The Insiders 5/7: Steph Curry injury update and Sacramento Kings front office moves

The Insiders 5/7: Steph Curry injury update and Sacramento Kings front office moves

Sacramento Kings. We’ll have that for you as well. Uh James Ham BJ Armstrong was hired yesterday as the Kings assistant GM or at least it was reported yesterday that he was hired or will be hired as the Kings assistant general manager. Of course, he played for the Bulls. Uh he’s spent time with uh in various front offices. Um he’s been an agent and he was Scott Perry’s podcast partner. Yeah. I think I think all good relationships start with a podcast partner. I mean, that seems to be the deal, right? Um, that’s why I expect to join Doug Christiey’s coaching staff since we were podcast partners at one point, even though I have no idea what I would do as a NBA assistant coach. Congratulations, man. That’s No, I’m not joining his staff, but I I really do like the the BJ Armstrong edition. I think it’s uh you know, anytime you’re building out a staff, you want to have guys from all kinds of walks of life. And not only does BJ Armstrong have experience as a player, uh but experience in a front office. And then he’s been an agent for like 19 years. So, he’s got ties all around the league. And I think if there’s one thing that we know over the last, you know, most of the last uh like 15 years is that the Kings, they haven’t had a lot of good relationships around the league. And that’s usually a problem. It’s it makes it very difficult to get major deals done when there there isn’t trust between you and an opposing front office. And I think this is another one of those moves where you’re adding someone who knows the league well, that has friends around the league, um, that can help facilitate a major trade and and like look, I I think if Scott Perry is comfortable with BJ Armstrong as one of his his leading, you know, guys on in the front office, then that’s a good thing. Yeah. I think is as much synergy and what’s the what’s the word I’m looking for? Like their ability to work together. Yeah. is going to be so important because it felt like and again I wasn’t in the building obviously but based on everything we knew about the previous king’s front office is it felt like there was some level of friction or disconnect maybe between Wes Wilcox and Monty McNair like they were operating as separate entities within the same front office and I don’t get the idea that that’s where the BJ Armstrong edition comes in. It feels like he’s more It felt like it and and correct me if I’m wrong, please. From from where I sit and and from what I read in here, it felt like Wes Wilcox was there to do the stuff Monty McNair didn’t want to do as a GM or maybe didn’t excel at as a GM whereas where where it blurred the line between who was running the show and this seems very much more like a healthier general manager, assistant general manager relationship. Yeah. that and I I don’t think that that Scott Perry is going to concede uh large portions of the job like Monty McNair did. And like look, I don’t think that there’s there’s anything wrong with the structure that that the Kings had with Monty and Wes as people, they got along really well, right? And even though um you know it was a very odd pairing where you had two guys interview for a job, you gave one of them the job and then ask the guy you gave the job to hire the other guy as his assistant without even knowing each other at all. That’s strange and that’s that’s not that’s not good business. Just to be honest with you, it’s not. Um, but you know, like I I had a conversation with Wes Wilcox one time and he said, um, you know, like a third of the league really likes me, a third of the league were fine, and another third of the league probably has a little apprehension um, just from dealings in the past. And he said he thinks that that’s healthy. and and I you know to a certain degree I understand that because you don’t want to be just the person that everybody wants to go to for a trade because that probably means you’re giving away too much every time, right? So, um I think the the new structure that they’re going to have here is is going to be people who do similar roles but you know just break things up a little a little bit differently. Like Wes Wilcox had a lot of power in the building. a lot. Yeah, it did. And you know, don’t argue too much. Yeah. Yeah. And I I think that that argument could be made that it was too much. I I think that, you know, it’s one thing to have somebody who’s overseeing stuff and who who is the direct contact. So, you’re not dealing with every single one of these departments all the time. And we’ve talked about this in the past. You know, it’s more than just like going out and trading for players. That’s not just the job of the GM, right? Right. The GM has has to control. They have to deal with hiring and firing of, you know, medical staff, training staff, coaching staff, um PR staff with the the media relations staff, not the PR for the for the franchise, but the the media relations staff. All of these pieces fall under one person. And you know, travel, like what who are you going to play in preeason? There are a lot of things that go into this job. And so it is good to have somebody that you feel comfortable with and that’s sort of your uh your partner in doing all of these things and also sort of that bridge. So you know if you do have somebody at the media relations staff that has some sort of issue they go to their you know they’ll go to a guy like BJ BJ Armstrong and then he’ll have the discussion with Scott Perry as opposed to Scott having to deal with so many things all the time. And I think it’s the same thing with the coaching staff. That’s why, you know, going out there and getting a really, really good frontline um former NBA head coach uh lead assistant is a big deal for Doug Christie. He needs a buffer between him and everything that’s going on. So, everything kind of gets uh funneled into one area and then disseminated to Doug in a way that doesn’t overwhelm because he has other things on his plate. And that takes trust and everything else. But that’s what I I think that Scott Perry’s trying to build here. And we still don’t know what’s going on with Phil Jabbor. If Phil Jabbor is going to be back in Sacramento, who’s I have a question. Yep. Why do I care about Phil Jabbor? Uh Phil Jabor, well, to be honest with you, this off season, maybe you don’t care that much because the Kings don’t have a draft pick. Um but uh he What does What does he do? Like why why is that why why is that name significant to me? He heads up the scouting department. And that’s why that that’s why it’s a big deal. like whether he’s back or not because, you know, you’ve got to have a scouting director who and he doesn’t just deal with like college scouting, right? It’s not like he’s just going to every game that he can possibly go to on the college scene and then reporting back. A guy like Phil Jabbor um deals with all kinds of scouting, including advanced scouting. And you know, like when you’re sending a a scout out to go check out four teams that you’re going to face on a four- game road trip that you don’t typically play and then they can feed back to the coaching staff who’s who’s got someone on the coaching staff side who’s also creating something, right? So, it means a lot when you go into a game against like say a team like I don’t know like Philadelphia and you don’t play Philadelphia, you play them twice a year so you don’t really know them. But if they’re in a major turmoil and everyone knows that um and you walk into the building understanding that there’s a lot going on there, those are games that are getable in a different way. and and so having scouts all over the place, having people who are reporting back on news that they’re hearing and all that stuff, it actually matters. So So Phil Jabbor, like again, I I think he’s done a he’s done a fine job in Sacramento. I don’t know what his fate is, though. He’s got a lot of experience from the Houston Rockets, also Philadelphia. He was a director of scouting for the 76ers before he came to the Kings. Um we don’t know about him, but Paul Johnson, uh from what we hear, will be back. And then um you know I like I heard Paul Johnson Paul Johnson was a GM of the Stockton Kings. Okay. And so yeah so he he was a GM but then he got elevated um when they made some moves there. And he’s been I think director of player personnel. Got it. So like sort of creating a pathway and a game plan for each individual player and and their development and and sort of being there to to be a sounding board. I mean, you need bodies in the front office. That’s that’s one thing. You don’t want, you know, a group of players or or even one or two players sort of falling by the wayside because a general manager doesn’t have time to talk to everybody all the time, right? And and so this is a you have these layers in the front office that matter. And it’s also we talked about this the other day that um you know these things don’t count against the salary cap. you know, you want to have the best support staff possible, and that’s for every level. That means that if you have a a spectacular trainer that you want to bring in, you know, that that you do that, that you have the money to go do that or or, you know, a frontline assistant, but also like when we start getting down to like the fifth and sixth and seventh assistants on the on the depth chart, like that matters. like somebody can come up with a really good idea that changes the course of a season. And so you’re hoping that that they have like the bandwidth and the the financial bandwidth to go out and get the the coaches that they really really need. That’s James Tam. I’m Kyle Mads and we’re the insiders. We’re sponsored by Jify Lube. Joe Brazil behind the glass. You had some you you were able to confirm some news this morning. Re the Kings front office. Yeah, it uh Alvin Gentry will be back it looks like. And so for me that’s a good thing too. So so like look, this is one of those things where um I think for the last handful of years uh well I mean since VC took over the team he’s always had he’s always liked to have a senior adviser, right? So it started out it was Chris Mullen. Uh then we had the Joe Dumar’s era, the Vlad Devots era. Um, you know, even right now, Vlad is still around as sort of a senior adviser, but Alvin Gentry is one of those guys that number one, he’s the coolest student in any room, right? He he is a total vibes guy, right? Y um the other thing is that he has an ability to get information that that other people just don’t. Everybody in the league loves Alvin Gentry. They all feel comfortable talking to Alvin Gentry. I’ve told you guys, I was sitting on the court uh sitting courtside one day talking to Alvin and he goes, “Oh, hang on one sec.” He walks out onto the court while the Kings are while the Toronto Raptors are warming up to face the Kings. And he just openly has a conversation with with OG Anobi, a guy that the Kings realistically at that point would love to have had. And it wasn’t tampering. It’s just him going over and saying hi and having a conversation. and having somebody on on your staff, on your front office staff that can walk over and just literally break bread with anybody. Uh, but also who’s been around the league, who knows a million different assistant coaches. So, if you’re thinking about trading for a player, you can have Alvin go call a couple of people that he knows and say, “Hey, why don’t you give me a dossier on this player?” Sure. Um, you know, why don’t you give me a dossier on this assistant coach? Tell me what you know. And and I think that that’s the value of Alvin. Not only that, but I I think he’s a cooler head. Uh that that when VC Ronad um is frustrated with what’s happening on the court, we’ll sit down and and watch a game with VC and just kind of, you know, be the calming influence in the room. So, uh that to me is another it’s another big deal that Alvin Gentry should be back. One last thing here and then we can get into some wild ass playoff games last night around the NBA. It sounds like now there’s some some uncertainty about Bobby Jackson joining the Kings. Yeah, I don’t know how much uncertainty. Yeah. Where are we at with this? Okay. So, yesterday, like we talked about this on the show, right, at the 11 o’clock hour, and um you know, I’m hearing that that Bobby Jackson is a is a coach of interest, right? That nothing is