Transcript of NBA Finals With CJ McCollum, Oilers Get To The SCF Vs The Panthers, Who's Back Of The Week And The WNBA Has People Angry

Hey, pardon my take, listeners. You can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Experience your drives in 10k with the all-new QI10 max driver from our friends at TaylorMade. Qi10 Max is the most forgiving driver TaylorMade has ever made with 10K MLOI for maximum stability and forgiveness at impact. More forgiveness means more long and straight drives, even on off-center strikes.

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We've got some other sports to talk about. We have Who's Back of the Week. Great Monday show to kick you off while we wait for the NBA Finals, which should have been game one tonight. I think we can all agree. It feels like game one would have been perfect tonight. But we got some other things to get through, and we're brought to you by our Friends at DraftKings. We're this close to crowning an NBA champion with the action heating up on the court. It's even hotter at DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner at the NBA. There's only so many games left, and DraftKings Sportsbook has you covered with same game parlays, live betting odds, odds Odds, boosts, and so much more. Don't miss out. You have to wait until next NBA season to place your bets. It's super easy for first-timers to get started. Try betting on something simple like picking a team to win. Go to the DraftKings Sportsbook app, select your squad, Place your first bet. It's that simple. The NBA final start on Thursday night. Hank, what are your Celtics are? A six-point favorite? Six and a half right now. Six and a half point favorite.

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Welcome to Pardon My Take, presented by DraftKings. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app. Now use code Taked. That's code Taked for new customers to get a no-sweat bet up to 1,500 bucks if your first bet doesn't hit only on DraftKings. Today is Monday, June third, and the Edmonton Oilers are set to go to the Stanley Cup final where they will face the Florida Panthers and Connor McDavid. Can he win the big one? He's now in the big one.

This is big for Canada.

This is huge for Canada. This is huge for Canada.

Think about that, an entire nation. When When was the last time? Was it 1993?

That they won? '95. That they won?

That they won a Stanley Cup. It's been a long time. It's been a long time for our friendly friends up north. God damn it, this is going to be good. I'm excited about this.

The Connor McDavid goal to start the scoring tonight against the stars was absolutely unreal. I mean, that was the goal where you're just like, not that he needs it. Again, he still hasn't won the big one, so we're to wait on that. But that goal was so silly, and it was ridiculous, and it looked like a goal that you would see come across your timeline in the middle of December, being like, Oh, he's just trying some new shit out against the coyotes. No, that was game six of a Western Conference final to clinch going to the Cup. He is so goddamn good, and the oilers are so hot, and they have a celebrity fan now ready to take them to the Cup against Brooks Kepka.

Yeah. If you need a reason to root for the Edminton Oilers, I will give you two reasons to root for the Edminton Oilers. This fan.

Oh, I thought you would say drysidal and- No, no, no. This fan.

Just this fan. The two best reasons.

Yeah. What fan? Oh, it was the fan that flashed her titties and they were really nice. You saw her. You'll probably date her. It was a great video. She's passionate. She's very passionate. I love the passion. She's very passionate. Yeah.

We need to introduce her to our boy Kodak. Yeah. Down in Florida. Get a little pea's reunion going down there.

Isn't it so funny that this Edmundon-Oilers fan that was just flashing her whole section?

Her upper section.

The internet is a crazy place. We've made some crazy technological advancements, and you can find porn, nudity, whatever you want at any time. But if you get a pair in the wild, it gets the boys going unlike anything else.

It is different.

It's all the talk. I think I've seen that video a thousand times just put on my timeline, and it will probably be a thousand more by the time we drop the buck on Saturday night.

And I'll watch it every time. Yeah. It's not like I'm getting horny when I'm watching. I'm just like, That's awesome. Yeah. And maybe a little bit horny. Boobs rock. What do you think? Those are A Cups, spelled E-H?

Yeah, there you go. But yeah, we're going to have Whitney on, I think, Thursday for the Stanley Cup final preview. But we had the oilers. I'm happy for Edmonton oilers. I'm happy for their fan base. Connor McDavid could be the next up in terms of best player. He's got to win the big one.

Right now, he still sucks.

I did play myself a little when I said, We need to figure out who the next one is that we can say can't win the big one in case McDavid wins it. And then everyone was just like, Bedard. So I was like, Fuck. Bedard's got a couple. Yeah, he's only been in the league for one year.

He's got a couple of seasons before that. He has to get to the playoff. Correct. Then he has to lose a playoff series. Then the narrative can start.

Correct. There's other friends of ours that you could put in that group, too, which that also would play ourselves.

Not going to do that, though.

Yeah, right.

We are going to do that.

We'll just say that we hope Conor McDavid wins it, and we can be like, he won the big one. And if he doesn't, then he can't win the big one.

Then he can't win the big one. In a way, I'm hoping that he loses so we can really focus this take on. I'm like, Losing in the Stanley Cup finals would be the ultimate point on that crowd of cannot win the big one.

Next step to not winning the big Yeah.

But I think I'm rooting for Canada. Sorry, Jake. Sorry about your P's. Sorry, Brooks.

I am as well.

Yeah. Canada, you're just so nice. It just cares so much. It cares so deeply.

Also- Edmondson's so far up there. Have you ever seen a map? Edmondson's all the way up there.

The ice is different in Canada, too. Yeah, it's shiny here. Real shiny ice, fast ice, good ice. The crowd going nuts tonight was awesome. How many shots on goal did Edmondson have tonight? Nine. Nine? They had nine shots on goal.

All they needed was McDavid's insane shot.

And he had a great assist, too, to Hyman.

Yeah, that was awesome. The other side, memes. You have to be so happy. I went immediately to memes just getting... First of all, memes, tweeted, Did you tweet from the part of my take account, just a ranger's jersey that said, Ass? Yeah. People were upset about that, but I love it because this is what Memes does. Memes, congratulations. You've won your Stanley Cup as someone who also hates a lot in sports. I'm happy for you in this moment. Yeah, I'm super pumped. I took a couple of victory laps last night. Yeah, I'm just very excited summer could officially start.

Yeah. You do like watching the Rangers lose more than you like watching the Islanders win.

Yeah, probably at this point. Yeah. Franky did his tweet that he does every single year. For the 83rd time in 84 seasons, the New York Rangers has been eliminated from the playoffs. That got people very upset. It is It's crazy that a franchise has been around that long and gets talked about like that and there's only one.

Yeah, there was just that one season during the OJ year. Besides that, all those come from World War II.

Yeah. Do you think they could ever win it? This year was probably their best year. Oh, man. There's also the stat from Josh Dubau. With the Rancher eliminated, there have now been 100 combined seasons by the Ranchers, Islanders, Knicks, Nets, Yankees, Mets, Jets, Giants without a Championship.

That's wild.

So what's the last one? It's the Giants. Yankees in '09. No, Giants in 2012, right? Yeah, Giants. That's crazy. 100 combined. Bad sports town. Man, they do have Aaron Judges who can't stop hitting home runs.

And Juan Zotto, who's just absolutely ridiculous.

Well, It's more Juan Zotto and Aaron Judges combined.

Cole, hopefully for the second half.

Oh, once a Yankee, always Yankee. Yeah. New York sports down bad. A hundred combined? That's a lot of seasons in a row, isn't it, Hank? Because they have a lot of teams. Twice as many teams. Holy shit.

I don't think Hank's ever gone that long as an alive person without a team winning a championship.

Not even close. Not even close to close. This is probably the longest stretch. Yeah, you're in the midst of your worst stretch. And you won a Super Bowl, what, like six years ago? Yeah, and the Red Sox one in 2018.

You're such a piece of shit.

I'm excited, though. Speaking of it, Hank, I know we talked about it last week, but the NBA schedule, my body was ready for the NBA Finals to start tonight. It's brutal. I'm just walking around the house being like, What do I do to start the game? Just starting. I can't keep thinking about it. Just start. And you still have three more days. I know. Three more full days to get through.

Yeah. Are you weaponizing time?

No, I'm not great with time management. I'm just waiting. I'm just sitting and waiting.

Yeah. You're getting hungry, though. I'm I'm so ready. My body is so ready. As hungry as you've ever been. Longest route of your life.

I'm sticking with my Celtics in seven, but I did find some stats. I told you I was going to search, and they're not... They make me think that I'm just nervous for you. It's going to be tight. I mean, it's not going to be an easy series. The Mavericks with these starting five guys that they've had would be a '67 win team, which is... I I know that they weren't a '67 win team, but they've been playing like a '67 win team. They're a good team. Yeah.

Did you guys see the stat?

I still am taking Celtics in seven. I feel strong about Celtics in seven.

Do you guys see the stat over the weekend? That going back to 2017, every NBA champion has had a former Wizard on the team? All the role players, they're all Wizards. It's JaVale McGee, Sean Livingston, Jody Meeks, JaVale McGee again, Dwight Howard, Markeith Morris, Bobby Portis, Gary Payton, Otto Porter, Chris Chioza, KCP, Jeff Green, Ishma, Thomas Bryant. That's just the list of former Wizards since 2017. So that means- Everyone's a former Wizard, though.

Everyone goes to the Wizards for one year.

Yes, correct. But don't downplay the stat, Hank. It's a true stat. This year, Porzingis.

I didn't know any of those guys were on the Wizards.

Porzingis. Porzingis, Hank. Also, Gaffard on the Mavericks. So the stat is going to continue for at least one more season.

Yeah, I guess- It's important, though. It's very important. Those are the important stat. Okay, Okay. We could talk some soccer. I'm waiting just to... You know what? Fuck it. Let's just do it. The WMBA, I said this last week, the discourse fucking sucks. What happened this time?

It got worse. It got way worse. It's so much worse than it was last week.

Kaitlyn Clarke got assaulted. She almost died. We all have to sit here and debate it and talk about things that are not basketball.

Yeah. So Kaitlyn Clarke, it was a good game. You watched the game between the sky and the fever on Saturday. Anyway, these two teams don't like each other very much. Little Raven stealers. That's going to be the Ravens stealers of the next 10 years in the WMBA. The fever beat Chicago on Saturday by one point. No one's talking about the misfree throughout the end. It cost her team the game. It was a good game, but there was a lot of horseplay.A lot of antics.A lot of antics. A lot of antics. A lot of extracurriculars on the court involving Hip Checking, Kaitlyn Clarke, Angel Reece celebrating, her teammates celebrating, and then None of them wanted to talk about it after the game. Yes.

That part I actually think is a lame move. Yes.

They hate Kaitlyn Clarke. That could be good for the WMBA.

That's been my point.

But you have to acknowledge it. You have to not give a fuck. You're like, Yeah, we don't like her. Correct. You have to say it with your chest. The lady from Edmonton would do that.

The discourse has now become... It's so bizarre to me because, one, it was a cheap shot. It wasn't a regular foul. It also wasn't, in terms of cheap shots, a very dangerous It was just a side check. What you would think is that Kaitlyn Clarke was maimed, assaulted, beaten close to death by this one play. That wasn't the case. It's so bizarre that every time one of these things happens, it just becomes something so much bigger than just talking about the basketball game. Yes, I do think there are women in the WMBA that are very jealous of Kaitlyn Clarke. That is lame, but what I would say to that is the people who are jealous of Kaitlyn Kaitlyn Clarke, and when they take chief shots at her, Kaitlyn Clarke, if she keeps being really good at basketball, and if she has a career that she's expected to have, all those people will be a footnote to Kaitlyn Clarke. It won't matter, she'll get the last laugh. They'll just be the jealous haters that her rookie year tried to be tough to her. It just doesn't matter. But it becomes this thing where it's like, We have to protect Kaitlyn Clarke.

