And we are back crossover NBA podcast I am Chris Manics from Miami eagerly awaiting
the arrival of his Miami Heat. We have Rowan Argriny and from New York Chris Harry. Guys,
we've got to get into what we saw in the game last night. I was at the TD Garden and
let me tell you through two quarters, I was sitting there with a couple of my media brethren
and not to name names, but we were kind of scoffing at the Heat's chances of winning the series
because you tell me the Boston media mafia was all together. This was not Boston media mafia.
This was not Boston media mafia. This was national media mafia. And okay, okay.
Look, you watch the first two quarters and you see Jason Tatum getting to the basket.
You see Robert Williams having an impact on the glass and defensively. And you see Miami,
which outside of Jimmy Butler and a great second quarter from Kyle Lowry, just not looking like it
had the offensive firepower to keep up with the Celtics. And then the third quarter comes around
and Miami puts up 46 points and blows the door off and the Heat take game one, one nothing series
lead. And now I don't know what to think about this series. Rowan, you have been riding that Miami
bandwagon for some time now, your reaction to game one. I'm not gonna lie, even I was
not expecting the Heat to win this game, particularly after that second quarter where
I thought Boston in that Philly game and game seven was the first time they really looked like
the Boston team I expected to see in the postseason. And in the second quarter, we were seeing shades
of that. This is a team that can get a good shot offensively whenever they want tons of
switchable defenders. But I think what's made Miami so effective during this playoff run
is there's no one way they've been winning games. They keep winning games, whether it's
in the Milwaukee series, it was Jimmy Butler having career scoring nights and crazy shooting.
And the second round, they kind of won that series and a slug fest with the Knicks slow
low possession games grinded out on defense. And then I think you saw in game three or game one
rather, but the third quarter, a lot of just individual brilliance from the Miami guys Jimmy
Butler and Bam out of bio Bam, I think was nine to 13 last night. Really effective against whichever
big man Boston through his way. They it sounds wrote, but it really came down to Miami making
a ton of shots. Jimmy Butler, I think had the most mid range makes in a game for himself this season.
I mentioned Bam, aggressive got up to 20 points without taking a lot of field goals.
The three point shooting for them in the third quarter is really, really good.
I thought Miami also did a good job in the in the defensively in the second half getting Boston
from getting to the rim. I think Boston have 40 points in the first half. Miami was sort of
cleaned that up in the second half. But I just think overall like, I don't I feel like Miami
during the playoffs has played its best in almost every single game. And I just haven't seen that
kind of consistency from Boston. And then that's what worries me about the Celtics. I think they're
definitely a more talented team top to bottom than Miami. There's no question about it. But
just the lapses that they have, I mean, think about some of the turnovers they had last night
Jason Tatum with some travels late, Rob Williams throwing the ball to Kevin Love at one point for
an easy layup. At one point, are they going to take the playoffs? Seriously, it's kind of been my
feeling about the Celtics. No, Joe Missoula said after the game, the Celtics won three out of the
four quarters. That that doesn't really it's not really how it works in the end of the day,
especially with one of those quarters, you get beat 46 to 25. Harry, I made a comparison on Twitter
that got some blowback comparing Jimmy Butler to Kobe Bryant. And look, I'm not comparing Jimmy
to Kobe in terms of style of play. I'm more saying, Jimmy, like Kobe, is just looking for his spot
and is going to get to his spot. And once he gets to his spot, he's just not going to be denied,
whether it's making an acrobatic tough shot or getting to the free throw line. He went to the
free throw line 10 times last night, made nine of them. You know, this is, he has become, you know,
a singular force in this postseason. And I look at Boston and I'm coming into that game like,
all right, well, if there's a team equipped to play against Jimmy Butler, it's probably the
Celtics. They can switch everything and not be at a disadvantage on most of those switches.
But whether it was Derek White, Malcolm Brogden, Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, Marcus Smart, we're
talking about for the most part, all NBA level defenders. I mean, Smart is just a year removed
from being defensive player of the year. Derek White just made the second team all defensive
team. I think Jalen Brown is probably best equipped to defend Jimmy Butler because of his combination
of size and strength. And none of them had any idea what to do with Jimmy in this, in this game.
One, it was a continuation of how flummoxed drew holiday was throughout that Milwaukee series.
And how New York, whether it was Quentin Grimes or Josh Hart or any of the, the wing defenders with
the Knicks, they just couldn't do anything with him. This guy is having himself a postseason.
And he's doing it in a way, frankly, that reminds me of how Kobe played in his day.
He's really tough to stop. And I think that what's interesting about watching him is that he,
I don't think he leaves much on the table. I'm not saying that, but he's, he's patient from how he
does it. There's so many times where he kind of snakes around the basket and kind of goes baseline
and dribbles around kind of the way Steve Nash has done before, you know, has become known for.
And there's so many times where I'm like, shoot it, shoot it. Like you're within three,
four feet of the basket. He just, he's patient. He sometimes uses a way to pass the ball to BAM
if he sneaks behind Robert Williams. But I think he's really intentional about getting off to good
starts in these games because he doesn't play on a team that has a ton of creation, certainly
without Tyler Hero, Duncan Robinson, you know, it was not the Duncan Robinson from a couple years
ago when they signed him that big deal initially. So he realizes that if he gets it going early,
even a team like the Celtics has to, or is going to feel like it's necessary to extend more defensive
attention to him. And if they do that, guess what? It opens up everybody else. And, and that's when we,
you know, to some extent, we, we start to see this, the other players open it up a little bit,
even though they fell behind in the second and for a minute, it looks like they're going to knock
that out of the game. Kyle Lowry starts to open up a little bit. Caleb Martin, Roan knows, I was
sending text messages about him all night last night, just so impressed with his game. And that
doesn't even get to the third quarter, which I'm sure we'll talk about over the course of this
podcast. But there's something to be said for given that we watched Milwaukee get knocked out
to all of our surprise. I imagine even Roan was willing to say he didn't expect Miami to
to pick the bucks to sweep. Yeah, I mean, also, we all watched Miami struggle to even make it
out of the play and into the playoffs. So like, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that they
could have just been swept in that series. Obviously, honest gets hurt. But after watching that, and
after watching the way that it happened, we have to be open to the fact that Miami, which by the way,
last year, had the highest three point shooting percentage in the league during the regular season,
that they're capable of making maybe not as many threes or as high a percentage of threes as they
made in the last game. But they very well could be and probably are better than what they showed
during the regular season from a shooting standpoint. And Jimmy is aware of that. By the way, Jimmy,
when he's talking about Kobe and the comparisons there, the other thing that Jimmy does is that
like he's way less shy about shooting threes in the postseason than he is in the regular season.
