Donovan Mitchell on The Cavs #1 Seed, Career “MJ Moment,” Attending LeBron’s "Decision" & More | EP 135

23:02Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, he was on that team. I'm missing names, but there was a bunch of guys. We had a talented team. We had a talented group. But, yeah, he was obviously, you know, the lead for sure. He's another level, man. I still even – I tell this story a lot. You know, we're in a tag-off period in a practice, and he gives a juke move to a linebacker, makes his dude fall down. Not even trying to tackle him, just trying to touch him. Like they're playing tag basically. And my man falling all over the place. Both sidelines. Like that's how you know when you're good. You're at a joint practice and both sidelines are like that.

23:36Oh! He's got both teams going like, oh shit. Yeah, he's different. I've always wanted – I saw him play when he played out here. Cleveland fans did not like that I wore his jersey. didn't realize that that was a personal connection. They got a respect. Didn't realize that that was a big thing, but they got it. But he's watching them play live, and obviously y 'all play against him. But, you know, I was pissed when y 'all beat him, Travis. I ain't going to lie to you. Listen, man, that dude is a stud, man. It takes all 11 on the field to tackle that man or try and stop that guy. Every time we play him, it's always an instant classic.

24:16It's always – literally, he's doing something crazy. Every single game we played them, and we've gone back and forth, man. That was the ACC at that point, right? You guys were in the ACC? Yeah. We're still in the ACC. When me and Jason were in college, Louisville was still in the Big East. So I wasn't sure if you – Yeah. Back in the day, back when the Big East – Madison Square Garden, man. Especially for basketball, man. It was never a football conference, but that basketball conference was so awesome. That basketball, like the Syracuse, y 'all, Louisville, Georgetown. Did you ever go to the Big East tourney up in New York?

24:53I went to, I want to say one time maybe. Maybe one time, but that was really it. Who was your team growing up? I was going to say. For college? Yeah. Once you knew basketball was your Carolina. When I was getting, even before that, like Michael Jordan, Carolina. Oh, Carolina. I was, until I committed to Louisville, I was waiting until I got an offer. I was putting schools to the side. I was like, no, if I get an offer from Carolina, I'm going. I don't care if I sit. I don't care if I play. I don't care if I walk on. I'm going to Carolina. This is what I'm doing. And then I visited Louisville, and I was like, well, fuck all that.

25:34But, no, that was, Carolina was the school. It's funny. we had the same dream, man, except for I only got an offer from the Mac in basketball. Shout out to the Mac. They're maxing all day. That's not that two-sport athlete. There you go. He could have played at Cincinnati if you wouldn't have got hurt. I think there was a lot of stuff that was, I don't know, needed to get ironed out for me to play on the basketball team. One was me going to class. I had to actually go to class if I wanted to play on the basketball team. Didn't West Virginia come in late too with Bob Huggins? Listen, Huggs came in.

26:10There was a chance for me to be on the team and then earn a scholarship, I think. Right. But that whole situation was weird because Huggs had just got there. All that is whatever. But that's cool, though, man. So you never got the call from Carolina? Never got the call. I know they're kicking themselves. The coolest thing in college, we played at Carolina. We lost. I had one of my career highs at the moment at that time. And Roy Williams said, man, I made a mistake in the handshake line. That's respect. How about it, man? I was like, you know what? That was fun. At that time, that was the coolest thing to me.

26:44I didn't really care. I was like, all right. Like, I may not be there. I got the respect. That's awesome, man. You got the respect. And he told me that. And I was like, all right. Like, you know, especially for like, you know, you want to go somewhere, you hear that. That's the ultimate. That's the ultimate respect. We were talking a little bit about Cleveland being upset with you for wearing the Lamar jersey. We got to talk a little bit about you attending the decision in person. How about that? The most controversial thing in Cleveland history, to be honest with you. I remember when this happened.

27:14It's all been forgiven. It's all been forgiven. But at the time, it was insane. Yeah. So I lived in New York. I went to school in Greenwich, Connecticut. And everyone was just like, yo, like, Brown's doing the decision at the Boys and Girls Club. I'm like, here? Like, why is he like, you know what I mean? didn't believe it and then this time I'm a Nick fan. I love Brown but I'm a Nick fan. If I had to choose a team I'm a Nick fan. New York was in the running for it. So at that time they were in the running. I'm like mom it was like one of those things you know you get dropped up at the mall to hang out with friends.

27:52You get like mom you gotta drop me off here. I'm doing it. So we go. There is I don't maybe dramatic when I say there's probably like 2 ,000 people outside at this place. That's crazy. And we have no idea where he's coming in from. And I never forget, we see a car come down the hill. It's like a regular car, like a white Nissan. Like he tried to blend in. Smart. In the back. I wasn't inside. People think I was inside. People try to point out that I was one of the kids. I wasn't me. I wasn't inside. I was outside. And when he said, I was probably the only person that wanted him to go to Miami. Interesting.

