The Insiders 5/6: NBA playoff insanity and more Sacramento Kings coaching staff changes

The Insiders 5/6: NBA playoff insanity and more Sacramento Kings coaching staff changes

Oh, good morning. Happy Tuesday. It’s the day of the week, right? It’s Tuesday. I think it’s Tuesday. Awesome. Great. I hit the A’s up earlier today. Mhm. Uh and uh the athletics, the baseball team here in Sacramento, and I said, “Hey, we want to do this thing on this day or this day.” And the person hit me back and was like, “Do you mean tomorrow?” He’s like, “Well, yeah, whatever.” Like, put it fine. Sure. So, I am back in the studio. Excited to be back in the studio. Yeah. Being there are there are definite perks of doing a show from home just because I live so far away. So, cutting down on the commute, I can get more stuff done around the house. It’s easier to lock in for me with show prep because there’s not a bunch of stuff going around the office. There’s there’s there’s benefits there. actually doing the show at home is not nearly as fun. No, it’s always better to be here in the office. Yeah, it’s like imagine a work meeting, but like a like a fun work meeting like a I don’t know if those exist, but it’s the difference between having a meeting in person versus talking over Zoom. Yeah. And it’s just or Streamyard. Salute to Streamyard. So, I’m happy to be back in the studio. Salute to you guys for holding it down. I appreciate you both immensely. And of course, I appreciate Jesse Topia for filling in James on Friday. Okay, we have a few things to get to. Uh, but first, before we get to anything else, and the Kings letting a potential executive of the year walk, letting him leave the building. Unbelievable decision-m. Uh, while that might have been a poor decision, you know, it’s not a poor decision. What? You got me in Disneyland. That’s right. Look at these things. They’re Stitch Crocs. They are the coolest Crocs ever. Look at them. And look at this. I can’t wait to see you go sport mode. Going to activate sport mode. Activate sport mode. Emma Crocs. Lilo and Stitch. The new film comes out in 17 days. Oh, I haven’t been to a movie theater since I saw what did I last see in a movie theater? I know I saw Top Gun Maverick at the movies. Oh, no. Wicked. went and saw Wicked in the movie theater. Obviously wasn’t gonna experience that in not in the theater, right? Yeah. You for people listening on 13:20 a.m. at 98.5 FM HD2 listening on the radio. James went to Disneyland and got me Stitch Crocs. Like Stitch from Lilo and Stitch. Yeah. They’re blue. They’re like that light bluish color. They’ve got a bunch of drawings of of Stitch on it with a Stitch patch on top of each foot. If you’re not familiar, Stitch is my favorite Disney character. I’m fired up for the movie that’s coming out, the live action remake. Uh, looks incredible. Cried at the trailer. I’m a crybaby. That’s why I don’t have neck tattoos. And I’m dead serious. I’m dead serious. I so badly want to get a tattoo like right up here, like on my neck, kind of down behind the ear. Especially cuz I’m bald. Like I’ve got a lot of canvas to work with back there. And I just like I cry at Amazon commercials. I can’t have that. That’s a tough guy thing. That’s a thing where a guy will fight somebody. I’m not gonna do that. No teardrops. You can’t even do a tear drop. Not even close. I’ve never even I’ve never even punched somebody, much less murdered someone. Like if I had a like if you have a neck tattoo, you’re the kind of guy that punches first. I’m not. What do you want me to like What are you going to do? Anyways, um thank you so much for these. I’m going to wear them. Like this isn’t a gag gift. This isn’t a wear them in your car every day to work. I know. Legitimately, this is not because we had the day where you had forgotten your shoes and had to wear your Crocs into the building. I wore my I wore my Crocs. It was actually It actually wound up working out okay. Fewer people. I was a little bit afraid of it because we don’t like there’s no formal dress code here. We’re working at a sports talk radio station, right? Like look at Joe. He looks terrible. Joe, you look unhomemed. Joe, no. Joe’s wearing a light the BMT shirt. He’s got a sweet uh what is that? Hanu uh hat to match. So, a whole new day. Shout out a whole new day. A whole new day. Awesome brand. Awesome people. Awesome. It’s funny. You got the matching hat. You look great today. Well, we walk in here and there are people everywhere here at the station that are here in business attire because they there’s like a sales staff and like managers and stuff. Yes. They’re doing important business people stuff. No, but then it’s like you see each other. You see just in case, high five just in case. and he’s wearing his jorts and like uh you you know like all of the guys here like all the other radio stations it’s radio t-shirts and you wear you wear whatever you want. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it wasn’t we I felt because I don’t wear my Crocs in here. I wear my my Crocs are like a home. I’m out running errands like just everyday kind of kind of wear. They’re not work shoes or at least they haven’t been for me. Yeah. Now that I have a couple of pairs I might just start rocking them. Those are going to be your fancy Crocs. Yeah, these are my These are my dress Crocs. Your dress Crocs. Thank you so much for those. I’m very very excited to wear I wear Hey Dudes almost every day in here. Yes. And I’ve I’ve done that for like like close to a year. Like I They’re so comfortable and easy and we didn’t know it, but Crocs bought Hey Dudes and so it’s like same company. Yeah. They they make good like awesome shoes. I’m here for it. Yeah. Shout out Crocs. Foot coverings. We We love them so much. I I might might put these on at a break. I can’t wait. NBA Executive of the Year was announced today. And a shocker. Shocker. An absolute stunner for NBA Executive of the Year was announced. Sam Prey of the Oklahoma City Thunder is the big winner of the NBA Executive of the Year award. Because of course he is. Why wouldn’t he be? I don’t think he’s won it before. Has he? Oh, he’s had to have won it before. No, you think that, but then I I don’t know that he has. Not even back in the early Kevin Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrook era. I don’t know. He’s He’s got to win. I over under half. I’m I’m going to look I’m looking at Wikipedia right now. Yeah, I’m looking at basketball reference. We’ll we’ll meet in the middle somewhere. Um he never won it. You’re absolutely right. Yeah, that’s incredible. Especially since that’s insane. In NBA circles, he’s known as the great, you know, the greatest general manager or executive in the in the in the league. like he’s a guy that has built multiple like teams that have gone to the the Western Conference Finals. He hasn’t won the chip, right? But outside of that, he’s like he is an architect of greatness. And they’ve had so many rebuilds and tear downs and like diversions in their path where they got Paul George and that didn’t work and so they wind up with SGA out of the out of the Paul George thing. They’ve had a million picks forever. They’ve constantly had all this talent. That’s crazy to me. He has never won an executive of the year. Congratulations to Sam Prey. The bigger news here in Sacramento though. Mhm. Receiving a vote. One second place vote. A second place vote. Not even a third place vote. No. One. Monty Air McNair. Congratulations to former Kings executive Monty McNair. Uh, did VC Ron a DV make a mistake letting a second place vote get her for executive of the year walk out of the building? Jens, um, it’s possible, but we have to, you know, what’s crazy is Monty McNair won a an executive of the year before Sam Presy cuz he he won it two years ago. So, I mean, like, look, I did a good job of building a winner like after years and years, he deserves it. He deserved the heck out of it after the 22 23 season 100%. It’s really really difficult because there are so many things that they did well and then so many things that they did poorly and like finding the middle ground with with what happened over a 5-year period. Like there was way too much inactivity. Um there was way too much like you know we talked about it yesterday the the frustrations with like closing off certain aspects to the media that should be open like like the draft process and stuff like that. But overall, I mean, he snapped a 16-year playoff drought, you know. Yeah. Yeah. I’m not begrudging Mon McNair for winning the award. It’s just more of a shock that Sam Prey, who built a team that had Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook on it and went to the finals. Oh, in Sergbaka and went to the finals, didn’t win it during that stretch and hasn’t won it at any point over the last couple of years where their ascension has been pretty clear since like that 22 23 season like, oh, this is a team on the rise. They’re all going the right direction. Yeah. I mean, it really is incredible to see how they reset their entire franchise like every four years. Yes. Like they win win and then it’s like, okay, this is over. Let’s reload. M let’s let’s trade Paul George for uh SGA and a bunch of picks. Yeah. And let’s start over. And sure enough, here they are just like on fire again. Having SGAA and we’ll talk more about the the the Oklahoma City Thunder. Just a couple of unbelievable game ones last night. Yes. In in the second round. And we’ll we’ll talk a ton about those coming up here. But just in this in this Sam Prey conversation cuz he because he just won executive of the year. If you’re just tuning in to the insiders, we’re live 10 a.m. to noon every single day, by the way, right here on ESPN 1320. That’s 1320 a.m. 98.5 FMD2. Mhm. YouTube.com ESPN 1320. Twitch.tv/ ESPN1320. We’re on the free Odyssey app. YouTube.com. Uh, nope, already did that. Where? Twitter X. Twitter. Twitter and X. We’re live streaming there. Uh, the everywhere. James Hammond Show on your podcast feeds. Your podcast anywhere. Hello from the from the past. Hope the future’s still well. Um, the the thing with the Thunder that I that I I’m trying to figure out how to say this in the way that’s not obvious. Having Shay Gilas Alexander turn into an MVP. Mhm. When we talk about the Kings and and moves and how they could become contenders, like that’s it. Can you fall backwards into an MVP candidate? Like that’s that’s when when we start talking about like okay well if they’re picking in the middle of the lottery and they’re doing this and doing that like hey man at some point that might be what it takes. Mhm. Because for for all the good that Sam Prey has done I guarantee when they acquired Shay Gildis Alexander they weren’t like hey this might be the best player in the NBA. Yeah. I mean it’s really good scouting. Mhm. And it’s but you also you got him in your in your building and you help develop him. Yep. That’s it. And that’s what they’ve done such a good job of. I mean, you you talked about it the other day, the the onslaught of guys that they can just throw at you with their rotations, whether it’s SGA or whether it’s Lou Dort, who they developed as an undrafted guy into a into a really, really awesome defensive player and three-point shooter. Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, Kenri Williams will get some burn. the two Jaylen Williams’ just unbelievable what the what Oklahoma City has done and unbelievable that they somehow lost that game last night. Absolutely crazy. Mark Dagnel, buddy, figure it out. Almost coach of the year. Yeah. Uh really, really awful job by Oklahoma City closing that game last night. Uh we’ll talk about whether that changes the the complexion of the Top of the West. Speaking of the top of of of a conference, we had another game in Boston with Boston losing a game they had no business losing. Three road teams have won to start the second round of the NBA playoffs. Should any of the home teams be worried? Are we seeing a shift at the top of the NBA during these playoffs? We’ll talk about that. James Hams there. I’m Kyle Mads and that’s Joe Brazil. We’re the insiders. We’re sponsored by Jiffy Lube. short first segment because we got off to a late start today. Had a little bit of a technical glitch. It’s fine. 10:00 a.m. is when we’re normally here, but uh we got to step aside right now. We’ll be back in a second talking NBA playoffs on ESPN 1320 at Sacramento Sports. So, re-examining the July 10th, 2019 trade. Mhm. Uh the the Thunder Yeah. traded Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers for Danilo Galinari. Uh Shay Gil Gilgis Alexander. A 2021 first round pick which became Treyman. A 2022 first round pick which became Jaylen Williams. Mhm. The good Jaylen Williams. A 2023 first round pick that became Haime Hawz. So that pick of course had been traded. a 2024 first round pick, which is Dylan Jones, a 2025 first round pick, which hasn’t been uh selected yet, a 2025 first round pick, and a 2026 first round pick. They still have two picks remaining. Good lord. And Paul George plays for the Sixers now. Yeah. Yeah. And he’s old and not nearly as good as Shay Gildis Alexander. Actually, he’s he never reached the heights of Shay that Shay has. That’s so wild. Yeah, I guess some of these they’re going to be pick swaps. That That’s what Yeah. Yeah. Pu. That’s crazy. talked about it and then Yeah, it’s crazy. But even if you look at how at least how they handle their business, they turn Giddy into Alex Caruso. And you know, maybe long-term that that won’t work out 100% for them, but it might because they could win a title or two with uh with Caruso, and that’s really all that matters. see the condition. I feel so good about my underdog lineup tonight, you guys. Oh, when are we doing that? Uh, coming up at 11:15, I’m going to give you a winner. I had an email exchange with somebody in corporate who What’s up, Joe? I had an email exchange with somebody in corporate that ended with me doing the thing where I said because I had to record something for him and I said, “Here’s the thing I did. Let me know if this is okay, or if you would like me to do it this way, this different way, um, you let me know which one’s better and I can re I can recut the thing. Not a big deal. Let me know.” And they responded with, “Sounds good. Thanks so much. So, do I No, keep it as is. That’s what I did. I was like, I’m not going to cut another one if you don’t explicitly tell me to. Okay. Hey, should I do this or this? Sounds good. Yep. Nope. Keep it exactly how it was. All right. You got it. They’re saying that it sounded good and they liked it. All right. Tried to tell you guys Now, back to the Insiders with James Ham and Kyle Madson, brought to you by Jiffy Lube on ESPN 1320. Going to stay on track. I’m not going to get distracted by the chatty house today. I’m going to start a chat I just saw that I have very strong feelings about and we’ll talk about it later because it ties in nicely to a discussion I want to have about all the number ones left in the NBA playoffs. We’re going to rank them best player on each team. We’re going to we’re going to rank those players because it feels to me like this is still maybe it’s maybe it’s just a trend that will never leave the league or if this is just how the team shake out. But it it felt on very first glance, like I said, I haven’t done a ton of thinking about this cuz I wanted to talk about it on air, but that if you were ranking the teams based on their title odds, you would probably rank them very similar to the way you might rank the best player on each team, but I haven’t decided if that’s true or not yet. That’s a that’s a hypothesis that I would like to work out on the radio. And somebody said something in the chatty house at youtube.com/ ESPN1320 that tied in very nicely to that discussion. But we had a couple of unbelievable basketball games last night. Yes. Well, the NBA playoffs in general. So, we had two game sevens in the first round. One of them a good game, one of them a not so good game. And then to start the second round, we have all three road teams that have played going into the opposing building and winning. It’s wild. The Pacers Pacers beat the Cavs. Okay. Then the Knicks beat the Celtics in overtime 108 105. Unbelievable. And then the Nuggets beat the Thunder 1219. I mean, what is the old adage? Like a playoff series doesn’t start until the visiting team wins. It’s my least favorite thing in I know it is. I know. My very very least. But just so you know, all all of the series started. The second round has begun, guys. The second round has begun except for one series. Except for one series, which hasn’t started yet, which begins tonight. So, uh let’s I we need to start with Nuggets and Thunder. Because I think Boston just started coasting and then they got punched in the mouth. Mhm. Is is how I think that happened. The Nuggets and Thunder, man, there’s so much here. I want to start with Mark Dagnel, though. I understand why you want to foul when you’re up three with a few seconds left. So, you’re up I forget the exact score and I dropped the box score of course, but you’re up three with 14 seconds left. Yeah. The typical thing you do in that spot is you let the opposing offense try and work for a shot and after with five, six seconds left, you foul before they can get a shot up. Mhm. The extra problem with this is not only did they foul right away, but they did so while Nicola Joic was on the bench. So, and and Denver was out of timeouts. So instead of putting Denver in a spot where they have to create a shot, a game-winning three without Nicola Joic on the court, they fouled immediately. So uh where we at? So Joic made a three with 107 left to put the Thunder up by one. Mhm. It’s 115 1114 Oklahoma City. Uh Russell Westbrook misses a three with 25 seconds left. Aaron Gordon misses a misses a layup but gets gets a shot blocked with 19 seconds left. Uh Alice Caruso gets it. Christian Braun has to foul him or Christian Brown has to foul him. He fouls Shay, sorry. Ball got to Shay. So there’s 13 seconds left. Shay goes to Alexander. Makes both free throws. So we have a three-point lead with 13 seconds left. Denver calls our last time out. They foul immediately. Mhm. So 12 seconds now left. They fouled immediately. Nicola Joic goes to the line, hits two. Oklahoma City calls a timeout. Up by one with 12 seconds left. I promise this is going somewhere. Shay Gildas Alexander gets free for a dunk and throws it down to put Oklahoma City back up three with 10 seconds left. Nicolola Joic is not on the court. So Mark Dagnel should be looking at this and going, “Okay, we’re up three. There’s 10 seconds left. They have no timeouts. Their best player and their offensive facilitator is on the bench. We’re going to let them run this out. And if they hit a three, more power to them.” Mhm. They foul right away. And Aaron Gordon goes to the line, hits the first one. Nicola Joic checks in. Aaron Gordon hits the second one. Oklahoma City inbounds. Chad homegrren gets it. Misses both. That was brutal. Awful. And you you forget that while Oklahoma City was was there last year and in the playoffs last year and in the play in the year before that, this is still pretty new to them. Oh yeah. It’s not one time to the playoffs and you go. This is not a linear thing. And I think he choked. I think that word gets overused. Sometimes a guy just misses a three or just misses a jumper. When you’re on the free throw line, game on the line and you miss both. That to me says you got a little yippy. And uh Nuggets get the rebound, get it to Aaron Gordon. Aaron Gordon drills a three and Denver wins the game. The fouling immediately makes no sense to me. I don’t understand why they did that. Yeah. You wonder if it was a player who kind of lost his mind for a second or if it was an actual like intentional thing. Like I feel like it but I I it’s intentional. It has to be because it happens once if that’s the player losing their mind because that’ll happen. Yeah. You lose track of score time. So much is going on. You’re just And you go, “Oh god, foul.” That happens sometimes. Totally. For it to happen again, that to me m sounds like game plan. Yeah, that to me sounds like as soon as they inbound, foul them because we don’t want them getting a shot up where they go to the line to shoot three. Like, man, if that happens, it happens. But by fouling immediately, you put yourself in this position where like, okay, yeah, they have to hit free throws, but now so do you. Yeah. Now you are going to have to go to the line. Now you’re creating extra possessions for yourself. You’re giving them life every time you foul them that early. Yeah, the clock is working against them. Why are you making it stop on purpose? Yeah, I I don’t get it. But I I’ll also point out that we talk about how, you know, it’s a young team, right? It is. And they haven’t been here before, but Dagnol hasn’t been here before either in these situations. as as this thing cranks up and and starts to ramp up and become like extremely difficult, he’s going to be put under the the spotlight as much as anybody. Mhm. And you don’t always make the right decisions and and you know sometimes maybe afterwards they’re going to have today off. They’ll they’ll go through they may like completely re rework their game plan because I know I mean even like the Warriors doing the the Steven Adams hack and Adams guy uh play um like that to me felt like they did it all the way through like game five and game six. They get to game seven and it wasn’t a huge part of the game. He was drilling his free throws in game six and killed him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I’m interested to see if that’s something he changes moving forward. It’s not my favorite thing to foul up three just from a person watching standpoint. But I understand why teams do it. It’s strategically the right move. But it’s not the right move when you’re fouling right away with 12 seconds left. Yeah. That doesn’t Now you’re giving them two free points theoretically. Yeah. You’re sending them to the line to score. And now I a swing and a miss by Oklahoma City in game one. But they controlled that game for the most part. Mhm. Until the last few minutes of the fourth quarter. And so I’m really interested to see is this because it with the Pacers game. I think if you’re a Cavs fan, you can look at that that loss to the Pacers in game one. You can look at that and go, “Man, they shot 53 53 93.” Those were their shooting splits. They’re wild. They hit 10 more threes than we did. We had 15 more shots than they did. Statistical anomaly type of game. Weird game. We’re fine. Mhm. I think if you are Boston, I think you can look at that the same way. They shot 15 of 60 from three, 12 of 60. They were 25% from three. Well, that’s Yeah. So, they were not good from from beyond the arc. Yeah. But if I’m Boston, I’m a little more concerned than that. Really? Yeah. Because like watching the Boston game play out, the Boston Knicks game, I felt like they had complete control of the game, right? Like Boston, they’re just rolling. Then Porzingis doesn’t come out for the second half, right? Or like I think that that’s how it worked out. um he has some sort of mystical illness which is again he had illnesses like a month ago that cost him like five or six games. So you’re watching this play out but there was a like a physicality and force that the Knicks started to play with in the third quarter and the Celtics weren’t ready for it. Like I I was I was literally about to text you and then I didn’t I didn’t hit send that boy I I think the Celtics are in trouble and then all of a sudden it starts to play out and then I I by the time I I text you it was like 84 84 whatever 86 86 like they had caught up but you could see it building. There was a moment they’re up 16 and you’re like, “Oh no.” Like just one team is playing at a different level than the other team and it’s not even close. And they started to build and build and build on that. I I didn’t think that uh the the the Celtics would crumble. And I I think the interesting thing is that you you have to remember OKC hasn’t been here before. They they have they’re learning. They’re still that young team that’s learning and we expect them to be like a a contender for the championship this year, right? But they in order to do that, they are going to have to skip like one or two steps to get there and to do this, right? But sometimes in the last five minutes of a game, you play against number one a three-time MVP, but also a guy who’s been all the way and won a chip. So when the game gets all weird and wonky and it’s it’s winning time, teams with experience usually win out. And that to me is where we we watched a Boston Celtics team crumble in that same exact sit situation, which doesn’t make any sense versus an OKC team that it does make a little bit of sense. Maybe they’ll learn from this one and be all right, we’re not doing this, this, and this. But also like look, man, hit your free throws, you know? Like this is this is big. like just, you know, everybody take a deep breath and let’s get better and let’s move forward, right? So, it’s tough, but at at the end of the day, I think we watched like some really really high level basketball. That’s that’s I think the key thing. Yeah. Is