Sports
What’s RIGHT With The NBA: Season Finale Live From Fanatics Fest
In the season finale of 'What’s RIGHT With The NBA,' hosts Steve Nash and LeBron James celebrate a successful year while discussing the NBA Finals and the evolution of the game. They delve...
What’s RIGHT With The NBA: Season Finale Live From Fanatics Fest
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Interactive Transcript
spk_0
Who's excited for my game? Anyone?
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We got a wine opener out there.
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Do my mom got my wine seal?
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Please welcome to the stage, Steve Nash and LeBron James.
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Yes, sir.
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Wow.
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Okay, he's going up there, right, sir.
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It's a bad scene.
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Not bad. Not bad.
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Not bad. Not bad.
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Great turnout.
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Great turnout.
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Thank you.
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Thank you, everybody.
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Thank you.
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Much appreciated.
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Well, this is Mind the Game, Final Fantasy Express.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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For us, you by Nike.
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This is actually our last episode of the season.
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Wow.
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Congrats to us.
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Thank you for all the listen, support, likes, comments, subscriptions, everything.
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It's been really an incredible year for us to kind of get a chance to talk hoops.
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Hopefully share some of our experiences.
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Dig into some things around the game that we're passionate about and today will be no different than that.
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But a little Vino.
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I mean, we don't do an episode when I open up a bottle of wine.
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That just won't do.
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That's right.
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You know, that's how we always kick it off, man.
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But we're happy to be here.
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We appreciate Charlton New York City stand up with some of your...
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And we just want to say thank you guys for allowing us to come talk to Game of Basketball,
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which are doing at a high level and we're super appreciative.
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So, Steve, let's do it.
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Let's do it.
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So who's enjoying the NBA finals?
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Game 7.
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So we have...
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Yeah, Game 7, right?
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We have the 20th Game 7 and NBA Finals history.
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If the Googles are truthful, which is incredible, right?
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Like, we both played in Game 7s.
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I want to hear more about your Game 7, particularly in the NBA Finals.
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But...
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I want to respect to these two incredible teams.
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Oklahoma City?
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Yes, Oklahoma City.
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Any OKC fans out there?
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OK, a few.
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Any Pacers fans out there?
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Why would that be?
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What's wrong?
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Oh, OK, I get it.
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I get it.
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I mean, unfortunately for Nick's fans, this Pacers team, no.
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We have to say it's one of the greatest stories in NBA history.
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Like it or not.
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Like it or not.
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I mean, a lot of players that were cast aside that have been on the trade block,
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that have been maybe not NBA playoff rotation, guys, quote unquote,
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who have absolutely come together to play fantastic basketball.
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We've said it before on the pod.
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Coaching staff deserves a lot of credit too, but you see a lot of the ingredients
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of great basketball teams.
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IQ, connectivity, toughness, their defense has gone to another level.
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What have you seen in the Pacers?
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No, I mean, I think you just said it perfectly Steve.
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I think when it comes to the two teams that's in the finals right now,
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obviously both of them are respecting and have earned it.
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You know, with the Pacers team, obviously you guys saw a lot of them too last round.
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But, you know, the way they moved the ball, the pace and space that they play with,
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I think, you know, the best gift that the Pacers have is the unselfishness of Halleburden.
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I think his ability to get off the ball early, you know,
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get the ball back and semi-transition, but just the ball has always,
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the ball has so much energy and to see what the Pacers are doing,
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you know, with their pace and space, you know, getting the ball up,
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you know, let Pascal, you know, go against the defense before it's set.
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You know, you know, I think it's just a great, it's a great way to the game of basketball.
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The Pacers are playing right now.
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For sure. I would say this about Tyrese.
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I think he's one of the greatest simple early passers I've ever seen.
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You know, sometimes when you have great vision like Tyrese,
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you want to hold it to make that killer pass.
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You did at home run, right?
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You want to, you think I can get something better and you might hold it for a second.
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I think we've both felt that at times.
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Right.
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But sometimes he just gets rid of it and what that does is it makes the defense unsettled.
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Because they can't cheat, they can't help, they're always in a bind.
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So I think he's one of the greatest simple early passers of all time
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and a big part of their success.
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I'm sure.
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What's up, young fellas?
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Yeah.
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You see someone up near you, like?
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Yes, sir. I'll see you.
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That's great.
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That's great.
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Well, let's talk about some things that we learned this year in the NBA.
