Mavs Happy Hour: May means the NBA Draft Lottery is near

Mavs Happy Hour: May means the NBA Draft Lottery is near

Final attack point. Maverick’s inbound. It’s Pod Maverick, the Mavic, hosted by Kirk Henderson and Josh Bow. [Music] Wee. Hello. Welcome to Pod Maver Happy Cappy Hour. We’ll see how long that the new intro music lasts. It has already been flagged by YouTube uh as being copyrighted despite the fact that it was made by my uh new podcast company, Odyssey. Uh thank you so much for joining me. It is Friday. It’s a rainy Friday here in Dallas. It’s about 3:00. Saw that the Byron Nelson got rained out today, which is just, you know, it’s one of those things where feels like it happens at the same point every year. Um for anybody who is watching and here on YouTube this afternoon, there is a link in the um notes the not the notes in the comments which you can click and come join the show here. Uh second straight week we’re going to try to do one of these every Friday. Uh, you know, as if you followed Pod Maverick and Mav’s Moneyball podcast for a long time, you know that I like to do these shows with, you know, you guys. And, you know, um, kind of in a little bit of a lull in this week before, I guess two weeks, 10 days before the NBA draft lottery, which will be held on my birthday, May 12th. So, really looking forward to uh to that. But in the meantime, it’s it’s kind of scraps in terms of making it out alive. You know, Josh Bo and I did a show on Wednesday where we talked about the playoffs quite a bit, but you know, there’s just in terms of of what we have going on right now, it’s it’s just kind of a a little bit of a lull. You know, there’s the new like news like what do you what do you consider news? Um Kyrie Irving looking like walking well while at the Lakers game. That was something. Uh other than that, we’re just kind of we’re just kind of hanging out. We started doing um what we started doing our player reviews over at uh Mavs Moneyball. So that was a fun one. Uh Josh and I’ll probably start talking about those just kind of going player by player, but I didn’t really want to get to that yet. Well, we got two folks that are uh waiting to join the show real quick. So, I’m just going to kind of hop to those and then I might hop back to some of the other things that I had planned to talk about, but there’s really just not a lot. So, I’ll be interested to see what uh my man SC who kicked us off last week. How you doing, buddy? I’m good, Kirk. How are you, man? I’m okay. The off season is definitely the preferred time for me to deal with these stupid YouTube problems. But, uh it it is very funny because it’s like I just don’t check my stuff as much. It’s like I’m excited. We get new music and then I log in. It’s like this is copyrighted. Like that can’t be possible. It’s made up. Oh well. Specifically planned it for it not to be copyrighted. That’s right. So and all that stuff’s algorithmically break. So it’s like what are you going to do? Yeah. There’s no human at the end of it. But Yes, sir. Uh no, I’ve been uh so I was stuck in jury duty all week. So I have been just taking in NBA stuff. Um nothing mass specific today. I did want to bring up the pop. The pop thing has me thinking just about transition of team identity. Sure. In the NBA cuz like as long as I’ve been alive, the Spurs and Greg Papovic are one and the same to me. So, it’s interesting to see. I know he’s still going to be the president of basketball operations or something like that. Um, so he’ll still be around in some form or format, but it does feel kind of a close of an era when Pop won’t be on the sideline coaching the the hated Spurs team in my head. Um, but we’ve seen that. We’ve seen the identity change of the Mavs this year. We’ve seen kind of a change. I mean, the Heat are really bad and they got rid of Jimmy Butler. I guess Spo is still there, but feels like they’re transitioning to some different version of the Heat um as they retoolled to I guess try to get someone else there. The Bucks feel like they’re on the verge of a change in identity. It just feels like we’re on the precipice of a change in the seeding of the NBA and it’s been an interesting It’s like we’re in between whatever was and whatever will be coming up era of the NBA. I certainly think there’s something to that and you know some of it is just flatout guys aging out. Um, and then I I think there’s there’s elements, you know, there’s always unforeseen consequences when you do like an collective bargaining agreement. And this one is is so restrictive that it’s making even the most creative old school execs like, yeah, Pat Riley’s a thousand years old, but I think he’s still pretty good at the basics. And he’s just he’s probably, you know what, I’m tired of this. I’m tired of this. and and they’re they’re not going to be able to to put together really that competitive of a team without doing a tear down. And what I find so fascinating is I think like 20 of the 30 teams are like over the salary cap and you can’t do anything if you’re over the salary cap. You just can’t. And so it’s like like these teams are all sort of changing. They’re aging out. Um, you know, you see like like David Adelman being a coach. Well, that’ll throw me for like the next five years because I’m just used to Rick Adelman. Um, and and there’s just there’s there’s a lot of that going on. Um, you know, LeBron is just kind of the last guy of a previous two, three generation thing. And you know, you sort of saw that post Jordan where I guess you had from like roughly 98 to pro I know that the the everybody’s really