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- [00:02]
Howard Beck
This episode is brought to you by Ferrero Soccer's international tournament is here and Ferrero is going all in. Enter for your shot at a range of prizes just by buying your favorites like Tic Tac Fresh Mints Cool, Minty and Simple or Halo Top Ice Cream loaded with Crave Worthy mix ins in every bite and half the calories of leading competitors. Go all in. Buy any two Ferrero brands and you could win $1,000,000. Official rules apply. Learn more at goallinandwin.com.
- [00:39]
Logan Murdoch
What's Poppin Real Ones Logan Murdoch here, Howard Beck In a bit we start off talking about the spurs advancing to the Western Conference Finals and the big matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder coming up next week. And then we talk about what's going on with the Timberwolves. Where do they go from here, right? I mean they kind of hit a ceiling. Everything that they have, you know, traded for Julius Randall. He didn't play well in this game. What is his future? Is it do we have too much responsibility on Ant? How do they build around Ant? How do the Timberwolves do that? And then we get into a discussion about Steve Kerr. What is that going to be like? What is that going to be mean for Golden State? What does that mean? I mean, for the Bay Area at large? Who are the words actually going to make changes? I don't know. And then we talk about the Sixers and our best buddy, old pal Cliff just gets his grievances off and we just try to cope with him with the Sixers in the wake of the firing of Daryl Morey. Really, really fun show. Real Ones After Dark. Up next, Cliff Play the theme music.
- [01:44]
Howard Beck
The Ringer NBA show is brought to you by FanDuel. It's been a wild playoff run, but it's not over yet. And FanDuel wants to bring you closer to the court to make more of all the action to come. FanDuel is the best place to teams, players and plays during the NBA postseason. Build a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout or try live betting and jump into the action after tip off. Download the FanDuel Sportsbook app now and play your game 21 plus select states 18 plus DC, Kentucky or Wyoming gambling problem call 1-800- GAMBLER call 1-888-78-9777 or visit ccpg.org ChatInElectric Foreign.
- [02:30]
Logan Murdoch
What's poppin Ruins Logan Murdoch here, Howard Beck there. Ruins After Dark. Let's go. I'm excited. And the night of semifinal game Sixes. We got A tale of two different types of teams, right? We had the championship level team that is ready to close it out and we had a pretender. We will get to the real ones right now. The San Antonio spurs, who at the moment are up 132 to 97, oh, 132 to 98 over the Minnesota Timberwolves. With five minutes left to go in the fourth quarter, barring a damn near miracle, the San Antonio spurs will be going to the Western Conference finals to face the Oklahoma City Thunder. I have been, we've obviously been impressed by the San Antonio spurs who have already won 62 games. It seemed like this was just a decisive win, a decisive six game win by the San Antonio Spurs. For, for all intents and purposes, what was the thing that most impressed you the most not only in this game, but how what you've seen from the spurs throughout this postseason?
- [03:34]
Howard Beck
Well, it's funny because, you know, the way this series unfolded gave this kind of illusion that maybe the Wolves and Spurs were closer than they actually are or maybe that the spurs were not quite as ready as we might might have perceived a couple weeks ago. But the bottom line is this. Here's the stat from I mentioned, I think I mentioned this on Zach Lowe's show previously. In their three losses, the spurs, they were combined by 10 points. One to the, to Portland and two to Minnesota. And they all were like, basically like wemby games. One was he got a concussion against Portland. They lost that game. One was the weird 12 blocks but can't shoot over 8 from 3 game.
- [04:19]
Logan Murdoch
One of the greatest defensive performances of all time. But it was like, ah, this is actually not wimby's best right now. It was one of that game.
- [04:26]
Howard Beck
And that's the thing, like he was, he actually shot like you know, 45, 50% from 2. He just missed all his threes. That's not go bear defense. It just he missed all his threes. So that one was weird. And then there was the game. He was ejected for the flagrant to with the elbow to, to Nas Reed. So basically when Wemby is available and on the spurs kick your ass. That's the lesson of the first two rounds involving the San Antonio Spurs. They're absolutely ready. This blowout closeout game tonight just kind of certifies it. I didn't have that much doubt in the first place. But you know, the Timberwolves are an incredibly tough team and deserving of everyone's respect, but they're not quite at full strength and the spurs are awesome, man. Like, they are, they are, they're ready for this in a way that is incredibly rare for a team that's this young and that is making its first playoff appearance at all, much less making its way now to the conference finals.
- [05:30]
Logan Murdoch
I think, you know, and I'm not in our locker room all the time, but I think that this last series really, I think it really hardened them, right? Like even Mitch Johnson teetering the line to defend Victor Wimbanyama, but also just kind of like, just telling people like, yeah, you know, Victor was right. He gets fouled all the time, right? Like, this is just what happens. I don't condone it, but like, hey, I understand it. Even the things like that just seems to harden a group. And they're in this weird area, right, where they have a young superstar, but they have so many veterans there. And then the veterans are kind of bringing up the, the younger guys that are, that are playing well. Like, Stefan Castle was great tonight, right? You know, 11 of 11 of 16, 32 points was the leading scorer for the spurs. Just like guys like that that are coming of age. And like, you see, I think it was Cassidy Hubbard who talked about Manu Ginobili's impact on their bench guys, right? And just how Popovich is still the ghost of Popovich is still there, right? And you just see an organizational push towards this team. And it's so interesting, Howard, because most young teams and most teams that are coming onto this stage, they, yeah, they have the institution, but I don't think that they necessarily have the institution like the San Antonio spurs do, where your legends are literally in the building all the time. But you could see that pay off in the way they play here, right? Because young teams, the hardest thing for a young team to do is close out in the way that they closed out, close out on the road and set the tone early. And this looked like a very. A championship level closeout that you see from veteran groups, that you see from a team led by an eight year veteran and not a young guy like Victor Womenyama. That was the most impressive thing. And they've been. Do they do it with a young coach like Mitch Johnson? I was just so impressed by just how they, they just came of age, right? They played the championship level defense that you need in a closeout game. They hold at this point, It's a minute nine left, but they hold Minnesota to 38 from the field, 35 from three point range, shut them all the way down. And what they also did, Howard, was they really just kind of did one of those things where, you know, Minnesota had hope, you know, maybe that this team could maybe do something, maybe, you know, make a. A backdoor run that we expect Denver to make. But this performance by the spurs really showed what the Timberwolves need to do and how glaring their holes are around their team. Right. Like Julius Randall, one of eight in a closeout game, that's you. That cannot happen. Desumu only takes eight shots, and that's the guy that's supposed to be a secondary scorer behind Anthony Edwards, who shot nine of 26. Not only did the spurs show their championship acumen, but they basically ripped the band aid off of Minnesota. It was so impressive, this performance tonight.
- [08:31]
Howard Beck
Yeah, I mean, we can go down either of these roads. Let's. I mean, we're going to be talking about the spurs for a while, so let's talk about Minnesota for a minute here. You know, back to back conference finals appearances prior to this season, they're going to fall one round short of making that three years in a row. Going to. They're going to fall two wins short of that. But this has been like, really the most successful era of Minnesota Timberwolves basketball. And it's. It starts with getting Anthony Edwards and then adding on Rudy Gobert, you know, a deal that was highly criticized at the time because of all the draft capital they gave up. But Rudy's been phenomenal for them. They wouldn't be here now and in the conference finals the last two years without him. You know, they go. Year one of the conference finals was with Cat. Year two was with Julius Randall. Now here they are year three, and they're backsliding a little bit. Randall one for eight tonight. Randall, horrible, just in general, just, just
- [09:26]
Logan Murdoch
could not get -34 on the night.