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Now, I got three bullet points.
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The first one being pace and depth.
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Tell me a little bit your perspective on how those two are fit together
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and how that's changed compared to maybe four, five, six, seven years ago.
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I mean, I just think it's been, you know, present all year, you know,
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how quickly Cleveland ran their sets from start to finish.
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Obviously, the two teams that we have in the finals, you know,
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that, that, that pacing that depth to be able to continue the energy,
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the energy does not die down when they make substitution patterns, you know.
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We talked about it one of our pods when, when TJ McConnell comes into the game,
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their pace actually goes higher.
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You know what I'm saying?
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So, you know, when Alice Caruso and those guys come in the game,
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and also, you know, you know, those guys, they just ramps up.
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So to have that pace and that, and that quickness getting in and out of your sets,
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having the depth that they have, it allows you to always be energized
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and those guys are playing like, they're playing a high level basketball
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as close to 48 minutes as we've seen in a long time.
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It's a great, I mean, it's, you nailed it.
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And I think we went through an era where we were trying to find three stars.
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Right, right.
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But what happens when you have a team built on three stars,
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if it's not built from the ground floor up like through the draft,
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when you have, you sign three agents, you have three stars,
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what happens is one, you're at risk for injuries to brailling your team.
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But two, the game has played so fast and so physically nowadays,
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the three stars have a time keeping that level of both ends of the floor.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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And it kind of falls apart, both ends.
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And so we're seeing these two teams with depth.
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I mean, Rick Carlyle was rolling out, guys,
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they weren't even on the team earlier in the year, Tony Bradley wasn't even in rotation.
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Right, right.
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Guys are fluctuating in and out of the rotation, like,
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math they're in, play themselves out of the rotation in terms of your having a big impact in the finals.
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Right.
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So that depth becomes so important so they can keep up the physicality and pace.
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It's been, it really interesting to see the two teams, one built from the ground floor.
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One just built by, you know, quote unquote, scraps around the league they put together.
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That were undervalued and we're seeing them come together and play beautiful basketball.
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So I agree with you like, now you got to think that's one of the biggest guys in this finals that's making an impact.
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Or like you said, that was guys that were even given up from the previous scene to look at Nysmith.
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Right.
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You know, he, I feel like, you know, Obey Topin, you know, I feel like here,
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Obey Topin didn't get an opportunity to flourish as much.
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Nysmith, he was drafted by Boston.
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Yeah.
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He didn't get an opportunity to flourish.
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You look at harvesting, you know, now it's now with OKC.
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You know, wait, wait, he was able to do for your franchise last year but bring that toughness to the OKC Thunder.
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You know, Alex Kruz, obviously we've seen what he's been able to do.
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But all these complimentary guys, it's what build teams, it's what build winning programs and winning franchises.
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And like you said, you know, I played in the era as well as of the big three era, you know.
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But it's looking like now the game is starting to shift again to how can we create the most depth
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but also how can we create the most energy life?
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How can we have the most shelf life out on the floor to be able to sustain, OK, maybe a sustain a injury
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or sustain a run throughout the course of a game where guys will come in and it's affectures all game long.
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So you said it.
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Right now you have to be able to continue to play with pace and physicality.
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If you're pacing your physicality drops, you know what I mean?
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You're going to go through a period of the game where you're going to give up a 10-15 point run.
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How are we doing here?
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Cheers everybody.
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Yeah, not bad.
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Not bad.
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Not bad.
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So the next bullet point, you guys want to LeBron to wave again?
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There we go.
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There we go.
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The next bullet point I have is defensive speed.
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Teams are playing with pace.
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They're spreading the floor so far you have to have speed.
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You've got to have an abundance of speed to be able to cover bigger spaces than we had to cover in previous generations.
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Yeah, I mean you look at the two teams now when you talk about defensive speed.
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They're so far different in contrast but they're kind of similar in saying.
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You know, you look at OKC.
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It's a lot of guys are super scrappy, super flying around.
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They do a good job of being in the gaps, getting out the gaps, making you drive.
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And then when the ball hits the paint, it's like a swarm.
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Like all four or five guys are in the paint either reaching for the ball, getting taps.
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You know, loose balls and if the ball hits the ground, first to the ground.
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You know, and you look at the contrast with them and the pastures, they have a lot more limiter guys.
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You know, like you said, Obey Toppin, Pascal Ciacum, you know, Nysmith, you know, Miles Turner.