everybody looks fondly back at like the the Kobe Shack domination years, but I don’t think anybody the NBA was not that popular post Jordan like it it experienced a major slump. And so it’s it’s I wonder if we’re if we’re heading towards something like that with some of the aging superstars and coaches and stuff heading out. It’s it’s it’s interesting. I I I mean, I hope not because obviously I like following the league. Yeah. I also think on the Kobe thing, in my opinion, it seems that a lot of people look really fondly back on that because a lot of their favorite players now or their favorite players growing up also were like huge Kobe fans or like took a lot of inspiration from him. And so his mythos has grown. his impact on the NBA has only grown because he impacted a ton of the younger stars who made it to the NBA and got popular and got big. But I don’t know, it’s a it’s weird. I I mean, I’m still a fan. Um, but it is it feels like a changing of the guard or like we’re just in a season where it’s like in between. We we haven’t gotten to what’s next, but we’re we’re almost done with what’s before. So, I don’t you I mean you can make the argument with like the the TNT postgame show sort of transitioning for like a year to ESPN. You have Amazon firing up their new set of coverage which I think the the NBA sort of desperately needs like NB I’m excited about that one excited about that team. I am too because I I think the NBA needs some different voices talking about the game like I just need someone that watches the game. Sure. Sure. And and I know I know that people really enjoy that group before and I think I do too. But it was like like the Shaq argument the other night where he was yelling about Giannis and it’s like you very clearly didn’t see what happened which is why you have this opinion. He was like Giannis needs to stop being a punk and it’s like Giannis was just standing there as an old man was screaming at him like what what are we talking about buddy? It’s kind of the same thing that’s happening as Shaq is doing the same exact thing. So, it’s it’s just one of these these it’s an odd point for league coverage. Um, and and I think there’s an opportunity to pivot from it, but you know, somebody in the chat said, “How about all this Lucas slander?” And it’s just like it’s just such a boring way to watch sports for me where it’s like ah and and I’ I’ve experienced it with some of my friend groups where it’s a couple of guys that just are really invested in kicking the [ __ ] out of Luca and it’s like I remember after the Mavs beat Anthony Edwards in the playoffs last year, I didn’t think about Anthony Edwards again. I was just like, “Oh, okay. He’s done. Bye.” I’m not going to sit here and like pound the guy for three days after they lost. It’s boring. The LA guys in my group chat had a quite a lot to say about Luca as the series went on and as it ended. Yeah, though. I’m I’m quietly not unhappy. Uh I’m quietly happy that we don’t have to have some of those nuanced discussions right now. I kind of I said the same thing where I was like, “Buddy, he’s your problem now.” Like I will defend the guy still, but I don’t have to defend him that much anymore because he’s not on my team. So, whatever. Yeah, that’s that’s definitely the case for me. Uh yeah, it’s going to be kind of a another quiet week or so and then we’ll start to to really get to pump up and and you know, wish cast a little bit. Uh interestingly, you know, I put it about in in the the title about the lottery. So, I ran this poll at Mavs Moneyball this week. Uh it asked two questions. I’m only allowed to ask three for the way the software works and I couldn’t think of a third one. I said, you know, do you think the Dallas Maverick is going to move up in the draft lottery? So, it’s like a really ridiculous question because everybody knows the odds are like next to nothing, like 2% for I mean, I I guess it’s it’s like 10%. It’s low is the point. But, the Mavericks have never moved up ever, which is very actually hard to do. Like, they’ve just they’ve either sank or or or stayed in the same place. And 40% of my respondents thought that this was the year that the Mavericks would move up, which is just to me I it kind of warmed my dead heart a little bit because it was uh it’s like okay, people are still hopeful still hopeful about something. And then the next question and this one really blew my mind was I said, do you think the Mavericks are going to keep the pick? And seven out of 10 fans said yes that the Mavericks will keep the pick. And that I I agree with the second hope for the first and if they ended up trading back actually to try to grab some additional assets because their cupboards are bare. I don’t know that I’d be upset about that either. No, the the d I just never see tradebacks in a really effective way. But other than like Cuban do ineffective way doing it in what the um Shane Larkin draft. You mean former Mavs superstar Shane Larkin? That’s right. That’s right. I would be I would be kind of okay. I mean, I’d be I I def desperate desperately want them to keep the pick because I like picks. It gives me something to talk about and it’s just fun to invest in a younger guy. It’s like I’m I’m kind of fed up with Max Christie by the end of the year, but he’s a young guy to look forward to. Um, and so that I I just hope they keep the pick because but right now they’re they’re just sort of staring at at um Cap apron, not like Oblivion or anything like that, but it’s just they have they have 13 guys under contract and they’re three or four million away. Now