If Steph Curry & Jimmy Butler III are Batman & Robin, is Draymond…the Batmobile? 🤣 | NBA Today

If Steph Curry & Jimmy Butler III are Batman & Robin, is Draymond…the Batmobile? 🤣 | NBA Today

Back here on NBA today, it’s August and that means your favorite NBA player is probably on a podcast somewhere. Time for some hot summer mics call. Anthony Towns chatting with Carmelo Anthony on the 700 p.m. in Brooklyn pod about his first meeting with new head coach Mike Brown. Take a listen. I just came from having a 2-hour dinner with Mike Brown to hear. So, this was the first time we actually met. We actually got to speak, talk about the team, get to actually know each other. We have a chance to win a championship. And it’s only going to really happen if everyone’s connected and everyone has to be fully invested into each other and to our goals. So, kind of just really getting to know him, you know, the way he likes to play basketball, the way he wants to coach, the way he wants to operate practices and everything. All right, DDJ, you heard Cat. Uh, what’s going to be the biggest difference that Mike Brown brings to this Knicks team? Yeah, I think Mike Brown gets talked about a lot for his defense as a coach, but you got to remember he was the head coach against the Sacramento Kings. Had a tremendous offense. The guy can be really creative, especially when you’re talking about different ways to use a pick and roll. I’m really excited to see what him and Cat and Brunson work out for their offense, especially these guys second year. I think he can do some really great stuff offensively with them. Yeah, Nick Knicks fans really happy about that hire. So, next up though, we’ve got Miami Heat Hz. He was on camera and brings Pod straight to Kim. He had an interesting story about his draft night in 2023. Uh, check this out. I met her in New York on draft night and I bump into her and like literally bump in like straight out of a movie and we start talking and chatting. Um, and then you know as the night progresses, we’re having a good time. We’re talking, getting to know each other. And I’m like, you know, let’s get out of here. Like, let’s go get some pizza or something. She’s like, okay, let’s go. And as soon as I got in the Uber and the loud music and the lights stop going, I realized, oh wow, like I can’t go get a pizza. I need to go home. So, she ends up taking me to my hotel and I make a beline straight to the bathroom and you guys can put the story together from there. I ended up dying. Uh, I’m laying on the floor like um it was a good night. I had a great time. But that’s how we ended up the first time we met. So Justin ended up getting her number. He’s like, I gotta She’s like, I gotta leave. Like, I don’t know who this guy is. Like, thanks, but no thanks. I’m like, all right, cool. Perk, I got to bring it to you. That’s a heck of a story. And I know your draft night story was not like that because you have a lovely wife of, you know, however many years. Yeah, it it wasn’t like that. But look, to each his own. But one thing he did realize that since he went to the bathroom and he was dying and she actually stood there and still embraced him after smelling all that, he was a keeper. Look, she said, “I’mma stick beside him.” Okay. Next up, we got Jimmy Butler. He’s amongst the many NBA stars touring China this summer. Now, if Steph and Jimmy are the new Batman and Robin, what does that make Draymond? Jimmy, explain it. I’m on my way to being great, man. Robin, he gonna robbing this out of this this Batman going to do his job. Draymond is uh Dr. the Batmobile. You know, he like the one that got to get us where we need to go. He do a little bit of everything. Shoot them thing. Somebody shooting at his feet, rolling over, protecting us. You know what I’m saying? Uh who else we got? I don’t know. Golden State though. We on the way. We’re on the way. I’ll tell you that. Look, explain it the only way that Jimmy Butler can explain it. However, David, is this the right analogy though? Look, I mean, I know I don’t I know I don’t look like it, but I can be kind of a nerd sometimes. And and Jimmy Butler just needs to step his Batman lore up right now. There’s like four Robins, there’s Nightwing, there’s the Red Hood, there’s Azreel. There’s so many other Batman characters that you can pull from. You ain’t got to go to the Batmobile. Jimmy Butler, we can send you some Batman comic books to help you step it up so you can get some more analogies for more of these players. The Batmobile just isn’t going to cut it. You can’t call a human being the Batmobile. I was just about to say you can search for some more characters, but hey, do what you want. Today is the one-year anniversary of KD becoming the all-time leading scoreer for Team USA at the Paris Olympics. As for the upcoming LA Olympics in 2028, check out what our teammate Richard Jefferson said on road tripping. The US will not win gold in Los Angeles, California. Boom. I’m sorry. Say what? Hold on now. What did you say? Wait, wait, wait, wait. First of all, first of all, trying to piss people off. I’m not trying to piss people off. Did you see? It took a herculean effort for us. It took our greatest basketball players for us to beat a team that had one all-star in Serbia and had no allstars in France. Look, I’m sorry. What did you say? Uh, we’re still three years away. However, perk, what kind of chances are you giving Team USA to take gold in 2028? Amina, you know, it makes my damn skin crawl to have to agree with Richard Jefferson, right? And I agree with him. Look, I give them a 50% chance. I’m not going to disrespect them and say that they don’t have a shot because we do have some great young athletes on the rise. But I will say this, if I was a betting man, I wouldn’t bet my money on that because they’re going to be missing a LeBron James. They’re going to be missing the all-time leading score in the Kevin Durant and a Steph Curry. And Richard was right. It took some all-time great performances for them to come back home this past Olympics with a gold medal. And we look at what KD had to do in 2024. How he had to rise to the occasion and take his game to a different level. So if you ask me, do I have belief and trust that they could get it done in 2028 without a LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant? I don’t. Yeah, David, I think there’s so many different factors and Perk touched on it right there. You don’t know who’s going to be on that team. Also, I think it lends to the conversation that the rest of the world is catching up with Team USA. Look, I got to agree with Perk and Richard Jefferson here. If I’m having to pick between Team USA and the field, I’m picking the field for the first time in the history since we’ve had the dream team in 1992. I don’t think we’re going to have a top five player in the Olympics. You got Wimby, you got Luca, you got Jokic, you got SGA, um, and you got Giannis. So you the best players are on other countries and you add in the fact that our best player Jason Tatum probably will be our best player in 2028. He didn’t have that great of an experience when he played there in 2024. So you got to think about what that effect has on the team and the you know the morale and the want to be on Team USA in 2028. I’m I’m sorry. Much as I would love to cheer for for Team USA and want them to win, I find it hard to believe this going to be an easy way an easy path for them to get a gold medal. Yeah. And I think the the also the buyin too is really important. I think that with this past Olympics, you had LeBron James have everyone buy in. You don’t know if you’re going to have that same product come 2028. The East is still wide open as you could see right there. So Parker, if Cleveland and New York are shoe wins for the top two seeds, who do you think is the third best team in the East? It’s the Atlanta Hawks. the team that, you know, stay getting disrespected or should I say the superstar type player that gets disrespected and Trey Young. I’m looking at the pieces that they added around him. He already had elite wing defenders, but you go get Alexander Walker in free agency for Minnesota. You pick up Chris Pzingis, who I believe is going to complement Trey Young well, especially in the pick and roll. Jaylen Johnson is going to be back. We forget before Jaylen Johnson got injured, one could argue that he was in a conversation of possibly getting annoyed of being in the All-Star game, like being a first time allstar. So, when I look at this Hawks team that is coached by Quinn Snyder, I’m looking at them to make some real noise and be a real threat in the Eastern Conference this year. I I do like the Hawks. I think they have Pacers potential in terms of a team that can get hot come playoff time. There’s a clear top four in the East with Cavs, Knicks, Hawks. But for me, the third best team is the Orlando Magic. That team to me was derailed by injury last year. I thought they were one of the four best teams in the East if they could all be healthy. That offense fell off a cliff uh in part because of those injuries. But Paulo Ben Carroll is the real deal. This is all NBA talent. He’s coming off of averaging 29 points against the Boston Celtics in the first round gave Tatum and Brown all that they can handle. I think adding Desmond Bane to that offense and the defense they already have, if they can get that offense humming, I think they are a clear third team in the East. Yeah, look, the East is wide open and plenty of storylines. I see Park doing a little side by side right there. There’s a lot happening in the East as we go into this season. Bobby, thanks so much for the insight and joining the conversation as well. And we’re talking about the East being open. However, no one brought up Chicago and they are still trying to give Bulls fans something to be excited about next season. Take a look at this. the team with a little help from Dennis Rodman unveiled the statement jersey for the 202526 season with the iconic black uniforms or the red pinstripes making a return to the made famous in Michael Jordan in that era and when you take a look at MJ and the Bulls they first wore the threads during the 199596 campaign when the team went 72 and 10 and won a championship and the jerseys are synonymous obviously with all those great highlights. Kevin Garnett posted this pic of them somewhere. No idea what this could mean, but maybe it could mean something. But David, I’ll start with you. What is the next step in the evolution for WBY on the court? I mean, defensively, uh, not, you know, count per defensively, I think the guy’s got everything. Offensively, I think, you know, he’s been working with a lot of different people. I would like to see him get in a lab with somebody like KD, get those three-point percentage up, especially off the dribble, and then also getting his shot in different place around the court, sort of in that mid-range, things like that. We know we know he’s worked with some of those low post people, but I think somebody like a KD, somebody like a dirt, those guys can help with the versatility offensively, especially as defenses try their best to figure out what to do with a guy like him. And perk, I know you had him at number four in terms of defense in the league right now. Alvar, what is the next step in the evolution for Wimyama? I think developing a consistent post game and that pitcher spoke a lot of a thousand words because he’s act he actually did work out with Kevin Garnett and Kevin Garnett is somebody he needs to be working with because Kevin Garnett was a underrated post player that don’t get enough credit for as his bag and what he was able to do on the low block. So when you think about what Wimby could do at 74, 75 consistently using that body frame to do those turnarounds or get to those turnarounds. KG was one of those ones. He mastered the the fade away. So that’s my mother hang back to handle y’all on Monday. We’ll see you then. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

David Dennis Jr., Bobby Marks and Kendrick Perkins join Amina Smith on NBA Today to react to some “Hot Summer Mics,” look ahead to Team USA in at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics and more.

0:00 Karl-Anthony Towns on Mike Brown
1:13 Jaime Jaquez Jr. on his draft night
2:33 Jimmy Butler III on Draymond Green
3:50 One year ago today…
4:41 Team USA chances in 2028
7:10 Eastern Conference preview
8:47 Chicago Bulls’ throwback jerseys
9:27 Kevin Garnett & Victor Wembanyama

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