Local Hour: Greg Cote's NBA Comp

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Episode: Local Hour: Greg Cote's NBA Comp

Date: November 4, 2025
Location: Elser Hotel, Downtown Miami

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Overview

In this lively South Florida–centric Local Hour, Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, Greg Cote, and the crew dive into sports, media habits, pop culture, and—most enjoyably—a comical comparison of Greg Cote to NBA players with questionable attendance. The episode’s big themes revolve around how people consume media in the “video-first” era, postgame NBA talk (especially about Ja Morant), heat culture and trades, and the quirkiness of their team—led, as always, by Greg Cote’s tardiness.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dan's ‘Back in My Day’ Media Consumption Rant

• Dan Le Batard opens frustrated by the dominance of audio/video content and his preference for written transcripts:
  • “I don’t want to watch anything anymore. I want to read.” (00:10)
  • He bemoans that postgame comments, especially after a big Miami Heat win, are buried in longform videos rather than easy-to-skim text.
  • Zaz and others introduce him to YouTube’s transcript and third-party tools, but Dan is skeptical of AI-generated errors (“band banned out of Bio”).

Notable quote:

“I don’t want to watch no video, man. I ain’t got time for that. I want something I can look, read, refer back to… Tired of this.”
— Dan Le Batard (00:40)

2. Greg Cote's Perpetual Tardiness & NBA Player Comparison

• Stugotz launches a roast of Greg Cote’s habitual lateness, riffing on the running joke about his inability to ever be on time—even after being warned about blocked routes and big events downtown (02:18).
  • Stugotz: “Even when it’s normal, Cody is always late… 10 minutes earlier, Greg, and you won’t be late. He refuses to not be late.” (03:24)
• NBA analogies erupt:
  • Mike: “He’s like Udonis Haslam… You argue for his jersey in the rafters, but you could argue, why’s he still here?” (05:04)
  • Dan: “I raise you Zion Williamson; when he’s here, he’s a star, but he’s rarely available.” (05:46)
  • Group banter: Is Greg a star (Kawhi, Embiid) or just coasting as a vet?
  • Pitcher of Coke/New Orleans food tangent: Callback to Zion rumors (06:21)—with comedic riffs about a full pitcher of soda and beignets.

3. Modern Media Skepticism: Fake News & Twitter Follows

• The crew parses why fake stories spread—people want to believe, don’t scrutinize the source, and confuse follower count for credibility (08:27).
• Dan calls out “I know the people who know people.”
• Jokes about getting followed by Taye Diggs, complexities of Twitter algorithms, and the struggle of navigating timelines with thousands of follows (10:00–11:10).

4. Greg Cote Arrives (Late!) & Surgery Week

• Greg finally shows up announcing, “It’s knee week!” (11:32), preparing for surgery but joking his lateness is through "no fault of my own."
  • Banter ensues about the risks of surgery at his age (“Odds are worse than they’ve ever been in your entire life in terms of waking up from surgery.” – Mike, 12:24)
  • Greg: “I am older right now than I’ve ever been in my whole life.” (12:32)
• Is he the Ja Morant of the show (fails to show up on time) or just unlucky?
• The show morphs into a playful tryout/waiver wire segment about Greg’s value to the team.

5. Has Ja Morant Lost His Joy?

• The team critiques Ja Morant’s cryptic, downcast postgame comments, playing hypotheticals with how he answered the press after returning from suspension:
  • “You feel like you kept the same joy?” —Reporter
  • Ja: “No.”
• Greg criticizes Ja’s professionalism: “I’m not going to be an apologist for this guy’s unprofessional behavior…” (18:10)
• Debate over: Is Morant sabotaging his value to force a trade? (“You show up and make a mess.” – Dan, 19:17).

Notable quote:

“In the NBA when you want to be out, you do show up. You show up and you make a mess.”
— Dan Le Batard (19:17)

6. Should the Miami Heat Trade for Ja Morant?

• Dan asks Greg if the Heat should pursue Morant given their strong start: (20:17)
  • Greg: “Heat culture thinks it can fix anybody… If Ja Morant is available for a fair price, I’d think I could fix that guy.” (20:33)
• Value and risk debates:
  • Ja’s injury history: “Ja hasn’t played seven consecutive games since 2023.” (25:41, Zaz)
  • Is he a fit? Too explosive/athletic to age well? Friction with Memphis system change? (various: 23:55–25:41)
  • Off-court risk in Miami vs. Memphis—can “Heat culture” contain him?
• Comparison to past Heat 'reclamation projects': Jimmy Butler, Hassan Whiteside, Dion Waiters, Birdman. Most had short, productive windows, but long-term fixes are rare.
• Ja’s value at a low point—is it a buy-low or avoid-the-mess scenario?

Notable quotes:

“You’re hanging your hat on this culture being strong enough to change Ja Morant. And you’re cherry picking from examples that are pretty long ago.”
— Mike Ryan (23:03)

“In terms of talent, [Ja] is greater than Jimmy Butler was, anytime. Like, he’s younger.”
— Mike Ryan (23:55)

7. NBA Trade Machine: Other Destinations for Ja Morant

• Mike proposes a Trae Young/Ja Morant swap with Atlanta (28:04)
• Sacramento Kings suggested as a plausible, desperate buyer (“They would absolutely give the sun, the moon, and the earth…” – Dan, 33:52)
• Greg wonders if Ja would buy in anywhere: “If he doesn’t want to play for Sacramento, do you really want him if you’re Sacramento?” (35:05)
• Final analysis: Heat fans just want a winner. Are they willing to root for a blue-collar, scrappy team again? Or will star acquisition always be the expectation? (37:00)
  • “It’s all about winning for Heat fans. They don’t care about anything else.” – Greg Cody (38:47)

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Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• On Greg’s lateness:

  “Greg Cody would show up later. Ten minutes later after the Doc got shot.”
  — Dan Le Batard (04:15)

• On Ja Morant postgame:

  “He’s taken the Jimmy Butler seminar on how to behave when you don’t want to play there, when you want out.”
  — Greg Cody (18:10)

• On Heat “culture” myth:

  “Most of those reclamation guys…never really got fixed for good. We just got a season or two.”
  — Mike Ryan (paraphrased, 22:31+)

