Pardon the Interruption | Wilbon reacts to Buss family selling Los Angeles Lakers for $10 billion

Pardon the Interruption | Wilbon reacts to Buss family selling Los Angeles Lakers for $10 billion

pardon the interruption but I’m Mike Wilbond it’s National Panic Day tony what are you panicked about tony Cornheiser I think my hairline is starting to thin what are you thinning i’m panicked about that you know I I gave into that one in 1994 i didn’t know you were still grappling with that one well it just sort of happened to me within the last few weeks it seems to me what am I panicked about i’m also panicked about doing this show live welcome to PTI boys and girls in today’s episode TK Scooble takes the mound the Sun and Fever Scuffle and Tim Leggler joins us for five good minutes but we begin today with the breaking news that the Bus family has reportedly entering entering into an agreement to sell the Los Angeles Lakers jeannie Bus will reportedly continue to serve in her role as governor but the new owner will be Mark Walter who already owns the Dodgers the late Jerry Bus bought the Lakers in 1979 for $67.5 million espn is reporting that the sale price values the team at a record $10 billion wow wilon what have the buses meant to the Lakers and what does this do for the team’s future tony the buses have meant to the Lakers and of course we’re starting with Jerry and moving on through Jeie who has really controlled and managed the team and represented it um lately since his death as much as any ownership in modern times has meant to a team in a league you want to compare him to Jerry Jones and the Cowboys okay and he had the team he bought them about 10 years before Jerry Jones got into the NFL tony the buses they they they put a brand of basketball out there that continued what Jack Kent Cook had already started you know with the fabulous forum and Wilt and Jerry West and all that yeah bus came and he winds up you know maneuvering to get a guy named Irvin Johnson and then they have what is literally called Showtime and that brand is as important to the NBA as anything other than the Boston Celtics those are the two pillars on which the league is built and has been sustained and the Bus family did that in Los Angeles the capital of entertainment and how can you have anything but glowing things really to say about the Lakers as they continue now as they have LeBron and they went out and got Luca and it continued in the bus family way jeanie did that so they’ve meant everything to the to the to Southern California sports and to the league do you want to go to the full disclosure about how close you are with Mark Walter because he’s a Northwestern boy or do you want me to say it yeah okay he’s a Northwestern love he’s a trustee he’s somebody I know he still lives in Lincoln Park i love that he’s bought the team nothing is going to change with the Lakers nothing is going to change because what Mark Walter has proved with the Dodgers is he spends a lot of money and he acquires good talent under his watch they got rookie bets they got Freddy Freeman they got Showani and they’ve won they’ve won championships as the Lakers have won championships and yes the buses get all the credit in the world drafting Magic um trading for Kobe signing LeBron signing Luca so I think it’s going to go on the same trajectory that it’s been i don’t think you have to worry i don’t think LeBron’s going to say “Oh get me out of here.” I don’t think any of that’s going to happen i mean I I I think this is an easy move for the league you know you know who the bad owners are and and the buses were not bad owners nor were they intrusive owners though they did like Jerry certainly did like publicity and the Walter he’s not an intrusive owner at this point right no and Tony no Mark is not an intrusive owner and look at what the Dodgers do like the Dodgers go out and they get whoever management decides they’re going to get and they’re in contention every single day of every single season this is what he does so they win and they hire the smartest GMs and that matters let’s move to the NHL and the Florida Panthers winning their second straight Stanley Cup by pounding Edmonton last night 5 to one and taking the Stanley Cup final series 4 to2 florida was up two nothing after one period ultimately Sam Reinhardt scored four goals two empty netters and neither Conor McDavid nor Leon Dryidle scored a point won what does this game and this series say about the Florida Panthers they are great they are champions twice over and I’ll start there but quickly just take a little side trip that say this show will be probably the only one that is not going to give in to the nonsense of calling them a dynasty two is not a dynasty and maybe people I don’t know under o under 60 years old ought to look up dynasty and figure out what that is they’re great for now that’s that’s enough they went out and went backto back and they beat what we still think is the best player in the world in Conor McDavid and let me go specifically to the goalender Mr babski who probably ought to be getting more credit than he’s even getting he’s getting a lot but not enough cuz Tony as you know a great goalender in the Stanley Cup playoffs and particularly in the final has a disproportionate effect on the outcome like an ace who can go you know two or three times in a series or a great all you know first ballot hall of fame quarterback who can