Clippers Rock Bottom 9.0, Plus Charles Barkley on the Clips, 76ers, Lakers, ESPN, and Why He Loves Josh Allen

a new rewatchable on Monday.

“We did aliens, one of the most requested movies of the last couple years.”

We've touted Dagan Knights coming next Monday. That's going to be the Ringer Phoenix football guys taking over the pot on that. Punch a football stuff next week. Sunday, me and sour new guest lines week one, and we're going to do all of our NFL futures.

I'm going to podcast on Tuesday, go and Wednesday night after the Patriots game, and then Thursday night after Rams and 49ers in Australia. So Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, wall, be live on Netflix, so stay tuned for that. I'm in Boston, Massachusetts, where I went to Fenway Park yesterday with my dad and my son and my daughter's boyfriend who has had an interesting week.

We got to see a Mariners loss, but we had a great time. And it was great to be a Fenway on one of my favorite places on the earth. Not really enjoying the allergies these days went to my daughter's game on Tuesday.

They won their first game in the season.

She scored a goal. So that was fun.

“It's been an interesting week, up and down week and a lot of different ways, but that's”

the thing. When you've been in the limelight for a while, shit happens. Anyway, Barclays coming up in a little bit. That's right. Charles Barkley, every September right before football season comes on the pod.

We had, we had a randomly booked, and yet in the last 48 hours, all hell broke loose of the Quippers. That's 24 hours. That's 36 hours. Whatever it was.

So we got to hear him talk about the Quippers. I am going to talk at the top of the podcast. All my thoughts on the Quippers can be right after the break, right after the pro gym, and then me talking about the Quippers, and then after that, Charles Barkley. That's next.

The Bill Simmons podcast is presented by Fandwell. The NFL is here and it's the most rewarding season ever on Fandwell with the all-time Fandwell rewards club, every eligible bet can earn you points. Win or lose, you still get points. The more points the bigger the words you can unlock, head to fandwell.com/bs to start earning

with Fandwell rewards club. 20-owned plus select states are 18 plus DC, Kentucky, Wyoming, GameProb.com/888-789-777 or visit ccpg.org/chatcraticatica. All right. I'm recording the top part of the podcast here early Thursday afternoon and went to the Red

Taxi yesterday. My phone started blowing up, and it was because the verdict finally came in on the Quippers. From the law firm of Wachtell, Lypton, Rosen, and Katz, and the Quippers were in trouble. This was the biggest punishment ever handed out in the National Basketball Association. You know all of it at this point, five first time picks, bombers out for a year.

Lawrence Frank's six months, $30 million fine for Bomber can't go to his own arena.

The arena that he just spent five years slaving over trying to figure out how to make the best basketball arena possible can't go to the game's next year. This was a phenomenal level of incompetence from Bomber in the Quippers. When you think back to 2019, where LeBron had shown up in LA the year before, the Quippers were so desperate to be relevant again in your five of Bomber that they literally hoard

themselves out. And every way they could not only did they do everything it took to get Kauai. They trade S.J. and all those picks for Paul George because that's the only way you can get them together. Instead of just playing poker with Kauai, which I, I still don't know where else he would

have gone. Regardless, they get fleece in the Paul George trade, which was defensible when it happened, but six years later, it looks like one of the worst trades in this sort of league. They got fleece by somebody named Uncle Dennis, who is no longer allowed near any kind of league business for the next five years.

They got screwed over by Kauai Leonard.

“I think, you know, you think about like, who didn't get punished in this?”

Oh, how about Kauai? He only had to pay a $700,000 fine. He got to go back to Toronto the team he should have ended up with anyway. Didn't really lose any money, didn't get suspended for 20 games without pay. And, you know, why they do this, because obviously the player's union, and maybe even

Kauai too, it's like, hey, if you're easy on Kauai, we won't challenge this. And as soon as the player's union can't challenge it, the clippers have no recourse, because they had agreed to abide by whatever the NBA found on the investigation. So if the player's union is not swimming, nobody's swimming. This is kind of what they're stuck with.

They have screwed up almost a decade and a half of their franchises dating back to the summer

Like, they're not going to have their pick in 2032. That would be 13 years after the Kauai signing. They could basically throw a bar midspa in 2032 for how fucking stupid they are. They've turned themselves into the Southern California Brooklyn Nets.

“They, I think, will have less fans over the next couple years and they've ever had at”

any point in the history of the franchise, including in the '80s and '90s when the owner was actively trying not to spend any money. And somehow they are the single most depressing situation the NBA had again. If you think about the mid 2000s, Timberwolves, after the Joe Smith verdict, and the damage said that to Kevin Gardner, that's prime.

Kevin Gardner is when 25 best players ever, and makes the 2004 conference finals, despite the fact that they lost Joe Smith and we're starting to lose all their first round picks.

Within 050607 never makes the playoffs, right?

You've one of the best players in league, you can't even make the playoffs in a 16-team playoff. And they ended up having a trade in the Boston where you finally wins a title. This demolished them. And what happens, and this is what's going to happen in the Quippers.

When you don't have picks, you can't get somebody like YoKage or Yana to show up in 2027, in 2028. No fridge and one, scout there, because you're in the future.

“You have to start taking these huge risks.”

You take risks on people like Mark Blunt, that's what Minnesota did, or Ricky Davis. Or, you know, you're taking these big expensive contracts that people are actually trying to dump, but the player is good, and you're hoping maybe it'll work out with the player. And by the way, if your front office isn't that good, like look at Minnesota, they wasted the whole mid-2000s.

Gardner trade was defensible because they got out Jefferson and some picks back. But then in 2009, you know, they passed on curry, they passed on curry twice. So that demolished, I would say a decade and a half for the Timberwolves, based on all the picks they lost, having to trade Gardner and then in confidence could that be what happens to the Quippers.

If Wawgler, the first time picked the Quippers guy in the Zubak trade, if he becomes a bust, they took him fifth. I'm just saying, I hope he doesn't. I hope he turns out great. If he becomes a bust, this is the single most depressing NBA situation since the early 80s

Cavaliers went on and Ted Steepian, traded away so many first round picks. They had to create the Steepian role to basically prevent anyone from being a steeper as this Cleveland Cavs on a West. This will be the most depressing situation since then. All right.

So the Quippers are still professing like they're in a sense, but you know, if you do the sniff test here, and this is something that Pablo Torre did so well, he was doing on the podcast about it, where he was, he had real evidence.

“But it was also like, hey, does this pass the sniff test to you, as basically?”

Well, you look at the sniff test now from what we look at that report. We know that multiple NBA teams already said in the late 2010s that Uncle Dennis was making crazy demands. That's documented. They're like asking for hockey and pieces of hockey teams and crazy shit.

So we already knew that was happening in the summer, 2019. From the report, these are just things that were in the report, post signing. They said Uncle Dennis consistently pushed the Quippers for 10 million year in extra quiet endorsements. And if you're read between the lines of 47 different things that you can just add together,

it's clear they were like, yeah, all right, you do this and we'll try to figure out how to get you to 10 million years somehow. Four companies that he had endorsements with, this is from the report.

Each company had never before signed an endorsement agreement over remotely the same financial

magnitude and hasn't since that's notable. Also from the report, each agreement imposed minimal performance obligations on Mr. Leonard relative to the amount he has paid. I talked about this a few weeks ago. It never added up why he was getting endorsement money not to endorse anything.

Well, the report spells it out. Go read it. 36 pages. Also from the report, no agreement was publicly announced. So you're paying up money for all this due to endorse your product, but we don't know

he's endorsing it and he's not doing any work for it, sniff test. There are also emails from the aspiration higher-ups. The clippers are promising to increase the amount they pay as per quarter on lines. What we pay this guy is a direct quote from one of the emails. Another responded, thanks for verifying.

We should be fine if it's cash flowed neutral. So this is basically, this is spelling out, clippers giving aspiration money and it's coming back to them and it's just kind of going back and forth because they're trying to figure out how to get quiet stuff. And then also in the report, Clippers Chief Commercial Officer, Scott Simonberg talking

about the forum deal that they had, I never wanted this forum deal, always knew it was super

shady. I cannot begin to tell you all the red flags of these deals, just doing what I'm told. So that's documented, not great.

I got some good questions about this over the last 24 hours, including, you know, the

“clippers, the five first round picks are gone.”

Should that have just been the prize for the NC's internment, they're not going to do that.

But the first round now, 2019, so everybody has a better chance of, they move up in the

draft. So it has all these ramifications. So everyone else in the league has to be delighted that the clippers got their legs cut out and it also makes the draft a little easier for them. The most interesting email I got was from Tim from Philly, who asked, let's say the clippers

won in 2021, and then it turned out all this stuff had happened after the fact. What if they had won a title, what if they won the title in 2023, would Adam have had to revoke it, college sports style? One of the weird things about this was a lot of the co-wide stuff was really centered around the extension, like the 2022-23 range.