done, but that he’s a name to look out for. The same thing with Mike Woodson. Mike Woodson hasn’t been announced yet uh by the team. And not only that, but not confirmed either. So, so that’s that’s a big deal. You know, they’re allegedly working on a deal with Mike Woodson. Uh, the Bobby Jackson stuff is weird because it sounds as if as if Bobby had no idea. Um, and that the Philadelphia 76ers have not been reached for comment yet. I do know like I had some conversations yesterday within the organization and nothing is is like shored up on the coaching staff. You got you got Doug and no decisions have been made on anything else yet like 100%. And so those things still have to be uh you know the the contracts have to be created, the the eyes have to be dotted, the tees have to be crossed and until we see that um you know I don’t know whether Bobby will be back or not. Um but I I definitely think that there’s still a good possibility like there there’s enough smoke there that you know which is why we talked about it yesterday. Um, but I I certainly wasn’t saying, “Hey, 100% Bobby Jackson is back. Everybody celebrate.” Um, because that that was kind of the way that it was put to me, too. Like, hey, there’s still room for for some movement here. Um, but uh there’s a possibility that he will be back. Well, we’ll cross our fingers. It’d be a nice uh a nice get for Doug Christie and his coaching staff, but like you said, nothing finalized just yet. And that’s why um it’s important to uh what’s the what’s the what’s the word I’m looking for? Even if Shams comes out and reports something, understanding that um until a team announces it, nothing’s really official. Uh all right. He’s James. I’m Kyle. Joe Brazil is on the ones and twos. We’re sponsored by Jiffy Lube. We have a ton of NBA playoff stuff to get into as Tyrese Hallebertton’s superstar ascension continues. We’ve got an update on Steph Curry’s injured hamstring and boys to the Kings. Mark Jones is going to join us in the second hour. Can’t wait to chat with Mark. Uh he’s still a busy guy. We got Kings off seasonason and Mark no college football and Mark Jones uh still out there putting in work. Can’t wait to chat with him at 11:20. That’s James. I’m Kyle. Joe’s here. Said all that. Joe, let’s go to break now. Yeah, Tyler. Um, I don’t I don’t know. Um, I certainly think that uh these things are, you know, like it it there was talk that is progressing, but at the same time, Shawn was pretty definitive and Sean’s not usually incorrect with these things. To have him be refuted like that was pretty wild. like um you know again that’s why I hedged my bets a little bit when it came to this exact story because I I continue to get that nothing is done with any coach yet and that’s kind of where we are. Um so a lot of people did jump on that uh with the Bobby Jackson stuff and I I don’t think this is a negotiation tactic by Bobby. I think this is like again, you know, Doug gets to make his staff known and, you know, hopefully they figure it all out in the wash. Uh, Bobby might be under contract. Uh, Martin RmIrez says, “Uh, isn’t Bobby still under contract with Philly?” Um, yeah, that that’s a possibility, but like when it comes to to assistant coaches and stuff, those are usually pretty pretty easy to to move around. It’s it’s not that big of a deal to figure out. We’ll say people forget when the Kings um had Scott Perry in Sacramento, in order for him to go join the Knicks, the Knicks gave the Kings a second round pick. That’s not what I’m saying is going to happen with Bobby Jackson. Um, but sometimes there is compensation. I think the same thing with Chris Finch when he became the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Sauren Smith. Bobby Jackson already has memberships here. Bobby is well known in the uh in the golf world here in Sacramento. He plays in is Elorado Hills. What is that? Um Serrano. Yeah. Yeah. Secure Nagley. Yes, you do have to get permission to talk to an assistant. But you you don’t have to have permission to call somebody if you’ve been friends with them for 30 years and were former teammates, 25 years, whatever it is with Doug and Bobby. Like like Doug and Bobby talk all the time. Oh yeah. Uh is Mark joining on the stream? Did you email him? I sent it via text. Okay. Already got a jump in the stream. Cool. Thanks. I like your polo today. Thanks, man. Shout out to the Under Armour outlet. [Music] The I went through for Niners Wire last night. Uh yeah, I got some a while back. Uh just filled in the last part of my forum. Um uh 15 seconds. I regraded the Niners 2022 draft class. That was the Brock Birdie class. Brock Birdie is the best pick in that class. The next best pick is a just okay reserve offensive lineman. That’s not great. No, not awesome. Now, back to the insiders with James Ham and Kyle Madson, brought to you by Jiffy Lube on ESPN 1320. Yeah, we were just talking just just very very briefly and then we get to the NBA playoffs, but for a project I was doing for for ninerswire.com where I where I write, I went through and regraded the Niners 2022 draft class. And had Brock Party not been the first Mr. irrelevant to ever throw a pass in the NFL and be pretty good at it. Also, John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan would have been fired off the strength of that class. Oh, because if Brock Party was a normal Mr. Irelevant quarterback where he’s either on the practice squad or not in the league anymore right now, their best player from that class is Spencer Berford, who’s a like me backup offensive line. Oh, that’s not good. So bad. Really tough for the head coach and GM. Yeah, really, really tough draft. Yeah, just brutal. Brutal. But when you fall backwards into a quarterback, it can it can make make things look a lot better. But anyways, uh I don’t think we’ve had a boring night of NBA playoff basketball yet. I don’t think we’ve had a single night. Yeah, I don’t think there’s been a sing because every once in a while there will be there will be a night of playoffs where it’s like ah two 20 point games like whatever. Haven’t had a single one of those. Last night it looked like the Cavs without Darius Garland, without Evan Mobley, without DeAndre Hunter, were going to roll and and beat the Pacers. And Pacers came back, but then Maxus hits a big three and they’ve got it at seven with 48 seconds left. And then just couldn’t box out on a free throw. Can you get a body on somebody? got Aaron uh Aaron Nesmith with a big dunk off a off a putback off a missed free throw. And then Tyresese Hallebertton if you missed it. It’s a two-point game. Uh excuse me. Yes, two-point game. 117 119. He misses the second end of a free throw. gets his own rebound, and instead of trying to quickly go back up with it to tie the game, this dude retreats out towards half court, gets one-on-one with somebody, I don’t even remember who. Cooks him. Oh, it was Ty Jerome. Cooks him. Step back three bucket. Pacers win 120 to 119. They steal both games from the number one seed Cavs in Cleveland. I have I have so much to take away from this, but the Tyrese Hallebertton superstar leap appears to be happening because we know with Jamal Murray, Jamal Murray’s never been an all-star. Jamal Murray is a pretty good player who has awesome postseason moments and he’s just built this career off of being awesome in the postseason as the number two to Nicola Joic. the way Tyrese Hallebertton steps up in these big spots in the playoffs and particularly hitting the game, excuse me, series ceiling layup against Giannis in the first round, deciding in that moment last night to retreat to go shoot the game-winning three instead of just panicking and going up and tying it. I I I I am very quickly having my mind changed on on Tyresese Hallebertton, who I thought might be kind of stuck in that in that he’s kind of a star, but he’s definitely not a superstar and like do you trust him on a on a playoff team? Like, no, he is leading a Pacers team that looks like it’s going to go back to the conference finals for the second year in a row. The leap is happening. Yeah, the leap is happening. I think it’s really interesting to watch too because um you know with players like this you want to see their scoring average go way up high right but I think Tyrese Hallebertton is the closest thing to Chris Paul that we’re going to see like moving forward like I know they play a different style and but but still the way that he orchestrates a game is probably the best in the league just his control of what’s happening in the game and when Tyrese was here in Sacramento as a young player. We saw him not only take but make big shots in big moments and you saw that he was a winner right away like like everything that we’re seeing from Tyresese Hallebertton isn’t really a surprise. Like he was averaging 14 points a game when he got traded or whatever. You knew he could average way more. he just didn’t shoot the ball enough and you knew that he could have a average a bunch of assists, but you also knew that he that wasn’t going to happen with uh playing alongside Dear Fox because they’re splitting point guard duties. But to watch him take this ascension, it’s fun to see because that’s what the playoffs are about. And that’s the value of the playoffs. which is why we always talk about like just how important it is for your team to get there and to have these experiences because you never know what you know we always like the cream rising to the top, right? Well, sometimes you got to be in a big big time situation for that to happen. And you know, we’ve seen it with a bunch of players in in the playoffs whether you know, you mentioned Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray’s always been a guy who when the game is on the line in the playoffs is tough. Um the other 82 games of the regular season h some good nights. He has some good nights. You know, he’s a 20 point per game scorer. He I’m not trying to take anything away from him, but as far as point guards or or shooting guards in the NBA, he’s not in the top five at, you know, either position. And he’s probably not even in the top 10 in in most people’s rankings in either position. you get him in the playoffs, he’s he’s crazy good. Just look around the league and look at how we talk about Amen Thompson now versus how we talked about him before the NBA playoffs. Again, Kade Cunningham all of a sudden is taking the leap that we we had hoped that we would see and he’s becoming excellent and that’s something that like it’s why the Kings missing the playoffs for so many years matters so much. I mean, I would have loved to have seen what the playoffs would have done for Demarcus Cousins. Like, it just it just changes your perspective on the intensity of the game, what it takes to get to the next level, how hard and how you how dedicated you have to be uh to to go out there and and to raise your game at every single level. And if you’re always stuck at just the 82 game level, you don’t get to to face teams in the playoffs, you never really learn how much more difficult it takes and how much more dedication it takes to be great. And it’s something that these teams right now are learning and getting at like the highest level. And I mean, and this sounds really weird, but look at the ascension of Buddy Heield. Like what we’re seeing right now is like it’s it’s crazy ascension for like a 31y old dude who’s possibly like 37. It’s also possible he’s 23. We have no idea how old bloody healed is. But no, but it doesn’t change the fact that you’re watching a player who when pushed and and forced to be something is figuring out how to be that person. And it’s really cool to watch. 14 made threes for Buddy Heield is the most in a twoame span in NBA playoff history. Saw that stat last night. Like, sure, man, why not? And he can’t wear the right damn shorts to start the game. But we’ll get to the we’ll get to the Warriors here in a minute. Uh Steph Curry does have a grade one hamstring strain. His timeline for return is TBD. It sounds like maybe game five if they’re lucky. My guess is they might be trying to win one of the next four and get him back game six because there’s like a three-day break between games five and six. So maybe that’s the goal. We’ll we’ll kind of see and maybe they’ll adjust that goal based on how the next four games go. Uh but we’ll we’ll talk about that Warriors game in a second because just from from from the opening tip where Buddy He had the wrong shorts on. Weird game. But I think it’s it’s it’s impossible. You you you said a couple things. one the Chris Paul thing and this is weighted a little bit down because of Chris Paul’s last couple of seasons where he’s averaged 9.2 and 8.8 points a game. Yeah. But just to your point on this Chris Paul for his career. Now granted he’s played 20 years. He’s but played played and started all 82 games this year by the way as a 39year-old. Pretty incredible. 