Best of NBA News Part 1: Steph Curry signs 10-YEAR DEAL with Chinese brand Li-Ning + PARALLELS between Wemby and Tim Duncan's age 22 seasons + SGA's MVP season a FAILURE?!

10:47Chad Johnson:I said that out loud. I like the language you talking, man. That's what I'm talking about. I like it. Hey, and you know what? And you said that with some conviction. That's how I know you meant it. Yeah. You meant that.

10:59Shannon Sharpe:Oh, Lord. Yeah. That's all. I'm with you when you're right. I ain't bothering nobody.

11:10Shannon Sharpe:Mike Brown was asking if it's difficult to separate his connection to the Spurs organization and De 'Aaron Fox ahead of the NBA finals they definitely want to beat me and I want to kick their ass I love them and you could always love them before and after Joe you ever when uh so how was it uh when you played when you played when you were Atlanta and you played Phoenix or you went to the Brooklyn and you played Atlanta and you played Phoenix. How was that?

11:39Chad Johnson:I tried to try and get a 30 every game. I try and I damn near succeeded a lot of times. I ain't saying I did it every time, but a lot of the times I would try to get a as hell, especially Phoenix. When I left Phoenix and came here, I tried to get them boys hell every time they seen me. They know it. They knew it. Hey, Hey, what we talking about? I ain't got to say a damn thing, but my energy alone lets you know. Oh, He ain't messing around today. He ain't messing around. We, hey, hey, we're going to have to send that double on his ass because he think he's going to come in here and give us 35, 40 points.

12:13Chad Johnson:Hell no. Yeah, that's how my energy was.

12:18Shannon Sharpe:Ocho, did you play the Bengals when you went to New England? No, no, sir. Remember, I was only there for that one season. And when they ran that gauntlet that year, I didn't shoot. I think them boys might have lost two, three, maybe three games that season. We are. Nah, we ain't playing. I played. Man, how funny is this, man? I leave the Broncos. I go to the Ravens. Our first playoff game. Guess who it's against, Joe? Who? The Broncos. Ravens? Oh, the Broncos.

12:50Chad Johnson:Oh, man. The Broncos. You trying to get ass here when you're touching.

12:57Shannon Sharpe:My first catch. Joe, what? My first catch. They call a pass. It's kind of a windy day. I know Jamal I used to call him the Big M It's a derogatory term It wasn't derogatory at the time But since I've been known Little people say it's derogatory But let's just call him He had every size body But he had little short arms We call a pass He goes into the play I see Trent rear back to throw it I said ain't no way in hell Big Ma gonna catch this

13:34Chad Johnson:yeah

13:36Shannon Sharpe:I said let me go ahead that way so I start getting a little light jog I head that way just in case it bobbles up in the air I'm gonna have to chase somebody down right what happened? sure enough he bobbled it up in the air a defender tip it I catch it go down the sideline 58 yards for a touchdown Joe in front of the Broncos bench

14:03Chad Johnson:hey hey you know what it is it's because when you play in your former team bro you be so in tune you know what i mean and it's like the littlest things that can happen for you it's like because i done had games where i played against former teams and it and then and it didn't go so well but for the for the most part you be so locked in because you want your them get back and you know you just fit you feel a way you know and you want to come out and put on a hell of a performance i know exactly what you're talking about and my thing was it was

14:36Shannon Sharpe:because i still had a lot of friends over there it was the fact and i told and i ended up having a conversation with mike and i said mike i'm not upset that you tried to trade me and you end up not even offering me a contract it was the fact that you thought you'd be better without me. Yeah. I said, there are so many things that I do outside of the football. You just look at what I do on the football field. Right. When all that's what I left and the locker room went to chaos and all that other stuff was going on, had a conversation like 84. You're right.

15:19Shannon Sharpe:but I got I didn't catch with three pass had like 78 yards but it was that one play and then every big play that we needed to get to the Super Bowl I made it yeah that made me feel good because they didn't think I could play I could play at that level and even though I didn't get the opportunities that I got younger in my career at Denver give me an opportunity I'll make can play. Knowing that defense, Marvin Lewis said, hey, Shea, because it was a running joke. We started joking like, Marvin, how many points do you need today? Marvin said, we give us this. So we playing

15:59Shannon Sharpe:Tennessee. So we beat the Broncos. He's like, we say Broncos not going to score anything on us. I said, what you need in Tennessee? He said, Shea, give us 10. I said, Marvin, they got the best record in the NFL they got statistically their defense was better than ours he said 10 give us 10 give it to us early

16:24Shannon Sharpe:they scored plays going crazy they bust the coverage I go down I catch a 58 yard pass go down to the one Jamal score they kick a field goal we kick a field goal then they try to pick Another field goal, we block it, running back for a touchdown. They throw a swing pass to Eddie in the flat. Ray Pickett, go back for a touchdown. So we beat them. So we feeling good. So we going out early. We going out early to the Raiders because they're in Oakland. My best friend, Sharon, she passes. She was supposed to meet me in Tennessee, but she ends up passing. So I end up having to go out there. I have to go out there to Denver, obviously to her home-going service.

17:11Shannon Sharpe:So I don't ride on a plane out there because normally I'm up the front. So the veteran players, if you've got 10 years or more, you sit up front with the coaches, everybody else in the back. So I didn't get a chance. So when I get to the hotel that Saturday, I say, Marv, what we looking like? He say, Shay, give us seven. I said, Marvin, I said, Marvin, they got the number one offense in football. What you mean? He said, Shea, give us seven. Give it to us early. So I said, Shea, be honest now. Because we always sit at the table. We always sit, me, Shea, Woody, Rod Wilson, Corey Harris. We always sit together.

17:58Shannon Sharpe:I said, Shea. I said, Shea, what we looking like? What we looking to do tomorrow? He looked me dead in my eyes. He said, Shea, give us seven the first quarter. It's over. I said, what? I ain't telling what Marvin had told me. I said, come. Go ahead and hold me there, man. I said, you know Big Play Shea good for seven. I said, Stover got a kick in him, so that's 10. So you said if we get to 10 points. He said, Shea, if we get to seven points and y 'all don't turn it over, they done. We good.

18:38Hey, Joe, I don't think people understand how good that 2000 Ravens defense was.

18:43Chad Johnson:They would like that, Ocho. Joe, I don't even think, I think if the 2000 Ravens defense was playing today, everybody on that team would be suspended. Oh, yeah. You can't play like that now. Hell no.

18:57Shannon Sharpe:Joe, the way they played. Oh, we're knocking your quarterback out of the game. Yo, get your quarterback ready to play because they're going to knock your starter out. there was no weakness, Joe. You know, every time you play a team, there's always a fish. We call them the fish, Joe. Yeah. When we go through our game plan, when we go through our scouting report, you find who the fish is, you find who the weak league is, and that's what you pick on. You pick on the fish. Joe ain't no fish out there. With them back then? Yeah. Then stop playing. Joe, you got to realize they gave up 3, 10, 3, 0.

19:37Shannon Sharpe:damn stingy every offensive play other than the last play of the game that was a nil down ended in a punt or turnover for them they had 16 possessions it ended in a punt or turnover

19:51Chad Johnson:hold on but what what what made that defense so great obviously we know ray but what what really made it great run the football they made you one-dimensional

20:00Shannon Sharpe:at all in 16 games they didn't give up a thousand total yards rushing you couldn't run in so now they know you got to throw it all they played was cover two

20:15Shannon Sharpe:but your third foot that ball better be out your hands or they're gonna knock your quarterback out go back and look at the hit that rob burnett put on uh akili smith oh yeah yeah yeah did he if you were to hit a quarterback like that today you are getting suspended Chad go look at that shot that Rob Burnett put on Akili Smith if you hit a quarterback I mean he took two steps and got ready to throw and Rob Burnett put his helmet right up under his chin

20:48Shannon Sharpe:I remember that boy look here You got a real joke. In 20 games, they didn't give up 200 points in 20 games. As a matter of fact, they didn't give up 190 points in 20 games.