- [09:29]
Howard Beck
Yeah, that's brutal. Absolutely. He just.3 points. He could not. He just could not get it going. And I don't know if it's just like, you know, he can't bully ball his way through that spurs front line. With Wemby out there, I, you know, Randall's always been kind of a hot and cold player. I saw him here for years in my backyard. New York Knicks fans, um, they loved him personally. Like, he was a really good Nick and a good guy and, And I think everybody, like, enjoyed him. And when he was at his best, he was easy to get behind, but he's a really frustrating player and, you know, he can get tunnel vision. He can get a little ball stoppy
- [10:12]
Logan Murdoch
and get a little bit too predictable in the playoffs.
- [10:15]
Howard Beck
Yeah. So the game just went final, 139 to 109. That's just a freaking ass kicking. We should note like they did not have Dante DiVincenzo in this series because of the season ending injury in the prior round. Anthony Edwards comes into this series having to come off the bench initially because of the knee injury that caused him to miss two games in the first round. Dunmu wasn't at full strength and you know, even though he just joined them a few months ago, he became pretty important pretty quickly. So there's some caveats here and, and those are. Are should be noted, but I, I do think the Timberwolves have some stuff to figure out. I don't think, you know, like they gave up on Cat as the, the tag team partner for Anthony Edwards, hoping that the addition of Randall and even Chenzo together would, you know, the, the additional depth would.
- [11:10]
Logan Murdoch
And the Naz Reed too. Right. Like, I mean he did good tonight, but also banking on that as well, that he was going to ascend and,
- [11:18]
Howard Beck
and, and look, he, he generally has. But I would, I would argue that they don't have that true co star for Anthony Edwards right now. That's the problem. It's not, it's not Julius Randall. He's not fit for the part. So, you know, I don't know where they go from here. I haven't started playing with trade machines and everything and it's a little soon for that. They just got eliminated, but they gotta find someone whether that's a guard or a different forward in Randall's spot. And you know, Mike Conley is, you know, like a hundred years old at this point and he's been so important to them as the guy who calms everyone down and, and gets guys in the right places. They need like a Mike Conley that's 10 years younger, if that person exists. So like, they definitely have some things to address. They definitely have some needs. This is not just, oh, we just got beat by the better team and every, nobody in the west can settle for that line right now because you're chasing two absolutely incredible teams with amazing talent and depth and youth in Oklahoma and San Antonio. So great season by the, by the Timberwolves, but there was, there was no way, especially in the state they're in right now. They were getting through the buzz saw, the Spurs.
- [12:34]
Logan Murdoch
Yeah, let's. We have a lot of time to talk about people's offseason plans. Let's get to what we really want to talk about, man. OKC vs. San Antonio this is what we've been wanting. This is the new rivalry that is going to encompass all the NBA, everything that we wanted all season. It's like when the warriors played the Rockets those whole few years back right where it's just like this is just what we've been waiting for. This is the matchup. J Dub says he's healthy and that he's going to go into another series healthy. Just said that on his YouTube channel, I believe today or in the in the last few days. So with both of these teams whole, what can we expect?
- [13:13]
Howard Beck
Howard start with this spurs kick the Thunders button the regular season. Regular season doesn't always carry it over to the playoffs and it's not always relevant, but it's at least noteworthy. Especially when you're the younger, less accomplished team and you took it to the defending champs. What was it, beating them four out of five times. The la the last of those was I think in February. So they have not seen each other for a while. Logan and they're not the same teams now that they were then. I think they're both arguably better and especially the Thunder are indeed whole because JW missed so many stretches of the season and the spurs every day is growth. So of course they're not the same team now in May. Like they're going to be better now than they were when they were knocking the Thunder around back in the winter. So I mean this is going to be incredible. We've got Shea vs Castle or Shea vs Fox or Harper or whichever guard,
- [14:14]
Logan Murdoch
all of the wings, all of them.
- [14:17]
Howard Beck
Dort versus one of those other spurs guards, Chet versus Wemby of course, with no love lost between them. And you know, we're going to be hearing the replays in in in perpetuity of Wemby talking about ethical basketball because that was that big subtweet of I the Thunder in general, I don't think it was aimed at Chet specifically. I don't know if it was aimed at Shay or just the Thunder, period. But like, like these, these teams, they don't have a ton of history in this iteration with this generation of players. And yet they already seem to not like each other very much. And I think they full well recognize we are the ones standing between each other for dominance. I mean, for the foreseeable future.
- [15:02]
Logan Murdoch
This is the NBA Finals. I mean, let's just call it what it is. It's the NBA Finals and it absolutely is. It's going to be played like that. It is going to be. The subplots are all going to be there. I, I just, I think the, my favorite thing about this is just the. You talked about the maturation and I think one other thing that we saw was another level from Shea since the last time they played and just his likes, the gear that he had to have to get mvp. He kind of revved that up after their last game. And I'm really curious to see how this new version of Shay, this, this heel turn that we've seen from Shay, the evolution in his game is going to translate into this series. Because you know, that's what's going to. I think, I mean, you could talk about J Dub, you could talk about Chad and the secondary players. I can't wait to hear Roger's thoughts on this series when we talk to him on Tuesday. But he is the head of this and he is also going to. Whatever, whatever he does and how he runs his offense is going to be the difference between them winning or losing. I know everybody's like, oh yeah, yeah, duh, Logan. But I mean they are going to guard him at the top of the key in the way they're going to put all their size and they are going to try to trap him across court and his decision making is going to be parallel. It's going to be paramount. And I'm really curious to see. This is when you earn your mvp. This is when you do it. And I want to see him go to that next level. We've seen it a lot throughout last season and this season, especially down the stretch. You kind of started seeing it in the finals last year, you know, when he won game four, I believe on the road in Indiana. But I really want to see how he matures in this because he, you know, we talked about Ant last week and you know, how the team takes on the personality of their star. But okc, they're, they're gonna need the best version of Shay to win this series. I mean, that's just, that's just what it is because, you know, you saw throughout the regular season the spurs were able to corral him with traps and, you know, traps and when he gets past the traps, you got to meet Wimby at the, at the rim and he's just gonna have to figure out how to do it. I don't know what version is going to be needed, but they're going to need the best version of whatever version is needed of Shay.
- [17:36]
Howard Beck
Well, this is why J Dub's health is so important. You know, we, we talk a lot about the Thunders depth and it's because they've got guys who, you know, whether it's Isaiah Joe or Kayson Wallace, now Jared McCain, Aaron Wiggins. Last year, there are guys who can come off the bench and on, on any given night, you know, put up 12, 14, 16 points or whatever in 20 minutes. Right. You know, especially as shooters. But in terms of, like, another guy who can break down a defense, create offense, create space for himself and break down the defense, force adjustments that get guys open. After Shay, like, the most important guy in that role is, is J Dub at his, at his best. And I think against a team like the spurs, as great as they are defensively and with as much length as they have, and with Wemby, this just ultimate defensive space filler from the rim all the way out, you need somebody else. You need an outlet. And you can't make it about Shay all the time because they're going to find ways to either take the ball out of his hands or trap him and make other guys beat them. And yeah, you know, some of those guys can, can take a couple dribbles and get a shot off, but it's, it's not the same there. I think they're going to need the, like, the full repertoire of, of Jalen Williams in this series if they're going to win it. I mean, the Thunder are probably going to be favored. They've got home court, they're defending champs, they've got all the experience. The spurs are younger, but, but I think this is actually a really close matchup. Logan, like, I, I, I, like, think we're, we have thankfully not been asked to pick this series yet. Maybe we will, maybe we won't. We'll see if our.
- [19:29]
Logan Murdoch
I got something to tuck for you right now. I got something to tuck. I might, you know, ask you right now. I'm probably. You want to know, you want to. No, no, no.
- [19:36]
Howard Beck
It's coin flip, man. Like, it's a coin flip. I don't want to pick the series. Okay.
- [19:40]
Logan Murdoch
All right.
- [19:40]
Howard Beck
I just want to enjoy it.