28:32In the crowd. In the crowd. I was like probably the only person. Everybody else is Knicks fans. Okay, gotcha. Okay. So I'm like, all right. Like, I would do any way Chris Bosh, I'm hyped. So once he decides it, it was like a riot. Like, I tell you, the level, like, it was not safe for any children to be outside. Hey, they're going bottles. You're going to do this in the New York Boys and Girls Club and say you're going down south? Right. Like, that was, I was in danger. Like, I was like, all right, I need to figure out how to get out of here. Because people are purely pissed off. Like, people are, like, trying to get to where he entered from and all that.

29:08But I'm hype. I'm screaming, like, Miami. Like, yeah, you know, all those different things. But it was cool, man. It was a cool experience. Full circle moment, I'm here now. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it's one of those life moments that it's just, like, you can't script these things. You know what I'm saying? And I hope Cleveland fans are okay with me saying I want him to go to Miami. I did. I'm sorry. But, you know, it's one of those things, man. It's just really cool to really be here now. and kind of do our own legacy in that regard as well. I think it's pretty dope. And you're doing it, man.

29:40Cleveland, at the time, it was crazy. I mean, it was another level of people mad and hatred. But like Trav said, it's all been water under the bridge at this point. He ended up coming back. It ended up being awesome for LeBron's career. What ended up transpiring ended up being great for everybody involved. Cleveland still got their championship. Except for the Knicks. the Knicks didn't get there. The Knicks definitely washed out big time. Let's talk a little bit of Cleveland, baby. What was your first impression of the land, man? Did you know anything about Cleveland before coming to it? Not a damn thing, man, to be honest.

30:18I never left the hotel, but that's me in general. I don't leave the hotel. So all I saw from that Ritz was, what's the area? We're building a new practice facility now. Oh, the water, yeah, right there on there. Not the water. it's um where all the what is it tower city right yeah yeah oh you're just talking about yeah tower city and everything i'll tell you what tower city can it could be a fucking scene exactly so i'm like that's all i saw so i'm thinking okay that's that's that's what they got and then they got the guardians and the browns and you know that's it yeah man when i come here i i moved to the west side um and just being around like the energy that is in this place for real.

30:59Like, the people, they're cool. They rock with you, but they leave you alone. Like, they let you be. There's so much more here than I thought, to be honest. Like, from the food standpoint, Playhouse Square is dope. I don't want to give away all the locations I'll be going to, but, like, the Beachwood Mall is probably far. I'll be there a bunch. You got a Beachwood. You're on the east side right there. You're coming over to the east side. Oh, yeah, man. I take the long drive over there. Please don't come follow me over there on a random Tuesday. put my hoodie up. Then I go to a lot of, I actually, I go to a lot of like high school games, like try to, you know, show love and community in that regard.

31:34I think it's cool, but, you know, I don't really, you know, I don't be outside. I don't really do too much. I'm really just a homebody and, you know, for me, this place is, this is perfect for me. You said Playhouse Square. You going up there seeing some ballets or some plays? Yeah, so now it was, I went to see Alicia Keys' show in New York, so then I ended up, you know, we ended up doing and they get together again here in Cleveland. And then we have team events there and whatnot. And just seeing it all lit up at night is pretty fire. It's magical, man. The food scene is really good. I really enjoy eating downtown.

32:10I've got a few spots. I got a shout-out to my favorite spot. I can't eat there much because I got to stay in shape. It's Zanzibar. Oh, yeah. Zanzibar. I got to check this out. Right by the arena. Yeah. Right by? So it's over, what, six? See, now you get it. I don't know the street type. Jason doesn't know either. Don't let him fucking fool you. Don't let me fuck with you. I was in Cleveland Heights all growing up. I barely ever went downtown. Yeah, exactly. Why do you think Cleveland gets a bad rap? I think because people only go downtown and they see what I saw, which was not Tower City. I'm thinking of all the construction area.

32:42I don't know the mining. I don't know what it's called. I know what you're talking about, like the outside of it. Yeah. Right there. So they see that and they think that that just represents the entire city of Cleveland, which is not the case. And then also it's cold. And some people just don't like the cold. I like the cold. There we go. I prefer it to be called Bennett. You know what I mean? I'm right there with you, man. I think you hit the nail on the head. It's like Cleveland isn't like a big downtown city. It's just not. Like a lot of what happens happens on like the outskirts. And unless you know where you're going, it's hard to kind of like – it doesn't have like that thriving area like a lot of other places do, like tourists like.