I don’t think outside of the Thunder losing their minds with their fouling late, I didn’t think they played bad. I thought I thought Joic was awesome. Uh the it isn’t a great sign for Oklahoma City that the trio of Joic, Brown, and Gordon outrebounded the Thunder. Just those three dudes. Denver had 63 rebounds. That’s insane. That’s an insane number. They had 21 offensive boards to 13 for for Oklahoma City. Yeah. I mean, the pace of that game is crazy, too. To have one team have 95 shot attempts and the other team have 100. Yeah. I mean, that that’s really really a fast-paced game. 104.2 pace. 104 possessions. Yeah. For 48 minutes is a lot. Yeah. But I mean, we talked about this before. Like, do they have an answer for Joic? You know, they might not. Like Isaiah Hardinstein, God bless him, but no, he’s not. Like salute to Iva Zubatz for being as effective as he was against Joic and quote unquote holding him down. But yeah, that might just be a problem. Like Joic is still a force of nature and that might just be it. The The reason I’m I’m I’m less concerned about the Celtics is they had Derrick White hit a three with 647 to go. Then Derek White blocks a Carl Anthony Towns layup. Al Horford makes a dunk on the other end. Knicks time out with 619 to go in a 20-point game. Yeah. And then, as you said, they come out Josh Hart three, OGN and OB3, OGN and OB3. Um, Mitchell Robinson free throw. Well, they kept fouling Mitchell Robinson and Mitchell Robinson was bad. Really bad. Really, really tough. Yeah. So, I think you’re right. And that the Knicks played with a force. Boston wasn’t ready for, but I don’t think they played with the force that Boston can’t keep up with. I think Boston went up 20 and kicked their feet out. Yeah. And they started because in that stretch where it’s Josh Hart three, OG an OB3, OGN, an OB3, Mitchell Robinson free throw, you had a Derek White made three, a Jaylen Brown missed three, a Derek White missed three. Then their next offensive possession, Al Horford missed three, Sam Hower missed three, Jason Tatum makes a couple, Sam Hower missed three, Jason Tatum missed three. Turnover by Pton Pritchard. Al Horford missed three. Like they just could not make any shots. But that’s the problem when you shoot 60 threes a game or like 50s something threes a game just on the season. Mhm. Like they’re it doesn’t take an entire game of going cold because they still hit 15 threes. You look you go, man, you hit 15 threes. Yeah. You know, oh, they only hit 17. You only got outscored at the three-point line by six points. But there’s a big difference of 17 of 37. Mhm. where they missed 20 threes and 15 of 60. Yeah, they missed 45 threes, man. Yeah. So, like I I know this that’s so crazy. That’s so many. It is so many. It’s 11 and a quarter. You You missed You hit 15 threes and you missed three times as many as you took. They missed 11 threes per quarter. Yeah. I I don’t know what, but that’s that is and and that’s their offense. It’s who they are, right? That’s that is what Joe Mazula wants to do. They have guys that are capable three-point shooters and they want to exploit the hell out of that. But we saw this with with Golden State. It’s a huge problem that that the Rockets gave Golden State and I think it’s a huge problem the Timberwolves are going to give Golden State is they it’s too easy to force them into all right, hey, here’s a Gary Payeyton. second three. Okay, here’s a here’s a Draymond Green three. Here’s a Jimmy Butler three. And they don’t they didn’t have any recourse where they could get inside and get to the free throw line, stop a run. Yeah. And they hit enough shots, but Buddy Heield in particular hit enough shots in game seven to win. But I do wonder if that’s going to be a little bit of a problem for Boston is if the Knicks get hot, what and they’re and they’re not hitting from three. What’s your recourse? Is it just to keep blazing away or hey, Jason Tatum’s a really talented scorer. Can he put the ball on the deck and and get to the rim and get to the line? Can he stop the bleeding that way? That’s I think the adjustment for Boston. I know you don’t want to get away from who you are too much, but in that spot where you’re watching your lead go from 20 to 16 to 15 to 13 to 8 in the span of four minutes. Mhm. You got to have some other answer than missing threes. Yeah. Someone in the chat uh Albert said that 19 of of 20 Boston shots in the third quarter were threes. Good god. Like, man, it’s not sustainable. And here’s the other thing that like if you’re watching the game, that is outrageous. The other part about that is Carl Anthony Towns picked up a fourth foul early. Mhm. And sat. He was sitting for a long stretch and you didn’t go inside. Like you got Mitchell Robinson in there and you know, again, what they did was Mitchell Robinson went three of 10 from the free throw line. So, but you’re if all you have like we talk about like what’s your do you have another pitch? I’m starting to worry whether Boston has another pitch outside of just hoisting up three after three. It does not make any sense that you got you got Cat in foul trouble and you didn’t just go to the basket. So, and even even if Cat’s in the game, is anybody worried about Carl Anthony Towns the rim protector? No, but at least like if you’re trying to go small, he sure, but Carl Anthony Towns shouldn’t be stopping Jason freaking Tatum or Jaylen Brown from getting to the rack. Nope. And every time they did, they got him in foul trouble. And Right. And I’m not And and again, I’m not a like don’t shoot threes guy. I shoot your threes. Yeah. But when you are Here’s their here’s their threes by quarter. In the fourth quarter, they went two for 15 from three. 15 of their 21 shots were threes. They went four for 21 from the field. They shot 19% in the fourth quarter. In the third quarter, we already talked about they went seven of 19, 8 for 20 from the field. Uh in the second quarter, 1 for nine from three and in the first quarter, they were 4 for 14 from three. Like when you’re ice cold, especially two for 15 in the fourth quarter in a game that’s slipping away from you, go to the attack their like don’t try and don’t try and go at ONobi. Here this stat is unbelievable. Tommy Beers tweeted this out today. Celtics starters when guarded by OG Anobi yesterday went 1 for5. Oh, maybe instead of trying Oianobi on the perimeter, maybe try Carl Anthony Towns inside. Yep. Maybe try Mitchell Robinson, do something other than miss threes. Yeah. And again, I don’t I know they’re going to shoot their threes. I’m not I’m not naive to the fact that that’s Boston’s offense, but if that’s going to continue to be their answer to everything, then they they might be in trouble because now you’re you’re putting it on, oh, at some point we’re going to make threes. Yeah. At some point they’re going to go 22 for 60 and Right. Yeah. and everything everything will be fine. Yeah, I’m not moving off of Boston yet as the favorite in the East, but I think this series is going to give them a little more trouble than I thought it would. I went in thinking Boston and five, they might lose game three or four and they they’ll they’ll win in five. Um, it might not be that easy. No, I agree. All right, we got a couple of playoff games tonight and the A’s are surging. If you’re a baseball fan that wants a baseball team, a major league baseball team here in Sacramento, you need to be at these next two games. We’ll tell you why next. That’s James Hamm Comeds and Joe Brazil’s here. We’re the insiders. Jeffy Loop sponsors this program on ESPN 1320 at Sacramento Sports. Um, someone asked, “How was Jaylen Brown’s knee?” I mean, dude played 45 minutes. Um, physical, man. He is like I guess Almond Thompson could that could be another player comp for Jaylen Brown could be another player comp. Yeah. You know, I think again Jaylen Brown shoots more threes. Uh, but it’s because that’s their offense. But when he I I love when he just goes uh like out on in transition. He’ll go pin a guard down in in the post, call for a ball, catch and lay it up. Go watch the first eight minutes of their game against the Kings in Boston. Might have been eight. It might have been like six. That’s what they did. It was like, “Cool. Keon Ellis is on me. I’m gonna go to the low block. Give it to me. Score.” Yeah. And then they just went away from it. Yeah. I don’t get the the obsession. I mean, I I understand taking three-pointers, but to this degree, especially when things go south, like I’m I’m not not super cool with it. See, I did start something earlier. Um Oh, this Paul George hasn’t reached the No, I started that. I want to get to it. Okay, cool. And and then you see the other one I started sort of the same thing. It could be part of that discussion we’re gonna have. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Cool. This is Johnny Does It. Jacob Wilson. I know we talked about this before. We geeked out over Jacob Wilson’s contact stats, but bro, I can’t get over it. He’s 19th in swing rate. Yeah. And third in contact rate. He has a 91.9% contact rate, which is bonkers. The next highest in the top 20 is 83.8%. 8% contact rate and that’s from the 20th guy in swing rate. So I was uh the wife put on Conclave last night. We were watching that and I had the A’s game on um you know just on my phone with uh and I watched him rope the single scored the run to tie it in the 10th and then I fell asleep. Fell asleep. My phone was dead. Ran out of battery. Yeah, but I was exhausted. It was a long day yesterday. That’s money. That’s motherfing money. I show you how you love me. I’m going to have to go get coffee at the next break. Hopefully their meeting is over. It is. Oh, is it? Mhm. That’s so um Jacob Wilson ties it in the 10th, wins it in the 11th. Ridiculous. Oh, he he won it in the 11th. Yeah, they made such a bad decision. Uh yeah, they walked they intentionally walked JJ Blade to get to Jacob Olsson. Didn’t they walk? Did they walk two guys? Uh yeah, Langlers too, right? Yeah, cuz Ursela bunted over Sodrom. So they walked Langelers and blood day to load the bases. And then uh I saw when Wilson got the hit, he gave the Mariners dugout a good little stare on his run to first base. So good. Love to see that. That’s so good. He’s just an incredible hitter. Like Just wild. Yeah. Haven’t not a lot of dudes that make contact like that anymore. No. Yeah. They realistically I mean he he has got to be your two-hole hitter. Like I just don’t get it. I I understand trying to get as many at bats for your your power hitters as possible, but batting them one and two to me is is weird. Like maybe the stats just show it. That’s it. That’s literally it. There’s centuries of data. Now back to the insiders with James Ham and Kyle Madson brought to you by Jify Lube on ESPN 1320. James is over there. I’m Kyle. Joe Brazil behind the glass. We’re here till noon and DLO and KC will take over on Sacramento Sports Leader. Thank you everybody on 1320 AM and 98.5 FM HD2. Everybody watching on YouTube and Twitch. Maybe you’re on the free Odyssey app. Maybe you’re listening to the James Ham and Kat Joe podcast. Either way, we appreciate all of you very, very much. The Elkrove Kid talk line is 9169320. That’s 91691320. Here’s the deal, man. We’re going to talk a little baseball and then we’ll get back into into basketball. Also, John Lynch had a had an update on Brock Bird’s contract situation. I want to get into if you are a regardless of how you feel about uh the A’s or John Fischer or maybe you’re a Giants fan or maybe you’re a Cubs fan or uh a different kind of fan. you are a person who wants there to be Major League Baseball permanently in Sacramento. Um there’s a lot of ways that could go, but if you’re a person who who permanently wants baseball in Sacramento and you’re and you’re viewing this less as like, oh, hey, the A’s are here, and more as like, oh, hey, there’s a Major League Baseball team here. This could be the audition. This is a try out ostensibly that Nashville won’t get, that Salt Lake City won’t get, that Portland won’t get. All these all these cities that don’t have Major League Baseball that want Major League Baseball, you have to get out to these next two games. These are as as early May games go, here’s the stakes. The A’s are one game back of the AL West lead. The team they’re chasing is the Mariners, who they beat in extra innings last night. So, they are now a game back. They have two games left against the Mariners here in West Sacramento. The A’s have won 10 of their last 13. They’ve won three consecutive series. These are the kind of games where I know it’s May. I know it’s going to be Tuesday and I know it’s