21:07But them boys were good, bro.

21:11Chad Johnson:Putting it down. You know who ain't seen them boys, Joe? Who? Me. Huh? I ain't seen them boys, Joe. You good, Coach? Ocho. Ocho, how many yards you had against the boy? He wasn't in the league, did he? Nah, I came in the next year. Oh, okay. Hey, but Joe, I still ain't seen them boys, Joe.

21:34Shannon Sharpe:Yeah. We had a little, you know, we had a little something. Had a wild, wild west on Ocho. What y 'all done? You know, little, little, we can't say, you know, I suppose it start with a B and end with a Y. We put a little money on the head. Hey, Joe ain't have a problem with that. Hey, they already had money on my head anyway, Joe, and I ain't see that. Look, Mike Brown wants to win a championship. There ain't very many of us of color that have won an NBA title. Yeah. Joe Mazzula, Lenny Wilkins, Bill Russell as a player coach, Al Adels, Doc Rivers. Yes, sir. I mean, the NBA been going on for 80 years.

22:27Shannon Sharpe:I think that's it. What is Mitch Johnson? He blank, ain't he? Yes, but I'm saying, yes, they want to win. And it's a rarity, guess what? That they go against each other.

22:39Chad Johnson:Yeah.

22:42Shannon Sharpe:Yeah.

22:45Shannon Sharpe:Hey, y 'all looked at that hit. Oh, there it is. Y 'all looked at that hit. that Rob Burnett put on the Keeley Smith? You pull it up. Pull it up. We can't show it. Hey, we're allowed to play it. You're not allowed to play it, huh? But you can pull it up. Take a look at it. I mean, bro, he didn't even get fully in his drop. Ball was gone. Yes, Casey Jones. So, Bill Russell, Coach Russell did it. Al Adams, Casey Jones, Joe Mazzulla, Doc Rivers, Ty Lue. Did we leave out anybody? And now we're about to get another one.

23:27Chad Johnson:Yeah.

23:31Chad Johnson:It's going to be interesting, though.

23:33Shannon Sharpe:So what is it, six? Because Adel won with the Warriors. Obviously, we know Russell and Casey Jones won with the Celtics. Doc won with the Celtics. Joe Mazzula won with the Celtics. Ty Lue won with the Cavs.

23:53Oh. Hey, younger, it's Rod. It's Rod Barnett or Rob.

23:58Shannon Sharpe:Rob. R-O-B, Rob. He and I came out together. He's from Syracuse. We came out 90 together. Goose came out. I think Goose might have been a 12th round pick. Goose might have been the 12th round. Goose might have been a free agent.

24:13Shannon Sharpe:We asked about to text the link. to you. Yeah, I got it now. 1999, week five. 2000.

24:27Shannon Sharpe:Man, we put a hurt on y 'all.

24:33Shannon Sharpe:Hey, Joe, I couldn't have, you know, hit a, uh-uh. You know, I got a little touchdown. Hey, see that touchdown I put on your boy Darryl Williams? Joe, oh, I shook him. Ooh, did I? Hey, D. Will get hit, boy. You know, then I went back down to Cincinnati and put two on his head.

24:57Shannon Sharpe:Bill Russell, K.C. Jones, Lenny Wilkins, Doc Rivers, Joe Mazzula, Ty Lue. Seven. You miss anybody?

25:12Shannon Sharpe:Yes. So we said Russell, Al Adams, Casey Jones, Lenny Wilkins, Doc Rivers, Joe Mazzulla, Ty Lue. Did we miss anybody, Chad?

25:31Hey, that was a nice little stunt, man. That was a nice stunt. That was a really nice stunt.

25:39Shannon Sharpe:Man, that bet I would took. Ocho, you know if you hit a quarterback like that now, you get suspended, right? Oh, yeah. You put all your weight on him like that, you out the game. That was a nice stunt. That was a nice little stunt. I'm not even going to lie.

25:57Shannon Sharpe:Well, we have a brother. Sacramento has watched Luka Doncic, Tyrese Halliburton, Darren Fox, and Mike Brown all reach the NBA Finals within the last two years. They passed on Luka, traded Halle, fired Mike Brown, and moved on from Fox. And all they got in return was a first-round exit in 2023. Joe, what's going on with the Kings?

26:22Chad Johnson:Their infrastructure bad, fella. Ain't no way around it. I don't even know how you cut or slice it. Halle played in the finals last year, Mike Brown in the finals, Fox in the finals. Luka went to the finals. Come on, bro. Yeah, it ain't the damn coaches and the players. Obviously, we see that now. It's the organization. It's the infrastructure, bro. It's obviously, it's bad. It started at the top, huh, Joe? Huh? I said it started at the top, huh? Yeah, it got to, bro. Like, when you look at all these situations, these guys going to different teams, coaches coaching different teams, and they are having success.

26:59Chad Johnson:And you look at the Kings, bro, they've been in the dumps, Uncle Ocho Hill. for a good minute.

27:05Shannon Sharpe:Man, they've been done since a C-Web them left.

27:09Chad Johnson:And Bibby them left. They've been bad ever since C-Web them. And so, I don't know, man. I don't know how you get it. What pick they got this year? I think they got like... They need a bunch of picks. I think they got like...

27:26Shannon Sharpe:It's being reported, Joe, that they're thinking about moving on from... What's the big tall guy? Chrissy. No, no, no, no. The player. The Lithuanian.

27:40Shannon Sharpe:His dad played. The Lacey. Sabonis. Yes. The Bonis. Yes. I told Ocho. Ocho didn't believe that he was 7 '1".

27:52Chad Johnson:Hold on. I thought Sabonis was already gone. He ain't already. No, he ain't 7 '1". He's still there. Yeah, they probably. He going to help someday, buddy.

28:04Shannon Sharpe:He ain't Look, Sabonis is good But his dad was a hell of a player His dad was By the time he got to the States And played with Portland He's old and beat up But boy, you talking about pass to basketball? He was Jokic Passing before Jokic He used to get Shaq He used to get Shaq hands too He was 7 '3 Could shoot the three Hey Joe The mock draft got Acuff going to the Kings.

28:38Chad Johnson:Oh, man.

28:39Shannon Sharpe:They got my...

28:41Chad Johnson:I don't want Acuff to go to the Kings, bro. Hey, but you're right. Sabonis, I think, he was shooting threes back then. The centers wasn't shooting threes. He was one of the only centers shooting threes back then. Probably like him and Sam Perkins, you know, them big guys. Big guys wouldn't shoot threes like that back then.

29:01Shannon Sharpe:But you go back and look at him when he played for the unified team. Well, I think they were called the Russian team. They later became the unified team. He was serious. They used to get a man. High IQ.

29:14Chad Johnson:High IQ. The pass, the crap out of that ball. I know exactly what you're talking about.

29:18Shannon Sharpe:But it was what you call them. It was the Brazilians. And I think they beat them in the – they ended up beating David Robinson them when they had the legendary Oscar Schmidt, the Brazilian. Yeah. Joe. Now you talking about a bucket getter? I think he dropped like 48 on the Americans. And that was when they said, you know what? Enough of this. We bringing pros. Y 'all got pros. We bringing pros. Ain't no more college. It's going on. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, Nick? Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast?

29:55Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how did we, how did we actually come up with the name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And we were thinking, I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast where people could call in and say, Hey Jonas.

30:29And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is. Getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is. Getting a new one put up in its place. As long as there's a politics of race in America, there's going to be a politics of remembering the Civil War.

31:01Shannon Sharpe:To get to school, I had to go down Robert E. Lee Boulevard. Get to the grocery store, I had to go down Jefferson Davis Parkway. If you're an historian and you leave out half of what the history is, you're not doing your job. I'm Akilah Hughes, and Rebel Spirit Season 2 goes deep on both of those things. The fights, the politics, the people who won, and my personal campaign to add something to the Kentucky Statehouse that's actually worth the wall space. We are more than our bodies. We contain essence. We contain spirit. How do you represent that? They are just fueling a fire that is really catching.

