← The Ryen Russillo Show
The Ryen Russillo Show
Bane’s Big Night, Revisiting the Trade & More NBA Cup Fun, Plus Suns Owner Mat Ishbia
01:35:48
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Hey barstool listeners. You can find every episode of the Ryan Rosillo show on Apple podcasts, Spotify or YouTube Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.
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Foreign.
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The Ryan Rosillo show is presented by DraftKings. On today's show, I'm gonna run through a bunch of NBA stuff with Bain's big win for Orlando against Miami. We're gonna go through some of the east corrections with some of the teams that maybe were a little surprising, where they're at now and getting it back to Bain, the price paid for him and why Orlando, looking at their future, is a better bet than some of the other historical big draft pick trades that we've seen. We've got Matt Ishbia of the Phoenix Suns. What he has learned after a few job tough years for the Suns and life advice. But stars are going off, rookies are making noise and the action doesn't stop. DraftKings sportsbook and official sports betting partner of the NBA is where you can get in on all of it. I did, I don't know, 30 minutes on Derek Queen the other day. He's not going to be in the cup, but this rookie class is so much fun and it feels like every few weeks there's like a new guy that kind of gets all his attention. Could it be Ceru's guy? These next few weeks down in San Antonio. Dylan Harper, Missouri fans, listen up. DraftKings sportsbook is now live at the Show Me State. With more live markets and nonstop action, it's no wonder DraftKings is the number one sportsbook for live betting. And don't forget the Emirates NBA cup is heating up. Big games, big moments and plenty on the line. New customers bet five bucks and get $200 in bonus bets. If your bet wins, download the DraftKings sportsbook app and use the code RYAN. That's code RYAN. R, Y, E N bet five bucks, win and get 200 in bonus bets. In partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours.
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Gambling problem. Call 1-800- gambler in New York, call 877-8-HOPENY or text hopeny467-369 in Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas. Pass through of per wager tax May apply in Illinois, 21 and over. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bet must win to receive bonus bets which expire in seven days. Minimum odds required. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.coaudio Limited Time Offer how about an NBA pot for you, huh? Load it up. We'll get back to the football into our Thursday Friday release, just in case anybody is wondering, like, hey, what's the schedule? The schedule is pretty much what it's been Monday, Wednesday. But instead of releasing the Friday pod that we used to do, that sometimes would come out so late, especially in the east coast that we're working with releasing it, you know, not even that late on Thursday. And then of course, if it's a huge Thursday football game, especially as we start gearing up towards the playoffs, probably hold off. Anyway, we had some cup action last night, win for the Magic, win for the Knicks. And I want to talk about Orlando and Bain, who is fantastic at the end of this. But I want to talk a little bit about some of the corrections that we're seeing with some of these teams that, you know, on paper you're going into the year being like, is this team going to be any good? And then some of these teams got off some great starts. We're also starting to see some corrections here. Philadelphia started 4.05&1,89, since their offense, since that point is 24th, which is alarming because you kind of figure like offensively they'll be able to light it up but defensively still average, which is. It's kind of like the reverse. You know, when you look up those numbers, probably expect it to go the other way around. They're five and four within beat. So I know he's terrible against the Lakers, but collectively, like on the year, there's no way he's going to shoot this bad. 41 and 21 splits. His free throw rate is off the charts bad. It's never been this low of free throw rate per field goal attempts in his entire career. So looking at some of the lineup stuff that different teams are struggling with because everybody for the most part deals with injuries, there isn't really anything in there. It's like, hey, Embiid came back and now the record is as bad. They're actually a game over.500 with him. Even though I think we'd all say it hasn't looked good. But, you know, if he starts to play regularly, it's, it's going to look better and he's certainly going to shoot it better. Toronto started 14 and five. They've gone one and six since November 27th. One of the numbers that I do look at at the end of the years when I'm trying to figure out like playoff picks, how you're doing against teams 500 or better. They're six and seven, which is fine. You know, Cleveland's kind of a disaster. Even though they're over 500, they're a disaster based on the expectations and feeling like with all the injuries and the newness of some of the other teams that this should be their conference and their, you know, I know they had some lineup challenges of their own. They feel like they're constantly putting out different starting lineups. But you think with the high level guys that they have, they'd be better against 500 teams. And they're not. They're five and 10 against them. So going back to Toronto, since that 14 and five start, the offense has fallen off a cliff. They're 28th in offense. Their defense, which was something that carried over from last year.
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They are 24th during that stretch. The first 19 games in, they were the fourth best defense. A couple of lineup things that I'll share with you. Look, they lose to New York last night. They've been blown out twice by him. They didn't have RJ or quickly. RJ's been dealing with this knee thing. He had an injection. They actually went 11:1 with RJ in the last 12 games he was in the lineup. But this is where it gets strange because if you look at his November splits, he didn't shoot it nearly as well. He got off to an insane start in October. 57 and 41 splits. But they went 2 and 4 in those games and then his shooting fell off and they went 11 and 1 in the last 12. Generally, I feel better about the Raptors, seeing what I've seen 20 plus games in, than maybe what I thought it would be. Because really my concerns about the Raptors is acquisition, roster building, who you're spending your money on. But when those five guys are out there, like, I generally feel better about them. And even seeing, you know, look, I know they lost last night, but seeing what Ingram is capable of as a number one scoring option, at least in the regular season. If you want to do like a lineup thing with Toronto, which is kind of Fun.
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Toronto's number one lineup. All right, so that's 166 minutes with the five guys. That's what quickly. And Barrett and the other front line, there are 121 on offense. That's their offensive rating. It's. It's a great number. Their defensive rating is not great. That's like 117 with those guys. So if you take out RJ Barrett and put in Walter and basically you're replacing him with Walter, defensive guy that we've talked about a little bit. Shooting's been better this year and that's the second most played lineup that the Raptors have had. There's seven points worse on offense, but seven points better on defense. If you want to mess around with a lot of the five man stuff that NBA.com has, which is a lot of fun, the most played lineup in the NBA is starting five for the Timberwolves. And it's like a massive gap between their minutes and then the second highest group of five that we have to this point in the season. So they played 245 minutes together. Right. All the guys you'd expect. The number two lineup played in the NBA is Milwaukee's, with Giannis, with Turner, with Trent, Ryan Rollins, AJ Green, they're at 167 minutes. We're talking like 80 minutes of like difference between number one and number two. Minnesota's lineup with those five guys is pretty good, which is what they'd be banking on because I would say Minnesota generally kind of disappointing so far this year. That Minnesota lineup much better than Milwaukee's lineup, who's a minus 9.6. I'm going to stay with this for a little bit. So Minnesota's plus 12.7 in that one, what's the best five man lineup of any group that's played 90 minutes or more? Because there's 25 groups that have played 90 minutes or more in the NBA. Number one is Denver. Not a shock. Maybe it's a shock. Who's in it because of the injuries they've been dealing with. It's Jokic, it's Murray, it's Cam, it's Peyton Watson and good friend Spencer Jones. What's the number two best lineup based on net rating, Right. Of any of the teams that have played or any of the group of five that have played 90 minutes or more? I'm not going to crisp out or trivia on this one because I want you listening, I want you thinking like, okay, after Denver, Jokic. That makes sense. What's the second best net rating of any five guys that play together that have played this many minutes? It's 25 teams that fit this qualifier. You're not going to get it. I wasn't going to get it. It's the Celtics, Jalen Brown, Derrick White, Pritchard Keda and Jordan Walsh. I was shocked when I saw that. And you may be shocked too when you look at the standing and see, hey, the Celtics, three seed in the east system. And that kind of brings us back to Miami because with the start that we had with Miami, who was 13 and 6 on November 27th. Offense, defense, 15th. Offense, number two. Defense, number one. Pace. They fall into 20th on offense, 15th, defense after that time. Right. So I'm not talking on the hole here.
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We can get into some lineup stuff. They're three and three with Hero, so it's not like he comes back and now they're bad. Bam's missed some time. They've gone 10 and nine in those games. I mean, I, I was amazed at how well they were doing even when Bam was out. Because when I look at last night and this is all going to tie back into her together, they get off to this 18 and two lead to start the whole thing. They attack immediately. They, they attack. The second they see somebody defending you, like it's just you and them and the rim, they go. I think they attack when they don't like the matchup. All right, Hawkez, as soon as he is like underneath, I would say like 17ft, right? He's just going like, if you're not established and back defensively, he's just going to go. Wiggins is just going to go. Mitchell is gone. But when it's not working, you're like, how is this team good? It gets back to, like, I think a newer. A newer thing that we've been talking about in sports, you know, and how much things can change. Like, we're always monitoring what's happening in the NFL with the offensive stuff. Like, is this just taking off? Can it never be corrected? It's basically always corrected in the NFL to some degree, depending. You know, look at the scoring, league, more passing, the officiating, that kind of stuff. But you start to wonder, like, is this ever going to slow down? And it has a little bit. I know in college football, talking about the nil and, like, what will the sport look like for the next 10 years? Is this really going to even out things in conferences? Is it going to start? Like, are we going to have, like, if Indiana wins a national championship, I know where the conversation will be, but does that mean that there's other Indianas that are going to be out there? Five of the next 10 national championships? And so at the start of this regular season in the NBA, I think there was a lot of conversation around, like, can you make up for a talent efficiency with a system? And in this case, it was the pace and it was the attack, and everybody touches the ball and you don't hold it. You don't just dribble. You know, you don't bring somebody out and constantly hunt some of these switches. Like, you'll see some teams where the guy with the ball, all he wants to do is hunt for the mismatch and then see what happens with the help after that, or attack. And they're not. They're not like, look, they're going to run a switch at some point, but they're not prioritizing that as what they want to do. And like, with the Pacers having that run last year, there was a lot of this conversation of, hey, when you have this new CBA and these restrictions and the players can't just pick wherever they want to go, there may not be. These things could all be in play, but it's still hard for me to watch the heat and go, would you actually pick this team as well as they've gotten off? As good as their start has been, would you pick them against any of these other teams you think are far more talented than them in the East? And the way it plays out, like, when I think of talent, I think of the Orlando Magic. This team is awesome. Like, if they don't have a really nice run this year, I'm going to be incredibly disappointed. Because when I see their five guys out there and whether it's Black coming off the bench, who I like because I think he's at a new level of aggressiveness. Maybe the efficiency stuff isn't there for him. That's fine. He's still young enough. I just like the way he plays Dime Silva. De Silva looks like a real rotation guy. Batase who's getting more minutes because Mo is out and Isaac isn't even this member a couple years ago and he felt like this 20 minute a night secret weapon. Defensively, it could just wreak havoc on an opposing team. They don't even really go to that thing anymore, but at least it's there, I would imagine, in some kind of playoff matchup. So they get off to this slow start. They're bad defensively. Bane can't shoot. Paolo's starting to take a ton of shit. Then they kind of figure themselves out offensively when Paolo's out, which I think actually may end up being a blessing in disguise because I'm imagining Bane coming in. Franz, terrific scorer. It's Paolo's team. Suggs is terrific. It's like, how do I kind of fit in? It's like, well, these guys are hurt. I guess I'm just going to go. And that's the best version of Bane. He. He seems that, you know, some of these guys that I've. I've loved over the years is like smaller players that play bigger than they are. You know, whether it's a Ginobili, Dwayne Wade. Pete Dwayne Wade was just like, this guy's just going to keep finding ways to finish. And I'm not saying Bane is necessarily like them, but. But he finds a way to be able to attack and finish at the rim in a way that you wouldn't expect with his stature. And then on top of everything else, the shooting, which was so abysmal in October, but it was only a handful of games. But you can imagine Magic fans just going, so we're going to get this guy now he's not going to be able to shoot either. Didn't we just do this with KCP? Well, don't worry about it. 34% November, 45% December. His overall numbers for this year, and even close to his 40% career number from three. And you could just see the entire bag last night. And on top of that, he's nasty and you need guys like that. And pairing him next to Suggs, you just have these two attack dogs out there that play with a massive edge. So I really feel like Paolo figuring out because you could see he's you know, he's, he's searching for it. He's running around out there. You know, I don't know if we have to do, like, if Orlando were a major market team, they'd be doing TV segments about, is this now Bane's team? I don't care about any of that shit. I just. I just never do. Because if you have good players, you're going to be able to figure it out. So the thing I want to close with on this, right, is that when you look at the price for Bain, because of the headlines, you're like, what? Like all those first and swaps for Bain, because then what happens? Like, well, if that's what you could get for Bain, then what would you get for the next guy? We know the error in that philosophy is that, well, you know, you can really only trade what you can trade and the other team can ask for all that stuff and they're going to keep asking for it. And it can get really dangerous when you start throwing around 20, 30 picks, right? Because almost everyone, like, what do we always talk about on this show? You always, you know, as negative things can be. Like, the structure, especially like some of the economic stuff, is always set up to believe that you're going to be doing better next year and then the years after that, right? That's why no money down works. It's why adjusted mortgages work. You're like, all right, well, this is really good now and I don't have to worry about it later because everything's going to work out. It's the same thing with trading these picks when you're a gm. I'm not saying they're oblivious to the downside of some of this stuff, but you start going, hey, look, we're going to trade all these picks. We get these guys in, we're going to be really good. And who cares about the swap? We're going to be better than them and they stink and it doesn't matter. And they're not even going to want to do the swap. And who knows? It's one pick now, this year it's Yang, so who cares? And then the other picks later on, they'll be going to be in the 20s, so what are we really giving up? And we know that can be an absolute disaster for other teams that have gone with that philosophy, whether it's that Nets deal with Ange and the Celtics years ago, where you're like, yeah, we'll take Garnett Pierce and you'll take Gerald Wallace contract, and then you Start digging through all the fine print and you're like, how many picks is this? There's going to be James Young didn't work out. Then Jaylen Brown, and then the swap, that's Fultz, that ends up being Tatum, and then the Sexton pick. That's part of the package for Kyrie. After Sexton goes in the lottery and 2018.
