The Supreme Court Basketball Podcast
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The Supreme Court Basketball Podcast
Fired on Your Day Off: Malone's Exit Defies Logic
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The Supreme Court Basketball crew discusses the shocking news that Denver Nuggets coach Mike Malone and GM Calvin Booth were fired with just three games remaining before the playoffs, despite winning a championship less than two years ago.
• Reflecting on the NCAA basketball tournaments and what makes March Madness the best sporting event
• Analyzing UConn's dominance in women's basketball and Geno Auriemma's incredible legacy with 12 championships
• Breaking down the surprising firing of Mike Malone from the Nuggets and what it means for Nikola Jokić
• Discussing the Lakers' playoff positioning and how the Luka Dončić acquisition has transformed their season
• Evaluating potential playoff matchups and the challenges ahead for contenders
• Sharing nostalgic memories about growing up in the 80s and 90s, from Super Soakers to Saturday morning cartoons
Like, comment, and subscribe to Supreme Court Basketball on YouTube and check out our website at thesupremecourtbasketball.buzzsprout.com Share your feedback on what topics you'd like us to cover in future episodes.
Thanks for listening!
Welcome to another episode of the Supreme Court Basketball Podcast. I'm Big Bear, I'm one-third of the trio and I have with me Big Re and Big Chris Fellas. What's going on with? Y'all how y'all feeling today?
Speaker 2We're feeling great. Whenever we can do this, I'm feeling wonderful. You know that I'm brand. We can get it popping on the podcast Tip. You're feeling great Whenever we can do this, I'm feeling wonderful.
Speaker 1You know that I'm great. I'm feeling great. How are you?
Speaker 2You dig Bradeski yeah what's happening?
Speaker 1We just menisci mobbing tonight, you know, on this special Tuesday.
Speaker 2Another day, Another day A lot going on in the world of basketball for sure Plenty Closing in at the right time in terms of like that perfect time of the year where you got that basketball, you got college basketball. Well, now it is end, yeah, and the NBA gearing up for the playoffs Literally like four games left for pretty much every team in the league yeah. Yeah man Bearing down on the playoffs.
Speaker 3And it's a tight race, it's a tight race, it's a tight race, it's a tight race.
Speaker 1To some degree Tightest. We've seen.
Speaker 2Towards the bottom of it and it gets a little goofy. Yeah, but we're talking about you, know.
Speaker 1Yeah, but I mean, I think this is the tightest we've seen in a long time.
Speaker 2Yeah, no doubt yeah.
Speaker 3Yeah, but even that considered before we get Yukon Huskies the Lady Huskies, who won the NCAA championship along with the Florida Gators back on the scene, what did you guys think of, just kind of, how the tournament played out? I think for me personally, this is where I might think that the tournament is actually the best sporting event there is. Event there is, I think, for me. I know we love the super bowl and everything, but there's so many variables that goes into this that for me I was like, yeah, even even though we didn't have the cinderella, there was still some twists and turns there that happened. But for me I think this, this is probably my favorite sporting event of all. What do you guys think?
Speaker 2I mean, you know how I feel, I agree with you. This is the best single, singular sporting event. I mean tournament style, playoff style in terms of like team one and done one and done.
Speaker 2Win or go home. Win, yeah, win or go home. Or win in advance, lose and go home, win in advance. It's the best one, one of the best selection processes. We've talked about that before. Not perfect, but then again, what is? Because we can take all kind of exception to the NBA's current style of playing and we'll get into that nonsense, but I mean because it is. It's just flat out. It ain't nothing but goofiness, straight up and down. But we didn't get the Cinderella story this year. We didn't get that heartfelt story that captivates the nation and wins over the imagination of the american people. We didn't get that this year. Would have been great to have it's always fun to do it a team that rises from the ashes of an unknown program, some small town, somewhere, and makes its way to the national stage. It's always cool to see. We just didn't get it this year. It happens like that sometimes, even when you get that, the way it shakes out, the way it usually does, major conferences, major programs rise to the top and find a way to win it.
Speaker 2This year, my duke blue devils found a way to I didn't want to go there, but god damn I'm still man, I'm, I'm trying because that to be up like that I mean, I was trying but was going to bring it up. I mean, I was trying, but it'd be hard not to Like we were right there at the doorstep, I guess. So yeah, I mean, I was just waiting to crown my white boy Cooper Flagg. Man is like the baddest in the land.
Speaker 1Yeah, well.
Speaker 2Dude, that's the dance, right, Like sometimes the clock strikes 12 before you get you know what I mean.
Speaker 3Back to being a pumpkin. Pretty much that's how this shit goes. And now?
Speaker 2everything I didn't want to happen happened. We got an SEC team winning a damn tournament. Man, that shit got me. Yeah, it is what it is, and UConn. Congratulations to them, ladies, and congratulations, as much as I hate it, I got to give congrats to the Florida Gators. They did the do, they did the do and they were down. It is what it is.
Speaker 3I mean, you know what, shout out to Houston. It was something about seeing Houston per se Not Texas, but Houston specifically Like to see how they played, how they overcame To have a tournament where you had all your number one seeds. That was actually entertaining, yeah, and again the plot twist. I know you heard and read, I, I did think. I, I must say as much as I'm a carolina kid, boy, boy, boy, I thought y'all, y'all had that and I was just like man. And then to not see them there to see, I saw the press conference with cooper and then I was just looking around the scene and I'm like, okay, you look at the houston game handling florida for a good minute it looks like they start to pull away and then turn out and if you know me, there's nothing worse than a two-point loss, except a one-point loss. But you know like, hey, blow me out, tell me, I wasn't here which we saw on the women's side, which was very shocking.
Speaker 3South Carolina got slapped, flipped up and rubbed down. I was just like and you saw a level of frustration in Don Staley in that game where it was just like it's the worst. This is the hardest part, I would think, for a coach in the tournament, because all you have to do is have a bad game. And you happen to have a bad game on the biggest stage at the absolute worst moment possible and you get it handed to you and there's nothing you can do about it but live in it until next year and hope you can come back and fight. But my favorite part of watching the women's game was actually watching Gino after the game and seeing how much he actually poured into those girls and he said something that reminded me why I fell in love with coaching. And he was like paraphrasing, of course, but he said something to the effect of, like you know, tomorrow my life goes back to being my life, but these girls' lives are changed forever, their whole existence, everything they've tried to accomplish, like their existence in basketball, has changed. This is number 12 for him, which is wild, right, but he nailed it my life I go back to okay, it's time to recruit what's happening in the portal the whole nine, but these girls are forever changed. And just for him to be able to, in that moment, have that moment of reflection, be vulnerable with how he felt and expressing how much he loved his kids, teaching his kids, and you know, even when Becker's got up there, she talked about how, you know, he told me I love you and I told him I hate him.
Speaker 3And it was kind of a joke in the best way possible, where it was like that man pushed me to places that I didn't know I could get. And when I think about coaching, it was like that man pushed me to places that I didn't know I could get. And when I think about coaching, it was like, yeah, that was by far the most rewarding thing that's happened to me in coaching is being able to see my people grow, to be able to see my players excel, to be able to see all that they have become in life, just outside of what we do, you know, on the court, just to be able to see them thriving. I was like, yeah, I actually understood that in a way that some people may not, but that was pretty cool to see. I thought that was dope.
Speaker 2And not to sound sappy. That is ultimately what you do it for, right, as a coach. Well, for sure. That's what counts the most, which is not to say if you're doing it professionally. The money matters definitely. I'll say if you're doing it professionally yeah, the money matters definitely.
Speaker 3I'll never get that twisted, but I would think this is goods and services. Let's right, let's not pretend right. We are all capitalists if we live in this country.
Speaker 2No doubt about that, right but, but that should matter the most. And you get to see that and and that was even as somebody on the outside looking in. It was like damn, I felt the reward of that like man. That's got to be a great feeling. That good for coach oriyama. Again number 12. He hoist a 12th national championship like no other coach. Not even he surpassed overall, yeah, and he surpassed right 12 and 1 in the national championship game. So when he gets there he pretty much wins it all.