I also don't understand PFD for the life of me. I get it. Kaitlyn Clarke is going to add viewership, but asking all the women to basically be like, We have to bow down to her also makes no sense.

Yeah, they shouldn't. They shouldn't. And honestly, if this was the NBA and you see this happen in other sports league, somebody comes to the league as a rookie with all these expectations. If they're the main storyline that year, the players in that league are going to be pissed off about that, and they're going to take it out, and they'll say it, though. They'll be like, Yeah, we're sick of people talking about her. We've been playing basketball, too, here, and so we want to show her on the court like, Yeah, we're going to beat you up a A little bit.

Can you find the clip? If we could play this clip, I remember it so well. When LeBron was going to Cleveland, and they interviewed, it was like, Booser, Smush Parker. Booser, obviously, had a good career, but Smush Parker, no name. I think Darius Miles. They basically were like, Yeah, maybe he'll be able to help us a little bit. And shitting on their teammate also, Kaitlyn Clarke's teammates. Someone step up. It's not the internet's job to defend Kaitlyn Clarke. It's your teammate's job. That's who you should be mad at. It should be like, Hey, where are the teammates?

Yeah. Have they gotten any quotes from her teammates being like, Do you like Kaitlyn Clarke? Because it seems like they don't like her either.

Either way, it's It becomes this enormous culture war that it's like, Dude, I just wanted to watch some basketball. If you think that I'm being very consistent because I said this last week when Angel Reece got clothes lined, which was probably a more dangerous foul, and people were making it bigger than basketball. I was like, This is going to ruin the... At WMBA, the amount of people who have started watching WMBA who are not actual sports fans are going to ruin the WMBA. Because guess what? Chief shots happen, hard fouls happen, rivalries happen. That helps the sport. Bad blood helps sports.

I would like Angel Reece to just stand on it and say, Yeah, fuck her. I don't like her. What she said publicly, this whole time has been, I have no problem with her. I like Kaitlyn Clarke. And every single action that she's had since they had that Championship game two years ago has been like, I hate her. Remember the little crown that she left? Yes. Or she does not like her. She hates her. And just say that you don't like her. And then guess what's going to happen after that? People are going to be like, Yes, I love Angel Reese. I don't like Kaitlyn Clarke. Other people are going to be like, Yes, that's awesome. I love Kaitlyn Clarke. I don't like Angel Reese. And then when they play each other, it becomes a big fucking moment, and everybody does.

Right. And it's a Good point because for the people who are freaking out, We must protect Caitlin Clarke. She can't be... This is the worst foul ever. They're lame. The people on the other side who are saying, Essentially, there's no jealousy and there's nothing involved. No, there's jealousy. They're jealous of Kaitlyn Clarke. They 100% are. It's okay to admit it. Again, they're going to be footnotes in Kaitlyn Clarke's career when it's all said and done. They're going to be the Lance Stevenson blowing in LeBron's ear. You know what I mean? That's what happens When you can't beat them straight up, you end up looking petty and probably stupid. If Kaitlyn Clarke goes on and has an incredible career, she should invite... What's her name? What's her name? Chenity. Chenity. Chenity. What a name. To her Hall of Fame induction and single her out. You'd be like, Hey, thanks for fucking being mean to me. You made me work harder. That's how sports work.

There was another shot that was called a cheap shot that it did look like Kaitlyn Clarke might have flopped a little bit on one of them to try to sell it. She flops. She flops, and that's going to make people hate her more. But again, I would already be saying this is good for the sport. It might already be good for the sport. I think it is. I just get exhausted seeing people with, like you said, the culture war takes online. Right. Go all in on one side of it without taking the time to acknowledge that this could be good and feeling this way about sports can lead to some awesome stuff.

And sports are tough and physical, and these things happen in sports, and we can't just be like, You cannot touch Kaitlyn Clarke because she is good for the game. She's great for the game. She's going to get face guarded. She's going to probably... Obviously, if there's cheap shots at the knees and stuff, but in terms of, again, cheap shots, a side check is nothing.

Yeah. I also think that for a long time, women's sports has been talked about in the sense of, at least by the major media places, like rooting for everyone. Let's celebrate everyone. The way that we talk about men's sport is much different than that where it's like, Fuck this guy. I hate this guy. I want it like memes, hatred towards the range. Having hatred towards a different city when your teams are playing sports against each other, that's how we feel about sports, usually. Now the WMBA is coming to this place where it's more of a reckoning of not always talking about every team like, Oh, she's a star. Oh, she's so good, and rooting for every single player at the same time, but actually forming an identity around your team and around players that you care about and love. And even casuals forming that same love, hatred about players that they don't normally get or teams that they don't normally care about. But now they're finding themselves invested into it. Having this type of hatred and love, I think, is ultimately going to be very good for the WMBA.

Let sports be sports.

Let them be fun, too.

Let just sports happen. It all evens out because at the end of the day, the best part about sports is if you're better than the other team or the other player who is doing this shit, you will end up winning out. Kaitlyn Clarke will end up having a long career that makes millions of dollars because she's better than... Line, name? Chenity. Chenity. Okay? So Chenery will look like a fool at the end. That's the beauty of sports. We don't need to protect Kaitlyn Clarke by making this some big discourse about society and everything. Just let it fucking play out. When Kaitlyn Clarke wins, it's going to be awesome for her.

Yeah. It's like Larry Bird to me, where are some players in the WMBA resentful of Kaitlyn Clarke because she's getting a lot of attention as a white woman, whereas the WMBA is predominantly Black, and there have been a lot of great Black players over the years that haven't gotten the same attention that Kaitlyn has gotten. Yes, they probably find some resentment in that, and they're upset about that, just like a lot of NBA players were upset at the media attention around Larry Bird.

Isiah Thomas said it before an NBA Finals, then Larry Bird went and won the NBA Finals, won three MVPs, and no one could say shit about him.

And what What Kaitlyn has done up to this point has been, it's not because she's white that she's really fucking good. She set the all-time record for points scoring college. She's pretty good on her own, regardless of her race. But once she gets the WMBA, she gets her legs under, and she becomes the star that people think that she's going to become. Guess what? A lot of that hatred is going to fade away from being like, Oh, I'm mad that this white woman is taking attention from the predominantly Black WMBA. It's going to be just competition against each other. I don't like her because we're competing against each other. But God damn it, do I respect her because she wins?

Anyone who's jealous like this, it's almost a compliment because you're essentially saying, I know that she's a problem. I know that she's going to be really good. It's like in the final four, when the all-Ucon broadcast and Diana Tarassi and all of them were like, Oh, she's going to find out when they get to WMBA, they're threatened because she's young and better. It's like, this is how sports work. And then when she beats him, she's going to get the last lap. All right, play this clip.

But you want to talk about a can't win the big one conversation. Kaitlyn Clarke.

Kaitlyn Clarke cannot win the big one. All right, this is from LeBron's rookie year. This is Carlos Booser and his other teammates.

We have better players than him in his position already on our team, bro. And he will come in and make an immediate impact like a Kieran Butler. I don't think you can really just bring a high school player in and really just think your team going to really turn around like that. If he come, you know what I'm saying? He can just hop on our bandwagon.

This is what happens when someone gets hyped and they show up. There's going to be resentment because she's better than them. Lebron was better than them.

Also, if you're playing in the NBA, you're used to playing against grown men every single night. You probably would look down on a high school or two and be like, This league is very, very tough. I don't know high schooler can come in and do it. Yes, you're going to hate on youngsters. Guess what? That's what old people do. If you're a youngster out there listening to this, one day you're going to become old and you're going to hate on youngsters, too. You're going to say right now, No, I'm never going to be a hater. Guess what? Time makes haters of us all.

All of us. I just want sports to be sports. I'm just sick of when Kaitlyn Clarke has a game, we just have to have everyone argue about culture. Yeah. You're going to ruin the game. You're going to ruin the sport.

We got three more I think piece is coming today on Slate about Kaitlyn Clarke and what she means. We must protect her. The problem with Kaitlyn Clarke.

It is very funny when people are like, Well, she got them that plane. Why would they not like her? It's like, Because she's fucking better than them. They're competing. Yeah.

Why would they- It's a nice plane.

Yeah. They're competing against each other.

But guess what? Kaitlyn Clarke gets to the league. Now, the rest of the WMBA doesn't get to use their frequent flyer miles anymore and collect those sweet benefits on the back end. So Kaitlyn Clarke.

Yeah, it's quite something. All right. What else we got? We did have the Champions League, Real Madrid, talking soccer. You want to talk soccer real quick? Sure. 15th Champions League?

Yeah. And Barcelona was the first to congratulate them. Really? You don't have to do that. If you're an official account of a team on Twitter, you don't have to congratulate your rival on winning a Champions League. No.

That's a total cuck move.

It is. They just did for the impressions.

That's lame. Why would they do that?

I don't know, but that was talking soccer.

So is Real Madrid the GOAT?

Real Madrid?

They're the best franchise?

Man United would always just say that they were.

Fifteen is a lot. It feels like a lot. Is that the most?

I don't know.

Okay, let me look it up.

I'm a Super League guy myself. Champions League. Never forget that there was two weeks that we had a couple of summers ago. Yeah.

Most titles in Champions League history. Here we go. I got it. All right. We've got Real Madrid with Milan in second place with seven. I'm going to say Real Madrid, the best ever. Yes, they're still- That's not even close.

Still the best ever.

Barcelona has five, Liverpool has six, Bayern has six. Come on. Are they bad for soccer?

Yeah, for sure.

They're for sure bad for soccer. Yeah. I missed the first half of this game. Then I saw the second half. Thrilling.

I saw the end. I saw the celebrations. Yeah.

As someone who missed the first half, I was able to bet over one and goals in the second half. That was fun.

Did it cash? Yeah. Oh, nice. Good work.

I was like, I said, for anyone out there who might have forgotten that this game kicked off.

Again, soccer should just make goals worth three points. Then everybody would be way happier. They'd be like, Wow, what a high-scoring game.

Did you guys see probably the biggest story of the Champions League is Joel Embiid was there? Yeah. He got free time.

Yeah, that was cool. And he's tall. Who is he rooting for?

Real Madrid.

Okay. Real Madrid fan.

He is?

Did you see that there was a clip of him?

Wow, Max, what happened?

I was singing on Friday.

You sing one song?

But it was one song loudly. Yeah, it was. It was very loud. It was loud. You did crush it. Max got on stage and there was a guy that was waiting for Max in the front row, and he had two sodas in his hands ready to go. And saw him and just scowled at him and paced around the stage like a tiger circling his prey for a second was like, Fuck it, I'm going to chug those sodas, and then just ripped the sodas right off the bat.

You looked like Jason Kelsey. I know. That was the greatest compliment that's ever been given.

Yeah. Hank got booed. Oh, Did I? You got booed. Well, it was a clap. It was a round of applause. Then you did a little jump to show your vert, and then people booed your vert. Oh, no.