17 points, 9.2 boards, uh excuse me, 17 points, 4.4 boards, 9.2 assists. That’s Chris Paul for his career. Tyrese Hallebertton for his career 17 and a half points, 3.7 boards, 8.8 assists. H like he is and and like I said, that’s that the the points are weighted down some. But Chris Paul averaged 21.1 points in the 2007208 season and 22.8 the following year. He’s never averaged more than 19.8. He hasn’t gotten to 20 again. Yeah, I mean I think you’re right. I think Tyresese Hallebertton might be that kind of player who is in that superstar tier, but he’s never a top 20 guy in scoring. Yeah, he’s going to be looked at. It’s not only Chris Paul, it also put him in like the Steve Nash bucket. Sure. Like a more traditional point guard. Yeah, just a true point guard. And you know, it’s great to watch him work. And and I think the funny thing is too when he was drafted, um, you know, we talked about this before, but like that’s the the lockout. I mean, not the lockout, it’s the the COVID season, right? It’s where the the league shuts down, right? So, I ended up writing like 23 mock drafts for that season. And I watched so much game game tape and you kept watching Tyrese Hallebertton as a college player and thinking, you know what, if this translates, he’s going to be incredible. Like, he was a But you always thought, okay, he shoot his shot looks a lot like Kevin Martin shot. It’s awkward. It’s unorthodox. It’s weird. It comes from different angles. Like it like everything about what he does offensively as a as a scorer is is awkward. It’s almost like wrong foot stuff and it’s just weird. And so you’re like, “Okay, that works.” He was a great rebounder in college. You’re like, “Okay, I don’t know if that’ll translate, but if it translates, you’re looking at like probably a 15 five and five guy.” for him to step into the league. It’s a little bit like how Donovan Mitchell stepped into the league and just became something he never was before. And that was like an elite elite point guard. Again, Tyrese Salbertton’s always had that skill as a point guard, but at the college level, I don’t even think he was their starting point guard. You know, he averaged like five assists a game in college. And so for him to take this leap and to be something that’s so specific, which is a a game managing point guard um is really really interesting to watch like his maturation. I don’t want to I I I hesitate to have this conversation, so I’m going to really try and choose my words carefully here because Tyrese Hallebertton and the Kings are are and and Demonos are going to be inextricably linked forever. Like that’s just that’s what happens when you make a blockbuster trade that involves two AllNBA players, right? I don’t want to I I don’t want to get into the like should they have done it, should they not, because when you when you just look at what made sense for for both teams at the time, uh I I I I guess it it it makes sense like why the the Kings did that and and Sabonis has been super productive and um been an allNBA player. So, like I said, I don’t I I I want I don’t I I want to get away from the should they or shouldn’t they or or who won the trade, who didn’t win the trade. I just want to go to the hypothetical world where the Kings still have Tyrese Albert. Mhm. And I I don’t think they’d be and there would have been other peripheral moves and and maybe they’re awesome right now. Who knows? But I don’t know if they would have been in a better spot in the short term, but it feels like they’d be in a better place long term, right? like if everything else had kind of shaken out the way it shook out. Yeah. I mean I hate I mean there’s very few times do you see both teams win a trade. Yeah. Right. And I thought that that’s what this was and to be honest we can we can start looking at hindsight at this point. But you know the Pacers are built totally different than the Kings are built. Yeah. And if if the Kings would have done basic maintenance over the last two years, this would not they would not they would not have had the sharp drop off. That’s it. That they that they did. That’s it. And so I I think that, you know, when you go out and you look that, you know, the Pacers and Kings both went after Pascal Seakum. The Kings had a deal uh in place to get Seakum, but you know, like the deal fell apart because they didn’t want to pay Seakum the money that he wanted. And you know, there was some talk that Malik Monk had to be included in the deal. There were like some holdups, right? Um but at the end of the day, you know, the Kings didn’t make that deal. They didn’t make the deal that that sort of would have would have changed their trajectory and added another star level player. We always talk about, you know, like what would you look like in in that situation, but like De’aran Fox, Keegan Murray, Deanna Sabonis, and um, you know, Pascal Seakum starting for four for the starters starting five would have been remarkable. You know, that would have been a spectacular starting five. Sure. And it just didn’t happen. And so it’s really tough to go back and just analyze a trade and say, “Oh, there it’s, you know, there’s one winner now and there’s not another winner.” I mean, look at Tyrese Hallebertton’s stats. It’s not like he’s pushed himself into the MVP candidate range. Um, he’s just a really good player and he’s been really, really good in the playoffs and he’s going to continue to be a really good player. But so is Deanna Sabonis, man. That dude’s won three straight rebounding titles. You know, he’s been your offensive hub. He’s he’s averaged 19 points and 13 rebounds and seven and a half assists, whatever it is, as a member of the Kings. Like, there are a lot of good things that have happened here with Sabonis as well. And let’s not forget that with Sabonis, you snapped a 16-year playoff drought and took a leap, like an 18game leap in the standings. Like, that just doesn’t happen. And and so, a lot of that is on Sabonis. And maybe it’s giving up a couple of years on the back end of, you know, Tyrese Hallebertton being great for longer. Um, but I would still put Hallebertton and Sabonis the same exact tier of player. I do like like people can argue with me. Okay, I will. We literally just talked about this. We literally just talked about how important it is for a player to show up in the postseason. I don’t think Tyrese Hallebertton is choking away a playin game the way Domos did. Like no but if you look there has been plenty of games where where he has not been good play. Yeah. Tyres Tyrese’s last year and that’s that’s where my mind has changed on him this year. Last year in the playoffs there were multiple instances where he was actively like avoiding the basketball as the point guard of the team. Yeah. That’s when I was out. I was like no he’s just not that dude. And it’s very clear uh this postseason that he has taken those reigns and become that dude. And that matters, man. Like playoff success ultimately trumps everything. And the fact that he has helped a team get to the conference finals last year and has them up two nothing on this awesome Cavs team. This year hit a game winner last night. Um man, I don’t I have a I have a hard time being like, “Oh yeah, they’re just the same guy.” No, no. I I don’t think that they’re the same guy, but they they’re still in the same tier. And like again, he’s had some great moments in this year, but last year he didn’t. And again, that’s why the process of going to the playoffs actually matters. Building a team through the playoffs actually matters. And it’s why, you know, like if we’re going to like trash the bonus for a oneame playin, you know, okay. But I mean there are plenty of games last year where Tyrese Hallebertton had the same exact experience where he just wasn’t effective and wasn’t good. Conference finals. Yeah. But I don’t know where. Anyways, look, we we’ll we’ll talk in circles all day. The bottom line is and somebody securagly said this in the in the chat in the in the chatty house and this is this is what ultimately matters and this is why the Kings are in the position they’re in. The Pacers have done pushed every single right button from a team building standpoint to supplement what makes Tyrese Hallebertton good at basketball and it accentuates what he does as their best player. The Kings didn’t. Nope. That’s that is where their paths diverge. No, totally agree. We can argue semantics of of playoff performances or not and this and that. The the main difference, the biggest key difference is that is that Tyresese Hallebertton was given all of the tools and all of the keys to to to succeed in this way and the Kings didn’t give their guys their guy in this instance the same tools and keys. No, I totally agree. Like I Yeah. I I kind of want to see what what Sabonis would look like if he did because I think things could have been very different here. Yeah. Yeah. I I I’m inclined to agree. Uh the Cas might be cooked. That was the the moral of that story. Uh the Warriors might be cooked as well after this Steph Curry news. We’ll talk about that. And Mark Jones, voice of the Sacramento Kings, is joining us at 11:20. You’re not going to want to miss that. Should be a ton of fun talking with Mark Jones. Uh, that’s all coming up next. That’s James Ham. I’m Kyle Mads and Joe Brazil on the ones and twos were sponsored by Jiffy Luby insiders on ESPN 1320. Sacramento sports trying to figure out what we’re gonna Yeah, just not being able to build around so bonus is like and it shouldn’t have been that hard. I mean, just realistically, weird non-commmitment. Very, very strange. The league is like 100% like situational. Mhm. You know, whether you make it as a player, as a first round pick, whether you, you know, like there are some players that transcend that for sure, but it is it is almost situational. Do you know who a perfect example of that is what you’re talking about? Draymond Green. Yeah, Draymond Green, I think, would have had a long NBA career and he would have been fine as a as a player. Like, he’s just too smart. He would have figured it out and he’s just so good defensively. But he’s going to go to the Hall of Fame because he got drafted to a team that had Steph Curry and Klay Thompson that then went and picked up Kevin Durant. Mhm. Like that’s all situation. If he got drafted by the Pistons, he’s not going to the Hall of Fame. Yeah. Mark, you keep asking this honest question. How is Mark the voice of the Kings when he calls other teams games? Like he he still I think calls more games than anyone else. Um as a play-by-play guy. Um and like he’s for me. Do you get jealous when he’s on the national broadcast, Mark? Yeah. I don’t get that. you know, he has a contract with with ESPN. He calls college football. He calls a bunch of other stuff. Um a bunch of a bunch of pro games. U Mike Brain with the Knicks is also um one of the best national broadcasters who calls Knicks games. So, uh I Eagle does Netsy. Yeah. How sick would it be to be a Knicks fan where you just have Mike Breen on the call? Well, I noticed that the other day. Um, these are awesome, by the way. Shout out to Trader Joe’s, fruit leather buttons. Delicious. Um, I was watching the Knicks Pistons game and I think it was Iron Eagle on the call for TNT, but then Mike Breen is there broadcasting for MSN or whatever network they’re on. Yeah. Unbelievable. It’s incredible. That and RO who’s Oh, Ryan Ruko. Yeah. Yeah. He also calls games for for a team and for the national audience. Is he also Nets? Maybe Ryan Rico’s Nets. Um Yankees and Nets on the Yes network. Is that an Eagle? still not with the Nets anymore. Oh, he also does Nets. Okay. Yeah, Tom, I don’t This doesn’t really affect negotiating power or leverage of the GM, just to be honest. Like, did did VC have a major hand in acquiring Zack Lavine? Sure. But that was from a a a crippled front office at that point, you know. I thought Noah Eagle did Clippers. H sorry. I just absolutely love listening to Chris Carrey call games, man. He’s so good. He is. If I’m doing a power ranking of A’s television broadcasting, I think it’s Chris Kerry