NBA Season Preview and Reaction to FBI Investigation into Illegal Sports Gambling

26:53So he stretches the floor. You know, I thought Collins would be starting. Well, see, the thing is, I think Ty was looking at, okay, in that first group, you got Kawhi, Bradley, Bill, and James. Which is great to see Kawhi back up. Great to see, okay, but we need a defensive presence, too, on that wing. Kawhi can't guard each and every night the best player. Guess who can? DJ. You see what I'm saying? And then you get the rim protection with Zoo. Now, what happens, too, is on that second unit, I think John Collins gets more freedom offensively. Yes. In that second unit to be able to utilize his skillset.

27:34And I still think it's going to take 15 to 20 games, not just for John, but for the team to kind of figure out how the pieces, how the pieces are going to fit because just because you've got great names and potential hall of famers that you put together, all of a sudden it's not going to. This episode is brought to you by state farm. Listening to this podcast, instead of doom scrolling? Smart move. Another smart move? Getting help from one of State Farm's 19 ,000 local agents when you choose to bundle home and auto. Bundling, just another way to save with the personal price plan. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state.

28:09Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. Get business done with the new American Express Graphite Business Cash Unlimited card with unlimited 2 % cash back on all eligible purchases. unlimited 5 % cash back on flights and prepaid hotels booked through American Express Travel Online, and a flexible spending capacity that can grow with your business, you'll have the confidence to keep building. Apply today and earn a welcome offer of$1 ,500 cash back after you spend$50 ,000 in qualifying purchases on your new card within the first six months of card membership.

28:43Terms apply. Learn more at go.amex.com. Just click. I mean, we've seen that many times throughout the history of basketball. Just putting, you know, Hall of Famers together isn't the case in point. What, that 2000, whatever the year there was with Nash and Karl Malone coming to the Lakers? Oh, yeah, the Lakers. It was 06. 06, okay. Yeah, and also, let's talk about Bradley Bill. How do you see him fitting? What do you see his role on this team? You know what I think he brings to the table, and I know he brings to the table. We know he can score the ball. In Washington, he was ball dominant, which was a good thing.

29:20He needed the ball in his hands. He had to go create and do his things. I think he two seasons scored 30-plus points, okay? We know he can score. But the difference is he brings cutting to the basket, okay? He can cut. Great cutter. So, Zoo and James playing off of the Kawhi, but also movement without the ball. A la like a KD, a Steph on that second side. You can run a pin down for him. He gives you a different aspect to your offense, okay? That's what he can bring to the table. And you're not asking Bradley to be a high usage player with the ball in his hands, but he can also facilitate and also be a playmaker.

30:03He can bring the ball up and relieve the pressure for James. So he gives you that versatility offensively where he can do more than just have the ball in his hands and pound and try to break you down. He can really beat you without the ball in his hands. That's what I think Brad brings to the table. Now, losing Norman Powell, how do you think that's going to affect this? Well, it does, but that's why you bring in Brad Bill, especially on that second unit. If you put Brad in that second unit, he assumes the same kind of role offensively more so like Norm did. Okay. You see what I'm saying? Because both are very similar from the aspect of playing off the ball.

30:40I think Bradley is probably a better one-on-one player, even at this stage than Norman. So that was Brad's game. He can one-on-one with anybody. Norm needed a little bit more space. He needed to catch the ball off the goal to kind of really beat his man consistently. And I think that's the difference. Now, with all the story about the Clippers story this offseason with Kawhi and the planting of the trees story, how do you feel that that has affected this team or has it affected the team? Hasn't. I tell you what, I've been training camp at practice. what I saw and was able to really see was a collective group that was focused in on taking care of their business.

31:24And you talk to Ty Lue and the coaching staff, the word that keeps being mentioned all the time about the Clippers is professionals. We got pros. You think about the pros that are on this team, the years of service between James, Kawhi, CP, Brad, Brooke, Bogey, now even Zoo. Okay? On the paper, that sounds so good. Come on, bro. I mean, you got actual. So that was just about their business. All that other stuff, okay? And then management, everybody, listen. You can come in and probe all you want. We didn't do anything wrong. That's what we've been saying. We're going about our business like we're going about our business.

32:04It has nothing to do with what we're putting on the court. And you collectively talk to people inside the Clippers organization, especially the coaching staff and general management. This has probably been the best camp that they've had. I've heard that. Kawhi and James really didn't miss any of the work that was being done on the court. They didn't want to come out. Most competitive because the second unit with CP and John and Chris Dunn. They were getting at him? They were getting at him. So it was a competitive fire all the way around. I like that. And that just goes back to this. Chris Dunn is a pro.

32:41He's been in the league. These are pros right now. they understand what the goal is. They've had their accolades. They got their money. Now what they want is what Brooke and what Kawhi had. Yeah, get that ring. Which is that ring. That's what they want. Oh, man. But that just goes to the West. I mean, Minnesota, we didn't touch on the Lakers. Which let's talk about them right now. Let's talk about the Lakers. What are you seeing? I see an average team without LeBron playing, a better team, of course, with LeBron. I don't think that they're at that upper echelon like the Dembers, the Minnesotas, the OKCs, you know, in the West.

33:25Could they be a threat? Definitely. When you have Luka and LeBron healthy, I mean, that's a lot of gravity to two players. You know, I don't think that, I think what Austin Reed's, assuming the role that he's at right now, he's taking another step in his game. Great third player to have on your squad. Little thin inside. Houston is. I mean, the Lakers are. Especially with teams now playing double big. Yeah, so they got Jackson Hayes. And who is that other big that they could throw out there? Exactly. Speaking of a little thin, when you say a little thin, you got to talk about Luka. You know, and see that.