the cap could go up, which I think, you know, may might change things. I’m not really a cap expert, but it’s a bit of a it’s just a bit of a mess right now, the Mav salary cap number. So, I’m just I’m I’m hopeful that they keep the pick just because that would I think be I think give people that are are if if it’s an interesting player or they happen to move up or do something. It’s like it gives you something to root for which would be nice. And then I’ll leave with this. I do I’ve looked at a couple mocks just in my free time. Sure. Um and every time I see the Mavs projected to draft a white European, I laugh. And there’s no chance that happened. No chance that happens. No chance. the the BYU guy. It’s like that’s Demon has been on a list like he’s is like the the other Duke white guy and I’m like what what are we doing? I’ve seen uh the Illinois kid from Lithuania. Yes, that would be like he’s the most anti- Nico pick in like I see that and I say this person does not follow the Mavs because there’s no chance that happens. Great one. So anyway, hey well thank you for kicking us off. All right, sir. Have a good one, Kirk. Talk soon. Okay, Mike. Michael, what’s going on, brother? How are you, sir? Can you hear me? All right. Yeah, I’m good. I’m good. How are you doing? Can’t complain. It’s Friday, right? It is Friday and we’re here. So, doing something right. Hey. Uh, so I had a I had a little something that I’ve been been sort of justating on for the last few days and and honestly, even maybe back to February feels a little Monday morning quarterback now that the now that the Lakers season is over, too. you know, it’s the end of Dallas, it’s the end of Luca, it’s the end of that saga, at least until, you know, maybe next year or whenever, but uh it it got me thinking of just sort of the the extent of the trade and things like that. And I know we’re beating this dead horse now, but I thought of a few parties that didn’t seem to get a whole lot of coverage and some of the ramifications that might impact them. Sure. one being the Lakers because everybody sort of anointed them as championship favorites. Now that obviously didn’t happen so the perspective changes and the other being Bill Duffy. Um you know I had thought of him almost immediately after the trade well after the whatever 48 hours of shock. So call call it maybe February 5th. I I I had the inkling of the thought, but for those who don’t know, and I’m sure anybody watching this has a pretty good sense, you know, Duffy was Steve Nash’s agent, had somewhat of a falling out, somewhat of a chilly chilly relationship with the Mavericks. Oh, yeah. For years. Um, I remember when we drafted Luca thinking, “Oh my god, this this whole Bill Duffy thing, this whole Nash thing from 15 years prior or whatever it was at the time, that’s going to come back and haunt us from this this Euro guy that we’re not going to get now.” And obviously obviously it didn’t work out that way. But my point being is I was thinking of it and I’m I’ve got a piece going. I might you might see this on the website sooner sooner than not. But I thought of Bill Duffy’s standpoint on this and I believe for the most part Luca was the the the certainly the biggest name since Steve Nash that’s been with the Mavs. I think there were a handful of others. Yeah. No, there I I don’t remember who I read it from, but there was like when it became clear that the Mavericks were were really going to pursue him. I think that there was a lot of attempts before the draft to sort of repair that relationship. A lot of it coming from Cuban’s side since he’s the one who botched the whole thing, right? Um, I recall that as well. Yeah. And there was a lot of like collaborative stuff going on with all that for years and years, I think. And and and that’s Yeah. He’s he’s he’s definitely a major player. I mean, he’s one of the biggest agents. Yeah. And I just wonder, you know, nobody seems to like to talk about anybody else’s salary or sometimes they do depending on the scenario I suppose, but like you think of like the average agent, you know, if you Google it, what do they they get three to 5% or whatever of the players contract, right? And everybody I was surprised honestly in February that the narrative of how much money Luca lost theoretically wasn’t more of a story. Me too. I mean, it’s it’s nine figures. It’s insane money. I mean, any how many players in the league, there’s probably 250 to 300 players in a league who would hope that what he lost was their biggest contract. You know what I mean? Like, like what he lost by getting traded? I mean, how many people on this planet would kill for that? How many people in the NBA would kill for it? You know what I mean? The numbers are staggering. But the one thing that kind of got in my head, the little like earworm I had was think of what Bill Duffy lost. If he’s getting 3% 5 percent of that, that that was the biggest single contract that Bill Duffy would have gotten money off of. Right. Because it would have been and Lucas signed the supermax. It would have been the biggest deal in NBA history. Every year there’s the biggest deal in NBA history. Right. That’s right. This time it would have been Bill Duffy’s. You’re talking millions of dollars that this guy lost. So his his two decade experience with the Mavericks is us disrespecting Nash, going into a cold war, repairing that relationship, trading his next prodigy in the middle of the night and costing him, Bill Duffy, millions of dollars in the process. You know what I mean? It’s when you think about all the relationship management or