Speaker 1Right, he has six undefeated seasons along with the championship. I mean you know what I mean Just watching that game and watching how they dominated South Carolina. It was a beauty to see because the sheer size.
Speaker 1And that's the thing about you know we're talking about collegiate sports in general, I think that you're going to get the best because, see, the difference in the NBA is, yes, we know that it's hard to get to the championship, but you know, you have a chance at it again. A lot of these kids only have so many years in college and that is it, and there is no next level. So, you know, you see the raw emotions, you see different type of effort that you see in collegiate sports and particularly, we're talking about the tournament that you get. I mean, it's the best show in the land, it truly is. There's nothing that you can get Because when you think about it from a standpoint of just entertainment, we can talk about the playoffs with the NBA, but more so, really, the finals, depending on the matchup, the matchup. But when you talk about collegiate sports, you're going to get in the tournament. Like you said, one shot, one game.
Speaker 3That type of energy. One shining moment, yeah.
Speaker 1That's it. And when you see it because when you saw Duke, it was so crazy because the final four and Duke against Houston, that I mean in a two-minute span Duke had control and ultimately lost the game, that was, and had you blink and turned it off, thinking, oh, it's only two minutes left, I got to make a run. You would have never thought because, literally, I work graveyard, so I'm going to work and I just get there and it was like I'm listening to it on the radio. And then when I hopped out of the car, by the time I went upstairs to the break room, it was like oh no, the upset. And I was like what? Like what happened? And the three-pointer was just it changed the game. And then you see, with South Carolina, I mean, man, I thought that you know Staley was going to win another one. But when you see UConn and you see their sheer size and how they come in.
The Beauty of March Madness Tournament Format
Speaker 1They came in the underdog though, right, but you see, defensively, how UConn, how they looked, they frustrated. You know they frustrated. You know South Carolina from beginning to end, and their size was a problem. I mean, you know the rebounding, the blocked shots. I think that that's where, in college, you can still see basketball, in my opinion, in its purest form that we've come to love. You're going to see great defense. You're going to see, you know, at times, yes, is the shot clock in the men's side does appear too long in the halves, but besides that, we're just like sheer love of the sport in the game. Like I said, I love it. It was must see tv. It was, it was what it was expected. It's. That's the one thing we always get what we expect out of, out of the tournament. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1There isn't just like oh, it was super whack, like the energy and excitement yeah, you're gonna get it somehow even if it wasn't a team that you know that you rooted for, you're still gonna get some great storylines or something you're gonna walk away with some type of entertainment it provides.
Speaker 3Yeah, yeah, so yeah, I was actually pulling for kevinampson to be the oldest coach to ever win it, because his body of work and just seeing him year after year Try it and to finally get there was like that That'd be a good. That'd be a good storyline. He's got nothing to hang his head about.
Speaker 3That was, that was an excellent effort, but, man, sometimes when you are in the moment of coaching, it really does come down to just a couple of mistakes, and I think we saw a lot of that in this. In this year's tournament, we saw just a couple of mistakes knock out a bunch of teams, and that's that's why it's like you absolutely just have to be better this day, one day at a time, one game at a time, and if you can do it, you got it.
Speaker 1that's it yeah, so I was you guys brackets.
Speaker 2Oh man, like everybody else, by the time we got to the elite eight, I had stopped counting. I threw him out because he didn't. It wasn't worth nothing, I couldn't. Um, I had five days. Scenario you picked a winner yeah, did I pick florida for any of my?
Speaker 3I don't think I did have florida in one of mine. I think I may have picked for one.
Speaker 2But even even with them being picked as my champion, everything else was blown to shit.
Speaker 1I still had Duke in the championship game. I had Duke in the championship game.
Speaker 2Yeah, I had them winning one and again. Of course that was a heartbreaker. And again, for those of you who might find it a bit shocking, I didn't even watch the national championship game for the men's. I was just so not looking forward to the outcome because I wasn't certain about kelvin sampson and that houston team, as much as I like them and I wanted them to be the team to win, because they beat us. So it just made more sense. I'm rooting for them. Plus, I've liked them all. I've liked them for the last four or five, six years since he's taken a hold of that program.
Speaker 2I watched the highlights but I just couldn't. I didn't want to watch florida do what they ultimately did, even though it did come down to kind of a last minute, that Duke game To me. I only watched the last few minutes because I wanted to see how much we pull away and end up winning it by, because to me, about three minutes in it was pretty much academic. We got this game. The matter is, it'll be. It's the margin to me that matters. Like, are we going to blow them out? And it was like, oh my God. But that was, you know, a good wrap-up to the season. Congrats again to the Florida Gators, the men's Gators, the women's, uconn Huskies. Paige Beckers, she did her, dougie she climbs that mountain.
Speaker 3She's one of them, ones in that program. She got her AZ Fudd.
Speaker 2Yeah, that team, sarah Strong, who I thought would have been at South Carolina. I thought she was recruited to go there and she ends up going to UConn, it's like, and she may have been ultimately what swung the pendulum. I mean when I say swung the pendulum, it swung back strong in.
Speaker 1UConn yes, it did.
Speaker 2Yes, it did yeah.
Speaker 1I think everybody thought you know it was going to be South Carolina's thing. I thought that you know. Going into it it looked great but people forgot UConn had that UConn all around. They had the horses man From one through five. Yes, they did, and it's crazy.
Speaker 3And you saw South Carolina struggle in moments in a way that you hadn't seen in the last year or two. It was just like they have some holes, small ones, but it was like, yeah, you saw where this may not have been a stronger team. And going up against UConn very early on, you saw preparation and passion and you know they got a little lost and they just never recovered and inspired on them. But I think you know, just kind of to put a bow on that, the future of college basketball in terms of the tournament, that formula, for all the headache of who gets in, who gets out you know my Tar Heels are controversial getting in, they blow out San Diego State and then they're out I think that tournament is where they do the best work in terms of, when it's all said and done, getting there, transfer portal, all that stuff that's a whole other issue topic, whatever the case may be. But the tournament itself is worthwhile. I think one of these years we need to go to Vegas guys and just cover the tournament from Vegas and shoot a couple live shows and make something happen with that. But yeah, I think that would be a fun on-the-road show.
Speaker 3Speaking about on-the-road, an NBA coach is on the road today Crazy. So right before we came on we found out and it's not somebody that I would have expected but Mike Malone just got fired from the Denver Nuggets. So a couple years ago you're hoisting a trophy and tonight you got a white box and you're putting in everything you can before it's time to head out. What are your thoughts on what happened with coach malone and nergia both being fired tonight with four games left in the season? I believe they're in fourth place, so they're top four, top five whatever it is at the moment and your head coach is gone, what are your thoughts?
Speaker 2shit was all good just a week ago, wasn't it?
Speaker 3you know what I mean? Well, rather two years ago, right?
Speaker 2to go from nba champions to now being in the unemployment line, you and your gn, calvin booth and mike malone. That's got to be tough man for a team to part ways this late in the season, literally four games before the playoffs, like what. I don't even know what the train of thought is behind that, behind that move, like if you don't think that'll cause some sort of disruption, at least in the sense of it being an interruption to the team. I don't know what, like I don't know what you. They didn't think they had a chance at winning it, so they figured why not just blow it up now or begin the process of of blowing up this team? I don't know what the thought process is with. I'm lost. I'm completely lost as to what the motivations were Granted. It's got to be something behind the scenes. It's got to be personal. It's got to be political. From what I understand, calvin Booth, the GM, did not get along with Mike Malone. They didn't speak much on or off, on or away from the court. I'm not sure if Calvin Booth made decisions contrary to what Mike Malone may have wanted for the team. If that's, if that's cause for their rift, I don't know exactly what it is, but for both of you. We relieved your duties on the same day, right before the playoffs is kind of weird and I don't know what.