• On Miami’s basketball needs:

  “Every time we have these debates and we’re like, no, we don’t need that guy—it’s come back to haunt this franchise. The something might’ve been Norm Powell.”
  — Mike Ryan (36:11)

• On Heat fanbase:

  “It’s all about winning for Heat fans. They don’t care about anything else.”
  — Greg Cody (38:47)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Dan on reading vs watching media: 00:10–01:36
• Roast of Greg Cote / Late NBA Player comps: 02:18–07:14
• Twitter/Fake News & Media Skepticism: 08:17–11:32
• Greg Arrives & Surgery Week: 11:32–13:17
• Ja Morant Postgame Audio & Debate: 16:38–19:57
• Should the Heat Trade for Ja?: 20:17–23:11
• Heat ‘Culture,’ Ja’s health, & Miami fit: 23:11–26:14
• Ja Morant destination brainstorm (ATL/SAC): 28:04–35:46
• Are Heat fans OK with ‘scrappy’ teams?: 37:00–38:47

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Tone & Style

The episode features the show’s trademark blend of sarcasm, quick wit, pop culture references, and inside jokes (“Cinephobe,” “pitcher of coke," “Back in my day”). There’s equal parts sports insight and comic relief—a convivial roast of Greg alongside a real, nuanced look at NBA star drama and South Florida fandom.

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Recommended for listeners who enjoy:

• South Florida sports culture
• NBA trade speculation with humor
• Media criticism (“video vs. text” debate)
• Classic Dan, Stugotz, and Greg Cote banter

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Skip to:

• 04:00 for the Greg Cote NBA comp
• 16:30 for the Ja Morant “lost his joy” audio/discussion
• 23:00 for serious Miami Heat/Ja trade hypotheticals
• 37:00 for Miami basketball fanbase talk

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“Back in my day… media was readable; Greg was late; and Heat trades were always wild.” — This Local Hour has all those flavors, plus Apple Time, blue-collar pride, and a sideways glance at every viral NBA headline on your feed.

Transcript

[Dan LeBatard]

This is the Dan Levatar show with the Stugats podcast. I have a problem.

[Stugats]

What's your problem?

[Dan LeBatard]

I have a huge problem. And it might sound very back in my day, ish, but hear me out here. I don't want to listen to anything anymore. I don't want to watch anything anymore. I want to read.

[Mike Ryan]

Why you want to read?

[Zaz]

I'm intrigued. Go on Heat.

[Dan LeBatard]

Have a big win last night on the road against the Clippers. Great end to that game. Norm Powell gets his revenge game. Locks up Kawhi on the last play. Great fun, right? Great play. Bam. Out of bio 25 and 10.

[Stugats]

That was aggressive.

[Dan LeBatard]

They're running their offense. They ran the same set around, say, four or five times down the stretch. Clippers had no answers. You know what I wanted? I was like, you know what? Big win. Norm Powell revenge game. I wonder what they said after the game. So I'm trying to find a transcript of the post game comments. That way I can read, I can make notes, I can copy and paste ready for the show. Everything, everything is a YouTube video. I don't want to watch no video, man. I ain't got time for that. I want something I can look, read, refer back to, look away, look back at. Not like, oh, hold on, let me rewind it again. What do you say? Oh, yeah, he said that. I'm tired of this.

[Zaz]

I got a little something for you.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yes.

[Zaz]

Wait till you find out about YouTube's transcripts feature. You go onto the transcripts and you read them and you. And they're long. Yeah. Get the whole thing? Yep.

[Dan LeBatard]

Now, it's not doing a weird funky AI thing.

[Zaz]

No, no, no.

[Dan LeBatard]

It calls them band banned out of Bio or something like that.

[Zaz]

Oh, no, no, no, sir. I also got a website to share with you that also you can pull YouTube transcripts from that I use often. Very nice.

[Dan LeBatard]

Because here's the. I'll tell you a big deal for me. People are like, oh, did you so and so reported this? I'm like, well, I'm following him on Twitter. I'm reading the Athletic. I'm into it. Like, where? Like, oh, they said it on a podcast. I'm like, I'm not listening to a podcast if it's not the Dan LeBatard show with stugats or Cinephobe. Cinephobe Or Basketball Illuminati or here's the science, a bar rescue podcast.

[Zaz]

And even those you don't really listen.

[Mike Ryan]

You talk in them.

[Dan LeBatard]

I listen to Cinephobe every single episode.

[Stugats]

After you record It.

[Dan LeBatard]

Because it drops like weeks later, so.

[Stugats]

But you lived it.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh, my God.

[Zaz]

It's.

[Dan LeBatard]

But to relive it, you're the Greg.

[Stugats]

Cody of the day.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh, my God.

[Jeremy]

Speaking of that, I don't know where he is.

[Dan LeBatard]

Well, there's traffic because there's a big thing happening.

[Zaz]

And I'm sure things tomorrow, though, it's.

[Dan LeBatard]

Not today, it's tomorrow.

[Mike Ryan]

I can't wait.

[Dan LeBatard]

There's like a tidal wave. It's like a ripple that starts and crests and then on the other side of it. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do the damn thing and sit here and shame Greg Cody for not leaving earlier when he knew there was a huge event happening downtown.

[Stugats]

All right, good. I'll be the one to do it then. So Greg is late, like every week. All right? And this week in particular, we were specifically told. Tuesday. What? Today's election day. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Tomorrow, the President is going to be here.

[Jeremy]

Okay, not here, but across the street.

[Mike Ryan]

That's here.

[Stugats]

That's here. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. So we were specifically warned and given options. Okay. As far as how to make sure we are here on time. Matter of fact, your boy, I mean, that's me. I took the bright line.

[Dan LeBatard]

Wow.

[Stugats]

For the first time ever today, I liked it.

[Dan LeBatard]

Did you get a little morning pop? You know, just something to get you.

[Stugats]

In the mood now, you know, I took my seat. I wanted to make sure I was following directions and I just enjoyed the quick ride. And then I got off and I walked on over here. All right, I liked the bright line. I'll probably do that again tomorrow. But even when it's normal, Cody is always late. God forbid he decides instead of setting his alarm for whatever godforsaken time it is that he gets up in the morning. And how about you do it 10 minutes earlier? 10 minutes earlier. And you want. Oh, I'm not getting up at this. 10 minutes earlier. And you won't be late. He refuses to not be late.