- [19:42]
Logan Murdoch
And let's, let's add one more that. I want to add one more player on that. Chad Holmgren. I mean, we talked about it, but, like, Wimy's been taking his lunch, like, legitimately taking his lunch this season, right? And it reminds me a lot. You know, it's funny. Like, no, we. When I wrote the piece on Chet earlier this season, there was a part in there about, like, kind of comparing him to Pau Gasol, right? He's, he's pow. To Shay's Kobe. And you covered Pal a little bit. A little bit. But there was a time when Pal was going up against KG and KG was just taking his lunch. And at a certain point, Pal was like that, I'm tired of doing this. Like, I kind of want to see that from Chad. Right. Like, I've. You asked Chet point blank, how does he feel about the matchup? And he's like, I don't, you know, I care about winning and I care about, you know, the team winning. You ask Wimby about. He's like, I, I want the team to win, but I want to kick your ass. And I really just want to see Chet kind of just like, you know, come back at him. And that's going to be the second most interesting subplot here. And I really want to see them go at it. I'm really like, that's also the difference in the series is how much can. Can Chet hold his ground here? And that's what. What I want to see. Yeah, because he's going to go because. Because Wemby's going to go at him every single time.
- [21:10]
Howard Beck
Wemby has shown he's got an edge that I think either we slept on or didn't see, or maybe he had to develop over his first couple of seasons. Right? Like, he comes in, it's like, you know, and I think we buy into stereotypes, too. So, like, oh, he's, he's, he's French, he's really intelligent, and he's studying with the, with the Shaolin Monks and he's doing. And so we think about him as being so cerebral. And because he's also rail thin, you don't think of him as being tough or potentially having a mean streak or having that aggression. And what we've seen, and I don't mean this just because of the flagrant two and the elbow to the neck of Nasrid. Like, I'm not condoning that and I'm not saying that that is now suddenly a plus. But between that play and like the other night when you just saw, like, it was after the one play and he had that look that people immediately memed and compared to the LeBron one for what? He's just like, like down, like, you know, looking from under his brow, like, just had that, like, that look.
- [22:08]
Logan Murdoch
Like, hey, Howard, he was aura farming. He was aura farming. Come on, stop it. He saw. No, he saw. Shut up. He saw. No, no, no, no. He saw the camera. He was smiling before and then saw the camera and did it. LeBron was locked the in the whole time. That is the difference. He was come on a little bit.
- [22:26]
Howard Beck
The very fact that there's, like, a mischievous smile there while looking up like that, whatever is. Is the motivation at that point. He's enjoying the fact that he's dominating your ass. That's the thing. I don't care about whether, like, it's for sure or whatever. Like, dude, it's the fucking NBA, man. They're all entertainers. They're all putting on a show. Let's not. Let's not think that some of these guys are more legit than others in the way that they are presenting. Okay?
- [22:53]
Logan Murdoch
Okay.
- [22:55]
Howard Beck
Wemby has an edge, and Wemby wants to kick your ass, and that's pretty damn clear. And he enjoys it. And I think we've seen him be more demonstrative in that regard in this postseason than we had over his first couple of years in the league.
- [23:12]
Logan Murdoch
It feels like he's had an OPS list, man, like, from the beginning of the season, me and you both were in la and during core week, and we were both in LA talking about, like, going into that match of everybody around the ringer office was talking about, man, when me versus Cooper Flag. Cooper Flag is that dude. Cooper Flag is that dude. And obviously he ended up being that dude. But at that time, it was like, yo, was he just. Who is he going to be? It's like, almost like somebody do the.
- [23:35]
Howard Beck
What if Cooper Flag is actually the best player in Texas? Wasn't that a thing at some point?
- [23:39]
Logan Murdoch
Yeah, for, like, until I feel like when we heard that and was like,
- [23:43]
Howard Beck
fuck that, he said, fuck you, Tyler Parker. That's what he said.
- [23:47]
Logan Murdoch
Yeah, fuck you, Tyler Parker. Oh, no, but.
- [23:51]
Howard Beck
But we got to get Tyler on the pod during this series, by the way.
- [23:54]
Logan Murdoch
Oh, absolutely. But, like, no, I. I think that was just one of the. That was the beginning of. I'm going. I'm taking names. Remember when Chad Johnson, like, had the. The. The. The. The list of corners that he was going at every year? It felt like Wimby had that right? And. And specifically this year, he got an injured last year after. And you just kind of just was like. It felt like we were robbed of what we're seeing right now this season. Right. Because as far as one of the hottest teams in the league, we sat at the live show that they were probably the most dangerous team going into postseason, and we were robbed of that. And now we get to see them play. And I think Wimby is just like. He saw. It was like he saw the playoffs last year and was like, no, I want to be here, and I don't care what any. What I have to learn, what I have to do, but I'm going to be here, and I'm going to kick your ass.
- [24:47]
Howard Beck
We have gone through a very long stretch in the NBA where we don't really have rivalries, and if we do, they last for, like, five minutes, right? Like, and the. The only really extended one we had in recent times, I feel like, was Steph versus LeBron or warriors versus LeBron. However you want to define that. That stretch of the mid 2010s, mid to late. Even KD versus LeBron didn't really catch. And, you know, we never got Kobe versus LeBron, at least in the Finals. And team versus team, like, nobody lasts long enough in this era because rosters turn over so quickly. This is like this incredibly rare thing where we already saw the Thunder rise and win a championship, and then the spurs are just on the rise and have just gotten here, and they're already the two best teams in the west, and they're both young enough with, you know, manageable cap sheets, plenty of draft capital to keep, you know, you know, replacing guys if they get too expensive, all that stuff. They've got all the flexibility, all the youth and all the depth in the world and all the talent in the world that we actually can look at these. These two teams and believe that this is actually the start of something. Logan, like, this series is the. Just the beginning, and they should be meeting multiple times over the next several years. And I think that's part of what has me excited, is because, like, neither of these teams has reached their peak yet, and, you know, stuff changes quickly in this league, but they should be around for quite a while, and this could be an absolutely epic rivalry.
- [26:19]
Logan Murdoch
Let's take a quick break. I want to talk about the Cavs and the Pistons. Cavs had a chance to, you know, in this series at home. We talked about on the previous segment how the spurs showed championship acumen and put a team away on the road. And the Cavs had a chance to put the, you know, put the nail in the coffin at home. And Donovan Mitchell goes 6 of 20. James Harden a little bit better. 13 shots in a closeout game. Vintage James Harden. And I just. I'm just thinking the series is going back to. To Detroit. I want to talk about the Pistons, and we'll be remiss to not have the cade.
- [27:04]
Howard Beck
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- [27:13]
Jomi
Then you'd want a cargo liner or
- [27:15]
Howard Beck
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- [27:34]
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- [28:31]
Logan Murdoch
tremphyaradio.com conversation we're going to have that right after this.