34:08But, you know, I'm of the thought process that sometimes when you are big and you get little, it doesn't mean that you're always going to be better. Think about how many – Did he look better? Think about how many comics – Did he look better the first game? Yeah. I'm just saying, think how many comics were chubby and then they lost weight and then they weren't funny no more. Hey, but Luther lost weight. He could still sing. Yeah, but here's the deal. Big Luther, little Luther. But Big Luther was, from what I understand, Big Luther was in love. So all the better songs from Luther was when he was big, when he was skinny, he was hurting.

34:41He was looking for love, but I don't think the songs were as good, though. So I think if we really broke this down, maybe next time I see you, I'll break this down to when Luther songs were chubby. And I think chubby Luther, William Andross, had the better songs than skinny Luther. Chubby Oprah was better than skinny Oprah. You know what I mean? So I don't know. I think that two things. The in-shape Luka will be better long-term. Long-term, yeah. Long-term. For sure, for sure. And I think two ways. Probably the best thing that happened to Luka to me was that he got traded. And hear me from this perspective.

35:23He was the face of the Mavericks. Yeah. He could do any and everything he wanted to do, which then I think made Luka really comfortable. Complacent sometimes. And complacent. And a lot of times when you're in that, you don't see it. Because you're the gravity of that franchise. They're going to tell you some things, but they're not going to demand things of you because you have so much control of that franchise. The shock to the system was, damn, I got traded. I'm Luca. I got traded. I'm the speaking third person. I'm not saying I'm in his mind. But think about it. that ignited something in him that he had to take a hard look at himself.

36:05Okay. Over time. It's not like Luca didn't get in shape, but then he got out of shape. So he realized he needed to drop some weight when he was at Dallas, but the consistency to keep it off wasn't there. This trade gave him that motivation. They said, not only am I going to keep it, am I going to drop it? Oh, but I'm going to keep it off. a la Jokic during the pandemic. Yeah, the 2021 season. When he left, he said, listen, I got to get in better shape because it not only helps me as a player score the ball better, I'm better defensively, but I can extend my playing on the court efficiency a lot better because I don't tire out in the fourth quarter.

36:49So my minutes can be extended. I don't need the breaks in between because I'm in better shape. So a Luka can be better defensively, which helps him better mentally because he's in shape. So now some of those tired turnovers late in the game, you don't have as much because he's in better shape. Defensively, guys are just not getting around him like he was. Remember, you saw young Luka, 2017, 18, how he looked and how he was moving. He tried on defense. He was better on defense. But when you're a little overweight and you don't have the stamina, guess what part of the game is going to suffer? Yeah, your defense.

37:28So I think short-term, long-term, it helps. Absolutely. But you're not going to stand up for all the chubby cats out there. And also because, you know, he got skinny and he hurt his groin, it looked like. So I'm just saying. Well, your body got to adjust too. Just like when you gain weight, your body adjusts. When you lose weight, your body has to adjust to certain things. But I think the Lakers are one of those teams that, even with LeBron, they're going to be on that back end of that Western. I just think, can they get in the play-in? Yes. I think they'll be on that back end. But you lose a component or two that's tough for them.

38:04I mean, Minnesota is still Minnesota. They're looking to prove. Ant went off last year. Ant went off. I mean, so that's the thing about the West. It's the West. We didn't talk about Golden State. Jonathan Kaminga, shout out. You got your money. You did what you needed to do. He balled out, yeah. And he balled out. Now, there's still a little thin rim protection. Yeah. But when you have Steph still being Steph, you got Jonathan. I just don't know through an 82-game season. Will he keep that up? Well, he can keep it up. But will the others be able to support that based on the talent and what's happening in the West?

38:41If this team was in the East, I'd say no problem. But in the West, you see what you want. You want to be a top four seed to be able to have home court advantage in the first round. Okay? Definitely top six so you can avoid the play. Okay? That's what you want. Can Golden State be a top 16? Yeah. I think they can. I think they can. But it's a lot of things that are going to have to fact. Jonathan Kaminga really is going to have to be as consistent. Because you got Jimmy Butler. You got Steph. Draymond is going to do his thing. But Jonathan Kaminga is probably like that X factor that gives him that youth, that athleticism, that above the rim, that defense, that Steph and Jimmy at this point in their career can't give you.

39:25And he's going to have to be very consistent with that all year for Golden State to kind of see that. Now, did you see the bet that's going on? Maybe I shouldn't be using that right now. Yeah, man. But I guess the friendly bet that is allowed with the Warriors. Do you know about this? I heard something about it. So Draymond bet Jimmy that he, that I guess Jimmy would have a, shoot a higher percentage from the foul line than Steph. Okay. Oh, I say that again. So Draymond and Jimmy have a bet. And it's that, I guess, so it's Jimmy saying to Draymond, I'm going to shoot a higher percentage from the foul line than Steph Curry.

40:04The thing is, Steph didn't know about this until after the game was over. Someone brought it up to him. Now, he's going to shoot his bet over the year? Over the year. Over the year. Okay. And so Steph was asked about it at the postgame presser, and he kind of looked. He got a look on his face, and he was like, well, this is the first time hearing about it. And the reporter was like, well, do you think he can? And he was like, absolutely not. There's no way. Well, Steph's with 90%. Yeah, and so Jimmy said, I'm going to have to shoot 91%. I think I can do it. He goes, I was 16 of 16, and he was 8 of 8.