One of the years where he was hurt, I didn't understand that part at all, and it almost

makes it seem like it was some eye, he used to have, there's a million things I don't get

about this.

“The biggest one being, why are you doing all of this for a co-wide Leonard?”

I get it. He won the 2019 title, and you could argue he was the best part in the world at the time, and he gave you credibility to battle the Bronn and all this stuff. But you're dealing with somebody named Uncle Dennis, and you're in this world, you could say you could talk about, oh, and every NBA team does this.

This is a whole other level of what every other NBA team would do. Like, even if they had gotten him an endorsement to do like an Elcigundo sub-shop, and he held the sub-up like that famous scottie-pippin' sandwich ad, where he's holding the one with a giant foot-long sandwich with the two girls between them, that's one of the funniest ads of all time.

Even if he had done that, and they overpaid him for that, at least he was getting paid for work. I just can't believe that these people who also built like an awesome building,

“who seemed really competent of them to do were this bad when you read this 36-page report.”

But then you think what more could we have expected from the most incompetent sports franchise of all time? I wrote a piece, the curse of the Quippers in 2009 after Blake Griffin got drafted, where I split all of this stuff. I'm just going to rip through the highlights, not even from that piece, but everything

after. This is a team that traded for a young Moses alone in 1976, and then flipped them six days later for two first-round picks. They traded their MVP, two-time MVP, Bob McNeud, for John G. Noincash. They traded two starters in an unprotected first for Bill Walton, who had broken feet and ended up having 35 surgeries. Players, they stupidly gave away our last since the NBA merger in 1976, mentioned Moses

and McNeud, Adrian Day and the Terry Cummings, Tom Chambers, Danny Manning, Lamarotum, Andre Miller, known brand. That's just in the 33-year span from 76-2009. They traded future first for World B-Free and Joe Bryant, and those first became Charles Barclay, and then are more in pick and then in 1986, draft Brad Dordy. They took Danny Ferry, one spot had a Glen Rice, even though Danny Ferry was like, "I'm

not reporting the cuppers," and ended up not reporting and playing in Italy. They had trading the cuppers. They passed on KG and Kobe in consecutive drafts, and spots where the easily could have taken them. A lot of people passed them, but it's notable. They drafted Michael O'Lakandy first and they drafted with Pierce Vincent Dirk. They drafted or traded the following stars, traded for the following stars, who either blew out their

near their Achilles. Tiny Archibald, Norman Nixon, Marcus Johnson, Danny Manning, Derek Smith, Ron Harper and Louis Vuitton. They drafted 18 forwards in the top nine over 33-year span. They drafted Blake Griffin in 2009. Super exciting. Immediately gets hurt. Mrs. Rodriguez season. They traded Baron Davis in 2010 to get off his contract for the 2010-11 season. The pick they trade to get rid of the contract ends up being the number of pick and

the draft Kyrie Irving. 2014 their best chance ever to make the finals. They get completely submarine by Donald Sterling scandal, which was the craziest owner scandal in the history of the league. Submarines them during a playoffs where it seemed like they might have the best chance to win a venue in the playoffs. So that happened. They do the Kuwaitrade, which ends up with them giving away SGA and Jalen Williams and basically building the OKC dynasty.

The Kuwait piece of it where he just keeps getting hurt. That basically blows up the first half

of their decade where they never know if they could rely on him. COVID 2020, it's forgotten

that as we're heading into COVID, three teams have a chance to win the title Milwaukee and the two L.A. basketball teams. We go into the bubble. What was the team that completely

kind of wanted to get out there and didn't care if they want to play a front or not. The

“clippers. And then 2021, right when that season's wide open ends up being Phoenix and Milwaukee,”

what happens? Why get certain round two? They ain't not making the finals. That's the only time they ever made a conference finals. They do not have a retired number, at least that I know of the best clippers, probably Chris Paul, the best clipper ever, who they just completely torpedoed their relationship last year. The second best clipper they've ever had is Blake Griffin, who they signed to a big contract and then traded to Detroit cut his legs out.

And the third best clipper is probably quite Leonard, who just caused them a barmits full worth of damage over over the 2020s and early 2020s and early 2030s. So they have no picks in 2930, 31, 32 and 33. And I don't know how you fix it. So the big question for me, was this the right punishment? And I'm not saying they shouldn't have been punished. I'm

“saying was this the punishment that they deserve because I think you can make a case.”

Maybe you give bomber the choice. Maybe it's either you sell the team or here's the punishment. And if you don't sell the team, your fans are going to know that you chose to keep the team and screw them over basically for a half a decade. So you pick, you tell us because either you sell it in the next six nine months or here's the punishment. Because the part that gets lost in this is you have all these clipper fans. There's

not a lot of them, but they're, they're, they're, they're around Southern California. And there's people that bought season tickets, including myself about, I have season tickets with my friend Mike Tolin. When they built this new building, they went around and they went to a lot of, they basically asked if you wanted to sign a contract. If you buy in for five years, you know, you get 20% off if you get this, you get that. So we're in your three of

five year contract for clipper tickets. And we signed up with the team that just cheated and got, and got docked according to the NBA. Do they care about the fans at all? Like, would

“they offer any clipper fan like, hey, this was really bad. We get it. If you want to opt out”

of your tickets, if you want to, if you bought tickets for a game this year and you want to, you want us to return the money, if you bought half of a season ticket, whatever. We're offering a refund right now. What happens if there's a class action fund? Like what? Like, if clipper season ticket people got together and we're like, we're actually going to see the clipper is because we don't want to pay for tickets this year after if then it happened. What

would happen? This has never been tested in the history of the NBA and the bigger thing to me.

And this is what I don't like about the punishment. I get why they had to do it that way and you have to have basically, this is the third real people know what it is now. The people that get punished are the fans. Steve bombers were $15 billion, right? Oh, no, I have to pay $30 million to our final. Like, he probably burped that out. Oh, I can't go to clipper games for a year. Well, who watch them on TV? Julian Jacobs and Lawrence Frank, like, they're suspended. He gave Lawrence

Frank a huge extension right before all this stuff happened. The fans are stuck with the team. And this is what happened in Minnesota in the mid 2000s. This is what led when I was at ESPN. I wrote a magazine calm about how I wanted to be the new GM of the timber rules because they'd hit rock bottom and maybe they needed hope and some outside thinking how do you fix this from a clipper standpoint with the fans? Like, not only that was this Kawaii thing, a nightmare from

start to finish. They never went anything with them, right? And then on top of it, they had to trade

for James Harden to try to make Kawaii happier. And then they gave up more picks. This 2021 pick they have, it's probably going through the Celtics. I'm protected. It's like a Celtic sixers to get the best of the pick of whatever the pick played out. So even before they lose 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, that picks going to Boston in 28. So as the Celtic fan, I'll be reading it's clippers next couple of years. But how do you reconcile all this with the fans? How do you get them to

come back? What do you do? How do you think outside the box to make them feel good about being a clipper fan again, especially tying in the last 50 years of this franchise? And the fact that from the moment they moved to Southern California or started thinking about it, it's like somebody

tossed a black cat on this team. And it's never going to change. And if the outcome had been

selling into a dome to the wakers, move this team to Seattle, I just don't think there's a lot of tears shed. I really don't. And I think what Balmer did with this team, where he was basically following

and somehow came up with an even worse outcome than anything from a basketball standpoint that

“happened with Sterling. So this is a disaster. I really think that there should be”

some outs for the fans because I think this is just bullshit. You root for a team, you pick a team, you're stuck with them, you're not allowed to divorce your team. Some people were allowed to divorce real people, but not our teams. And if you pick the clippers, you're just taking the chin for your entire life. So how is that worth it? At some point, you got to come up with another choice for an NBA team. And honestly, I think it's right now for a lot of people. So yeah,

I never thought the clippers would find a new rock bottom, but I think they have.

We're going to take a break. We're going to go to Charles Barkley. And Charles's audio and video was cutting out a little bit. So there's some video spots that we had to run a picture when his video stopped. But it's that you're going to enjoy it. He's great. And he's coming up next.

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Sunday ticket for out of market games and YouTube TV for local national games. YouTube TV required terms or shictions in embargo supply commercially used excluded no refunds. Chars Barclays here in a Thursday morning, which we had planned. I think for a couple weeks, not realizing that the biggest punishment in the history of the NBA was about to come down against the sad sad quippers a team that when you ended up in Philadelphia, you ended up with the

clippers pick because they had traded their first five years earlier for Jelly Bean Joe Bryant. And you ended up with that you could have been a clipper. I mean, are you probably wouldn't even be talking to me right now? You might be living in like a one-bedroom apartment in Alabama somewhere. Hey, you listen, they'd love for the draw. It was really interesting.