dominate action a goalender does that for you and so Broski was the guy in that series he had control of it the the the bad moments he had are so few I now have forgotten them already no I agree with all of that look um it’s easy to make fun of South Florida as a hockey destination because there’s no snow and there’s no ice but this is three years in a row into the finals and back-toback championships right we can dismiss Dynasty in this regard there’s no such thing as a dynasty of two it starts at three i prefer four and over a five or sixyear period but they are on the verge amen they have a chance because they put these things out there already um here’s what they did last night again they went up two nothing in the first period again over the course of the series mike they outscored Edmonton 13-4 in the first period and it was nine nothing in the last four games so they were always in the lead they outscored Edmonton the team that we think of as the offensive team they outscored them 28-7 over six games like 28 goals in six games that’s a lot of goals that’s really a lot of goals out there i’m gonna give you this small statistic that I find meaningful the Panthers led in this series for 255 minutes and 49 seconds the Oilers led for 33 minutes and 51 seconds that’s domination Holmes that’s what that is and it also set a Stanley Cup record it did yeah that is domination wow let’s turn then to the to the Oilers mcdavid says he’s disappointed by how things finished up but has quote a lot of confidence and belief close quote in his team moving forward tony where does a second straight loss in the Stanley Cup final actually leave McDavid and his Oilers it leaves them knocking on the door and maybe in the words of the great Bum Phillips next year they’ll break down the door actually what Bum said is kick the son of a bleep in but this is a family show so I didn’t want to use that um Mike I don’t believe there’s any particular reason to get off the Oilers now i don’t believe that they are necessarily receding i know that Zack Heyman who missed the series and that may have been the turning point for all we know he’s 33 years old but Conor McDavid is 28 and Leon Dryidle is is 29 they are in their prime at the moment and don’t forget they just went to the Stanley Cup finals two years in a row i mean okay Florida was better but they were right next to Florida so I think the long-term bet is still Conor McDavid to win one of these things tony I would stay with them as well but they need some help and how about I specify younger help the Oilers are the oldest team in the NHL that usually can continue to work if you’ve won and you keep an old group together we’ve seen that in both the NHL and NBA but they haven’t won and to break through they’re going to have to go out and get somebody oh maybe they start with goalender not that you necessarily want a young goalender but they’re going to have to be better there late in the Stanley Cup playoffs i mentioned Babski while on the other hand Edmonton is you know shuttling back and forth with their goalender in the championship series not going to work so if I mean Didle and McDavid are going to need help in that regard right so look I mean the goalending got them to the finals it just didn’t booy them in the finals look the larger issue here is Conor McDavid and his greatness his all-time greatness he just became the first guy for nine seasons in a row to score 90 or more points and not win a Stanley Cup we have talked about this on this show does it detract from his all-time stature if he never wins a Stanley Cup and we both concluded Mike that it does because in hockey the the true greats have have all won it they’ve all won it i’d love to see him win it and again I think he is a good long-term bet a couple of things concern me in the last two games of this series he scored only one point and last year in game seven he did not score but he and Dryidle had 33 points each in the playoffs by far the largest margin of scoring yeah but let’s take a break coming up Tyrese Hallebertton says he’ll do everything in his power to play in game six but should the Pacers consider playing a healthy substitute instead we will ask Tim Leggler we’re also going to ask legs what moves if any coach Rick Carlile might still have left you know what I wonder about Mike with the hockey can Florida keep their free agents can they sustain this team with these people and do it again because at some point people say “I want money.” [Music] Game six of the NBA Finals is tomorrow night in Indianapolis where we find our great friend ESPN NBA analyst Tim Leggler let’s start with the most important person maybe on the court maybe not tomorrow tyrese Hallebertton says he’s going to do everything in his power to play in game six despite his right calf strain how much of Hallebert and Tim is enough to justify you know starting him over a healthy player oh boy that’s a great question to put a percentage on it i mean I’m thinking you got to be at least 80% or maybe more in my opinion and and here’s the thing the bottom line is this oklahoma City is going to know immediately what the threat level is for Tyrese Hallebertton and you saw it the other night uh particularly as the game wore on and in that fourth quarter they knew he was a non-threat he he cannot get downhill his speed’s not a factor can’t push off uh because of the he’s probably very concerned he might tear