33:17But once you know people and like you know spots, like it's great people. It's very community driven. there's like a personal connection that the city has that I think is charming it's just hard for tourists to feel that you pretty much are saying that exact same thing they make you feel you feel the love too that's my thing like you feel the genuine love like it's especially from a and then you feel it in the arena but that's natural anywhere you play you feel the energy in the arena but when you leave you feel like like you're one of them like you know you feel like you know you feel that and I think that's something that is really underrated especially in our in our profession because you know we're professionals like this is business like you're not college this isn't high school like you know what i'm saying but like the love you feel um from the community is top tier you know i mean i think it's something that really drove me to stay i keep telling people that people didn't believe me until i re-signed man i kept trying to tell because you just don't see that out of uh out of all the superstars man and and as a cleveland kid myself man thank you for coming back again bro um the tourist destinations have you been to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

34:21You know what's crazy? I've never been. And I've driven by a lot of times. I've never been. You have more fun? I'll tell you, it's fun to go to, man. It is shocking. It's all the memorabilia they have in there, all the experiences. It's pretty dope. That one's good. The Science Museum's good. Oh, the Science Museum. I'm a nerd, so I love that type of shit. It's right next door. Is it right next door? Yeah, it's right next door. It's in between the football stadium and the Rock and Roll. Oh, so that's that gray building that's like got the little, okay, I know you're talking about. I didn't know that.

34:54Yeah, it's right there. I used to go there, used to sign up every year for that field trip, baby. Have you been Cedar Point or I guess now it's Six Flags, right? No, I gotta go. That's the one thing I really want to do that. I really want to do that. Cedar Point's the best in the world, man. I'm telling you, you gotta do it. I gotta, that's the one I really gotta do, but also like roller coasters? No. What? But I gotta do it. I'm a I'm afraid. I'm afraid. I'm afraid. But I'll do it because I really want to go. Everybody keeps talking about it. But I'm afraid. I'm afraid to flaunt, let alone roller coasters.

35:30We got to get you on Millennium Force. Do not go on Millennium Force. He said, I'm afraid. I can't wait to sit next to you on Millennium Force. We're going. I can't do it. I'll observe and I'll just go be supportive to my friends wherever I want to go. I'll be chilling on the bench with the Dippin' Dots. Exactly. That's exactly what I've been doing. So when we were growing up, there were the Cleveland Rockets. There was a WNBA team in Cleveland. You said you would love to see the WNBA team return to Cleveland. Have you heard any updates about this, any murmurs throughout the facilities or anything like that?

36:06Can you give us a little insight if we could actually get a WNBA team back in Cleveland? I won't give too much. I've heard, you know, different things, but I won't say what I've heard. You know what I mean? I mean, obviously, no more than probably what you guys have heard, to be honest. Yeah. But, you know, I think it'd be dope. You know what I mean? I love to watch the W in general. First of all, they're in a phenomenal place, and they're only going to continue to get bigger and bigger and better. I think Cleveland is the perfect place for it, just like I said. Everything I just said to you about the community, the vibe, the support, the love.

36:38Oh, yeah. You know, I think this is, you know, a perfect place for it. And on top of that, the season's in the summer. I mean, this is, this in the summer, man, is elite. Like, we need more teams in the league for sure. And, you know, Cleveland's the perfect place. I'm with you on that. All right, you want to get to some blind rankings? Blind rankings, let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it, man. Something we like to do on this show is something called Blind Rankings. We show you 10 things, and we rank them 1 to 10 without knowing what's coming next. I'm sure you've played before. Do we want to do dunk contests, or do we want to do NBA throwback jerseys?

37:11I'll let you pick. We do a throwback jersey. Throwback jerseys. All right, let's do some throwback jerseys. We're doing blind ranking 1 to 10. Hit us with the first one, Brandon. Oh. Orlando Magic from the Penny Hardaway and Shaquille O 'Neal era. These jerseys are awesome. Classics. I'm going to go 10. I'm going to go 10, though. I'm not going to lie. You're going to go 10? The pinstripe? I do think there's going to be a lot above this. I do agree. That's why I'm going to go 10, because I don't want to put, yeah, I feel like this is 10. I'll ask you this. What do you think is better? The all black ones are like the Tracy McGrady blue.

37:43The ones with the little blue. Little blue is hard. The shorts, the knees go crazier than the top. I'm with you. The stars on the side. Yeah. The shorts go crazier than the top. All right. Starting off with 10. Sorry, Shaq. Ooh, the Miami Heat retro. That's clean. It's just a clean jersey. See, here's the thing. The problem with some of these. It's still not one of my favorites. I'm not going to lie. The bottoms are better than the top. That's that. You know what I mean? No, we're doing the whole. It's a whole outfit. We're definitely ranked the whole outfit. I'm going to go nine. I'm going to go nine.

