The Crossover Show
The Crossover Live brings NBA veteran Keyon Dooling and sports creator Anthony “10DayTony” Calatayud together for unfiltered, high-energy basketball talk. From breaking down the biggest NBA games and rivalries to giving real locker-room insight, this is where the game meets the culture.
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The Crossover Show
The NBA Has a Tanking Problem and Everyone Sees It
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The NBA is heading into the playoffs, but the biggest story right now might not be who’s winning… it’s what’s going wrong with the league.
In this episode of The Crossover, we break down the growing controversy around NBA tanking after a shocking late-game situation where a team intentionally fouled while winning just to lose. That moment sparked a bigger conversation: is the system broken, are teams exploiting the rules, and does the NBA need to step in immediately to fix this?
We also dive into the NBA’s 65-game rule, which was designed to fix load management—but may now be creating even more problems. With stars like Joel Embiid, Luka Doncic, and Giannis dealing with injuries, incentives, and award eligibility, players are being put in situations where they’re forced to play through injuries just to qualify. Is the rule actually hurting the game?
On the court, Cade Cunningham is back, and the Detroit Pistons suddenly look like a real threat. After proving they can win without him, does this team now have enough depth and confidence to make a serious playoff push?
We also break down the Boston Celtics’ dominance and whether they should even consider making a move for Giannis. With their current system built around pace and shooting, would adding a superstar like Giannis help—or completely disrupt what’s already working?
Plus, we react to Mike Malone heading to UNC, and what it means for college basketball in the NIL and transfer portal era. Could this be the start of more NBA-level coaches moving into the college game?
This episode covers NBA tanking, the 65-game rule controversy, playoff storylines, rising teams, superstar dynamics, and the future of basketball at both the NBA and college level.
If you care about where the NBA is headed, this is a conversation you don’t want to miss.
0:30 NBA Tanking Controversy Explained
2:30 Sacramento Situation & League Reaction
5:00 Why Tanking Is Getting Worse
7:00 Gambling, Money & Integrity Concerns
9:30 The NBA’s 65-Game Rule Problem
12:30 How Awards & Contracts Are Affected
15:30 Cade Cunningham Returns
17:30 Detroit Pistons Playoff Potential
20:00 Boston Celtics Breakdown
22:00 Giannis to Boston? Would It Work?
25:00 Mike Malone to UNC Reaction
27:00 College Basketball & Transfer Portal Shift
28:30 Final Thoughts
#NBA #NBATanking #NBAPlayoffs #AdamSilver #CadeCunningham #DetroitPistons #BostonCeltics #Giannis #NBANews #BasketballPodcast
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Keyon Dooling: https://www.instagram.com/keyondooling/
10 Day Tony: https://www.instagram.com/10daytony
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Produced by Beyond Media Group : https://www.instagram.com/beyond_mediagroup
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We try to fix Hanking. We try to fix the 65-game rule. If we had all the answers, they would be downloading this and sending this up to New York to make sure that we were working for the NBA. So a lot to get to. Katie Cunningham is back. The Boston Celtics had an incredible season. We'll talk about them a little bit. Plus Michael Malone to UNC, all that great stuff coming up next on the show. Let's go.
SPEAKER_00It's not a game. Yo, turn it up. Welcome to the Grosso. Let's do the NBA.
SPEAKER_03All right, KD. I got a couple of things that I want to get to today. Talk too. And I'm going to let you do dealer's choice. I know you you like to play cards sometimes. Dealer's choice. Okay. All right. We got 65 game rule. We got tanking. We got the return of Cade Cunningham. We got Mike Malone being hired at UNC. And we've got seeding for the playoffs. Where do you want to start?
SPEAKER_02Uh, you know what? Let's start with the tanking.
SPEAKER_03All right. Yeah. So biggest, most egregious tanking tank job we've ever seen. Sacramento Kings are playing the Golden State Warriors a couple nights ago. And Golden State is down one. So Sacramento Kings are winning. They've been trying to tank all season. They foul on purpose. Golden State hits two shots. Game's over. Draymond had a lot to say about it. I think the NBA at large has had a lot to say about it. Your thoughts on fouling to then have the other team hit free throws for you to lose. How'd you feel about that?