one. Then Jenny Kavanaaugh too for me. Yeah, dude. When Noah did the thing, I think it was during a Christmas Day broadcast. Mhm. any where he did an argument between him and his dad and what it sounds like because he sounds so much like Iron. Oh, he’s also the voice of Kings. Radio voice of the Kings for sure. Radio voice. Yeah. Oh, 15 seconds. Dwayne Wade was really good as a color analyst on the Olympics, by the way. How is he not a color analyst somewhere? I think he’s popping up on one of the new ones. Now, back to The Insiders with James Ham and Kyle Madson, brought to you by Jiffy Lube on ESPN 1320. Television voice of the Sacramento Kings, Mark Jones going to join us at 11:20. Joe Brazil behind the glass. I’m commenting. That’s James Ham from the home studio today. Shout out to Trader Joe’s leather fruit buttons, man. Or fruit leather buttons. Those are delicious. Fruit leather buttons. That’s fruit leather buttons. It’s fruit leather, but it’s not like a sheet. They’re in these really convenient little button sizes, so you can eat them during breaks. Oh, yeah. They’re probably about the size of a silver dollar. No, smaller than that. Bigger than a quarter, half dollar. Uh, yeah, maybe. Yeah, maybe. Maybe half dollar size. Yeah, probably about half dollar size. I haven’t seen a half dollar in years. I remember I used to get so stoked when I get a $2 bill. Oh, come on. I’d get so fired up. I think I have one in one of my books somewhere. I like stashed it. I’m like, this could be worth something someday. Cash Creek gave me a half dollar. Shout out Cash Creek. Nice. There you go. Oh, there we go. Warriors 999, Timberwolves 88 to open that second round series. The the news, the story of the game though is of course that Steph Curry pulled up lame with a hamstring injury in the second quarter. Still finished with 13 points. It was kind of jarring watching him play a really good Timberwolves defense and find space to shoot after playing a Rockets defense where they were just suffocating for seven games. Yeah, just totally different. Extremely different. He had 13 quick points, suffered a hamstring injury. Shamstrania reporting it is a grade one strain and that they they don’t have an official timeline for return yet, but it sounds like they’re hoping for game five. I would be pretty shocked if it’s game five. Yeah. I mean, look, I saw a report today, too, that this is the first um muscle pull that Steph’s ever had as a player, which is crazy. I mean, he’s had the ankle and then he had that really weird uh knee connector issue. Um that was like almost like an unheard of injury that uh that would became a problem. Um but to have him like to not know what his pathway is for recovery for a muscle strain because he’s never had one before it’s pretty remarkable. I mean, especially for a guy who’s been in the league since what 19 uh no 2000 two I mean 2009 2010. Yeah. Uh that’s that’s just absolutely crazy that he hasn’t had a muscle pull uh in all that time. Yeah. That’s um a a testament to the shape that he stays in because of how much he runs, but it’s also when you’re 37 years old and you go through a grueling seven game series and then you have to play the two nights later after game seven. Uh this is kind of the the perils of that. So Golden State plays tomorrow. They’re every other day until game six. So game five would be Wednesday, May 14th. That would be eight days removed or seven full days removed from the injury. My guess is they’re hoping for game five, but game six isn’t until Sunday, May 18th. And if they win one of the next four, my guess is they hold him out until game six if they can. And if he’s ready by game, he might not be ready by game six, in which case this is all moot. Yeah. But my guess is that’s kind of their plan right now is all right, they have four games to win one and force a game six and hopefully you can get Curry back by then because that’s May 18th. You’re you’re 11 full days removed from the from the grade one strain at that point. Yeah. I think it’s interesting too like when we were discussing the series coming up like one of the major points that you made was that oh well like how are the Warriors going to hold up when it’s every other day and right away we see what that looks like. Yep. It’s unfortunate, but you know, it’s like we talked about um was it this year or last year where the Kings had the most ridiculous like eight game stre eight day stretch or 10 g day stretch where they played so many games and most of them were on the road and I I just kept saying like I’ve never seen anything like this. And then coming out of that we start seeing injuries like boom boom boom like injury injury injury. There’s nothing you can do to maintain somebody’s body over an 82 game schedule when all of a sudden you get, you know, you’re 55 or 60 games into a schedule and you get hit with this, you know, seven games in 11 nights or something like players just can’t recover and some can and some put in the work to make sure that they recover, but others like it doesn’t matter what your how much work you put in. And I know how much work Damonus Sabonis puts into his body, but you take a bad step and you roll an ankle. And don’t think that that’s just because you took a bad step. It’s because your body’s not 100%. You know, and it’s tough. But, uh, you know, hopefully Steph is back on the court quick because that series looks like it could be a lot of fun. Yeah, potentially for sure. The the Warriors win 9988 last night. Weird night for Minnesota. So, if you’re if you’re a Timberwolves fan, you’re probably feeling pretty good today. A because without Steph Curry, Golden State can’t score. Like, that’s just I if unless Buddy He is going off from three. Draymond Green hit, I think, four threes last night, which is which is atypical for him. Minnesota went five for 29 from three, including 0 for 15 in the first half and 2 for 21 through the first three quarters. Um, Anthony Edwards had 23 points. He hit one jump shot. And I thought I thought Minnesota because the Warriors came out hot. I thought Minnesota eased up after Steph went out. It cuz Golden State was starting to stretch the lead. Steph goes down and then they really stretch the lead to 20. They get it higher than 20, maybe 22. But they really like stretch this lead out. I thought Minnesota thought Golden State was just going to punt and then they just never did. They just kept scratching and clawing and fighting and figured out a way to win. Uh but if I’m Minnesota and I’m a Minnesota fan, I’m not super concerned. Uh despite losing game one where where Curry played only a quarter and a half. Yeah, it’s it’s certainly not time for the panic button for for Minnesota, but very specifically because Steph is out. And you know, I I think that if you’re going to game plan for Buddy Heal, if you’re going to game plan for Jimmy Butler, you can start to make life a lot more difficult. It it’s just a different world when you’re chasing Steph around screen after screen after screen, and your entire focus is on that one player. Now, you shift, you have time to to develop a game plan that looks like um you know, something without Steph Curry, and you’re just hoping that Buddy Hill turns into a pumpkin. Um, Buddy Hild has had a a very very strong playoff run. Um, after the last couple games. Yeah. Well, in the last couple of games, hasn’t he had two good games and then one really, really bad game where Kyle made a tweet? Like, you just don’t know what you’re going to get from one night to the next with Buddy. And I think that’s going to be the biggest problem that that they’re in a spot, this is the worst news for Golden State, that they’re in a spot where we’re talking about, well, if Buddy Healed can just stay hot and like maybe maybe we talk about this all the time with Buddy, right? It’s not the it’s not the the ceiling. The ceiling for him as a as a player is is crazy. And from a volume standpoint, he’s one of the the best three-point shooters of all time. Yeah. He’ll go down as probably top five the in three-point makes of all time. Yeah. When he’s when his career is done, he’ll get passed and and all that, but when when he’s done, that wouldn’t shock me one bit if he finished in the top five. The problem is not is not Oh, hey, because if you told me, James, if you said, “Hey, I went to the future. Uh Golden State got through five games uh up three games to two and Buddy Heel just went nuclear in in two of those games to help them get a win. I wouldn’t be like stunned. The problem is is he might dribble a ball off his foot or go 0 for eight from three the next game or wear the wrong damn shorts [Laughter] or just not play defense at all. Like I’ve seen that buddy. He’s been great defensively. I know. I know it is. But I mean, yeah. Does he all of a sudden uh fall asleep on that end and give up a couple of back cuts and all of a sudden Steve Kerr’s taking him out? That’s that’s the question with Buddy Heield. It’s not how hot can he get. Speaking of shorts, if you missed it, uh and if you if you did because you were locked into the Pacers Cavs game, I don’t blame you one bit. The Warriors and Timberwolves tip off. They play a couple possessions and then all of a sudden midwarriors possession, there’s a whistle and play stops and everyone’s looking around like, “What’s going on?” And then all of a sudden the camera cuts to Buddy Heield and he’s wearing warm-up shorts. The Warriors were black last night. The warm-up shorts are black, but they say like Golden State Warriors on the leg. Very clearly not game shorts. And so they stopped playing. And I’m like, “Oh, the Warriors are going to have to burn a timeout. Buddy Heield’s going to have to go random whoever Jonathan Kaminger, whoever is going to have to come off the bench and they’re going to have to wait.” No, they stopped the game so Buddy He could go to the locker room and change his shorts and the Warriors were assessed a delay of game. Of course, if they got another one, it would have been a technical. And here’s what Buddy Here’s Buddy healed after the game. Whoever give an award to whoever sent Jimmy Butler and Buddy Heield to the podium together. Here was Buddy He’s answer. Here’s Buddy Heield’s answer when Yeah. Salute to Raymond Ritter when he got asked about the shorts incident. Well, he he you you had another good game, man. Except for that stupid thing you did at the beginning of the game when you have on the right shorts. It’s not real. Robin andor Batman like Buddy, what happened with the wardrobe malfunction? Jimmy switch it out. That’s was Jimmy fault. Okay. Jimmy switches it out and that’s what happens. I was looking for my shorts and I thought it was the right one. He said, “Yo, put these on.” It was right. And I That was That’s what you’re going with? Yeah, I’m going. Jimmy, it was Jimmy fault. His locker is next to my locker. I was looking for my shorts. He said, “Yo, my camera, my shorts. Oh, I see her there.” And I put them on. I looked just alike. And after that, I fine for it. So, it’s cool. It was Jimmy’s fault. Blame Jimmy. Jim, I mean, obviously, you know, there’s always so much responsibility on you, but when you see Steph go down, responsibility in the shorts, too. Like, I’m telling you, responsibility on him. He’s not doing his job. We We buy that. No. We think Jimmy Butler did that. You got to turn him back up. No, I don’t. I want it to go away. There we go. I I don’t think so. Like I I mean like what are you doing? What are you doing? James, I’m having a hell of a time here. Can you say that again? I was just saying like come on buddy. Like it like you learn how to get dressed when you’re three. Like they lay out your jersey and your shorts. They’re literally all hanging in a locker waiting for you the entire time. Brutal, dude. I’m not putting it past Jimmy Butler to mess with him, though. No, I I don’t I I I think I’d buy that if it was a regular season game. I don’t think Jimmy Butler’s doing that in a playoff game. Buddy Hills got to figure it out, dog. Had a great game, though. Uh help bail out the Warriors once again. They beat the Timberwolves 99 to88. Uh we’ll see if Steph Curry returns for this series. It sounds like they’re shooting for game five, but that’s not a guarantee. Uh his season could very well be over. And if his season’s over, Golden States is going to be over as well because I don’t think they’re beating the Timber Wolves uh three times out of six with uh with no Steph Curry. But as long as Pat Spencer gets some