Nightcap Hour 2: NBA INVESTIGATING Bucks’ Handling of Giannis + Kendrick Perkins BLAMES Gregg Popovich for 65 Game SEASON + Eddie Johnson CLAIMS Magic Johnson Would DOMINATE This ERA + Robert Perry QUESTIONED Structure of Modern TRAINING + UCLA WINS WBB First NATIONAL TITLE

12:55But hey, they want to smoke, let them smoke.

13:01Shannon Sharpe:Former player Eddie Johnson sparked debate claiming Magic Johnson would dominate the NBA without even a single three-point shot. Magic would have won seven, eight titles in this era. Multiple MVPs averaging 25, 15, and 15 rebounds in this area. Youngsters have zero clue how much he would dominate today's game, even if he didn't take one three-point shot. His name is Irvin Magic Johnson. Joe, seven, eight titles?

13:27Chad Johnson:I don't know about seven, eight titles. Would he probably win a couple? Probably so. Just depending on the type of team. Hey, Leon, Uncle Ocho. Yeah, that Lakers team won no damn slouch. They had some ballers on that team.

13:40Shannon Sharpe:Magic in the Hall of Fame. Kareem in the Hall of Fame. Worthy in the Hall of Fame. Wow, McAdoo's in the Hall of Fame.

13:47Chad Johnson:Yeah, acting like he just playing out there with some guys off the block. Magic, he was definitely a hell of a player, one of my favorite players, especially from the point being 6 '9", can handle a rock, playmaker. And he didn't really care too much about scoring. So that's why I say, you know, he had to be playing with some pretty good damn talent. Yes.

14:08Shannon Sharpe:Yeah. Yes. I think, and plus the fact that the matter is, Joe, is that Magic wasn't, because he had Kareem. You got to realize, Kareem, Magic's rookie year, Kareem was the MVP. Yeah. So how you come in and like, hey, I'm going to take this over, and that man the MVP. So that gave him six for a career. That man got six MVPs, and you think you're going to come in there and be your score going up and down. But as Kareem started to slow, Pat Riley went to him and said, I said Buck, that's what he called Magic, Buck, for Young Buck, hey, I need you to score more.

14:43Chad Johnson:Yeah. Ask Magic what he told Pat Riley. You talked to Cap about this? Yeah. You need to talk to Cap, Cap need to be okay with this. Yeah. Yeah, I talked to him, he cool with, okay? Yeah, I agree. But yeah, I think he would've been a hell of a player in this era, he would've been a mismatch problem. I mean, at his height, with his IQ, being able to post up, being able to play make, he would have been a nightmare for sure. Yeah. You put him with...

15:12Shannon Sharpe:Yeah, you put him with... I'm trying to think who a solid big. You put him with... Let's just say Joel Embiid could stay healthy. Ooh! Yeah. You know what? Magic is one of the few players, you think about some of the great players back then that even made the Hall of Fame in the 80s and the 90s. Some still aren't as gifted or athletically as skilled as today's players. No. I think some would struggle, but Magic is one of those that can play in any goddamn era. Yeah. He can play in any era simply because of his skill set, his IQ and his vision. But as hard as Magic worked, because basically, LeBron is Magic Johnson, just more athletic.

15:53Chad Johnson:Yeah, I agree.

15:55Shannon Sharpe:His ability to see the court, his ability to make the passes, his ability to post, because the thing that Magic could do, because there wasn't no guard his height, so he posts your ass up.

16:04Chad Johnson:Yeah. Fair fact. Yeah. His feel for the game was different, bro. Yes.

16:10Shannon Sharpe:Yes.

16:13Shannon Sharpe:I don't know. I agree with you, Joe. I don't know about seven or eight. I mean, people, do you realize, unless you're a Celtic, you don't know what it's like to win seven or eight titles. And I'm talking about the 50s and 60s Celtics. Yeah, yeah. I mean, excuse me, the 50s, 60s Celtics. You don't know what it's like to win no damn seven or eight titles. Only Robert Ory know what it's like to win seven or eight titles that wasn't a Celtic from that era.

