Best of NBA News Part 2: SGA BREAKS WILTS RECORD, Unc & Iso Joe DEBATE the Biggest NBA Draft MISS

18:37Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com slash disclosures. Anything like him.

18:48Hey, can I ask you a question? Yes. Would you really take Luca over like an Ant-Man or Jason Tatum? I would.

19:03it's your present look

19:06Shannon Sharpe:I think the thing is is that Luka kicks a lot today Luka was locked in and we're going to talk about it in a little bit he locked in caught him a couple of charges poked the ball out from the back Luka was balling today but that's scoring right he about to have his I think his fourth season where he's averaged 30 damn he's 26 He's 26. Yeah, he's going to put – yeah, look. He's going to take bad shots. He's very unorthodox. He's going to take some bad shots. He's going to complain. He's going to shoot a shot, and he's going to turn a look to the official, and he's got room and laid it up on the other end.

19:46Shannon Sharpe:That's just what it is. Damn. But I think the thing is, and you're talking about a guy that's been – he was a first-team All-NBA selection for five consecutive years. five. Luke of the Don. It's just that if he were to stop complaining, I don't need him to sit in the chair, Joe. I don't need him to do that. Just don't get beat on the initial drive. Can you do that? That's all I want you to do. If he's trying to beat you on the initial drive, cut him off, make him pull it back up, or make him give the ball up. That's all I need, Joe, because if he beats you on the initial drive, help got to come.

20:25Shannon Sharpe:If help comes, now you compromise the entire defense. Yeah. Well, I'm sorry to tell you.

20:34That's all I need, Joe. Joe, that's all I need. Hey, he a bad boy. He a bad boy. But when it comes sliding them puppies, he ain't giving you no two slides. He might give you one. That's a wrap. After that. Yeah.

20:46Shannon Sharpe:I don't know what got him in the J, though, Joe. I don't know what got him in the J. But Luka, he was kind of locked in today. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think him knowing LeBron wasn't playing, you know, he know he had to lock in a little more. You know what I mean? Like, you ain't got Bruin out there. You know you got to be great. You know what I mean? Like, you and Austin going to have to carry us tonight. I think he knew that from the start. Yes. Yeah. I mean, this is tough. Austin looked really good tonight. He was aggressive, put the ball on the paint, put the ball on the floor, get into the paint.

21:17Shannon Sharpe:Luka's Luka. When Luka making shots, excuse me, guys. When Luka's making shots like that, you just hope he missed. That man take a one-legged shot from 28 feet, fall out of bounds, sitting into the Knicks bench. What the hell are you going to do? The other night, he kissed one off the glass from 29 feet. What the hell are you going to do with that? You hung up on him. He can get by you. He's so herky-jerky. He's so unorthodox. He's not going to beat you with speed. He's bigger than you think. He's stronger than you think. You're looking at his body like, ah, this milk toast. I'm about to cook him.

21:51Shannon Sharpe:Okay, cook him. Okay, cook him. It don't seem like he's supposed to be making some of the shots he takes. But he took 16 threes tonight. He was 5 for 16 from the three. He took 25 shots. That boy don't mind shooting that sidestep going left to that three, do it? Nope. And on the fast break, he'll stop and let it go. But you look, he's going to have a high usage rate. Look, the likelihood of him ever shooting 50 % is not good because of the shot selection that he takes. He's not taking, you know, I mean, you look at him in the shots, you're like, Luka, you just got to accept it. Yeah. You just got to accept it.

22:35Yeah. Because you want him to be aggressive. You want him to assert himself. You can't take that away, especially when LeBron's not playing. Even when LeBron is playing, you still want him to be himself. But, hey, when you look at them Knicks, man, I told you, hey, this season don't end how it's supposed to end. Your boy Giannis is going to be in New York. I don't know how Bridges played 27 minutes and then scratched. I mean, how they going to win? They can't win like that.

23:01Shannon Sharpe:He got in power trouble early. He can't get you. First of all, he tried to be aggressive with Luka, and Luka's going to use that against you. He's going to get you on his back, and then he's going to stop, and then you're going to jump, and then you're going to bump it from the back, and then guess what? You had to free throw like that. It's the same thing. I think the thing is you want to try to get up in the Luka. You want to try to be physical with him because that's the thing. Be physical with him. You try to take advantage of him. You put him in the pick and roll because he's their weakest defender.

23:31Shannon Sharpe:If you can say the Lakers have a weak defender, a weakest because they got a lot of weak defenders, but he might be the weakest. So you try to put him in the pick and roll. you try to get physical with him because you know they say the same thing about European players they're not that physical you know you get physical with Jokic and you get physical with him yada yada yada I get all that and so you know and he's probably done cried so much that he's like man I'm tired of the Joker crying I don't want to hear him cry tonight so let's call some fouls and he went to the free throw line because remember Joe we talked about it the other night he went to the free throw line 10 times the other night he went to the free throw line 4 times yeah Yeah, he went to the line 10 times.

24:13Yeah, but they need him to be like this, though. He has to be aggressive because his offense is his defense, fellas. You know what I mean? Like, if that's the case, he completely took Bridges out of the game. He was a non-factor. You know what I mean? Yes. He done his job in that part. But they're going to need these other guys to step up, man. I mean.

24:35Shannon Sharpe:If you play, if you go against Nuka, you got to give them at least half of what he's going to give you. Because if you don't, I mean, he gave you 35, Bridges gave you nothing. So he's plus 35 in that aspect. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah. So you got to half him up at bare minimum. You'd like to play him to a tie. Now, the thing is, Joe, and the same thing with SGA or any of these players. Joe, if they get their numbers, let's just say Luka gets 30, 35, and it takes him 30 shots, Joe, I've done my job. Yeah. I've done my job. If Shea gets 35 and it takes him 28, 29 shots to get it, I've done my job.