[Mike Ryan]

You would think he would get out of his tomb now that the sun comes out earlier.

[Stugats]

Yeah, I crazy. I like the behavior.

[Dan LeBatard]

I like the idea of one day maybe I can do this for us and we'll get to how much it sucks. Hold on. We'll get to that in a minute. Well, get that in a minute. But for right now, I'll say this one day, AI will be good enough. Well, I'll say, can you remake Back to the Future for me? But instead of Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, put Greg Cody and you know, at the end of Back to the Future, spoiler alert, he's like. He knows the doc get shot. Doc doesn't want the note, so he's like, I'll show up 10 minutes early so I can warn him. Greg Cody would show up later. 10 minutes later after the doc got shot.

[Stugats]

The Libyans still kill Doc.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh, Doc.

[Mike Ryan]

There's no punitive measures. At a certain point, you need to bench the center that keeps having the false start.

[Stugats]

Guys, no one's even asking him to be here for a production meeting. No, just be here for the show.

[Mike Ryan]

Just be here in time. I don't know that microphone.

[Dan LeBatard]

I don't know, man. I think. I think sometimes you got a star player. You. Let's start playing. Sometimes we. Hold that bus, man. Hold the bus a little bit, right?

[Mike Ryan]

But is he a star player?

[Dan LeBatard]

Ooh, now we're asking questions.

[Zaz]

That's the right question.

[Dan LeBatard]

Is he coasting? Are you coasting on a past resume? I'm.

[Mike Ryan]

He's a rotational guy. He's a great locker room guy. I think of him as like Udonis Haslam. His jerseys go up to the rafters. We could argue to build a statue for the man, but you could also.

[Jeremy]

Argue what's he still doing here.

[Mike Ryan]

But he's also making Haslam dice.

[Stugats]

Haslam's M.O. is work ethic.

[Mike Ryan]

That's right.

[Mike]

In Greg's defense, I would argue this is more of a Kawhi Leonard situation, which is that this is a superstar, and when he's there, you're feeding him the ball, but he's in and out of the lineup. And you can even question, why is.

[Stugats]

He in and out of the lineup?

[Zaz]

Joel Embiid situation. He's got, like 20 minutes.

[Dan LeBatard]

Okay, maybe more.

[Mike Ryan]

Joel be Kawaii in that. It's a contract no one else wants.

[Mike]

What about this on the side?

[Dan LeBatard]

Hear me out on this. I hear Kawhi. I hear Joel Embiid. I raise you Zion Williamson. Where it's things where we're saying, you know what part of your unavailability is you're doing.

[Stugats]

See, I disagree.

[Dan LeBatard]

But when he's here, he's a star, man.

[Stugats]

I disagree. Because at least Zion this year, he decided to make a drastic change, which was he lost the weight because he.

[Mike Ryan]

Okay, he's also done that four times.

[Dan LeBatard]

He made it at.

[Mike Ryan]

Let's not pretend like we haven't seen the. Zion looks in great shape during training camp four times previously. And then what happens comes January.

[Dan LeBatard]

Well, all them pitchers of Coke.

[Zaz]

Po boys.

[Dan LeBatard]

Po boys. And beignets and all that stuff.

[Stugats]

A whole picture of coke.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh, man. It was one of the craziest stories I ever heard. It's not recent. It's like a couple years ago, but still I was like, how?

[Stugats]

Like when they brought it to the table, did they try to put it at the center of the table? Or it's just like, no, no, that's right here.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yes. Yeah. Why don't you just leave this right here? I'll take care of the rest of this.

[Zaz]

Could have been diet.

[Dan LeBatard]

Maybe. Okay, diet somewhere.

[Mike Ryan]

Perhaps a zero Coke zero.

[Dan LeBatard]

A pitcher.

[Stugats]

Did he drink it straight out the pitcher? Because it's just for him.

[Zaz]

He put a little straw on the pitcher. Actually. It's like.

[Dan LeBatard]

Like a cartoon character.

[Zaz]

Like a cartoon character.

[Stugats]

There's no sharesies.

[Dan LeBatard]

It's just for him, it's up to. If I had story rather than hear it firsthand, I would have thought it was. It's a move.

[Stugats]

You want to read it?

[Dan LeBatard]

Well, yeah. If I read it, then I'm like, okay, now I'm in. But I heard the story. But I heard the story from. Not like on a podcast. I heard it in real life.

[Zaz]

From a source.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yeah, from a source. This is me doing reporting. Kind of, sort of. Not really, but the other part of it, the first thing I thought of was, do you guys remember the Kawhi Leonard Apple Time, Apple Time story?

[Mike Ryan]

That story is true. I don't care what they say.

[Dan LeBatard]

That's right, Mike. To this day, I'm on the radio on SiriusXMNBA radio, which you can catch me and Jason Jackson, Sundays, 10am to 1pm Eastern.

[Stugats]

Jason Jackson.

[Dan LeBatard]

Jason. Jason Jackson. If you're nasty, when people call and all right, you know, call, you're on the air and it's like, hey, guys, how's it going? Which they do. Which Dan outlawed years and years ago on this show, but people still do it on other radio shows. Every time someone asks me how I'm doing, my response always is, apple time, Apple time. And I just wait to see if anyone notices. To this day, no one ever say, wait, what'd you say? Everyone's just like, oh, yeah, that's great. But the Kawhi Leonard Apple Time, Apple time story is the purest example of I want to believe. Right? When we talk about fake stories. Right. Made up stories. There was a story yesterday about a certain collegiate executive being ejected from a game.

[Stugats]

I like that story.

[Dan LeBatard]

Turns out it wasn't real. But the reason why people thought it was real and ran with it was because they want to believe. They wanna believe.

[Mike Ryan]

But the account was followed by Joe Shad.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yeah, it's all Joe Shadd's fault.

[Mike Ryan]

He's not willy nilly with his follows.

[Stugats]

What's the threshold for the followers on the account that puts something believable, not believable out there?

[Dan LeBatard]

There is no threshold for me. If I don't know you, you outta here. So I'll give you a great example.