mismanagement, that one was one that’s kind of been just living in my head. Sure. And now that we’ve gotten that collective sort of release, you know, the Maverick season ending and the peripheral of Lucas season now ending, all these things just started hitting me and I was just dying to get on here. I was waiting for Friday just to talk about it and put it out in the universe because it’s like again, is anybody crying for Bill Duffy? No. But it’s it still hurts. I don’t care how much money you make. If you lose millions of dollars because of somebody else’s mismanagement, you’re you have a right to be pissed about that, I think. And I can’t imagine what he’s thinking, you know, like Yeah. But or when it our relationship with him and all of his all of his clients in the future. Yeah. Shrimp Cocktail in the chat asks, I haven’t even thought of this. Who is the the 20 who in the 2025 draft is a Duffy client? I honestly have no idea. I don’t either. Um, I don’t I mean the the what’s what has been kind of interesting draft related stuff is the NBA is really trying to tighten up on some of the shenanigans from previous years where they’re making everyone go to the combine, get measured. You might not necessarily have to do all the the athletic testing. Um, but I am pretty sure that that everyone’s going to have access to all the same medicals and stuff like that, which has been a a tactic in the past of of trying to for for clients trying to um I’m sorry, uh, agents try to redirect their clients to and from certain teams. So, the NBA will like level the playing field in that regard. And I mean, at the end of the day, everything is business and and you know, the you want your guys to go where they have a chance to play and things like that. and and I’m but I I’m generally not um not sure on who the client list is, but it’s it’s certainly something to consider because it’s but at least this time it’s a different ownership group. It’s a different and you know who knows how long who knows how long like Luca uh I’m sorry um Nico is actually going to be the GM. So it’s like when that sort of stuff happens it just you move away from it. So yeah. Yeah. And the the one other thing I’ll say quick, we can even segue this into the next uh caller if you will, but SC sort of put it in my head and it was something I was thinking of and and I’m going to apologize in advance because this is Monday morning quarterbacking at its finest, but but honestly, it was something that I had thought through since the trade. My my honest initial reaction after the trade and I think I might have even wrote written this in one of the pieces at the time was that in the very short term pending health which we know how that went. You know I thought the Mavs were not better for having made the trade but better than the Lakers in the moment. I thought the Lakers were sort of strapped and SC had talked about and I thought what you and he were talking about before really got my mind going. You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Bucks after the Lillard injury and things like that and and like you said, just leveling the playing field relative to the draft. I’m just curious what your thought is. It it seems like the NBA maybe with the best intentions really really overstepped the parody line in the sense that, you know, look, crazy stuff’s happened, right? Brunson, no way you’re never going to get Brunson on the Knicks. And then overnight they trade a handful of salaries for peanuts. They clear all the cap room, they they get Brunson, right? Crazier stuff has happened. But I look at teams like the Bucks, I look at teams like the Lakers. What the hell are they going to do? Like what are the Lakers choices? And this is another thing that that’ll probably end up in the piece I’m working on now of like sort of who got hurt by this trade. You got LeBron for a ton of money. You got Luca presumably for a ton of money. They’re just barely under the second apron. I mean, what the hell does that team do to get better? They were clearly outmatched. They clearly need a center. They’re they’re not a finished product. And I think the the Wolves, it’s a mess. It’s a mess. And and they’re going to the NBA’s going to I wouldn’t be shocked if there’s an addendum to the CBA after this summer. Like, they probably can’t do it right now, but the whole the way the CBA was constructed was basically to prevent uh the Clippers owner, Steve Balmer, from just like buying teams into Infinity, right? But it it’s what it what it has the disastrous effect and my friend Matt Moore uh wrote about this for his um his blog just that if it comes down to the fact that if you screw up your draft you can’t you can’t build a winning team. Um, right. So, even if you’ve already built a winning team, like like let’s just use the Nuggets for example, you are treading on borrowed time where your team is simply going to collapse unless you hit every single draft pick because you can’t you have to keep bringing in not to discuss it in this these terms, the only ones that come to mind, but you have to keep bringing in kind of cheap labor to figure out how to do it. And that’s where the Mavericks are are to me it’s like it’s why I’m sort of panicked about this particular draft because I don’t want them to be bad next year, but I think they’re going to be pretty bad. However, one path to being decent is like actually having a draft pick that pans out in a in a re, you know, like in an eighth, ninth man kind of way. And yeah. Yeah. So, it’s just tough to do. You make a great point about Denver. I think we’ve seen