going to be Wednesday afternoon, but these are the games where man, if you can get out there on a Tuesday night against the Seattle Mariners and you get out there on a Wednesday afternoon against the Seattle Mariners and one of those wins ties you with the AOS lead or for the AOS lead and the next one gives you the AO lead, that’s where you start building some momentum as a as a Major League Baseball city and showing out in that way. So, if you were ever considering going to an A’s game and you want there to be Major League Baseball here, I think this is a really, really prime opportunity to show out. Oh, I totally agree. Like, look, this team is is incredible on the road. They’re 13 and seven on the road. They have the best the best uh road record in Major League Baseball right now. And and they are not very good at home. And a part of that is uh just getting acclimated to a new park and sort of all that comes with like hosting in a minor league park. Uh but this is a team that I mean they’re on fire, man. And and they have so many like exciting young players to watch. You know, we’re talking about Jacob Wilson at the break. Um but you’ve got you’ve got Lawrence Butler, you’ve got like their pitching is coming around. you know, Soderstrom is is like still like crushing the ball. He’s stuck at nine home runs, but still hitting the ball hard. Um, like this team has so much potential at almost every position that you can see an outline of a team that maybe it’s not this year where they’re a highle playoff team. Maybe it is, but certainly next year and the year after, this team is building something. And if you want Major League Baseball, Kyle, that’s a really good point. if you want Major League Baseball here in Sacramento, this is a time to support them. And I I don’t know like what the attendance has been like uh game in and game out at this point, but I also think that there was a lot of press about how expensive tickets were. And I that may have scared like a lot of people off. Sure. And you probably need to go check out and see if you can get tickets for for cheaper than what you thought. I’m pretty sure you can. Yeah. And again, even if you’re an anti- A’s ownership person or not an A’s fan, but you know, you want Major League, like this is the time to to get out there. This is the time. Yeah. And just to to back up your point, Tyler Sodestrom, and and I’m going to use the wins above replacement metric from baseball reference here just as a catchall stat. I I I don’t believe that war is the end all beall of of statistics, but I’m just using it as a catch-all stat for this. The A’s leader in war is Tyler Sodestrom. He’s 23 years old. Second place on the team in war is Jacob Wilson. He’s 23 years old. Luis Aras third on the team, 28 years old. Lawrence Butler fourth. He’s 24 years old. Then there’s Brent Rooker. He’s he’s he’s the old man of the team. He’s 30. Uh he’s fifth. Tied with him is JJ Leay who’s 27. Shay Langelier is right behind them at 27. This is a young team that is starting to get outs a little more consistently and it would not shock me if they’re playing in October or playing deep into in because I think they have regular season games scheduled in like the first week of October. Okay. But playing playoff games in October. Yeah. at the the way they’re growing, the way their their their trajectory is heading, how aggressive they’ve been willing to be in the in the trade market to improve their team when when they think they’re going to be good, i.e. trading Espus for for John Lester. I think they’ll be active at the trade deadline this year if they’re there in the mix. So, uh like I said, there’s a a very very fun team here. Yeah. And we have him in uh Nick Curts, their um their first round pick from last year, 22 is he’s 22 years old. He’s batting .275. He hasn’t hit a home run yet. Mhm. Once that dude hits his first home run, oh, it’s on because he’s just getting acclimated right now. He’s got three walks and 18 strikeouts and 45 uh played appearances. So, he’s he’s got a lot of swing and misses. Figuring it out. Oh, he’ll figure it out. And the fact that he’s still batting 275 despite, you know, just coming up from the minor leagues and he got drafted 9 months ago. Like this is once he starts rolling, you’re going to be like, “Oh my goodness.” Yeah. And they’re going to have that’s a a true cleanup hitter. And yeah, like this team is is uh built for the long term. It’s going to be fun to watch. Yep. Um that’s our pitch for the ace. Yeah. Uh, what? Where you gonna go? Just shifting gears back to basketball here. Speaking of teams leaving and players leaving, when the Milwaukee Bucks blew an overtime lead or blew an a late lead against the Indiana Pacers in game five of that first round series, we all knew, okay, hey, this might be the summer of Giannis. This is this is three consecutive first round exits. And for a guy who we know I’m a winner is a winner. Mhm. It wouldn’t shock anybody if he asked out. Yeah. I mean, they’ve lost three times in the first round straight. Three years in a row in the first round. And I know Giannis did his whole thing. He I actually really liked his answer. If you’ve never seen it, go go look it up. It’s the answer the long answer he gives when somebody asks if they felt like if Giannis felt like it was a failure that they lost in the first round. I think it was two years ago. And he did this whole thing about how do you get a promotion every year in your job? No. Is every year a failure? No. Like just because you failed or just because you fell short of the championship doesn’t mean your year was a failure. You’re trying to get better and these are blah blah. It’s a really really cool answer. But there’s also a limit on that. Yeah, you can say that once or twice when you get to three years in a row. So anyways, uh a stunner from Howard Beck on the Zack Low Show. The Zack Low podcast is back on the Zack Low Show. Jiannis Antenna Kmpo has markets he would like to play in. You’ll never guess what those markets are, James. Well, let’s hear what they are because I’m going to guess they’re all big markets. Maybe you could guess them. Los Angeles, New York, or Miami. What? I love Howard Beck. Howard Beck is phenomenal. Yep. Uh, he does a great job covering the league. He has for a long time. He’s been on the show. He’s a friend of this program. We might get him on soon. Love having Howard on. I did not need Howard Beck to tell me this information. I did not need Howard Beck to report that Giannis would like to go to Miami, LA, or New York. Was that a surprise to anyone? Does is anyone shocked that Giannis wasn’t like, “Oh, Memphis.” Maybe it’s a little bit of news because Houston has been the team that everybody has circled and of course Oklahoma City with all their players and all their assets could really go make a play for him. The question I have with Giannis and those teams Mhm. Okay, let’s just assume he just wants to be in the market. Let’s say he doesn’t have a preference, Lakers or Clippers. Doesn’t have a preference Knicks or Nets. Doesn’t have uh I guess Miami just has a one team, but doesn’t have a doesn’t have a preference. We can we got to step aside and we can talk about this. But the danger you run here is by trading for Giannis, you just become the Bucks. And I don’t think anything any of those teams and any of those markets can do is going to help him get closer to where he wants to go. We’ll keep we’ll we’ll we’ll keep talking about that because the summer of Giannis is upon us. We got a more NBA playoffs coming. And uh John Lynch had an update on Brock Party that there’s no deal done, but it’s good news. It’s still good news even if it’s not news. New news. Mhm. We’ll tell you why. That’s James Ham combats and Joe Brazil’s behind the glass. We’re the insider sponsored by Jeffy Lee. We got an hour left on ESPN 1320 at Sacramento Sports. Oh, I did not see TC. Let him know that we’ll get you. That’s money. That’s money. Yeah. Nick Curts is a is a hos as the youths say. I don’t think the youth say hos. I think hos as the old say. I have a resident young person update. Oh, thank you. Pop culture. Yes. Hello, Joe. Hello. And now here’s Joe Brazil with your young person update. Young person update of the day. Uh, so everyone was all excited about the new Grand Theft Auto. It got pushed back. Got delayed all the way back as it does. Um, yeah, that’s fine. But they did release, they said, “Okay, yeah, it’s not happening till May.” Uh, but here’s a new trailer, which is a bit it’s a very big deal for Yeah, I saw some of the screenshots. It looks unbelievable. Unreal. And we saw that coming. Uh, but some screenshots from the actual trailer looks like real life. It does. Yeah. No, like genuinely. So, I have a I have a question for you as an old person, and I don’t say this flippantly. Like, I I get I’m not a video game guy. I don’t look down on video game people. Oh, no. I I just don’t I I I So, I don’t I I don’t mean this, like I said, to be to be disrespectful or or anything. I, as an outsider, the GTA franchise has big Fast and the Furious energy to me. Okay. Where it’s sort of just the same thing. Okay. In different packaging. Okay. I see what you’re saying. Okay. Like I know there’s a throughine to the Fast and Furious movies and I’m not caught up and I know there’s a story line to all of them. Uhhuh. But I couldn’t discern any of the trailers from any of the other trailers. I see what you’re saying. Yeah. So, is there a story line? Is there a through line? Is it Yeah, it’s So, I totally understand why you did that. When I started playing GTA, it was you run around and beat the hell out of people. Yeah. No, it’s there’s a little bit more to it. Like, four was like you were like a you came off a boat from Russia or something. You had to make your own life. Five was you played as three different people. Pretty cool. Or whatever. And then this one’s gonna be Bonnie and Clyde. So, Oh, that’s not actually Bonnie and Clyde, but same idea. Okay. All right. That’s fun. So, it’ll be cool. That’s dope. Love that for for you and everybody who plays GTA. Fingers crossed no more push backs. It’s going to be a year from now. Anyways, so it’s all good. Uh, speaking of video games, and thank you for the young person update of the day. That is Joe Brazil, everybody. Uh, I am I I am now one episode behind on Last of Us. I am too. I caught all the way up except for this Sunday’s episode. I have not seen this Sunday. What a program. I understand why Mrs. Ham punted. Yeah, it’s a not an easy watch. Like, it is not a play. I am straight up not having a good time watching that show. No, it’s great. It’s very good TV. I want to watch the next episode, but it’s just not a fun I don’t have a good time watching it. No, no, it’s hard. like you get done like there are some episodes that are just like stunning and then there are other episodes that are just like really brutal. That game is soul crushing. Uh and I’ve only seen the first season but I could only imagine I guess the sec and again I don’t again not a not a video game guy so so I don’t mean to apparently the second season way diverges from the game. That’s what I heard in a way the first season did not. I don’t know. I’ll watch it and I’ll let you know. But the game itself amazing story. Amazing story from the game. Sure. Is it? Oh, I’ll ask someone. Uh, let me see who this is. Hour number two. That’s James Ham. I’m Kyle Mads and Joe Brazil spinning on the ones and twos. We’re hanging out with you till noon. Then we’ll hand it off to DLo and Casey. Thank you everybody listening on 13:20 a.m. or 98.5 FM HD2. People watching on YouTube and Twitch. Everybody in the chatty house on YouTube and Twitch. Free Odyssey app people. James Ham and KO Master Show podcast people. Salute to all of you. We appreciate you for rocking with us on this Tuesday, May 6th. Uh, real quick, we were talking at the break about about TV shows. I’m caught up on The Last of Us, save for the most recent episode. Mhm. So, I have not I I caught up but then did not watch on Sunday. I kind of feel like it’s a show you cannot do spoilers. You don’t want to talk about like the what happens even if it’s like two weeks ago, right? Because it just it’s constantly taking like hard left turns and you’re just out of out of nowhere shocking things are happening. So, I don’t want to, again, this is spoilerfree. Uh, I I and I we’re talking about this at the break, and if you would like to watch what goes on at the breaks, we’re at youtube.com/ ESPN1320 and twitch.tv/esbn1320. Uh, Joe, as our resident young person and video game person, let’s bring him back into the fold here. Joe Brazil, our