something in that calf if that’s the case you are better off with a healthy player on the floor because they do have another option now TJ McConnell is not Tyresese Hallebertton no one’s going to say that but TJ McConnell has played very well in this series he represents quickness he is a guy that has repeatedly broken their defense down in the minutes he’s gotten so you you have to play him more than you did the other night if you want to have a chance assuming Tyrese Hallebertton is less than 80% and by all accounts it sounds like that’s going to be the case he he did not look like over at the arena today for media availability he was in a great frame of mind in thinking that he’s this is going to be a quick fix and he’s going to be closer to himself by tomorrow night tim that gives me an easy followup then to ask you about the Pacers and their crazy number of turnovers in game five i mean TJ McConnell as you mentioned is quite capable does that help Indiana you think cut down the turnovers against that swarming Oklahoma City defense or is nothing going to help in that regard well look they’re going to turn you over the question is what’s an acceptable number what can you survive you can’t survive 23 turnovers for 32 points no team can survive that so it was really the first game that OKC not only turned him over but they cashed them all in that can’t happen tj McConnell will help with that certainly he he’s very good with the ball uh quick he can escape bad situations escape traffic but he is a smaller guard and they’ve got a lot of quickness and a lot of length out on the perimeter so he can help but the bottom line is this you’ve got to keep that to a workable number if that’s 15 or below you’ve got a chance against this team um I think you’re going to see TJ McConnell on the floor a lot more than he was in the previous game i don’t think they’re going to have a choice i think Tyresese Hallebertton’s injury is going to necessitate that you may even see them out there together some to take some of the ball handling burden off of Nemhart and Hallebertton makes it a little bit easier for them to be especially Nemhart a scorer if he’s not as worn out by bringing the ball up the floor against all that pressure tim I think an even bigger problem for Indiana is Jaylen Williams J Dub who seems to have turned into a monster right before our eyes you played in the league a long time you’ve observed the league a long time when a guy like this who’s an alleged number two becomes this what do you do about him very difficult for Indiana because you have so much attention that you’ve got to divert to Shay right you there just has to be additional bodies in in that direction he’s got a gravitational pull toward him because of his ability to just compromise defenses on the perimeter when you do that and that ball comes out of that area of the floor and it comes over to Jaylen Williams and he’s got one guy in front of him and he’s got straight line dribbles drives at his disposal and when he’s making the deep shot the way he was the other night I’m not sure anybody can beat this team so the the key is can you defend Sheay without committing that level of attention to him because I think that is giving Jaylen Williams just enough extra space to make this look easy and it’s look I’m making it sound like it’s something that can be done i’m not sure it can because of how good those two guys are but to me that’s the key contain Shay with a little bit less attention if you can and I also think Rick Carl potentially plays a little bit of zone in this game just to try to keep the ball in front of you so you don’t have to commit so much to let Jaylen Williams have a whole lot of opportunity on the weak side of the floor which he did the other night tim we’ll get you out of here on this you mentioned Rick Carile he has a reputation for making great adjustments i’m going to ask it straight what makes you know what moves do you think he has left rather than me saying but he probably has no moves left at this point so what moves do you think he has left look I don’t know that he’s got a ton left by the time you get to a game six i do think zone could be an option they’re not going to play a ton of zone they never have i don’t think it’s a bad idea to sprinkle in some more possessions of zone to make sure that the ball is in front of you and if that means Oklahoma City knocks down a few three-point shots so be it you’ve got to give up something different than what you’ve given up most of this series which is Shay Gilis Alexander or Jaylen Williams living in the lane living at the rim breaking down your defense so to me that might be one temporary solution and then I think offensively for them to get this to a game seven on Sunday this has to be a Pascal Seakum night and that’s not as much maybe an adjustment for Rick Carile other than some wrinkles maybe to get him in more advantageous spots to catch the ball he’s a he’s a guy that can win matchups in this series because he’s got smaller guys on him so if there’s something different he does offensively look for it to be something directed at Pascal Seakum a guy capable of having one of those huge scoring nights just to give you a chance to be in this game in the fourth quarter where then you hope your defense can get it done late and get this to Sunday thank you Tim it’s great when we have you on thank you very much stay out of those storms you guys both be safe i will believe me let’s take one last break still to come Caitlyn Clark scuffles with the sun and is LeBron right that ring culture is overstated well he chased him he went from team to team chasing rings didn’t he happy time people happy 24th birthday Evan Mobley mobley is one of two Cleveland big men with real impact the other is Jared Allen both are 6’11 and both make it very hard for opponents to get to the rim mobley was drafted third overall out of USC in 2021 and this year was his best so far moy averaged 18 and a half points 9.