Speaker 2What's up with that Cronky group, the owners of that team, I don't know what the move is. It's hard to say like, does that solidify Jokic's stay in Denver? Say like, does that solidify yokich's stay in denver? That would like to know what his feelings were surrounding it, how he feels about the move did, did he? Okay it? Was he tacit? Was he? Was he just completely indifferent to it? Those things I really want to know about this whole move is is how yokich felt about it and what are his plans going forward because of those moves like it? Will he have any say in the next head coach and or gm? Like that's? It's really interesting, it's I don't even know where to go with it. To be honest with you, bear, what's your, what's your view? Man, I don't even know what to say about it you know what?
Speaker 1for me, it's as a spectator, you know, looking in liver basketball. I'm looking at it from like this was an, this was an emotional move, because let's just say, you know, they were worried about. Well, you think about it, when you think about how they went about it, you think I don't know, I just I don't see like someone having an issue with the coach to the point this late in the season that like he has to go.
Speaker 1Oh, you mean like they were worried about they were going to lose it. But, like, personnel wise and I think that they were on a losing streak, yeah, and they were worried about they still would have made the play-in. And my thing is, let's say they fall and they make the play-in, I still believe they're going to get in, they're going to win in the play-in, continue on, still be a threat and let's season, depending on how far they go, see if we can figure this thing out. And if you want to part ways with the coach, then you do it, but to do it right before the playoffs I mean, there's only like two, three games left and you say, yeah, two, three left. And you're saying, ok, we got to get rid of the coach. Now when, at the end of the day, this Nuggets team is still a threat, still can win and you do this, you still have the best player in the league.
Speaker 1Right and I don't understand the fact that we haven't gotten anything out. I don't know if this, obviously this must have been the ownership. They were fed up with something, and maybe is this a sign of things to come, because when you make massive changes like this, is it because that your star player which I don't know, I haven't heard him and he doesn't come off, that that type of guy to be disgruntled? And you know, because I don't know if, if, if that's the issue is, it's because one of their star players is disgruntled? Was that the issue? Because? And why are we hearing about it now? And why, why wait till now? Like, why not keep the cohesiveness together through the playoffs? Because now, I think this is going to have a negative effect.
Speaker 1If you think you're just going to take out, which I believe is a great coach, you take him out and you go ahead and you put in a replacement, a temporary replacement, for right now to go ahead and run things. I don't see any good coming out of it. And that's where it was like, why now? I mean, like you said, I think we had this conversation over here like when's the last time we've seen this, maybe in the 80s, to get rid of a great coach right, yeah, a great coach going into the playoffs where you could make a deep run. Arguably the best player in the league right now is on the team. This makes no type of sense and I'm just I'm scratching my head about it because I'm trying to figure out the angle. It couldn't have been because of four game losing streak. It could have been because the threat of it doesn't help anything.
Speaker 2I tell you that much. It doesn't but to the point where I think it was.
Speaker 1It had to be more of. You know the separation with the GM and the coach. I think that that lack of relationship and it had to be something which I'm pretty sure is going to happen, we'll find out about it eventually it's going to come to the forefront there had to be some type of massive blowout or something. I mean, just think about it to the point where you could just see an argument happen like you know what it will fire me? All right, that's the only way I could see it. You know what it will fire me? All right, that's the only way I could see it. You know what I mean, because for no other reason I don't think that. You know, a player went to the front office and was like, hey, he got to go now.
Speaker 2But when you say a player, the only player that would make sense, that could make that happen on his own, would be Jokic. I don't think Jamal Murray would make that happen.
Speaker 1But Jokic has not struck me as that type of player.
Speaker 3I just want to play basketball and that's it To be honest, there are times where I don't know that he wants to play basketball For as good as Jokic is.
Speaker 3I think Jokic just understands that I am just head and shoulders above most of you guys. This is a means to an end. This is how I can get the most money for me and my family and my future habits, but Jokic is by far the most. This is a job basketball player I think I've ever seen in my life. I've never seen somebody so talented have a disposition of like I can't wait to retire. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2Like one of those guys, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3Like unimpressed yeah, one more championship possibly, and I called it quits like where it's like you know, okay, yeah, the parade was cool, but I'd much rather be at a bar at home with my brothers just chugging beers or had like it is such a. So I don't think it was him, but but for me especially, it's a disservice to the team, specifically the players, because you now have a new guy coming in. Unless the players just, you know, a lot of times what happens here is you just lose the room. They're tired of you. I think I've never really wanted to be an NBA coach for this particular reason. I think I've never really wanted to be an NBA coach for this particular reason.
Speaker 3When you are one of the lowest paid people in the room or you know eighth best, ninth best, how are you telling somebody worth $200 million, $300 million, that you're lazy and you're not doing what you're supposed to do in order to make this work? And he's looking at you like but my man, I'm worth $300 million. What are we talking? So, regardless of what you feel and what your objective is, I'm the money, I'm the ticket, the money, right, right, money.
Speaker 2I'm the light rail in this car.
Speaker 3Yeah, and I think it gets to a point like in this situation, but it is a disservice to everyone else because now, okay, you promote from within, but that's a whole new philosophy, the way the language comes across. To do this it had to have been bad. And this has been a weird year in the NBA because the whole Luka trade kind of feels like this right, like what happened here, for us to get to this point at this moment, for this to go down, and I think that's kind of where it's like yeah, this is, this is a bit wild. So I'm I'm very interested to see what happens here in the near future, because we, like I said, this is hot off the press, so we're going to get more information, but trust and believe somebody is going to have to explain. You know how we got to this place.
Speaker 2I had an interesting question. Yeah, and this probably you, probably your input is important. Again, as a coach, I got to defer to you on this too. Yeah, what does it say about the league or coaching in general that having been a championship coach does not make you immune to being fired shortly after? We ain't talking about. He won it in 2012 and we haven't heard much from the team since. They've only gotten progressively worse. He won it in 2012. We haven't heard much from the team since. They've only gotten progressively worse. We're talking about a coach who just won two seasons ago.
Speaker 2It's now been shown to exit. What does that say about the league and coaching in general? That now you can have climbed the mountain and it doesn't mean anything shortly thereafter?
Speaker 3I think for the most part. I think there's a handful of coaches that you can look at that can escape this reality. I think Steve's a handful of coaches that you can look at that can escape this reality. I think Steve Kerr, greg Popovich and hopefully he's getting better and we'll figure out what his situation is. My man in Miami his name is escaping me.
Speaker 2Ulfgren.
Speaker 3Eric, there it is. Eric, there it is.
Speaker 2But realistically, there are a handful of coaches who can survive disgruntled players or somebody wanting a different vision. But I mean we act like this is new. It's been far more frequent.
Speaker 3Normally it's within a year or two, right, and it's weird how you can climb that mountain, because you would normally think that would give you a longer leash, right. But it's something about drinking out that wine, that championship champagne, that makes your tolerance less. And it is a bad sign because what it says is you are expendable. Because what it says is you are expendable, but the reality of it is there are not that many amazing coaches in the world who can just assume this role, which is why you normally get the retread on them where they go. Okay, cool. Let me tell you something Right now, right here. Mike Malone will have a new job by the end of the week. You know what I mean. If somebody is willing to fire with three, four games left, that man is going to get an interview and he's going to get paid a king's ransom because what he's done. And now you start to see the clips surfacing about him being brutally honest, and that might be the bigger problem. Can I not be brutally honest amongst men, as a man leading men, and that's why I've always said, hey, north Carolina, yeah, I'd be there, I'd give my name on one of them courts, but to come into the NBA for what? What impact, I guess, for me.