it or we’re potentially seeing it. You know, I guess if they win game seven, all of a sudden they look a little different in the moment or whatever, but you lose contavius Cowwell Pulp, you lose Bruce Brown that you the Warriors wouldn’t have lost them during their championship run. The Warriors, right? They went right into the luxury tax. They paid 50% of their entire salary was like luxury, you know, 150% so to speak. They just paid paid. The Nuggets couldn’t do that or wouldn’t do that. And the other thing, and I’m sorry to any OKC fans listening, but what are they going to do when homegring comes up, when the Williams come, you know, I don’t know that OKC, who did a master class of managing assets, collecting draft picks, trading for Gilg Alexander, so on and so forth. How the hell do you keep that team together five, six, seven, eight years? You don’t. I mean, you flat out don’t. you you push you do what football teams have to do once they get a like a rookie quarterback and you hope to push early otherwise it it just doesn’t really it doesn’t pan out and it and it sucks for OKC because to their credit they did everything that I would think the NBA would have wanted them to do. They drafted the majority of those guys or at least in coach Alexander’s case they traded for him at the right opportunity and stuff when he was still young when he was an unknown quantity. built that team in almost the ideal way, in almost a very homegrown way, and their their reward for it at the end of the rainbow is probably that they’d almost willingly have to break it up. And that that can’t be what the NBA I hope it’s not what the NBA intended by doing this. So, from your from your mouth to God’s ears, hopefully they come up with that addendum because I think the NBA could really hurt their own product if this kind of sees itself through to the end. H that is the flip side on being at the precipice of a rebuild though I think Nomads fan really wants to really wants to entertain that quite yet unless you’re you’re with me on like selling the you know selling all the assets and starting over right one nice part about that from a team building construct is you don’t really have to worry about that but I mean I guess we do because the team that we currently have and we’re going to be watching is going to be compete it like wants to compete for a playoff spot right so Right. Yeah. So, hey, well, thank you for uh for kicking us off or for keeping us going. Okay, absolutely. Good talking to you as always. You, too. Okay, before I bring MJ up on stage, just want to point out, guys, there’s a um link in the YouTube comments. If you want to join the show, you can do so. We’ll be doing this every Friday in the for the foreseeable future. Um I’m going to insert some ads real quick. So, if you can listen to those on the audio stream, if you’re watching on the video stream, I’m just not going to say anything for five seconds and then we will be right back. Okay, welcome back. Thank you so much for hanging out during the slow off seasonason. I’m Kirk Henderson. This is Podmick Happy Hour. Uh it’s Friday, Friday afternoon, 3:30. Um I’m going to bring up MJ here. Probably close out the show unless anybody else has something they would like to talk about. So MJ, welcome back. How you doing? Hey Kirk, how are you? Happy Friday. I am good, thank you. Thank you for joining once again. Yeah. Um, just a couple things. Uh, you know, you talked about the new stuff with the basketball u for the next season and got some insight information that, you know, NBC, you know, is taking over for ABC and NBC, if you remember from the 90s, that wonderful, you know, opening they did, you know, with Tesall. Yeah. They’re going to they’re going to do that again. uh they’re doing that same music that’s going to be their their theme music for uh for starting games. And this uh really interesting person that I follow on YouTube knows a lot about the history and stuff. He basically talked about that uh you know back in the 90s his opinion was that uh you know there had to be a protagonist and antagonist. Yep. And the protagonist was Michael Jordan. And anyone that stopped him from getting a championship was considered the antagonist. Sure. And that’s why I think everyone was I mean I was a huge Michael Jordan fan. I was I was wearing matter of fact when he when he uh when they won the the when they won the six when he won the the second three Pete I had a Bulls uh cap on when when he made that shot you know when he faked out Byron Russell. And incidentally, and I think this is one of the reasons why Jordan hates um um who was it? Uh Detroit. Uh Isaiah Thomas. Isaiah Thomas. Because as soon as it happened, Isaiah Thomas said that he pushed off. And it basically and he did not push off. And and the thing that what made Michael Jordan such a great player was that he knew he knew every player’s strengths and weaknesses. And Byron Russell had a really bad weakness of stopping. He could run but he could not stop. And you you get him going one direction and he even made mention to this in in the last dance when he talked about that last shot that you know he said everybody said he pushed off. He did not push off. If you look at it, he stopped suddenly and Russell just was almost like what Brunson did to uh the guy to Thompson last night if you remember. That was a wild thing. Yeah, I mean, of course, you know, he Brunson shot a three-point, but it was the same thing. He ran him one direction, stopped on a dime, and then I’ll always remember that shot. But anyway, I’m bringing all that up because uh