In the latest episode of the Bob Ryan & Jeff Goodman Podcast, hosts Bob Ryan, Jeff Goodman, and Gary Tanguay review the Celtics' significant victory over the Sixers, a win that vaulted them back to the top spot in the Eastern Conference despite a depleted roster. The episode also covers Draymond Green's suspension, recent developments in college basketball, and other current NBA news.
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00:00 There's a category of players I think we'd all agree that you can say this in all the major sports.
00:05 They just capital J, K, no, H, how, T to P play. They just know how to play.
00:16 Right.
00:16 Derek White is one of those guys in basketball. He just knows how to play and he makes good decisions.
00:24 Great teammate. Like watch him at the end of the game last night.
00:28 Watch he, Gary and Tatum. And again, everybody loves Derek. He's always smiling,
00:36 coming out of the locker room, whatever. Like, Drew Holiday, easy to play with, great teammate.
00:42 I don't think there's going to be any friction now. I think there was friction the last couple
00:48 of years. I really do. And Jalen Brown now got paid. So what the hell is the friction? You're
00:54 the highest paid player in the league. The only friction is with people that are going to go after
00:59 you fan wise for being the highest paid player and not really deserving it, which we all know is true.
01:03 Yeah. Get over it. We feel sorry for you.
01:06 Ryan Goodman and Tangway podcast brought to you by FanDuel,
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01:16 It is the Bob Ryan, Jeff Goodman, Gary Tangway along for the ride,
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01:37 Okay. It was so weird to me last night. I was at the Philadelphia game when the Celtics played
01:43 them a week ago and the Celtics are back in Philadelphia again, a much different outcome.
01:49 Uh, the one thing I want, we want to talk about, uh, White had a great game,
01:54 Horford, he came up big, but I want to talk about the presence of Jason Tatum because it's something
01:58 I noticed now Porzingis and Jaylen Brown were out, but Bob, I don't know if you've noticed
02:02 something this year. There seems to be a presence of Jason Tatum on the floor.
02:07 Uh, that is of a leader that is, needs to make the right play at the right time. Like I thought
02:13 when Philadelphia was making a run and he was still in the game last night, that whenever you
02:18 needed a bucket or you needed something done, right, Tatum was there to do it. Do you feel
02:22 that presence this year more than in the past? Undoubtedly. And that's what we talked about.
02:27 It's almost like he was listening to us, uh, in the off season. Cause I, you know, we, the three
02:32 of us have, have, have been on the same page with regard to the fact that we know how enormously
02:37 gifted and talented he is, but that's not the full story. You know, the, the, the next thing is what,
02:42 what my great mentor, Frank Power used to call the connection, you know, which Larry Bird had,
02:47 which, which, which the great ones have, you know, the mind and the, the instant knowing when to take
02:52 over and how to take over when you assert yourself, uh, uh, and how to assert yourself.
02:56 When you have that range of skill, it doesn't have to be always taking a shot, you know,
03:00 drawing, drawing traffic and getting hit into an open man. And that's part of the deal that
03:04 he's capable of doing. Um, anyway, recognizing that responsibility and I'll just sum up, um,
03:10 LeBron. Okay. This is one of my favorite themes just to how LeBron got to the top of the
03:15 mountaintop. They finally got there. And, and after he bottomed out in 2010 and quit against
03:20 the Celtics and, and, and flamed out against the Mavericks in 11 and said he somewhere along the
03:26 line, it got into his head. I'm the best player on the floor and I got it. I have to act as such
03:31 at the right time. And he, which is done for the rest of his career and which Michael figured out
03:36 finally. And, and well, Michael never, Michael had to temper himself a little bit, but anyway,
03:40 yeah, it's, I'm very long winded here. Yes. He is different. I think we're seeing what the,
03:47 an MVP ish kind of guy that we were, you know, asking him, you know,
03:52 that he's maximizing his potential. That's that don't put it that way.
03:56 By the way, Bob, you get paid to be long winded on this show. But, you know, Jeff, that's like,
04:01 maybe I'm just a little late to the party, but you know, I saw that last night where I'm watching
04:05 the game and while it was white with the numbers and you know, everybody's talking about Horford
04:11 in the block, I just saw a presence from Tatum last night and a very calming presence. Like I
04:17 never thought the Celtics were going to lose the game last night because of Jason Tatum.