producer, is Last of Us, the game done. Is there like is there one Last of Us game? There’s two. Okay. So, there’s Last of Us and then like The Rest of Us. No, part two. The rest of The Last of Us Part of The Last of Us. The Last of Us, but for real this time. Yeah, exactly. Uh, so there’s two a a game and then a sequel to the game. Yes. Is it done? Did the story line end? Um, and again, I don’t want to know a spoiler. I don’t want to know anything that happens. I’m just going to say no. Okay. Yeah. Okay. That was all. That was all. I just wanted to finish. I’m sorry everybody listening on the radio who’s like, “What’s going on?” I tried to bring you into the conversation, but anyways, I just wanted to I was just curious. Yeah. Okay. No, I’m gonna say no. Cool. Appreciate you. Thanks, Joe. Shout out to The Last of Us. If you’re into television, that’s not a fun time to watch. Go ahead and give it a give it a give it a view. I mean, it’s it’s really really good. It’s just tough to watch. Not not an easy watch for sure. Wouldn’t recommend it for children. Really tough in that. Before we jump into the the next topic, um I am hearing some some rumors, some some movement on uh a potential uh return of Bobby Jackson to the Sacramento Kings. Uh not I not got it confirmed that it is actually happening, but it there is uh a source is telling me that uh not only Mike Woodson, but uh Bobby Jackson could be back in the fold here. Okay. Sacramento. So, there’s potential for Bobby Jackson to return and join Doug Chrissy’s cooking staff. That would be outstanding, not just for the vibes because Bobby Jackson is is a great vibes guy, but Bobby Jackson’s also just a really good coach who has now gotten to separate himself from Sacramento where he was on Nick Nurse’s staff in Philly. And now coming back to Sacramento after being on Nick Nurse’s staff, I imagine he would be even better prepared to be on a coaching staff at Doug Christie. Well, and don’t forget he led the Stockton Kings uh for a year and and led them to the best record in the G-League and and a playoff playoff appearance. So, yeah, we’ll we’ll see. We’ll see what happens. We’ll see what happens. But, uh hearing good good news. Good things are coming. Does that mean Nick Nurse is out in Philly? No. I think Bobb’s just I don’t I don’t I don’t think so, but I think that there’s always like open Yeah, there’s always potential for open doors stuff like that. So, NFL the NFL assistant coach thing is weird, too, because a lot of assistant coaches are on year-to-year contracts. Mhm. But then sometimes an assistant coach will get a two-year contract. A lot of them are on deals that coincide with the the head coach, like your your lead assistants. But even that is always sketchy cuz those guys like if a job major job like if they get a head coaching job interview you usually allow them to go do that and if they get the head coaching job you you know I don’t think you can block them from taking a interview for a promotion. You’re probably right. If if Yeah. If I’m a Dline coach and somebody wants to interview me to be the defensive coordinator, Kyle Shanahan can’t block that. Yeah, but if I’m a Dline coach and I’m under contract and another team wants to interview me to be their tight end’s coach, they they can block that if that makes sense. Anyway, I I also like people ask about guys like Brad Miller and I I don’t know if you’re just being funny cast digital media here. Um I think that’s a good question though. Yeah, but I I mean like look well a good a good thing to address like this isn’t just stacking up random former kings. No, no. Like if Brad Miller wanted to be an NBA coach, he’s had a more than a decade, probably 15 years since he’s played to go be an NBA coach. He’s not an NBA coach. And he’s not an NBA coach because that it’s just not his career path after, you know, he’s done like outdoor network stuff and and like hunting and fishing and all that stuff. And I’d say the same thing with Chris Weber. Like if Chris Weber wanted to be an NBA coach, um he’s had plenty of time. He’s been around the game. um you know, if he wanted to get back in the game, like I’m sure that there’s a way that he could probably probably get a job as an assistant somewhere. But, you know, it starts with going to camps and and doing like Pete Pete Newle big man camp, but there’s also the NBA does a really good job of putting on all of all kinds of uh like assistant coaching camps to teach, you know, whether it’s young guys that are leaving college and are like, “Hey, I’m not going to be a pro, but I I might be able to be like a development coach that works his way up or, you know, all that stuff.” The NBA has all kinds of like pathways. Sure. And the fact that like we haven’t seen a Chris Weber go through that pathway or you haven’t seen a Brad Miller go through that pathway usually means that they’re not going to do that. That’s just not who they are. Yeah. Um and you don’t just like go from out of the game and then like hey I want to be an assistant on your staff and it’s like what what are you bringing to the table because this is Yeah. Like I played it doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t mean you’re you’re worth a damn as a coach. Well, yeah. And there’s a lot of people who have played, you know, and there are people that you play with. So, like Garrett Temple of all the players that I’ve covered is probably like the 40th best player, maybe if that. That would be a really fun thing to do. Yeah. Is just rank all the players you’ve covered. Oh, wow. Yeah. Not right now. Not on the fly. We would prepare for it, but No, of course. Yeah. But, you know, 40th best sounds sounds about right for Garrett. Yeah. And it might be a little lower. It might be a little bit higher. I’m going to guess I’m going 40. I’m probably going to say a little bit lower, too. GT. But there are some guys that you just know like if you’re around them that you would love to have them on your staff that they communicate well, that they connect uh they connect to players and especially their their leaders when they’re there. And it’s always, you know, made the reference before about like Major League Baseball like catchers. Doesn’t matter how good of a catcher you are, there’s probably a good chance you’re going to be a good coach because like a lot of major league uh you know, managers are former catchers. There’s But there are players in the NBA that you know when you’re when you’re around them, oh man, this dude’s totally going to be a coach. Yeah. Like they’ve just got if they wanted to. Yeah. When when they’re all done playing and I mean Garrett keeps playing and people keep paying him3 to5 million a year. Like why not to ostensibly be a coach? Yeah, that’s that’s that’s kind of it. I feel like if you’re going to coach, that’s a thing that like you mentioned when Doug Christie was working in TV, he talked about wanting to coach like that was a thing that he had decided and he had coached his kid at that point. Right. Yeah. But he also he did training with young players, right? Right. So he had had some experience in the co. I don’t think you’re going to go from being Brad Miller and vibing out at courtside at Kings games to like, oh yeah, I’m gonna go be a coach now because Doug and Bobby are doing it. Like, no, Doug and Bobby are very wellqualified to do this. Brad Miller, God love him, is not qualified to be an NBA coach right now. Well, that’s always been my my sort of like complaint with the anti- Doug Christie crowd. like, oh, like we’re just doing a a a favor or just like like what exactly are you talking about? Like Doug Christie spent three and a half years on as an assistant. Not only that, but he’s been back in the game for like six or seven years. When you’re part of the TV crew and you’re doing games, like especially when he became the analyst, lead analyst, he traveled with the team for like two or three years. Like you’re in it. You’re having conversations with players on the daily. So, I mean, you’re sitting on on team planes with some sometimes sometimes you’re in the front or they they they have a section for you. Yeah. And and you’re you’re not part of the rest. Yeah. But that doesn’t mean you’re not at practices or shoot rounds and all that stuff and having conversations like Doug has been back in the game for a long time. Yeah. Um, and like to where a guy like uh JJ Bick was, you know, a podcaster after his playing career and then um and then did some TV work for like a year and then boom, he’s he’s a head coach of the Lakers. That’s a little sudden, but at least Doug did put in like three and a half years as an assistant. JJ Reic got his job because he did an interview slashodcast with LeBron James. That I think was was what happened there. Yeah. But we’ve also seen that not work out. Like I know Steve Kerr was in the front office with the with the Suns and then he was a broadcaster and then he went into coaching. Uh and that has worked out. But remember Steve Nash did some player development type stuff with the Warriors and was just kind of around and then went to be the coach of the Nets. Didn’t work out. No. Doug the bottom line is Doug is qualified. Yeah. For that job. Bobby Jackson is very qualified to be an assistant coach. They’re not just going to start calling random ex kings because that’s the vibe. Hey, look at that. Uh in uh our our friend Sean Sean Cunningham from KC3. Sean Cunningham. In addition to Mike Woodson joining Doug Christie staff, I’ve had multiple sources tell me that Bobby Jackson has indeed uh will indeed return to the Sacramento Kings as an assistant. So again, that’s what we’re hearing right now. Oh yeah. Yep. We’ll let you know when that’s official or confirmed. I don’t know. Anyway, yeah, that’s where I was going to go next. Let’s go to the Oakrove Kid Talk. 916909 1320 91691320. Talked a lot about Giannis, the summer of Giannis, but TC’s got a different Milwaukee buck we should be focused on. What’s up, TC? Yes, sir. Hey, what’s up with my two guards, Kyle and Hammer? What’s up, dude? Hey, man. Check it out. Hey, Vibes is up, bro. So, check it out. Hey, this where I’m at with it, bro. Like, I know Giannis out the picture. So, I’m I’m really I’m really leaning James. I’m really leaning towards Bobby Porters. Answer this. You probably too, Kyle. I believe he’s a free agent. If not, I’m really toward that stretch for Bobby Portoris or Nas Reed. I know Nas Reed is opting out, bro. But that’s our stretch for that we need that cane can move back to the three. Do stay at the five if we gonna keep him and then we can piece around that, bro. But those two dudes, bro, if I’m Scott Perry and Doug, I’m trying to get, bro, like right now today. Today, cuz that’s the perfect fit. No doubt. Thanks for the call, TC. Uh, just to confirm, Bobby Portoris has a $13.4 million player option. My guess is he opts out of that because he will receive more than that on the open market entering his age 30 season. Yeah. So should be an option for the Kings. Yes. I don’t if they can afford it, but that is a player the exact type of player we talk about. Knows his role, does the little things, can play the five in a pinch, plays defense, rebounds, can hit a three. Bobby Portoris is a is a name that I will have circled and I think a lot of Kings fans will have circled this offseason. Nasreed feels a little bit more I I don’t know why but Bobby Portoris well I I do know why Bobby Portoris feels much more attainable to me than Nas Reed. Nas Reed has the is on a trajectory to get a like massive contract I think this offseason. Mhm. And Bobby Poris, I don’t think he will get a a massive deal. I think Nasreed might get a the type of deal where a team goes, “Hey, we think we can build around this guy.” Bobby Porter is going to get a role player deal. He’s going to get a really really nice role player deal, but I think there’s going to be a team out there that believes Nas Reed can be elevated above the role that he had in in in Minnesota. Yeah, it’s going to be interesting to to see what Bobby gets. Um Bobby Port has averaged 13.9 points, 8.4 four rebounds, 2.1 assists. He shot 36.5% from three. Um his PR around a little under 18. Like this is a really really high quality player. Um you know, he did have the suspension this year that kept him out for and and he’s coming off like last year he was incredible. Like 50% from the field, 51% 40% from three. Um like he checks all the boxes for me. He’s mean, you know? The Kings the Kings could use like that type of personality on this team. Yes. Somebody with some kind of edge. Yeah. Yeah. And at 30 I I think Bobby Portoris is still going to get like 15 to 18 million