“Like, remember when I think came out like two weeks ago, and the clippers like, well,”

we found no wrong doing blah, blah, blah, they're like, but they're lady and we said, no, that's that's very expensive. We got a different one. Yeah. So I said, somebody asked me what I thought. I said, well, NBA is trying to figure out what to do. The clippers are not very good at cheating. They got busted. And they're trying to figure out a way to save the integrity of the people of the NBA, not very good at cheating. I mean, this was

one of them. Shout out the pop tree for uncovering like, wow, no break. Like, really easy cheating to find. So listen, I think they did the best they could under the circumstances. And the clippers that got what they deserved, but this was probably let the let Kawai come to Canada and that's the best case scenario. Yeah, when the Kawai, when that trade got greenlit for him to go to Toronto, that made me suspicious, because Toronto

was probably the team in 2019 that had the most agenda against the clippers for how played out.

Yeah, you know, this is number one, Kawai should have never left Toronto. And if again,

it he owned an entire country. He had a great general manager, massage, a hairy, injury. I mean, it was one of the great runs. That was one of great runs in NBA history, about one guy who took

but this is just a stain on the NBA playing a simple. This looks bad. There's no way that there's nothing you can really start busted for cheating in it. Then I guess they got busted twice for cheating, because I guess Kawai was getting paid by two different companies. So far,

I did it for it. Wait. And the sponsors that never heard of, people that didn't normally have

sponsorship agreements with anybody. And that's when once you get to four, pretty tough to cover up this stuff. Yeah, like, even if you did a commercial, you could least cover it up a little bit. Yeah, yeah, like, you can pay for not doing anything. That's really bad skiing. It could at least put him in some kind of a fake commercial, but something like that that's trying to

“cover their ass. Which, which honestly, we're going to be honest, that's what they promised you to”

do it. But they have to know, especially when I saw when people started getting arrested, you know, everybody's going flip to get less jail time. So, I guess when the aspiration thing went down to a man got jail time, you had to know that's when the cookers started crumbling. So if they were going to cheat like they did, all they really had to do, be honestly, just do a fake commercial, even bad. Yeah, they should have did something like that, so they would have been

able to cover their ass. Yeah, that was the, you know, in the report that came out, where the, it really seemed like they took Umberage at a couple of things the cookers did,

including like, you have this endorsement deal with a team that's never, with a company that's

never done endorsements. And then there's no commercials or any sort of thing for the endorsement. And they have no other arrangements like this with any other athletes or celebrities. So what do you want us to do at this point? Yeah, they put out an amount of very bad situation. They put, uh, and I got a lot of love. I'll be putting them out of bad situation. And they got him on rightfully so plain and simple. Chuck, would you take money from a company that wanted you

to send endorsement, but you didn't have to actually endorse anything. And nobody ever knew you even involved with the company. I thought you would do this. Bill, let me tell you, there is number

free money. Don't forget, there's never free money. Right? Somebody's stories you've been here

through our, our lifetime when something crooked happens. If you do something crumbling for money, it always comes out in the long run. Right. And I always do one of my favorite things is jealous full of people who didn't commit crime. You're like, no, no. But, and that's your question. I obviously anybody will be tempted to take a lot of money, but there's always consequences when you do something illegal. There's always consequences playing and simple.

“Did you feel like this stuff was happening when you played? Or is this a relatively recent thing?”

Oh, it happened when I played. If Rockets needed me to take a pay cut, the science got epipin. And I said, you know what? So y'all can get scorned epipin. I'll take a pay cut. Right. So there's a, we'll make it up to you next year. I'm like, oh, fine. And it went a lot of money. I think the most money I've ever made, I'm not saying it like super stupidly. Most money I made was like five million dollars. Which is a money. I know that you know, the internet food's

going to go create. That's a lot of money. So I took a pay cut so we could science got epipin. And let's say we're going to make it up to me the next year. And I was on the end. I had nothing left in the tank, but I had one more year left of my contract. So I drove for training camp in the countryside. And I like, well, we decided you wouldn't work this shit. So we're not going to give you that money back. You just don't get your original money back. And I was like, oh, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, like, well, you can go somewhere else. And at that stage, I like, I couldn't get more than that money with them. I'm like, you know what, y'all pissing me off, but I had to take that money. But I remember you go back. You remember when Joe Smith got busted, but to turn the world's but team to always did on the table deals. What I like, yeah, you take a pick that here. We're

“looking up to you. I think that, Ashley, I think that you'd be even best to get a couple of those right”

Okay, now, I'm trying to preserve me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

So, you know, for the clipper fans out there, where you have your team just get destroyed by

had a couple of picks and two thousand twenty nine nine of one, and the good point about it, they're used to losing, so it won't be a one-beer block, that's true. You know, they've 50, 50 years of experience with feeling bad, but when this happened when Joe Smith, who you just mentioned in Timberwolves, I thought it had a profound impact on Kevin Grant, Kevin Gardner's career, just Minnesota basketball in general, took them, I mean,

they were hiring the wrong people to this is a team that famously took two point cards that weren't Steph Curry in the 2009 draft.

“They made a bunch of mistakes, but ultimately I look back at that, and I remember writing about”

at the time, like Holy Shit, this Joe Smith thing, it might be ruining Kevin Gardner's prime. They got the conference finals once and no four, and that was really it. He was in a lot for three straight years after that, and I wonder what the clipper is, is that going to happen?

Well, the clippers that I'm going to be running for the next five years, anyway. Yeah. Listen, if you're in a Western conference, you better get, you can get frequent violence, it's the Oklahoma City at the San Antonio, and if you bought, if you bought 10 tickets to San Antonio and 10 tickets to Oklahoma City for the next five years, you're going to get

to use them. Everything in the West is going through OKC and San Antonio the next five years. Those are their two great organizations, they got great players, they're well-coached. Like, maybe a championship going through San Antonio and OKC the next five years, not just the West, but, yeah, so that's the only saving grace for the clippers, and I'm going

to be a relevant for the next five years, but more scenes in the West are not going to be relevant for the next five years. I talked about this at the top of the podcast, but do you feel like there should be protections for fans with this stuff, like do you think the season ticket holders of the clippers should be like, this whole thing happened, I didn't sign up for this, I'd like to be let out

of my season tickets, like should fans have better protection.

One hundred percent and be a one-one and one thing I've always said, I think there should

be a rule that you cannot raise your ticket prices if you belong five hundred. I've always said that. I don't think, like, somebody's teams, but they raised your ticket prices every year no matter what. I've all, I've steadfastly said this, that should be a rule in postports, as you cannot

raise ticket prices if you're a good team below five hundred. I don't even think, that much of a life like an issue, but if your team is below five hundred,

“you should not be able to raise your ticket prices plain as simple.”

Yeah, I wonder, like, even in the second half of a season when a team's clearly trying not to win, if those tickets should be discounted, we don't think about this stuff at all with the paying customers for whatever reason. That's a little bit different, because if you ask a fan, are they trying to get to that damn lottery?

That's a different animal. But now everybody, the lottery is in the same anymore though, like if you're in the bottom three now, you've less ping pong balls. Yeah, but I think the NBA screw did up. What they have, I've said, from again, and every team in a lot, we get one ping pong ball.

That's it. There's no sure what we were watching with ping pong balls, but losing, it's just stupid to say no, I've ever heard, like, okay, you're going to get one ping pong ball. That will force you to try to win down the stress, because like, what we're going to be in a lot of, we're not going to get more balls.

I've always thought to NBA screw this thing up front of a getting.

Every team in a lot of, we did one ping pong ball.

“I mean, I think you can count on one hand, the amount of time to team with the worst”

record. I actually got the number one draft pick. Yeah. They never did it, so why are you rewarding them to tank games the last 30 games of the season?

No, you know, you're going to be in a lottery. You're going to give one ping pong ball. And that's it. That'll be an easy, simple way to fix their lottery. Can you explain to the people listening who are a little bit younger, who don't remember

the '80s and '90s, how incompetent the cuppers were when you were in NBA player? What it was like to play against them, what it was like to have them in the league during that stretch. They're kind of like, a lot of baseball teams now.

The clip was always had good players, but they wouldn't pay them.

I'd tell people this all the time. The notion that every team was trying to win and sports, it's not true. It's not true. Some of these guys are just great businessmen. They're making money because they split in revenue.

The team is getting evaluated on five, two or three hundred million more every year. So they're running a business, but Donald Sterling was a great business man.

The clip was correct.

“He'll have said this to me if it's impossible to be bad at sports, if it's impossible.”

Think about this.

If you're going to get a lot of mistakes every year, your teams should get better automatically.

When I'm talking to my friends, I've said, these teams, somebody's teams are not trying to win because think about this, if you're a great lawyer, you don't go to the best law firm. If you're a great person, you're going to go to the best hospital sports with the only job in the world.