SPEAKER_02You know what? I really feel bad for Doug Christie in this situation because if the organization wants you to tank and you're the head coach, you kind of got to follow suit with that, right? But at some point, they're going to probably fire him because of the record, right? And, you know, it's no accountability, you know, from the team standpoint, the organizational standpoint when it comes to that, but he'll be like a sacrificial lamb in that situation. Um, so yeah, I don't like the tanking. I'm glad Draymond kind of called it out. Um, because there are a lot of teams who are tanking, but because of the way the system is designed, you are trying to put yourself in the position to get, you know, somebody who can come and impact the franchise in a positive way. And outside of free agency, the best way to build a team is the draft. Right. And if you have this kind of like talent pool in the draft, you want to try and position yourself to get the best pick. Because, man, those top seven picks in this year's draft are all going to be impact players. Um, and so yeah, they got to figure out something with that. And it can't just be about the players. See, the players are held accountable when they make mistakes, when they do something that like hurts the integrity of the game, players are held accountable, not organizations. And that's something that they're gonna have to deal with internally.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think what they're gonna have to deal with too is when you got so much money, don't mess with the money, right? That's what we're always told. Don't mess with the money, don't mess with the money. When you are in bed with all these gambling organizations, when you have people betting hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars across your league every night, and then you have something as egregious as is what happened against Sacramento where they're fouling while they're winning, they're hatched on a curry, on a curry while they're winning for them to lose. Yeah, like you're talking about thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars switching hands at a moment's notice. Yeah, somebody in Vegas was like, wait, what? No, what happened? No, I I just think that uh, you know, I agree. That's messing with the money though, and that's why Adam Silver's gonna have to do something about this because this is just one isolated incident. But we've seen the bottom teams, the bottom five or six teams in each conference have been on a terrible losing streak.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Like at some point they were 0-40. I th I think they're what they're doing is they're calculating their risks. And when I say that, it's like this. Uh, when you have a situation where tanking is like inevitable, like the rules haven't changed yet, right? So this is the last time they get to do it. So you might as well not like like hide your hand. You might as well just go all in. All right, uh, cool. I need to make sure my odds for this lottery are stacked. I need to make sure I stop stacked the deck.
SPEAKER_03And the funny thing is, like, your son plays baseball. You you're you're starting to watch and learn more about the game and watch the game, and like they've changed so much from when you were probably watching to what baseball is now the pitch clock, the ABS, like all these things have changed the game and a game that was so reluctant to change. Baseball looked around and said, All right, we're losing everybody to the NBA, to the NFL, to college football, to basketball, like all these different things, baseball is losing. So, what they do, all right, we'll change this, we'll change that, we'll change this, we'll change that. They made all these different changes, and now people can watch the game, follow the game, and all the things that they used to complain about, now they're not complaining. The NBA has to follow suit in some manner because we're looking at the game and saying, Man, we even though we love all the things that it brings, we're starting to see the flaws more and more and more. Yeah, and like the tanking thing was I remember talking about tanking 10 years ago. People tank, oh, tank for this, tank for that. Now it's so bad and so egregious that like something's gotta be done about it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Look, Adam Silva is brilliant, you know, and he's brought a lot of money to the game. He's pretty much almost triple, you know what I'm saying, basketball-related income since David Stern, you know, 10 years at the time.
SPEAKER_03I'm glad you brought that up. Would Stern would Stern do something and say something about what's going on right now? You know, you know David Stern.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so you know, for sure, Stern would probably handle it a little different, but Adam's perspective and the way that he does things, like he's increased the value of basketball-related income. And it was a little bit risque, a little bit, because like franchises have appreciated and valued tremendously, right? And that's what that's not what they were saying, you know, during collective bargaining. Um, but you know, the values have have have gone up.