25:17Shannon Sharpe:What I can't do is allow him to get 35 on 16, 17 shots. There you go. There you go. Because now I know he's being extremely efficient. Now, hey, the 16 threes that he took, he made 11 of them. Nah, nah, I'm in trouble. Right. That's the thing with a score. If you get your numbers, and I make you get those numbers being inefficient. Yeah, you got to shake his hand. Quarterback throw for 350 yards, Ocho, and it taking 57 attempts. I can't do nothing about that. I just can't let him have 350 on 30 attempts. Right, right. because that just means if he got 350 or 30 attempts, Ocho, he probably completed 25 of them.

26:01I mean, you know, the funny thing about it is depending on who they play, when you, when you, when you play these special players, obviously, like a Shea, like a Luka, like a Joker, like a Wimby. And if you don't have a player that, that has the green light to be able to shoot in volume to match their point total, there has to be something else you can do to be able to stop them. And Joe, something else to slow them down. But every time we, Every time we come on and we talk about the game of basketball and how difficult it is to slow them down, how difficult it is to contain them, I mean, it's bad, especially when they only give you, well, Luka in general says that's who we talk about.

26:37They only give you on one end of the court. They only give you someone on one end of the court.

26:42Shannon Sharpe:Do you realize that Wimby has more blocks than Joker in his career? No, he just got an NBA. Exactly. That just goes to Joker. That's my point. Thank you. Yeah, Joker ain't blocking no shot. No, that's not his game. His game is that I'm going to punish you so bad, so bad on the offensive end, and I'm going to get my teammates involved so much that you ain't going to be able to do nothing. And if you don't, like I said, that's why he killed. Look, if you go back and look at his numbers against Gobert, because Gobert can't make him work, he's not going to give you anything on the other end. So now Joker is just free to do whatever, whatever he's going to do.

27:27Shannon Sharpe:That's why he has a 60 point triple double or whatever he's had. Hey, that's all you said. You got, you got, you got to make a guy, you got to make a guy like Jordan. You got to make a guy like Colby. You got to make them work on the other end. If you don't, if you let them coast. Got to make them uncomfortable. And, And let them use all that energy on the offensive end? You in trouble. You better make that man work on the defensive. You got to make him guard somebody. Yeah. Facts. Facts. That's why they always took Larry and put him on the weakest. You take Larry Bird and you put him on the weakest offensive guy.

28:05Shannon Sharpe:I want you to say that, NG. Yeah. Because I need you to bust the ass on the other end. That's why I always tip my hat to something like a Kobe or a Jordan or these guys that are offensive guys and say, you know what? I want the defensive challenge as well. Yeah. Because it takes a lot. You got to exert a lot. And everybody can't do that. Yeah, no. Jordan didn't have a luxury that he had Scottie, so he could easily, like, you know what, A.C. Scottie. And you talk about a guy that's 6 '7", that has long arms, that can slide his feet as well as a smaller player. But everybody don't got that. You have to want to dominate the game, bro.

28:40They wanted to dominate the game. I'm talking about from start to finish. Yes. They wanted to dominate the game. It was no way that you had a chance to win, which is why they picked back then, back in the day. When you look, like we always talk about the top four to eight teams in the NBA, really probably four or five. They play tough defense, bro. They play extended pressure. They pick you up four, weigh you down like they were doing KD tonight, picking them up four, wearing them down. That's what they're going to do to you the whole entire game. and hopefully in the fourth quarter, you ain't got enough energy to continue to play at that peak level.

29:16You know what I mean?

29:17Shannon Sharpe:Yep. Yeah. The Lakers beat the Knicks 110-97. LeBron James with a late scratch, elbow contusion, arthritis, and his left foot. Excuse me. But L.A. held the number three team on offense to just under 43 % shooting with 19 turnovers, which is 20 points below the Knicks' season average. Like I said, Mikel Bridges only gave him zero points. But you look at Rui, came in, played really well. He gave him 13 points on three of eight from three. Marcus Smart, hey, he's a defensive guy, but he didn't shoot the ball well today. But you had Luka, had 35. Austin Reeves had 25. And like I said, Joe, you and I were talking about this.

29:58Shannon Sharpe:Luke Kennard. Yeah. Luke Kennard's been a godsend. Yeah. Because they basically swapped Luke Kennard for Gabe Vincent. There you go. Gabe Vincent, look, they got him after he had that great run with Miami. You know, he was a guy that made some threes with a 3 and D guy. But I don't know what it is, but when guys can shoot the ball wherever they are until they come to the Lakers or they team up with LeBron, then all of a sudden they forget how to shoot the ball. Too much pressure. It's different over there wearing that jersey, huh? It's different over there wearing that purple and gold, huh? Hey, big city bright lights, man.

30:32It's a little different. that, hey, you know what's going on. Expectations.

30:38Shannon Sharpe:The number one killer is expectations. We've seen guys with nothing expected. We've seen guys with nothing was expected, or teams with nothing is expected of them. And then, woo! And then the next year when they have those expectations, what they do? Shit. Because now we have expectations where we didn't have that last year. You have expectations on a player where we didn't have that last year. So let's see now. Now that they know what you can do, they know who you are, they know what type of team you are. Can you still do it again? Yeah, that's the hard part, man. You have to be hungry for success to do that, bro.

31:17Like to want to do it over and over.