31:35You'll see what I mean. Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luka and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luka and Austin Reed, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reed.

32:17He has to guard Julius Randle. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on a night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history, too.

32:28Chad Johnson:Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running on the court, licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Oh, yeah. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

33:17I'm so happy they are here. Everyday and Ordinary to the Deep and Extraordinary. This isn't a normal podcast. Everything here is spontaneous, real, and genuine. This podcast is like a deep talk with your closest friends, where vulnerability comes out. Conspiracy theories end up on the table, and goals and lessons are shared. Todo en esta vida tiene un orden perfecto y todo es justo. Espérenme, yo te voy a apresurarme, pero me lo voy a acabar. Está buenísimo. We are here to connect. El Chicharito. I'm Javier El Chicharito Hernández, and together with iHeart Radio, we're going to make the ordinary extraordinary.

33:47Stay close. Listen to Learning to be Human on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

34:18Rough Riders, Darren D. Dean. Talking about as a kid. Do you remember that we met even way before? Let me think. Did you walk up to the gate? That was me, D. That was you? That was me. The day we found out that you and the whole crew was at Hit Factory, the mission was to get me to go to the gate, start freestyling, and see if I could get in the studio. I'm rapping, and then suddenly I hear a voice. Hey, open the gate. Let him in. The gate slowly went. They all there watching this, and they watch me walk into there, And that is a moment that I will remember for the rest of my life. Listen to Laugh But Not Least with MC Jin starting on June 9th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

35:01Shannon Sharpe:The next segment is brought to you by Tommy John, where comfort is the new power move. Steph Curry made a power move signing a 10-year endorsement deal with the Chinese company Li Ning, officially ending a recruitment process following his departure from Under Armour. Part of Steph's ultimate decision was about his comfort while testing the shoes of two Lee Ning signature athletes, Jimmy Butler, his fellow Warrior teammate, and Dwayne Wade. Lee Ning plans to build a Curry brand stores in the United States and in China. Joe, thoughts of signing Lee Ning over bigger brands like Nike and Adidas?

35:37Chad Johnson:Lee Ning, obviously, they paying their cheddar. But they got a They make a pretty good damn shoe Okay, Ojo Yeah, they do make a pretty good shoe And the fact that they're over there In what, China? Yes You know, I don't think I don't think I don't think the brands here in the States Meaning like the Nikes And the Adidas And things of that sort I don't think they're really doing too great And I think Li Ning is actually They've been great over the years, bro and to get Steph Curry, to get him a signature shoe, a signature brand to where he can sign these other guys under his brand, I think is what Lee Ning is trying to do.

36:19Shannon Sharpe:And I'm not so sure other brands was going to give him that opportunity. Nike is very conscious about that. Really, if you think about it, who's up under Nike? Jordan.

36:29Chad Johnson:Yep.

36:30Shannon Sharpe:LeBron hadn't been able to do that yet because LeBron said, I went to Nike about trying to sign Luka.

36:38Chad Johnson:Yeah.

36:39Shannon Sharpe:Jordan. Yeah. KD has yet. And maybe KD doesn't want that. But I know LeBron wants to sign athletes under his brand. Absolutely.

36:49Chad Johnson:Absolutely. And he hasn't been able to do that.

36:52Shannon Sharpe:And I'm not so sure Nike is trying to do. I don't think they want another situation like Jordan where they're giving up$400,$500,$600 million a year.

37:01Chad Johnson:No, and they're going to go young. They're getting these young guys. Curry got about three, four years left to where he's probably going to be playing. They going younger, man. These top brands going to get these young cats, and they going to build them up.

37:13Shannon Sharpe:But you also, Joe, these guys are not like, when we came out, Nike was everything. But you see Cooper's flag, he went to New Balance. You see guys going to Puma, guys doing sketchers. Guys, look, hold on. How much you offer Nike? New Balance, how much you say you got? Man, give me that New Balance. Hey, let me get that Puma.

37:36Chad Johnson:Hey, hey, hey, them folks writing checks longest piece. Yeah, man. You hear me? They ain't playing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, hey, hey, hey, them folks going with all these brands, the New Balances, the Pumas, and all that. Yeah, you're right. Everybody's competing now. It's not just one brand like it used to be, Nike or Adidas. You got so many other brands, bro, who are competing, and they getting a lot of star talent. They're getting them early, too, so they can build it and build it and build it. Man, y 'all know this thing all about money, man.

38:08Shannon Sharpe:Bro.

38:09Chad Johnson:Why we playing?

38:10Shannon Sharpe:Nike going to offer you$5,$6 million, and then here come New Balance going to get you$15,$20. Come on, now. Let's be real. And you know, hey, our childhood growing up, Nike was everything. Was that Jordan shoe drop in 85? It was a wrap. It was over. I ain't even thinking about no converse no more. I had Converse because everybody had Converse. I had the weapons, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird. Had the Dr. J's. They were heavy as hell. Had the City Whip, Horny Spudwell. But boy, look, man, let me go and get that$100 shoe.

38:48Chad Johnson:Let me go and get that$100 shoe. It took me a little while before I could get them Jordans. I ain't going to lie to you. I was in Payless with my mama, XJ900. They looked like Jordans, but they weren't no damn Jordans. But you had on some XJ900, Joe? Yeah, man. Yeah, when I was... You know, if I saw you, you know what I would hit you with. What? What are those? I would have whooped your ass, too. Huh? I would have whooped your ass, too.

39:12Shannon Sharpe:Hey, I got them Jordan 2s. Man, my mama waited to laugh, paid$100. My mama said, boy, you wear these shoes, too. You$25.

39:23Chad Johnson:Hey,$100 back then for some shoes was a lot of money, bro. Hey, look, I'm going to tell you something. When my mama started paying that type of money,$120 for them Nikes, them Jordans, them Webbles, them Barclays, because we were getting team shoes, you best believe that the following couple weeks, them lights or that gas bill was going to be off. One of them was going to be off. I promise you, one of them was going to be off.

39:45Shannon Sharpe:Hell, yeah. Oh, man. I got them shoes in today. I hit them fields. I started buying my own. I wasn't a bubble. Hey, my sister tell you, I spent my whole check on one IZAR shirt, one pair of Lee jeans, one pair of Calvin Klein. Man, I spent my whole damn check. And by that time, Joe, I had started making like$16 to$20 a day. Yeah. You couldn't hit Shane's ass with a red apple. Man, I was hell without a wig. I had an IZAR shirt, IZAR belt, IZAR socks to match, and darksiders. If y 'all might run my age, y 'all know exactly what I'm talking about. Had them Calvin Klein, had some Sergio Rigolettos.

40:31Shannon Sharpe:Man, I would bet O'Shea was doing it.

40:37Chad Johnson:Hey, I know what you mean. That didn't happen to me, Uncle, until I got to college. I started getting that pale green, Uncle Ocho, that$2 ,900 of some money. I sent my mama about$1 ,100,$1 ,200. Yeah. Hey, the fellas don't see me in the cafeteria for about two, three weeks. I'm not a freak. I'm out here balling. I'm out here balling. Listen, I done bought me two, three pairs of shoes. I done ran all that little money out.

41:02Shannon Sharpe:What? Hey. Man, y 'all get – because we got that little work study. We got work study, Joe. But you had to work. But, you know, you had to get a little job. Maybe you like the dorm stuff. I worked for Coach Davis. Yeah. Hey, and Coach Davis, I was the only one that didn't really have to work. I come over there, do my homework. I said, Coach Davis, I ain't finna lie to you, Coach. I said, I ain't finna do no work. I said, I'm not finna go. He said, man, I ain't home. I need you to go get my dry cleaner. I said, Coach, I ain't finna do that. I ain't finna lie. I said, Coach, I'm not finna do that.