04:21 Yeah. Where you might not have said that a year or two years ago, but you're right. Like he's
04:26 growing up. And again, I keep going back to like, who did he learn from early in his career? How to
04:31 lead Kyrie Irving? Like who were you learning from then? You know, like Al's super, I actually
04:39 think having Al back was huge for Jason Tatum because he's kind of that guy that they have
04:45 similar personalities, but obviously Jason Tatum has to be more of an alpha dog, right? He's gotta
04:51 be. He's learned how to deal with officials better and playing with two pros. And I don't mean pros,
04:58 I mean pros in the sense of like professionalism, like Derek White, like Drew Holliday have helped
05:04 Jason Tatum immensely both on and off the court. Because if you look at his efficiency, why is it?
05:10 What's changed? Well, having two dudes on the court that honestly just play the right way.
05:17 They move the ball. They're not about themselves. Tatum knows he's going to get the ball back. I
05:21 mean, look at his numbers now. He's shooting 5% higher than he did a year ago from the field.
05:29 He's shooting 5% better than he did last year from three-point range. He's getting fewer shots.
05:36 He's going to average less. He knows that. He said that to me in the offseason. He's like,
05:39 I know I'm not going to average 30 with all these really good players we have around us,
05:43 but he does everything. And like you said, Gary, what does he do? He makes the damn right play
05:49 so often now. He doesn't really force bad shots like he did a few years ago. And they were bad,
05:55 contested, pull up threes, like step back threes that you were like, what are you doing? Now,
06:02 like he just makes the right play because he's got a high basketball IQ.
06:05 >> Yeah, I mean, it is great to watch. It really is. And last night's game with no Porzingis
06:14 and with no Jaylen Brown, Jaylen Brown was sick, Porzingis has got a nagging knee injury.
06:18 I thought, Bob, okay, well, Philadelphia could make a run here. The week before,
06:22 the Celtics just didn't play well. I mean, to me, it was more on the Celtics than them.
06:28 But for the Celtics to go into Philly and win without Porzingis and Jaylen Brown,
06:32 that's making a statement. I know it's early, but that's making a statement.
06:37 >> Well, it's one of those games, the NBA has these ebbs and flows. And there's one of these games
06:42 before I said to my wife, with those two guys out, they don't win, we shrug and go, hey,
06:48 it didn't matter. That doesn't tell us anything. But if they do win, that's a good win. And it is
06:54 a good win. It was a good win. And it was a very encouraging win. But I've seen, this league is so
07:01 predictable when it's unpredictable. In other words, I saw so many times over when you thought
07:06 tonight the forces are not aligned for things to go right tonight, because Mr. X is out, Mr. Y
07:13 is hurt, and they go in and win the game. And I saw it so many times. There was a lot to like
07:22 about the game, but you don't get too carried away either. But still, it was a good one.
07:27 I like the Xavi contributions, the little ones that they got as well, because the bench to me
07:33 is the overriding issue. >> Right. You're right, Bob. These games are good. Maybe not having two
07:40 guys out like this. I mean, when you win and have two guys out, it's great. But if you have one guy
07:45 out, it's fine, because that gives 30 minutes to these other guys. I mean, you see Cornette get 19,
07:53 Pritchett get 23. Steve McAuliffe, who can shoot the hell out of it, by the way, got 15 minutes.
08:00 >> Yeah, when I saw Cornette out there, and then I saw Pritchett out there, I'm like, oh, boy,
08:05 yeah, I don't know. But so let's give some love to Mr. White, Jeff. He had 27 last night.
08:11 Now, we all know we've had various disagreements about Marcus Smart. And I don't want to like
08:19 knock the guy when he's not here. But White has done a very good job in stepping it up,
08:26 and also Holiday. But another example, like White last night was just huge.
08:30 >> They're completely different players, he and Marcus Smart. Derek White is an elite defender,
08:36 but he does it in a very unassuming way. And Marcus Smart does it. Derek White's personality
08:43 is very unassuming. He's not gonna challenge people. That's just not his personality,
08:48 where Marcus Smart, for better or worse, would challenge people. And sometimes it worked.
