Takes

I am officially done with all NBA era comparison debates

I'm officially done with conversations comparing eras in the NBA. I feel like that's all that is talked about at this point. I'm getting tired of it. Why can't we just say all the good players would be good in their era? Good basketball players are good. Case closed.

Doc Rivers has won three games in a playoff series many times and doesn't get enough credit for it

When he [Doc Rivers] loses the three-one leads, he's won three games. That should be worth something. Like if you get up 28 to three against the Patriots of the Super Bowl, that should be worth something.

Cooper Flagg should go to the NBA this year no matter which team drafts first

Cooper, this is why you gotta go to the NBA. No matter who drafts you, no matter who is in position to the lottery, you're risking injury... If the Wizards get the first lotto pick, don't even think twice. Go to the NBA.

LeBron James' best dad move ever was getting Bronny drafted into the NBA

Lebron is a better father than he is basketball player? Yeah, I think, didn't we we determin that on Friday. Yeah. The fact that he got Bronny drafted. Yeah. No basketball player has ever done that before. But I do think he went up to him [Stephen A. Smith] like Stephen A. Smith played the role afterwards.

The NBA needs a Celtics-Lakers Finals for the ratings

The Lakers were scaring me. They've been, you know, they won eight straight. They were playing really well and it, you know the conspiracy of how does Luca end up in la? The NBA needs a Celtics. Lakers NBA finals for ratings. Yep.

The Mavericks are currently experiencing one of the worst sports seasons of all time

Given all the context though, I think this has to be one of the worst seasons of all time. And I know that people will be like, well, that's reactionary. But I'm just saying the context of finals run last year, like future seems super bright. And then to have everything fall apart... and your own team sabotage your bright future because they traded away a top three guy [Luka Doncic].

LeBron James is potentially a better father than he is a basketball player

I think you could actually make the case that LeBron James, he is top two basketball player of all time. He might be a better dad than basketball player... The fact that he got his son [Bronny] drafted. He might actually be one of the best dads that it's like him and God.

You must win a championship to be considered the face of the NBA

When has there ever been a face of a league that didn't win? Right. You have to win when it matters. You have to win a championship to be considered a face of this league. Agreed. It's not. And obviously if you win, that doesn't automatically mean you're the face of the league.

The Celtics' loss to the Cavaliers was a 'statement loss' that will motivate them for the playoffs

A fully healthy Celtics team is not loose to the Cavs. It was an absolute ref show, but it was, it was. I mean it's good. It's, it's a, Mazzulla loves those games. He loves having things that he can use to motivate the team and and losing to a team that's gonna have a better record than them going into the playoffs like that. That's good. That was a good statement loss.

Pat Riley is a bad guy for taking LeBron James's cookies on the team plane

LeBron stops playing cards when he finds out his cookies were taken... I would rather someone come and pat me on the head like patronizing words to take someone to take another man's cookies. You're basically saying they're a 4-year-old that didn't eat their vegetables... Pat Riley, bad guy. Real bad guy.

Fouling when up three points at the end of a game should be banned

I think we should ban fouling up three. I don't know how they could do it... I like the idea of maybe if you foul up three, they get three shots. There's nothing worse than in a game where a team is up three and it just becomes a foul fest.

LeBron James ruined the All-Star OGs picture

LeBron is wearing street clothes and he's standing in the middle [of the All-Star OGs picture]. ... It's the definition of stop trying to fit out and start trying to fit in. ... He ruined the picture. He really did.

Caitlin Clark is paid what she is worth right now because she hasn't won a championship

I think that she's paid what she's worth right now. She gotta win the big one. ... She's never won a college national championship. Never won a WNBA national championship. ... Talk to me when she's got a chip. When she gets that ring.

LeBron James sitting out the All-Star game two hours before tip-off was a lame move

LeBron James decide he is not playing in the Allstar game two hours before the All-Star game... dude, just say you're gonna do this five days ago. Don't do it two hours before the All-Star game. And people do wanna see you play and it's probably, you're, you're at the end of your career. It's just kind of a lame move.

Paul George is essentially just Tobias Harris with better branding

Paul George is Tobias Harris with better branding. Whoa. Yeah. I mean they're all back tonight... Paul George, Paul George, I know he had a better January, but like off key, he, he needs to be a dude while MB is out through all of this. And instead he's totally comfortable getting his ISO 17 footer up.

Luka Doncic is out of shape

Luca's smiling on the bench after the first time out. That's probably because he is sitting and it's, it's, it's nice to set like painful for him to, to stand. 'cause he is so outta shape. He did look kind of big and pale in that Lakers yellow, didn't he?