So I mean, he knows he can make the shot doesn't mean he's looking forward to taking it all the
time. But he's he realizes one of the things that kills offenses in a time of year like this.
And we saw it a little bit in the first round with Phoenix, first two rounds or so Phoenix.
We saw Cleveland a little bit. You have to shoot shots if you're open and it's a good look. And
frankly, I never thought I'd say this. Even Tatum last night in the fourth quarter at the end of
the game had a moment where he didn't look like he wanted to take one or at least not when he was
open. And he he hitched and then he turned it over for the second or third straight time. So
Miami more than anything else, they know who they are. They know exactly who they are. They've
been here enough times. They've had the same coach. They have a bunch of guys that know their roles
to a tee. Even guys that are new to their roles with Lowry being off the bench really for the first
time in his career, essentially, at least since he's been the caliber player he is now. They know
their roles. And I think Boston to some extent, even though they've been here enough times to know
what they should be doing, they look a little spooked at times, which is a weird thing to say
after coming off a huge game seven victory and showing the guts that Tatum did to lead them
through a game six that they could have lost. I mean, to Roland's point, this has been a problem
for the Celtics all season and certainly all postseason. Game one, like, well, even go back
even further. Game five against Atlanta. They had a chance to close out the locks. They have a
complete meltdown and have to go down to Atlanta when that series on the road. No Joellen beat in
game one of the Philadelphia series. They let James Harden, Tyrese Maxing and Anthony Melton
get 88 points in that game and beat them. Game five in Boston, not competitive. They didn't play
well in that game. And this was kind of a continuation of all that. The Celtics have to find a way
to defend one on one. And this shouldn't be the challenge that it was in game one. They have the
guys, as I mentioned, to defend Jimmy Butler. You shouldn't be sending double teams when
Bam out of bio is posting up against Rob Williams or Al Horford. You just spent, you know,
the second round defending Joellen beat at a pretty high level. You should, Rob Williams should not
need help when Bam out of bio is posting him up. Al Horford should not need help when Bam out of
bio was posting him up. Miami does know who it is and it knows where it needs to be on the floor
when those double teams come. And look, I don't think they shoot what 51 52% from three in game
two. But if they get those looks, they're going to shoot a pretty high percentage in this game. So
to me, that's the biggest adjustment the Celtics have to make. Find a way to be able to defend
Jimmy one on one. But Rowan, let me ask you this. One of the edges that Miami had coming into the
series was Eric Spolster versus Joe Missoula. You know, Eric Spolster has been a wizard throughout
the course of these playoffs. And he once again was excellent in game one. In the third quarter,
when Miami was putting up 46 points, Joe Missoula did not call a single timeout. This has been a
season long talking point when it comes to Joe Missoula. He has this Phil Jackson like instinct
to let his players play through it. And it's cost them some games in the regular season.
You go back to game four against Philadelphia when they had the ball down one with a chance to take
the lead or win the game. Joe doesn't call a timeout. They wind up not getting a shot off at the end
of the quarter. Look, I understand letting guys play through some stuff, but 46 points.
That's a lot of points, man. That is a lot of play through right there. I just think Joe Missoula,
he doesn't have to out coach Eric Spolster, but he can't be wiped out in this particular matchup.
Yeah. And building off of that, you know, I actually wanted to ask you about this Chris,
I rewatch the third quarter this morning, by the way, just because I was like, how did Miami do this
exactly? And it was just baffling to see the heat get bucket after bucket. And, you know,
I think there was one of the kind of automatic TV timeouts in there, because remember they
have the clip of Missoula throwing the clipboard on the floor. I don't know how effective that
maneuver was either necessarily like fans were calling for a timeout, like after the first few
minutes of the third quarter. I think that when Miami cut it quickly from nine to three,
players were kind of looking over at Missoula expecting him to call a timeout, but he just let
them play through it. There were like three or four plays like that that you just kind of assumed
that there was one coming. And then it just, I mean, Robert Williams threw the ball back
in bounds, trying to save it and threw it directly to Kevin Love. I was like, this is a perfect spot
to call timeout. Because if I like the momentum, it just shifted so massively. His explanation after
the game too was weird where he called two timeouts in the first quarter, which is fine. But like,
he also had extra timeouts at the end of the game. Like he called one time out with 319 remaining
in the fourth. And when he called it, the Celtics were kind of rolling at that moment. They cut the
heat lead down to about four. And Miami and smart kind of looked at him at one point. When he called
that timeout was like, what are you doing? What are we calling a timeout there for? So look, it's
not sexy, but timeout management is a real thing and has an impact on games.
Absolutely. I wanted to ask you, Chris, you're opinion on something because
you talked about the defenders. First of all, you listened to defenders that Jimmy Butler was
going after inexplicably to me. One of those guys was Peyton Pritchard. I'm not saying Peyton
Pritchard has has no place on the floor in a playoff game. Like, I think he's a he would be in
the rotation on most NBA teams. He just hadn't sweet stuck behind three guards that are very,
very good. But that's what made it baffling to me that why is he even playing when you have
Brogdon white and smart also in two guys in smart and Brogdon that can guard up and spell
Tatum and Brown. It made no sense to me that he was even part of the rotation. But beyond that,
I thought he made I thought the weirder mistake he made was like normally I don't think it's a big
deal. Like coaches protect their starting lineups like it's, you know, a CIA level secret and is
being passed around and unmarked envelopes. You know, he said yesterday Robert Williams is going to start.