38:09Man, we are. We're hoping right now that we get some good chances. Please. We're going more throwback than I thought maybe here. Okay, let's go. What do we got next, Brandon? Yeah! Now we're talking. To me, as top three, easy. Man, I'm trying to think what. Oh, man. With the mountains in the background. Again, the shorts are. The shorts are elite. The shorts are elite. Utah Jazz from the 90s. And the thing is, if it's a 90s jersey, I'm probably going to be biased towards that jersey for whatever reason, man. Well, 90s has some good color schemes. And the only thing I don't like about this is that jazz has nothing to do with mountains.

38:49When I think of jazz, I don't think of mountains. I think of New Orleans or something like that. I don't think about the Rockies. I don't know, Jason. Have you ever listened to some jazz up in the Rockies? I have not. I have not. There you go. But these are dope. I love this color scheme. Do you want to throw it at three? I want two. All right, well, let's go two. I'm with it. I'm with it. That's a solid two right there. These ones, hey, these Raptors. Oh, my gosh, they're good. Fuck, man. That's a good one, dog. Does it get better than that? This one might be one of my all-time favorite hats.

39:19I'm hoping the Grizzlies jersey I'm thinking of is the one. I'm hoping that's the one. All right, so we want to go three with this one because these Raptor jerseys were fucking unbelievable, man. Three should be two. I hear you. Do we want to switch them? I guess we can't now. We already locked them. It's the point of the game, Jason. Damn it. All right. Sixers. It's going to be a Sixers, Iverson era. I don't think it's even their best jersey, but. I don't think it's more either. I'm going to go seven. Yeah, I'll go seven. It's just the era. I'll go seven. It's just because it was AI. Honestly, it's really because he's wearing the jersey, to be honest.

39:51No doubt. It's just that number three with his name on the back. Anybody else in that jersey is like, oh, that's one of the weekend jerseys I'll see. It's the same kid. Oh, a throwback. Nets jersey right there. So is this. Dr. J. Which Nets is this? That's a great question. So now it's obviously Brooklyn. ABA. ABA. ABA. Okay. These are really cool. That's New Jersey still? Is that still Jersey? That's a good question. I wouldn't even know. That is Jersey. That is Jersey. There you go. All right. I'm going to go, we got 10, 9, 8, 7. I'm going to go 5. I really like these. I like the red, white, and blue.

40:25So I'm going to go 5. There's something nice about it being clean. The colors worked well. The design is unique. All right. I like it too. And on top of that, it's Dr. J. baby. Like I said, it's about the person who wearing it. You know what I mean? That afro gives it at least two bumps up. You know what I mean? The thing was aerodynamic and it was crazy. All right, here we go. Hey, my dog, Ron Harper in the building. Let's go, man. I'm going to go. The socks are crazy. Are those the Reebok pumps? No, no, no. Those are nice. They look like the Jazzercise in socks. Don't do my guy at Hartford like that, man.

41:06The socks are crazy. I'm going to go – I'm going to – I don't know any other jersey besides – I'm going to go four. I'm going to go four here. Let's keep it up there. It's a good hometown. I actually think I have the Brad Doherty version of this jersey. You do, for sure. I don't even think these are the best ones, to be honest. No, my favorite ones are like the Sean Kemp and Bobby Sura era. The black and blue is the best Cavs jersey in my opinion. The paint splash. I like the white. With the little. The paint. The paint like swipe. Like the paint brush like deal. Yeah. The splash jersey is what they call it, I believe.

41:42No. The main color is yellow or whatever. Yellow or maroon. Oh. I know what you're talking about. Yeah. Like that. Yeah. We're talking about a completely different jersey. Those are fire too. I'll tell you. I think those are the Austin Carr joints. Yeah. The ACs. Yeah. The ACs. Shout out to ACs. You got it on right here? You got it on right here? Up top. Yeah, they got it on top. They got it on top. Those are classics. If you haven't noticed, we got the Cleveland wall back. Oh, yeah. Yeah, baby. Get some history right there, man. All right, so we got Cavs at four. What are we going with next? Ooh, the Detroit Pistons.

42:15These ones are actually freaking sneaky. I forgot about the Grand Hill, man. I actually have this jersey myself. I love this jersey, man. This thing is fire. Old school Pistons. That should have been. I'm sorry. All right. That should have been four. I'm sorry. I think everybody in Cleveland will tell you that. We'll go six. We'll go six. Yeah, we got to go six. If it's a bad Memphis Grizzlies throwback, I'll be so upset. Memphis isn't even going to be in here, man. Fuck! Oh, dude. You can't not put that jersey in here. I don't think it's up to us. I don't think it's up to us. Oh. I forgot about these.