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You know, a lot of even Tirees is a lane or a lane as well.
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So, you know, it's in contrast and styles are very different but the speed is the way they play.
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And the physicality that they play with defensively are very similar.
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And mobility.
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And mobility.
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You gotta be able to move in different directions, cover guys with different responsibilities.
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Yeah, you don't have many teams in our league that have two or three guys that can pick up 94 feet and make you turn.
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The patients have Nysmith, Nimhart, you know, TJ McHown on those guys pick up.
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OKC, they come in with Alice Caruso, Lou Dork, you know, Jason Wallace.
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All those guys are coming in and picking up 94 feet and they just changing the game defensively, trying to wear on you.
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So, there's not many teams in our league that can put three or four guys out on the floor that can pick up 94 feet and just make you change directions.
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And that's what I mean, that's why these two teams are in the finals right now, I think.
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Another indicator of the depth for me is matchups.
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Like, you know, this game is about fights.
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Like, styles make fights.
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And so, let's break it down to like, even like individual matchups.
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You know, against the Knicks, you know, Nimhart really struggled with Jalen Brunson.
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But Nysmith was able to cause him some problems.
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It flips.
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So now Nimhart, who grew up playing against Shane, is able to cause Shane some problems.
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Right, right.
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Nysmith struggles with Shane.
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So it's always about a little bit of styles.
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One that I think is really fascinating, I want to give him a big shout out as TJ McConnell.
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Yeah.
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He is finding his way into the paint relentlessly against incredible defenders.
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He is getting by Alex Corusell.
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Right.
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He's getting by guys like Jalen Williams.
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These are elite defenders.
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TJ's a matchup problem for them with his pace, his shiftingness, getting underneath.
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He's got his little underneath trouble.
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He's got his little fade away.
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It's so fascinating to me to realize elite defenders can still struggle with different players.
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You've seen that in your career.
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Yeah, I mean, when you look at TJ McConnell and what he's able to do right now in the finals,
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I think we all look at it like how would he be able to be so successful?
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You look at TJ's not the tallest guy, not the fastest guy.
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Doesn't jump.
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Doesn't have a huge vertical.
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You know, but I think it's here and it's here and it's will.
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Yeah.
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I think the one thing about TJ McConnell is that when you look at a scoundrel report
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and you read about guys, you know what their go-to moves is.
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You know what they want to do.
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You know what they least like to do.
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TJ, you don't know what he's going to do.
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Right.
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It's just so random with TJ.
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You don't know when he's going to pull up a shooter's mid-range fade away in the paint.
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You don't know if he's going to dribble and Nash, dribble all up underneath the basket
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and then go to his fade away.
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And he's doing that not only when Alice Caruso was guarding them,
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Kason Wallace was guarding them.
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He's even done it against Heart and Side and also Chad.
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Chad, right.
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You know, so he's doing that verse everybody.
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So I think his, him not being a player that you kind of,
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you key in on certain things that he do.
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You know what he like to go to as maybe them be so successful in the final so far.
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For sure.
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I think like you said, you don't know what he's going to do.
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One thing you do know he's not looking for is the three,
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which makes it fascinating because you know like,
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okay, he's not going to pull up for three.
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So you think, let me give him a gap, but he uses that gap.
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Right.
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He gets a momentum.
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Alayraja Arondo.
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That's what made Rayja Arondo so great.
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Right.
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You know, the fact that you knew he was not going to be taking any threes,
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but he'd eat up the space and by the time he was up on you was too late.
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I think TJ is definitely learning.
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He's found that rhythm and he's a big time player.
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Yeah, for sure he uses pace, but he also uses change of pace
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and he uses the entire floor.
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So it doesn't matter if he has to beat his guy at half court
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or his guy's dropping to the free throw line or he's on the sideline.
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He fakes a pitch and he goes just incredible intelligence
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and he's been, sounds weird to say, the biggest matchup nightmare.
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Yeah.
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In a way other than Pascal, I think Halley's more of the sets of tables.
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Right, right, right.
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Pascal has been a matchup problem and TJ has been a matchup.
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I absolutely agree with you.
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He just don't know.
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You don't know what TJ is going to do out on the floor.
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So it's hard to scout for a guy like that.
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You know, and like I said, Pascal being a matchup problem for anybody.
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But also TJ is facing space, man, and his will to go out there and dominate,
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you know, at his level.
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It's fascinating to watch, man.
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It's great.