Speaker 3What I looked at is college basketball is kind of the height of coaching, because they are so close to making it to the pros but they're just not there. So close to making it to the pros, but they're just not there. So there's still that one thing that keeps them locked into you because it's like coach, if I can just, if I can just soak this up, if I can just get this exposure, if I can just play this year, if I can just it's right on the pinnacle of being like, yes, I am so close, but once they get there, how many guys have we seen get max contracts and fall off? You know what I mean? Or a big contract, not even a max contract, but I mean it's like you get fat and happy and so I think it is a bad look. And the coaches in the NBA always argue the same thing. I'm sure you're gonna get a tweet from Steve Kerr saying this is crazy. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3Whoever's over the players association, like what are we doing? What are we doing when somebody who has led and led as a man and, to be honest, now it gets to a point of like our strong personality is no longer welcome, and I think that's where you start to have a problem, because, as a coach, if I can't lead, the problem is you have to have a coach who has more cachet than any player they're coaching, and there's just not enough of them. Phil Jackson could walk into any room and be like I'm more decorated than anybody. Put anybody in this league up against me, and the same reason why shaq and kobe fell in line because, no matter how great they were becoming, they had nothing on him. You don't have that anymore. No, you know so, and I think that's where that it does say that this league is this. Hey, the only nice thing for a coach is that money's guaranteed. So, hey, you're getting paid, you're gonna get, you're gonna give me a vacation, cool at the tune of you know, 10, 12, 15, 20 minutes.
UConn's Dominance and Geno Auriemma's Legacy
Speaker 1Yes, right, I'm okay with that and I would take it. I would take it if I was on it, but, like you said, I totally get it from from being a college coach. There's more to it. Like you said, I totally get it from being a college coach. There's more to it. Like you said, I'm still going to get the money the way that these college coaches are starting to get paid, how I can have reigns over the whole program with you know and kind of rule and I can still impact young men.
Speaker 1Right Impressionable and still rule with an iron fist, and I think the money has made NBA players soft to where you can't kind of you know, so to speak punch them in the mouth with words when they need it, like you need to be let me wait until the players nowadays.
Speaker 1Right Cause it's like I'm going to tell the daddy and you're gone, you're out of here, because I have, like you said, I have the power of the money. And I think that, ultimately, is the issue, because, from an ownership standpoint, they're saying well, we need to win now. I'm paying these players X amount of dollars now, so the stakes are higher and I need to. If I don't see it like the idea and that's not just from the coaching side, even from the player side the time that it takes to really cultivate any talent, it's like no, by the second year you need to be arriving First thing the first year. You need to be arriving First thing the first year. I need to see some glimpses of what it could be.
Speaker 1Second year, I need to see it all and everything is moving at a rapid pace and it's not fair I don't mean to the coaches, but it's not fair to the players too, because these players truly need whether we like to believe it or not, just because they're NBA players, they still need to understand and they need that coaching on how to traverse the landscape of being a professional, the X's and O's of what it takes, because it is different from college to the NBA and these coaches would know how to help you. But the problem is we're giving so much power to the players that the coach, like you said, we coached for a little bit, but, chris, obviously you are, you know, the resident coach and from your, your standpoint, like what would be the biggest factor for you to to stay out and say, you know, I don't want any parts of it because it seems to me, like you're, you're walking into a situation in the league where you're handcuffed severely. Besides the money, you're handcuffed to really do possibly what you need to do to make that team great.
Speaker 3I think challenge becomes when you are dealing with men. There's something about teaching and training. Even young men are different than men, right? And you get somebody like Greg Popovich, for example, who we know has built a community in terms of San Antonio it's bigger than just on the court they will all, for the most part, you know, minus Kawhi sing his praises maybe and say you know he was and that was probably more geared towards injuries and things like that.
Speaker 3But Pop, and that was probably more geared towards injuries and things like that. But Popovich is very much on brand with, like, protect the brand. But even you know the way he structures his teams, their outside activities, all of those things. I think we saw Coach K leave, I think we saw Roy leave, I think we saw a lot of those guys leave, even in the college landscape, because you couldn't do what you used to. Just being able to get a scholarship was not enough. Like to be able to say that you are a collegiate athlete is no longer enough because there's money and there's a lot of money and there's a lot of money going around to where these kids now are like I mean, lack of a better term is the side chick, energy, like what are you buying me? What are you going?
Speaker 1to do for me.
Speaker 2You know what I mean Because just to be able to play at a prestigious school is just not right.
Speaker 3Right, where's the burden? Because if not, like, yeah, no doubt. And unfortunately, you're seeing players who are going into this like, well, they've got more money, but what they're not factoring in is every program is not for every player. So you're taking more money to be in a program and, yes, you got some money up front, but now you've been exposed. Because the words are not too far from each other. Exposure and exposed are very close, very, very, and it literally is just that close.
Speaker 3When it comes down to it, you took more money, went to a program that didn't fit your play style, coach, wasn't invested in you as much as you thought, because you actually didn't work out, and now your stock has dropped. So now you're trying to come back another year and play because you made a bad decision in the short term. So I get why some coaches would leave. I think the NBA is a whole other issue to where you just have to find, because, for as long as he's coached, doc Rivers is still coaching. You know what I mean. Doc Rivers is still out there finding ways to do, and it's just kind of like you talk about somebody living off cachet. Yeah, you talk about somebody living off cachet. That man has a one ring and that's not to diminish the one ring, but I mean, if we're looking at when he got the ring, that is still one ring.
Speaker 2When he got it? How he got it? No doubt he definitely. I've wondered for years like does he have naked pictures of God or something?
Speaker 1Yeah, it must be something what is his like. He must have many pictures of God at this point.
Speaker 3Who does he have leverage on In the barn? Yeah Away. In the manger, no crib.
Speaker 2You know what I'm saying, Like I don't get it and he keeps landing on his feet. And again, that's what happened in years past with coaches. With these retreads, they keep finding a home no matter what. And sometimes it was justified. You know certain guys will. Eventually, if you're in the right situation, given the right horses and talent, they will make it work. Some dudes are always going to just knock on the door and that's going to be the end of it. You know the.
Speaker 3Carl, the George Carl, yeah, right yeah.
Speaker 1For sure, yeah, but you know it's unfortunate.
Speaker 2We still want to know what went on. Hopefully we do find out at some point. We get some more information, better understanding of exactly what happened. But on our side of things, or at least out here in LA and the Southland with the beloved Lakers and also I got to mention I'm not about to go too deep into it because again I'm not giving no Clipper fans, no false hope, or hope for that matter, right at the time when Kawhi's kind of coming on a Clipper team is kind of clicking the Lakers, who now, after winning two straight, have now fell back into that loss column against the Thunder, who they just smashed on two nights ago.
Speaker 3Man like an.
Speaker 2In-N-Out burger man losing badly tonight you know what I mean and possibly showing that they can't do it without Luka, which is hopefully the message that they take away from it, and it may be a tactical advantage for the Lakers.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's still an advantage, right? He wasn't injured, so he was keeping it real.
Speaker 3And he got ejected. This game was relatively close all the way through. It was a much more competitive game. It's the game I thought we'd see the first time they played. To be honest, I probably would have sat these guys knowing that they got to go to Dallas tomorrow. Yeah, that's going to be a little bit rough.
Speaker 2So Dallas is definitely be up for the task, I guarantee Well not even just that, the emotion that all parties involved. Yeah.
Speaker 3Ron isn't going to want to lose to AD. Ad is going to want to show yes, he was here, but now I'm here. Like there's too many storylines, luke is going to be out for blood. Like there's so many storylines there to where it was just like hey, you came in, you beat them handily from start to finish. I would have gave these guys a break. No, because the one thing the Lakers are not collectively is a young team. You are still. Yes, luke is in his prime. But when you look at Braun, specifically, right, and then you're looking around and, yeah, some of these guys are younger, but I'm like, at this stage of of the season, it's probably time to give them that game, because at the end of the day, they need to win two games. Right, they got three tries left now to win two games. If they do that, they're in third place. If not, who knows if they're in eighth. And I'm not being funny about that. That's literally where we're at, where it's like you keep falling, you, who knows where you're gonna end up.