Think about this, with the only job in the world, but we tell you, you suck. But you know what we're going to do? We're going to let you pick a new crop of people coming out, the best of the best. And you said it earlier about Minnesota, they picked two punk cars and back to back years that weren't named Steph Curry, they just don't know what they're doing.

Yeah, people on the time, it's impossible to, it's impossible to be bad at sports. If you, if you got a, unless you got bad people don't know what they're doing, go back and look at every drought. Think about this. The Saturday, the Sunday, those birds, they moved up to get quiet.

They drafted tonic parkers, you know, the Hall of Famers, and the second round of late

first round, that's, they know what they're doing. You know, people didn't pick Jalen Bronson, they picked him late, but people just don't know what they're doing.

“Like, and, you know, now, now they've used an analytics, but the best way to evaluate”

basketball players to get people who would know exactly what they're looking for. But I do, like, if you're not good at your job, but a lot of these guys, general managers, they keep your job to like, three head coaches, they get lucky every now and then, they keep your job. But man, this is impossible to be bad at sports if you know what you're doing.

Yeah, to that point, like, think about Oklahoma City, right, in the late 2010s, where Durant leaves, they have Westbrook, they make a big play from Paul George. They're kind of, they have a low ceiling, they're not going to make the finals, they know it. And then, Presti, it within a year, completely repose the team, makes the Paul George

trade, nails a couple picks, and they go from like, we suck to now we're a title container in two years, because they played the system correctly, but a lot of teams don't. Number one, nobody thought she was going to be this great, but, right, he played Jailon Williams, he played Czech Hungary, and what the thing Sam does better than anybody in the league.

He got guys on the bench that are incredible.

Right. Isaiah, Jill, I know they just treated him, they got to Jailon Williams kid.

“Like, he can, because you, when you're dropped as low as they are, you have to know what”

you're doing. Honestly, he's from the San Antonio model, and he, he's saying doing like the same stuff with what's genogally in Barker, you got to, he's getting late, first round, second round, are really, really good players, that goes back to what we're talking about. If you know what you're doing, but this guy's going to pick guys in a lot of it who can't

play dead, you know, but if you know what you're doing, you got to have a pretty scouting style, you got to have a great swim in place. So you look at like some of the other teams and what they did this year, right, Philadelphia, sometimes, sometimes you get lucky, right, Philadelphia, Maxi felt a 21, they ended up getting him.

That's a, they, they, they, they take for one year, they give V. J. Edgecomb, great pick. Jailon Brown, the Celtics wanted to move off him. They're in the right place right time with that, they get him and then all of a sudden the bronze, like, hey, that's looking pretty good over there. I'll jump in too, and now all of a sudden they have the number two odds in these.

Yeah, you know what's interesting about that bill, I've been asked, you know, I live in Philadelphia if you're doing a summer, but they got the best golf courses in the world, so I'll pick off their properties. I've been in Philly for the last two months, um, I have been asked 9,700 and 55 times, why the Census Treaty didn't brown the Philly, and 9,700 and 52 times, I said, I have 0, I did

why, and that was to me one of the craziest trades I've seen in my 40 years in the NBA. I can't explain it. It doesn't make sure, like, okay, the Census don't want Dealing Brown, I understand it clearly did not want Dealing Brown, Dealing Brown, there's no way in the hell you trade him that close, or two, number one, the team you got to play five times in a regular season,

and probably going out to be getting through in the playoffs, because the Census would

The Census would dead. They were relevant. They had an Asian problem with George and an Asian dual and B, but the next two years would be called three or four years with a B, they were dead in the water irrelevant. And now, of a sudden, they get jaymen, they are back in contention, and then you throw

the chair on top with the brun, but there's nothing anybody can say to me that I can go on TV or on your podcast or anywhere in the world and say, that trade may search for the Celtics. That's just crazy.

“Yeah, I've obviously been sitting with it all summer, and I think about two weeks”

ago, talked myself into at least maybe why I could work, but fundamentally, I just thought jaymen was so good last year, and I get that they didn't want to pay two guys that amount of money, like both of them had top 10 contracts in the league for value. And to me, like the brun, I was there, oh, George makes similar money to jaymen for the next two years.

It didn't have, they don't have, they didn't have the page jaymen right now. I think what they were thinking was Paul George and Jalen, they're making around the same money this year. Next year, Paul George is an expiring would allow them the circle back, but it was interesting

some of the rhetoric they had about, like Steven's who, you know, was always very careful

what he says. And he just seemed to think like the team ran its course with those two guys, and that it wasn't sustainable anymore to contend, and that year from now they're going to be in the same decision they were in this year, and they had to make a move, they had to change a team, they had to move Jalen out, use all these people in his spot.

And that was either going to be them going sideways, or maybe even going up. I just, I watched the whole season last year, and I thought Jalen was was incredible, you know, and that's the part I can't wrap my head around trading a guy off in all some season. I just haven't seen that before.

Yeah, Jalen was great last year, and let's be honest, when Jason gets a chance to have an entire off season summer, he's going to come back being a MVP calmer player. They wouldn't have been the favorites in my opinion in the East.

“I think that next thing was what, one of the greatest runs, but I think they're gone”

to regress a little bit, but in my opinion, it didn't have to stay with the Celtics. They wouldn't have been the favorite in the East going forward next year, and if even you want to get a next ever spec, they would have been the 17 in the East. Right. So, listen, I'm trying to wrap my head around it to be, I just want you to be, but

like I say, I'm not even going to impose to them a trade in Jalen, but you don't trade them to fill it up here. You don't trade them, you don't say, I, even the owner of this six has told me, he's just, you're a great player, I've got to trade you, I'm not trade you anywhere in the Eastern Conference, yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, you trade him our West, but the trade him to

Philly to a division rival, that was just crazy now, I could say, you, because abroad there's no chance abroad comes Philly, there's zero chance abroad comes to Philly, if Jalen's not there.

Here's the thing with that.

I didn't see my there was a market for Jalen, which is even more surprising, but goes back to what we talked about in the beginning about a lot of these teams are just stupid. Like, hey, if Jalen's, if they're basically like, hey, we're shopping Jalen Brown, yeah, we've seen all the teams in the NBA, I find it hard to believe there was an a team or two that would've been like, yeah, well, we'll, we'll make a run and then we'll go for him,

“but you were in the situation, when I think about like chemistry and stuff, which was obviously”

reason they wanted to split up, take them in Brown, even though they got along, there was like no bad blood or anything, but I think there was a little bit of a, whose team is this thing that they just wanted to get ahead of, and they didn't think it was solvable, especially how good Jalen was last year is the guy, you went through this in Houston when you guys got pippin.

Now, you guys were older, but you had pippin and he came and you and you guys were all three of the top 35 parts of all time, and it didn't work. So why didn't it work? Was it beyond you being old? Why didn't it work?

We just got we were old, we made it to the concept style of like, I think my first year in Houston,

but you know, not with pippin. Yeah, but that's the only good year that we had, we were broken down and Scott didn't want to be there. Yeah, it took the body, but he didn't want to be there, and we both had to pull him right away after that, but we would just, oh, have to be honest, which would be a, we had one

good year. I mean, we, remember, stocked him hit the shot. Not baloney, that year. Yeah, my first year in Houston, we had a good year, and, and, and I was cooked, I had a good second year, but after that, I was cooked, but it was, a team was cooked and Clio was

But remember, yeah. But remember, we traded a team the next year, but we were just all cooked to be honest. Yeah, there's some tough jerseys from the 90s, because we have viewing, was in Seattle, and all. Yeah.

People's in Toronto, people will get that, but we were all cooked to be honest with you. Yeah, there's some tough jerseys from the 90s, because we have viewing was in Seattle, and

you know, in father time, it's always going to win.

I think it's a lead easier, it's a lot easier today than we get that out the week, but there's no physicality. So you can play another couple of years, but like, there's all the physicality's going out to game, but, but most great players, it always ends badly.

“I mean, he could save Michael for the wizards ended badly, if you want to be honest, he”

wasn't my preferred plan for the wizards, but they didn't make the play, I see there. Yeah, but it's always going to end badly if you keep playing around the father time. All right. So we've been saying this about LeBron for the last couple of years, and, you know, I just does he defy it?

Because Brady defied it. Brady played to his 45 who won a Super Bowl. He was an MVP, and this was in his, like, early 40s, and it kept going and going. Can LeBron be the only guy who defies that? We have to be honest about LeBron, and he just swept into play off the last couple of

years. So just cause you to put no good numbers, John Bean, you'll be an effective, and I'm not taking a shot at LeBron. It's just facts. You know, people say he's defying the highs, I'm like, well, my memory serves me correctly.