minutes had a good time with Pat Spencer last night. Anyways, that’s James. I’m Kyle. Chris Finch was mean to Anthony Edwards after the game last night. Wait till you hear what he had to say. Are the Timberwolves going to fire their coach midplayoffs for being mean to the star player? We’ll find that out next. James Ham’s there. That’s Joe Brazil. I’m Kyle Madson. Jiffy Lube is the sponsor. We’re the insiders on ESPN 1320, Sacramento Sports Leader. My bad there, Joe. I thought because you had turned up the the thing and I heard Jimmy and I was trying to make that go away and I forgot that James is here and it just you know what you’re doing. At least one person absolutely know what you’re doing first of all. But we adapt and we overcome, you know. It’s all good. It’s good. Jesus. This is it, bro. I was going to play just the entire presser, but it was a lot. It was like five minutes. Oh no. Scott Foster is active and will be officiating Nuggets Thunder game two after being out seven weeks. Suffered a calf injury. I thought he suffered a made 900 calls with Tim Donnie in a one month span injury. Yeah. It’s also possible he was struggling with Chris Paul isn’t in the playoffs. So, I don’t have anyone to screw over. Uh, issue. Nobody has beefs like uh like Scott Foster. Scott Foster suffered a Hey, I have thunder to win this series in five games injury. I decided to come back from 15 seconds. Better number two. That’s James Ham. I’m Kyle Madson and Joe Brazil. on the ones and twos. We’re sponsored by Jiffy Lub and we’re hanging out with you till noon. Then we’ll hand it off to DLO and KC. Thank you everybody listening on the free Odyssey app. Thank you everybody listening on 1320 a.m. or 98.5 FM HD2. If you’re watching on YouTube or Twitch, hi there. We appreciate you as well. If you’re in the chatty house on YouTube or Twitch, thank you so much. And if you are watching, go ahead and hit that thumbs up. It’s right below the video. Just thumbs up. If you’re here, subscribe. Hit the little notification bell on YouTube. uh because we do simal cast live on YouTube every single day from 10 am to 12. And then this stream doesn’t doesn’t stop rolling. It just goes right into DLO and Casey. So you can uh listen to those guys as well without having to leave the YouTube stream. And of course, you don’t have to leave your radio to to listen to those guys at noon. Um Chris Finch after the Timberwolves beat the excuse me, lost to the Warriors last night said, quote, and this is via ESPN. What is there to talk about? You’re the leader of the team. He’s talking about Anthony Edwards. You’ve got to come out and set the tone. If your shot is not going, you still have to carry the energy. If I’ve got to talk to guys about having the right energy coming into an opening second round game, then we’re not on the same page. James, I have two questions. One, will the Timberwolves follow the trend of firing coaches who are mean to star players? Um, we’ll see this off season because again, I think Chris Finch is an excellent head coach, really good. But like how many times do you get to have a really really talented team and not push push through? And you know we’re getting to that point where they are just kind of stuck in this cycle of first round, second round, you know, and out and you’re hoping that Minnesota figures out how to be better and how to get uh you know, again, the Western Conference Finals is on the table for them right now. It’s just sitting there. Yep. Yeah. Um, but as far as like going at players, um, you know, every coach has a different approach with this and I think some point you have to be this way, especially in the playoffs. You have to motivate your players in some way. You have to find a way to connect with somebody in some way because just like throwing your jersey out there against a a Golden State Warriors team that you think you’re going to beat with no problem and then Steph goes down and you just think you’re going to beat but not doing the work to actually do to to win a game. That’s a problem. And and I think that he’s got he’s got some uh he’s got to clean some things up. Both Anthony Edwards, but also Chris Finch. Yeah, I I I I say the where they going to fire their coach a little bit in chess. They’re obviously not going to fire a coach in the middle of the playoffs, but to your point, if they lose to this version of the Warriors in like six games, even if Steph comes back for game six and they and they win that one at Chase Center, I think it’s very much on the table that the Timberwolves look to do something different with their head coach. But what I what I do want to what I do want to get into and I and I think this is interesting because I think it’s it’s very much like a like a cultural conversation and I’m wondering if given where the generation of players coming into the league are from the the 18y olds up through the I don’t know 27 28 year olds whatever it is. Mhm. I do wonder if teams are going to start adjusting or if coaches are going to start adjusting how they coach players because instead of the like one-sizefits-all hard ass approach, I kind of wonder if a coach like Doug Christie for example, just happens to be one here in our backyard or our front yard depending on which way your home is oriented. It’s in the backyard for for us. They’re over there. Perfect. Yeah. In our backyard. In our backyard. Here at the ridge. I don’t like it. I don’t like it. I was going to say it, but I held off and I was going to kind of let you take that. Here at the vibe. Here at the vibe. Nah. No. They’re trying to, if you missed the bit earlier before the show, they’re trying to have us name our building and give our building a nickname. And I feel like a building nickname is something that just kind of happens organically. And we’re trying to do like a vote. And so we’re going to randomly start calling this building different names and seeing how it goes. The den. I don’t like that. I don’t like that one bit. The nest. Nope. Still hate it. That’s that belongs to SAK State. The nest belongs to SAK State. Uh, okay. So, here at the Ridge. Still doesn’t feel good. Um, Doug Christie back on track. Here we go. Three, two, one. We’ll cut all that in post. So, I do wonder if teams are going to to to start looking at coaches like Doug Christie, who doesn’t he’s a he’s a hard ass from a winning is the goal perspective. We’re going to play a tough brand of basketball, hard-nosed brand of basketball. We’re going to hustle. We want to take the other team’s joy. We want to steal their joy. That’s that’s our purpose on the basketball court. You can be a hard ass in that way, but I think his overall mentality is more like arms open and uplifting his players, you know, not you made a mistake. I’m going to go tell the world you made a mistake and we have to be better. It’s like, no, you’re going to make a mistake. We’ll fix that in practice. Go out there and and keep playing your game. I wonder if more teams and more coaches are going to start taking that approach instead of the, “Oh, Anthony Edwards had a bad game. I’m going to go call him out in the media for it. Yeah. I mean, like, look, I think it’s easy to look at what Doug did in his 51 game run here and see, you know, like the positive sides of Doug and how how positive all the time he is. Um, I’m someone who believes that you have to have the same standards for everybody, but you have to coach each individual player differently. like you do, you have to be able to connect with each player in a different way. Uh you have to know your players extremely well. That’s where I think Doug is going to really like thrive. He’s he is a great communicator, but also he communicates in a way he also has ideas of communicating in a way like Phil Jackson did. Like Phil Jackson was notorious for like dropping a book by a specific player’s locker and saying, “Hey, kind of want you to read this.” And then you get to see what they, you know, how a player reacts to that. And uh and I think that that’s how Doug is going to be. Like I know um like years ago Doug brought um the art of war to Demarcus Cousins because realistically Demarcus he he he needed to understand that winning a battle isn’t always a lot of times when you win a battle you lose a battle. And you have to understand that there are other ways to to get your point across and to your messaging and everything else. And it was just a subtle way of Doug trying to help. And so like look, I think that that works. Um especially when you’re on a 51 game audition, like when you’ve got the job full-time, I don’t think you need to call your players out in the media. And I’ve said this a bunch of times. I think Mike Brown was, you know, Mike Brown and George Carl are the only two coaches I remember really calling players out specifically by name in the media or at least hinting at by name like George Carl did um when he called Derek Williams the Coke machine. Um so but once you you’re in it and you’re in year two, you’re in year three, like it doesn’t you can’t just have the same approach every day. And you know, how many behind the scenes meetings did this team have with Doug, you know, yelling or or getting really intense with the starting lineup who just didn’t show up for a game? Sure. You know, and those things happen, but what we didn’t see was Doug cross the line where he’s going to talk negative about a player. And that’s probably a good thing, especially early on. There might come a point like where Chris Finch is where he’s like, “Okay, I think I have the cache here. you know, we did make it far last year. And I think I I have the cache here to say something that maybe be that maybe is uncomfortable that maybe, you know, like calls out a player specifically. And and again, we can’t talk about like Aman Thompson and Tyres Hallebertton and all of these players, Kate Cunningham ascending in the playoffs and then ignore the fact that Anthony Edwards hasn’t done it consistently who’s, you know, when when all things are considered is a more talented player than probably any of these guys. And so I get it. I get Chris Finch doing it just like, you know, even when Mike Brown called out De’arren Fox, I got it. Like look man, everybody was on the same page except for one guy who wasn’t paying attention and cost a team a game. Yeah. Like it’s tough but sometimes tough love it has to be there. And this is and securing a bagly in the chatty house says asked but did Vince say anything wrong? He said he was the leader and has to come out and set the tone. No, it’s not. This isn’t this isn’t about whether Chris Finch was right or wrong. He’s not. First of all, he nothing he said was incorrect. And maybe he has that relationship with with Anthony Edwards where he knows, okay, I can push Anthony Edwards this far in this way, whereas he wouldn’t do the same thing maybe for for uh for Rudy Gobar or Jaden McDaniels, right? Like maybe he just knows just like Mike Brown knew like, “All right, I’m gonna push De’Arren Fox in this way. I’m gonna go this far. He made a really bad mistake, so I’m gonna call him out.” And it again, it just happened to coincide with him being let go. And maybe the reason he went that far with Darren, Mike Brown, is because like he kind of knew, all right, I I I know the vibe around here. I know that that loss might have just very much cost me my job, so I’m extra frustrated or whatever whatever it is. But I I do wonder if we’re going to see around the NBA because you see uh Michael Malone getting let go because like man he’s just constantly just grading on guys and and they they don’t like that and they’re so much more free without him and and Taylor Jenkins you hear some of the same stuff and uh I just I I saw cringe I I heard Chris Finch say that postgame last night was like man that’s pretty in game one after after his guy not not just didn’t didn’t come out of the gate fast but but really struggled to score the ball or to to particularly to shoot the ball like that’s man I I I it really stuck out to me and maybe it works maybe the Timberwolves and Anthony maybe Anthony Edwards scores 40 in game two and the Timberwolves win by 30 and and they cruise from here but in a in a league where coaches are being fired way later in the season than coaches have ever been fired because of their reported friction with certain players or with their entire rosters or with front office members. Hearing Chris Finch do that it was like oh like dang that was um I don’t know just stuck out to me. Shout out