41:33Shannon Sharpe:I'm not finna go put no gas in no truck. I'm going to come here. I'm going to do my homework. He said, all right, home. Damn, don't tell nobody else.

41:42Shannon Sharpe:I mean, I don't work enough. But I ain't trying to do, hey, I'm trying to do as little as possible. I'm going to get that$400. Now, some people, well, you ain't got to work. but you got to shoot me 100. Man, I wish I might. You ain't getting me 400. I shoot you 100.

41:57Chad Johnson:Right, right. Nah, nah, hell nah. Hey, I know what you mean, boy.

42:04Shannon Sharpe:But Steph, look, I thought maybe Nike would circle back, but Joe, I see your point. Them boys, they're like, hold on. Steph got two, three more years. Hey, Unc, Nike shouldn't have had to circle back. Yeah. they shouldn't have had you make me make me an offer i can't refuse and obviously the fact that they had to circle back means that they play with but look here well i bet i bet that money though joe and they're gonna give him things they're gonna create a golf a golf brand you remember nike got out of the golf yeah you know they yeah you remember they used to have irons and have all that stuff.

42:44Shannon Sharpe:Now they do a little bit of apparel, but I think Steph trying to go all in on the golf and stuff. Yeah.

42:53Chad Johnson:I bet Nike did offer him something, but it wasn't to his liking. You know, I bet you Lee Neen came with a sweet deal. Like I'll say, you know he's super into golf. I bet you're going to come out with a golf line and all that. But being able to have the Curry brand and to be able to sign guys under that, I bet you that was probably deep value into what he really wanted to do. I absolutely believe it, Joe. I absolutely believe that's it. Yeah.

43:19Shannon Sharpe:I believe that's it.

43:20Chad Johnson:And Lee Ning gonna get it done, bro. Oh, yeah.

43:23Shannon Sharpe:Lee Ning. That Chinese market is huge. When those guys go on tours, where they go, Joe? You see James Martin with Adidas. When you used to see rest your soul, Kobe Bryant. You see LeBron. You see D-Way. You see all these guys. Where they go? China. China. Thailand. Taiwan. Yes. That age of, yep.

43:44Chad Johnson:And them people are wearing them shoes over there, bro. Yeah. So. Smart move.

43:52Shannon Sharpe:Congratulations, Steph. Senior boy player, size 13.

43:56Chad Johnson:Yeah, I need 16, my boy.

43:58Shannon Sharpe:I got these Steph Currys, so I have a whole load of these.

44:03Chad Johnson:You ain't never got a pair of underarm Steph Curry. He signed him for him. Oh, did he? Yeah, I remember that. Damn, that might be worth something, huh?

44:17Shannon Sharpe:Hey, Joe. I mean, Ocho might not do it, but I put these on, Joe. I'm telling you now.

44:24Chad Johnson:You what? You telling me now what?

44:26Shannon Sharpe:I might have these on when I shoot that three-for-one competition against your ass.

44:30Chad Johnson:Oh, there it is. Hey, well, bring it on out. Bring it on out. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, unk. But Joe going to lose twice. He going to lose to me and he going to lose to you. As a matter of fact, Joe, I'm going to put the shoes up and the ball. That's what I'm talking about. That's what I was going to say. I ain't want it to look like I was robbing you, but that's what I was going to suggest that. Why about?

44:51Shannon Sharpe:I think I go 10 to 10 and call it a day.

44:55Chad Johnson:10 to 10 and call it a day. I'm going to tell you, to compete, you're going to have to at least go 8 for 10 for showdown. You're going to have to go 8 for 10. Because if I miss one, it's going to be luck.

45:08Shannon Sharpe:That's how confident I am in it. Look at this, Chad. That's a Louis Vuitton basketball, official NFL Louis Vuitton ball. And I'm going to put up the Steph Curry shoes that I personally got after they beat the Lakers. I took him off his feet. He signed him.

45:24Chad Johnson:Hey, Chad. Chad, I already ordered a little ring for that ball to see. I'm going to put it right behind me.

45:30Shannon Sharpe:I'm going to put it right up there. You ain't got to order.

45:35Chad Johnson:Yeah, yeah. You ain't going to get it. I got the little floating ring. it's going to mount to the wall right here. I'm going to mount it to the wall.

45:42Shannon Sharpe:Hey, who's saying that song? Never going to get it. Never going to get it. Never going to get it. Woo, woo, woo. Hey. Hey. It's my baby birthday. Happy birthday. Yeah, in two minutes. She turned 11 and she graduated tomorrow. Okay. Graduating on your birthday. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah. Is that the one that played tennis? Whoa. No, that's her sister. okay okay congratulations enjoy yeah and matter of fact I ate a chat I'm gonna give y 'all her cash app and everybody sent her the thousand dollars you gonna be pretty good if you said ten okay ten matter of fact let me see how much y 'all love my child yeah man I don't know Ash how much this basketball cost don't you worry about it Joe because you won't get it.

46:41Chad Johnson:It don't matter how much you call it. It's going to look way better over here.

46:45Shannon Sharpe:I can't let you do it, Joe. Hey, Joe, just be talking and don't realize what he got in store. I keep telling you I was born in 68. I came out of good stock, not wood stock. Ooh, yeah. What that mean? Hey, Ocho, on StockX, this basketball is$4 ,500. Joe, you never going to see the date. You never going to see this.

47:08Chad Johnson:man please I can't I can't wait for it to be posted up right here he definitely ain't winning

47:12Shannon Sharpe:you see that rotation Joe

47:16Chad Johnson:I see it but I got you

47:18Shannon Sharpe:I might even sidestep and hit a three on you

47:20Chad Johnson:oh nah nah no sir no sir I can't wait for this here boy hey look you and Ocho you and Ocho already know I done made believers out of y 'all already I hate to keep doing y 'all like it because I really like both of y 'all. Y 'all really, both of y 'all really some cool dudes. But I have to make a point and set an example with you boys, man. You're not going to say nothing here. You ain't going to say nothing here, Joe. Okay, all right. I'm letting you know. I'm letting you know right now. What'd you let me know? You know what? I'm done talking. I don't even want to talk about it no more. Yeah, okay.

47:58I just want to play. I just want to play.

48:00Shannon Sharpe:She was going anywhere from 6 ,000 to 26 ,000. So I got my$12 ,000,$12 ,000,$14 ,000, maybe$12 ,000 to$27 ,000 worth of merchandise that you not going to get, Joe.

48:12Chad Johnson:Hey, thank you in advance. Thank you for what? Thank you in advance. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going to take that off your hands, man. We already know that. I can't. We already know that. We already know that. Hey, hey, hey. And I want my rematch in the cornhole, too. Oh, no, no, no, no.

48:29Shannon Sharpe:Joe, that bag wasn't even closed, though, Joe.

48:31Chad Johnson:No, no, don't do that.

48:34Shannon Sharpe:You want a rematch on golf? We go to the real golf course. We go to Topgolf.

48:39Chad Johnson:You and Ocho got lucky with that just a little putting thing. Y 'all really can't beat me in golf neither. Oh, my goodness.

48:49Shannon Sharpe:See, Joe, you started all this talking. I wasn't even talking about no golf. I wasn't even talking about no golf. You started this. When we going outside? That's all I want to know.

48:59Chad Johnson:Look, look, look. When we going outside?

49:04Shannon Sharpe:When you want to, we got to find something. Because, look, we're taking a vacation. We're going to take a two-week vacation. And when we come back, we might come back outside. Hercules, Hercules. Hey, now we're talking. Hey, I'm going to be in hella shape, too. Because dark, you know, we got dark. We got what you call them?

49:29Shannon Sharpe:Pool, ping pong I already know pool I said hey I'm a combination of Everett Reyes and Earl Strickland I'm a combination

49:41Chad Johnson:Come on man Come on man I'm trying to be cool I'm trying to be cool Y 'all don't listen boy

49:53Shannon Sharpe:I'm sorry Joe I mean I mean, if you just, if you want the ball, I'll give you the ball. But you can't give it.

