Kings In Summer League Semifinals, Interest In Ben Simmons? – July 18: The Insiders + D-Lo & KC
Good morning, Chatty House. Uh, Russ Dog gets involved on a Friday. Congratulations, Rust Dog. What’s up, Warren and David Nick V is here. Michigan in the building. Here we go. Casey Tucker, what’s good? Oh, did did you see the Kings uh used one of our quotes for uh their draft night video? No, it was Damen asking me if uh if I thought that the Kings would get into the first round. Me being definitive and saying they use that and then they led right into the draft. Sick. Yeah. Hell yeah. It’s nice. Love that. They always reach out. I’m like, I don’t know what you’re going to use it for, but that’s fine. Yeah, they used a bunch of our stuff on their um in season documentary, the run. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, there is an echo. Thank you everybody. We got that fixed. Oh, my bad. I didn’t even look. All good. What’s up, Mrs. Mac? What’s up, Matt? David Jackson’s here. Norm is here. Oh, dang. Yeah, I might have to rethink everything. Do you have to work tomorrow or do you have to work Sunday? I Well, peeling back the curtain, I have to work tonight. Oh, got it. Got it. Got it. Yeah, because I was like, is that um Yeah. I’m not coming all the way out here to do an hour. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I didn’t know what you were doing. I didn’t know what There will be days. There will be days where I do that because we’re going to do some cool giveaways, tickets, albums, things like that. Got it. Uh so, when we do giveaways, I’ll be in studio, but everything else will be remote. Okay. Sweet. The Saturday Comeback at the Saturday Comeback on Instagram. Check us out. Oh, that’s 1 hour doing K-pop. Okay, that’s what you’re calling it. Mhm. Because in in K-pop when a when a group puts out an album that’s called a comeback. Oh, okay. So, interesting. Shows at 9:00 a.m. Russ Dog for now. I said, “What time’s the show going to be?” And Complex is like, “I need to make sure you don’t suck at it.” So, we’re going to stick you at 9:00 a.m. on Saturdays first, man. That’s fair. It’s fair. Confidence builder. Confidence builder. Oh, that’s funny. I’m looking at uh new IFB cables because I actually think it’s Hang on. Talk to me for a sec. I’m talking to you. We have 15 seconds. Oh, I didn’t build the Uh oh. Uh oh. I forgot. See, Joe’s not here and I fall apart. I didn’t know Joe wasn’t going to be here today. It’s not here on Monday. I’m going to have to do some stuff while we’re doing the first segment. Um, here we go. It is a Friday ass Friday today. There’s fewer people in here than normal. Ask James Ham. I’m Kyle Madson. They’ll show up like they always do. They everyone they’ll show up. It’s will they? They will, Kyle. They always do. Well, our guy JC is here today in sales. The office is quiet. Well, yeah, because usually at least boss man Aaron Miller and our guy Bill are here. So, it makes it feel like there’s somebody Nope. We got Mark from promotions. Well, they had Christmas in July yesterday, which I think meant that they probably had a good time after their event. I’d hope so. So, I I’m guessing that they’re just not here today because Well, it is a Friday. It is. But Ji’s lovely wife came in because I guess they’re going somewhere and they live out in Modesto. This is closer to where they’re going. So, she just came to work with them today. Yeah. They’re going to Bend, Oregon. Oh, yeah. They’re going to do some mountain biking. I heard him say something, but I couldn’t Yeah. Didn’t make it out. Do some mountain biking. When I walked into the studio today, it smelled like a high school cafeteria. Oh. And I was, man, I what my hope was that Chick-fil-A stopped by. Oh. Because Coach Brad from Chick-fil-A every every couple months will drop in and and leave Chick-fil-A breakfast. Yes. Delicious. Really great day when that happens because it’s a surprise always. It’s not Chick-fil-A Fridays or something like that. It’s sometimes Monday, sometimes Wednesday, sometimes Thursday. So, that’s what I hoped the smell was because it was very potent. And nothing nothing on the counter. Like, dang. And it’s JC’s here. And I was like, oh, maybe JC and his wife like made some food or something. I don’t know. It was weird weird thing. Maybe someone put like a Stoer’s lasagna in in the air fryer. In the air fryer. But I I went down to to 1065, the End, our sister station here, to to promote my K-pop show that’s going to be on that station tomorrow, 9:00 a.m., Saturdays at 9. Check it out. Saturday comeback. Appreciate you. And I went down there and it turns out they ordered Mel’s. Oh, they’re like Door Dashed Mel’s Diner, which is at Well, that’s interesting. Very uh random. It felt like uh so when I went in there, I was like, “Oh, this is the smell.” But it’s crazy that the smell was that potent from a Door Dash order. Well, knowing those those guys, they probably just wandered around the entire office with their food just to make the whole place smell. Yeah, that’s a great point. If you told me that somebody in this building ordered Mel’s Diner through Door Dash, I would have gotten it right immediately. Well, also, if you would have told me that someone made the entire office smell, I could see Kevin running around with his food from one end to the building. Wildly running around with his food. Clunk clunk clunk. Uh, not there’s there’s It’s a Friday ass Friday today, man. The vibes are up. We got kings to talk about for sure. Uh the NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell. Yep. We dove into that story yesterday and all of his conflicts of interest working with a firm that invests in the NFL and a venture capital firm that that invests in the NFL and stuff. He stepped down yesterday. Oh, imagine that, Kyle. A stunner that he that he stepped down. They did all this work to make sure he was in power when they did their their next CBA and he is now stepping down. We don’t know what this means for JC Treader. We don’t know what this means for the players association. I’m assuming they have some protocol here where they’re going to find a new executive director. But this entire thing, this entire all of this cover up of this arbitration ruling and this this other ruling about collusion stuff. Yeah, the collusion and this other ruling about NFL players allegedly faking injuries to get out of contracts and all this other stuff. They’ve squashed all this. If you’re hearing me say this and going, “What? Why was that not a bigger story?” Because the NFL and the NFL players association made sure that it didn’t become a bigger story. Yeah, they had a lobbying firm or something. They completely squashed it. So, I’m I’m interested to see what comes of that. And all of that was done ostensibly it looks like to make sure that JC Treader the former Cleveland Browns center who was the president of the players association who has it appears is angling for the executive director job. Wow. All of that was done to like cover up stuff for him. So nobody’s really sure what happens to him now because he was the chief strategy officer which was not a position. It was made up by Lloyd Howell, who JC Treader helped push through via secret process. Well, this is weird. It is gonna be I I’m telling you it I don’t think the outcome here is JC Treader goes, they install a new executive director and everything’s fine. I think this might get messy and it’s right before training camp begins. This is going to be really, really interesting. Just keep keep an eye on NFL PA. I know that’s typically stuff that gets kind of pushed to the side. These are like games games sports. Keep an eye on it. Okay. Just keep you see NFL PA in a headline, just tap in. Well, I think it’s like you can kind of bunch it in with what’s happened with the NBA here where, you know, the NBA goes out and signs this massive television deal. Massive, massive, massive television deal. Mhm. And all of a sudden, like after year one of the television deal, they’re already telling teams, “Hey, next year, uh, salary cap’s not going up 10%, it’s going up 7%.” And oh, by the way, that 10% of all the player salaries that we pull from their checks and put into an impound account, the 500 million we do that, sorry, you’re not getting that. Um, because we didn’t make nearly as much money. And everyone’s like, “Wait, what? What? Excuse me? We we didn’t make enough money. Yeah. It reminds me like I you know my first uh after my first year, the next three years I was the stringer for NBA.com. So I wrote the pregame blog and then I wrote the postgame story. Okay. That would get put out everywhere. So when they signed their television deal, see probably so 2010 11 12 13 in 2013 I believe. Mh. They just like killed the program. So instead of having a live reporter in every building in the NBA, they just killed it after they signed this massive television deal. That’s like the $9 billion deal. Yeah. They’re like, “Oh yeah, we’re not going to pay $125 a night to have somebody in the building.” Like as Yeah. And now on NBA.com, there’s no written recaps. Well, and if there are, they are. They’re the AP recap. Yes. They’re just paying for the AP recap, which is probably more than they would have paid us. And and they didn’t even like we were like contract like we got $1099. So it’s not like we’re employees. Yeah. It’s not like they had to pay benefits, right? They just gave us like a check for $125 whenever we sent her, you know, you wait until you had like eight of them done so you get a,000 bucks and you’re like, “Okay.” And they just wiped it out. And like I didn’t even get I didn’t even get an email. So, I reached out to my dude. I’m like, “Hey, are we on for for this season that starts in like two weeks?” He’s like, “Oh, no. Sorry, bro. We killed that program.” Like, when like, “Oh, that happened like a couple of months ago. Sorry. You must have got left off the email.” Like, what the what? Wild. You must have gotten left off the email. Cool. That’s That’s how the league works. So, it doesn’t surprise me that all a sudden they’re like, “Hey, we’re not making any money.” It’s like, “Wait, everything is going well.” like the stadiums were full. Like, yeah, we’re confused. Why is it not going well? Yeah, but they’re not going to have an answer for the players and and when the players union uh, you know, when the CBA opens up, I think they’re going to want more. The players going to want more of the pie. The Kings also punched their ticket to the summer league semi-finals yesterday. That was You know what? I was going to come in here and and pee in Cheerios today. Yeah. But, you know, I’m like, “Well, yeah, we’re sitting here yesterday and there’s PE like, yeah, they could make it if like you broke it down on the rundown. It’s like this whole thing.” And I’m like, “All right, man. What? It’s a Are we really doing this?” Because you still play summer league games. Yeah. There’s still other It’s not only four teams are left in Vegas. There’s going to be games. But then as last night and yesterday afternoon rolled on and we started seeing, okay, this thing happened. Okay, this team needs to either lose or win by fewer than this many. Yep. That was really fun to watch yesterday and really fun to follow along with. It was. So, shout out to the Kings for being relevant. I think Charlotte Charlotte jumping all over the Spurs early was like the first one. It was like, oh, well, Spurs just dropped and they were a major contender with the Kings because of their point differential and Charlotte wasn’t nearly as much, but because they won by so much, they they ended up jumping over the Kings. And then you’re the the final two games, you know, I I think the Denver one is the Denver versus Clippers. Denver came in, I think, 0 and3 and and the Clippers were 3 and 0. Yeah. And then they just And the Kings needed the Clippers to either lose or win by fewer than 24 or something. Yeah. Yeah. And sure enough, like the the Nuggets jumped all over them like looked like game seven. Yeah. And and the funny thing is, Kyle, like when you’re watching summer league, like the last couple of games are always sketchy, right? This is the games where it’s like, okay, we’re going to pull a bunch of our like there is no Cooper flag left. There is no top five picks left. They’re all gone. But that’s when um you know, your your standard NBA tryards show up. Yep. And people start getting hurt. And I I don’t think that that’s the way it’s going to be for the Kings because you’re you’re looking at two teams that have a very specific objective or four teams that are all sitting there like, “Hey, we want to win the title.” So, you’re going to play guys who are reasonable G-League player plus, right? Yeah. You’re not You’re not getting random guy who’s not even going to be on G-League team who’s just running around at 65 and banging into people. Exactly. But the other games that happened yesterday, that is exactly what was happening. Like dudes are getting hurt everywhere. Yeah. Like guys go up for layups and another guy is like literally leaping up and hitting the backboard and falling down. You what is happening? We saw Darius Bailey take a bad step and completely blow out his knee. Like there were there were so many injuries and that’s what the end of summer league is like a lot of the time. So, I think the Kings are in a different bracket and a different bucket of of teams right now where you’re not so much worried about that. You’re you’re more worried about the other teams that still have to play a game. Yeah. Just for no reason, they’ve got to play a game. Yeah. When there’s Because whether whether you care about the summer league semi-finals or not, the there’s when you’re as competitive as an NBA player is, when there’s something to play for, like you’re going to go for it. Yeah. And I I a counterargument to that might be all-star game. Like, hey, there’s something to play for in the All-Star game. They don’t try in that. But these are guys who are fighting for NBA roster spots, fighting for G-League roster spots, fighting to put good tape out, so other teams may sign them. And when you get to that point where you’re now in a semi-final, okay, like there’s these guys all have this to play for and there’s a championship on the line. There’s a ring. Like these guys are playing for a ring. It’s a real ring. It’s a summer league ring. I don’t know what it’s made out of, but but dude, don’t underestimate. I know. And again, as fans, if the Kings win summer league Mhm. which I kind of think they’re going to, but if they win, it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a fun thing to to celebrate for a day or two, and then we’ll move on to to looking ahead to the regular season. But for some of these players, this might be as good as it gets professionally. Oh, totally. And I I assume that there’s some sort of bonus that goes with it, like whether it’s like so like two grand or 2500 a piece or something. I’m assuming there’s some sort of bonus for winning the whole thing. Mhm. And for some of these players who will never play in the league, like that that actually might matter to them. I got to tell you, if I was 21, 22 years old Mhm. playing an NBA summer league and I won $2,500, that $2,500 would not be leaving Vegas with me. Oh, really? I know me. I know how I am. I think I would be more of I would keep the check to tell people that I I I made it. You can do both with mobile deposit. Now there is you just mobile deposit. I’ve got the check. Hell yeah. I frame that. Is it worth anything? Nope. No. God, no. I mobile deposited that and blew the whole thing at the blackjack table. I’m No, I’m hitting a I’m hitting a nice dinner. Yeah, I’m hitting a a nice dinner. Get myself a nice bottle of wine at that dinner. I’m going to do a little at the blackjack table. Go full Wesley Snipes. Always bet on black. Yeah. And then we’ll go through uh the the shops at Caesars and see what’s cooking. Oh, there you go. Yeah. Maybe get yourself a bag or or a watch. Oh, yeah. Maybe a watch that you can look at and say, “Oh, yeah. That’s my summer league winning from that one time.” Yeah. To go with my ring. Yeah, exactly. Make sure it matches. I uh That’s how I would do that. I would 100% not do the responsible thing. Be like, I’m saving this. I’ll be going back to my hotel like, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I’m celebrating tonight, baby. That’s right. Uh, that’s awesome. Oh, yeah. Uh, Kings Raptor Saturday at 1:00. We’re past, by the way, just in case anybody’s wondering, we’re past the Should Me Nick play? Oh, yeah. Should Maxim Rol play? No, we’re playing, brother. They’re tap in. Just like Kyle at the blackjack table. He’s all in. I’m all in. I got $12 left. I’m all in. I can’t decide if I would shop then gamble. I think that’s how I’d do it. I think I’d go dinner first. Okay. Then shopping because I don’t know. I don’t want to gamble and, you know, go, “Oh, man. Okay, let’s see. I I I went through that 500 bucks. Let’s do 500 more because maybe I can double it.” I would talk myself into it. Okay. And then all of a sudden, I’m going to Caesars with $8. Yeah. I think I would rather go shopping first and that way if I see something because I don’t need to gamble. I’m not one of those people that when I go to Vegas I’m like I got to gamble. I don’t. Yeah. When I was young I was but to not anymore. Totally. Yep. So and maybe 22-year-old Kyle would have felt different. But I think I’m going to the shops first because there’s a really nice bag I want. Like you said a really nice watch. I want to be able to like expand my price point a little bit. Okay. Whereas if I gamble and I’m like I got 200 bucks left. All right. You have like an $1,800 man bag. I could see it. Yeah, dude. Walk around look like Damian. Oh, yeah. Or Mark Jones. Mark Jones always has always has the nicest Yeah. It’s intimidating. I’ve talked to Mark Jones how many times on this show? Half a dozen. Yeah. I’ve talked to Mark a lot. I’ve actually never met him in person. What? Yes. Because every time I see him in the media room or whatever, I know those I know broadcasters are busy. Oh, yeah. And I’m just some doofus. So, I don’t want to go walk up and they’re he’s like, “Hey, I’m eating.” Like, what the heck? I’m scarred because the first time I ever tried to do that was with a baseball writer at A’s FanFest was 20 I think we’ve had the same experience. Yeah, probably same person. Yeah. Uh no longer with the A’s covers another Bay Area team. Okay, very good. So yeah, I walked up at A’s FanFest 2012 tried to talk I told the whole story on air before, but tried to like introduce myself and like hey I want to and just got stonewalled like I’m working and was like all right. I did the same after a game just like hey right just pregame I’m looking for 30 seconds of your time. Yeah it’s just so rude like wow. So and I know Mark would never do that. I know if I walked out to Mark Jones and said Mark what’s up he would be very kind. I I know but I’m so scarred from that that I’m just so worried he’s going to be like brother not the time. Sorry. Enjoy your bond me or whatever the I show I I told you he showed up one day. He rode up on a electric scooter, slides sideways, throws his electric scooter into the little rack, pouring his Louis Vuitton bag, comes into Starbucks. Me and my son were sitting there. Just pulls up to the table. What’s up? That’s amazing. Yeah. Spectacular. Mark’s the best. Uh, all right. That’s James Ham. I’m Kyle Madson. 17 years ago today. One of my favorite movies of all time came out. Not a movie guy. So, when I’m talking about a movie thing, you know, it’s a big one. We’ll talk about that. We’ll have more uh about the Kings summer league, Kings preeason, Damen Lillard’s going back to Portland, and more Kings point guard rumors are out there. We’re going to do all of that here in the next couple hours. That’s James Ham. I’m Kyle Madson. We’re the Insider sponsored by Jiffy Lube. And this is ESPN 1320. And that is Sacramento Sports Center. Clear. We’re gonna kick it old school today because I’ve got to go uh edit sound. Oh, hey. I I definitely like totally forgot to do sports writers as a whole are always like they’re usually the the best dudes that like everyone’s super nice. There’s only only twice have I had something where I’m like, “Huh, wow, that was an unpleasant interaction with somebody and one of them is the same as yours.” It’s funny. Wait, Bronson, you had a baby. Exciting. Oh, nice. Bronson, congratulations to you and your uh significant other. Yay. Hell yeah. Do we have onesies? I don’t think we have onesies like here. Well, yeah, obviously not like but I don’t even think we do them online at the Dong KC shop. Oh, no. I I I haven’t been there long. Congrats though, bro. That’s awesome. Salute. Um, Rob, yes, they do. They reach out every time I get a text, hey, can we use this? Or I get an email like, these are the clips we’re thinking about using. And I always say, yeah, I don’t care whether I say something bad or good. I’ve never gotten a email. Well, I usually represent us. Yeah, you direct them to me next time and I’m gonna give them the who’s who and the what’s what. Who is this person texting me? James told me I had to call you. That’s funny. Uh, no way. No way. What? I need to before I say this out loud, I want to make sure. You need to kill the mics for a sec. No. [Music] This is from Yahoo Sports. The Stein lines Jake Fischer recently reported that the Dubs could send Kaminga to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for a Los Angeles Lakers reject. Monk must be calling Malik Monk a Los Angeles Lakers reject is an insane insane insult. That’s unbelievable. Um, I mean, is there anyone else? Uh, I can’t. Did Jake Fisher report that Jonathan Kaminga turned down a 5year $150 million extension? I don’t the Warriors last off season. I don’t I don’t think so. Well, okay. Well, I need to fry this. He he said he went on a um I text with Jake this morning and he said he went on the bleacher report like video yesterday. Hang on. We’re back. Now, back to the Insiders with James Ham and Kyle Madson, brought to you by Jiffy Lube on ESPN 1320. All right, I got I’m sorry. I’ve I’ve gotten super sidetracked. James is over there. I’m called. Shout out to Jiffy Lube. No Joe Brazil today. He’s still on assignment. perils of having a talented producer who can do so many things at the station. It’s fine. It’s fine. It’s fine. It’s fine. All right. I got sidetracked during the break. Shout out to the homie Evan Giddings who works at 957 the game. Does a ton of good stuff over there, produces, hosts. Uh, salute to Evan. Frustratingly talented person. Evan Giddings. Yeah. What was like his first day in talking to him, you’re like, “Oh, you’re just really good at this stuff.” Anyways, um he mentioned that there was a report out there that Jonathan Kaminga last off season turned down a 5-year $150 million extension from Golden State. I have not heard that anywhere before right now. I cannot fathom that that’s true. And what I’m trying to do here cuz that’s near max money. That is Yeah. And that is 15 20 million below max money. That is so much money that why would they be having a hard time signing him this offseason? If you were ready to give him 30 a year for five years last off season, what’s the hangup this off season? I even if he didn’t fit the way you you thought he would into your lineup, wouldn’t you still be willing to to sign him to some contract instead of just trying to get anyways? So, that led me down a rabbit hole of trying to figure out where this reporting was. And that led me to a Yahoo sports article by I’m not I’m not even going to say the author. I’m sorry. This is in a sporting news article that’s been posted on Yahoo. I’m not even going to say the author’s name because I’m going to cook them. Here’s the headline. And again, I understand in the blogging space, in the aggregation space, I work in it, ninerswire.com, the need to have catchy headlines. Okay. This headline is Warriors may cut ties with Jonathan Kaminga in favor of $77 million Lakers reject. Oh my goodness. So the goal there is, and just to peel the curtain back on the Google algorithm a little bit, when you put dollar figures in the Google algorithm for sports, it’s good. That’s a good way to get your article uh indexed high. Okay, so I get the 77 million and trying to fit Lakers into the headline because the Lakers have more uh search engine power than the Kings. Um, referring to Malik Monk as Lakers reject is one of the most wildly disrespectful things I’ve ever seen. That is absolutely insane. I get and I and I and I understand if I if I talked to this author a I’m sure this this person probably watches 0% of Kings basketball and if I said name five players on the Kings they probably couldn’t. That is a things that is so bad because again I I want to I want to um this is a little bit about this specific thing but it’s a little bit about headline writing in in the the current uh blogging environment. Mhm. I understand why you you do this. I just I just laid it out. You want to get Lakers in the headline. You want to get the dollar figure in the headline. I got it. I also have rules where I’m not going to be misleading or I’m not going to be I’m not going to be purposely wrong in a headline for the sake of clicks. Ben Bart, for example, 49ers offensive lineman. If you’ve never heard of him, don’t blame you. He’s probably going to be their starting left guard this year. I wouldn’t go 49ers sign ascending star to X contract like no he’s a backup offensive lineman. So I’m not gonna I’m not going to write that call writing Lakers reject for the most productive sixth man in the NBA for the last three years. Yeah it’s wild. It is nuts. And the Lakers would have loved to have signed Malik Monk back. Yeah. They just had no money that offseason. and he’s been with the Kings for three years. That was so long ago. Like, what is happening? He’s in the first year. He just finished his first year of his second contract with the Kings. He had a two-year deal, signed a four-year deal. He’s he’s in year he’s going into year four of his tenure with the Sacramento Kings. That to me is absolutely crazy to be that disrespectful. I like I said, I I I understand why you want to get Lakers in the headline there, but there’s a limit. There’s you got to be a little bit honest with your SEO. Former Laker. Yeah. Right. And even that would be like, “All right, that’s a stretch.” Yeah. Like sometimes you just can’t fit Lakers in the headline because Malik Monk hasn’t played there since the pandemic. That’s that’s absolutely embarrassing. It’s totally nuts. Um, but this author writes in here and I saw somebody asked, “Do do headlines do do authors come up with headlines?” I happen to know how sporting news works and my guess is yes, the author wrote this headline. Uh there might be an editor who tweaked it because maybe the author wrote Kings six-man or whatever and the editor might have gone in and and tried to fancy it up for search engine but and it worked because clearly it was the first thing that popped up when I Googled Kaminga 5 years. So, there’s a quote from Jake Fischer in here that says, “Sources say that Sacramento, meanwhile, would be interested in including Malik Monk in any outgoing trade package, but nothing substantial has materialized with the Warriors.” He quotes Jake Fischer directly. Then the author writes, not quoting, “Kaminga shockingly decided to bet on himself last off season by declining a 5-year $150 million contract extension with Golden State following an encouraging 2023 24 campaign. I don’t attributed to anybody. That is wild and I cannot if that happened Jonathan Kaminga needs to fire every adviser he has.” But Kaminga has good adviserss. I believe he he’s under like a very reputable firm. Like this is not the the situation with um who’s the kid that fell in the draft on Ace Bailey. Ace Bailey. This is not an Ace Bailey situation, right? Yeah. I mean, to me, I don’t see any way that he walked away from a 51 150. And like, look, that’s not what the Warriors are offering. that there isn’t a hey the Warriors would take him back for this dollar amount from what I know. Like they they’re in the same page. They are on the same page that he doesn’t really want to be there and they don’t really want him back. Yeah. Like there isn’t like a bunch of like everything you hear out of Golden State. We’re like right down the street. We all have ties to people who work for the Warriors or cover the Warriors. Everything that people are hearing from the Warrior side is me. And it’s been that way. It’s been that way for a while. I don’t I can’t I can’t wrap my brain around this because if if they offered five and 150 last year, a I think Kaminga would have taken it because like you said, that’s damn near max money. Well, you take it and then you force your way out in year three or something. Sure. Either way, you got paid. Yeah. Right. You got your money. And if his representation like you would think they would for foresee the market and go, man, there’s one team with cap space, true cap space. Mhm. And this might kind of be a difficult off season or next next offseason might be kind of difficult. We’ll take this five and 150 and we’ll figure it out. But what I’m hung up on here is less what he turned down what he didn’t or that he turned it down or or that he didn’t. I want to know if Golden State was was so eager to keep him that they were going to offer him five years and $150 million 12 months ago. Nothing happened this year. Like he was ostensibly the same player. He was a little less efficient. Mhm. And he dealt with an injury. Not enough happened to me that would make me go they went from 5 and 150 to a what? Who who wants them? Yeah. So, I like we’ll give you a 230 or something. I have a really hard time believing five and 150 was on the table. A because I don’t think you would have turned it down. And B, I don’t think the Warriors put it on the table. I’m pretty sure they didn’t. I That That to me is wild. That’s crazy. Played 74 games in 23-24. Played 26 minutes a night. 52.9% from the field. 32.1% from three. 75% from the free throw line on four attempts a game. Five boards, couple assists, half a steal, half a block, 16 points this year. 15 15 points, five boards, couple assists, 67% from the free throw line, but 30% from three, 45% from the field. Like he in 24 minutes a game, he only played 47 cuz he got hurt. There’s just nothing happened that makes me think they went from five and 150 to like we want no parts of this guy. Yeah. This feels to me if Jake Fischer did report this or if somebody of any kind of reputability reported this that this is Golden State trying anything they can to get info out there. It’s the same reason after we heard about the King’s offer, Dario Sarich and and Devin Carter in a couple of seconds, all of a sudden there was a report the next day that like, “Oh, now the Washington Wizards are interested and the New Orleans Pelicans.” Like, and then Mike Dunley Jr.’s out there like, “Yeah, we want to keep him.” I was like, “We offered him five and 150 last year.” Like, what? They’re trying to get as much value as they can, which that’s their job. That’s that’s how this seems to me. Again, we don’t we don’t know for sure, but that’s really how this looks because like you said, that is their job. I just I can’t I said I saw and and I saw my guy Evan Giddings mentioned that and I can’t I can’t fathom it. There’s just no way. We’re going to have to do more research on this. We’re going to Yeah. I mean like look that everyone’s in a holding pattern with Kaminga, including Kaminga, including the Warriors, including the Kings. anyone else who’s who’s interested at all, which we kind of end right there. There’s still like the Brooklyn Nets have shown no interest. They’re the only team with with cap space. Like outside of that, there’s no one else who is who is raising their hand and saying, “We want to make a big time move.” And you’ve heard a little bit of like, “Oh, the Suns, they just saved, you know, x amount of money under the luxury tax. They’d be interested.” They have like 9 million under the cap. like it the Warriors would just keep him for that money and just be like, “All right, we’re we’re fine. We’ll just keep him for that money and and we’ll deal with it later.” Like there there’s no reason for them to, you know, you still have to look at him as an asset, even if he’s a player that you don’t really want back. You have to worry that if you pay him even as like just to be an asset and then to trade him later because a lot of times like they the Warriors are big game hunting all the time. Mhm. So to have a $25 million player actually makes sense because then you can move that $25 million player as part of a deal for a $40 million player or $38 million player or a $50 million player, right? So you you kind of want to have that asset, but at the same time, they’ve shown no interest here and in really keeping weird. Yeah. The the free agent the restricted free agent market is is absolutely bonkers this off season. Um, again, I think Keon Ellis is probably lucky he wasn’t involved in it. Although, like, look, it is possible he would have got an MLE from somebody. The problem that you have with Kaminga is that any if someone offered him the mid-level exception, the Warriors are just going to match and then they’re going to trade him down the line and be like, “Oh, okay. We got him for way cheaper than he’s worth.” Now, again, if you’re the Kings, you’re like, “Hey, man. We know you want 25 to 30 million. That’s it’s not available anywhere.” Mhm. So, we’re willing to go 20. We’re willing maybe to go 22, an average salary of 22, but we’re not willing to break the bank here. So, if you want to go somewhere else, you know, you can sign with us, but like as as part of a bigger trade, the Kings can’t just outright sign him. They can’t I mean, they can sign him to an offer sheet for the mid-level exception, but he’s not going to take that. The Warriors are just going to be like, “All right, fine.” Well, and he would have to sign the offer sheet. Yeah. You can’t just the Kings can’t just go uh mid-level exception like no you have to agree to sign set offer sheet. Well, that and once he signs the offer sheet, it’s too late to trade. They the trade avenue closes the second you sign an offer sheet. So, it just puts him in a really weird situation. So, I I don’t know what’s gonna happen with Kaminga, but I I certainly there’s so many weird misdirection going on with with him as a player. And it really does feel like the Kings are just waiting and saying, “Okay, we would take him, right? We’re not going to break the bank for him. We’ll take him.” And I again, I think the the report that we’ve heard is two seconds that they offered. I wouldn’t doubt that the Kings would offer up a protected first. Sure. But at the same time, like the deal has to it has to work for everybody. And that’s why this is like one of the most complicated transactions that there ever was because of the base year compensation. Yeah. Because what the warriors want because what the kings don’t want cuz what the kings have to give and what Kaminga wants. Yeah. And still trying to fit this under the luxury tax. Like it it’s just all complicated and and really weird. But I I still think there is a pathway. You financially have to get to a place first that Kaminga will sign an offer sheet and then the Warriors either have to match that or you have to work out a trade with the base year compensation that works just under the NBA’s rules. Like it’s really it’s that you know that scene in the office that always gets posted online of everybody standing around doing finger guns at each other. Oh yeah. That’s what this is. Yeah. Everybody’s just kind of waiting for somebody to blink. Yeah. It’s it’s totally it’s a standoff and you know like a couple of weeks ago we were doing a Friday show and I said I would be shocked if Kamiga wasn’t king by the end of the weekend right right before I went to Cabo. Um that’s because I I’ve never been around a transaction in Sacramento where every single person that I know had the same exact trade. Exact same. Everybody, everyone, without fail, every single person in the media, in Sacramento media and even in some of somewhat of the Detroit media, like everyone had it. It had the feel of, oh, everyone has this because it’s happening. Yes. Everyone ha this has been blasted out through various links because, oh, it’s on the doorstep. Mhm. Like the the the the Sham’s tweet is coming out any second. Yep. That’s why that that’s when that happens. And now just nothing. It’s just crickets. Yeah. Crickets. That’s what that’s what I know. We keep talking about Kamingo a lot because it’s it’s a the summer and b it’s it feels like the most substantial potential move left in the NBA. Uh, and so we’re going to keep talking about it, but as far as actual movement or actual reporting or actual tangible evidence that there’s been anything happening, there’s been crickets since the reports of the Kings offer. Well, that and I can I can tell you firsthand like I have had the conversations like the Kings are still interested. Mhm. But at a price it’s at a price and that price is is complicated. It’s not just the price of the player. It’s a price of who will take what that has to go out the door able to in order to make that trade work. Yeah. And those pieces are not in place yet. Nope. And so it just it’s a very very difficult transaction to complete and it’s not I I want to make this clear and then we got to step aside briefly. This is not a king’s issue. This is not a Kangs. This is not a, “Oh my god, just do it.” Like, no. There’s There’s no reason to say, “Okay, we’ll do 30 million.” Like, there’s no reason to do that. Nope. For the same reason, there’s no reason to say, “Fine, here’s three first round picks to Golden State.” Because, hey, there’s nobody else offering Kaminga that much. Hey, man. If like there’s you’re not going to just start betting against your or uh negotiating against yourself in that regard. You think you have a $5 million house, but the only offers you get are for $2.5 million, you have a $2.5 million house. That’s it. And if you think you’re a a couple of a 25 to $30 million player and the only offers are 18 to 20, then you’re an 18 to20 million player. And it can be circumstance and can be whatever you want, but that’s just a reality. Yeah. Wake up. Yep. All right. Uh speaking of significant transactions, there was one in the NBA yesterday that made me so happy. It reminded me why sports are the very best thing. We’ll talk about it. James Ham’s there. I’m comading and no Joe Brazil today. He’s on assignment. We’re the insiders. Sponsored by Jiffy Lube. And now on the radio side, the voice guy is going to repeat me. Yeah. Now I need to listen to this Jake Fisher interview. How long is this? Los Angeles Lakers rejected Malik Monk. Yeah. Hey, Jason. It’s not even I I don’t think it’s just take it or leave it. It’s it’s more complicated than that because if the Kings get a yes from Kaminga, a yes from the Warriors, but the Warriors are like, “You got to move somebody in order to do this.” like we’re not taking back Malik Monk’s contract, then it just becomes way more difficult because there’s just there aren’t teams out there who are willing to do this deal who are willing to take on Malik Monk unless you’re giving them a pick or you’re giving them something to take on that player because it’s the rules of supply and demand. They they know exactly, you know, who they can trade with at this point. York. Oh, okay. Shout out to Warren. What? Uh, last year Anthony Slater reported that Kaminga wanted 35 and the Warriors are maxing out around 30. So that’s a report from last year. I see. Okay. Got it now. That’s crazy. Actually, Jason, I think the point is that no one has any leverage. No one has leverage. If anybody does, it’s Golden State because they extended the qualifying offer. But that doesn’t help them move him or get him signed. Yeah. But also, if you know, again, a bunch of people know exactly exactly what I’ve heard that’s around the league that that they don’t realistically want him back. Yeah. Yeah. They made it very clear. Yeah. So, it it’s it everybody is in a is dealing from a position of weakness a little bit. And I mean, you could say the Scott Perry is like holding the line or whatever you want, but that’s that’s about the financials. That’s about the money. I don’t think that even has anything to do with um you know what the offer would be to the Warriors. It’s it’s definitely about how much money he’s going to get paid. Zo, that’s funny. That’s really funny. Meant to start something. It was a while ago. But if you’re going to write that, you need to say reportedly turn down a 5-year 150. Well, then backlink where you got that info. Yeah, of course. One minute. Is that filthy? Let’s start that. Hell yeah. Uh, we’re going to produce a show real quick. Hang on, everybody. Now back to the insiders with James Ham and Kyle Madson, brought to you by Jiffy Lube on ESPN 1320. Yeah, that guy over there is James. I’m Kyle. Our new promotions manager, Mark, is just getting after it today. Yeah, he’s all over the place. Normally he’s wearing flip flops. Does he big flip-flops guy? Oh, it’s cuz he’s from Arizona. Yeah, but I still like uh like I don’t know if that’s OSHA approved footwear, but it’s fine. God, you’re at the ridge. When I when I applied to the job, I used to work at a company. I’m not going to say the company because I’ve said it before and and the chatty house can’t handle it. Worked for a video streaming company. Yep. And when I when I applied for the job, the job listing literally said, “You can wear flip-flops and shorts to work. It’s Arizona.” Oh, wow. Okay. So, I think it’s just an Arizona thing because it’s 140 degrees and they don’t want you to be beholden to regular shoes, I guess. Yeah. My brother moved to Arizona for like nine years and he kept saying, “Hey, come out. Come out.” And I’m like, “I no.” Yeah. Go go go. If you’re gonna go, go between like December and March. Yeah. I went for spring training before he moved out with him. And then I’m like, yeah, I’m not coming back here. Yeah. Perfect. Like I’m not going to live my entire life with the left side of my body burned because I’m near a window, right, in my car. Yeah. No. And then I get sunburned everywhere I go. No. Yeah. It was salute Arizona. a very formative part of my life. I will not live there again. No, I I I did my visit. I did my Oh, I’ll visit. I visited a lot. I’ve done my time though. I’m not I’m not living there again. I wore flip-flops to work once. It’s after I had been there a while cuz you know, you start at your new job and you’re wearing a polo shirt and you’re wearing khakis every day and then you get in a couple weeks and you realize, oh, everybody else is wearing t-shirts and shorts. Yeah. So, I tried the flip-flops thing once. Not for me. Not for you. I hated it. I wore flip flops in Hawaii. I’m not anti- flip-flop, but wearing flip-flops at work was not a thing I could get. It It threw me off. Remember that day I forgot my shoes and I wore my Crocs in here? Oh, yeah. Yeah, that threw you off. And it really threw me off. Yeah. Same vibe. I was a customer service guy. I’m helping people with their with their video and audio setups at various college sporting events around the country. And I felt weird like I’m answering. I’m like, “Hey, uh, stretch internet. This is I’m so sorry. I’m wearing flip-flops today. Go ahead. What? What? How can I help you? Like, yeah, I I bought a new XLR camera. Oh, I can’t help you. I’m in flip flops. I wear flip flops a lot during the summer. That tracks. Um, hey Dudes are basically just closed toed flip-flops. Yeah, cuz I just wear my Hey dudes everywhere. Yeah, you’re a big Hey dudes guy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, is my mom, it turns out I like a just a casual shoe to wear all summer long. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Thousand%. I mean, when I’m going to a game, I I wear dress shoes every single game. I like I I always looked the part for games on game days, but No doubt. But outside of game days, it’s like, hey, we can relax a little bit. Yeah. You dress as though you’re always ready to go on a boat. Yeah. That is how you exist outside of covering the kings. You’re just ready to be on a boat. Yeah. I’m often like ready in the event like I keep my golf clubs in my car in case somebody wants to go. That’s not true. I keep my golf clubs in my car in case somebody wants to golf. You stay dressed for a boat in case somebody’s like, “Hey, you want to go on a boat? I’m ready.” It’s like I always have a like a bottle of sunscreen in my back pocket. Oh, boat. Yeah, sunscreen. Where you at? Drew Down in the chatty house at youtube.com/asbn1320 made a joke about the Coldplay concert, and I need to talk about this. Okay, so everybody’s seen the video by now. If you haven’t, get out from under the rock you’re living in. Yes. or or you’re busy touching grass, which would be cool, I guess. But there’s a video out, if you’ve missed it, of uh the CEO of a company called Astronomer. Astronomer who was uh being very publicly intimate with what turns out was not his wife, was actually the director of HR at the company. And Coldplay does a kiss cam and they pan to them on the kiss cam and he fell to the floor and she like turned around and covered her face because they are not married to each other. No. And I think they are both married to other people. Correct. Yes. So that was a whole thing. I don’t want to talk about that. I got like that that happened. Whatever. It’s his life. He’s got to deal with that. It’s funny. If he didn’t dive out of the way, it probably would have just gone unnoticed because nobody knows who he is. That’s what everybody like. Yes. If you just Oh, little smooch. Wave. That is in in because whoever was filming that didn’t post it because like, wow, look at this guy. They posted it because it was like, oh my god, these people very clearly were not supposed to be together. Yeah. So, the thing I enjoyed the most because the empath in me feels bad for those two people. Oh, I feel bad for their families. You feel bad for their family. Not for them. Not for them, but for their families. For them. They I you feel the embarrassment for You feel the the hurt it causes their families and the turmoil and all this like just brutal. Watching the internet come together over a thing. Yeah. Was pause was incredible. watching everybody join in to make jokes, laugh together, to roast these people, to make memes out of it. StubHub. StubHub, the official company, posted a reel on Instagram of a Coldplay concert and it’s like all the lights and all this stuff and it said this and your HR person and the caption was we have Coldplay tickets available now. Like it was in a in a world where everything is combative. In a world where if you like a thing, there’s going to be people telling you not to like a thing and vice versa. Watching everybody just enjoy roasting these people was so great. It was such a nice day yesterday to be on the internet and that very rarely happens. It does. Well, at least part of the internet. At least part of the internet was fun. Sure. Yeah. The rest of it was pretty pretty bad. Again, the the it was the this is fine dog. You know, the little dog cartoon dog sitting at the table and everything’s on fire. Yeah, everything’s firing. The fire all around them. It was that, but looking and smiling at a phone instead of picking up a cup of coffee. I had some I had some good laughs yesterday. Yeah, it’s good stuff. I really really enjoyed that. Uh, it’s also the 17th anniversary of The Dark Knight. It was a really good really good Batman movie. It was We’ll We’ll talk about Damon Lillard in in a little bit, but I that felt like such a cultural moment because you want to talk about like collective um like the the what the monoculture, right? Like that’s a thing that used to be around because you everybody watched the same TV shows, everybody watched Seinfeld, everybody watched uh Friends, whatever, whatever, you know, sitcoms and and game shows and TV and everybody kind of watch it. We we’re we’re running out of those moments and I just so distinctly remember because I did not watch the the Dark Knight Begins, Batman Begins, okay, whatever the first of the Christopher Nolan ones were. I did not see that one, but my buddy Wade is a big Batman guy and he’s like, “You’ve got to see this movie. The Heath Ledger performance is going to be iconic. You got to come.” So, I went to the movie theater and watched this in the movie theater. And I remember walking out of there, and again, I’m not a big movie guy. I watched the same six movies growing up. I remember walking out of there being like, “Oh, that was a mo like this is a thing. This is going to be a thing that’s around forever.” Heath Ledger was amazing. the the movie itself was just just incredible and you’re in the theater and everybody’s there and every just the buzz around it. Uh, Salute to the Dark Knight. It is one of my five favorite movies of all time. It’s one of those movies that if it’s on Oh, I I will sit down and and if I’m leaving work and The Dark Knight is on, no matter where it is in the movie, I’m sitting down and watching. You’re going to be late? Yeah, I’m going to be late getting home. Sorry. Sorry, honey. I got I got a movie to watch. It’s that movie. Remember the Titans, Miracle with Kurt Russell about the 1980 US Olympic hockey team. Incredible movie. Those three, no matter where they are in the movie, if they’re on, I will stop and watch. Okay. Every time Beverly Hills cop in there. Love Beverly Hills Cop. Okay. Boy, you do have some like weird old Durham. H I’ve seen like 87% of all movies ever. So, like I don’t have like that that want to just sit down and watch whatever movie. We did realize we had missed one of the um Jurassic Park movies. My son was like I’m like, “Hey, what is this?” He’s like, “It’s the Jurassic Park that came on after the like they saved the clone girl.” And I’m like, “Oh, I think I missed that one.” He like, “I just realized I missed it, too.” I’m like, “But that’s weird because we don’t miss like that type of movie.” But sure. Hang on. You’re still on the Jurassic Park bandwagon? Well, you’re still Jurassic Parking it up. I just watched them all. Yeah, I’ve seen the new one. I went to the theater and saw the new one, huh? Yeah. All right. How was it? I told you I see everything. Oh, it was fun. Okay. Yeah. It’s just like So, you’re just Okay. So, you’re you’re a movies are fun type of person because I have friends who go to the movies to like critique the movies. You’re just like, “Hey, this is bad. It’s bad. This is Scarlett Johansson and Mshah Hala Ali and we are going to fire guns at dinosaurs. Yeah. Like I’ll go watch just about anything. But I I certainly like if I’m going to critique a movie, I’m I’m going to be honest. I mean, if it’s a movie that’s like a 45 on Metacritic, I know what I’m getting into. Sure. Like I’m getting into like two hours of like crazy things running around the screen and and like you know roaring at people like I I know what I’m getting into. Did you see the OG Jurassic Park in theaters? Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What a moment. The original. Yeah. Oh yeah. What an incredible movie. I think I saw it like two or three times. That was one of those movies that scared me as a kid. So I didn’t watch it as I grew up because I first saw I was probably like nine or 10. Terrified. Hated it. And then I got to an older place in life at some point, some point in my 20s and was like, I gotta watch Jurassic Park. Incredible. What a couple of movies I’ve watched. What an amazing movie. Multiple times in the theater. Like I remember walking out of there something about Mary and my stomach hurt so hard from laughing. Yeah. That it was like, “Oh no, we’re doing that again.” And you went back and it was just as funny the second time. Just like, “Are you kidding me?” Yeah. I did that with the movie This is the End. Okay. It’s got it’s mostly Seth Rogan, Jay Barishell. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh Danny McBride, Jonah Hill. But it’s got so many cameos. It’s crazy. James Franco. James Franco’s in it. Yeah. Yeah. Uh I saw that movie in theaters in the span of a week three times. Yeah. Yeah. Dog. Weird place in my life. Great movie, though. It holds up. Really love that film. All right. That’s James Ham. I’m Kyle Mads and we’re the insider. Sponsored by J Loop. second hour. We got more Sacramento Kings to talk about because hey, the Kings are involved in point guard rumors. A stunner. We’ll talk about that. Dame Lillard going back to Portland. Uh, we got to talk about that. Uh, that’s all coming up in the second hour. Oh, and the most insane NFL top 100 list I’ve ever seen recently came out and we got to discuss that as well. All that in the second hour. James Hannah, comments, and insiders. Jiffy Lube. Goodbye. What’s happening everybody? If you don’t mind, hit the thumbs up for us. Hey, Wedding Crashers. Yes, that is one of those ones where you probably could have seen it twice. I’ll be right back. Yeah. Uh oh. Maybe I won’t. Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. Uh oh. Yeah. All right. Yeah. I don’t know if it’s top 10 all time, but comedies. I mean, that is a very very funny movie. Hey, Super Bad. Super Bad. Yeah. I don’t top like everybody’s top 10 is is going to be different, but Superbat is one of the greatest comedies ever written. Yeah, it was one of those movies that a I saw it in the theater. It’s great. The Mcloven stuff is just incredible. It’s so good, man. I I expected that movie to not hold up. It very much does. Yeah, I don’t at least I don’t watch a lot of like comedian stuff like like standup. I don’t This is not my cup of tea. All right, here we go. hour number two. That’s James Ham. I’m Kadson. We’re hanging out with you until noon. We’ll hand it off to DLo and Casey. No Casey, just DLO. All week. Oh, he’s almost survived. Four hours solos. Yeah, those those weeks where you’re not really flying solo, but it feels like you are like the prep work is different and everything. Yeah, they wear on you. Yeah. Salute to Damian. He’ll be live from noon to 4 taking you into the weekend where we will have Standby. I got mentions for you. Uh Saturday, oh, we got baseball back. Cincinnati Reds at the New York Mets at 12:30. And then Sunday, the following day, we got Sunday Night Baseball. Oh, it’s a good one. Tigers at Rangers. Tigers might win the World Series. That’s a good team. Um, also coming up, uh, August 1st, A1 Combat number 29. That’s Maximov vers India. And I know you’re like, Kyle, I want tickets to that. Well, have I got news for you. We’re giving a couple away. Enter online at ESPN1320.com’s contest page to win two tickets to A1 Combat number 29. That’s Maxima vers Indio. That’s at Hard Rock Live on Friday, August 1st. Hard Rock Live Friday, August 1st. Enter online at the ESPN1320.com contest page courtesy of your Ria Fabers A1 Combat. That’s mention number one. There we go. We did it. We got one in. And we got a second mention coming up a little bit later on. Stay tuned for that. It’s going to be rocking. All right. We got some news yesterday in the NBA. Some breaking news. Damen Lillard is resigning with the Portland Trailblazers. Mhm. And it’s the first thing that’s happened in sports in so long where my brain didn’t immediately start to go through because when you when you see news as a sports fan, you immediately start rifling through, okay, what does this mean? What does this mean for this team? What does this mean for that team? What does it mean for the player? What does this and you start to kind of go through and you start to try and analyze and oh, why didn’t he go to to Miami? Why didn’t he go to the Lakers or whatever. I just got so happy. This is such a cool thing. I think we got we get as sports fans so tied up sometimes and and particularly when you when you work in media, you get so tied up sometimes in the what does this all mean for wins and losses? What does this mean for the salary cap? What does this mean between the like, hey, let’s break all that off for a second. Sports are fun. Mhm. This is all entertainment. Everything here is entertain. It’s a business for the business people, but this is for us. It’s entertainment. Dame going back to Portland is objectively just the best way this could all end. I don’t need three years of Damen Lillard in Miami. I don’t need that. Nothing about that is fun. Hm. I don’t need three years of Dame coming off the bench for the Oklahoma City Thunder trying to ring chase or see if he goes to the Golden State Warriors to form one last super team. Sure. Goes to Golden State. He’s back in his hometown, but he’s not really cuz they’re not in Oakland anymore. Now he’s coming off the bench behind Steph or something. It’s or he’s starting and it’s but it’s like gh I don’t want to. He just gets to go back to Portland where he is beloved. Mhm. He gets to finish his career there. The Milwaukee Bucks thing is now this weird two-year stint on his basketball reference page. Something that like people will forget happened. Yep. Yep. And now he gets to finish his career in Portland. I texted our guy Danny Morang from from up there and I just said, “Oh my god.” And he’s like, “I can’t stop smiling.” Like what a cool thing. This is such a cool thing. There’s probably so many Blazers fans that are so happy right now just because Dame’s back. Is he going to be Dame of old? No. Is he going to be their number one option? Probably not. Ideally, not not at this age coming off an Achilles tear. No, they’re going to have a fun young team this year and then they’re going to plug Damon into some role over the next couple of years and he’s going to finish out his career hopefully uh for them on a on a Portland team that is rising and is and is pretty good. Yeah, I I mean the only like hold up I have I was surprised that he signed a three-year what was it 42 and I think the last year’s a player option. Yeah, I was surprised that that realistically it cost him 14 million bucks to bring a guy in in year one who cannot play, who will not play. Um I do think having him there the whole time is a good idea just because of his leadership and everything else. But still, I was like, “Hey, it’s a lot of money, especially since he just cashed out 100 million and and it’s a mid level, right? What’s that? It’s like the mid level.” Well, yeah. I I mean, it’s a mid-level, but it’s a mid-level for a player who’s not going to play. Okay, time out then. So, and a player, why does it matter? Well, because like if you want to go back there, he could have signed for league minimum and just been like, okay, like I’m here rehabbing and I’m going to be part of the team and then like next year when he is playing, he could have signed for a couple more years. But I I just thought that the the money itself, especially with him walking away with 100 million from the Bucks, I was like, “Huh, that seems a little steeper than I I would have thought.” But it’s fine. Like I think it’s cool because I’m excited to see him play in Portland for sure. And you know, you’re not you’re worried about Portland’s salary cap situation. Well, no, that’s wild. They’re fine. They’re fine. I get it. But if I’m building a team and long-term and all that stuff, like okay, like I get it. You want to come back and you know, like we see the one day contracts all the time where guys go back to where they they spent most of their career and just get a one-day contract where they’re not getting any money. Uh, but still I was like, “Huh, urinating in my Cheerios. I’m down with Dave going back. I’m just like, man, that’s a lot. That’s a lot to That’s a lot for a guy who who’s not going to play.” Not this year. No, that’s not the point. No, I I get it. You brought Dame back. I know you brought the vibes are up. The vibes are up. I get it. Nobody really cares. I mean, like in Portland, I mean, they’re like, “Hey, he’s back. We don’t care about the money.” But if you’re building if you’re building the team, I mean, they’re going to sell so many Dame Lillard jerseys. Yeah, that’s true. That’s true. Dame is going to be in the building. This is such a huge offseason win for them. Yeah, they did it. I get it. They got Dame back. He’s home. Yep, man. All right. I’m just looking at him like a as a player and as the contract, it’s like, wow. Okay, I get it. Like it should be uh like we should be celebrating the fact that he’s returning. He is, but that’s what we’re doing. Well, everybody is. I I get it. At the same time, it’s like you bought out DeAndre Aton so you could pay Damen Lillard to not play for a year. I would do the exact same thing. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I get it. You have so many centers. DeAndre Eaton is not fun to have. Damen Lillard is fun to have. You pay a little extra up front to make sure you have him the next two years. Okay. Because if they were going to do the league minimum thing, he would probably just go sign elsewhere for not the league minimum. Mhm. Because that was probably out there for him. No, it might have been. I mean, like moving forward, I I I totally agree. I’m just like I’m stepping back and going, okay, this this could just like because if he never does play again or anything else, it’s like, okay, he threw a little bit of money down a well. Uh but either way, like I’m excited to see him back there. I I’m I was just s surprised at the dollar figure, you know, like Brad Bill goes to the Clippers, and I know he has no ties to the Clippers, but like the two-year 11 million deal or whatever he signed, it’s like, okay, that that makes sense. Well, but that’s a oneplus one. Yeah. And and offsetting the 13 million, 14 million he gave up with the Suns. Yeah. Yeah. And he’s going to try and perform well and get a bigger contract elsewhere next year. Dame’s not trying to do that. No. No. No. But he’s also he’s I thought it was fun. Bradley Bill’s going to play this year. I thought it was fun. Um Sus doesn’t move the needle for you at all with with the Blazers now moving forward. Certainly not now because he’s not going to play this year. Well, yeah. I mean, like look, I don’t know what he looks like when he gets back on the court. Sure. So, I don’t think anyone does at this age when you have an Achilles tear. Like, there’s just there’s no guarantee that he’ll ever be even a player that can play 15 to 20 minutes tonight, right? So, yeah. 30 What is he? 36 35 35 36. Yeah. 35. Yeah. Yeah. Shout out to Dame. Shout out to the Blazers. I’m happy for Blazers fans. Yeah. Vibes. I’m very happy for Blazers fans, too. Uh James Ham there. I’m Kyle Mats and we’re sponsored by Jify Lube. We’ve had this to talk about for a couple days and I just want to discuss it now. Is it weird that there’s no Kings Warriors preseason games? It feels weird to me. Okay, so I think it is weird as well because the in the preseason you usually have one back to back and you want it to be as close as possible. So, so like taking the bus down and having them take the bus up uh from San Francisco and, you know, from Sacramento back and forth, that just makes a lot of sense. Mhm. Because your preseason schedule, you want it as compact as possible. You want to have time before and then time after your preseason schedule. Um, but, you know, I think it’s it’s one of those things that people maybe don’t know. The league doesn’t create preseason schedules for their teams, right? You have to have a mandatory I think it’s four preseason games, but you have to go out and negotiate those preseason games with other teams and you’ve got to build your own schedules. So, like there have been multiple times in the past where the Kings were literally like uh what’s the game where you have chairs out at musical chairs, right? where they’re musical chairs and everyone sits down and the Kings fall to the ground because they don’t have a team to play. So they’ve got to go bring in Makabi Hifa or someone like that. Sure. That’s typically why that happens. It’s because you don’t have enough games on your schedule and the other teams have already filled up their schedule and so you have to go find another team somewhere else to come play against you. And so it it’s just kind of weird. Um we don’t know. I also think it’s strange. Like, have you seen anyone else’s other than the Warriors preseason schedule? Um, I know. No, I I haven’t, but I also haven’t looked. Yeah, but we’ve seen the Warriors schedule come out and no one else’s from what I’ve seen. Like it’s possible that one or two other teams have put their preseason schedule out, but it seems like the the Warriors got their stuff done early and put it out there and like, okay, you know, and it could be because all of their guys were doing the California Classic and it’s like, hey, let’s wrap this up right now. Yeah. Let’s write that press release right now because you guys need to go take a few weeks off after summer league. Yeah. Um but uh yeah, it’s just kind of an an interesting turn. I I’ve checked in with the Kings. They don’t have their schedule yet um to give us and it’s usually like an assistant GM or someone there’s someone within the walls of the Kings that is tasked with negotiating these deals. Mhm. And I remember like what was that 2018 uh the Brandon Williams shortlived era of Kings basketball. He um he like had had somebody else terminated so he could get his hands on that job that to to reg to make the preseason schedule. Yeah. It was one of it was like a power grab. Like everything was a power grab. He wanted to have a more of more hands. A weird thing to do. Yeah. But like you got to think about they he also wanted more of the travel plans. Like he wanted to be part of the decision-m on the travel plans and all this stuff. So like there were like weird power grab things going on behind the scenes. But then like part of the power grab he couldn’t get anyone to to play against them. So that year I think they played like they maybe they had five games but I think it was four. And one of them was the most ridiculous awkward moment of all time where the Kings traveled to Seattle to play against the Warriors with Kevin Durant. Yes. And it was right after this. That’s right. I remember that they had tried to steal the Kings just a couple of years earlier. There’s bad blood everywhere. I forgot about that. But the Warriors, they went to the Warrior and said, “Hey, do you have a game for us?” And they said, “We don’t really have a game for you.” and they’re like, “You can’t you can’t work with us.” And it was like, “Well, we can work with you, but this is going to get awkward. We’ve got a promo game for Kevin Durant going back to Seattle.” And that’s how that situation worked out. It was a favor by the Warriors to allow the Kings in on that, but it was because the Kings didn’t have the required number of preseason games. So, what a mess. This is all weird, dude. like the the NBA, some of the things that happens behind the scenes are totally strange. Yeah. And you know, sort of like you wouldn’t really know that a team has to build their own preseason schedule unless you’d gone through it a couple of times where Seems like a thing the NBA would do. Yeah. You you thought, “Oh, no. The NBA is just going to put out, hey, you’re playing here, here, and here.” But that’s not the way it works. I’m fighting for my life right now. I want everybody to know that. I just looked up across six minutes and it was 11:12 the entire time. Woo. That’s not good. A short break last break uh killed me, brother. Uh the Warriors preseason schedule, in case anybody’s interested, here’s a funny thing about it. Uh they play the Lakers, the Blazers at home, then they travel to the Lakers. They travel to the Blazers and they’re home against the Clippers. Uh no backto-backs. Yeah, that’s interesting. Or the old guys. That’s interesting. The old guys are getting a bunch of days off. Well, and again, back tobacks in preseason a lot of times they just have the the backtoback and like then the second game they don’t play anybody, right? Yeah. So, yeah, it’s it’s definitely When do you think we’ll get that for the Kings? I don’t know. I did check and it was like, “Hey, I I’ll get it to you when we have it, but we don’t have it yet.” Yeah. Like, it’ll be here soon. But hey, sorry. I’m letting everybody know. Charlie, if you’re listening, we’re breaking early because I am in a fight right now and I can’t do two more minutes. Uh, we’ll be back. We’ll talk more Kings. We’ll talk more summer league. What are we looking for in the semi-final once the Kings play there? And more Kings point guard rumors. We have them for you next on ESPN 1320. See insiders on Sacramento Sports. Run, Kyle, run. See you. Uh, it’s one of those moments. I’m hoping he remembered his pass key to get back in. [Laughter] Uh, will Kyle make it? That is a question. Jason Steven thought the bathroom is very close to our to our studio. Um, somebody asked a question earlier. I I start it. Um, Midnight Madness. Let me see. Somebody asking if I’ve seen Midnight Madness. Um, no. Hang on. Let me see. I don’t think I’ve seen Midnight Madness. Oh, it’s a Disney movie. Is that a young Michael J. Fox? Interesting. Someone else was bringing up uh that they were building a 68 Camaro uh during um during high school. I don’t remember who that was. Sorry. Um, I’ve always wanted a 68 Camaro, but it was it was not for for gone in 60 seconds cuz that’s a 68 Mustang fastback, I believe. 60 Yeah. Um, I I’ve always wanted a 68 Camaro, black 68 Camaro, because I love the movie Better Off Dead, which is why, like yesterday, I wore my Lane Meyer shirt. Um, Zack, you’re way off. This is not the most unlikable Kings team you’ve seen in the last 20 years. If if it is, you weren’t paying attention cuz there were some very very unlikable teams uh in the last 15 years that I’ve covered. Uh Ley, any concerts I’m going to I’m actually going to see Toad the Wet Sprocket on Sunday. I don’t know if people know Toad the Wet Sprocket, but uh they’re playing it in Rockland. Hopefully it’s not too hot. It’s 67 Shelby. Yeah. Uh Bobby Jackson actually had a car that looked just like that and he actually sold it to a guy that I know and I for that matter I think like Tank Thompson. Oh no no no Henry Turner. Henry Turner had I don’t know if he still does has a mechanic shop that had done a bunch of work. Howard the Duck was spectacular. Uh, Howard the duck is weird to go back and watch now because it’s a lot more risque than I think I remembered. Wait, why do you say that? 15 seconds. Why does Nick still not have a contract? They press released him as the one who signed. I think he does. The boat is put back together. Rust dog. Now back to the insiders brought to you by Jiffy Lube on ESPN 1320. Yeah, he’s James. I’m Kyle. We’re hanging out with you till noon. H. You all right, Kyle? Yeah. Ever since I So, when I when I got shingles as a 34 year old, I the the doctor when he cuz I didn’t know what it was. Yeah, of course. It started out I thought it was a zit under my eyebrow and then I thought it was just because I wear a lot of hats. It kind of was red up here and so I was like, “Oh, it’s just been hot. I’m just wearing it.” Yeah. Uh and and then it, you know, starts to hurt and I feel I’ve got body aches and my lymph nodes swell up and it just it was like, “Oh, there’s something wrong with me.” But when I when when the doctor walked in, he looks and he just goes, “Oh, it’s shingles.” He’s like, “Oh, okay, great.” And he so he started he goes, “You know, tell me about your life because they’re typically stress induced.” is what I and I’m like, well, I’ve been trying to manage my stress better than I have. I’ve gotten some help with my with my writing gig. It’s been it’s been awesome. I’m I feel like I’m taking more time for my for myself and not everything is work work work work all the time. And uh so I’m just trying to a manage my stress better, but b I’m just trying to make sure I’m being healthier. Um just make and and little things, drinking water, etc., etc. Being nice to people, being nice to people, of course. But I I’m I’m really focusing because I do I’ll I’ll fill this up. I have this I have this huge water bottle. I have this huge Yeti. Salute to Yeti. Uh I don’t even know how many ounces it is. It’s 30. Yeah, I think it’s 28 maybe. Okay. I’m going to go 28. It feels like a good It’s like 28 ounces. And I No, it’s more than that. It doesn’t matter. Anyways, it’s a good size water bottle. And I try and drink a few of them a day. But what happens is I fill it up in the morning before coming to work. I drink coffee on my way to work. I’ll have some water and then we go through a whole show and then I’m going home and it’s just I I don’t drink enough water. So, I’m trying to drink more water during the day and so I’ve slammed a coffee and almost this entire bottle during our show and it was emergency season and I was going to go No, I had timed it out and I was going to go at our last break but then that I looked down and the commercials are 60 seconds. Well, you know, we had the the situation at Sky River where Damian just blew through like three breaks. Yes. And I had to go and we were on stage and I’m like I see you eventually. I’m like, hey, I’m going to shuffle to the bathroom and you were at a casino which means they hide the bathroom. Yeah. They don’t have signs to the bathroom. So you you literally have to hunt a bathroom. Yeah. It was like not good. The good news is at 32 Brews once you’ve been there, you know the bathroom is just right outside. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But if you don’t know that the first time and you take a wrong turn. Well, that’s the first time we met and people like I think even yourself you bought me a Guinness and then someone else brought me a Guinness and sent it up to the stage. It’d be like that at those live shows. It like the live show like Yeah. But we were live and and Damian just kept blowing through breaks. I’m like, “Hey, you’ve been talking for an hour and 14 minutes.” You’re like, “Buddy, I’ve got three beers down.” Yeah. I’m looking. It’s like, “It’s almost 16.” I’m like, “Oh, oh, we’re good. Like, I’ll be okay. It’s almost to 16 and I’ll go.” And then he blows through. Then we get to 27 and I’m like 27 now. Just like, “Okay, we’re fine.” Blows right through it. We get to like 44 and I’m like, “Ah, goodbye everybody. I’m out. Sorry. If Joe was here, I would have just I would have just gone at that break.” Yeah, cuz I could have carried it as long as somebody could. Yeah. Alas, no. Joe Brazil today. We’re the insiders. Sponsored by Jiffy Loop. Do would you rather do um Kings Raptors in the summer league semi-final? We got to talk about that. Or do you want to talk about Kings point guard rumors? Let’s talk point guard rumors. Okay, great. I’m glad you said that because that’s what I wanted to do, too. Hey, there’s another Kings point guard rumor out there. Did you hear about this? Have you seen this? Have you heard about this? Uh Jake Fischer from the Mark Stein Uh, the People’s Insider. The People’s Insider on Jake Fisher on on Mark Stein’s newsletter. But he he said this on a bleacher report. Oh, okay. He said this on a video. Yeah, on a video. I checked in with Jake Fischer this morning to see where it was. Right. He’s on vacation. Salute. Good for him. Uh, that’s how you know nothing’s going to happen because Jake Fischer has decided it’s good time to take vacation. Get out of Get out of Dodge. Yeah. He reported that the Kings are interested in Ben Simmons. I don’t care. Oh, I don’t like until I don’t I’ve heard the Kings are interested in every point guard who’s available. Mhm. We had a Russell Westbrook moment. We’ve had a Malcolm Brogden moment. We They’ve finally acquired Dennis Shruder. We’ve had now a Ben Simmons moment. It’s like, “All right, yeah, now we got it. They’re interested in adding another point guard. But let’s in in a in a let’s start here because interest in a player doesn’t move me. It never does. I’m sure the Warriors are interested in LeBron James. That Okay. Okay. Cool. Great. That doesn’t mean Sure. Every team is interested in Giannis, but it doesn’t matter. Interest doesn’t move me. Let’s go to the world where the Kings are like, “Hey, Ben Simmons is going to be the guy. That’s the guy we want. I don’t even want to get We can talk about the basketball in a second. Is there a way for the Kings to sign him outright? Yeah, the Kings have enough money under the luxury tax to sign him to a league minimum deal. Okay. But that’s it. It would be league minimum. Yeah. I mean, they could probably go by annual exception and then like which is like five 5 million. Okay. Uh and then do something like wave and stretch provision Dario Suridge. Okay. Okay. Yeah. there there are ways in which they could clear up like three million bucks in cap space and and and actually do something under the luxury tax. So yes, the issue though comes in, okay, let’s let’s go to this world where they just Ben Simmons I I he’s a vet minimum player at this point. He should be vet minimum player signs with the Kings. Well, now we have this issue of, okay, is Ben Simmons now your third point guard or is Ben Simmons playing big minutes as your backup point guard and Malik Monk is in a weird spot? Okay, so the one thing about Ben Simmons as opposed to again Malcolm Brogden or Russell Westbrook or name that backup point guard that the Kings have been linked to over the last two weeks. The difference with Ben Simmons is that Ben Simmons can play the three, he can play the four, and he can play the five. And so for me, like there was a point where like I I think we get into this mode of just like saying, “Oh, okay, Ben Simmons is washed or Ben Simmons just never lived up to his potential,” which like all of these things could be true. Um, but I I would also say that Ben Simmons is one of the best defenders of his era. He’s so incredibly versatile because he can defend truly one through five. And I don’t know that there’s, we always hear this, oh, we can defend one through five that, you know, Willie Collie Stein said that so many times and Willie Collystein couldn’t defend a one, a two, or a three. Like I don’t really a four or a five for that matter. Yeah. I don’t really Yeah. Yeah. That that time Carl Anthony Towns went like 10 of 11 from the field and dropped 40 on him. Um and Willie thought he did a great job. Uh forced him into some tough shots. Yeah. Um, so, so look, I I think again, Ben Simmons is is 610 and he has a a really intriguing skill set. It’s just he doesn’t shoot the three at all. We talked about this. He hasn’t made a three since like the 2020 202021 season. There’s levels to not shooting threes. We say Demard Rosen doesn’t shoot threes. Yeah. Ben, but that’s like he doesn’t shoot 10 a game. He’s going to give you three or four attempts a game. Ben Simmons actually does not shoot threes. He hasn’t even shot one since then. What was the last one? 2223. No, I think it’s Well, the last time he 22 23 season. Last time he made a three was the 2021 season. Yeah, the 2021 season. Jesus. Yeah. So, like I get the Ben Simmons thing is a really interesting like case study because like when especially when I was young in this like part of being in an NBA locker room is being around people that are very different than you that have been raised differently than you that culturally are different than you and you have to be like open to sort of the sociology experiment that is a locker room that is media being in the locker room and all that stuff. Like Ben Simmons is just like a very very intriguing case study. He’s somebody who literally has had his career derailed by uh like some mental health issues. Uh the mental health health issues um basically manifested themselves in physical ailments which is when he started having back problems and back injuries. And so like his career has completely gone sideways. And the last like I don’t know five years he’s barely played basketball. I still think that there’s a tremendous amount of talent there. Like he still can defend. He still can pass the ball at an elite level. He still has elite size for no doubt all but one position on the court. And even that one position center, he still has good size for an NBA center in the modern NBA. So like there is a lot to of intrigue, but the fact is he just hasn’t been able to be a productive player. And I’ve said this a bunch of times. I’ve said it on this show. I’ve said it on Damian with Damian and Kenny. Uh I’ve said it on the podcast. Like I think some of the worst things that have happened to Ben Simmons is that he went he got traded from well first of all from Philadelphia to another major market in in Brooklyn. I don’t think the bright lights are right for him. He got from there he signed with the Clippers again going to a major market. I think if Ben Simmons were ever to rebuild his career, it it needs to be an obscurity and NBA obscurity is like the Sacramento Kings. It is the Charlotte Bobcats, the Charlotte Hornets. It’s like the smaller the teams that aren’t on Sports Center every night. let a kid have a chance to like, you know, calm down and actually find success in life and on the court. And I don’t know if that’s ever gonna happen for him, but I certainly would be willing to for a league minimum deal. Like, why not? We talk about length and athleticism all the time. He is like the quintessential length and athleticism guy, and you talk about versatility. He can play the three or the four, and he can play the one, and he can play the five. Like there are all these things that Ben Simmons can do when Deanna Sabona steps off the court and you want another passer on the court. Like this dude’s a great passer. So I don’t hate the idea of it on a league minimum. I just I would hope that that he would consider it because I don’t think he will because the other team that’s looking at him according to Jake Fischer is a New York Knicks and if I’m him I like it’s a bad move because I think the pressure of New York is not right for him. Mhm. But I do feel like he’s a perfect fit for a team that on occasion needs a small ball five, but also has this length and athleticism at the three and four that he would just be interchangeable with. Yeah, they have enough offense that they don’t need to worry about him scoring, right? But him as a distributor, him as all these other things, like why not? I can talk myself into it. I’m not talking myself into it when he was making 38 $39 million a year and playing 15 games a year. Ben Simmons played his first game with the Clippers last season on February 13th. How many games did Ben Simmons score double digit points? Oh, I’m going to say one, maybe two. Oh, I didn’t even have time to get my music up. Hang on. Oh, there we go. How many times did Ben Simmons score double- digit points with the Los Angeles Clippers? He started his tenure there on February 13th, 2024. I’m actually going to go with the number zero. Close. One. One. It was in an overtime win against the Utah Jazz. Oh man. over time. His last two double digit games were against the Jazz and the Hornets. Yeah. Like look, another double digit game against the Jazz earlier in the year, too. But if you’re expecting him to score, like look at the Sacramento Kings. Like how many scorers do they have? They’ve got a ton. Too many. Yeah, they do. They have a ton of scores. I mean, your two point guards are score first, point guards. The the issue I have is not is is I don’t even want to say issue because I don’t I I don’t I wouldn’t have an issue if the Kings especially if you sign him for for the vet minimum like great that’s sure like I don’t I don’t hate it but in terms of expectation I think for me the the fit question is more like does he want to play basketball? I think that’s been the biggest question the last few years. We talk about like he we with the with the Clippers, he played in their first five playoff games, 13 minutes, 7 and 1/2 minutes, 9 minutes, 7 minutes, four minutes, didn’t play game six, didn’t play game seven. M and when we talk about culture building and we talk about getting the right guys in the building and and playing the right way and playing this Doug Christie Scott Perry style, they’re going to establish his identity and that’s what this year is about. Identity. Identity. Identity. There’s no way Ben Simmons is going to fit that identity. There’s no I I reject that idea entirely. Okay. But I’m going to say that there are things that he does that they’re asking for that they’re begging for. Number one, he’s a great defender. Number two, he’s a very unselfish player. Like he’s too unselfish, but he’s a very unselfish player that can really pass the ball. So, there are things that he does do that fit into the mind the mindset that they’re looking for, but it’s the other side, you know. Who was it? Uh, was it I can’t believe you’re talking yourself into this guy. Was it George Yang that came out and went off on him? Oh. Uh, yes. Yeah. Who said like I went to Philadelphia because Worst teammate I’ve ever had. Yeah. I’m a catch and shoot player and I I was there. I was going there because of Embiid and because of Ben Simmons and I knew I would get a whole bunch of wideopen looks from three and then the dude just doesn’t want to play and like the the riff there was crazy. I I think Ben Simmons has burned a lot of bridges with with his teammates around the league. I’ve never seen a NBA player go that hard at another NBA player. Yeah. Yeah. It’s so rare that that happens. So something because you’ll see like you can tell guys don’t really rock with other guys, but watching George Nyang just fry him. Oh yeah. Crazy. Well, and I’ve told you like there’s there’s a player out there that uh another player told me was the worst teammate he ever had in the NBA. like bar none there’s never been a worse teammate than player X and it wasn’t in Sacramento it was somewhere else but they had come back to but number one that was off the record number two it was someone that I had a very good relationship with who said that and was like yeah they didn’t jump on a podcast and say this for everybody to hear very different yeah there wasn’t like a hey put this quote out right like no no so yeah there there are like there are players out there who are very difficult to play with, but to see another player go at him. I don’t either way, I would I mean, it’s not like Russell Westbrook doesn’t have some question marks with him, you know? It’s not like Malcolm Brogden actually plays more than 40 games a year. So, when you’re you’re looking at these guys and you’re thinking, hey, versatility, you still need length and athleticism. If the Kings had somebody outside of Isaac Jones to back up uh Keegan Murray at the four, that wouldn’t be a bad thing, especially some who could play the three. Mhm. And if again, if you need to make a trade mid-season to open up more time for Nick, you still need some some other depth at the three. And that’s I think the beauty of Ben Simmons. First of all, he’s not going to play very much because that’s just kind of who he’s become. 18 games with the Clippers, he played 16 minutes a night. Yeah. But he did play last season he did play 51 total games. Yeah, he did. He played 33 with with Brooklyn as well. And and in Brooklyn, you know, again, he averaged 8.9 points and 10 assists and 7.5 rebounds per game, 1.1 steals, you know. Wait, what? No, he didn’t. Oh, am I looking? That’s per 36. My bad. Yeah. No, that’s uh in Brooklyn last year though, 6 point I was going to say 6.2 points, seven assists. Yeah. and five rebounds. Yeah. I mean, he’s he’s a really good rebounder. The the thing is he’s he just doesn’t shoot enough or at all. Or at all. Yeah. I mean, it’s really sad, too. I mean, you can see how the lack of aggression has stunted his his career. Like, in his first, you know, he missed his first season due to injury, but year one, 4.2 uh free throw attempts and 5.4, 5.2, and 4.9. Since that point, he’s never averaged more than 1.4 free throw attempt per game. Well, 1.41.6.8.4. Hey, but that free throw percentage is only 6 attempts, but up to 72% 72.7%. Yeah, but was it 40% the year before? 40%. Like last year, he finished with the the Clippers shooting 85.7%. It literally doubled up two of his years. Look at him go as a free throw shooter. And you know what they say about if you’re a good free throw shooter, Kyle, it just why not just stretch that out to the three-point line? Should be able to shoot the three perfectly fine. Look, I I think as an experiment, like why not? Um, sure. But if you’re Ben Simmons, I I would like one of the things about Sacramento is there is a long long list of players who signed in Sacramento with their last NBA contract. M and so like it’s an outpost and if you decide to sign with the Kings, there’s a good chance that you’re not going to get another opportunity elsewhere. There’s also a good chance though that Sacramento is is a real path to regular minutes. A real path to regular minutes and also a real path to just like being able to get your career back on track without the bright lights. Let me let me put it this way. If the Kings signed Ben Simmons, I’m not anti-Ben Simmons. Yeah. is because you made all the points of why it makes sense for Sacramento to take this flyer. I will not be talked off this being anything more than a flyer and everything about how he can contribute is all in theory. Yep. I’ve got I I’m sorry. We have what is it one two three four years of evidence that he’s not an NBA player. He’s not that dude. Yeah. But uh I I you know what I would love to see Kyle is for him to step on the court, have a Jake Larabia moment where the entire fan base gets behind him. Be great and it takes all the stress off of what happens after that. Would be phenomenal. That would be great for him. Yeah. A redemption story. I would be okay with the Ben Simmons redemption story in Sacramento. Love it. Yeah. U but until I see it, I’m not going to sit here and get my hopes up that Ben Simmons is going to return to Allstar form. No, that’s all right. He’s James. I’m Kyle. Uh Damen Marling will be in for the handoff. I believe it’s no KC this week. He’s out all week. So, it’ll be either either Damen or or Jesse Topy. I’m not sure which one is going to pop in, but one of those two will be in here. And we’ll talk about the Kings are advancing in summer league. They’re going to the semi-final. They play on Saturday. Got to get you geared up. A ring is on the line. No, but for real, we’ll talk about what we’re looking for in that game. Is there anything else we can learn about the the summer league kings? We’ll talk about all that coming up on the handoff. That’s James Ham. I’m Kyle Matson. We’re the insider sponsored by Jiffy Loop. This is ESPN 1320 and that is Sacramento Sports Center. [Music] Yeah, man. His basketball reference page is so crazy. I mean, we’re talking about a 28-year-old almost 29 who hasn’t played hardly at all in in five years. One, two, three, four, four years. The last year that he played a full season, he was 12th in MVP balloting. He was second in defensive player of the year. He was an all-star and he was a defensive first team player. three-time all-star, 201718 Rookie of the Year, uh, two-time alldefensive team. Both times were first team all defensive team. Oh, Norm, there we go. He built another 67 five years ago. Hey, real quick. Can we make sure that computer’s on? Oh, yeah. Thanks. Yeah, if you give up on one and you need somewhere for it to go, just give me a call, Norm. [Laughter] It’s funny. Oh, we’re Yeah, we’re pulling up, Stephen. Um Yeah, with Brooklyn for the whole season. Yeah. Yes. I was talking about with the Clippers. Uh oh, man. You hit a deer with the first one at 130. No, I get to work 1065 every Saturday. That’s right. It’s just an hour. And it’s not even like talking. It’s music and then I jump in and go, “That was the new ATS.” They’re on tour right now. We get to debut the new Jackson Wang, though. That’s going to be fun. No, one of my neighbors is a car guy. Not appropriating culture like that. What? I said one of my neighbors is a car guy and he he has um he has some crazy cars hiding. He built a garage and everything for him. Actually, he has two garages. One underneath his house and then he built a giant garage with lifts so he can stack four cars in the garage. Oh, here we go. Oops. I hit the button where the voice guy talks and I had the thing turned down. So, here we go. Voice guy. Now back to the Insiders with James Ham and Kyle Madson, brought to you by Jiffy Lube on ESPN 1320. That’s James. I’m Kyle. Uh Damian was in here and then ran out. He was here, then he left, and he’s gone. Uh Kings are in the summer league semifinals thanks to a hilarious number of things that people were following last night. It was fun to watch. Salute to everybody on King’s Twitter who was keeping updates and quote tweets. Uh, I know our guy, Professor Oak, was doing it. I know Brendan Nunez was doing it, keeping track of scores and what team needs to either lose or win by fewer than this many. It was as fun. It was as fun of a time as I’ve ever had watching summer league basketball. That was cool. And now the Kings are in the summer league semi-final and the conversation’s over about, oh, should they play or should they not play? Like the dudes are playing. Oh, they’re playing. The conversation’s gone. Yeah, we don’t even need to worry about it. So, with that in mind, let’s begin the handoff with Damen Barling. DLO and KC. No KC this week, just DLO coming up at noon. I’ll take you into the weekend at 4:00. Um, what are we looking for on Saturday? Do we do we care about wins and losses at this point? Are we looking for do we need to see more from Nate Clifford? Do we see need to see more from Devin Carter? What What’s the first thing you’re watching on Saturday? I don’t Nope. That’s my bad. Here we go. I don’t think we need to uh see more of anything. I’d like to see them win. Sure. Like you’re here. Go. Might as well. Yeah. Like why not? And maybe that’s what it is. Like may like we’ve kind of s learned what we’re going to learn. Yeah. So now we’re just watching for W’s. We talked. Yeah. Exactly. Like that’s that’s that’s it. Like whatever Nick does, good or bad, isn’t going to sway the fact that I think, hey, Nick, nice old ball player. Same with Max. Uh, I’ve learned to just shut the hell up regarding Devin Carter because Devin had that first game and it was like, “All right, that sucks. It’s probably not a big deal.” He had the second one and it’s like, “All right, cool. Give me something in the middle of those two games and then we’re fine.” And that’s exactly what he did in game number three. Then he looked like ass in game four and it was like, “All right, man. I can’t I can’t I didn’t think it would matter.” Like I even said like I don’t think what Devin Carter does. Like I I I saw it like he he needs minutes. He needs time to get out there. He he he needs, you know, to be on an NBA floor, but then the game, you know, the the the fourth game happened and it was like, “No, man. He I think he stinks and I can’t I’m trying so hard to change my opinion on Devin Carter and I’m trying to give him leeway, grace, like he deserves all of that. He didn’t play a ton last year. He hasn’t had an off seasonason. He hasn’t had a a training camp or anything like that. So, I will just shut up regarding Devin Carter, but the other two, they’re they’re set. I’d just like to see him go win. Okay, this is you’re here. You might as well. I agree with the the Devin Carter experiment has been a bit of a nightmare, right? Like the Devin Carter as a point guard thing. Yeah. Is over. That’s not happening. Just like when you tried the Keon Ellis as a point guard thing. No, that was over. Like, no. No, we’re not doing that anymore. That not anybody’s fault. You tried a thing, it didn’t work. Well, I mean, we’re talking about not only do you have to be a really good ball handler, you have to have really good cord fishing, you have to have all these things, but you have to have those at NBA level, which is totally different than being really good at dribbling the basketball. Like, I think Devin Carter knows how to dribble the basketball well. I know Devin Carter knows how to pass the ball, but the fact is the NBA game moves so fast. The players are so long and athletic that like it’s just completely completely different world. So trying to transition to that is just ridiculous. So I’m going to say this. If Mason Jones doesn’t play today, I mean tomorrow, which I don’t know, there’s probably a good chance he doesn’t because of the oblique uh injury. Um I want to see Nick Clifford run the point because I think that that’s been really intriguing. At least run the ball through him more and I want to see what Devin Carter looks like in the player he should be. There you go. Go let him play off ball. Mhm. Let him fire away like crazy and see if he can be the player that he thinks he is and the player that clearly is the only pathway for him to get on the floor ever for the Kings because as a backup point guard or a third point guard, I don’t see it at all. But that doesn’t mean that he’s not a basketball player at all. It just means that you’re trying to, you know, jam him into some position that he can’t play. Yeah. So, let him play what he can play and let somebody else try to do what you’re asking him to do and see if you can find success that way and see if it it opens the door for him to actually have a good finish to summer league where he leaves with some confidence and he leaves with some understanding of of who he is as a player and how he needs to get better at what he does and not what everybody wants tried to get him to do this offseason. I don’t feel like with Devon there’ll be a big carryover, but I do feel like getting out on a high note is is is kind of the move for NE. For me, Nick and Max are going out on a high note regardless of what happens tomorrow. Yeah. He could have two bad games and I wouldn’t feel anything. Yeah, it doesn’t it it doesn’t matter. Now, he might. So, for his own psyche, you probably, you know, want him to play well, but like Devin Devin I I I don’t personally for him if he goes out and has a couple of good games, maybe that helps him this off seasonason. for me. I’m just going to I’m with James and you dead dead the point guard conversation. That that is not it. Do not go experimenting in a regular season with Devin Carter as your backup point guard or your emergency point guard or your third string whatever. We don’t need that. But allow him to to find his legs a little bit here in the last games he’s going to play for a couple months. I’ve reached the point that whatever trajectory you were they were putting Devin Carter on for potential point guard minutes, just put Nick on that. I would 100% give that a shot if it was something you were going to try in the preseason. I’m not saying you going to throw him in there in the regular season right away, but in camp or in preseason, like Yeah. If you were going to run some Devin Carter minutes at that spot, like run the Nick Clifford minutes and see what it looks like. Just go sign a point guard, dude. Yeah. I mean, I I think that’s the other option. Just Just go sign a point guard. Like, stop trying to force someone into a position that they don’t regularly play. Like, Nate can do a lot for Sacramento. in Sacramento, they have, you know, a lack of depth at other positions. Utilize him in in one of those spots where he would be great. You have the ability to go sign any veteran. I heard you guys talking about Ben Simmons on the way in. I’m not giving up on my dream of Russell Westbrook in the Kings uniform. Like, there’s veteran point guards, Malcolm Brogden, Chris Paul. There’s veteran point guards all over the place out there. And I I said yesterday like if you you know I recognized how crowded that back court is and you might feel like if you’re Scott Perry or that front office you’ve got to move somebody before bringing in a another another point guard. Sure. Yo sit Devin man. Like if that’s really what we’re talking about just sit Devin Carter. He he you he’s he’s a he’s he’s a secondyear player. You maybe it’s burning your asset. I don’t know what it is. But like if if it if push comes to shove, you need a backup point guard. There’s an odd man out. The odd man’s Deon Carter. I agree with you. If we’re talking culture, which is the whole theme of this season for Scott Perry, it sounds like, and Doug Christie, I’m sure, to to a similar extent. If you’re really trying to do that, if you’re really about establishing culture, doing this, doing that, you clear whatever money you can and you bring in Chris Paul. That’s the right move if you’re looking to establish culture and playing the right way and doing all that because I know he doesn’t have the rings for it to show for it, but Chris Paul is one of the best competitors in the league. Yeah. He doesn’t need rings. Like he is he’s one of the smartest players in the league. He is he is I recognize what Steph Curry’s position is. But in terms of a pure point guard, Chris Paul is the greatest of this generation. Yes. Oh yeah, I agree. And yeah, he will, in my estimation, will absolutely play in Sacramento because I believe a lot like Russell Westbrook, both of those guys are at that point in their career where being closer to their families is a lot more important than chasing a piece of hardware. So, I think Russell Westbrook could sign here. I think Chris Paul would sign here. Uh, it’s just a question of whether the Sacramento Kings would do it or not. If that’s if that’s what their goal really is this season is establishing some kind of C, then that’s the correct sign. Chris Paul’s perfect for that. Yes. Yeah, I totally agree. set the table in Oklahoma City. Yep. Yeah, I would totally agree with that. And you know, even we just had this long Ben Simmons discussion. Like the versatility of Ben Simmons, the ability to play him at the backup one, but also the backup three, the backup four, the backup five. Okay. I mean, but the chances of him actually playing are like very slim. And for him to give you productive minutes, like I think both Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook would be more productive. Agree. But I also look at the log jam in the back court and I’m like I I don’t understand how you can actually fit those guys in. Are you really going to run a bench unit of um Russell Westbrook alongside Malik Monk and just like tell Keon Ellisar you’re not playing? No. Can’t do that. I mean like and he can’t put Keon at the three because now you are impossibly small. Yeah. Well, that and you’re blocking any possibility of Nick playing, right? So like it’s it’s like a very very difficult situation. That’s why I I said it early on. If ne if Devin Carter can’t show that he’s the backup point guard, he is toast because you have a 30 plus minute per game guy and Zack Lavine, you’ve got a 30 minute per game guy and Keon Ellis and you got a 28 minute per game guy and Malik Monk. All that can play that shooting guard position that are all better than him that all bring something different than him. And like and it’s not it’s not it’s not so much an indictment of Devon, he shouldn’t have been drafted here. Yeah. Under the under the circumstances. Exactly. Like under the circumstances that he was facing last year, under the circumstances this team was facing last year, uh it was a mistake to draft Devin Carter. I agree. Again, not a knock on him. He I’m certain would be better somewhere else where he’d get a true opportunity in his second year. an opportunity I’m not sure he’s gonna get here. A thing I think is crazy in the summer league semi-final is the Kings are in it. Like, okay, that makes sense. Kind of a team in a weird spot doing some rebuilding, drafted a couple guys like, okay, yeah, you see it. Uh, Hornets are in it. Yeah, they got they got young players that they’re playing. They’re trying to develop and then they got and then you’ve got the Raptors. Same deal. And then Oklahoma City, they’re just a Can you guys go away for a minute? Just a flex. Okay, we won the title and then we’re also so good. We’re or so organizationally deep that we’re going to go win summer league. I don’t know this for sure, but that would have to be a first, right? You win the NBA championship and your summer league team wins in a month later. That has to be a first. If it’s happened before, I’ve for some reason there’s a Miami Heat team that’s popping in my head, but I can’t remember what year that was. So, I don’t I don’t know that that I don’t know if that lines up, but that would have to be a first. I just I I did not I didn’t You [ __ ] are toast for the next decade. Yeah, I I was following the King stuff obviously, but I saw Oklahoma City man. I was like, “What? Why did they take a summer league off? They don’t take any time off. What a ridiculous.” Uh D and Casey, no. Casey, what do you got coming up? Um besides me, Friday vibes. Yeah. Uh Sean Cunningham will be with us uh in the 3:00 hour. Eddie Gonzalez in the two o’clock hour. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, man. We’ll we’ll have a good time. We’ll talk more about the NFL PA story that you referenced earlier, right? Um, yeah, and a lot of Kings NBA stuff. Can’t wait. Yes, stuff is on the way, dude. We got stuff. Friday vibes are up. Those are the very best shows. So, stick around right here on ESPN 1320. Uh, until Monday at 10 a.m., that’s James Ham. I’m Kyle Madson. Joe Brazil is in the building somewhere. I think we’re the insiders. Sponsored by Jify Lube. It’s ESPN 1320. Sacramento Sports Center. Drink water and be nice to people. He didn’t say it. Oh, I didn’t say it. Whoops. Drink water. Be nice, people. See? My bad, guys. I was focused on getting out of here, not five minutes late like I’ve been doing. Yeah. Appreciate you guys. Take care, everybody. Have a great weekend. 9:00 a.m. on 1065 the tomorrow. That’s awesome. Saturday to come back. It’s me. Uh hopefully see you there. [Music] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We got them screaming dowo. We got them screaming doc d. We your number one spy. We your number one spot for some sports. Huh. Got the city going crazy when we work. Huh? We top two but we ain’t two. We in first. And when you need the real is who you search on KCO, [Music] we your number one spot. What’s good, baby? We made it to a Friday one more time. We welcome you in here to the Friday, thank goodness, July 18th edition of DO and KC. I’m Damian Barling, the ultimate needle mover in God mode himself. KC is out this week. Acknowledge me and we are live. What are you doing with him? Indeed, man. We appreciate you uh for tuning in, especially since there ain’t a goddamn thing in the world of sports going on right now. We got summer league jumping off. We got the Sacramento Kings uh playing in the uh summer league semifinal tomorrow. We’ve got scandal in the NFL that’s finally finally starting to turn into a scandal. We’ll talk about uh everything that’s happened. The latest details that have dropped with that today. Did something else happen today as far as where Lloyd was keeping his business meetings and all that sometimes? Yep. Yeah. Yeah, man. Yeah, man. Hold on. Let me move this box before I get in trouble. Hold on. We got We got the Baker Family Wines behind us and I got to get the box out of the way. I’m going to get a text. Uh Sean Cunningham’s going to be with us. Uh the godfather of sports media in Sacramento uh in the 3:00 hour. Eddie Gonzalez in the 2:00 hour. Uh and then of course Kyle Matson of the Insiders is going to join us here for his weekly visit coming up here in just a few minutes. Big thanks to Kyle Matson and Matt George for holding things down yesterday when I had to go be corporate dooo. Uh I had a blast being corporate dooo uh downtown. Um yeah, it’s just one of those things sometimes you got to you got to go do uh and it was great meeting so many of the the the the people who support this show. Um, but I definitely missed my conversation uh with Matt George because I’m I’m sure he uh had a lot to say about this summer league. I’m sure he’s had a lot to say about Nick, about Max be catching up on the Locked on Kings podcast. And now the latest rumor being Jake Fischer. Jake Fischer has added Ben Simmons to the list of point guards that the Sacramento Kings may be interested in. And if you’ve been on ESPN 1320 uh for a little while, then you heard uh James and and Kyle have a pretty extensive conversation uh about Ben Simmons and what things might look like for him uh and what things might look like for the Sacramento Kings should he wind up being a part of the squad. And I thought James has always made what I feel is is just a really really good point as it pertains to as it pertains to Ben Simmons. And Kyle made a great counterpoint and it’s the same one that I’ve asked for years. James James was like, “Hey, this is a low pressure situation for him. You have the opportunity to play. Come here. Low pressure. Find your legs. find your vibe. You’ll probably have a multitude of roles potentially as a backup three, um a versatile defender, point guard minutes, like all sorts of different things right there. And of course, Kyle raised the question that I’ve asked for a couple of years, and that’s like, does Ben Simmons want to play basketball? Is is playing basketball important to Ben Simmons? And there are some guys who, and I know not everybody thinks like this, but there are some people who like basketball is their job. It’s nothing more. It’s not this passion to be the greatest of all time. It’s not the passion to win at all costs. It’s the passion to earn a paycheck, provide for your family, go home, and be with your family. And I I’ve always wondered like, is Ben Simmons a supremely talented individual who is just doing something because he’s good at it? he knows he’s good at. He can earn a living. He can live uh you know a very comfortable lifestyle. He just doesn’t really like doing it. And there are people who tell you and I started questioning that watching that special they had on him at at at LSU, that Showtime joint that they had. I was like, I don’t I don’t like doesn’t feel like this kid loves basketball. Which is look, it’s fine, but at some point at some point the idea of yo, just going and doing my job, earning a paycheck, and going home. Like, at some point, like if you that talent’s going to wear off, and once that talent wears off, that love ain’t there. What more do you have to offer? I don’t know if that’s necessarily the energy the Kings need either with what they’re trying to boo. And so and and but and and that’s a that’s an outsers’s assessment. Like I don’t know Ben Simmons. Never had a single interaction with him. Never even done anything in the media with him. I know nothing about that young man past what I see on television. And again, he’s 28 years old. It feels like he’s been in the league for an eternity. But Brody is 28 years old. He’s gone through so much and he has uh been in the spotlight so frequently it feels like he’s been around a lot longer, but in fact he hasn’t. And it’s a you know maybe maybe Ben Simmons true second act is at that forward position rather than a point guard position. And the Sacramento Kings would be in a situation where yo, you could actually do both. You could do both with him. Like he could have moments at the backup point guard position. He could have moments at the forward position. James was laying out earlier what a, you know, what a terrific defender he can be, especially when he’s engaged. But I think Jesse raises a great point. What type of energy does he bring? And is that the type of energy that the Sacramento Kings need in this upcoming season? Uh not to sing the praises of the insiders too much, but uh as we wrapped up the handoff a few minutes ago, we were talking about culture. There’s been a lot of talk about resetting the culture, which I absolutely I understand I understand why the conversation is resetting the culture. I understand that Scott Perry is talking about it. What general manager hasn’t come in here and talking about the word culture? What what general manager has come in here and not repeatedly use the word culture? Even Vlad did it. Didn’t Vlad throw Demarcus out of here and then out of nowhere started talking about character guys a week ago. Y’all were on record saying you were going to sign Demarcus Cousins to a $200 million contract extension. And then a week later, we’re talking about character guys. Okay. And then this person comes in here and we’re talking about culture. This person comes in here, we’re talking about culture. Mike Brown comes here, everybody signs a contract all in. That died quickly. That was good for one season. Then they tried to do the little gimmick again the next year and no one bought it. Just because something works once doesn’t mean it’s going to work repeatedly. Mike found that out. But wasn’t Mike the culture guy? Wasn’t Mike exactly what this team needed to reset the culture? Here we are again just a handful of years later talking about culture, talking about resetting the culture, talking about the same things you talk about every time a new coach comes in, every time a new general manager comes in, every time a a new leader comes in. The culture on this team isn’t that bad. Is it great? Well, obviously it’s not because there was a mutiny against the head coach last year, but I’m pretty sure this group of guys likes their current head coach. I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that they do. And anyone who doesn’t, your ass can go. Is is is there a difference between team culture and I guess organizational culture? Uh, and do they kind of tie in together? I guess that’s it. Yes, I think there’s a difference. And yes, I think they tie in together. The culture of this organization has been, and I can’t imagine it changing as much as I like Scott Perry, I can’t see it changing in the foreseeable future. It’s been a disaster. And that that that drips down to the team that trickles down onto the roster, onto the coaching staff. If the coaching staff is mad at his boss, his boss is the general manager, the general manager is mad at his boss, his boss is the owner, and all of a sudden, you’ve just got a bunch of people mad at each other. Mike and Monty clearly didn’t see eye to eye on the vision of this basketball team, which made believe one or both of those entities didn’t see eye to eye with VC ran. How much was VC ran involved last year? I have no idea. Pretty confident he was involved in the Demar De Roen signing. Pretty confident he was involved in the Zack Lavine trade. Extremely confident he was involved in the Zack Lavine trade. But that’s not that’s not that’s not setting things up for that’s not setting things up for anyone to to to win. And Scott Perry said when he got here, he had to talk to the old or the whole organization from top to bottom. No matter what you did with this organization, Scott Perry wanted to talk to you. He wanted to learn about you. He wanted to see, you know, where you fit. And I think Scott Perry is a firm believer in I’ll use a term that Katie used with me once, trickle down happiness. If things are good at the top of the organization, things are going to be good at the bottom of the organization. If the general manager, the owner, the coaches, the brass, the higherups, if they’re all in sync together, that’s going to work well for the team. And there’ll be no mutinies against Doug Christie like there were last year with Mike Brown. So, the idea of Ben Simmons coming in here, a guy who you just never know, you just never know what my brother is thinking, how he’s feeling, if he’s good, if he’s happy, if he loves the game. You never know that. Chris Paul, never question it. Russell Westbrook, never question it. We’re talking about culture. Go get yourself one of those guys. I like the idea of Ben Simmons the player and the different things that he can do because he can do a lot of different things. He could do more things on the floor, I think, than Russell Westbrook or Chris Paul could. And for those unaware, I am not in on the idea of Devin Carter or even Nick Clifford playing backup point guard minutes or emergency point guard minutes or any sort of point guard minutes. Go sign another point guard. I don’t care how crowded the back court is. Just sit Devin Carter. It’s that easy. If you can’t trade somebody, if you can’t move somebody out of that crowded back court, fine. Just sit them. You’re allowed to do that. You’re allowed to have an 11th man on that roster just sitting at the end of the bench. Perfectly fine. Do it. 12th man, do whatever you want. I don’t care. But I’m over the experimenting of guys playing out of position to service a position of need for the Sacramento Kings because they’re too crowded at that overall position group. Not not necessarily that position group, but that spot on the floor, the back court. You got Malik who could do it. No one really wants to put Keon in that position, but you want to have Keon on the floor. Yeah, man. Give me Russell Westbrook. Give me Chris Paul. Those are positive culture guys in my opinion. Russell Westbrook, people will always say what they want to about him, but they’ll never question how hard he works. Even through all of that stuff uh with Denver last year, he was fully engaged with his guys. Aaron Gordon was fully engaged with them. Like there were all all through through all of that nonsense that was being written in the playoffs. Russ was locked in with that basketball team. And Chris Paul is the ultimate the ultimate cult culture setter. And I know it’s not the sexiest thing in the world for the NBA, but Chris Paul’s potential last season being with Sacramento. Yeah, that’s pretty dope. That’s pretty dope. We’ll come back. We could talk Kings basketball with comats and I really want to talk some 49er stuff uh with my man as well. So, uh we will do that. Adam Silver said the league is taking significant steps towards evaluating expansion. I think Adam Silver might just be saying words though. We’ll have that coming up here in the next hour or so. We’ll open up the phone lines. It’s a Friday. We’re thrilled that you’re here with us. It’s Theo and KC brought to you by Sky River Casino on Sacramento Sports Leader ESPN 1320. I have the vacation countdown clock on right now. I’m not even going anywhere. Truthfully, I got so much work today to do today. Dr. David, it ain’t even It ain’t even hit yet. And I’m not really even on vacation. I’m just uh I mean, I’m not doing the show. I’m just at the house. I don’t think we’re actually going on vacation till August. And I don’t even know if we’re going on vacation. Katie just told me to take certain days off, but she wouldn’t tell me why. I don’t know what we’re doing. I know we’re we’re definitely going to Disneyland at the end of this uh next week, though. But you know what’s funny, Karen? Did you see the weather next week? Not that it makes the pool unusable. It’s like 80 degrees. And I joked about that uh with Katie a couple of days ago. I was like, “Watch the week that we’re off where we can just like chill, relax, hang out, you know, play in the pool with the girls, all of that. It it’s it’s going to be cold, like cold. It’s not going to be super hot, and it’s not. But again, 80 degrees you can get in the pool. 85 degrees you can get in the pool. Uh that would be amazing. I don’t think unless unless there’s a Paris at Disneyland. I don’t think that’s be hilarious. Like, yeah. No, I just need the trees trimmed today, brother. Like, we’re a going on vacation. Like, work needs to get done. That’s what we’re doing next week. We’re definitely getting some work done next week. But, um, yeah, trimming trees. I think it’s October 20th for this. Oh, I didn’t see that. Something like that. I did not see that. Oh, right on, Ricardo. That’s a good look, man. Yeah, doctor. It doesn’t It doesn’t bother me a bit. She said, “Hey, can you take this day this day and this day off?” I was like, “Sure.” I was going to take my last little bit of time off or not my last little bit of time, but before the season started in August anyways. Queen, man, all these guys having surgery. Jeez. The funny thing, KC Tucker, is I’m normally the planner. I’m the one who plans everything, but I’m a thousand% go with the flow and that’s just perfect for our dynamics at my house. Crystal’s the planner. Yeah. Okay. I tell her like, “Do what you want. I’ll follow along.” Okay. Okay. That’s I can have a good time anywhere. Whatever. That’s fine. You tell me where we’re going and if there’s a place I want to go within that place, I’ll let you know. Okay. what if we’re going to Berkeley for the day or whatever. I think one thing that we’re really good at is like Disneyland is her bag. So, she has taken charge. Like she’s made the reservations. Um she’s made the plans. She’s done all of that stuff cuz that’s that’s her bag. Uh I handled Las Vegas. I booked all of the seafood restaurants. I got us tickets to all of the shows. Like I did that because that’s my bag. Um, so I think that’s a good little dynamic for us. All right, back here with uh the newest star of the K-pop show that is jumping off on 1065 the end tomorrow at 9:00. That was so exciting. Oh my god, that was so loud. Is it loud? Well, remember I remember that’s Well, that’s Casey’s processing on that mic. And you know Casey doesn’t talk into the microphone to save my life. There we go. Yeah. Yeah. You know. Yeah. No, still too much. You’ll pretty much have to sit outside. Yep. That’s that that’s about it. You kind of you kind of nailed it right there. Casey versus the microphone has just been the longest battle on the show for about five years. It it is like I remember one time Charlie came like can we do something about Casey’s mic? He’s like Charlie cuz he’s like cuz someone told me about we’ve been trying man. Like I don’t know what else to do at this point. I don’t know what to like I’m I’m I’m white noise to Kenny at this point. Like hey Kenny talk into the mic. It just all he hears is like that stuff people sleep to. That’s all he hears. And then sometimes he’ll talk too much into the mic so it get too loud. Well, that’s the thing and you know that not a single person noticed this until we went to KSFM and Complex was like, “Bro, I can’t hear Kenny.” So, Jonathan and Seth came in here and processed these mics specifically for me and then Kenny across from me. And every once in a while, you get the, you know, oh, what am I supposed to do? And then he yells into the mic and it’s like and I like I try to like fix it like and Jesse’s trying like I I don’t know man. When I fill in for Jesse I am fighting for my life over there with the mic. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. And he’s you know y’all know how Casey he he’s goes with the he’s oblivious. Has no clue no one can hear him. No one at all. Anyways 1065 the end tomorrow night. I’m really excited because this is for for the first time in my life. I’ve been doing radio shows since my freshman year of college. So it’s 2008 n 2009. So is that 16 years? I have never done a music show. It’s always been sports talk. Yeah. So I’m It’s conceivably easier, right? Because I get to build the playlist. So I put this is very unique. Not to not to break Kay Fabe too much for people. That’s that’s not how traditional radio works. That’s not like when I go to KSFM complex. He meticulously studies uh Spotify list, how the Spotify list to rate to to Sacramento billboard list, all of that stuff to build out what you hear on KSFM and what you hear on 1065 every day. But you’re doing a specialty show that you get to be in charge of. Yeah. I we the music’s not even in because nobody is listening to No, there’s no reason for K-pop to be on the radio, right? Or in our system of music, right? So, I even went to the system that Complex gets music from and it’s not even there. So, we’re we’re we’re figuring it out. It’s it’s complex. He’s got it. But, I’m really excited because I get to build a playlist, but it’s intimidating because I’m used to getting on air and just yapping. Yeah, that’s the job. Yeah. All right. starts at 10, we step aside at 16. I’m gonna yap for 16 minutesish. And that’s how it’s going to go. With this, it’s like, all right, this is music. And now you have like 20 or 30 seconds to say something halfway meaningful, right? And get to the next song. in in in in in the way you explain it, you would think that that’s easier when in reality it can be significantly more difficult because here if we’re talking and I fumble through words, if I mess up a sentence, like I can poke fun out of it. I can poke fun at it for 30 seconds and then pick up what we’re doing, have fun, have some laughs, right? You have if if you if you if you’re talking for 30 to 60 seconds, you have roughly 10 seconds to catch the person who’s listening’s attention. Yes. And if you don’t, they’re going to tune out. They’re gone. They’re gone. And so the pressure, even though the amount of time talking with the on air light on is significantly less, the pressure can be just as high. Imagine your very favorite thing. If you’re if you’re having trouble with this going like talking for 20 seconds sounds way easier than talking for 20 minutes. Imagine this. Imagine your very favorite thing in the world. Whether it’s the Sacramento Kings or whether it’s a television show or it’s Game of Thrones, maybe it’s Harry Potter, whatever. Whatever it is is your very favorite thing. Someone says, “Hey, uh, write everything you know about this and you have one page to do it. versus, hey, write everything you know about it. Okay, but now you’re going to take all that and you got to get it on one page. Yeah. Like, yeah, it’s tough, but it’s fun. Identify myself, the show, what we’re doing here. Do you feel like you have an FM voice? No. How are you going I’m I’m First of all, you know, I’m listening. It’s okay. First of all, I’m very proud of you. This is something you’ve wanted to do for a pretty long time. I’ve bothered Complex about it a lot. Yeah, this is this is something you brought to my attention a long long time ago. Uh and the fact that it’s finally happening is is pretty dope and and I’m really excited for you. I need to hear your FM voice cuz mine is different. Like it it my delivery on KSFM is a little bit different and it depends on the song I’m talking over. It depends on the beat bed I’m using. Like there are a lot of different things at play that influence the way I talk. I’m so curious to hear how you’re going to sound on 1065 the end. Huh. I haven’t thought about it to be honest, but that makes sense if I So So one of the things I get to do is I get to debut uh Jackson Wang is is part of a he’s a has a solo career, but he’s part of the group Got Seven. And he just had an album come out today. technically last night, but but today Korea time and we get to debut the the new single. Really fun thing, really cool thing we get to do. And it’s a slower like acoustic kind of sounding song. I This is not a thing I thought about. I can’t be like, “Yeah, hey, here’s the new Jackson White. We’re so fired up. Here you go.” And then it’s this really sad acoustic song. H I even thought about that. Now I’m even more stressed. Yeah, it can it can be stressful. Should I go deeper, voice? Well, depend. So, should I like talk from down here? So, I’m trying to like we we must uh we must have been we must have been having some fun. Let me let me let me see if I can find a different Oh, you know what? I got you. Stand by. We’re going to we’re going to workshop something here uh live on the radio cuz why not? Are you So, are you searching the KS7M down base right now? No, I I I got this up on my hot keys. So, you see you bringing you bringing a little something like this, right? Like it’s high energy. It’s Friday Vibes. We all know Johnny Kemp’s right here. We’re here on ESPN 1320. We’re working through Kyle Matson’s FM voice and then the beat’s gonna drop right here. So, you got to tell everybody who’s listening that it’s ESPN 1320. That it’s Friday, that we all just got paid and we trying to have a good time tonight. Ain’t that right, Johnny? See, we know what it is, man. It’s Friday. Everybody got paid. We turning up here. It’s KM on 1065. The end. Come on, baby. Let’s go. You got that, right? Like, so that I can do. I can do excited. Okay. So, so, so if you if you if you flip this, what if when I got excited, I just went, “No, please don’t. Please don’t be What else the end?” Here, I’m gonna give I’m gonna give you I’m gonna give you I’m gonna give you a beat and I want to I want to hear what you sound like. Oh, no. Yeah. Let’s do this. I have no practice at all. Let’s do this. Let’s do this. Come on, man. This is is this is Kyle Matson working on his FM voice prior to his big debut tomorrow on Let me ask you this before I before we start. Are there basic things I need to hit like obviously the station you got to identify the station. Yeah, it’s not as important as it used to but yes of course of course identify myself. Yeah, identify yourself. So so stick with uh the station yourself and what you’re doing here because what you’re doing is unique. You’re not introducing Chapel Ron, right? You’re not talking over Chaperone. You’re not talking over Benson Boone. You’re talking over you’re talking over something that someone who’s flipping through the dial might not know what it is. So, you might spend some time tomorrow explaining Mhm. what you’re doing. I hate that we’re doing this on air. Yeah. Oh, it’s my least favorite thing we’ve ever done. Do it on on Sunday. Great. Hey, we’re live. Saturday, bro. Saturday. Saturday. Sorry. I thought you’ve been saying Sunday. What are we doing here? What are we doing here? Yeah. Come on now. This is We’re going to pretend this is a K-pop song. Yeah. All right. Very good. Can you restart me? Restart. I’m sorry. I I forgot. I didn’t know what the bin was. And And And that’s a Are you familiar with that song? No. Okay. I’ll I’ll I’ll work with you as to when the song’s won. I don’t know when the post is. Okay. I got you. I got you. It’s a It’s a It’s about 20 seconds. I have a great story about you doing FM radio, by the way, that I can’t wait to tell. But we’ll do this first. We’ll do your bit first. and welcome in to 1065 the end. This is the Saturday comeback with your boy KM. We have this song which is a song that I’ve heard before and we are doing one hour of K-pop. One hour dedicated to K-pop right here. I want to say five at the end. Good. That’s good. No, this is good. I’m going to write some things down first so I’m not like stumbling through it like that. Well, no. Well, well, one, you’ll be more familiar with your music than that Rick James song. Um, yeah, you’ll know like I’ve got 18 seconds to talk, I’ve got 8 seconds to talk, I’ve got 27 seconds to talk. Um, versus, and to be clear, tomorrow, so so the theme of tomorrow is it’s the show’s debut. And so I’m going to do like K-pop first. So a lot of the playlist tomorrow is, for example, the the first K-pop song I ever heard. Okay. That or the song that really got I I’d heard like BTS songs before, but they were Stray Kids song. I’m assuming it is Hall of Fame by Straight Kids. the it’s the first song off their album FiveStar. So I’m going to play that song and so when I come I’m going to play that where I talk coming out of it and explain that was song that got me into K-pop. That’s the first song you’re playing tomorrow at 9. Uh depending Okay. It’ll be the first song that I talk out of so I can kind of explain why that song because it’s kind of a little bit of an an obscure song. Okay. So, I’ll I have a plan for like Blackpink, first concert I went to. They have a new song out right now called Jump. I’m going to play that and going into it like, “Hey, the first concert I ever went to. We’re talking K-pop first today. Saw Blackpink at Oracle Park on this day. Here’s their new single, Jump, or here’s their new song, Jump.” Okay. Going into it, like, so I have I have things to I’ve got kind of planned. So, yeah. No, that’s that’s perfect. Do you have like instrumentals? No. So like I I I don’t know like how much you and Complex have talked about how much you talk tomorrow, but on FM you don’t want to talk dry like this. You want you want you want a beat underneath you. You want something underneath you as you’re as you’re talking. So it it’s just a it’s just a different type of energy on Yeah. on FM. So that’s what he’s I don’t want to dive into he showed me some of the things in the system. Yeah. that you can do to Yeah. make that a thing, right? So, we’ve talked about that a little bit for sure. Uh, Scooter 916 says, “So, the post is basically the beginning of the song then. Am I understanding that correctly?” Yes. That’s hitting the post is when you talk up a uh, you know, the the the instrumental beginning of a song and you finish your point right when the right when the the lyrics start. That’s called Hit in the Post. So, on that, do you know what I’m going to say? I think I do. Do you remember this? The Metallica song. Yes. Yeah. So, we’re we’re at a different station and you were filling in cuz I never That’s right. Yeah. So, so ESPN 1320 is Jason Ross. Yeah. ESPN. Yeah. So, you I forget how we even got on the subject. I think it was you. No, I know exactly what it was. Oh, what was it? Cuz I think I have a video of this. It It’s uh Mariano Rivera. I think Mariana Rivera had maybe retired. Yeah. Maybe he had just retired. He had Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame. some Mariana Rivera had just done something. Yeah. And I said, “Yeah, I think you put the music on.” And I’m like, “Let it play. Like, I’ll hit the post.” And you did. Yeah. You on the first try. Well, no. I know the record. Like, I I know. But But I played the I played the song. It wasn’t like, “Hey, I’m going to play Enter Sandman by Metallica. I just did it.” And you were like, “Oh, let me see if I still got it.” Going back to my FM days. D. You drop into the DL low voice. You’re doing the whole thing and then you just hit the first try hit the post. It’s like how do you I was mind blown. I it’s really I mean one I obviously I know the song but one of the weird things about our KSFM setup is you know obviously no one can see this but like I Jesse is in a different studio but there is a window that like I see Jesse very clearly like he’s he’s right there. Complex is supposed to be mixing in that studio at 5:00 but he’s not. He’s mixing four doors down where I can’t see him. So when he’s mixing a song, I have to give him an out so he knows, like if I’m talking or if we’re talking, I have to give him an out so he knows to hit the next record. If I know the song he’s playing, I’m trying to catch the beat. That way he can seamlessly mix into what he’s doing. And so I have become very in tune with like I have no rhythm. I can’t play instruments. I can’t do any of that, but I’ll catch a beat. Yeah. If I’m because I I know if I do this right, this is going to sound fire. And I think it’s the thing I’m best at. Oh yeah. I’m a man of many hidden talents. They’re all hidden. The KSFM show sounds great. Listen to it a lot. Oh, thank you. Yeah. I always wonder like I’m never short. It’s always so hard. Like I can walk away from this show every day be like, “Yeah, no, that was that was good.” Yeah, it was solid. It was a good day. Uh KSFM I’m like, “I think it was fine. I don’t know.” Yeah. It’s going to be weird where where I’m not the thing. Like people are tuning in for the music. They’re not. It could be an AI voice. That’s right. Saying what I’m saying. That’s right. So that’s going to be a weird That’s a weird phenomenon. It’s very different. Yeah. Yeah. It’s very I know the play is going to bang. It’s essentially a k a kick in the balls. It’s like they’re not here for you. They’re here for Siza and Kendrick Drake or over there. They’re here for Chapelon and Taylor and but you you’re but your position is very unique. You’re you’re creating something new. Yeah. There’s not there’s not another K-pop radio show new. And so you have the ability to pull an audience in that does not exist. Correct. And you will be a big part of that. I’m really excited about it. The amount of people I went to a So we launched the announced the show on July 5th within hours. The BTS army that army is their fan group. the Sacramento chapter reached out to me and was like, “Hey, we have this our biggest event of the year is next Sunday. We’ve got a spot for you if you want to come out.” Saw the video. It’s like, “Oh my god.” Like, uh, okay, sure. So, we got together. Uh, salute to our guy Jim from Brick House Industries. He turned around some shirts for me. Uh, we got photo cards made. Photo cards are a big thing. They’re like trading cards in the in the K-pop space. Very cool. Uh, we got some of those made, did a whole thing, and the amount of people that came over and we did requests. The stack of requests I have is insane. That’s awesome. I was like, if we had 20 or 25, that’d be cool. I’m talking probably over a hundred. It is a stack of papers. And we got requests. The amount of people that were like, how do I listen? I’ll actually listen to the radio. Um, it was it was really cool. And that’s kind of what I was hoping for because I if you’re not into the K-pop space, like there’s probably people listening to this right now like this guy, like I promise you it’s there. The fan base is there. You may not know it, but the fan base is very much there. So, I I’m I feel very passionate that there’s there’s a market for this and there’s there’s a fan base for this. There definitely is. 1025 used to have a show called the Future Flavor Show and it was all local talent. Oh, that’s that’s what the show was built off of, local talent. And there was such a desire to hear people from Sacramento. We stretched it out to the Bay Area. Like there was such a a desire for that that similar things started happening. Like people, hey, can you play this? People would send in albums. They would send in or they weren’t albums. They were sent CDs. People would uh send email, hey, can you listen to this? Can you take a listen to this? And I think you and and in in DOA, Derek Allen, legendary producer, uh, worked with Janet, worked with Michael, worked with Lionel Richie, all of that. Um, and Wayne were were were the hosts of that show and they were the centerpieces of that future flavor movement. Uh, the fact that you could be the centerpiece of this this K-pop movement on 1065, the end is pretty dope. And you you already have a really good relationship, you know, with the wakeup call. And so the fact that you can, you know, it I’ I’d talk to them like, “Hey, can we do something every Friday just to hype up the show tomorrow morning?” Uh, that’d be a that’s a big deal. Yeah, absolutely. Was over there today like 9:30. Yeah. Talk about what you got going on tomorrow. Uh, getting the getting the rub from to use a wrestling term, pause from from the wakeup call is is a big deal. What What am I talking about? It’s not a pause. Like I’ll let y’all figure that out yourself. Um, so that’s jumping off tomorrow at 9:00. Can I can I tell you something Kevin said to me today? Kevin from the wake up call. Oh, I’m sure I’m sure this is great. I’m standing there and uh Gavin was out. So, it’s just me and Kevin and Katie and we’re sitting there chitchatting and while I’m talking Oh, we were talking about Dutch Bros and overzealous Dutch Bros employees. Okay, that’s kind of their I’ve heard I’ve heard this I’ve heard this before. Right. So, we’re doing so so we’re talking about this. As I’m talking, Kevin says these words. Okay. Hey, while you’re talking, I’m going to go down. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. And didn’t even acknowledge it. Didn’t it Katie goes Katie goes, “That means he’s going to lay on the ground.” Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Kevin cannot play in this league. Not even No. No. Katie’s Katie’s been versed on the plenty of times where she’s like, “Baby, you can’t pause. Like, you can’t say that. You just can’t say that.” Oh, man. Um, that’s great. I think a great bit would be sitting around listening to the wakeup call and just uh live reacting. Yeah. To to all of to all of Kevin’s moments like because rarely will those two acknowledge what he’s saying. But every morning I’m like Kevin like oh my god you can’t say it won’t fit in my mouth Kevin. You can’t say that on the radio. It’s like all right man. That’s what Hey, maybe is that a is that a segment we need to do? Oh, it absolutely could be one replay review with with Kevin from the wakeup call. Absolutely could be one. Okay. Yeah. And it would be it would be legendary. Oh, it’d be it’d be really good. It would be legendary. Um, in a strange Kings, right? Twist of events. I actually wanted to talk summer league semi-finals. I actually wanted to talk 49ers with you. Oh, okay. Great. We can do that. It’s true. The right is all 49ers questions for you. Yeah. By the way, the the person that texted us sent me the exact same thing, but movies instead of music or Oh, yeah. No, he’s No, the the person who just text us is a troll. Yeah. Yes. He lives to anger. Yeah. Like that is his sole purpose for existence is to see how quickly he can get under my skin. He’s the best. Yeah, he is. I love being around him. I love him to death, but he he exists to drive me crazy. And he succeeds. He’s very good at He’s a Hall of Fame. It’s not hard. He’s a Hall of Famer. No, wait. No. Oh, no. I just dropped my pants. Did you drop your what? Pens. Oh, it’s a flag. It’s officially Friday. No. Yeah, I know. I know. Yeah. A couple pens. I got a couple pens right here. Oh, man. All right, we believe you. I’m just with Mark. What? All right, we’re good. All right. Okay, here we go. 49ers. We’re very serious sports people. Two. One. Um, you wrote about the depth issues for the San Francisco 49ers at the wide receiver position over at ninerswire.com. Uh, we talked a little bit about this earlier on in the week, but what what I don’t fault Jawan Jennings for taking the position that he did given the situation he’s in. Yeah. Going into this season, how should the 49ers handle this knowing uh well, knowing they just signed Brock Party to that massive contract and as you wrote about over at ninerswire.com, that’s not the it’s not the the the deepest depth chart at the wide receiver position. Yeah, man. And there there this is a I don’t know why Jawan Jennings signed the extension that he signed that was going to only put him at $7.5 million this year. That was kind of a weird thing. He could have played out last year on his restricted free agent tender and then been an unrestricted free agent this off season. So just a kind of weird backtrack, but last season probably went a lot better than he expected. Sure. Ricky Paw, first round pick was only played 11 games because he was shot. because he got shot in the chest. Yep. Uh through I’m sorry. Through the chest and then played 11 games. Didn’t look bad doing it. Not at all. Especially for a guy who got shot in the chest. In the chest. Yeah. Shot in the chest. One week before the season started. Crazy. Brandon Auk tears up his knee. Debo Samuel less effective version of Debo Samuel. And Jawan Jennings just kind of emerges as this receiver who’s worth well more than $7.5 million. And then you go into this year and I think he’s looking at at the landscape and going man. So Ricky Pierce, let’s take the being shot in the chest out of it for a second, had a hamstring and shoulder injury last year in camp. He got like no preseason and he missed all of OTAAS with a hammy this year. So he’s a huge question mark. They don’t even know if he’s going to be healthy, much less if he can if he can play. Bran Iay is uh probably midseason, I would guess, week sixish. Yeah. And I think those types of returns are always a bit sketchy. And yeah, he’s playing 14 snaps here. Yeah. 15 snaps there and it’s it’s just kind of and so Jawan Jennings I think is looking at this going hey I’m making $7.5 million this year there’s a really good chance I’m wide receiver one again I’m worth a lot more than that which cool like I I don’t disagree with him and the 49ers are in a tough spot though because if everything goes right okay Jan Jennings yeah you can make more money this year but if everything goes right and Ricky Paw’s good this year and Brandon IU comes back and and is healthy next year and they pay Jawan Jennings out like a wide receiver one or two probably wide receiver three on an offense that doesn’t throw it that much that still has George KD that still has Christian McCaffrey. So he’s going to he’s in an ideal world a fifth option but the reality is he’s probably going to be the first or second option at wide receiver over the next couple of years and I think the 49ers should probably compensate him accordingly. So, we did a lot of and Okay, so I I’m with you. I’m glad you said that. This is how the 49ers should handle it. I I I feel like though, like if we’re going to play, you know, if if if like if Aayou comes back, if this, if that, there’s a lot of ifs that Jawan Jennings and his management team could play. Like, maybe they’re not ifs, but they’re Hey, like George KD’s getting older. I understand why you signed him to a contract extension. and I understand his value to this franchise. I understand he’s probably not the George KD of of years past. Um, uh, Ricky Paw is an unknown. Like, does Ricky Pieraw show some signs of being a really really good wide receiver in this league? Absolutely. But he’s still very much an unknown. You got Brandon Aayuk. Now, you’re banking on Brandon Iayuk, uh, returning the following season, being really good when you were reluctant to give Brandon Aayuk the money two years ago. And in reality, if you want to save money, you can cut his ass, not me. and Christian McCaffrey, the rule of the running back. At some point, it’s just not going to work for you, John. Mhm. And so, like, we can we can play these hypotheticals on both sides, and it’s and and it’s where I think the 49ers often get stuck. I thought we were escaping the off season without any any sort of issue like this. But again, I understand why Jawan Jennings is is making this push right now. I don’t know how much leverage he has, but it’s probably the best he’ll ever have. So, take advantage of it right now. Yeah. Uh, I’m right there. And if he I I pointed to the Rashad Baitman contract in something I wrote and and a lot of people have have pointed that out. Chris Berman brought it up on on Candlestick Chronicles, but it makes sense because Rashad Baitman is in kind of a similar spot where he’s a former first round pick now, not a not a seventh round pick, but four years in, statistically they’re pretty comparable. And Rashad Baitman is kind of an unknown in terms of his role. Mhm. Like, yeah, ideally your wide receiver won, but you haven’t really been that. You’re coming out the best year of your career and it was 736 yards or something like And so they gave him three and 36 on an extension. I think the Niners could probably do something similar. Now, will Jennings take that? I don’t know. But if you’re the Niners, you have to look over the next Okay, so you you pay them out, you extend them with, let’s say, two years guaranteed. Mhm. There’s not anybody on the roster I’m looking at where I’m going, hey, you’re going to have to pay that guy. There’s nobody that’s going to break the bank coming up. Nick Bosa probably gets an extension at some point in the next year or two. Sorry. Uh you’re you’re probably extending Nick Bosa at some point. Diodor Lenor’s contract is uh not going to suffice I I think for much longer because he they’re getting him for next to nothing compared to his production. But outside of that, there’s no Brock party contract coming up. Fred Warner’s extension’s done. George KD’s extension’s done. Christian McCaffry’s extension’s done. Trent Williams, whatever extension he got was last year. Like that. So, you know what you’re working with. To me, I the the risk of the Jawan Jennings contract being prohibitive at any point over the next couple of years is well worth the reward of making sure he’s locked in and happy this year and potentially next. We are four days away from everyone reporting to to to camp and things getting started. I think it’s the 22nd. Yeah. What is f first of all, is this a is this Jawan Jennings situation? Is this a big deal? It’s a [Music] yes. I’m going to say yeah. Trent Williams was a big deal. Uh the Brock Party thing was a big deal. They took care of that quickly. Uh Nick Bossa, Jawan Jennings, maybe not on that deal. Medium deal. Okay. Medium deal. Yeah. All right. What’s the biggest question headed into training camp next week for the 49ers? Oh, is it It’s not this, is it? Or is it? No. The Yeah, it might just be this. Okay. They There’s some position battles they got to figure out. But I think in terms of like to me, can the rookie play isn’t a qu like that’s everybody that’s not team specific. Everybody wants to know if their rookies can play. the the Jawan Jennings contract. Does he show up? They said he’s not gonna hold out, but does he participate in practice? Um, what does does Brandon Aayuk return at any point during during camp? That’s that’s something I’m watching for. What does Christian McCaffrey look like? Might actually be the biggest question for me because that’s check that not what he looks like because you’re going to see we’ve already seen it in OTAAS. David Lombardi, who covers the team and is a is a cheerleader, says he looks awesome. He looks great. And then Grant Con, who covers the team and is more pessimistic. It’s like, he looks terrible. Uh, oh my god, Christian McAffrey doesn’t have legs anymore. Reality is probably in the middle. Yeah. So, it’s less about how does Christian McCaffrey look because I don’t think you’re going to be able to tangibly see, wow, he has that extra gear. Wow, he looks good. Because it’s practice to me. It’s the reps. Is he getting every other day off? Is he getting a day off a week? Is he not running with the first team in team drills or there he’s sitting out team drills? That those are the little things I’m looking for because if it looks like he’s on a pitch count this off season, that scares me going into the year. Sure. But if he’s just, yeah, McAffrey is out there. He got a vet day off every when everybody else got a vet day off, but no, for the most part, he just kind of did his thing, then I feel better about it. It feels like this season might boil down to and you’re the expert so you could tell me how off this assessment is but it feels like this season might boil down to how what Brock Party being worth that investment and these could be two you know mutually exclusive things but Brock Petty Brock Pury being worth that investment and how much you talked about Christian McAffrey but how much do all of those veterans have left the George KDs the Trent Williams all of those guys how much do they have left to potentially come together maybe one more time to make a push towards the NFC Championship in the Super Bowl. I think their hope is that Brock Party is the guy that will offset some of that. Okay, George KD is 85% of what he was, but you know what? Brock Pury took us took a leap. So that doesn’t factor in as much because Brock Perie is making plays and making better and making better decisions than he made last year, getting rid of the ball, running the offense, doing the doing doing everything right. I don’t know if he can. That’s still a question mark for me. Take it take take a leap like take a step forward. Okay. Yeah. I I I think the the nightmare scenario for the Niners is last year was kind of it for Brock Perie where okay, he’s not a bad player, but you really need to make sure that you’re surrounding him with premium talent if you want to make a Super Bowl. That was a pretty strong statement though. Like you you think that’s a nightmare for the San Francisco 49ers if if he’s if we’ve seen everything that Brock Party is as a quarterback. Yeah, that’s a bad situation for the 49ers. Yeah, I think so. Huh. because it it it’s going to be really really difficult if the level of talent he needs to get them to Super Bowls again because we’re not just talking about can you can you make the playoffs that’s not the goal anymore. Yeah. So for him to get back to a to a Super Bowl if it turns out hey you know what everything has to be perfect. You have to have a top eight defense and then you have to have Debo Samuel playing well. You have to have prime Brandon Iayuk looking like an allp pro. You have to have a allpro tight end. You have to have a Hall of Fame left tackle. If you need all of those things, that’s bad. Like that that’s that’s not a scenario you want to be in. Now, you have to there’s like a requisite level of talent that that every quarterback needs, but I think the 49ers are are looking to Brock Pury to kind of be that that rising tide that lifts all boats. He’s never going to be Lamar Jackson. He’s never going to be Josh Allen. But, um, I do think their hope is that, okay, George KD’s diminished a little bit. It doesn’t matter because Brock leveled up his game. And the tough part might for him might be the fact that he was so good so quickly that you know I I I think part of the reason obviously I believe the 49ers love George KD. I believe they want him to to to retire as a San Francisco 49er. But I you know this this game is also a business and I think there’s a part of them that as much as they love KD and retiring as a 49er they also thought it’s probably really important to Brock party. So, if we have to sacrifice some dollars that maybe we don’t necessarily want to spend, we’re willing to do that because we need to do something to to to help our quarterback who we just signed. It’s important, I think, to point out like Brock is still a young quarterback. Like, giving him the time, like he came out the gate so quickly. I’m of the belief he still has some developing to do. I’m of the belief there are still things that he can do better. Giving him the time to do that, I think, is really important for this organization. And transitioning to a new group of guys rather than all of a sudden a whole bunch of guys are gone all at once. You can like, oh, I’ve got KD and maybe Jawan, right? And then next year, okay, it’s Pieraw and new guy, right? and you you start to find the guys that maybe fit to use that maybe fit Brock Pery’s timeline rather than you know the Jimmy Garopolo version and and and all of that. Yeah. And that’s that that’s what we talk about this with the Kings all the time. You got to hit draft picks. Niners are gonna have to hit some draft picks. Yeah. Starting last year, this year’s class. I think if you want to be optimistic about Brock Party, if you’re if you’re if you’re uh looking for that, this is his first like normal training camp. He had his rookie year where he was QB3. Sure. Secondary is coming off the elbow surgery. Yeah. Last year was the Brandon Auk and Trent Williams holdouts. Yep. And this year, okay, the Jawan Jennings thing, but outside of that, everybody’s been participating in all the OTAAS. Everybody we still got to see with with Jennings but but the McAffrey Williams all signs are Jennings showing up right at the very least showing up whether he practice he’s not going to be happy as Adam Sheff reported furious’ll be out there just running routes but it’s that’s I think where your your hope is and last year was a stumbling block and okay teams defended him this way defended the Niners this way here’s how their offense is going to be different this year to to kind of help him uh take that next step that’s I think the the optimistic view things don’t go great for the 49ers this year. Brock Party is going to bear a lot of the the blame for that, isn’t he? Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Uh Brock Party, I think it’s this is the year where him and him and Kyle Shanahan both I think will. But yeah, if they’re if they’re sub 500 again with this schedule. Yeah. Oh. Oh god, the schedule. I forgot about the schedule. If they’re if they’re sub 500 with this schedule, you have to what is it called when you eliminate a soccer team? Oh, yeah. You got to do that. 49ers got to go to they got to go to the rocks league. Brock has no excuses now. I know it’s maybe unfair, but he’s paid like like Kyle said to be at least 500 every year. Now it it is unfair, but it is very accurate. Yeah. Like that’s just what it is. Brandon you couldn’t miss however much time and things this but like as like the way he’s paid like needs to make these other guys better and just put You’re not the Jaguars. You’re not Jacksonville. Nope. You’re not Carolina. Nope. like you’re a you’re a young quarterback in a really really good position on an organization very very hungry to win. Yeah. And will put its resources towards winning. If you don’t if this is where I’ve been very like you don’t fire Kyle Shanahan. Yeah. If they go sub 500 this year, next year is the the hot seat here. Yeah. That’s that’s where I land anyway. Uh we’re getting a a summer league championship. I kind of think so. Like the Kings might just have the best player on the court in every game. No, Nick. Sure. I’m all in on Nick Clifford, dude. I’m just down with it. We’re getting a Nick Clifford fan club. Yeah, bro. We’re here. That fan club is a thing. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think those jerseys have been bought. Yeah. I I Yeah, man. That’s I think he’s he’s putting together summer league highlights. I said this on the insiders the other day. He’s putting together a summer league highlight reel that is easy for me to see in 10 years them showing the Nick Clifford summer league highlights as he’s making all NBA teams. Yeah, like they when they talk about summer league, they always flash to the the LeBron and the Dwight and the LeBron Carmelo and all of those different things. Yeah, there’s Oh, there’s Oh, there’s Oh, remember Nick’s first summer league. And you watched how they watch how all those players move. Watch how they control the game and it looks really familiar. Yeah. I’m trying not to let myself get excited, but also I’m on the radio, so it’s like I’m going just be excited. Where are you at with him? Like you thinking, oh, he’s contributing game one now for the Kings Cup. Yes. I think by the end of the year, he’s going to be one of their five best players. Okay. I love that. I love that. I hope you’re right. Uh me, too. I hope uh I I’m I’m excited that that that Nick, Max, and I assume Devin are playing this thing out through. Um, that would be that would suck. That would be such bad vibes if they went, “All right, we did it. Okay, you guys are done.” Oh, yeah. It’s too It’s too late. Terrible. You had an opportunity to do that. Yeah. You had an opportunity to do that before last game. That that’s done. You’ve committed to at minimum one more game, potentially two. Yeah. Like you’re not playing in the, you know, the consolation game that no one wants to be in. you’re stuck in Vegas too long uh because someone won by too many points uh and now you just can’t get out of it and like you’re miserable. You can’t win anything. You just want to leave. That’s not what this is. You have the chance to go win the tie. Go win it. Yeah. Like I I it’s it’s a ring. Let these guys get a ring. Absolutely. Um great stuff, man. Uh we’ll be tapped in tomorrow not to 13:20 a.m. but to 1065 FM. Kyle makes his debut on the end. The Saturday comeback every Saturday 900 am km debuts over there tomorrow morning. So make sure you’re locked in. Uh use the Odyssey app if you want the app to work. Use the iHeart app. Uh use TuneIn. Uh listen on the radio, whatever. Uh but check out our man support our man Kyle Matson over there on 1065 the end. Uh appreciate you my friend. We’ll come back. Going to stick with football for a couple of more minutes. Uh because we had some developing news. We had some more news regarding the story we’ve been talking about with the NFL PA and their executive director Lloyd How Jr. Boy, everyone involved wants this story to go away and I’m not sure. For the first time, I’m not sure that it’s going to. We’ll talk about that next here on ESPN 1320. Hey Lizzy, can you hear me? I’m going to do a a short segment here. I’ll because I don’t think this will interest you. I’m going to do a short segment here and then at the next break. Okay. Appreciate you chatting. Thanks guys. Appreciate you. Likewise, man. You too. Good luck. Sorry guys, I’m responding to a corporate Now, It’s a top five awkward feeling too when the dap is messed up. Like trying to dab up just doesn’t know what he’s doing. That’s an issue. Yeah. Yeah. It’s tough. Yeah. Missing the dab is tough. Like you go to dab someone up and then they go to shake your hand. It’s like ah. Yeah. That’s a miss. There’s a lot of fist bumping here. Yeah, man. I’m not a I wonder if that’s a co thing. I’m not. Yeah, I’m not a not I’m not big. Not a bumper. No, I’m not a bumper. And I’ve told people here like like Miller’s big on like I don’t do that. What’s it called? Shout out Saro I think they they was talking about. Going to get myself a New York slice. I love how much we quote The Office on this show. I was watching it yesterday is the one where um Stanford links up with um like they get sold or whatever. Not sold, but they move over to the regular one and they’re trying to figure out who was from the who was from jail. Oh, right, right, right, right. Yeah, that was prison. That’s the prison mic that was prison. Yeah, that’s the prison. You got a good life. You got a good life. I didn’t get caught either. What are you in jail for? Oh, there’s so many quotables in that one. We were talking about daps and daps gone bad and all of that during the commercial break. And I was telling Jesse like this, the people here, they’re big into fist bumps and and I like I can’t I’m not a big fan of that. I don’t know why. And and Chris asked, “You give hugs, DLO?” And I I think I do. I’m more of like an embracer. Like I’m more of a full-on uh you know, hit the dap, do the pull in, and and and keep it moving. Sometimes it’s hit the dap, do the pull in, and you hit the full embrace once in a while. But yeah, like I’m a I’m I’m more of a hugger. I don’t the the the fist bump thing. Like I mean, occasionally if it’s the third time you saw the person the day, it’s like, “Hey, what’s up, bro?” And then keep it moving. But if I don’t really know you, I think I do the fist bump. But like if I do like we’re friends and stuff, yeah, that’s when you dab. But yeah, if I don’t really know you or we’re not the best of friends, probably Fisk, bro. Okay. It’s just more friendly and stuff like that. Yeah. I think if I if I if I don’t know you yet, it’s like maybe more of the That’s funny. I swear Kyle and Mark just walked past each other and just did the fist bump. Like this this this if I don’t know you, it’s a head. That’s all it is. No spoken word. That’s That’s a shoot. Yeah, that’s that’s that’s a shoot I think I do for for the people like I’m not like close with. It’s more of just uh it’s kind of just more of the dap the part. Keep it moving when I know you like the people I’m like like Karo. Uh you guys, it’s the it’s the full on it’s the full-on embrace. Um Eddie Gonzalez going to join us uh coming up at 2:15. We’ll talk everything going on or everything that’s not going on uh in the NBA. Also, Adam Silver very tepidly talked about expansion and I feel like we might have jumped the gun on that conversation. I’ll explain why uh coming up. First of but but but before we get there, want to put a little kind of a little bow so to speak on the story that we talked about indepthly uh for the first time earlier this week. We’ve tried to make you aware of this story going on with the NFL and the NFL Players Association over the course of the last couple of weeks. Of course, Pablo Tori and Mike Florio uh did a great podcast on Pablo finds out uh about this 61page arbitration ruling that we learned the NFL PA and the owners in the NFL agreed to keep quiet. And it is essentially uh the ruling was that that they actually decided there wasn’t enough evidence to determine that the NFL owners colluded to keep guaranteed contracts down in the NFL. All of the evidence uh that was presented as Mike Florio pointed out on the podcast, it was all circumstantial. It’s pretty strong evidence, but again, it’s circumstantial and and I’m I I’m not Mike Florery is a lawyer. I’m not. So, I know the burden of proof in like criminal court. I know the burden of proof in civil court. I have no clue what the burden of proof is in arbitration. And so, if a bunch of circumstantial evidence was presented, it was I I I guess it wasn’t enough. However, that arbitrator did rule that Roger Goodell, now this was the funny part, couldn’t determine whether the NFL owners colluded to keep guaranteed contracts down, but determined that Roger Goodell did. He at the very least advised teams to keep guaranteed contracts down. I’d like to remind those that don’t know Roger Goodell, God bless him, has no power. None. I’m going to stop short of saying he’s useless because he’s certainly not that. He represents the owners of the teams in the National Football League. That’s his job to act in their best interest. His title is the commissioner of the National Football League when in reality he should be the commissioner for the owners in the National Football League. Roger Goodell does not work on behalf of the players. He works with the NFL’s players association and their executive director on behalf of the players. Funny thing happened along the way as this story was developing. the NFL players executive director who all of this controversy has surrounded from his previous employment to the types of meetings that he’s having to lawsuits that he’s been a part of to his current employment which is a direct conflict of interest to his job as the executive director of the NFL players association. You also got the fact that it seems that the players association can’t determine whether he was hired in secret or not. Depending on who you talk to, the NFL PA will tell you, “Oh yeah, we vetted him and man, we grilled him about his previous background.” And then other members of the players association will tell you, “Yeah, just one day this guy was there and they said he was going to be the the the executive director.” And there are people who will legitimately say, “I can’t remember voting for him.” Like, I can’t remember if we voted for him. Vote him against him. I don’t remember when the vote was cast. He stepped down yesterday after what has now been two years. He stepped down. And this is a story that the NFL and the NFL players association so desperately want to go away because they all look terrible. The players association needs to be gutted. And for those who don’t know how the players association works, we’ll use the San Francisco 49ers for example. The San Francisco 49ers elect a a players association representative. that representative for the San Francisco 49ers goes to all of the meetings, take parts in all of the Zooms, and it is that player’s job to inform the other players on his team, in this case, the San Francisco 49ers, everything that is going on within the players association, everything that is on the table, it is that player’s job to convey to his team whether this collective bargaining agreement proposal is good, whether this uh executive director candidate is any good. Now, there are far more uh the smaller things that a players association deals with throughout the course of a season, but these are the major things that a players association rep deals with throughout the season. So, every team has a rep. Of those reps, there is a committee elected. There is a president, there was a vice president, there is a secretary, there’s multiple vice presidents. There are all of those different things. That group elects an executive director. That’s where things seem to get really sketchy with Lloyd. How is the former players association president was a center for the Cleveland Browns, the team that signed Deshun Watkins Watson to that infamous contract. He gets cut, which means he can’t come back as the president of the players association. He seems to be the one who pushed for Lloyd How to be the executive director. Lloyd How gets quote elected as the executive director and somehow this mysterious position of creative director that never exists before now exists and goes to the former Cleveland Brown center who was the former president of the players association. Now that Lloyd How Jr. is gone, guess who’s angling to be the president of the players association? If I am a player in the National Football League and I’m showing up to training camp in 4 days, the very first thing I’m doing is pulling my players association rep aside and saying, “Can you explain to me how the union that I elected to work for me colluded with the owners to keep my pay down?” very first question I’m asking. Don’t ask me about uh uh my offseason routine. Don’t ask me how my wife is doing. Don’t ask me about kids. Don’t tell me to go stretch. Don’t tell me to go put on my pads. Don’t tell me to go warm up. I need you to tell me how you determined that the commissioner of the NFL advised my boss to keep our salary down. And if I really want to flex, I’m gathering a couple other people who should be pissed off. And you know how many players in the National Football League should be pissed off about this? All of them. Because none of you hoes have guaranteed contracts. Deshun Watson may be sitting with his feet up, not worried about a damn thing because he’s constantly injured. And this whole trade has been a flop, a massive disaster. But every other player in the National Football League. Oh, I’ve got questions. Roger Goodell is advising this league that makes a billion dollars a second. Is advising my boss to keep my salary down. Adam Sher didn’t write about this until he was forced to. You think the NFL media is going to cover this? Listen, when I say the NFL media, I’m talking about the actual NFL media. I’m talking about the NFL network. I’m talking about Good Morning Football. You think they’re going to cover this? No. That’s state-run media. Of course, they’re not going to cover it. Adam Sher, even though he works for ESPN, is essentially staterun media. They’re all scared to death of this story because they don’t want to piss off the wrong people. And those people are Jerry Jones, Robert Craft, Stan Kunky, Ched York, owner after owner after owner after governor after whatever you want to call him. That’s who they’re scared to piss off. So Pablo’s like, “F it. I’m talking about it.” Mike Florio doesn’t give a damn. He’s like, “I’m talking about this.” Mike Florio has been screaming for months, “Why is no one talking about this? This is a massive scandal and I don’t know why I’m worked up about it. I truthfully don’t know why I care because Roger Goodell’s not keeping my salary down. So if Brock Purdy and Jawan Jennings, Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson, Nick Bosa, TJ Watt, if those guys don’t care, why the hell do I? And that’s funny. See, that’s that’s funny. I think about TJ Watt, not think about the fact he got that massive contract yesterday. the richest average annual value for a non-quarterback in the history of the league. And I I wonder if what these guys think is I’m making it I mean making $41 million is that it’s not a big deal. And this my loved ones who are so kind to spend some of their time listening to this show. This is why the NFL Players Association is the worst in professional sports. The difference between the halves and the have nots is incredible. It is a Grand Canyon like golf. They’ve got the Mahomeses and the essentially what you have is the quarterbacks. You have the quarterbacks. You have the really high-end defensive players. The Watts, the Bosas, um who did W uh Miles Garrett. You’ve got those guys. And then, you know, you start to you start to, you know, sprinkle in numbers and positions and all the way down, all the way down, all the way down until you get to the have nots. And the have nots far outweigh the halves in the NFL because the rosters are so big. The position groups are so different. But it’s the halves who have the most powerful voices. And unfortunately, it’s the halves who time after time after time have absolutely nothing to say. The fact that in 2020, this players association signed what was it? A 10-year collective bargaining agreement that gave them zero control over anything moving forward. but allowed the owners the ability to increase the schedule by at least two games within that 10 years is absurd. Again, the players have nothing, no say, absolutely none. But the owners can go, you know what, we’re going to switch to a 17 game schedule. And they did that. And at some point, probably very soon, it’s going to be an 18game schedule. What it does after that, I don’t I don’t know. This league has got these guys playing on Thursdays, which again, players union not strong enough to push back against it. Players will complain non-stop about Thursday’s game. But when they had the opportunity to do something about it, they weren’t strong enough to do it. Why? because their player reps came to him and said, “You know, we’ve got a Thursday Night Football deal. So, if we lose that Thursday Night Football deal, everybody’s pay is going to be different.” And you know who that sways? Not Lamar, not Momes, not any of those guys at the top. It sways the h have nots because the h have nots need that payday. The have nots need that TV deal. Just context to the last CBA in 2020 the difference in votes between players for and against was 60 and 500 players didn’t vote. 500 players did not vote. And you wonder difference of 60 as well between the who were for and against. You wonder why they’re unaware that their players association and their commissioner are actively working against them. 500 players did not vote. The players association and the players union and all of this, it’s almost identical to government. Think about what we just laid out. Again, we’ll stick with the San Francisco 49ers as the a as the example. They come together, they elect their their their their player rep. Those guys never thinking about it again. to them to most of them clearly to at minimum 500 of them the players union even though they’re a part of it all of the stuff that comes with it the voting the staying on top of it the newsletters the all of that stuff that’s a that’s a nuisance that’s not what they’re here to do they’re here to play football I want to hit somebody I want to run I want to catch I want to score I want to tackle I want to sack quarterback that’s what they’re thinking about so they elect these officials and then they just leave it alone and they don’t think about it And it’s going to take something to get them really riled up to pay attention. Think back to the to the to the uh Biden Trump election. Everybody was all fired up because of the way Donald handled COVID and all of all of this and now we’re all fired up and we’re going to go out there and vote and Biden gets elected. Then what happened? Well, we did it. And everybody goes back to not paying attention. Then the run-up to the next election. Well, we all saw it. We don’t have to rehash that. That’s the exact same thing that’s going on in the NFL. That’s the exact That’s not even That’s not even fair. That’s the exact same thing that goes on with players associations in general. be it the NFL, the NBA, or or or Major League Baseball. I’ve told you about the little experience I’ve had watching a WNBA players association work from the inside. They were in the middle of a very contentious collective bargaining agreement. And there was someone on that executive committee that said, “No, this is trash. We don’t need to sign this.” The president said, “Yes, we absolutely do need to sign this.” The vice president said, “No, we don’t.” And you know what they both immediately did? They both went and they hit the phones and they started calling players. They started calling player reps and they started calling agents. Agents started calling their players. That collective bargaining agreement that year, every star player that you can think of voted against it and it passed with the narrowest of margins. And you know what happened during the next election cycle? The executive committee told that vice president who spoke a little too loud, “Thank you, but your services are no longer required.” We are We are watching the weakest players association sell out its players. We’re watching the weakest union in professional sports sell out its union members right in front of our eyes. And the TJ Watts and the big money players don’t care cuz they get $41 million anyways. But those guys fighting for roster spots when preseason gets underway here in a couple of weeks, they’re the ones who wish there were more guaranteed contracts put out. The guys whose career last four years or 6 years versus or four or five years, I should say versus uh eight or 10 years. Those are the ones who are begging for guaranteed contracts. Those are the ones who at minimum are begging for more guaranteed money and can’t get it. And now you know why I thought for sure the Deshawn Watson dealt guaranteed money because it was such a bad deal. Because the trade and the salary from a desperate football team was so bad, no one was ever going to try it again. when in actuality what happened was it was so bad and so polarizing that the owners got together and said guys we cannot do this. There are messages from owners expressing how furious they were that the Cleveland Browns offered a guaranteed contract. There’s testimony from Russell Wilson in that 61page document that says, I believe it was, what was his team before the seal? The Broncos. The Denver Broncos were prepared to offer him a guaranteed contract. He had been fighting for a guaranteed contract and there was no resistance from the Denver Broncos whatsoever. They’re having talks. They’re having talks. League meetings take place. They come back from those talks. All of a sudden, the Denver Broncos, they don’t want to have a guaranteed contract anymore. They start pushing back on that. They start utilizing incentives. There’s documented evidence. I always joked that Mark Davis was going to be the one who blew the roof off of the the the Colin Kaepernick collusion thing by accidentally sending an email or a text like, “Hey, we’re still keeping Cap out of the league, right? That was a joke.” That’s actual reality. Not in the case of Colin Kaepernick, but in the case of guaranteed contracts. And so one of the reasons all of this one of the reasons this story I’m so passionate about this story one because it’s horrible for these football players particularly the ones that don’t get the TJ Watt contracts but one of the reasons it’s so satisfying is because so many people that I had to deal with on a day-to-day basis through my ability to talk on the told me how insane it would be. There were people who hosted sports shows in this market who would tell you how insane it would be for NFL owners to collude against something and how damaging to the sport it would be and how insane I am for thinking they’re colluding to keep Colin Kaepernick out of the league. Colin Kaepernick is a marginal quarterback at best. Maybe he’s not even marginal. He isn’t even good. Fast forward 9 years. You think this is the first time the NFL owners colluded against something? Sweetie, this is just the first time we found out. What’s the hot video on the internet right now? My man at the Coldplay concert. You think that was the first time he was out with his mistress? No chance. No, sweetie. It’s the first time they got caught. So when someone says the NFL colluded to make Shador Sanders dropping the draft and you’re quick to dismiss it, when the story of Colin Kaepernick is written and they say the owners colluded to keep him out of the league and you’re quick to dismiss it, remember this moment right here. Remember this arbitration ruling. Remember this executive director and remember this players association and how they actively worked against their own players. We’re going to lighten up the mood map mood up. We’re going to come back. Uh we’ll talk NBA stuff. We got Eddie Gonzalez joining us in about 45 minutes. I think my man Lizzy going to come hang out with me. We’ll talk some Kings basketball. We’ll talk some NBA basketball. Steel and Casey brought to you by Sky River Casino on Sacramento Sports Leader ESPN 1320. Lazy, sit in front of me, bro. You good, man? Anything specific you want to dive into? All right, let’s do that. Do that. Yeah, that story you’re talking about is wild though, man. Appreciate your riding. Thank you, brother. All right, lazy in there. Oh, whoops. Wrong button. There we go. What up, Chatty House? Happy Friday. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Flashback Friday. I see you, Russ. Hey, man. Shout out to Kyle, bro. But it’s wild. He didn’t know that was Rick James, man. He’s like, “I’ve heard this song.” I was like, “Come on, man.” That’s like my uh go-to karaoke song right there. Yo, yo, what up, Scooter? Katrina, Rody, Tyler, check this out. Le, you bring the cameras in the pizza? No pizza, but I did bring my camera. I was thinking about you, D. You remember how we were talking about cameras? Yeah. So, I have mine with me, but I forgot to bring this cord and then we could have tested it out to see how it would look for you. Oh, yeah. That’s a good Yeah, it’s a good idea. We should Yeah, I have one at home. I hate moving it because it’s like set perfectly for TV, but Uhhuh. Yeah. If we got some new cameras, man, content be popping. Yeah, man. Be a big deal. Yeah. Shout out to Jesse in those YouTube clips. Jesse always working hard. Yes, sir. Mrs. Mac 10. Oh, okay. Rest are prince or earth win or fire. Okay. Either way, he can’t go wrong. Uh yeah, we’ll go Yeah. Yeah, we’ll do we’ll go short and get back on track on the next one. Spencer. Spencer. I don’t know how to say your last name, but you always show love, man. Shout out to you. Alter J very interesting here. Teddy penny grass or aline. Okay. Lo bol ted penny grass t number six. Yeah. All right, man. My man Leezy in here with me. It’s Leazy Friday. Let’s go. Always good to have my guy in here. Yes, sir. Let’s get the vibes up. It’s Friday. Just got paid. Weekend coming. Good times. I’m gonna need you to tone it down a little bit, man. Okay. My bad. Some Some of us are tired. No, I’m just kidding, man. I’m just kidding. Hey, deal. You’ve been holding it down this week. Oh, man. I’m trying to. I can’t lie. I hope Kenny has the most miserable week of his life next week. Oh, it’s gonna be Casey and Friends. He gonna have Sarah Hodgees. Dusty’s going to come in. Everybody gonna be here. Actually, you mentioned Dusty. That’s right. Yeah. I I Hey. Hey, stick around. Uh I Hey, I I just got a text about Dusty. Stick around. Y’all y’all might want to y’all won’t want to miss this. We’ll have it. Uh not yet, but I’ll I’ll we’ll we’ll we’ll talk about it here in the next 45 minutes or so. But yeah, you mentioned Dusty Baker. I got Hey, I don’t know something to talk about with that. I haven’t got to try the wine yet. I got to see what the talk’s about. I know it’s good. Well, as you can see, these are these are these are sealed bottles behind me. Those those those need to remain sealed for now, but I know uh Baker Family Wine uh is getting us a batch that we can. I mean, Casey don’t even know these here. I might take one home this weekend. Why not? Complimentary. I might take one home. I think you earned it for vacation time. You know, relaxing, open. I think I did, man. We’re just trying to hang out, chill out. But we got the Kings uh potentially winning a summer league title uh coming up here in the next couple of days. Of course, they’ll play in the semi-finals uh against the Toronto Raptors tomorrow. What What So where are you at? You’re not a you’re not a you’re not a Kings fan, but you are. I’m I’m a King supporter. Okay. You’re you’re a Kings supporter. You’re normally pretty You’re normally pretty neutral when it comes to like evaluating the Kings and and not getting too excited. And I’m not TC right now. You’re not TC. TC. If TC see a window, he going to jump out of it. He’s jumping every time. What do you uh what do you think so far about Nick and Max and what we’ve seen in summer? Uh I’ve been excited. I’ve been enjoying the games. Uh as I mentioned going into summer league, I was really interested to see Nick, but now that the games have started and things are going, I’ve become more of a Max guy. Uh I really like his game. I think he could really open up things. Um it’s been it’s been great seeing him so far. Overall, a lot of the Kings moves I’m I’m enjoying. Um, Dennis Rutder, he’s a solid point guard. Happy to see him on the team. I don’t know if you guys remember this back during the trade deadline, I kind of talked about it. I was like, man, why don’t they just get Dennis Shruder? You need a point guard. Uh, I’m kind of in the same boat as you, DLO. I’m tired of us trying to make players play out of their position. Don’t try to make this guy a point guard. Don’t try to make this guy a defender. Go get a point guard. Go get a defender, you know. So, uh, so far, you know, just being neutral. I’m liking what I’m seeing so far. I’m not jumping out the out the window, but, uh, Kings making some solid moves so far. One of the things, one of the the the reason um and what one of the one of the reasons I think this summer league is is is pretty dope or one of the reasons I think a summer league title would be pretty dope. One, winning is always cool, no matter how, you know, big or small the the the overall achievement is. Like winning is cool. Like Kings winning the summer league would be dope. But I think what really is resonating with Kings fans right now is the fact that, you know, you’re playing in the semi-finals, you could potentially win the summer league, but you’ve you’re doing it on the strength of a couple of draft picks that you really like. And one thing that I think is really impressive was we talk about, you know, we love to great general managers. You know, Scott’s probably couple weeks away from hitting his first 100 days as the general manager. He’s at like 70ome right now. Yeah. So if you do, you know, you know, the president always has their first 100 day evaluation. Like when we when we evaluate Scott Perry at the 100 day mark of him having this job, the Sacramento Kings didn’t have a first round draft pick. He got in. He got in and landed a player that right now is performing really well. And then at 42 able to land a guy who if he if if he can get comfortable pretty quickly will probably have a rotational spot. Yeah. Uh on as a Yeah. as a second round pick like right away. And so I think having a summer league title on the strength of that is pretty dope. And I think looking back when you evaluate Scott Perry’s first 100 days, having those couple achievements in his first 100 days is is pretty dope as well. Also, yeah, as you mentioned, going into the draft, we didn’t have a first round pick and so here for him to move up and get Nick uh is great and Nick is succeeding uh right now overall. I still don’t know what position he’s going to end up playing at the end of the day, but he can do a little bit of everything. You’ll see him get boards, get his assist, and all that. Yeah. Yeah. I think he I mean, I think as a backup three, like he could he has like immediate minutes behind Zack Lavine. Yeah, we definitely need that. Yeah. And I I mean I He also feels versatile. I mean, I know the, you know, the point guard thing. James says he wants to see, uh, you know, Nick run at the point guard maybe the next, next couple of days or next couple of games or at least next game and we’ll see if there’s one after that. Mason Jones isn’t playing, right? No. Okay, there you go. Probably not. Yeah. So, it’s um Well, I I said that too definitively. Probably not. He’s probably not playing tomorrow. Um, but yeah, like there’s probably a couple of different roles he could have, but I think if you really zero in on him being a backup three, maybe occasionally playing at the two spot, I can’t imagine why that would be needed with this group, but if for whatever reason, it could be. I just there seems to be a lot that that Nick Clifford could do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, definitely versatile. Uh, I definitely would like to see him run the backup point than um what’s then Ben Simmons. I heard you guys talking about that earlier. I was like, “Uh, you I believe are a long time Ben Simmons hater.” I’m not. No, come on. When When did I get this, Jesse? When did I get this rep being a Ben Simmons hater? Well, one, what you just said sounded like hate. Oh, well, okay. But I don’t think you’ve ever spoke. You don’t like Ben Simmons, do you? I don’t like his personality. You just drop what’s his name right now. That’s kind of Yeah, kind of like a little little shade. No, no shade at Ben Simmons. He like, “Hey, he used to Ben Simmons used to be an all-star caliber player. He had a lot of potential. Obviously, after that Hawk series, things went south for him. But just like his overall demeanor and attitude, hey, one thing Scott Perry’s been talking about is he wants volunteers, not hostages.” Think if we get Ben Simmons here, he’s more on the hostage side. How so? If he if he signs here, Yeah. I I I I don’t think that’s a hostage. I mean, I I I don’t know. I’m I think I’m the only media member who hasn’t spoken to Scott Perry, but yeah, I I think he’s referring to the people currently on the team. Yeah. Like, if you don’t want to be here, say the word. Well, also, you say the word, there might not be anything I could do about it. So, you ass need to get over if you guys had your choice right now, is the backup point guard on the roster right now currently for the Kings? Nope. No. No. Like, you wouldn’t go Nick Clifford to start season lazy? Absolutely. No. No. No. No. Okay. We don’t want to put too much pressure on Nick. That’s the problem we always we always have, man. like he’s going to be there expectations going to be very high. So, no, I don’t want to put him in that situation yet. Are we all in agreement, then they need to bring someone in? Yes. You you think that, too? I said I’m asking if we’re all in agreement. Oh, I that’s how I feel. Yeah. That’s Yeah, cuz if it’s if it’s Devin or if it’s Devon or It’s not Deon. That’s the thing. Like, if it’s Deon or a free agent, then I’ll go free agent. Der, I rather see your boy Westbrook. I rather see I Hey, I’m coming around. Let’s see Westbrook do his thing. He wasn’t that bad in Denver. He was It wasn’t that bad. He was really good in Denver. Wasn’t great in the playoffs. But but when uh I think it was Gordon went out, he stepped in uh into that starting role and was really really good. And then when Gordon came back, he seamlessly kind of moved to that to that six-man role. And then it just they just weren’t strong enough in the playoffs. And you know, Russ kind of has on games, off games, on games, off games. And when that happens in the playoffs, you lose those off games. the series then the series ends. Yeah, the room for error is a lot smaller playoff games. Yeah, but no, he was definitely a spark off the bench for them and I I think he still has some gas in the tank. I think he still contribute to a team, especially with so much talent on the Kings. I understand people some of the players have some flaws, but I think Westbrook can still get a lot out of them. You know, just having a real point guard to set up the offense, get everyone organized, as we like to say, is good. The organizer I we really ran with that. And that’s why I like um that’s why I like the idea of Dennis Shruder. I meant to ask Ham this earlier because I think I I think Ham said today he was like, “Yeah, the Kings have two right now their two point guards are score first point guards.” And I thought I was like, “Is he talking about Dennis and Malik?” Cuz I’ve never looked at Dennis Shruder as a score first point guard. I’ve never looked at him like that. He can score first, but I don’t he I don’t see Well, I think he can score. Yeah. But I also think he’s a really good point guard. Again, I I always say like Dennis might not do everything at a real high level. He might not do one specific thing at an elite level, but when you talk about scoring, facilitating, defense, he does all of those things well. Yeah. Remember at the start of last season, he was doing pretty good with the Brooklyn Nets. They had to slow that down. They were winning too much. They’re like, “Hey, this is not what we try to do.” Brooklyn’s like, “We are not here for this. You got to go.” Yeah. Then he spent some time with the Was the Warriors season last year? Yeah, he was with the Warriors, but it didn’t really work out there. And then at the deadline, that’s when he went to the Pistons because he played pretty he played pretty good in the playoffs. He had his moments, but uh Yeah. Yeah, that’s when he went to Well, he played really well with the Pistons in the regular season. Yeah. Yeah. Um but yeah, the Pistons were always going to kind of hit Mhm. they were going to kind of hit that spot where they probably can’t go any further. We’re gonna put that on on on Dennis Schruder. But I I love the fact that he’s in Sacramento. I think finding a point guard a little bit closer to him uh rather than trying to force Nick Clifford or Devin Carter into this I think is that’s that’s not the move. Deon Carter I don’t want to see play anywhere near the point guard position. No. No. Um but yeah, no I I like the acquisition of Shreder. Um I still want to see Perry do some more. I still don’t know what his big picture is. I know he talks a lot about like, hey, we want defensive-minded players. Still I’m not seeing a lot of them, but we rookies are good. But well, clearly uh you you used the the the volunteers hostages line. You’ve been listening to Scott Perry talk recently. Oh, yeah. And Sean Cunningham. Well, I was going to say we’ll talk to Sean Cunningham uh at 3:15 about his conversation uh with Scott Perry. I’m going to start referring to Sean Cunningham as the godfather of of sports media here in Sacramento. He is he’s everywhere. People think I work a lot. Sean out be outworking me. He is at every event. He’ll give me interviews for our Instagram page. go and like those those clips. We definitely do. Uh yeah, Sean’s the man. He is. And um but one thing particularly in that conversation with Sean Cunningham that Scott was pretty clear about is it’s going to take time to build this team the way I want. It’s going to take time to execute my vision. And I think Sean asked him, “What does this team need?” And he said, “This team needs time together.” Well, yeah. Yeah. I mean, Zack Leavine did get here at the trade deadline. Demar Dros only been here a year. The a lot of the guys from the Beam team aren’t here anymore. So, yeah, this team hasn’t had time to gel and they had have not had the facilitator to bring it all together either. Uh we’ll come back. We’re going to talk more uh about Kings basketball. We got Eddie Gonzalez coming up at 2:15. Ley’s hanging out with me. Uh we’ll talk some other NBA subjects as well when D1 Casey continue here on Sacramento Sports Leader ESPN 1320. Oh yo, you know, so we’re on break. So I was watching that that Sean Cunningham interview and the funny thing about Scott Perry is all respect. I love Scott Perry. His laugh is super infectious. He’ll do his laugh. Yeah. And it makes me laugh. Yeah. Yeah. Scott’s the man though. I like how I like how he carries himself the way he talks. He’s a cool dude, man. I’m hoping the best. I like Scott Perry, man. He is uh very charismatic. Yeah. Have you got to meet him or not? I have not met him. Okay. No, I have not. And like I said, I’m the only uh media member who hasn’t gotten to talk to him. Dang. It’s all right. One day, to be fair, I haven’t. Yeah. Yeah. I know that’s not your thing. you don’t like really like do not know. So, but he’s he’s cool. I’m trying to meet him. I’ll be down at the I’ll be down near the arena during for the press conferences cuz, you know, I’ll get interviews with people and stuff and I’m like, man, I’m trying to run this guy. You know, that would be I was at um house yesterday and my man Greg the bartender told me he’s in there pretty regularly. Okay. I mean, it’s right across from the the offices at the Golden One Center, so makes sense. Good food, too. First time I ate there. Yeah. Yeah, really good food. Yeah, I got to Good question. Good question. Alder and Jay. Yeah, I seen that too. Thoughts on Nikki and the whole scissor thing. Nikki’s wilding right now. She’s doing a lot, bro. Where you stand on that deal? I know you team Kendrick probably team Scissor, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Nikki been in her feelings ever since Kendrick got the Super Bowl. Yeah, because she’s she she really stands with Wayne and she was she felt some type of way. Yeah. And that’s fine. But Lil Wayne performing at the Super Bowl. I don’t care if it’s in New Orleans. I don’t care if it’s at Lil Wayne’s house that Yeah. A hard pass. I get it. And the thing with with the whole Super Bowl is you’re going off like who’s hot right now. And obviously Kendrick had the biggest year. So of course you gota roll with him. Yeah. His 2024 2025 is pretty legendary. Yeah. You got to go to the Vegas show, right? Yeah. Yeah. You got to see uh Hey, Doa Cat was there, too. Do was there? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What are these questions today? Rust Dog is Wilding. Do Queen Latifah the greatest female rapper. Hey, I remember DLo. You You shared a story truthfully. Nicki Minaj probably is. Yeah. Yeah. I love Queen Latifa, though. I Hey. Yep. I asked her to marry me. Yeah. Yep. I remember. Prior to understanding her full and she said yes. Yeah. Didn’t she joke and say something like, “Oh, yeah. This my husband.” No, she sign No, she signed uh she signed something for me that said to my fiance or something like that. Hey, you know what? Hey, I don’t know how much time we got, but I should have did that with Tasha. I should have just went for it when I had my chance. I told you. Yeah. But Ley Leezy Leezy ain’t scared of nobody. Oh, but when that man got close to Tan, boy, it was a wrap. Boy, I see beads of sweat rolling down Lazy’s eye. Boy, oh man, I was sweating like Patrick Euan. Yep. Yep. I kept messing up the line too. Remember Conflex is like cuz I was saying like 102.5 or something like that in Complex like no no le say it like this. I couldn’t even think. Oh, Alicia Keys. Yes. Missy absolutely up there. We were just talking about how Leezy was a little star struck when we went to uh see Tanashe at Ace of Spades for some for some stuff for KSFM and 1065 and you I don’t know I don’t know what the kind you just said Alicia Keys before we got back from commercial break. Alicia Keys is the only person who I ever got star struck. It happens. Yeah. Alicia. Alicia, I stopped speaking. Didn’t Didn’t you have a an interview with Rihanna? How’ that Didn’t that go a certain way? No, the Rihanna interview was always funny. This is when SOS was out and so Oh, so she popping popping. So she But yeah, but she’s it’s like early. It’s early Rihanna. And she’s like she’s gorgeous. Of course. Yeah. She’s like she’s beautiful. She’s very sweet. But like she had come into the old uh KSFM studio at the How about Ardan building and so we had a lobby and you walk through the lobby right out like you you walk through the front door of the KSFM building, the KSFM suite and immediately to the left and right like I mean immediate like you don’t it’s right next to it are the bathrooms. And so she asked like, “Hey, before we come back, can I can I go to the can I go to the bathroom?” It’s like, “Yeah.” So I I I take her out to the lobby and I say, “It’s right here when you’re ready. Um our our receptionist is on alert. You had to be let into the studio. Our reception is on alert. They’ll let you in.” So she’s like, “Okay, great. Thank you.” So I go back inside and like a couple songs play and I’m like they’re like the like the record people, they’re talking to the program director. No one’s really paying attention except for me. Yeah. And I’m like, Rihanna hasn’t come back yet. I’m like, “All right.” Like, I can’t like go check on her, but I’m going to like walk outside the lobby. Okay. Door. I walk outside the the suite. And so, remember, the bathrooms are right next to the door. Past both doors are long hallways. Oh, no. This sweet child Yeah. is at the end of the hallway walking around going, “Oh, I got lost.” Yeah. I was like, “Re, it was the door next to the bathroom there.” Now, there’s no other doors. There’s one door. It’s directly next to the bathroom and she just went the other way down the long ass hallway. Then there was the time she was performing at Cinco Deio. Oh, and this is Take a Bow era. So, she’s a She’s not an icon yet, but she is a major star. So, she’s performing at Discovery Park. You know, Discovery Park is one way in and one way out. Oh, I do. So, if you have Yes, you’re very familiar. Oh, yeah. So, if you have to leave, even if you’re with the show, even if you have an escort, no matter what, it is brutal. Reed’s there. She says she needs tea and honey before she goes on stage. None of the other uh sweet Nick Cannon was there. Sir Mix a lot with it. There’s no tea and honey in anyone’s trailer. No, we have to send someone out to get it, but it’s her time to be on stage. I’m on stage. I’m not knowing anything is going on. And I’m getting ready to introduce Rihanna. And the stage manager comes over to me and goes, “Hey, not yet. She’s not ready. I’ll I’ll give you the queue.” I was like, “Okay, I’m just going to keep my eye on you. just just let me know. So, I’m up there. I got uh DJ Charlie Ramos up there with me. God rest his soul. And you know, there’s a legit 12 13 14,000 people out there. Hot as hell. They waiting. And by hot as hell, you’re standing in the middle of Discovery Park. It’s probably 79, 80°, but it’s hot. Yeah. So, we’re doing our thing. We got music playing. We’re singing along. Everyone’s hyped. I look over. Stage manager shakes his head. No problem. Keep going. Keep going. We’re doing our thing. I looked over. Stage manager goes, “Nope. Nope.” Like, “Okay, by now 15 minutes have passed.” Give him the look and he just kind of shrugs his shoulders. He’s like, “Not yet.” 30 minutes later. Oh. 30 minutes after the 10 minutes we were supposed to kill. So, a total of 40 minutes later. Yeah. You waiting for a minute. Long minute. He kind of walks behind me, taps, and goes, “Okay, we can go. So I do the introduction, bring her out, everybody goes crazy. I walk down the stairs and I look at my my my my program director and he goes, “She wanted tea and honey, man.” Yeah. And that was it. I was just like, “Well, all right. That’s how it is.” See, that’s the job me and Joe would do. We had to go run and get that tea and honey. We have to go find it. The killer part is when she did Take a Bow, which was the big single at the time. Or maybe it was. It’s not Take a Bow. Uh it’s unfa uh the song. I think the song was called Unfaithful. She did. She lip synced it. Oh, I was I was I was so mad at her. Oh, I was furious. Hey, I I bet that’s still better than uh Mary Jay Blige. I’ve had three Oh, it was way better. Yeah. Uh I’ve had three interactions with Rihanna, though. All of them have been wonderful. Now, see, you got you got to bring this back up when Sean Sean gets here. That’s his thing. Oh, that’s Yeah, that’s Oh, yeah. I told I told the story too early. That’s my fault. I set you up. That’s what I mean. That’s a good point. That’s a good point. Um, I don’t know what it was about Alicia. Oh, I know what it was. She touched my hand. Like I She laughed at something I said and she put her hand on mine and I just froze. Oh yeah. I just like I don’t know what to do right now. I’m Me and Alicia are getting married. It’s just the way it’s going to be. That’s it. It’s set in stone. Hey, I don’t blame you. Alicia Keys, man. Back in the day used to be a big Alicia Keys fan. So, I feel it. Uh, we were talking about Dennis Shruder before the commercial break and my man Sammy, who I don’t think Sammy has had a single positive thing to say this week, says, “Come on, guys. Don’t try to sell us on Dennis Ruder. He’s a journeyman.” I’m not trying to sell you on anything, Sammy. I think Dennis is a good ball player. I thought he was a good ball player well before he played for Sacramento or well before he signed with Sacramento. I think he’s a good ball player today. You don’t have to like him. You don’t have to think he’s good. And you can feel like he’s a journeyman. That’s no problem. I think part of the reason he’s been a journeyman, I think the biggest reason is the fact that he turned down that deal with the Lakers, which was a a a terrible financial decision that haunts him to this day. But it also leads to um kind of year-to-year deals. And when you’re on year-to-year deals, you are easily expendable if that season isn’t going exactly the way the team uh envisioned. And we saw that one h happening last year with Brooklyn who had no aspirations to do anything. They moved to uh to Golden State. That wasn’t really a a good fit there or I might have the order of that wrong. And then he winds up in Detroit and things kind of kind of go well for him for him there. But it it’s I I Sammy is cool. I just think Dennis is a good ball player. You you don’t have to like him. He’s a good veteran, experienced point guard. Isn’t that some Isn’t that somebody you want setting up your offense? It’s Yeah. Like and and that’s the thing like I think he does a multitude of things well. Yeah. He’s not like this super like De’ar is a is a De’Arren in my opinion is a very high level score. Yeah. His speed is elite. Yeah. Dennis doesn’t have an elite characteristic. Yeah. He’s just good. Sometimes you just need good ball players. The reason he’s been on so many teams is because he’s good. The reason he’s had a a spot in the league for the last 10 years is because he’s good. We talked about Drew Holiday the other day. the trade from Boston is going to start a chain of events for Drew where I think he’s gonna wind up being on that was the thing three or four different teams you know through the through the rest of his career and was that a whole thing wasn’t it he they wanted him to be a good locker room veteran to the younger players in Portland and he and weren’t reports he didn’t want to be there at first like cuz I thought he was going to be on the move to another so I don’t know that there were reports that Drew didn’t want to there because I I know a little bit about Drew Holiday. That’s not really his thing. Like if he doesn’t go I think there was questions whether Portland was going to keep Drew Holiday. And in the immediate aftermath of the trade, it was like, okay, what exactly are they doing? Are they just going to move Drew Holiday again like they did last time? Y and ultimately, I think we’ve learned now that’s not the plan. like it is to keep him around with some of those young guys and then we’ll see what happens when Dame Lillard returns. Do you think he’s like a trade deadline guy deadline guy like he sticks with their showcase? He still has a lot in in the tank. I think I think I think it might depend on how Portland’s season is going. But yeah, that was that was my point. Like I think Drew is going to be traded a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Like because someone’s always going to want him. He fits on any team and and if a contender’s like, “Man, we need a player like Drew.” They’re going to go do it. And then if they’re not championship good like they expected, they’re gonna trade him. You can flip them. And that goes back to the day the whole deal was done when I got like I’m I feel bad for him. Yeah. He he’s he’s he’s a great dude. He’s a loyal dude. He will play anywhere that he’s traded and he’s probably going to be traded a lot through the rest of his career. Yeah. No, no. He’s he’s a great player. Um hey, what’s going on with Anthony Simons? Is he still What’s up with that, Jesse? Mr. He’s he’s he’s still with Boston, but Yeah, he’s still with Boston, but could be He’s being shot. Yeah, I thought he was being shot. Yeah, I mean, it seems maybe take a gap year and then get ready when Tatum’s back. Maybe see if you get a pick or two for Simons. Not two, but see what you can get for Simons. I guess I wonder what you could get for him if if Boston decided to move off of him at in either either, you know, before the season starts or in February. I wonder what that market looks like. Especially and I and I think all of this looks a little bit different. All of these deals that were done kind of quickly, all of these trades that were done kind of quickly when we were asking questions about, hey, what’s happening with Drew? What’s happening with Anthony? All of it. This this was all before the market took shape. Yeah. Remember, this is supposed to be the biggest free agency hyping it up. Yeah. I mean, and I mean the biggest we we The biggest thing we got was the Dame Lillard wave. Yeah. Like Yeah. Like that’s that’s crazy. You know, him him going back to Portland is like a cool little footnote, but no one knew that was going to happen. Shams might have gotten tipped off to, you know, that being on the way and then I’m sure he got tipped off to Rich Paul not being happy with what was going on with the Los Angeles Lakers, but that’s ultimately led to nothing. that that’s not it’s not a story. It’s nothing. Like I mean it’s something we’re watching. It’s something we’re monitoring. It’s something to pay attention to, but right now it’s just it’s just chatter. Yeah. I still don’t get the whole Lakers thing. I understand LeBron’s mad about everything going on off the court, but I still think the Lakers roster is pretty good. I remember we were talking to Casey about this, of course, and he was saying, my bad. He was saying they’re not a championship team and that’s all that matters. I’m like, bro, you’re playing with Luca. You have DeAndre Aton who is a pretty good pickup. I understand the flaws in his game, but still I mean you addressed a need there. So, and you still have good shooters with Austin Reeves and Connect if they ever play him. Yeah, I mean that’s a Lakers team that was a a three seed and they had a bad matchup. Yeah, it was a they were a three seed with no center and a mid a a massive the biggest you could possibly have mid-season trade. Yeah. And so I wonder with, you know, it’s it’s I I think there’s a similar conversation to be had with the Los Angeles Lakers and with the Golden State Warriors. Uh the Warriors, they they had three distinctively different seasons last year. Oh yes. They had the start of the season, they had that middle that was a disaster that legit looked like that Warriors franchise was dead. Yeah. They were done. And then they pulled off the Jimmy Butler deal which revived them in a way that I didn’t expect when they traded for Jimmy Butler. I And especially they traded for him and then announced the contract extension. I I kind of hit him with the All right. Yeah. He got paid. Remember he wanted to go to Phoenix and then he the way ended up paying him and it’s like he paid a hefty price for him. Yeah. And and and it and and it paid off. Yeah. Like they looked they looked great. didn’t have the postseason that they wanted cuz this is about winning championships, but they looked really, really good. And so there were the, you know, different stretches for the Los Angeles Lakers. Big influx of energy and and all of this when the trade was done, even before Luca first stepped on the floor, uh, they start playing really well and then the things kind of level out. I don’t think they ever played bad with Luca Don there, but they just kind of leveled out. It wasn’t as it wasn’t as strong as what um Golden State did in the immediate uh after Jimmy winning streaks. Yeah. Yeah. So my question for those two teams is does the does the you know does like the adrenaline wear off from those two deals and they kind of come down to a more you know kind of level performance or are those two highlevel teams headed into next season? I would say the Lakers more than the Warriors. You think so? Yeah. I mean you’re you’re playing with Lucon. You got one of the best players on your team. You still have a good young core with Reeves Connect. Uh you still have you still have LeBron performing at a high level even though he’s getting older. Uh obviously you guys know I like Jimmy Butler and the Warriors, but I still feel like they they haven’t even done anything this offseason. Like who who are they getting? They haven’t done nothing. They’re they’re they’re dealing with the Jonathan Kaminga situation. Yeah. Well, they’re going to have to figure it out. But um I I mean I I mean they do and I guess they don’t because you don’t have to pay them. They have that qualifying offer and it’s like sign it. Like you right now it appears you have no market outside of this. So what are we supposed to do? Outbid ourselves? Oh, you sign that. We’ll figure it all out later. Um I am actually in agreement with you. I think the Warriors of those particularly of those two teams, they’re the ones who might not be as good as they were when they first acquired Jimmy. I don’t think they’re going to be nearly as bad as they were before acquiring Jimmy, but I think they’re just going to wind up being like a it’s it’s a fine basketball team. Jimmy’s a good player. You you you’re you’re talking 82 games now versus 30 or 40 or whatever it was at the time. Uh so you’re talking uh you know, you need a little especially when you got guys, you know, well into their 30s like this, you need a little bit of luck. You need a lot of health. You need you need some things to go your way. The Lakers are the team where it’s like they for they’ve gone out they’ve done a couple of things but you’re you you’ve you’ve got this centered on Luca Donuch, Austin Reeves, and I’m assuming LeBron James. And I think it’s a team that’s you know staring at the third seed again, a potential third seed again. I I know the West is tough, but I think I think the like we mentioned, I think the Lakers are in a better position than the Warriors. They still have to make some moves. Um, you know, you know, just going back to that Warriors thing, you know, one thing people don’t talk about was at the start of their season when they were playing good. They had Melton. He was doing great for them. He was playing good on offense and defense, people don’t talk about how that injury really kind of derailed them and really set them up for that kind of downfall they had going. That’s just random. Yeah. No, it’s it’s it’s it’s fair. Yeah. Thank you. It’s a it’s a it’s it’s a fair assessment. But you talk about and this is such a such a running commentary about the Western Conference and the West is tough and you know you got Cooper flag there with Dallas that was a playing team that team might still be at the bottom of the playing you know with Kyrie still out. Yeah. With Kyrie still out. Anthony Davis always in and out. Anthony Davis you never really know. Anthony Davis has already had a procedure this off season. D’Angelo Russell who has his ups and downs a lot. He’s really inconsistent at times. Probably a a decent fillin for for Kyrie Irving for a year. Um, I I they’re interesting, but I still see them as a playing team. Obviously, you got Sacramento right there. Memphis, I don’t know what to make. I never know what to make of Memphis. There are two teams that I I will never ever pretend to be an expert on. Memphis and Minnesota, cuz I don’t think there’s anything either one of those two teams could do to get me to really buy into them. Question, why why why are why are you against Minnesota? Because you have a great young star in Anthony Edwards. You got Goar who can play defense. You have uh Daniels who’s a good two-way defender. Like they have pieces there. Just curious why you’re you’re against there’s something that doesn’t I I don’t know what they need to bring it all together, but whatever it is, they don’t have it. They have the guy. Yeah. And Minnesota’s at the point where I said this last year, they went to was it was it was it Minnesota and Oklahoma City? Was that Yeah. Minnesota beat Oklahoma last time? No. No. In in the in the in the conference finals, was that Minnesota and Oklahoma City last year? I can’t remember because I was the person who will tell you I Minnesota Anthony Edwards could hold the Larry O’Brien trophy and confetti falling down at the target center I’d be like yeah I don’t believe it that was them in the Western Conference finals that we talked about two years in a row right two years in a row they’ve been Yeah I I do it again do it a third time well they beat a a Lakers team that never got back to what they looked like before LeBron got hurt and the staff was hurt. So, it’s like they kind of just fell into the Western Conference Finals. Yeah. I just don’t buy that basketball team. And again, I don’t know. I don’t know. You asked why. I don’t I I just feel like they’re missing something that um I don’t know. It could be because you have a veteran Mike Conley, you have Rob Dillingham behind him who could add a spark. You have Deven Chinszo, good three and D. So, I mean, I’m I guess I’m just buying more stock in T- walls. That’s fine. You you and you and you and Kenny can you uh Kenny and and and Alex Rodriguez can be can be all in on on on Minnesota, but Minnesota and Memphis, I’m just like not sure. Hey, deal. Not to backtrack too much, but since we’re talking about the Western Conference, what do you think Portland Trailblazers going to do next season? Cuz to end the season, they were looking like they’re finally putting it together. I know they’re still young and developing, but do you think they could take a leap this upcoming season? kind of like the Rockets because Rockets they were learning and then they finally played together and got the two seed. Do you think they finished with 36 wins last year? Define leap for me in number of games. If they won 36, what would you say the number they have to win for it to be categorized as a leap? Um a good a playoff team is like what about what what 46 47 plus. Okay. So Memphis was the eighth seed at 48. Golden State was the seventh seed at 48. Uh Minnesota was the six seed at 49. Okay. So you talking, you said 40. That’s that’s plus 10. Is that where that’s a So plus 10 is a leap. Plus 10 is a leap. Yeah. No, they’re not taking a leap. Can they move forward? Yeah, absolutely. Could I see them at a plus four or a plus six like 40 to potentially uh an above 500 season at 42 and 40? Sure. Yeah. Yeah, I could definitely see that. Yeah. Um because that’s the thing Kings got to watch because those teams in the West that aren’t that haven’t been doing good like the Blazers, they’re trying to take that next step too, you know. Yeah, they went on a you you you mentioned it. They went on a pretty decent run the second half of the season to get to that 36 wins. I’m just taking a quick Oh, yeah. They had streaks of four. What is that? Five, six. They won 10 of 11 there in February. uh had another stretch where they won five out of six, then they lost five in a row, then they won four in a row. Look. Oh my god. Listen to this. They win They win They win five out of six. Lose lose five in a row. Yeah. Yeah. Win four in a row. Lose four in a row. Win two. Lose win. Lose lose. Win. That’s how the season ended. Uh this is a really weird season. They lost in they lost in bunches. Like they would lose six games in a row, come back, win one, lose two more, lose five games in a row. Yeah, they lo they had lose they had two losing streaks of five, two losing streaks of four, and a losing streak of six. Hell, you eliminate those and you might just be 40 and 42. Yeah, it low key. Low key. Not trying to draw comparison there, but kind of reminds me of the Kings seasons because remember when Doug took over, they had like those seven win that seven win streak and they would lose and that’s that’s what the Kings would do. They would have these streaks where they’d win and then they just fall apart and then they would just get crazy wins and beat the Cavaliers on a random night. It’s like what’s going on here? Yeah, that was we lost to the Hornets but we beat the Cavaliers. What’s going on? It would it would be nice this upcoming season to have not to to to have a season where it’s just not so like what the hell is going on. The word is consistency. That’s what I want to see. I want to see Zack Zack Lavine show up consistently. I want to see I just want to see them put it together, you know? Yeah. Hopefully this offseason can help him do that. Yeah. Uh hopefully uh this off season um and and in this training camp can help them find that find that level of consistency together. Yeah. Do you think going into this season Zack Lavine might play better because obviously he had his issues and stuff? Yeah, that’s what I would see cuz I’m still I understand Zach Le I’ll go I’ll go back to the word you just said. I expect him to play more consistent. There we go. There we go. Yeah, because I understand people don’t like Zack Zack Lavine’s contract. That’s understandable. I understand he’s not this defensive player. That’s not his game. But he is great on offense and last year he was inconsistent. I want to see him put it back all back together, you know, because he is a good three-point shooter. He can get to the line. We can see him uh score and slash like he’s a better offensive player than he showed last year is what I feel. Yeah. I mean I think he was he was pretty good offensively last year, wasn’t he? Yeah, but it was it was incons. Well, yeah, there were there were I think a lot was asked last year and and again I I just I I making excuses or giving grace. I don’t know which one it is, but last year was such a a strange year for everybody involved, including uh Zack Lavine. Uh I just went to ESPN. He was 23.3 last year, but that includes his game with Chicago. His games with Chicago. I don’t imagine he was much different than that. Uh if you split his games between Chicago and Sacramento, I don’t imagine they’re much different. Um, and we’ve seen Lavine when he has a real point guard next to him like Lonzo like he plays good. Like they were a good a high seed team back when Lonzo was healthy. I know that seems like forever ago, but they did they did put it together for that time. Lonzo is is definitely more of a general floor general facilitator than than Dennis Shruder is. Though Dennis can absolutely be that. That’s why I think this off season, this training camp is is is important. And I I I think if I just wanted to if if I could just encourage Kings fans of one thing, don’t let your pessimism regarding the future affect how you might feel about this current team. This current team can make the playoffs. Yeah. Maybe they have to make it through the playin. Maybe they can, you know, fight to 48 wins and get the six seed or whatever. But this team is like if for those who want them to just be bad and embrace the tank, like this is this isn’t the group. Like it’s not going to happen with this group. Yeah. They got too much money on the books. Too many contracts that can’t be moved. And it’s a lot more than Zack Lavine’s contract. Yeah. So I I I think this team could wind up I think they could wind up being okay. Doesn’t change the outlook for five years, four years, three years, but for this year it might be okay to watch. Yeah. Like you said, there’s too much talent there just to tank and lose and bottom out. That’s not gonna happen. And the biggest thing, another thing uh to focus on is just them them having an off seasonason together and Doug having all his coaches and everyone just getting on the same page because last year Doug said it a million times, he was trying to land a plane that needed repairs. We’re trying to fix the plane in the air. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the whole season was falling apart. But I think now with Scott Perry coming in, Doug getting his guys, having a real point guard, I think there is some optimism you can like build there. It’s been a long week, Ley. Yes, sir. I’m headed home with this 2022 Pino Noir from Baker Family Wines, which is right here in West Sacramento. That baker is Dusty Baker. He has put all of that passion that we have seen so many times on the Diamond. We have he has put that passion and earned him a hall of fame baseball career into this winery. He is involved in every single detail that goes in to his winery and into these wines. All of these bottles that you see lined up behind me, these reds, these whites, those roses. Uh they’re all different wines, man. And this bottle I’m holding right here is a 2022 Pino Noir. This is the bottle that Katie and I are going to open tonight. You could join Dusty’s Clubhouse for exclusive releasing and tasting room specials. And speaking of tasting rooms, I heard a rumor. Oh, that Dusty Baker is going to be in the tasting room on Sunday at 2:00. Okay, that’s what I’ve heard. Sources close to DO and KC tell me that Dusty Baker is going to be out at the tasting room from 2 to 4 this Sunday. If you’ve never experienced Baker Family Wines, Sunday is the day to do it. It’s in West Sacramento. You can go to bakerfamily wines.com for more details. While you’re there, join Dusty’s Clubhouse for exclusive releases and tasting room specials. This is my new bag right here, Bakerfamily Wines. Again, head over to bakerfamilywines.com. And we will come back. Eddie Gonzalez, big shout out to Lizzy for coming to hang out with us on this Friday. Eddie Gonzalez joins us next here to talk more NBA on Sacramento Sports Leader ESPN 1320. Vamos Tan. Oh Lord, talk about it. Hey. Um, dang. Okay, let me get this with the chat real quick. This is L Wrench. L Wrench is coming out right now. Chat, you guys always get on me about talking about we and us and this and that when we’re talking about the Kings. Go ahead. If commercials in, you’re bringing the show back. I’m on it, guys. I don’t know how am I supposed to talk about this. Okay, I’m supporting your team. Stop getting mad at me. Dang. I’m supporting y’all. I’m rooting for y’all. Everybody’s rooting for you. We want you to win. Hey, thank you, Filthy Mcnasty. I see you. Buddha. Buddha’s my guy. Buddha, I want you to call in more. Buddha, you you be on it, man. Come on, Buddha. Buddha Buddha’s moving up in the rankings, man. You come He come in one of my favorite callers. TC, look out. It’s a joke. Okay. Thank you, Kyle. Yeah, I can’t tell when I’m reading it, brother. I don’t know if you saying it in the mean way or happy way. It’s good, bro. Oh, yeah. Katrina. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, Mrs. Mac 10, shout out. I see you, chat. My boy Le. Thank you, Scooter. Hey, Scooter’s hella nice, man. I met him at Sky River. That’s my dude. Hey, Aldron J. Hey, people think me and Audrey J don’t get along. He’s one of my favorite people in the chat, man. He be saying some funny stuff. And it’s all good, man. I know you’re a Niners fan. It’s good, bro. Or whoever your team is. What else we got up in here? My boy Zabbo Dragon Tails. Yeah, we’re not mad. It sounds like it, Norm. I look over and y’all be giving me the business, man. But no, I appreciate you, Chidy House. This show ain’t nothing without all y’all, man. So, we appreciate y’all tuning in every day. What else we got? Should we do another bracket for my fandom? David, let’s do a bracket about some wine, man. Let me come up to Napa and get a bottle. What’s up? Also, shout out to my boy Drew Mack. He was in the chat earlier, but I didn’t want to interrupt Damian. Me and Drew Mack go way back. He’s the homie. Give you the business. I see you scoop. Hey, Zebra PT. I I didn’t see you in here, Zebra. I know you’ve been in here all the time. Shout out to Zebra. Zebra made my day. The other day I had an interview with Sean Cunningham and she goes, “Oh, I recognize that voice.” I was like, “Hey, thank you, Zebra.” get a little notoriety. Oh, what’s up? You back. Uh, I know you got Eddie. I can I step out. I was just chilling with the chat. Oh, yeah. Appreciate you, Ley. Thank you, my brother. All right. Thank you everyone. Have a good one. Le us the old Tori. Yes. just oh after that dap he tried to come over and uh uh dap me up. Give me the little fist bump, man. I appreciate you, brother. Thanks, man. All right, man. We’re hanging out, man. I think Eddie gonna join us here. You never really know, man. Eddie’s a busy man. Uh, if not, it’s all good. Link is there, huh? Said the link is there. Oh, I was like I thought I thought he said he’s there. I was like, what? I don’t see him. Um, yeah. I mean, if Eddie joins us, great. We’ll talk NBA basketball. If not, we’ll continue to talk NBA basketball because I’m not sure if you heard uh um or read some of Adam Silver’s comments earlier from uh from the league meetings that take place in in in summer league. There’s been kind of a watchful eye on expansion. And a lot of this a lot of this speculation was fueled by Adam Silver himself. Um Adam said, “Yeah, like once the you know, once we get the TV deal behind us, then we’ll then we’ll start talking expansion.” And well, they did. Like the TV deal is done. So, of course, everyone’s attention shifts towards, all right, expansion. Uh, we got Seattle, we got Las Vegas. Those team, those seem like the two most uh likely teams uh likely cities to land franchises. Uh Seattle and rightfully so, talked about regularly uh as a team uh to land an expansion franchise. Las Vegas, obviously, with the success of the Aces, the Raiders, all all of that’s going on. uh there though I’m not sure how successful Vegas the city is right now but that’s another story. I I everybody seems primed for it and of course the you know there is and I and I do believe this is the factor. I’m not trying to be funny. I’m not trying to be first take. I’m not trying to be Stephen A. I think there’s a LeBron James factor here. LeBron has made it very very clear he wants to own an NBA franchise when he’s done. Adam Silver once joked, “I can’t give you an NBA franchise.” I think this was when he broke the the I can’t remember if this was when when they won the the playing or not the playing the inseason tournament or or when when he set the scoring record, but Adam Silver made some sort of joke of I can’t give you an NBA franchise, so I I’m going to give you this instead. And you know, it was whatever he he he gave him that day. But it there’s there’s enough where it’s like, okay, this there’s something here. And it feels like we’ve talked about expansion in the NBA. It’s almost if it’s a foregone conclusion, like it’s going to happen. And it’s a kind of a a multi-layered thing, especially if we’re talking Vegas and Seattle because that type of expansion would require conference realignment. And there’s multiple ways. Like it’s it’s not that difficult. You move Minnesota and probably New Orleans or you move Minnesota and Memphis to the east. Like it’s not it’s not that difficult. Um but it it would be some pretty big changes. And again, we have talked about it as if it’s a foregone conclusion. Even when we were talking about uh not we, but Bobby Marks was talking about the kind of projections of the Oklahoma City Thunder, how the Thunder have, you know, this new arena on the way, which we saw renderings for, and it looks absolutely incredible, and how they’ve managed their salary cap to when Sha’s uh brand new contract kicks in. Uh they got about 70 something million dollars falling off of the books that same year. how they’re going to be able to manage the first years of these extensions uh with their big three relatively easy at least for the time being. And one of the things that Bobby noted as a potential influx of cash to the Oklahoma City Thunder is expansion. And again, it’s something we have just talked about as if it was a matter-of-fact thing for was like two years at this point, maybe even longer. And Adam Silver did say the league is taking significant steps towards evaluating expansion. But I’ll say this, my man Adam Silver didn’t say that with a ton of confidence. Now, I believe I believe 100% of what he said, like the NFL or excuse me, the NBA is taking steps to evaluate expansion. He said there’s no teams locked in. He said there’s nothing locked in. I believe him that there’s nothing locked in, but I believe that they are looking at Seattle very very closely perhaps before they’re looking at anyone else or uh keeping an eye on or while keeping an eye on Las Vegas. And maybe there’s other maybe there’s Nashville, maybe there’s something or someone else out there, some other city uh that I haven’t heard as much about. But I look at this current period that we’re in with the NBA, this current free agency period, the things that we have learned in the last couple of weeks, the escrow account that the players set aside for non-basket related revenue that didn’t hit its projected number. And as a matter of fact, the players pretty much lost all of it. Like a total of I think it was like $500 million. It’s a percentage of each players contract that goes into this escrow account. Normally, they get all of that back. In Steph Curry’s case, Steph Curry, who was the highest paid player in the NBA last year, again, the it it’s the it’s it’s it’s a percentage of your contract, Steph lost like $5 million of that. five five $5 million went to an escrow account that he never got back. Normally you get that back. Sometimes you’ll get a million or two or whatever. It may be more depending on the type of year you had. So you have that which in itself is a little unusual. But then you have the news that we got right before the new league year started, right before free agency got underway, which has clearly had a direct impact on the way this free agency period has gone. And it’s instead of the cap going up its usual and maximum 10%, it only went up seven. So the new TV deal that we have talked about for years and perhaps overd delivered on the on the amount that is coming in kicks into effect next year. So there will be some things that are different for the league next season once that gets underway with NBC and Amazon and so on and so forth. But this year, this year with all of that revenue being down, this year with that cap only being 7% and with this free agency market being at a standstill and teams trying to figure out how to navigate these first and second aprons, these teams who seem to be terrified of making one poor financial decision. These are the same teams, not all of them, but these are the same teams that regularly made poor financial decisions that were announced within the first 30 seconds of free agency. Now, everyone is scared to make that one that will have them sniffing around the first apron or the second apron and deal with the massive consequences that come from being a first or second apron team. and Seattle and Vegas are hanging on every owner’s meeting. They’re hanging on every word of Adam Silver and they’re probably wondering like, “Yo, what changed now?” Maybe not much. Maybe Adam starts this, maybe the NBA starts this exploratory process headed into next year where they expect the financial revenue to be back up. And there was a couple There were a couple of other things that I’m watching that I thought were really funny that Adam Silver said coming out of these league meetings during this press conference. One of them was he talked about Portland. Now Portland is in the news for a variety of different reasons, mostly right now because Dame Lillard is headed home. I think that’s a great story. Dame was clearly miserable in Milwaukee. That stretch didn’t I mean he he had hopes of being traded from Portland to Miami. That didn’t wind up happening. The Bucks come get him. He’s under that long contract that he signed uh with Portland essentially right before asking out and suffers the Achilles tear. the Bucks make the incredible decision to wave him, pay out his salary, stretch provision, all of that stuff, and allow him to sign wherever he wants to. As Sham Shirani reported yesterday, there were a variety of different contenders, one of them probably being Jesse’s Boston Celtics, who offered league minimum or near league minimum deals to grab Dame services for the next couple of years. Portland came back with something much stronger. I mean, Dame, I think, I can’t remember the number. I think it was like $131 $141 million over the next two years because of the money that he’s getting from Milwaukee and now the money that he’s also getting from Portland. Portland willingly paying him this year to not step foot on their floor just to bring him back home. And when the league year starts, when the when the regular season starts, you don’t think they’re going to introduce Dame Lillard at that first game in Portland even though he ain’t going to be playing? Oh yeah, they absolutely going to do that. So that’s all within the last 24 hours. But you rewind back to Tuesday and Adam Silver following these league meetings says in a in a press conference that Portland is in desperate need of an updated arena. Now Portland is going through, you know, they they aren’t going through but will likely be going through a a sale process and and all of these different things. and he’s pointed out part of that, you know, one of