Speaker 1So, yeah, yeah, I, I think the lakers. The one thing, the one takeaway from this is we still were being competitive against them when we had, we were full staffed and they understood it was close. Yeah, it was close, so it wasn't like they were blowing us out there's two games in their house. Let's not forget that like they got, oh yeah, at the apple at home.
Speaker 1Yeah, you know right and then we have to talk about it too. You know, even during this, the only reason that they were, I think, that we weren't up and we weren't starting to dominate, is because of, you know, handling and controlling the ball and sitting there and not protecting the ball Turnovers. They've been super costly during this season. I've noticed that our turnovers, when they start getting high, no matter how well we play and how offensive we are, even defensively, those turnovers always creep up and we end up losing the game or it's a close game. But I'll say this we talked off air about this, but from a OKC like this had to be from like coach to coach, trying to see what's going on, because from OKC standpoint, I have no reason to play. I would have been getting the energy, I would have been getting the rest. Why am I playing my starters? We have it locked. There is no one that can catch us. Have it locked, there is no one that can catch us. It's only like three games left. For them as well.
Speaker 1I would have at least, you know, rested in the second game, but then again, the way they were blowing out, I can understand. It's a. It's a, you know, it's a. It's about moxie is about to see who has that. Can we really get y'all? Was this a fluke? And you know, from the lakers standpoint at least we didn't have any injuries, it would. You know, luca went out which honestly I can say he must have said something that rattled that you know the fish must have been something yeah, I mean, he didn't even get a tech then say some extra.
Speaker 1It was immediately like you're up out of there. So I'm looking at my lakers. Only thing I'm concerned about is protection of the ball, but I'm liking where I'm seeing and, like you, overall, chris, thinking about it. Yes, the whole dallas thing. There's so much emotion going to this, the storyline behind it, lebron playing against ad how that, how I mean we're, we're still living off of it the trade, and how opposing it was for both of them. The lakers ultimately became, like you know, a championship contender and dallas we know what happened due to injuries, I mean, just depleted their whole. You know. The rest of the season was done for them, you know, and for even to play ad now I don't think there's a reason to play him. I would have let him stay out because we know personally.
Speaker 1We know ad, because ad can get hurt at any moment, so why would you? He's just gotten healthy now. I just would have been like listen, let's keep it, let's keep it rolling, keep them on street clothes and we'll see you next year. That's how it elected I mean nonetheless.
Speaker 2I'm being said, though, barring a miracle, they still got that last playing spot. I mean yeah, but it seems like the sun won't, will not catch them, and I mean I will not catch them, I mean anything could happen, but I mean they've lost their last six? I don't have a lot of hope in Phoenix.
Speaker 3So right now. The Suns couldn't catch COVID in the war For real At this point. Yeah, for real.
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Speaker 2You know what I mean. Losers are their last six. Dallas has lost their last two, but I mean they're in at least two and a half games ahead of them, with three games left. At least two and a half games ahead of them, with three games left. I mean it's academic. At this point the Mavericks should lock in that 10th play-in spot, which is crazy considering all that they've went through to get to be where they are now to still have any sliver of hope. It's crazy, I mean, and that speaks more to the failure of the Suns than anything.
Speaker 2That's a whole other like goodness gracious.
Speaker 3I don't want to get into that, but yeah, I was gonna say yeah because that's a whole nother conversation about clearing the cupboard out for kd in the summer and off season, like. But yeah, I don't know. I think you know what's going to be interesting is to see. We've seen kind of both sides of the lakers and when they play their best defense I think they've got a shot at competing with pretty much anybody. But the key is what we saw in that first game against the Thunder was how well they shot the ball. They shot the ball at a close. That it was like we all knew coming into this game like yeah, that's not happening again because that hasn't happened all season. So the question then becomes with the Lakers at their typical offense and their best defense, can they do it? And I think they have a fighter's chance. But it's going to be tough.
Speaker 3When you start to talk about like Boston, for example, I don't think there's too many teams that are going to give them problems. The problem I think they have is that Boston's superpower is on their wings. If you were to get a Porzingis back, that would add another layer and you just got a lot. You got a lot of components, even Al Horford at this age, shout out to Al Horford man To still be playing at such a high level. The epitome of YMCA game, if there ever was one in the NBA where it's just I just know my job and I'm just good at it. You know when, when he left the Hawks, I never thought that that there would be this resurgence of like is this dude actually getting better with age? You know what I mean.
Speaker 1Where it's like what maybe more risk find as this game and understanding it?
Speaker 3I think so yeah, I mean, think about us as young players and when we would be out in the park running and spending all this energy and we play these OGs and they're sitting there and it's like, yeah, you got that energy right now, young man, I'm going to post you up, get this back to the basket. I'm going to hit this bread and butter fade away. And you ain't got nothing for it, and we saw it then but just epitomizes that in ways where it's like he's always in the right spot, he always makes the right play. Nobody's speeding him up, it's just. This is what my game is. I know where it needs to go and I'm going to use it.
Speaker 1So right in time right in time to play off Al right in time to witness it happens every year around this time it's a real thing, y'all, I'm telling you. Al Hoyford is. He is the anchor for that squad. Yeah, you know, depending on how he plays, that's how they're going to go. I mean, if you look at it, and that's the only team Chris I'll say Chris and Reed that I say I'm worried about with the Lakers is Boston.
Speaker 2I just want you to make it back. We have a similar makeup.
Speaker 1We have a similar makeup, but when you guys are on and can hit threes plus your defense and plus the mismatches in the wings, it's going to make for a long night Good, active hands.
Speaker 3Get out of the passing lanes. Fast break goes well.
Speaker 1Great coach, their coach, great, that's another thing. I'll say that the Lakers are going to have to play their A game to beat Boston. The turnover ratio, I mean this last game they scored what? Over, I think, 19 turnovers. They scored 29 points against us tonight. That can't happen against a team like Boston. Right, I can look at it now and say I'm more confident now that the Lakers can make it out the West than I've felt in a long time. I agree with that. I think that you know with the pieces that we have and how we're playing.
Speaker 1I think that now, because everybody you know, of course, talking about OKC, but I thought OKC got off to a great start during the season. They played very well and consistent. You know, with their future he's going to be. Is he the next face of the league? Well, there may be seen, but still, we're looking at this team and I say they just been par for the course, but since the Lakers have made the trade acquisition of getting Luke, Luke, I don't know. I think that, yeah, we're looking at the record and we're saying that OKC is that team, but I think in their hearts and I think they feel it like, yeah, we're looking at the record and we're saying that OKC is that team, but I think in their hearts and I think they feel it like, yeah, this ain't that same Lakers squad. We look totally different, we play totally different without AD. And now we've seen a lot of other guys that have come along with him. I mean, Austin Reeves has really made a name for himself to where.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's a legitimate.
Speaker 1He's legitimized himself as a.
Speaker 2Yeah, he's a legitimate option yeah, In the league period not just for the Lakers, because in my thinking and this is me and I'm just keeping it a bean If you can be a solid third option for the Lakers, that means you're a solid third option anywhere in the league.
Speaker 3Oh, agreed, If not, if not a second option.
Speaker 2Right, if not, a second.
Speaker 3Keep in mind you're playing behind two of the best minds in the league right now, in lebron and luca, so and one of them's on the tail end. One of them is still climbing and you still find a way to be relevant in the midst of that. Yeah, that's, that's actually impressive.
Speaker 2Yeah, he's done what I thought bradley bill was going to do in phoenix would be a good, solid third option. Agree, yeah, and who? Who would have known that we've been into this? We'd be at this point saying that, damn, maybe austin ree Reeves is better than Bradley Bill. You know what I mean. Yeah.
Speaker 1I'm happy we didn't trade him.
Speaker 2It's a foregone conclusion to me, I mean yeah, we forget about that. You make a good point, Robert. I never thought about that Credit due to the Laker front office for not giving him up in any deal.