I understand not wanting to change your starting lineup after having success with it towards the
end of that Philly series. But I think that gave Miami an opportunity to keep Kevin love on the floor.
And it just allowed Miami to get comfortable in a way that I didn't think was a great move
because when you have Rob on the floor, it gives the heat a place to kind of cheat off of defensively.
He's obviously a lob threat and he was good on the offensive glass and on catching lobs. But he
makes things I think a little bit more simple for your defense. And then offensively we saw BAM
half success going one on one against Robert Williams. You know,
Prichard plays Grant Williams, who was a huge factor in this series last year.
That's the name I was going to bring up Grant Williams.
Yeah. And I want to ask about that in general because I just don't understand what's happened
to Grant Williams this season. I know he hasn't shot as well, but it feels like,
I don't know if there's tension with him in Missoula. It's it's baffling to me the degree to which he's
been left out of the rotation. Well, if you were look back, Grant Williams started the season off
great. Like he was shooting like high thirties, low forties from three point range through December.
And then for whatever reason, not only did the stop the shot stop falling,
but he stopped taking them quite as much. And that was the biggest source of frustration for
the coaching staff. This is a coaching staff that believes there's no limit to the number of
threes you should shoot. Like they are a three point shooting team in every possible way. And
for whatever reason, you know, Grant started to hesitate and wasn't letting him fly as frequently
as he did early on. Now, I don't know what the reasons were for that. Part of me has wondered at
times, you know, Grant Williams is going to be a free agent after the season. He couldn't come to
terms on the contract with the Celtics this past offseason. So he's also a thinking man's player,
right? A very intelligent guy, vice president of the players union, like just, you know,
I wonder if it gets in his own head sometimes that's overthinking stuff and that led to some
problems. But there's no doubt in this series, he's more valuable than Robert Williams. He just is.
He's more versatile. He is a perimeter shooter. There are stretches, I'm sure, that you could put
Grant Williams on Jimmy Butler. He's defended that type of player in the past. He's strong
enough not to get muscled when Jimmy goes into the paint, which is what happened to Derek White a
lot in game one. That to me is the biggest adjustment. I mean, I know Grant was out of the rotation
in game six and seven against Philadelphia. I'd start him in game two. I'd say Al Horford,
you're the five Grant Williams, you're the four grant. You can take your first turn on Jimmy Butler.
Let's see what happens there. I think that's that's a big adjustment for Joe Missoula coming into
game two. I mean, they put Al Horford on Jimmy to start game one, which it's not like Jimmy was
going after him relentlessly, but it shows that they already kind of like it's just a bizarre way
to start a game like they'd kind of twisted themselves into a pretzel already. And you saw that he as
you know, a big difference between this year's heat team and last year's heat team is as much
as PJ Tucker brought to the Miami defensively, Robert Williams was ignoring him in the corner
all of last year, whenever those guys shared the floor. It allowed Robert Williams to roam freely
and kind of destruct defensively in a way that he can't against the current heat roster of
love is out there if Caleb Martin's out there. And I think you saw Jimmy Butler and Bam were not
afraid to attack Rob one on one and Rob's giving them way more space than Grant Williams would.
He's not as he doesn't have that kind of same footwork switch ability that Grant Williams has.
So I thought it was baffling to me and I thought that was a bigger deal. I know people will get
on Missoul for the timeouts and it's frustrating to watch as a fan. But to me, the rotation,
the Prichard minutes, that to me was was more confusing than anything Missoula did.
Yeah, the Prichard minutes were so confusing. There was a part of me that I would say Miami
was confused about it too, except Jimmy Butler literally the first possession
with Prichard there on defense. Butler went at him, scored on him. There was another possession
where I think the Celtics may be wondering what the hell is this. Prichard's out there. So they're
like, okay, let me go give Prichard a little bit of help. But then in doubling him, doubling Butler,
Butler then finds a pass that results in a three. And keep in mind, these are important
minutes that he's getting to. To me, it's a little bit different if it's like,
he comes in for spot duty for like two minutes. And that's a little different than the last
minute of the first quarter where it's like, you're trying to finish a quarter strong
and start quarter strong. And not only did they not have the strongest ending to the first quarter
because Prichard was there, he then I think was there. It was at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
And and that even Lowry, you know, got a basket on him at one point two. Just important moments
in the game. I mean, it just there were too many mistakes here. The timeout thing is
baffling. Like you said, it's it's part of what's been his MO. But I also think that like, okay,
if you want to do that in the regular season, that's fine. You mess this series up and your
seasons over against the team where you theoretically should be better. Okay, your your players are
looking at you to call timeout at that point. There's a rhythm. There's a natural rhythm to it.
I know me as someone watching the game on TV, I'm like, I'm just planning on getting up to go get a
glass of water or something. There's natural rhythms. Certainly when a team is running off
points like Miami was Miami. This is not a high powered offense. When they're getting 46 on you
in a quarter on the road to start a series, there's something wrong. But, you know, there were too many
mistakes, whether it's the timeouts, whether it's Prichard, whether it's small things that are massive
at the same time. If it's Robert Williams saving a ball that's going out of bounds and throwing it
directly to Kevin Love, if it's Malcolm Brogdon misidentifying which shooter he should be paying
attention to in the last seconds of a quarter and going to go cover Cody Zeller from three
instead of guarding Max Strus in the corner, that caused you three points. There were just way
too many mistakes like that. There were too many plays where Robert Williams is watching Jimmy Butler
operate kind of underneath the basket and he loses sight of Bam out of bio who just kind of floats
free and hits that little push jumper that he takes. There were too many mistakes. Miami knows
coming into the series, they can't make too many mistakes. There's a talent disadvantage that they're
at. Boston doesn't play that way and, you know, they make mistakes between Tatum and Brown,
they had almost as many turnovers between the two of them as Miami did as a team. And that's not
going to work. Certainly, when you factor in the Tatum's mistakes, the return overs essentially in
90 seconds that he made, that's not going to cut it here, especially when Spolstra is not going to
coach his team. I'm not going to say Missoula's coaching his team out of a series, but Spolstra is
very, very, very unlikely to do that. It's more of an open question with Joe Missoula, certainly
off what we just saw in Game 1. Yeah, Miami has two huge advantages in this series. One is Jimmy Butler
and he dominated. The other is Joe Missoula and he dominated and that can happen for Boston going
into Game 2. I'm Claire Crofton and in my new podcast, The Fighting Parks, we're going out on the ice
with the most violent hockey team ever. That was guerrilla warfare at its highest. The
Danbury Treasures wanted to win at any cost. They take that. They take that. All done when breaking
loose here in Tashocab. He wanted to break every bone in his body, literally throwing him like a
rag doll. Going bananas here at the Danbury ice arena. They can't restrain him right now.