16:37Chad Johnson:Yeah. Yeah. People just throw out an arbitrary number like, oh, yeah. Bro, do you know how hard it is to get to that? Seven, eight? You say three or four, okay, fine. But they say seven or eight. They looking at how the game is wide open now. Okay, Ojo, you know, you don't play with two traditional bigs, So there would be a lot more space for guys like Magic to operate, for guys like Jordan to operate. This is why they talk about Jordan averaged 40 in this era. Maybe he would. I think because of the spacing in the game and the way the game is, you can't touch nobody now. Hell, he'll be shooting 15, 20 of them free throws a night.

17:20But there are a lot of other guys that averaged 30 in that era. So how many would Dominique average?

17:25Chad Johnson:He'd be right there. How many would Adrian Dantley average? Be right there. How many would Kelly Chapuka? There are a lot of guys. People make it seem like Jordan was the only one scoring 30 points in the 80s, and he wasn't. No, he wasn't. He wasn't. But when they say it, they're like, well, Jordan, so how many would Dominique Wilkins average? How many would Bird Dog King average? Adrian Dantley led the league in scoring four times. So how many? He averaged 30. So how many would he score? All you got to do is ask Dominique. He'll tell you. Oh, shit, Joe. I averaged 45. in this area.

18:02I just think the thing is, Joe,

18:08guys shoot the ball better now than they did back then, and they have more guys that can do it.

18:15Chad Johnson:Yeah. I mean, you ain't have no guys being able to shoot the ball like Wimby, like Jokic, like Embiid. You ain't have guys can shoot like that. Not big like that, no. No. I mean, you have guys that can shoot 15 foot David Robinson, Patrick Ewan, Akeem. Big Rick Smith. Yeah, but you got guys stepping behind the three and letting it go. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Rick Smith. Man, it's just hard for guys to let their era go. It is. You know, your guys don't want to let their era go, Joe. That guy ain't. Hey, y 'all done forgot about our era. Bro, we haven't forgotten about your era. but the game evolved.

18:58It's a different game now.

19:01Chad Johnson:And it's okay.

19:05Shannon Sharpe:I mean, it's just hard for me to

19:10Shannon Sharpe:put your eye skill set because you put us in. We're receivers. We catch the ball. So we don't really have to do anything different. The game is the only thing they do not different than what we did is that they ran the ball more when we played. They throw the ball more. So if you just put somebody in there, all I do is catch the ball, and I don't have to block as much, I'll be straight.

19:30Chad Johnson:Yeah.

19:31Shannon Sharpe:But in basketball, the game is so different. Like you say, Joe, they had a traditional one through five lineup. A center, a power four, a three, a two, and a point.

19:42Chad Johnson:Mm-hmm. In the lane. You know, now you might be on the damn court with two twos or one and two fours. Yeah. You might be on there with five guards here. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

19:59Shannon Sharpe:Robert Perry questioned the entire structure of the modern training, saying, I have a message for players. Get in better shape. You don't need to load manage or time manage, whatever you want to call it. You don't need that. If I have my facts accurate, they train less in training camp. They have more one-a-days instead of two-a-days in practice. They don't practice every day. They practice less. if I were to attend an NBA practice today, it would remind me of a spa. You're going to get ice down, get massaging. You're going to get in the jacuzzi, steam room, and the sauna. They have everything available to players today.

20:33Shannon Sharpe:I don't think you get a manicure. I don't think you get a manicure and a pedicure, but training camp shouldn't look like that. Training camp and practice should be all about serious business. It should be about basketball-related serious business. Take it personal.

20:49Chad Johnson:Yeah, I agree. It's not, hell, it ain't even the same 0-1 when I came in. Man, we did two a days. It was at one point, Uncle Ocho, if you didn't have five years in the NBA, you had to report to training camp three days earlier than everybody else. Damn. Wow. So my second and third year in the league, man, we had about six, seven people in training camp before the Stephon Marbury's and the Penny Hardaways and the Sean Marriott's had to show up. I'm like, man, look, they get to all fresh day four. but we've been out here dying three whole days two a day yeah it's different that's what that

21:26Shannon Sharpe:I had to do that my rookie my first my first two years I had to go early because you know sometimes they have it now Ocho where rookies report early yeah and then the vets come go ahead Ocho yeah no I was gonna say I had to do the same thing I could we came in a day early then the vets came in and then we did everything all together at some point after that you have rookie camp, then you had OTAs, then you had mini camp. And mini camp, it was everybody all together. We had, we would do training, we would start the rookies and the first year guys, young guys, we would have, we'd show up two days, three days, so we would show up early, so we'd have two days of practice and then we would go to Greeley for training camp.