50:00Chad Johnson:No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. When I beat you for it, I'm going to feel better about having that. And then Chad will know, Chad will know that, you know, boy, that damn ice ain't nothing to be played with. The way he whooped Ochoa's, the way he the one over there whooped Oka's. Hey, Joe, you're not getting past me. So your best bet is to play Oka first. That's your best bet. Nah. Get your confidence up before you come. I'm so confident.

50:26Shannon Sharpe:I put the shoes that Steph signed to me up. He can't beat me in a three-point competition. Steph, the great angel.

50:34Chad Johnson:If you just want to give me the shoes, I understand. That's basically what you're doing. You know what I mean? Hey, hey, hey. I like you, okay? I hate to beat you down like that, man. But I'm going to have to show you. I'm going to have to make you a believer. Okay. I see what's going on. I see what's going on.

50:50Shannon Sharpe:Okay, you're going to make me a believer.

50:51Chad Johnson:You want Ocho? Y 'all don't think fat meat grease. I'm going to show y 'all ass, though. It ain't. Yeah.

51:01Chad Johnson:Then I'm going to hit that curry, that shimmy curry be doing. Are you going to hit that? For the first time since 2000. That Antoine Walker. What'd you say, Ocho? I say Joe going to hit that Antoine Walker like he hit that three. Yeah.

51:18Shannon Sharpe:He already know it. I'm just telling you. I figure I go seven for ten, eight of ten. It's easy. Easy money. Because I'm going to corner three. That's me.

51:30Chad Johnson:Yeah, I made a living out for that corner three. I ain't going no less than nine for ten. I just want you to know.

51:38Shannon Sharpe:I'm going to let you go first because once I get that groove, I'm going to tell you like this. If Pete and repeat was on the fence and Pete fell off, who was left? Yeah, it's right again, repeat. If Pete and repeat was on the fence and Pete fell off, who would level Joe and Ojo? Repeat.

52:01Shannon Sharpe:I'll just let you know, Joe. I'll just let you know. I don't really like to get involved because I don't like the competitive juices to come out. Yeah, you do.

52:11Chad Johnson:Yeah, I get it. I understand. Hey, Ojo, Yo, he ain't gonna be nothing.

52:18Shannon Sharpe:I'm gonna have him out there looking like Chet. He gonna be looking like Chet when I'm done with him. Hey, that's what I told him yesterday, y 'all.

52:26Chad Johnson:Hey, hey, one thing about me, boy, I'm fighting back now. Yeah, I don't know what the hell y 'all think this is. Hey, what's the point of fighting back if you can't land no punches? You seen me go berserk after you and Unk talked stuff to me after that first, after that little golf. Y 'all seen me go berserk. You see how I lost my mind. I lost my mind, couldn't even control myself no more. Huh? Don't y 'all get me started. Don't worry about it.

52:49Shannon Sharpe:We get outside. We get them darts. We get disco. Like I said, we got a lot of stuff to do. We got the axe throw.

52:59Chad Johnson:Oh, man.

53:00Shannon Sharpe:Come on, man. Come on, man.

53:01Chad Johnson:It's like taking candy from a baby.

53:03Shannon Sharpe:I already know you're not going to beat me fishing, so you can get that up. That is a wrap.

53:10Chad Johnson:I'm telling you, I just look like this. I'm a bad mofo. I'll just let you know.

53:14Shannon Sharpe:No, you're not, Joe.

53:15Chad Johnson:No, you're not. Okay. All right.

53:17Shannon Sharpe:Okay. Like I say, I just need to know, are we fishing for whatever bite, or are we going to catch a particular type of fish? That's all I need to know.

53:26Chad Johnson:I don't give a damn. When I throw it out there, I don't give a damn if I catch a snake. I bet you I catch something. I bet you I catch something.

53:32Shannon Sharpe:This man, hey, go, go. This man going out there fishing for garfish and all kind of foolishness. Come on, man.

53:39Chad Johnson:I'm fishing with the hell bite. What's biting today? What's biting?

53:43Shannon Sharpe:Yeah.

53:43Chad Johnson:Oh, okay.

53:44Shannon Sharpe:For the first time since 2009, the Larry O 'Brien trophy will be displayed at Center Court during the NBA Finals. This is the first time since the NBA is using the design since 2009 finals between the Lakers and the Magic. Joe, are you happy to see the NBA bring the classic look back?

54:01Chad Johnson:I'm very happy, fellas. Listen, the finals are very prestige, and I don't like when we watch the finals and it's like a regular playoff game or regular NBA game. put the big decal out there or the trophy to where we can really immerse ourselves into the finals and what the finals is really about knowing that we're watching you know the greatest event that basketball has to offer I think this is this is fantastic bro for them to bring this back hopefully they keep it for the years

54:32Shannon Sharpe:why did they take it away were the guys slipping on the logo or something what happened

54:36Chad Johnson:I have no idea I wonder was that I wonder if that was a problem or not.

54:41Shannon Sharpe:Actually, yeah.

54:44Chad Johnson:So I wonder what they did, what have they done for it not to be slick now?

54:49Shannon Sharpe:Yeah. Hey, you know whoever wins, they gonna take part of center court because you know Jordan had it in his home.

55:00Chad Johnson:You should. Yeah, yeah, you should. Damn. Damn, this is gonna be a great one. This is gonna be a great final. Yeah, man, that thing look good.

55:10Shannon Sharpe:They look good. I mean, it's already painted, looked good.

55:40Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is. Getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is. Getting a new one put up in its place. As long as there's a politics of race in America, there's going to be a politics of remembering the Civil War.

56:00Shannon Sharpe:To get to school, I had to go down Robert E. Lee Boulevard. Get to the grocery store, I had to go down Jefferson Davis Parkway. If you're a historian and you leave out half of what the history is, you're not doing your job. I'm Akilah Hughes, and Rebel Spirit Season 2 goes deep on both of those things. The fights, the politics, the people who won, and my personal campaign to add something to the Kentucky Statehouse that's actually worth the wall space. We are more than our bodies. We contain essence. We contain spirit. How do you represent that? They are just fueling a fire that is really catching.

56:34You'll see what I mean. Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

57:05We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reed. He has to guard Julius Randle. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on a night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.

57:27Chad Johnson:Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

57:57Everyone sees me as a football player, but before anything else, I'm human. Every single day, I'm still learning how to live with problems, mistakes, relationships, emotions, ever since I was born. And I still have so many questions. Where do we come from? What happens after death? How do you deal with cancellations? Cristiano or Messi? Do aliens exist? What is love? Real Madrid or Barça? From everyday and ordinary to the deep and extraordinary. This isn't a normal podcast. Everything here is spontaneous, real, and genuine. This podcast is like a deep talk with your closest friends, where vulnerability comes out.

58:29conspiracy theories end up on the table and goals and lessons are shared todo en esta vida tiene un orden perfecto y todo es justo espérenme, yo te voy a apresurarme pero me lo voy a acabar, está buenísimo we are here to connect el chicharito and Javier el chicharito Hernández and together with iHeartRadio we're going to make the ordinary extraordinary stay close eres un carac wow listen to learning to be human on iHeartRadio Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast you said to me yo, you know, keep at it because you let me rap for you It was magical for all of us.

59:00Shannon Sharpe:They go, ah, we made it, we made it. Yeah, I'm like, we? You know, I'm like, I know these guys, but who are you? I'm MC Jin, and this is Laugh But Not Lease. I'll be chatting with guests from all walks of life about the power of humor when it comes to facing difficult times, like the co-founder of Rough Riders, Darren D. Dean. Talking about as a kid, do you remember that we met even way before? Let me think. Did you walk up to the gate? That was me, D. That was you? That was me. The day we found out that you and the whole crew was at Hit Factory, the mission was to get me to go to the gate, start freestyling and see if I could get in the studio.