31:21Shannon Sharpe:I thought they did a great job. They only had 13 turnovers, the Lakers. Yeah. Luka had almost half of those. Yeah. But look, he has a high usage rate. The ball's going to be in his hand. When you have the ball that much, it's hard for you not to turn it over in an abundance. It just is. Most guys that lead in usage are going to be up there in turnovers. Just the way it goes. Go back and look at guys that's leading usage and see their turnovers, where they're right. But this was a big win for them. They needed this. Yeah, it was. It was a huge game too. Huge game. Yeah, I'm telling y 'all, man, if the Knicks don't do what they supposed to do this year, that's where your boy going to be at.

32:08Watch. Watch what I tell you. You talking about the young boy from Greece? Yeah. Greek freak.

32:13Shannon Sharpe:They should have did that this season, huh? Well, you talking about he don't want no ball, Dominic Garth. What do you think, Brunson? They going to trade Brunson? Hey, listen. Hey, look. He going to have to deal with this. You going to have to get with it because we got a plan now. Yeah, ain't nobody trying to hear all that, man. But if you think about it, with the exception of maybe San Antonio or a few teams, all the really good teams, they're ball dominant. That's what I'm saying. Who do you think got the ball with OKC? Who has the ball with the Lakers? I don't think Boston's going to break up their team.

32:50Shannon Sharpe:Boston swings the ball. They're not swinging. Cade has the ball. So I'm just trying to figure out where he thinks he's going to go. And somebody as great as the Greek freak is, right? You don't think he can adapt to a different situation where you don't have to touch the ball all the time, as great as you are? That's not who he is. No, that's not who he is. He's not KD. His numbers won't be as gaudy as they are now. It won't be 30 and 15. Nope. He might have to take it down, Uncle Ocho, but take it down about 20, 24, 25, and 12 or something. I'm saying and be able to win the championship. Yes.

33:30Man, what you doing over there? What y 'all doing in Milwaukee over there? Y 'all ain't got nothing going. True. Y 'all ain't got nothing going. Would you? So I'm just saying, hypothetically speaking, if he is to go to the Knicks, so that means basically if he does bring the ball up, I mean, that don't make no sense. He would have times, Ocho. I'm not saying they're going to take the ball out of his hands, but it just probably won't be as much.

33:56Shannon Sharpe:we got options Giannis got to have a high usage rate look at Giannis' usage rate he got to be top 5

34:07Shannon Sharpe:some good games today man I think the thing is all things being equal Joe Giannis really prefers because Giannis knows he's going to be looked at differently if he leaves now because we look at all the guys what do we commend Jordan for? He won six championships in one spot. What did Kobe do? Five championships in one spot. Tim Duncan, one spot. Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, one spot. Steph Curry, one spot. What do we criticize LeBron? KD. Hold on. Hold on, Joe. But look at the team. Look at all the players you named that done it in one spot. Look at the teams that were built around those said players that you just mentioned.

34:50The teams where LeBron has played for, did they have anything that matches up or were even equivalent to the other four on the team that they played at.

34:57Shannon Sharpe:People don't care about that, Ocho. People don't care about that. You don't take that into account at all, no? No. We do. Joe do. Basketball, a lot of basketball people does if you're not trying to paint a narrative. Because what they say, if you're as great, if you're the GOAT, you should be able to win a championship regardless of who you play with. That's tough. You know that other four, Joe. You know that support and cast matter. That's in any sport. Man. See, the thing is, as long as a team can trade you. Well, the team traded you. So now the team traded you. That's okay. But if I request to go to a team because the team isn't good enough or the team trades me because they want to bring a player in to try to win.

35:44Shannon Sharpe:Right. Now I want to go somewhere because you not bring players in to try to win and I want to go somewhere you use that against me. Yeah. Yeah. I just don't want to see a situation where Giannis gets stuck in a situation to where he's playing meaningless basketball. Ain't nobody doing that? That's what I'm saying, Ocho. That's what I'm saying. I know he's been there his whole entire career, and he probably don't want to uproot and move to. But this is a different era, Unc. This ain't, you know what I mean? It's not the 80s and 90s. No, this ain't that. Like, these guys on my mind. They caught KG in that situation.

36:19Shannon Sharpe:KG came into the 90s and guys were loyal, didn't want to leave until they're on their last, last legs. And KG probably stayed four years too long in Minnesota. KG was supposed to have been got up out of there. But KG wanted to be loyal to the soil. Yeah, and he'll tell you, he probably wish he would have left early. He could have had him a couple championships. Absolutely. Yeah, so it's like I know Giannis got one and he wanted to stick around in Milwaukee saying all the right things, but hey man. Wouldn't Dame Lillard also be an example of the same thing? Staying somewhere a little bit too long because you want to be loyal?

36:58Shannon Sharpe:Yes. But you see now we put in so much because it's the ring or nothing. See it used to be, it wasn't like that. But this ring culture now because fans say well there have been some great players that don't have rings and you have second and third and fourth options that have rings and they got people saying they're better than a one option that doesn't have rings. There are some guys that got rings, and people actually think they're better than Charles Barkley. They're better than Karl Malone, and you're high. Yeah, they tripping. You're high. Yeah. But because people have placed so much value on rings.

37:35Shannon Sharpe:Me, I'm an eye test guy. Yeah, rings matter. Now, if I'm factoring in, Joe, if I'm saying EST, great test, I think you have to bring rings into the occasion. And even though I understand that this is a team game, I factor it all there. I factor in regular season MVPs, final MVPs, all NBA, all defensive, all that. Points, rebounds. I bring all that into the equation because I think you have to when you're saying great Tis. But these people, I mean, a lot of people are like, oh, he ain't got no rings. He bad. People are like, they crap on Charles Barkley. If you actually saw Chuck play, if you actually saw him play, you'll never see another guy 6 '4 under lead the NBA in rebounders.

