Transcript of Hour 1: The Bada Bing Scene New

This is the Dan Levatore Show with the Stugats podcast.

Good time for me to mention as well. My friend Trista Crick is going to be on Zazlo Show 2. 0 today. If anybody wants to give that a warrel, you can hear us talk a little bit of MBA.

What's she saying?

Find out. I'm going to let you get away with it because it was part of promotion. Exactly. Now you get it.

Promotioning.

It was a part of promotion. All right? So you're okay. I'll allow it.

Quick shout out, by the way, to Tashay. Did anybody else observe that he's going Michael Douglas in Basic Instinct there? A v-neck sweater with no T-shirt underneath? Yeah, brother. Bold. Bold. Man, it's like a style.

What a movie, by the way. Okay, Jeremy, you've definitely never seen Basic Instinct, right? I have not. Wow.

But I will.

What a movie? Yeah. Hey, Football America, as long as we're talking about Lebitard universe-related shows, Football America is doing, because this is one of the worst sports weeks going, we're going to have Amin and Zaz. It's our movie show in advance of the Oscars. I'm looking forward to that. We're going to do a Tarantino character draft and beyond.

Yesterday, it was When I got home. My older son stayed home from school yesterday because he wasn't feeling well. He caught whatever I had. I was like, Hey, you want to watch a movie? And he goes, Yeah, sure. For the first time, I showed him Inglorious Bastards. What a movie.

You're going to say, Basic Instinct.

What a movie. What a movie. It's one of those deals. Quinn Tarantino is my favorite. It's one of those deals where I really need him to like it. I want him to like it. Of course, he did like it because it's a great movie.

It's a sick movie. The movie's great.

It's a great movie.

A good, sick movie.

Best scene of this millennium. This is a bold take to say about any scene. It's the best scene in any movie this century, the tavern scene, the cellar scene, that 20 minutes.

The Mexican standoff.

Yes. As Tony points out, yes, when the guy, the spy- Big laser. The British spy holds up the wrong version of three and is caught by the nazi.

That's a great scene. I'm wondering- If it's the best scene of that movie? Yeah, because I'm thinking about the first scene where we see Christoff Waltz and he comes in and he does the whole thing in French. He's like, Hey, is it easy? It's just easier for me to do it in English. I just love the exposition.

You're hiding them under the floorboards, are you not?

But that whole- You're hiding it. You guys have any milk? Oh, the milk here is the best. And I've heard of it. Oh, my God. He's such a mother. He walks it down so I remember being in that scene or watching that scene and being so in trans like, Oh, my God, what's happening? He doesn't know. He does know. He does know. He's doing it to him on purpose. And then how he says, Now, I'm just going to walk out of here and we're just going to pretend everything's I'm going to switch back to French. A bientôt. And then Shoshana runs away. Au revoir, Shoshana. That scene right there, to me, powerful scene.

It's a great scene. By the way, that French dairy farmer looks exactly like PGA or, I don't know, Liv Golfer, John Rom. Identical. It's weird. It is a dynamite scene, but I'm going to stick with the tavern scene. I also just was caught by Zaz. I think this is a compliment to you. You just tried to do the Christoff Walsh, Shoshana, and you did a horrible job at it, which means you can't portray a Nazi. That's great.

That ultimately reflects well on you. That is a compliment.

That is more than one reason. Do it again. Do it again. Try again. Give it one more line read.

Give me a second here. I'll get the character.

Be better at being a Nazi.

Au revoir, Shoshana. That was better. Was I a better Nazi? Yeah. Question about that movie. My son asked me, while we were watching it. When Hans Landa, Christoff Walsh's character, Shoshana has the meeting with Gerbels, and then Hans Landa shows up- That's a great scene, too. And they have the strudel together. Wait for the cream. My My son turns me and he says, Does he know? Does he know it's her? It's pretty ambiguous. Does he know it's her?

As long as you understand that she, Shoshana sitting in that chair, would be afraid that he might know, that's what you're supposed to experience. Through her eyes, Oh, my God, this is the guy who killed my whole family. I think he knows- Because he's a great detective.