So are they heroes or villains? You decide. I don't know what to say and I don't want to get shot.
There's the FBI side. There's my side and somewhere in the middle is the truth.
Listen to the Fighting Parks on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your
podcasts. Hey there wrestling fans. This is Freddie Prinze Jr. and I'm excited to announce that
wrestling with Freddie is coming back for season three. Joining me once again is my awesome co-host
Jeff Dye. Together we'll be highlighting the best matches of the week, giving you our expert
opinions on the biggest feuds and storylines and discussing all the latest developments in the world
of pro wrestling. We're also bringing back our fan favorite Sawed Quests and adding some more
fun stuff along the way. And of course we'll be joined by some amazing guests. So whether you're
a longtime fan or just getting into wrestling, we have you covered. So be sure to tune in every week,
hit that subscribe button and take that walk down the aisle with us for all the action and
excitement in wrestling with Freddie. We can't wait to hear from you this season. Listen to
wrestling with Freddie as part of the Michael Turo Podcast Network available on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey folks, this is Brent Reeves with me either
new podcast, This Country Life. You ever wondered how to pick out a good dog, bowl up a mess of crawfish
or catch catfish on a try line? Well on This Country Life I'm inviting you into my home
where I'll teach you all of that and more as I share my favorite stories of country living,
rural America and the good-hearted hard-working people that I call friends. It'll go like this.
In each episode I'll be telling the story of a good hunt, a close call, a hard time, a good time,
whatever and then I'll talk on some country skills that I think you ought to know. Now sit
out with me each week and I promise you'll walk away from the table with some real country wisdom.
Wherever you live I think I've got a thing or two I can teach you. Listen to this country
life and the Bear Greece feed on the iHeartRadio app on Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Alright I want to talk about the John Moran story. I know it's been a few days
since the incident but we haven't had a chance as a group to kind of weigh in on it and have been
some developments over the last couple of days. Over the weekend, Saturday into Sunday,
John Moran was caught on an Instagram live with a gun in his hand. Last time it was at a Denver
nightclub this time it was in the car of one of his close friends. As always this clip was
quickly cut and disseminated. It was everywhere within hours. The Grizzlies immediately
suspended John Moran from all team activities whatever that means in this moment and the NBA
announced they were going to investigate. Adam Silver was at the draft lottery and Silver seemed
pretty baffled by all of it and even though there is an investigation ongoing he did say he's assuming
the worst which means he's assuming that yes John Moran was once again in a car or once again
somewhere with a gun in his hand. So look I think all three of us can agree this was insane just a
completely idiotic move by John Moran. So but I think the question I want to ask and we'll start
with you Ron. What's the league response going to be? What should it be for a situation like this
because look you've seen you know the Fox News type say well he wasn't breaking any laws so
there shouldn't be that significant a penalty. You had JJ Redick on TV saying why is everyone
looking to bring the wrath of God down on John Moran. JJ JJ knows better JJ knows exactly why
the NBA has to come down on John Moran. So, Ron what do you think the NBA punishment
should be is going to be how does the NBA respond to all this?
Yeah that's obviously the big question and before I dive into it let is at least acknowledge that
there's like a variety of factors at play here. Yes it is frustrating to think that you know we
can see literal like Christmas cards from politicians holding assault rifles you know we can agree that
there is just the optics of a black player holding a gun versus a white player holding a gun like
there is a there is a difference there like we can agree that there are a lot of factors at play
to an extent but having said all that at the end of the day. John Moran is the reason he's being
held to such a high standard you know Charles Barkley said this on TNT and I'm I don't like
fully agree with Charles but it's like Charles is like you know you're getting paid a hundred
million dollars there's a certain things you can't do like yeah to an extent it's like
John Moran is held to certain standards because he's he's part of the NBA he has this big shoe deal
with Nike like it sounds silly because again we see like you know people all the time like posting
photos of themselves with their guns we can like come take my guns away and you're like this is
crazy like but it's not about breaking laws or not breaking laws it's kind of just are you being a
good representative of this league like you're being expect to sell a product sell things and
people don't want to see this and especially after what happened in Denver for him to just do this
again is is baffling it's it's like you said it I was shocked I was like this guy can't be serious
about doing this again and even just going beyond like there's this commercial aspect of it right
like oh is he you know hurting the money beyond that it's like like are you making yourself a target
like is this the you know I understand I'm not even against the idea of NBA players owning guns like
players have come out and spoken about why you know they might feel it's necessary I saw
Paul Pierce tweeting when I'm Paul Pierce remember was stabbed before a season he's like I carried a
gun after that like you know these guys are occupying a different reality than us in many ways but
for me with Josh just is listen this is the standard that's expected of someone of your stature of
your importance of your visibility and even if he's not breaking any laws that doesn't make this like
this was just a baffling I could not believe it when I saw it I was like there's this is an old
video like why would he even do this again and I think I do think the league I don't think it's
to be a full season but I'm sure Adam Silver regrets the way he handled it last time because he didn't
bring the hammer down he's trying to be the compassionate commissioner I think you have to
give him 20 games or something like that like but more importantly it's gonna be more than 20
buddy yeah exactly what can happen is him being like I was in Florida for two days now I'm doing a
sit down with Jalen Rose like sitting at the first time the NBA already gave John Moran his
Mulligan um you know I wrote this in the immediate aftermath I feel like from the league's perspective
they showed John Moran compassion last time John Moran talked about his anxiety issues John
Moran talked about his depression issues he talked about mental health issues and I think the NBA
took all that into account when they issued the eight game suspension which really you know the
money aside was only like a two game suspension the the gris is sent him away for about six games
of it and then he was allowed to come back after two more I think the NBA felt like they dangled
the proverbial carrot for John Moran and now I think the stick is coming for him you know I had
people within the league talking to me about look if what happened didn't change John Moran if losing
40 million dollars which John Moran effectively did because he didn't make one of the all NBA
teams as a result and I think he didn't make it all NBA team almost exclusively because of this
like he had the numbers to be an all NBA player didn't make it all NBA team because
of what happened in this incident if he didn't learn his lesson after the distractions that he