22:07Shannon Sharpe:So the first two days of practice, we're at the Broncos facilities. Then we would go to training camp. but that's that's like but like i said that's how it was but it was real training camp back then it was two a days yeah yeah you were on your feet it wasn't like it is now i don't like i said i haven't been to a training camp in a long time and with the the technology that they have ocho and the way they feed these guys they get every meal prepared they get breakfast lunch and dinner they got cold tubs they got a red they got the infrared saunas they got yeah they got They got everything. They got everything.

22:43Chad Johnson:Man, I'm telling y 'all, boy, when I go to the hospital, I be so jealous, I ain't gonna lie to y 'all. I'm talking about they got everything you can want in there. Two chefs, two, three chefs in there. I'm talking about big boy food. Yeah, and whatever you want, they cooking salmon, they got trout, yeah, they cooking everything. You want baked chicken, baked fish. You know, some people, pescetarian, so they got special diet for them. Some people, I was like, damn. I mean, you want waffle, you want fresh waffle, you want pancakes. Yeah, yeah. They got turkey sausage. They got vegan sausage. They got chicken sausage.

23:20They got pork. I'm like.

23:24Chad Johnson:Different ballgame, boy. They got all the fruit. They got jackfruit. They got pineapples, bananas, apples, blueberry. They hook it up, man.

23:35Shannon Sharpe:Man, Ocho, man, do you know. Well, you wouldn't eat none of that because you eating that bull job with O'Shea.

23:41Chad Johnson:Hey, they didn't have to do you like they did Kaminga, huh? No.

23:48Shannon Sharpe:I mean, you know, I brought my own food, Joe, because like I said, I wanted to know how much protein I was getting, how much carbohydrate, how much fat, how much sodium, all that stuff. So I can monitor if I brought my own food because my lady was cooking or my girlfriend was cooking for one.

24:04Chad Johnson:Right.

24:05Shannon Sharpe:They prepared a table for 50, 100 people. Damn. They got salt. All the players and the coaches and everybody at the facility eating. Me, I'm eating my – hey, I got eight ounces of chicken. I got a sweet potato, a baked potato. I got broccoli. I got black-eyed peas. I got green beans. I got a salad and stuff like that. But, boy, to eat like that, don't you – ain't no reason a guy should – a guy should never miss weight. A guy shouldn't be out of shape. With the way they cooking, the way they got the stuff set up now, hey um you have somebody somebody cook for you all the time yeah hey man that big place shade man i know i'm just saying that that just that's too much work man for them or for me i mean but for them they're getting paid oh joe yeah but even if you're getting paid but that's too much work all you got to do is cook chicken you cook you know you get chicken breast and you cook x them out because I'm eating the same thing every day.

25:03Shannon Sharpe:I might eat the same thing every day for a month before I said, okay, instead of chicken, give me turkey. Instead of turkey, give me steak. It's either sweet potato, a regular potato, it's broccoli, it's black eyed peas, it's green beans. Every once in a while I do a salad. That's it. That's it. I can't. Yeah, that's tough. That's tough. I don't know. Hey, you ever had Top Ramen? I haven't. I heard it's good. Yeah, it is. It is. I mean, that's what I would eat, you know, on lunch sometime. I'd get Top Ramen, you know. Oh, Marsha over here, she'd try anything. Chicken flavor, chicken flavor Top Ramen.

25:45Hey, Joe, you eat Top Ramen still?

25:47Chad Johnson:No, what's Top Ramen? What's that, Ojo? It's a fancy name for ramen noodle. The ramen that you used to get out of the pack that they had in college? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the same thing.

25:57Shannon Sharpe:It's just a fancier name for it. Okay. Yeah, Joe. You hear Marsha in the background talking? What'd she say? It ain't the same thing because she try anything. Hey, she always said to me, look where I am. They had a food fair?

26:16Chad Johnson:Yeah. She there. Any place. I was like, man, I'll be sitting to TikTok. Oh, you ought to try this place. You're going to love it. I like it a bit. So you a food critic in your party with your honor. Every breakfast place, every barbecue place, ramen noodle, you name a place. She done been there. Been, tried it. I'm like, man, I sure want to try this place. It's unbelievable. Best pancakes I had. I went there this morning. See what I'm saying? I went there this morning.

26:57Shannon Sharpe:because I heard them but they've gotten reviews I've heard a lot more than one person say they got the best pancakes so I got

27:03Chad Johnson:what place is this

27:04Shannon Sharpe:in Vegas called DuPars in Suncoast okay they look fluffy too Joe we gotta I text you Joe

27:14Chad Johnson:I text you hey Joe how you doing man hey when we going to Vegas when we going to Vegas I been Vegas I'm just saying. I'm talking about when we all going to Vegas. Y 'all got to let me know now. In a couple of weeks. Okay, okay, okay, bet. Oh, UCLA, the Lady Bruins, blow out the Lady Gamecocks

27:36Shannon Sharpe:to win their very first women's NCAA championship. In her 15th season at the helm, Corey Close pulled off what many didn't believe possible. The 28-point margin of victory is the third largest in Division I basketball women's championship history. UCLA never trailed, opened up a double-digit lead at the end of the first quarter en route to his 34th straight win to make history. Lauren Betts was named most outstanding player in the championship.

28:07Chad Johnson:They put BTA to them girls today.

28:10Shannon Sharpe:Man, they did a number on them girls. From the start. It wasn't close. I mean, look. Held them to 29 % shooting from the field. 13 % shooting from the three-point line. It was just too much size. Too much. And Nick Kippins and Hawkins and Kiki Rice. They were the better team. It ain't no way around it. And it seemed like to me, you could tell early on, the Gamecocks was missing layups, missing bunnies. And I called my sister probably about five minutes into the game. I said, it's over. She said, the game just started. I said, it's over. I said, their championship game was to beat UConn. They're not beating this team.

28:50Shannon Sharpe:They got too tall, too big, making too many shots.

28:53Chad Johnson:They got off to such a slow start. Go ahead, Ocho. No, I was going to say they got off to a slow start, but that goddamn defense, huh? The defense was so suffocating. UCLA was putting, and they were scoring that goddamn well. You can tell there was a difference in understanding why UCLA, if I'm not mistaken, only lost one game this year.

29:13Shannon Sharpe:They did. I think. And you can tell the difference in teams. Obviously, South Carolina is good, but UCLA is a much, much better team all the way around. Yeah, I thought they had – I thought they physicality, them big girls at UCLA,

29:31Chad Johnson:obviously best, but I thought – what's her name? What's her name? Oh, Hawkins. Hawkins. Gabriella Hawkins. Ooh, I don't know how she ain't winning MVP. Did you see the look on Lauren Baird's face when they say she's the most outstanding player? Yeah. Yeah. She was shocked. Me too. I'm sorry. Me too. I was more shocked than you. Hawkins, that's young boy's sister from all the heat, huh? Yeah. She balled out. She balled out. I think their whole team balled out. Just from watching them, it seemed like they understood what was at stake. I don't even think they'd ever been to the championship game.

30:08Chad Johnson:That was their first national championship, huh? Yeah. Hey, man, them girls came out with their mind made up. Because I thought South Carolina, they got some dogs, obviously, but they just didn't have the size to even compete. I mean, that girl Bits, she had everybody at her mercy. They couldn't do nothing with her.

30:25Shannon Sharpe:Nope. Nah. 11 rebounds. I mean, she was sensational today. I mean, the whole team played. They deserved to win. Like you said, the size, they couldn't do anything with the size. They get picked, and then they get them in a pin down, and they just throw them all over the top. It's a wrap. They just lay up. Hawkins, the defense. Will you hold a team to 29 % from the field, 13 % from the three?

30:49Chad Johnson:It seemed like South Carolina got a lot of girls that's kind of similar in height. Like they all can kind of go off the bounce. They all can shoot a little bit, but they just don't have enough size in the paint to be able to withstand a bet. So anybody as of such, you know what I mean? Yes. And it showed. It showed today, man. Those girls locked in, bro.