- [28:36]
Jomi
What's up gang? It's Jomi so it's time for another pack watch and I gotta do it to my own fellas. I gotta send the Lakers home, man. It's tough. Hey, they didn't go out like punks so I remember they got swept. But but that Game four was the most competition that they gave. Everybody gave the Thunder in their postseason. Yet hang the banner didn't fold against the Thunder in game four of a sweep. It's tough. It's tough to see your boys go out like that. But that's why I'm not even look at the past. I'm a look toward the future. Okay? Austin Reaves he coming back because he and Luka Doncic love each other. So I might worry about that. LeBron, I know you're listening, okay? You're a big fan. You've told me this many times over brunch how much you love listening to Ru once. Okay? So I know I got your ear right now, baby. Come back. Any other fool could see Bron I need you back, Big Dog. Don't listen to all the people saying that you. You cooked that, you washed that. You don't got it no more. I've seen it with my own two eyes, brother. They don't call you King James for no reason, okay? Come back on a reduced salary, okay? They talking like taxpayer mle. Listen, we don't got to do all that, but, you know, cut up like. Like 25 some. You know what I'm saying? Like, we got. We try to win chips, Big Dog. That's what you want? That's what I want. Okay. Jake Laravia, thank you for your service. Jackson. Jackson Hayes, thank you for your service. Don't connect. Don't. Sure. Jerry Vanderbilt. Man, you laid it all out there. Fellas, thank you for your contributions. John. Jer. Aiden, thank you for your contributions. It is time to find another home. Sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your services are no longer required here. Luke Kennard, Marcus Smart, you can stay. Come on down. Rui. You can stay, but only cheap, okay? You know, 20 million. Thank you for your services. Appreciate you, Big Dog. Go have fun at your next opportunity. JJ Redick is a legitimately great coach. Fellas, we're right there. We're right there. We need some moderate tweaks, but we can do it. The Laker. I can. I can feel it. I can sense it. It's. Whoo. It's something primal in me. But we're right there, fellas. Just a couple tweaks. Some people take some less money here. You might have to overpay for somebody over there, but we're right there, fellas. Look, gang, that. March 20th, 26th. I'll never forget where I was. You'll never forget what you were. The blueprint is right there, fellas. Let's make it happen. Come on. Vamos, Lakers.
- [31:33]
Howard Beck
Vamos.
- [31:34]
Logan Murdoch
What's your concern? Level that the Cavs are just going to fumble the bag again? Are you scared of this? Are you? I feel like we've seen this movie before.
- [31:46]
Howard Beck
Look, there was a really great win the other night. I thought they would lose this one tonight because. Not because of any doubts I had about Cleveland, but more about the confidence I had in Detroit to be able to rally, just as we saw the Pistons do time and again in the first round against Orlando, when it looked like they might actually be one of the rare number one seeds to go down. The Pistons are incredibly resilient and incredibly tough, and I, I. I expected this kind of game from them, but, man, like, it's Hard not to just look at the Cavs, Harden in particular, but Donovan Mitchell too, on this night, and just say, how, how is, how is this possible? Like, you know, you, you. A narrative gets created based on your track record. We in the media reinforce that by saying, you know, we tried out the stats about James Harden and closeout games. James, James Harden and Post. But I'm always thinking like, you know, like, these are incredible elite players who can turn this thing on its head in a hurry. And they did a couple nights ago, and, and, and they revived themselves or, you know, excuse me, took. Took control of this series. Frankly, do I have any faith that the Cavaliers built around James Harden as they are right now, can go to Detroit. They've won a Detroit now in the series, but can they go there and win a game 7? I have my doubts. Logan Murdoch. And here is a good place to throw in a few stats from our pal Kirthika Kirika this summer. I'm. I'm once again, I'm going to see you at summer league and I'm going to get the pronunciation on your last name down. James Harden. According to our friend Kirtha, James Harden is now 4 and 14 in game sixes in his career. The second worst record in game sixes in NBA playoff history with a minimum of 10 game sixes played.
- [33:40]
Logan Murdoch
Do you want to. Do you want to say who has the worst record? I feel like it's a stray. I feel like it's unwarranted, but let's just do the second best.
- [33:48]
Howard Beck
I didn't actually jot that one down. What do you got?
- [33:51]
Logan Murdoch
It's DeAndre Jordan, who has a 2 and 8 record. Come on. Why do you have to do that?
- [33:59]
Howard Beck
We need. It needs to be further qualified that it's like the guy who. A star player, team winner, lose. Yeah, the primary guy.
- [34:07]
Logan Murdoch
Yeah.
- [34:08]
Howard Beck
Also on the list of great Kirk research notes here, James Harden finished with more turnovers than made field goals for the 31st time in his playoff career and the fifth time in this postseason.
- [34:19]
Logan Murdoch
Hey, Howard, I got a question for you. What noise? What noise are you talking about? What noise are you talking about? What narrative?
- [34:27]
Howard Beck
Chatter? No, it was chatter, I think.
- [34:28]
Logan Murdoch
What chatter? What chatter?
- [34:29]
Howard Beck
You mean he was like this close to doing the hardened meme from way back when of the, you know. Yeah, that one. Not. Not a great position to be in when you're the interviewer, especially on live tv. But man, I did a great job. I really. Yeah, but I. It's hard not to want it to be. Well, the chatter that you don't come through in, you know, closeout games or elimination games or major whatever. Like the narrative that the chatter that you are not exactly reliable in the playoffs. It's a hard one to.
- [35:07]
Logan Murdoch
You can't ask. I mean, you can't ask as a asylum reporter, league partner, why are you a choke artist? You can't do that.
- [35:15]
Howard Beck
There's got to be some polite way to do it. I'll work on it. We'll workshop it.
- [35:19]
Logan Murdoch
All right. Cool.
- [35:19]
Howard Beck
Cool. Last keerthica note, tonight was the first time that Donovan Mitchell had a chance to clinch a conference finals bertha. He is now five and seven in closeout games in his career and, oh, and one in closeout games after the first round. So throw, throw him on the fire too, then.
- [35:36]
Logan Murdoch
I, I, I'm just saying, man, I said this at the trade. I'm sorry, man. I was, I'm, I feel vindicated. Just like my. Even though he didn't win it and right now win it, but like my early wimy MVP vote, I feel very vindicated that I said at the trade deadline. I'm not going to trust the team down the stretch of a playoff series with Donovan Mitchell and James Harden as their lead dogs. I mean, I just. You can'. I can't tell. I have to see it happen. Like, I'm sorry. And I got a lot of from James Harden in particular, and I feel like even though we bring James Harden to this, Donovan Mitchell is ducking smoke, and I don't want to duck. I don't want him to duck that because he's had his. You just reference the stats of his playoff struggles. But this James Harden. I'm gonna make Cliff cry on this one. I'm sorry, buddy. But this reminds me of the 23 playoffs when they played against the Celtics and he had that, that great. I think it was either game one or game three. He had a great game to start the series, and everybody was like, oh, man, did James Harden turn the corner. Wow, this is crazy. And then they lose the series. They just completely collapse. I, I feel it's too early to go deja vu, but I feel like we go on Tuesday, we're gonna be like, damn, another one. And we're gonna get a pack watch from Jeremy and it's just gonna be, it's gonna be hilarious. So I don't have any faith going. I say, I'll just say, I don't have any faith going into.
- [36:53]
Howard Beck
I'm laughing because Cliff, Cliff is in the chat saying, houdini Harden.
- [36:58]
Logan Murdoch
Yeah. He's not hurt at all. He said he's fine. Anyways, we'll talk about his Sixers later on in the program, but I have no faith going into the. To. To in the Cavs going into Game seven. And another reason by that Jalen Duran decided to post basketball.
- [37:14]
Howard Beck
Oh, him. Yeah.
- [37:15]
Logan Murdoch
Yeah. Welcome dominant. It was great.
- [37:17]
Howard Beck
Back to planet Earth. Jalen Duran.
- [37:19]
Logan Murdoch
It was awesome.
- [37:20]
Howard Beck
I don't know where he went. Good to see him back.
- [37:22]
Logan Murdoch
I do have a theory, though. I do have a theory.
- [37:24]
Howard Beck
Yeah.
- [37:27]
Logan Murdoch
And it's not a conspiracy theory. This is a theory that I had. Just being around them during the back stretch of the season with Duran, Duran being the number one lead guy, I feel the one. I watched this team since I, I went to Detroit. It seems like there was a little bit of growing pains kind of reintegrating. And Denver had this in the back stretch of the season, too, right. When you put Jokic back into the fold, you put big pieces back into the fold. There's an adjustment on how you're supposed to play again. Right. You have to kind of readjust with everyone, you know, getting their roles changed and then having a big guy coming back. And that's what happened with Kate Cunningham. Right. But their bench kind of. Their bench kind of regressed. They're shooting regressed during. Regressed, trying to figure themselves out. And I guess my theory is they're kind of. They've kind of figured themselves out and they're gonna do something. That's the optimist. That's. That's the optimism in me going into Game seven. Is that for, you know, as long as they had to find a new identity and then go back to their old identity on the fly in a new construct of the postseason. And I feel like they're just had growing pains and that's what we saw.