40:37But, I mean, that's a tough. But, hey, man, you've got to have a goal, right? You've got to have a goal. Different goals. And also, to value. You've got to look at who gets to the free throw line the most. Because that matters, too. Because if Jimmy gets there less than Steph, shooting less free throws but making more, his percentage is going to reflect that. Just like people always said, well, Seth is a better three-point shooter based on percentage than Steph. I said, but his volume is not the same. Yeah. So, if he's shooting less than making, of course, his percentage is going to be higher.

41:06If I'm going two for three every game. Exactly. Steph's shooting 10 to 12, 13 a game. So his percentage is going to be a little bit different. But Golden State is interesting. I want to make a real shift real quick because we had to tap on this. Is that if you look at the season preview, you still wouldn't talk about Cooper Flagg, what he's going to bring to Dallas. I think Cooper Flagg going to Dallas is a great scenario for two things. One, the pressure for him to have to carry a team is not there because of AD and then when Kyrie comes back. So he's able to learn. You still have P.J. Washington.

41:40You still have lively guys that can help him defensively around so he can kind of go do. We saw some highlights in what he's been able to do. I had a chance to cover him in college, okay? Early December, then through the NCAA tournament. High motor, high IQ, very unselfish. Teammates love playing with him, and his skill set is off the roof. But I don't think he is going to have to carry the same kind of pressure going into his rookie year as maybe a Zion had to, a Ben Simmons or. Oh, because of the surrounding cast. Because of the surrounding cast. He doesn't have to go in and be. Not necessarily because of the expectations that are placed upon him?

42:17Well, the expectations. No, because. Because they're pretty high. But they're high, but they're not. Cooper has to be the linchpin this year to get us. No, we know a year, two, three down the line, this is all Cooper flag. But right now, we have built a team that he can come in and be a support mechanism, learn, go through his stuff, and add value without having to carry the load physically and mentally. And also add to his game because he's running a little point now without Kyrie. And he can go through and make mistakes without being killed like other rookies in his position were before because of the expectations of him leading the team is not the same.

42:57Because when Zion went through his stuff with everything, the spotlight was on him all the time. You didn't see that with the NBA. Because the NBA didn't put Cooper flagged the first national game kind of like they did Zion. You see what I'm saying? Now they put him the next day with Wemby. But Wemby's kind of the headliner. And the secondary piece of that is the number one pick is Cooper flagged, in my opinion. Okay. All right. Well, I'm going to take your word for it. I just, you know. You know, speaking of Wemby, before we move on. Let's, you know what Victor Wemby-Nyama looks like to me? He's a guy, he was my creative player when I used to play 2K 2006.

43:38Every player I made was 7 '5", you know, weighed about 2, well, you know, weighed that much, but weighed about 270 and could, you know, big man with guard skills, could handle, could shoot threes. He's like a video game come to life. Have you ever seen, I mean, I'm going to ask you the question, Have you ever seen anything like that? But I already know the answer. No, because you have? No, no, no, no. I haven't seen the complete package. I've seen a player that was very similar. Ralph Sampson. Okay. Ralph Sampson. Ralph Sampson was so ahead of his time. Now, he didn't shoot it with depth and didn't pat it like Wimpy.

44:16But Ralph Sampson, if people don't know, Ralph Sampson was 7 '4", played for the Houston Rockets, player of the year, what, three years in a row? No, three years in a row in college. At Virginia. At Virginia. And he was a seven-foot, four-inch. He handled the ball. He brought – because I know because as I'm watching Wemba Yana, Wemba highlights from when he was 16, 17, 18 years old, I kind of made that thought. And I go back on YouTube and watch the Ralph Sampson. I don't really have that clear of a memory. I do. Ralph's running the offense. He's pushing the ball off the court. At that point, a big man was never supposed to be that far out.

44:51Ralph Sampson was about, what, 10, 15 years ahead of his time. He was, too. And that's why I think when he went to Houston with Akeem, it didn't kind of work because the league wasn't ready for a big that could kind of step out away from it and be as effective, which is crazy because in college, that's what made him special. But because the league was still built around a big man on the block, it didn't work. Maybe if he didn't go to Houston, Maybe if he were able to go to a team where it was just him as the main post player and they were able to utilize him differently without having another big, maybe it works out different for Ralph Simpson.

45:29But back to the comparison, body size, I looked at the two. Agility, I looked at the two. Athleticism, I looked at the two and how they, athletic-wise, were very similar. Okay? IQ and how to pass the ball, I look at that. Wimby has, of course, the range of three-point shooting. Wimby has the guard skills a lot better than Ralph. But that's the iteration of what the game is. Evolution. And the evolution of the game. So when I see Wimby, I see the, I ain't going to say 2.0. Wimby's the 5.0 of Ralph Simpson, of what he brought to the table. And I'll tell you something. What they wanted to do with Wimby this year was, okay, we know you can shoot it, but I want you to have some discernment on the number of shots and when you shoot that three.

46:17I think the first game he only shot two. I believe so, yeah. So he got closer to the basket, utilizing that size. Use your height. But use it. And he used it. He used every tool that he had. Every tool he had. Now, the threat is I can step out and shoot the three. You get comfortable here. Now I can bang you on top of the head with the three. I can also break you down and take you to the cup, too. That's the beauty of another year of growth and understanding how to play this game, how to utilize your tool set. Okay. Because now you got to be able to sprinkle in things. Okay. Against this team, I'm better utilized really to the basket.

46:54On this team, I may be better utilized because they got two bigs pulling them out, allowing my teammates now more freedom of movement to get to the basket by being a perimeter threat. So that's the iteration of being, you know, college coaches always say, you know, the best thing about being a freshman? You turn into a sophomore? Turn into a sophomore. You see what I'm saying? And the best thing about a young player in the league after they go through their first year, second year, is that they grow another year of experience, okay? And then now they see the game different. I can see Victor seeing the game different because he came from Europe playing a certain way.