08:53 And sometimes, honestly, it didn't. And I don't, you know, people always say, well, he's the leader.
08:59 No, no, he wasn't the leader of the team. He was kind of the emotional dude of this team.
09:03 >> He was a baller.
09:04 >> Yeah, like, again, Derek White is just a consummate pro. And like, he's all about the
09:09 right stuff and moves the ball and doesn't take dumb shots. Doesn't take dumb shots, period. Like,
09:18 go ahead, leave Derek White open in the NBA finals now, or the Eastern Conference finals.
09:24 You want that ball to go in his hands for an uncontested three. When Marcus Smart,
09:29 when you saw the ball go to him for an uncontested three, you did this. You didn't wanna watch.
09:34 >> They couldn't be more different. And as you alluded to, Marcus Smart's game was at both ends
09:42 of the floor was frantic. Now, I was this guy, I was a guy, I was a member of the fan club. I love
09:50 some of the stuff he did. And I was willing to put up with the, oh my God, don't take that shot.
09:54 Okay. This other guy, I gotta tell you, when they picked up Derek White,
10:00 and I think it was January of two years ago, January of 2021.
10:04 >> He was bad, Bob. He was bad.
10:06 >> And when they picked him up, though, I said, he was a guy who had flown under the Bob Ryan
10:12 radar screen. I knew of the existence of this guy and that's about it. I hadn't paid any attention
10:18 to him. So I looked it up right away. I said, oh my God, he scored 14 points a game last year in
10:22 San Antonio. I had no idea. That's an A. And I still didn't see, had no feel for his game whatsoever.
10:28 >> Right.
10:28 >> Okay. And now I have, I'm talking about a member of the fan club. His advice, if Smart
10:35 was frantic, this guy is Mr. Cool, Mr. Efficient. There's a category of players, I think we'd all
10:41 agree that you can say this in all the major sports. They just, capital J, K, no, H, how,
10:50 K, T, to, P, play. They just know how to play.
10:55 >> Right.
10:56 >> Derek White is one of those guys in basketball. He just knows how to play. And he makes good
11:04 decisions.
11:04 >> And a great teammate. Like watch him at the end of the game last night. Watch he,
11:09 Gary and Tatum. And again, everybody loves Derek White. He's always smiling, coming out
11:16 of the locker room, whatever. Like, Drew Holiday, easy to play with, great teammate. Like there's
11:23 just, I don't think there's gonna be any friction now. I think there was friction the last couple
11:28 of years. I really do. And Jalen Brown now got paid. So what the hell's the friction?
11:33 You're the highest paid player in the league. The only friction is with people that are gonna
11:38 go after you fan-wise for being the highest paid player and not really deserving it,
11:42 which we all know is true.
11:43 >> Yeah, get over it. We feel sorry for you. But you're right. There is a sense of calm.
11:50 And there's just a different presence, a level of maturity with this team this year.
11:55 That it's just that in that aspect, and we talked about Tatum, you guys talked about it.
12:01 They've arrived with the maturity level. That's what I've seen.
12:04 >> Clear pecking order too. Clear pecking order now.
12:06 >> Right, right.
12:07 >> Like no longer is it like, who's the guy?
12:10 >> Right.
12:10 >> It's clear it's Jason Tatum's team.
12:13 >> Sure.
12:13 >> And I've said this for a few years. Jalen Brown, you're the clear number two. And I'm
12:18 not even sure you're the number two anymore with Porzingis here and Holiday and White.
12:23 You're the second offensive option, I guess. But really, you're the second offensive option
12:29 when you're in transition. In the half court, I'm not sure that's the guy.
12:33 >> Right.
12:34 >> I want to be the guy who has the ball in their hands with the game on the line.
12:39 Like, do you? Bob, if it's not Jason Tatum taking the shot,
12:43 do you want it to be Jalen Brown taking the shot in the half court?
12:47 >> Not necessarily, no. No, I got these other guys, no.
12:50 >> You move the ball. Yeah, you want then it to be the open man.
12:54 That's what you want it to be then.
12:55 >> With regard to this maturing process, let's just always remember,
13:00 Jason Tatum's next, on his next birthday, which is March 3, 2024, he will be 26.
13:06 >> Right, oh, right. And Bob's right.
13:08 >> Right, right.
