Sports
Flagg on the Play
In this episode of 'NBA Today,' the team discusses the latest preseason highlights, including standout performances from Steph Curry and DeAndre Aiton. They analyze the chemistry between pla...
Flagg on the Play
Sports •
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Interactive Transcript
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Talk about stepping on the...
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Welcome to NBA Today.
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Coming up on NBA Today,
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Chef Curry is back in the kitchen for years, 17.
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Steffen and Luke Warriors had instant chemistry last night.
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What's this pair of aces?
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Putting up some all-time numbers in the finals,
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but don't count Phoenix yet.
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We'll tell you why.
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And the number one pick is ready to take the court.
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We're live in Fort Worth for Cooper Flag's preseason debut
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with the MADS all that more on NBA Today.
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All right, don't tell Chef Curry it's only preseason.
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He dropped this right before the Warriors preseason opener.
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Quote, keep going, young fella.
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Hashtag locked in.
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And he was.
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LeBron and Luca have yet to play in the preseason.
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But DeAndre Aiden looked pretty solid in this one.
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21 minutes, eight collected, seven points,
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and seven rebounds, two blocks, Bobby.
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Yeah, you got to look at what he looked like with Luca out there.
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Certainly rolled to the rim of law, Al Dio.
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Yeah, he looked fantastic,
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but Chef had something to say about this guy, Al Horford.
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He gives a space, he gives his presence on the defensive end.
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I saw the pass.
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He made it to me out the corner.
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I mean, given Go, so it's just kind of unspoken chemistry
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that will continue to get better.
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Nice point there by Chef.
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Speaking of Curry, he also looked solid here.
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Curry with a series of nice dribble moves.
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Gets inside for the floater.
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Ooh, yeah.
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And a few minutes later,
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then we found Dremond's step, just like the last decade and a half.
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Yeah, it's in that playbook.
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Yeah.
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Curry into another one of his dribble packages here.
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This is it to Jimmy.
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What do you think of Butler's edition here, Mark?
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Butler's edition?
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Yeah.
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Now that they've had some time to go into the off season with him.
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I mean, him being there at a training camp,
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you also put the guys together in a group in San Diego.
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Got some more time with him, so Butler will be nice on this year.
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Connect with the miss here.
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Brought in James with the put back.
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He looked more comfortable.
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Did he remodeled?
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Well, he certainly didn't look very comfortable in the first game.
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So, I think he was there.
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Ordered with this one.
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111, the 1-0-3.
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Talk about yesterday.
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All right, welcome into NBA today.
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George Adado in for Malika Andrews.
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I'm here with the all of famer Mark Spears,
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our senior insider Ramona Shelburn,
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Bobby Marks, our front office insider.
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So, Ramona, what did you see from the Warriors last night?
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I saw all the Warriors out there.
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I saw the main guys playing and taking this seriously.
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And I think that's huge for them because when Jimmy Butler was acquired at the trade deadline,
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they were really good when he was on the court together with Steph Curry.
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And then he gets hurt, Steph gets hurt,
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and we didn't really get to see them finish off last season together
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as a healthy unit.
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And it's important to me that they are taking the preseason seriously,
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trying to get minutes on the court together, trying to figure out how they play off of each other.
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And I mean, the Lakers weren't really playing.
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They're two main guys here, and so it's hard to judge their performance.
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But the Warriors want to come out of the gates best here, you can tell.
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Yeah, and they're deep.
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I talked about that with Steve Curry last night.
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They feel good about their roster right now.
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Maybe there'll be some stuff, you know, they have to figure out from 9 to 11.
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But last year, they went into the season mark, having to figure out like six different things.
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But John and the Caminga is one of those things they'll have to figure out a role for.
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He signs his contract, stale made his over.
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Yeah.
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What do you see from him?
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Happiness, joy, peace, which is surprising.
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I mean, I've been around a while.
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I remember seeing Alan being, I was being unhappy in Memphis if you remember that.
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And don't go too far, Jimmy Butler.
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Yeah, good about that.
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You're back in one now and go and say Kevin Durant not being happy.
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But I saw Caminga dancing after the game, and he told me he was at peace.
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I think the guy is Steph, Drain Maun, Jimmy, and Buddy Hill played a good role in like giving him support.
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And I think that helped him a lot.
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He comes from a family from Congo.
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That he said he means they never were a stressful family.
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That's not his DNA.
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And regardless of whether he's at Golden State or somewhere else, he feels like he's going to figure it out.
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But at Golden State, he's like, I'm committed here.
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And I want to want a championship here.
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Yeah.
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So it didn't sound like somebody who was trying to force his way out.
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I'm curious to see though if he does the little things.
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A couple of years ago, he was starting to do that.
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Remember we had this big to do about him and Steve.
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And he did say it was important for him to be very good on both sides of the court.
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Yeah.
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I would agree that that definitely is important for them.
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I mean, this guy who's got 30 point potential.
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We saw that in the games that Steph wasn't around after he went down due to injury.
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But a couple of years ago after the big to do with him and Steve Kerr,
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they had this come to Jesus meeting or whatever.
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And he started doing the little things and he could fall into 14, 15 points of game, Bobby.
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So what do you think can carry over with this group here moving forward in the regular season?
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Well, I mean, I think when you look at the regular season,
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and we're going to go over to the touch screen, if you're Mike Dunlavy,
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Jr., General Manjure, you're feeling pretty good this morning as far as where this roster was.
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And we didn't even see Al Hoerford last night in that starting role there for them.