and this guy thinks that I’m not sure what with what transpired with Luca being bounced out of the first round, but he was thinking that Luca might be the the new protagonist like Michael Jordan was. I mean, depending on what happens with the Lakers, if he stays with the Lakers, which I think he will, but there’s there’s talk about him maybe going to Orlando, you know, because he knows the coach. And think about if he went to Orlando. Well, I mean, he would make that team. He’s got he’s got one more year left. He’s got one more year left, but he he would if he doesn’t sign the extension, that’s when things get really spicy. But I I I I sort of think, you know, the the very first caller uh SC noted just it’s kind of a bit of a transitory period. Uh I I think guys just sort of and TV guys just sort of gener or gravitate towards Anthony Edwards because he’s he I mean he is good television. Like he’s objectively good television. Uh, so he’s he’s probably the only other one that I could think of in in kind of that age range of somebody that that still has like a mountain to climb that that could be kind of the the main the main character of basketball, so to speak. Mhm. And see and what they’re and and the other thing that was really interesting is that if you recall when CBS had it, you know, because before NBC back in the 80s, you know, when the the were Bird and Magic, they they were on CBS and it was okay, but it wasn’t to the NBC basically did they they wanted to create a story and they and and actually the the guy the the the sports director had incidentally had been a a director for NBC PC for producing shows and and basically when they got basketball in the ‘9s, he said, “I’m going to make a story.” And that’s what made it so popular is that every weekend you wanted to watch to see if Michael Jordan was going to win the game. And then when they got in the playoffs, he I mean because and then of course you had the Gatorade commercials, all this stuff happening. So they’re going to do the same thing. They’re going to create a story that’s going to be completely different from ESPN, ABC, although ESPN’s going to be carrying games. And then of course the uh inside uh TNT group is are going to be doing the the pregame and postgame which will be interesting. Charles Barkley, Shaq, and Ernie and all those guys. And then of course you’re going to have Amazon with Durk and with some other you know people with it’s going to be kind of it’s going to be kind of annoying to to figure out it’s going to be kind of annoying to figure out how to watch games. Like I’m not loving the conversation I’m going to have to have with my mother where I’m going to have to direct her to different places to when she needs to watch games. So that that’s okay. Did you watch any of the uh I tell you the the you talk about a lost weekend. I now I have to say this that I’m a huge Luca fan, but yeah, I do not like the Lakers and I do not like LeBron. And I was really happy when they lost uh you know when they lost the fifth game you know when and but did you watch the game three and game four? Which series? I’m sorry. Uh I watched game no Minnesota Lakers. I only watched game five. I really I really didn’t want to watch any of the other ones. Really? Yeah. I’m telling you, man. Game four was cuz you know cuz obviously you know they were down 2-1 and then they had you know the pivotal game four and that’s when you know JJ Reick had them you know had had the starters play all the second half with no rest you know 24 minutes and I swear to God man that game was so freaking close. Yep. I mean, it was it came to a a a call which I was shocked that they overturned a call against LeBron and the Lakers, you know, on side out when You know what? I did I did watch the end of that one. I’m wrong. I remember this now cuz I only watched like the last four minutes and that was Yeah, that was that was weird. Yeah. And I’m telling you what led to that was game three. Game three, the, you know, the Lakers had a 10-point lead going into the fourth quarter. Luca was in was had like a 30 a 30 burger. He wound up at 38, but um but uh the uh but aunt had like 43 and he just went off. I mean, just three after three and then some other supporting players came and it was just like I mean it was a hurdle hurdle. I mean, it it was just a tremendous effort for them to because the lake I swear to God the Lakers were going to win that game and if they won game four, if they had tied it, then it’s I mean the they’re the momentum element there was pretty big. Yeah. Yep. And it just it just um I mean because people but the thing is is game five they were you know they they were lacking an energy obviously from playing so long you know on game four you know having no break having a 40-year-old you know dinosaur you know and then having Luca who was compromised now I know he was you know poor in defense but people don’t take into account his injuries I mean he got his back and and this really hurts him because I would say half of the you know players would probably sit out that game or they would set out more time than what he did. He set out no I mean he went to the locker got whatever done you know got bandage tape whatever came back came back out you could see he was completely compromised now he wasn’t great before but he was completely I mean he was a shell of himself you know defensively and and after that back injury and people don’t take into account the injuries that he had. Well because people have a hard time knowing when he’s actually injured because he he milks so much stuff. That’s why