13:09 >> And this is his sixth year in the league.
13:11 >> Yeah, it's out of hand. The level of expectation for these players, it's out of hand.
13:15 >> I agree.
13:16 >> So, you know, it's a pleasure to watch. It's fun. And it's very encouraging. It's great.
13:24 It's good. I'm looking forward to how this plays out.
13:26 >> And I get overexcited. I mean, I get, it's regular season. I turn into an excitable basketball
13:31 fan. I do want to touch on Al for a minute. And I want to ask Bob about this because,
13:36 Bob, throughout your career, you have seen these guys, and we've talked about Al,
13:41 he doesn't have enough in the tank to do it every night. We know that.
13:46 But last night, comes up with the big block. You got no poor Zingas. You need him. You have
13:52 seen guys like Al throughout their career where just when I need you to show up, he does.
13:59 >> No, he's identifiable that way. No, no question. And we're going to know how he's
14:07 going to be used. It's going to be the same. No back to backs. They're going to stretch it out.
14:12 Get the most out of him. And you have to handle him very specifically. But that was right. That
14:18 was an absolutely crucial performance last night. Among the many, there was so many different things
14:23 that had to go right for that game. And White's 27 and Tatum's moments, but Al's moments were huge.
14:30 And it's going to be, it won't be the last, but it's not going to be every night. And that's the
14:38 way it is. But no, he's still got something left. He's still valuable. And of course, we all know
14:41 he's valuable off the court. So I'm happy, so happy to have Al.
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15:21 >> Do you have a memory? This is where I like to go into the Bob Ryan memory bank.
15:27 Maybe in the past of a player like that who- >> Well, it wasn't, he's a very different player,
15:37 but I mean, Don Nelson as he aged was a very important part of the mix and it wasn't there
15:49 every single night, but maybe Nelly a little bit. I'm trying to think of any, I'm sure somebody's
15:55 going to jump out at me though. >> I think Wedman, Scott Wedman comes to
15:57 mind maybe at the end. >> No, Wedman-
16:00 >> Wedman would come in and hit those threes,
16:02 things like that. >> Yeah, no, Wedman, no,
16:03 Wedman of course in the Memorial Day Massacre, Wedman went 11 for 11 from the floor. But of
16:10 course the point I'd love to point out, he didn't enter the game till they were up by 25 in the
16:14 second quarter. And he went 11 for 11 the rest of the way. Anyway.
16:18 >> Anyway, talk about piling on. Okay, moving on from that guys, now we go to Jeremiah Green.
16:25 We're going to talk about the Warriors in general too. I watched the video of the whole Draymond
16:31 thing. He just can't help himself. You know what I mean? I mean, he gets five games and obviously
16:40 he has a reputation and he just can't help himself, Jeff. I mean, you put a guy in a headlock,
16:48 that's it. He's lucky you only got five. >> I've known Draymond forever and I'm getting
16:53 tired of the act and I really do. I like Draymond a lot. I love the energy he brings and the passion,
16:59 the emotion. And obviously he's all about winning with the way he guards, but is he all about
17:05 winning? Because if he was, he'd be a little bit smarter about some of the things that he does
17:10 right now. But here's the thing and I'll throw this to Bob. Like Draymond is so different from
17:17 everybody else in this day and age in the NBA. If you put Draymond 20 years ago in the NBA,
17:24 would there be this outcry? I mean, isn't he like Rodman-esque in some ways and we just accepted
17:30 Rodman for who he was eventually. >> The 1980 Knicks, the '85, '86, '88 Knicks
17:35 or the Pistons, sure. >> Oakley.
17:37 >> Oakley, that's where I was going. No, you're right. That's where I was going, Oakley, right
17:43 when it comes to mind. But Oakley, somehow, Draymond is still specific in his, you know,
17:53 but you know, right. I was always a big, I identified him at Michigan State and I was
17:58 surprised when he was the 35th pick in the draft that year he came out. I thought the teams were
18:03 all made a mistake and waiting on him and he proved his worth and all that. But you're right,
18:08 I totally agree the way Gray's, I'm tired of the act too because it's, you know what, it's
18:14 utterly self-serving. It's all it is, it's self-serving. This is, I can do what I want.