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They'Re like, man, maybe you know, because there's different teams. Like, you can. I've done it. I've looked at it this morning. If you were going to bet against some of these teams, like the way teams would trade with Phoenix, it's like, okay, that might be a good team to bet against their future. If you're Houston and you're doing that Harden deal, sending him to Brooklyn, and you're Stone and running your group in Houston, going like, all right, so I'm getting rid of James, who doesn't want to be here anymore, and I'm trading against the future of the Kyrie Durant Harden trio. Like, even if it. Even if they win a title early on, there's probably a good chance there's going to be some kind of breakup there. And, you know, you go through all the stuff there. There's no swap in 21, which I laughed about at the times. Like, you guys had to include the 21 swap to make the headline look a little bit better. But it's Tar Eason, it's Reed shepherd. And then they were able to use that to some of the later stuff that they have there to get the Phoenix action again. And they've got a 27 swap. Like, that's a home run. That's the kind of thing we're like, you know, Brooklyn's still trying to pull themselves out of all this stuff. And look, they did it twice.
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I was looking at the Anthony Davis deal. This is just a haul. I mean, you do it again if you're the Lakers because of what Anthony Davis is. But it's Lonzo, it's Josh Hart, it's Ingram, it's the rights of DeAndre Hunter, it's the 22 first Dyson Daniels swap didn't happen, I don't think, in 23. Then there's a Drake Powell pickup in there that, you know, again got kicked around a few different times.
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And that's why when you look at the Luca trade, because obviously Davis was using him, you're like, how did they get one pick? Like, all these other trades and they got Luka and they only had to give up one pick. The Balls to say no to Nico Harrison. Be like, can I get a second first rounder for Luka? He is historically off the charts by 25 years old and your guys hurt all the time. Is there any way I get just. Can I get just language on something else? Can I just make the headline look a little bit better? No, no, just the 29. Sorry. All right, I'll do it. As I run through all this different stuff and you start thinking like, the teams that you think are smart to bet against their future based on how their roster is constructed or maybe ownership or maybe you don't think that GM is good.
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It's like we talked about with Detroit in their market, trading for future Detroit picks and swaps is an entirely different game now because I think that team is special and they've got a couple special young players that are going to be there for a long time. And that's why not just Baines, 37 last night. But.
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You go, all right. Of all the high risk, low risk future leveraging that you're doing here. I just love that Orlando 1 through 6, 1 through 7 so much that it's not just Bain's production. It's looking at that deal in comparison to some of the others that may have the same headline of the total number of picks, but it's actually an entirely different price that you're probably paying.
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It's official. The Big Shack is out. Now let's run through it. We're talking two Angus beef patties, three buns, new secret sauce. It's stack balanced and it's built the right way. You get everything you expect from Shake Shack, fresh ingredients, the toasted potato bun and sauce that pulls the whole thing together for 9.99. It's kind of wild how much burger you're getting, especially one that doesn't taste like typical fast food. It's big, it's fresh, it's legit. One of their best burgers yet. I have something I've always wanted to admit and I feel comfortable now being able to say it, but I used to be like, dude, lettuce, tomato stuff on a burger. What's wrong with you? I was even afraid of cheese as a kid. It had nothing to do with anything else. It just was like, why would I want to mess with the burger and the bun and the ketchup? And then it went on for years and then you start hanging out with adults and I was like, I can't do it, I don't want to do it. I just don't feel like it's fresh enough. I don't feel like it pulls the burger together. And then I experienced Shake Shack. I walked through the doors, I looked around, I looked at their produce, and I went.
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I don't know if it's a walkabout or what it was, but it was like, it's time. And now I understand it. And we could talk about buns. We could talk about sauces. We could talk about Angus beef. I mean, I want to talk about all that.
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But they do it in a way where that produce is so fresh, it's so crisp, it's like biting into Iceland. That also tastes like a cheeseburger. Changed my life. If you've been waiting to see what all the hype's about, today's the day. Go to Shake Shack and order the Big Shack. Sounds familiar. Made different.
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Excited to do this. It's been a while to have this kind of access with somebody who owns one of these NBA teams. So. Joining us now, the governor and owner of the Phoenix Suns is Matt Ishbia. Thanks for this, man. How are you doing?
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C
Great.
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D
Glad to be here with you.
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A
I gotta be honest with you, man. Like a lot of people this summer, looking at the teams, looking at the rosters, understanding, you know, the challenges that you've had, you know, you start one and four, I'm like, here they go again, 14 and 10. And look, I know losses aren't moral victories for somebody in your position, but the Oklahoma City game and some of these other contenders, what you did against the Lakers, like, there is a real fight to this team that I'm sure those of us removed from this franchise did not understand. Is this what you thought you would have for a.
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Yeah.
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D
You know, honestly, like, we talked about having identity and creating, and I took blame for not doing that. And I feel like we have an identity of toughness and grit and playing hard and competing every day. We're not. You know, the most talented teams don't always win, and it's. And we have a really talented team, I think. But talent also is playing hard, and I think we've been playing hard consistently, and I think we're happy with where we're at, but at the same time, we're only 24 games through the season. There's a long ways to go. We've had a lot of injuries like other player teams, and. But we feel pretty good about where we're at right now, but we got to be consistent with it.
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A
So the toughness and playing hard, I can't imagine somebody who's had associations with Izzo. Not understanding that because that's something I want to get into with your. Your playing background. But did you underestimate that when you first entered into the NBA world and team building?
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D
Yeah. So listen, these NBA players are so great, such a great way. I tried to play basketball, I wasn't good enough to ever get close to that level. Right. But I believe caring about winning and playing hard for 48 minutes or every second on the court are talents, and I maybe took those for granted. That that's not a talent or a skill. That is a talent or skill, and not everybody has that. And so we have to get people and have. First it starts with the ownership and then the front office and coach to create that identity and say, this is what we're about, and then get the right players that fit that. And so that's been different than I expected. And I'm very lucky to have some great players and great guys around us that are helping us play in that direction. But it's definitely different than what I thought from that perspective.
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A
What does Dylan Brooks bring to a team?
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D
Brings everything, man. He is exactly the identity. I know some people don't like him, which means it's great because he's going to be with us for good. So don't worry about it. He's going to be with us, and you're going to not like him against us. But he brings toughness, he brings grit. He brings defense. You can see he can play offense, too. He's pretty good. He's scoring 22 points a game right now. But he's just a winner and he's a leader, and he's changed the culture. And like, when we talk about the identity this summer, this is before we made the Kevin Durant trade to get Dylan Jalen. Come on. And Rasheer, all from that trade we defined, like, does anyone live like that? And Dylan Brooks is everything we wanted, and then he's even better than I thought. And so we love having Dylan. He's been everything we wanted, and now we got to continue to spread that. And other guys are kind of. He's. He raises the floor of every place, every other player on the team, too.
- [25:09]
A
What is it like when you see so much criticism of your tenure, knowing that there's stuff that we don't know? I expect you to take it personally. But to deal with something now where it's like, if I make a decision in my normal job, there's not that many people and no one's really going to notice. And instead we have millions of fans that are invested and tons of media members that are just hammering me since day one. What is that like?
- [25:36]
D
You know, it's different. You know, I run a pretty big mortgage company, and I realized nobody cares about mortgages. You know, nobody cares at all. Basketball, everybody cares about. And so the women's team and the men's team. And so I think the biggest thing I learned with that, though, was, you know, I realized that everyone cares a lot, which is great. I want them to care. And then I'm trying to. I'm trying to do the same thing. Hopefully they realize I care just as much, if not more than everybody out there about winning and putting a great product on the court. And then my first couple years with the Suns, although people thought I was extremely involved with every detail, I was not, and now I am. And now I have my fingerprints on it, and you can like it or not like it. They gave me a hard time about Michigan State guys and this toughness and all the stuff I've said we're going to do. And once again, we're not. We haven't done it yet. We're still building, but I feel like we're in a great position. And I'm. I'm willing to take the criticism because that's part of my life now. But at the same time, you know, I do take it personal. You understand that, like, I don't like being talked bad about, especially when I have great intentions and I'm doing, I think, a good job. We can always get better. I'm gonna get better every day. But it's been a different change in my life, for sure.
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A
Yeah. Because the one thing I'm definitely thinking of is that when you went at Simmons on Twitter, I was like, oh, like, I don't know if they're going to be good enough for you, because I guess the position was that, you know, hey, the argument is going to be this terrible defensive team and early returns. Again, 24 games in, it's a better team than most of the that's expected. Is that a moment where, like, you can't help yourself? Because, again, I think those of us from the outside are like, oh, like, he's. He's really pissed off right now.
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D
No, you know, I'm putting myself out there.
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C
I'm.
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D
I'm gonna stand up for our guys. So what we're gonna do different than Phoenix is, like, I'm gonna stand up. You talk bad about Dylan Brooks or Devin Booker or Jordan Goodwin, like, I will stand up for him. I'm the owner and I'm supposed to be out. No, no, I'm here. I'm here with it. Right. And if you talk about we're gonna have the worst defensive league, like I said, everyone can like, I feel like the national media sometimes doesn't really know what we're doing. And things, by the way, we deserve to. Not to be overlooked. We didn't have a good couple years. I get it, take the blame. But, you know, Bill made a comment, and I thought it was way out of line. And I have no disrespect, all respect for Bill, but he's wrong. And I told him that. And I have no problem putting that out in public. And guess what? If I'm wrong, I promise everyone will point it out. As you pointed out. And when we started one in four, I think people thought it was fun to talk bad about me again. And I enjoy it. I relish in it because I know we're doing the right things in Phoenix and the results will show. It might not happen day one, but it will happen over time, and I'm excited for it.
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A
Okay, so you said that your fingerprints are on it more now than before on decision making, 100%.