He's got sweeps. They didn't play off the last couple of years. I don't know. Yeah, so I says, he put them good numbers, yes, he's put no good numbers. That does not mean you're defying, because it's, to me, it's a lot easier to get numbers

but I'm saying, LeBron's playing well, don't get me wrong. But to say he being fathered, I'm like, they've got swept, we're going to be honest. You know, we got a lot of steps, step, step for wives I've done, but it comes to LeBron. You do agree with LeBron, you just hate LeBron. I love the way Daniel Rose was giving him, he said, "The media's turning into LeBron

and fanboys." And I, I don't know, that's step for the wives, they just go along with whatever they say. I said, LeBron's playing pretty good, I look rude with that, but they've got swept the last two years in the playoff, so don't tell me how great he's playing. Because if you can't sweep, you're not playing that good.

Yeah, I guess he's playing great for a guy in his 40s.

“But the issue is, and I think this has been the issue for them the last couple of years”

and they clearly knew it because they didn't really want him to come back.

You have, you basically have two spots.

What you said, what you said out again? They didn't want him to come back, I've been saying that all summer. I'm so glad you survived, man, because I'd deal with these fools in the media like LeBron left the linkers. I said, LeBron, they were like, it's time for us to move on, like, I love the way he released

that statement, saying, I've decided to move on, like, dude, the linkers, they handle this, they're like, no, it's time for you to move on. But I'm glad you said it like that, because I can't people, you think if the linkers really want LeBron, you would have left there, come on, man, stop it, he's media guys are so like LeBron made the decision to lead the linkers, like, no, the linkers made the decision

from LeBron. And they made the decision in January of February, and the Luca got hurt. Yes, the Brian had that resurgence, but the issue with the Brian, they needed to do it. It was time for him. And I was disappointed he went to Philly, I'll be honest with you, I wanted him, I thought

it'd been a great ending for him to go back to Cleveland, but he has no affiliation with the 76ers.

“Yeah, I told him to go in a perfect ending, and let's be honest with you, I think, honestly,”

if the Brian went to the Cavaliers, they did a little bit of my free seat compared, because they got a really, really good team, they just need some leadership, and LeBron had a went to the Cleveland Cavaliers, they would have been my pick, and it, and I let him tell you something, if you would ever go out with a championship and Cleveland, I'd say,

I'm always going to think my greatest play, but LeBron's career would have been the greatest

career. If he got a went back to Cleveland, because if he was the championship in Philly, it would be cool, because Philly hadn't won in a long time, but if he had a went back to Cleveland, and 42 years old, or 43 of being on play two years, and walked out with him a championship,

top of the food chain on careers, but if a Brian at his age would have been back to the hometown and win, it would have been the greatest career in sports history. Yeah, I don't think he felt like he could win with that team in the same way, because it seemed like at the beginning of free agency, he was headed to Cleveland, I would have bet anything on it.

And he was the only team he was actually meeting with in person in real ways, but something scared him off on the Cleveland thing, and maybe he thought they could get rid of James Howard and I don't know. Well, listen, you know what I, this is what I think I don't have enough proof I'm just going out of my ass, I think once he found out, he had probably did an under table deal

with James for three more years, I think that's probably what's scared him a little, because I think, if he went back, if he went back to Cleveland, they would have been the favorite, no question of, I mean, they got to the conference finals last year, and you had LeBron with his leadership to go with those guys, they would have been a favorite, but there's

no doubt in my mind, because first, I'm surprised they gained James three years, but it

makes sense like, okay, they had promised him that deal. One thing about LeBron just from the last couple years, I think what's changed, even though you, the numbers were routed with the same, right?

“I think the issue is, you basically have two spots for expensive guys on an NBA team, right?”

The way the salary cap is now the second apron, so if you're going to really pay two guys, you better make sure you can win a few playoff rounds in a row with them, and LeBron in his age, clearly, I don't think he could be one of the two guys anymore, because of the grind of the season, how you have to play in both ends, and if they wanted to pay Reeves, that you can't pay Luca Reeves and LeBron, and expect to win more than one playoff rounds,

so I think they were out in February, I agree with that, but I still think if he had what to play with them, it would come to an hour and down in the middle, and LeBron's going to have ball and board James hard to hit him there. I thought that would have been the same as in the East of my face, because they were, I mean, I'd say, what to team they had, they got to the conference finals, and right, and one of the worst coaching jobs, and one of the worst NBA games I've seen blew a 20-point lead like that, they were close, so LeBron had a one there and my opinion they would have been the famous in the East.

“Here's the thing, if you're paying LeBron 4 million a year, that's a great deal, I don't care what team he's on,”

that's amazing value for somebody, like, why do you think San Antonio didn't want him?

Because they didn't go into bias Harris instead and doing some other things, but San Antonio was so close, I felt like he would have a huge impact for them. That team, first of all, those two guards, I don't want to see them for the next 10 years if I'm a guard in NBA. Yeah, if I'm a guard in the NBA, I do not want to see them for the next 10 years, they're going to be the best, they're going to be the new step in clay, I really think they're like, no, you know what, let's just do it organically, we got to win, we got to win, we got to win.

Yeah, and I think they won't probably be the drug growing to the leadership role on his own, because they're going to be the team to beat what okay see, but in the next 10 years in the NBA. I mean, you're going to go through okay see in San Antonio the next 10 years. I'll take a bit right now, if you say, give me okay see in the spurs, they're going to win five times in the next 10 years, I'll take that bit.

“Yes, here's the thing, like normally I would say you're right Chuck, I think that's the right instinct.”

We've had eight champions in eight years and we've had a bunch of teams already that people were like, oh, what like Denver after 2023 watch out for these guys. To be the next dynasty, South exit that's 24. Oh, here we go. Hey, let me see something. If you go back and look at those teams, if it doesn't have the treated everybody, it probably would have repeated. Right, let's try this.

The spurs won seven games without okay have okay see having their second best player, okay see probably would have won that series if they got ahead.

They probably would have beaten next but so and listen, I go back to this if the subjects have never you know the subjects super power was for Zingas. Yeah, if they could have paid them healthy and brown and kept for Zingas healthy.

But Zingas, it will get them a super power because you had Tatum and for Zingas, I'm like nobody can beat that team. I said that like in January. And I didn't know Tatum Williams was going to get hurt. I said, okay, see going win the championship and he got hurt never got help to watch the weather.

This in okay sentence first, going to be Bell in the West, but I'll take five out of 10. I'll take that benefit put it out there somewhere.

But you just made the case why that's not going to happen. There's so many dumb things that can happen with these teams. You can have injuries. You can make one dumb trade. You can pay everyone at the same time. And we I just feel like we've seen like the warriors who they won or if they had four but three and five years basically right when Durant came, but but they won one before Durant than they won two after and they lost the 19 and we would have said when he showed it there. Oh my god, they're going to win eight of the next 10 and they won two more and then they won the extra on the 22.

But but they probably wouldn't want another one if if LeBron they got to remember they got to the package from the NBA when they suspended three months, they probably won another. Remember.

“Yeah, I remember I think this okay team is bigger and deeper and I think this first team is bigger and deeper. So they don't have some just this way because he's got a chance.”

He can do things that most people can't do. Yeah, okay. See us the deepest team and then the deepest team and the league. I mean, he almost made to the finals without their second best player. Because I think he only played in public 30 games all year. All right. So if I'm the rest of the week and I agree that on paper five and the next 10 could go through San Antonio.

I can see I'm thinking well, who knows within trees and money, especially when b 7 foot say, explore, he's scared to him and his health all this stuff. What happens with chat home. The next couple years was that an aberration in the playoffs last year or maybe he's not as good as we thought he did. Like they're I'm talking myself in a certain realities because then honestly the next thing.

The next and the run they had and the fact that they basically just came together for nine weeks and won a title makes me wonder.

But do we have so much talent in the league now could that keep happening. The next. Probably the greatest run in the history or for good solid team. I don't think they have great team but he had one of the bosses turned into one of the great all-time performers, which is interesting because. I don't think even the next time he thought he was going to be this great.

Yeah, I mean, I don't think and I thought I remember there's a bunch of clips. And he kept receipts when he showed where people bassed him and he went to the deck. This is not a need of move or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I love when he played that video. But man, it's been one of the great surprises.

He has turned in one of the great players in our league. But they want to want to great runs. One of the great runs in NBA history. But like I said, I'll take my chance with O.K.C in his purse.

“But if you want to do that while the features, I'm going to put some money on O.K.C and it's better to put it next five years for sure.”

Okay, so you're over under next five years, three and a half titles for O.K.C in the spurs sounds like. Oh, yeah, for sure. Okay. How much fun are you going to make fun of the wakers this year? There's no time lakers.

All the way guys, just with the weird team they built in general, this feels like it's going to be comedic father for you on the show. Now, I really want to see the lakers do well.

First of all, I'm a big group of Santa, a big australese fan.

I think they're going to be better than people realize. Really? Yeah. Look at Luke and Kyrie took the link and took the math to the finals. Come on, man.

This team is probably better. This is probably team. It's just as good as that team. They're going to be fine, I think. I don't think they're going to win the championship.