31:09Shannon Sharpe:Two of them bigs. Chloe Kitts is out. She tore her knee. Watkins is dealing with some other issues. I think she might have tore her knee, but she had some issues going on. So maybe she's back. But the guys that George Edwards did not play well, Watson, who was an All-American, she did not play well. Raven Johnson didn't play well. Tessa Johnson was really the only one that played well. McKeer, she shot the ball okay. Yeah. They didn't play well. And that had to do with UCLA and the defense that give them credit. Yeah, South Carolina didn't shoot the ball well, but it went out there by themselves.

31:40somebody forced them to miss those shots

31:43Chad Johnson:like you said

31:44Shannon Sharpe:they got behind early and it just grew

31:47Chad Johnson:it did man hey Joe how tall was the 5 from UCLA how tall is she 6 '7 yeah that's the one we were talking about yeah I know I know I wasn't tripping yeah she a big girl she was a low Ocho they couldn't do nothing with her down there remember Joe she had that bell she was coughing on the sideline like she had an asthma attack or something. They needed to carve into that lead while she was out. And when they couldn't gain any traction while she was out. Yeah, because UCLA still built on the lead when she was sitting on the bench. Absolutely. They didn't play well.

32:27Shannon Sharpe:Congratulations, Gamecocks. I was at their fourth or fifth straight title game. Well, probably their fourth because they went back-to-back. They won back-to-back. They lost last year and they lost again this year. but ain't nothing you can do Joe the better team won yeah I ain't see this and then the girls dancing at the end I was like oh yeah don't miss best

32:51Chad Johnson:what y 'all doing I ain't see this though you know you think it was going to be like this what

32:59Shannon Sharpe:I didn't think they'd lose by 28 I thought the game would be much closer yes I did

33:06Chad Johnson:now don't get me wrong I ain't seen a lot of UCLA play, I may have seen like a game or two, if that. But I've seen South Carolina play on numerous times. Right. And I just did not see that. After they beat Connecticut, I thought they was almost destined to win it. Yeah. Clearly, I hadn't seen... Who beat UCLA? Was it Texas? Was Texas the team? I think it was Texas, yeah. I think they did. I think Texas don't know when they beat them. And they beat Texas in the tournament, didn't they? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Damn. Yeah.

33:40Shannon Sharpe:But congratulations to the Lady Bruins winning their first NCAA championship, finished the season 37-1. But they got some seniors on that class. I think – I'm trying to think. I think Raven Johnson is a senior. I think they bring a lot of these girls. I mean, I don't know. They could – I mean, I think Latson, I think she comes back.

34:09Chad Johnson:She's a senior? You think she's coming back? I don't think she's a senior. Is she a senior? Is that the one that transferred from Florida State? Yeah, I think she's a senior. Okay. She's a senior.

34:21Shannon Sharpe:I know Raven Johnson's a senior.

34:23Chad Johnson:Yeah. I think UCLA got a lot of seniors, too. They do.

34:34Shannon Sharpe:Yeah, I saw that. And she hugged the lady, the UCLA coach before the game. Who did? Don. Did she? Don Staley, yeah. Yeah. But, no, it's going to be a situation where, you know, Carolina will be back. Don Staley is a very good coach.

34:57Chad Johnson:And she got some good recruits coming in, too. Mm-hmm. Yep. I think she got that girl that won the dunk contest. Isn't the girl that won the dunk contest coming in at McDonald's All-American? I think so. Isn't she going to Carolina? I think so. I think so. But I know she got another girl coming who go to Sierra Canyon out there in L.A. I forgot her name, but she could play. Yeah, that's where Juju went, Sierra Canyon. Yeah. Ready for a different take on Formula One? Look no further than No Grip, a new podcast tackling the culture of motor racing's most coveted series. Join me, Lily Herman, as we dive into the underexplored pockets of F1, including the astrology of the current grid, the story of the sport's most consequential driver's strike, and plenty of other mishaps, scandals, and sagas that have made Formula One a delightful, decadent gumster fire for more than 75 years.

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