- [38:35]
Howard Beck
I mean, there aren't too many teams with double bigs with the. The size and length and everything of. Of the Cavaliers either. Maybe Duran just had to figure out how to navigate the Jared Allen, Evan Mobley tangle.
- [38:50]
Logan Murdoch
He just felt like I'm stronger than them. He finally realized, like, I'm just stronger than.
- [38:53]
Howard Beck
That's the thing. He should have like, yeah, dude should be jumping over them. My God. Great, you know, bounce back performance from him tonight. 15 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks. He was fantastic. Paul Reed off the bench again was great. He has basically supplanted Isaiah Stewart. As you know, the backup big Isaiah Stewart only played four minutes tonight. I will. Assuming they advance, I think they're going to need Isaiah Stewart, a lot more in the next round, but great that they've got Paul Reed going because they're going to need all three of those guys potentially in the next round against the Knicks if they make it there. Asar Thompson was like such a fascinating performance tonight. Like that dude was everywhere, like deflections, steals, scoring a little here and there, just everywhere. Getting tangled with guys, getting a flagrant foul. That by the way, Cleveland, stop flipping out trying to claim that it should have been a flagrant tune. He should have been ejected. That's absolutely bonkers. It wasn't that bad. It was barely a flagrant. It was like three quarters of a flagrant. Like, like we.
- [39:59]
Logan Murdoch
It was a hard foul. It was a playoff foul.
- [40:00]
Howard Beck
It was a hard foul. He shoved him over like, oh, he's hand hit his, hit him in the neck. Shut up. It was fine. He also got hit with some like really soft, just regular fouls in the course of the game, including I think the foul that he fouled out on. It was, it was just like, it was just a strange all around scene. But as our Thompson was awesome and, and Cade was great. Not his most efficient performance, but he did go 5 for 10 from, from the arc. He was great. Another high turnover game for Cade and that's been a theme throughout the postseason. And he's got to rein that in because again, assuming that they, they win game seven, you, you can't be turning the ball over like it was seven, seven turnovers tonight. You cannot be turning the ball seven over. Turning it over seven times against the Knicks and expect to win a game.
- [40:53]
Logan Murdoch
Yeah, I was just like they need sub, they need consistent supplementary scoring. And you know Tobias for how great he was, he was only, he was only at six points on seven shots, right?
- [41:05]
Howard Beck
Tobias was awful tonight.
- [41:08]
Logan Murdoch
Jenkins, he has to get him up, man. He just has to get him up. He needs to, we, he needs to be in double digit scoring. They need to find secondary scoring on a night to night basis. And that's a really hard thing to do when you don't have consistency. Right? And that's speaks to, you know, Cade's turnovers throughout, right. Where there's just so much responsibility on him offensively, right. To pass, to make offense for other guys. That's going to be something to look forward to and that's also an advantage for the Knicks. Right. And we'll talk about that at some point. You know, we'll talk about that when this series is settled. But if they were to play against the Knicks, that's Something that's going to be really hard, right? Because you know, I think. And you can make the case, you know, both teams kind of have that problem where they're just over relying on one great score. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. I can't wait for game seven. It's gonna be fun. Let's take a quick break and let's talk about Mr. Steve Kerr. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. Ever find yourself scrambling to grab that special something for a last minute party, a spontaneous date, or even that impromptu game night at home? That's when Prime's same day delivery swoops in. That essential item you thought you'd missed, delivered, the plan, saved the win secured. Because with prime, same game delivery, you can grab it and go before the moment passes you by.
- [42:23]
Howard Beck
Same damn delivery.
- [42:25]
Logan Murdoch
It's on Prime. Visit Amazon.comprime to find millions of items delivered fast available in select areas. Terms apply. It's been a long season for the Golden State Warriors. A lot of tipsy, turvy times. I, I was on Kerr watch. You were on Kerr Watts for the last few weeks. You know, January, you start hearing whispers even earlier than that, that Steve Kerr coming back.
- [42:50]
Howard Beck
I don't think Steve Kerr's coming back.
- [42:54]
Logan Murdoch
You hear him in the Bay Area and then they, you know, they, they percolate all the way to New York City somehow. And it really looked like he wasn't going to be back. And then there's this clandestine game in Inglewood that happens and it was funny. And this is all coming from reporting from a great, great Steve Kerr profile from Wright Thompson. But he basically talks like we don't even get profiles like this anymore, right? Where you're just basically with the subject day in and day out. It was great. But one of the things that that was that that was reported in there is that Steve, that that game really brought Steve back into the fold. And I gotta say, man, and me and you've been watching this iteration of the warriors for a long time and I think I may have texted you or I may have talked to you on one of our long random calls that we have in pre production meetings where I was just like, that was a rare game that felt familiar, right? Like I, like I've, that was the warriors that I've, you know, I seen covering and you've been around and I was like, we all thought it was like maybe the last to rob what we've seen or it was just like a final curtain call. And I'm just really curious what you think about just, I don't know what the warriors are going to do, because everything coming out of Warrior Land is that they're going to build around Steph and I. And I'm really happy with all the feels in the Kumbaya moment, but I. I can't get over the fact that, like, this is like three or four years too late and they're saying all the right things. They said this last year. They said it's the year before that. I just don't. I don't know. I'm going to talk through this with you. I don't know what to make of all of this, of this, Howard, because it's cool right now. I don't know what they're going to do. You know, they got Draymond, who has a player option. He wants to feel whole, but he's also could be a trade piece and a potential Giannis trade. There's so many questions, but they got one answered with Steve coming back, and that's good for them.
- [45:03]
Howard Beck
Yeah. Incredible piece by Wright Thompson. Everything he does is. And by the way, if people love Wright Thompson's His. His storytelling, his. The, you know, the depth of his profiles, everything that Wright Thompson does, if you love all that. There's a podcast he did a few weeks back, but it's about writing and. And every. Every guest comes on to just talk about their writing. And Wright Thompson was on for, I think it was like 63 minutes precisely, talking about his writing. And it was that. That was when I realized he had a Steve Kerr profile coming. You guys probably knew out in the Bay, because I guess Wright had been around a lot because he was in and out of the warriors world all throughout the season, interviewing Steve multiple times and other people around the warriors. And I didn't. I didn't realize it. It was not until I listened to this pod a few weeks ago. But the pod was fantastic in general, having nothing to do with the NBA or Steve Kerr, because it was just Wright Thompson talking about his process and about why we do what we do and trying to get into the heads of the people that we write about and empathy and nuance and detail and all the stuff that goes into writing an incredible piece or an incredible book in his case as well, because he's done those. Anyway, that was a quick tangent just to say, go listen to that, folks. What did you find? The name of the pod was called
- [46:21]
Logan Murdoch
How I Write by How I Write Perel.
- [46:25]
Howard Beck
There you go. Go look that up, folks. So Steve, in that piece, right off the Top, like, you know, when they're getting ready for their last playing game, he's like, I think I'm done. So, you know, to your reporting from earlier this season to anybody else's reporting about, like. Like that this was. That this could have gone any. Any direction. It truly could have. And. And there were moments where Steve clearly was feeling ready to walk away, and then he can't. He can't actually muster the will to do it. And this story gets into a lot of that, and it overlaps with something that I wrote a year ago. Wright did it much better because Wright's amazing, but Steve talks about it being addictive. I wrote a whole story about coaching addiction last year in which I quoted Steve, but the story was mostly about George Carl and Larry Brown and, to an extent, Greg Popovich. But coaches talk about this as an addiction, and Steve touches on all those themes again in this piece by Wright. And it's just really hard to walk away. And I think it was always going to be hard for Steve to walk away from Steph and even from Draymond for all the things those two have gone through together. Those guys love each other. And, like, you know, we saw that hug that we thought was maybe their. Their final, you know, time together on
- [47:45]
Logan Murdoch
the court still could be.