I thought there. I just remember the cheers. Okay, you remember the cheers. Were you going to say, Max, about Joel Embiid being at the Champions League because he's got time? No, I didn't say that. I just said that he was tall. There was a clip of two of the pregame guys on each other's shoulders to see if they were taller than Embiid.

When do you think he bought those tickets?

I don't He probably didn't pay for the tickets.

What about his air ferry? His airfair, he probably bought his flight a couple of months ago. He's a rich man. Probably a couple of months ago.

He's a rich man. He's a rich man. Yeah, but he definitely had it planned. They probably were like, Hey, before the season started, they were like, Hey, can you come do the desk, the Champions League? He's like, When?

Mm-hmm.

Oh, yeah, no problem. Early June? I won't even... We could make it. You want to move it up a week? We do late May. I think I'm going to be in Paris when US plays, and it's going to be Embiid versus Joker, the one day that I'm there that US plays. What? Yeah. Wait, I forgot Embiid plays for us. Yes. That's weird. He plays for us. I love it. I'll be fighting that fight from the front lines in France.

You'll be the big USA guy for us.

But not really, because you think there's going to be a lot of... It could be better if it was us versus It's France. It's what? It'd be better if it was USA versus France. But it's Embiid versus Joker. Okay, so Embiid probably won't be playing. No, hopefully. Wait, is the game in altitude? No. Zero altitude.

I don't know the altitude. It's in Paris, France. It's in Paris. Let's see. It can't be zero altitude.

Is it in Paris?

Let's see, Paris Altitude.

No, I don't think it's actually in. I think it's- You better hope it's not in the Alpes.

115 feet above sea level, buddy.

Where is the Are you going to go to the game? Yes. Oh, okay. If I can get tickets, I got to figure out how to get tickets. Game time. Game time. Shout out game time. Game time, Matt. Where is the game, Max? Because if it's more than 300, 400 feet altitude, there's no chance Embiid shows up.

If that game's in Burgundy, you're fucked.

Okay, he's getting it. I forgot we had this this summer. That's going to rock.

The schedule might not be yet.

Oh, no. Because they have to do pools and stuff.

No, it is because I looked at it. You remember we learned about the Olympics because they did the sex bed thing, the no sex bed? Yes, that's exactly. That's how we found out about it.

You're right. You're right.

June 20th. Wait.

Fuck. Why am I in Arizona in a basketball.

All right. Wait, Max, is this pool play that we're talking about here?

This is going to be... This should just be a segment of Max Tries to Google.

Is this pool play?

It's a pool game.

This is bad. It's a pool game of USA versus Slovenia or whatever? Serbia. Serbia. If it's pool, I hope that the US has already won and locked up our spot in the pool and that Lily and B gets found.

I found it. I just said it.

Lille. Lille.

Lille. Lille?

You better figure that out. L-i-l-l-e. That's maybe the worst city for a Philadelphia to try to pronounce.

Lille.

It is 82 to 147 meters.

That's pretty big.

Okay, so 100?

That's like 300 feet.

Yeah, that's almost a 10th of a mile high, almost.

So he'll probably not play. Yeah. That would be funny if he was on load management for the Olympics. Yeah. Especially if you got tickets to it. All right. Do we have anything else before we do who's back of the week? Hank, any thoughts on WMBA? No. I thought the cheering for the hit was the the craziest part of the whole thing. They're jealous. They're very jealous. Anyone who pretends or not jealous is crazy, but that's part of sports is being jealous. I'm more likely to watch the next time they play. Correct. I do think that they should. I absolutely believe they should have to answer to it and be like, Hey, we're jealous. Yeah, they should say all the reasons they're pissed off.

They should be real about it.

But acting like Kaitlyn Clarke got maimed is pretty insane to me.

Yeah, it was a hip check. Not super hard. They retroactively upped it to a flagrant one after the fact.

Got it.

Then I think they fined Angel Reese a thousand bucks. Just a lot of money. Not talking to the media.

Yeah, that's a lot of money. All right, let's do Who's Back of the Week. Who's Back of the Week is brought to you by our friends. A Better Help Part of my take is sponsored by Better Help. When life goes so fast, it's important to take a moment to celebrate your wins and make adjustments for the rest of the year. Therapy can help you take stock of your progress and set achievable goals for the next six months. It's always smart to make sure that you're keeping track of where your mentals are. You take care of yourself in the gym, you take care of your car, you take care of all these things in your life. Why not take care of your mentals and how you're feeling? Even if you don't think there's something wrong, talking to someone can make you feel better about your everyday life, better relationship-wise, everything with better help. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give better help a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switched therapist anytime for no additional charge.

So take a moment for yourself with Betterhelp. Betterhelp is there to help you, and it's so easy to get involved. Visit betterhelp. Com/pmt today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelphulp. Com/pmt. Betterhelphulp. Com/pmt. Super easy to use, super easy to sign up. You may think you don't need therapy. Well, everyone needs to talk to someone. We're taking care of our mentals in 2024. Betterhelp. Com/pmt. We're also brought to you by our friends at Coors Light. The Coors Light is the drink of the summer. Shout out to the people who are ride or die fans despite multiple losses or bad draft picks. Choosing a chill mindset makes the day-to-day better. Life's too short to get worked up over small stuff. Choose chill and then reach for a Coors light instead. When you embrace a chill mindset, it's a good time to choose chill and crack open a Coors light. Hank, do it. Crack it open. Crack it open right next to you. There's not one right next to you. Oh, it's opened. Crack open a Coors light. Is there one right there? Crack it open just so we can hear it. Coors light's mountain cold, refreshing, crisp, and refreshing as the Colorado Rockies.

Ready? Oh, yeah. Yes.

That was great. When you chill out, life gets better. Choose chill and then reach for Coors Light. Get Coors light delivered straight to your door with Instacart by going to coorslight. Com/take. Send us those Coors light mountains, the Blue Mountains on the cans and bottles. I've been retweeting them. There's nothing better on a Friday seeing those. It's summertime. It's time for Coors light. Go check it out, coorslight. Com/take or order it online with Instacart. Hank. My Who's Back of the Week is Common Men. Oh, good. In the golf tournament this weekend, Fluff, the legendary Catty Fluff, he got injured on the third hole. I think he fell down. And the golfer C. T. Pan just grabbed a random guy from the crowd and he carried the bag for the rest of the day. Just a legendary Common Man move. Just like, Yeah, I'll take the bag. Why don't we have emergency catties like we do with the E-Bug in hockey. Because this never happens. Yeah, but it just happened.

It's not about it never happening. It's like every round, they should pick out the spectators before the game happens and just assign however many, 70 different spectators. If this guy goes down, you're stepping in. So that person has to just be at the tournament all day thinking, I might get in.

Well, this guy, he was perfect. He was perfect. You could just see that guy. He could carry a bag, no problem, hausse. But I'm saying before a tournament starts, let's just put three dudes with cankels into a horse barn and just have them standing there with their polo on ready to go. This guy was just central casting He is built like a man who can carry a golf bag around for a long time. But yeah, put him in a horse barn, do a live shot to them every now and then. These caddies are ready to go. You think he was trying to give them reads? Yeah. Do you think they asked him, Have you played this before? I love the handshake. Do we know how it happened, how he picked this guy out? I think he would have just grabbed- This thing does not fit.

He's trying to get it to fit.

He would have just grabbed the guy from the crowd.

Yeah, they said, You, sir, you look like you can carry a bag.

They picked a perfect guy.

Yeah, if I were him, I'd keep my mouth shut on the first two holes, and then if he got a couple of birdies, I would start tossing his advice.

Remember, Terry did this on the Corn Ferry tour with Quade Cummins. Paul Emerson is the guy's name. He hails from Ontario, was traversing the par 4 third hole at Hamilton Golf Country Club when he realized that C. T. Pan's caddy Mike Fluff-Cowan, had been injured and was unable to continue caddying Pan's playing partner, Shane Lowry was carrying his own bag, and Lowry's caddy, Darren Reynolds, was carrying Pan's bag.

Wow, that's Good move by Lowry.

Wow. Awesome move. As Pan was walking Cowan over to a medic on the side of the fairway, Emerson asked Pan if he could lend a hand. Oh, so he just asked.

He just picked him out. He identified him.

Yeah, he said, I helped Fluff get the bib off, threw it on, and started walking up the hole. Pan was grateful for the support, and Emerson took the bag. He looped through the fifth ferry before a member of the catty services team, Michael Campbell, stepped in. Campbell was replaced by Al Riddle. What the fuck? He had four catties?

It was like the head catty that took over for this guy. Yeah. He was like, I'll get another guy in your bag soon.

That's awesome.

How hard is it to be a replacement catty? I feel like a replacement catty is the easiest job in sports.

We saw Scottie Scheffler's best friend do it on Saturday of the PGA Championship, and he shot his worst round. Well, that's because he got arrested the day before. He shot a 66 with his caddie on Friday after he got arrested. Yeah, but he said it was a lot of adrenaline. There's no way that having his best friend caddie didn't fuck him on that Saturday.

It definitely did a little bit. No, but I do think that on Saturday, you wake up, you realize what happened. You probably didn't sleep that well.

But he shot like 66 every round, except the one that he didn't have his caddie.

I think I would almost take just a no-name, just a random guy like this guy. I would take this guy over a friend because a friend, you're probably chopping it up. You're telling inside jokes. There's too much history there. You need a guy that's just going to do the job. And this guy, this man right here, that's a man that can do the job.

Yeah, but no, he definitely wasn't giving him reads. He wasn't helping. No I would have just tossed one out there. Yeah. Okay, PFT.

All right. Good Who's Back, Hank. Thanks.

Great Who's Back.

Appreciate it. Also in golf news, Kevin James is back because he's playing John Daly in a mini-series about John Daly. Oh, hell, yes. I think Kevin James is just living out the dream. I just want to do sports movies, and I want to play guys that I like to watch on TV. So he did Sean Payton. Now he's doing John Daly. I actually think that playing John Daly in a movie is more physically draining than being John Daly in real life. Yeah. Like, trying to get in that lifestyle. We tapped into that lifestyle for a little bit last week. That video is coming out Thursday, right, Max? You already have it ready to go, right? You just have to press the button. What?

The John John Daley Challenge. Yeah, John Daley Challenge. Yeah.

Yeah, we're working on it. Yeah, but that's- That wasn't an answer. To me, that's a cursed role, playing John Daley. Not every actor can do that. I don't care if they're propped cigarettes. I don't care if they're prop ice cold beers. You're going to put your body through a little bit of hell. It's like, yeah, it's like Jared Leto. I would like to see Jared Leto play John Daley and go full method on it.

Is Jared Leto the person you used for method acting?

Well, yeah, because he's a real psycho that everybody hates on scene.

So he's been replaced by Daniel Day-Lewis because Daniel Day-Lewis was the guy.

He's the guy, but Jared Leto is a real weirdo. He's the new guy? He's a weirdo when he does it.

Then the guy before that was Tom Hagen. What was his name? Bert Ronald. No. No. What was the actress's name?

Tom Hanks.

No. Tom Hagen. Robert Duvall. Robert Duvall. I'm pretty sure Robert Duvall.

He's Method?

I think he was Method because he... Was he the coach in the program?

I think so.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he was- Yeah, Daniel D.