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D
I'm involved with every detail. And that was the change. I told this summer. I did a bad job. I didn't define the identity of the Phoenix Suns. I just kind of came in and said, let's go over the luxury tax, make a trade. There's certain players like, I didn't like. I'm involved with those details now to the fullest extent and for the better or for worse. But I got a great GM who obviously, and a great coach and a great front office. But I'm involved. I'm not, you know, just writing a check anymore.
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A
So were you trying maybe purposely to not be the new owner that was going to be Metals, which is basically like this sounds like the opposite timeline of what we expect when ownership comes into sports.
- [28:48]
D
Well, I got. I was so conscientious of what you guys. Not just you specifically, but everyone says about new owners. And I'm just going to come in and do this. So what I said is, well, what do we. We had a pretty good team. We were the nine seed. I know everyone think we're the 20, 21 NBA Finals, but it was two years later, we were the nine seed. When I bought the team, we were a little over.500. And I said, and James Jones, a great GM. I said, what do we need? And it's like we were never allowed to go over the luxury tax. Go for it. Let's go over the luxury tax. Let's go for it. We have a good team. We have Devin Booker, we have Chris Paul, we had DeAndre, Ayton, Mikel, like, what do we got to do to go win a championship? I'm all for it. And we made some decisions. And by the way, I'm not acting like I didn't know about the decisions. I wasn't involved. But my DNA is on this team and this organization going forward for the next 50 years. So get ready. And I told people, if you don't like it, don't be a Phoenix Suns fan because I'm going to be involved with those details. And the first part was setting the identity and setting the vision of what the Sun's basketball is about. And that's what we made the changes this summer and what you're hopefully starting.
- [29:45]
A
To see now, if it's 50 years, I want to get hooked up with your longevity.
- [29:49]
C
Dr.
- [29:49]
A
So that's, that's.
- [29:51]
D
I'm only 45. I got some time.
- [29:55]
A
Because, you know, this is something that I've said in the past about you that it's, it actually wasn't very popular. But I think it's ridiculous for somebody like me who's never played in a game anyone's ever cared about to pretend that I would know more about basketball than somebody who played for Tom Izzo. And even if your stats, like, nobody's going to look up your stats after this and be like, oh my God, ISHB was. But like, you're also, you're on a Michigan State team, you know, and you're on a Michigan State team at the time when they're winning the title 25 years ago. So you have, I don't, you may try to push back just for like a humble position on this, but you have far more basketball.
- [30:35]
Far more of a basketball background, I would say access to, you know, look, when you think of those Izzo coach teams like, I would just watch what he was doing and go, this is unbelievable. You talked to NBA people and be like, hey, who's the best? Who's the best? Be like, dude, Izzo. Izzo's like on another level. It would be ridiculous for anyone to kind of put you into the bucket as the new tech guy that made a few billion that then now wants to buy a basketball team without any background whatsoever. So I can understand you being like self conscious about that thing, but the reality is that you're better positioned, I would imagine than most ownership coming in.
- [31:07]
D
Well, I appreciate that. I do agree with that. And I think I have background in it. Obviously, I don't know as much as a GM would know because they're in it all day, every day. But I do feel like I know if I bought a football team, an NFL team, I would not be able to be this involved. And I tried to not be originally in the NBA, and we are now. And like I said, I'm gonna. I kind of figured out I'm gonna get blamed for the good or the bad either way. So I might as well do it what I believe in the right way. Not my way, the right way, which is, you know, the type of basketball team I like watching. Toughness, defense, a lot of the time is those stuff you're talking about. And hopefully we're starting to do some of that in Phoenix.
- [31:41]
A
When I look at big moves, bold stuff from teams, and then it doesn't work out, you know, you can get into some of the Clipper stuff, you can go back to the Nets things. And like, I'll always argue years later when people start saying, well, that didn't make any sense. It's like, you know what, man? Like, if you follow this league long enough, the default position is like, if I can get two top 15 guys in here, you just. You just do it and figure it out. It's kind of. Even when it hasn't worked out, maybe with the new CBA and some of that stuff, there'll be more restraint. But that always be. That's always something like, I'll come back to whenever we're debating, like, should a team do this kind of thing? So when I think about the Duran acquisition and the Beal acquisition, and we can get into them separately or collectively here, but if we start collectively, do you look back on that now and say, I am now philosophically changed, I am forever now in opposition of those kind of big ticket things, or you keep those as, like, isolated transactions that didn't work out. I'm wondering how that impacts your philosophy moving forward.
- [32:37]
D
Well, so it's definitely great thoughts about the philosophy and try to figure out, understand what the CBA and how it changes. But here's what I'd say about those. And Kevin and Brad, great guys. Nothing about them specifically, But I'll say this. We didn't do. And I didn't do a good enough job defining what kind of guys and what kind of team we were going to be. And so therefore, before I get a big acquisition of a top 10, top 15 player.
- [33:01]
It better fit our culture and our organization of how we're going to do things. And so now I have that DNA. I've defined it. We didn't define it before, Ben. Before it was grab a bunch of talented players and throw them together, get a past championship coach, don't worry about the luxury tax, and let's go try to compete. That didn't work. So it's a great learning experience for me. But by no means am I afraid to pull a trigger on another big name trade or player. If it fits the sun's DNA and the sun's mold that we're talking about, then I'm good. But if not, we won't make those moves.
- [33:32]
A
Yeah, I just don't like revisionist history on this stuff. So this isn't even particular to me necessarily defending your transactions. I just, you know, I've just seen it too many times and I've talked to too many people over the years. It's like, you know, you kind of get the guy in and you hope it works out. And in this case, you know, it didn't work out for you. But I'll, I'll remember, like, I was in Arizona super bowl week when that trade happened. I got the heads up, you know, that night. We ended up taping a pod that night once it became official. And it was like, man, that's a lot of stuff, right? But then I kept thinking about you, and I don't know you, but I kept thinking about you. I'm like, it's got to be a really tough thing saying, hey, if I say yes to this, Kevin Durant's holding up a Phoenix Suns jersey tomorrow. Like, Kevin Durant is holding up my jersey tomorrow. What is that moment, like, where all you have to do is sign off on it? The internal debate that you're having?
- [34:24]
D
Yeah, no, it's definitely a pretty cool thing to, like, make that decision and support the decision. And then the next day it's, everyone's not only talking about Kevin Drant, but to your point, and you remember it, everyone picks us to win the championship then or coming out of the west that next day, which obviously didn't happen. We lost the Nuggets that year. But I think it's. It's pretty crazy and pretty cool. It's a. I'm very lucky to have that opportunity. But at the same time, now I understand a little bit more about what we're going to be doing here in Phoenix and what decisions we'll make and not make, and hopefully the ones we make Will work out better than that one. And that overall decision.
- [35:01]
A
Okay, slight pivot here. And I don't know, some other people might be offended by this question, but I don't think you will be. When did you realize that you might be rich enough to buy a basketball team?
- [35:13]
D
It wasn't that long ago. It was a couple years back.
- [35:16]
A
Was it like in your 20s?
- [35:17]
D
It was like 2000, probably 20, 20, probably five years ago. Like I was, I was grinding my whole life in the mortgage business and I bought a small piece of a MLS team, a soccer team, and I don't even like soccer, no disrespect to soccer fans, just so I could say I own part of a sports team. Because I didn't think I could ever get to the level where I could actually. And then I just kept working and working and working and we kept building and building and now we're the largest mortgage company in America for the last four years. And we finally had that opportunity to have a huge year where we made billions of dollars to where I could actually write a check. But it wasn't that long ago. So it was a joke of a dream in my late 20s, early 30s, and then it became maybe possible in my early 40s, and then by mid-40s or I guess early to mid-40s, I did it.
- [36:03]
A
Is there anything that applies in the success that you've had in the mortgage world that applies to professional sports?
- [36:10]
D
Yes. So that's what I didn't do. I'm telling you, culture, team, caring about people, like that stuff is going to translate. And at the beginning I'm like, oh, it's, it's different than our, than a mortgage business. But literally I built my whole mortgage business based off of what I learned from Tom Izzo at Michigan State. I took basketball and put it in the mortgage and took a 12 person company to 9,000 people in the biggest company in America. And now I'm taking the mortgage stuff and putting it back into basketball, which is care about your people, go above and beyond, be active, be engaged, set a culture and identity. And some of that stuff I didn't do day one. Now I did it day one with the Mercury, by the way, the women's team. Just so you can recognize because we were the worst team in the league. So I said, you know what? New head coach, new gm, start from scratch. And two, three years of the third year we went to the WNBA finals. We did it that way. We just didn't do it with NBA team. But now we are and we will See it and we'll take two years, three years, 20 years, we are going to get climb that mountain in the NBA as well.
- [37:09]
A
What if I said, though, okay, that's great, but unless you have two of the best 15 players in the league, history tells us you can have the right culture, you can care about everybody, but you can't win unless you have, say, those two guys, I would say.
- [37:24]
D
We'Re going to find out and of course I'm going to try to have two of the top 15. But it might be because we develop them, it might be because I believe I have one of them right now. And Devin Booker is in that, in that range. And I believe that, you know, other guys can develop to that level. But I'd also say is I had two of the top 15 and we didn't get there, we didn't win. You could argue I had three of the top 30. People could say maybe that, that whatever you want to Brad BUELL, but whatever, three of the top 40 or 50, we didn't get close. We didn't even sniff it. So I'd say culture and team building and leadership and identity matters most. And then of course, you got to infuse amazing talent and we're going to continue to do that as well.
- [38:02]
A
One of the other differences though, that I think applies here is that you, you can be the best mortgage company, but you also be the fifth best mortgage company and feel terrific about your year. You can't be the fifth best team in professional sports. And like, unless you're like a young group and it's like, hey, we're heading in the right direction. So I don't want to say it's one winner and 29 losers, but if you want to be really harsh about it, you could define the sport that way. You could define the NFL, baseball, hockey, the exact same way. Wnba. Is that something that you think newer owners that have been so successful with struggle with not realizing that the winner circle is far smaller?
- [38:41]
D
Yeah, it's very binary. You won or you lost last night. Right. And mortgage is like, I had a pretty good day. And they had a good day too. You know, both teams, both companies had good days. That's not how it works in basketball. And so, yeah, it's definitely different. But, you know, that's the game. That's what it is. And that's what makes it even more exhilarating and more of a climb and hopefully more fun when you're at the top. But at the same time, realize it's tough. It's not like there's 29 other NBA owners that are just like guys just out. Like we're competing against 29 extremely successful smart guys and gals that want to be winners and want to compete and, you know, it's hard to beat them. And then players are the same way and coaches, it's. It's a very competitive league. And yeah, it's definitely different than the mortgage business or any other business, but that's the way you think about it.
- [39:25]
A
There's probably similarity here. When you first take over ownership, do 29 other teams call you asking for your players, hoping they can screw you up because you don't know what you're doing?
- [39:35]
D
You know, I don't know. You know, I'm sure that they probably try. Everyone's competitive. Everyone wants to beat you in any way you can. And so I'm sure people are competitive and want to win. And there's new owners every, you know, every couple years. And so it happens. But the new owner syndrome stuff that people like to talk about, I think that's more of a mind game. And especially that messed me up at the beginning trying to not do it. And now I'm going to call it the mid the newish owner syndrome. I'm going to be doing everything the way I believe is best and I'll live with the results.
- [40:04]
A
Yeah, I've talked about it. I remember talking to a group that was looking at changing a minority stake to the majority stake of a team. And I was talking with them and it was years ago, and I was like, look, I'll go through it. And I went through everyone's stewardship like the first 12 to 18 months, and it was like, you can almost find the worst transaction of their entire ownership run that happens within it. Because I think it's human nature. It's like, man, I finally own one of these teams. Whatever it cost, it's real. And now I get to do these things for real that I've always thought about in a hypothetical way that human nature would be that you probably can't help yourself. Because it's like buying a house, you know, buying your first home and then going like, I'm going to buy all these stupid end tables just because, you know, like you, you're sitting there looking at catalogs. Like, I remember I bought a fire pit. My first condo I bought, and it didn't make any sense whatsoever because I was sharing a backyard with 20 other condos. It's not the same as bringing in a max level player, but I think there is something to be said of now that I actually get to do this and I own it, it's going to be a really tough urge to resist.