[Mike Ryan]

But why would you know someone covering play by play? Yeah, you don't know.

[Dan LeBatard]

It wasn't. Cause it was a tournament. It wasn't a random game at wherever the hell they are at.

[Mike Ryan]

I mean, Joe Shad follows don't just grow on trees.

[Dan LeBatard]

I'm just saying, man. Like my thing. Remember when they came out, someone came out with this lengthy column about Michael Jordan is coming back to TV because he's sick of people like staying in the past and he wants to like big up the current generation. And everyone ran with it. And I said, wait a second. This thing was first of all published on medium.com, which is basically a glorified blog spot. But second of all, the credentials of the guy said he was a columnist for the Chicago Tribune, which everyone ran with. Who's covered the NBA for 15 years. I said, buddy, if you covered the NBA for 15 years, I would have heard about you. You can't be an unknown working at the Chicago Tribune. And you go cover my sport for 15 years. Mike, you say, how would I know? I may not be on top of college basketball like that. I know the names, okay? I know the Jeff Goodman.

[Mike Ryan]

You're in the circles.

[Zaz]

I'm sorry, you got people that know people.

[Mike Ryan]

I wanted it to be true and I showed you.

[Stugats]

Gary Parish wanted it to be true.

[Mike Ryan]

I showed you. And you, you had the right amount of scrutiny.

[Stugats]

Yeah.

[Mike Ryan]

And this is how fake news is so effective.

[Stugats]

I still think it might be true.

[Mike]

Follows 44,000 people.

[Dan LeBatard]

Come on, man.

[Mike Ryan]

Now he has 245,000 followers himself.

[Mike]

So not the worst ratio.

[Dan LeBatard]

He's doing the Taye Diggs. Follow me. I'll follow you back. I remember the day I got. I got followed by Taye Diggs. I was like, I made it.

[Stugats]

Can I ask you something how that works? Like, how many followers did you say Joe Shad or how many people does he follow?

[Mike]

He follows 44,000.

[Stugats]

Okay, so for someone like, I don't give out. Follows all willy nilly. All right? I probably follow a couple hundred people.

[Dan LeBatard]

Really?

[Stugats]

But yeah, yeah, yeah, you got to earn that.

[Mike Ryan]

You just followed me.

[Stugats]

Yeah. Well, all right.

[Mike Ryan]

You've earned it.

[Stugats]

Notice I didn't do it right when I started working here.

[Zaz]

My turf. That's why you earned pay, respect.

[Stugats]

Didn't do it right away. But the point is, when someone like that follows 44,000 people, how do they navigate their timeline?

[Dan LeBatard]

Zaz, how many 560 people I'm hearing.

[Jeremy]

Is that's how many Zaz follows 561 and he has 47,000.

[Mike Ryan]

Navigate your timeline for you. How do you navigate your timeline now? It's not even the people that you follow.

[Dan LeBatard]

I don't see anybody I follow, by the way. That's why I don't use Twitter as much anymore, because it's just like I've.

[Zaz]

Seen you lately in the Twitter streets, though. I've seen you lately.

[Dan LeBatard]

Just replies. I do reply. I do my. I take care of my threads.

[Mike Ryan]

I'll go. Is dialed.

[Dan LeBatard]

My threads is on point, baby.

[Stugats]

Man, I never check that thread.

[Mike Ryan]

I like threads.

[Dan LeBatard]

That's just where it's at, man.

[Mike Ryan]

Y' all gotta know if it's worth exactly where I like it.

[Dan LeBatard]

But, like, my Twitter, I'm at like 119, and I follow 1190. And that's a lot.

[Stugats]

That's a lot, man.

[Dan LeBatard]

But it's 10% of, like, what I. What I have.

[Stugats]

But you only have 119 followers.

[Dan LeBatard]

You got to up your game 119,000. Put that K on that. With that respect, Greg. Hey, how's it going?

[Greg Cody]

It's going great. Thank you.

[Mike Ryan]

Do you have it Back in my day.

[Dan LeBatard]

What?

[Mike Ryan]

We talked about it last week, that you were going to have it back in my day.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh, yeah.

[Zaz]

Damn.

[Greg Cody]

It's surgery week. It's knee week.

[Dan LeBatard]

There you go. You know, he's Zion, guys. What you want? When he plays, he's amazing, but he's hurt a lot.

[Greg Cody]

I'm hurt.

[Mike Ryan]

That's on me. I didn't know that it was knee week.

[Greg Cody]

I'm sorry.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yeah, man.

[Mike Ryan]

You got a lot on your plate.

[Zaz]

How you feeling, Greg?

[Greg Cody]

It's going up to knee week. You know, I'm a little apprehensive.

[Mike Ryan]

Yeah.

[Greg Cody]

Going under the knife tomorrow.

[Dan LeBatard]

So is this first surgery ever or, like, you ever gone under?

[Jeremy]

Yeah, he had famously.

[Mike]

Oh.

[Jeremy]

Like the tumor out, and then I.

[Greg Cody]

Had the belly button thing.

[Mike Ryan]

You're also.

[Dan LeBatard]

You went under for that.

[Stugats]

That was a local.

[Mike Ryan]

You're of an age.

[Dan LeBatard]

Wow.

[Mike Ryan]

Going under the knife at. At this point is always a risky proposition.

[Greg Cody]

Well, thank you for that.

[Mike Ryan]

You never know if you're gonna wake up.

[Greg Cody]

That's true.

[Dan LeBatard]

What are you doing?

[Mike Ryan]

But then you do.

[Greg Cody]

Right?

[Mike Ryan]

Then you do wake up.

[Stugats]

But you might not.

[Mike Ryan]

But you might not.

[Greg Cody]

In fact, I'm two for two. But it's a small sample size.

[Mike Ryan]

The odds are right now, the odds are worse than they've ever been in your entire life in terms of waking up from surgery.

[Dan LeBatard]

That's true.

[Zaz]

He wakes up every day out of the tomb.

[Mike Ryan]

Relax.

[Greg Cody]

I tell you what. I am older right now than I've ever been in my whole life.

[Zaz]

Exactly right.

[Mike Ryan]

But you're older now.

[Greg Cody]

Now and then. Now and now. So, you know, we live and learn.