a year. Yeah. That’s not easy for the Kings to come up with. Um you you would hope that like the mid-level exception should probably be closer to 14 million this year. That might be where Bobby Portoris kind of like if if a team is going to sign him, there might be a handful of teams with free agent money. I don’t know that they’re going to spend it on a 30-y old Bobby Portoris as opposed to a mid-level exception, which is, you know, you could do 14 and then 14 and a half and a 15, 15 and a half, 16, you know, whatever it is. It’s it’s going to work out to roughly a threeyear 45 46 million deal. Um, that would make sense to me if you’re the Kings. Um, but again, he’s a player that I’ve kind of circled and and been talking about for a year and a half. like he would make a ton of sense on the Kings. Yeah, man. And he’s 30. He doesn’t accelerate your your timeline dramatically, but it’s the exact type of player they need. Mhm. And it makes you better. You can start, he can come off the bench, come on, won games, punch people in the face, he’s been suspended for uh violating the NBA’s anti-drug program. Like, it’s fine. It’s fine. Everything’s fine. No, I I I like that uh I like that idea from TC and I think that’s a that’s a player that that a lot of people have circled for the Kings this offseason that they can go get that type of player. That’s where Okay. Like I I see the vision and how these pieces might fit because now now you have a player who is going to do the little things without needing the ball. Yeah. Does not need to have the ball on his hand. He’s going to set a screen. He’s going to grab a rebound. He’s going to hit a corner three. I think that would be very beneficial to the Kings to have Bobby Portoris on their roster. We’ll see if he even opts out though of his player option of $13.4 million with the Bucks. Yep. Anyways, we’ll of course all offseason be following along with the Sacramento Kings. Players they should go sign, players they could sign, trades they’re involved in. Bobby Jackson, it sounds like is going to join Mike Woodson on Doug Christiey’s coaching staff. We will have all the Kings news for you right here on ESPN 1320. James and I will have that on the Insider sponsored by Jiffy Loop. And of course, uh, DLO and KC will have that for you as well. Uh, their show begins at noon and they’ll take you up to four o’clock each and every day here on ESPN 1320. Do you know what I have going on each and every day? Oh, underdog lineups because underdog is one of the best places to make picks during playoff basketball. But it’s not just basketball. We’ve got baseball in full swing. NHL playoffs going on. We’ve got WNBA getting fired up. Now’s a really, really good time to jump in on underdog. Here’s the lineup I’m rocking with tonight because I needed to use my 40% profit boost token on a game one. and Warriors. I had forgotten to use it yesterday. So, Warriors Timberwolves is the only game one I have left to use my 40% profit boost token. And so, I did. Here’s what I’m rocking with. Steph Curry, he’s 37 years old. They have played on consecutive or or every other night for the last five games. I’m going lower than 26 and a half points for Steph Curry. I think we had a slow game one from Steph. I think we might get a slow game one from the Warriors in general, but but Steph Curry, I don’t think he’s going to put pedal to the metal and try and win this game one. Julius Randle, I think the Warriors are going to have a hard time guarding him. I’m going higher than 20 and a half points. At least they’re gonna have a hard time guarding him in game one. Draymond Green, higher than four and a half assists. Buddy Hild, I’m going lower than two and a half made threes. Oh, yeah. I’m expecting I’m expecting the regression to the mean from Buddy. I’m going lower than two and a half made threes. and then Nas Reed going higher than 10 and a half points because that’s another player I think Golden State’s gonna have a little bit of a hard time guarding especially early in the series when they’re still trying to figure out their rotations uh with uh against a very very good Minnesota team. So that’s my lineup tonight. I hope you play along with me uh when you download the underdog app. Sign up with promo code Kyle M. That’s Kyle LM to unlock a special offer of up to $1,000 in bonus cash and you make your first deposit. That’s promo code Kyle M. Ky LM. And again, this is underdog daily fantasy. They’re pick them game. You’re picking higher or lower on at least two player stats and then you can turn a dollar into $1,000. Millions of people have won billions. I’m one of those millions and some of my winnings have been some of those billions with underdog. Must be a two plus or present in a state where underdog fantasy operates. Terms apply. Concerned with your play, call 1800gambler or visit www.ncpgpambling.org. In Arizona, call 1800 next step or text nextep to 53342. In New York, call the 247 helpline at 18778 NY or text hopey. We did it. We did it. Okay. There’s also a rumor floating around that Darius Sangala uh Sangala will will join Doug Christiey’s staff as well. Um he did spend six years on the San Antonio Spurs staff. Uh and of course as a former Sacramento King. I loved watching Darius Sangala play. sort of in the same vein as um who’s that guy that played with the Warriors last year and then um Oh, Daario Sarich like as a player. Yeah. Is he with the Nuggets now? Yeah, I think so. Uh $500 giveaway is over by the way, guys. It is. Uh assistant coach Ho Turkoo is not coming. I can assure you that. Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. I assure you that’s not going to be a thing. Yeah. Uh yeah. Uh Darius is also part of the Lithuanian national team. Oh, nice. Like not as a player. I mean, he’s 47 years old, but Oh, yeah. So, I mean, I I think that matters because he might have ties to Domos. Um, I was reading a funny a funny tweet earlier, John Brockman. That’s amazing. Where I put out that Monty McNair had actually uh received a second place vote um for executive of the year for executive of the year. one of the uh the good folks in media members in Texas uh made sure everyone understood that Nico did not receive a vote a vote at all. That’s where I would go wrong with if I was a voter for these things. Mhm. I would 100% have done that for the bit. Yeah. I just dropped a little third place vote on Nico. I mean, like, look, you’re supposed to take it serious. Uh, like just I would take it serious, but All right. Here, Mark. Uh, Sam Presy Prey, can I have my can I have my first place vote? Uh, GM of the Pistons can have my second place vote. And here you go, Nico. Now back to the insiders with James Ham and Kyle Madson, brought to you by Jiffy Lube on ESPN 1320. Former Kings abound on the Kings coaching staff. That’s what it sounds like. Beginning with head coach Doug Christie. Yeah, we’re getting there. What’s the new name? Bobby Jackson, Mike Woodson, Darius Singala. Darius Singala, of course. There’s a possibility of Darius Singala. Uh former former king. Um I think he his rookie season was like 2003. Um, I want to say Michigan State. Am I wrong? I’m looking it up right now for you. Yeah. Uh, Wake Forest. Wake Forest. Wake Forest. I knew it was green. Wake Forest is not green at all. What? Yeah. Wake Forest is Black and Gold Dog. Demon Deacons. Oh, okay. I could have sworn. No. Okay. That’s Malik Mustafa. Wake Forest Legend. Darius Singala. Yeah. Wake Forest Legend. Sangala. Syla. Sangala. Sangala. Sila. Syla. Yeah. He spent uh he spent six years on the the San Antonio Spurs staff. So it wasn’t that long ago that I saw him come through Sacramento, which was like, hey, look, it’s Sangala. Alfa Rukamino went to Wake Forest. Mugsy Bogues went to Wake Forest. Alfa Rook Camino. Um John Collins Wake Forest. Tim Duncan of course. Randolph Childris. Oo. Uh, Randolph Childris. Yes. Yeah. He was so good in the tournament and at the college level and then was not a good NBA player. Jake Larabia was at Wake Forest for a little bit. That’s true. Chris Paul obviously. Oh, was Rodney Rogers? Rodney Rogers was Yep. Uh, Ish Smith. Jeff Teague. A lot of good players coming out of Wake Forest. Yeah. Anyways, that’s what’s going on. Yeah, what’s going on in Wake Forest. Uh, before we get to this NBA superstar thing, uh, remaining in the playoffs, John Lynch yesterday, well, John Lynch probably a couple days ago was on an episode of Unbuttoned with Chris Sims and Ahmed Fared. NBC Sports Bay Area legend Ahmed Fared uh, host that podcast with Chris Sims and John Lynch was on it. And here’s what he had to say about Brock Party’s contract. Quote, “What I will tell you, I can tell you is we’re having really good, positive discussions. When it gets done, I’m not sure. Hope sooner rather than later, but hope is not a strategy.” So, we’re making progress. We’ve had good discussions. Again, that’s not, hey, a deal is right around the corner. We have no idea where they’re at in that progress. Mhm. But the fact that he says hope is not a strategy, I think that’s been their strategy. I think their strategy in these negotiations with Nick Bosa, with Brandon Aayuk in particular, those two where those those negotiations went deep into August and in Bosa’s case into September. I think they were hoping, okay, well, they’ll come down eventually. Yep. we’re going to sit on this number and eventually we’re going to just cross our fingers and they’re going to cut because we hold all the cards and then Bosa was like, “Nope.” And you wind up giving him the contract that you would have had to give him if you signed him at the start of training camp. So anyways, I think that’s good news for the 49ers. The fact that they’re having talks still and they’re in discussions and those discussions are still positive is good news. They it is imperative because John Lynch did a whole other thing where he talked about how Kyle Shanahan told all the players that, you know, this is voluntary offseason workouts, but when we’re at our best, we have 99% participation and this and that. And all these people showed up. Even George KD came in after missing the first couple days, got his contract done, and now he’s he’s there. Brock Party is there. Okay, that’s all great. If you have this contract negotiation bleed into training camp where you either have Brock Party holding out or this is your number one story of training camp. Mhm. Now you have a problem. So they’ve recognized this. I think it’s clear they’ve recognized that and I think there is a concerted effort from the 49ers that hasn’t been there in in recent history with these big contract extensions to get this done way before training camp. And so that’s that’s the good news even if there’s not a agreement just yet. Yeah. I I mean like look, you got to get this thing done and get this can’t drag out. It’s one thing to drag out wide receiver or or defensive lineman. Your quarterback needs to be there. That’s thousand% like you just like he has to be there and he has to be engaged and he has to want to be there and he want he has to be there leading the show. Yeah, that’s the point. That’s why he’s the quarterback. Like you need him there building chemistry with new receivers. Again, this team is gonna have to have new receivers. You’ve got Aayuk who’s out for probably half the season and Dbo Samuel is gone. Like, you need him there building chemistry and like this is a big deal. So, get it done. Like, this is the one thing that kills me about these guys. The 49ers just do it every single year. Unbelievable. So frustrating, but this can’t it cannot go on like that with with Brock Pury. No, it’s the the being better with spending money has to be the goal way more than hey, let’s try and squeeze every cent out of these negotiations. Like, no, it’s not that big of a deal if you if you’re prudent with a your draft pick, if you’re hitting draft picks and you’re prudent with your spending otherwise. It’s just not that big of a deal to to get a deal done in May. And the other aspect of this that that sticks out and then we’ll get back to the NBA is you talk about this is the quarterback. If you’re going to present this person as the leader of your organization, because that’s what the quarterback is. If you’re going to present this person as the leader of your organization, and that’s all we heard last year is how Brock Party had taken these steps as a leader and it’s his huddle and it’s his offense and blah blah blah. That’s great. Show it. The way you do that in pro sports is you pay people. Yep. But bottom line, whether the guy’s playing for money or not, whether we care how much money they make or not, it doesn’t it’s it’s not my money. It’s no no no skin off my nose, right? Like that doesn’t matter nearly as much as, hey, if you want to have a stable organization, you have to be able to put up a quarterback and go, this is the guy. So, I thought what the Raiders did with Gino Smith was so smart. Hey, there’s nobody that we like in the top six this year. So, we’re just going to take Ashton Genty. We’re going to trade for Gino Smith so we don’t have this Aiden Oonnell and M. Jones battle or whatever the hell it would have turned into. Gino Smith is a viable quality starting NFL quarterback. He’s our guy right now. Like, this is just there’s that stability there. Yep. Whatever else is going on, okay, you’ll figure it out. Quarterback, you’re good. If you go into the offseason or you, excuse me, if you go into training camp with like, eh, we’re not really sure if we want to pay Brock a number that has a five in front of it. I want to pay him 50. We’ll do 48. 