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It's great basketball.
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Yeah.
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Thank you to our partner Nike for sponsoring this episode.
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Here's what two decades in the NBA taught me about winning.
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It's not just talent.
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It's not just opportunity.
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It's about the choices you make when no one's watching.
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Those 3am workouts, choice.
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Extra reps while others rest, choice.
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Film review sessions deep into the night.
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Another conscious choice.
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I've lived this journey from Santa Clara to NBA MVP.
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And now, mentoring the next generation, I see different challenges and different pressures.
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But the fundamental truth remains.
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The ones who break records, the ones who transform their games,
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the ones who elevate their teammates, they're all choosing to work harder,
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making that deliberate decision to push beyond limits,
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to redefine what's possible.
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Because in those quiet moments, those grinding hours, that's where winners are built.
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Winning isn't just something that happens.
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You make it happen.
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As Nike would say, you just do it.
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Well, Shifting Gears a little bit.
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You know, early in the year, the NBA took a little bit of a beating.
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You know, I think publicly people thought, oh, the game's the same.
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The regular season doesn't matter.
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People are playing the same style.
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You know, we've really focused in on that kind of consistently during this podcast season.
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To kind of figure out, like, what is true here?
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What is...
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Yeah.
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What is great about our game, right?
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And we've come to the conclusion, we hope you'll agree.
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The game is amazing.
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The game is the best it's ever been.
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The game is as good as it's ever been for sure.
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The pace and space era of a lot of threes.
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You know, some people can have a problem with that perhaps.
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But the reality is, that's not going away.
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We're stretching the floor.
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We're playing with pace.
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We're playing more jazz than classical.
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We're not playing off the same playbook every time down.
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We're playing reader-react basketball.
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So I think once people start to recognize that people are reading and reacting,
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using their brains, playing on the fly, it's a beautiful thing to watch.
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Oh, absolutely.
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I mean, you just said it best.
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You know, Steve, I think the playmaking that goes on in our league.
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I mean, I remember we did an earlier pod this year in one of our episodes.
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And you told me, like, in the 1995 season, you know,
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out of the top 10 points for game leaders,
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literally there's only one guy in the top five in the sixth.
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You know, and that was Michael Jordan at the time.
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You know, and you look at it now 25, 30 years later.
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Right.
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And out of the top 10 scores in the NBA,
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you have five or six guys in the top 10 in the sixth.
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Right.
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You know, so the playmaking in our game, the defense, the different matchups that we see in our game,
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the different variables that you can see defensively,
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man-to-man zone, guys are even pressing at time.
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2-2-1 press that we haven't seen.
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I think that's great, you know.
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It's just a beautiful thing to watch our game, continue to evolve.
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And I think it's the sky's the limit.
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We're going to continue to do that, you know.
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It's beautiful.
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Well, I have to give you a lot of credit for the playmaking.
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You know, let's, like LeBron said, you know, nowadays you can't just be a score.
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If you're just a score, really, you're, you call off the bench.
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You know, you're a six-man, seventh-man, Steve, you're hot that night.
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Nowadays, if you want to be an elite player, you have to be a score and a playmaker.
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And I think you are a huge, huge part of that trend.
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You know, 100%.
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We show a damn perfect.
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100%.
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Yes, yes.
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What we've seen happen, and I'll use LeBron as one of the pioneers or, you know, one of the trend centers in this way,
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is we're seeing a big physical athlete that can score, but is also passing, playmaking,
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but also playing cat and mouse, dissecting the defense, reading the defense,
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making the defense uncomfortable, making them make hard decisions.
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So now we're seeing the byproduct that throughout the league, right?
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When I came in the league, way, way, way, way, way, go in the 90s, like LeBron said,
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you know, that guys just come on and score.
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Nowadays, the defense has gotten more sophisticated.
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You have to be able to read and react and play.
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So LeBron, coming in the league, let's not forget, the leading score in NBA history right here.
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Leading score, you know.
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But also one of the greatest passers and playmakers, right?
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And one of the best minds for the game.
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Mind the game? Mind the game.
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Before the game, out there.
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So you put that together.
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What are we seeing now?
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You know, we're seeing guys like Luke Adonchitz, the Koli-Okich.
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You go around the league.
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You're seeing so many guys that are taking the ball and manipulating the defense and deciding,
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how are you playing me?
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Okay, I'll go score the ball this possession.
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Oh, you want to load up on me?