I don't think they're going to win the championship. But the league is better when the subjects, the nicks and the lakers are good team. Yeah. See, listen, when all the crap that was going on in the NBA, with this low management bullshit,

“the quiet thing and all the stuff going on, I think to NBA got the luckiest league in sports history with the next win in the championship.”

I thought it, I've been in the NBA for 40 years. This was the best field good story that I've, I'm trying to think when we've had a champion that was such a field good story.

That the only one is Dallas and Dirk, but that was really one player versus a whole city and all the history.

An all-time break, getting that monkey off his back, he can't win the championship. I've been to Burke, it's the only other in the conversation where it was something that everybody felt good about basketball.

“Well, I remember with Dirk the first time, I think one of the first times we ever did a podcast when I was at ESPN, you call it the shit list.”

When a guy, when he, no matter how great he is, if it doesn't end the title, you're just on the shit list and like Dirk pulled them soft off the shit list, right? He did a very important step on the car in Milan, John Stockton, John Barker, Brad Dillon, shit list, coach in Baylor, won the all-time breaks. How's the Baylor? Yeah, I was happy for Dirk, there's nothing, you know, you don't go crazy over it, but when you hear guys talking about it, these all the time breaks and players who haven't wanted to happen.

She becomes up all the time. So it drives you crazy, like all of a sudden, we're like golfing tennis, but individual sport instead of a cheese sport, I'm not sure how that actually happened. But it happened. So, but I didn't, I didn't really, I didn't really want to end the championship. And this win in championship was probably the second best field good story we've had in a long time.

Do you think it was repeatable? Or are they at one end done? I think that was just a perfect storm. You're honest with you, I do, I just think it was a perfect storm. Because, you know, one thing is quiet, it kept.

The Eastern Conference has become better than the Western Conference. Yeah, I mean, you take away the Brooklyn, you take away the Brooklynness. There's not a bad team in the Eastern Conference. That's the one thing that concerns me about Philadelphia.

You know, Joel and Beat has never played a floor seat.

But Brian hasn't played a floor seat in front of six years. Aren't I going to be able to hold them? Because, like I say, other than Brooklyn, every team in the Eastern, even the Washington, we're just going to have a good team.

“I mean, come on man, what's the last time we've been able to say that?”

Ten years. So, every time the sixers play the Celtics, it's going to be a dogfight. And so, if they don't have those guys and they're at a number eight seed, and they have to win for each series on their roles, that's hard to do. Well, you also have the miles from the previous years, right?

They made the Conference finals two years ago. They went all the way last year. We saw that with the Warriors, where they had that five year run.

But by the time they got into your five, they're running on fumes.

The rank gets her, quite Thompson gets her, you know, the 100 playoff games, 95 playoff games a year. Kind of adds up. Janice and Bam on Miami. Yeah, they don't have a good team. They don't win a championship, no, but they got a lot of spots to build.

But they're going to be a good team. You can be Bam and Janice. That goes back to my original point.

“You know, see, that's why I'm being an liberal and both got to stay healthy.”

Because every game, what I've said to all the team, and I shouldn't say it, because I'm going by last year. The only team I can see the stinks in the Eastern Conference is Brooklyn net. And now, for landers, go have a good team. Charlotte Charlotte, Charlotte's got a good team.

And the end is back. And down, and down is going to be a really. You want, and down is going to be one of my sleepers. But also how West. Be too.

I live and taste on. You know, a team is going to surprise people this year. The Utah Jazz. Yep. Danny is quietly building a really, really good team.

They're going to surprise people. So who's your sleeper this year? I said, man, the Indiana is going to be really good. I said, because the zoo boss tree, they got kind of that screwing in a lot. Or he could be kind of got another good player.

But having that boss back, zoo bosses, the hell of a player in Halleburg. But I said, man, watch out for the Utah Jazz. They probably get, now they got to figure out what they're doing. I think they're going to keep, um, what's the mark mark. Because they can jump start after each equipment with him.

They could be a playoff team with him. But if they treated him, they could get a king's ransom. Because he's a hell of a player. Yeah. I'm with you on Utah because the X factor for them is a Peterson is good right away.

They're going to be really dangerous. Because that's like exactly what they needed. Like a guard who could create offense at Danny Games along with the other guard there to had. Um, but yeah, I'm watching them too. It's time for a special part of today's episode brought to you by my buddy.

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“I think he's a top two or three tight end.”

Very happy to take him. Get to watch him on the bears. David Montgomery on the Texans. I get to watch him in their defense. I think he's going to score a lot of touchdowns.

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Because it seemed rocky during the regular season. And then the playoffs, you've seen like you guys again. Yeah, it was great.

“The only thing I didn't like, we never worked.”

I thought of a disrespectful to the fans. Because, yeah. This and that. We were very sad of them on. It's crazy how.

They never they were great to be honest with you.

They didn't do anything. But when you had a relationship, you wanted to work for both people. And I called him all the time. That's a good man. We doing something like fellas.

He's a dude. We love what you're all doing. And I said the only thing that I had a problem with. And people complain that's a dude. The fans don't know when we're on.

We want to work. We open the season bill. In October. We work one day in November. And we work Christmas day.

Right. So we work three times three months. I says the fans can't find the games as it is because we own three different networks. I don't know what night different things are on. And I thought that was disrespectful to the fans.

I know these TV networks. I know they pay a lot of money. But we should do everything we can. To make the games accessible to the fans. And I didn't think we did that last year.

Still on us once a month to start the season. I didn't like that at all. Because the fans like, but they don't. When are they going to be on again? We're like, we all want some money.

The rest of the time they were on NBC and Amazon. They know. Let's help the fans find the games. That's what we should do. So I feel like there's some end around.

So they could put you on ESPN plus or ESPN 2 and just try to keep you in the habit of being on once a week. It seemed to be the easy fix. As well, that's just not going to happen. Okay. That's not going to happen.

So stop it. You just told me you wanted to work more. One thing. Yeah. But no, I'm not going to do the.

That every show shit. That was the one thing I laid down. I'm going to be I'm going to be a good team player. But I'm not going on every show.

“Number one, I think it really important for me to limit the amount of times I'm on television.”

Like when I'm on, I want to be on. But no, no. You misunderstood me. I'm saying, I'm saying, you're more inside the NBA. No, I'm not.

Other shows. I'm not on TV at all right now. Yeah. I don't want to be. I don't.

I don't do shows right now. Because when the season start, I want to do our show. I do a couple of eats and things. But the last thing you want to be is on every show. I don't want people to get sick of seeing my face.

I'm very strategic. I've done the same thing. Like I have. I'm doing your podcast. I haven't been on TV since the season ended.

I went on TV one day when the brand else is saying to have me all over down creation. I curse what Brian asked out because I was on my way to the golf course. And they called me to turn around. I was on my way to the golf course.

They called me so the brands don't make a decision. What made it even funny and weird, Bill. I was on my way to the golf course in Philly because I live in Philly doing the summer. And I went back and they didn't know where he was going.

So I had to go chill and talk about it.

Then he announced it was on Philly. And I spent the next five hours on TV and Philly talking about LeBron and Kevin and Philly. I was so damn pissed. I told the Brian when I said I'm a kick him in his ass. I really do a conscious effort.

I told the ESPN. I do greenery every now and then because I got much respect for greenery. I do Steven A every now and then. But the one thing I very conscious of. I don't want to be on TV all the time because I don't want people.

I don't want to call out guys. You know guys who love sitting themselves on television. I don't want to call anybody out. Yeah. I have an idea where you're talking about.

Yeah, man. I'm sick of you on TV. You don't have to go on every show.

You don't have to have an opinion on everything.

So I'm to get back to your original point. I'll do a greenery every now and then because I like him. I do Steven A every now and then. But no, I'm not going on every show. That's not just not going to happen.

I can promise you that. Well, at least you're not doing the thing this year where you're claiming. You're going to retire. To get you retired more than my hominally.

“I think my hominally at seven retirements.”

And you had nine. You know, you know, let me let me. Let me almost say it is for the last time. And I need you to listen to me. Like my girl.

You to say you do you do you do this. I need you to hear me. I listen to me.

You I need you to hear me.

You listen, but you're not hearing me. So I told TNT. I was going to retire at 60. And they're like, oh, he's full of shit. He's not going to retire.

So we come up. I'm saying, I said, Hey, guys. This is my last year. They're like, what do you mean? I said, I told you I was six years ago.

I've been retired 60. They're like, you were serious? I said, yeah, I was serious. Then they said to me, do us a favor. Stay two more years till we get the new deal.

I talked it over with my friend that I said, okay, I tell you what. I'll stay to 62. Which was last year. Yeah. And they said, he said, I said, I'll stay to next year.

Little about notice, fucking idiot was going to lose the NBA. And I say, like, so I, so I had made it my mind. I was going to retire at the last year. So I said, okay, I'm good. Like I said, I'm going to pass it to Jamal Crawford for jail and roles.