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There was certainly a lot of different matchup.
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This is their depth when you look at it with Gary Payton, Jr., the second in Al Hoerford
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and Seth Curry and Jonathan Kaminga.
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That's not their starting lineup with Steph Curry and Moses Moody.
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And here are some of the questions that we went into the off season with.
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How can they get some size at five?
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We heard Steve Kerr talking about how we're not going to see Dremon Green as much at the five.
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Now you add Al Hoerford to the mix.
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A mobile rim protector here.
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Suddenly we're at Al Hoerford.
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Front court depth.
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You resign.
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You resign.
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Jonathan Kaminga in the off season here.
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Defense of mine, Reserve guards.
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Gary Payton is back.
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I think the biggest question.
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Can you find that consistent third score?
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That plagued them a little bit during the post season here.
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You have Steph Curry.
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You have Jimmy Butler to this roster.
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Buddy Heild is back.
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We brought back the Anthony Melon who's going to be out four weeks here.
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But they've addressed a lot of things that were questioning in the off season.
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And you saw at least in those first two quarters last night.
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This golden state team, what Steph Curry on the court could be dangerous here?
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Well, and the Jimmy thing is interesting because it allows them to get set on defense,
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which is important because he gets to the line.
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He doesn't turn the ball over.
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I think all those things are important.
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Speaking of important, the king has put out something on his social media about the decision of all decisions coming tomorrow at new in Eastern.
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Ramona, anything to this?
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We all obviously saw this and thought, whoa, is he announcing something?
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And I don't know that we should get all that worked up about it just from just from those first six quarters.
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Yeah, five.
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Text, whatever.
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It doesn't sound like it.
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Yeah, something like that.
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Doesn't sound like it's time to get all that worked up about.
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You did this earlier in the summer and it ended up being an ad.
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So we'll see what this is tomorrow.
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Okay, fair enough.
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It's not a fair row.
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Okay, all right.
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Well, we'll see what it is tomorrow anyway.
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All right, whenever LeBron is back on the court for the Lakers, he'll have a new teammate in DeAndre Aiton.
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You know, I caught up with him last night.
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Let's take a listen here.
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I'm really just showing the team like a good rep protective for them.
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Anchor and the Dean friends and just having a good communicative.
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Terminologist to my guys and you know, just being their backbone out there.
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How is the assimilation process bid for you in just your second preseason game and a little bit of camp with the Lakers?
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It's been fun.
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You know, just running out of it.
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I've been a terminology where you know, changes land that's gone there and just play hard.
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You know, be physical and just get our tails in shape.
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DeAndre, good luck.
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Thanks for the time.
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Thank you so much.
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Now, it's interesting, Bobby.
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You started to address it earlier when we saw the highlights.
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You know, JJ told us yesterday he wants them to play with force and physicality.
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That's what they're working on right now, specifically in the preseason.
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But how did Aiton look like?
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What did Aiton look like to you?
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You saw a little bit of a glimpse last night and this was out without Luca in the game.
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As far as the ability to roll to the rim, we saw him certainly a couple alley ups here.
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I think it's going to be interesting when Luca is out there with him,
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ability to set him up, pick and roll.
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But their work glimpses last night as far as how effective DeAndre Aiton could be without a Luca Doncha con the court.
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He's one of the best picking roll guys in NBA.
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He's also has some up and downs in his career.
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You can attest too.
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But this is different.
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The same Phoenix, same Portland.
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This spotlight I think is going to bring the best out of him.
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And it has to bring the best out of him.
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If he's going to get the easiest shots of his career, he's going to play with two of the best players in the history of the world.
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They're going to make him better every day.
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And if he just, he brings that talent that he has, he could be an ex-factor for something special in LA.
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Every interview I've heard him give so far this year has been him embracing his role.
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Like he seems to understand that this is what the Lakers need him for.
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Rim protection and being a lob threat.
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And if he's good with that, if he's bought into that, I think that's exactly what the Lakers are looking for out of DeAndre Aiton.
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But if he's trying to score more, prove himself that he can be a dominant post or whatever it is, then that's not going to be great.
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Yeah, I mean, look, a lot of it is, you know, people have questioned his desire.
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And we'll see if that comes to fruition here for a positive way for the Lakers.
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All right, let's get to the biggest game on Sunday.
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Game two of the WMBA finals.
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Asia Wilson and the Aces hosting the Mercury and Game Two.
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Mercury should have got that game one.
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Second quarter, Aces down six. Wilson faces up.
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Knocks down the mid-range here. Gets fouled and one.
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Wilson will make the free throw Aces down three.
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Less than three minutes to go in the second. Aces up three. Chelsea Gray finds Wilson down low. Aces up five.
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Next possession. Wilson. Step back, Jumper. She was in her bag, Ramona.
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Yeah, after she airballed that layup, she was like, I am not missing again.
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20 points in the first half. She finished with 28. Third quarter, seven minutes left. Jackie Young.
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Check this out. Say her name again.
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Gets to the hole.
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Yeah, young.
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Lays it in. Aces up 12. Four minutes left in the third.
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Gray with a nice dish here to young. Oh.
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Gets the N1. Aces up 13 after the free throw.
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Good defense there, too.
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Fifty five seconds left the third. Young dribbles.
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Hits the three. She finishes with 21 and the third.
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Most by any player in WMF finals history in a quarter. Young finishes with 32.
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And he are the victorious ladies after the game.