the factors going into this process is going to be the fact that Portland needs an updated arena. They either need to do something about this one or they need a brand new arena. That same day, just hours earlier, the WNBA announced that the Portland Fire are returning. For those who don’t remember the long prestigious run of the Portland Fire in Trista, I apologize for going at your city. This isn’t about your city. It’s just about business. For those that don’t remember the long what, two-year run of the Portland Fire, well, good news. They’re coming back to the W because in addition to Seattle, the Pacific Northwest needs a Portland team. Hours later, Adam Silver says the Portland Arena needs to be updated. Now, I’m not sure if the Fire are playing in the Blazers arena, but I couldn’t help but find that fascinating. I’m absolutely not rooting for any franchise in the WNBA to fail, but I’m watching this Portland thing closely because I can’t fathom I can’t figure out how you would be so quick to reward a team to a city who just did not show out for their franchise the first time they had them. We’ve talked about rerunning Houston. Houston, we learned after the selection was one of the finalists and that uh the the Rockets owner Fertitta, he was behind the pitch to bring the comments back. I I I don’t know. That’s a no-brainer to me. I’m I’m fascinated by how you went with Portland over Houston. And I’m fascinated how the commissioner of the NBA would just say hours later that, yeah, Portland’s going to have to figure out its arena situation. All of that goes back to we may have jumped the gun on this expansion conversation. Adam Silver may have jumped the gun a year ago when he started talking about expansion. And there another thing that came out of Tuesday that we touched on a little bit yesterday. Adam Silver is so desperate to get rid of regional sports networks and regional sports networks rights to the NBA. That includes local television. The Kings obviously air on NBC Sports California. If the Kings aired on CBS 13, ABC 10, KC3, name another network, Adam would not be happy about that. I’m not sure what plan Adam Silver in this league has for the fans of Sacramento to consume Sacramento Kings content. Clearly, he has one and he might be in the slow process of pitching this to the different teams around the league. Maybe he’s already pitched it to the different teams around the league. He used the phrase earlier this year that teams are held hostage by regional sports networks rights. That’s that’s that’s that’s strong wording there. When I tell you that that man does not like the network in which you watch your basketball team play, I could not possibly mean it more. Held hostage and re-evaluate are things that he continues to repeat. Maybe not held hostage. He said that once, but re-evaluate is something he continuously talks about when he talks about the state of the league. He wants these regional sports deals gone. But in order to eliminate them, you have to have a plan. You can’t tell the Sacramento Kings, “Hey, you can’t get paid by NBC Sports California anymore.” without telling them, “This is how you’re going to get paid.” And again, maybe he’s already done that and maybe franchises are like, “Yeah, I don’t know if my fan base is going to buy into that.” Because what I’m wondering is, is he pitching some sort of streaming package, some sort of NBA.com streaming package where every Kings fan who wants to watch their team on a nighttoight basis has to to subscribe to something on NBA.com. Or maybe you have to subscribe to something through YouTube TV or Apple TV or HBO Max or whatever. Like I’m a Sacramento Kings fan. I have to go here and buy essentially a league pass to watch the Sacramento Kings. And that’s how the Sacramento Kings make money. And when they go to commercial breaks, they control who the ads go to. Because right now, I believe that NBC Sports California is using them as the example. I believe they’re in charge of the ads. Now, the Kings might have 30 seconds per break. Maybe they have a minute per break. Maybe there’s maybe there’s something that the Kings get. Maybe that’s where those Golden One Center ads come from. Maybe that’s where some of the the the the team store ad comes from. Who knows? But the rest NBC Sports California, if it’s streaming, then the team can control everything, thus getting all the revenue from it. But the question is, is that enough to offset the loss of these networks not paying the rights to air these games anymore? I haven’t understood for years why the Sacramento Kings or why any sports team continues to sign deals with AM radio. This this look look this includes us. We’re on 1320 a.m. I don’t understand why the Kings continue to air their games on Sports 1140 or Sack Town Sports or whatever it’s called now. I don’t understand why they do that. Why don’t they create their own streaming platform, control all of the ads, and allow people to listen on their phone or allow people to listen in some other way? I feel like there is such a a small number of people that listen to this stuff on the radio that you could gather a significantly larger number of people if you had a Sacramento Kings streaming option on a Sacramento Kings app. And that goes that that holds true for a variety of different teams. That that that holds true for most teams. I don’t understand the value in that anymore. If you’re a team, I certainly understand the value for for for 1140. I understand the value for for the the the home network of a team. I understand it for them. I don’t understand it for the franchise in 2025. I don’t understand the value of it for a franchise. I told you earlier how we need to throw 1320 a.m. away. I don’t listen when I listen to the insiders. I’m listening on 98.5 FM HD2. I’m listening on the iHeart app on my phone. That’s how I’m listening to the insiders every day. When I leave here and I get in my car, it’s on 98.5 FMHD2 1320. It It doesn’t matter. We want you to watch the show on YouTube or Twitch. We want you to listen on on on on the iHeart app or the Odyssey app. That stuff can be. See, this is See, this is the This is the part that they don’t want us to talk about. They want you to listen to that because they know you’re It’s real. When you go to the When you go to iHeart and you log in and and you listen to DLO and KC on ESPN Sacramento, they know they know I’m looking at the streaming number right now. They know there’s 1,400. They know there’s 1,422 people listening right now. They know that immediately. You know who doesn’t want us to know that is these like outdated rating systems that ask people to walk around with little meters in their pocket to determine what they’re listening to. That’s that they you start listening through the apps, you start watching through YouTube, those businesses become irrelevant for the first time in in in in recent memory and media. They become irrelevant because you’re measurable people. And some people are scared to find out, hey man, no one not as many people listen to this entity. like when when the rating system switched in radio, they’re like, “Man, I think more it it it it appears more people listen in the afternoon drive than the morning drive.” Now, that’s not universal across markets, but there’s always been this morning drive, morning drive, morning drive. It’s like, yeah, I think afternoon drive is bigger. And that’s something they figured out when they switched. You imagine how many things they’d figure out if everyone started listening through some sort of app that just determined, wait, one phone logged in, two phones logged in, 1,400 phones are logged in, 15,000 phones are logged in to this show at this time in this moment. Sacramento Kings find out, hey, there’s 20,000 people listening to our game right now through this app. Through the Sacramento Kings app, now you have real numbers that you can sell to the pizza guys. You want to reach 20,000 people 82 times a year. That’s what you sell to the pizza guys. Some people are scared of real numbers. I think that’s what Adam Silver is talking about when he’s talking about these regional rights things. Some people are scared to death of real numbers because you could tell them, “Oh, Sacramento Kings fans, man, we’re the most passionate fan base.” But you can’t give them a number. You can’t tell them how many people are watching on NBC Sports California, but you could tell them exactly how many people are watching on NBA.com. You can’t tell them how many people are are are watching a game on on DVR. You can guess. You have a a fairly accurate guess. You get in the ballpark. Maybe maybe you’re just way off. But if you go to the Peacock app, which by the way is raising their prices, you know exactly how many people are watching. WWE couldn’t wait to tell you how many people watched that show on Netflix on on on January 6th earlier this year. They couldn’t wait to tell you five, six million people. Oh, this isn’t those old Neielson raising. These are real people watching our show. They ain’t put out a press release since because those real people left. About three to four million of them just said, “Ah, that was a cool first show. I’m out.” Shout out to my man Spicy P916. He says, “Do I’m a truck driver and I listen on 1320 a.m. A local truck driver. We appreciate you, Spicy P. Look, you there’s absolutely people that listen on AM radio and and we love you no matter where you listen. I don’t care. We’d air on AM forever and I’ll be as happy as could be. Just know there’s multiple ways that you can listen to us. Just because we’re on 1320 a.m. doesn’t mean you can’t listen to us on 98.5 FM HD2. Just because we’re on 1320 a.m. doesn’t mean that you can’t watch on YouTube. But for Adam Silver in the NBA, because you’re on NBC Sports California, you can’t watch on NBA.com. If you live in Sacramento, you can’t watch through League Pass. As a matter of fact, if you live in Sacramento, you can’t watch for three days on League Pass. That’s what Adam Silver is talking about. That’s why he’s saying we’re prisoner to these regional rights deals. And Adam’s 100% right. But if he’s going to ask teams to give up revenue from their local markets, he better have a hell of a plan for him. TC, I see you. We’re going to talk to you next. We got the godfather of Sacramento Sports Media, Sean Cunningham, joining us in about 30 minutes. Phone lines are open for you. It’s the Elgrove Kia talk line at 916 9091320. It’s dealing with KC here on ESPN 1320. Oh, right on. Chris FedEx driver, we see you. Shout out to all the drivers out there, man. Shout out to all the drivers out there. Right on. Michigan. Thank you, brother. Luger Brett 94. And Andrew, that’s a hell of a random question. Uh yeah, I think um everyone involved Oh, shoot. Uh, give me one second, guys. I’ll be right back and then I’ll answer the Royal Rome question. Hang on. Be right back. All right. Excellent finish. And I think everyone has credited that, including Luger, to Brett, saying Brett wrapped him up and they fell over the top rope for perfect timing. It was a great finish. I mean, it wasn’t great. It was dumb. because they just couldn’t make up their mind on what they wanted to do with Lex or Brett. But oh my dearest brother, if I pop that bottle, I will drink the whole thing. You don’t leave any You don’t leave any wine in the bottle. You drink the whole thing. Yeah, that’s funny. Well, I definitely think we have created um I definitely think we have created an experience where when you go to commercial on the radio, it feels like you are missing something. I definitely think that’s the case. Oh, Katrina Katrina uh tuning in for wrestling. Shout out to the White Sox hat. I saw that I saw that bit on the on the show the other day. Ah, maybe we’ll work on Oh, you know what? I don’t know if we can. It’s a good question, Afro. Let me look into that. I’m not sure. That’d be great. That’d be great. Yeah, we’ve definitely we actually had a conversation about that the other day. We’ve we’ve created more of a a podcast feel here for sure. Oh, right on, Zabbo. That’s good stuff. I was confused as hell the first time I went to it. I was like, where is this place? And I found it. I was like, oh, let’s go. Uh, what’s MCR, Bryce? MCR. What is that? Uh, yes, Andrew. Yep. It’s with Bike Dog. Yep. Uh, funny you asked. Ste Brooklyn. I I I had an essential shirt on before I left, but I I just so big I didn’t like it. But no, I don’t. All right, man. Let’s see what Ley’s talking about here in the Elgrove Kid talk line. Uh, what did I say? Ley, my bad. Shout out, Lizzy, wherever you are. TC, what’s good, baby? TC. TC, what’s up, man? Hey TC. Hey Terrence. He’s there. He definitely there. Hey TC. Oh. Oh man. Hey. Oh TC just get back. This is one of those things where he can’t hear us or whatever. He doesn’t know we’re there yet. Yeah. Yeah. No. TC just got back. Scared. Somebody might say something. Yeah. He might have just made a delivery or something. He just got back in the car and didn’t know we were here. Should we just wait or No, I kind of want to see where this goes. Hey. Hey, Terrence. Hey, bro. Hey, my bad. Hey, you right. Hey, you hit it on the nose. You hit it on the nose. I was getting back in the car. Hey, look at T. TC. Hey, TC. I love you, brother. You’re my boy, man. Yes. Hey, I love you. Hey, look. No. So, listen. I really just call really because I was vibing. We was vibing that day. So, I really want to call you and Jeffy and say what’s up. Kenny, if you listen to what’s up with my two brothers, man. But look, if there’s any legs to Simmons situation, I don’t know how much that is. I was with y’all on Chris Paul. Like, as far as uh somebody to mentor the team, Chris Paul comes number one right before Russell Resbook and uh the boy Ben Simmons, but if it’s Ben Simmons, it’s his height, bro. His defense. I know he don’t shoot threes, but that 610 guarding one through four, bro. Like, we need Hey, Damen DLO, we need that one, bro. Like seriously. But I don’t think you’ve ever called me Damian before. Yo said, “Hey, Damian.” Nah, I got you TC. Appreciate you, brother. Have a great weekend. Um, yeah. I don’t I don’t I don’t mind the I don’t mind the Ben Simmons conversation at all. Um, I’m sure I’m sure a lot of fans are tired of hearing his name, but in reality won’t cost much. Uh, clearly there’s not a massive market for him. um if there’s a market at all. But TC is I think I think I think one one thing that’s interesting about Ben Simmons and and and TC’s right his height like his his defensive ability across multiple positions his ability to potentially play some at the three uh play at the one. There’s there’s things he could there’s things he could do. It’s not my It’s not my favorite available point. I mean, everybody knows what my available favorite available point guard is, but you know, I I love the idea of Chris Paul, too. Like, I’d really like to see Chris Paul uh back in Los Angeles. I haven’t evaluated the Clippers roster. If this really is uh Chris’s last year, like, yeah, I’d love to see him back with the Clippers, similar to what what what Dame’s going on right now. Although I don’t think Dame is is is retiring anytime soon. I think he’s got plenty of time left. I’d love to see Chris back in LA, but if he if he can’t be, I know he’s going to want to be in California or at least be on the West Coast. I don’t think he’s going back to Phoenix. So, yo. Yeah, I take Chris Paul in a heartbeat. Absolutely. Uh let’s get Marlin in here. 91691320 Elgrove Kid Talkline. Marlin, what’s good? What’s up, DLO? How you doing, brother? Not bad. Just out here delivering packages. Hey, shout out to all the delivery drivers, man. We appreciate uh all that you do. As someone who has a delivery driver show up to their house at least 10 times a day, my brother, I appreciate you guys. That’s what’s up. Uh so, I got a situation for you considering what happened with Dame Lillard. Any possibility we see Fox back in Sacramento within the next year or two? That’s a good one, man. Uh I saw that uh I saw that immediately pop up in the chatty house right as we were reading the Sham Shirania tweet regarding Dame Lillard. That was one of the that was one of the first things I saw uh in the chatty house. I mean why not like sure? Um I think Go ahead Jesse. Well was like wanted to play for only one coach right? So you play for this one again? Well, I I also think I mean there’s that there’s multiple things at play. One, the circumstances behind Dame getting back to Portland are pretty extraordinary. He has a ton of years left on his deal. He gets traded to Milwaukee. He clearly hates it. It doesn’t work out. And then Milwaukee takes the incredible step of waving him and stretching his contract over the next few years. That is just like we we’ve talked about the stretch provision and waving and stretching. That doesn’t happen a lot. Like that was an extraordinary step by the Milwaukee Bucks. So, and they did it because he had the Achilles injury. De’Arren, on the other hand, is up for a contract extension this year. He landed in a place that he landed in the the one place that he wanted to go and I can’t really I can’t really create a situation where I think it happens. Cass throws it in here from Chatty House. Maybe it’s not the right time, but it’s like maybe that bridge has been burned. I don’t think the De Fox bridge has been burned. No. Oh, who burned it? It just seems like somebody else. Well, I don’t know. I don’t think the Aaron burned it. I don’t think it feels like it’s a lot of like it was no the king’s dysfunction or you know, stuff like that. And that and that’s fine. Like he can in in and I think in the immediate in the immediate aftermath of a trade and even in some cases the not so immediate aftermath. I think I think you have like certain feelings like anytime you you know whether you request a trade or you get traded without your knowledge I think I think you’re going to have certain feelings. it it’s a relationship ending. And when you’re in a relationship and it ends, you you you believe that you’re in the right. And if you like if you’re the person who broke up with someone, you have your reasons for doing it and you believe that those reasons are right. If you’re the person who was broken up with, you will do what you have to do to rationalize why the relationship ended and how it’s not your fault. Like rarely do both entities take responsibility for why a relationship ended. And I don’t think De’aran took responsibility for why the relationship ended. I don’t think Sacramento took responsibility for why the I think everybody I think the Sacramento Kings mostly were just quiet after trading De’arren Fox. I don’t think they ever said anything. I don’t think they ever floated any stories out there. They certainly I don’t think they tried to influence any sort of narrative. De’arren had his feelings about how I felt personally and that’s fine. He’s welcome to feel that way. I sat on the phone with him and explained to him why I felt that way and we had a conversation and that was it. He feels the way that he does and I feel the way that I do. So, but I don’t think a bridge has been burned. He put out the the the tweet about uh uh I can’t remember every year same thing but I’m the problem or something like that. I’m pretty sure he deleted that tweet. which tells me he was emotional. I think Dear Fox is a good dude. I think Dearon Fox is a really good basketball player, maybe even a great basketball player. I’d love for him to be back in Sacramento. But again, let’s not forget the extraordinary con the the the extraordinary uh circumstances that led to Dame going back to Portland. It is it’s that’s not repeatable. That’s not repeatable. So that’s a long way Marlin of of of probably answering your question with a no. I don’t see a situation where anything like that happens. The only time it would is if Scott Perry’s back in charge and goes, “Yeah, I want De’Arren Fox on this team and if I can acquire him through a trade, that’s what I’ll do.” There’s nothing stopping that from happening, but I don’t I don’t see it. Uh, RH said he also deleted his tweet thanking the fans. I didn’t know that. I did not know that. But I like Dear if San Antonio is his uh if San Antonio is truly where he plays next year. Um, I think it’ll be a blast to watch him and and Steph and who they Dylan Harper and then of course, you know, Wimby. They said what last week, the week prior’s uh uh Yeah. Like I I just I I don’t It’s such a weird thing. Like he he had those blood clots that they I I think they I think they shut Webby down as a as a as a precaution, but I’m glad he’s good. I mean, and and and certainly the Spurs are interesting. I think the next couple of weeks will be interesting. Do we get news that the San Antonio Spurs offered De’Aran Fox a contract on August 2nd when he’s eligible? I think De’aran knows if that contract is coming. I think Rich Paul knows if that contract is coming. I know I think San Antonio knows if they’re offering that contract on August 2nd. I wonder how much changed. My feeling is you absolutely signed Dear into that contract and if cuz I’m all about, you know, these young guys they have, but you probably have a better chance. And and again, I don’t I don’t I don’t know what San Antonio feels like their timeline is. I don’t know what San Antonio feels like they need to do moving forward, but I got De’arren and De’arren is right now. Harper, Steph, those guys might be the future. I got D’Ang and Dear is right now. Pair him up with Wimby. Let’s see what we could do. Are they a top six team in the West off the top of your head? What do we even expect from them this season? Like what was even the expectation? I’m going to be honest. I don’t know. I don’t know what to expect. Like I think the expectations for them last year were way too high. Even, you know, even prior to De’Aran getting there, I thought the expectations were way too high. They were a 34 and 48 win a 34 and 48 team with you know Wimby being shut down uh in De’Aran ultimately having that that hand surgery. Can they get into the top six man? Minnesota, LA, Denver, um the Lakers Rockets Thunder. Zezy Sign says they’re going to be better than the Kings. Would you say they’re better than the Kings right now? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there’s a difference right now of six games. Could I see like I might Could I see San Antonio at 50 wins next year? I think so. 48 to 50 wins. That’s That’s anywhere from 8 to six. Like, at least based on last year, that’s anywhere from 8 to six. I could absolutely see that. Are the Clippers falling out of the top six? Are the Nuggets falling out of the top six? Are the Lakers falling out of the top six? Lakers, yes. Minnesota, I could see that as well. I’m pretty high on the Clippers as far as a regular season team after adding Bill. I like the Clippers. Denver is a regular season team I’m struggling with a little bit. I think Denver I think Denver’s low-key back. Really? Not officially, but if things go the right way, I could see them being contenders this season again. I think Denver is significantly more dangerous in the playoffs now. Yeah, I agree with that. I, you know, you mentioned the Clippers are a regular season team. Like you’re That’s not what you said. You said you’re high on the Clippers in the regular season. Basically, they’re a regular season team. I’m expecting to go make a run in the playoffs. I think that’s how I feel about Denver, but the other way around. Denver, I don’t know what they’re going to do in the regular season, but I think they could win a couple of series in the playoffs. So maybe that puts Denver in the, you know, the seventh spot, but I can but but but but but 48 to 50 wins for San Antonio with with De’Aran healthy with Wimi uh healthy uh with with you know the rookie and the secondyear guy. Yeah, man. I I I think San Antonio’s good. Say I’m not predicting I’m not doing win loss totals for Sacramento. I’m I’m I’m done making myself look stupid in that regard. But I still I still think I I’ve maintained it. I’ve said it all week and I’ll ride off into the sunset at 4:00 saying it again. I think this is a good basketball team. I don’t know how good. I think they’re a hell of a lot better than 40 and 42. I’ll say that. Are they a 50- win team? Are they as talented as San Antonio? Probably not. But could they be a 46- win team? Sure. I think some things would have to go right for them to be any like I think things would have to go really really well for them to be anything above a 45 46 win team. You start getting into 48s 49s 50s you probably had you know a really big season from Keegan Murray maybe maybe Nick is even better than his summer league show better than we predicted. I think you have a a lot of things going right for Sacramento. Should they wind up winning somewhere around that total, somewhere around that that that that 47, 48, 49 total, I think there’ll be an average basketball team this year that kind of just is locked into the playing most of the year and we’ll see where the ships fall once the season ends there. like they’re just I think they’re good enough to just stick around and be average, but like if they were to get 45 or 46, I feel like that tells us, okay, like there’s a little bit something more to this roster than we thought before the season. Yeah. Okay. So, you have them more around like 41, 42. Yeah, I got to believe they’re better than that. I have to I’ve spoke too highly about too many players to say that they’re not better than that. Uh, hold on. What’s what what Michael say? Uh, Vegas has San Antonio at 43 and a half. Man, I went way over that. Goodness gracious. Well, I don’t know ball like Las Vegas does. We ready to go? Like I take the over on that. Do we believe We Wy’s ready like he’s here like he’s a top player in this league now or is he just all not potential because like he’s really good now, but just more so is he ready to be the guy now ready to lead the Spurs to wins with the Fox? Like are we ready for that? I think so. If if that’s the case, then I think yeah, they’ll hit more than 43 and a half. Yeah, I think he is. Uh as long as there’s no setbacks, yeah, I think I think they’ve I think San Antonio has handled this I think San Antonio has handled the the the Wimby situation and and truth be told, I think they handled the De’ar Fox situation really really well. They have their rookie year, they kind of eased Wimby into things. uh the second year a little bit more uh when something was off, they shut it down, they allowed De’arren to play a little bit with the Spurs. It it always made sense for for Fox to shut down in San Antonio. They were going they were they were obviously going nowhere and he was playing through, you know, the hand issues. it always made sense uh to shut him down and he ultimately did, but I think they handled him allowing him to to get there, kind of get his his feet wet as a San Antonio Spur. I think that was the the perfect move for that organization. I think it was a great move for De’Aran Fox. Uh I did wonder if when the Spurs won the lottery, did their thoughts on De’Aran change? And maybe they did, but I don’t think it results in them not offering him a contract extension. I think it would make him more expandable later on after they’ve gotten into the contract. Of course, you would need Steph Castle to develop. You would need your rookie to be the star that you think that he is. Like, you would need a lot of things to happen. You would need a couple of things to happen uh before you were just willing to move on from De’Arren Fox. Steer Fox is a really really high level scorer and I think he is incredibly suited uh for the role that he is in now with the with the San Antonio Spurs. Allow Wimby to to to have all the attention, do all of that stuff and just go out there and play ball. It’s interesting you’re not high on the Lakers. The Lakers roster isn’t that much different. Plus, you have Luca Donets for the entire year. Yeah, of course there is. I’m pretty out on DeAndre Aton though and I think the rest of the league is like I just like DeAndre’s a good player, but I wonder how much of it is not empty calories which is there’s not a real true impact there. There it’s a collection of guys with talent. I feel that’s DeAndre they won’t go far in the postseason or anything like that. DeAndre has to DeAndre Aiden was probably the best option at that position for you, but it’s not like, oh yeah, we got DeAndre Aiden, we’re set. No, he just But he does have to if he can if DeAndre could just be Remember, they didn’t have anyone in in in that position last year post Anthony Davis. Real quick, we got to I don’t even have to screen this call. We got John from Connecticut. You want to talk to him? You need to be more enthusiastic. John, what’s up? No, I’m trying I’m trying to think of what he could be calling to. Who knows? I didn’t screen him. Who knows? John, you’re on the line. I I’m just calling in because I’ve been I’ve been clamoring from the chatty house to call in this week. I’ve had four people from the chatty house going to the DM saying, “Yo, Damen’s by himself this week, Jake. When you coming on?” I was like, I don’t know. Me and Dame, maybe we’re we’re beefing right now. He ain’t feeling it. I don’t know. But they told me to call in. Beef with Jake Gayen is crazy. Like, like just me and Jake Gayen uh aren’t vibing with each other is amazing. What’s up, man? I thought I was afraid you were calling to say something about the Yankees or Yukon or something. We ain’t Well, there’s no nothing going on with them. You know, it’s been the easiest, chillst week of sports. Like, okay, by the way, the fact that Kenny left you this week on the week, there was like nothing to talk about sports-wise, that’s cold. Okay, Jake, real quick, Jake, what if I told you that Damian was leaving Kenny next week? Okay, I would still not feel bad. See, I’m rooting for uh Kenny to have the worst week of his life next week. Just the absolute worst. Because what he won’t have to deal with next week is that meeting that Jesse and I had to deal with. What he won’t have to deal with in addition to me being out is is the big event I had to show up to last night. He don’t have to worry about none of that. So, I hope he sits here in this seat scrambling for something. At least he’ll have baseball back. Jake, I didn’t even have baseball. It was I’ll be honest with you, the past two days has been the the quietest days in sports because nothing happened. You got WNBA, but like what we going to talk about Caitlyn Clark for four hours? Like, what’s going on with it? Yeah, she’s not even playing, man. That was a bummer. I I I was kind of happy that the Dame Lillard story hit because that was like, hey, there’s a that’s a that’s a good little story. Then I realized, yeah, there’s not really much legs to that because Dame Lillard isn’t playing next year. Well, you you kept on talking about LeBron and Kobe the whole entire week or MJ or whatever it was. And I think that conversation got get got talked about a lot this week. Let’s just put it that way. Yeah, that that that was an unintentional conversation that got completely out of control that we realized, well, the next time we’re struggling for something, just bring up LeBron because I did not I didn’t know people didn’t know. I thought LeBron was the greatest player of all time. That sparked a whole thing that I wasn’t even remotely prepared for. No, neither was I because again, I think that the conversation for both are are very good. It’s just some people are just uh not informed. Let’s just put it that way. We’ll leave it at that. Jake, what are you up to this week, man? Are you are you working? Are you traveling? What are you doing? No, I’m chilling. We’re We’re in sack. We just got done with a little quick nine holes over in Elk Grove. Shout out to uh Emerald Lakes. Sorry if anybody’s been down there. You know, it’s the perfect little easy nine nine hole course that we rock with it. Uh watching a lot of summer league, man. My guy need Clifford. All right. Can we talk about how ridiculous this kid has been the past week and the fact that ESPN came out and said he’s been the best player of summer league? Like, you know, it’s not surprising he’s always risen to the occasion, but the fact that he’s doing it now on the biggest stage, I’m excited to see it. Uh the question I have for you, which I think is a good one, is this. Um you know, who’s starting? What’s the starting five for the Kings this year, right? like are we really comfortable with Keon coming off the bench and playing limited minutes off the bench because of the amount of salary that you have in that starting lineup or is there a conversation to be had with maybe Dear or Zack about coming off the bench and and what does that that second you know second unit look like? I definitely don’t think Dear or or Zach comes off the bench. I think the starting lineup is pretty easy. It’s it’s Dennis, it’s Dear, it’s Zack, it’s Keegan, and it’s Domas. Simple. So then what what do you do in the backup? You’re looking for a backup point guard, right? Ben Simmons, I’ll pass. That that’s between me and you. Sure. Like you have you have Malik at the shooting guard. What you going to put Keon at the three and switch him back off with Malik and then you put um Meek at the four and then whoever your five is if that’s Max or um Drew Eubanks. Like what does that look like? Who was your Who was your backup point guard? Who was my backup point? I thought I I feel like you just I feel like you skipped the the point guard and went straight to the shooting guard, the two forwards and the centers. The the big question is who’s your backup point guard? I think Russ ends up being here. I really do. I just think that he wants to be in California and the fact that he could be 45 minutes away from his home in LA, I think he’d be very happy about that. Ben Ben Simmons, I don’t know if I I like that fit. The difference is what I’m intrigued by is like I think Russ, correct me if I’m wrong guys, was averaging like 20 minutes a game last year for the Nuggets and that was, you know, split duty of course a lot throughout the season. But like is Russ playing okay with playing like 16 minutes a game, right? Or or an 18 minutes a game or do we really think this is going to be a split duty type thing with Dennis? Like that’s the questions you have. I think Russ is far more interested in being closer to his family than he is uh worrying about the amount of minutes he’ll play. And I think he’ll comfortably play 15 to 20. But ultimately, and I’m with you, I think Russell Westbrook does because it’s a dream I will not let go. I think Russell Westbrook does wind up on this team. But ultimately, I think what we’ll might see is Malik Monk as the backup point guard. Keon Ellis is the two guard, Nick is the backup three, maybe Max is either the backup four, maybe Isaac Jones runs some of the backup four, and then depending on where Max is at, if he’s not the four, he’s the five. And then you have uh you know whether it’s Eubank Sich whatever playing in that other role. And then that leaves us with with our former first round pick at Deon Carter. How how he fix fits into the mix. Like that’s he could sit in his stupid little outfit at the end of the bench. Okay. I’m not a I I Yeah. I mean I’m a He might have time to go to Turkey now then. That sounds better, you know. Well, all right. Maybe maybe he does. I don’t know. I I I just I can’t find and it’s not Deon’s fault. I’ve tried to say that. Devin should not have been drafted here. There there’s just I just for for there’s just no place to work him into this rotation. Jake, that’s the crazy thing about it though, Jame. Like you look at Devin and Devin targeted the Kings last year. Like he was high on them coming out of the out of the draft. He was like, “Yeah, this is the spot I want to be at.” That’s the crazy thing. like they that was a a a destination location for him in terms of a team to play for and the fact that has been anything but since then is wild. Yeah, it’s uh there’s there’s there’s a variety of reasons why this was just the tough spot for uh for Devin. But uh Jake, I love you, brother. I appreciate you. Thanks for calling and chatting with me for a few minutes. Uh I’m confident uh you’re going to get a call to be in these studios next week. I love it, my guys. Hey, have a great weekend. Have a great vacay, my guy. All right, thanks Jake. Appreciate you, brother. Uh, we’ll come back. That is, uh, John from Connecticut. Uh, we’ll come back. Um, Sean Cunningham, KCR3, the godfather of sports media here in Sacramento. He joins us next on Sacramento Sports Leader, ESPN 1320. Scout, I don’t I I don’t like his hair. I don’t That man can We all got decisions to make when it comes to our hair. I’m gonna have my own decisions to make some point soon, but it’s it’s just I don’t know. There’s just his o one, admittedly, the Trista story bugs me. Uh two, his just overall demeanor. Three, I think his game just lacks. We’re being honest. I think the Trista story, like since then, you were pretty out. Like there was no there was no other side. I can’t stand people who treat other people that way. Like who the [ __ ] are you to talk down to her? Yeah, I’m not I’m not a fan of that. Not not from anyone at in any position of life. Treat treat people with respect. My man Sean Cunningham. What’s up, buddy? What’s up, sir? Can you hear me? Okay, because I’m a little in an odd situation. That’s cool. Where are you? I’m at a Starbucks. uh in the Placerville area. Um I am in the middle of our yearly Men of News 10 camping trip from all these old heads that were back in the day. I’m like the youngest one on the trip and we do it annually. I hate camping. Camping to me as a hotel room, but uh my buddy Nick Monoselli who now works at he was at Channel 10 when I was there. He now works out in the Detroit area. He comes all the way back for this camping trip. And uh here I am buddy. Thank you for explaining that because I was very confused at the men of News 10 because sir that is not where you work anymore. Why are you still retreating to like Okay, got it. Full context. Love it. That’s pretty dope though. That’s fun. It is cool. And Nick Nick, I brought him up because he lets me uh crash in an RV, which is about the closest thing to a hotel room as it gets. So I’m not the outdoorsy type. As much as I love the outdoors, I don’t want to get dirty. Yeah. You you and I are are are very similar in that in that regard. Like yes, I will camp at the Four Seasons. That’s perfectly fine. Perfect. Perfect. Count me in. Yeah. No doubt. No doubt. Thanks for making time for us, man. I appreciate it. No problem. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. We’re We’re in commercial. We should wrap up in about a minute and a half. Oh, cool. Cool. Let me see these comments here. It looks okay, though. It’s not like choppy or anything. I’m on the Wi-Fi. Great. Yeah, it looks great. Love that shirt, too. That shirt is tremendous. Oh, thanks. Yeah, that’s awesome. It’s It’s a little weird because Carl Malone is on there and I didn’t know how I felt about that, but yeah, understood. Understood. You grew up in this area, right? So, like Brian May, Yamamoto, Briano, George Warren, Dave Marquis, Mark Hedland, um I think that’s Dale Shornack, of course. He’s up there. It’s fun. I uh I got to know Brian a lot because he was covering the Monarchs in, you know, ‘ 05, 06, 07 and all of that. Uh so Brian was around a lot. Got to know him. I remember Brian was on the finals trip to Detroit. Cara had an incredible game, too, and he pulls me aside and reads me all of these this is the most three-pointers ever made in a finals game. like they set so many records in that game too before ultimately losing. But um yeah, remember Brian Well, they get their franchise before Sacramento did. That’s crazy, man. Cleveland, what is up with that? Absolutely frustrating. How long are you out there? Uh I’m gonna one more. I went up last night. I stay overnight. I’ll get tonight and then I’m coming back Saturday after they do this. Uh yeah, we’re coming back here. All right, we’re going to close out this week strong with our man Sean Cunningham who is out in the wilderness. He grabbed his laptop, went to a a a Starbucks in Plasterville while on a camping trip. Sean, I have now moving forward referring to you as the godfather of sports media in Sacramento. We’ve also determined uh that you are just the goat. I know you don’t believe that. I know you called me delusional last night. Uh you are the best to do it in this market when it comes to covering sports. So, those are your titles moving forward. You may accept them or you may not, but that’s how we will be referring to you from now on. It it may be a delusional compliment, but it’s a compliment nonetheless. Uh, so to have someone like you say that, it means a lot and uh I’m not worthy of such praise, but I’ll take it. I’ll take it. Oh, you very much are. And speaking of delusional, let’s talk summer league because there’s a lot of us that are delusional right now as the Sacramento Kings are are headed into the semifinals of of of the summer league against the Toronto Raptors tomorrow afternoon. You are notoriously the most levelheaded guy who covers this basketball team. You have covered this team through the good and the bad through 1140 to KC and and and everywhere in between, but you have always covered them with a very level head. There are a lot of Kings fans excited about these two young players that we’ve been watching uh for the last week or so, Nick Clifford uh and Maxim Reno. What is your impression uh of these guys at first glance? I think I’m a bigger I said this even on draft day. I think um I’m probably a bigger fan of them as people than I am as them as athletes because we’re still learning about them as athletes. I’ve spent a lot of time over these past few weeks getting to know them as people. Um be it directly with those people with with them themselves, their families, their coaches, um people who have been along the along the rides, their agents. Um and there’s not much that you’re gonna find that you’re not going to like about these two guys in particular. Nick Nee Clifford and Maxine Mareno and it’s um it’s very infectious personality. So you can see that box being checked right off the bat. And then of course on the basketball side, I mean I was honest like don’t spend a whole lot of time watching Colorado State basketball. Stanford didn’t really give you much reason to watch over these past few years. So um getting a kind of familiar with some of the things that they did at the collegiate level doesn’t always let you know how they’re going to translate to the NBA level. But um cautious optimism with what they’re bringing to the table. I mean summer league is halfhazard basketball. So for people who to get to get excited about it, your fans do that. Please get excited over it. Um but keep in mind like all I’m looking for when I watch a guy play, I’m not looking for points scored. I’m looking at confidence. Do they look like they belong? Do they have a command? Do they have a feel? Do they mesh well with teammates that they’ve known for five minutes? Um, and I think for both of these guys, they check a lot of those boxes. Um, particularly with with um, you know, it’s funny like meek is like plug and play right away. I know you’re hearing the term Swiss Army knife being thrown out thrown around a lot. I I was guilty of it myself. Um, I had to go back and watch that first game because I thought summer league head coach Depesh Mystery was like upset at at him not being aggressive enough on the offensive end. And I used that as a question to to Meek in that game. Like he he gets his his path. He gets kind of criticized for not having strong confidence, not capitalizing, using his talents, being trying to be kind of an alpha out there. And so I’m like, man, I’m seeing it in game one. Like, you weren’t very aggressive and now here’s your coach saying you’re not being very aggressive. And I think when I asked him the question, I kind of pissed him off. And when I followed up, uh I don’t I still have to put out the interview, the one-on-one I did with Meek before I left Vegas. Um I’ll have that out probably Saturday when I get back to sack. But um one of the things that was I I brought that up. I said, “I think I kind of pissed you off and it’s Dip’s fault.” But this is what I went back and looked at and it and it really shown itself in game two against the Bulls. He’s seeing Maxim Reno get off to a hot start in the game against the Bulls. He sees Devin Carter get off to a hot start and he’s setting up his teammates. He’s absolutely letting his teammates have a moment and then getting into the second half of both of those games, Meek has some moments himself um especially with closing out a game. And so those are really in those are really cool moments to see. I think if you’ve watched any of the summer league those guys I mean I know Maxim sat out the game with wrist soreness but he’s so damn loud. You can hear him throughout the entire gym. He’s calling out offensive sets that the other team is doing. It’s just you don’t see that at the summer league level at all. Um you rarely see it at the NBA level from veteran players. But to see a guy like that come out of the second round, come out of Stanford, his smarts, his personality, his quirkiness, it’s all well documented. But to see him call that stuff out to guys that he’s been teammates with for five minutes is like you don’t see that in summer league level. So there are things to get excited about. I hope people are excited because it’s been a lot of fun. One one thing that’s funny about that, Sean, is um one, that’s the sign of a really smart basketball player who watches film. Uh, two, it pisses the other team off. It happens probably like they’ll they’ll motion to each other, but when someone yells out the play, oh, it pisses them off so much. Cara used to do that for the Sacramento Monarchs regularly. And I watched players like Kappy Pond Dexter, Diana Terrasi, uh, uh, Katie Smith just get so agitated because she’s keep horns down, horns down, they’re running and she would just yell it out and they Oh, they’d get so furious. So, the fact that a rookie who’s a game into his NBA career in summer league is doing that is tremendous. Yeah, absolutely. And I I can absolutely remember those moments, too. And um I I I’ll share a funny story. I remember Tamika Catchings, you know, it was a lot of moments where she would be she’d be hurt and I would I was behind their bench one game. Usually I was behind the Monarch’s bench and those very words that you’re talking about from Cara and Yolanda Griffith both, they says, “They know exactly. We have to mix it up. they know exactly what we’re doing and getting abs just laying into her teammates and coaches using some colorful language that I can’t use at a Starbucks on the air, but uh it was I totally get it and and and it’s funny to see the reaction to players when he’s doing it because you see their heads immediately turn violently towards him because it’s so jarring to hear a guy that loud on the court. So, yeah, it’s uh it’s fun to watch. I hope fans have been able to catch that on the broadcast. I don’t know if it totally comes through, but when you’re in that little Cox pavilion um in in at Thomas next to Thomas and Mac, it it just echoes throughout throughout the building. Uh one of the words that I think we’ve used to describe Nick the most is comfortable. He looks absolutely comfortable on a basketball floor. Maybe he’s uh a little too passive for for for coaches uh needs here in summer league, but we’ve seen other players, and we’ll get to him in a minute, who don’t look comfortable, whether it’s with the ball in their hand, whether it’s trying to execute, whether it’s doing different things. Nick just looks like a basketball player to me. 100% plug and play. Do do whatever you want him to do. He’s out there doing it on both ends of the floor, which is tremendous. Um and look, not trying to pick on Devin Carter here. Um, he has a Well, you knew where I was going. Yeah, he has a tall task. It’s a nice segue because he has a tall task ahead of him. He’s has to be something that he’s not and he’s being asked to be that. Um, and that could be his pathway to the NBA, at least with the Sacramento Kings, that that could find him minutes. Um, but realizing that he’s just been a combo guard his whole life and not a point guard. And even talking to him and people around him, like I I feel like that Moneyball quote in my mind where you have the guy trying to get accustomed to first base and he’s like, “Ah, it’s not that hard.” And it’s like, “Yeah, it’s incredibly hard.” And and and that’s essentially the same type of message that’s being told to de like, “No, this isn’t easy for you to have to get them into sets and and adapt to something you’re not, but also try to hunt for your shots as well. And you’re being told, you know, take shots, take shots, take shots.” Uh it it it can be it can be difficult and you kind of see him going through some of the es and flows with that for for for someone like Nick getting in there. His role stays the same whether he’s guarding one through four. Uh whether he’s playing a point guard situation or or or getting the offense going. He knows what it’s like to be a point guard. Um, he he looks so much I know I hate comparisons at this time, but like it reminds me of like a point forward like like a Grant Hill, like a Scotty Pitman, especially for what they do defensively on the on the glass as well. I mean, they just fill up a stat sheet and they don’t have to go out there and have these 20 point ball games to see how much they’re impacting winning. Um, impacting so many of the second chance opportunities, hockey assists, um, going out there especially and just playing solid defense. And we know what they can do on the glass. pass him and Devin both. So, um, he gets to do what he does. Devin’s being asked to do something radically different and you kind of see some of the es and flows to that and and hopefully, you know, he’s still going to continue to play in these games. A lot of lot of guys who played last year and were high draft picks and have played a little bit in the season get to this point in summer league and they might sit out a game or two and that doesn’t seem to be the case. Don, I can’t see his place on the team. I I just can’t I can’t figure it out. Like I don’t I don’t like the backup point guard thing. I don’t like any sort of point guard thing for him. I think if the Kings truly need a backup point guard, they need to go sign one. Whether it’s Russ, whether it’s Chris Paul, Ben Simmons, Malcolm Brog, whether it’s someone else, they need to go sign someone who plays the point guard position so we don’t get 10, 15 games into the season going, “Well, the Kings need a backup point guard.” When Dennis Shruder leaves, everything kind of falls apart and Malik is being asked to do all these different things, a scorer, facilitator, all of this different stuff. I just don’t I just don’t see it for Devin at that position and I think they need to go address it otherwise or in in in another way. Yeah. And it’s, you know, it’s still July 18th. There’s so much there’s so much offseason left. But, um, for someone like him, yeah, there might be grass greener on the other side, opportunities elsewhere, but I think if he’s on your team, um, it I I don’t think point guard is in his future. And I think that’s not a big stretch. I think this is if you’re going to try to develop those point guard skills, it doesn’t happen in one summer. It doesn’t happen at one summer league. It it’s things that have to happen in a in an evolution of the position from one year to the next with playing time. So having guys like, you know, I think Malik Monk is a good example of that. I mean, he’s he’s not a point guard, but he’s very much a combo guard himself. Zack Lavine, some may scoff at this, but he considers himself to be a combo guard. somebody who can is capable of being able to set up the offense and and be a primary ball handler in spurts. And I think those are good examples of what he can maybe be. Now, you’re right, he’s going to be buried in in this rotation as the roster is currently situated. But how can he come in and impact winning? How can he come in and and light a spark? Um I think it’s funny because I feel where they’re I think I heard you talking the other day. you’re not totally um out on what this team is. Like this is a very talented talented team and the way the West is, you know, I’m I’m not really looking at them as being comp, you know, the most competitive team necessarily from a one through five, one through six or seven standpoint, but like they can win games. They can be a very competitive group. And you know, you get them in a series, who knows what can happen. Um they didn’t have a point guard last year, and I was talking to Scott Perry about that. like there’s a genuine curiosity of what this team is capable of with a point guard in mind. They have that now with Dennis Shruder. You’ve got some pieces that you’ve been able to add to the roster. Training camp will sort out a lot of these things. Obviously, health is is is paramount, but like you get into December, you get into January, if you can keep your head above water, maybe there’s a move or two out there where you can dramatically shift your your your roster. and and maybe that involves somebody like Devin Carter, maybe it involves somebody like Mullen Monk, but um decisions will be made and this is going to be an ongoing process for them. So yeah, you’ve got a few pieces that might be stop gap in the meantime and you might have some people that are buried on the depth chart, but there’s still a little bit of a roster imbalance in my mind and I I I’m kind of side to you a little bit on this where I’m not as as discouraged as maybe a lot of people are for some of the moves that they haven’t made and some of the changes that they want to see made. Well, you you again uh exemplifying why you are the goat. Uh you brought up Scott Perry and I wanted to ask you about your conversation with Scott Perry. He said uh uh a couple of things that that really stood out to me. One, and this is where I really commend Scott, and I don’t know if he knows this, he did not use the word patience. I don’t think any Sacramento Kings fan should ever be told to be patient given what they’ve had to go through for the better part of the last two decades. But he did say when you asked him and and I believe your question was, “What does this team need the most?” And Scott said, “This team needs time together.” And he said that and I I I had two big takeaways. One, he’s not down on this team. Um maybe it’s not perfect. Maybe it’s not exactly what he wants. Maybe he’s tried to execute a few things over the course of, you know, his first, you know, uh, 70 something, 80 something days as the general manager that he hasn’t been able to execute, but he recognizes what we were just talking about. There’s talent on this basketball team here, and it’s going to take time to put this team together exactly the way that he wants to. And those were the team two things that stood out to me the most in your conversation uh, with him. Was there anything in particular that stood out to you? Well, yeah. And I’m glad you mentioned that that question, too, because that’s coming off the heels. When I spoke to him, that was after game one, and if you remember, he joined the NBA TV broadcast, and he let it be known that he’s still looking at point guard play. Uh, and and so my very simple basic question was, “What do you need?” Thinking he was going to say the same thing. And he pivoted completely different to, to your point, to talk about, you know, time together. And I think that was telling because I was I remember talking to agent uh before the season ended and the notion of now having Zack Lavine on your team um whoever the the front office may be and in this case now it’s Scott Perry but at that time it’s like looking at getting value for for for somebody like Zack Lavine and the near impossible task not only of trading him but being able to trade him to get yourself better and reminding people that that was That’s a multi-team trade. Like Chicago didn’t get deer Fox. Somebody else did, right? Chicago got Kevin Herder. Are you gonna say that they got better? No. They lost talent. They got better by maybe removing a awful awful contract. And I I’ll be the first to admit there. And there that signifies something different for Chicago because they’re going through a rebuild. But Bulls fans who also have had to remain patient and having a lot of talent on their team and not necessarily equating to wins like now they’re going through another rebuild. And so, um, I I I have them in mind when I think of Sacramento because they do have the likes of both Demar De Rozan and Zack Lavine. And it’s I I I say this all the time, I sound a little bit of like a broken record, but the goal was never to trade to acquire Zack Lavine and pair Demar De Rozan together. The goal was to get value, winning piece, winning talent for Dear and Fox because you essentially had a gun to your head and and were making this type of trade, feeling the need that you had to do it before the season ends. I I would argue otherwise you should have probably waited till the end of the season. I say that in a long-winded way just to say that you ended up with this this because based off of talent and I think there was a desire to move off of D Rozan realizing then the market plays itself out and much like Zack Lavine there’s nothing in on in the market where you feel you can move someone of the talent of Demar De Rozan to get better in the in the now and that’s what they’re trying to do is get better in the now. You can argue whether they should or they shouldn’t, but this is the pieces that they have. And this these two pieces with the right with with some roster behind them were able to win 50 games in Chicago. And I know people don’t like to acknowledge that as a success, but it is true. I know they’re longer in the tooth, but there is a belief that you you can have a winning product with this. and it’s not championship level and probably can’t sustain playoff success. But if you can just get into the season when teams all of a sudden in the market changes a little bit, these contracts aren’t as bad and they’re both very very movable and you just have to make sure you get the right move as opposed to the move that doesn’t make you better. So um yeah, I I understand what Scott Perry is talking about. I think he knows the value the market value of every piece on his roster and sometimes the best moves you make are the ones you don’t make. What do you Scott told us told you what he thinks this team is missing uh or what this team needs specifically time together. What do you think this team needs? You’re still muted. Sorry, Sean. You’re still muted. Sorry about that. I would agree that I would agree that I would agree that there’d be some some uh point guard depth that could be needed, but to me I think a stretch four uh they need in the worst way. I think some wing help um some more size. Um you know, is that putting a lot of pressure on people like Drew Eubanks and and Maxim Reno to come in here? Dario Sarich, we’ll see what that’s like. I don’t have a lot of faith there in terms of his health and his availability. Um it’s always plagued him for so long. I’ll point out I thought he was a solid contributor to the warrior to Warriors. Yeah, his, you know, availability, durability, all that stuff. Like it’s he’s a he’s a pros pro, but he’s always hurt. So, uh I think that they need some more reliability in size. Um but wing is is kind of where I look at the most. Um I don’t think I think some shooting can certainly help. I don’t think you need scoring necessarily, but but shooting depth is is something I think sorely needed. So, um yeah, man. It could be fun. And maybe you can answer two of those things. Like, you know, I know you mentioned Ben Simmons. I’ve I’ve heard that chatter. Um, I’ve had some people tell me that that’s not likely. Um, but a player like that that can be an elite defender and and ball handler, uh, playmaker, but also having the ability to shoot. And I just don’t think Ben Simmons is necessarily a fit there. But, you know, finding somebody like that that can come in here and and add a little bit of uh rotation balance would would be nice. Sean, get back to camping, man. Or your version at least of camping. And and and tell the old uh News 10 guys, Ryan and Ryan and Dale, tell all those guys I said hello. I absolutely will. Yeah. Crazy times around the campfire. You guys around the campfire is the perfect visual. It’s the It’s the It’s the It’s the Survival Man episode of The Office. Like, yes. Roasting s’mores. I’m all for it. I’m all for it. Roasting s’mores. Yes. Appreciate you, my friend. Thank you as always. Anytime, man. I’ll talk to you soon. Thanks, guys. All right. That’s our man Sean Cunningham right there. Uh the godfather of sports media here. And this market did casually mention uh he spoke to someone said Ben Simmons not likely. Uh that’s a a rumor that that popped up earlier. I think it was today with um our buddy Jake Fischer. And uh while I’m I’m I’m sure the the the funny thing about the funny thing about reporting like interest the the the funny thing about there being interest in a play Yeah. Like of course they’re interested. They’re interested in filling positions of need on their roster. Ben Simmons is a little bit more u interesting of a conversation as Sean was just laying out there at the end of that conversation. Uh he’s a little bit more interesting in that Russ point guard. Pure point guard. Chris Paul point guard. Pure point guard. Ben Simmons. He could play the point guard position. He does play the point guard position, but he’s also 69. And we saw him do some things at the forward position last year for the Los Angeles Clippers. There’s always been this thought of like, well, if he just took the ball out of his hands, what could he do? But Sean mentioned something uh really important. I know James uh his partner over the Kings Beat and of course co-host of the Insiders here at 10 to 12 on ESPN 1320 mentioned it this morning when they were talking about Ben Simmons as well. Is that if if you want to shoot threes, and by all accounts, Doug Christie wanted to do that last year. I I assume he’s going to want to do it again this year. I don’t I don’t think you want Domas who will shoot threes but a respectable amount because we won’t we we all know he won’t shoot too many. He’ll he’ll shoot two maybe three. Then you got Demar and now and I know he’s not starting but we’re talking about a rotation of players. Now we’re going to work Ben Simmons into this. Yeah. I’m not I’m not I’m not sure that’s I’m not sure that’s what you want to do. And I I understand like the idea, the thought. Let’s think about it. Let’s talk about it. Let’s walk through it. Does it work? Yes. No, maybe. Pros, cons. In the end, I think you have a player that you never really know what type of headsp space he’s going to be in. And then you have the you have the fact he just doesn’t shoot. He doesn’t shoot threes at all. He rarely shoots period. Now the Kings have a lot of scores. You know, if you’re in there with the second unit, you have Malik out there. Um well well maybe Nick becomes a a big volume scorer. I’m I’m not sure. It’s a little bit different with with with uh Ben potentially playing in that second unit. It does add that depth there. But I I don’t think that’s my favorite move. Again, I understand why you talk about it. I understand why it becomes a conversation, but not my favorite. Like Russ and Chris Moore. Like the idea of Russ and Chris Paulmore. Hate the idea of Devin Carter playing that position. And that’s where I’m just going to live at. I do not want them to try to rig the backup point guard position or rig any sort of point guard position. You need a point guard, get a point guard out there. That’s easy. Like an actual point guard. What do you do with Devin Carter? Not your backup. Like I mean as far as like sit him on the bench thing. Do you do whatever you can? You try to develop him still like in hopes that maybe when if Malik’s not here or something. I don’t know. Like cuz Malik to me it’s like Malik and Keon and then there’s Devin, but I’m not taking minutes away from those two to play Devin. So do you stash him in the G- League to get minutes and develop? Do you attach a pick to him at this point to trade him and just give him a better situation? Like what do you do with him right now? I have absolutely I have absolutely no problem with sending him to the G-League. None. Because he’s not like when we talk about De’s not a bad basketball player or anything like that. He’s simply just been drafted to a team where it doesn’t fit at all and it just it doesn’t work and it hasn’t worked since he’s been drafted. So just a matter of maybe you don’t want to cut loose on them so early because there might be something there. But again, there’s just nothing here where it seems like it fits or works. Well, so I I don’t think that he’s a bad basketball player. Well, that’s what I mean. There’s still there’s still there’s still something there you can possibly work with. I don’t think the Kings have even scratched the surface with him. It’s like last year he just got thrown into the fire and it didn’t look great and then this year you’re trying him at a position that he doesn’t even play. Yeah. And Yeah. I and and maybe like to go back to your question of what do you do with him? Maybe you either set him on the bench or send him to the G-League. I just don’t see what his place is on this roster. I mean, I understand that he is a lottery pick uh from a year ago, but if if the reports are true and the Sacramento Kings have attempted to trade him and just can’t, I don’t know what you’re supposed to do. Like, if you don’t have a place on this team, you don’t have a place on the team. And if I’m Deon, you know, if if if I’m Scott Perry and I’m talking to Devin Carter’s representatives, who I’m sure are going to want him out of Sacramento should that wind up being the case, I look him dead in the face and say, “Dog, I’ve tried. I have tried multiple times to trade him. I can’t. Our best bet is to send him to the G-League. Otherwise, he’s just going to be sitting on the end of our bench.” Yeah, because that’s where I’m at with I guess I’m not going to give up Keon’s minutes, Malik’s minutes, or seems down. Now we got to talk about Nick Clifford potentially running that backup guard spot or something. Like I’m not taking away from those guys. I’m with you. I’m not willing to sacrifice any of those guys minutes. Any of them. And Cass, like I hear you. Cass says he’s too good for the G. Yeah, he probably is. But what do you do with him? What do you do with Devin Carter? Maybe there’s I don’t know. You asked earlier this week, I don’t remember what day it was, but you asked like are are are or maybe you asked in the run, are we giving up on Devin Carter too quick? I mean, maybe, but maybe the Kings don’t have a choice. That’s what it feels like because it’s like just I don’t see a role for him this season. And if he’s not getting run this year, which is really getting just developmental time, like I don’t see a role for him after this year as well. Yeah. Right. So we’re just pushing it off. That’s kind of what it feels like. Just prolonging the inevitable. And at at at some point, I mean, maybe maybe the situation is different next year. I don’t see how it would be. Um yeah, I’m I’m with you. It just it feels like something that you have to figure out and you have to figure it out within the next couple of months. Uh otherwise, you’re just faced with a a difficult dilemma. You’re you’re faced with a difficult situation of sitting him on the bench, putting him to the G-League, or and this this to me this is the worst case scenario, you’re trying to force him into a position just to get him minutes that fails everybody. Yeah, I think that’s like you said, it’s worst case. I know that won’t work for anybody that that it’s bad for Devin for the simple fact of like he’s just not up to speed with the other guys and it’s bad for the other guys because it’s going to slow them down. That’s it. And now you’re sacrificing wins and losses because you’re trying to salvage your lottery pick that the previous front office screwed up. And that’s one of the good things about Scott Perry being in play to manage this and not Mighty McNair and Wes Wilcox to be in play to manage manage this is Scott has no investment whatsoever into Devin Carter. If you’re Monty McNair, you might feel like we have to figure we have to we got to show we were right. We got to find a way. We got to prove him or we got to get value for him. We have to do something with him. Where Scott could walk in here and go, I didn’t pick his ass. So, it’s got nothing to do with me. If I got to sit him on the end of the bench, then I’m going to sit him on the end of the bench. If I got to send him to the G-League, I’ll send him to the G-League. I’ve tried to trade him three times this off seasonason, and I can’t. I have no investment in this young man. I wish he had played better. I wish I could easily uh uh slide him into a rotational spot. I just got nothing for him. And Scott Perry doesn’t have that investment. It’s not just with Devin Carter either. With the exception of Maxine Renault and Nick Clifford, he doesn’t have an investment in any of these guys. He doesn’t have an investment into the acquisition of Zack Lavine. He doesn’t have an investment into the acquisition of Demar De Rozan. He doesn’t have the uh investment into the contract extension for Devonte Sabonis. He has no investment in any of that stuff. So I think when that happens, you can kind of judge the landscape of your franchise with a little clear vision. Kind of been brought up in the chatty house, too. But the tough part about sending them to the G- League is you might just draw out an average 40 every game. It’s like, what is that doing? Well, what what it’s not doing is it’s not costing the Sacramento Kings victories. It’s not forcing them to find a rotational spot for him in Sacramento. And I don’t I don’t know. I don’t know. Do fans still Well, I guess they do because we get worked up by what happens in summer league. I guess fans would still get fooled by what happens in the G-League. Oh, yeah. There’s always there’s always the intrigue of a player like Mason Jones. We still talk about Mason Jones scorely scoring 40 last year. Yeah. I mean, he was putting up triple doubles in like the G- League finals or something like that. Hey, Mason Jones is a good dude, but he’s never been able to really crack a rotational spot here in Sacramento. I think they in baseball they call him a 4A player. Always good enough to be better than Triple A, but never good enough to be an MLB. And I don’t think that’s what Devin is. Yeah. No, I just think Devin doesn’t fit on this basketball team. That’s it. It’s not that Devin doesn’t fit in the NBA. It’s that Devin doesn’t fit on this current version of the Sacramento Kings. And that’s all Scott Perry can worry about. That’s all that’s all that Doug Christie can worry about. Doug’s got a team to coach. Scott Perry’s got a team to manage. And if that doesn’t include Devin Carter, then it doesn’t include Devin Carter. And I know it’s easier for me to talk about kind of the, you know, go back to the burning an asset or sinking a cost. I know it’s easier for me to do that than for them, but again, Scott Perry didn’t invest in this. He inherited it. He doesn’t have Scott Perry doesn’t have anything to prove when it comes to Devin Carter. That doesn’t make the decision I’m sure that doesn’t make the decision easy for Scott Perry. It’s it you it it it’ll be tough to look at your roster and go, “This player cannot help us. You do it. You’re going to do it throughout the course of training camp. This player can’t help us. We wish you the best on your future endeavors. This player can’t help us immediately. Maybe we have a two-way spatform or uh uh maybe we’re we’re going to cut you. We’re going to let you go. We’re going to let you go. I’ll find whatever you but we’d love to have you back on on the Stockton Kings. We’d love to have you back on our G-League affiliate. It’s it’s tough. Those decisions have to be made. And with Devin, because he is a former lottery pick, there probably is a conversation that’s like, “Hey, we don’t have a spot for you.” Remember, uh the it was a it was a Luke Walton year. Remember when the the the we talked about the the agent putting out the statement about uh Marvin Baggley, how the team had informed Marvin Baggley that wouldn’t he wouldn’t be a part of their their their plans that season, their rotational plans that season. Jeff Schwarz, is that who it was? Yeah, I believe it’s it’s his agent right now. I believe it was Jeff Schwarz back then, too. Okay. He was like, “Yeah, like this is this is absurd.” It’s like, well, it is what it is. like they’re not going to be happy. But like, hey, my job is to go win basketball games. If I’m Doug, if I’m Scott, my job is to go win basketball games. And I can’t win with your player on this roster. If I could trade them, I would. I can’t. And I don’t know that Devin Carter can do anything tomorrow. And if the Sacramento Kings playing the championship, I don’t know that he could do anything in that game because I think I might just be I think I just might be waiting for Devin to fail, which is terribly unfair to him. But I’ll just be waiting. Well, still ain’t going to work. It’s not waiting for him to fail. I think we all just see, not even the light at the end of the tunnel, just see that there’s no path here. I think one way or another, I think this ends with Devin Carter and the Sacramento Kings going their separate ways eventually, unless you’re able to move off of Malik Monk and just this whole guard situation that you have currently opens up somehow some way. I would. So, moving on from Malik will be with that would be interesting. Part of me feels like with Dennis coming in and my feeling you need to sign another point guard. I was say you might have to move off of two of those guys and I don’t know why the Sacramento Kings I don’t know why there were conversations about trading Malik Monk. I don’t I don’t know. Just gonna state it every time. I hate that. Yeah. I don’t I don’t like it either. Yeah. I mean I maybe I don’t know. Maybe it’s just a Maybe it’s just not Well, maybe he doesn’t fit the vision, man. Well, that’s the thing. I think we are seeing every day now that Scott Perry has a I don’t know if it’s clear, but has a vision for what he wants this team to look like. If well, and I I mean, we’re talking to a a bunch of you. Like, if if Scott had to get rid of one, Malik or Devin, he has or I’m sorry, Malik or Keon? He has to get rid of one of them. Malik or Keon. Which one would you want him to get rid of? I think you’re asking fans to pick their favorite child. Yeah, cuz it’s like I really like what both of them do. Yeah. You you and and and what they do and what they bring is very very different. It’s very different. And you see it right out the gate. Chris says Malik. Stella says sorry Keon. Kell says Malik. Matt says keep Malik over Keon. And throws in Deon is not good. I like Matt. That’s and then right there Keon over Malik like it’s uh all of this shows all of this shows you can’t have Devon. And it also goes to show like how are you going to make all of this work? How is Scott and D Christie going to make all of this work? That’s the thing. I don’t think you do in offseason number one or even year number one. No, it’s not the most popular answer, but it’s going to be a little bit of a drawn out process. I think Scooter called in earlier this week probably. I think he said um you probably really assess what Scott’s doing in year three. He’s not wrong. Like you obviously want Scott to do things along the way, but like for a finished vision like it’s going to take a little bit. Well, we we it’s it’s I quoted that line from President Obama’s first inauguration. We might not get there in one year. We might not get there in one term, but we will get there. And that’s Scott Perry’s task right now is to get them there. Where’s there? I don’t know. Championship contender, Western Conference contender, I don’t know. But it’s Scott’s job to get them there. It’s been a fun week. Uh it’ll be fun to see what happens this weekend. Like I will actively be rooting for the Sacramento Kings to win a summer league. This will be their third one. And I remember for the first two I didn’t care. I was just like, “Oh, that’s cool.” I was looking at the summer league roster in 2021 and seeing if there was like, “Oh, yeah. Maybe they had a top player from that team like DaVon and those guys.” Yeah. Yeah. I I don’t remember who was on the roster in 2014. it. Um, yeah, 14 I wasn’t I wasn’t covering the team. Obviously 21 we were here, but this one feels different. The chance to win this summer league championship feels different. And I think it feels different because fans are really in on Nick and they’re really in on Max. Yeah, I’m at the point with Nick Clifford where it’s like I don’t know how much stock to buy into summer league and all that, but I think just given what everyone’s been talk everyone else has been talking about, like I’m expecting him to just have a bit of an impact game one too. And like I said, watching him play the last few games or whatever, like he plays like with confidence. So, I think that’ll help him game one or he’s not putting up all kinds of points, but he’s not he’s not hurting you either when he’s out there. Uh, and that’s how we’ll end the show today. That’s how we’ll end the show this week. We appreciate you so much uh for being with us. KC will be back next week. Make sure you are locked in here beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Monday with the insiders on Sacramento Sports Leader ESPN 1320. We did it. We did it. We did it. Nice job team. Nice job. Nice job. Nice job. Nice job. y’all got any plans this weekend? Anything complex? Ah, I gotta go chase down complex. Um, appreciate you guys. Thanks, Kyle. Yeah, that’s Spectre. That’s exactly what I did. Simply survived. Let’s go, Scooter. Get it done, baby. Get it done. Um, appreciate you guys, man. Thank you as always. Um, yeah, I’ll be out uh next week. I’ll actually be in Disneyland next weekend. And I’ll be out the following Monday, too, because uh I’m gonna help uh Katie and the Wake Up Carl with their broadcast and just hang out in Disneyland for an extra day. So, I’ll be back that Tuesday. Uh, so y’all have a good time, man. Give Kenny hell and, um, I’ll see y’all then.
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2 Comments
Chris Paul and Demar as Nique's mentors.
Chris Paul helping out Maxime and Sabonis.
Chris Paul mentoring Keon.
Chris Paul PASSING THE BBALL TO USELESS WIDE OPEN KEEGAN STANDING IN THE CORNER!!!!!!!!!!
Sign CP3 already.
Anyone have any clue what the heck is keegan up to this summer??? Is he developing his basketball skills🤷♀️🤷♂️🤷♀️🤷♂️🤷♀️🤷♂️🤷♀️🤷♂️ who knows