18:19 And, you know, and that's, can't take that away from me. Very, very interesting. I loved with
18:26 Rudy Gobert, I was unaware of the depth of their enmity, you know, that I didn't realize that
18:33 they were such mortal enemies as I now know they are. I had not, I just kind of missed that out
18:38 on that. But when he accused Dave Draymond of not wanting to play on nights when Curry doesn't play.
18:44 - I think it's 10% of the time or something.
18:48 - So, but that's an interesting dynamic between those two, but, you know, but it wasn't just that
18:53 it was a headlock, it was a chokehold more or less. And it was-
18:59 - I think Gobert said, he tried to choke me out, but he couldn't or something like that.
19:03 - Yeah, yeah. So he even timed it out nine seconds.
19:06 - It was embarrassing for Draymond Green. That's the problem now. It's gotten to the point where
19:11 nothing he does really phases us that much. But my question, Gary, five games, was that enough
19:18 of a suspension or would you have given him more?
19:20 - Well, I thought it could have been more, but he still is a marquee player and it's a marquee team.
19:26 And we understand that the NBA is aware of that. It could, you could have said, if you,
19:32 chokehold's a better word. You could certainly go to seven, you could go to 10, if you really want to,
19:38 you know, put an end to it. The thing that's too bad is what you just talked about,
19:42 is he's becoming a caricature. It's almost like he's a wrestler now, you know, and people forget
19:48 about all the good things he has done, that he could score the basketball, that he is a talented
19:52 player, that he's just not a carnival act, you know?
19:56 - But he's less of an asset than he used to be. His skills have diminished the last two years,
20:02 there's no question. And so now it's way too much weighted towards being, you know, this-
20:07 - Well, is that it, Bob? Does he understand that? And you think that the only way he can
20:13 contribute is to do this? - Maybe that's the way he's framing it.
20:17 I don't know. Meanwhile, you know, where does Steve Kerr come in on all this? What
20:21 quote unquote control does he have over Draymond Green? You know, you wonder how much does he want
20:26 to try to influence Green's behavior? Because, you know, I mean, to me, that should be coming
20:34 to the discussion here. - Yeah, and Jeff, you think they're toast,
20:37 right? Golden State? - I do. I toast to win it all, toast to
20:42 really be a factor when it matters. Like, you know, they can be a playoff team and win a round,
20:46 or maybe even get to the Western Conference Finals, but I don't think they're legitimate
20:51 contenders to win the whole thing again, no. - No, I would say-
20:55 - Go ahead, Bob. - Strictly, you know, my category that I
21:01 have, you know, is a category of nobody's going to say, "Oh, goody, we're playing the Warriors,"
21:06 but you're not worried about them either. You're not afraid of them.
21:08 - Right. - You don't have to be afraid of them.
21:10 - Right. We talked about this earlier in the week, Jeff, about Adam Silver, who was making
21:15 the rounds in the media, and Bob, he chimed in. First of all, we talked about the analysts' work,
21:24 and Bob, you can jump in and let Jeff know what you have to say. I mean, he was saying that there
21:30 needs to be greater detail in the game analysis from the broadcasters, like in the NFL, and Bob
21:36 and I were saying it's two different games. - It's totally two different games. First of all,
21:41 I don't know. I would like Tim to identify, give me, who's your NFL model that you want your NBA
21:46 guys to be? Give me some examples, because I don't know what the hell he's talking about.
21:49 - Well, because Tony Romo doesn't talk about the game. He's cracking jokes all the time.
21:52 - All right. So, you know- - Maybe he's talking about the shows. Maybe
21:56 he's talking about some of the shows and they break it. Listen, I do-
21:59 - Oh, well- - That is the landscape for
22:01 everything now. Everybody's in a hot taste, and instead of breaking it down, I don't know how
22:06 many people are breaking down. I think it's a little bit easier to break plays down in the NFL
22:10 than it is to break- - If he's talking about the shows,
22:14 that's a totally different animal than I want him to be specific. What are you talking about here?
22:18 - Yeah, no, he's talking about the game broadcast. He's talking about-
22:20 - I don't get it. - He wants a UB Brown every night, Bob.
22:23 You make the UB Brown. He wants a UB Brown every night.