really good coach though. Yeah, I think every player takes uh criticism differently and every player has to be motivated differently. Um, you know, and and for me, maybe this is just a point where Chris Finch had got with Anthony Edwards where, you know, he tried a bunch of other methods and is like, okay, you know what? I’m going to take a shot in the dark here and see if I can if I can wake him up in a different way. And, you know, whether it works or not, we’ll have to see. They need it. if Anthony Edwards plays because I I didn’t disagree with anything Chris Finch said. He said he just came out with you just the light was not there for him tonight. And maybe he thought maybe it was after maybe it was because they they finished their series in five games. Golden State had a seven game series. They’ve been off for a while. Maybe it was just a general malaise. Maybe they thought they were going to throw their jerseys on the court and win the game. I don’t expect that to be an issue moving forward for for Anthony Edwards in particular. Maybe the Timberwolves just can’t shoot it this series and it and it winds up killing them. But I I think if Anthony Edwards comes out uh throwing his fast ball, I believe the Timberwolves should will win this series pretty handily. Yeah. But it all comes down to Anthony Edwards because if he’s not, Chris Finch is right. you you kind of saw the team follow him a little bit into that general like me. That’s the sound that’s the sound Anthony Edwards game made last night. It’s tough, right? And and securing Bagley here in the chat brings up a really good point. Um Steve Kerr called out Anthony Edwards in his pregame in his pre-draft workout and said he just doesn’t look like he’s taking it serious. Yeah, that’s what we’re talking about. Like, and I think Anthony Edwards has has been very clear that that mattered, right? That that that was a bit of a wakeup call. That’s what you’re just trying to do. Like, I I think Anthony Edwards as a person um like I don’t know if he lacks focus here and there, but um I think he is somebody who on occasion needs some tough love to reenter him and and that’s a good thing, especially after a long time off. Speaking of Steve Kerr, I meant to bring this up earlier. He gets a lot of grief from Warriors fans, Jim Park. And I thought he was awesome last night. There’s a lot of times where you it’s it’s hard to notice coaching in the NBA, particularly at this level, when it’s like, man, you know what, best player on best player, it’s going to be really close. Um, it might come down to who miss who makes shots and who misses shots, and rotations are pretty much set and you’re shortening your rotations. The Warriors played like 12 guys last night and it seemed like every button Steve Kerr hit was the right one. He was he was really effective using his timeouts because because Minnesota went on a couple of different runs. Um I was I was uh really really impressed with the job Steve Kerr did last night and I just wanted to say that. Anyways, he’s a great coach, man. Shout out to Shout out to Steve G and shout out to Mark Jones, the television voice of the Sacramento Kings. He is going to join us next. We’ll talk about this Kings off season. We’ll talk about some of the stuff that has happened, some of the stuff that might happen. Can’t wait to talk with Mark Jones. Uh and also what he’s got going on. One of the busiest guys in television. Uh and he’s going to join us next on the Insiders. We’re sponsored by Jiffy Lube. This is ESPN 1320 Sacramento Sports Center. James, I’m going to text you a thing because I can’t say it privately. Okay. It’s about something entirely unrelated to the radio program. Okay. My sleep score last night per my ring, my aura ring was a 46. I don’t know what that means. Out of 100. Yeah. Really? Yeah. Like couldn’t breathe. Kept waking up. Oh yeah, I’m with you. Saw a couple people talking about the Giants game in the chat last night. Uh, dude, very exciting game. They scored nine in the 11th inning. uh most runs scored by a team at Wrigley Field in uh extra innings. So, it’s kind of seemed like a cherrypicked stat, but when I thought about it, it’s a pretty cool stat. Wrigleyfield’s been around for a long time. So, Ryan Presley didn’t get an out. Oh, I believe that nine runs without getting an out. Yeah, it was awesome. I was like, dude, there’s uh we’re at nine runs and there’s no outs. I was loving it. It was amazing. It’s tough. The A’s uh the A’s have blown two late game leads in the last uh like four. Um man, they could easily be a little bit higher. Oh yeah, Mark Jones. And he’s changed his name again. Old J Street in the building. What’s up? I’m making sure you guys are paying attention. Okay, just so you know, Mark, real quick, uh, we got about a minute and a half left in the break, but you were live on the stream. So, if you’re going to talk trash about college coaches, you can’t hear Oh, you can’t hear us yet? Uh, I think his audio just went out. This happened last time, too. Okay, he can’t hear us. Tell him to Can you tell him to leave the studio and then come back in? Okay. So, I’m going to bump him out of here. Okay, there we go. Cool. O, I thought we were cooked for sure. Then they pulled Ryan Walker and Miller gave up a hit to tie the game. Like, dude, I thought it was over. Oh, there he is. Can you guys hear me now? There we go. 15 seconds. Can you hear us? Not always there when you call, but always on time. James, perfect. Uh, we’re coming back in five seconds, my man. Now, back to the Insiders with James Ham and Kyle Madson, brought to you by Jiffy Lube on ESPN 1320. And James Ham, Kyle Madson, and Mark J. Street Jones, the television voice of the Sacramento Kings, uh can’t hear us. That’s fine. Uh we’ll uh yeah, sound it looks like uh we’re having some audio issues with Mark, but that’s okay. He’s here. He was on time. I want everybody to know that. I need uh I need this to be abundantly clear. Mark was early, had an audio issue, and then came back still in time, and now uh we’re having an audio issue again. Not 100% sure what is uh what’s going on there, but we’ll uh we’ll hopefully get it figured out and we’ll talk with Television Voice of the Kings Mark Jones. Are we going to try this a third time? Third time’s a charm is is what I always say. That’s a that’s a phrase I coined. Uh Mark Jones. Mark J. Street Jones joining us. Mark, you got us this time. Oh, we good, right? J Street. Okay, good. We’re good. Perfect. Mark, how you doing, man? What What do you What do you do when there’s no college football and no Kings? Uh, man, that that other thing with uh ESPN and ABC keeps me on the road. I got games three and four between OKC and Denver coming up uh Friday and Sunday this weekend. So, um yeah, it’s going to be great to do that. And um I always do these games with and this is no lie with thoughts of the Kings next year and what it’s going to look like for us in mind, you know, with Doug with the new front office with Scott and with BJ and and calling the shots now. So, um yeah, there’s a part of me that’s that’s kind of projecting for next year. So, um, yeah, I’m keeping busy doing those games and, um, depending on how many game sixes there are in the, uh, you know, around the association in our programming at ESPN. Um, I could be anywhere this weekend. I mean, the week after that. James, before you get to a real question, Mark, I I’m actually really really excited I get to tell you this because I’ve never actually gotten to tell somebody this before. I tweeted this when it happened and so now I’m just getting to to tell you. You were on game three of Warriors Rockets. Yes. And Steph hit the shot where he’s he’s faced up against uh Jaylen Green at the top of the key and just pulled on it. Oh yeah. Just and and ripped it and you just said uh you know you’re into the call and you just said wet and then laid out and let the crowd take it and that was just a master class in broadcasting. I think too many broadcasters talk too much and I thought that was awesome by you. So great job. I appreciate that. I appreciate that Kyle. Yeah, in those moments, man, there’s nothing that you can say that’s going to embellish the scene. I mean, that’s where TV is such a powerful medium. So, uh, sometimes less is more. That’s like I I love those moments at Golden One Center when I get to say Golden One Center, the microphone is yours after a big scoring run or a Keegan Murray three or whatever it is. So, thanks. I appreciate the kind words, man. Absolutely. All right. you know, now you can be a professional, Mark, when you you’re uh I hope I’m around enough, you know. I just hope I’m around enough on on J Street and in Midtown and calling me games as a as a national guy, you know? So, uh trying to figure that one out. I mean, wouldn’t you want a guy that can tell great stories about your team and the league and the other teams that the Kings are playing? Yep. I agree. I agree. Just me. All right. So, Mark, I got a I got a real question for you here. Um, this OKC Denver matchup. Um, it does feel like I said this to Kyle and I don’t know if he agreed right away, but it feels like this is Western Conference Finals. Like, yeah, this is this is two heavyweights right now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now, I know Minnesota would take exception to that, especially looking at the fact that they’ve beaten I mean, they’ve dogwalked Denver the last few times they played them. I think they’ve beaten the Nuggets six times in a row and everybody remembers the 20point comeback in Denver in the conference semi-finals last year. But I agree with you when you look at Shay and Joker and the seasons they’ve had, the two MVP candidates, uh team that won 68 games in the regular season against the champs two years ago. It really does have a a major showdown feel to it and um I wouldn’t be shocked that the winner of this comes out of the Western Conference, you know, still. But I love the Ant conversation you guys had, especially in wake of the fact that uh Chris Finch actually said what he said about him last game. I I’ve gotten to know Ant pretty well over the last couple of summers. He works out down here in Miami a lot and I mean, I’m always in the gym watching these guys work out and he’s right up there, guys. Like I can remember his player development coach Chris Hines telling me recently that there was a point last year like ants in this routine where he likes to even on the road get in you know a thousand shots shoot a thousand threes the day before a game even after a flight in. And they were in San Antonio I think he told me and you know the Spurs practice facility was unavailable for whatever reason. uh the facility that they thought they’d be able to get was closed and Chris Hines told me that he and aunt were driving around in an Uber for half an hour and finally ended up in the basement of a church gym getting up shots that night. So that’s that really speaks to the dedication of of Anthony Edwards and just how far he’s come especially with the three-point shooting. You know, Mark Jones, television voice of the Sacramento Kings joining us. Man, I was um you’re on game, you said three and four. Yeah, this weekend. Denver. I don’t have a pen. I usually write that stuff down. Three and four this weekend. Um, it was game one a a little bit of a fluke where all right man, OKC just just didn’t do the right stuff down the stretch and Aaron Gordon hit a big shot or do you think there’s genuine concern with with Oklahoma City in that series? I think they’ve got to be careful now because they tricked off that game. I mean, the foul strategy was poorly executed. In theory, it was great, but you know, when you’re not letting enough time run off the clock before you foul, uh, that’s malpractice. And they did it twice. And, uh, their margin of error just got a little slimmer. I don’t if I’m okay, I’m extremely concerned because if the game is close in clutch time, I don’t know that there’s still a more connected team in the NBA at the offensive end than the Denver Nuggets. Their ability to close games in the last five minutes, last two minutes, uh, is probably as good as any teams in the NBA. Now, their defense, that’s another story. They finish 19th, 18th in defensive rating. Uh they can be had defensively, but when it comes to their offense possessions, uh if they’re within striking distance, they’re a threat. Yeah. Yeah, I totally agree. Uh Mark, let’s uh let’s skip to the King stuff. We got all kinds of