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I'm going to go make place for my teammate.
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So this trend for me is helping elevate the game of basketball because our lead players are able to do more than one or two things.
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They're able to do a bit of everything.
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Swiss Army knife for what the team needs in that moment while still having a huge use of dream.
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Absolutely, man.
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You can't set it better, man.
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I think our league has got the best place that has ever been, you know.
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It's beautiful to watch you.
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You mentioned Luca, you mentioned, you know, the Joker.
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Me, you've gone.
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You know, so many guys.
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Not only can score the ball, rebound the ball, pass the ball, facilitate, think with their mind.
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It's just a beautiful thing, man.
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And we go back to, we're looking at O.K.C. and Indiana.
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Both teams built up identities and claseness, innovative offices and defenses.
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But it's just beautiful to watch that.
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When the ball moves, player movement, everybody's feeling a great rhythm.
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And that's what the game is all about.
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Everybody's on the floor, they're important to the success.
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And to see that, we're O.K.C. and see that with the Patriots now.
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Listen, the two best words in sports is game seven.
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All right.
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And we all should be lucky to be able to win this a game seven tomorrow night for the NBA finals, for the Larry O'Brien trophy.
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So it's a beautiful thing.
spk_0
Yeah, I can't wait for that.
spk_0
Yeah, absolutely.
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That's it.
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All right.
spk_0
We got the net.
spk_0
We got a bunch of, hold up.
spk_0
We got a lot of Nick fans in here, huh?
spk_0
Yeah.
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We got any Brooklyn net fans in here?
spk_0
Oh, man.
spk_0
Damn Steve.
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Yeah.
spk_0
Was that boot for the, for the Netter for Steve, what you're holding?
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So the Nick fans, Nick's fans, y'all good?
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Y'all going to the finals next year?
spk_0
Oh, we don't see.
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We don't see.
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We see.
spk_0
You know, one of the things I would also say that's been great about the league is watching offense and defense evolve and push the other.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Evolve and push the other.
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So we're seeing innovative defenses.
spk_0
You know, we've talked about it, switching defenses.
spk_0
Yeah.
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Switch basically taking you out of your offense.
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You run on one of all these beautiful sets.
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We're going to switch all that.
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Now you're on the clock.
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Now you got to play ISO basketball and it's a spacing game.
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So that's why we started playing with pace.
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Let's get up and down before they can set up, not run sets that they can switch.
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So trying to play a little bit faster, a little more pace.
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Less, walk it down and run sets.
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So the defense is adapted.
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They start, they start switching everything.
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Okay, the offense is start speeding up.
spk_0
So now the defense is adapted again.
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Let's go some zone.
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Let's pack the paint.
spk_0
Like we say we're giving up trees.
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That's a killer.
spk_0
No, no, no.
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Our rim is a killer.
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Let's pack the paint.
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Let's keep people out of the paint.
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Right, right.
spk_0
It's being the gaps like OKC.
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You're seeing the Pacers do it too.
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We're willing to give up trees, especially on contests, as long as you don't get in and our rim all night.
spk_0
Exactly.
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So you're seeing that evolve.
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Then now the latest one that I think was fascinating this year.
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Coupled with the zone defense.
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On the matchup zones and going zone to men.
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Has been the cutting.
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So Indiana is a great example, but there's been others.
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Cleveland in a great job.
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You know, typically in the last 10 years we've tried to keep the floor space for our playmakers.
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Give them the brawn as much space as possible.
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You know, my son seems to try to shooters so I can get to work getting the middle cospen for the defense.
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But what we're seeing now is that teams are getting so good at sitting in the lap on the best player.
spk_0
Yeah, guys are starting to cut.
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Yeah.
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So Indiana's taking it to a whole new extreme.
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We've talked about is this where it's going.
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You know, from the foul line up, you have players flying in and out of that space.
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Regardless of spacing, creating confusion and willing to just move it and play and trust it.
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You think this is where teams are going to start to evolve?
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Well, I mean, you know our league.
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Our league has always been a copycat league.
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You know, and I think that teams will try.
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But you also have to have the right personnel to be able to do the things that OKC and Indiana is doing.
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Every team is not built the way that they're built.
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So I think the best thing about our league and the best thing about coaching in our league is being able to adapt to the personnel that you have.
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You know, I just don't think that every team has the makeup to be able to pay with the pace and space of Indiana and OKC.
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But the good thing about our league is what makes coaching so great in our league is being able to adapt to what you have.