42:50Ah, the Wolves. What numbers do we have left? Eight and one. It's not good. It's not good. It's going to be way lower than it should be. These Timberwolves jerseys were sick. So we go eight. We got to go eight. in hopes that come on man don't disappoint us bro it's gonna be like a bulls jersey or something don't disappoint us

43:14again with the shorts though the 90s shorts that's what i'm saying a lot of these jerseys are hard but the shorts be like the shorts i still wear to this day like you know i'd go on mitchell and this and get the old school shorts what is it about these jerseys that just like go like it makes it so awesome. Everybody loves this jersey. Is it the color? Is it the way the Grizzlies is written out? Is it the bear? The outline, the pattern on the outline. The outline of the jersey, the way Grizzlies is typed, the Van Coole or Smoly got the Grizzly, the big-ass Grizzly on the side of the shirt. Looks like it's coming out in the 3D.

43:46Shout out to Mike Bibby. Shout out to Mike Bibby. There we go. We did it. That was a solid winner. I'm not that mad about it. Not bad. You know, we'll move around a few of them, but overall, we got it done. Alright, let's get to our last segment here is called We Gotta Ask. We always end our segments with We Gotta Ask, but you don't have to answer, so you can either answer or tell us to fuck off. Donovan, we'll just roll through a few of these. What does a basketball hoop have? Oh, Jason's so fucked. Yeah, this is so silly. We've been back and forth on this. Does a basketball hoop have one hole or two holes?

44:25One. Yeah, that's the correct answer. What about the net at the bottom? It goes in the top hole and out the bottom hole. I see what people are doing. What about a straw? You fucked me up with that one. Now I'm sitting here like... No, because there's one. There's one continuous hole. Does a straw have one hole or two holes? This is a debate. Again, you can tell us to fuck off, too. I'm a two guy. There you go. I'm a two guy, too. There we go. I think it's two. I don't think it's one. I got the hole in my mouth goes on and the hole that goes in the liquid. Exactly. I'm a two guy, for sure. Slam dunk contest.

45:09What are your thoughts on it now? I think it's tough because a lot of the dunks that we have social media. It's like you see it all. And then on top of that, the best dunkers in the world aren't NBA players. That's the reality of it. They're not. So they make their own videos, their own content that we see, and we're like, oh, shit, that's crazy. But then, you know, it's hard for us to replicate that because they're professional dunkers. Like, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, it's what they do. Exactly. And I know a bunch of the guys who are professional dunkers, and they try to teach guys. But people don't understand.

45:44Like, guys don't have time to work on these things, like, for real. Like, when I won, I only had two weeks. You know what I mean? Like, you know what I mean? And then the last dunk that I did to win, I hadn't made that dunk since high school. So I was just screaming to God that it went in. Like, you know what I'm saying? So I think it's tough. I think it gets a bad rap because people are, like, expecting something crazy. But it's like we live in an era now where you can see the craziest dunk by whoever. I applaud guys like Jaden Brown for trying to continue to go out there and do their thing. I won't personally be out there again, to be honest.

46:16You won it. You did it. Undefeated. There you go. There you go. I guess that's right. Like, if you would have saw Jordan jump from the free throw line on social media before he did it, like, it wouldn't have been as exciting. Exactly. And you're also seeing, like, people you don't know. So, to people, they're like, oh, if so-and-so random person can do it, John Moran should definitely be able to do it. Like, or Zion Williamson should definitely be able to do it. You know what I mean? It's just not a fair – that's why I don't think guys do it because it's not necessarily a fair shake, to be honest.

46:50There's guys that all they do is work on dunking and different ways to make that. And that's just not what everybody in the NBA has time for. So what's a way that the NBA can, I guess, make the All-Star game and all this stuff? Because really the dunk contest was what everybody got ready for. Growing up, you already know. That's all anybody cared about. The All-Star game was fun, but people really wanted to watch the dunk contest. So what can the NBA do to make it exciting again to get the fans engaged? It's a tough question. I think that's tough. I feel like, I mean, I'm a fan of dunking. I've been a fan my whole high school career.

47:25So, like, maybe you get professional dunkers to come in and do some things that people haven't seen. I don't know. You can elevate those individuals. You elevate those. Like, we had a guy come in during halftime in one of our games and do it, right? Like, he was between the legs dunking it, like, this way. Like, stuff that is just crazy. But, like, you know what I mean? But people haven't seen, I think. I don't know. Especially for the dunk contest. I don't know the solution. What do you think about slam ball? You get some trampolines in there. Oh, dude. Somebody's going to get hurt. You can't be on people.