47:36Completely different than we played. Completely different. He had to figure it out, figure it out. Now I think he's figured it out. Well, I hope not. I hope he hasn't fully figured it out yet. Because if that's the case. No, no, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no. He has so much more to grow, but I think he's figuring out how to really play this game and be efficient at it. Well, Brian Windhorse, he was a guest on the Rich Eisen show, and he said he dropped some nuggets to us One of them being Wemby doesn't like to be listed as tall as he is. Like Kevin Durant. Yeah, like apparently they measured him at 7 '5", and then later they clocked it up as a clerical error and they moved him down to, I believe, 7 '3".

48:20And they also kind of wanted him to understand that his skill set's best served not taking as many three-pointers as you said. And to me, that makes complete sense. You don't want to be as tall. You want everyone to know that you're a more well-rounded, skilled player, but yet your gift, your blessing is the fact. That you're that tall. That you're that tall. That you're that tall. And now you have this skill set that nobody else has. So you have to find a way, the best way, I guess, for him. The balance. There you go. We go back to that. The best players find the balance within their game. Yes, sir.

48:56And that's what he's figuring out, I think, right now in this year. And this is, again, we're only one game in. We saw some preseason games. But that one game, I think, tells a tale of kind of not only his thinking, but how the Spurs want to utilize his skill set within their offense that gives a little tail sign of what we're going to see, I think, through the course of the season with Wimby. But, man, we kind of covered the West a little bit. The East is a little bit. I'm going to touch on the East real quick. preview-wise because Cleveland and New York, we know they're the two teams. New York makes a move with Mike Brown.

49:37They want to play at a different pace. They want to play faster. Is that possible with the current structure of this team? Sacramento was different. You can play fast. You can get up and down. New York is a little bit different. I think pace of play can be broken down in two different ways. Fast break-wise, but how much pace do you play with in your half-court set? I think that better suits New York. And there are half-court sets. Jalen gets off of it. The ball moves side to side. Now you can break down the dribble, help, kick it out. Cat is outside. You know, it's different ways you can play with pace within your half-court set to still be able to be functioning without running up and down the court.

50:18Cleveland is just a year. I know Darius Gardner got hurt in the playoffs. It's a question about Donovan Mitchell, not regular season, but in the postseason. Is this the year I think that maybe Evan Mobley can be more of the center point of their offense? Because he has that skill set. They lost Ty Jerome, free agency, who proved himself, I would say, as a threat offensively. Now, when they got deeper in the playoffs, his inability to get around guys kind of hurt Cleveland a little bit, especially with Darius Gardner being there. But you lose that shooting. But then on top of that, because Max Struz got hurt, you know, in the offseason.

51:01So that sets you back a little bit from a perimeter shooting perspective, which provided the space for Cleveland. But what do you think about it? I think Cleveland is one of those teams that this has to be the year. Because you've been there, you've been disappointed. A lot of teams like Boston had gotten there, gotten there, then disappointed, then boom, they broke through. Yep. you kind of seen that happen with teams in the past. Denver kind of got there, broke through. Cleveland has been there. This collective group has been there. They've gotten paid. Everybody's taken care of. We talked about that last year coming to the season that Donovan was taken care of, that Mobley was taken care of, that Allen was taken care of, you know, and that they were ready to maybe ascend and ready to be a threat to Boston.

51:45But now with Boston hurting, hurting with Indiana, no Halliburton, no Halliburton. So now you have, those are the two at the top of the pecking order, but then creeping is that Orlando team. Yeah. Okay. With Desmond Bain coming in with a healthy, healthy Fonz, Fonz Wagner with. Paulo, Paulo and Carol coming in and having another season. Wendell Carter was the size inside. This is a team that plays hard. They play together. they played smart. And they leaned out, I thought, their roster because they had a lot of overlapping parts. And that's not taking anything away from some of the players who, Cole Anthony, you know, Markel folks, but they had a lot of overlap in a lot of the same positions.

52:33You have healthy shrugs now coming back. It was a ball hog. So now I think their roles will be more defined. You understand your playing time a lot more, so you'd be more comfortable in that. And now I think Coach Mosey can manage those pieces a lot better. So Orlando is a team that we think healthy could be in that top three. And it filters out Atlanta depending on the health of Przingis, on how that plays out, I think is going to be very important. And in the East, Milwaukee, that's a tough one right there, bro. Yeah, there's reports that Giannis, does he want to be there? Does he want to be traded?

53:19I heard that his family moved back to Greece. Yeah, I just think, I don't, and again, from what I've read and known about Giannis, he loves Milwaukee. He wants to build. He wants to win there. But did you also hear that he had said that he would accept a trade to the Knicks? Well, here's the thing, though. Did he say that or did somebody say that? See, you've got to be careful with these sidebar conversations because until I hear Giannis really push for that, or you can see in some of his interviews, if he starts to lean towards the openness, you can tell how somebody answers questions. And you can start to piece it together based on how they're answering certain questions.

54:05Until I see that, that there's a lean and hedge towards me wanting to force my way out or get a trade, I'm not going for the other stuff yet. Because there's too many innuendos and rumors going on about it. And a lot of times, it's not true. Yeah, things don't mean anything. They don't mean anything. People will take something as simple as unfollowing someone on Twitter or Instagram and then build a whole narrative around that. It's just social media. It's like, what are we doing? Yeah, so the bottom line is we kind of looked at it like the West, we already knew, listen, it's 10 deep, 11 deep.