caused had something to do with Memphis losing in the first round of the playoffs if you didn't
learn from any of that it's gonna take a lot more for John Moran to learn a lesson Harry I'm with
you my guess is it's at least 30 games and it could be as much as 40 to 45 I think we could be talking
about half a season for John Moran there may be an appeal and it may be knocked down but you know
Adam Silver in addition to being probably pissed off about John Moran less than two months after
sitting in his office doing the exact same thing Adam Silver also doesn't have to worry about a
nice making nice with the union right now the collective bargaining agreement's done that's wrapped
it you know he's got seven years before he has to deal with any substantive issues with the union
and he might not even be commissioner in seven years so I think this is a a moment for Adam Silver
don't see an opportunity because that's too that's the wrong word but a moment for Adam Silver
to send a message which I can tell you is something that a lot of people a lot of executives on other
teams are urging him to do to send a message for something like this yeah I mean look we've we've
I think each one of us at one point or another has been critical of Adam Silver that we you know
to some extent he got to enjoy if you want to call it a ride or what have you in the wake of the
Donald Sterling stuff it's been a while since he's really come down since the league as a whole
has really come down decisively about something we watched the Kyrie Irving episode earlier this
year which by the way as ugly as it was and it was ugly and I I denounced it as such
uh it was not criminal and it was not it did not involve guns it was not it was not this
specifically it was not the idea of someone waving around guns it was not someone that was in the
news constantly for having threatened or suggesting threatening people or holding onto a gun or
anything like that this is ugly in a different sort of way it's also someone that is like ascending
at the time who just took Kyrie's shoe deal essentially there's a lot of so that to me the
Kyrie stuff was ugly in a certain way the league did not come down on him about that until the
Nets had an opportunity to handle it first it seems like the league prefers to let teams handle
this stuff first even with Jon Maran's first episode the fact that this is not even is it even two
months after Jaa was was punished the first time less than two months after crazy I thought it was
a bad look optically that um the day that Jon Maran met with Adam Silver he had a sit down
scheduled with Jalen Rose I remember thinking like this can't be real like that Jalen Rose
that he's he's tweeting out images and video from his sit down with Jon Maran when I think it was
earlier that week that we'd even heard that he was in counseling and even for that it we don't even
know what it was for uh it was not a long stay a lot of people at the time were quietly saying like
if he had real issues there's no possibility that they could have been resolved within the
short amount of time he was there um dealing with them and I wrote in my column as compassionately as
I could essentially shame on Jon Maran's folks if not Jon himself for trying to frame this as
solely a mental health thing the second you get in trouble when there've been four or five other
things that you've essentially skated on whether they happened or not there was enough smoke there
to potentially be fire so you know don't give other people that are also dealing or are dealing
with mental health issues a bad rap from the standpoint that like only when it involves guns
like oh you know like I've got to get my mental health straight that's not fair to those people
it particularly looks bad now that even after using that even after serving your suspension
even after missing out as you said I put him on my all NBA team because I said a threshold of 60
games that I felt like guys needed to play to make them eligible for the team that I wanted to put
together I think he played 61 or 62 he barely made it um if he played 69 or 67 or 68 with his numbers
on the second seat in the west he's a lock he would have made it but what are we even talking
about here that not to mention that the person that he was with in this video is someone that had
been banned from games by the league so it's just such a bad look all the way around I think the league
is absolutely going to drop the hammer here to send a message in part because we've all been
getting on the league about not having sent messages with some of this other stuff I would not be
surprised if he got 50 games I think he'll get at least 40 and I and I think it's sad I think
from once I agree with the old heads on this like if you want to do all that stuff that's fine it
won't be in the NBA and it's it's sad I really hope it's straightened that he straightens it out
um I thought one of the best suggestions Mark Spears had marks marks that I saw was
something Mark Spears said about the idea of Carmelo had a lot of early career missteps a DUI a weed
charge he he had been in the stop snitching video he had gotten to fight uh and sucker punch someone
at Madison Square Garden and that was when David Stern dropped the proverbial hammer on him because
this was in the wake of Mouse at the Palace everybody else involved they got five or six games Carmelo
got 15 and he was like I'm absolutely making an example of you because you mean more to the league
than these other guys do and you've had multiple missteps here um so I'm making an example of you
till you figure it out basically and uh I would be surprised if Adam Silver doesn't do that not to be
light-hearted punny about it John Moran has given him the ammunition to do that here and I don't
even like I don't even understand people that are like oh like yes the the tone of guns in this
country and everything is silly and ridiculous and far beyond what it should be but the morality
clause in the NBA existed far earlier than where we're at now with some of this gun stuff uh you're
not gonna force Nike and power aid and the NBA at large to have to deal with this guy if they
don't feel like he can refrain from putting guns up on an IG live or his friends doing it it just
looks like a total lack of care it's not even with regards to any of this right it's not even it's
not even like John Moran can't own a gun it's like why do you have to wave him around on Instagram
man like what what is going on these new friends that's that's one of the very but you know friends
might need new friends yeah because that was what I I agreed and this is where I'm saying like I
don't I've never felt like as much of an old head as I have in the last week with regards to how
this punishment should be handled kitty smith said that on inside the NBA last night where he was like
John Moran is the friend that you need to be concerned about because at a certain point
I'm sure people told John to stop hanging out with this one dude
John clearly doesn't want to and and also if that wasn't Jaws Instagram live it was the friends
so it's like well why are you if you said that you also took ownership of the fact that part of
the reason your season came up short was because you were a distraction this was a couple weeks
ago not even months ago they got knocked out in the first round albeit by a team that like very
easily could still go to the finals maybe not very easily because yoke is just good but
like I just don't there's a total disconnect here and it's a little premature to say this but for
the first time really is Memphis is forcing this guy away from the team for a while you start to
wonder is he actually the future of our franchise like if all this stuff still doesn't set it for
him the money the fact that we were just knocked out the fact that this happened two months ago
and that you sat down face to face with the commissioner the fact that you've invoked
mental health with regards to it the fact that there've been all these other things that he