38:22Shannon Sharpe:He did that. Dominated. Charles Barkley was a power forward at 6 '4. Falling. And back then, everybody played with a true five and a true, boy, please. Yeah. Everybody had a big. And they had a big-ass power forward to go alongside him. So you had Robert Parrish at 7 foot, and then you had Kevin McKell at 6 '10". You had Ralph Sasson at 7 '4". You had Akeem Olajuwon at 7 foot. Yeah. That's how everybody played. You had Rick Smiths, and you had them big-ass Davis boys in Indiana. Everybody played with a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. It wasn't no stretch, nothing. Nah. No, sir. and I look I get it but now I mean you got guys oh man he got a ring he better there are a lot of guys get there are a lot of receivers that got ringed so if y 'all say so now receivers they got a ring he better than Randy he better than T.O.

39:25okay I'm gonna let y 'all say that

39:30Shannon Sharpe:I'm gonna let y 'all say that I ain't gotta call no name but there's been some receivers that's won some Super Bowls and bless them you've been fortunate of a team I was a part of a team I ain't I was part of a team that won because I understand that it takes a team to win championships. Boy, let's not fool ourselves now. Let's not fool ourselves. There's some quarterbacks that won championships and quarterbacks that haven't. Yeah. Come on now. Yeah. Yeah. But social media has done that because what it's done is that it's allowed everybody to have opinion and have their opinion heard. Yeah. and so now, oh, he better, he better, he better.

40:09Shannon Sharpe:I was listening to the Michael Jordan because I saw that pop up, and he's like, I ain't going to get a part of this GOAT conversation. He said, you know why? He said, because I didn't play against those guys in their era, and I didn't play against these guys in these era. He said, it's not to take anything. KD, I think KD and LeBron, he said, Kobe, he's like, Kobe caught me not in my prime. He caught me the tail end. But no, and it's hard to compare errors because errors do different things. Some errors, they mainly ran the football, Ocho. So how are you going to say a guy, well, he only caught, yeah, Liam Swan only caught 300 passes.

40:44Shannon Sharpe:But they only threw, I mean, I think he had 300 catches for a career. But they might throw the ball 200 times a season. So if you throw the ball 200 times a season, Ocho, how many passes do you think they're going to catch when you divide it up between four wide receivers and two tight ends? Yeah, you're right. When people turn to telehealth or weight loss, they're looking for real support. That's why more people are choosing orderlymeds.com. Orderly Meds connects you with real doctors and access to proven GLP-1 medications like semaglutide and terzeptatide. No guessing, just a more supportive experience.

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44:36Shannon Sharpe:The Spurs beat the Rockets by the score of 145 to 120. The Spurs had four players with at least 20 points and put, what? Wow, almost had another, what you call them, had Dylan Harper, had 19. almost had five players with 20 points. Joe, this was a beatdown from the beginning. I mean, this was a close game. It was back and forth. And then in the third quarter, the Spurs just exploded and just went haywire. Wimby was Wimby. But when you get Champagne, he was knocking down the threes like he was knocking them down. D 'Aaron Fox was sensational up and down the court. And Stephan Castle, you know, we keep talking about guys, you know, offensively.

45:16Shannon Sharpe:But he's a damn good two-way player. I've watched him over the last, like, five or six games. He's taking the toughest assignment on the opposing end and still giving you what he's giving you offensively. Joe, when you watch the San Antonio Spurs, how far do you think they can go when they're playing like this? Can they really come out of the West? Can they win an NBA championship? Yeah, look, Ocho, what they've shown you is that those three times that they beat OKC, it was not a fluke, fellas. It was not a fluke, ladies and gentlemen. Listen, this team is deep. They have so many guys that can beat you.

45:52But you know what was glaring about this? It was almost as if the Rockets was like two to three steps slower than the Spurs. It's like the pace that the Spurs was playing at, Ocho, it's like the Rockets couldn't keep up. Look, midway through the third quarter, I seen KD, what we talk about. When they complaining to the rest, we know we got them.

46:13Shannon Sharpe:Yep. I seen KD over there talking to the rest, his tongue hanging out his mouth. Hey, they the red, them boys in the ground, man. Hey, Spurs got a lot of guys who they can throw at you who don't mind playing defense and can walk the bounce and create opportunities for themselves or others. It's fun to watch, man. And not even to mention Wimby. Oh, my God. I mean, yeah, they destined. They can win it all. Yes, yes. They got 57 bench points. You get 57 bench points and your starters play like they play. And Devin Vassell, he didn't have one of his better games. He only had five points. He was 0 of 6 from the floor, 0 of 3 from the three-point line.

46:53Shannon Sharpe:Oh, Joe, you watch San Antonio. Look, Wimby, you can talk about Wimby, but there's so much more than a Wimby. They look good, huh? I mean, to piggyback off what Joe said, obviously me watching the game tonight and Joe saying it looked like the Rockets were two steps behind, it looked just like that, even though my understanding isn't great as his. I mean, with me not having the knowledge that I do of the game, I mean, it looked like that to me. It seemed like they were lethargic. I'm not sure what was wrong or the fact that the Spurs were just two steps ahead of everything that they tried to do, whether it was in transition, whether it was offensively or whether it was defensively.

47:27They played extremely well. I'm not sure any team has an answer for Wemby. I'm not sure what you can do to stop Wemby because he's good from anywhere on the floor, anywhere on the court. He can put the ball on the floor. Hell, mid-range, I mean, in the goddamn paint, Joe, I'm not sure what they can do. And like Joe did say, what they've done to OKC, as great as OKC is as a team, even with the depth they have on the bench, they met the Spurs match up really well with them. And I got a question for you and you and Joe. With the way the Spurs are playing, are they the favorite to win the championship this year?