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What was it like to see Jackie start to go off and really get the lead separated here?
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I don't know where Jackie will have game one.
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But I'm glad she showed up games too. I knew she was defensive for this type of game.
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This is Jackie's element. This is what she lived for.
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This is why she worked so hard. So to see her thrive and be so successful in this place,
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it really wants my heart. And I'm grateful to be alongside of her.
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And she's doing exactly what she needs to be doing.
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Alright, so the Aces take a two o'lea, which has been an insurmountable advantage in WMBA history.
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But those were all the best of five series. The 25 finals is the first best of seven series in WMBA history for context.
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NBA teams up to an a best of seven win about 92% of the time.
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I'm John Quignones, Vanessa Guillen, a 20 year old soldier, vanishes while on duty at an army base in Texas.
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Her family demands answers.
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How can she go missing on a military base? That's too ridiculous.
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The search goes on for months.
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Where is my next time?
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And a dark story starts to unfold.
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She told her family that she was being sexually harassed and wasn't reporting it at a fear of retribution and retaliation.
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What investigators finally uncover is horrifying. Find out how one soldier, a beloved sister and daughter,
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ignited a movement and sparked a reckoning in the US military.
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Listen to vanished. What happened to Vanessa? A new series from ABC Audio in 2020.
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Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.
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John Aries has arrived.
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Hostos! Repeat, we are hostos!
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Lady, lady! Oh my God, there's hundreds of them.
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On October 10th, we came here from the digital world.
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The war for our world begins.
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What in God's name is that?
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Unimax.
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This is the end of the world.
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No, it's not.
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I can help you.
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John Aries, who did beat you 13, maybe inappropriate for children under 13.
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Only in theaters on October 10th, get tickets now.
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Four, number 15, this is power.
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From the empty universities of a 15, Nicola!
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You can!
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Ah!
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Junkers wild!
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Absolute time!
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Best of the best!
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It's time!
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It's cover!
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You are amazing. Let's go home!
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Let's go home!
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It's over, ladies and gentlemen!
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15 days till the NBA season tips off.
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Nicola Yogic, took on a familiar foe and really go bear this weekend.
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There's the Joker.
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Things get testy early here, Mark.
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Oh!
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That European battle right there, man.
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He caught.
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But neither one of them went right to the 10.
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Now they're good.
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They're good.
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A minute later, though, Joker gets back to doing Joker things
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as he finds new teammate, Cam Johnson, for the layout.
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What a great takeoff.
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Then later in the first, Nuggets, you'll see here, nearly turned it over.
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Their possession seems to stall out.
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Check out Anthony Edwards here on the bench letting the Nuggets hear it.
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But Bruce Brown says, uh-uh, not so fast, my friend.
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Wide open for this three.
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Brown gets that one after the game.
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He was asked what it was like to hear his name announce for the first time.
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His response?
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Go here yourself.
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I'ma be honest.
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I did not hear it.
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I was too busy talking to Anne.
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So I was, yeah, I was too busy talking stuff to the, the, the, the, the temple was benched.
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I didn't even know what he said.
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I was, I was out of it.
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All right.
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Look who's back in Charlotte.
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Lamella Ball on the court for the first time since March.
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Hornets hosting the Thunder, defending champs.
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Well, the backup certainly stood out there at the moment.
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Brandon Miller gets the steal and the slam on the other end.
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I like for to see in him back to all that velvety with these guys.
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Second quarter, Lamello, one-legged three.
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Here's not a shot out there that he wanted.
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Next possession.
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And one mixed a, here's another one.
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And one mixed step back, one-legged jumper.
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How many three-poil lines are out there?
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Yeah, it's there.
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That's cool.
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And then the third Aaron Wiggins takes over here.
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Three ball is good.
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Wiggins game high, 23.
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Thunder roll, 135 to 114.
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And it feels like the Hornets will have a lot of headaches this year.
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Oh, I see.
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Oh, I see.
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The Thunder won by 21, despite sitting 10 players, including SGA, Jalen Williams and Chet Hombren,
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Aaron Wiggins, Senator Jalen Williams, and Isaiah Joe were the only title team rotation members who played.
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OK, see, is scary no matter what.
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Obviously, at this point, no matter who's on the floor.
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So, Mark, let's talk about the West here and who can contend against them.
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The Nuggets do enough to compete with the Thunder.
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Yes, they do.
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They took them to a game seven without this team, which is a better team,
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and perhaps even better on paper than the one that won a championship.
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You got Cam Johnson, Valasunis, which think people are sleeping on that pick.
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It's a nice backup.
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Yeah, and also could drop Joker's ministering a little bit.
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Tim Hardaway, Jr. and Bruce Brown.
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Who I talked to recently in Denver, super excited to be back and get his cowboy boot game.
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One again.
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You know, look, losing Michael Porter Jr. is huge, but they got more depth, more maturity, the younger guys.
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They're scary.
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I think they're the biggest threat.
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One player who's the X factor, and it's a player that's been there,
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whoo, at least through the championship, is Jamal Murray.
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Yeah.
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When we looked at what happened with Jamal Murray last year coming off the Olympics,
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he wasn't healthy to start the regular season here.
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Now he's healthy, he's in shape, he's your X factor as far as where this Denver team goes.
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They did a great job this off season adding the veterans to that young bench here,
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but Murray is going to be an important piece.
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Let me answer this.
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Is Murray the new Mike Conley, right?
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Remember for years we'd say, Mike Conley is the best player to not be in an All-Star.