potentially could have gotten in real trouble for that frankly lucked out that some of it wasn't
investigated carefully because people aren't really looking to make an example of someone that is
that big a name in the community quite frankly he has been fortunate to not have gotten any more
punishment than what he's had so I you know I don't wish anything on him I wish that this would get
through to him so that it's not a recurring issue anymore but you I am now at a point where I'm just
I'm worried for him because I don't know what the wake-up call is the the scariest thing I've
heard over the last few days is it's just the idea that people that really are about that life
look at this and like oh so this is what you want life to be like but you don't know it and I think
that that actually does agitate a crowd of people that do know what that life is and I just don't
know what we're talking about the clip you're talking about the clip I think from Brick Baby the
the rapper part of the um that was making the rounds on social media uh who is you know
is or was one of the crips back of the day and he was out there saying what are you doing jon you
can't you can't be throwing up that cripsign you know during games and if you are you better pay us
then you're gonna pay the crips to do that like I mean joss strikes me as a guy you know who
I don't know everything about his background but you know kind of where he's from in South
Carolina you know he grew up with his parents he went to college like he he strikes me as a guy
that wants to be about a life that he's not and you know the the danger of that the legality of
what jon maran did in that car is not an issue here like take one of us like if it was one of us
in a car flashing a gun we'd probably get fired like from our jobs like not because it was illegal
but because we work for private companies that have the right to do whatever they want if they
feel like we are uh tarnishing their image and the NBA is courting and has deals with you know
family-friendly products whether it's you know soda powerade waters come like everything they
get their hands and all kinds of pies that drive revenue for the NBA so you know it's it's there's
there's a reason the league is probably going to come down pretty hard on jon maran because
they can't have this become a thing with jon maran or anybody else that thinks it's acceptable to
do stuff like this i mean i did i did think that you know having gang members way in and criticize
you was wild that was a wild one i can't remember that one at all yeah i'd never i'd never seen that
before um i i mean if this is not a wake-up call for jon maran i don't know what it is but bottom
line i'm gonna guess between 40 and 50 games for jon maran next season and if it ever happens again
multi-year suspension we could be talking about i mean i think the NBA is gonna come down pretty
hard this time i think the unions probably gonna fight them on it you know whatever they decide to
do uh but i i think this will be jon maran slash have you ever have have you i mean mannecks here in
l.a. and and had to profile people of the stature before probably in settings where maybe it wouldn't
be a crazy thing there are a lot of celebrities that when you're in their space hanging out with them
um that they will just when you're at an event at their place they will literally collect your
phone not that i'm like encouraging jon be waving around guns at any point but certainly not when
he's like on a video camera or having a phone like at a certain point but it's so self-inflicted
it's it's not even like it's just you you need to like jot maybe doesn't need to have a phone or on
him when he's like doing anything and maybe the the circle of people that he's gonna have need to
not have phones with them when they're like because it's just it's self-inflicted in a way and that
doesn't mean that stuff that he does won't be caught another way that we won't see images from
a bar or a club or something surveillance footage to someone he uses which that was a funny image but
i i just i met em at a total loss and it's just it seems over such stupid stuff you know the one
last thing i'll cite that barclay said uh and tying it back to what i said about carmello and the fact
that mark spears wrote a piece about carmello putting a team of advisors around him after he had early
career missteps with with stuff as it related to the law and just as far as the nb s morality
stuff and whatever else it's fine to have a gun it's fine to have someone in your party in your
circle that has a gun let that be your security guy jaws probably at a place where he needs one
when you when you have people who are affiliated weighing in on stuff as it relates to you you
probably should have one but jaw also just being a big name celebrity as it relates to the inmates
should have one but as barclay was saying yesterday and i agree with them you will never know i have
it you will never know my security guard has it because you're not waving it around because that's
not what it's for and irrespective of of the conversation around jaw and the country and
where our country is at with guns it's an issue it's a problem but the people that make the argument
of like oh we should be able to do what he wants because of gun culture in this country
they're not they they don't have they're not worth hundreds of millions of dollars they're not
a corporate face for the league and i get it that at 23 in a jersey in a uniform
that people aren't thinking about it corporately but watch press conferences when you see all those
companies that are behind them hell chris you're sitting from like you said we're part of a brand
you don't get that luxury if you want to call it that it doesn't feel like luxury to me by the way of
waving guns around but you don't get that luxury you don't get that pass when you are representing
the chrisleys the nba powerade nikey you know his nba finals are sponsored by youtube tv like
they're corporate sponsorships everywhere and to your point if you're jaw mering and you want to
act like that you have every right to do it like as a resident of this country you can do it you
just can't do it and expect your employer the nba to tolerate it and to pay you the kind of money
that it's been paying you i'm klei krofton and in my new podcast the fighty pups we're going out on
the ice with the most violent hockey team ever that was guerrilla warfare at its highest the
dambury trashes wanted to win at any cost he wanted to break every bone in his body literally
throwing him like a rag doll going bananas here at the denbury ice arena they can't restrain him
right now so are they heroes or villains you decide i don't know what to say and i don't want
to get shot there's the fbi side there's my side and somewhere in the middle is the truth
listen to the fighty pucks on the i-heart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts
you and i are going to have a problem you want to say what i'm saying to you well come to the jungle
hey there wrestling fans this is freddy prince jr and i'm excited to announce that wrestling with
freddy is coming back for season three joining me once again is my awesome co-host jeff die together
we'll be highlighting the best matches of the week giving you our expert opinions on the biggest
feuds and storylines and discussing all the latest developments in the world of pro wrestling
we're also bringing back our fan favorite solid quests and adding some more fun stuff along the
way and of course we'll be joined by some amazing guests so whether you're a long time fan or just
getting into wrestling we have you covered so be sure to tune in every week hit that subscribe
button and take that walk down the aisle with us for all the action and excitement in wrestling
with freddy we can't wait to hear from you this season listen to wrestling with freddy as part of