48:02Or is everyone still leaning towards OKC to do so in a seven games? I mean, in a seven game series, regardless of who they have to play or the favorite. Well, when you see them complete, when you see a complete game, the way they played today, Ocho, it makes you put them ahead of a lot of teams. But for me, man, it's the physicality that they play with on the perimeter. Like just being in KD back pocket the whole game, making it tough for him to get to his spots, pushing, shoving, the whole game, picking up four courts. All that plays into the victories. Not only that, but the guys that they have, man, Fox, Castle, Harper, these guys go off the dribbles so easily, bro, and get to the basket.

48:48If you can't guard, man, you in trouble. I'm sorry. You ain't going to be able to keep them boys in front of you.

48:53Shannon Sharpe:I think the thing, Joe, when I watch them, you're going to have to have somebody score, and they're going to have to keep Wembley away from the basket. Because if you let him camp out from the basket, you're not going to get any layups. He's going to alter all your shots. And you see guys, they come in and they're very hesitant. Like, damn, I got to shoot this ball like 12 feet in the air in order for me to have a chance to get it up. Yeah. And he'll let you, you think you got him beat? He just spins around and whop, throw it out of bounds. So the thing is that OKC does have a guy that can play on the perimeter, which is Chet, which can take him away from the basket.

49:26Shannon Sharpe:But if your big cannot draw him outside of the paint, you're going to have hell beating him. Oh, yeah. Like you said, now they do have multiple guys. The thing that I love most about them is that when their starters go to the bench, that shock troop come in and they give you the same type of pace. They give you the same type of tempo. Now, obviously, Cornette is not as good as Wimby. But when you come in with Harper and you come in with Johnson, man. And Bryan. I like Bryan, too. Yes. He high energy. He can guard. Everybody out there on the floor, he can guard. They play the right way. It's fun to watch them play, bro, because they can beat you in so many ways.

50:01but the attack that they have from them guards, man, the way they can get by they man so easily, Ocho. Bro, you ain't going to want to see these boys. Hey, Uncle Joe, honestly, I mean, based on what we've seen from the Spurs so far this season, I think, obviously, if they're healthy, if they remain healthy, especially going into the postseason, I think they got it. They're going to raise that trophy now. You going to put some money on them? Nah, I ain't going to do that, Joe. I don't want to put money on nothing when I'm not controlling the outcome, Joe. Okay. But I'm just saying, if you had the bet, you would do the same, though, right?

50:40Boy, they up there, Ocho. I'm talking about, man, it's hard to go against them. I tell you that.

50:47Shannon Sharpe:It's definitely going to be a matchup. I tell you what, Amir Dukes is not very pleased with the way they play defense. They shot 58 % from the floor. They shot 52 % from the three. You're not beating anybody. I don't give a damn if it's San Antonio. I don't care if it's Sacramento. I don't care who it is. You let a team shoot damn near 60 % from the floor, over 50 % from the three, you're going to lose by 20 points. Hey, Singoon, he can't guard nobody. No, no, no, no, no. He's an offensive guy. He's an offensive guy. He's not a defensive guy. They put the game so fast. They put them in them pick and rolls, and they get into isolation.

51:26They just penetrate, kick, and they're getting by. and getting layoffs. But he's struggling playing at this pace. He's struggling playing at this pace because Wimby is just, he out there floating around a three-point line, blocking shots. He's just too much. Hey, Ong and Joe. And Wimby blocks a shot.

51:42Shannon Sharpe:Wimby blocked a shot. He'll 100 meters. He'll sprint towards the other end. Hey, Ong, Joe, when you get in a situation like that where obviously Shingun is a liability on defense, why not just go small? You can't. He's an all-star. Damn, who you going to put in there? that's exactly you play through him you know what i mean like a lot of the offenses ran through him i mean hold on he's a liability on defense now we we can't still but he gives you so much offensively if you take let's see who you're gonna put in there defensively you're not gonna put jeff green finney smith is too small uh isaiah crawford clint capella but he gives you nothing offensively yeah holiday okogi reed shepherd is offensive guy no they have a bunch of offensive guys the problem is, is that Shingun is used to getting the ball all the time.

52:28Shannon Sharpe:With the addition of KD, KD got to get some touches. Joe, you remember last year, Shingun was an all-star. Yeah, he was an all-star. He was an all-star. But you got to share some of those touches. Yeah, I just don't... I think that's a tough cover for him, guarding Wimby. Like, that's a tough cover for Shingun, man. That's a tough cover for him, Uck. Wimby's a tough cover for everybody. But if you think of... If you think about it, look, if they play, Chad is going to be a tough cover for him because Chad can play on the boundary. Obviously, Joker is a tough cover for everybody. There's no answer, so we exclude Joker.

53:07Shannon Sharpe:Joker, don't even talk about him because ain't nobody doing anything with him. The problem that you have when you're – I made Joker pride himself on being a defensive team. If you look at him with the Celtics, hey, we're going to shoot threes, but we're going to play outstanding defense. They don't have guys to play the type of defense that he wants to play. He got a couple. It's really that simple. Yeah. They don't. Yeah. And all things being equal, KD is phenomenal offensively, but he's not a defensive guy. Shingun is not a defensive guy. Now, I like Jabari Smith, but really the only guy they got that's on the defensive end that's trying to hold it down is Thompson in the Easton.

53:47Yeah.

53:47Shannon Sharpe:And when you got those young guys, you look at – what's the average age of San Antonio? You're 23, 24, maybe 25? Young. They getting up and down. Man, they got some hoopers, bro. They got some straight hoopers. And they run waves at you. Every five to six minutes, they coming in with a new set. Yeah. Well, good luck keeping up with that. Because, look, they're top heavy. And most teams are. So don't think I'm saying it. But when you look at the most of their points, when you get 57 points from your bench and you getting consistent play night in and night out, Dylan Harper was what? Western Conference Rookie of the Year.