SPEAKER_03What did the Celtics sell for? I mean six billion?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And the and the Lakers got sold for a valuation of 10 billion.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, it's it's a different philosophy. Uh, Adam has been a little bit more um global as far as like understanding like the rules of the game and the gameplay and how that could benefit other organizations that could bring in, you know, these kind of resources. But like when you look at the gambling aspect and the billions that it's brought in, like, you know, from a bottom line standpoint, a CEO standpoint, like that is a win. When you look at the rule change and becoming more global, um, that has brought in made the game more global because NFL dominates domestically, but the global aspect of it, like he's taken a different approach and that's made it more conducive for European players to be able to play against American players. Um, and so like when you talk about the streaming and the way that the game is digested now and bringing in all these networks and things like that, like it has brought in more television money. And so, like, from a business standpoint, the bottom line has happened, but there's always gonna be these residuals that could be potentially negative that you have to navigate. And I think they can, you know, litigate or you know, kind of tweak the rules to be able to like kind of combat it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because we're looking, we're looking at teams that from the jump are just not gonna be competitive. Yeah. And like at a certain point, it's like, all right, we've got a third of the NBA that's just not playing the same game. You know, like you've got the top dogs that are fighting for those number one, number two, number three seeds that have a chance to go on and make it to their respective conference finals and the NBA finals, and then a third of the league is just done.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03By by February, like we're looking at instead of a 30-team league, we're looking at a 16-team league, 18-team league on guys on the play-ins. But for me, I just I just want to see something in one of the more progressive leagues in the world for them to look around and say, all right, I think we have the answers and we're smart enough in this room to figure out how we can mitigate the issues going on in this game, right? That being the tanking situation and that being the 65-game rule situation. I know you had an interest in that too. Let's talk about that too. We're looking at now Wemby's hurt, he got hurt with a rib injury. And what are you gonna trot out Wemby for the next couple of games just for him to say that he played enough time to get the 65th game so he could be in for defensive player of the year and in the race for MVP? Like, that to me is BS.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think there's a balance that they can find between like the 65 game and the you know, minute restriction, you know, uh kind of vibe that they were on and minutes. Um, because like LeBron won't have as many um games played as Wimby, but he'll have more minutes played throughout the season, you know, than Wimby. Um, so I think there's a balancing area. There's a place where they can kind of, you know. Coincide. Yeah, they can fix, you know, they can kind of tweak that a little bit, you know, and maybe, you know, consider, you know, um consider, you know, consider that.
SPEAKER_03Loosening it up a little bit. Loosen it up a little bit. 65 is such a rigid thing because it's so it's like the high watermark, you're like, all right, let me try to just barely get there, right? If you're talking about the minutes thing, then you can be judicious with your minutes maybe earlier in the season, maybe later in the season you could take a little bit less minutes. Like there's there's a sliding scale there that we can kind of play around with. Yeah, but the games are what do you what do you say a game is, right? Is it is it 32 minutes? Is it 40 minutes?
SPEAKER_02I've never played 32 minutes in a game.
SPEAKER_0326 minutes? Like, how do you define what a game is?
SPEAKER_02Not on average, but I think the coaches can help with that too, because like there's incentives that guys have, like, not only you know, with their contracts, but they're also with their shoe deals, right? And so Giannis is a guy right now who's going through something similar where he feels like he wants to play, right? But like if he plays a certain amount of games with his uh shoe contract, like he gets a bigger bonus. And so like now you're talking about like you know, messing with people's money. Um with Cade and with with with even with Luca and things like that, hey, Luca's out for the rest of the regular season, too, right? I've we've seen, you know, um, you know, coaches, you know, if somebody is injured or something like that, put them out there for a second and then like as soon as the ball is thrown up, they foul. Like, even if those guys' numbers go down for a game and they score 0-0-0 across the board and they get their 65. Now they now they can become a super max player, they can get certain incentives. All MBA, all NBA, all these different things that could have an impact on their bottom line. But who does it benefit? That could potentially benefit the player more than the organization. Because if I have to pay Luca, you know what I'm saying, a max contract where he's not super max because he didn't make all NBA, like now you save yourself a hundred million dollars for the organization.
SPEAKER_03But then you screw the player in the meantime.
SPEAKER_02I think the system has always been designed to kind of screw the players over for sure.
SPEAKER_03But you do have a strong union in the collective bargaining of, like, all right, the split revenue for TV, like all of these things are collectively bargained. You've been a part of that, and you had a hand in a CBA. And when you look at the Lucas and the Cades, the guys that have been MVP worthy, the Wembees, none of them are gonna reach 65 games. Not one of them. And you're gonna tell me that those three guys specifically aren't gonna be all NBA first team. Yeah. So Cade's been an all NBA first team guy, Lucas been, and Wemby's been. Yeah. But now those three guys are not gonna be first team all NBA.