Luka Doncic doesn't have the same drive as Shaquille O'Neal

But in defense of us, mark Luca is, he doesn't, he doesn't want it enough. Like a guy like Shaq. Right?

The Dallas Mavericks made the 'worst trade ever' regarding the Luca/Kyrie era context.

It's still crazy that we're, they're somehow are making it worse. The worst trade ever. They're making it worse. [Context: discussing Patrick Dumont's comments on the Mavs' culture].

The Lakers are winners of the NBA trade deadline for landing Mark Williams

Winner Lakers. Luca also Mark Williams... they did need a big, that feels like a pretty good trade for them... if he is not injured, he's exactly what they needed.

The Bulls are the big losers of the trade deadline because they are the dumbest organization

The bulls are a big loser because they didn't do anything that they should have done besides trade Zach LaVine... they're just the dumbest organization in AKs. Dumbest. And they extended Lonzo Ball... it's just none of the moves stack up together.

The Mavericks trading Luka Doncic is absolute malpractice

Nico Harrison — this guy should be in person... Malpractice. Malpractice. Yeah. The only guy literally deserves to be in prison. The only — it was, it's malpractice. The only way you could reasonably get over it is if like, Luca ends up being like 320 pounds.

The Luka Doncic trade is the most shocking in NBA history

It's not hyperbole to say this is probably the most shocking trade in NBA history. Just because [Doncic] is 25 years old. He's one of the top five players in the NBA. He just took his team to the finals and he gets traded to the Lakers with no bidding whatsoever.

The Mystery Team in the Luka trade was likely invented just to make the Mavs GM feel better

There was a mystery team. I think it was added just to make [Nico Harrison] the Mavs GM feel a little better. But it seems like they did this deal... maybe you're in debt to the ownership of the Lakers. Maybe you need a favor from the Lakers at a later date.

The Luka Doncic trade is one of the most shocking transactions in American sports history

It's one of the most shocking transactions in American sports history for the magnitude and the way it came out of the blue. I've never had my phone go crazy like this. I'm talking about players, head coaches, assistant coaches, executives, referees, agents, lawyers, workout guys, and they all had the exact same question: 'We don't understand what's going on.'

The Mavericks potentially made a catastrophic mistake trading Luka Doncic

I don't understand this, and I think this is potentially a catastrophic mistake. Nico Harrison has got some capital with the Mavs fans, but my God, if Luka turns into this... and the Lakers have another era and Luka has a statue outside Crypto.com and Luka puts up more banners, Nico Harrison will live in infamy.

The 2020 Lakers championship in the Orlando Bubble counts the most and was the hardest to win

If anything 2020 counts the most. Listen, you take out all the distractions and you just boil that game down to who's truly the best. Everyone plays on the same court... No traveling for the guy who's in his late thirties... it was just a testament.

10-minute quarters in the NBA would be bad for bench players and league parity

I think it would be bad for bench players. There would be less parity in the league and there would just be, you know, all the stars could play more minutes.

Jimmy Butler is an absolute locker room cancer

I mean he's old and he's proven himself time and time again to just be an absolute locker room cancer can't even win.

The Warriors should have just resigned Klay Thompson and stayed old together

I don't even think like, this is why this revisionist history just fucking should have just resigned Klay and just gotten like, you have to pick a lane. Like just maybe just get old together. And just be like, all right. It was fun, but everyone got to stay together... if you know you're not gonna win again, just go nostalgia.

LeBron James' absence was extremely odd and under-reported

He left the Lakers a few days ago... there was, you know, internet rumors circulating that he was maybe getting arrested. That he was disappearing... it was weird the way it was, you know, he left and with LeBron and the media, they, you know, will talk about him nonstop and it kind of got swept under the rug.

Analytics and the three-point shot have made the NBA tough to watch

It's analytics. I blame analytics... That too. Three point shot. That too. Dunk should be three... Imagine if they made dunks threes. Everyone was just trying to fucking yam on each other constantly. That would be sick.

I love the NBA Cup courts and the point differential incentive

I am a full NBA cup guy... The courts I love. I like something different. I also love the fact, and this is probably because I like to gamble on overs that teams are playing for point differential. That makes it fun.

The specialized NBA Cup courts are bad for casual fans and confusing to watch

I do not like the court. Okay. I don't like, I don't, I think for a casual fan it's gonna take a while for them to get The NBA a cup. It just doesn't help. It's like, what is wrong with this court? Then you have to explain this whole long NBA cup thing. Not a fan of the court.