47:54Do you know? I don't even think the owners of GMs, nobody. Nobody would go to that one. What do you think about, though, what the NHL did, where they had, like, the Four Nations tournament this year instead of the L.S. I like that. I like that. There's, like, because, I don't know, everybody gets hyped up for USA basketball, right? So, all of a sudden, you got USA basketball, maybe even just versus the world. Maybe it's, like, all the foreign players combined on one team, USA on another team. and then there's like an actual competitive reason because you're playing for your countries. That might be exciting right there.

48:25I think so. I think that the NHL had a really – I watched it. That was really dope, what they did. I think that's something that could definitely, you know, elevate it for sure. We did that in the Rising Stars game my first two years. It was USA's worst world. You know, like I said, it's tough, man. And there's so much that goes on throughout the Sunday that, like, to get to the game. It's just like, oh, we made it. Like, we made it there. Like, there's like, you know how it goes. Like, there's always different things. You're standing around. So, like, man, guys don't want to get hurt. And then some guys do.

49:01Some guys get to work on it because they're able to. Some guys don't have appearances as long as others. So, it's so much. But I think if you do the USA vs. World, it definitely brings up the intensity for sure. You could even do it where you could still do the slam dunk contest, but now it's not like Donovan Mitchell competing for himself in the slam dunk contest. He's trying to get points for Team USA's overall total. Oh, you're saying the whole weekend? He's on his own wavelength right now. He's on his own wavelength right now. I think that'd be fun. I don't slam dunk it, but I want to watch USA beat the rest of the world in the slam dunk contest.

49:38I'll ask you this, though. Who is the one guy in the NBA that you would love to see in the dunk contest? Zach Levine. Oh, all over again. You already know. Right away. Watching him. I mean, he's the previous champion. I got like five. Zach Levine, Zion, John. Zion would be crazy. Zion, man. Derek John. See, that's the thing. I mean, I don't want to say back in the day it used to be different, but I mean, those like the superstars of the league definitely were in the dunk contest. Not to say that you're not, because you still got Jalen Brown, and you still got guys, you know, with very familiar and, you know, contributing a lot.

50:13But it's like, I'm with you. I'm with you. Seeing guys like that, Anthony Edwards, guys like that, just go in there and do something crazy or just do a regular windmill but jump out the gym doing it. Have they ever done horse at the All-Star Game? That's what I want to see. They did it during COVID. There we go. During COVID, they did that. You know what I think? This will never happen, ever happen. But I think we should get guys to line up and try to dunk and guys to try to block the shot. Slam ball, one-on-ones. Let's go, man. Oh, sorry. Without the tribolines. I'm talking about straight. Just straight up.

50:45Straight up. It will never happen. It will never happen. I am so into this. We got to get it to go. How do we get this going? I'm taking Jay Allen all day. I told Jay I would dunk the fuck out of him. I'm sorry. She's my language. Who bleeped that out for you? I told J.A. We had a discussion about this in the locker room, actually. Yeah. It was me, F, DG, Karis. We were all talking. It was before I dunked on Porzingis, the day before. Uh-huh. They were like, you don't dunk more. And I'm like, look, y 'all, I promise you, if I saw y 'all down there, I would dunk. And they were like, we're going to see.

51:18And then we saw against, I dunked on Porzingis. And that's why you saw me look at the bench and go, I told you. He's like, you're next. Talking to both of them. Like, yo, I told you. I make the jokes with Ev all the time. I get defensive player of the year, rah, rah, all that. I would dunk. I would dunk. So how hard is it to dunk on somebody, though, when they know it's coming and they got that much space? You're talking to a guy that's never dunked in his life, so you got to realize. I'm talking about I've dunked a female basketball before. What? No way. Oh, I've got that because I can pull him a female basketball.

51:54I can't pull him the – I didn't know you can get up that high. I forget the palm, but I didn't know you can get up that high. Travis knows I get up high enough. I just don't have the form down. I cannot. I'm going to dunk. I'm going to do this. The way to do it when you know a guy, like for me, like I always go at the guy's body because I'm strong. Sure. So if I can eliminate like you going like this and take the body away, I'm fine once I get like up here. So like with J.A. and Ev, I would just try to go at them. I mean, it sounds really easy. Like I said, it sounds, I'm making this sound very simple.