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Adapt to your personnel, adapt to how you guys play.
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And then you start there from day one.
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This is how we're going to play.
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And there's going to be tweaks throughout the season.
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OK.
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Well, maybe that didn't work out quite well for us early on.
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But you have a nucleus of how you want to play.
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And you follow that all the way throughout the whole regular season.
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And it took a postseason and hopefully being able to play for Larry O'Brien trophy.
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But it's all about your personnel.
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If you have the right personnel, the right coaching staff, you'll put them in the right position to succeed.
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It's a great point.
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I think like high school and college teams, you know, a lot of times the coach has been there for a while.
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Has a blueprint.
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This is how we do it.
spk_0
Yeah, of course, you adapt and you adjust your team.
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MBA teams, I think the variance of adaptation is huge.
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Like, I don't think the pace was set out this year and said, this is what we're going to be like.
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I think they built.
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They adapted.
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They built again.
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They added.
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They subtracted.
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They built same with OKC.
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They continue to evolve.
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It's kind of like a living organism, right?
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So I think it's always fascinating to see how the team starts the year.
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What they add, what they subtract, how they evolve.
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I mean, you've been on championship teams.
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Do you think that's even going in a higher cadence now it is?
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Yeah, I think so.
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I mean, I think you said it right there, man.
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I think the game continues to evolve.
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And I think coaching continues to evolve.
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And they're seeing how much they can press the limit on what they have.
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And even going further.
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But also more important than we always talk about.
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It looks chaotic and it looks random, but it's not.
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Yeah.
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You know, and when you have guys with good IQ and Coheson, they're able to do things on the floor.
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Or that to the normal fan, you would think it's random.
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You would think it's chaotic, but it's actually very well thought out and very well practiced
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and very well demanded details.
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And goes detailed every single day.
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So, you know, I think it's a beautiful thing.
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More teams are going to try to adapt it.
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More teams are going to try to play with it because it creates...
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When one thing about our league is being able to create confusion out on the floor for defenses.
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Like you said, there's so many different ways that people are throwing you defensively.
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Man to man, zone, 2-1 press, boxing one, trying to go in two.
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They're trying everything.
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You know, so, to be able to create the most confusion you can all facility,
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it's going to make you more successful than any team in our league.
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And I think that's going to be adapting by a lot of teams.
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So that adaptation process can be tricky, right?
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The number one thing about adapting is buy-in.
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Buy-in.
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Winning is a choice.
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Winning is a choice and you have to buy-in and sacrifice.
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I want to hear from you a little bit about the sacrifices some of your championship teams made.
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What that process was like.
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You start a season, everyone's like, well, I'm going to get off this year.
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This is my role and it's always slightly inflated.
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At some point, everyone has to sacrifice a bit of themselves if you want to be a championship caliber team.
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Listen, the only way to win a championship is that everybody is an MVP and a role.
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You know, and able to sacrifice their own personal stats, personal beliefs for the betterment of the team.
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You know, there's a pecking order in our team.
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You guys know who the stars is.
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You guys know who the role players are.
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You guys know who the garbage guys are.
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You know, come in and do all the garbage work.
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All the, you know, first to the floor, taking the charges.
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You know, do the things.
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You guys know who the vocal leaders is.
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You know who the silent assassins are.
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There's a, when that thing is met and it's laid out, not only by the coaches.
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See, you're probably going to be able to lead sometimes as that players are always looking for the coaches
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to make those things happen.
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It's the players in the locker room that hold each other accountable.
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That's when you get the best scene.
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When guys can come to the locker room and hold each other accountable and know how to talk to each other.
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You're on bad mouth for you or you say it's something to me and not take it personal because we have one common goal.
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And that's to win a championship.
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When you win a championship, everybody eats.
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Everybody gets paid. Everybody's seen.
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Everybody's loved.
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And that's the only thing that only matters.
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But it only, it can only happen.
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The coaches staff can only do so much.
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The coaches staff don't put your game plan together.
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They're going to tell you this is what we need to do.
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This is how we go execute.
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We're going to get you the game plan.
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But the players got to go out and do the job.
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You know, and when the players hold each other accountable, that's when the job gets done.
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And that's as happened all four times in my career.
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I've been able to win four championships.
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And that was one of the number one agreements.
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Obviously going on getting the job done too.
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But just holding each other accountable.
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It's a great message.
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It's a great message for young players out there too.