54:18Shannon Sharpe:And you got Kelton Johnson coming off your bench. Keldon Johnson can start for a lot of teams. Dylan Harper probably should be in the starting lineup, but they say, you know what, we need that energy. We need those points coming off the bench because we know we're going to get from Vassell and we know what we're going to get from Stephen Castle. So now you're getting, Joe, on a given night, you're getting somewhere between 30 and 40 points a night from two guys off the bench. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you're right. And you know what, it seems as though nobody has a problem with it on their team neither.

54:48You know, they all vouch for one another. They play hard. They play the right way. You don't see nobody out there forcing nothing. And the game just looks easy, man. It looks easy to them. And defensively, they all sit down in the chair. But when you got Wimby behind you, hell, it ain't got, you know what I mean? Yeah. But I'm with you.

55:08Shannon Sharpe:Even if you play the chair game, don't worry about it. If somebody gets your chair, don't worry about it. Get back there to Wimby. Wimby got something for you. Hello. Hello. But you know what, man? Hey, look. But Castle's showing me a lot, though, Uncle Ocho. Yes. Hey, listen. I'm talking about like, ooh, he going to be a proud one. On the defense field? I mean, we talk about all defensive players now. Look, Jalen Brown has played extremely well. We know what Kawhi McQuadre is not what he once was, the injury that's taken his toll. But when we look at this kid here, he's taking the toughest offensive assignment every single night, and you ask him to still give you those 15 to 20 points that he gives you.

55:45Shannon Sharpe:Yeah. So, hey. Hey, man. Just saying. Yeah, young superstar in the making. Obviously, we know he won rookie of the year, but he's shown me, man, that he ready to take that next step, Uncle Ocho. Hey, the Spurs scary, bro. They scary, man. Oh, man. Hey, hey. Nobody want to see them boys. They don't. But I think the thing is is that they took a page out of OKC. You see how well OKC? You can tell they genuinely like each other. They genuinely like being around each other. It's not like, okay, we get to a city and we scatter like mice when the lights come on. They're like, hey, bro, what you doing?

56:24Shannon Sharpe:Hey, let's go grab a bite. They talk about how they spend time with one another, how they're in the group chat communicating with one another. And I can see very similar what the Spurs are doing. That's how you – look, most teams that win are close. Now, there are always going to be a situation where sometimes you get outliers, where, hey, we win and fight, and we don't really care about each other. But I think OKC and the way they play, I think everybody's trying to find that formula because your best player holds this thing together, and Wimby is clearly their best player. But, man, they're young, and they still got draft picks.

56:59Yeah, yeah.

57:00Shannon Sharpe:And the thing is that most of these guys, Champagny and Wimby Yama, yeah, you made the trade for De 'Aaron Fox. De 'Aaron Fox said, like, I'm tired of SAC, blah, blah, blah, and I want to go elsewhere. and he lands here with Wimby. He probably the oldest on the team. Yes. So you got all these. He can push in the pick and roll. Yeah. He can get down. That joke. Hey, quick as a cat on a marble table. Man. Get downhill and get to the rim. Hey, he can snatch you and back up behind the three-point line. He got a crazy head that you think he about to hit. A pop. He's to the rim on you. And now you got Wimby.

57:33Shannon Sharpe:And you got Castle. You got Vassell. They loaded. Hey, what's up, man? They're really good. Them boys made a statement. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Hold on. They've been making a statement, though, Joe. They've been making a statement. Yeah, but I'm just saying against one of the top teams like Houston in the Western Conference, they just making a statement. They're the third seed Houston are. Yeah, shit. They made mincemeat out of them. Yeah, it's levels to this. Made mincemeat out of them. They did. They did. They made mincemeat out of them. And like I said, it's going to be very interesting. I want to see it.

58:05Shannon Sharpe:hopefully everybody is healthy and nobody has any significant injuries. You want to see them at OKC? You want to see them at OKC in the Western Conference Final? I do. That's going to be a good one. Joe, who you got? Hypothetically speaking, if those two... Listen, beating somebody one game is one thing, but a seven-game series, who you leaning towards? Well, they've already beat them three out of four this year. Yeah, they done beat them three out of four this year. Hold on, that's regular season. Now, you know, Joe, So the playoffs is a different ball game. I get it. I get it. I get it. I get it.

58:38Hey, I've been in that situation. I've been in that situation. Listen. Go ahead, Joe. Go ahead.

58:45Shannon Sharpe:What you been saying? I was going to say, I want to see Castle and Shea. Yeah. Because that's a matchup. Yeah. Yeah. Because Castle, hey, Castle can pick it up. Now, they're going to run his ass off a bunch of pigs. They're going to try to keep him in the pink. They're going to try to keep his ass, run him off screen, the pit dives. to keep bumping me. He a hound. He a hound, man. I know they won the season series of Spurs, but I'm probably giving me a little edge to OKC. I'll probably give a little... Probably give a little edge to OKC right now, Ocho. They might be a year away, because remember, OKC was in a very similar situation the year before, and they ended up getting upset by the Mavericks.

59:28Shannon Sharpe:So I can see a very similar situation where, hey, hey, man, they're right there, and all of a sudden they get upset. But they coming. If you think you're about to have your way with San Antonio, they coming. Wimby only going to get better. I don't know if y 'all know this, but Wimby going to get better. Hey, he like a cheat code out there, bro. He don't even look bad. How do you take the first shot you pulling up from 27? At the top of you pulling from 27. Hey, Joe, you played the game, Joe. You've been around for a very long time. Someone like Wimby, there's no answer for Jokic. I mean, Jokic, you can slow him down.