And he orders the milk.

He seems to know everything. The milk to me. He orders the milk and he's like, Yeah. I think she doesn't. I think he doesn't, but you know- Even though he orders the milk. He loves milk. The movie has mythologized his abilities so well up to that point that you understand from Shoshana's point of view that she has to be paranoid. He knows. He knows.

He Absolutely right. It's more about the, Hey, if you're Shoshana, you absolutely think, Oh, he knows. But he loves milk, man. That wasn't a bit that he was doing. He actually really likes French milk, so shout out to him.

Compliments to your daughters and the cow.

Yes.

It's such a good movie.

Have you ever heard about how they cast him? Because Tarantino wrote-He was like a nobody before that, right? Tarantino wrote the character, and he was like, Where are we going to find a dude who speaks German, French, and English fluently?

Also Italian.

And also a good actor. They were like, This guy doesn't exist. And then they found him, and it changed his life.

Couldn't have been Zazlo's. We just found out three minutes ago. Couldn't pull off the German side of it.

Zazlo could have been one of the Americans. Dominic de Cool.

Golami. When you're 12 years old, Basic Instinct is a great movie, Dave.

Yeah, I think that's the sweet, but I wouldn't want to- That was an event.

I wouldn't want to watch it with-watching Basic Instinct at 12 years old for the very first time. But not with your dad. Not with your dad's dad. No, not with my dad. It was with my friend. We were left home alone. They had Basic Instinct. They're like, All right, it's basic instinct viewing time. We watched Basic Instinct, the two of us.

You went wild. Has there ever been anyone now, 12 Harold Zaz, saw Sharon Stone. Has there ever been someone who has rivaled her?

That scene, that excitement, because everybody knew that that scene was coming, there has to be, if I think about it, there has to be something similar to that, right?

This reminds me while you think of it, of me and my dad. The first time I remember as a kid watching something where he was uncomfortable, it was Sunday Night's Sopranos. Back in the day when I was in high school, us watching that live on Sunday Night, and he did not like the scenes when there was nudity. He didn't like the Bada bing scenes with me.

See, it's funny. I would assume it's the other way. I would assume it was you who was uncomfortable.

I loved it.

Is the erotic thriller dead? I feel like we don't get any more erotic readers. The '90s was a big decade for erotic thrills. Well, not Skinny Max. Skinny Max is a step too far. Erotic thrills are like Basic Instinct, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, all those... What's the one where-Fatal Attraction. I will not be ignoring... Yes, there you go. Horny Noirs.

What's the one with the pool scene. Come on, you all know what I'm talking about. Yeah, Presumed Innocent. Wild Things. See, Roy knew exactly what I was talking about.

Presumed Innocent.

I knew someone would know. I knew someone would know.

These were all movies that were like, We're going to have a lot of sexually charged scenes, and also someone's going to die because it's crazy.

I'm glad. I think I'm better off without them. I think Red Shoe Diaries. Why do we need the element of the backstory of like that there's some detective mystique to lead us into soft core pornography? Unnecessary. Here's the thing.

I don't like gratuitous sex scenes and movies that don't require, just so let's know that there's a romantic connection. But I do miss a movie where the premise is there's a sexual connection, and then there's a murder that happens.

Well, but even worse, though, it was a weird element element that used to be included in comedies in the '80s and '90s, like Caddy Shack. Why don't there are sex scenes? There are bosoms? Do we need those?

We need bare breasts. We needed giant popos and everything.

It gets the numbies up.

Got to have it.

Got to have it.

Jamie Lee Curtis in Trading Places. We needed the bear bosoms.

The airplane.

That was actually funny. They actually did it to great comedic effect.

Caddy Shack needed the love-making scenes. By the way, that's an interesting subject, Greg Cody, I bring to you. Our movie guy. Has anybody in real life in the last 50 years referred to sex as making love, or was that just propped up by movies and TV of the day? I find it jarring now when you watch a movie and they talk about, Let's make love. Yeah, I don't think people say that in real life. I don't think anyone has ever said that.