54:40Utah was you know picked to have the worst record in the West and we saw they certainly did not look like but I mean it's a long season I mean Portland is going to be a threat but in the East well Portland might be under but they play hard well yeah right now right now Portland might be in disarray a little disarray that was a team that played better in the second half of the season last year they had momentum going to the summer and at the beginning of this season we'll discuss that in a minute but in the East is kind of more defined where you know kind of who's going to be there with Cleveland, with New York.

55:15You figure Orlando's going to be there. You know, those three teams. And then the rest filled throughout with Atlanta, with Milwaukee. You know, where does Chicago fit in that puzzle? Detroit. I was just about to bring up. Yo, Detroit. Where do they fit in that puzzle? Another year, Jaden Ivey comes back. Durham another year. during another year of experience. Cade Cunningham, I mean, shout out, bro. He had a heck of a year last year. Yes, he did, man. I mean, unbelievable. Isaiah Stewart, if he can, you know, separate the football from the basketball, he had 20 last night led him. So that's a team that grinds you out, you know?

55:54So it's not as defined. It is more so that after that top three in the East, man, it can go anywhere. Well, can I bring up my other team? I get a lot of crap sometimes because I have two teams. I have an East Coast and a West Coast team. Sixers. Let's talk about the Sixers. I didn't bring them up because I knew you were. Let's talk about it, man. Because on paper, I'm looking at this team. And then I heard great things about Vijay Edgecombe. You saw it. And then last night, they came to fruition, man. What are your thoughts on the Sixers? It's all about Embiid. It's all about Embiid. Yeah, because he did not.

56:28Obviously, he did not look great yesterday. 20 minutes, four points. It looked like he couldn't jump. Still kind of recovering from surgery. But it doesn't look like he took into consideration over the summer, like Luka, to drop that weight. And I know it's more difficult when you can't physically go out there and compete and play because of injury, especially when you have a lower body injury because you can't do the same kind of workouts. But your diet is very important. To me, I always felt that Embiid never has been in tip-top shape. Yeah, unfortunately. And that contributes to a lot of these nagging injuries, reoccurring soft tissue injuries, because you're never in shape.

57:11Again, you've got a big body. And if you put too much weight on that body, something eventually is going to continue to break down, and that's what we see with them be. Yeah, human beings probably aren't meant to be, what, 7 '2", 290. No, not like that. And you'd be 290 in a different way, too, though, okay, where physically you're put together, okay, and your diet supports that. But now you're not as apt to getting injured. Because there's no question that when Embiid is healthy. He's in that best player in the game. But it's so much of their success hinges on him being him. Now, you're in the East.

57:48You may be able to get away with some things to win some games. In the East, how dynamic Tyrese Maxey is. Very. Very. Now, VJ Edgecombe, are you going to depend on him all year to give you that? We don't know yet, but we know the potential is there. Paul George is the other aspect of it. It's the X-Factor. See, now, if Paul George was healthy coming in and playing like Paul George, then you can say, you know what? They can carry the load until Embiid figures it out. But that's still a question mark. You know, so it's your Sixers. It's still a question mark. Who are they? Do we know who they are?

58:22We know people's names. No, but seriously, but who are they as a team? As a team, yeah. What's their identity? How are they going to play? A lot hinges on the health.

58:58And the best part, your actual card number isn't shared when you check out. Because boundaries are healthy. Like no work emails after six. One small step for boundaries. One big leap for checkout. Pays. It checks out. Activation required. See Pays.com to learn more. Terms and conditions apply. As it always has. Always. Of Embiid. And you know, the weight thing is one thing, but he also gets very unlucky sometimes. We're talking, you know, the dislocated fingers out of nowhere. the broken eye sockets, things like that that aren't necessarily have anything to do with his weight or his conditioning.

59:35It's just the bounce of a ball, a stray elbow, someone falling on his knee that was already hurt. Is that the definition of injury prone? Really? I was about to ask you that. It's not meant to be in a negative connotation either, but it just seems like it's always something happening with Joel Embiid that limits his time on the court, whatever it is. And again, getting poked in, you can't. Ain't nothing you can do about that. Busted nose. Busting a finger, you going after a ball and it hits. But it just seems like it's this cloud around he and the franchise that never allows either to benefit from that enormous talent on a consistent basis.

1:00:20We see that in small iterations on how good he and that team can be. but collectively we haven't seen it enough for a long period of time. You know, we've seen Boston build up. We saw Milwaukee build up. You know, even from a little aspect, we saw Indiana kind of build it a little bit by piece by piece, you know, to get to where they're at. New York, we've seen it build up. It's been these breaks in moments with Philly. I mean, with Joel, you know, it started from him getting drafted, you know, missing what two out of his first three years, three years, you know. And it's really sad in the sense that if you just are a basketball fan and I feel as a basketball fan, if you just love watching good basketball, we're all kind of missing out on the potential that this man has.

1:01:14because, like you said, we see when he is healthy, the things he can do on both ends of the court, it's kind of untouchable. It is. It is. It's going to be very interesting to see for the East, for the West. And one thing I did want to touch on was this. It's interesting. We've seen a lot of change, a lot of excitement in the league, a lot of new faces. But here's the thing that we're looking at, an end of an era, a big change. When and how does it come? And what I'm mentioning is Steph, LeBron, KD. Yeah. Back into the career. The torchbearers of the league are now. The unks of the unks of the league and going to have to be replaced.