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks a game for the first place team in the Eastern Conference moley was defensive player of the year this year the first Cleveland player ever so honored and was an all-star for the first time and second team allNBA none of this of course helped Cleveland when they played Indiana in the playoffs and they lost 4 to1 a very nice story Tony as you know but the question for me is can Cleveland repeat that and finish at top the Eastern Conference standing in the regular season again next year it’s gonna be hard i mean you know you got the Knicks you got the Pacers who going to be feeling themselves a lot more coming off a trip to the finals interesting season coming up for the Cavaliers you didn’t mention the Celtics you should have happy anniversary Max Scherzer on this day six years ago in Washington’s World Series season just one day after breaking his nose in a bunting accident in batting practice the Nationals a struck out 10 Phillies in seven scoreless innings the Warrior God went 6-0 through 45 innings for the Nats that June becoming the fourth pitcher since 1920 to post an erra of one or lower with at least 68 strikeouts in a calendar month since leaving the Nats Sherzer has gone to the Dodgers the Mets Texas Rangers where he was on a World Series winner now Toronto he’s pitched just three innings for the Blue Jays due to a thumb injury but he’s slated for a second minor league rehab start today could be back in the bigs before the end of the month all right if he’s back in the bigs like where can he help a team there’s so many teams that need a pitcher can Max Scherzer Is there a burst left in him to go from August to October i’m just asking what do you think you love him he He can help Toronto sure he can toronto happy trails to three players in last night’s Sun Fever game there was a whole lot of scuffling going on last night between the Sun and the Fever in the third quarter refs handed out a flagrant one to JCS Sheldon of the Sun for poking Caitlyn Clark in the eye technical fouls to Clark for pushing back marina Mabry of the Sun for shoving Clark to the floor and Tina Charles of the Sun who had rushed into the fray then in the final minute of the game the fever Sophie Cunningham earned a flagrant two and ejection for her takedown of Sheldon which Sheldon and teammate Lindseay Allen also tossed as quote escalators unquote the Fever won the game by 17 will face links in the Commissioners Cup final on July 1 yeah the WNBA is having some growing pains that every league has and you got to go through them there’s usually no no shortcut and these growing pains have a lot of sidebars to them Tony and so we’re going to be seeing this a lot some people will say “Oh it’s not good for the league.” Others will say “Well it is cuz it’s publicity.” It’s growing pains period people getting knocked down isn’t great not getting knocked down isn’t great let’s go to the big finish let’s do it the Ravens signed former Packers corner Jier Alexander to a one-year $6 million deal your thoughts he said he wanted to go and reunite with his college teammate Lamar Jackson i understand that turned down more money from other teams apparently Nick Castanos was not in the Phillies lineup last night for the first time in 237 games for making an inappropriate comment toward his own manager Rob Thompson does that make sense yeah if the manager has authority yeah you got to stand by the manager he’s allowed to do this lebron criticized ring culture on his Mind the Game podcast with Steve Nash are rings overemphasized yes I I agree with the sentiment i just He’s part of the conversation right so how do you square that i don’t exactly know i’d like to hear more the Nationals lost their 10th in a row fell to the Rockies got crushed second straight night losing to the Rockies what’s up with that dreadful i watched all of it they gave up seven home runs four in one inning two different relievers awful last one tk Scoble start against the Pirates tonight was rained out they’ll play a double header tomorrow what do you expect from Scooble scooble in the first game ski in game two in Detroit good night to go to the ballpark yeah we’re out of time we’ll try and do better the next time i’m Tony Cornheiser live TV kids ain’t nothing like it i’m Mike Wilbond same time tomorrow knuckleheads maybe we’ll get to Pete Pro Armstrong that would be MVP for [Music] Come on now foreign speech foreign speech foreign speech let’s do that [Applause] [Music] wow wow [Music] wow wow wow [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] vietnam foreign speech foreign speech foreign speech [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] huh she Here I come [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

Pardon the Interruption | Wilbon reacts to Buss family selling Los Angeles Lakers for $10 billion