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Mike Conley is the best point guard we'd ever talk about.
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Is Jamal Murray that guy now?
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He could be.
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I mean, because it's hard in the West with the guards out in the West.
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Every year making that all-star team is going to be hard.
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And I don't think Jamal tends to start slow.
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He's a guy that the second half of the, he'll get criticized in the beginning part of the year,
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and then he plays his way into shape, and then he's great, and he's really there in the playoffs.
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But to me, like with Denver, they went in a different direction.
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The big trade we talk about is Michael Porter Jr., but they really, they got older.
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They got depth.
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And all last year we were knocking him for playing the young guys,
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and they don't have enough depth on that bench.
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There's a lot more depth there, but they also got older.
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And I think that's the right move, because I covered that series with you Mark.
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We read a lot of those games.
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That was a close series.
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And if Aaron Gordon didn't get hurt, I don't know who wins that series.
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But they ran out of gas.
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Like those Denver Nuggets were a championship team that ran out of gas,
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and they obviously needed to bring into me.
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Oh, that's a problem.
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We have some unfortunate news in the Western Conference at a Grizzlies camp.
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Starguard, John Morant, suffered a sprained ankle at a practice on Sunday,
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and is now considered weak to weak.
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John has only played in 59 games over the last two seasons with various injuries and suspensions.
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The two-time All-Star average, 23 points, and 7 assists per game last season for Memphis.
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Morant is not the only Grizzly out of action.
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And at the moment, Jaren Jackson Jr. is recovering from a turf toe surgery
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that the team announced back in July with a 12-week reevaluation.
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And Zach Edie is working his way back from ankle surgery and Brandon Clark as well,
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also working his way back from arthroscopic surgery on his knee.
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Eight years ago, I blew my football career.
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He dropped it at the one yardline!
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Chad Powers has arrived on Hulu.
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If I can't play his rust, I'll play as someone else.
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My name's Chad.
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And last name.
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LeDepth, from Executive Producers E. Ryan Payton Manning.
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Remember, he went in prosthetic mask?
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This is acting.
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And starring Glenn Powell.
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Hey, thanks, you're a revert utility.
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Not revert.
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I'm a man.
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Made a face.
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The Hulu original series, Chad Powers, is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers,
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Terms Apply, new episodes Tuesdays.
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Welcome back to NBA Today.
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More than 10,000 fans turned up for the Spurs, Black and Silver Team Scrimmage this weekend
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with Victor Wembañama back on the floor for the first time since January when he was sideline
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with a blood clot in his shoulder.
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There's Wembae and he gets to work quick, little backdoor screen, Mark.
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You'll see it right here.
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Look at that.
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That's easy.
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Easy cut.
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Easy finish.
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Now, watch this one.
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Bobby, he's got a little mid-range action for you.
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It feels like when we're a younger, we had that nerf basket on the back of our door.
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How, like, basically, he's just dropping it in there.
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Now, this next one.
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This is like Kevin Durant here and like, Shaq pulling his way.
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That is Shaq.
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That don't right there with off-two feet and then pull yourself up on the rim.
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They're going to have e-mai breaks from rims.
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Yeah.
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No, you don't weigh enough.
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Shaq's a little bit about 100 pounds.
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That's true.
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Yeah, that's easy.
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He's floater there for Wembae.
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I mean, is he going to be driving like this too?
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And kicking.
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Watch this.
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Kicking for three to Harrison Barnes at the present.
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Not a dime.
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That's a quarter.
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Yeah.
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That's just a glimpse.
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That's a tall quarter back then.
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Wembae, right?
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In his third season.
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They'll play a Chinese team tonight, then the rest of the schedule at the heat jazz, at the
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Pacers, and then Pacers at home.
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So, Mark, you had a phone call about Wembae today with a certain someone.
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What can you tell us about it?
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It's Hall of Famer, Kima Lijuan, the dream, probably the most underrated superstar ever in
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League history.
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Yeah.
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And him seeing those highlights is probably like music to his ears.
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He got to work out with Wembae in Houston for like four days recently.
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No holds barred.
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And he said, you know, he just had total freedom.
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And he just loved seeing a guy that could play one through five.
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But he was telling the leverage his advantage with his eye, shooting over people.
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Even in the day and age of this big three point shooting thing, he wanted him to be more
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in the post more.
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Yes.
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And so, in that video before, in the highlights, you saw him shooting midrange.
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You saw him in the post.
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That's something I thought that Wembae was too much outside.
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But maybe a king being in his ear is pushing him to be closer to basketball.
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He also worked him on spinning directions using his giant step, which you saw on that
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dunk.
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You got a keem working on you in your listening.
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That's scary.
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Yeah.
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I mean, listen, I remember LeBron after the finals against the maps went to a keem.
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And he looked like a completely different player in the post.
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We're seeing some of that here with Wembae.
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By the way, Dream is 62 years old.
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We saw that video.
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You still have, like, you can move around a little bit.
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You get to play for Charlotte right now.
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Yeah.
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You know what?
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You look at Victor right now.
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He's his lower base.
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His lower base is a lot stronger.
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And I remember going back two years ago when we were in summer league, that first summer
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league game.
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It was like uncomfortable.
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He was turning a ball over against Charlotte here.
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He's going to be, he is a lot stronger and he can certainly be dominant.
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But the one thing that concerns me, and this was the big question coming into training camp,
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was the three guards with the air in Fox and Dylan Harper and Stefan Castle, how they
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were going to integrate each other.
