're not getting paid. I'm not getting paid. Well, you're not doing that. Hence why the solidarity isn't there because there's no cohesive planning.

[01:20:20] It's just an idea of how do we publicize our discontent and our anger with the system. But also have people who don't make money stop. But taking it a step further, right? Looking at the SEC, right? And hopefully nobody has said this because I don't think I've heard it anywhere yet. But looking at the SEC, you look at those schools, right?

[01:20:51] There's a bunch of ACC schools in those same states. You know what I mean? Like for every South Carolina, there's a Clemson. For every Florida, there's a Florida state. You know. It's 10 downtowns in every single one of these states with a top 25 college football team. Yeah, like the SEC got Kentucky. ACC got Louisville. So you know what I mean? So unless you're going up north, Syracuse, you know, Pitt. I live in Jersey.

[01:21:19] They not all up here welcoming them to open arms either. There was a slave port in New York City that was dropping people off here too. And the Irish that came over that became cops. And they've been beating black people up. They've been beating them up and down the East Coast. Yeah, so unless everybody else is just going to go to the Big Ten, you know what I mean? Because, I mean, you can't even really go to the Big 12 because you've got some Oklahomas and Kansases in there too. And, you know, so I mean, like you can't escape.

[01:21:48] So you can boycott the SEC all you want. The claim that is resurgent in Indiana. And then, so then, you know, when I was younger, when I was around that college age, if you will, my dream was I always wanted the Fab Five. Like I used to always have this alternate reality, the multiverse, where the Fab Five went to grambling or something. And, you know, took the HBCU to the Final Four. Now that would never happen, you know what I mean?

[01:22:18] But it made me think about Deion Sanders again because, you know, he went to Jackson State, you know. And, you know, he showed to some degree what was possible. Like you would have never woke up and thought that a guy like Travis Hunter would go to an HBCU unless he got in trouble, unless it was the transfer portal, unless it was he got kicked out of his original school or something along those lines. And then you had Shador.

[01:22:46] You had all of these four-star talents, you know, at the very least that were coming to Jackson State. The problem is, and Deion wasn't there long enough to really see it through, but they were only going to Jackson State. You know what I mean? Like, Fam, you wasn't getting them at that clip. You know, Pine Bluff wasn't getting them. Alabama A&M wasn't getting them. So from that standpoint, we only scratched the surface. And even then.

[01:23:15] And the NFL doesn't draft guys from the HBCU. Right. Once again. They have to set up their own showcase just to get the players looked at. And they still don't get guys from the showcase. Anyways, I'm pretty sure there's a ton of wide receivers and quarterbacks and quarterbacks that are measurables are just as good as the kid out of Akron. I always pick Akron. Just first one's popped in my head. But because he goes to Grambling.

[01:23:47] Because he goes to Southern. They don't get looked at the NFL. So if I'm a high school player. It's hard for me to say, hey, my goal is to go to the NFL. Yeah. As much as I love being black, I also want to be able to take care of my family through the physical gifts that I have. And the opportunity is for me to go to LSU. The opportunity, even if it's the Ole Miss, I think people will deal with. Because those black colleges are down south too.

[01:24:17] And shout out to Alabama A&M. I think people are willing to deal with all of that for the opportunity for something greater to take care of their family. Because ultimately, that's what people want. Either want to take care of themselves or take care of their family. It shouldn't be incumbent on people who are learning how to be themselves as adults to also be the moral compass that other adults try to use to dictate their personal feelings.

[01:24:46] So if you want a boy cop, don't go to your job. Don't tell this 19-year-old not to go to practice. Yeah. And, you know, shout out to Carson Vinson in Alabama A&M, you know, drafted in 2025. You know, and that's a great point, Mike. You know what I mean? Like, there you go. You know, running backs lead the nation in rushing yards, you know, from Virginia Union. But also, another point.

[01:25:16] I met his dad a couple years ago at a Halloween party. He was dressed up like him. Salute. Yeah, it was pretty dope. But see, but this is the other problem that, and this is where when you're planning, you can't be short-sighted, right? Because just, what, two weeks ago, we had the Calais versus Louisiana ruling from the Supreme Court.

[01:25:41] So if this were to happen and players started not going to these SEC, these big-time schools, what you think going to happen? You know what I mean? The government going to get involved. You know what I mean? There's going to be punishments, not physically per se, but, you know, just from the standpoint of economics. You know, you already got a president that's not letting officers go to Ivy League schools. Yeah, they said Harvard is too woke.

[01:26:10] Even though the guy who was advocating for it, they were like, you graduated from Harvard. He was like, and he kept, they were like, no, no, no, no, like, seriously, you went to Harvard. Now you're about to be the secretary of this, whatever this committee is. So what you're telling us is that your degree should be null and void because Harvard isn't good enough for, but it's like, no one cares.

[01:26:35] Like, they want to suppress as much as possible, and that's why people, like, that's why it's hard to come to some kind of solidarity. And most things are hard. Life is hard. Life is difficult. But like I said, my sons are 24, 22, and 18. There's no way I would be like, y'all should boycott your future, even though I didn't do it when I lived in the same America as you did. But the three of you should. Well, not only that.

[01:27:04] We couldn't even get rich people. We couldn't even get NFL players to boycott over certain things. Yeah. And they have leverage. And they got leverage. They got money. Yeah. And we're telling these guys that are starting life, it's all up to you. And you know what I mean? And that's the problem. So, you know, so like, obviously, you know, you would see schools like HBCUs, if that was the recourse, not getting funding.

[01:27:34] You know what I mean? If it was real, if it was fun, if all the NBA players or anyone who makes, granted, it probably takes a lot. But if they just did what like the Negro Leagues did and they played what they called like the Chitlin Circuit, that is kind of played. Hey, all you guys, all HBCUs are pretty much from what, Maryland out to Texas. Yeah, there's a few scattered, you know, in other places. But that's why you're in that region. Yeah.

[01:28:04] Yeah. We're only going to play these regional games. They're going to be on TV because ESPN wants to play it. They'll give you a contract. They just need funding. So if all the black athletes that go to LSU decided to go to Grambling and all the ones that go to Bama decide to go to Alabama A&M or Alabama State, the Bama program would suffer. Just inevitable. Like if you take the talent, the talent is the program.

[01:28:31] The program isn't the jersey and everything. It's the people who wear them. It's the guy who's 6'4", 265 pounds, who runs a 4'5", 5'40". That guy is the reason that, you know, these coaches down the street. But it goes back to the penalties. It goes back to the penalties I was talking about, though. That's all great until your games aren't on TV. You know what I mean?

[01:28:59] Like until you get blackballed, basically. Or, you know what I mean? Let's say it goes well. You know what I mean? Don't think those NFL executives, you know what I'm saying, aren't in cahoots with a lot of this stuff. If the NFL executives want to sell tickets in Germany, they're going to want the fastest black wide receivers on the field running deep routes. No, you're right. But you've got to get to that point. Listen, like I said, the NFL players have the most leverage in that boycott.

[01:29:28] But if you want it, you'll pay for it. Yeah. Because, like, let's keep it real. They don't put a lot of Montana versus North Dakota games on primetime. Let's keep it real. Those teams are winning the national championships in their division. They're not on TV a lot. Yeah. Supply and demand, right? So, like, the executives are telling you what they want.

[01:29:53] They don't want the average or the really good black athletes at HBCUs because they're really good athletes. They don't want the really good white athletes that play out in Idaho State and Montana State and Ohio. Look, what's the school in Ohio? Like, the Purple School or, like, Ohio Union or something like that? I don't know. I know they've got Youngstown State. Mountain Union. Mountain Union. Okay. Yeah. All these schools, like, they play great football. South Dakota.

[01:30:23] North Dakota. ESPN is not putting that on TV. CBS is not putting that on TV over Alabama versus whomever. Alabama can play a community college. They'll still put that on TV before they put two all-white, you know, majority white schools. And the same thing with HBCUs. They want the top-tier talent to put on TV.

[01:30:43] So if the top-tier talent had actual support that could help them in their leverage with the networks and the leverage with the schools and the leverage with the local governments, yeah, that's fine. But that leverage isn't established. So the people who already have money and who can call these shots, they can boycott. Or the people who already have money can say, you know what? I want to put on more than one weekend of HBCU football games.

[01:31:13] We want to do it. Hey, can you guys do Thursday night games? Not a – but, you know, just can we get you on ESPN on different days? ESPN can do that because we love football. America loves football. We'll watch it. We'll ignore all the racism and sit in that stand 105,000 deep in Death Valley and cheer and sing all the songs and wear the hats and paint your face and drink Trulies and shotgun beers.

[01:31:42] We'll do all that shit for three or four hours at a football game. I ain't going to lie. If I was a five-star athlete, I would boycott Tennessee just off of Rocky Top. You know what I'm saying? That's just me, though. But, you know what I mean? He is the world-renowned, world-famous, cool, calm, collected. He was born in Texas, raised in B.A. He's still wearing that damn hat. You know what I'm saying?

[01:32:09] Like, let's see the Knicks get something lodged in their throat. He is Mr. Logical. Pause. Don't bring feelings to a fact fight. Don't do it. And then, of course, down here in the Alamo watching his Spurs, newly founded Spurs, you know, play a great game. You know, I don't know how— Old dogs and new tricks, apparently, huh? Yeah.

[01:32:38] I don't know how often, how many more times OKC can go on runs to get back into this game, though. But I am 2-5, you know, going left a lot quicker than Gina Carano. This is Sports Reports' order. Like, review, subscribe, share, rate, do all the free things. Do all the good things. Liquid death in hand. Get you some pina killada. Check out Say Less, Say More. We are everywhere that you get your podcasts.

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