[Dan LeBatard]

And you want to call him. You don't. How dare you, you disrespectful.

[Mike Ryan]

Stellar. That's good tape.

[Dan LeBatard]

That's good.

[Mike Ryan]

He put out good tape just now.

[Dan LeBatard]

Threw up the alley. If he caught it.

[Mike Ryan]

If we put him on waivers, he's getting claimed.

[Dan LeBatard]

Absolutely.

[Greg Cody]

I like that.

[Dan LeBatard]

Absolutely.

[Jeremy]

We were discussing before you came in, if, like, we should, like, you know, like the way an athlete would get benched if they keep showing up late to practice. Like, should we send a message to you? But we said that you might be so good that we don't do that.

[Greg Cody]

Okay. I'm not the John Morant of.

[Stugats]

You still got your joy.

[Greg Cody]

Yes. I mean, come on now. I'm not a troublemaker. I'm just late occasionally through no fault of my own.

[Dan LeBatard]

No fault of his own.

[Greg Cody]

Yeah. Thank you.

[Mike Ryan]

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[Mike Ryan]

Damn.

[Dan LeBatard]

Don Lerd.

[Greg Cody]

What do I got here? I got a magnum condom. We won't get that out.

[Dan LeBatard]

That's shocking. Sts.

[Greg Cody]

Here's a picture of Christopher when he was like three years old.

[Dan LeBatard]

Right next to the condom.

[Mike Ryan]

Yeah.

[Stugats]

Reminder, never forget this is the D ler show with his two guards.

[Dan LeBatard]

Speaking of da jazz, you asked the question, has Greg Cody lost his joy? Because ja told the press that he lost his joy.

[Stugats]

It's unbelievable. Can we, can we play the audio here? So last night, John Morant, he made his return one game suspension and he returned last night, did not play well. He was like, I don't know, he's like 3 or 14 or something. And you know, body language horrible during the game. And here he was post game.

[Mike Ryan]

Were you in the curse of staff.

[Dan LeBatard]

Able to talk about what happened Friday and get locked.

[Ja Morant]

Y' all asked that question to them, huh?

[Mike Ryan]

What about for you?

[Ja Morant]

Y' all Ask that question. Y' all know the answer to that.

[Mike Ryan]

Do you feel like everything's been resolved?

[Ja Morant]

Yeah. They told y' all that, right?

[Mike Ryan]

Well, yeah, but I didn't hear from you.

[Ja Morant]

Obviously they can't go and tell y' all something. I ain't say you feel like you kept the same joy right now we used to say it from it. No.

[Dan LeBatard]

Why not?

[Mike]

If what can be done to get.

[Greg Cody]

It back in this beat?

[Ja Morant]

We'll see. Of course.

[Dan LeBatard]

Do you think you have a good.

[Mike Ryan]

Relationship with the franchise?

[Ja Morant]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Ja Morant]

So I told y' all that, right?

[Mike Ryan]

I didn't say anything about that.

[Ja Morant]

If I had a good relationship, I wouldn't talk to him at all. So, Jim and we had our combos over these.

[Stugats]

Do you have any regrets about the way you played on Friday night in the second half?

[Ja Morant]

You said what?

[Stugats]

Do you have any regrets about the way you played the game?

[Dan LeBatard]

I'm not talking about the.

[Ja Morant]

That's your home run question. Where's your home? Sound like a bait question, Greg, Is.

[Stugats]

That a fair question? Your journal. Is that a fair question?

[Greg Cody]

Well, how did he phrase it again?

[Dan LeBatard]

Do you have any regrets about the way you played in the second half on Friday night?

[Greg Cody]

No, I don't think it's a bad question at all. I think it's pretty perfectly legit. Based on his performance and not driving, taking all jump shots. I'm not going to be an apologist for this guy's unprofessional behavior. He's. He's taken the. The Jimmy Butler seminar on. On how to behave when you don't want to play there when you want out. He's just pouting his way. He hopes to a trade. It's ridiculous.

[Stugats]

Do you have any regrets on the time you left your home this morning?

[Greg Cody]

None at all. Come on.

[Mike]

Hold on. That's how you answer.

[Jeremy]

The headline is a little misleading of he says he's lost his joy. A reporter says, hey, you have. I mean, he does answer no.

[Mike Ryan]

He could.

[Dan LeBatard]

No.

[Jeremy]

Just answer a little misleading the headline. Yes, no, I know, but he could have just said no, but it's.

[Stugats]

Yeah, he could have just said, I wouldn't say that.

[Jeremy]

There's no difference in that headline when you're asked that.

[Dan LeBatard]

Look, here's the thing. Greg's right. There's a way you do this so that you're not being insubordinate, but you're definitely not making everything run smoothly so easily.

[Stugats]

Could have come out and said, I'm putting that behind me. I just want to move forward and win games.

[Dan LeBatard]

If so easy as if you want to stay.

[Stugats]

Correct.

[Dan LeBatard]

If you don't want to stay, you don't do that.

[Stugats]

He's 100%.

[Dan LeBatard]

I've taught this seminar many a times to so many players. Look, in the NFL, when you want out, what do you do? You hold out. I won't show up. In the NBA when you want to be out, you do show up. You show up and you make a mess. You make a mess. Not by being, oh, yes, sir, no, sir. Oh, oh, I just want to move forward past this and we're all working. No, you'd be like, you give answers like that. Look, I didn't stop talking to the media. I didn't disparage everything he says. When it's like it's a little radioactive or third rail, what does he do? He says, did they tell you that? Obviously they wouldn't tell you something I didn't say, right? So he's always shifting the focus. It is a nothing is ever his fault masterclass on someone wants.

[Stugats]

Yes, nothing's ever his fault. I mean, look, that's, that's how you lead right there, right? Like that's team leader right there. If you're Memphis, you start taking phone calls now. You really do. You start. Because they get a lot for him. So it's not a terrible situation. You get a lot for John Moran, you're Memphis, you start taking phone calls right now. That situation is going nowhere. He is 100% getting traded.

[Dan LeBatard]

So, Greg, I want to throw this to you because you weren't with us yesterday. We were talking about if you're the Miami Heat and you're off to this very positive start last night, great win on the road against the Clippers. Bam. Adebayo looks great. The offense looks great. Aggressive, right. But John Morant's available. Do you make that call?