Lewis, big Method guy. Jared Leto, he's just like an asshole Method guy. Then the guy that plays Kindle Roy.

Robert Duvall is not a Method actor. Okay, no. It's the other guy, Sunny. Give me Sunny. No. Wait, what was the last thing you said there?

Jeremy Strong, the guy from- Yes. He's a psycho. He's a psycho method actor. But I think that if either one of those two guys tried to go method on the John Daly, tried to get in the character as him, I think they died before filming. Yes.

James Kahn. James Kahn, I believe. Can you look up if he was method acting? Because he was the coach in the program. He was also the dad and elf. Yeah, that was method acting, as far as I can tell. Method acting. Kahn signed up for a class. Learn the method. We learned the method and stayed for five years. I don't know if that means it.

I don't think he's a method. The new Google searches are terrible.

Yeah. Oh, the AI? They're so bad, dude.

They're really bad. Do you see that one where someone was like, Can cockroaches live inside your penis? It's like, yes, it's very healthy to have a couple of cockroaches living in your penis.

We won't eat the bugs.

That's bullshit. Well, if it's inside your penis, Hank might.

They're trying to get us to eat the bugs.

Hank would be into that. Yeah, that's true.

Method acting in the Godfather. Marlin Berna. Yeah, see? James Khan. That was a stupid tangent. Did you see the picture of Tiger?

I did not see the picture. You look old. Tiger is old.

Yeah, but it's one of those pictures that I think he probably will see and be like, Fuck, I got to do something about this hair. Yeah, you got to- He was playing poker with Phil Ivy.

You got to cut it. Tiger has been past that stage for a long time now. I know. Long time. It looks diesel. Are we in the trust We won't even include this in the pod. It might be time for me to come home. Why?

What, shave your head? Yeah, cut it. You're so far away from shaving your head.

No, I don't know, man. I saw a bad angle the other day.

Of the back?

I saw a bad angle the other day, yeah.

You wear a hat all the time. Maybe you should just get a hat with the-The funny hair in it, the spiky hair.

Yeah. Maybe I'll have to go see Brian in our locker. Yeah. We'll see. Something has to change. Something's changing before football season.

Just keep the hat on.

Yeah, but then it's bad. Then it's worse when you take the hat off. I think that's-I was in an airport a couple of weeks ago, and there was a guy that was in front of me. He was about my height. He had about my length hair. He was maybe five years older than me. Okay. Real bald with long hair. I was standing behind him the entire time I was thinking to myself, I'm never going to- But he looks sweet. Maybe to himself. But I think everybody else was like, That guy needs to do something about that. I'm not going to go, Oh, yeah, Tiger does. Yeah. He looks jacked up, though. He looks super strong.

I have a question. And this is not... I want it on the record. We love Charlie Woods. Tiger, if you ever want to come on the podcast. We'd love to have you on the podcast. Did Tiger ever do steroids?

You think?

Why doesn't it get talked about, though?

Everybody was like, Man, this guy is just built like an NFL safety.

I know, but no one says it. No one says it. He definitely... It's just out of respect for him. Is it deference?

He He definitely used it to come back from stuff for sure. Yeah, I know.

Oh, there you go. He definitely did it. Also, his whole body type change.

Yeah, I forgot. We did an entire macrodosing on that. Yeah, it has been talked about. Okay.

All right, there you go. He's definitely maybe used steroids.

I think he, without a doubt, 100% used HGH to come back from injuries.

I like this. Maybe this is the summer of getting all of our goats Secretariat Tiger Woods. Yeah, they all use steroids. That's fine. Because did they even have testing? Tiger Woods people told us to shut up about his steroid use, XPJ star claims. Oh, well, that sounds like it's very reputable.

Yeah.

Not even Tiger Woods, his people.

I mean, you've never seen a golfer as strong as Tiger before. No. Bryson.

And his body completely changed, and then his body completely betrayed him. Yeah. I know the whole Navy Seals thing. I know that whole story.

Do you think Bryson used gear?

Tiger is just as crazy of a before/after as Barry Bonds. Pirates, Barry Bonds, and 49ers, Barry Bonds. Okay, you have any other Who's Back?

No, that's my Who's Back of the Week. Okay.

Yeah, there's no way they test for... Yeah, I feel like they might have recently brought it in when it became an Olympic sport. I feel like that always happens, which is the dumbest thing ever.

If I was the I would never test for any drug. No. Although it'd be so funny if a golfer got suspended for smoking weed. You remember they used to do that at the Olympics? Yeah. There was a snowboarder that got his silver medal taken away because he tested positive for weed, and they asked him about it. The smart move on this guy's part would just been like, Yeah, dude, I'm a fucking snowboarder. I smoke weed. But he was like, No, I was at a party two months ago, and I think I got some second-hand inhalation. I apologize. I would never smoke weed. Yeah, dude, you You're bored on snow. You're high all the time. That's okay. You're still really good.

Yeah, that's the one sport you could do that. All right, my Who's Back in the week is Tommy Pham. Tommy Pham got into it with the brewers and then He had a post-game press conference where he said that he trains for this and he will go after anyone who wants to go after him. Do you want to pull it up, Max? I have it right here. I could play it. Tommy Pham is about that shit. He don't want to fuck with him. Tommy Pham was the one who slapped- Slapped, the fantasy football slap. All right, listen to this. This is Tommy Pham after the game. One run ball game, close play at the plate.

Actually, he wasn't even fucking close.

It was a shallow fly ball to left field.

You would expect the left fielder to throw the base runner out on that play. But the situation of the game, third base coach sends you, you got to go. I'm nailed out at home by a mile. I'm going to the dugout, and I hear the tough guy with all the hoorah shit. So I'll never start anything, but I'll be prepared to finish it. There's a reason why I do all kinds of fighting in the offseason because I'm prepared to fuck somebody up.

I take it as what it is. Yeah, it just kept on escalating. You're like, Oh, this is routine. I'm prepared to fuck somebody up.

Dude, I want to know what hurrah that this guy was on.

We also had in this game, so I would understand that most of our listeners, not national audience, would know who I'm about to talk about, but it's been a big story in Chicago. Jon Shiffon, the announcement for the White Sox, might be the worst announcement ever. He took over for Benetti, who went to the Tigres. Yeah, he went to the Tigres. Did John Shiffon go to Syracuse? No. Okay. This guy, he's trying really hard, but it's just everything is awkward. So this clip is just so awkward, if you can play it, Max, of him screaming about Tommy Pham. And he's had moments where he said something like, Suck on that, losers, even though the White Sox are one of the worst teams. So no one's paying attention to him, but it keeps popping up every now and then. So this is it.

He's out. And Contrari says, Barking at him.

Tommy Pham's barking back. He's not backing down. He doesn't like that.

And now home plate umpire, Edwin Jimenez has to hold back Pham. No, we ain't taking that. We ain't taking that from the brewers.

I don't care how many Ls we got this year. We ain't taking that. That's it. No, we ain't taking that. I love that.

He needs to drop as God as my witness. He's broken them in half.

We ain't taking that. We ain't taking that. He and the Oakland A's woman, they are one, two for the worst announcers in Major League Base.

Jake, what are your thoughts on the White Sox announcement?

What was that face, Max? The JMU baseball game yesterday. That was so bad as well. That was horrible. That was very bad as well. What happened there? He likes greens. There's in the tree. It was bad. It was bad. Ready for this? Oh, man. Into one. It's hit in the air to left field, and that ball is gone. Mike Mancini's favorite color is green. It landed on the green grass. Two home runs.

How about that?

Two runs for James Madison.

How about that? That's wild.

Put that on the Jake is uncomfortable right now where the direction of this podcast in this moment. We're talking broadcast.

Yeah.

He ain't taking that. He ain't taking that. Also, the brewers are way better than the boys.

Yeah, I like how he just threw in there. I don't care how many Ls we got this year.

No, because he knows. Yeah. He knows that they're very, very bad.

Also, how about Tommy Pham just completely throwing his third base coach under the bus? Oh, big time. Entirely, though.

But then you forget about it by the end, when he's just like, I'll fuck him up.

I'll fuck somebody up. I'll fuck somebody up. If my third base coach tells me something, I'll fuck him up, too.

All right, Jake. My who's back is Joey Chestnut. Yes. Obviously, the main event is the fourth of July, and we always see the press from the hot dog eating contest. But we had Joey Chestnut taking down some pints of ice cream at a minor league baseball game. We don't really see him do other competitions. This wasn't even a competition, I don't think. I think it was just him doing it for fun. Yeah, he was just pounding. He was eating four in a minute? Pints of ice cream. You could tell, too, it was giving him some brain freeze.

Yeah, you have to get brain freeze from that much ice cream for sure. I think he was also eating fried fish, too. The classic fried fish and ice cream combo.

Is that real?

Yeah.

That was the combo?

Yeah, I think it was fried walleye.

Oh, man. So this is like the preseason for him, I guess. Yeah, he's got to warm up.

All right, so what happened was he ate four pints of ice cream in 60 seconds, and then He ate 36 nuggets of fried walleye in 60 seconds. That's not good on his stomach. I hope he was diped up. I feel like that's just going to cut right through you.

He is. That's insane. Say it again.

He ate 36 fried walleye nuggets in one minute. That's, I believe, right after he ate the four pints of ice cream.

Oh, man. Yeah, you'd want to do it reverse, I think.

Yeah, you eat the fried first.

Yeah, get the ice cream to cool you down. Exactly. Try to trick your body a little bit.

Yeah.

Also, did you guys see the story about this D3 school? Yeah. The baseball team? Yeah, we talked about it on Friday, but they- They made it to the College World Tour as D3, and they lost. Oh, they did lose. They went on a walk off the other night. Yeah, to stay alive.

They weren't really a school, right?

They had no longer been a school after that. They closed a few days ago, but they still had the baseball season. Yeah. I don't understand how they couldn't have just added whoever they wanted.

Yeah, really. You're not a school anymore. Right.

Barry Bond should have been. It should have been home here at the bat.

Yeah, absolutely. Recruit anybody that you can. Anyone that got kicked off the team. Yeah. That would rock to be just like, We are the school now. This is our school.

Did you guys also see this? This is just a random story, but I saw Someone noted that Jim McAlwane, which we know Jim McEwane, Central Michigan, not a shark fucker. Apparently, he's got a lifetime sponsorship with Coors Light.

Lifetime? Yeah.

We need to get it on that. It's pretty sick. They provide him with a Coors Light bending vending machine inside his house. That's awesome. It's a film monthly.

That's awesome. That's great. We should get on that. What a badass. Lifetime sponsorship.

Yeah, we need that vending machine.

Let's do it.

Yes. Okay, let's get to our interview with C. J. Mccollum, and then we will do lottery ball and some wrap-up after that.

We're going to get to C. J. Mccollum in a second. Before we do, he's brought to you by game time. Did you know that you can get tickets to White Sox at Cubs at Wrigley Field? We got a subway series, an L-series. Red Line. Red Line series, is that what they call it? Red Line, It's the Red Line series. 41 bucks to get in Wrigley Field, the friendly confines, best troughs in the urinal game at Wrigley Field. Get in in the 40s for all the games this week.

Okay. I think I'm going to go on Wednesday night.