- [47:47]
Howard Beck
I mean, for the three of them together, if you're assuming that there's a possible Draymond trade, sure. I guess I'm assuming he's back. I'm just. I'm just going to take that as a given until. Until we've seen otherwise. I, like, I don't know what conditions were on Steve's decision to come back, but I got to think. I think, obviously he's coming back for Steph primarily, but I got to think that that Draymond is still part of that equation. They have a lot of work to do, obviously. Logan, you. You're alluding to this, but I don't think that's the point, really. Steph is still elite. Jimmy Butler has to get healthy after blowing out the acl, but he was still really good before he went down. And Draymond can still be really good. And, yeah, those dudes are all stupid old by NBA standards. Mike Dunleavy and his front office have a ton of work to do to make that team respectable. Does anybody think that there's any scenario at all in which you can magically change the roster this summer with Steph still at the center of it and probably Draymond and probably Jimmy Butler and still find the wherewithal the resources and the cap room to surround them with the kind of talent that will allow them to challenge Oklahoma and San Antonio. Probably not, but that's not the point of the exercise anymore. When Steve started saying, like, we're a fading dynasty last year, which apparently got him in a little bit of hot water with the business side folks at the warriors, he was accurate. He was painting the right picture. But the other thing he said. And again, this is a quote from Wright's story, and I think Steve had said this in public last year as well. Quote, there is beauty in the struggle.
- [49:21]
Logan Murdoch
You said it on my story, sir.
- [49:24]
Howard Beck
Okay. I mean, it's one of his themes that he kept hitting. There's beauty in the struggle. That's what everybody has to, I think, adjust to or warm up to or embrace. Steve's embracing it. Steph is embracing it. Draymond's embracing it. I think the fans have to embrace it, too. It's about the struggle now, and it's about how much can. How much further can you push this? How much success can you actually find, given everything that's stacked against you because of age and injury and attrition? And I don't know where that lands them, but as long as they're still competitive and fun and we get to see Steph have some of those moments, that's fine. I think that's enough. And if they somehow manage to reload enough around those guys to be, you know, like an actual six, you know, top six seed playoff team, not a play in team Cool, that would be amazing in itself.
- [50:14]
Logan Murdoch
Yeah. I. I gotta see it happen. I gotta see. I mean, it's one thing for this front office to say, hey, we're gonna just try to build a team around Steph, and we're gonna try to build some level of competitiveness. But I just saw last year that, you know, I just saw last. What they did last summer or what they didn't do last summer. Right. And more competent front offices do more competent things around. Right. Like, you're not gonna. I. I haven't. I have to see it happen. And I know that, and I know it's more nuanced than that. You know, with the injuries. The injury to Demi Butler was. Was. Was horrible and horrible timing, too. And that was around a time where it was. I started hearing, like, real talks in the days after the Jimmy Butler injury that, yes, Steve's out, he's gone, he's leaving. This is. And you could see it on Steve's face. Like, I would go in there and I would see Steve looking dead inside in plenty of pressers. And that leads to my next point, which is like, these are the. If they're not playing for. It's weird for me to just being around them so much and just say, like, oh, yeah, we're not playing for a championship. We're playing for, you know, some. I don't know what they're playing for, right. And you're saying, I don't know what they're playing for, but it's three of the most competitive guys that you have ever been around saying this. So how are they gonna. It's easy to say this in May going into an off season, but, like, how are they going to react in December when, you know, it's. They're. They're out of the playoff race or they're just on the edge of the playoff race. So that's, you know, that's. It's. It's going to be harder than just like, hey, we got all the fellas together. Because it was hard this year, too, right? Like, you know, Draymond and Steve getting into it on the sidelines and Draymond storming off and the injuries, the front office pressure, you know, like, you know, the front office, I mean, you could. You could see, like, there's not a. It's not a surprise that Terry Stotts and. And Stackhouse are gone right now because, you know, the ownership didn't like them. Right. Like, didn't want them to be there and didn't want them to, you know, they can. Whatever, however they want to frame it. But there was. There was a lot of complaints about them, you know, throughout the season. Right. And just. Just the staff in general, that's not going to go away. Like. So, I mean, I'm happy that Steve got breaded and I got his. Got his cheese, but they're still. It. They're still at square one. And nothing about this front office is. Told me that they're going to, like, drastically change and make a. Like, not even a contender, but, like, even a fifth, five seed. Like, I was very. I was skeptical going into this season, even more skeptical going into next season. You know, they. They are at the fading end of a dynasty, and it's hard and it's confusing, and it's all those things, and I think it's going to be all those things next year. It's going to be a very big roller coaster, which is great for us, but I don't know if it's great necessarily for their day to day.
- [53:27]
Howard Beck
Yeah. Listen, I, I think they're a team that's won four championships at least the remaining core of, of Steph, Draymond and Steve. And they've been around a long time and Steve has seen dynasties come and go and has been part of other dynasties that have, have flamed out because that's just what happens. I, I really do think at a time like this, as competitive as those guys are, there's a philosophical aspect of this and a reality of this and a maturity as a competitor where you just want to be able to do your best and have fun, compete, win as much as possible and realize that the championship, while that was the only thing 10 years ago, it's no longer the only thing. There are other ways of being gratified. There are other ways of feeling like, like this is worth all, all of the effort and all the long hours and all the training in the off season and for the coaches, all the film breakdown. It doesn't have to be about the championships, only like we do. We, you and I operate in a, in a, in a industry and also in a time when, you know, there's so much rings culture with 50 z's after ring and, and the athletes feel that too. And I think when they're in their prime, that is like, that is the, the only thing that matters for, for the guys who are at the highest level of this game. I, I don't think this is where these guys are now. Um, and I don't think it consumes them in the same way. It doesn't mean they don't want to win the championship. But like Steph, I'm sure would absolutely love to get a fifth because of who it would put him with. But I think, you know, again, if the beauty is in the struggle, as Steve Kerr says, I think they all embrace that and I think the rest of us will just still get a chance to enjoy an all time great, still supported by a couple of people who are really important to him playing at the highest level that, that they can muster.
- [55:24]
Logan Murdoch
And it's, let's just be honest, it's pretty unprecedented. This doesn't happen right like this. Not the dynasty part, but even like the post dynasty, right, like, like Phil, Phil's Jackson isn't staying throughout this whole run.
- [55:38]
Howard Beck
The Bulls chased him off.
- [55:40]
Logan Murdoch
The Bulls chased him off.
- [55:42]
Howard Beck
The Lakers let him go before bringing him back.
- [55:45]
Logan Murdoch
Well, a lot of do with Kobe too as well. Kobe didn't want to.
- [55:48]
Howard Beck
There was a lot.
- [55:49]
Logan Murdoch
Kobe. Kobe didn't want to.
- [55:50]
Howard Beck
You know, there was a lot going on Between. Between Phil Jackson and Jerry Buss and negotiations, there was a lot of different things going on.
- [55:56]
Logan Murdoch
But then the point is, don't happen, though, right? Like, this. This just doesn't. This doesn't happen. And.
- [56:02]
Howard Beck
And you and I both know. And it's all been reported, too, so it's not like we're talking out of turn here, but there's plenty of, you know, you know, organizational tensions that could have caused enough of a divide for Steve not to come back, too. So.