52 is a little out of our price range. If that’s where you’re at, you should have made a move a long time ago. Yeah. But they didn’t. So, okay, you’re in this you’re in this lane now. Whether you want to pay him 48 or 52 or 55 or whatever it is, you just got to get there and have that stability at that position. That’s it. So, it sounds like they’re trying to do that. And uh good on the 49ers because if this goes into training camp, I don’t think it’s going to go well for him. Might not go well for him even if it doesn’t. But very true. Give yourself a better chance if we get it done early. Yep. I wanted to talk about this a little bit yesterday as we shift gears back to the NBA playoffs. I want to because I watched Tyrese Hallebertton have a have a really really awesome game against Cleveland in Cleveland to to start that second round series. And this is not like he didn’t um it’s not like he dropped 50. Uh his statline in that game was he had 22 points, 13 assists, three boards, but he only had one turnover. He had three blocks, went two of six from three, nine of 15 from the field. I’m like, man, Tyresese Hallebertton is the dude for the Pacers. Mhm. He’s our number one. And I’m going, is that good enough? So, I was kind of thinking, I got into this whole discussion with myself about about who the best players are left in the playoffs and the number one for each playoff team. And I wanted to rank them, okay? Because I and again, this this was sparked out of trying to figure out a if Tyresese Hallebertton was the Pacers number one guy or if it was Pascal Siaka. But I think it’s undeniably Tyres Hallebertton. Are we in agreement there? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. I mean, Seakum has had moments, but and he’s been a great player throughout his career, but I mean, Hallebertton is the like the head of the snake there. Yeah. Miles Turner is another option, but no. Okay. So, I I would say this, like Indiana, the way they’re built, they’re built with a bunch of near allstar level or like allstars, but not all NBA guys. They have a roster that would work with Zack Lavine and Demanis Sabonis. Yeah, I I would put Exactly. I would put even at this point if you want to throw Demard Rosen in there like the three that the Kings have of Demonos Sabonis, Zack Lavine, and Demardo Rosen. They’re all three guys who have been allstars, but they’re not perennial allstars. Um I’d say Domos is the closest to a star because he’s a guy who at least at this point in their career who has been all NBA multiple times. Um, you know, Demar has been all NBA as well, but it’s been a while. Uh, so for me, it’s like you’re looking at this group of players that, um, like the Kings are built that way. They’re not built with a LeBron James or Luca Donuch, which those guys just happen to be on the same team now. Um, or you know, a KD or, you know, like one of the the top like six stars in the league. Superstar. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So, for me, if we’re here, here are the top players on on each team that I that I landed on. And I don’t think there’s a ton of discussion to be had here. Okay. SGA for the Thunder. Yep. Nicolage for the Nuggets, of course. Anthony Edwards for the Timberwolves. Steph Curry for the Warriors. Donovan Mitchell for the Cavs. Tyresese Hallebertton for the Pacers. Jason Tatum for the Celtics. Yep. Jaylen Brunson for the Knicks. Yep. I don’t think there’s any argu There’s really good players on all those teams. There’s other really good players. Those to me are the undeniable number ones on all those teams. Yeah. I would say like Cat and and Jaylen Brunson are like they’re super close. But Jaylen Brunson’s the dude for He is but he is the dude. Yeah. Yep. And I think I think Donovan Mitchell is on just a really good team. Mhm. Darius Garland’s going to have his moments. Evan Mobley is going to have his moments. Uh he’s the guy though. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Last shot of the game, he’s going to have the ball in his hands. That’s kind of the way I look. Of course. Okay. I think I’m going to put Nicola Joic at the top. I agree with that. I think you can say Shay had a better year this year if you want. Statistically speaking, I mean, he scored more points, but we’re talking about It’s so close. Talking about a three-time MVP that bumped all of his numbers up and averaged almost 29 points a game and a triple double. Like, oh, he pretty good. A really good player. Yeah. Put up 42 and 22 in the first game. Is SGA two for you? Yes. Yeah. I think I I think I’m there as well. And I think if you’re putting anybody aside from one of those two guys at one and two, uh I think you’ve really got to do some mental gymnastics. No, I I would I would agree 100%. This is this is remaining in in this year’s playoffs. But this is where it gets interesting once you get done with these two. Really interesting at this point. Yeah. I mean, if you were choosing for the long term versus like today, who is it that you want running your team? There’s So, we got six guys left. Aunt, Steph, Donovan Mitchell, Tyresese Hallebertton, Jason Tatum, Jaylen Brunson. Jason Tatum is three for me. Okay. And I and I I don’t it’s it’s not as close as SGA and Joic. He’s not in that tier. Okay. But I think he might be I invented this thing. It’s called tears. It’s this thing I do. It’s never been done before. No, no, no. No one’s ever done tiers before. I think Yokic and SGA are the first tier. I think Jason Tatum is by himself in a second tier. I’m going to actually kick back on that. Okay. I actually think like if there is one player out of this group that’s left, it’s Steph that you even at 37. Yeah, even at 37, he’s the dude that if the Warriors are going to do anything, he’s going to be the one to bust you up. I don’t think that they have enough around him to make any sort of run here. And that’s I I’m not trying to be disrespectful to Draymond or Jimmy Butler. I just think it’s just the steep drop off from once you get to Jimmy Butler to to whether it’s Draymond or whoever the next best player is is so steep. Yeah. You know, defensively, yeah, Draymond is is causing problems, but like in the playoffs, you got to be able to score. That’s it. Yeah. That’s that I we could we could do a whole discussion about the worries and their inability to shoot the basketball, but I don’t I don’t hate that. Are you putting Steph ahead of Tatum? I would. So, here’s my my I’ll put I’ll hear an argument for Steph in a in a tier with him. Mhm. But what Tatum does for the Celtics as a facilitator, as a scorer, what he does for them defensively. He is, he’s 20, what, seven now. I just I trust Jason Tatum, man. Do I? I don’t trust him more than Steph. No, you’re probably right. But I mean, he’s here’s here’s the here’s the image I have. Here’s I guess the Steph was awesome in the fourth quarter against the Rockets, right? He he figured out a way to get to the basket a couple times, hit a couple of big threes, uh hit the dagger over Jaylen Green, had a had an unbelievable game one, but in by that game seven, he looked 37 and he had a he had his biggest impact was like, “Okay, it’s winning time. Uh fourth quarter, here goes Steph. He’s making all these awesome defensive plays and he’s he’s he put up I think he scored 14 in the fourth quarter uh and and slam the door. I don’t know that over another sevengame series are you okay so this would be my counterpoint like the peak is higher but the consistency is lower. Yeah but the Rockets threw everything they had at one dude to slow them down. That’s a good point. That’s a good point. and the surrounding cast of the Boston Celtics versus the Golden State Warriors. It’s just not close. It’s not even close. Yeah. If I had to choose, I had one game to play today, who am I choosing? It’s going to be Steph over Tatum. That’s an interesting way to look at this because I I if I even if I say I have one series to win and it’s, you know, regardless of the rest of the players around them, you put him on whatever team, like if I put if you put Steph Curry on the Boston Celtics right now, I I he would average 18 three-point attempts per game. It would be silly. It would be ridiculous. Okay. I don’t know. I try to be I try I’m probably biased against Steph because I’m trying so hard not to be biased for him. Mhm. Because in my brain I’m like, “Well, he’s the best player on the list. What are we talking about?” No, but I I I will I will put him in a tier with Tatum. Okay. I’m fine. I’m fine with that. Now, the next four, like, how do we rank these guys, though? Mitchell, Hallebertton, and Brunson are the next four. I think I’m gonna go weird here. Tough. I’m going uh I’m gonna go Mitchell Ant Brunson Hallebertton. Mitchell. Hang on. Mitchell Ant Brunson Hallebertton. Yep. I’m having a really hard time putting Brunson that low. Well, I’d have a really tough time like the Ant thing. Like he’s so good. He’s awesome. I want to put Ant one. Yeah, but I you can put in one. I’m just like for me, I think Mitchell has been able to become a superstar and throttle back a little bit and allow his team to be really good as well in a way that, you know, I don’t think these other guys are, you know, again, Hallebert and what he’s done to set up his teammates is is incredible, but he’s been so hit and miss when it comes to shooting, when it comes to scoring. That’s really tough. Let’s let’s take this into the handoff. Okay. Believe DLO will be joining us today. Damen Barling. DLO and Casey coming up next. We can take this into the handoff and and try and sort this out the rest of the way because this is a this is a tougher list than I thought it was going to be. Be totally honest with you. So, we’ll continue this discussion. That’s James Hamcom and Joe Brazil on the ones and twos. We’re the insiders. Jiffy Lube sponsors the program, The Handoff, with Damen Barlin. Coming up next on ESPN 1320 at Sacramento Sports. Yeah, man. There’s I I feel so bad saying this and I don’t mean this I know we’ve we’ve given Tyrese Hallebertton because of Daily Fantasy like a lot of grief on on our program and and certainly on DL Casey and I don’t mean this to be disrespectful in any way. Yeah, he is the clear-cut bottom of the list. I would agree. And I think that’s more a testament to how good the rest of the best players are more than Yeah. Like I don’t I don’t mean that as a shot at Tyrese Hallebertton. I also think I mean when you put him in this list like very specifically he’s the guy who’s running the the craziest high potent offense, right? And so even in in saying that his numbers should be a little more bloated that he should have, you know, some some fake numbers because of this the style of play. Sure. Yeah. And he doesn’t have like in the playoffs he doesn’t a regular season he certainly didn’t but uh you know like you would expect him to average more than 18.6 and and 9.2 like they scored a ton of points. What was the why did I say that? Well, their pace is only a 98.1 in that game but man it seemed a lot faster than that. Yeah, they went 19 of 36 from three. Yeah. So, Hallebertton in in the series against Milwaukee averaged 17.6 and 11.6. Man, he shot 42% from the field and 26.8% from three and hit the game winner. Mhm. Or series winner, man. He has some moments. I mean, I Okay, let me think he’s wonderful. Let me ask you this. Are And I’m asking this for for Yeah. No. Uh Tyres Hallebertton bottom tier for sure. Um this is true too. Tyres Hallebertton does make the guys around him better. Um I I think that if one of the teams that’s down 01 right now won the next four, I think the Cavs are the team I would be least surprised did it. H if they won if they won if they went one in five games. Okay. H