59:35I'm rapping. And then suddenly I hear a voice. Hey, open the gate. Let him in. The gate slowly went. They all they're watching this and they watch me walk into there. And that is a moment that I will remember for the rest of my life. Listen to Laugh But Not Least with MC Jin starting on June 9th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:00:00Shannon Sharpe:SGA calls his MVP year a failure after game seven loss. I failed at my goal. I did not achieve what I wanted to achieve, but I learned the most about myself and make the greatest amount of increase in my career when I fail and I don't get what I want. I look at this no different. I didn't get to where I wanted to go this season. There's a reason for that. Now I have to look for that reason and try to make sure it never happens again. Joe, in the regular season, Shea averaged 31.1 per game on 55 % shooting, and he shot 39 % from three. During the postseason, excuse me, in this series, he averaged 26 points a game on 41 % shooting on 29 % from three.

1:00:49Shannon Sharpe:Now, everybody wanted to jump on me last night because they played well that one game, And I said, okay, Joe, I'll concede that to you. You and I, I'm going to push back on you a little bit. I said, okay, I'll concede that. I said, but Joe, there's no way people can think that he played well in this series. He shot 14 % less from the field than what he shot in the regular season. He shot 10 % less from three than what he shot in the regular season. And he scored five fewer points. Under what scenario can you say Shea had a great series? Here, we'll deal with Chet in just a second. We're going to set him aside just for this because I love the way he looked, his approach where he says, look, my ultimate goal was to win an MVP, win a championship, win another finals MVP.

1:01:35Shannon Sharpe:That's my ultimate goal. One of those three things happened. After the other two did not, I can't look at this as a successful season, although some might. Joe, what do you like? What do you think about what he had to say? and what do you think about the series he just had?

1:01:53Chad Johnson:I love the fact that he took the accountability and put it on himself. You know, that's what the great ones do, bro. They don't deflect. They don't blame. They point right at themselves. Man, I got to be better. I should have been better. And the fact that he had high standards. I mean, listen, he back-to-back MVP, just coming off winning a title. Yeah, it's a failure, bro. Because to him, because to Shea, he felt like they were the best team. He felt like they really had a chance to do something special, and that was to win back-to-back championships, but they came up short. Give San Antonio credit.

1:02:29Chad Johnson:But no, he did not have a great series. He did not. I thought San Antonio took the challenge to try and slow him down and hold him below his average, which they did. Give San Antonio credit. They did a great job. But I understand where Shea is coming from. No, this wasn't up to his standards, bro. And the accountability that he put on himself, I respect it so much, which is why I'm a huge fan of him, bro.

1:02:55Shannon Sharpe:Because when you look at it, Joe, you say, well, Shannon, he only scored five points. But look at the percentage that it took him just to get to that. Yeah. Think about it. Let that sink in for just a second. He shot 55%. And a lot of his shots are the shots that he was making in this series. Well, you see him making tough 18, 19, 20-footers. He was getting to the – if you think about it in that – because hold on, wait a minute. You mean to tell me this man shot 14 % less from what he normally shoots from the floor, 10 % less, and he had five points fewer? I can see possibly why they struggle.

1:03:33Because even if Chet played as bad as he did –

1:03:37Shannon Sharpe:I'll just bring Chet just for this, and I'm going to – Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. If Shea plays like he plays in a regular season, Joe, I'm still not sure they don't win this series.

1:03:45Chad Johnson:Hold on, hold on. But you got to look at San Antonio. They ain't got no shabby guards out there. Meaning when I say shabby, I'm talking about from Fox to Castle to Vassell to Champagne. Those dudes, it's no weak link defensively. They all can score and they all sit in their chair and play defense. Give them credit on what they done to Shea, how they bottled him up, how they made everything tough, how they made his catcher stuff, how they made all his shots stuff. He had to take and make tough shots, bro. And then you got this alien behind him. If I do get by you, hell, I can't even really look at the goal.

1:04:23Chad Johnson:You know what I mean? I got to become a passer. So I think I'm giving a lot of credit to the Spurs, bro. Yes. I'm giving a lot of credit to the Spurs because they are an elite defensive team, and they showed it throughout this series.

1:04:35Shannon Sharpe:But what about – so what about MVPs? If MVPs only succeed against marginal or average players, why are they MVP? Considering, think about it, how few times there have been back-to-back MVPs. Even more times they've been back-to-back MVPs with back-to-back titles. That's what makes them so great. That's why you get a Jordan. That's why you get a LeBron. That's why it ain't that many. You get a Magic Johnson. and think about how many guys have won regular season MVP back-to-back and finals MVP back-to-back. There's a reason. That's not just an arbitrary thing. Yeah. You think about it. LeBron was the last to do it.

1:05:20Shannon Sharpe:Then you go Jordan, and I think Magic did it in 87 and 88. If I'm not mistaken, don't quote me, but I think Magic won 87-88 because he won his third MVP, if I'm not mistaken, in 90. So when you look at it, no, Jordan snuck one in there. So Magic might have didn't win back-to-back. He might have not won back-to-back regular season MVPs and finals MVPs. I know LeBron did in 12 and 13, and I know Jordan did. So we've got, okay, yes, I want to give San Antonio deserve a boatload of credit. But the reason why an MVP is that a lot of times, more times than not, Joe, he's able to rise above that. That's how he gets the award.

1:06:07Chad Johnson:Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead, Joe.

1:06:09Shannon Sharpe:Finish up. Go ahead, Joe. Go ahead, finish up.

1:06:12Chad Johnson:I think with Shea, when you look at him, he's not a real big physical opposing guy. I think his talent is really from sure will and hard work, meaning, you know, yes, he takes and makes tough shots, but, man, they – OKC ran up into a team, bro, who was just prepared. And it's different in the postseason when I can prepare and study. Yeah, and I can prepare and study your movements. I know your personnel super well. I understand patterns and how you move and what you do when you come off the pick and roll. What your size up is like in isolation, what you're trying to get to. Bro, they studied this man.

1:06:55Chad Johnson:They studied this man and went out and perfected the game plan against OKC. Like, damn, we know Shea the head of the snake, man. If we could just slow him down a little bit. I ain't saying stop him. You know, just slow him down a little bit to where, you know, we're able to be effective on him. And I thought they'd done a hell of a job. Ocho?

1:07:19You say you shot 55 % during the regular season, huh? You think about the difference. Game to game. Week to week. City to city. you're always playing somebody different. There's a certain level of comfort. You're able to study for a game or a team or a player for that specific week. Now we talk about a seven-game series. I think that would be the difference. I would think in understanding on why he didn't shoot as well as he did during the regular season as opposed to the playoffs. Now on top of that, he's playing against some of the best defenders in the game. and collectively as a team not just one individual not just two individuals you got three of them that he that he has to deal with you know on both on both ends of the court offensively and defensively so i i think i kind of i kind of agree with joe in a little bit and i understand what you're saying as well is there are not very many back-to-back keys because regardless of the circumstance regardless of scenario they always rise to the occasion but in in this instance in this series he just wasn't able to on how great those three those three players were alongside

1:08:32Shannon Sharpe:having goddamn wimby as well i just i just think sometimes when we when we we like players we give them the benefit of the doubt uh uh because of said now kobe scores five percent less I mean score five point less shoot 14 % less 10 % less are we still saying oh Detroit's a great team or are we going to criticize Kobe because that's what happened yeah

1:09:05Chad Johnson:yeah and listen if you can't if OKC if Shea doesn't have a consistent number two in this postseason fellas he has to you know hope that guys come along for the ride he don't know who's going to explode from game to game he just has to be consistent i think that was the toughest part for him because it's like damn i'm gonna have to i'm gonna have to take a lot of these tough shots but i gotta hope that somebody comes along with this ride somebody catches hot because we need a number two or even third guy to step up and help out with scoring to to for the productivity of the offensive side of the ball.