[Greg Cody]

Well, you know, he culture thinks it can fix anybody.

[Dan LeBatard]

Right?

[Greg Cody]

I mean, I think that's the starting point. I would, I would look at that talent and say, I can, I can fix him. We can make him fit. But, but the question, can they? I mean, Tyler Hero is going to be back soon. There's already talk about how do they make him fit in what they're doing now. But short answer, if John Morant is available for a fair price, yeah, I would, I would think I could fix that guy.

[Zaz]

We're looking at an option where last year Desmond Bain went for how many first round picks?

[Dan LeBatard]

A lot. Five, Four or five.

[Zaz]

Four or five. Okay. Does JA even get close to that?

[Stugats]

It's. See, I Think it's an interesting question because you make like when you phrase it like that, it sounds like, okay, if Desm Bain is worth five first round picks, how many picks is this guy worth? And that's not what it is. Desmond Bain was worth five first round picks to the Magic, right?

[Mike Ryan]

It's about one person.

[Stugats]

Rudy Gobert was worth five first round picks to the Wolves. Doesn't mean that those players are worth that.

[Dan LeBatard]

To clarify, Bain was four first round picks and a pick swap. So four and a half.

[Mike Ryan]

But Jaws a superstar. And you're looking for a permanent fix. You're looking for your culture to permanently fix somebody. And you look at the recent history of the Miami Heat when they bring in these projects, right? Guys that have a reputation around the league. Probably the most sterling example is one of the examples that they would hold against you. And Jimmy Butler, that worked out great, right? Until it didn't and he absolutely nuked a season. You have examples like Terry Rozier, Deon Waiters, Hassan Whiteside, where they kind of worked, but temporarily. Terry Rozier, Birdman too, never worked. Birdman, I think is the example where he was in your building and from like start to finish, he was bought in and he had that reputation. What I'm saying is it's been a while. Yeah, they did this with Timmy Hardaway. Yeah, they did this with Alonzo Mourning. We're talking about 30 years ago now.

[Dan LeBatard]

No, but I think there's a point also where many of those names, right, they, Trey Rozier probably is outlier actually from all the names you named. There was a level of productivity and value they got out of all those reclamation projects.

[Stugats]

And they were, they were considered, essentially considered winning players before the Heat even acquired.

[Dan LeBatard]

Even. Even Hasan. No, no. Well, Whiteside. No.

[Stugats]

Oh, but come on.

[Dan LeBatard]

They didn't. Wait.

[Stugats]

But I don' one side in that group because they didn't give up anything to get him. No, no, it's not like it was a gamble.

[Dan LeBatard]

We're not talking about like the acquisition reclamation project.

[Mike Ryan]

You're hanging your hat on this culture being strong enough to change John Morant. And you're cherry picking from examples that are pretty long ago.

[Dan LeBatard]

Mike, what I would say is one, in terms of reclamation projects, like I said, they all had a level of value that they got out of those guys. Now as time goes by, things happen. And there's a reason why those guys were reclamation projects to begin with, right? And I was very critical about how they handled the whole Hasan Whiteside situation. Cuz I'm like, you know who he is. Like, you might have gotten him to a level, but you guys knew and you handed him that money and you handed that money before you did Dwyane Wade. And that sends a message, even if we all know. Well, no, that's just the order of operation. You know, for a kid like that, he's not gonna see. He's like, oh, yeah, I'm the man now, right? So there's that. The second thing also is, of all the reclamation projects, where would John Morant stand in terms of talent and potential in the moment?

[Mike Ryan]

Greater than Jimmy Butler was anytime.

[Dan LeBatard]

Like, he's younger.

[Mike Ryan]

Arguing, is Jimmy Butler a superstar? When Ja is right, we're not having that argument, no.

[Greg Cody]

Well, I think I would call Ja Morant a budding superstar. A can be superstar.

[Mike Ryan]

And he's played himself into that because two years ago, no doubter, right?

[Greg Cody]

Yes, but he's coming into his prime. He just turned 26. And I think the Butler analogy is apt because this is a team with a short window. And if they get four or five big years out of Jean Morant, that's fine. You don't expect to have this guy when he's 35.

[Mike Ryan]

Well, he's 26. He's smaller, but super explosive. And we have some examples at that position of smaller explosive guys like John Wall. Wear and tear.

[Stugats]

It'll age poorly, Right?

[Mike Ryan]

You hit your prime. It's been said you hit your prime in the NBA at 27. You're a fully formed player at that point.

[Stugats]

Can't shoot.

[Mike Ryan]

It's hard for guys to get better after that age. So is we have a guy that for two years, yeah, there's been off court stuff. But a diminishing player, given where the hopes and expectations were, this is not exactly given everything that we know about him. And when you include the concerns you might have about this guy relies so heavily on his athleticism. This isn't a slam dunk trade to me.

[Stugats]

I agree.

[Dan LeBatard]

So this is what I would say. First and foremost, that's the biggest concern to me. It's not. It's not his attitude or off the court stuff.

[Mike]

It's.

[Dan LeBatard]

This is his games played. 67. That was a shortened season due to Covid. 63 out of 67. Second year, third year, 57 out of 82. Fourth year, 61 out of 82. Fifth year, nine out of 82. Sixth year, 50 out of 82. This year, obviously six out of six. So, like, we're talking about a guy. Oh, you. You can't even stay on the court. That's number one.

[Zaz]

I heard. I think it was on a podcast or on Twitter that Ja hasn't played seven consecutive games since 2023.

[Dan LeBatard]

Like that. That's not because of suspensions or whatever. That's because he's not healthy. And part and parcel of that is what Mike is talking about. He's a great athlete who has respectfully like my build. He's about my height and probably around my weight, maybe a few pounds less because I've had a lot to eat since I got here.

[Stugats]

And he's getting in trouble in Memphis. Now we're going to move him to Miami.

[Dan LeBatard]

I don't discount Memphis as a troubled town.

[Stugats]

Okay. But I count Miami as a town that there's a lot more to do.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh, yes. But then my rebuttal to you is again, knowing this organization, how many people have actually gotten in trouble that's right here? Low weight.