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Two out of three are not playing.
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Fox has the hamstring.
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Harper has the hand that he had surgery on.
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And you're basically going to get to the regular season without those players on the court.
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We saw a limited body of work when they made the Fox trade because of the Victor situation
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with the blood clot here.
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That's the biggest concern with me as far as integrating the three guards with Victor on
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the court.
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And these are problems that 29 other teams would like to have.
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Yeah, sure.
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They had Victor Wombon-Yah.
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Because I mean, I followed him all summer long on social media and some of the places,
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I mean, he was playing soccer in Costa Rica.
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He's in China, waking up at 4.30 in the morning, learning Kung Fu from the monks.
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Like it's Shaolin Temple.
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This is something I don't think I've seen from a superstar.
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And since Kobe Bryant, Kobe did this once.
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I was going to say Kareem too.
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Kareem did a lot of that back then.
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There's this genuine curiosity and desire to learn differently, to go to people like
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Hakeem, to go to the Shaolin Temple and learn different approaches to the game and to
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life.
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That I mean, I don't even know what his ceiling is.
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Nobody in the league does.
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But if he's got that thirst for knowledge and to get better, Hakeem said his upside
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is unlimited.
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Yeah, unlimited.
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That's impressive stuff, for sure.
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By the way, in case you missed it, folks are cutting up a rug and showing off different
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talents around the associate.
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Or lack their own.
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Let's go back to San Antonio here.
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How about Carter Bryant grabbing the mic and belt it out?
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Let me love you, by Mario.
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I have to be careful singing that.
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Showing off some serious vocal chops here.
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And then Young Hansen, who's the TikTok dances.
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Young Hansen?
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That looks like me at a wedding.
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That's turned into a fan figurine.
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Over the manifest.
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Typically the rookies have to partake in a dance off, but Javon Small got the assist from
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Javon Bryant.
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Hitting the King Vaughan and little dirt dance moves as the team did their turn.
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That's right, air.
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And then Walker.
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At this Candace Parker son facing off in a dance battle with another then.
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Go buddy.
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The King of R&B.
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You got move.
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Time to usher in a new generation of talent here.
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Oh.
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And.
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There you go.
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Stand though.
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By the way, Aces had defeat X-Upto in the WMV finals behind Asia Wilson and Jackie Young
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combining for 60 points in their 91-78 win.
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That finished, man.
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This was the second most points ever by a duo in a playoff game.
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Here's more from the WMVA countdown crew on the series.
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Game one in Las Vegas was all about the Aces bench in game two.
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The big three re-asserted themselves.
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We say hello from inside.
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Michalo Balter Arena.
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I'm El Duncan.
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She's under a Carter.
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She is Chenet.
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A Gumake at 13 point win for the Aces and now there are two nothing in the series.
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And at halftime it looked like this was trending for maybe more history for Asia Wilson, but
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you just said it.
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This is going to be called the what game?
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The Jackie Young game.
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Yeah.
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I mean, when you talk about 32 points on 60% from the field, that was the game.
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But really, the Jackie Young quarter was the third quarter.
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Twenty points on.
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I had to write this to 72% from the field.
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Phoenix had absolutely no answer.
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The Aces turned up their defense and they had no answer for Jackie Young in that third
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quarter.
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That really broke the game open for the Aces.
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I would like to say that we are all besties, right?
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Yes.
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And you work better when you work with chemistry.
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Jackie Young's best friend is Asia Wilson.
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Iron Sharpen's iron.
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Those two compete at the highest levels.
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Jackie Young being able to reach a playoff career high is over the course of this post
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season.
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And Asia just feels like when you meet her the most, when you call for her, everything
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looks easy.
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They had everything connecting.
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Chelsea, when she has three seals, but tennis is jewel when she hit three threes off the
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bench.
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Obviously 32 and 28.
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I thought Asia was going to break 30 because she has yet to hit 30.
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In the WMA finals, which is wild, that duo is just lethal.
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It is.
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And we also heard them talk about, you know, each other post game, Asia kind of commenting,
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you know, I don't know where Jackie Young was in the A.M.
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But she showed up in game two.
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Nonetheless, we talked about this because commanding two O series lead in a best of five
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series would be a death now in previous history.
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But this is the first finals that will go seven games.
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If you're the Mercury and it's now shifting home, what do you have to focus on to get
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on the board?
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I mean, after this, what do we, we thought this was going to be a close game.
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Yes.
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Like the game's going to down.
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What did it end up being a 13 point win?
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Yeah.
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It felt like the Aces one by 30.
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Yeah.
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I don't think only one by 13, but it felt like the Aces dominated on both sides of the
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floor.
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They played a more energy.
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They were sharp.
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They were locked in.
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They paid attention to the details.
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There were so many things that Phoenix, I'll say this.
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The Aces looked like they've been here before.
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Phoenix did not.
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And that showed.
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So my whole family coach, sorry, Vannevere, Stanford used to say something.
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It sounds funny, but it's just keep it simple.
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Stupid.
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Yeah.
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Because when we make mistakes, she got a few of the times respectfully.
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I think they have to understand that they can keep their offense simple.
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They have so many opportunities for mismatches leaning into those when you go back home game
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three.
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There you go.
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Aces keep homecourt advantage by winning them both here.
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And maybe those in a double team in Asia.
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I've been preaching.
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They've been preaching.
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They might need someone to jack.
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I remember.
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Help.
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We'll see you on Wednesday, game three and four.