- [56:16]
Logan Murdoch
Yeah, you know, I want to think that that was the one thing that came out about the political stuff, and I. A political divide between Laub and Steve Kerr. But. And Steve kind of alluded to it because he was asked today in sf. I don't think it really. Like, I think there is a divide, and I think there's an annoyance anytime Steve does speak out. Right. And I. Not. I think I know that for a fact. Like, we both know stuff behind the scenes of, like, you know, wrangling that has to be done whenever Steve says something. But I ultimately don't think it played a part in him either leaving or staying. Like, I don't. I think it's always going to be an annoyance, but I think that. I think that they're always gonna. I don't think it was a make or break if, like, oh, Steve, like, you know, talks about this political candidate or whatever. We don't want him back. I think it was just more of, like, they roll their eyes every time it happens and tries to, like, curtail it, but I don't think that they don't want him to be there. It's more of, like, man again. Like, we're in the news for this again. But I don't think that they were like, you don't want to. We don't want to be here because we don't agree with you. Yeah. Nothing on that. No, that's it. That's it. Okay. Okay. All right, all right, all right.
- [57:32]
Howard Beck
More than I was going to.
- [57:33]
Logan Murdoch
Did they silence you, too? Okay.
- [57:35]
Howard Beck
I will not add.
- [57:36]
Logan Murdoch
All right.
- [57:36]
Howard Beck
I will not ask.
- [57:40]
Logan Murdoch
You know, we'll see what happens in warrior land. Now, I got a text from Cliff when this went. When this went down. Is Bob Myers going to ruin my Sixers?
- [57:52]
Howard Beck
Cliff. Cut. Dude, calm down, man. Do we need to bring Cliff on to.
- [57:58]
Logan Murdoch
For.
- [57:58]
Howard Beck
For a little, like, sixer counseling for a minute here?
- [58:01]
Logan Murdoch
I. I don't. I. I do want to. I do want to say this, though, for the Sixers sake. There's a little weirdness around the luxury Tax, which is kind of weird. Where Josh Harris said he'll pay the luxury tax, so basically, essentially threw Daryl Morgan to the bus. Right. Like, I, I would think that's what it. That's. That's the first person I thought about when he said the comments about the luxury tax and that he'll pay it. But I don't know what's going on in sixer land. You think, what do you think Bob's gonna do?
- [58:33]
Howard Beck
What do I think he's going to do?
- [58:35]
Logan Murdoch
Yeah.
- [58:36]
Howard Beck
Hire somebody to do the job that he absolutely, positively does not want to do himself. There's.
- [58:42]
Logan Murdoch
Hey, real quick before we. Oh, go ahead, go ahead. Okay, Bob. Bob got a great man. Bob, like, is making a lot of money through a lot of. With a lot of different people and he's just like, yeah, you know, you pick that person to do the job.
- [58:54]
Howard Beck
You know what I was reminded of yesterday? Bob sitting, Sitting at that press conference for the. We haven't seen him in a press conference for a while. And seeing him up there with Josh Harris, I'd forgotten just how glorious Bob Myers hair is. That dude's got an incredible head of. I'm so jealous.
- [59:09]
Logan Murdoch
I'm sorry. I mean, I'm not. I love my hair. My hair's better than Bob Myers, but I've never seen a person that wears a grand total of three suits and pulls it off every time. He wears three suits.
- [59:22]
Howard Beck
Is that true?
- [59:23]
Logan Murdoch
That's it. I mean, I can count like, it's like the gray one, the black one and the blue one. That's it. That's all he wears.
- [59:29]
Howard Beck
That sounds like.
- [59:30]
Logan Murdoch
No, I'm just 80, but. But an 82 game season and a whole. He just wore. He wore three suits. That was it.
- [59:37]
Howard Beck
The man lives like, come on. He doesn't have to wear that many suits. He doesn't go to that many things. Bob Myers is not going to do this job himself. He's going to hire somebody that we don't have any sense of what direction they're going. Just shows you how hasty and I think probably emotional this decision was. It was like, oh, we got smoked. We got swept. And the Knicks colonized our arena and turned Philadelphia into the Sixth borough of New York. We got to do something. Okay, let's fire Darryl. Who are we going to replace him with? I don't know, Bob, Go figure it out. That's what this felt like.
- [60:11]
Logan Murdoch
I got to say, man, I, I'm not mad. I'm not mad at the job that Daryl Mari did. Like, I'm not mad at it there, you know, he did fine. He did just fine. They. They drafted.
- [60:21]
Howard Beck
But like, yeah, but like, but we may have to bring a cliff for this one because I'm going to end up pissing him off. But, like, it really wasn't, like, some egregious list of. Of miscues here. And only a week before they got smoked by the Knicks, they were being celebrated, rightly, as this incredible Cinderella story. Who knocked out the second seated Celtics, One of the rare sevens to beat a two. Came back from three to one. That was rare, too. Like, like everybody was celebrating. And then a week later, you're firing your gm. Like, that's rash. And if the biggest mistakes were Embiid's contract and Paul George's contract, those are kind of forgivable ones because they needed Paul George to help Embiid. They needed to pay Embiid to help recruit Paul George. And besides that, what franchise ever has said no to its superstar? When has a franchise told its superstar a year removed from winning mvp? No, we're not giving you your max extension. Find me the case where that's happened. This is just how the NBA works, and then you deal with the results. What's up, Cliff?
- [61:36]
Cliff
Yo. Giving Embiid and Paul George those contracts might be one of the worst things you could ever do as a basketball GM in a matter of.
- [61:43]
Howard Beck
I have seen so much worse, my friend.
- [61:45]
Cliff
Okay, there's. Yes, there's way worse, but my goodness, he did that in what, the span of two offseasons? You gave an example.
- [61:51]
Howard Beck
It was one off season or it
- [61:52]
Cliff
was the same offseason. Right? So Paul George is a free agent. The Clippers clearly don't want him. They did everything in their power to let him know, hey, we don't want. We don't want to sign you here. Darryl Morey comes in, saves the day for Paul George, gives him a bag and gives him a player option.
- [62:06]
Logan Murdoch
Captain, save a vet in his fourth
- [62:08]
Cliff
year, which is supposed to be, what, 37 years old with an often injured star player. Give him an extension, which is around 60 million per year. The dude hasn't played more than 40 games in the last three seasons.
- [62:22]
Jomi
What are we.
- [62:22]
Cliff
Come on, man. What are we talking about here? Yo, you should have never gave them dudes that money. You know, you messed up. You know, you had to sign Tyrese Maxey and give him his extension, and that eventually was going to kick in. Now 80% of your contracts is tied to three players, and we know the NBA doesn't work that way. And Darrel Morey wasn't innovative enough and he thought the three stars thing was going to work. And you can just fill out the margins, and clearly you can't fill out the margins that way. So therefore Darryl Morey was canned. Do I think Darryl Morey is the blame for everything? Absolutely not. I think the star player needs to play basketball in order for his team. For a team to be successful, I think the owner needs to let players or let the GM go into the luxury tax in order for teams to be successful. Josh Harris said, yeah, absolutely, we can go to luxury tax. You've only done it twice in the last few years. What are you talking about? Josh Harris? You're lying again. So, yeah, from top to bottom, there's more to blame than Daryl Morey. But was Darryl Morey helping the situation? Absolutely not.
- [63:11]
Howard Beck
I'll just say this one, and I said this on Zach's pod yesterday. If you could wave a magic wand and undo the three things that are pissing off Sixer fans like Cliff the Most Embiid's contract, Paul George's contract, And the Jared McCain trademark, if you could undo all those right now with a magic wand, they still got smoked by the Knicks in the second round. It doesn't change the outcome of this season. The other thing is that in general, and yeah, I'm not. I'm not defending to the hilt, the contracts or all of Darryl's moves, but when it comes right down to it, the 76ers do not have a front office problem or really a salary cap problem or whatever Devil Joel Embiid problem. Everything that they have been through, good, bad and otherwise for the. For the last 10 years, you know, or eight years, whatever it's been, it's a Joel Embiid problem. He can't. He can't stay on the court. He can't stay healthy. And. And that's it, man. Like, you know what? There's a world here where he doesn't get appendicitis. And who knows, you know, they don't have to come back down, come back from three to one down against the Celtics, and maybe they're that much stronger going into a series against the Knicks. And maybe they would have had a fighting chance. Like, they didn't lose to the Knicks because they don't have Jared McCain or like Isaiah Joe. They didn't lose to the Knicks because of Joel Embiid's contract. They do need more depth. And I do think it's fair to criticize Daryl for paying not enough attention around the margins. But I think the orders to duck the luxury tax all the time are part of the reason for that, too.