1:09:45Chad Johnson:And I just thought it was a lot of inconsistency in that aspect. So therefore, if I only know I really got to worry about Shea, Ojo, and the rest of these guys, I'm going to live with some of those results. You know what I mean? And I just thought that's what OKC kind of ran into against the Spurs team.

1:10:05Shannon Sharpe:If you look at him, and I don't think he was very pleased with the way he played last year in the finals. He mentioned that. He mentioned that he did not play up to his regular season um the way he played in the regular season in the regular season last year he averaged 32.7 so he was down two points in the finals versus the regular season he was down eight percentage points from the field goal percentage he was down what did he shoot from the three i think he shot like 36 37 from the three so he was down 13 from that. So are we going to see, we overlook some, see what we do is that we overlook those numbers that was substantially down because they want now we critique them a little more harshly.

1:10:50Shannon Sharpe:We like, well, damn, when you really think about it, damn. Okay. Uh, look, I don't, I think it a regular season. I mean, I don't really look at Shea as a three point shooter, Joe, do you? I don't I mean I don't I don't think his average is high if it's like in the hot in the mid in the mid to the high 30s because he's not a volume three-point shooter say like a Steph Curry or some of these other guys right so he makes me he go three or seven you know three or eight that's going to keep you at a nice percentage but you know I'm saying and sometimes he might go he might go two for five but he's not a volume guy he's not looking to get up eight to ten to twelve threes a game.

1:11:32Shannon Sharpe:He's not like the Celtics guys or the Cavaliers, some of these guys like that. Look, he's a phenomenal player. And I think the thing is, Joe, what happens is, is that when you critique a player's performance, people automatically assume you're trying to diminish what he's already done. No, he's a two-time finals MVP. I mean, two-time regular season MVP. He's done that. He's a finals MVP. He's done that. He's a four-time first team all NBA selection. He's done that. But I think in order for us to do our job, nightcap, collectively, we have to look like, well, Joe, when you look at it, man, 26 points.

1:12:10Shannon Sharpe:And just think, if he didn't shoot that 52%, 53 % yesterday, Joe,

1:12:15Chad Johnson:he was going to be under 40, which is crazy. You're right. He's a rhythm guy, more so middie. And once he get his mid-range going and get his, you know, driving to the basket going, the lane starts to open up and guys start to sag off. Then that's when he'll sidestep you, shoot the three, step back. He's not, his first couple shots ain't going to be no three.

1:12:40Shannon Sharpe:No, he's not looking to get the three going. I don't know if I've seen him, Joe, and I've watched him probably about five to eight times in the regular season, and I've watched all their playoff game. I don't know if I've seen him open up with a three.

1:12:55Chad Johnson:No. That ain't what he do. He's trying to apply pressure early. You know what I mean? He trying to get in the paint. It's almost like a big guy. He want his first shot or first touch kind of close by the basket. As close to the basket as he can get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Then we open that up. We open that up. And then, look, they start sagging off. When they least expect it, I sidestep him, you know, and get one off. But for the most part, nah, he going to make you play him honest. He going to make you back up first.

1:13:22Shannon Sharpe:And I love the part, Ocho, what I love is that the game plan they had yesterday, and Shea got it going in that second and third quarter. And they said, hey, if he can take and make enough of those, we just throw our hands up and say we get everything we possibly can. Deliver that. I don't believe with the amount of pressure that we're applying on him on both ends of the court because we're going to make his ass guard too. We got to guard his ass. Yeah. We're going to make his ass guard too. Y 'all go at it. Whoever has the ball, do not be afraid to go at Shea.

1:13:55Chad Johnson:Absolutely. And so now you saw him late in the ball game.

1:13:58Shannon Sharpe:You saw that chest going up and down. You saw those hands on those shorts. And now, he realizes. So what did he do? He start pump faking, trying to get guys to jump, lead their feet. Now he leads it to them to go to the free throw line. The ref ain't fall for it, though. He got him a couple of times. And I tweeted, hey, he getting tired. So he going to pump faking. He ain't going to his natural shot where he dive and just go straight up with it. That ain't what he was doing. He would dive and then pump. because he felt those legs starting to get a little weary. They did a great job of hounding him.

1:14:33Shannon Sharpe:And if you get to 45, making tough 18 to 20-footers, Joe, ain't nothing I can do. Ain't nothing I can do. Ain't nothing you can do, bro. Look at him. Did you see the shots that man was making? It's like if I blitz the quarterback, Ocho, and I hit him, and I hit him, and I hit him, and he completes those passes, they say, guys, we sacked him seven times. You just got to live. It's kind of like when Joe Burrow had that magical run through the playoffs. The Tennessee Titans sacked him nine times. But when he needed to put a drive together to get them in field goal range, he made every throw. He looked down the barrel of the gun, and then when they hit him under the chin, they hit him in the chest, he stood there.

1:15:14Shannon Sharpe:I ain't nothing I can do, guys. Kansas City sacked him. The Rams, even though he lost, look at the pressure that they applied. Sometimes you just got to say, you know what? I did all I could do. I ain't got nothing. I ain't got nothing to play. I fired all my bullets. Hell, I threw the gun, and I just took off running. That's all I had left.

1:15:35Chad Johnson:Hey, analytics say that those 18, 19-foot jump shots, those are the worst shots in basketball. That's analytically. That's why they say they either want a three-pointer or a dunk a damn layup. You know what I mean? and I think speaking of Shea yeah I thought he got tired but he also was shooting such a great percentage that he made them jump. You know what I mean? Like he was making shots last night so they like damn we gotta get up on him so that's why those pump fakes started to come into play and they started to work. I thought Shea done what he could bro but does he deserve the criticism? Yeah.

1:16:17Chad Johnson:Because the standards are high for him. You know when you're an MVP, two time MVP, one-time champion, and you a back-to-back MVP, yeah, man, the standard's going to be high. And you think about it too, Uncle Joe, you think about the accolades and the resume and what he's done so far early on in his career, and we hold him to a certain standard based on what we've seen, based on what he's already done. Well, hell, based on when you hear him talk, how many times do you hear a player take necessary accountability and hold themselves to that exact same standard? and he made no excuses. Yeah. No excuses.

1:16:52And this goes back to when, I forgot what game it was, they asked him, what can Shett do more of? Remember they asked him that question? Yeah, yeah. And he didn't really have an answer?

1:17:05Chad Johnson:Yeah. And I think having someone else with J-Will being out, having Shett come along and being able to take some of that pressure off of him, I think this series would have been it might not have won but it would have been a lot different if she had to show it up a little bit more.

1:17:23Shannon Sharpe:Yeah. They got some decisions Joe. You know Kaysom Wallace is doing extension.

1:17:31Yeah.

1:17:33Shannon Sharpe:We had a conversation earlier and Joe you looked at me like I had four hairs and 17 eyes. I said Joe what do you think about if they were to move on from J-Dub? You're like oh come on now.

1:17:50Shannon Sharpe:how you are you are you willing to let case and wallace walk you can't sign but one of your you got three first round picks you can only sign one you about you're a small market team and i understand ocho say when you win it you keep it bud but you know them billionaires they don't like to shell out no 200 million no 300 million joe right yeah i already know it especially if Hey, Joe, how do B &S feel if you already won one? You already won a championship. I'll tell you how they feel. How do they feel at that time? The Celtics felt so good about them winning a championship, he sold the damn team.

1:18:26Shannon Sharpe:That's how great he felt about it. He said, let me go ahead and get up. Let me go ahead and get back. Ocho, you said when you go to the table, you win a little bit, you take your money. Yes. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So the Boston Celtics got to say, hold on. We just won the championship. I can keep trying to run it back and win more and spend$200,$300 million, or I can just go ahead and take my$6.5 billion when I only pay$300,$400, $500,$600 million. No, I'm good. I'll let y 'all figure that out. Yeah, he got out while it was hot, Joe. Hey, so that's the thing. That's the fine line that you got to walk because, okay, Joe, I'm winning a championship, but damn, I keep staying in that damn

1:19:11Chad Johnson:secretary april man i think tear my ass up yeah yeah yeah hey you gotta figure out i think for okc because you gotta have scoring bro uh in that starting lineup as much as i love luke dork and as how hard is he how hard he plays it's gonna be hard bro when you don't have people who can relieve pressure off shea and you putting so much on his shoulders for him to carry and you You ain't got but two offensive threats in your starting lineup. That's hard because the West is so tough. The game, the NBA game has changed so much that, hell, if you can't score the ball, if you can't shoot the ball, it's hard to play your ass.