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That we know we will have from Phoenix for now.
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We get it back to the studio.
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The Aces have dominated at home this postseason, winning six of seven games by an average of over
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eight points per game, but they're just one and two on the road as this series gets rid of the head to Phoenix
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losing a road game in each of their first two series.
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And in a developing story from the W after Neufisa Collier's skating statement criticizing WMBA leadership,
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Commissioner Kathy Engelbert responded publicly for the first time on Friday addressing Collier's comments
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and the state of player relations.
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Here's our Malika Andrews with a question to the commissioner at the press conference.
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Did you in fact say that quote players should be on their knees, thinking they're lucky stars for the right
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steal that I got them?
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There's a lot of inaccuracy out there through social media and all this reporting.
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You know, I'm a human too.
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I have a family.
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I have two kids who are devastated by these comments.
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And so all I'll say is just, you know, it's obviously been a tough week.
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And I just think there's a lot of inaccuracy out there.
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So, Ramona, you and Kendra Andrews have an new piece out this morning that digs even deeper into the growing rift between players
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and the league with all of this tension.
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Where do things stand right now?
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Well, over the weekend, Neufisa Collier decided that she was not now going to meet with Kathy Engelbert.
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Kathy Engelbert said at her press conference that she'd been in communication with Collier and that they had texted about it.
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They planned to meet next week after her comments.
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And especially there was one at the end of Engelbert's press conference where she essentially said,
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obviously, I didn't say that in relation to Caitlin Clark, which is essentially calling Collier a liar.
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She's essentially saying, her comments are not accurate. That's not what I said.
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Collier felt that the relationship was beyond repair and they're not going to meet.
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So, where does that leave the players union?
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Where does that leave these CBA negotiations?
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Because Neufisa Collier is the vice president of the players union and they have until October 31st to get a new CBA done.
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So, Bobby, how do you compare this to maybe previous iterations of strife between the NBA players' association and the NBA?
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This is uncharted territory.
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But we should be applauding the W right now. We're in the finals.
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There's going to be hopefully another collective bargaining agreement done relatively soon.
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Revenue is as strong as ever, the growth of the game.
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But when you look at the comments from the players, and certainly the lack of trust that they have,
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I'm concerned that there's an October 31st deadline as far as where this CBA could be, as far as the deadline to extend it here.
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It's hard to see the kind of putting the genie back in the bottle as far as developing a relationship.
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This is basically the equivalent of a LeBron James calling out the commissioner.
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Right?
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I mean, look, how do you build trust in relationships?
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You do it over time. It doesn't happen overnight.
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And I think that's where Kathy Engelbert is having trouble right now.
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And she acknowledged that in her comments on Friday in that press conference.
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But when you haven't spent time developing relationships with the star players,
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or even any of the players really in your league, I remember earlier this year,
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Sabrina Yonescu said to the New York Post,
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I have a better relationship with Adam Silver than I do with Kathy Engelbert.
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It would be nice if we had that open door with our leadership as well.
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So she's trying to put the genie back on the, you know, build trust again.
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But this is the series of events.
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And if you say, Callier gets hurt Friday night, she tears ligaments in her ankle.
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Then people close to her, her husband and her age and her trying to reach Kathy Engelbert.
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Those calls were not taken or returned.
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She didn't hear from Kathy Engelbert until Thursday.
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So nearly a week after she was injured and it's a season ending injury.
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And the only call she got from anyone in the league,
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from what I've reported in the story with Kendra,
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were from Bethany Donovan, who is the league operations manager.
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And so that week was a very pivotal week in terms of restoring trust
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or things that could have gone on behind the scenes.
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And I don't know where we are now.
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I think that players are in a place where they have to decide if they're still going to be able to negotiate
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with their vice president in this position with the commission.
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What I think that proves is to your point, to build trust takes time.
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But it can be ruined in the blink of an eye, right, in the snap of a finger.
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And that's kind of what we have here at the moment.
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So, but to Bobby's point, we should be focusing on the games right now.
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Game three in the best of seven WMBA finals is Wednesday night,
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with the Mercury looking to protect home court at eight Eastern five Pacific
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on ESPN, the and the all new ESPN app.
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WBA countdown tips off our coverage at seven Eastern four Pacific.
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Only a minute, brother. How you feeling?
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Feeling good. Feeling good.
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Yeah, one a one. Number one.
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We the best is the number one.
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Let's take it so long.
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With the first pick, the Dallas Mavericks select Cooper Blacks from Duke University.
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And you get him. Suddenly, your franchise scene destined for ascension.
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He is the real deal. And Dallas finally has a reason to celebrate.
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You know, here my name got called, sharing that moment with my mom, my dad and my two brothers.
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That's the moment I'm going to remember for the rest of my life.
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Three and a half months after being drafted, Cooper Flag is set to make his preseason debut tonight.
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So let's welcome in our NBA reporter, Tim McMahon, where the lights are out.
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Look at that. They're getting all ready just for your appearance here on NBA today.
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You got to love that. Howdy partner.
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Howdy, Georgie. All right. Look at that. The music is playing perfectly.
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Here to your intro. All right. What's the plan tonight for Cooper Flag?
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Not the plan for you being unveiled here on the show.
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Yeah, a lot more people care about Cooper Flag.
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First preseason game here in Fort Worth, you know, down the road from Dallas.
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And you know, for him, he didn't mean it.
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There might be some nerve just because it is his first time in a real marriage uniform.
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But he's going to try to keep things simple, simple, do things that he's done to get to this point in his career.