the michael tour podcast network available on the i-heart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts hey folks this is brent rives with me either's new podcast this country life you ever
wondered how to pick out a good dog bowl up a mess of crawfish or catch catfish on a tridelive
well on this country life i'm inviting you into my home where i'll teach you all of that and more
is i share my favorite stories a country living real america and the good-hearted hard-working
people that i call friends it'll go like this in each episode i'll be telling the story of a good
hunt a close call a hard time a good time whatever and then i'll talk on some country skills that i
think you ought to know now sit out with me each week and i promise you'll walk away from the table
with some real country wisdom wherever you live i think i've got a thing or two i can teach you
listen to this country life in the berry greece feed on the i-heart radio app on apple podcast
or wherever you get your podcasts all right i want to finish with what we saw this week in
philadelphia the sixers go out in the second round the first casualty is doc rivers fired after three
seasons on the job up you know look fair maybe not but surprising not really because
look this sixers team came in with the most pressure on it um of any team in the playoffs uh they had to
at least advance past the second round they didn't do it they blew a three two series lead
coach is always the first to fall but rohan i interpreted this as a overture to uh james harden
because i was in that sixers locker room after game seven and i was standing there when a reporter
asked james harden uh what he thought what his relationship was like with doc rivers and does he
want him back and james harden said it's okay meaning his relationship with doc is okay you knew
that in there that it was one of the other and the sixers moved quickly to at least signal that
they were going to choose uh james harden so uh i guess the question for you is were you surprised
by the decision to fire doc rivers and you know what does this mean for the future of james harden
who has a very complicated off season ahead of them definitely not surprised as you mentioned
the coach is kind of the low hanging fruit i actually thought doc did a really good job with
this team throughout this season he really leaned into that hearted and beat they can roll this
in a way that i think maybe fans are upset that he did not last year they the fact that they pushed
boston to seven i don't think anyone expected that frankly i don't think anyone expected
feel like to be up three two and have a chance to end this series at home the way they did
and do i hold doc responsible for what happened in that fourth quarter no i do not do i hold him
responsible for in beat and harden both laying massive eggs uh in game seven with you know all
time choke jobs and pathetic performances and all the turnovers no i don't hold doc responsible i
think he was actually a good coach for this team what's baffling to me chris you also heard darryl
mori say in his press conference about the firing that joe lambi was shocked to receive this news
now is darryl maybe playing that up for the media a little bit no i don't i don't think he was i
yeah everything i had heard from people around joe lwis and not pleased and joelyn would give
him resounding endorsement yes yes in beat gave a very you know i love you know he thought he'd done
a fantastic job why is darryl mori like catering to james harden as opposed to joe lambi that's what
i don't understand i know mori came in uh you know this is going to sound more sensational it is
like in beats not mori's guy right like he didn't draft him but even darryl moriess we're starting
to know who the heart the the single most important aspect of this franchise is and that's joe lambi
why are you catering to james harden i i you know that there's rumors already they might bring in
mike dantony i i'm not saying that they should not have gotten a different coach i could see why they
might need someone um i just think that they're going about it completely backwards catering to
harden here what why do you want james like do you are you sure you want james harden back like
you can't just let him walk uh for salary reasons but i i'd be i think they're best but it's like look
for a sign and trade for harden or something this summer you're gonna bring him back on a max and
get him the coach he wants after that playoff performance outside of the 240 point games he had
he had 67 and the other five combined i i'm just blown away that filley seems to want to get back
into bed with harden after way the playoffs shaked out i i i would be nervous if i were six or
sad the degree to which they seem to think harden is important part of this team moving forward
i mean all i've heard the last couple of days from people i respect on television is that it would
be a disaster if james harden walked away from filley of yeah i don't really see it that way if
james harden walks away going into next season yeah they'll be without a terrific all-star caliber
guard but i think with more opportunity tyries maxi will play better i think he has
another level to get to um if he's has the ball in his hands a lot more um you would have to buy
as harris's contract which has one year remaining at a big number you could trade that for another
piece to to the puzzle and you still have joel and bee who is gonna be 30 next year in his prime
coming off an mvp season so i don't think it would be catastrophic what i do think will be
catastrophic philadelphia and i've said this repeatedly is giving james harden a max contract and
it feels like that is going to be what it takes you had chris hanes reporting that
harden is going to opt out of this contract not a huge surprise there old 35 million
he's got to be looking for between 40 and 50 million per year on a four-year deal and the
sixers as has been noted elsewhere uh do not have the advantage of being able to offer him that fifth
year so it's open season right now for james harden with every team with cap space in the nba
and these rumors about houston even though i think they're wild like i think it would be absolutely
bonkers if the houston rockets go down and sign james harden if they give james harden four years
and two hundred million dollars adam silver should seize control the franchise and
operate it because it would be one of the more insane moves i have ever seen a front office make
this is not about james harden the player it's about where houston is right now
with its organization in the infancy of a rebuild where you have jaylin green you've got jamaari
jabari spith you've got aparin sanghoon you're going to get another top draft pick with the fourth
overall pick they are not in the kind of position where you need to bring james harden in if we're
being quite blunt james harden is not exactly the veteran role model i think i would want
some of these guys around there's a reason james harden wants to come back to houston
and be part of that organization some of the reporting around james harden was that he was
looking for you know a chance to kind of play his way and you know be part of a competitive
situation well what he wants seemingly is a return to the yesteryear days when he was the mvp
and i thought your butts there a turn in the club sorry i mean well yeah like he did but i thought
you were going there no i mean like look he he wants he likes houston yeah like the scene down
there so i mean there's no there's no disputing that um but if you're the rocket's your nuts nuts
that is absolutely insane but that seems to be in the water supply that seems to be a possibility
for james harden and if if philly thinks that's a possibility they're gonna have to grossly
overpay to keep him and if they give james harden a contract at four years and close to 40 million
or more per season that instantly becomes the most untradable contract in the nba it does because