it’s like, okay, well, if he’s really injured and he looks great after he hits a shot and then he’s limping again. I mean, Jaylen Brunson did this last night, too. It was very it was very annoying, right? And it just it and the thing is it just um like you said, it kind of hurts him because but see the thing people don’t realize is that Luca is really good at changing directions. He can start, he can stop, and that’s how he gets open a lot. I mean, you know, for a big guy and for kind of being, you know, supposedly quoteunquote out of shape, he gets open and he fakes out a lot of people and he’s got very good feet, but lateral movement sometimes is not his strong point. And and with a back injury like that, I think a lot of people would even, you know, they they wouldn’t even try because they could probably barely walk. Yeah. I mean, he’s a tough guy, you know. He’s he’s a tough dude, but I don’t know. Well, hey, man. I’m just, you know, were you were you were you were you happy that that he lost or are you I’m sort of ready to watch other stuff for a while. Like I might tune back in for the for the conference finals, but I need like a week to just not watch and not hear anything about anything, which would be nice. We’ll see. We’ll see. Yeah. Yeah. Well, man, thanks uh thanks for kicking us or for keeping us going. Okay. I appreciate it, man. Thanks for having me. All right, talk soon. Okay, Tyron. Tyron, welcome back. Is that okay? I’m gonna take this call real quick and I’ll get it. Okay. Uh, there we go. How you doing? Hey. All right. Oh, sorry. I’m turn that camera off and it worked. But, uh, hey, uh, real quick, I just wanted to kind of piggy back off of what MJ said. uh always go into the off season kind of uh optimistic, but with everything that transpired uh from what January, February on out, Yeah. Uh I was feeling kind of iffy about the summer and I still am. However, for for some reason seeing Luca and LeBron get bounced like that kind of made me feel better and I don’t know why, but I was happy. It it closes off certain lines of of Maverick’s communication and then opens other ones where like I’ve had to you know my mentions for the past 12 hours have been pe you know different variations of was right then also I don’t have to play basketball anymore which I’m also not going to miss for the short term. Yeah, I think that’s part of it, too, because I didn’t want to listen to the narrative all summer long. Oh, you know, if Dallas would have if Nico would have kept Luca, then we would be doing this, that, and the third. What if, you know, would have, could have, should have all summer long. I’m glad we don’t have to hear that. Yep. Um, and then plus too, I mean that it’s like you said with the previous caller too, watching the Anthony Edwards is just plain flatout entertaining. Yeah. No, he’s great. that that whole squad. I mean, Nas Reed and and Rudy Copar going off the way he did is is fantastic. It was like I didn’t want to ruin any of my any of my fans any of my my Wolves fans like grumpiness or I’m sorry, their like joy at winning, but like Rudy, it took the Wolves shooting like seven for 44 from three and then Rudy just cleaned up the offensive glass. Like it’s not like I don’t want to downplay what he did, but it’s like they either would have won by like making seven more threes, which they probably should have done, or Rudy was going to get all those offensive boards. So, it’s like it was a really weird game in hindsight. It It was. And my best friend is a Lakers fan and he called me immediately pissed cuz he’s like, “This is the game that Rudy Goar wants to finally show up in his whole career and play like a big man.” But, uh, anyway, to to piggy back off of that, another one of my points is this summer, I don’t know what we do, as I’m sure nobody does because we’re dealing with Nico Harrison here, but, uh, one thing, and I think Nick Angstead kind of touched on this. I I thought about it before he made the show. Uh, but anyway, uh, uh, continuity is so important, uh, in the league right now. Yep. And and I don’t want Nico to ruin that any further than he’s already had. I mean, obviously us losing Luca, the the talent that Luca brought to the team hurt, but what also hurt was the chemistry. The chemistry was just all the way off when when he left and AD came in. Uh, no practices. These guys have never played before. They only see each other so many times a year. Uh, Caleb Martin was hurt when he got here. Uh Christy was just kind of starting to come into so the the the chemistry was just completely off. Not to say the injuries too. Uh and I really hope that this summer that we can kind of keep it, you know, the majority of these guys, some of them need to go. They have something. I was just sort of one of the things I’m I’m kind of losing my mind out today on social media where it’s like, you think the Mavs are going to be bad next year? I’m like they don’t have like these are their healthy guards. And if you don’t know this, you’re going to laugh. If you do know this, just let me get through it. Our two healthy guards currently under contract for next season are Jaden Hardy, Brandon Williams. That’s the list. Yeah. And like that like you just got to shore that up. like the front court depth is obviously quite good, you know, because you you just mentioned um a couple of the guys that are that are quite solid in terms of their you know, you’ve got uh Max Christie who he’s listed as a shooting guard, but I like he’s not handling the rock, but then you got Caleb Martin, small forward, like you have some good rangy, you