52:25I'm sure it's easy for you. but like you know but um a lot of guys have tried to dunk both of them a lot of guys have failed I feel like I'd be one of the few successful people we'll never see it you know what I mean because I'm not going to try to practice but like you know I promise at some point maybe during training camp I'll try it it sounds electric it sounds so electric I want to see this well we kind of got into this earlier but let's go ahead and hit it easier for an NFL player going to the NBA or NBA player going to the NFL. It's obviously been a huge debate on, well, not obviously, but on this show for sure.

53:02On the show for sure, yeah. And I guess around the sports world, guys crossing over. What do you think about the NFL to NBA, NBA to NFL debate? I may get hated for this. I think it'd be easier to come over into your world at certain positions. Yeah, there's no question. At certain positions for sure. Yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you. I don't think I could be a running back. What position are you coming over? Anything on defense. Not the line. I think for sure I could – not a corner. Take that back. Corner's hard. Corner's real hard. I got big feet, and my feet don't move like that. So I'm not reacting to shit.

53:36I'll tell you that. You got safety? Safety. Safety I think I got. Okay. With time. I don't mean I could just walk on a field. Of course. Nobody can just go out there. You know what I mean? With time. Jay Tatum came through, and he mentioned that as well. He said if you would have gave him time – because he was a high school football player. If you would have gave him time through high school and he dedicated that to that lifestyle, he thinks he could have done it. And it makes sense. So who's who's got the better chance? You who had the better chance, you of playing in the NFL or Lamar Jackson to playing in the NBA?

54:06Having seen Lamar play basketball, could he have played in the NBA if you would have dedicated all his talent to NBA? Are we playing each other physicians like in my quarterback? No, just make it. Let's say we're back in high school and a young Donovan Mitchell says, I'm going to focus on football, and a young Lamar Jackson says, I'm going to focus on basketball. Who has a better chance of making it into the NBA or NFL? I would say probably me making it to the NBA. Do you hear that, Lamar? Shots fired. I hope he sees that too. We got to get Lamar's take on this. We got to get Lamar's take on this.

54:42We definitely got to. We definitely got to. I saw him dunk. I didn't really get to see him hoop much. Okay, okay. I don't know. But I definitely feel like, you know, maybe a tight end, you know. Maybe. You know what I mean? Come out, you know, grab it, fall. Who's the guy that falls on Seattle every time he catches it? What's his name? Every time he catches the ball, he falls to it. You're talking about Tyler Lockett? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's avoiding some hits, yeah. Some unnecessary hits, I'll say, because he's a tough guy. But he's like, yeah, if I'm not going to need to take this hit, I'm not going to.

55:13It's out. Oh, you throw me an out route? I feel like I could, you know, nothing down the middle. Nothing over the middle? When you were going down the middle of the draft, nothing. Come on, man. That's where you turn into a dog. It's a guaranteed intersection. Guaranteed intersection. I don't know, not the guaranteed. As soon as I hit you with the right here and get back that way, middle, I'm not going for it. But I'm sorry. Only out-breaking routes. Only out-breaking routes. I respect the take. What's the hardest arena to play in?

55:45because I can't see well Dallas timeout you can't see well like the depth perception is crazy in Dallas I'm not Dallas's depth perception is not the best for me so there's not a lot like behind the basketball hoop or it's just a weird just the way the light is set up in there it's the only arena where I'm in there and it's like it may go in today it may not go in today that's a crazy scenario This is like one of those things where your eyes just play tricks on you. You ever thought about wearing the Rex Packs? Never. The old Grand Horses? The year I tried to wear contacts, because you know I don't wear glasses.

56:20I was going to say, do you wear contacts out there? No. So you're just out there with blurry-ass vision shooting threes? You're driving 71 with blurry vision. This guy is crazy, man. We got to give my guy some LASIK, man. Fuck. This dude shooting threes while he's buffering. I can't.

56:42that's incredible man nah for real that's that's the one arena where i'm like my eye every time it's like it's like it plays tricks on me in that arena i don't know what it is i don't know if it's a certain light in terms of atmosphere though it's tough because the tougher arenas i love the playing so it's like i don't really know if you want to see it up you know i mean well let's rephrase it what's the most electric atmosphere arena outside of what outside of here yeah both gardens. I was about to say the gardens. Oh, yeah. Nice. No, both of them. Boston and Madison. I was thinking Boston just because you guys have had so much, so many big games against Boston, it feels like.

57:16I love that crowd. That crowd is fun. I mean, I'm from the East Coast. So Boston and New York, the Knicks arena, both of them feel like my people are there watching anyway. That's awesome. But those are probably my two favorites. And I said here, too, I said before I got here, I love, even when, what was it, 30 wins, 20 win seasons? Like, just jumping. Like, you know what I mean? And you're on the road, you're on the East Coast trip, you're like, ain't nobody finna be here. It's sold out. Oh, yes they are. Definitely wrong. So I definitely, you know, got a lot of respect for fan bases that show out through the down years as much as they do during the...