1:02:01And it's ironic, too. You think about this. Steph, out of those three, was the one that had question marks early on. Think about it. Monte Ellis, it was a big decision Golden State had to make at the time. Monte Ellis, Steph Curry. Oh, right, right. Imagine if they chose the other way, the state of not only Steph, but what the league would be if they made that one decision. Okay? Because Monte, you know, he was scoring, what, 23, 24 a game. Just imagine. Now, as much as Steph accomplished, you kind of didn't expect that. You kind of expected some – you know you expected stuff from KD and from LeBron.

1:02:38But yet it's Steph who's been with the same team in the same situation, okay, that's had as much or more success than the other two completely as a champion. And the other two moved around to trying to figure out their standing in the league as far as championship. But now they're on the back end. Two years left, I think, for Steph on this deal. I think he might be right. Katie just extended his two years, LeBron with his one-year extension. So you're talking about changing of the guard and how that happens, that transition, you know, in the league, and who gets handed off to is a very interesting thing about this year, too, because we're seeing the end of an era starting to come.

1:03:28I'm not saying that they can't play longer, but would they continue to be the torchbearers of the league? Well, look, the end is obviously near. It just is what it is. For LeBron, you know, Rich and I were talking today. He was talking about Embiid. He goes, and it even goes back to when he was drafted. Like, you knew you weren't getting 20 years out of him. I'm like, with all due respect, you ain't getting 20 years out of nobody, really. You know, LeBron is an anomaly. So, you know, I think we're definitely at the point where we have to look and say, you know, like boys to men. we've come to the end of the road for these guys.

1:04:05Is there, and here's the thing about, especially the two with LeBron and Steph, is that they culturally kind of changed the NBA because of Steph and what he did with the shooting. Steph 1 ,000 % changed it. And LeBron with the business of basketball. And just, we haven't seen a player built that played like he did, that impacted the game like that with all those tools. As great as the young talent we have coming in and that are already playing, who can galvanize the public from that perspective to kind of be really the face or the faces of the game? Yeah, that was a question last year. You know what I mean?

1:04:51We're not talking about just talent. Yeah. Because Steph did way more outside of talent because of his size or lack thereof. He galvanized a whole culture of people, demographic of people, that believe that they can do what he can do. Because I think, Jimmy, that might have been because not everyone, look at LeBron, he's what, 6 '8", 6 '9", he's 250, 260. He's just, you know, built like a superhero. Not everyone, most people can't relate to that. Right. You can relate to a dude who's like 6 '3", and he looks like your neighbor, and someone who you'd be playing pickup ball at the Y with. And I feel, you know, that on top of the fact that Steph made everybody think that they could shoot 32 feet away from the basket.

1:05:36Which, in my opinion, in some cases ruined basketball because guess what? Not everybody can shoot like Steph Curry. I'm going to push back. I'm not going to say Steph ruined it. I put it on the coaches who let kids do it. Okay. So whether Steph was doing it or not, you as a coach still got control. somebody who's teaching these young men and women how to play, that's responsibility too on you. That's a great point. To not allow them to play like that. Yes, sir. So Steph gets a bad rap for that, but it's the people who are put in position of power that have influence over these young men and women that allow them to do it.

1:06:15I don't care if it's parents. I don't care if it's coaches or if it's an organization that allows it to happen. Steph, he was just so talented. That's what he did. It was undeniable. It was undeniable. But he still had a certain discipline to it too, though. Okay? With Steph in his game. He still beat you off the dribble and got to the free throw line and got layoffs. Facts. Okay? So it wasn't always just that. He wasn't just hanging out. He just wasn't. That's where I'm going to go back with that. But it's going to be interesting to see. And to me, the face of the league is not sometimes all about just the talent.

1:06:50is who has that intrinsic impact on a group of people that galvanizes, that just does something different. Steph was different. LeBron was different. A lot of the Wimby is different, but because he is maybe European a little bit, how does that connect with young players? Okay. Any 7-4, 7-5, 7-7. We can't relate to that. We can appreciate it. Yeah. But to the average fan, it's like, well, I ain't never going to be there. Anthony Edwards, but then it's some things in his personal life that I think prevents him from being the face. You know what I'm saying? Slow down, young boy, a little bit. So is it a Cooper flag?

1:07:36Is it a Cooper flag? Well, because of situations, you're kind of thinking, yeah, a certain demographic of people probably will rally around Cooper flag to try to make him the face of the league, and I don't think that's any secret. But, you know, what's interesting is that Luka's not. Luka's also not American. I know. But, see, it's always a but. You see what I'm saying? With all these talented people we got, but there's a but. It wasn't a but with Steph. At the beginning, well, he's too small. Well, then it was like he's injury prone. Remember, his ankles were an issue. But then he just hit that stride.

1:08:13Boom, it was over. It never was a question with LeBron. No, I mean, LeBron had this pressure on him since he was, what, 15? 16 years old. I still have the Sports Illustrated when he was 16 on the cover. You see what I'm saying? So that's, when we talk about face of the league, we're talking about not just talent. It was a lot of talented players when Michael played. Of course, that whole thing was just different. Levels. But it's levels to this, is what I'm saying, is that there's levels to this. And it's not just based on talent. Because there's so many talented young players in the league right now that you can point around and say, okay, they can be the face, but some guys have it.

1:08:56Yeah. And it is something that you just can't put down on paper. It is something. It's an intangible that a person or persons have that when they walk in the room, they can sell you on it. The energy changes. And it's only so many that come around. And we're on the back end of that aspect with especially, and that's not taking anything away from KD, but with Steph and LeBron. And that's hard to replace. June 9th or June 25th, 2009, I was in New York. I was getting ready to go to the draft at the Garden. About two hours before I went there, I got a phone call that Michael Jackson had died. That was the day.