1:00:06You can only hope to contain him. When it comes to Wimby, is there any way you can stop him? Anything you can do defensively, anything you can do tactically, you'll slow him down? Or do you just have to say, you know what, he's going to always get his. We need to worry about the other four on the court. Nah, you're going to have to wear him down, catch him early, body to body, and go away. And then you've got to hope for the third and fourth quarter and second half of the game, you're able to wear him down to where he's not as effective. But Ocho, I mean, man, he can do a little bit of everything out there.

1:00:36I mean, I liked how he took his time and, you know, he started the playmaking, just making the right passes and guys getting wide open threes. Next thing you know, they up 30 points, bro.

1:00:47Shannon Sharpe:Yeah. It's like, I mean. I think the thing with Wembe Joe, like you said, you got to have somebody that can body him. You got to wear him down. Yeah. Because right now he's still in his young man kid body. Yeah. He's not that old. He doesn't have his body body. So you got to wear him down. You got to have somebody that can make him work on the other end. And you got to go body with him. Hopefully you can get him in foul trouble. If you don't get him in foul trouble and he gets to play his normal allotment of minutes, which is about 30, play about somewhere like 30, maybe 33, 34 minutes. If you let him play his normal allotment of minutes, that means he's not in foul trouble and he's going to be down there.

1:01:27He's going to be there down the stretch. Oh, yeah, yeah.

1:01:31Shannon Sharpe:And he's going to make it very difficult because all layups, I'm sending return to sender. Hello. Hello. Yeah, you. I'm throwing you in shot at it. I don't like what you're saying, so I'm going to send it back in 30 days. Yeah, man, they're going to be a tough matchup for anybody, though, in the postseason, fellas. I don't care who they play. Houston allowed the season-most points, 56 in the paint. Think about it. They allowed 56 points in the paint, guys, and they shot 43s. They made 21 of 40 from the three-point line. So you get up 43s and you still get 56 in the paint. Them dudes was, listen, they guards break you down so easy, bro.

1:02:15They in the paint themselves the whole time. Shoot layups, floaters. It's too much. You take that away. Now you got Chad Pennington and Vassar out there shooting the lights out, shooting the cover off the ball. It's like you got to pick your poison.

1:02:33Shannon Sharpe:Kelton Johnson come in just pulling. Wop, wop, wop. Well, they look good, man. Hey. I don't know why, but, hell, every time Kelton Johnson and Champagny shoot the three, I'm like, that's going to go in. They got me thinking they damn step forward. Hey, listen, because it don't be nobody two, three feet from them. You know what I'm saying? Because Wimby, he take the double team, triple team, and he just picking you apart. Them guys breaking people down, picking you apart. It's going to be tough to beat them, bro. The question is, look, I think the problem that the Rockets really have, they needed a point guard.

1:03:10Shannon Sharpe:Without Van Fleet, they can't go anywhere. Yeah, it's tough. I like Almond Thompson. I think he's a phenomenal player. He's a great two-way player. But without a true point guard, they're not going nowhere. Yeah. I agree. It was glaring today, too. They needed Fred Van Fleet. They need somebody who can kind of get everything together. Yes. Get them together. You know, when things get a little crazy, you got to need somebody who can calm everybody down and make sure we get a great shot. But they was healthy-skelter a lot of times out there, man. They were. My thing is, Joe Ojo, you need a point guard.

1:03:47Shannon Sharpe:Y 'all mean to tell me that CP got that kind of baggage? Don't nobody want him? He can't help nobody in this situation? I ain't saying you got to sign him for the next five years, but he can't help somebody on a playoff run? Hey, ain't nobody picked him. I don't know. He probably wasn't getting what he – probably wasn't getting them phone calls like Ocho just – Oh, he wasn't? But I'm like, well, damn. I understand it's not a sub-zero. It's a little ice chest, but damn, ain't going to keep the mitt cool. Right. Damn. Hey, you know, hey, back in the day, Joe, you know, we had them ice chests. We throw the ice and put the meat on top of that.

1:04:30Shannon Sharpe:The refrigerator would go on out. Hey. Yeah. Hey, buddy. Back then, ice, I think ice was like 50-cittle bags or something like that. Get you about three or four bags and put that ice and put that meat in the ice chest. Hey, listen. You know, as you age, you get up in them 40s and you under 6 '2". You know, it's tough to play. It's tough to continue to play. Uncle Ojo. Yeah. They keep running. Yeah. Like, you're going to have to be up there 6 '7", 6 '8", 6 '9", to be able to play in your 40s to where you can still control the game a little bit. You know what I mean? Nah. Yeah. Joe, you make a very good point.

1:05:07Shannon Sharpe:As you get older, the smaller you are, the harder it is for you to control the game. See, LeBron can control a game because he's 6 '9". Yeah. Luka still will be able to control a game because he's 6 '7", 6 '8". Yeah. Yo-kits will be able to control the game because he's seven foot. Yeah. But when you lose foot speed and you're six foot tall, and these young kids now, man, they got jet packs on. You hear me? Because they not walking the ball up. Joe, you remember back when you first got in the league, guys would walk the ball up. Yeah. They pushing this ish. They get that ball up. Listen, on May Bass, I seen the Spurs catch a fast break, and they just got scored on.

1:05:52They scored right before Houston even get back. Like, I'm like, the game is played at such a high pace, bro. It's like, even watching it, you'd be like, come on, man. They could have got a better shot than that. Because it's just come down, boom, boom, pass, three. Three, lay up, float, you know what I mean? It's just the game's so different now, bro. And that's what I'm talking about. Houston seemed like they were like two, three steps slower than the Spurs tonight.