- [64:48]
Logan Murdoch
Yeah, it's a little like, I don't know, as the years go by and Cliff knows that. Cliff will probably back me up on this. We'll see. But you don't want to have a situation where at least there's the appearance that you are prioritizing your football team over your basketball team, because that's a little bit New Orleans Pelicans, New Orleans Saints vibes. And I, I hope that in it. In a city, like, feeling extreme. It's not extreme. It's. I'm just saying it's on that path, though. Like, you're dugging luxury tax on one side and you're giving. You're about to build a new privately owned stadium on the other side. Right. You know, like, so we'll see. Cliff, you feel better before we get to rim one of the week? You feel a little better getting that off your chest?
- [65:31]
Cliff
Yeah. Yeah, I feel that was therapeutic, man. We, as a, As a. As the local person that's going to represent for Philly and all the Sixer nation, man, we needed that. We needed that. So shout out to everybody that, you know, putting on for the city.
- [65:44]
Howard Beck
Cliff, real quick. What's. What's the vibe down there in the wake of the Daryl firing? Like, are Sixer fans happy about it? Are they more optimistic because he's gone? Do they think it was justified? Like, where are Sixer fans out on this? Like, I know, like, certainly there was, like a segment that was always really bitter with him, but, like, where. Where are they at?
- [66:00]
Cliff
It's kind of mixed. It's a mixed bag because people know that the real problem. There are more problems than Daryl Morey. Like I said, ownership has also been a problem. Joel Embiid's been a problem not being able to be healthy. So Daryl More is just, you know, one of the pins to took the fall. Yeah. So it's a little mixed bag. Like, people aren't like, oh, my goodness, Daryl More. I can't believe they fired Daryl Moria. People are more just like, oh, well, that's. That's one guy that needed to go, what about the owner? Sell the team.
- [66:29]
Howard Beck
Good luck with that guy on the court.
- [66:30]
Cliff
Yeah, exactly. I mean, every. Every game during the Knicks, during those two games, games three and four, all you. You heard sell the team multiple times. So really, that did. That's how you. That's how Sixers fans feel about Josh Harris? Well, actually, they said it I think game three, the one that got smoked by Boston in game three at home, right? Yeah. Game three, they said sell the team towards the end of that game as well.
- [66:54]
Howard Beck
Wow.
- [66:55]
Logan Murdoch
Yuck. All right, All right. Let's get to a little segment we like to call Real one of the week, where we point out a person, entity, organization that run the week. I will go first because over the last few weeks, Howard has. Has kicked butt on the road of the Week. I just want to get mine out of the way because I don't know what he's gonna do, but I'm gonna go with Isaiah Rashad. I really love his album. It's awful. I don't think the album's awful. The name of the album is called It's Awful, but it was phenomenal, man. Like, I really love artists that really dig deep and really just like, rap about what they're going through in a very artistic way and take their time and said it about Isaiah Rashad. You can't say that about a lot of rappers, but you can definitely say it about him. So I really love it. I want to give him a shout out. Also. I will give it ruin of the week to anybody that can give me some tickets to this Raiders Niners game coming up because the ticket prices are insane, and I don't know if I can swing that, but I'm trying to go. So if you want to throw, you know, if anybody got the jug on that, I'll let you. Boy rolls Melvag.
- [68:09]
Howard Beck
We haven't. We haven't talked on the pod about the fact that our little niner Raider,
- [68:15]
Logan Murdoch
a little viral back and forth, went viral on Instagram, like, locally viral in the beto. You know what I mean? It was tight. Shout out, yuck mouth. Who. Who. Who also collab posted on that. You don't know who that is, but it's cool. He did the song I got. He was part of the loonies who did a song called I Got Five on It. Well, you know that song. I'm sure you do. I Got Five on It. No go. That's.
- [68:38]
Howard Beck
No, no.
- [68:39]
Logan Murdoch
Wow. That's crazy. That's crazy work. Clip this. Clip this and put this on the thing. Stop. Wow. That's crazy. Anyways, it's a 420 anthem. Anyway. Howard Beck, you're rowing of the week.
- [68:51]
Howard Beck
Oh, man, I hate to do this two weeks in a row and get somber, but it's got to be Jason Collins. Yeah, Rest in peace, Jason Collins. I only had very brief interactions with him during the course of his Career and mostly toward the end of his career when he came back, he. He first came out in a Sports Illustrated cover story in 2013, and a month or two later, I got him on the phone for a story for the New York Times, and we talked about the fact that he was still a free agent at that time. The thing that. That I think always gets lost in. In the. Hey, Jason Collins became the first openly gay NBA player while. While still active is that he was a free agent when he came forward, and he'd most recently played for the Wizards at that time, but he was a free agent. And so then the question was like, is anybody going to sign him? And if he doesn't, if they don't, does that undercut a little bit of the impact? Does it blunt it and make it a little bit less significant? Because here he is, you know, acting as a trailblazer of sorts. And. And so we talked on the phone in July that year, and the Nets eventually signed him. And so then he played for the Brooklyn Nets, and he did become the first, you know, first gay NBA player active, playing for a team, showing, this ain't no big deal. Everybody was fine about it. David Stern gave me this quote for the story back then. The overwhelming positive reaction does not surprise me. Stern said in a phone interview, our players are actually knowledgeable and sophisticated on this issue, and our teams understand it completely. I would have expected them to be supportive, and they are. And I think David meant all that, and I think all that meant a lot at the time, and nothing about the significance of that moment should be lost or dismissed. I. I said this on Zach's pod, and I want to say it again here, and it's the reason I decided to make Jason the real one of the week, is just to make this point. It's 13 years later, and no one has felt comfortable enough to come forward. And as Charles Barkley said accurately earlier this week, you know, there are other players in the NBA, the NFL, and elsewhere who are gay, who do not feel comfortable coming out. And that says something about these leagues and about where our society is right now. And I've thought about Jason Collins a lot over the last several years in this regard in that, you know, society is kind of backsliding, I think, on these issues. And the NBA, I don't think through any actions of the NBA itself, it's not a policy matter, but I think it tells us something that Jason Collins knocked down this barrier 13 years ago, and we have not seen anybody be comfortable enough to follow his lead. Since anyway. Rest in peace, Jason Collins.
- [71:46]
Logan Murdoch
Rest in peace. And to Brandon Clark as well.
- [71:48]
Howard Beck
And to Brandon Clark.
- [71:49]
Logan Murdoch
It's been another edition of of Real Ones. We'll see you guys on Tuesday.
- [71:56]
Howard Beck
It'll be daylight next time we do this.
- [71:59]
Logan Murdoch
God willing. Nah, man, I love dude. I I appreciate all y', all, all of us, you know, Cliff Valenciaga, all y' all staying up with us to make this thing great, bro. So we'll see y' all on Tuesday. Ah, all the shits. Foreign. Must be 21 years and older and present in select states. For Kansas, an affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 and older and present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem, call 1-800- GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-RESET. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org backslash chatinconnecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org In Maryland, hope is here. Visit gamblinghelpma.org or call 1-800-3 for 247 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-HOPENY or text HOPENY in New York. For Louisiana, call 1.
- [72:57]
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- [73:22]
Logan Murdoch
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