You've never said that?

If I When I were having a conversation in that vicinity with my parents and I was in my 20s, I might have said, Make love, because I didn't want to say anything more vulgar in the company. I don't think a guy has ever said that.

In the 20s or you were in your 20s? When I was in my 20s.

I say it often. Yes. It's how I broached the subject with my wife. Would you like to make love?

That's not true. That is actually... Really? I have.

That's your language? I got a lot of moves, Damoshek. He's a romantic. I got a lot of moves, but one of them is. He's got a deep bag. He's got a deep bag. I do the head nod. Hey, you want to make some love? Oh, wow. Okay. It always comes with a head nod.

I'm uncomfortable for you with your old man sitting here.

I like to approach politely with a tap on the shoulder and say, Excuse me, if it's not too much of a bother, do you mind? Can we... It's love-making time. Can we make some love in the other room? Shall we adjour?

So your father was the one who was uncomfortable with the Sopranos.

He would walk out sometimes.

Have Have you ever been uncomfortable watching something with your father? Not offhand. Because I remember for me, I remember it very well. I watched, I was probably 14, maybe, and I was watching with my parents for the first time, The Silence of the Lambs, which, of course, is a great movie. But then I'm 14 years old, and Buffalo Bill takes off the robe and shows everyone as Mangina. I I didn't even know what to do with myself. I was so embarrassed sitting there next to my parents.

Couldn't eat any ham, that's for sure.

That wasn't an option. Is that the movie where it's like, I drew me?

Yeah, that's it. It puts the lotion in the basket.

It gets the hose. Everyone's done that, right? At one point or not.

So the 14-year-old Zaza looks around and is like, Guys, my bad.

That was very upsetting for me. I wish more movies had women's boobs in Oh, besides in Spain, you're back.

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Dan Levatard.

It's all about me. Stugatz.

This is the Dan Levatard Show with the Stugatz.

So last night in the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers. Is it? The The Lakers lost at home to the Orlando match. This Laker team is not good. Maybe they could beat a Houston team in the first round. No. Probably not. No, but I feel the reason I say it is because I feel like that's the only team that they could potentially be matched up with where it's like, maybe they could beat. This Laker team is first round and done. The roster is not good. And last night, you get the perfect fodder for all the TV shows, right? Where you saw the end of this game against... It was a wild finish, right?

Absolutely wild finish. I don't know how far back you want to go. Do you just want to go that last possession?

It was like three possessions back and forth.

Back and forth, right? You get a big shot by the Lakers over here. You get Desmond Bane hits a three because the Lakers defense collapsed on Palo Banquero. No one's playing backside over there. Lebron tries to close out, and that's when he really looks 40 years old when he has to close out. So Bane hits that three. Lakers come back. Great under-out-of-bounds play to score right at the rim. A dunk by LeBron. Yes, a dunk by LeBron. Magic come back and you get Paulo- Magic played?

Oh, the team. Okay, sorry.

Yeah, the team.

Palo is one-on-one against DeAndre Ayton. He puts up the shot. Misses, but because Ayton is pulled out, no one's there to rebound. The Orlando Magic grabbed the offensive rebound, lay it up. Then the Lakers call time out, and they got- Here's the moment. Good time. It's not like a 0. 5 second. You got multiple, multiple in a couple of seconds. They call the play, they get it to Luka, Luka takes one dribble and picks up his dribble. For what reason? I don't know.

Well, by the way, when he caught the pass, he was a good eight feet behind the three-point line, but wide open, and it's a shot that he takes all the time.

Yes, but they had a lot of time. They had time for a screen to come up, get the screen set. The guys obviously trap him off the screen, the defenders. He picks up the dribble. I'm like, Why don't you keep your dribble alive? Lebron is weird angle, try to carve out a passing lane to him, but after he gets the pass-Luca throws him a grenade. Yeah, because he picked up his dribble. He has nothing. He's dead in the water. Lebron is his only outlet. He passes it to LeBron, but LeBron's got his back to the basket from the three-point line, so he's got to take this fade away three. And of course, it misses because that's not a good shot. But it all goes back to, why did Luka pick up the dribble? Why didn't you either aggressively attack him?