SPEAKER_02And it's crazy. I mean, even all NBA, you you know, it triggers like that that kicker, yeah. That kicker. Um, but then you have people like John Morant, right? Who got suspended and didn't get an opportunity to make all NBA. And so like some of those things can be punitive, right? And and and really like a player like kind of self-destructs in that moment, but some of them are like, you know, natural that happens in the game, and you have to have that balance. I think the voters should be savvy enough to know that like when a guy's low management or if a guy gets hurt and injured. Right. Like Cade literally, you know, had a couple, you know what I mean? Like Wimby gets hurt the other day, like that is a big thing, you know what I'm saying? Like he wants to go out there and play. Giannis, right now, is on the sideline, like begging to play, right? Um, but the organization is like, okay, you may potentially leave. We got to try and, you know, build for the future and things like that.
SPEAKER_03But if you win too many games because you're playing with us, then that messes up our draft picks later on.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they got to balance it out, Tone. And I don't have the answers, but hopefully they can come up with them.
SPEAKER_03And and Luca, we saw the game that they got blown out against the Thunder where he hurt his hamstring. He tweaked it in the fur in the second early second quarter, came out after halftime, tried to push through because I think there's that minutes of like what is an actual game if you're playing, so you can stay within that 65 game. And in the third quarter, hurts the hammy, and then he's out for two weeks. Yeah, and and definitely we don't know what's gonna happen. We don't know what they're looking like because Austin Reeds also hurts his hammy, so now it's LeBron and them boys. Like it's tough. The the team that was not supposed to be good regardless. But now you have that happen, and you're like, Man, how do we and if we had these answers, we would not be here, we'd be working for the league and making a lot more money doing stuff over there because we've had all these answers. But 65 game rule and the tanking, I I really want to see it as a Hoops fan, as you as you do too, and as everybody around the world, we want to see answers to these two questions.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03Earn the offseason, Adam Silver, all the board of governors, everybody that's the smartest people in the room, get together, try to figure something out so that next year we don't have to have the same conversations. Of you know, eight teams in the league are tanking, and we have all of our all-stars not playing and not being able to be all NBA, MVP, defensive player of the year, all this stuff. So, like I I really hope that they can they can make something happen. I hope so too. You said something about Cade. Cade's back, he's back, double double in his first game. What do you think? Now the Pistons were eight and three uh without Cade. Yeah, Jalen Dern stepped up big time, was a man amongst boys, they got as usual. Yeah, but now you insert Cade. Like we were a little bit iffy on Detroit.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Detroit back? Yeah, no, Detroit's back, man. Like, here's the thing like when Cade went down, like guys stepped up. Like, so Thompson got better in that moment. Uh uh Dern was, I think, like 22 and 12, something like that. His numbers like kind of escalated. Uh Tobias Harris, an OG vet in the game, who's you know, one of the highest paid players in the history of the game. Crazy. Like, but like for moments like this, right? He's a guy like when somebody goes down, he can like elevate his play. Um, you saw like, you know, some of their bench guys like really stepping up. So I think they'll be more equipped and better. Um, obviously, you know, when you have Cade on the team, you're a lot better, right? But because he was out, those guys got confident. They got, you know, more opportunities, you know, to produce, to, you know, impact the game, to find their confidence, their rhythm, their emotions. You know what I'm saying? Like, so I think uh the Pistons will be better, um, you know, with Cade coming back, getting healthy.
SPEAKER_03Uh, another guy that stepped up for them in the in the wake of the injury was Dennis Jenkins. Yeah, that's their guard. Yeah, he's nice. I was like, ooh, he's nice. Where have they been hiding him?
SPEAKER_02He's nice.
SPEAKER_03Because he's a nice little combo guard, could get his own shot, was facilitating nicely. Like they've got some players over there. He's nice, he's super nice. And uh, Detroit was a team in the landscape of the Eastern Conference where we looked around and we're like, all right, if Cade is when you got a seven-game series and they're scouts and their front office and everybody is dialed in on stopping you, was there gonna be enough firepower for the Pistons outside of Cade to be able to get deep into the playoffs like we think this team can get?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And what we've seen over the last 11 games without Kate is yeah, they were they were decent.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think they're on the track, man. Uh meet the Celtics in the conference finals. Um, I think, you know, the Knicks are a solid team, man. Like they they have a lot of guys who have experience. They haven't gotten over the hump yet and gotten to the finals, you know, with this core group of guys. Um, so they're still dangerous. Philly is a team that I still feel like has a little bit of like, you know, if they're healthy, they're that's the biggest, that's the biggest if they're the biggest question mark, right?