- [41:06]
D
Absolutely. It's definitely. And that's some discipline that some of us have struggled with. And you can point to me as one of them if you want to say that. But in general, I look at it as like, yeah, it's really hard to get an NBA team. It's not just have enough money. You have to get voted on. You have to go through this process. There aren't that many teams that come for sale. You can't just go buy a team. And so when you get one and you love basketball and you want to deliver for your city, you sometimes might make a decision. And so once again, I tried to. Maybe I did less than I should have and sometimes more than I should have. And so now I feel better about where I'm at. And you know, I'm. I'm almost at three years and I feel like I'm starting to hit my stride.
- [41:44]
A
How do you fit in with the other owners? Because I'm sure there are clicks like anything. But I mean, are you. Do you find your. Do you think that you're well liked?
- [41:53]
D
I think so. You know, I'm the youngest owner by a wide margin, but I get along with probably someone to argue who am I closest with? One of them is. I'm closest with one of the oldest owners, Herb Simon. He's the best. He's been someone Indiana's owner I talked to before I bought a team. But then there's so many other guys that I've built great relationships with. Some guys that you look up to as a kid. Alex Rodriguez, who owns Minnesota now, I still find it fun to have lunch with that guy because he's a winner and just someone I always watch playing baseball. But then there's other guys like Joe Lake has done really well. And then there's guys that I've built relationship with that are newer owners. Rick Schnall from Charlotte and you kind of find your guys. But there has not been one owner that has not been. I have. You've probably documented Matt Ishby and Dan Gilbert don't like each other from Cleveland. But you know what? Dan Gilbert is nothing but a gentleman when I see him and vice versa with him. And when I go to his games, he helps me out and I go to. He goes my like, it's a really great ownership group and so give credit to all 29 of them. There's some winners in There, like, everyone's a winner in there that's doing the right things and cares about them. You call any of them and talk business or even talk basketball, they'll give advice to each other. I've really been enjoying it, so I think I'm well liked. But I'm also young, and I talk fast and I get after it. I give my opinion. So maybe some don't like it.
- [43:06]
A
Yeah, I think the age thing's always going to work against you because you are.
- [43:13]
Look, the ownership thing is usually like this moment at the end of your professional run of like, well, now I don't have to worry about cash the way I had to when I was younger. And it's like, I finally get to buy this item and can feel like a family thing. And there's, you know, ageism is certainly a thing, but I think with stature, with certain accomplishments, you could be considered like, hey, he's too young to be able to do some of this stuff. And look, I don't know. I don't know if. If you've ever felt that way, but it would make sense even if it were misguided.
- [43:47]
D
Well, I think being younger and new, they. People will think he must not know he's talking about. But there's other young. Like, Ryan Smith's a really young owner of Utah. He has some great ideas. I think that sometimes young or fresh ideas is helpful, and it doesn't mean just age. It's just like newer thoughts. But, yeah, I'm sure some people don't love everything I say or believe, but I'm also. Adam Silver's a great commissioner. And, you know, you do. He always says, make sure you give your voice. Get your voice out there and believe what you believe and say what you think.
- [44:14]
A
And.
- [44:14]
D
And he's really great with bringing everyone together. And so I feel like it's. It's been great. That's been one of the best parts of being an NBA owner is being part of that community, that group. They've all been wonderful to me so far.
- [44:26]
A
I know that there's a piece of news that I just want to make sure I touched on with minority ownership group. And I've heard your thoughts on it. And look, anyone can read any kind of filing whatsoever, but, you know, it's got to be a challenge when there's. I don't know if it was. 14 of the 16 owners said, okay, you know, we're gonna. We're gonna do the deal. And then two owners abstained from it, and they're still technically Partners with you. And now you have a legal battle. Yeah.
- [44:51]
D
You know what? Like, like, like I've said before, anyone can sue you for anything. I can sue you for that question. I can sue you for, you know, whatever. I can sue you for anything. Right. Doesn't mean you're going to win. How many lawsuits have I lost? I'm not losing this lawsuit. It's a ridiculous lawsuit. To be respectful to those people, it's completely a joke. Oh, they don't like the draft pick or they thought they didn't. Like, I gave the TV away to people for free. Like, I'm doing right by the city of Phoenix. I'm doing right by the fans. I'm doing my best. And you know what I own. You know, there's, you know, these two guys want to complain. Like they, they got a chance to get bought out. They just, they're really just trying to leverage me to try to get a higher settlement. That's all they're trying to do. And you know what the best part is? All the legal rules and the contracts are 100% on my side. 100%. So they can have at it all they want. They got the press, negative headline. They got you to ask the question. And people ask me, it's fine, I don't care. I'm not going to lose any lawsuits. But it's kind of comical if you read through it like you did the ridiculous thing, they can just claim, oh, well, I didn't think that that player played well. I guess that's my fault. Bad ownership. I mean, we're doing our best.
- [45:54]
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- [46:21]
A
All right, let's get back to the basketball stuff. Because you go through the coaching cycle of like, hey, here's a resume, here's a resume. And then you bring in Jordan. What was different about what you were hoping to learn about your next head coach through the evaluation process after everything you gone through?
- [46:40]
D
Well, well, the big thing first off was we had to set what we believe in. So Brian Gregory, my new gm, and I spent some time, Josh Brostein, our CEO, we went through and said, like, let's define Phoenix Suns basketball. What Kind of coach, what kind of players, what kind of identity we want the fans to see. Like what do we want to see? And then we started filtering through all the coaching opportunities so from successful past coaches to up and coming new coaches. And then we really filtered in. Brian Gregory, give him the credit. He went through all this and we narrowed it down to a small group and then, you know, I met with them as well. And Jordan Knott was the obvious choice. He became the obvious choice because of everything he stood for and how he believed, his demeanor, his basketball mind is phenomenal and the way he handled things. And he had a lot of alignment on the way we think about things, about some toughness, about the way we're going to play defense and the way we're going to move the ball in space on offense. Like he talked about this stuff and it was aligned with what Brian Gregory and I believe. And that's what made it a fit right off the bat.
- [47:41]
A
I always kind of like wonder about the trends, right? Like, I'm sure you grew up as a baseball fan too. And the old baseball manager thing was like, if you had a players only manager and it didn't work out, a player friendly manager, I guess you should frame it that way. Then you got to bring in a hard ass the next time around. And then if you have a hard ass, you don't make the playoffs, you're going to bring in somebody that is under able to massage the egos and defer to them all the time. And it's like, all right, if there was one way that worked then everybody would just pick that way. But there does seem to be a trend of, and I'm sure you respect the hell out of this is the hunger that you have as a first time head coach where I think there are some coaches with some incredible resumes. But then you wonder, it's like, do you love the lifestyle? Do you love the paycheck? Is there any possible way that you're going to grind in year 20 the way you did before you had won? And I'm not even necessarily talking about anybody specifically, but in that spot it's like, can I really do this with somebody who doesn't have any experience? But I have to think the first time, and a guy like Jordan trying to prove himself, as long as you have kind of the player sign off on, on top of everything else that I want to get to, there has to be something about that you appreciate and be like, I'm going to get this guy's best effort at this stage. Of his life, most likely in comparison to some of the other candidates that we would have.
- [48:51]
D
Yeah, it's a good thought, Ryan. You know, I think that that's definitely a consideration, but there's also a lot of first time coaches that have failed too. Right. And they put so, you know, so I think that there's. That's definitely a consideration. You know, with Jordan, it was, this guy outworks everybody. His work ethic and grind is a level that I relate to in a positive way. Like, I love it. I love that grind and the identity that he believes in from a basketball perspective, how he thinks about it is aligned with. So I do think you're right about some newer head coaches maybe, but I think there's a lot of experienced head coaches that would come in and put that in. Like, hey, I, I'm going to prove my doubters wrong. I lost my job last time. I'm going to come and do it right this time and like to get a chance to coach a star like Devin Booker. A lot of them people were really excited about that opportunity. And so I look at it is, you know, everyone's a little different and it's really hard to get a great coach. And I'm, I'm hopeful that Jordan is, I think he is and we're going to see it play out over hopefully years and years to come.
- [49:44]
A
I'm a huge Devin Booker fan. I don't know if you're going to find anybody nationally that still argues for him because you know, some of the stuff that we do when we discuss these guys, like, like it was totally fine to talk about him as a top 10 player potentially when you were in the NBA finals. And then somehow like years later when he's still as good of a player. I look specifically at like some of the arguments against him and the efficiency dipping last season and I'm like, do you see what he was tasked with doing in some of those fourth quarters when he would be the only guy out there and not dissing the rest of the guys that are around him? Like, he is, he is in a position like Steph Curry's had moments like this or it's like, wonder why his shootings down. It's like, are you looking at the shots that he's tasked with having to handle when it's like, hey, nothing worked out, so Devon, save us now. And there's plenty of shots I'm sure Devin would rather not take, so I will fight it with anyone that I think he is truly special. Clearly you've made the financial commitment, which was another thing I thought was funny. It was like, well, look how much you're going to be paying him in the third year. And you're like, okay. You also realize that if he was a free agent and 29 other teams had cap space, they would do the exact same deal and not worry about the numbers on the back end. I think he is that special. I also think there has to be something about him where when you have your main guy wired the way he is, and I don't, I'm not saying I know him, but I think I have a good read on it and talking to people about it that like, as frustrating as this has probably been for him and then reinventing yourself here from basketball standpoint, when he is on the same page and when he is aligned and everybody's following that lead, that might be one of the most valuable things in the NBA. As long as your main guy is about the right things, then you hopefully can figure out a lot of the other stuff.
- [51:23]
D
That's the goal and that's the thoughts. Devin Booker's just an all around winner across the board and he cares. He's a great person for the community. He's a great person. He's had my back, I'll have his back. We talk all the time. We've had like, this is not like, you know, oh, he's just a really good player. Go shoot some baskets and try to help us win games. Like, this guy's dedicated to the Phoenix Suns and has done great things and you know, he's been here his whole career. And so definitely Devin's a huge, huge part of the community in Phoenix. He's done amazing job and I think he's one of the best basketball players in the world, you know, and I think you, as you point out, he does take some tough shots and he's in some tough situation. We asked him to do a lot of things that other star players might not want to do and he's willing to do them because he wants the team to win. And even this year he's been doing some of those things and it's been great. And so I love having him on the team and I think he's been a big part of our early season success, not only from on the court, but his leadership and him stepping up and doing different things and also him standing behind our coach and me and the GM and saying, let's go, let's do this.
- [52:22]
A
There's no version of this question where I would ever get an answer. It's like, yeah, I don't know, I could see him maybe if this doesn't work out in a couple years, whatever. But, like, what could you. If we weren't even doing an interview together, like, if we were hanging out privately and you were to say, hey, look, Devin's good. Like, he's not going to be the next superstar that gets frustrated. Maybe you can't even predict something like that. But is there anything that you could say that is more than just convincing? That maybe is an example of, like, look, as much as this has not been what it was five years ago, we have the right guy and he understands what we're trying to do around him.
- [52:57]
D
Yeah, I mean, I do believe that. I think that Devin believes that too. I think we try to build a team with him as the clearance choice, as the number one option. We have Jalen Green, who's going to be fantastic. Their running mates have only played one game together and it was great. But we need to see more of that together. But then also putting Dylan Brooks around him and that can help on the leadership stuff, but also brings a toughness factor. And I think we tried to build. Mark Williams we brought in and so we've tried to build and we got a young squad now where last couple of years it's kind of been like this timeline of God, everyone's getting a little bit older. And Devin was my young guy. Now Devin's my veteran, along with a lot of young guys with a lot of upside. And so I feel great about Devin. I think Devin feels great about Phoenix and what we're doing and the foundation we're building for hopefully a long standing run of let's build it the right way and have some success. And hopefully Coleman had a championship at some point.