yeah. Uh is that true or would I be more surprised? No, I think okay they’re second. Boston is the team I’d be least surprised if they won the next four. As good as New York is or or was in game one. Um, it just wouldn’t shock me at all if Boston just kind of buttoned up and got their act together for the last four games. I don’t think it will happen. It just wouldn’t. It’s the least surprising of the outcomes. Hey, it’s Damian Barling. Hi guys. Hello. Little less than a minute left. Good timing. Excellent. Excellent. So, I’m I’m bringing back an old bit we’ve done just to kind of loop you in on what we’re doing. I’m bringing back an old bit we’ve done. It’s this thing where we separate things into tiers. So, we’re going to rank them, but there’s like tiers. So, there’s like a top tier of like the best version of a thing. And like the second tier is not quite as good as tier one and so on and so forth. Okay. Okay. Got it. Can I jump in or you got stuff to do? No, we’re good. All right, party time. Now back to the insiders with James Ham and Kyle Madson brought to you by Jiffy Lube on ESPN 1320. Not just James Ham and Kyle Mads because folks it is 11:43 on a Tuesday and that means it is time for the handoff of Damian Barlet. It’s time now for the handoff. Taking the handoff from James and Kyle today. Here’s DLO Damian Barling. It sure is. Thanks for repeating me, voice guy. Oh my god, it’s so loud. Hi, Damian. What’s up, man? How are you? I am excellent. I’m glad you’re here. Oh, that’s good. It’s nice to be one. Because we are taking every team’s number one guy left in the playoffs. Okay. We’re trying to rank them, put them into tears. It’s this thing that we do on this show. Okay. And no other show does tears. No, it’s just us. Yep. We’re the originator of tears. Indeed. I’ve heard. You’re welcome. I’ve heard Jokic one. T E A R S. Well, that too. Okay, very good. Jokic one, SGA2, but they’re in tier one together by themselves. Okay, then we have six players. Here’s here’s the players we’re working with. Okay. Jokic, SGA. Yep. Uh, Anthony Edwards, Steph Curry, Jason Tatum, Tyresese Allebertton, Donovan Mitchell, Jaylen Brunson. Okay. Do you want pen and paper? Might need it. So Steph isn’t in tier one. I had Steph. Well, no. Ant-Man’s not in tier one. No, just Yokits and SD SGA. Yeah, among the players left. like, “No, I I got it.” Like, they’re all awesome. No, for sure. So So these are still elite tiers. Y’all Kitchen, SGA are at the top. Yeah. I I guess what are we thinking? What’s What’s a lot There’s a lot going I had to I had to format today’s show a little bit different because KC isn’t here. So, oh, I got to talk to myself a lot. And would you like to go through this on your program? No, I’m just there’s something about SGA that there’s something about SGA and the Thunder and this isn’t reactionary. Like, I haven’t been in on the Thunder all year and you can tell me about the defensive numbers and the offensive numbers and they’re great at everything. Like, no, I can read. Like, I see that and I see it when I when I watch them. But but but what’s the line that we always hear? Well, it’s it’s different. It’s different when you get to the postseason. And you know, I rec I’m I I recognize like I’m rooting for Denver now. Like I’m actively rooting for Denver because of Russell Westbrook. Like I want Denver to win. He’s been so freaking good. By the way, I want Denver I will root for Denver every round to for the rest of the way because I want Russell Westbrook to win a championship. I’ll also add to that the David Adelman press conference in Sacramento was so incredible that like you’re pulling for him as well. And for those that was his first appearance as his first game as the coach was here in Sacramento. Yeah. His first appearance as a head coach and like he stepped up and like gracious and just absolutely phenomenal. So there’s something about but there’s but there’s something about SGA that isn’t sitting well with me. Like we had a front runner-ish. No, not that. Not that. Like Jesse posed the question in our notes like who can gain the most from like a like I think Jesse actually phrased it, can Anthony Edwards gain the most from a dominant postseason? And I tried to expand that thought a little bit and thought, okay, who are the guys who can gain the most? And I thought obviously Ant-Man is one of them. I think Tyrese is another one. Great time. And then I and then I was like, okay, SGA. I was like, I don’t think SGA gains anything from a bit like like if Oklahoma City won the title. Mhm. What are we saying about SGA that they did it? But right, it’s avoiding it’s avoiding the because if if Oklahoma City loses to Denver, we’re looking at Oklahoma City like they’re kind that’s looking kind of funny in the light. So second round exit. So that’s so that’s that’s that’s interesting because I feel like everyone including Jesse and Kenny are waiting for the Cavs to fail. They’re almost expecting the Cleveland Cavaliers to fail. Cleveland has been not literally just as good as Oklahoma City, but figuratively just as good as Oklahoma City all year. And I don’t feel like anyone is waiting for OKC to go. Told you. told you guys, I don’t think anyone is doing that with them, but everyone is doing it with Cleveland. What’s the difference between the two? Whether this is logical or not, I I I don’t think it is. But we’ve been watching Oklahoma City since what 2023. So for three years now, basically since the 22 23 season going, oh, they’re they’re coming. Yeah. And then last year or two years ago, they lost in the playin, right? And last year they they lose in the playoffs and but we went, “Oh, but here’s the ascension. Oh my god.” Then they trade for Alex Russo. Oh my god, they sign. But did we think they’d be here? Did we think that they’d be They were like a 68 win team. Maybe not 68 wins, but them being the one seed isn’t a shock. Sure. I mean, given where they were last year, I feel like I feel like Oklahoma City and and again, whether this is right or wrong, I’m not trying to disprove your point. I think Oklahoma City is viewed as this like culmination of Sam Prey’s work. Okay. And oh my god of the year Sam executive of the year Sam Prey McNair also receiving votes. So vote also receiving votes was Wes’s. So they’re they’re the culmination of the last couple of years and everyone kind of waiting on them to get there. Okay. Cleveland was like, “Oh, you’re just the best team in the East right now. Oh, okay.” That was out of nowhere. Like their ascension was so unexpected that I think now the general consensus is like, “Okay, but that’s not real.” Whereas Oklahoma City, we’re going, “Oh, that’s real.” Because we’ve been expecting it. I think it has a little bit to do with the fact that that Cleveland went from 48 wins to 64 as opposed to OKC that went from 57 to 68. 57 is a great season. But what did you just say? Oh, Alex Caruso, Isaiah Hart. They went and did What did Cleveland do? Kenny Atinson. Kenny Atinson. Well, that they added DeAndre Hunter at the deadline though. They made they made a change at the coaching position which seems to have meant coach of the year. Kenny Atinson seemed to have made all of the different not receiving votes. Hard to hard to imagine. What about Doug? Don’t think so. Okay. But it’s like, oh, okay. They made a they made a they made one they made one change at the head coaching spot. They made one change at the very very top. And it’s like instead of oh that was we never look at coaches as the oh okay that was this is the thing that they were missing. We always look at play Alex Caruso man what an addition by by Oklahoma City. He was just he was phenomenal last night even in their loss but I can’t believe Denver won that game. I I unbelievable I cannot believe they won that game. What was Mark Dagnel doing? I’m sorry. I don’t mean to cut you off. No that’s a it’s a great question. as I I don’t I I think they looked um young. They looked inexperienced yesterday. Yeah, they like that was and and like I give Mark Dagno credit. He’s like Whoops. It’s like Well, you guys want to quote? Yeah. Yeah. Like uh Okay. Probably not the good accountability, I guess. But that’s that’s tough. That’s tough. But um I like I I I feel like we we discounted that that that change that they made from a team that maybe underperformed a little bit last year, which is why they won 48 games. Kenny Atinson got them to the point where they’re, you know, they’re now they’re winning 60 plus. And maybe it’s because Boston is over there. Maybe it’s because Giannis and Milwaukee were kind of lurking around all year. Maybe it’s because, you know, people are really in love with the Indiana Pacers, who I think are very good and could absolutely wind up in the NBA finals. But I I I think there was always a reason people were like, “Ah, I’m not really buying Cleveland.” When I felt like I looked at Oklahoma City like that the whole year. And so seeing SGA in the in the top tier, it’s not so much that SGA doesn’t belong there. Because sometimes the conversation isn’t like, “Okay, SGA, okay, he’s a top tier player, but Anthony Edwards isn’t or I’m sorry. I’m sorry. the the the Warriors, our dubs are dead. You’re a big Dubs guy. They’re they’re not in this here in existence if it’s not for Steph Curry. Oh, well, him too. But Buddy’s in a tier by himself. There’s tier one, two, three, and then there’s Buddy. There’s a buddy tier. There’s a buddy tier. And very few reach the buddy tier. Um, but I mean, and maybe this is my LeBron James syndrome, like I refuse to not acknowledge LeBron James as one of the best players in the league. That’s you tell me. You can tell me got eliminated. So that’s No, no, no, no. I got you. But that’s but but it’s it’s the it’s the same mentality with Steph to me in this conversation. It’s hard for me to not acknowledge that Steph isn’t one of the top tier players left in the playoffs. Jason Tatum go there. See, it’s tough. I I’m telling you, I had Tatum I had Tatum. He does. I had Tatum ahead of Steph. Tatum absolutely goes in the top tier because he’s 20 27-year-old Steph versus 27-year-old Tatum. Not I’m I’m taking Steph, I think. But for right now, Tatum like hurt his wrist and then came back and he was averaging like 36 points a game. Isn’t Tatum’s awesome? Yeah. Like Tatum is he’s really good. I just said if I’m gonna if I’ve got to win a series, I would take step over Tatum. the difference. Put him on whatever team. Who would you take? SGA or Tatum. Tatum. No, I take SGA. I’m taking Tatum. I don’t think Tatum’s ever taken the the leap into superstar status. Well, and but but you know why that is? And I think this is the case for both of them. I think Tatum is SGA’s future. SGA has the fashion thing going and some people they do not care about that. James does not care about what SGA wears in, but it’s a it’s a link that SGA has like to the to the to the streets, right? James is very anti-drip, but it’s it’s it’s the link that he has to the streets and he doesn’t have a big personality. He has that, but he doesn’t. Tatum’s biggest thing is he’s like a nerd. I think he’s like I I did it. Like, all right, bro. God damn it. Like, do you have an ounce of charisma in you? Has nothing to do with the level of basketball player he is, but we’re used to the with with Jokic potentially being the lone exception. Maybe in history. We’re used to our starst stars having these big personalities and he doesn’t have Jokic is just so historically good. People don’t care that he’s got the personality of an eraser. Well, and his his personality is not no personality. His personality makes it seem like he wants nothing to do with any of this. Well, the fact that he’s cussing out his teammates every game incredible. That’s just great, dude. That’s where and allegedly I think Jokic might hate Jamal Murray too. We will discuss that next on DLO and Casey. There it is. That’s James Ham, Kyle Matson, and Joe Brazil on the ones and twos. The insider sponsored by Jim Loop. He’s back with you tomorrow at 10 a.m. We’ll start at 10 a.m. tomorrow, I promise. Right here on ESPN 13:20. That is Sacramento Sports Theater. Until then, drink water. Be nice people.

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0:00 Stream starts
7:00 The Insiders
20:00 break
26:00 Nuggets win against OKC
37:00 Knicks beat the Celtics
44:00 break
49:00 A’s have won 10 of their last 13
1:01:00 break
1:06:00 Kings assistant coaching staff
1:20:40 break
1:24:00 Where are the 49ers with Brock Purdy?
1:30:00 Top players left in the playoffs
1:42:30 break
1:45:00 The Handoff with D-Lo
1:58:55 The Insiders ends

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