I'm good. Yeah. So they're like, okay, so then they're like, well, we need to decide. I said, I told you, I was retired next year. I said, we can't let people think you're retired.

But we're in a ghost scene in a new TV deal. I said, there has nothing to do with me. I'm retired.

“They're like, can we tell people you're going to stay?”

I said, yeah, okay, tell people I'm going to stay. But I'm not staying. But I didn't know they were going to lose the deal. So I'm retired. This is true story.

I meet with NBC. I meet with Amazon. NBC offers me a deal. I'm like, I appreciate it. But no, thank you.

Amazon. Never offered me a deal. But I said, I met with him. I said, no, thank you. So I think I'm retired.

I get a call from Ernie. Who's the person I trust and respect the most. He says, Chuck, they got this deal on the table. But ESP is going to take our show. Would you consider keep working?

I said, well, I mean, not really. He said, but everybody can keep their job. You know, I really love the people. I've been with him for 26, 27 years. I was like, Ernie, how long do you want to stay?

He says, let's keep their job for two more years. And so I said, Ernie, I'll stay for two more years. But he says, Chuck, I'm planning on retiring and two years. I'm planning on retiring and two years. I'm planning on retiring and two years.

So I'm planning on retiring and two years. So the answer to your question.

“Ernie, Ernie said to me, Chuck, would you please stay for two more years?”

I said, you know what? I love you, man. You're the best. I said, I'll spend for two more years. So right now, I'll let Ernie change his mind.

Next year is my last year for a hundred percent, Bill. I was up to explaining to people these retirement conversations. I was planning while I was going to retire. But so right now, Ernie, Ernie told me this year, and next year was his last year's.

And so everybody could keep a job behind us.

And we're talking to two more people.

“But I'm hoping to show keep going on ESPN.”

But if Ernie retires after next year, I'm done. Because we're a package deal. I got so much love and respect for that guy. If he says he's done, I'm done. Because let me realistic.

I could have went to NBC and made more money. But I was concerned about money. Right. NBC often made more money than I was making. But I was like, it ain't about the money.

I see I'm done. But man, I really wanted to keep these people. Because I'd be able to keep people at these 26 or 27 years. I get to know them and all their families. And like I said, I can't just keep working for forever.

Do not be 6 or 3 freaking. No. I'm not. Listen, I want to down the golf course bill. I don't want to down to on ESPN.

Definitely that. I don't want to hear that. I don't want to hear that. I want to drop dead on the 13th hole.

It's funny when I went to see you for the first time we met was 2002.

I think I went to do a piece about inside the NBA when I was writing free of Spin.com. And one of my takeaways is like, oh, this is why the show works. These guys love each other. And it's funny.

You still have that same relationship with Ernie 25 years later. We're now you feel like it's even him to the end.

“Because someone, I remember I told you, are you family?”

I remember you kidding? Yeah. So, you know, Ernie and he is the gluder of all this stuff together. Yeah. He works as behind.

And he's been through so much stuff in his life. You know, his son had a couple years ago that was traumatic for us. You know, he battled cancer. You know, when you work somebody, I mean, I can't even believe. You know, it was really funny.

Ernie's given me shit all the time. Because when I took the job, he said, he pulled me aside. He said, be honest with me. How long are you going to be here? I said, Ernie, I'm going to be here for five years.

And I'm probably going to take an NBA job. And like, once a month, he says, hey, how's it? You're five being worth now for you. Because I'm not going to lie.

“I originally originally thought I suffered through TV from three or four or five years max.”

And then I'm going to take an NBA job. And now 26 to seven years later, it's amazing. I would have loved to have had you as a GM in the mid 2000s when I was writing my column. When we had, that was like the atrocious GM apex, all those teams, the next and the timber wolves. And they're, I don't know if you would have fleece them or you would have gotten infected by them.

But something interesting would happen. You know, I've had three chances to be a GM, but they wouldn't give me total control. I says, yeah, no, I'm not leaving my job to take a job. And I'm going to get fired. I said, right, I saw this happen. My job with the wizards, like, they blame him for everything that he hoped for.

I said, I have no problem at all blaming me, but anything. But I'm going to have complete authority on all the drafts and trades. I like when you have no experience. I said, yeah, you take them behind my brother.

I'm, I says, I, you, I can always tell who's going to be a good NBA coach or a coach in general,

and a real deal about the assistance they hired. Because a lot of these coaches, one thing I admire about Newt Sabin, he hired every extra head coach. Because he knew they were going to be a good assistant, and they're going to do things right away. They want to be a head coach again. A lot of these coaches hired their friends and their buddies.

And they, like, somebody who didn't worry about taking their job. I said, I don't want somebody going to be in the system their whole life. I'm going to surround myself with successful people. But next thing, when you go back, every coach he hired, Kirby, Lane Kippin, Sarkizian, the coach in Maryland. Like he hired guys who had got fired, Bush Jones.

Because number one, they know how to run. If you're a head coach, it's a total, because better assistant coach is like night and day when being a head coach. Right, but he hired guys. We had ran things who knew how to organize things.

But he, like, I'm a strong assistant around me. But a lot of these coaches going back to the area you were talking about. They hired their buddies who didn't know what they were doing. Who were like, they were worried about somebody taking their job.

You've got to, you've got to be successful. You've got to surround yourself with successful people. Right. I agree with you. I've tried to do it.

You always come on every, or release September before the NFL season.

This is the fourth or fifth straight time. You have opinions, you have picks two years ago, we looked this up. Two, two years ago, you picked the Eagles to win the Super Bowl and they actually did.

“So I think you're one and, you're one and four lifetime with us.”

So obviously everyone's on pins and needles to save you can increase to percentages. What do you have for the season? Let's say it's up to bed. I was so excited when last Saturday happened. It was my Christmas.

They called it Week Zero. I finally got to go into a, what's book and bed on football. I was, it could just, like, because now, it's like cursing for me. Every Saturday and Sunday for the next six or months. You know, football, my favorite sport.

I don't know. I'm going to leave my house on Saturday and Sunday. So that I bed on football every weekend. I, I just freaking love it. I do, I love it.

And so last week, I went into the cinema for the first time. And it got to look to me like, it's like cursing for you. And it is like Christmas in the middle of the damn summer. I'm good to go. I'm good to go for the damn.

I love going to casino every Saturday and Sunday, bed on football. I do. But this going to be, this going to be a great year. You know, the obviously everybody's on the rounds. Ben wagon, uh, man, I'm, it's great to see Aaron Donald back.

I got so much love. I respect what that guy. Um, but, uh, in the, in the, in the L.C. Man, I want this team to win a Super Bowl. So damn bad.

Be, uh, Bill. I want to see the Buffalo bills. Uh, John's out into me is the best player in football. I saw a firm at would say that. The other day on the event.

He's just disguised the best player in football. And they went out and got him a weapon, DJ Moore. I hope it's enough. I hope they improved their defense. I would love to see that got a new head coach.

Obviously, but I want to see the Buffalo bills. Because, you know, you talking about the shit list earlier.

“I think one of the greatest of accomplishments and sports history.”

They're never going to get recognition or it's love and deserve us.

The Buffalo feels going to four street Superables. That's never happened before. But they're never going to get to respect the deserve. They're never going to want to win. It's wanted to great.

Because, you know, you talked about early autoware and tell you, put on your body when you play autos. Extra games, autos a year after a year after year. Yeah. But the Buffalo bills had to get it in.

You know, and it sucks. They've never gotten the credit and respect that they deserve. But I have a accomplishment. But I'm, I'm all in on Buffalo. I would love to see them win the AFC and get to the Super Bowl.

And the NFC, man, the Seattle Seahaw's have to be the most disrespected champion in the history football. I got a chance to meet their coach, Coach McDonald in the league title. And man, the job he did. Man, that defense was incredible. Sound Donald, he didn't see ghosts in the more.

He just saw the best one body. But that defense was incredible. He didn't even mention it anymore. Just all about the rounds. Like I said, I know they got miles and I'm glad to see Aaron Donald back.

But the Seattle has to be the most disrespected team. Super Bowl champion in a long time.

“Can your patriot be good again since they got my man, AJ?”

You know, that's going to be interesting. You know, how am I equals going to do now? That's that's a bit question and filly. It's going to be a lot of pressure on Jalen to be at a high school. So if you look at it, listen, I think the sleeper team.

It is not, you know what I know they have a sleeper team. The quietest mouse in the room has been Jerry Jones. This is the first time that I can ever remember. They went in top preseason with our Jerry being on television every single day. That tells me he thinks the couple has gotten a good chance.

I agree. Super quiet for it's two months. Listen, you think about for the last few years it's been Michael's contract. That's contract for the last three or four years. I have a very Jerry all preseason, which tells me he thinks they got a good team.

Yeah, I agree. Yeah, so they're going to be really good.