SPEAKER_03Easily.
SPEAKER_02But um, man, with Cade back, man, like you really have an opportunity. Like, not only K coming back with the Pistons, but also uh uh Tatum coming back with the Celtics. Like it is uh yeah, it's look it's looking like they're on a crash course to play in the conference finals.
SPEAKER_03One of your former teams, the Boston Celtics, uh it was it's really interesting to see in a team, because there was a report out by Sam Amick that said that Boston was also in on the Giannis situation, or they're monitoring the Giannis situation right now. And it's like, man, with what Boston has built, with what Brad Stevens, who could have been the coach for this team, stepped on in the front office and said, All right, I'm gonna be the president, I'm gonna be the Pat Riley role. We'll bring in Joe Mazzula, who hadn't really coached anywhere big outside of being a coach for the Celtics, a bench coach. And what they've been able to do for the last three years is nothing short of a impossible, yeah, and especially this season, where we thought they're gonna be a lottery team. Like JB, we thought so, Derek White, Peyton Pritchard. You're you're looking at a team that's gonna win 25 games.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. You know, uh one of the coaches, I think it was uh the coach in Cleveland, what's his name? Um uh uh Kenny Atkins. Kenny Atkins. He said that uh uh White is a top five player, and I disagree with I love to always bring that up. I didn't bring up I didn't bring it up this time because I thought I disagree with that strongly, but I do believe he's like a top five glue guy, right? And the way that he plays, you know, yields winning results. Um look, man, the Celtics, what they've done is nothing short of, you know, incredible. Uh getting JT back and and and kind of getting him back into the feel of the game and like letting him ease back into it has been amazing. And that program is like, you know, really positioned well. Um they also got Vuchich back. And like they are really positioned well to win in the postseason, especially if they can like, you know, kind of keep hitting on all cylinders. But if they can get Giannis next year, like you got to figure out. Would you get Giannis if it costs you JB? I wouldn't, I no. I don't, I don't spot. I got you there. Yeah, no.
SPEAKER_03Would you would you trade for Giannis if it caught you JB and either White or Pritchard plus picks?
SPEAKER_02No, I don't think so. You keep your core, right? Yeah, I would I would keep my core, and here's why. Um, because Giannis, like, you know, to me, is a player who individually, the stats, he'll fill the stat sheet up. He doesn't make players better around him, right? And like JB is still younger than him. You know, he had he's coming off his best season ever. Where like we're talking about him in the MVP conversations. Pritchard is a guy who has a lot of upside. Like he's a guy who you can get probably for a good price, you know what I mean, for a lot of different years, for multiple years. Derek White, too, right? And Derek White is just like a solid OG vet who not only impacts the game on the court, but like his disposition off the court, like really like brings guys together. I saw him and Coach Mazzulu, you know what I mean, like going to the wrestling federation and checking things out like that. So I wouldn't give up, you know, like that kind of team. They're so good even without Giannis that I wouldn't give up that much stuff. I would give up more draft capital, um, Vusage, or or you know what I mean, like Hauser, like, you know, guys like around that, like who could be pieces to a puzzle plus draft capital in order to do that. But I wouldn't trade JB, you know, uh in somebody else for Giannis.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it just it just feels like the way that the Celtics are built from all right, we're gonna shoot 60 threes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And if we make 30 of them, we're winning. Like that's that's a very simple math that they're doing up in Boston. Giannis doesn't fit into that mold.
SPEAKER_02No, he doesn't.
SPEAKER_03Giannis is a slow the game down. The Celtics want to go. Let's try to shoot as many threes as possible. Face, uh, pace is gonna be fast, everything's gonna be fast. Giannis slows the game down. He's a half-court player, he's a guy that's gonna try and create his own shot. He's not a guy that is creating a lot of threes for others in a way that that that would, I think, disrupt what the system is that they're running about.