Speaker 2Yep, they came close to it, they wanted him and standing tall Kudos to that, like you gotta give it up, like he could've got lost in the shuffle of all that and it would've sounded like a good deal initially. But now you look at his play and you go like, yeah, that would've been a major whiff had they shipped him out for Luka or anybody. Like it just would have been a bad deal. I don't know what you could have gotten in return for a guy like him. Maybe I don't know what's a comparable Tyler Hero.
Speaker 3I don't know what's comparable, but the fact that you traded with Dallas, got Luka, still, maintained a first-round pick and a pick swap and kept your third option and shout-out to Max Christie, who is coming along and doing great and everything, and you know, we we kind of started to see that right before, yeah, but at the same time, in comparison, it's like he's still. He's still a ways for what they were able to get and how they did it. You're right, yeah, that that that definitely deserves some acknowledgement. So we'll have to see. We'll have to see. The season is coming to an end.
Speaker 2We got three games left and then we're gonna have to see and ramp up and right now, man, like I say for me, for my celtics, I want to see chris dabb stay on the court. We get healthier, I contribute more. He hasn't played extremely well. I think he gives us a chance to win it all. If he can be healthy throughout the playoffs, really give us some major contributions. I don't really see much competition. Well, you know, we're about four games behind cleveland, which I'm not really afraid of. Like that I'm. They're kind of underish in that regard. Like it looks good, but I'm I'm not really smelling what you said it's not true.
Speaker 2You know what I'm saying it's just not proven. We are still the defending champions until somebody takes it from us. But the lakers in and the west, I gotta say right now, but the only reason I mentioned kawaii and him looking as good currently, hey look, I'm just saying I'm not putting too much. Say jerry, he is ambient's current player of the week, he's healthy.
Speaker 2Yeah, he's the player we thought he would be, and when and when kawai is healthy, we know what he is he is. He is an all nba first team caliber player, arguably one of the best, if not the best, in the game. And now you got him back. Clippers are on a roll. That might be your first round matchup. What y'all feel about that?
Speaker 3real quick oh, that would be tough, because the clippers are going to not only give us a battle. I think where they even have an edge that we may not look at from the start is in Ty Lue. One thing Ty Lue has been able to do is he has been able to write that ship and keep it afloat, regardless of who is coming in and out of that lineup, and from a coaching mind. I respect that, and I think that's where you know we'd have to see if JJ could match that. I think that becomes a challenge for them. So, yeah, I wouldn't want to see it per se, because I mean, to be honest, though, at this point, there are no easy matchups, like whoever you're playing, it's just a matter of who can scheme better and really capitalize, but you at least have a chance to you know. So, yeah, I mean, if it's the Clippers, until proven otherwise, clippers don't clip.
Speaker 2That much is true. Let us never forget that. Let us never forget that. You got to keep that in mind. Oh yeah, that's why I wasn't looking too much on it. Yeah, yeah yeah. I was not looking too much on it, Trust me.
Speaker 1I was just saying I was just noting that the Clippers are looking really healthy right now I give them the props they're looking healthy and it's happening, it's coming together for them at the right time is what I'm saying, and that can be a little scary, but other than that I ain't doing it.
Speaker 1You're right. Please don't. I mean, as far as I'm concerned, I'm like Shannon, I'm like Sharp, I don't care about Ty Lakers and five, it's going to be it. Listen, this is the one year. In previous years the Clippers have really fought us. I just don't think they got enough with them. I think the Lakers, this man, this Luka, has changed the whole outlook. I would have never thought that we'd be looking like this.
Speaker 3I know we were going to be better. I still don't think we've seen the best version of him. That's the craziest part. I think we've seen glimpses but I don't think we've seen you still see those moments where he's getting acclimated, where it's still new, where it's yeah, that's going to be interesting.
Speaker 1Yeah, so I mean Lakers, listen, I would give nothing more and I'm going to tell you I've said it before and I'm going to keep on saying it If we make it to the finals, we end up playing Boston Celtics. I'm going to be on LeBron so hard because this can make or break your Laker legacy. Right there, you play against you. Somehow you guys get. We get past which I'm going to have all the faith in the world. We get past the Boston Celtics man. Listen, he may be deserving of some type of statue or something a little smaller or something outside of the Staples, I don't know.
Speaker 2But it just you don't really need it. You don't really need it like that, not against the Celtics, what? Cut it out, cut it out. We know you don't really need it.
Speaker 1Yes, we do. As a Lakers fan, the Lakers fans nah players, it's going to happen, don't trip. I mean listen man.
Speaker 2You can rest on four and still be one of the guys in the game. That's all I'm saying, man.
Speaker 1I need you to put that hat down. You know what I'm saying. I need you to feel bad. I would love for what that would say for the present. What it would say for the future is the Lakers in great hands, because we'll still have to look as LeBron goes and we have great things to build off of, and we beat the Celtics doing it, yeah.
Speaker 2Yeah, Around. This time next show season will have concluded. We talking about the playoff matchups for the first round. So yeah, sure.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 3Yeah, don't take much. Well, let's come to that point of the show. Y'all, it's time for what y'all think. This is just a random question that I will research, or one of us will research every week and we'll just throw it out to the group. The group does not know what the question is. This week's question what is something from your childhood you would bring back today? It could be a toy, it could be a store today. It could be a toy, it could be a store, it could be a show. What's something from your childhood that you would bring back today?
Speaker 2long, hard thought, because it's so many things we live in so many because you know what it's funny? You say that because I have really been thinking about the collective nostalgia that I see around me on social media and I hear from adults a lot of our conversations these days are about our nostalgia for the 80s and 90s it seems to be a collective thing. We're not the only ones. I think it's felt by everybody over a certain age and help even for kids who have knowledge at a time we grew up in.
Speaker 3They're kind of longing for the days, even though they weren't there, even though they weren't there, absolutely my kids have more connectivity to the time I grew up than today and they didn't see nothing there, none of it.
Speaker 2You know what I mean. Like it's kind of weird, like you have such a passion for the, for the good old days, and it's like y'all weren't even around for it.
Speaker 3So man, it's so.
Speaker 1Weren't even a thought. It literally.
Speaker 2But you know me, I literally feel like it was the pinnacle of human evolution in society.
Speaker 3just period, I think that was the best time in history. I kid you not, and I think I believe I read an article where scientists had, that was the greatest.
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Speaker 2So there's so many things. It's hard to narrow it down to one item, like one tangible, one physical item or one then let us know what comes to mind.
Speaker 3What about one?
Speaker 1aspect of it. You know what I mean, like because I have my thoughts on it.
Speaker 2I kind of know because we kind of talked about it before like how just the freedom that we have it, that we had either, was out of ignorance of it was our ignorance of what was lurking outside, beyond our doors and beyond our walls. But that ignorance gave us a lot of freedom. Our parents, let us frolic in the streets as young as five and six years old, until mind you from all no cell phones but I don't know.
Speaker 2It's a tough one because I have damn no cell phones. It's hard to imagine now somebody growing up growing up. They've all even had a cell phone, the screens in their face their whole lives.
Speaker 3Oh, even as parents, it's terrifying. I'm like what do you mean? You left your phone right. Yeah, I can't function not being able to dial you.
Speaker 1Yeah, that's, that's an interesting one parents is watching tv while you were out there playing, knowing that you know, for me you're talking about the that you know. Hmm, for me you're talking about a whole different world. You know what I mean?
Speaker 2yeah, it literally is a whole different world in a different time and every wave yeah every wave, every wave man. I gotta defer to you, robert, or even Chris.