1:09:35I went there because Blake Griffin was getting drafted for a split clippers. I wanted to be in the building. But during that draft, Steph Curry got drafted, and he walked right by me. And I just never knew. I never knew on that day when that kid walked by me after he got drafted, come to the crowd, how his life and his career would end up. And it's a beautiful thing to see, man, because he definitely did. He changed the game and he held himself up as, you know, a guy who, you know, we talk about guys who you don't have to worry about getting a call in the middle of the night that he did something wrong or, you know, so he, he did everything the right way, I think with Steph.

1:10:13And so it was good to be able to see him get those props and those rewards because he did do things the right way. And he changed the game. He changed the game. He changed the game. And it's, again, the handoff is never an easy one. But I'm sure we're probably not seeing who that next person is going to be. I mean, we kind of know. You know. But we don't know, know. Because you can put as much marketing behind a person. That doesn't really mean that they're going to be the consistency. Like you said, it's not just what happens on the court. If I could bring this up real quick, you know, I do a wrestling podcast.

1:10:47And you know John Cena, of course. A lot of people, you know, John Cena, undeniably the face of WWE for 20 plus years. And I was just looking at a comment on Twitter the other day, and they were thinking about other wrestlers who maybe could have been John Cena. But the thing was, it wasn't just what he did in that squared circle. It's the make-a-wish. You know, he's very famous for doing more make-a-wishes than anyone else. It's about knowing that you got to get up at six, seven in the morning and do TV and radio hits. And you got to be prepared and be professional and represent yourself in the company.

1:11:20So there's more than just, was he the best wrestler? No, he was never the best wrestler. But for everything they needed to be the face of the company, he double-checked every other box. And that's kind of what you're looking at for the face of the NBA, right? It's not what you do on the court. But there's other things that you bring to the table. And, you know, it'll make people rally around you and uplift you and you will become the face. I got a question for you, though. Was there ever a time, and I'm sure there was, when you're playing against a rookie, right? And you knew that he's going to be him.

1:11:56Like, who were some of the guys who you knew right off the bat? If I can give you an example, you remember Danny Fortson? I'm sure you played. Well, AI. Danny Fortson. He told me in 98, I was still living in Pittsburgh. He's from Altoona. we were hanging out i was like tell me about the nba and he got to the point where his i was like who's the man in the nba and he goes well i'll tell you this he goes might not believe it but that kid kobe bryant is gonna be the man and i was like really he goes trust me he goes and tj everybody knows it and it turned out and this was after you know the air ball of the the three pointers in the playoffs against the jazz and he wasn't starting his first few years but danny told me then he was like everybody knows Kobe's going to be the man.

1:12:41Well it's different and I'm going to wrap it up with this because we knew how talented LeBron was. We knew how talented AI is. But that doesn't mean that they're going to be like we think they're going to be. We knew they're talented. But it was some intangible about them when they played when you played against them that you said you know what they got it. They get it. AI was like that. Kobe was like that. Kevin Garnett was like that. Word word word. It was just LeBron was like that. KD was like that. You just knew it was something different about them at that time when they were young. D-Wade was like that.

1:13:20You know, that you just, it was just something different. You know, something, I don't know what it, it's hard to pinpoint it. You know, they just figured it out, but, man, they got a lot more. And you just kind of know. And for all of us, we've been blessed to see that maturation process of a lot of these players who, you know, carried the torch for the league. You know, speaking of carrying torches, it's been a tough day today, October 23rd. Unfortunately, some stuff came down today with regards to the FBI and gambling. Tough day for the NBA. And I kind of took some notes down because it's a two-pronged investigation by the FBI.

1:14:06I think it's New York City federal government on gambling charges. And there's two sides. It's from the player perspective of enticing gambling through prop betting, but also through illegal manipulation of a poker game. So it's two different indictments, two different things going on. But unfortunately, you know, Terry Rozier's name got brought back up into this. Chauncey Billups and a good friend of mine, Damon Jones, and Chauncey's a good friend. So at the beginning of the basketball season, when everything jumps off and we're all excited about Wimby and Edgecombe, and we had this great game between OKC and Houston and the Lakers and Golden State, and then boom, this bomb drops about this morning about the allegations in the Provin' Tour.

1:14:56Now, this is a year-long investigation into this. Again, two separate things, but it involved, like Damon Jones was one that was involved in two pieces of this. We already knew about the Terry Rozier, about the gambling, you know, before. So I just took, you know, Jonte Porter was banned for life in 2024, April, after admitting, tipping gamblers and limiting his own minutes to cash parlays. and that's what I was talking about, the parlay part of it, which is really hard. Prop betting. The FBI are looking into wire fraud. This deal is called, the code name, Nothing But Bet. They follow phone records.

1:15:43They're looking into betting bank accounts, money laundering trails. You know, they linked the mob to this. That's not good. Okay. that, you know, fix gambling, mark decks, card-reading glasses. Card-reading machines. Machines. So it's a lot going on. Again, you don't want to indict anybody innocent until proven guilty. We don't know all the facts, whether Chauncey is a subject in this matter, Damon is a subject, or they're the main targets. We know Terry Rozier was exonerated by the NBA, but that's different than being exonerated by the FBI. Keep in mind, the NBA doesn't have the autonomy to subpoena a witness, to take deposition, to force a witness to come and testify against or for a defendant.