King stuff happening. Uh first up, you’ve known Doug Christie for a long time. uh like a couple of decades when he was in New York eating chicken wings eating chicken chicken wings in my basement in Stamford, Connecticut. Yeah, he still eats chicken a little bit. He still eats chicken wings, but that might be the only meat that that Doug still partakes in. uh just like how excited is it for you to see him and sort of his process to go from a player uh to be gone for a little while but build his way through uh the broadcasting world, get onto a coaching staff and then finally get his opportunity to take over the team that he loves. Man, I it’s one of the great NBA stories I think over the last uh you know since I’ve known Doug 20 odd years. um when you look at his journey from Pepperdine to getting a rough beginning in the NBA as a player. um me reporting on the NBA today that uh he got a phone call from the Seattle general manager, which was mean-spirited, basically saying, “You better take this money or else you’re not going to get signed to um being traded to the Lakers, not getting enough playing time with the New York Knicks that he should have been playing under Pat Riley, and then finally really uh coming into his own in in Toronto and Sacramento.” Um TV, what a great journey. And Doug has always been a very um introspective type of basketball uh talent. Um being able to um not only see himself and read the room well uh but having wonderful basketball intellect and knowing its applications too. And you know, the time the short time that I got to work with Doug uh in broadcasting, I learned a ton from him in terms of basketball strategy and basketball nuance. And I’m excited to see him uh execute that now. Uh having the agency to incorporate all of his own philosophies from day one in training camp uh to day one of the regular season. I I think he’s going to do a fantastic job. He’s ready for the moment. Do you think there’s going to be a a noticeable difference as we talk with television Voice of the Kings, Mark Jones, uh, here on ESPN 1320, do you think there’s going to be a discernable difference next year between what the Kings look like maybe on on both ends of the floor now that Doug does get a full off season to to implement it rather than just trying to kind of like hang on and steer a ship that was really trying to capsize last year? Um, do you think we’ll see a noticeable difference from from the Kings on the court? I I do. I think that um, you know, roster permitting, I think one of the the blueprints is probably uh, the defensive disposition is where we’ll see the the first kind of profound change and look and Doug’s impact. And I mean, I think if you look at the way that the Houston Rockets play, um, they may not always have a chance offensively, but they’re they’re they hang their hat defensively on on the outcome of games, and it’s worked for them to the tune of being the number two seed. Uh, I’m not sure that Sacramento has that kind of personnel right now. But, uh, I think if there’s a a vision, um, that might be part of it, uh, in terms of Doug being, uh, a defensive-minded player or at least, you know, we we talk about, it’s interesting in basketball now when you talk about so- and so is the best player or this guy’s the best player. Uh I think there’s been uh in the way that we reported in the media a slanting of we always think that to mean oh he’s the best offensive player, but I think when you talk about ultimate success in basketball, it has to be at both ends of the court. And I think we’re going to see a lot more of that uh in the way that Doug um plays the guys who are on the roster and uh in terms of the defensive execution. I think you saw uh a lot more aggressiveness, a little bit more trapping, a little bit more blitzing. uh a little bit more uh risktaking uh that was I think ultimately effective by Doug when he took over this year. You know, Mark, it’s always tough when you you have one coach leave um and and sort of his coaching staff. What happens next? Yeah. Um just where are you at with this? It looks like there’s only I don’t know maybe two or three guys back from uh from the staff that was here before. Um, and we don’t really know how this thing is going to be built out, whether Mike Woodson will come in, whether Bobby Jackson will rejoin the team, any of that stuff yet. Um, but we do know that a lot of these guys are like on to their next place. Um, and it just how tough it is. Yeah. Um, I know that Doug is probably looking forward to um starting with a fresh slate with his guys, you know, um that he’s aligned with with um Scott Perry and and BJ Armstrong and um you know, you talk about the vertical and horizontal alignment. I I think that uh you know Scott has talked about his background with Doug and uh I’m sure that they’ve uh vetted out some of the tangible things that they want in players and their tangible philosophies and even some of their intangible things. So, um, you know, I think when we look at whoever lands on the bench, um, there’s going to be a kind of a uniform philosophy, right? And and there’s going to be some experience there because, um, Doug is going to be a firsttime head coach, per se, you know, I mean, he’s he’s been interim, but first time with his people. And, uh, I think he’ll do a fantastic job. I think he’s prepared. I’ve watched him in some of the scouts from the time he was doing scouts as an assistant with Mike and um I watched him closely in summer league last year as the head coach and he’s prepared for this moment and Doug has great relationships around the NBA too and and I would expect that that kind of um relationship clout will will bear fruit on the bench and ultimately with the players and ultimately with victories next year. talking with Mark Jones, television voice of the Kings here on ESPN 1320, Sacramento Sports Leader. Uh you mentioned having clout around the league and relationships around the league. That’s something we heard a lot with Scott Perry. How much can how much of an impact can that have in the front office going into a year where um we might see some some significant changes for for the Kings roster? I think it’s going to give Sacramento a leg up on things. Uh if you look at the recent trend um in terms of player movement uh deals that are made around the NBA free agent signings um there’s been a trend to you know you got Telm in Detroit you’ve got um uh Leon Rose in New York uh you have Phoenix uh all guys who have been former agents now with uh significant input And I think BJ Armstrong with his background and Scott’s experience, um, you know, I think they’ll be able to cultivate the type of, um, you know, relationships and, uh, the climate that will bring about the type of roster that they need, if that makes sense. You know, you think there’s a certain amount of nuance and savvy that’s required to get that done. At the end of the day, it’s like back in the day, it was always, you know, Boston and Danny A calling Minnesota’s buddy Kevin McCale to to work out deals or these things happen in the league. And I think when you have guys that are entrenched that way uh can be beneficial and I think Sacramento’s uh maybe going to benefit from that this year. We have Mark Jones, the television voice of the Sacramento Kings and of course all over ESPN, a broadcasting legend here. Mark, uh, we can’t keep you all day. Um, but I wanted to ask you Oh, no. I gota I gotta read this text to you because I’m sorry, James. Can you hold Yeah. So, I I just got a text and uh I was asking him about something, right? And he says, this is one of our old guys in Sacramento said, “Buddy is really bought in defensively and has really improved his technique. He’s more athletic than people give him credit for and super competitive and embraces the challenge of guarding the other team’s better players. He’s really embraced being a two-way player and not just a shooter. Cherry Stack House. Wow. So that’s that’s back. That’s buddy. That’s stunning. That’s stunning. Um All right. Before we get before you get out of your market, that’s that’s okay, man. I love it. I love it. Yeah. um what is the first move that you’re making if you’re the Sacramento Kings here? Like how how do you get this thing back on the right path uh knowing sort of the the deficiencies that they have? Yeah, I think it’s a point guard, right? Um and that’s no slight on Keon Ellis, but I think uh you can bring in a point guard who’s ready to contribute pretty much right away and uh start him or uh bring him in off the bench. But I I think that’s probably the most pressing need. And um you know, I think that you make sure that uh Keegan Murray is taken care of um because he’s eligible for um you know, his deal. And I think uh out there in the universe, if you’re looking at comps, maybe it’s the maybe it’s like the Trey Murphy comp somewhere around there, you know, in that neighborhood. Um as for you know Demar and Zach and Domas um that’s the core and I think it remains to be seen whether uh the front office wants to um keep it intact or try and get some assets that will bring about uh that said point guard that I mentioned. Mark Jones, television voice of the Kings. You can hear him all over ESPN as well. He’ll be on games three and four of Thunder and Nuggets this weekend in Denver. Uh Mark, thank you so much for carving out some time for us and let’s do it again soon. You got it. Kyle James, keep up the great work, man. See you soon. Awesome. We’ll do. Thanks, Mark. Hey, buddy. One of the best. Mark Jones. Mark J. Street Jones. That’s right. Guy, friend of the program. Uh always good to have always good to have Mark on. No one rides an electric scooter like Mark Jones down J Street. No, that’s what many people have said that. Yeah. I had no idea he’s known Doug Christie for that. Oh, yeah. They they lived in like the same apartment complex at one point. Huh. Yeah. Sure. As one does. Yeah. Very odd. Well, plus you got to remember Mark is a is a Canadian guy. He’s, you know, he’s a his got and Doug was in was in Toronto. Oh, yeah. Yeah. The Jones brothers. live from Canada. Shout out to Mark Jones, friend of the program, television voice of the Kings. Uh Al Aldren J said Jimmy Butler really bullied Buddy Heield into being a better player. That’s I legitimately think that’s what’s happening. Someone needed to serious like I know this is a like haha, but also I guess kind of true. Anyways, uh really cool to just hear from Jerry Stack House mid mid interview. That was great. Uh shout out to Mark Jones. Uh, James, appreciate you setting that up. Oh, we got the handoff next. We do. Oh my god. Oh, we have to go and stuff. Oh, okay. Wow. Okay, we got to step aside. We got the handoff coming up. One of Dura Casey will be in here and we’ll talk about the NBA postseason. Uh, that’s James Ham. That’s Joe Brazil. I’m Kyle Madson. We’re late. And sponsored by Jiffy Loop. N I agree, Miss Mac. Have Mark Jones just read his his last text every time. So, what’s the last text you got, Mark? Just read it to us. I’m happy for Buddy to have this opportunity to to get out there and like have success. He is a good dude and he’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever covered in Sacramento. Just like a really really hard worker. I’ll read my last text from James. Thumbs up emoji. That’s a lot of text from James. This thumbs up emoji. That’s one of the That’s one of the like uh I’m I’m really close with my parents, but one of our like cultural disconnects is in text, and this is a a little bit with with you too, James. You’re you’re a generation after my parents. But in if I text one of my friends like, “Hey, we’re going to go do this thing.” and they hit me with a thumbs up emoji. Like if you react to the text with a thumbs up, that’s fine. If you send me a thumbs up emoji, I take that as a thumbs down. I am offended. I take that as a like not even not offended like oh you don’t actually want to do that thing. It’s like and that’s what dude I get so many from my mom. I get so many just thumbs up like what? Sarcasm. That’s just my way of just going yep. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just what how I grew up and how I’ve how my brain has been turned to putty is that means like that’s a ne if I send someone a thumbs up it’s like okay man like you okay that’s the best way to put it okay mine aren’t they’re notic passive aggressive is the right thing oh I should have done the thing at the end of the thing I got the I got to do the I got to do the And then we’ll play James unbelievable cut from that Mark Jones interview. Come on. Every once in a while I’ll say something. I’ll be like, “I hope nobody heard that.” And just immediately the chatty house just, “All right, I see you guys.” The chatty house doesn’t miss anything. No. Nope. See, this is Yeah. We’ll literally be like, “Hey, ma, we’re gonna do dinner tonight. You want to go do this and that?” All right. Just an easy way of saying yes. That’s it. That’s it. And that’s what you mean. She’s fired up, but that my brain does not feels passive aggressive. Nope. Now back to The Insiders with James Ham and Kyle Madson, brought to you by Jify Lube on ESPN 1320. just catching L’s on underdog, guys. Partially because games aren’t going the way I thought they would. Uh, but partially because I’m just not very good at picking under No, it’s fine. Part of it is daily fantasy, so it’s a high or lower on at least two player stats. You can turn a dollar into $1,000. Like, you know, you know all this stuff. NBA playoffs a really good time to to jump in. uh not just because of their extender promo, but because they have we got WNBA starting, MLB season’s in full swing. We’ll have the hockey playoffs going on. There’s a ton of sports to choose from. But I try and lock in for the NBA playoffs because those are the things that I’m locked into the most right now. It’s just not been going well for me. I try and kind of figure out, okay, here’s how I think this game’s going to go. So, I think this guy’s going to do that. I didn’t try and get fancy with this one tonight. Here’s my lineup tonight. Jason Tatum, I’m going higher than five and a half assists. I think the Celtics are going to make a lot of shots tonight. He’s going to facilitate him going higher than five and a half assists for Jason Datam. OG Anobi, I’m going higher than 16 and a half points because I have done that with OG Anobi a lot in my lineups and he uh goes higher than 16 and a half often enough that I feel good about it. And then Jaylen Brown higher than one and a half made threes. The Celtics are going to have a regression to the main game and I think Jaylen Brown is going to be part of it. I’m going higher than one and a half three-pointers made with my 50% profit boost token. Um, my entry gets bumped up 50% for a game, too. So, I’m fired up for that. And I’d be fired up if you joined me on Underdog. Download the Underdog app and sign up with promo code Kyle M. That’s Kyle LM to unlock a special offer of up to $1,000 in bonus cash when you make your first deposit. That’s promo code Kyle M. Kyle LM. Must be 18 plus and present in a state where underdog fantasy operates. Terms apply. Concerned with your play, call 1800 gambler or visit www.npn ncpgambling.org. In Arizona, call 1800 Nextep or text next to 53342. In New York, call the 247 HOPE line at 18778NY or text hope y. It’s time now for the handoff. Taking the handoff from James and Kyle today. Here’s DLO, Damen Barling. There he is. What’s up, man? Chilling. How are you? I’m great. This feels weird. Oh, being straight up. Yeah, cuz usually usually you sit over there cuz James is there. This feels weird to I got you. Yeah, we’re the the the ESPN crew is down bad. We got James at home. You’re you’re back. Kenny, I don’t know when Kenny is coming in. I think that means we’re down bad. No, it’s just we can’t we we we can’t link up like like you’re back. James is out. KC is going to be later. Uh we’re just we’re just kind of all over the place. There are let’s see the Joe and Jesse and then the four of us. So, there’s six people at ESPN 1320, not including Charlie. Mhm. So, there’s six of us, and I don’t think we’ve all six been in the been in the the dial. I’m trying out the building names. None of them are working. None of them have been in the complex, the ridge, the feels like the dial is like this soap dial soap. Uh, so the six volcano, the volcan inside the 3010. Oh. the 3010 30 ridge like 30 rock. I like 3010 better than 3010. I was kind of going for 90210 vibes there. But why? I don’t know. Well, I have no idea. Joe, look at him. Make Jesse have him run a lap. Back. The six of us haven’t been in this building. Harry over there. Relax. The six of us haven’t been in this building together since last Wednesday. That’s Absolutely. Would have thought it was longer than that because that was the last day I was in because Wednesday night is when I started not feeling well. Yeah. Okay. And Tuesday I was back but Kenny’s been out. Mhm. Now James is out and Kenny’s out. I didn’t feel good at all last night. No. I might have gotten James sick. Stay your ass at home. I was telling Kyle my sleep score was a 46 out of 100. Oh, that’s that’s not good. Do Do you wear the Aura ring? Is that what you wear or how is that? Yeah, there you go. Yeah, 46 is a tough look. I’ve I’ve had those before. Uh they usually en encompass like a lot of bourbon the night before to get a 46. Like to just not feel well and get a 46 is crazy. I’m pretty sure I got a 48 after Complex’s party and I think someone roofied me at that party. I’m I’m positive somebody drugged me at that party and still got a higher score than you did last night. Yeah, like the bourbon the bourbon doesn’t usually hurt like that. It usually that just puts me to sleep. But uh yeah, I just I started not feeling good around 9 or 10 last night. Just couldn’t sleep. Tough luck. Your ass at home. I’m learning to deal with young like kids illnesses now. Like that’s something I’ve never You have no chance. Yeah, I’m learning. I’m learning. Like so the you know the the the four-year-old was sick the last couple of days and my first instinct is do I have to be around her? Mhm. Yes. Yeah. She’s four to quarantine a fouryear-old. Hey, you’re good, right? You don’t need What? No. Stop crying. What are you I know you’re not in that cabinet. I’m going to slide the food under the door. No, you’re No. Gross. No. Why are you sweating like that? Yeah. Not Not good. You don’t get to do that. You can’t. There’s no one to fill in for me. Just stop. Yeah. No. You think that you can kind of put a divide there, but no. They, you know, they just they’ll just like sick as a dog walk up and curl up next to you and you’re like, “Well, here we go. All in.” Yep. That’s it. That’s it, man. The Warriors season over? No, it’s not. Um, my first instinct was Yep. Especially the way he hits the shot, turns around, and and just like immediately is like he’s he’s motion to the bench. It was like, uh, oh, okay. Well, that’s it. Cuz if you’re if you’re lucky, that’s a week. If you’re like really really lucky, perfect. Yeah, that’s a week. It’s probably two if you’re just moderately lucky. Yeah. So, you’re you’re starting to look at getting wiped out for the series at this point. Yeah. When Minnesota didn’t come back, when they didn’t use that opportunity to come back and they let Buddy for the second time and in as many games, uh, not against them, but just in consecutive Warriors games go, you know, get on a heater. I I didn’t join the Timberwolves bandwagon till yesterday, and I won’t back off. I do not like that basketball team. Like I just told Jesse yesterday. I just told him yesterday. I’m like, “Okay, I was probably wrong about them. They’re better than I give him credit for. Like they’re legit.” Like Anthony Edwards is the one. Like I I I I see it. I think this is a real interesting matchup because Jimmy is super tough. Then you got Steph. Now you take Steph out of that and it’s like, okay, I don’t I every every, you know, figurative dollar I I’ I’d ever wager on Golden State is because of Steph Curry. No doubt. And without them, it’s like, uh, I I don’t know. But when Minnesota didn’t attack, I just went back like, I don’t like them. Get me out of this. Like I They stink. I don’t like them. So, I I my my instinct is I don’t know how you overcome Steph being out, but if you can get something like what you’ve gotten recently from Buddy Healed, and I’ll take the 30 and the 24 or whatever it was, I’ll He’s not turning the ball over. Yes. Like he’s not, with the exception of the, you know, shorts, he’s not a punchline. He’s he’s playing well. And give me that. With Jimmy role players stepping up, I’m going to stop short of saying it’s over. I’m going to stop short of saying the Warriors season is over. Okay. So, uh, two things. Number one, um, I’m watching the same thing you are, except for the fact that like Nas Reed is I I don’t know what I would get up give up if I were the Kings. Like, I don’t know there there’s a way for them to go get him, but my goodness, that dude would be the perfect fit. Uh, also, uh, Cass Cash Digital Media here in the chat said, “Looks like BJ Armstrong is not a fan of what the Kings are doing.” That’s a good thing, right? Yeah. Same. Like, no one should be aren’t good. They won 40 games. Yeah. Like, I’m sorry. Raise your hand if you are. Well, Kenny’s not here, so No. Um, I texted a group of friends who I talked hoop with at 6:05 p.m. Now, keep in mind the game didn’t tip off until about 6:40. I’m already pissed at Buddy Healed. Oh, texted out at 6:05 and then the dude comes out wearing the wrong shorts. Yeah. Yeah. Come on, man. And then he blamed it on Jimmy, which was just great. I love the dynamic between Jimmy Butler and Buddy Heield. like they they’re the perfect like opposite human beings. Like it’s terrific. I think you’re going to be back on the Timberwolves bandwagon after game two. You think so? There’s an ascension to the mean. They are 15 of their last what 76 from three I think it is. Yeah. It’s bad. Yeah. And this isn’t a bad three-point shooting team that’s gotten worse. They were a good three-point shooting team this year. They are going to have one of those games where they go 20 of 38. Yeah. Or something silly. And that’ll win them a game. They they’ve just got to have that ascension here at some point. like just the math says they will. So, I’m I’m going to remain I will not get off the Anthony Edwards bandwagon. Like I’m I’m I’m gonna rock with Ant, but this team as a whole, I’m just watching Alexander Walker guy. I’m just watching like whatever, man. Whatever y’all do is fine. Like you you win, you lose. I I just I can’t invest in you. I can’t take them seriously. There’s a real chance they go to the finals. Like, we’re all on board here. Oh, absolutely. There’s absolutely they are a really tough matchup for the Nuggets. And if they’re going to beat the Warriors without Steph, which I think they will, assuming Steph doesn’t come back miraculously by game five, uh, are we out on the Thunder? No, there’s just a there there’s just a very real chance that the Nuggets beat Oklahoma City. Be awesome. And that we’ve got a Timberwolves Nuggets Conference Finals. It’d be actually kind of crazy. Be kind of nuts. Timberwolves Nuggets conference finals in the West and Pacers Knicks in the East. Who says no? Oh, man. It’s not Well, well, yeah. Sorry, Jesse, but the the Knicks are I’m sorry. The Celtics are winning. I’m kind of in on the Pacers one, but um not so much the Knicks. No, the the I don’t expect Yeah, I don’t expect the Celtics to play. And maybe the Knicks four. I I think that’s possible. Well, I’m going to give I’m going to give the Knicks a little more credit than that, but I it’s certainly not impossible. All right. Uh we’re going to step aside and let you take over. Great. If that’s okay. Just the DLO show today. Uh Casey will be here at some point. I don’t know exactly when, but he’s he’ll he’ll be here at some point. Okay. DLO and Casey coming up next. Who you guys got today? Uh James. James Ham. Yeah. Awesome. Great. Oh, it’s Wednesday. I’m sorry. In my brain it was Tuesday and I know on Tuesdays you’ve got Trista and Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yesterday’s show. Yesterday’s show was a blast, man. I had a lot of fun with Jason Jones. We talked a lot about Kendrick Lamar yesterday. Yesterday was a blast. Uh but today we got James. James James will also be discussing Kendrick Lamar. Uh we’ll also talk, you know, everything that the Pacers did after the Tyrese Hallebertton trade is why they’re here and why the Sacramento Kings are constantly retooling. That’s it. Uh for James Ham and Joe Brazil, I’m Kyle Madson. We’ve been the insider sponsored by Jiffy Lube here on ESPN 1320, Sacramento Sports Leader. DLO and Casey are next. We’re back tomorrow at 10 a.m. on this very radio station. Till then, drink water, be nice, people. See you.

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