- [53:46]
A
Is Colin Gillespie trying to take the Villanova belt from Brunson? What is going on with this guy, man?
- [53:51]
D
We love him, man. And you know what? People are like, he just showed up. He's a two way last year. And you know Colin Gillespie works his butt off all summer long. He was in the gym with Ryan Dunn. Oh. So I gordo a lot of our guys all day, every day. Like, it's like someone's like, are you surprised? I'm like, I'm not surprised at all. I'm surprised that it's taking this long because he's a winner and so people are starting to see it. But yeah, he's got the Villanova. He's a champion. He won in Denver. He won in Villanova. He won in high school. And hopefully he's bringing that, that type of mentality to us and he's been a great, great part of our team this year.
- [54:23]
A
Yeah, I mean, he's, he's, he's gone off. I think the other thing that we were wondering about from a roster building standpoint is like, okay, what exactly is happening here at center? Because center felt like such a deficiency that it was like, are they so motivated that it's almost like an NFL team that just goes, let's draft another quarterback. Like, we've got to get this right. So what went into the internal discussions about not only are we doing the Mark Williams acquisition, we're also going to go after Malawatch after moving around on the trade.
- [54:49]
D
Yeah, so Mark Williams was the target and we focused on that and we were working on that for days and days leading up the draft. To be honest. We love Mark Williams and we think he's a great player. Obviously you got to be healthy and he's been healthy this year, but he's just got the right mentality. It's not just about his skills. He's a mentality guy that fits in with our people. A wonderful, wonderful person, Hard worker, wants to prove people wrong. Got a little chip on his shoulder, which I like because that's who I am in my ways. And so he's been great. On top of that, we had no concept that, come on, would be there at number 10. It wasn't even a concept. We thought he would go as high as three or four, as, you know, as low as eight or nine. So we didn't think Kaman would be there. And we told ourselves, if Kaman's there, we're taking him. It's not a discussion. And that was from our top scout to our gm Once again, these people that all. And we've been so happy with Kaman. He's, he's just turned 19. He's going to take a couple years to develop and we think that that's a great combo. And we also have Osordo, who's a second year player, and obviously Nick Richard. We really cemented. We got killed at the center position the last couple of years and from a, you know, some defensive perspective. And we fixed that I think this year with all that and hopefully we'll continue to see it because they're all young and growing.
- [56:02]
A
I gotta be honest, when I saw the Nigel Hayes Davis minutes, I went, wait, what's going on? Like, this guy's back in the mix. And for those that may not remember, was at Wisconsin, was A terrific player and then last played in the league in 2018. Where was the pitch on his acquisition? Because this is not normally how it works in the NBA.
- [56:23]
D
Yeah, you know, our scouts, they, they brought him back and they thought that he would be someone that could fit. And once again, I, I don't, I didn't watch film on him, so I don't know. But you know what? I met Nigel and I think Nigel is a great guy that he was the MVP over in your Eurol league, I believe, and won a championship. So he's a winner. I think he had the game winning shot actually. But either way he's a winner and he came and fit in. He was open to saying, hey listen, I'll take 20 minutes or I'll take 20 seconds. I want to be part of the NBA and prove myself. And so we're happy with Nigel so far. And obviously there's minutes, some games and some games there's not. And he's been nothing but a great teammate.
- [56:56]
A
Yeah, it's funny because like the beginning of the year, like I'll know there'd be a few guys, I'd be like, wait, who is that again? And it drives me crazy. Like it gets mad. I get mad when I see somebody in a rotation that I don't and I'm like, God, that guy looks old for a rookie. And then I went, oh my God, that's the guy from Wisconsin. And then I went back and looked the whole thing up. A couple of things as we finish up here. What, what has surprised you about NBA ownership that you could have never predicted?
- [57:19]
D
Well, I should have been able to predict what I told you earlier about that. The massive amounts of attention. It is on me personally, but also on our organization. Everyone loves it and cares, which I love because I care so much as well. So that was something I should have been able to predict the level of scrutiny I would get positively or negatively. But I think that playing hard and caring about winning is a talent is something that I think I have to get my head just like a great mid range shot, just like post moves, just like defensive, like I think those are talents as well. And so I think that that's something that surprised me in a good way where I think I've got guys that play hard and I think there's guys on our team that people wouldn't realize. It's like, oh well, what's Jordan Goodwin do better than so? And so it's like, well, Jordan Goodwin plays extremely hard. He's a winner. He'll get in your face. He'll grind, he cares, he'll work on his game. That actually matters. And so although his jump shot isn't as pure as so and so's, he's the guy I want. He's a dog, right? And so I think that there's some that I didn't realize that I just assumed that everyone had some of those things. And it's not that way. And so it's even better because that's what we've defined we want. And so Jordan or Dylan Brooks, we talked about these guys. Ryan Dunn, some of these guys are just great fits for what we believe. And that was something different than I expected.
- [58:35]
A
Would Tom Izzo be a good NBA head coach?
- [58:38]
D
Yes, Tom Izzo would be a great NBA head coach. Tom Izzo is a winner, and he finds a way to win. I mean, most talent, least talent, he'll find a way to get the best out of you. And that's the job of a coach.
- [58:50]
A
Did you feel slighted with this $400 million donation to Michigan State after breaking your record?
- [58:56]
D
No, I loved it. Greg Williams is a great man, and I'm so happy for Michigan State, and I'm glad he broke my record. Not by 1 million, by like 300 million. It was unbelievable. So I was, kudos to him. He deserves that in the Michigan State. It made me really happy and proud to be a friend of Greg's and honored. So that's great for him and for us.
- [59:15]
A
Last thought here as we look at this star, and I'm telling, like, if you're listening to this and you're going, oh, he's having the Sun's owner on. And I'm impressed. Like, I've talked with a couple of people about, like, you know, you sit there at the seven seed today, I go, man, they fight their ass off. I mean, that's just the truth. Now, does it mean I pick you against any team in the playoffs? I got to see how it would play out. I'm not sure. What is your expectation on who this team can be the rest of the year?
- [59:40]
D
Well, I think the most important thing is that we continue to do what we've been doing. Like you just said, when someone talks about the Pings, they play their ass off. They compete. I don't care. Jalen Green and Devin Booker both were out and we still compete. We go on the road in Minnesota, we can win the game. Our guys next man up, but everyone's competing, and that's the dog mentality that we try to bring out Here, the vision, the identity we're trying to create. And so I'm hoping after 82 games you still say that about us. Whether we win 55 of the next, we didn't win the next 55 or we lose the next 55, you're going to say that about the Phoenix Suns because we're building an identity and a foundation for future, not just this year, but for the next five, ten plus years. Like that's what we're about. And so I'm really happy you said that about us and I'm hoping you're feeling that and being the seventh seed. I know a lot of people didn't pick us to be there. A lot of people didn't. They left us for dead. But we're proving people wrong by doing it our way, the Phoenix Suns way.
- [60:31]
A
It's been fun. It's been fun. It's been unexpected. And I hope you continue to have as much fun the rest of the year. So thanks for the time, Matt.
- [60:37]
D
Hey, I really enjoyed talking. Appreciate you.
- [60:42]
A
Before we get to live advice, want to get together with DraftKings? We did not have a king of the core because we've got limited action, which means you can stay locked in cup night again. Get ready, adjust the television sets.
- [60:54]
C
It's great night last night. Great night of basketball, you know, outs.
- [60:59]
A
You're just happy about the Magic.
- [61:00]
C
Oh, it was good. I mean, that was a great basketball game though. The Heat went off to a, you know, 15 nothing start and the Magic clawed their way back, you know, had the, you know, I think they had a one point lead at halftime and then by the third quarter he had no answers. But it's great.
- [61:13]
A
Yeah, I guess I should, I shouldn't frame it as like an end to end blowout because it was still competitive. But towards the end when they ran away, I guess. I don't know. I don't know, man. You know, you, I look through thrill, you know, I need a little bit more thrill in my life than you do.
- [61:27]
C
Desmond Bain didn't throw a ball on anyone. So that's a win for everyone. Yeah, or it's a loss maybe because that was entertaining as hell.
- [61:32]
A
So, you know, you would hate it so much if it's the other way around.
- [61:36]
C
Totally. If he played for another team, I would hate him. But he doesn't, so it's my guy. That's how it works.
- [61:42]
A
Speaking of our guys, what collectively, what are the standings right now?
- [61:46]
C
All right, so you and Kyle are both three and two. We've been good. So Far this season, you and Kyle are both three and two. I have had two pushed bets or nulled bets. So I'm two and one with two push bets, essentially, because Paulo, a couple weeks ago, he got injured in the first quarter. So thanks to DraftKings, they basically null that bet, which is nice. And then last week, I had Jalen Johnson two plus threes, and he's a scratch an hour before tips. So luckily, that did not cost us last week because we had had another one wrong. But. So I have two push bets, so technically I'm two and one, but I don't know. Kyle seems to have a problem with that.
- [62:19]
A
I.
- [62:19]
C
Well, I just.
- [62:20]
E
We were talking off air. I think if we're putting numbers on a board here, there's gotta be some way to show that you did numbers two and one, right?
- [62:26]
C
Yeah, I've won two and lost one. All right.
- [62:29]
A
Okay, fine.
- [62:31]
E
Seems like Ryan doesn't care, so we'll just try.
- [62:33]
A
I don't. He has a better winning percentage. And honestly, 3 and 2 isn't that great either, to be honest.
- [62:37]
C
You know, but two and one's not that great. Like, we.
- [62:40]
A
We.
- [62:40]
C
It's December. We've got, what, five months left?
- [62:45]
A
Yeah. All right, well, let's see.
- [62:47]
C
We're all above.500. Why can't we just be happy for each other?
- [62:49]
A
You know, you're right. You're right. Yeah. You're right. Fine. But I think Cerutty's winning. Surudy's winning so far.
- [62:55]
E
I don't.
- [62:56]
A
I don't care about the pushes.
- [62:57]
E
Damn it.
- [62:57]
C
Well, thank you. I'll go first, then the board is yours. Cup night, two games. I'm going to go Dylan Harper. I love Dylan Harper, man. And we talked about it on, if you haven't seen it already, 10 good minutes. We talked about why I don't think the spurs should trade for Giannis. Part of it is because Dylan's awesome. I'm going to take him.
- [63:13]
A
Is that your segment now? How are you advertising that?
- [63:16]
C
No, I just. I talked about it on the show. I brought that up to you as a point. I'm not saying it's my show or my thing. I just.
- [63:22]
A
Just. I just made a point.
- [63:23]
C
I made a point. Ryan's segment on his YouTube channel.
- [63:26]
A
Go check that out.
- [63:27]
C
Help our guy Ryan out.
- [63:30]
I'm going. Dylan Harper, 15 plus points and assists. I think he's. I just. I like. I think there's going to be points tonight. I don't know how they defend him and.
- [63:37]
A
Yeah, you don't know how they. How are they going to stop him? I just like that you're putting it on him because you want to lock in. That's what it sounds like.
- [63:44]
C
I mostly want to watch Dylan Harper. Yeah.
- [63:46]
A
Yeah. Okay. Kyle.
- [63:47]
C
10:00Pm though. It's a late night.
- [63:49]
E
Yeah, I'm going with my white boy, Austin Reeves, 24 plus points. And I think he's averaging like 28 or something. So I think we'll be able to hit that one real quick.
- [64:02]
A
Rank your top favorite white guys of all time.
- [64:05]
E
Of all time.
- [64:06]
C
In general. Like in history.
- [64:07]
E
John Mayer's up there. John Mayer's up there. That's an easy one.