know, kind of 65 to 68 guys, but not your like play initiators outside of Naji Marshall, who is actually quite good in the ball handling role, but I think it it just they expected too much of him in those playin games. So, I think if if they’re going to do anything, it involves some kind of ball handler. It just has to. Yeah, that that’s that’s the only move I would make and and I’m I’m kind of curious. I’m anxious to see how they go about doing that. Yeah. Uh because we could go to the draft. I mean, there’s and I don’t even know how I feel about this. They’re really hyping this year’s draft up. There’s some to take your to take your word there’s some dudes in there but I love but you know one of the things I so I I just shared this with everyone so they have the that you know I mentioned earlier in the show they’re making everybody do the draft combine or whatever it’s called right anybody and so that I think will will be very interesting because for me a lot of these guys and I’m reading about it it’s just like the dude who played at Baylor I can’t remember his name off the top of my headcom I if if he’s 66 okay if he’s 63 three and a half, which I think he might be. That’s a different player. Yeah. Yeah. But see, even him, he like the guys that I’m looking at in the draft, uh, as far as like ball handlers, what what we actually need and with the Mavericks track record with draft picks, actually playing them, developing them. I don’t know how I feel about that. That’s a good point. For years, we’ve seen Jason Kid, you know, just snatch any rookie or draft pick or whatever off the court if they, you know, as soon as they make a wrong read or or they, you know, throw the ball away, turnover, whatever, they’re they’re in the doghouse immediately, you know. Oh, that’s true. At this stage of where we are as a as a as a franchise, we can’t afford that type of coaching. So, that kind of leads me to the point, what what do you do? Yeah. Do you go grab a Kobe White and let go of Gaffford or do you keep the continuity and keep your fingers crossed and try to develop a draft pick which we’ve never done in previous history? So, I’m I would kind of like to do if if if I’m building the team just right now in in May, I would like to do both of what you just said, which is go get a guard and also then draft a guard because I don’t trust Jaden Hardy and I don’t really want to see him anymore. Brandon Williams I like, but they I don’t know if you saw the um piece of information about how they did his his single year his single year contract, he’s going to be an unrestricted free agent next year or not. Yeah. So, it’s just like like at that point, you got to start planning for the future. You know what I mean? Yeah. And and to touch on Brandon Williams real quick, again, I’ve been following the team since I was a kid. That’s right. I played basketball since I was a kid. still do to this day. Jealous. And I I I have a I have a good pretty good feeling about when I see something special, it usually pans out. When people were talking uh trash about Jaylen Brunson and all that kind of stuff, I saw that he was great. Now look at him. You know what I mean? And that’s to this day that’s one of Mark Cuban’s biggest regrets. So he says, you know, and I’m going to go out on a limb. Might, you know, shoot me in the foot later on. But I I really do see something special with Brandon Williams. I really do. And for him to be in uh in Kyrie Irving’s back pocket the way that he is, calling and texting him before and after games and picking his brain to the point where we even see some of Kyrie’s game in his game. I really hope that the Mavericks uh uh develop this guy and and don’t, you know, he’s just not another guard that we have to see in the playoffs in a couple years that destroys because I really do think he’s something special. I really like him. Uh, and and I’m just I I’m I’m not I’m trying not to overinvest just because I don’t want to get mad again. But I I like, you know, and and Chris Neato in the chat notes that he’s 25 years old. But it’s, you know, if you want the Mavericks to be a playoff contender, if that’s what you’re if that’s, you know, kind of the side of the aisle that you’re on, then then a guy like him is going to be going to matter. So that’s where we’re at right now, though. It’s either Brandon Williams or, you know, at honestly bust cuz outside of Kobe White, you know, you’re not looking at too many uh point guards out there that we can actually go and grab. I mean, Kobe White to me is off the table honestly because the the Chicago Bulls probably going to ask for him in the kitchen sink. Uh but we’re looking at Patty Mills. We’re looking at uh you know, it’s hilarious. It’s really not good. No. Yeah. But that’s all I have, man. Hey, no, thank you. This is great. This is a great way to close the show. Thank you so much for taking time out of your workday. Absolutely. Talk to you next time. Have a good one. All right, guys. Uh, I expect to record this week. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to. Josh is working, so I’m going to see if somebody else from Moneyball wants to talk a little shop with me. Uh, if we don’t, then I will definitely be back next Friday to talk a little more. Uh, everyone be good. Thank you so much for hanging out and enjoy your weekend. Go Mavs.

Kirk plans to go live around 3:00 and talk with Mavs fan friends about…. well whatever we want. There’s not been a lot of news, but if you want to join the show, look for the link in the comments!!!

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