Good price. You know what? I was just talking to Mark Titus about this the other day. At some point, I don't care who's playing. I just want to go to an afternoon Friday game at Wrigley Field. Stolen time. At some point, I'm going to do it. I'm going to use game time to get in. With game time, they are the official ticketing partner of Barstool Sports. You shouldn't have to worry when you buy tickets to your next big event. Game time is the fast and easy way to buy tickets to all the sports, music, comedy, theater events near you. They've got flash deals for sudden discounts, zone deals when you're feeling flexible, and their lowest price guarantee means that if you can find the same seats for less anywhere else, game time will credit you 110% of the difference. That's right, 110% of the difference. Game time is the best place for last minute seats, up to 60% off. All your favorite events. What are you waiting for? We got people here that are going to go to that Red Line series here in Chicago. I'm going to be at a game on a Friday, Friday afternoon, taking time off from work, going out to Wrigley Field.

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Okay, we now welcome on a very special guest, recurring guest, a guest who we should have had on a lot sooner since the last time we had him on because I think it was a highly acclaimed this guy Rocks interview that we did. It is CJ McCollum from the CJ McCollum show from the NBA. He plays for the Pelicans now. Last time we had him on, he was on the Blazers. But CJ, I want to start by apologizing. Bad job by us because the first time you were on, everyone was like, We love CJ McCollum. I still get the Hezzy Hey tweets. So this was a bad job, but I'm happy that you're back on. We could talk about the finals and talk about some ball.

No, I'm happy to be back on. That was a good time. That was a really good time in my life, too. We were in the city. I was young. I was on the Blazers. Now, it's a good time in my life. I'm a little older. I'm in New New Orleans. I get stopped in the street when I'm in the city. People are Euro-stepping me, hitting me with hesitancy. You got to go back on. You got to go back on the pod. I'm like, Eventually, I'm going to get back on, man, for sure.

Yeah, the Step Back to Freedom.

Step Back to Freedom.

That was another one. That was another good one. The people love CJ Macomb, and you're a wine mogel, too. I try, man.

I try my best. You see me sipping some Chardonnay right now. For those that don't know, this is a free promo, baby. There we go. I'm sipping some Chardonnay right now. We got rosé Chardonnay, Pinot, Blonde Blonde, whatever you like.

Maybe you can educate me because I'm not much of a Chardonnay guy. I'm more of like a Mad Dog 2020 guy myself. But I'll drink any wine. But I always say, Don't give me the Chardonnay because I don't like the oakiness to it. What's a good Fisher Price, My First Chardonnay?

I can just send you one to keep it a buck with you. But I think the cool thing about Chardonnay is it's an acquired taste. And I didn't like Chardonnay for a long time. And we were in the bubble and Melo had some white burgundy. And Melo was like, Yo, you got to try this white burgundy. I'm like, Mel, I like pinos, I like cabs, I like bubbles, I like rosé, but I'm not messing with chart. He's like, You got to try this white burgundy. I tried the white burgundy. It was so fire. I was like, I got to continue to figure out ways to try Chardonnays that are similar to this. And then I ended up making a Shardnay in partnership with Adelstein that is more reminiscent of white burgundy. So not as oaky, it's smooth. Living in New Orleans is mad hot. So figuring out the balance between when to drink Pinos and when drink more refreshing drinks like Char and Rosé. But it's not for everybody. But if you drink the right Shard, it'll change your life.

All right. I might have to try.

Yeah. All right. So that's awesome that you're a father now, too. So congrats on that. Yeah, a lot has changed, a wine mogul. We wanted to have you on Talk a little Ball, Talk a little Finals. Let's start with your, do you have an official prediction? And then we can unpack from there and figure out how you got there and how both these teams got there.

Yeah. I was talking to a good friend of mine, Coach Weiss, who coached me at Lehigh, yesterday while I was pushing the stroller. Crazy. I got two kids and I'm married, and life is good. And I thought to myself, this is going to be a great final. I got to get to a game. I got to get to a game in Boston. I got to try to get to a game in Dallas. I think it's Boston's Series to Lose. I think it's their Series to Lose. Chris Stapp should be back. They've had the best record all year. They got the Jays, Jason and Jalen. They got great role players. They got great supporting cast. They got a coach who's fiery. I love Payton Pritchard. I think it's their Series to Lose. And I will say this, though. I think Boston wins in six, but if it's a one possession game, give me Dallas.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Boston's got to win by two, three possessions. They got to have a lead. Late in that fourth quarter, they got to have a comfortable lead. By comfortable, I mean multiple possessions, or they're in trouble because Luca and Kyrie are not to be played with.

Yeah. Yeah. So what is it about Luka? We actually I think everyone in this room has... I think I have Boston in seven, PFT has five, Hank has six. But what is it about Luca that makes him so impossible to guard? Because you've obviously played against him. What specifically does he do that is so elite compared to anyone else on the court?

I think it's a combination of things, man. He's heavy, right? With respect to the heavy people out there, he's got good size.

That's a nice way of saying fat. He's heavy, yeah.

But respect all... We do have heavy listeners.

No, but heavy is... Drew holiday is a great defender. Drew holiday cannot, I don't think, can guard Luka for the entire series because he's Luka's heavy.

Luka is heavy, man. And he's a good, healthy heavy, strong, sturdy. He's still quick. He has a great change of speed, great balance, great patience. Amazing step back. And he's not afraid at the moment. I think what a lot of people don't realize is Luka turned pro at 13. Luca has been playing pro since he was a middle schooler, basically. He skipped a lot of steps compared to what we do in the States. And he began hitting big shots at 14, 15, 16 years old, led his team to a yearly Championship as a youngster. He's not afraid of the moment. He's not afraid of the bright lights. He loves it. They play better on the road because I think he likes tormenting the crowd. And I just think from a versatility standpoint, he's like 6'8. I don't know his weight. I mean, he's got to be at least 245, maybe heavier, healthy body, fat, and he's in great shape. I think that's the thing that a lot of people didn't realize is Luca is heavy, hard to guard. He can lean on you. He can post you up. He can get you on his back and make different types of moves around the pain area.

He loves to step back. He's going to hunt matchups, but he's in great shape. He's hitting big shots down the stretch of four quarters. High usage. First quarters are basically his. Ky takes over second and third, and then it's take turns in the fourth. But I mean, he's a wizard with the ball. He's going to have high volume. And there's a reason why he average 35 points a game, nine rebounds, nine assists, basically 35, 10, and nine. He can control the entire game for four quarters.

Yeah.

He's also very good at drawing fouls, too. He draws contact in a very smart way. I don't think a lot of players are on his same level in terms of knowing when he's about to get fouled, getting them off balance, and then using that while still maintaining his own shot form as best as he can to try to get a three-point play out of it. Sometimes you see guys that set up the foul, but he sets it up in a way where he makes sure that he has a good look at the basket after he gets fouled, too. Is that something that you know going into it? Like he's going to try to get you off balance?

Yeah, it's like a running joke. Him and B, a lot of those guys, they start the game with 8 to 10 points. They're going to have 8 to 10 free throws. They basically establish rhythm early. You can't touch them. They manipulate the defense the entire game. They can get you on their hip. They got pump fakes, they got pivots, they got pump fakes, they got pivots over and over again as the game progresses. And then it's about gameplay and discipline when you're going against those types of guys. And you can get frustrated on tough makes. It's a make or miss league, and there's going to be a lot of tough makes throughout the game. There's going to be a lot of questionable situations in which he's maybe foul baiting or whatever they like to call it, quote unquote. But he's a smart player. He knows how to get what he wants out there. And once he gets you off balance, it's all she wrote.

And obviously, they've got two great players. The two guards are going to be impossible to stop both of them. You just can't do it. Like you said, you have to build a lead, not let them get to a late game situation where they can put the ball in one or two guys' hands and win it. But in terms of the role players on Dallas, who do you think is the most important outside of Kyrie and Luka?

I like Derek Lively. I mean, obviously, they got other guys. P. J. Washington has been great. Gaffney has been great. I think this may be a Tim Hardaway Jr. Series. But if you really look at the last series in terms of what changed the game, was their ability to defend, basically switching one through four, sometimes one through five. Kyrie was great defensively, but Lively really was amazing. I think he didn't miss a shot in the conference finals. He altered tons of shots. He continues to put rim pressure on the defense by his ability to roll and get behind the defense and pick and roll. When Luca and Ky come off, he always finds himself behind the defense. If they switch, he makes them pay with lobs and offensive rebounds. But I think he's a huge, huge piece because not only is he great at finishing around the basket, but he makes great decisions in the pick and roll. When they hit him in the pocket, he's one of the best on their team at figuring out when they drive, when to go weak side, and connect. He made a killing throughout this play, also on just playing smart basketball and being athletic.

Yeah. All right. And then the Celtics, it It does feel like they're the favorite, but it's twisted into like they can say they're the underdog just because people are like, Hey, look, they had no one to play in the East. They ran through it. They haven't been tested, so to speak. I still think they're the better team. But is there anything to say for the fact that they haven't had that tough playoff series where they've been pushed to make some changes and counteract and like, All right, you threw this at us. Now we got to throw this at you. Is there any reality to that, or is that just completely overstated? And it doesn't matter, they've handled their business.

I think it's completely overstated for them, mainly because of the fact that they've all been there before outside of the guys in This team has been to the conference finals five out of the last seven years. They were in the finals two years ago. They had a lead on the champion warriors and their experience. They know what it takes to win a series. They know what it takes to lose a series. It's not like shell shock. Like, oh, my goodness, we're in the finals. Like, oh, I've never seen this before. They've been here before. And the second time around is when you really earn your stripes. Like the first time around, it's all new, it's fresh. You're trying to figure out the balance between tickets for family, like going through all that stuff. Not that I've played in it, but I've been to the finals, and I see how much media is credentialed. I see how many interviews they got to do. It's open practices. It's like the Super Bowl. It's a big show up until the game. And I think if you're not used to it, it can be mentally and physically draining. I think they've all trained for it.

They all have a better understanding of how they had to prepare for this. They got a champion on their team, Andrew Holladay. Derrick White played for the Spurs. He's been across the league. He's mature. The The Jays, obviously, Chris Stapp-Sporzingas has played all across Europe. He's been in the NBA. He hasn't played in a real big playoff moment like this, but I think playing with all those guys, it's helpful, and I really don't think it matters. If anything, they're just going to be more fresh, more ready to go, home-court advantage. The Jeters will be gone by the first time out, like Draymond said.

Yeah. Is there any advantage that they're going to get because Chris Stapps hasn't played in a long time, so Dallas doesn't have any fresh tape on him? Is that going to make any difference whatsoever? They haven't seen that look in the last couple of weeks.

That's a good point. Good point. Thank you. I think it's a coin flip, right? Because Boston has played well without guys all year. They've been without Porzingis. They've been without Drew holiday at times. They figured out a way to just keep moving. Al Hofer is a vet. He's a pro. He's going to figure it out. He's going to hit big shots. He's going to defend. I'm really just worried about Chris Stapp because he hasn't played in so long. He's just jumping into the finals. If you really think about that. That's the part that's going to be interesting. I don't want to talk about offensively. I'm talking about defensively, conditioning-wise, having to guard Kyrie and Luka in switches constantly. Everybody talks about Kyrie's returning to Boston, which is great. It's going to be fun to see the response that he gets and how he plays through that. But Luka and Porzingas played together, and it didn't go well. I think if you know anything about Luka, he takes things very personally, and this is a chance for him to really beat a guy he played with and wasn't able to necessarily get over the pump with.