Nick Nurse leaked the 76ers team meeting details because of his obsession with the phrase 'elephant in the room'

Tyrese loves the big fella, but this is the elephant in the room. A person involved in the meeting told ESPN... Nick Nurse is very fond of using the phrase elephant in the room. And he's done it at least three times. Nick Nurse loves the phrase elephant in the room. He had a fucking elephant on his desk.

Nikola Jokic is the best player in the NBA right now

Who is the best player in the NBA right now? Yoki. Yeah. He is. Yoki. I honestly think it's his feeling for the ball. Right. I know a ton of motherfuckers that can pass, but like a one second pass is worse than a 0.3 pass... His feel for the game, his feel for the ball I think is one of his best attributes.

I hate the three-point shot in basketball

I do love basketball. I was Bobby Knight's ball boy. I just don't like the three-point shot. I think it's too much. It's way too much three points.

Anthony Edwards moves unlike any athlete he's ever seen — at his size, the way he covers ground is special

I've never seen an athlete like that be able to move the way he does. Cover ground, get downhill, cut, just maneuvering. He's not a little guy. He is a big dude. For him to move at his size the way he does, it's special. And he covers a lot of ground.

Fans don't understand how hard it is to win in the NBA — every single night is a battle

I don't think they understand how hard it is to win. It is not an easy place. Every night it is — I don't care who you're playing, let alone win a championship. To go out every night and win games and play at a high level, it's not easy.

LeBron James wants Coach K to replace JJ Redick as the Lakers' head coach

I think this is LeBron wants Coach K as the coach Lakers and JJ out. Yeah, because it was a dream Coach K. And it was about Duke, JJ's team.

The NBA Slam Dunk Contest should be replaced by a Layup Contest

I think they should do a layup contest instead of slam dunk contest. [Ja Morant's 360 layup] was sick... I thought to myself like, with enough practice I could possibly do that. Also not true. But it still made me think.

Joel Embiid was justified in shoving the reporter

I am on Joel Embiid's side. This reporter Marcus Hayes wrote an article basically calling Joel Embiid... calling out his dead brother. You don't have to bring up Joel Embiid's family... Fuck that guy.

Nobody cares about October basketball

Who gives a fuck about October basketball? ... It matters maybe like 1%.

Michael Jordan was the worst team builder in the history of sports

Michael Jordan as the team builder in Charlotte, who was the biggest disaster of a general manager in the history of sports. The greatest performer and player in the history of sports was the worst team builder in the history of sports for low those many years in Charlotte. Because he couldn't see why can he play and he can't.

LeBron James was born without a clutch gene

The poor man was just born without a clutch gene, and we see it again and again and again. MJ or LeBron? Stop it. Don't even go there because it's offensive to me. You would put those two in the same sentence because LeBron could not carry Jordan's sneakers.

The Celtics are attacking the next title rather than defending the old one

Joe Mazzulla, Celtics coach, was doing an interview and they asked him about how he feels about defending the title and he basically just took down the term forever. He said the phrase 'defending a title' is a very passive-aggressive term. If you look at the animal kingdom, some of the strongest animals don't defend—they're the most aggressive and they attack the most. So we're attacking the title.

Jason Tatum's All-Star MVP trophy tattoo is negative 5,000 aura

To me this just calls into question his aura even further. Negative 5,000 Aura. How's getting a tattoo of force? Because he likes All Star MVPs then. That's also a terrible trophy.

Jalen Brunson is a top 10 player in the NBA

I can't remember loving a player this much... I think it's fair to say he's at, he's in the convo of a top 10 guy in my opinion. He's definitely in my top 10.

Jayson Tatum has no aura

Boston is an amazing team, but they're just not fun. No. Tatum is not fun. He has no Aura. Tatum is like, once your mom starts being like, this isn't fair. It's like, shut the fuck up dude... No, you don't get greatness from a supportive mom. You need a bit of like, yeah, maybe he should be on the bench.

Kobe Bryant is overrated relative to the all-time elite tier

I don't want to say what I think—Kobe's, he's very overrated. Because he is rated so high. Like he gets talked about like LeBron or Michael Jordan. I don't think he's in that spot. He wasn't the best player on the three-peat team... Shaq was an absolute monster.

Lauri Markkanen is not worth $200 million

They just gave Lauri Markkanen a five year, 200 plus million dollar contract... He's not worth that much money. I'd pay him 35 [million].