SPEAKER_02No, I agree. That's fair, that's a very fair point, you know, uh, because he is really effective in the half-court offense. But I think where Giannis is very underrated is in transition. Sure. Like him getting ahead of steam, bringing the ball after he rebounds it, and getting ahead of steam again, getting coast to coast. I think he's one of the best players at doing that. But you have to have play with a certain pace in order to be able to do that. I think the thing where where Giannis like kind of lacks is I don't think he makes people around him better. Right. Right? Like he's not a facilitator, so like you're not gonna like get op extra open shots. He's not an ISO player either, right? You can't just throw him the ball and tell him, okay, Giannis, just go to work and go get it and either score or make the play, right? You know, transition, you know what I mean, uh, is his biggest strength to me. And I just don't think it's worth giving up JB for.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I know, 100%. Like his best attribute is like going downhill. Yeah, I'm gonna catch the ball at the top of the key and I'm gonna try to bully my way into the hoop. I'm gonna try to either dunk it, try to get a layup, try to get fouled. Like his game is gonna age in a way that that I don't think people are gonna want to invest in because of the fact that he's got no jumper, he does not shoot the three ball well, right? When you stop being able to get downhill at the rate that he gets downhill, what is he gonna do?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and then uh, you know, another deficiency to me for Giannis is his lack of leadership. Um, and you know, it might not be a fair point, but it's just my perspective. Like, he doesn't get guys, he doesn't get the best out of his guys. And I think like when you talk about leadership and making other players around you better, I think Giannis can go out and get 32 and 13 and six assists and blocks and things like that, but that doesn't necessarily mean your team.
SPEAKER_03It it did for that one year. For one year, and he had a lot of great role players, yeah. And when you look at the wake of that championship season, you look at what's happened, there's been a lot of early exits. There's been a lot of times where they should have shown up in a series in the playoffs and didn't.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, for me, I just like you said, the leadership part, are you in on the team or are you not? Yeah, because I've heard six times that you're not, and then four times you said that you are when you were saying that, oh, I'm a you know, partner in Calchi now. Like people were betting on you leaving, and now you're not leaving. And like there's just been a lot of stuff in the last like two or three months where he's trying to keep his reputation clean, yeah. Quote unquote for the city of Milwaukee and the fans and this and that. But then the rest of us are looking at him like, well. You just flip-flopping back and forth.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, you know what? It won't be no flip-flopping. If he doesn't sign the extension, he will not be a Milwaukee buck. And they might not they might get pennies on the dollar, right? Because like at that point, you know he's actually expiring contract. And so like his his days are either numbered or they'll make some moves to, you know, try and accommodate him.
SPEAKER_03Uh we had the national championship on Monday. Yes, we Michigan beat UConn in a uh in a rock fight of a game. I don't know if you saw the game or not. It was a late start, nine something, but we were out there watching it. Um Michigan went 0 for 11 from three. I think didn't hit anything outside of the paint. No jumpers. Yeah. Like they they were just terrible, but ended up winning the game. Uh one of the interesting notes that I saw over the week was Mike Malone being hired at UNC. Your thought about a former NBA champion head coach moving to the college ranks. I thought he could have got an NBA job this cycle, no?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, I I think you know it's a good fit for him. You know, I think Mike Malone, you know, he comes from a basketball family, number one. Uh he's proven in the NBA, number two. Uh players got the better when they got under his infrastructure. So uh I believe Jamal Murray got better as a pro under him. You know, the Joker got better with Mike Malone as their coach. Aaron Gordon came in from Orlando and got better in that situation. Michael Porter Jr. got better in that situation. And I think with his uh demeanor and his coaching philosophy, I think college kids will be more receptive to that and his pedigree. Um, so I think, you know, it's exciting. You know, I think that was a good hire for him. I think, you know, he knows the game well enough to be able to make the college adjustments because that game is totally different from the NBA game. Just watching it. It is. But if you're a guy who if you're aspiring to be an NBA player, you want somebody like that who can tell you and teach you and hold you accountable and coach you and push you, you know, to get to that other level. Uh, I've seen a lot of the Tar Hill, former Tar Hills talk about it and they're happy with it, even though he's not a like a UNC guy. Guy, right. But he's got that UNC disposition. And I think he'll do well in recruiting. I think he'll be good with the media. I think he'll develop the players, and I think the Tar Heels made a good hire with that.