22:25 - Well, it'd be nice. UB, by the way, still throwing 95 on the black. He's still got it,
22:31 because he pushes 90, by the way. But I think that's the one guy that you can refute this
22:37 argument, I think. But the games are so different. I mean, football is four to eight seconds of
22:44 action, followed by 35 to 40 seconds of inaction, followed by four to eight seconds of action,
22:49 followed by, and on and on and on and on and on and on it goes for three hours. Basketball and
22:55 hockey are fluid games, and they don't break down that way. And it's a different skill set
23:02 necessary, needed to be a color man for basketball and hockey than it is for football, or even
23:08 baseball when you got pitches, time between pitches. So, I mean, come on. I don't know what
23:12 he means here. I was really surprised. And where does this come from? So, you know, I need to sit
23:21 down with a beer, Adam. Tell me, I don't get it. I'm sorry. But anyway. - You know, Jeff, I think
23:28 where he's coming from is he doesn't want the game to become a show, you know, where everything is
23:36 cliches and everybody's looking for the catchphrase and he wants the meat and potatoes
23:42 back. But I don't know if that's what the fans want, too. And also, basketball is the type of
23:47 game that you can see, you know, you can watch the ball and also watch away from the ball.
23:51 The NFL is a whole lot more going on. - You know, I'll tell you a guy that I thought got it
23:55 and was my idea of a good color man in NBA, and that's Jeff Van Gundy. I love Jeff Van Gundy.
24:02 I said for years, Jeff, don't go back to coaching and serve the benefit, you know,
24:07 the benefit one constituency. You stay doing what you're doing. You're helping all of us who love
24:11 basketball because you get it. You get what it's like to be a fan. I mean, maybe this is what
24:16 comes when you come out of Division III when your father was a coach and all that. Fine. I thought
24:21 he was terrific at it. And, you know, the idea that he got canned for whatever reason is stupid,
24:26 and I think, and, you know, it's a shame. But anyway, I thought he-
24:31 - What do you think of the, hey, the Rivers duo coming back? You got Doc back,
24:36 and they brought in ESPN, brought in Austin, who's really good. Like, they're both, I know what you
24:41 think of Doc. Doc, hey, Doc could do whatever, Gary. It doesn't matter. Doc could take out his
24:48 garbage and Bob would be like, he's the best garbage man of all time.
24:52 - He's got a real flair for that can. Oh, yeah, he is.
24:55 - Austin's really good, though.
24:59 - Good. I mean, I haven't caught Austin yet.
25:02 - Very good. Very good. But yeah, no, listen, it is what it is. How about the Mark Jackson saga?
25:10 - I just saw the back page of the post, which I haven't read yet. I don't know what it's all about.
25:15 - So I guess they won't let him on the team. Like, he was gonna do MSV
25:20 in New York and they wouldn't let him on the team plane or something. Leon Rose, the head of the
25:27 Knicks, because he had an issue with an assistant who's on the Knicks who used to be on his staff
25:33 at Golden State, Darren, I forget his last name.
25:37 - Oh, wow.
25:37 - Irmin, I think. And something happened there years ago. So Leon Rose backing his assistant
25:46 coach and basically saying, no, no, no, this isn't gonna happen.
25:48 - Wow, interesting.
25:49 - So, oh, no, he may have a fly commercial?
25:52 - Yeah, I don't even know if he's still gonna do MSG games.
25:56 - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
25:57 - He might be pushed out of doing that. But Leon Rose, listen, the ultimate in non-accountability.
26:05 He runs the Knicks, but he does nothing with the media. When they were down,
26:10 he was never accountable, never showed up. Former agent for CAA who just hides.
26:16 - Yeah, well, yeah, yeah, Dolan, yes, man. What about the, you know, Bob and I didn't
26:22 talk about this, but expansion for the NBA. Now I can appreciate that it's become an international
26:28 game and we've talked about how important the international players have been to the league.
26:33 It's been phenomenal, raised the level. But do you still, Jeff, I'll start with you on this.
26:39 Do you think there are enough players worldwide to support expansion?
26:43 - I mean, sure there are. I mean, listen-
26:46 - Quality players.
26:48 - Yeah, I don't, no, I don't really think that. No, I would say probably not, but I won't be
26:54 upset if they put a team in Vegas. I get to go to Vegas a little bit more often.