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Not just the NBA, high school college learning to play like the responsibility of trying to pick up your teammates.
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Set an example.
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One through 12 as a leadership responsibility.
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It's not just the court-unquote leader.
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Everyone on the team leads by how they behave.
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Did they get there on time or early?
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Did they do their extra work?
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Did they support their teammates?
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Talk a little bit about your final teams.
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Win or lose, playing that way to get to the finals.
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It's got to be like basketball and they're vauner to be on a team like that.
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You trust and you know every night is going to give themselves a chance to win.
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I think the best friend of for me as a player is there.
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When the national anthem is going on and I usually stand on the end.
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Is that when I could look down the road.
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And I know that I got 11 other guys, 13 other guys.
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That's in the fox over me.
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And I know for sure that if it's a grenade throwing in the fox, we all stand here.
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Like we want to die for this game.
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You know, and that is a beautiful feeling when you can look to your left and look all the way down the road.
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Either if I was teammates with Duane Wayne, Chris Bosh, Adonis Haslam, James Jones, Mike Miller, you know, the rest of the crew.
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Or if I looked to my left and I saw, you know, Camel Love, Kyrie Irvin, you know, J.R. Smith, E.M.A. Shumpert, Tristan Thompson,
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Johnny Fry, Richard Jefferson, or Anthony Davis, you know, Anis Caruso, Ray John Rondo, you know, the Davis Cal-Will Pope, you know, Danny Green.
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And look at my, just knowing guys that you know that's willing to die for it on the floor and be in the fox over with you.
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There's no better feeling than that, man.
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There's no better feeling than that.
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Yeah, absolutely.
spk_0
This episode is sponsored in part by American Express.
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How y'all doing out there, y'all good?
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Do we have time to open it up? We have some fan questions?
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I think it's time to hit some fan questions. Yeah, what do you think?
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We do this? Anyone standing to tweet with a question?
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Did you guys send all questions answer us?
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Okay, I think we got some, right? Yeah, we got to have some.
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Here we got to ask some questions.
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All right, question number one, from not heel.
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Which player would each of you want to play with from a previous era before you were drafted?
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So which player from a previous era that we will want to play with?
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Wow.
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You're first man.
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So many.
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So many.
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You know, like one for me being a point guard like magic Johnson.
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Yeah, man.
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I mean, I remember just how he inspired me as a kid.
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You know, I don't know if I'd want to play with him, but my hero, the one person I tried to emulate was Isaiah Thomas.
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You know, smaller guard, there was this super competitive.
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And then you go back, you know, Oscar Robertson, screened out to a bar as Will Chamberlain, Bill Russell, you go forever.
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So that's an amazing question.
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It's hard for me to pick one.
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Like I said, my hero was Isaiah Thomas, magic Johnson was crazy inspirational.
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But if I had to have like maybe someone that complimented me, you know, that's a fascinating question
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that I'd love to think about, you know, because the game changes.
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Right, right, right, right.
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The era's changed.
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Like, ah, I got to play with Dirk Nowitzki and Amari Stautamari.
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Right, right.
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Like two great guys that we love playing together to compliment each other, worked out each other.
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Like, let me think about that for a minute.
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Yeah, I know.
spk_0
When you talk about inspiration, there was nobody more inspiring to me than my majority.
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I mean, you know, and, you know, you know, for me, I think our games with a compliment is what I'm saying.
spk_0
Well, he was a MJ was a flat-out score, you know, he was a score and score and score.
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He had a scores mentality.
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If I had to pick him, but I know I can't pick him because I know how social media works.
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You're gonna be like, oh, you want to play with Michael Jordan too?
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You're gonna play with everybody else now, damn it.
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I didn't ask the question.
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I'm only answering it, guys.
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I didn't ask the question.
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But MJ was inspiration.
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Anthony Penny Hardaway was inspiration to me.
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Grant Hill was inspiration to me growing up.
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Like that point for Scottie Pippin, that point for guys like Penny, like Grant Hill, like Scottie,
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those guys kind of inspired me because I kind of wanted to be that point for her.
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So, yeah, I was some guys.
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I can see the hairline already.
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LeBron wants to play with Michael Jordan, like I see.
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Oh, that's weird.
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I love it.
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Don't be weird. Don't be weird. Don't be weird.
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I like it.
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I mean, all the guys he named, I think I did play again.
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So another really careful for me.