- [64:10]
A
You didn't even have to think Tom Brady.
- [64:13]
C
John Mayer's aging like fine wine. But he's. He's like. Because he had that douchebag phase which I as a mayor fan would totally admit was like a weird phase. Everybody goes through that too. And now he's kind of come out on the other side. He's self deprecating. He's hanging out with what's his name? Andy Cohen. Right. He's doing maybe dating that lives on his Cat something.
- [64:30]
E
Yeah. He's doing guitar solos live on his serious radio show. That's just impressive stuff.
- [64:35]
C
Different cat. And not. Not Carl Anthony Towns either. Anyway, yeah, Pro John Mayer. Good call.
- [64:41]
A
So wait, John Mayor. Mayor Brady. Drake May. May's already in the top five. Are you kidding me? Yeah, he might be with a bullet.
- [64:49]
E
It's we. As you said, white dudes. And Michael May might have been up there if this was just like whites of all time. But. Yeah, two more. I don't know. Is McConaughey like. He seems like he's good in a lot of circles.
- [65:00]
C
He's definitely white.
- [65:01]
E
Yeah, he seems like he's.
- [65:02]
A
It doesn't sound like you're sold on him. I think the first one was an easy pick. Next two make a ton of sense. Where's Eminem in this? There had to have been a massive. Kyle.
- [65:09]
E
Yeah, that's easy. He'll be. What about Everlast? No, I'm just kidding. Eminem.
- [65:12]
A
That would be great.
- [65:14]
E
He can round out the five.
- [65:15]
A
About the informer. 12 inches of. So that's pretty. Probably too young for that.
- [65:20]
C
Yeah. I don't know.
- [65:21]
E
Yeah. Eminem get easy five while I workshop the rest. But yeah, off the top. That's good.
- [65:25]
A
I'm happy with those.
- [65:26]
E
Jim Carrey maybe.
- [65:27]
A
Nah.
- [65:29]
C
Exciting whites.
- [65:30]
A
Yeah.
- [65:32]
C
All right.
- [65:33]
E
That was your bet.
- [65:33]
A
Played out. Played out.
- [65:36]
C
Sorry.
- [65:37]
A
No, it is. I just. There you go. Okay. My pick I am looking at Chat Hartenstein out tonight. It's a really good number. Nine or more rebounds. Chet averages eight. If you go through the game log here, it's kind of where he always is. But I'm thinking, I'm thinking, despite the Mark Williams experience here, could we see Phoenix if they struggle, go small.
- [66:02]
And try to space out okC? I'm just thinking based on things that I've seen from Phoenix or whatever, like, are there a ton of available rebounds there for Chet if he wants them? So I'm going with nine or more boards for chat. All right.
- [66:18]
C
Chet Niner, more boards. Austin Reeves, 24 plus points, and Dylan Harper, 15 plus points and assists. That gets us plus 406, boys. Decent payout.
- [66:28]
A
Okay.
- [66:31]
D
You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required.
- [66:51]
A
Life advice. Lifeadvice rrmail.com we have a couple people because it is my favorite topic of maybe the year on the guy trying to ask his girlfriend if he can not live with her anymore even though they're starting life together. Yeah. There's just not.
- [67:08]
I don't know, trying.
- [67:09]
C
To convince themselves how they could make this work out. Yeah.
- [67:11]
A
Yeah, okay. Probably wouldn't work. But the funniest advice would have been that he should ask his girlfriend to move in with him to the place with his buddies. He's been living with her and her friends. Why can't he propose that they should now spend some time living with his friends? What is her pushback going to be? I know it's a totally stupid idea, but it would actually be hard for her to argue against if I.
- [67:33]
E
Really dumb. If you're willing to play dumb to the ends of the earth, maybe.
- [67:37]
A
But that'd be gaslighting, I assume, right? Yes.
- [67:40]
D
What?
- [67:40]
C
You don't like my friends?
- [67:42]
A
I made the sacrifice for us. You can't make it for me.
- [67:47]
You didn't have anywhere to live and you like me. I thought that's why you lived with me. I didn't know it was a sacrifice. You'd be just digging a deeper, deeper hole the entire time. And I would also think part of the motivating factor is that he actually gets to live with his buddies and then goes back to his girlfriend.
- [68:01]
E
Yeah, I don't think it would. Yeah, they probably have some sore feelings towards you. If you, if you actually pulled that off.
- [68:06]
A
So. Right, okay. Another guy had a different setup here. Just a quick follow up to the guy who wants to devolve from living with his potential life mate and move in with the guys. First of all, likely an overall bad move. And agree with Kyle, Steve and Ryan deep down about this, but if you wanted to try to pull it off, this is the closest thing I can see to achieving it. I just love that people are working on this in their spare time. How can we figure this thing out?
- [68:30]
C
Emergency guys on the case.
- [68:31]
A
Yeah, we do. We do.
- [68:34]
One guy is doing well, clearly doing well. Level of income needed to do need a backdoor Roth IRA conversion implies he's doing more than fine. So that plays into this. Two, he should pay rent, get a room at the new place with the guys while keeping his current place with girlfriend. He can afford it. Know the best. He will split his time between the bachelor pad and the girlfriend's with his own room. She can come over and stay with him instead of just him crashing on the extra futon, etc. Etc. 3. He should continue all caps to officially live with the girlfriend and her friends. That way she has people to hang out with on the nights he crashes with the dudes. Don't get the place together alone with her. Recipe for destruction. Yeah, that would be. If you're going to pull this off, it's like, oh, and then you're going to be by yourself here all the time. So let's just, let's call a little. Remember the 22nd timeouts? I used to love those because then it was like, oh, there's too many stoppers in the NBA. And then I saw somebody argue, well, why don't they just enforce the rule? Why don't they just enforce that? You only have 20 seconds during the 22nd timeout. They go for much longer. I'm like, have you ever counted 20 seconds? Did you know how hard it would be to be like, Hey, 22nd timeout. Everybody sprints. What's the call? Pitch. All right. And then everybody sprints back like it was just an absurd idea that they weren't enforcing something because there's just no way you could even enforce it.
- [69:47]
E
So you ever time yourself when you run to the fridge real quick? It's like, it's more time than you think.
- [69:52]
A
There were people saying like, oh, well, why don't you just enforce it? It's like, because 20 seconds isn't enough time to have an actual timeout. That's why they called them 22nd timeouts, and then it was never enforced because it was just absurd to think that you could actually go and have any sort of meaningful conversation with your coaches unless everybody just sprinting around like morons. And even then, that wouldn't be enough time anyway. They got rid of it. Little history lesson for you, number four. Ideally, he should come up with some sort of work project, business startup, ban life excuse. Wait, wait, wait. I need to break these up properly. Some sort of work project business startup slash band slash life excuse for spending an excessive amount of time together probably would be flimsy and likely not hold up. But throwing it out there. Is there a way to get a place close to his work to say that commuting is better? Uh oh, that might be.
- [70:43]
E
Definitely an apartment in the city, babe. It's no big deal.
- [70:45]
A
What if he switches jobs because the commute's so bad and then he's like, I'm sorry, this is just terrible. 5. Finally, if it all goes great and this girl's an angel, I see him spending seven and eight nights a month max in the bachelor pad to get after it. Are the guys cool enough that he's just visiting, crashing there, or does this require some sort of arrangement? Rent, lease, sharing, so everybody feels right? God bless, and I hope this guy keeps us posted. At the very least, invites Ryan to his funeral. Thanks as always.
- [71:11]
E
So he wants to 6040 at people who want to pay Florida taxes but live in New York or something? That's what he's suggesting.
- [71:19]
Yeah.
- [71:19]
A
I had a deal like that once where there was an extra room with these guys, and I was like, I can't afford the full boat. And he was like, all right, fine. He said, well, it's empty and there's nothing we can do. And then I'll tell you what. Like, that didn't go over well because I wasn't staying there enough. I was coming up to Somerville. I was doing the Martha's Vineyard Somerville commute, end of 02, which was a great way to cap off that year into 03. And so. But the problem is, is that other guys, when I wasn't there, were sleeping in my bed. And sometimes there was more than one person sleeping in it. And then I would come back. 6. Sopranos DVD box set on the windowsill. Snow just outside. Cold windows, cold windows. Didn't do a great job in insulating that place. And so then it always led to all this hassle. It's like, hey, we're here. We have the place. We signed the lease. You're not on the lease. And I was like, my deal was my deal. And the other guy was like. I told him, pay us this much. That's what you can afford. It's better than zero. We know them, and it's fine. Like, it's not a big deal. And then it was a big deal. So not everybody's wired for that kind of transaction at that age. Yeah.
- [72:32]
It was bad, too, at the very end. Like, I was moving my stuff. I had to move out of there. It was really bad. And I slept on the couch with some other buddies, shout out to UVM soccer. And.
- [72:44]
The one of the guys, like, I went to high school with was, like, ready to fight me, like, in the street. He's like, you owe me. He's like, you owe me a check. And I was like, I don't, though. I'm like, I don't.
- [72:55]
C
Like.
- [72:56]
A
I know. I know what you're saying. Yeah, well, no, it wasn't even. I didn't. I. I would totally admit if I, like, was wrong on this, but I wasn't. Like, if we had, hey, you got to pay us this each month. And then. Or you're good for everything else. And then this other guy was like. This other guy was struggling. He was like, yo, what's up? He did one of those kind of like, yo, what's up? What's up with you? Gotta cut me a check. I was like, I don't have to cut you a check, though. I'd known him a long time, and I'll admit, I was like, I'm afraid of this guy.
- [73:27]
This might. This might be bad.
- [73:34]
E
Worst 400 bucks I ever kept, maybe.
- [73:36]
A
Yeah, right, right. No, it was. He was. He was shaking me down big time, too. He was like, he. It was not a reasonable negotiation at all. Anyway. All right, good pivot here. Am I stealing or just being resourceful? 35 years old, 6 foot, 170, former D3, Hooper max one rep. Bench in my glory days was 250 player comp, TJ McConnell. Every day I'm hustling sung to the two. Yeah. Hi, Ryan. And the guys love the show. Longtime listener, first time life advice emailer. I'm a teacher at a pretty wealthy private school.
- [74:11]
E
It sounds like you're stealing.
- [74:14]
A
Brunswick. Let's hear about Lawrenceville.
- [74:20]
We have an absolutely overflowing lost and found. I'm talking about dozens of jackets, hoodies, hats, gloves, water bottles. Every year, the school sends multiple emails to parents to come claim items. And every year, nobody does. Most of the stuff is left behind for months. And eventually gets donated. Here's where I might be the problem. Sometimes I'll grab a nice jacket, sweatshirt, or water bottle for myself or my kids before it all gets boxed up for donation. Nothing crazy. I'm not rating it like a Black Friday sale, but if something's been sitting there forever and it's unclaimed, I'll scoop it up. Part of me feels like this is totally fine. Parents had every chance to pick up their stuff. The school's literally trying to give it back. Another part of me wonders if I'm slowly becoming a sitcom character who loots the lost and found fancy school and justifies it throwing coats left and right as a Robin Hood move. So be honest. Is this stealing, or am I simply rescuing abandoned gear from a life of goodwill bins and giving it to a loving home? Appreciate the judgment, and probably it all.
- [75:17]
E
Depends on where your deadline is. Because the one thing my mom never lets me forget, this freshman year, she got me a pleather jacket. She called it a leather jacket, but, you know, I knew.
- [75:31]
A
Were you smoking that? It was not.
- [75:33]
E
No, it was not. It was not actually great.
- [75:34]
A
That would have been sweet.
- [75:35]
E
You know, I don't even think I really broke it in enough to, like, maybe learn to love it. But my classic thing is, you know, I run hot. I wear the jacket. Immediately I'm in school, I'm like, God.
- [75:44]
A
I'm so fucking hot.
- [75:45]
E
So I put it in the locker, and it lived hot and it lived there.