26:57 - Yeah, what about overseas? What about if they put a team in-
27:00 - No, the big one is, right, they're talking about overseas. Because that has been floating
27:04 around on the edges going back into the '70s when the discussion was the first city that
27:10 got mentioned as an international destination, perhaps for the NBA was Mexico City back in the
27:16 '70s. And they continue to play there, you know, annually, right? Do they not in the NBA?
27:22 - I think so.
27:23 - Yeah, or Madrid. I've always heard Madrid too.
27:25 - Well, but first one was Mexico City.
27:27 - Travel.
27:27 - Of course, now the focus is kind of in Europe. But I mean, ask yourself, if you're a player,
27:33 you know, this is a whole other matter of where I'm going to live, I'm going to play, I'm going
27:37 to live in a truly, you know, Canada's one thing, but some guys are spooked by that, let alone going
27:43 to live in Mexico City.
27:45 - Well, it's never going to happen because of what you said. The star players are going to
27:48 want to stay in the United States. You have tax ramifications. I don't know what they are in
27:52 various countries, income, so forth. And then it just comes down to the travel. You would have to
27:57 have like a division. You would have to have a European division. And that's what happens in
28:01 football. They talk about it with football too. So you're going to put, what, five teams in Europe?
28:05 Then that's going to really suck. You're going to add five more teams in the NBA to make it work.
28:10 And then they're not going to get free agents.
28:12 - No, I mean, I know. No, that's just not asking too much. I just,
28:16 little too ambitious for my taste. I don't know. But they, you know, I know they want to
28:21 have a presence. Obviously they love the exhibition thing will grow and grow. That's
28:25 fine. You know, you want to sell, it's all about selling merchandise. Really? You know, you know
28:29 that.
28:30 - But they do it Bob, isn't it enough? I know I'm good. I sound like a really old geezer now.
28:35 (laughing)
28:36 Isn't it enough? Isn't enough enough? I mean, Bob's right. I mean, they, they, they have a ton of
28:41 exhibition, regular season games, whatever. The merchandise is everywhere. You can watch any game
28:47 anywhere in the world. I can go to the top of Mount Edge for Embers and get NBA TV. I mean,
28:52 like, I don't really see the need.
28:53 - There's going to be a team in Vegas. I'm telling you, there's going to be a team in Vegas.
28:57 - You're just a degenerate. You just want an excuse.
28:59 - No, I'm telling you there is like, whether I want it or not, which yes, I want it. But
29:05 yeah, I could see Seattle and Vegas going back to Seattle.
29:08 - Well, Seattle should be back and they were wronged. The two cities that were wronged by
29:13 the NBA were Buffalo, number one, and two, which there's nothing wrong with that franchise other
29:18 than bad ownership. And then, you know, they became the Clippers and so on and so forth.
29:23 And Seattle got, you know, as soon as that guy bought the team and you knew he was going to
29:28 Oklahoma City, can't think of his name right now. What is his name, Jeff? I've never, but anyway,
29:32 and nothing wrong, Oklahoma City is a good addition for the NBA. That's fine. Oklahoma
29:37 City has been a terrific place. But Seattle got wronged and I hope they can get a team back.
29:43 - When I think about the Buffalo Braves, it brings me back to the hit record,
29:49 "Mac can do, Mac can do." I remember that. I think I remember.
29:56 - I am telling you some of my favorite, you know, really good memories of, you know,
30:02 covering the NBA in the seventies have to do with the Celtics and Buffalo Braves.
30:05 - Oh, it's great. Mac can do, Brady Smith, Ernie D, Jim McMillan.
30:09 - Oh man.
30:09 - Dr. Jack.
30:10 - Oh God, absolutely. It was a great, two really good playoff series, two six game series,
30:18 74 and 76, you know, 74, oh my God, you know, that ended up, they were really good. And Dave
30:25 versus Cowans and Mac can do was a terrific matchup. And oh God, it was fun. And they got
30:31 screwed because of John White Brown and Paul Snyder, you know, it turned the fans off. And
30:36 then the next thing you know, they're in the franchise swap, you know, and it's done. They
30:40 never went back to him. It was nothing wrong with that franchise.