He did get doubled. Only after he passed up the wide open shot. So let's hear it from Luka, all right? So here's Luka Donchich after the game on why he didn't take the shot.

I know it was open, but I just thought it was a little bit far.

Try to take one dribble closer.

He probably should have picked up the ball.

Just trying to protect him.

It's weird, though, that he's saying he thought he was too far. He takes that shot all the time.

I don't blame him. It did look far, but my thing is, once you know I'm putting it on the floor and When the screen is coming, you know what the defense is going to do. We talked about this yesterday as a video coordinator. We break down in the games, what do these guys like to do? They would know that the magic like to double a good player when he's coming off a screen because they don't want to deal with this. Did you Do I switch? Or any of that. They're just going to say, Hey- Do players actually know that in the moment? Yes, because A, we'll have talked about it in the film session before the game. B, we'll have talked about it on the bench right before we go out there. Hey, this is going to happen. If this happens, et cetera. Then we talk about great players like Luka Donchik or LeBron James, those guys know just from muscle memory of how many times they played against different coaches, different teams. They just know, Oh, they like to do this. I know when this happens, I'm going to already have my plan B and my plan C ready.

But the bigger question for me is, that was a rare close loss for the Lakers. A rare close loss for the Lakers. Typically, when they lose, they get blown the ever-living F out. To what degree you might ask, I looked up. The teams-Research. In losses. The team with the biggest margin of loss is the Washington Wizards. We would expect that. One of the worst teams.

They're a bad team, Dave.

Almost 19 points for 100 possessions in their losses. Minus, right? Number two, the Lakers, which is unheard of for a team.

So when they lose, they get killed.

They get killed.

It's like they stop playing, though, right? Yeah. In those losses, they're just like, Whatever.

That checks out. I'm with Tony. Yeah, they understand that they're load managing in real time. Yeah, this one's done. Set them down for the rest of the game.

Here's the curiosity. When you look at the other teams, number three, the Brooklyn Nets, horrible team. Number four, the Sacramento Kings, the worst team in the league. Number five, the Utah Jazz.

Yeah, why aren't there other good teams who are leaving the white flag?

The next good team, and this is a stretch, is Milwaukee at 6: 00. Then you go seven is Chicago, bad. Eight is Portland, not good. Nine is Phoenix. They play hard.

They're a decent team.

They're decent. Toronto No, no. Would be the next-They're a good team.

Why is that?

They get blown up. I think it's because they're not athletic. It's not a good roster. Once it starts to go downhill for them- It snowballs, right. Then the counterpoint of that is not athletic, but surely they got great three-point shooters. No, they're not I'm not good at that either. When you're not great at three-point shooting and you're not athletic, things can get out of hand really quickly.

As a relative casual, I disagree with what Zaz has said now a couple of times, which is that it's not a good roster. I'm applying Probably an outmoded standard. Ten years ago, though, the minimum standard to be a contender was most seasons that you had a big three. They have a big three.

Yeah, it's not like that anymore.

I got it, but it doesn't really add up. Who's What NBA teams out there, their trio of best players, would you prefer to have over what the Lakers have?

I mean, let me just say it real quick, and then you could tell me if I'm right. The league has gone in a direction over the last few years. It's really about having two really good players and having a deep roster is much better than having three great players.

Well, I think there's also a misnomer there in the idea like, Oh, all you need is three great players, and it doesn't matter who they are.

It didn't used to.

No, You could cover all the other warts if you had the big three. It always mattered that the big three were complementary. That's the part people just, Give me three. Give me any three. No, it doesn't work that way. It's not just, Blindly, give me three. They have to a bit in some way. So if you tell me big threes of your, I'll be like, Yeah, he does this, he does this, and he does this. Versus for the Lakers, you got three guys. We're going to call Austin Reeves a big three, by the way. Big 2. 5. That's a big leap. But I'm for the purpose of the exercise, say, yes, he is. What do they all do? Oh, they're really good at playmaking and shot making.