Yeah. All right. The injury thing is an interesting one because we're sitting on our couch. We're idiots. I'm always like, Oh, why do they need? They've been practicing all... Christoff has been practicing for the last two weeks. He should be fine. But what is the difference in between, if you're coming back from injury, practicing and then getting into actual game minutes and how quickly you get tired when you make that transition?

Yeah, it's tough. I've been fortunate or not so fortunate to have some injuries, but been able to come back from them in transition into return to play. It's difficult for everybody. It's one thing to return to play in a regular season game. It's another thing to return to play in the playoffs, and it's a whole other level up to return to play in the finals, where no matter what type of conditioning you're getting, no matter what type of live contact you're getting, those stakes aren't the same. You can't simulate a switch with Luka going against the backups in Boston or going against the coaching staff or the player development staff in a conditioning league game where it's basically a lot of guys that are in the rotation, and then you're going mixing in some coaches. You're getting switched on to Kyrie on the main stage for all the marbles for the 18th banner in Boston. This is completely... There's no comparison. I think he'll be fine because he's a pro and he's had a lot of time to adjust. And the way he plays, he shoots jumpers, he posts up a little bit, he dunks.

They got a lot of help. It's not like they're just going to say, Chris Stapps, go win us the game. He's going to be playing on a good team and playing a role, so that'll make things easier. But it's just difficult to translate. And I think it's going to take some time from a rhythm standpoint. But also for Boston's rotation, they just went through two series or three series without them. The rotation was set. Guys are playing heavy minutes. Startups are playing basically 40. Al Horford was great. He hit seven threes in one of those games. They're going to have to change the rotation. And I'm just curious to see how the players respond to that from a rhythm standpoint as they were used to something and now there's going to be a little change.

Yeah. So if you're coming back from injury and your conditioning isn't to the point where it should be if you had played an entire season without this time off, what does that look like in a game? And I'm not talking about putting your hand up being like, Coach, take me out for a little bit. I'm tired. Because I assume that guys, if they're in the NBA finals, a lot of times I want to stay in the game no matter what. But what does that look like for a player when they're getting tired? What's the first thing that goes? For me, if I'm playing pickup, I just stop guarding. I just stop playing defense entirely. And I hope that my guy doesn't run around too much. Or I'll be like, Hey, I got to tie my shoe, that thing. But what does that look like in a game?

It's actually hilarious. You stall it. Similar in the NBA, right? More turnovers, bad passes, bad misses. Instead of a close miss, they're just bad. Airballs, wide left, wide right, super long. Longer timeouts, dumb fouls. You'll just start to see, Oh, that was a stupid play. Oh, he must be tired. The fatigue is kicking in. But I think historically, especially when you get to this stage, when you're coming off the injury, you're either on a minute's restriction or they change the substitution patterns, where when I came back from an injury, I had a collapsed lung, I've had broken foot, broken back, torn popliteus. You usually know, All right, I got a four-minute stretch right where they're going to play me four minutes, and then I'm coming out. I'm first coming, I'm coming out. First foul, first time out, whatever, I'm coming out. When you come out from an injury, you have to govern yourself. The way you look at them, a couple of times this year, I came back against the Sixers, and I was on a minute restriction, and I was like, I'm good. Let me go. And it was like, No, it's 26 minutes.

And I'm like, No, I'm good. And I played a six and a half or seven minute stretch, and it was supposed to be five. And at the six minute mark, I was like...

Oh, yeah.

Or I was like, Yo, foul. Somebody took a foul. I need to come out of this game before I mess this up for everybody.

Yeah. My move is I just yell, someone stop ball, and then I pick up whoever switches, and I just hold their shirt. I'm just like, Let's just hang out and not walk all the way back.

It's like, Don't be a hero, man.

Yeah, let's just hang out here for a second, and then we'll get back when we get back.

We're going to get back to C. J. Mccoll in a second. Before we do, he's being brought to you by Chevy. As everyone knows, this is a Chevy Truck podcast. The Greatest The trucks ever built and our good friends at Chevrolet have been a big part of my take story. From the Silverado that helped us dig the biggest hole ever dug in Ohio during Grit Week, to the Silverado partnering with us to give college fullbacks all the rightful recognition that they deserve with the Lowman Award, the sweetest trophy in college football. They also powered our nonstop cross country trip to the Super Bowl in LA. It was behind the wheel of a Chevy Silverado. We love Chevy. We are a Chevy Truck podcast through and through, up and down. Chevy Silverado, long-time Austin partner of the show, a truck with commanding and unstoppable grit, legendary capability, dependability, too. I love Chevy. Go check out our Chevy dealership today. Get behind the wheel of a Silverado, see how it feels. Drive past a mirrored window, look at yourself behind the wheel and say to yourself, I'm a truck guy. I'm a Silverado guy. I'm a PMT guy.

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Who's the one guy in the NBA who has a motor that you can't believe that doesn't come out of games, but also just never gets fatigued?

I would say Steph's got really good conditioning. He just always run around chewing his mouthpiece.

How annoying is that when he just won't stop running?

Chewing his mouthpiece, laughing, dancing, chiming in. It's really It's frustrating, but you could just tell that he prides himself on conditioning hard work reps. I'd say the most... Jj read it when JJ played. The first quarter was insane. Just plays for him. Illegal screens from DeAndre, illegal screams from Blake. He'd be able to just give him the ball for five straight minutes, then he would touch the ball for three quarters. The one that was super impressive, Russell Westbrook. Prime Russ, when he played 37 to 42 minutes a game, and when he was in triple-double mode, he played so hard for so long. It was impressive because he's just rebound, pushing, yelling, screaming. And people don't understand. It takes energy to yell and scream. A couple of times I over-celebrated, and I was like, damn, I'm tired. I shouldn't have done that. Takes away your energy. But this guy, his motor is unbelievable. For 82 games, playing in the middle of nowhere, he could be playing a pickup game in the In the backyard, his energy is always at a level that's super impressive.

I feel like Luca gets stronger the anger he gets. He's expanding energy, right? He's using calories to yell at people, but he feeds off that. It imps him off.

Yeah, he feeds off that. Huka-luka. I think if you really look at how his career has progressed, he came in like baby face, a little thin, They start eating good in the neighborhood, that American food start treating them well. And then he came back a couple of years where you see him training, running stairs overseas in Slovenia, running the stairs. And you see his game go to another level in terms of the range on his jumper, the stepbacks. Even in that last series against the Timberwolves, he started the game hitting 30 footers. He was sending this message. I really been working on my craft. I'm really about to just take over this league. And this is an It was an impressive run. And people don't remember, J. K. Said he was already better than Dirk. He's 25 years old, and Dyrk has the logo. They got a picture of Dyrk shooting a fade away on the court. And they're already talking about he's better than Dyrk. Dyrk beat the king.

Yeah.

He could have powers. This is telling you how special this kid is. This man is a real problem, and he's still not really in his prime. He's only 25.

Yeah, that is true. It is He's crazy. He's only 25. Jason Tatum also, what, 26 or 25 as well? Do you think Jason Tatum is disrespected, or is it that he's right where he needs to be? Because this could be the summer of Tatum. If he wins this champion, relationship, and then he's going to go play in the Olympics, and then I think he's up for the Supermax right after. This could be a hell of a four-month stretch for Jason Tatum.

This is huge for him and his legacy. I think he's a Hall of Fame or whatever. You can more 50-point games than Larry Bird, more career play-up points than Larry Bird, five straight trips to the conference finals, two finals appearances. This is the one they probably win. I think he's where he needs to be right now because he doesn't have the ring yet, and people really value the ring. Those that are real hoopers know Tateam is good. I think the casual fan is anti-Boston. A lot of people just hate that he plays in Boston and that they have so much respect and everything that comes with that. But I think if you're a normal fan who really understands the game or if you hoop against them, you know Tateam is cold-blooded. You respect him, you respect Jalen Brown, and you understand that they have a good team. And when you're in a good team, you're held to a higher standard. They expect you, like he said before, they expect you to basically win every game. And it's almost as if he's supposed to win this championship as opposed to him taking it. It's like he's supposed to win, and if he doesn't, he got beat by Luca.

And it's like the narrative is going to shift as opposed to saying he had a great year. They won 64 games. Jalen Brown is the highest paid player in NBA history, and he's about to become the highest paid player in NBA history. Then you're going to have two of the highest paid players in NBA history on the same team, Banner 18 in Boston, two Black guys. When you think about it, it's a really cool situation for the Celtics and their fan base to be able to say, We have a great young core who we weren't sure was going to work. Now it's working, and we're this close to winning a championship. If the worst thing you can say about them is that Jason doesn't get enough love, but he just averaged 30 in his first team all-MBA, what more do you want?

Yeah. I think it is the dumbest thing we do as sports fans. I am definitely guilty of it. I think we all are, where if you play on a better team, you then get taken something away from you where it's like, Well, wouldn't you want the best players to play on the best teams? I'd rather see that than have an incredible player struggle with just no one on their team, and you have to sit there and be like, Well, I think they're really good, but they just got bums around them. It's a weird thing we do where it's like, Oh, he has too much help. It's like, Who cares?

I would equate it to football, like Deion Sanders, very Deion Sanders in Detroit. Then you look at the flip side, Christian McCaffrey, right? How he was viewed before he got to the Niners. He was like, Oh, he's great, but they lose all the time. It's like, Well, yeah, his team's not very good. Then goes to the Niners and it's like, Oh, it's not fair. He has all these weapons. I'm like, No, he's still a monster. He's just in a better situation. It's not his fault that they got great linemen, a great defense, great threats at the receiver spot. He's still a monster. It doesn't change that.

Yeah, it's actually the Barry Sanders versus Emmet Smith.

It happened at the same time.

Yeah, where it's like there were Emmet Smith people. It's like, How could you be an Emmet Smith person if you have your eyes and a brain in your head? Like, yeah, he has the rings and he has the records, but Barry Sanders is incredible. That's what he does.

Yes. You were talking earlier about some guys setting some pretty devastating illegal screens. From your perspective, because the NBA is all about responding to switching on screens, picking roles. That's, to me, the teams that have the most success. Consistently, that's usually how they do it. Who's the best at setting illegal pics?

Shout out to my boy NERC in Phoenix. Nerc is an illegal, Draymon, one of the best illegal screeners of all time. Take it back a a little bit. Omar Asiq, he was a good screen setter. What's the big fellow's name in Minnesota who had a huge head? He played with Kevin Love. He was a great screen setter. Looking at today, it's funny because there's not a lot of actual fives. Shout out to my guy, JV. Jv is a great legal screen setter. He's had some really good screens. There's not a lot of true fives.

What about Bam? Bam gets real wide on his screens.

Bam gets wide on his screen, but he likes to get out. He likes to slip out so he can get done. He will make contact when it's there. I'm trying to think. There's not a lot But when Zeebo played, when Marc Gasol played, those were like... When I first got into the league, that's when you had real fives. We had seven foot four, four men who posted up. I played with Robin Lopez, great screen setter. Lamarcus was a really good screen setter, especially when he could roll to that midi and knock it down.

Boogie was a good screen setter, too.

Boogie was a good screen setter.

Are there ever times when you're playing in a game that someone forgets to yell out a screen?

Yeah, all the time.

Really? All right. Because I didn't know if that was so... You guys are obviously, you're so fucking good, but it will happen, not to relate it to pick up, but it will happen in pick up. You'll be like, Where the fuck? Why didn't you just say there's a screen? Just get absolutely crushed. So what happens when someone forgets to yell out that there's a screen coming?

It depends on who didn't yell it out. If it was one of the OGs or if they're somebody that you know, historically, he yells it out and you either didn't hear him or they forgot, then you give them a pass. But it was like a... Depending on the type of player, you're going to be like, Yo, you can't be leaving me out here like that. You're going to get me hurt or something worse could It's going to happen, you know what I mean? Especially if you're picking up and you're turning, turning, and they got that blind screen in the backcourt to try to knock you out. That's the type of screen. Somebody like Patrick Beverly, right? Patrick is picking up full court. You want to get a blind screen on him just to get him off the guard to free you up. And those are the times where if you got the ball, you're just trying to set him up and run him right into the screen. And if you're guard in the ball, you want somebody to yell out, like, Screen, come and get back, or something. But it's happened. I've been hit a It's happened.

And you're just looking like, who was closest? Why didn't you call that out, bro?

When you're on offense, have you ever called out fake screens? Like throwing them off their game? Be like, Pick right, switch, switch.

Yeah. See, people put me on game to that. He used to do that all the time, where he would point like, Set it right there, set it right there, and then just take off. And I was like, Motherfuck, nobody is there. I had a few times, and I played against guys where a lot of teams will say black or red. There's a call for switch, and the other team would run up and be like, Black. You'll think your guard, and you'll think that you're supposed to switch, and it's the other team calling it. I've seen that happen a lot of times, which is funny. And then you break down the coverage and you're like, Yo, I heard the call, but it wasn't your team calling, it was the other team. So stuff like that, just trying to manipulate the game and get an advantage, is an important part of the game for sure.

Yes. Speaking of that, you play with Jose Alvarado. Does he do his Grand Theft Alvarado thing in practice, and how much does that piss everyone off?

He does. He tries to do it in practice all the time. He picks up hard. Good dude, though. Works hard, man.

Oh, it's awesome when he pulls it off, but I would imagine if he does it in practice, he would piss you off.

Yeah. I mean, he's never got any that in practice before, but he does pick up full in practice. He's talking trash. He's getting after it. He's gotten a couple of back tips, but the grand Thefado, I think my favorite one is the one he got on Brian. He got Brian, and Brian was pissed. I see that he was pissed, looking around his teammates line.

Yeah, you got to call it out. Someone's got to call it out, but they don't see it. I can't remember if when you first came on, I asked you this question, and maybe I did, and it's just a repeat, but I don't care. When you were playing with Dame in all these big-time moments, did you know when it was Dame time? Was there something that flipped in his head or his eyes? Or would he say, Hey, CJ, just so you know it's Dame time? Or like, Look at your watch.

Sometimes you can see the look in his eyes or just time and score, filling the game out, filling the momentum, or depending on what play he calls. Sometimes he'd be calling the game, we'd be calling plays back and forth, and then he'd call a diagonal fist or he'd call a play, which Diagonal Fist for us was basically a wing goes and sets a screen for the five man. The five man runs up into a mid-pick and roll, and he gets down here where he shoots a three. When he starts calling his own plays or his number or no play, and he just pulls up from 40, I'm like, Yeah, he about to turn up. Or if it was a momentum swing and play, they hit a shot, he gets a layup and he starts celebrating or he gels because he never really celebrates until the game's over. If he gels or, Motherfucker, he starts doing that, I'm like, Oh, yeah, he about to get in his bag. He about to really turn up. And then he might start tapping his wrist.

He might be serious. And there's nothing you can do in the same time. Nothing you can do at What's the farthest you ever saw him pull up from in practice?

Half-court. He shot the ball from half-court in practice a lot of times, or a step in front of half-court just coming off. Natural shot, not even throwing a ball. Impressive, man. He gets Really good flexion on the wrist. Good dip. Strong ball just flows off. It's an effortless shot.

It's crazy to watch.

I got some New Orleans questions for you. First question, how awesome is it to be the in New Orleans?

What does that mean?

You're the man. You're a star. You're on the Pelicans. You live in New Orleans, which is probably the coolest city in the United States. Just how awesome is it?

I live a good life, man. I'm thankful and blessed to be in a position where I get to play a sport. I get to be in a place like New Orleans that's hungry for success, great culture, great community, great food, great drinks, depending on what you like, heavy on the French influence, and To be able to go from where we were at before I got here to two out of three years making a play off to really just improve. I think we had the second most wins in franchise history. Obviously, this is like Saints country, right? But it's a blessing to be able to play here. My family and I love it. And like we said before, man, I'm just trying to take advantage of the blessings, work hard, and just trying to get us in a position to go on a real run, man. We need health. We need a lot of things to go our way. But I think right there, man, we're close to making a real run eventually.

You said the food. If I lived in New Orleans and I was on your salary, I would be fat as shit. I would eat so much. Not fat, heavy. Very sturdy. I would be a sturdy man.

Sturdy. Heavy and strong. I think it's balanced, man. Nothing is perfect. You got to figure out. I always say 80/20 rule, man, like 80%/20. I'm more like 90/10. I love French fries. I like gumbo. I eat out once or twice a week. But Chef Joy be holding me down and just making sure I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. But it's easy to venture out and eat some things you're not supposed to eat, especially out here.

Yeah. I read an article that after the season, you do 21 days no basketball. Now, if you were walking, like you were saying, you were walking with the stroller, if you're walking by a park in the 21 days and a kid's playing and they're like, CJ, take a shot, you won't do it.

That's a tough dilemma. So I normally don't work out. So shooting, I don't count shooting. So if a kid was like, shoot the ball, whatever, I'd shoot it. Or like the old-school commercials, I might try to go dunk it if the court was low or whatever. Two weeks into my break, I took my son to the gym, and it was just way too hot outside. And he was like, Too hot, too hot, dad, dad. So I took him to the gym, and he's like, Ball, dad, dad, ball. So I started shooting. That was my slides, but I don't count that because I'm not actually working out. I'm just messing around, just playing with my son, having fun. I don't count it.

Okay. That's the height of my workout, so that's good. You're like, I don't count shooting. It's like, if I shoot We have our basketball court here, I shoot 100 jumpers. I'm like, Man, that was a hell of a workout. That was my whole day. Got my cardio. Yeah, I really did it. I really did it.

That's it.

I'll do more. It just depends on the time I have. We got the machine, so we'll fire it up.

Yeah, what do you shoot?

You got a gun? Yeah, we got the gun. Yeah, we got the gun.

What do you consider a workout? How many shots?

A hundred would not be a workout. Shit. I mean, my warm up is like 100 makes just to get loose. Shit.

How many do you make when you show up there?

I'll make 50 of them.

That's pretty good.

I'd say 300 plus, depending on time. If I'm doing a 45 minute workout, unless it's 10 or 15 minutes of ball handling, I'm getting 400 to 500. Easy. Okay. That's like movement, that's off the bounce, that's catching shoot. I might finish with 100, 150 makes.

This might be a dumb question, but have you ever gone shooting and just one day you suck at basketball?

You're just not good. You have days where you don't shoot the ball well. I've had days. It's funny because the casual won't understand. Getting to the gym with a pro, and it's completely different. A bad shooting day for me, I'm probably making 65% of my shots. I'm bricking. Nobody in a gym. Empty gym, 65% of me, it's a bad day. I'm hitting 8, 9 out of 10. Those are normal days. If we do 100 threes, a bad day, I'm making 75 out of 100. That's a terrible day. That was a bad... My second workout, I hit 75 out of 100. It was a terrible day. Now I was at for 21 days. Normal day, 80 plus out of 100, and I'm talking threes. When I'm shooting how I normally shoot, 90, 92, 93 out of 100. And a normal NBA player empty gym, jumper is wet. Jumper is wet. You put them in like fans, whatever, that's going to change the game a little bit. But even guys that miss free throws down the stretch of games, like big men that can't make free throws. Historically, pick a big man, put them in an empty gym, cash.

When we had the whole NBA, NFL argument, and it's a dumb argument that we should save for the middle of summer, but that was the one thing I kept going back to. I was like, If you've ever had the luck of watching an NBA player shoot in an empty gym, they literally do not miss. It's not like, Oh, this is the... They will shoot and they'll take 100 threes and they'll make 95 of them. No problem. That's the level that they're shooting. That's the baseline of their shooting ability, and that's everyone on the entire team. Even the last guy on the bench is still an incredible shooter.

Yeah, I think that's a tough argument because every NFL player can't hoop in the league, and every hooper can't play in the NFL. But there are some NFL guys that could come over, and there are some NBA guys that could slide over to the NFL. It's not to say one sport is harder than the other or whatever the case may be. There's just some incredible athletes in this world. There's some DBs, there's some receivers that I haven't seen hoop. I'm like, Oh, he got a game. He's nice. And there's some guys that I've seen that are just freak athletes, like Bron and some of those guys where you're like, Are you telling me Zion can't go play football? I could go play football if he really wanted to. Like, Bron could go play. Russ, there's some guys that could go play football, and there's some NFL guys that could slide over and be a shooting guard or a small forward. I've seen some of those guys shoot the ball. I've seen some of those guys that are athletes, the quarterback from Florida. I've seen some of those guys move and dunk and jump, and they'll be all right.

The hard part is the contact, figuring out for the NBA guy that goes to the NFL. Is he a DB? Is he a wide receiver? Because everybody is trying to go across that middle. It's a different ball game.

So you talk about the difference in shooting when there's an arena filled with fans. There was a very funny video that went viral last week, and it was like a guy pretending to be an NBA player, and he's like, I don't shoot well on the road. The fans are mean, and they're saying I'm bad when I'm trying to shoot. What is it about shooting in front of a hostile crowd that makes you worse at shooting? Ultimately, is it just not being comfortable with the gym, or is it people saying you suck? Is it people bullying you? Why are players worse on the road than they are at home?

I think it's a combination of things. I think it's not familiar territory. Your routine is different. You're sleeping in a hotel, pretty Your email is different. If you got a chef, travel, you're on a bus. Everything is a little different. And it's not a gym you shoot in every day. And then I think the factor of it's something psychologically when someone cheers for you versus when someone booze for you, especially when you shoot. But the funny part is Most of our team this year in the rolling shot better on the road than they did at home. And we had the best row record in the NBA. I think we went 28 and 14 or something like that. And my numbers side by side, I shot better from three, better from two on the road. So it's just a matter of routine, what you do, how much time you have. I think at home, for me personally, I shoot more at home to try to get ready for home games than I do on the road. And I shoot better on the road. I get less reps, probably get more sleep, but I think I get less reps for sure on game days.

At home, I stay after I shoot. I go do a shooting drill. On the road, you got 15 minutes on the clock before you can kick that out of the gym because they got to set up for something else or the other teams. So I I think it's a combination of things that factor in. But it's something about being booed, as opposed to, imagine when you shoot a three and you're like, Three. And then when you shoot three, you're like, You suck. You have the free throw line, they booing you. They're talking about your mama, they're talking about your daddy, whatever the case may be. At the crib, they cheering for you until something doesn't go right, and then they might put the switch on you depending on what market you're in.