Man, but that's what you know, it does always don't can count on Murray.

It's good.

“You can listen to him with comments and scenes on offense.”

Can college resurrect this career? Yeah. Oh, there's another while.

It's now never for for the Mar in Baltimore.

Like, guys, no one had team sucks. Yeah. But when you got up a little bit. Because I tell people very few years when you play basketball or football. You're like, you got chance to win in the championship or win in the Super Bowl.

But I played for 16 years, probably five years. I'm like, we got a chance to win in championship. And part of football is harder. But you know, but this is probably 10 teams has got a legit chance to win a Super Bowl. The other 20, they're like, we trying to get better.

We make the play off. We don't have a good year. But when you like the Patriots, they got to get to the Super Bowl to feel like they had Another good year. Buffalo, Baltimore.

Two thoughts on what you said because I said this last week about the Seahawks. I'm so glad you said that about them being disrespected. I was making the case last week.

They might be the first NFL Super Bowl champ who is a nobody believes in us team.

Everybody's moved on. They have basically 95% of their team is back from last year when they dominated everybody. And I don't know. Everybody's just blowing the Rams, blowing the Rams, blowing the Rams. But if you mentioned McDonald how good of a coach he is, you know he's going to use it as motivation the whole year.

Everybody's already hitting the Super Bowl of the Rams. It's like we didn't even win. You know how this goes. This happens at football at the time. Yeah, I heard some idiots on TV talking about 10 of the Rams go on the feet.

I'm like, I'm like, I can't help making the playoffs yet.

“So, but, you know, that's what makes fodder.”

But like, you know what, you know, I got a man crush on Dan Campbell. I don't want to see Dan Campbell. I'm allowed to see Detroit get back to the playoffs and do some damage. I mean, it's so, so. But that's, that's what makes for us crazy, Bill.

That's it. Because last year, nobody's picked your pictures to get to the Super Bowl. No. I'm not sure that there would be good. I didn't see it.

I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm in Denver. This might be the favorite in the UFC. They might've got to the Super Bowl last year.

If my, if my wife's over next, I'm hoping didn't get hurt. I mean, there was two teams. The Denver absolutely could have beaten the Patriots. It's probably would have next didn't get hurt. And then Houston would have beaten the Patriots.

If Straud didn't completely fall apart in that game. Because Houston had the best defense, at least in the UFC, or maybe in the whole league. And also, can he rebound? Right.

He probably got more pressure on him. And he did any player in the NFL. When you got to defense that good. And you wouldn't read the single hand of the reason that he lost. And like, he's probably in my opinion.

He's probably got more pressure on him than any player in the NFL. I truly believe that. Well, and that's the difference between basketball and football.

Because in basketball, you're all basically one unit.

And you have a starters in the bench. Yeah. Football, you have the offense in the defense. And if you have an awesome defense. And your QB is just letting you down over and over again.

It's almost like, like, when Matt Maloney couldn't hit a three point shot, and the playoffs for you guys. And it's like, that's one guy. But this is like an entire unit that's just sub-marining you. You just, you know, you just don't have to turn the ball over.

You don't have to play great. Right, drive the car. Yeah, you just keep us on the highway. And so, and that's the thing. And that's the thing, it's hard to play sports on the pressure.

Is he going to just let it fly or be tentative? That's the hardest thing about sports to people don't realize. It's hard to play sports on the pressure. Like, once you go this first intercept and how's he going to react? Right.

“So that's what, but that's what makes sports intriguing.”

That's why we watch. Well, and then the quarterback's just in general this year. of Lamar's that a really interesting point in his career. You have next who I think has a team that at least is like a top 16, potentially if he's good enough.

You have Jalen Hurts, you haven't even mentioned yet, with a huge spotlight on him now, with another offensive coordinator, no age at Brown, making a lot of money on a Eagles fans, where are the Eagles fans staying with Jalen Hurts these days?

This is gonna be a big deal.

“It's gonna be a big deal because, you know,”

they took the noise off the room and, okay, you could, they took this to other guy. So we got rid of it on the guy. Now, okay, it's on you. And this and that's the way this thing works.

We have it, they picked the guy. They said, okay, this, this relationship is not eligible. And they're like, we're gonna take you. - Right, that's just the way this bounces is all on Jalen now. - Yeah, the Rams thing is interesting

'cause comparing it to basketball. When you have heavy favorites in basketball, like San Antonio and Oklahoma City, you can't even bet on them to make the playoffs. They've made the odds so high.

It's like literally impossible to bet on it. 'Cause you know, like, whatever happens, they're gonna have the infrastructure to be good. And in football, you know, the Rams, as good as they're like top seven or eight are,

and as great as their coaches, it's still football. And you lose two of those guys and you have a top heavy team and all of a sudden that can tilt away. So anytime I ever see somebody that's a pretty bit of favorite, I just don't, I'm not buying it.

I don't think anybody should be a pretty favorite.

“- Well, you know, there's some, you have to,”

guys don't tell a vision or radio, I have to pick somebody. And then you pick the prettiest or the prettiest girl. You know, can match, can match, step or stay healthy. You know, you know, you stay healthy and wanna MVP,

but you know, you use up their needs. So, you know, they took the kid something from Alabama. He didn't want to go out there and play other rookie. So, but that's what being this, that's what makes sports,

it's amazing. Great sports, like in real time. Like, you get to be high, low, mad, sad, excited. We do all this stuff in real time.

That's, that's why I wanna see some first stars bill.

It is such a ray of joy over cities, over people. - Right, it's beautiful to watch. - All right, so it sounds like, so I have Houston and Seattle in the Super Bowl and I have Seattle winning back to back.

Your Super Bowl pick is what? - Some two defense is a two pick. The final score is gonna be 17, 14. - That's fine. - That's fine.

“- As I mentioned, that's gonna be a slobber knocker.”

I'm gonna, I'm going for Josh out and I'm gonna go Buffalo Bills against Seattle and the Buffalo Bills are gonna win a Super Bowl over Seattle. - One in one, 17. - Wow.

- So, you're saying they finally get off the hump. Josh Allen gets off the shit list. - Yes. - Buffalo is a city gets off the shit list, just like a shit list cleansing.

- And it's gonna be one of the great days in the sports street, my man, Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Bruce Smith, Darrell Talley, but he's good at it, see how to get, what's Steve's name, dude, with the part retarded,

a great, quick retarded. - Steve Laskar, so get his name, who? - Is it Steve Taskar? - Steve Taskar, yes, Steve Taskar, yeah. - Here, here, I love those guys.

I became a Bills fan because of Cornish, a minute in Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas and those guys, and Bruce Smith, so I want them to get off the list 'cause just the same way I saw, just see they excitement on those mixed players,

country, Larry Johnson, John Stark, and all those guys. - That's great. - I would clap again, so I would love to see those guys be on a parade with a Buffalo Bills. Got a new stadium and everything.

- Yeah, the really, now that the mix of one, the title, I would say, is it the Suns? That would be the most euphoric fan base, if they won the title. They haven't since 1970, they've had a team,

and they've great fans. - We're not gonna win a championship, that's super sad by the stop that Bill. - Same down the road, not this year. - Well, how about my sisters?

That'd be great, too. - Hey, you won in '83. - Bill, that was bad. - I guess that was a long time ago. - You've passed in the Leningham.

- Suns never won. - I don't know, thanks for reminded me. - Well, it's your... (laughing) - But no, it was great for New York.

I felt it was exciting, but man, that's a beauty, it's poor still man. You start from the bottom every year, and whatever happened, it plays out in real time, real time. - So would you expand if you were the NBA

or would you just move Brooklyn and the Clippers to two different cities and stay at 30? - Well, we need a team and Seattle. - Yeah, no kidding. Seattle has the best fan base in pro sports, probably.

That was one of the worst decisions they made moving that team out of Seattle.

I always feel bad about screwing a fan base, moving the team,

in Seattle period, and I know they want to do Vegas,

“but the number one priority should be Seattle.”

They had a bench fan base in sports. - We agree.

- Charles Bakley, a pleasure as always.

We'll see who's right. We both have Seattle in the Super Bowl. You have Buffalo, I have Houston.

“I have Seattle winning, you have Buffalo winning.”

- Right, man. - We'll see who wins. - That's what happened, man. You're a good fan and continuous success. Thanks for having me.

- You too, I always great to see you, Charles.

Thanks. (dramatic music) All right, that's it for the podcast. Thanks to Charles Bakley.

“Thanks to Eduardo Gahau as well from the ringer,”

and I'm gonna be back on Sunday where we'd be live on Netflix. I think at seven o'clock ET, me and South doing guest lines, week one, plus our NFL Futures Draft,

that we always love to do.

Enjoy the weekend. I will see you on Sunday. (upbeat music) - Must be 21 plus in President's leg states for Kansas and affiliation with Kansas Star Casino,

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