- [75:48]
C
You know, it's not. Yeah, not breathable.
- [75:50]
E
Yeah. So the school year ends, and she's like, where's your jacket? And I'm like, oh, I think it's in my locker. And I went back and it was just. That's where all this stuff is laid out on this, you know, the gym floor, where it's just like, good luck finding your jacket. There was like 4, 000 kids in.
- [76:05]
A
My high school, so it was just.
- [76:06]
E
Like, you know, you do the math on how many stupid kids left their.
- [76:09]
A
Jackets in their lockers.
- [76:10]
E
So if you're waiting until that day, I think it's okay. Like, the day after it, you know, it all gets laid out in the gym and, you know, school ends, I think it's totally fine. But there are going to be some kids like my mom, who's like, you're going back to that school and you're going to search that gym floor to see if you could find the leather jacket. I couldn't find it. I wasn't actually super mad about it, but I'm just. I'm just wondering if you're. Are you waiting until that day's over when you're actually cleaning up the classroom or, you know, or are you. Are you taking that chance from the kid who maybe just forgot about it all year because his brain isn't fully formed yet?
- [76:41]
C
I think. I think a good, like, way to make yourself feel better is when it's out of season, then the jacket's probably up for, like, you know, if it's. If we're. If we're in springtime and there's still like a winter jacket in this bin, it's not necessary to. For this person. This person's not coming back for it. They don't even need it at this point, honestly, you know.
- [77:01]
E
Well, we're talking about kids here who might have a parent that's like, we're going to go find that thing. That's all.
- [77:05]
A
That's maybe Taft or Loomis Chaffee.
- [77:09]
C
Yeah, but. Sounds more cho to me. But yeah.
- [77:12]
A
No, I'm saying maybe Taft. You don't keep the.
- [77:15]
C
Oh, you don't do that.
- [77:16]
A
Yeah, yeah, but it. But a cho. You're just. You're. You're on poshmark with it.
- [77:21]
C
How would they catch you, though, Kyle?
- [77:22]
A
The real, real. How would a broad man do this?
- [77:26]
E
It's not that. How would they.
- [77:27]
A
It's not that.
- [77:28]
E
How would they catch you? It's more like you're. You're asking if you are, in fact stealing there. There might be one of your little raids that you've. That you've crossed over into some kid that was actually supposed to look for it. Probably not. But again, you're asking, do you think you're doing the wrong thing? I think it all depends on what the cutoff date is. That's all.
- [77:46]
C
I think you know the time when they're going to donate them to, like, you know how long that period of time is. So if you're doing it towards that and it's like, hey, I don't want this to go to Goodwill. I want to just take this for myself. That's not stealing. If you're like, hey, this thing's been here for two weeks and I've been eyeing it every day, and it's, again, a jacket in the middle of winter like that, that's probably stealing because there's a chance the person comes back for it. But this reminds me of. I think we talked about this before. In college. You would just go to a house party, put your North Face fleece down, and then it just wouldn't be there.
- [78:14]
E
Leaving with somebody, that's the fact.
- [78:16]
C
That's stealing. That's shitty.
- [78:18]
E
But what if you get it stolen? What if you got your North Face?
- [78:21]
A
What if it's St. Paul's.
- [78:27]
C
I think there's a difference. So I think you're. I think. I think you. You know, when you feel like there's a line, if you're pushing, you know the line. It's not an official line, but you know the line. And I. And I think, you know, so I think you're probably pushing the line a little bit where you're like, maybe it is stealing. Even so it's probably not that big of a deal. But, yeah, you're fine.
- [78:45]
E
You wouldn't steal someone else's North Face at a college party. Think about your college self if yours got stolen in the same party.
- [78:51]
C
Never.
- [78:55]
A
Are you still rattling off schools? I just keep thinking about the rowing shirt that Everybody had at UVM. There's like 1700 different combos. Like, what was that like? We used to drink in the woods and get poison Ivy and 20 year olds would show up to our parties because we lived on an island.
- [79:13]
C
Okay.
- [79:17]
A
Still kicking it, huh? All right.
- [79:21]
There'S a line, and you're probably getting close, right? Like, shouldn't there be a cap? Should this guy first apron himself or second apron himself, where it's like, I can only take one thing each season.
- [79:36]
E
Right? That marmot.
- [79:38]
A
If it's being boxed up, I'm kind of more on his side here with this. You know, you can get into the whole, oh, I don't even think this is, like, all these rich kids. Like, this guy's saying, like, it's being boxed up and it's about to go, right? So the person. I mean, I hate people that, like, steal shit. It's just. It's. You know what drives me more crazy about it is the first person that's like, why didn't you lock your car? And you're just like, all right, it's my fault, right? I've talked about this, like, pivoting.
- [80:09]
Somehow to blame the victim. All right? But in this case, the victim is no longer the victim. Really? You know, I don't think you'd want to outfit your kids every year, like, getting weird about it. Like, I think I could use a white Montclair today. You know, where you start, you know, somebody coming over your house and be like, my God, this is a lot of nice stuff. I don't think you. I think you know that that's wrong. And I think all of us would be like, that's a little ridiculous. But if you're maybe grabbing a water bottle and a pullover at the end of the semester. So what is that? Maybe there's like two transactions. It's almost like a transfer portal. There's two portals. Yes.
- [80:54]
C
Just picture this guy running around with like a Deloitte fleece on. It's got somebody else's name on it.
- [81:01]
A
Are kids, I don't know, are kids rocking those. The investment.
- [81:06]
C
Maybe this guy, you know, this guy, he's just like, hey, it's a nice.
- [81:09]
E
Well, yeah, if you got high school age kids, like there might even. There's something for him there too, you.
- [81:13]
A
Know, that's an absolute Edward Jones.
- [81:18]
K12.
- [81:19]
E
Would be actually the jackpot. What do you know, Wells Fargo, get the whole family.
- [81:23]
A
I would love a ranking of the vests and then the. And the banks of like.
- [81:32]
C
Yeah, that's a good call.
- [81:33]
A
If you're wearing like a Goldman one. What that means that's. That's gotta be Black. Is like BlackRock above it. Like we don't even put the name on the vest and then people have blackrock.
- [81:44]
C
People give you bad looks now?
- [81:46]
E
Yeah, it's like a little spooky almost.
- [81:47]
A
Yeah, I wouldn't wear that in Aspen. You might.
- [81:54]
E
Fair. Is the lodge really full tonight?
- [81:57]
A
Yeah. There's a guy wearing a Dean Witter one that looks at the golden ones and he's like, fuck. You know, it's like the ironed on number as opposed to the stitched on one.
- [82:05]
E
Yeah, the Nike elite jersey of Ben Coates.
- [82:08]
A
Things falling apart. Everybody's going to know. I got it in models. Hey, did they sell Ben Coates jerseys at Modell's or is that strictly. That's going to be almost all jets and Giants.
- [82:18]
E
Not near me. Yeah, like there was some Brady's in there. A lot of jets and Giants.
- [82:23]
A
You had a Ben Coates jersey?
- [82:25]
C
Yeah, when I was like, you know, probably 10. I didn't really have a team yet. Had a bunch of jerseys settled on Steve Young and the 49ers because of that. But yeah, it was like that, that, like lighter blue with the pal on the shoulders.
- [82:38]
E
I love that.
- [82:38]
C
It's an incredible jersey. Yeah.
- [82:39]
A
Yeah, he was great in the video game. I mean, just filthy throw. That little.
- [82:45]
It was just like a little 10 yard in. Forget it.
- [82:52]
I'm not going back to college to be your friend.
- [82:54]
D
I'm going so I can get Uber one for students. It saves you on Uber and Uber eats.
- [82:59]
A
I'm there for zero dollar delivery fee on cheeseburgers, up to 10% off smoothies and 6% Uber credits back on rides. Just to be clear, I'm there for savings, not whatever you think college is for.
- [83:11]
D
Get Uber one for students a membership to save on Uber and Uber eats with deals this good everyone wants to.
- [83:17]
A
To be a student join for just $4.99 a month.
- [83:19]
D
Savings may vary eligibility and member terms apply.
- [83:22]
A
Okay, ultimate post grad decision. All right Massachusetts. No that says measurables. Someone didn't sleep well last night. God, I would have failed the eye test. Be like you can't even drive.
- [83:37]
Your PlayStation. Six' one, 215 age 22 bench more of a freeway cable lifter, but managed 215 over a year ago. Comp a little oh, illiterate. I'm not speaking of not being literate right now.
- [83:52]
E
I don't forward this one to one of us.
- [83:54]
A
Yeah, want to take over today?
- [83:57]
Tyler Kolik here's my dilemma. Back in May of this year I graduated from a mid major school in the Midwest where I spent four wonderful years. Unfortunately for me, the 2025 job market has been nothing short of a nightmare. I moved back home after classes end and haven't managed to escape since. Yuck. Been there. For what it's worth, I live near the worst place Shane Gillis has ever visited.
- [84:22]
You want to look that up for us Kyle?
- [84:25]
E
Sure, I imagine I'll get a couple.
- [84:27]
C
Any guesses?
- [84:28]
E
Oh, I text kind of, but I.
- [84:29]
A
Don'T think he'd answer that. He's probably got a bit about it right I'd imagine. Yeah.
- [84:38]
Worst place Shane Gillis has ever visited. Nearly 200 online job applications later, I still yet to figure out the right fit. I worked a temp job at my local golf course for the past few months, but with the season officially ending, I must now consider my next move. Option a stay at home and hopefully stack bread. The likelihood of finding a career driven job is low, but there are always labor jobs that offer decent pay and no rent. The downside is every rationalist person reason for not wanting to live at home in their early 20s. Yeah, while I love my parents and the environment. While I love my parents, the environment can be suffocating and I desperately want to abandon the nest. I chose the farthest possible school that could still offer in state tuition for a reason. Not to mention my hometown isn't exactly Martha's Vineyard. No offense to Rosillo.
- [85:25]
Yeah, I think that was probably a compliment. Although look, early 20s I can't imagine how long the list of towns were that I wanted to live on as opposed to that place in the off season. My local community of 1,000 people is in the middle of cornfields and solar panels for miles on end. Option B My long term girlfriend and brother, whom I've been visiting roughly twice a month, attend a major university about an hour and a half from me. Because of my frequent visits, I've fallen in love with the town and vastly different atmosphere provides. Just recently the final domino fell. My former roommate just moved to said college town and is now renting a two bedroom house. We are great friends, there were never major issues living together and he has welcomed the idea of continuing the great times we had while splitting the rent. There is also a higher chance of finding a career level job in this town. What are we even talking about anymore?
- [86:11]
E
Yeah, sounds like it's aligned, but with.
- [86:14]
A
How the year has treated me so far, I will likely find myself working a similar situation to option A. In this case, I will absorb the extra cost of paying for rent, groceries, et cetera. Conclusion While I see the appeal of working at home, saving money and continuing the cycle I found myself in the past seven months, my desire to leave grows stronger by the day. However, once I leave the nest, it is implied I am not necessarily welcome back. I will not receive financial assistance on anything that was already pre existing, mainly insurance coverages. I have a good foundation and feel confident I can make ends meet with my potential new housemate even with a 30 hour a week gig. Is happiness worth the price of poverty? What would you do if you were my situation? Cheers.
- [86:52]
And he said he's been to London. Never been a better Christmas city. I'm telling you, if you've never, if, if you've got the coin, which is.
- [87:00]
E
Check out Father Christmas.
- [87:01]
A
Just, you know, some of you guys in your 30s that have done all right and your girlfriend, wife loves Christmas. I don't know if there's a better Christmas gift.
- [87:11]
E
Is he Santa over there or is he Father Christmas? I've seen a couple of videos.
- [87:15]
A
I didn't meet him so I don't know.
- [87:16]
E
I'm just saying. What are they calling?
- [87:20]
A
I think it is Sir Kringle.
- [87:21]
C
Yeah, it should be.