30:43 - I have one final trivia question for you. There's one team, and this shows you,
30:52 by the way, the in-season tournament, I'm about as out on as anybody.
30:57 - Yeah, I don't pay attention.
30:58 - Dumbest thing ever. But there's one team that hasn't played an in-season
31:03 tournament game, in-season tournament, whatever the hell you want to call it.
31:05 Robert, what team is that?
31:08 - Oh, I don't know. I haven't been paying attention to somebody's-
31:11 - That's why I asked you. I asked you because I know you don't care. I don't care. Gary doesn't
31:16 care. Isn't this ridiculous?
31:19 - Go ahead.
31:20 - Well, who's the team?
31:22 - Toronto.
31:23 - Toronto, yeah.
31:24 - But I'm not even asking for-
31:25 - I don't want to say-
31:26 - Nobody cares is what I'm getting at.
31:29 - No, I think, but you know, look, it goes back to the money thing, Jeff. The one thing that we've
31:34 seen, and I've seen it with the NFL too, they're going to continue constantly to try to develop
31:39 new revenue streams. That's what they do. And they always will. I think the people who are going to
31:45 make the most money are the ones who make new floors. You had a new floor-
31:49 - Somebody, the company, like 30 new floors.
31:52 - 30 new floors, boom, there you go. Or you can go to Vegas and see the Final Four of this. The
31:58 players like it. But the fans, yeah, we don't care. And I don't even think the younger generation
32:02 cares. I really don't.
32:03 - Vegas, as we speak, the baseball owners are approving the sale of the eventual move of the
32:10 Oakland A's to guess where?
32:11 - Vegas.
32:12 - Vegas.
32:13 - Hey, before we wrap it up today, I got to make mention, it just saddens me that
32:18 Big Baby Davis has been convicted of fraud, along with Will Bynum.
32:25 - Well, can I ask something here? He was arrested with 126 grams of marijuana and $92,000 in cash
32:33 in a hotel room. I didn't know people were still buying marijuana illegally. I thought you could
32:39 just go to a-
32:39 - I know, I know. Well, maybe some people didn't get the message. But I just say this about Baby,
32:45 remember, you wanted to like him so much. I did. He was engaging.
32:51 - He was fun. He was always fun, jovial, all of that. But yeah, I feel bad. I've known-
33:01 - Remember after his rookie year that he couldn't play early in the season, he did something dumb.
33:05 Remember, he did something really stupid and he was suspended. And that's when I started,
33:12 the first time I started to worry a little bit. And the time went on. And I once said to Doc,
33:16 I had a discussion with Doc, I think he got into some other trouble. And he said,
33:24 "I worry about Baby, in the afterlife, guess what? Here it is."
33:29 - Oh yeah, yeah. He's been in jail. I mean, Terrence-
33:33 - He's wasting more of our time.
33:34 - And T. Will was the ringleader of that. And I think he was sentenced to 10 years
33:39 of that whole scheme.
33:41 - And you talk about throwing away a career and a life that, he got eight years out of the NBA,
33:49 but he could have had-
33:50 - He came from a really, really tough area and tough upbringing. So I feel bad for Big Baby
33:57 here. Again, he was one of those guys that I always liked. From the first time I saw him,
34:03 I think he was like 14 years old, played for, I forget what the AAU team down there,
34:07 grew up right across in Baton Rouge. And his mother was a frigging riot. She would run up
34:15 and down the sidelines yelling, "That's my baby!" Over and over and over, loud as can be. But
34:23 yeah, let's hope Baby gets everything squared away and straightened out. 'Cause
34:28 I really do like him a lot, but that's sad. It's sad.
34:33 - It's sad. Well, it is an example of what happens to players after the lights go off.
34:37 Some guys, they have no direction. They don't know what to do.
34:40 - Yeah. The thing is about it though, he gave us a warning. There were warning signs when he was-
34:45 - Yeah.
34:45 - Always.
34:46 - Yeah. All right. Well, guys, Jeff, always a pleasure, my friend, Bob Ryan.
34:52 We'll talk to you again next week. Any other final thoughts, gents?
34:55 - Well, happy in-season tournament, guys.
34:57 - Happy in-season tournament. We'll try to get to everybody before Thanksgiving. All right, guys.
35:03 - Bye.