[Mike Ryan]

We have a really good security center.

[Dan LeBatard]

I know, I know. But it's not about what you think.

[Stugats]

It was at one time in the hotel.

[Mike Ryan]

Yeah, thank God for Mario Chalmers is all I want to say.

[Dan LeBatard]

It's not about what you did. It's what you get caught.

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[Jeremy]

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[Dan LeBatard]

Don LeBatard, you are a fool.

[Greg Cody]

You're nobody.

[Stugats]

You are an infant.

[Greg Cody]

You have no skin.

[Stugats]

I literally put together Mike Ryan stage for your toenail. I am your career right now, pal.

[Mike]

Look at me.

[Dan LeBatard]

No. I am your career. No stugats.

[Stugats]

You have messed with McDavid and now.

[Mike Ryan]

You'Re messing with me.

[Dan LeBatard]

And I'm more dangerous, pal.

[Stugats]

This is the Dan Levatar show with the stugats.

[Mike]

Ironically, one of the other fits. That would make sense in terms of a swap where you could take two guys who maybe aren't living up to exactly what those franchises wanted. It would be Trae Young for John Morant. I think that would Bring John Morant to Atlanta.

[Mike Ryan]

That's smart. Yeah, that actually, that really works.

[Stugats]

Unfortunately, Trey is out for, like, a month right now.

[Mike Ryan]

All right, so let's take some examples that might be a little bit better to compare to Miami's had opportunities and sniffed around acquiring James Harden. At this point, multiple times, Russell Westbrook was available. I remember, and I think at the center of both those trades, we were wondering, do you give up Tyler Herro for this player? And I think maybe here we are again. The Miami Heat, ultimately, whether it be their trade capital or just internally, they decided to not go down that path and not acquire players that had a certain reputation. Westbrook was one of these players that was getting up there that relied heavily on his athleticism, even though he's actually, if you want to, way more encouraged by Ja Morant. The durability of Russell Westbrook, though, their frame is different.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yeah, it's different. No, it's a different beast.

[Mike Ryan]

Yeah. But the Miami Heat decided, for better or worse, to not go all in on those moves. So can we forecast what they decided to do with John Morant here?

[Dan LeBatard]

So, like, again, like, the problem is. Yeah. What the inherent risk. Again, I don't think the risk that you're weighing is he's a knucklehead. He won't get along, he won't buy in. He's not healthy. He hasn't shown the ability to stay.

[Stugats]

Healthy, and his play might be starting to decline.

[Dan LeBatard]

I don't think so. I think that's totally a part of what's happening right there. I'm not saying the way they're doing it is wrong. I'm just saying I attribute his poor play to the coach. And the coach even talked about it. He said, we're doing something that's different, that's kind of cutting edge, shorter stints, higher intensity. And he said there's going to be casualties in that. Casualties of guys are used to playing a certain way, and now they have to play a different way. And casualties in terms of the way they used to play makes it easier to breed chemistry on the court with your teammates. And this might be harder to manufacture that, but we believe that this is the best thing for the short, medium, and long term, and that's all well and good, but again, it goes back to what I talked about yesterday, Greg. I said, that tells me they never had the conversation with Josh, which tells me organizationally, either they're idiots or they've moved off of him. They're like, maybe this team isn't meant to be Built around.

[Stugats]

No, no. You really believe they haven't had that conversation with Jon?

[Dan LeBatard]

There's no way you have something that drastic of a change. And you're not like your star player is not bought into that. You can't do that. You cannot say, well, they can't force.

[Stugats]

Him to buy into yes.

[Dan LeBatard]

And then you don't do it. That's the point. Remember I remember when Don Nelson was the head coach of the Knicks. Greg, you remember this, right? It was a short stint and they were above.500, but Don Nelson was like, we're not going to give the ball to Patrick Ewing anymore. We're going to give the ball to Anthony Mason and he's going to initiate offense. Dog, you're asking to get fired at that point. Unless. Unless the organization is like, yeah, I like it. And if that's the case, then they've already made a referendum on the star player who's getting de emphasized here.

[Zaz]

So then they've chosen Jaren Jackson.

[Dan LeBatard]

That's to me. Or they're idiots. They could be idiots. You always leave that door open. I'll give you a positive example of this. The Toronto Raptors with Dwayne Casey and Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. They'd win 50 games, they'd win the division, they'd go to the final, the conference finals. They'd lose in the playoffs to LeBron every single time. Dwayne Casey's last year he says, guys, we're not. They were a very ISO heavy ball club. So we're not going to win like this. We're not going to win with the ball in your guys hand. We won 100 pick and rolls. We have to have more of a motion offense they complete. But you know what he did? He took this is before their season had just ended. He took Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan to the NBA Finals to go watch the warriors play. He said, that's how I want to play. Moving like that. You see how Steph is off ball, how much. That's how we need to play if we're going to breakthrough to the next level. And they spent a whole summer talking about it. They were bought in that next year he was coach of the year. They won a shit ton of games. They still lost lebron because them beat the breaks, right? But the point is, when he made the decision, I'm changing the system that's made both of you guys millions of dollars. The system that made both of you guys perennial all Stars, I'm changing it. This thing that you do so well, you're so successful at. And by the way, we're winning 50 games, we're going to the playoffs, we're losing to the eventual like the best player in the league or whatever. That's. They have every reason to say, man, I ain't doing that. It ain't my fault. But he sold them on it and that sell job started before the start of the new season. It started before the end of the old season. He starts selling them on that and they come in and they bought in. Now Dwayne Casey got let go after that, but that was not because DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry were like, get this bum out of here. Right? Matter of fact, Nick Nurse was the assistant and he took over and he continued that same system which they eventually won a championship with with Kawhi Leonard. So I say this to say, Zaz, you don't make a drastic change to your system without buy in from your star player. Unless you don't give a about what he thinks and in which case you do whatever you want, especially for a first time coach. You trying to get fired, dawg. You want to piss off the best player in the locker room.

[Stugats]

Well, maybe they don't care what he.

[Dan LeBatard]

Thinks, but that's my point.

[Stugats]

Maybe they don't care.

[Dan LeBatard]

That's my point.