SPEAKER_03I think the interesting point of what you said is guys are gonna go, all right, this guy's won an NBA championship. He's coached Nikola Jokic, he's coached Jamal Murray, he's been part of these incredible teams and programs. It's the same conversation that Nick Saban would have, and he sits in your living room and said, All right, you're a defensive end, you're a running back, you're a tight end, you're a you know receiver, you're a corner. I get guys in the NFL. Yeah, straight up like that. Facts. I get guys to the NFL. I look at all the drafts, look at all your pro bowlers, look at all the guys everywhere. Those are my guys. You want to be one of those guys? Let's go. Yeah. And Mike Malone's like, you want to be in the NBA? You you want to like I've been there. I've been to the mountaintop.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I I came down to help you guys.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, it's and it's reverse from Nick Saban because Nick Saban made his bones like in college game. He went to the NFL, coached with the Dolphins. It didn't work out well for him, but he learned a lot, I'm sure, from that. And actually took the program to another level after he came to the city. A dynastic level.
SPEAKER_03Like nobody had seen that kind of success.
SPEAKER_02But man, the Malone family, man, I'm telling you, man, they're like, you know, really respected around the basketball community. Brandon Malone, his father, Mike Malone, you know, as a as a championship coach, as a commentator, you know, is just a lifer around the game. Um, that they'll have a lot of respect and support from that program as well. And they got money. And they got they got they got you got you gotta have money now.
SPEAKER_03That's that's one interesting point that he didn't really have to worry about because the front office took care of all that stuff, is the money, is the NIL situation. Because not only are you managing, you know, uh emotions and personalities in the locker room like you would in the NBA, uh, not only are you coaching X's and O's, doing film, doing all of your coachly duties, but now it's like, all right, coach, yeah, I need two mil up front, I need this, I need that. Like, let's get it popping.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And that that's a different thing that he's never had to do because the front office is taking care of the money part, you know?
SPEAKER_02Right. And I think one one of the bridges that I think he can build, uh, UNC, man, like they've always had these alumni that come back, right? And uh, I believe since the podcast era has happened that there's been a lot of um, you know, tension, you know, with with a lot of their former players. And I believe like he'll bridge the gap with some of that. I think like if they can like rally the troops who have come before these soldiers who are playing right now, uh, man, I think he can really, you know, bring that UNC kind of culture back and really start getting, you know, some of the top recruits outside of just Caleb Wilson, like getting some of the best players that play at the same time, where you have a Jamison or Vince Carter and an Ed Coda and all these different guys who they used to have on one team that played together and came together for the common good of a team. I think he can kind of bring that back.
SPEAKER_03And excel in the transfer portal, right? Because you if there's guys in the transfer portal looking around saying, Oh, wait a second, Mike Malone, former NBA champion coach, like UNC, I know they got money, I know we can try to make something happen over there. Like, that's that's a big chip.
SPEAKER_01It's a it's a blue chip program.
SPEAKER_03Uh the Wolverines had five transfers as starters this season. Like their championship team had five different transfers that were not on the Michigan program last year. Yeah, and it tells you the state of college basketball.
SPEAKER_02It tells you the state of college basketball, and it also tells you about like these coaches and how they're able to, you know, uh recruit, assimilate talent, understand like the times and the rhythm of like the transfer portal and not like be so offended by it. Yeah. Like Dusty May has done a fantastic job. He's 49 years old, he looks about 25. I know.
SPEAKER_03Well, winning a championship will take some. It'll age you. This game will age. It'll age you, but then you win that one, and it's like, ah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you gotta, you know, we got one, he gotta re-up. He's got one day at least to be like, they gotta re-but. Make sure he, you know, at least top five page. I think I think he's doing all right.
SPEAKER_03I think he's doing all right. All right, fam. Uh, make sure that you're showing us some love on Spotify, on YouTube, on the WDFL app. If you're local in South Florida, check us out on channel 18. That's Keon Dooling right there. Follow him at Keon Dueling, and I'm your boy Ten Day Tony. Follow me out there on IG, on Twitter, on TikTok. I know you're getting a TikTok.
SPEAKER_01WDFL.
SPEAKER_03And WDFL, download the app, show us some love outside of the state. KD, we got three more games in the NBA and then the NBA Finals or the NBA playoffs starts. I'm going to see one. I know. I'm going to see the uh Hawks versus the Heat. Big game. Big game. All right, we'll catch you guys Monday. Peace.
SPEAKER_00It's not the game. Welcome to the Crozo.