1:06:18Shannon Sharpe:Houston want to play in a half-court set because they got a tremendous half-court player in Kevin Durant. They got Shang-Goon that can put you in the pick and roll. He can roll. He can pop. KD, you know what KD is. But these young teams, they're not really trying to play half-court. You got to have them track shoes on. Hey. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You want to keep up with us? Don't bring your Tims. Don't bring your work boots. Bring your track shoes. Because we run it. We run it. You know, hey. Oh, Joe, I know you see you ain't doing no work. You from Miami. You ain't had no. I had steel toe boots. Joe, I don't know.

1:06:52Shannon Sharpe:I know your grandfather, your dad had steel toes. You had them steel toe boots, them bro games. You know you put in a. If you had steel toe boots, you know damn well you put in a hard day. Hey, hold on. Why you do me like that? You had no damn steel toe boots. I used to work on the docks at the Port of Miami down here. I had to wear steel. I was a longshoreman. What you were doing on the docks? I had to go to the docks. I was a longshoreman at the Port of Miami. you hear me Joe everything that come in I'm doing all the containers man off them ships and them loads come in I work in the crane Joe I'm telling you Joe I was a longshoreman ask about me Joe yeah I had steel you got to wear steel toe boots Joe hey my grandfather worked on the railroad he always was steel toe I had my steel toe boots and I had my overall Joe no lie But back to what we said, Joe, being in the South and working.

1:07:54Shannon Sharpe:You know damn well. You saw somebody with some steel-toed boots, and this is when you know. When the cover has started to roll off the front of them, and you can actually see the steel and the toe. Yeah. That boy working. He done put some work in. Yeah, he working. He working. He done put some work in. Man, listen. What you talking about? Hey. But the Spurs, they beat the Rockets. Stay close. They're still the number two seed thanks to a 145-120 victory over the Houston, Texas. The Spurs placed four guys with 20-plus points, and Houston allowed a season-most 56 points in the paint. Well, Houston, you're going to lose a lot of games.

1:08:38Shannon Sharpe:If you let a team shoot 58 % from the floor and 52 % from the three, you lose it. Yeah, you ain't beat nobody with them no more. 145 points? Shit. Nikola Jokic. Who said Nikola? It's Nikola Jokic. Says he's glad he's retiring soon before Wimby takes over the NBA. He's changing basketball. I'm glad that I'll probably retire before Wimby holds the entire league in a chokehold. Never seen anything like it. You've never seen a guy that tall, that skill, that can put the ball on the floor, can shoot the ball from three. Kevin DeGrant can shoot it. But that man is like five, six inches taller than KD.

1:09:20Shannon Sharpe:And on the defensive end. It's like somebody, Joe, it's like you holding up two broomsticks in a lane. You know what it is. Hey, Uncle Joe, Wimby is basically should be the face of the NBA then, huh? Or the fact that he doesn't have that charisma and personality like Anthony Edwards, would he not be the first choice for it? Being that he's probably going to be the one to dominate. the NBA for the next 10, what, 15 years, depending on how long he decides to play? Well, I think globally, you know, he puts a, he brings in a great brand because that's where the NBA wants to go. Yep. You know, it's going to be games over and, you know, during the season, the guys are going to be playing games over there in Paris and stuff like that.

1:10:06So it only helps the game if you ask me, man. But to be the face of the NBA, Ocho, he got a chance, bro. If he won a championship, for sure.

1:10:19Shannon Sharpe:It's just hard. I mean, things are going to change. It's different now. Because you talk about an American sport and a foreign-born player being the face of an American sport. It's not like baseball because baseball, for the most part, has always had Latin players. They've always had Korean and the Japanese started coming over when you had Hideki Nomo and Matt Itero started coming up. But they've always had Latin players. Always. It's different. Baseball has always been a universal, a world game. Basketball just became that, say, the last 30 plus years. Once they sent the NBA to the Olympics in 92, that's when the derks and that's when everybody was like, damn, that's what I want to do.

1:11:07Shannon Sharpe:That's what I want to be. Right. And so So now, because if you really think about it, the top five, six, seven players are foreign born. They're Canadian, they're Serb, they're Slovenian, they're Greek, they're French. They're not American. You got to go far. I mean, nobody's taking, you're not taking not one American player over Luka. You're not taking one over Jokic. You're not taking one over Shea. You're not taking one over Greek freak. You're not. You're not. You take your best, but you take Jason. Tatum, you take whomever you say is your best American player. And I guarantee you, you're not taking them over Jokic, Giannis, Luka, Shea.

1:11:48Shannon Sharpe:You're not. And I'm not so sure you're taking even Wimby in his third year. I'm not sure you're taking one over Wimby. So that's five right there. Yeah. Yeah. Damn. The world is not as deep as America, but it's definitely is pop heavy. You got a couple in Greece and you got a couple in Slovenian, Serbian, Canada, X, Y, and Z. But as far as just depth, yeah, American got it. But those guys grow up playing together. Like Zion and Ja was on the same AAU team. Yeah. All those French kids, they played together their whole life growing up. Yeah. They grew up. The Serbs, the Slovenians, they played together their whole life growing up.

1:12:39Shannon Sharpe:The Greek team, they played together their whole life. And they started playing pro professional basketball a lot earlier over there. Overseas, Ocho, versus over here. You know what I mean? Like, they may be playing pro over there at 13, 14 years old. Oh, so you develop a little faster, huh? Yeah, there you go. There you go. Luke has been playing pro since he was 14. Yeah.

1:13:28We'll see you next time.

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