I was just going to say, in Philly, they start to boo you, but then they start to be nice to you to get you out of a slump. Then you turn into a really good player.True.Great.Good sports sound.Great sports sound.

What's the status of your beef with KD? I think it's long since Squash, but we actually had a part in the original beef Because you coming on our show started that a little bit.

That is like, Katie, my guy, we in a group chat together, and I actually need to check on him, see how you doing.

Text him right now and tell him you're doing PMT and said that we'd love to have him on. He'll probably leave the group chat.

I'm going to PMT.

He's going to leave the group chat.

He said they would love to have you on.

Yes, squash the beef. He still watches my Instagram stories I send him, and he just... Yeah, It doesn't hurt. Well, no, he'll just... Or if I do an Instagram story playing pickup, he'll just respond and be like, Get this trash off the court. And then I'll send him being like, Hey, you want to come on? And he'll just read it and not respond.

That's him.

Yeah, it hurts my feelings every time, but I also laugh.

That's funny. I got to ask him. I've seen this Tinder profile that looked like it was his.

Yeah, I saw that, too.

Oh, he might be out there.

All right, I have one last question. Let I just don't know if he responds real quick. But I have one last question. This has been awesome, CJ. We definitely have to get you in person, too, in Chicago when you're here next. Rowback question, rhooback. Com. Promo code, take 20% off your first purchase. Q-zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, Shorts, rowback. Com. They also have swimsuits. Summertime, rowback. Com, promo code take. All right, so what are we adding to our game this summer? That's one of my favorite things that every NBA player… It's a cool flex being like, My game is so good, I'm going to add this little niche thing, this little one move that no one's expecting. What's the one move that you're adding this year?

I wouldn't necessarily say move. I'm working on, see if he respond. He didn't respond yet. What did he say? I sent it to the group. I didn't send it to him directly. He didn't respond yet. Okay. It said, 6 swing, swing to the corner with the first comment. I'm working on paint finishing. That's a real big point of emphasis for me. Obviously, spacing in a lot of those things is quite a factor, but I got to have better core awareness and understanding of just making sure people in the right spots, keeping my system turnover ratio right. But paint finishing is huge. I was only 58.3% at the rim, so I got I got to get better. I got to get to at least league average, which is like 65, somewhere around there. My paint shots, non-respected area were less than 50, 47, so I got to get better there. And then just a lot more of what I've been doing, shooting the ball really well, shooting threes at a high clip, being good in pick and rolls over one point per possession, and then defensively being better in pick and rolling. I'm never going to be a lockdown defender, but I got to be average to above average, statistically, in terms of what the defense is like when I'm on the floor.

So I think that's That's the thing that I'm working on, really just paint finishing. That's going to be huge. Spacing-wise, floaters, touch shots, being smart with the Nash dribbles, and then just trying to impact winning.

Okay. And what's the move that you're... I mean, you gave us the Hezzy Hay, Step Back to Freedom. Is there a move in the last few years that you've been doing that you're like, Man, this is so much fun whenever I can pull this off?

The Hezzy Hay is just a classic, the Step Back to Freedom. I've been doing a lot of transition trades lately. From a lingo standpoint, what can I leave you with on the transition? Transition, take that. Probably shouldn't say take that now because of where we're at in society. But I would say a lot of transition threes.

We could say transition, take that.

Yeah, take that.

Take that. Yeah, take that.

Yeah, transition, take that.

I love a good floater. Float me. Float me. One of my homies, Shia's apprentice, he used to say, You got to get up early in the morning for that. You got to get up early in the morning to get to that floater because it's just above your head. Especially with WMDBE now, you got to shoot the floater. You got to have a floater, you got to shoot it high because guys is coming to get all of those. So I say to float me in the The pull-up trade is a game changer. It's a shot I love. It's a shot I've matched, and I shoot a high percentage at it. But that Hezzy Hay was legendary.

It was golden. I feel like Kyrie does a lot of the float me, too. He's a big float me guy.

Kyrie's float is crazy. His best float is the world has ever seen. Left hand, right-hand, glass, cash. He got everything.

How do you stop Kyrie? Is it possible?

You hope to contain him, man. He He has every skill set in the book. Three-level score, fast, quick, in great shape. He was getting 40 during Ramadan. He was fasting and scoring 40 on people, hungry, no water, no water, no food. That's a different type of killer, man.

Yeah.

You got to trap him. I think OKC did a good job of taking the ball out of his hands and just trapping him, showing him different looks is making somebody else beat you because you show one body, even if you show too late, he's too good.

Yeah. No, OKC did a better job than Minnesota, that's for sure. All right, well, CJ, I promise I wish you it will be sooner the next time you're on than this gap, and we do have to get you in person, but it's great to see you. Congrats on all the success. Two kids, wine mogul. Also, I just looked up since we last seen you, I think you've made $150 million. That's pretty cool. It's good.

Yeah, that's nice.

Do you ever just look at that? Do you ever look at it like, Oh, shit.

Is that what happens since we last seen each other?

I think you last run in 17, 18, you were around 60 million for your career, and now you're around 215. That's pretty nice. That's pretty nice.

Praise the Lord, man. This is a great world we live in, man, where if you can master something and become really good at something, do things the right way, try to lead a good life, things can turn out well for you, man. So I'm just living a dream, man. I'm really thankful. I'm really happy and blessed. I got two beautiful babies, married. I can't complain, man. I got to hezzy. Hey, I got to step back to freedom. I got to float me. I got to take that. I'm sipping Shara Ne talking to you guys.

What could I complain about? Yes, something to aspire for. That's incredible. Yeah. Congrats, CJ. And also we left out the part that you're also the manager of our high stakes fancy football league that we're in. And Jerry O'Kannell screwed up our lineup entirely last year. So that's all on him. Is he a pain in the ask to manage? Does he send you messages behind the scenes that we don't know about?

No, he's been cool, man. No real issues. This is the year I really need to win this, man. I put too much money into this fantasy football league to just continue to lose like this. And this is taking away from money from my Brown's sweet games.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. You had to love that Joe Flacko run. Probably felt a little dirty, but still.

It was legendary, man. It was a situation where I thought the season was over, and then it just kept getting better. And then it was too good be true. And then we ran into a young Ohio State killer, and that was all she wrote. But it was a hell of a run, man. And hopefully this year we can be good. We're going to need Chubb. I don't know if Chubb will be ready, but Chubb was huge for us. And for him to be hurt and injured the way he did was devastating. But I love my brands. We open up against the Dallas Cowboys. It'll be Tom Brandy's first game on Fox, September eighth. We rock it, baby.

Yeah, that's big. I like that you got it circled. That's the sign of a true You, football fan, when you start just ripping off your schedule sometime in July or June, you're like, Yeah, we open here. The next week's tough. It's perfect. All right, well, CJ, thanks so much, man. We really appreciate it.

You guys, man. You all Have a good one. When I get to the shot, I'll hit you out for sure.

C.

J. Mccollum was brought to you by the NWSL. Things have escalated from last week's show. We told you Nike hooked us up with that NWSL gear and how we wanted to go to that Red Stars game next Saturday, June eighth at Wrigley Field. Since then, that game is on track to potentially break the league's attendance record. So it's official. The Barstool Chicago crew is going. You all need to show up. Soccer at Wrigley, let's break that record. We're going to report back after the game. But if you don't live in Chicago, you got to get to a game. All we keep hearing, so much fun. Get to an NWSL game this year. Check out the schedules, buy some tickets. It's going to be a blast. Get involved with the NWSL.

Okay, that is our show. Unless we have anything else. Oh, did you guys see Lenny Kravitz said that he hasn't had sex in nine years?

Yeah, he hasn't fucked in nine years. That must be really difficult for Lenny Kravitz to do that.

That's insane. I would actually believe it if he has not come in nine years, but he was fucking. But he's so good at holding it.

Lenny Kravitz is so hot that there's no one on Earth that can make him come.

Right. And he's just like, I can control it so well. Like, Yeah, I'll fuck you for an hour, but then I'm just going to go home.

Maybe he's just done anal.

That could possibly be it.

But Lenny Kravitz strictly butt stuff.

He does. There's just no way. I mean, he has cooler sex than everyone else.

He keeps the scarf on.

Yeah. Look at him. Is that actually Lenny Kravitz? Lenny Kravitz might lead the league in lookalikes if he just got some tattoos.

Yeah, it's either Lenny Kravitz or a Niemick Larry Fitzgerald.

Oh, yeah. Is he retired?

No, he never actually retired. He just stopped playing football. Yeah.

We got to figure out something to talk about on Wednesday because we have just no sports going on.

Let's see, what do we got? What do we got in the news?

Let us know what you want us to talk about. We could make a list. It's not my Rushmore season yet, but we could make a list for everyone. We could do that headline thing. Oh, yeah, we could do the headline thing.

We could do the headline. You could do NFL, NBA.

No.

I like the idea of making a list.

Yeah, let's make a list. Let us know what list you want us to make.

How about Hank's top 10 patriots of all time?

No, let's get... Yeah. Tell us, the AWLs, let us know what list you want, sports-related, and we'll come up with a list.

We're going to rank something.

Yeah, we'll rank something and get everyone upset about it.

Pmt makes a list and gets the internet mad at them.

Yeah, and Now, Rosh for our season, we'll start after the NBA Finals, which actually, are the Stanley Cup Finals going to go later this year? No.

I don't think so.

Because they go every- No, because there's less time. Yeah, they go every two nights because they're not pussies.

That's a lot of travel for them.

Wait, is there an eight-hour flight? There's not any nights where there's both. That would suck. Actually, game seven of Stanley Cup would be Monday, the 24th, which would be the day after game seven of the NBA.

Oh, wow. They both go seven.

Wow.

Damn. Kind of tough by them. Hank, you got to get game one here. You just got to get game one here. I'm going to get game one here. You got to get game one to arrive. It was actually two days off to arrive. To arrive. Three of the games. I know. I'm saying you physically can't handle just this weight. You got to get game one here.

Is there any way to speed up-time?

Can you figure out a way to get game one here? Sleep? Golf. No. You just golf every second between here and game one, and we'll get here fast.

If you black out, that's like time travel.

I think Josh Allen just did a charity 110 holes in one day thing last week. I don't know if you guys saw that.

Hank could never do charity.

He accidentally did that. Get game one I'll see what I can do.Figure it out.I will.Okay, numbers.20. 56.18..

You're so pressed, Max.So pressed. 17. That was pressed. All right, I'm going to do 8.

3. 29. 21. Damn. 59. That make you a little nervous, Max? I knew it was 59. I knew it was 59. That make you a little nervous? I knew it was 59. Have you ever gotten this? No. That make you a little nervous?

No. Love you guys.

I'm talking away. I don't know what I'm to say I'm saying anywhere.

Today is not the day to find you.

Shying away. I'll be coming for your love of cake. Take on me.

Take me on.

I'll be gone. And I'll take off soon. We need less to say. I'm all set in, but I'm being stolen away.

Slow learning that life is okay.

♪ Say after me.

♪ It's no better to be safe than sorry.

♪ Take on me. ♪ Take me on.

♪ I'll be gone. ♪ And after your.