57:54Oh, in Utah. Sorry. Try to put Utah in there. For sure. Man, I'm excited for Utah's hockey team, man, because Utah, they seem like a fan base that would go nuts for hockey. He's got to figure that name out. Yeah, you got to get out of there. I ain't trying to hear this hockey club. You know they want to do Yetis, but apparently the Yeti Somebody bought all the trademarks for it. The Yeti coolers got the trademark. They won't let them use it? They might, but I think they probably want to own it outright, I bet. I don't know. That was the rumor going out there why they weren't picking Yeti. And I'm like, no, you got to go with Yeti.

58:30Partner with them. Yetis fuck. Have Yeti coolers for sale through the whole arena. Facts. Tell Ryan Smith. Ryan Smith, he was with me when I was in Utah. Let him know, hey, the Yetis. You got to get them going. Those arenas are electric for sure. What city should have an NBA team that doesn't? Louisville, Kentucky. Man, what? College of Louisville? Who? Louisville, Kentucky. No way. You think they're packing up? Everybody's going to say Vegas and they're going to say Seattle. No. Louisville, Kentucky. Vegas and Seattle I've never heard of Louisville they got the arena for it too there's no professional sports team there so it's just the perfect place I'm making a lot of sense right now you're going to get some support in Louisville they work for OKC that's for damn sure LeBron James has said Giannis would score over 200 points in the 1970s that's fucking hilarious 200 points how many points are you scoring in the 70s we get a little hot tub time machine action it's hard to compare eras but it is it is extremely hard it's hard but I'm I'm always gonna give myself the benefit of that I'm gonna say 30 I'm gonna say 30 40 50 you gotta averaging or scoring I think scoring yeah like you're scoring in a game like you put up 70 you put up 71 in this era what do you what's your 71 in the 70s they have the three-point line in the 70s?

59:58I'm genuinely asking this. That's a great question that I do not know. I want to say they did. I don't think they did. They're saying they did it. 1979, they're saying. Is when it started? So this is no three-point line. So no three-point line, all twos? Oh, that's nasty. All twos? That's nasty! I don't like that. I'll give myself, you know, 40, 50. You got to think, in the 70s as well, the rim protectors are on, And, you know, it's like 6 '8", 6 '9", maybe. I mean, maybe the 80s, they started hitting you. But, like, you keep going in there time after time. They knocking you out the air. You know what I mean?

1:00:35Yeah, they're a little bit more physical. A little bit more physical. The floaters come in. The jumpers come in. You're not just attacking the rim the entire game. You know what I mean? Trying to preserve your body. So, I'd go about 50. 50 for sure, I think. All right. That's a very realistic answer. We got one more for you. Pick your all-time starting five. Am I on the team or no? Yeah. You can put yourself on there. I will say, typically when we do these, people do not pick themselves. What? Unless your name is Travis Kelsey. Travis always picks himself as one of the top tight ends of all time.

1:01:05I'm just trying to manifest it, Jason. He has the stats to prove. For sure. I mean, it's definitely legitimate. I'm still working my way. You know what I mean? I'm still trying to get one ring, let alone three. You know what I'm saying? Oh, yeah. We're going to get it this year, though, baby. Let's go. Exactly. I won't put myself in here. Steph at the one. Kobe at the two MJ at the three Ron at the four I'm seeing no misses so far at all my five man I'm playing in 2025 basketball so I'm not really going to tradition I'm going small ball KD at the five I mean that's a hell of a starting five I think that five takes anybody's starting five they're running no matter if you're playing hey running running the floor pace and space running floor that's it I respect it.

1:01:55Well, Spider-Man, we appreciate you jumping on, man. We won't take any more of your time. Thank you very much, everybody. Donovan Mitchell. Good luck in the playoffs, big dog. Thanks for always representing Cleveland, man. And let's go get us one, man. Go Cavs. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Appreciate y 'all, boys. Thank you. Appreciate y 'all. All right, and that wraps up another episode of New Heights. Yes, sir. Thank you to Donovan Mitchell. Yes, sir. For joining us. Make sure you're subscribed on YouTube to the New Heights channel and follow New Heights on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:02:24You can listen to new episodes of New Heights early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Once again, New Heights, a Wondery show produced by Wave Sports and Entertainment and brought to you by DraftKings. Follow the show on all social media at New Heights Show with 1S for fun clips throughout the week, guys. And thanks to our production and crew. Thank you to the 92 Percenters. And thank you, Donovan, for coming through. Spider, bring us home another championship, baby. Go Cavs. Hell yeah.

1:02:56Outro Music