Speaker 1One of y'all gotta hit this first, I'm not gonna, okay, I'm gonna say it like this. I'm going to say it like this, I'm not going to say an item or anything back, I'm going to just look at it, a time and an era where you were able to this. I'm just going to paint a Saturday morning, the kids are having having just that opportunity to wake up early in the morning, which you're with your ball cereal and your little, your little cartoon tray, right Sitting down, parents still sleep, and early morning the cartoon start on. They come on and you, literally seven o'clock and you watch all of them. Right by that time the parents up, music is gone, they're cleaning up and everything, the sun is out, cause it's, you know, spring and no more rain and nothing but sunshine. Right, then you go outside. You got to get dressed, take it, you know, take a bath or whatever, brush your hair, and everybody is outside, because once cartoons cut off, and for us, especially in the black, house, right You're right, like you heard.
Speaker 1You know you heard a soul train playing and music and everybody's playing music in the neighborhood and you hear that first, the first set of kids screaming and making noise. It's like, oh, it's time I got to get up out there.
Speaker 3And the fact is you're not right.
Speaker 1You're out there the whole time and the water was the sweetest thing you ever tasted. That came out of a bigot in a water hose was the best water that a kid could ever have. I promise you they can buy that out today and a time where you know the hearing, listen either you in or you out and you know you didn't want to be in To stay out on a Saturday until the sun started to go down and a spring or summer day, water fights and getting into just you know, good, good, fun, mischief. That, just that feeling I think that I want to bring back, because I think every child needed to feel that, to realize that there were. The human interaction was something we craved. We understood like being outside was where it was at, not being inside. Now, the video games were around, other things were around, but that still held it.
Speaker 2Now the video games were around, Other things were around, but that still held it Definitely Right.
Speaker 1That was one of the things where like your bike was your car, like I had a bike or you had skates or whatever.
Speaker 2Scooter, skateboard, something.
Speaker 1You know, you think about it and your mind was like there's no place, scooter Right.
Speaker 2Yeah, there was that combination, no doubt I don't even call it the mixture right. Skateboard with some handle. It's a good way, yeah, something to fix to the front of it Like, yeah, that was A crate, a milk crate on the street.
Speaker 1Oh, my goodness, you know what I mean, oh my goodness, doing something like that, yeah, and having the good old ice cream truck or the donut truck coming down at you had a quarter to 50 cents can give you the world you can walk away with like a pocket full of goodies and everybody's sitting down, and or we're sitting about to play tag and understood that I wasn't. I don't think this. It's hard for this generation to keep and conceive like the fun we had and what it meant to us to be outside, to have to and not to, and not to be one of those kids that you couldn't go outside, so you missed it, so A little Matrix-y, I don't know man.
Speaker 1Down to one thing, for me at least yeah.
Speaker 2You got sucked in with Mr Anderson or the agents, A little Matrix-yy man. I started to see numbers on the screen.
Speaker 1That was like a tron yeah, I got it.
Speaker 2That's why I need to hear somebody else speak and go, because I couldn't quite. It was so many things and I, you know I know it sounds sappy and I get it y'all got to get all we want to hear about super so good, something physical and particular, and it was like, eh, those things were a part of it, but it wasn't to me. You said something that was really key, Robert. I've touched on freedom in the past and how much I love the freedom we had in the eighties and nineties and stuff like that. How, how great that was. But to that. But again, it might sound a little sappy, but what we had that we we take for granted now that we had at that time. You knew your neighbors. You knew your neighbors. I would bring that back. You knew your neighbors. For a group of kids to be outside playing all day, you had to know your friend's mother's father's.
Speaker 3Can you stand that old lady in the window in her kitchen at?
Speaker 26 am. But you know what, though, For all of as much as she got on your nerve as a little kid who seemed to be stifling your fun?
Speaker 3You'd beg for her today.
Speaker 2She was looking out for you and the adults in the neighborhood. For the most part you always got some bad actors. Most of the adults were looking out for the kids in the neighborhood and again you would go the sleepovers. I mean you didn't think twice about it. For most of our parents, when you ask your parents, please, we'll run a weekend or or have your friends over. It was a no-brainer and you could know that those kids would be accounted for and taken care of. Parents would cook for other kids. You'd come in and have dinner with your friends. They'd come into your house for breakfast. Whatever it was, there was a sense of real community. Dr Cornel West talks about it like it was before the neighborhood became the hood, and we might have been the last generation to still have some vestiges of the neighborhood.
Speaker 3Even in the inner city.
Speaker 2Even in financially distressed neighborhoods, we still had a sense of neighborhood.
Speaker 3Because even in gang culture they still looked out for some of the kids. That's a good kid. Let me help him out.
Speaker 2I remember very distinctly my call to come home might have came from somebody, some gang member, who was like hey, you such and such, ain't your mama fern she looking for you? Little boy, get home, I'm like who is this like?
Speaker 2but, right you understood like good old palmwood drive, good old jays. But you knew that as a even as a kid. You didn't want to hear that, but you didn't take it no way for coming from an authority figure. And all adults at that time were authority figures and most of them did not abuse their authority, they didn't overstep their authority. They were there to look out and be a safeguard for kids so that we can be outside playing safe, so we could have all day to do what we did, like literally to go around, I mean to go blocks. At a time, like that sense of community knowing your neighbor man that shit was I literally have been here where we are now going on about eight years in July, seven years in July. Take that back.
Speaker 2I cannot tell you, I know my neighbors on either side of me by name. I know them by interaction because I've either gotten a package sent to their house or vice versa and I've had to go talk to them about it. But we are not on a first name basis. Our kids don't know one another and I've never been inside their homes and vice versa, and it's just such a crazy thing. But then again, kids aren't playing outside for you to have to know the neighbor's parents. You know what I mean and I so wish that that was going on nowadays. You know what I mean and I so wish that that was going on nowadays. I wish I knew the kids. My kids age because my kids play with them every, every day, every weekend. They're out with them the entirety of the day and I have to know them. I wish that was important. We don't have that anymore. Again, I still light up when I see a group of kids outside playing.
Speaker 3I saw it this week. I saw I took my son to get his hair cut.
Speaker 2You almost want to stop and observe it for a minute. It's that rare.
Speaker 3I counted it was six kids and two were on bikes, one was on a skateboard and the rest of them were walking. But I was like that was the start to a good time. Yeah, man, that's just what it was. Yeah, that's funny that you just that's, that's just what it was.
Speaker 2Yeah, that's that's funny that you and I have the kids that you that you grew up with those peer groups that you had, that you literally grew up with in some cases like that was just the coolest thing ever, man like and to know kids from blocks around you went to the same school yes you just see them in neighborhood and you play like that's all.
Speaker 2It didn't take much introduction, there was no barrier to entry. It was just was just like we're all the same age, we're peers, we have we have similar interests. We kick it and it was that simple and you will be ace boom Cool. Like you. It was just a whole different time and I can't make anybody understand that, but I would bring that back. Just knowing your neighbors and the importance of that and neighborhood is something I would love to get back in 2025, but I don't think it will. What's up with you, chris?
Speaker 3oh man, that's funny because you, you actually mentioned the one item that brought me so much nostalgia and and I it was the super soaker. When I when you mentioned that, that was my actual answer to the question. When I found it, I was like because what the super soaker represented was the pinnacle of kids having fun. You got your group of guys, you got your group of girls. It's the summertime, it's hot, the ice cream truck is coming around every 30 minutes, parents are chilling, they happy you out of school, they want to get up and figure it out. So you talk about a random bear you mentioned Saturday morning. Once them cartoons was off. It was like, look, I just got this super soaker. Then you had different variations, but I remember that item being in the middle of it all, whether you were shooting guys, you trying to shoot a girl in a white t-shirt, whatever the case may be, it was, it was the pinnacle of just like we had so much fun.
Speaker 3Yeah, anytime, you had the water fights, because with the super soaker came the water balloons. You know what I mean. And it was like a I'm out, I ain't got time to fill up. Let me grab this bucket and dump it on, like it was just being able to be outside and have so much fun and then sit there with a strawberry shortcake and just chill and just looking around like this this is my crew and and that's when you had kids who were like from rival, rival streets. That's when you actually have street rivalries, right.