- [87:26]
A
No, I think you're right about that. Don't even check.
- [87:28]
E
Well, I just keep thinking of that video where he's like I'm gonna write Father Christmas to tell you you're being naughty. And he's like oh yeah, well I'll punch his beard off. So I was like, is that just that guy that calls him Father Christmas or. Anyway, I guess it's not really.
- [87:39]
A
Yeah. Was he from a different. Was he from the north?
- [87:42]
E
Yeah, he did have a little bit of a north, like, on the road sort of accent to him.
- [87:48]
A
Anyway, Kyle got out of that. He's like, how do I end this sentence?
- [87:55]
C
I think just with some Google mapping, we figured out exactly what his situation is.
- [88:01]
A
Yeah.
- [88:02]
C
Should I just share it?
- [88:03]
A
No, let's keep it a mystery.
- [88:05]
C
Okay. All right.
- [88:06]
A
Or Peoria.
- [88:07]
E
I'm not cutting that out.
- [88:08]
A
So, yeah, maybe I left it. I cut into it too late. It was too early. And I could tell by the. The first syllable there.
- [88:20]
I was going to say Petersburg.
- [88:24]
Yep.
- [88:25]
C
And there's a college town about an hour and a half away.
- [88:28]
A
Yeah, look, what's the discussion? You already mapped it out. If every day grows. And look, I don't want to sound like an asshole here, but I can tell you health insurance was the last thing I was thinking about with any decision I was making in my 20s.
- [88:42]
D
Yeah.
- [88:42]
A
Not saying it's cool.
- [88:43]
C
How many times did you go to the doctor in your 20s? Yeah, I was gonna say, like, are you serious?
- [88:47]
E
One hand, maybe? I could count.
- [88:49]
A
Imagine that. Like, when you're filling out paperwork, it's like, who's your primary care physician? I'm like, what the is that?
- [88:55]
C
God, I'm supposed to have one of those.
- [88:58]
A
Again. I'm not saying it's cool, right? Yeah. And then my dad says that I don't have a fever.
- [89:05]
C
Right.
- [89:05]
E
Ginger ale and Robitussin?
- [89:11]
A
Yeah, that'd be pretty funny. Like, who's your primary care? Well, it depends on if my dad falls for it or not, but.
- [89:18]
Yeah. Look, man, I. There's two ways of looking at it. If you, like, how much money are you actually. How much bread will be stacked. Right.
- [89:27]
E
Are you as good about it as you're saying? Or are you, like, a guy in his early 20s?
- [89:30]
A
It's probably not. He might be, but then I've seen other people that, like, have that free rent, living at home thing, and they're buying the dumbest shit ever. So it's like you're justifying a lot of purchases that you would never make in a different situation because you're like, well, I'm not spending money on all these different things now, if you are incredibly rigid about it, really responsible, you have a goal. Hey, I want to say, you know, I want to be able to save 10 plus grand or whatever, just so I feel like I have some kind of cushion for Any of these other more adult decisions, if you can pull that off, I don't know how long that would take or how good you would be about it, then that's great. But.
- [90:02]
I do feel like even with more of a challenging financial situation, life has a weird way of. It kind of figures itself out, right? And even though one year, I think it's. I'm toying with this concept. I don't know that the bill would be passed, but just like a year where everybody at some point just gets a year, really work on whatever you want, makes you a better person and you come back. I don't know how that would affect the economy. Probably don't have the tax. That probably wouldn't be something like who's paying for that? Everybody's just going to sort of pitch in and everybody just would be like, hey, I'm 38 for a year, I'm taking a year. Taking a year would be a better society if you were able to do that kind of stuff, right? So if, in this case, if, I mean, I could be very convincing and say, yeah, man, make money, have that cushion, all the fun stuff's going to happen. Don't worry, you're not that old. You know, stay at home, keep that insurance, know who your primary care physician is. One year is going to go by so fast, you're going to feel so much better about your current situation. However, the other side of it is.
- [91:02]
You'Re going to want the year that you're passing up so bad. When you're older, living with a buddy, you're near your girlfriend, it sounds like you get along with your brother and the whole thing is really cool.
- [91:15]
And being forced to have a more challenging economic situation is going to just. You're not going to spend money on all these other things. Again, I don't know what your spending habits are, all these different things. My guess is you will probably find a way to make it figure out, like to figure this whole thing out. And you're going to love your day to day so much more than what you have right now. So if we're doing simple math, like, is it worth 10 to 15 grand to you? Which I can know, look at that time in my life, like 10 to 15 grand would have changed everything. But is that actually worth missing that kind of year? The kind of year now I'd pay, like, I don't even want to share what the number would be.
- [91:56]
Because one of my friends and I were talking about the other night, what would actually be like in a mystical, like Somebody comes up to you and says, you can pick any year you lived and you're doing well now. How much. What number makes you say no as opposed to yes? I'll pay you this to relive that entire year again.
- [92:15]
I don't want to share what that number is.
- [92:17]
C
Yeah, it's.
- [92:19]
What year would it be?
- [92:22]
E
Do I have this auto loan currently, if somebody asked me that question or.
- [92:24]
A
No.
- [92:25]
E
Because that'll affect my.
- [92:26]
C
No, everything gets put on hold.
- [92:29]
A
Okay.
- [92:30]
D
Yeah.
- [92:30]
A
What year would you. 13's in the mix. I'm not gonna lie to you.
- [92:35]
E
13 years old.
- [92:36]
A
Yeah.
- [92:36]
C
Early high school. Yeah.
- [92:38]
A
Hooping every day, Wiffle ball. No injuries, pools in the sun. Not jacked, though.
- [92:44]
C
Not even at a job yet. You know, but the only thing is, you can't drive yourself around. That's a little annoying.
- [92:49]
A
Now, thirteen's out of the mix. But I'm just. I'm offering it up as a potential. Like, if you. If you had a draft board. Right. You were going through. The funniest thing is, like, I could pick any of the college years, and they'd all make a ton of sense. Maybe sophomore year, then maybe 20 or.
- [93:03]
E
21 for me would do it.
- [93:05]
A
Right?
- [93:05]
C
Sophomore year. Yeah.
- [93:06]
A
But then the. The. The crazy thing is, like, there's some years it's like you were so miserable and you'd pick that year, and it's like. Yeah, but I didn't know how good I had it. But I also didn't know if anything was going to work out either. Yeah. What year for you? You said 20. 21.
- [93:21]
E
20 or 21? After all the suspension. And I got out of that Poughkeepsie apartment. Once we were through that, summer felt.
- [93:28]
A
Like probation was over. Yeah.
- [93:30]
E
School started to make a little more sense. Summer was a little bit fuller without the two jobs and all that. So. Yeah, that was. That's when I really realized how good I had it, even from last year, so. Actually had a little clarity there.
- [93:43]
A
Sorry I interrupted. I've been choppy today. I didn't sleep well.
- [93:48]
Sort of. God, it's affecting you. I can tell. Awful night of sleep. I don't know what happened last night.
- [93:54]
C
I don't know. I mean, sophomore year of college is pretty great. Living situation was good.
- [94:02]
A
First year with me and SVP isn't in the mix.
- [94:05]
C
20, was that 2013? Maybe I was making nothing, but I also lived at home, so it was kind of fine at that point, just pocketing money. I think it's probably sophomore year. It's either sophomore year of College.
- [94:19]
E
Were you dorm in it then or.
- [94:21]
A
Did you get your first.
- [94:21]
C
I was still in a dorm. Yep. Still in a dorm with like just.
- [94:25]
A
A meals or points.
- [94:28]
C
It was meals. We had meals. The cheesy eggs man at the caf were just man, I think with the white bread. Oh so good. But just can't replicate that for some reason. But then I think high school, like 16, 17. In high school, like junior senior year when like you have a car, you're.
- [94:44]
A
Working part time at our Abercrombie, right? You're Wes Farms.
- [94:47]
C
No, I worked at a grocery store. Top supermarket.
- [94:51]
A
How could you not get a cooler job? You were captain of football.
- [94:54]
C
I wasn't that cool.
- [94:57]
I. This is. I don't. This isn't funny anymore to me. By the way.
- [95:02]
You gotta stop with the football.
- [95:05]
A
That's two banned cerutty topics. Yeah, I don't like over here.
- [95:07]
C
No, I was, I was, I was. I worked at a grocery store with a bunch of my buddies, which is actually hilarious. We would just. I mean, I think I feel like the time has passed, but we would just like steal beer from them.
- [95:18]
A
Sweat missing.
- [95:19]
C
Yeah, we would. We would basically put like 30 racks of Coors light into a box of Poland Springs and just. We'd be like, hey, we're taking the boxes out back and just put it in back of the car. So we had. We had good access to beer at that point.
- [95:30]
A
Do you think they knew?
- [95:32]
C
They did they. Well, they didn't know that we. How we were doing it or that we were specifically doing it. But like the numbers didn't really add up because at the end of the day they would, you know, they had a count on what things were and they just kind of knew it was going down. It was that and gushers were definitely. A lot of gushers were stolen as well.
- [95:45]
A
So. Nice.
- [95:48]
C
It's probably then it was again like you're playing like summers with the boys at the pool. Pool, basketball or playing wiffle ball in the backyard. We played pickup hoops for like eight hours a day on the weekend. Weekends.
- [95:56]
A
Like that is no load back then.
- [95:59]
C
No load management, dude. We had you know, like that day, what's it called? Like the senior day or whatever. Like the day like you go on like essentially what your whole class senior year, you go to a place and like you just have a day. Right. I forget what that's called.
- [96:09]
A
A field trip. I think a lot of people.
- [96:11]
C
Well, it's not a field trip. It's called a specific thing. We went to this place called Holiday Hill. And there's water slides and there's food and there's all these different things. Me and my boys literally played pickup hoops the entire time for like eight straight hours. That's all we did. That's all we wanted to do. And it was one of the best days of our lives. So I think, I think maybe when I was 16 or 17 would be the answer.
- [96:28]
A
I like that positive stuff. Yeah, valid. I hope, Hope you listening somewhere thought of something or you got super depressed because you're like, it's never going to be that good again. Maybe that's the lesson to the emailer, right? You don't want to give away one of those years for fucking 15 grand. Also, it'd be cool, guys, six figures on one of those years right?
- [96:49]
C
Now ideally you look back and you just like imagine like, you know, being worried about the 15 grand because things typically, you know, I don't know, things like if you're a hard worker, you got a good head on your shoulders, things will work out. You look back at that and be like, I can't believe I didn't take advantage of that opportunity. Right. So that's. I think we're all on the same page.
- [97:05]
A
Yeah.
- [97:05]
E
Not to have your girlfriend being in a pretty cool college town while you're sleeping in your parents house, that's. That probably does wonders for how you sleep at night too. That would be nice if you weren't like 90 minutes away from whatever she's up to on a Saturday, which is probably nothing, but you know.
- [97:20]
C
Well now, now the scale is tipping further. Now he's got to go.
- [97:23]
A
Yeah, get out there, man.
- [97:24]
E
Just pop up this weekend. We're going to dinner.
- [97:29]
A
Give myself a C plus for today. Oh, sorry. Be better. Announcement for the show, Fred Warner. Yes. That Fred Warner is going to be joining us throughout the rest of the football season. So it won't necessarily be every single week, but we're going to have Fred on the show. Recovering, feeling good, looking good, and I'm excited, excited to have him be part of the show. So that's pretty cool. Some of you may have noticed my PBS American Revolution T shirt I did. That was sent to me. I've had a lot of people asking me about the series. I have a couple more years of research to do and then I'll watch the show and see how they did. I'm just not there yet. Not there yet. So hold those questions until, until I'm ready to watch. All right, thanks. Everybody here on the show, please check out the YouTube page. And subscribe. And of course, subscribe to the podcast Ryan Rosillo show, part of the Barstool Network.
- [98:36]
Sa.