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That's compete. Play hard. Play with pace.
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Make the right decisions. Now playing with pace, making the right decisions.
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Those are the kind of things you hear from a point guard.
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Don't be surprised if you see Cooper Flag playing point guard pull marriage tonight, going into the season.
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Just like he did in summer league. Matter of fact, it wouldn't surprise me if he actually is a deserter at point guard in a supersized lineup.
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Wow. The mad scientist Jason Kitt trying to make things interesting for sure.
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All right, let's talk AD. What's the scuttle bud about AD as he gets ready for his preseason game here with the maps?
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You know, there were some eyebrows raised among the fan base, certainly around the league.
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When you looked at the listing, Brady officially listed it 268 pounds.
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That's 15 pounds heavier than last season.
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But the brow is not concerned. He's not raising his unibrow.
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He says he often comes to training camp a little bit heavier than his list of weight.
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Matter of fact, he says he typically does. He's not sweating because he will sweat it off.
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I asked him about this on the second day.
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It can't be said he'd already dropped five pounds, but he's playing his way into shape.
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Also remember, AD spent a big chunk of his summer coming off of the retina surgery where he wasn't able to move around.
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So, you know, AD will play tonight.
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We'll have to play his way into shape. They hope during this preseason.
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He doesn't want to be too light once the season starts though, but he thinks he's in good shape to hit the ground running when the regular season opens up here later this month.
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I'm going to point out the obvious irony here before I let you go about weight and star player.
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I'm just going to leave it at that. That's all I'm going to say.
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But Adios Amigo, thanks for the time.
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There he is. Tim McMan with us here.
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So, just five number one overall picks have scored in the postseason during their first NBA season after their draft in the lottery era.
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It's Duncan, Rose, Bargiani, Boga, Boga, excuse me, and Fulz with a veteran roster around him.
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Cooper Flag seems poised to join this list in April.
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Alright, Bobby, it's rare that we see a top pick come in and be expected to contribute on a contender right away.
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Do you think Flag is ready for the role?
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I do. I mean, I think we can almost put him up there as a sixth.
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Yeah. I'm expecting big things out of this Dallas team.
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I think certainly from a playoff standpoint.
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You mentioned the Matt scientist and Jason Kidd. I had him as a player and as a coach, Jason is going to go into his bag of tricks as far as what he can do with the lineup.
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Tim mentioned point guard. We saw that this summer in Las Vegas. I'm expecting to see him at point guard.
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This team is deep. This Dallas team is deep. The only question is who's the starting five going to be here.
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But I am expecting big things from Cooper Flag because he's going into the perfect situation of a team that can win now and the expectations are not going to be there every night for him to go out and put up 20, 25 points.
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I think it's incredible what interesting a rookie who's not played point guard in any meaningful way to be your starting point guard at some point.
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Whether it's a starting point guard in the big and supersized lineup or a nice angel of Russell's not out there or whatever, whatever configuration that means.
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But what that jazz with everything we've all heard about Cooper Flag. Everybody who has worked out with him. Everyone has been around him through the draft processes. He is a cut above. He is ready for this moment.
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Why is it so quiet about this guy? Where is the chew chew to Cooper Flag?
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Yeah.
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I don't get it. NBA, what are you doing? Why aren't you promoting this guy?
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Just last year I saw him working out in Vegas and he was on a select team with Brandon Miller and trade Murphy and Jaylen Suggs and a man Thompson and Peyton Pritchard and one of the coaches told me he's the best player in the roster.
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He was 17 years old at the time. He doesn't even turn 19 to around Christmas. Get on the train. This dude is going to be a star.
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I don't know why he should be in all the promotions. I don't see him. Well, I'll tell you this. I have his preseason game against the Lakers in Vegas next week.
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He's talking about it on TV, but we missed it till now. Nobody's talking about this guy.
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I'm not seven five.
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Like Victor.
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Right. I think it's going to be thing. Right. Also as well.
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Hey, man.
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We won't have plenty of time to talk about Cooper flag and trust me, we will.
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The preseason is upon us and people forget that some of the best plays ever came before the regular season.
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Let's go to the top of the top. The five best preseason plays of all time.
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Number five. LeBron James back in 2019 with this no look behind the head dish to green for a three.
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Danny Green, our buddy, drains that one.
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See, gee, goodness. The accuracy on that pass.
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Pretty impressive from the king.
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Number four.
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Gerald Wallace. Watch this.
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Soaring through the air for a poster back in 2003.
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Who was underneath?
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Is that Ryan A.
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No, Gerald Wallace.
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No, no.
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You're old, dude.
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Yeah.
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Couldn't tell who that was.
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Yeah.
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He's glad we can either.
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Coming up in a number three, Pager Stojacovitch with this nifty behind the back side.
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Pager.
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Yeah.
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We're a layup on the other end.
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First career assist, Pager.
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I see you.
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Bobby Jackson with the layup.
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His son is a baller, too, Pager Stojacovitch.
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I don't know.
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More than him, too.
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Number two.
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Vin Sanity with the windmill on the alley.
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At North Carolina.
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Yeah.
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No doubt.
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Another guy throwing his first assist.
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Coralus.
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That's it.
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Back in Chapel Hill.
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And a number one.
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It's the beam.
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Oh, no.
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Go through it with this blue pen pen.
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Over by Wallace.
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Spack in 97.
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That one.
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Look at Joe.
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It's so.
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Yeah.
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Oh.