[Stugats]

Maybe it was. Maybe it was two things. They don't care what he thinks because a, if he doesn't like it, we will then deal with it. We're kind of tired of him anyway. Or he may not like it right now, but he's going to like it when it works and we're winning. Like I will win him over with this new style of play.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh, man. Jeremy, the show within the show. Make it the show.

[Mike]

Sacramento King.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh my God.

[Mike]

That's the spot.

[Dan LeBatard]

They would absolutely give the sun, the moon and the earth. And then I would have the the delight of saying, who's better, de' Aaron Fox or John Morant in real life we could see what John Morant gets done over there.

[Mike]

That makes so much sense to me. Like when you look at their contracts, right? I mean you, you're a bad basketball team and you have 47 million in Zach Lavine, you have 42 million in DeMonta Sabonis, you have 24 million in DeMar DeRozan, 18 in Monk, 15 in Schroeder. Like you have all of these guys that are movable contracts and you desperately need to do something different than the roster that you created here. You just put bunch of pieces that are names that really have no flow to their games. They don't complement each other, obviously, like building something around. The idea of Sabonis and Morant offensively is very interesting. And when you look at how long those guys are under contract, like, Sabonis directly matches up and Levine has a player option next year. So if Memphis just wants to get out of this, they can do that with Zach lavine. At the very worst, it's next season instead of one more year of Morant. Like that seems to be the place that makes the most sense so that they can make a splash and Memphis can kind of reset.

[Greg Cody]

Yeah, but, but it, it's where it makes a sense for Jean Morant too.

[Dan LeBatard]

You're.

[Greg Cody]

You're trading for a little bit of a head case type player, right? If, if he's not. If he doesn't want to play for Sacramento, if that's the last place in the league he wants to play, do you really want him if you're Sacramento?

[Dan LeBatard]

Let me say this, Greg. Respectfully. He's playing in Memphis. You don't really get to be a chooser at that point.

[Greg Cody]

No, he wants out. No doubt about it.

[Dan LeBatard]

But, but my point is, my point is Sacramento is a step up. Everything is a step up off of Memphis.

[Stugats]

I also feel like he, he believes a step up is going to be wherever he can go, that they do.

[Dan LeBatard]

Whatever he wants, where he wants to play, he play the way he wants to play. I think that's the big thing.

[Greg Cody]

I'm looking at this through the heat lens right now. If you're the heat, it's about fit and cost.

[Jeremy]

It.

[Greg Cody]

Does he. Can you make him fit? Does he want to play for you? Is the team sold on it? What does Captain Bam say? I think everybody has to be on board and if the cost is right, then you go for it. You're not going to trade hero and two first round picks. But if the cost, you wouldn't have to.

[Stugats]

I think they would.

[Greg Cody]

I don't think they would.

[Mike]

I don't think they would.

[Mike Ryan]

I hear you. We might be a Norm Powell team right now.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh, I love Norm Powell.

[Mike Ryan]

We might be.

[Mike]

He's great, man.

[Stugats]

That's a likable player right there. I could root for that guy.

[Mike Ryan]

But I will say, every time we've had these debates and we're like, no, let's, let's stay. We don't need that guy. It's come back to haunt this franchise. And then the same complaint is there, lobbied often by me. We gotta do something now. The something Might have been Norm Powell.

[Stugats]

But I sure looks like it.

[Dan LeBatard]

Can I ask you guys a little.

[Mike Ryan]

Scared given the recent history?

[Mike]

I will say you're talking about guys who most of the time when you were talking about making those moves, were still at the peak of their powers or just starting to tail where you weren't making the massive moves of the recent lottery picks and multiple firsts for them. This is a different scenario where you have a guy who's probably at the basement of his value where maybe you'd be making that swap for a talent. But I just don't know that it is a fit right now.

[Dan LeBatard]

Let me ask this question as you guys are all Miami guys grew up in Miami Heat fans, right? Like is this market capable of rooting for a team that's like scrappy and that's like this right here.

[Stugats]

That was how the Miami Heat started.

[Dan LeBatard]

Look, man, that was. That was until he got Sha's working best condition.

[Mike Ryan]

Most hated.

[Stugats]

No, you know, that's most physical, nastiest, toughest team in the NBA.

[Dan LeBatard]

You guys know that's not like.

[Mike Ryan]

Did you ever see Thunder Dan Marley get a hip into a guy?

[Stugats]

You see 30 and 11 brown, you see when he tossed that charlatan Charlie Ward into the crowd?

[Mike]

Did you see Tyler Johnson and James Johnson off the bench? Come on, we wrote it on the court.

[Dan LeBatard]

I'm going to tell you guys right now, you are my life fugazi.

[Mike Ryan]

No, I'm not LeBron D. Wade and Chris Bosh. No, no, no. I'm John Crowdy and Sasha Danilovich.

[Dan LeBatard]

Someone who was what, 12 years old?

[Mike Ryan]

I'm the man of steel in everybody 2004, right?

[Stugats]

You know about Grant Long, someone who.

[Dan LeBatard]

Was 12 years old in 2004 is now in their 30s. That guy. All they know is we had Shaq and then we had Dwyane Wade and we had.

[Mike]

I was 11 years old when the Heat won the championship and I bleed Heat Colch.

[Dan LeBatard]

How dare you not. Let's not act like poetic about Ike Austin.

[Stugats]

You know what Sean Leonard. No, but I am about Luke Babbitt.

[Mike Ryan]

Guys, they were that in 2020 when they, when they made it to the.

[Dan LeBatard]

The bubble final, they were that scrappy, wanted more. You guys wanted more.

[Mike Ryan]

Yeah, but we rallied around that team. But you're the question that you asked. Is Miami capable of loving a blue collar team? Yes, we are.

[Dan LeBatard]

This is it.

[Mike Ryan]

We the most, the two most recent finals we've been to, we had that.

[Stugats]

Blue collar, blue collar, right?

[Greg Cody]

It's all about winning for Heat fans. They don't care about anything else.

[Stugats]

Plus if you forts and fire.

[Greg Cody]

If you get Jean Moran all of a sudden it helps you on the most hated category.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh definitely get the most.

[Mike Ryan]

I do miss that too. That's a spectrum blue collar most hated. Good with both.

[Dan LeBatard]

6. 7 is what you just did.

[Mike Ryan]

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