Speaker 3Man them free on the way yeah, and just to be able to sit in that and be like, hey, I want to go have a rock fight with them, and you know, we meet on neutral graph, like that that was rock fight that was, that was life to say something, but it's gonna give me that we were some hood babies that was
Speaker 2like on the mattress oh, we all had that come on man, come on now, but but you said something chris said I had on man, come on now.
Speaker 1But you said something, chris, that I had to piggyback just a little bit off of. You said the water guns and trying to shoot a girl. Part of that is being a young man, when you start liking girls, having that summer crush. And having that summer crush because the girls got cousins and the cousins coming over.
Speaker 2All those things, those interactions that that was natural, because it's summertime. Shout out, young boys, you're coming. Yeah.
Speaker 1Shout out to natalie and monique everybody oh man, good times, yeah, that's funny and you know skating ring, what a wheels it is. But all you know all that, and just an honorable mention too, if I had a place, would be the 80s and 90s going to the mall, when the mall was like the mall.
Speaker 3So this is the funny thing and this is how you know, we grew up in the same era. So my two answers were Super Soaker and the WB store, because the WB store and the Delamo mall was the pinnacle of you. Talk about living life when you, when the Looney.
What Would You Bring Back From Your Childhood?
Speaker 3Tunes character theme clothing was out. Oh my God, when it was like when girls were after Tweety Bird, dudes was wearing tat I mean like that store. I'll never forget the first time I went in that store because the store made you feel like you were in a movie and it was such a. It was a huge store for one, but it also represented the time where you still had an arcade next to McDonald's. You go there at 10, 11 o'clock, take the bus Right, you get on one of these Gardena Torrance buses, get to the mall Number two and you and your boys are sitting there solid six, seven hours. We didn't have a Cinnabon, we didn't went to McDonald's, we didn't try to get on Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter to see if we could hang. We lost right away.
Speaker 3There's some dude here with 15 quarters lined up so you're not getting back on unless you beat him up physically in real life. It was just a time that is just gone. And, to your point, reed, the only way we recapture those moments is in, like some of these retro bars where they brought back the pinball machines and tried to give you that nostalgia feel, where it kind of gives you a quick flip to oh, I remember them days, gives you a a quick flip to oh, I remember them days, but nah that, that.
Speaker 2it just shows you how connected we are in our time frame, because those were my two, the super soaker wb store and you mentioned that was like the height of like the super star, was like the height of like summer excellence and like oh man, let us not forget, it's the height of black excellence too. Lani johnson, the creator of the super soaker, a black man. You know that man's story and how many patents and how he eventually sued and got his money.
Speaker 3We actually covered that story at work, yeah, but that man was a creative genius and really fueled the soundtrack to our lives in terms of like just playing and being a kid, because they don't make them that term, they don't make them like they used to. These knockoff super soakers and some of these water guns you go buy at, like your Sam's Clubs and Walmart, it is not the same. Whatever they did. What he captured in that moment was just it was. It literally felt like magic because there was a water gun and then there was a super soaker and even to this day, you go online trying to find them. You might find one for $100, $200 for one of them original ones, because they literally don't make them like they used to, and the one with the backpack, you were a superstar.
Speaker 2If you had that one, you were like, who is this dude with the backpack? Wow, you got a backpack. This kid is rich. This kid is rich and he's not going back for a refill anytime soon. He got to, he did. He sat for the day, but it's funny, I thought you heard it in the summertime, pumping it up Pop, pop, pop pop and again, I'd be remiss if I did not touch on certain things that would have been important to us as LA natives at that time. So the WB store that you mentioned, Chris.
Speaker 1I was about to do it, you were looking at it.
Speaker 2It had a whole different meaning to us where we were going to school at. It was kind of like Going to Dorsey yeah, you couldn't do it. I'll tell you the story. I know the infinite story.
Speaker 1You ain't got to tell the story, but I'm just saying like you basically in and I remember you know somebody, I knew Baby Bomb, coming up to me. It was a kid. Somebody at Dorsey at the bus stop had a I want to say a Tasmania Devil.
Speaker 2It was one of WB's sweatshirts. Yeah, WB's sweatshirts. He kept wearing it. I can't remember that.
Speaker 1And he was told. And I told him like bro, you need to, nah, that didn't want to listen. And next thing you know we're going home.
Speaker 3You're trying that?
Speaker 1front. No, I'm walking down. And I asked my cousin you know, and excuse my language, I don't understand, this is where we grew up. He said hey, hey, blood. You know, old boy. I just looked at him like bro, you brought it on yourself and that's what it was.
Speaker 2But that's, but it was. I knew I had to disavow all knowledge of my I don't even know dude like this is, la, that you don't understand it.
Speaker 1That didn't stop our parents, that didn't stop us. We knew how to navigate the streets because we lived in it and it wasn't no cell phone like if. If you, that was just a part of growing up as a teenager too was, yeah, you may get hit up, you got to know it's gonna happen. The no way.
Speaker 2It's going to happen. The question is, it's not a matter of if, but when that's going to happen. That was a part of our childhood too. Not to ruin it on that too much, but but that WB era was something special. I remember my uncle, virgil, had still want that denim shirt to this day.
Speaker 3I'm not sure if wearing wb gear is in vogue for a grown-ass man in his 40s.
Speaker 2But just on a nostalgic tip I would love to have but that time, man pagers and all that, those of us didn't really have actual service who would be fronting with a fake pager with no service because it looked cool, like that was. If you had a pager and it was actually it had service, you were doing something in middle school and high school like that was a major deal I want to say messages I I want to say this is something real quick before we get off, before we conclude the show, before we done.
Speaker 2I want to say I'm not sure if I remember this, if it just my class, because I was a year before you guys. I want to say maybe it might have been in LA. I want to say we were the first true freshman in high school. You were, you were.
Speaker 1We were right, yeah, before that, ninth grade was in eighth grade, it was middle school.
Speaker 2It was still middle school Technically. Back then it was junior middle school. It was technically back. That was junior high school it was seven through ninth Yep.
Speaker 2Yeah, I think so. And because our class and junior high school graduated with eighth and ninth grade classes graduated together to go to high school. And that last year, in 94, because we, they had to kick out that ninth grade class to go to high school because freshmen sophomore that's why frosh soft was always one class, it was 10th, 11th and 12th and right. A lot of kids don't understand that. Like there was a time when ninth grade was not high school, you were in junior high, like we were.
Speaker 2I'm old enough to have lived in that time, which is crazy in and of itself. Like damn I forget. Like I remember seventh grade. Like when my first year of the middle of junior high school, at the time, like set, we had scrub week for seventh graders, like where you get picked on and God knows what might happen to you If they didn't get away with it. They're going to do it to you. They're going to beat you up, throw you in a trash, can do whatever they need to. But that was a whole different time. Man Damn middle school, as they call it now, but junior high back in our day was seventh through ninth grade, up until my eighth grade year, which was kind of crazy to think about.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 1Wow, how times have changed Summertime in the LBC, and now we're back in springtime at time of year, again, I was about to say that was a good little trip down memory lane, fellas, yeah.
Speaker 3So we'll see what brings the, what y'all think for next week. But another good episode in the books. Y'all come back, hang with us, rock with us, please, do you know?
Speaker 2please support the pod like subscribe.
Speaker 3Don't forget to share. Check us out. Donate. Donate facebook my facebook.
Speaker 2Yeah, not facebook. Check us out on youtube at supreme court. Basketball again at supreme court basketball and our in our, our website, supremecourtbasketballbuzzsproutcom. Again. That's the SupremeCourtBasketballBuzzsproutcom Again. Like comment, subscribe, as Chris mentioned earlier. Again, what I value most is your input, feedback. Yeah, let us know how we're doing y'all, what you'd like to hear more of. What you can do without, for that matter.
Speaker 1Hey, regular word we aims to please. We aims to please, so give us that we was the voices.
Speaker 3Another good one in the books. All right, y'all come back next week, we'll be back. You come back too, we out.
Speaker 1We out, we out, I don't know.