1:19:55Chad Johnson:It is.

1:19:56Shannon Sharpe:It is.

1:19:57Chad Johnson:It's hard to play. Because. So they got. Go ahead, Joe. Go ahead. They got to figure that part out because it was so glaring in this, series and obviously we're giving San Antonio all the love and respect but man when you ain't got but two guys in your star lineup who can score the ball fellas, hey man you got to reevaluate some things because guess what San Antonio is going to be here for another 10-15 years

1:20:29Shannon Sharpe:Guys, y 'all need to refresh or restart your browser because everything is good to go on our end Joe and I and Ocho and I we can communicate so i think it's guys on your end i don't think it's on our end uh and the thing you're joe is getting now that it is getting harder and harder even if you're defensive liability it's getting harder and harder for you to play unless you're so extraordinary offensively yeah the thing that yeah the thing that made that made this uh uh uh the series is that everybody really could defend.

1:21:06Chad Johnson:Yeah.

1:21:06Shannon Sharpe:That was the thing. So just imagine if you could defend and you couldn't defend, I don't know how you play in the series. Because everybody, for the most part, especially from the guards, could take you off the bounce. Every guard from OKC could take you off the bounce. Every guard from San Antonio could take you off the bounce.

1:21:26Chad Johnson:Yes, sir.

1:21:27Shannon Sharpe:If you couldn't defend, I can't play you. It's really that simple.

1:21:30Chad Johnson:Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look, fellas, we're looking at the two of the best defensive teams in the NBA this year. Yeah. Staying in San Antonio or OKC. So it didn't surprise me defensively how gritty both of these teams were, how disciplined they were on defense. It was the offensive end that we didn't really know who was like, even for San Antonio, although Castle was great, Harper was great. You know, Fox was a little inconsistent at times. Champagne made shots a couple of games. Vassell made shots, didn't make shots. but the biggest difference for San Antonio, bro, they got so many guys who can score the basketball.

1:22:09Chad Johnson:So, okay, it's cool if two, three of our guys ain't making shots. Well, hell, we got one who can put up 43 and 24 points. You know, you catch another 25, 30 from Castle or Harper, it's just, it's so much, and they're so young. Such a hell of a series, bro. The Thunder really, really. because they got so many assets, Uncle Ocho the Thunder, that they got a great problem that they ran into. Yeah, they got a great problem, bro.

1:22:39Shannon Sharpe:I still believe they should have started Kaysom Wallace instead of Dort. They've got to get more. Oh, Joe, they're playing 5-4 offensively, though.

1:22:53Chad Johnson:They started Kaysom Wallace.

1:22:55Shannon Sharpe:Dort, I can't start Dort. I might have to go. I got to get more production, Joe. I got to.

1:23:03Chad Johnson:Yeah, I agree.

1:23:05Shannon Sharpe:Think about what they're going with. They had all five of their guys in double figures, and they cooking from the jump. And so if he's not really neutralizing anybody and he's not giving me anything offensively, Joe, how do I give him those kind of minutes? He's a liability. And that's damn near almost not fair to the door too, huh? What you mean? Because he's never been an offensive weapon. You know, he's always a liability on offense. He's there because of what he's able to do defensively. Now that comes on the onus of one of your other players who's on a MAAC contract. Him not showing up, now because he's not showing up, now we talk about Dort being a liability offensively when that's something he's never been.

1:23:50Shannon Sharpe:I think it's a serious thing, Ocho. When you look at, okay, how does things match up? Okay, I got to look, okay. I'm hoping, I'm hoping that Chad's going to give us what he gave us in the regular season. I can hope that. Hartenstein is going to be Hartenstein. We don't run plays for Hartenstein. We'll lob it. We'll dish it down to him. He'll hustle guy. He'll get some extra points. He'll give us some second chance possessions, and he'll give us, you know, he'll get a rebound and dunk it back. But I don't really have to run a set for him. It's the same thing for Dort. I don't really run sets for Dort.

1:24:22Shannon Sharpe:But when I got those guys, when I got Champagne and I got Bassell and I got Fox and I got Harper and I got Keldon Johnson and I got Carter Bryant. They got six guys that can take you off the bounce. All six of those guys can defend. Now all of them can't defend at the same level, but they can defend. The problem is that the disparity with the scoring is such a drop off. Yeah, it is. It's like you get three points, you get four points. Joe, the other night. We had a bat when he scored less than five points. He had five points in the second quarter and he scored another one.

1:25:04Chad Johnson:So. Hey, I think, hey, listen. I think with Lou Dort, if y 'all remember, y 'all know game one, he started off on Wimby and Wimby got off to that great start on the end. And he ended up having that 41 and 20. Ever since then, he didn't, I mean, he guarded him at times, but it wasn't his main assignment. We started to see Hardenstein and guard him and be ultra physical. That's what they should have started.

1:25:28Shannon Sharpe:I don't know. Joe, come on now. You got to see. I don't know how tall. Let's just say he's 6 '4". Joe, really? You going to start a guy that's 6 '4 on a guy that got a whole foot advantage and probably a 10-inch from span to span advantage on that. So what is he going to do?

1:25:46Chad Johnson:Be physical. Be physical. Be physical with him. Push him around and wear him down. Hell, that's what I think OKC was thinking at first. But then it was such a disparity when he started on the low block. Hell, they were just throwing it up. He was just catching it, dunking over.

1:26:03Shannon Sharpe:You know what I mean? And if the ball come off on the rebound, what was he doing? Just right on the top. Give me that right there.

1:26:11Shannon Sharpe:So, look, I love what Shea had to say. He put their onus on himself, just like he did last year. He won last year. He said, but I don't think I played my best basketball. My job is to go back to the drawing board and see where I can be better, in which I will. He followed it up with another MVP season. He didn't complete the mission, which was get back. Because now you start getting to that elite, elite company. When you start talking back, back-to-back regular season MVPs, back-to-back finals MVPs, there ain't been a whole lot of them. there have not been a whole lot of them no they've been back to back regular season MVPs but to run that gauntlet Joe and to run that thing back

1:27:04Chad Johnson:gotta be special you know it's funny and the fact that it's almost unfair to him how well he's played Uncle Joe yeah because now we hold him to a certain standard based on what he's done in the past we're expected to look like you've done in the past So when you don't, as you look this series, shooting a lower percentage, 55 in the regular season, and then what was he? What was he this series? 41%. 41%. You know, for sure. Hell, some players in the NBA shooting 41%. I mean, hey, that'd be good. That'd be great. But the standard that he set is so high, we're being critical of him because he's not getting help.

1:27:44Shannon Sharpe:That's what happened. And then obviously, you're dealing with him. Yeah. compare him to his great self

1:27:50Chad Johnson:he did that he could have been

1:27:53Shannon Sharpe:marginal and average 19 to 20 Joe and guess what we wouldn't even better now

1:28:00Chad Johnson:but he went to

1:28:01Shannon Sharpe:the gym he got better because he felt that you know what yes I'm in the NBA and I'm playing I'm starting but I think I can get to another level let me see and ta-da so now that is the level that he'll be held to even as he starts to get older the level he'll be held to is a 26 27 year old shay that won back-to-back mvps and a finals mvp that's what he's going to be he's not going to be compared to these other guys that's going to come along and be great you get compared great players get compared to their younger self. Wow. Is it fair? Whether it's fair or not, it is what it is. Hey, guys, it's us, the Jonas Brothers.

1:28:52I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but you know, tired and sick, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.