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Cross over.
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We'll play that four different.
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Is that Antonio Dan?
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No, Oliver.
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Oliver.
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Oliver.
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Oliver.
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Yeah.
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Oliver.
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Oliver.
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Yeah.
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I'm like, oh, man.
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I'd Sunday we have an NBA preseason double header for you on ESPN and ESPN Dipportis.
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And of course, the all new ESPN app that sell things.
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Host the calves at seven Eastern for Pacific.
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Then the nuggets are in LA.
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Squared off against the Clippers.
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And speaking of the preseason, let's go coast to coast with some action that went down this past weekend.
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Let's start with the Pelicans.
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Zion and company.
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Played in two exhibition games over the weekend in Australia.
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He finished with 15 points.
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And then eight points, Bobby.
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Are you like what you're seeing this far?
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I like everything I see.
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He's in shape.
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He's certainly availability matters here with Zion Williams.
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And remember, he's a player that we ranked 61st on our top 100.
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So, guys, this is a top 10 player when he's on the core playing effectively.
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Zion, revenge, season, loading.
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Sticking with the international hoops, the Knicks swept the sixers out now.
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Abu Dhabi, New York started.
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Brunson bridges, OG cat, Mitchell Robinson yesterday in the win Ramona.
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Is this the lineup that can take them to the finals?
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I think that is a big deal that they are starting Mitchell Robinson right now.
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It looks like they're going to start them a long side cat, which is...
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They didn't do that last year.
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Now Mitchell Robinson was hurt for most of the regular season last year.
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But that's an interesting decision by Mike Brown.
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And also, they're playing fast this year.
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They're moving the ball.
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It's completely different offense.
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Yeah, for sure.
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You know that Mike wants to push for sure.
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And back to state side, it was a pair of debuts for Desmond Bain and the Magic and Norm Powell and the Heat.
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Mark, you were there?
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What are your takeaways from these...
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Well, I was really...
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Well, I was at this game.
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I think they're in the Bahamas.
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You know what?
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Both of these guys were stunned that they got traded.
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Bain found out on Father's Day and Powell found out in Venice, Italy on one of those little boats
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and asked him to get off the boat immediately.
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Oh.
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But I...
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Yeah, Goddell is.
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That's it.
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That's it, little boats.
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But I think they were there in a good place now, both of them.
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They weren't Puerto Rico, by the way.
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Yeah, I was there.
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Home of bad money.
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So you weren't there.
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Okay, but you got a chance to talk to some of them.
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I was...
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We were there.
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It would have been nice.
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Yeah, for sure.
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All right, you spoke with Paolo Bancaro and Bain ahead of this season.
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So, it's their first season together.
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Here's a snippet of the piece that will come out tomorrow on Ansca.
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It was Bain and T. Jones.
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You know, we're acquired and then even seeing the rookies we drafted, I would say, you know,
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once this new team was kind of formed, like you look at the roster, you look at the guys on the team
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and you say, you know, this is a contender, for sure.
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So if they're a contender, Mark, how many contenders or chances...
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or teams that have chances to win the title come out of the East?
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Whew.
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I mean, I like New York, I like Cleveland, I think Orlando's a dark horse.
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I think that's it.
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Yeah, I'm winning.
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I mean, Atlanta might have something to say.
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They have their best roster in a while, for sure.
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And we got maybe stop sleeping on Detroit a little bit.
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I think the pistons are the team.
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No, but you want to talk about nobody talking about the Black.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Nobody's talking about the pistons.
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You could have made the case.
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They could have been, you know, in the driver's seat potentially in the Nick series.
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Ask and you shall receive.
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We've got tears.
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Oh, I love tears.
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The snow carry, Mark.
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Everybody loves tears.
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Certainly, New York and Cleveland are the two teams, based on what they bring back
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and what the expectation level is.
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And then you look at that tier two group.
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We have Detroit in there with Atlanta in Orlando.
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Atlanta or Orlando, the expectations.
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How do you manage expectations with two teams that have not been able to get out of the first round?
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A lot of expectations for these two teams.
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And then these Milwaukee and Miami, the unknown with Yannis and then the Gapier teams with Boston and Indiana.
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I'd love to put Philadelphia in that tier two.
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I can't trust them at all as far as based on their injuries.
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But I do think New York and Cleveland as far as those two teams that kind of separate themselves a little bit here.
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But we're calling it a Gapier.
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I know.
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That's the thing.
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Pomona, the sixers to me are the team that could make that jump into a different tier.
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Obviously, injuries is the biggest key.
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But what else needs to go right for them?
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Well, I think you got to have some development from VJ has come real quick if they're going to jump into that next tier.
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I know we talked about this this morning, Bobby.
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And they should be a tier two team.
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If you had said to this last year before the season before all of those injuries, they should have been in the first tier.
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Because of the one they last year's off season getting Paul George in free agency.
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And so I think I don't even want to talk about the sixers until they prove to me that they can be healthy.
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Right?
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Like they need.
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That's fair.
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And I think they would probably freaking it out.
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It's that talent thing as we know.
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Yeah, it's definitely not a talent thing.
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I don't think there's any question about that.
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I mean, you look at them on paper.
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We've done this a number of times, but I don't think anyone wants to fill in the paper.
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You know, paper gets you fired.
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No, we're not going to get you fired.
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All right, we're done here.
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Robo.
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Bobby Ramona, Mark.
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I'm George Maliko.
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Go back and pay Bobby.
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I won't.
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Have a great one.