harden's gonna be 34 at the start of next season this will take him up to age 38 he's already shown
signs of decline nobody's taking that contract on what i think re-signing james harden to that
type of deal does is i think it puts a ceiling on philadelphia and that ceiling is not championship
it's not i think if you don't re-sign him maybe in the short term at least on paper you are a worse
team but i think you're underestimating how much improved tyreese maxi will be with a bigger role
and i do think there's some maneuvering to be done with some of the flexibility that you've
created with with tabias harris's contract that is still out there with whatever draft assets you
have left to to make deals you can bring in a piece that works look harring milwaukey showed
that you don't need multiple superstars to win a championship you just need one alpha one big time
top five player and the right pieces around him and joell and beat is that alpha and is going to be
that alpha if he's healthy for two or three more years that should be the priority of philadelphia
re-signing harden at a big number that just seems crazy to me all right can i say this and um
i really hadn't thought about it so just now i i think
if if they re-sign harden at a big big number for more than i would say two years which if you
get him back i imagine he would not sign it unless it's for more than that that'll that will be the
the capstone and the end piece of the the process if we're not already there because i can't think
of a team and i i don't think i was discussing it with either of you all i was talking to my friends
about it i can't think of a team a high level team that's in the conversation basically every
year for championships that has shot itself in the foot more than philly there've been so many
high level mistakes they just got beat by one of them in the playoffs from the standpoint of okay
and i understand and i and like it's not to say that some of these weren't understandable
mistakes by the way markel fullts the jason tatum thing there's that there's the fact that they took
okafor in a draft that also had carl anthony towns they didn't quite get the number one pick but
porzingis turned out to be really really good uh so there's that aspect there is someone else is
still in the playoffs that is that they're watching kickass and jimmy butler and the fact that you
know depending on they they couldn't trade james harden from mccail bridges straight up today brooklyn
like it right they could have drafted mccail but they could have kept include like no three first
but they could have they could have kept them you know and then that was someone that like
i'll never forget that one specifically because that like i've always thought that it's very awkward
that we've got the mannecks is in the wojis in the shoms of the world that get information and can
report it before it's actually live on television on draft night me that i give me too much credit
on that one i mean you you be like you might get like in my ways i get one or i get one or two
draft picks you you you'll be knowing stuff before it happens even if you don't necessarily report it
or you're still waiting to hear more like i working with you now for a long enough i know that you know
certain things before they happen or that they might happen uh the mccail bridges thing was so
awkward though because his mom worked for the organization they drafted him esp and had it teed
up they already had him on camera talking to i guess it wasn't malica maybe at the time it was
rachel nickels or whoever it was but talking to him on camera about what it was going to be like to
be able to stay home play for an organization that you have a tie to and meanwhile we're back at the
ranch we're all on twitter like uh he's going to phoenix uh and so the fact that they shipped him out
there there's just been so many errors high level errors james harden signing a long-term deal
and i say this is someone that was blown away by the fact that he had 240 point games in this last
series like he still had there's still flickers and moments and and by the way he was great during
the regular season when he was healthy led to league and assist still was able to score still
was able to get downhill i think the biggest shift that we see with him is that he slowed down a tick
and that he does not drop valves at the same rate he's a better shooter than what he was several
years ago but that's not the problem here he's also not a great defender we've known that for a while
even if it was overstated a little bit he's not bad defense he's not going to age well at this point
like even if he's really important to your team now i always think that when the moment comes when
you're essentially over the cap and you don't have a replacement for someone uh because you can't go
out and get somebody else for real money because of where you're at capwise this is when teams make
bad mistakes and they and they made it the last time when butler was there figuring out that
situation and how much was ben simmons gonna worry about we didn't even i didn't even mention
ben simmons and all the mistakes they've made but i mean this would be this would take the cake on
some level and i think it would effectively close their window you have to trust that maxi is good
enough he's shown in moments where harden isn't there that he's ready to take that spot doesn't mean
they're gonna win a championship by lee like letting harden go but you have to ask like is the upside
of letting harden walk long term better than locking yourself into something that you can't trade
and i think the answer might very well be yes on that they have made mistake after mistake really
for the last five years going back to 2019 when they wouldn't extend that five-year contract to jimmy
butler uh i mean imagine where they'd be right now i mean is there any is there any better pairing
or pairing that you'd want more than jimmy butler and joell and be like two ultra competitive guys
hell out of him too incredibly so incredibly so so i i just think that that was the big mistake
i understand the logic behind trading simmons for harden and it's not like simmons has done
anything since then but even though you gave up real capital to go and get him you can't
look if you get him at three years 90 great bring him back absolutely if it costs you four years
anywhere from 160 to 200 hell no hard pass that is a franchise detonating deal it just is there's
only a couple teams that it even makes sense for him to go to on on big bigger money than what
you just talked about it makes any sense who does it like i mean houston it makes no sense and i
jump up and down on houston a lot i think they've made some gaffs over the last couple of years i
think scapegoating steven silas was one of them but uh i have the one team that makes sense okay and
it's because their owner can spend however much money he wants that's the clippers it's the only
team that makes sense they have the contracts they can get away with paying him for a couple
even up to three years they're opening a new arena you know their main guides are always
hurt that's the only team that makes a remote sense to me and even then it's like it's not like i
think it makes them the favorites but yes i i just can't get over that they're gonna find a coach
for james hardy like what are they like darryl mory's obsession with this guy i it could really
come back to hurt them if it's my dantony i give up bro it is dantony bro come on is is jwelen
be getting any touches in that kind of system like how does that work i don't like dantony
at amary stautomar but this is a different kind of player altogether they weren't letting
amary post up 15 times again that's all right well heat seltics back in action on friday night on
thursday we get lakers and nuggets we're back on monday to break down all of it here on the podcast
the meantime subscribe rate and review everywhere you get your podcast
.