1:16:45So their process of going through the investigation is not as stringent as the federal government. That's why the federal government never came out and said, our case is done with Terry Rozier. The NBA did. Difference. Okay, so it was never really over. But it's just a stain on the NBA because, again, I'm not going to indict anybody because I don't know all of the information. Yeah, it's a developing story. It started this morning, still going on. But I think it speaks to this part of gambling and sports, which is when it first began to open up, and you can chime into this, is the threats of this kind of activity happen.

1:17:25And we're not talking about just in basketball, but it happens to be that basketball has been in the forefront of this, whether it's been in college with some of the point shaving, and now again with Terry's name being brought back up, and now with Chauncey and Damon, and the ties in it. That one of the biggest things before was that, how do you prevent this from happening in sports? and I'm not talking about this, but it was college baseball, basketball, football, pro football, whatever it is. Now when you have athletes who are able to bet on games and you bring that into part, I work with FanDuel.

1:18:03It's a partnership. It's a great company. But then it opens the door for these kind of activities to happen, which, you know, when you have this kind of, when it involves this amount of money, it's always going to be something. but you hate it when it impacts what the momentum of the NBA has gained so far, especially at the beginning of this season. Now, we already had the Tim Donahue issue years ago with the official. You kind of brushed it and you think that's a one-off. Now with the introduction to legalized gambling, that's the part, and especially with the prop bets where you can basically go quarter by quarter and bet on a little bit of everything.

1:18:44Anything. And how do you control that? you know, I know Adam Silver had talked about, and I got it in my notes about him, and I don't want to misquote, where Adam Silver looked at the integrity of the game, maybe look at to drop or limit lines on two-way or little-used players to kind of ease the way to manipulate so guys that are really not playing as much. can't really have an effect. It can't really have an effect on the game. And again, these are... And therefore kind of taking away the chances that they might be like, well... Well, maybe I can do it. So here's the thing. When you go into a plan like this, you have an idea of what could happen.

1:19:32We know here are the signs, here are the telltales. We know based on the history of gambling, this is what could happen. But you're not really prepared for all that can. And to be able to be reactionary and to address the issues and make adjustments, I think is going to be very important, not just for the NBA, because all the other leagues are looking at this and how they handle it, okay? Because it's going to hit them at some point or another. We saw it in baseball, okay? We'll see it in football. And we saw that before there were gambling sites in baseball. So you don't think they took history of that and said, okay, this is what we have to guard ourselves from.

1:20:05But you can't guard yourself from everything because each individual, when something happens, somebody can be weak at a moment, be enticed, and don't know what's going on. But again, giving information freely sometimes is not free. It's a cost to it. And it's unfortunate that we're in this situation right now with everything going on positively with the NBA. But my hope is that once we dig into the evidence, into the case, that we won't first don't judge and already prosecute those involved without getting the information, all of the information. because this is going to be an ongoing investigation.

1:20:45Their attorneys, the three individuals I talked about, are going to have attorneys. They're going to push back. They're going to give their side of the story. And we got to be cognizant and open to hearing that. And then once the evidence gets put on together, then we can begin to decipher and pick apart. But to sit here on day one and to speculate on who did what and how it happened without knowing everything, I think is a disservice to the investigation itself, everything they've done, but to also the individuals who are involved. And despite Terry Rozier being mentioned in this again, I still have to see exactly what all it is on this side.

1:21:29Okay? Because there's still some facts that are still left on the table that we don't know about. So couldn't go today without not talking about it because it is a big issue today. It's a big story today. And it's going to be a story that's going to continue through the course of the season. But we had to address that today because it does kind of put a little stain a little bit at the beginning of the season. It really does. And it's sad, you know, because you never want to see something like this taint sports because you already have, you know, there's always that, already that little small group of fans or I don't know who they are who will always think that everything is fixed.

1:22:11You know what I mean? Everything is fixed, yeah. And it's like, and now they're just, you know, eating all this stuff. See, I told you. I told you. But with anything, you're going to have something. There's this much money involved, okay? This much money. Unfortunately, yeah. I mean, it's going to be something. Human nature, man. It's hard. The lure of that money, it's a hard thing to turn down. I know. But with the mob affiliation and all of this stuff going on, I mean, it's a big, big thing. You're talking about a year-long investigation and them having plants and insights into the actual gambling on the poker side.

1:22:44They knew exactly what they were doing in that poker game. I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I heard this is a four-year thing that this has been going on. Well, they said one. One, okay. But as far as digging in, I mean, they said one when I was watching the press conference. Okay. A year-long investigation, they said. But they had plants that were at the poker game that were inside that were a part of the scheme to do kind of implement the cheating okay okay because they were trying to catch those that were involved so it's gonna it's it's it's unfortunate but that's the way of the world i mean it's been that way this ain't the first time no no definitely not you know we just get it real time and it impacts us now because it's happening to us now so just just be cautious on your speculation, on your indictments, on these individuals until you kind of figure out and get more information about what's really going on.

1:23:37But, you know, I appreciate you, bro. That's a wrap on our season preview. To me, the board is set. The pieces are emotion and it's going to be one of the most, I think unpredictable seasons that we've seen in a long time. So don't get too frustrating when your team lose early, like the Clippers. Don't get too high when your team starts to win, because we've got a lot of season to go. So I appreciate all you tapping in. Thanks for having me, brother. You call always. I'm glad you can join me and pontificate a little bit. I'll always answer Jimmy Jackson's call. I appreciate it. Especially if I get some free Clippers.

1:24:10I got you. I got you. I got you. Make sure you download the show at Jim Jackson Show on IG, on the Rich Eyes on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Enjoy the weekend. A lot of great basketball coming up and football this weekend. Peace. Talk to you soon.

1:24:31Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. Now, I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited premium wireless for$15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made$15 bills. But it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. Initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms.