Loading summary
Transcript66 lines
- [00:02]
A
When the holidays start to feel a bit repetitive, reach for a Sprite Winter Spiced Cranberry and put your twist on tradition. A bold cranberry and Winter Spice Flavor Fusion Sprite Winter Spice Cranberry is a refreshing way to shake things up this sipping season, and only for a limited time. Sprite obey your thirst. This is the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast that sounds like heaven to me. Listen live weekday afternoon starting at 3 on 8 80, ESPN, the ESPN New York app and your smart speakers. Paddle Keefe back with you in for the guys DHR enjoying some time off. 1-800-919-3776 Good to be back with Anthony and Jacob. You guys are both. No, Anthony's a Giants fan, right?
- [00:53]
B
Oh yeah.
- [00:54]
A
Jacob's a Jets fan though, unfortunately. So, I mean, like I was asking the rhetorical questions earlier in the show, is there any reason for optimism coming out of this year? Like, is there anything that happened this year regarding the jets that you feel good about going into next year?
- [01:12]
C
Nope.
- [01:13]
A
Not how quickly he answered.
- [01:15]
C
Not one thing.
- [01:16]
B
No, he's not been happy with them before the season started. He wasn't really.
- [01:19]
C
Right. And then even looking at the schedule, I don't know if I can be happy about next year. I the way Allen Hahn was out on the jets this year, I might be out on them next year. I'll be like tuning in. But will I really be watching or I'm just going to watch college football to see who's the next quarterback to.
- [01:35]
A
Take college football regular season doesn't matter anyway.
- [01:39]
C
Yeah, it doesn't.
- [01:41]
A
As far as the College Football Playoff goes. But yes, as far as the number one pick in the draft goes. Yeah, I mean, but that's like, it's frustrating to do that. And the jets have done it a couple of times recently, right? They did it with with Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson.
- [01:55]
C
That's right.
- [01:55]
A
Before that they did it with Sam Darnold. And here we are. That's like three times. When was Darnold? He was 2018. Right. That's three times in seven, eight years where you're in December talking about who you're going to take at the top of the draft as your next franchise quarterback. And in the middle of all of that, by the way, you snuck in two years of Aaron Rodgers and I.
- [02:21]
C
Thought that was going to be the turning point. And then one Achilles is all it took for me to be like, you know what, I'm dead on the inside.
- [02:28]
A
They won that game.
- [02:29]
B
Well, the thing, Pat, that you mentioned is that earlier in the show, which we have the video out on our social platform, DHR and espn, the. That you don't feel confident in Aaron Glenn going forward. The thing that I would caution Jet fans of is. And it might change, but I doubt it. The jets are looking at what the Giant schedule was last year because they have the NFC north, they have the AFC West. We just saw the Giants go through that. And in a division where going into this year we thought there's two playoff teams in the NFC east, the Commanders are coming off a great year.
- [03:03]
A
The Eagles, they were both in the championship last year. Right.
- [03:07]
B
So the Eagles being Super bowl champions and then you never know what. The Cowboys, they're at least going to be competitive. That's a tough division. The jets, you've got the Patriots, who look like they figured it out. I don't think the Bills are going anywhere with Josh Allen and then the Miami Dolphins. Okay, so that's not the hardest, but you have the exact same schedule. And what happened to the Giants with a coach that not everybody was too confident in midway through that season?
- [03:31]
A
Yeah, he got fired. Got fired.
- [03:33]
B
That would be the concern if I was a Jets.
- [03:35]
A
I mean. But the sad thing is that. And I hate calling for people's jobs and I'm not doing that. But what I will say is, if you're a fan of the Jets, Aaron Glenn ceases to be your head coach by this time next year. Yes, that means you had another crummy season. But is that the worst thing for your franchise? I don't. Listen, I know that on one hand, I don't like the precedent of one season and you lose your job and then you just keep recycling guys in and out of that job. And I don't think they're going to do it anyway. So it doesn't matter what I think about it. I don't think they're going to do it. I think Aaron Glenn is going to be back. But on the other hand, this is what, 15 years in a row now without the playoffs.
- [04:21]
C
Yep.
- [04:23]
A
You're probably not going to make the playoffs next year because I don't think that Aaron Glenn is a capable enough coach to all of a sudden turn this thing around and get the jets to the playoff. You know, the hope this year was like 6 and 11, 7 and 10, competitive football. Lay the groundwork, you know, develop that defense, tighten up the discipline, the penalties. You know, rely on the running game with hall and Allen. You know, utilize Garrett Wilson and get what you can out of. Out of fields at quarterback and none of that happened. Hall played well. And like you said, Anthony, he's a Pro Bowler today and deservedly so. He's good. But if you look on offense, you have him and you've got Wilson. If he's healthy, just don't let go of the rope. I've got to think that Garrett Wilson, if they were in and playing important games this year, hopefully, you know, he wouldn't be shut down for the year. That. The fact that he shut down for the year, great. But this guy's Also, what, like 24 years old? He's in the prime of his career. He's one of the most talented wide receivers in the NFL. And you're just like shutting him down because he's on a team that has played meaningless games since he came into the NFL. He's like the opposite of like Derek Jeter and Tom Brady. Remember Derek Jeter until the last game, I think of 2008 at Yankee Stadium when they closed the original Yankee Stadium. It was like the first game of his career, which started in 95, that he played where his team was eliminated from playoff contention. The first game in like a 13 year span. Garrett Wilson's like the opposite. This guy's as talented as any receiver in the NFL. He comes into the league and he hasn't played an important game yet.
- [06:09]
B
The biggest indictment of the Jet offense, quarterback situation. Everything you want to talk about as a whole, Pat, is this. Garrett Wilson hasn't played since mid October. I believe he still leads the jets in receiving yards and it's only in the mid-3002. Like teams by accident can get guys that you've never heard of get 100 yard games sometimes. And the jets have allowed a wide receiver, a great wide receiver who hasn't played since mid October, to still lead their team in receiving yards. And we're almost done with the season.
- [06:39]
C
And then, not only that, Garrett Wilson was visibly frustrated the last two years with Aaron Rodgers. He has another loser season this year with Justin Fields. And then you're only predicting that he's probably going to have another one next year with the jets and the way their schedule was set up. Like, at what point do you think maybe the jets or him, like, try to look for another team, it's going to be. You gave away Quinn in a ready. You gave away sauce. You gave away sauce after paying sauce. You paid Garrett this. Paid Wilson, though, Garrett this past offseason too. So do you trade him this off season coming up, or do you trade him next season if things start going bad again? Like, like that's the next thing you could then start thinking about.
- [07:18]
A
These are just all signs of, you know what we already know that this franchise does not know what it's doing. General managers, head coaches, there's not one guy who has come through that has shown any inkling of being up for this job. And sad. 1-800-919-3776 Nick's pregame coming up at 7:30, so we're together for another hour or so. Let's go back to the phones. Spike. And St. Pete has been waiting patiently. Spike, how are you?
- [07:46]
D
I'm great, Pat. First of all, Merry Christmas to you and your family and stay healthy and all that good stuff. I'm going to be a little, a little off the beaten path. I think sometimes we lose sight of the guys in the back. I'm going to try. I hope I remember them all. So let me start wishing Ray Dean a hand and Tom and Anthony and Jacob Perry and Jolio and Harvey and Julian and Matt Pumbaka. And I even hear once in a while from Chantelle. I, I apologize if I missed everybody. Anybody. I'm not sure to anyone.
- [08:24]
A
I think you got them all. You guys keeping track of that? It sounds like he did pretty well.
- [08:28]
C
Yeah, I think that's everybody.
- [08:29]
A
Chantel's been around. I haven't heard Chantel in a long.
- [08:31]
C
Chantel's no longer with.
- [08:32]
A
No, I didn't think.
- [08:33]
C
No, she's. She's not dead. She's just not on the station.
- [08:35]
A
Right.
- [08:35]
D
That's what I meant on Instagram once in a while, how I'm feeling, all that stuff. These kids, they're the guts of the operation.
- [08:45]
A
They sure are. You're right about that. Yeah.
- [08:48]
D
They get little or no notoriety at all except the scotch as I used to grow up in Brooklyn. And they'll throw something at them and they usually come back and produce. And I'm guessing 25 to 35, pretty much the range, age range for most of these youngsters. So I wanted to at least voice my thank yous because they always, always are courteous and how you feel and all that stuff. And I appreciate it a lot as you guys do.
- [09:15]
E
So.
- [09:16]
D
On the Knicks. On the Knicks. I need you for this. I've asked four people that I consider basketball experts. Embedded is Larry Hardesty and he was one of the people embedded with the team in some way, shape or form as you have been for eight or nine years, I'm guessing. I think Mitchell, I said before the season started. Mitchell Robinson is the key player for The Knicks not the best player. Keep him upright, get him up to 12, 4, 6, 4 five or six minute shifts by the playoffs. Manage him because he's not getting those stupid fouls anymore. And the shooting coach and the mark. Bryant got him, thank God. If I told you he made 10 free throws in a row, you'd order a straight tracker. For me, he's just, just to show the will to do it, I think in the NBA, because I watch a lot of NBA, I think he may be the best offensive rebounder per minute, I'm guessing. And I think for sure my eyeballs tell you there's no stat to this. They must have analytics though. He may be the best big man health defender. He plays the game. You could just watch him. If you're a big kid and you want to learn how to play health defense, he's. He just, just the alters, shots, he does everything right. And he's the senior Nick. He has to be the senior Nick by now. So I don't think the team's going to have much of a problem. I don't understand this resting now, but that's okay. That's okay. I'm old school. You know, when you get paid a ton of money to play, you play. But Josh Hart, Mikkel Bridges and JB the other night, this is another thing. Thanks for the extra time. The Knicks have made, in my estimation, 30 to 40% passes this year and it's reflected in the assist total. Am I wrong?
- [11:09]
A
The assist total is a higher rate spike and thanks for the call than it was really at any point during Tom Thibodeau's tenure. Now, last year there was a, no pun intended here, spike in the Knicks assist total. Tibbs is last year. Listen, if you, if you look at where the Knicks are right now and what Mike Brown was brought in here to do, okay, nobody ever questioned the job that Tom Thibodeau did here. It was when it happened. Surprising. Okay? The timing to me surprised me more than the fact that it happened. You could have easily made the case for Tom Thibodeau to continue and come into year number six as the Knicks head coach. You know, this franchise is not remotely in the position it's in right now. If he didn't come in and change pretty much everything in 2020, you know, when, when Leon Rose came in and credit to him for hiring Tibbs, but Tibbs, that's what he does. You know, he rolls up his sleeves and he changes the culture of the organization. Leon Rose has made great decisions, Personnel Decisions, front office decisions. Tibbs changed the culture, okay, he got them to a place they hadn't been in a quarter century, but when he got them there last year, unfortunately they fell short of probably, as things turned out, where they should have gone last year. You know, they shouldn't have lost game one against the Pacers, they shouldn't have lost game two, they shouldn't have lost the conference finals against the Pacers. So on the one hand, it's a great season. You go to the conference finals for the first time since 2000. But on the other hand, it could have been better. And these windows don't stay open for forever. Look at the Detroit Lions two years ago. They were in the NFC Championship game and they had a double digit lead and they lost to the 49ers. All right, that was like them getting their toe wet last year. They have the number one seed in the NFC and are, you know, a path to the super bowl where they didn't have to leave Ford Field. And then they got blitzed by the commanders. And now this year they're probably not going to make the playoffs. These windows close quickly. And what Leon Rose and Knicks management wanted to do is they wanted to make sure that the Knicks took another step before this window, all right, started to close with this group of guys because it doesn't last forever. They wanted Mike Brown to have a more egalitarian offense, not so much Brunson centric check that has happened. Anunoby Bridges, much bigger parts of the offense. They wanted Mike Brown to rely on his depth. And you have seen Brown give roles to Tyler Kolek and Landry Shamit and guys who Tibbs was probably not all that trusting in for large periods of time in recent years. And that seems to have worked. And then the other thing is don't go pedal to the metal for all 82, or in this case all 83 regular season games. You need to leave something in the tank for the postseason and that's what tonight is. Adenobi's not playing tonight. Brunson's not playing tonight. If Tibbs was the coach, those guys would be playing tonight. What the east allows Mike Brown to do, you have the Pistons at 23, 6, the Knicks at 20 and 8. The Knicks are two and a half games better than every other team in the East. It's hard to imagine a scenario right now where the Knicks are not one of the top two seeds in the Eastern Conference in the playoffs. And if you ask me, I think when all is said and done, they're probably going to overtake Detroit and be the number one seed. But because the east is a little bit down, right, it's not the west where you got the spurs and the Rockets and the Lakers and the Thunder and the Nuggets. All right, he has a little bit of leeway to do what he's doing tonight. If they lose this game on December 23rd to the Minnesota Timberwolves, a Western Conference team where tiebreakers are not going to come into play, it's not the worst thing in the world. It's about the greater good. So the things that they wanted to see from Mike Brown, he's doing. And on top of it all, they're 20 and eight and they're on pace to win 59 games, I believe. And the Knicks as a franchise have only won more than 57 games twice in their history. 1970, when they won the championship in 1992, 93, that was Riley's best team when they were the number one seed and they lost to the Bulls in the conference finals. The Charles Smith Series. Those both Knicks teams won 60 games. They are the only two Knicks teams in the history of the franchise to have won more than 57 games in a season. We're only a third of the way through, but Mike Brown's Knicks are on pace to win 59 games. Hey, Ryan Reynolds here wishing you a very happy half off holiday because right now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off unlimited. To be clear, that's half price, not half the service. Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price. So that means a half day. Yeah, give it a try@mintmobile.com Upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to 15 per month required New customer offer for first 3 months only. Speed Slowhacker 35 gigabytes of networks Busy taxes and fees Extra CMN as you.
- [16:21]
F
Know, managing maintenance, repair and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back. From professional grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly. Plus their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions. And because Grainger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by.
- [16:52]
A
Ah DSW Earth Place of the humble. Brag here. The shoes are so good. No one would ever know how little you paid if you didn't Go telling everyone that is. And with never ending options for every style, mood and occasion, all at really great prices, we'll definitely give you something to brag about. So go ahead, stock up on fresh sneakers from your favorite brands or try those boots you always secretly knew you could pull off. Find the shoes that get you at prices that get your budget at DSW stores or@dsw.com let us surprise you. Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast. I didn't listen to anything you just said. Catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back to dhr. Pat o' Keefe and Ty Butler. I guess it took two guys to do the job of three men today. A Herculean effort by Ty and me indeed. Game time is brought to you by Tullamore du Irish Whiskey. Because when it's game time, it's Tully time. Knicks visit the Timberwolves and coverage follows me right here at 8:80. At 7:30pm I'll have pregame for you and Tyler Murray and Wally Zerbiak will have the call of the Knicks and the T Wolf from Minneapolis. Rangers are in D.C. to take on the Capitals coverage going on right now on 10:50am and the puck drops there a little after 7:00 clock. And St. John's is hosting Harvard and you can catch that right now on the ESPN New York app. Also Isles Devils at UBS at 7 and the Nets 76ers are in Philly also at 7. Tullamore Dew, the original triple distilled, triple blended and triple cask matured Irish whiskey. Be sure to grab a Tullamore Dew or try the all new Tullamore Dew. Honey, during today's action, glasses up to enjoying Tullamore Dew responsibly. Let's go back to the phones. We're here till 7:30 and let's say hello to Richard in Manhattan. Richard.
- [18:54]
E
Hi Jake. I was listening.
- [18:55]
D
Oh, I'm sorry.
- [18:56]
E
Yeah, Pat, I'm sorry, Pat. I was listening to the Ranger games Saturday and when the Phillies scored the second fourth goal in the second period, the short hit, I turned the radio off. I said that's it. I couldn't believe they won in overtime or shootout. Right. They won.
- [19:11]
A
They won. Yeah. Yeah. They had to kill two penalties in overtime.
- [19:15]
E
Unbelievable. That's right. Tonight is one of those rare nights all six New York professional teams are playing. You got the three hockey teams and the three basketball teams.
- [19:25]
A
Yep, two of them are playing each other. Isles Devils on long Island. Right. Because nobody's playing anything tomorrow.
- [19:33]
E
Three basketball teams.
- [19:34]
A
The three basketball teams. What's your. What's your. What you talking about? St. John's of course.
- [19:39]
E
Now, won't that be great if Harvard doesn't give out. Who don't give out scholarships, let alone nil? Money beats St. John's tonight in their gym with all the money they're giving away. I think Patino would step down if they lost to Harvard tonight.
- [19:54]
A
Well, he's up by 13 at the half. It's 46, 33, not over yet.
- [19:59]
E
I don't understand why they go to. Why they play Harvard. They don't play Columbia, they don't play Fordham, they don't play Manhattan, they don't play Rutgers. These are natural rivalries right around here. But they got to play Harvard anyway. So Sunday. I mean, a Thursday night, Pat. A Thursday. We have 13 hours of basketball, 11 hours of football. Here's how I break it down. The football stinks. Stinks big time. Maybe Bo Nix and Jared Goff. That's the only reason to watch those three games. The rest of it is garbage. But look what we have in basketball. You start with Brunson, Donovan, Mitchell Wimbiani, Shane Gilgis, Flagg, Anthony Davis, Steph and Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, LeBron and Luka, Anthony Edwards and Jokic and Murray. That's unbelievable. Basketball on Thursday. So that's really, really worth looking forward to. The only thing I wish, there's never any games on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve and the day after the All Star game are the two worst sporting days out of the 365 days out of the year. There's nothing going on. I mean, even the day before the baseball All Star Game, you got, you know, all the home run hitting and all that going on. At least that's a little something. But the day after the All Star Game, zilch. And the day before Christmas, zilch. That I don't understand. You don't even have any. I don't think you even have any college football games.
- [21:32]
A
They used to have some bowl games. Richard. Thanks for the call. Happy holiday. The. Occasionally you'll get an NFL game on, on Christmas Eve, depending on where it falls. You know, on the calendar this year it's a Wednesday, so it's not an NFL day. So there it's. It's a quiet day. The NHL takes off three days for Christmas break. The NBA, they don't play on Christmas Eve. They gear up, obviously they have their big day on Christmas Day. It is a great NBA Matchup on. On Thursday, and the matchups are set before the season. When the Knicks are good, they play on Christmas. They kind of invented playing on Christmas. And it's nice that they have that 12 o' clock slot. They. They kind of own that 12 o' clock slot. Only two of the 10 teams playing on Christmas day are Eastern conference teams, and it's the Knicks and the Cavs because those were the two teams that were supposed to be the best at the beginning of the season. The Cavs have been disappointing and the Pistons have been good. They're not playing. The biggest difference this year, no Celtics on Christmas Day, obviously. No Jayson Tatum. Celtics are good. What are they? Top three, top four in the Eastern conference. They've played well. But it's funny not seeing the Boston Celtics on Christmas day. So, yeah, you got San Antonio, Oklahoma City, and they also play tonight, by the way, and they played that great game in the semifinals of the NBA cup. The Thunder and the Spurs. If wembanyama stays healthy, I think that's who Richard was talking about, Jacob. Am I not mistaken? He gave it a. The old college try. If wembanyama stays healthy, I think Spurs, Thunder is the rivalry in the NBA over the next five years. Then you got the Mavs and the Warriors. Warriors are down. Mavs are down, but they have Cooper flag and they're playing better. Rockets, Lakers is a very good matchup, and so is Timberwolves, Nuggets. So, yeah, it's a, it's a good spread for the NBA. And I bet that as bad as the NFL matchups are and as good as the NBA matchups are, the talk in the days or two that follow will be about how more people watch the NFL than the NBA, because that's just how our country consumes sports.
- [23:46]
G
This is Kevin Clark from Manscaped. The holidays are rolling in, and if your wish list is missing a little something, Manscaped has you covered, folks. It's December. It's the holiday season. You've got to be game ready for not just a bunch of holiday parties. But I mean, my wife is asking me to take all sorts of photos in front of the tree with my son. If you're not game ready, it could be some bad angles, guys. These are bad angles. If you're not grooming exactly the way you should, if you stay ready, you don't have to get ready. That's. That's my philosophy this time of year. I've had some bad photos. I saw one from last year. I'm not. I'M I got the beard. It's too heavy and I got these great pajamas. Everything should look awesome. And guess what? My face isn't up for it. My face wasn't game ready. From the beard hedger to lawnmower trimmer, manscaped precision tools keep you looking sharp, feeling confident and ready for every event and celebration. Right now at Target, get 20% off the handyman shaver, beard hedger and the chairman plus essentials kit, a must have for a smooth face shave. Hurry. Offer ends December 27th.
- [24:51]
F
If you've shopped online, chances are you've bought from a business powered by Shopify. You know that purple shop pay button you see at checkout? The one that makes buying so incredibly easy? That's Shopify. And there's a reason so many businesses sell with it. Because Shopify makes it incredibly easy to start and run your business. Shopify is the commerce platform behind 10% of all e commerce in the US from household names like Mattel and Gymshark to brands just getting started. Shopify gives you a leg up with hundreds of beautiful, ready to go templates to express your brand style and forget about the code. Tackle all those important tasks in one place. From inventory to payments to analytics and more. Spread your brand's word with built in marketing and email tools to find and keep new customers. And did I mention that iconic purple Shop pay button that's used by millions of businesses around the world? It's why Shopify has the best converting checkout on the planet. Your customers already love it. If you want to see less carts being abandoned, it's time for you to head over to Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.comnetwork. go to shopify.comnetworkshopify.com.
- [26:09]
A
This message may be shocking to many millennials. If you are one, you might want to sit down. Right now, loads of people are searching the following on low rise Jeans, halter top, velour tracksuit, puka shell, necklace, disc belt. You likely place these in the dark of your closet in 2004, never to be seen again. But if you can find it in yourself to dust them off, there are a lot of people who will give you money for them. Sell on Depop, where taste recognizes taste thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast. I didn't listen to anything you just said. Catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back to a bonus half hour of DHR Ahead of The Christmas holiday. Pat o' Keefe in for the guys this afternoon, taking you up till 7:30 and then I'll stick around for pregame coverage of Knicks Timberwolves right here on 880 ESPN, New York 1-800-919-3776. Time for a couple more calls before we sign off for the evening. Knicks got back on track Sunday night against the Miami Heat. It's, it's funny and talking with Monica during that broadcast just about the fact that the Heat have been very shorthanded this season and they haven't had a great record season. They lost to the Knicks on Sunday, pushing their record to just one game above.500. They didn't have Tyler Herro. They've been missing at times. Bam Adebayo and others. Hero, in fact, didn't play in any of the four games against the Knicks. But the Heat always, they always give the Knicks problems. And then the Knicks, they needed a 47 point performance from Jalen Brunson to hold off the Heat and win by seven. And there were two or three times in that fourth quarter and the third quarter where it looked like the Knicks were going to pull away. I mean, the Knicks are a better team than the Heat, especially when Hero doesn't play. But I think even when he does play, the Knicks are a better team. But the Miami team is tough. So it was a good win for the Knicks, even though on paper it's like, oh, that's a game they should win. Miami always gives them trouble. So that was a good win for the Knicks. It was also a good win because, you know, they bounced back from a rare loss at home on Friday night against Philadelphia. And the NBA cup was great. It was a great experience for the Knicks. They played very, very well in the group play games. You know, they needed to beat the Bucks on that Black Friday to win the group and get into the knockout round. The Knicks are the only NBA cup team to, excuse me, the only NBA team to reach the knockout round all three years. They played very well against the Raptors on the road. And that's important because the road has not been a place where the Knicks have played great so far this season. They're playing better. They lost their first three road games of the season. Now they're up to five and six. If they win tonight, they're.500 on the road. But that was a good win against a quality opponent on the road. And then they played great in a tough, physical, hard fought game against the Magic in the semifinals and the NBA cup championship like that's what, that's what Adam Silver wants. When he, he drew up the NBA cup, he basically wants to. And I've heard Michael K. Say this, and it's spot on. It's not. You know, I think people who are complaining about the cup one way or another, I think they're overthinking it. I think what the point of the NBA cup was is to assign a little bit more intensity, focus, attention, excitement on some regular season games in November and December that otherwise wouldn't be as exciting. They count for the same amount in the standings, the group play games, the knockout round games. The only one that doesn't count is the NBA cup final. And that's exactly what they did. Like that Knicks Orlando game in the semifinals. It was a playoff type atmosphere. And the game after it was even better when the spurs handed the Thunder their second loss of the season. That's what he wanted. And if you have to pay players a monetary incentive for those games to implement this tournament, who cares? It's not coming out of your pocket. Our pocket, the fans pocket. You know, people get hung up on the money sometimes. What he's trying to do is improve the competition. I never understood the people who were upset by the NBA Cup. The NBA cup didn't, it didn't take anything away. If anything, it enhanced it a little. Now if you don't think it enhances the regular season, that's fine, but worst case scenario, that it doesn't change things at all, so why complain about it? That's, that's how I look at the NBA Cup. For the Knicks, it was a really good experience. They got to play in some high intensity games at a point in the season where there's not usually that level of intensity against some really top competition. Orlando's a tough team to play. Wembanyama and the spurs are a tough team to play against. And they came through it and they pulled away in the fourth quarter of that championship game. And credit to them because yes, there's the monetary incentive. And by winning that championship game, each player on the roster made I think, an additional $260,000. But it didn't mean anything in the standings. And yet that is not how it appeared they were approaching the game if you watched it in the fourth quarter. But the problem that I have with it is I don't know what the solve here is, okay? So I'm sorry if I'm like, you know, coming up with a problem but not a solution right now. But the team that wins the NBA cup and again, Adam Silver. The way that the Knicks approach the NBA cup and really have in all three years of the NBA Cup's existence, the way that the Knicks have approached it each and every year should be the blueprint for how the NBA commissioner and office wants teams to approach the NBA Cup. How the Knicks handled their business this year is exactly what you want teams to do, minus hanging the banner. I think the NBA probably would have preferred the Knicks hung a banner. They didn't, as we know. All right, but coming off of that win against San Antonio where the Knicks and the spurs gave the NBA and their NBA on prime partners and everybody else who was invested in this event everything they could have wanted, what a return on their investment. The Knicks were severely, I guess punished is the word. But there was such a huge disadvantage for the Knicks coming off the NBA Cup. You know, they go, they play Tuesday, they flew to Indianapolis on Wednesday, and then they're on the road to face the Pacers on Thursday night. Now I know the Pacers are all beat up this year, no Halliburton, and they're missing a lot of other guys. But the Pacers hadn't played since Sunday, so they had Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday off. All right, and now they're up playing on three days rest. Knicks had that high intensity game on Tuesday night. Now they've got to go, they've got to rest a couple of their guys because of the extra game they played. And then even worse than that, you fly home and you play at home on Friday night against the 76ers who also hadn't played since Sunday. And God knows how long they had been in New York sitting in their hotel rooms with their feet up. Now I know sometimes that can be dangerous, but in this case it seemed to work in Philadelphia's favor. Think about that. Philadelphia played on Sunday, all right? Since that before they played the Knicks in their next game, the Knicks had done the following second media day ahead of the NBA cup finals, played the spurs in the NBA cup finals and celebrated that victory, flown to Indianapolis, beat the Pacers on a last second shot while missing three starters and five rotation players, and then come back to New York to play the Sixers at home on the second night of a back to back. How is that fair? I don't know what the solve is, but the Knicks easily. And if you go back and look at the last couple of years, year one, the Lakers won the NBA cup almost immediately after they went into a bit of a slide last year, the Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA cup almost Immediately after they went into a little bit of a slide, the Knicks were very close to going into a little bit of a slide. They could have lost any of those three games that they played since the NBA Cup. They get a last second shot from Brunson, they lose to Philadelphia and they hold off the heat needing 47 points from Brunson. But now Brunson's not playing tonight and now Anunoby's not playing tonight. I think it's something that the league needs to look at. They need to soften the rest disadvantage for the teams that are carrying the weight in this event that means so much to them. Let's go to Andrew in Manhattan. What's up, Andrew?
- [34:59]
E
Hey, how's it going? I know you guys were speaking about anti Tank earlier, so I had an idea to provide. You were talking earlier about a cutoff on March 1st. What if after March 1st there was a list of the 10 worst teams and from that point forward it was.
- [35:15]
A
The best record since then.
- [35:17]
E
You know, this way you get teams that are struggling or losing that have to really battle it out against each other so we don't end up with these terrible Tank games.
- [35:25]
A
I don't hate the idea. Thanks for the call. You know, I've heard. And by the way, this wasn't our idea. The NBA, Anthony had said, had a brainstorming session to try to come up with ideas, you know, to prevent tanking. And one of them was the lottery positions are locked in on March 1st. So March 1st, after March 1st, you go ahead and win as many games as you want, which will make the product better down the stretch of the season. I have heard that they should do like an inverse lottery. So if you're the best team that did not make the playoffs, then you get the top spot in the lottery. I don't like that idea because that's giving a huge advantage to a team that's probably like 41 and 41 or 40 and 42. What you're saying Andrew was decent right lock the position or you know, have that March 1 cut off. And then from that point on, whoever plays the best gets not terrible. Not so. Now yesterday in the Golden State warriors game, there was this pretty heated interaction on the bench between Steve Kerr and Draymond Green. The warriors are. They got off to a pretty decent start. They are not having a good season. They just, they don't have a lot of depth. I don't know how much Jimmy Butler has left. You know, Draymond Green, as good a career as he has had is clearly on the downside. It's. I think it's pretty clear that, like this era of Golden State warriors basketball, which has been one of the best eras for any team in the history of the league, starting in 2014-15, when they won their first championship with this group with Curry and Thompson and Green and Steve Kerr, culminating with their 2022 championship. It's been a fantastic era, all right, and it's produced one of the great careers and one of the most unique careers and unlikely careers in NBA history in Stephen Curry. And, you know, most things that end end badly. And. And unfortunately, and. And Curry is just such an easy guy to root for, at least for me. And I think most people share that opinion, his production, but just the way that he carries himself. You know, Knicks fans like to fawn over Jalen Brunson. He always has the right answer. He always makes it about the team. And, you know, he's never embroiled in controversy. And all of those things, by the way, are true. Stephen Curry has done that his entire career, but he's done it as, like, a top 15 player of all time and the greatest shooter who's ever lived. You hate to see things end badly for a player like that. But unfortunately, with the mercurial Draymond Green, and, you know, it's only a matter of time until Jimmy Butler has an explosion and, you know, starts to undermine that locker room. And. And you saw a little bit of that yesterday with Green and getting into it with Steve Kerr, where they were going back and forth at each other after Green had committed a turnover. Green got up and left the bench, and he went back. He said he was. He said he needed to cool off after that interaction with Steve Kerr. But again, it's not something that you see in the NBA all the time, especially with a coach the caliber of Steve Kerr and a player the caliber of Draymond Green. So here's Green after the game describing what happened between he and Kerr. Temper spilled over, and I just thought it was best that I got out of there. I don't think there was a situation where it was going to get better. So it was just best to remove myself, you know, that's it. All right, so that's Draymond Green describing what happened. Now here's Steve Kerr describing what happened with Draymond. Yeah, we got into it, obviously, and, you know, I took the time out just because I thought we lost our focus there a little bit, and we had it out a little bit. And, you know, he made his decision to go back to the locker room to cool off. And that's all I'm going to say about it. Everything is private. I got nothing further to add. He was in the locker room for a while, came back to the bench, could have theoretically gone back into the game. Kerr was asked if he entertained the idea of putting Draymond Green back in the game. No, no, he wasn't going back in. So look, you know, Green is. He's probably going to be in the hall of Fame. No disrespect to deserving hall of Famers, but I'm not a big hall of Fame guy. And I think the NBA hall of Famer, it's the Basketball hall of Fame. I personally think it's probably the most watered down of all the halls of Fame. There's a lot of role players in the hall of Fame. Role players are great, they're important, they help win championships. They're not hall of Famers. So, yeah, on the one hand I'm saying Draymond Green is probably going to be in the hall of Fame. On the other hand, I'm saying what, you know, the Basketball hall of Fame is in my opinion, pretty watered down. But regardless, he's had a very, very highly productive career. He's been a multiple time all Star. He's been a four time NBA champion, you know, but the thing about Draymond Green, at this point in his career, he is, you know, if you heard that him describe what happened to Kerr, he basically is like, oh yeah, these things happen. They don't happen. You know, how often in the, I mean, how many basketball games are played every night and every year. When have you ever seen, remember last year, Josh Hart and Tom Thibodeau got into it. I think it was in Los Angeles or it might have even been at Golden State. It was somewhere on the west coast and they got into a pretty hard. It was great video and, and Hart was back. The heart didn't leave, you know, he was back on the court, I think out of that timeout and you move on, tempers do flare. But you know, when Draymond Green is involved, he always seems to go the extra mile. And then when it's something involving him, he kind of just like brushes it off. Oh yeah, Tempers flaring, it's no big deal. But if there's. This is a guy who on his. And for those of you not watching on YouTube, he has his podcast. I'm using air quotes because I don't, I don't respect his podcast. I don't think it's good. I don't think it's entertaining, but it is what it is. People listen and they consume it. Great. Good for you. One of the things that I've seen him do on his podcast is that he is very, very quick to point out the shortcomings or the falls of the faults of everybody else. I mean, he had that. That little thing last week with Danny Wolf on the Nets and going off on how they're calling him the Jewish Jesus, or, excuse me, it was the Jewish. The Jewish joker. I'm sorry. They had the thing with Karl Anthony Towns last year where he's going off on him just like, you know, but whenever. I guess what I'm trying to say is the thing that bothers me the most about Draymond Green is he's kind of like the old man yelling at the cloud. He is old. He's got grizzled gray beard. Like all the stereotypes of an old guy, plus the fact that he's old. All right? And, you know, he is the classic example of someone who does not like the fact that his place and his stature in this league has diminished because his skills have diminished, his team's skills have diminished, and he's not on the best team. And the big bullies that come in and are the traveling roadshow and the circus and, you know, the most popular NBA team anymore. He was. The only reason that they are still one of the hottest tickets in the NBA is because of Stephen Curry. So there is very little accountability on the part of Draymond Green. And unfortunately, part of his shtick when you put a microphone in front of him is that, I guess he feels it's because of what he and his team have accomplished. He feels it's like his place to hold others accountable in the NBA, where in reality, he is one of the least accountable athletes I think I've ever seen and very, very, very self unaware. Let's get another quick phone call. And Mark in Carmel. Hey, Mark. Yeah, hi.
- [43:55]
E
How are you doing? Thanks for taking my call. So just a couple things about the NBA with reference to the NBA Cup. You know, people seem to be confused about it. And I think because like my daughter texted me, said, dad, did the Knicks win the championship? I mean, she doesn't know, like, when the season ends. So I think somehow maybe put something on it that's like says mid season NBA cup or something like that. And to designate it from the, you know, the final championship. Just a thought. And then with the tanking, I'm not quite sure. Familiar with all the rules and the points and percentages. But maybe if you made each team, a number would be 15 or 20, that you had to win at least 15 games or 20 games. And if you didn't, then your percentages would go down on your chance of, you know, however that works. I'm not, again, I'm not exactly sure how that. The pecking order of that, but that way the teams would have to win at least 15 or 20, whatever the number might be. And if they didn't, they would lose ground in the, in the lottery. That's all I got to say. Thank.
- [45:02]
A
You know, it's, it's tough to do it that way. Thanks for the call. I mean, I'm looking. Last year, you know, The Hornets won 19 games, the Wizards won 18 games, and the Jazz won 17 games. So by that, those, those three teams would be eliminated. I mean, I jokingly say this, but how did, how did the, how did the Dallas Mavericks win the win the lottery last year? I mean, seriously, after making one of the worst trades, let's be honest, call what is after making the worst trade in NBA history and, you know, seeing such revolt and upheaval from its fans, that's the year that they win the draft lottery, when there happens to be a generational talent in the lottery. Or let's go back to 2012 when the new Orleans Pelicans. It happened to the Pelicans twice. 2012, when the Pelicans are being run by David Stern and the NBA because they didn't have an ownership group yet, and, you know, they were basically on the verge of being homeless and having to leave New Orleans. And Anthony Davis, another at the time generational prospect, is in the lottery, and they happen to win that lottery. And, you know, LeBron James leaves and Kyrie Irving is coming in and is the number one pick for the Cleveland Cavaliers. So, you know, you could say anti tanking and this and that. Part of me thinks the NBA's just kind of telling everybody who's got the number one pick anyway. I don't have any proof, but it is what it is. 1-800-919-3776 I think we have time for one more quick phone call if we want to pop up. Tom and Beth Page. What's up, Tom?
- [46:51]
E
Hey, what's going on? I just, I just couldn't agree more with your model. And I want to take a step further on Draymond. I think he's sociopathic to the point where it's dangerous. The last two or three years. It's gotten worse and worse where he gets this visceral anger to him that he's actually hurt people. I just don't understand how the NBA keeps condoning it because it's happened. I don't, I don't want to say one or two or 10 times. It's been 15 to 20 incidents in.
- [47:18]
D
The last three or four years.
- [47:19]
A
Well, let me run. Like I gotta let you run because we're up against the end of the show. I wouldn't say the NBA has condoned his behavior. I mean, he's been punished and he's received some severe punishments. Although I do agree with Tai, which I hate to do. But when he said earlier in the show that jokingly that the warriors didn't even suspend him when he punched his own teammate in practice, maybe that says more about how people felt about Jordan Poole. I don't know. The NBA doesn't condone his behavior, but it is troubling for sure. All right, fun show. I'm going to stick around because we have Nick's Timberwolves pregame coverage coming up at 7:30. Jacob Anthony, great job as always. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas to everyone out there from us here at 880 ESPN New York. Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast. I don't want to know how the sausage is made, man. I just want to know. It's good. Hear more of Don Allen and Peter weekday afternoon starting at 3 on 8 80, ESPN, the ESPN New York app and your smart speakers.