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I was gonna say, I mean, I think of Kobe, but I actually played with Kobe in the Olympics.
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So, you know, rest his soul.
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It's great.
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It's great.
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Great.
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Amazing.
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Next question.
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Yeah, our great director, Jason Gallagher, given us questions.
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What do you got, Jason?
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Okay, this one's from Mac Boy.
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Question for Steve.
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What advice would you get to LeBron as he mirrors the back half of his career?
spk_0
Well, that's a great question.
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I don't, you know, unsolicited advice, but the biggest thing that I would say is that I understand a lot of where LeBron is right now.
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And having done this podcast with him, he's actually approaching it in an unbelievable manner.
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So, my advice would be continue.
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And what is that?
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What is he continuing?
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We talked about an episode one.
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It's about the process for him.
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It's about adhering to a standard of trying to get the most out of his game, his body, his mind.
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And every single day, like, that's what this is all about.
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I think, I want to hear you say this, but talk about it, but that's a way of life.
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Right? Like, how does that feel every day to still be so deep in your process at 40 years old and dominating?
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I mean, the process is the only thing that matters to me.
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You know, I think when you fall in love with the process of what you want to do, and that's where anything, that's not just basketball,
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that's where the, whatever you guys are inspiring to do, you have to fall in love with the process.
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The end result will happen organically, and it'll make it so much more worth your while when you fall in love with the process.
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Okay? Like, don't cheat the process.
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Don't cut corners.
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Fall in love with the process, and everything else takes care of itself.
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So, that's what I've been able to do for my career.
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So, that's my words, and I'm going to buy so all you guys, the process.
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And that goes for everything. That's not just basketball.
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That's life, man.
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Whatever you want to do in life, what do you want to do?
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That's a fulfilling, inspiring way to live.
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So, all you kids out there, like, really try to think about that.
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Like, what does that mean for you?
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Like, maybe you haven't found your thing yet, but practice it at school, at sports, music, whatever it is, practice it, try to get close to your process.
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What is a good process system?
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He's mastered it, right?
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And that's why you're seeing the results.
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One thing I'd also like to say that I really admire about LeBron is the way he adapted this season to playing with Luca.
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That takes a lot of maturity.
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It takes a lot of sacrifice.
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He approached this as a gift and an opportunity to make a team as good as it could possibly be.
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Now, it was slammed together quick.
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You know, they lost early in the playoffs.
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But I think we saw the seeds of a team that was this close to going deep in the playoffs, making it run for a title.
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As that roster builds, the possibility is there.
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You can't do that unless you're willing to sacrifice and grow and play slightly different.
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Playing a way that complements your teammates.
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So, my advice would be those two things.
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Continue to find that sacrifice.
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It's not like his number is dipped.
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He just did it in different ways.
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But that's hard for players who have played 15s, 18, 20, 22.
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22.
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22 years in the lead.
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So, you know.
spk_0
Jay, we got one more.
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One more last question Jay.
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Yeah, one more.
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Rock.
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Rock, ask the question.
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We went from the big three era to the era of death.
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What do you believe to be the next iteration of roster development that defined team success in the future?
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That's an easy answer for me.
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Do you find a guy like Wimby?
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If you could find a guy, oh my goodness, Wimby, I was just standing next to him while we were shooting the shop.
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I feel like he's grown another two or three inches for short in all season.
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But I mean, the game is going to continue to evolve.
spk_0
You know, like you said, the big three era had his moment.
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The big three era has always had his moment.
spk_0
You know, way before myself, D-Way, the boss came together.
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You know, you had, you know, Will Chamberlain and Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, they played together.
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You know, you had so many guys that's the big three era.
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Third, Paris, MacKale.
spk_0
MacKale, exactly.
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Jordan Pippin, Rob, and you know, so like, you know, the big three era will always kind of be the era.
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But, you know, having depth, you know, having been able to have the ability to bring in multiple guys that could do multiple things.
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I think that's the era that we may fall into.
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But whatever era and however the game shakes itself, just know guys that we listen to y'all
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and we're gonna put the best product on the floor every single night
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because we hear y'all talking and we know y'all love our games, so I appreciate it.
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I really thank you for that.
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That's an era.
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2-2.
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2-2.
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2-2.
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2-2.
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2-2.
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2-2.
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2-2.
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Thank you guys.
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Thank you very much.
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Happy New Year, buddy.
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Thanks for watching Mind the Game.
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If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe
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for more content.