And none of the three play defense. None of them can defend their position.

None of them rebound. That's right. So it's like, why are we calling? Why are we saying, Well, this will just erase everything? Basketball is a very simple sport that people like to overcomplicate. You have to have, it doesn't matter who does it, there have to be certain things that are taken care of. We need someone to take care of rebounding or people to take care of rebounding. We need people to create plays. We need people to terminate plays. So these are finishers, whether at the rim or whatever. We need people who are incredible shooters, not even to actually shoot it, just to keep the defense honest. And we need individual defenders.

If you can convince people to play two-dimensional or one-dimensional ball. I always think about Rick Fox as the personification of that. He wouldn't have been a rotational guy on bad teams or maybe borderline. He wouldn't have been a starter.

He was a really good player in Boston that was a bad team. When he came to the Lakers, he actually took the step down.

That's what I'm saying. When you're willing to accept that I am going to be in the starting five, I'm just not going to be looked at as a score at any point of any game. If you're willing to accept that, it seems like that's the secret sauce.

But it's a combination of willingness and ability. Some people are willing, they're just not able. So I remember when Russell Westbrook got to the Lakers and I said, Well, Russ is going to come off the bench. I'm I had no doubt that he was sincere in his desire. But it's like, if you played basketball a certain way for 15 years on the professional level at that time, and two more years before that, the collegiate level, and then all of a sudden today, we're like, And now you're going to do it completely differently. That's not easy. That's not an easy transition unless you're dealing with something. That's why I go back to Tatum. I think it is going to be easy because he's got a built-in excuse that forces him. If he was just like, All right, I'm 100% healthy. What are we doing here? Maybe. But as a guy who's compromised a little bit, it's like, Yeah, I do need to take it slow. But when you look at the Lakers, I'm with Zaz, it is a flawed roster because we talk about the one thing you can't do is be in between in terms of being bad or good or whatever.

My thing is you can't be in between either. We're super athletic. We can't shoot, but we're going to run up and down the court. We're going to lock everybody down, like Detroit is a great example of that. Or we're slow and unathletic, but man, we are going to kill you basketball-wise with our shooting, with our IQ. The Lakers are neither. They got some They're smart, good shooting players with high IQ. They've got some guys, but they don't have the overall athleticism to make up for the shortcomings, nor the shooting to make up for them.

Before we wrap up that part of the game, I do want to hear from LeBron after the game where, yeah, Luka gave up the shot. He made a mistake picking up his dribble. Like I said, LeBron was handed a grenade there, had to shoot it because he caught the ball with two seconds left. Here's LeBron after the game.

I'm not sure. Obviously, you have to ask Luka what he saw on that, but I thought he had a good look, and it looked like he just lost his balance, didn't have a rhythm with the ball, whatever the case may be. It allowed him to get back in front of him. I was off balance when he gave it to me. I thought he had a great look, but that's what I look. That's my POV.

That's a POV? I love a POV. I like POV, too. Different POV than he's talking about. I like a little surf term. You know what I'm talking about? He's got it in the lingo, though. I do wonder how... So Luca's the man in Dallas for all of these years. He could do no wrong. He's their guy. They drafted him. He has spent his entire career there. He's their franchise player. Being in LA now is a little bit of a different story. Okay, number one, it's the Lakers, all right? It's one of the most prestigious franchises in all professional sports, and he's not their guy. They traded for him. They traded for him with expectation, major expectation, as opposed to someone who we draft in your homegrown, We love you forever, no matter what. That's not the case. I do wonder how that could possibly affect Luca's mindset because he's never had to deal with that before. Like I said, in Dallas, no matter what, you are the guy. We love you no matter what. The Laker fan doesn't love LeBron no matter what. He's not their guy.

I will say that is to push back a little bit as somebody who's there and the transient nature of the population in Los Angeles is reflected in the Lakers. That's their whole MO. Kareen came from somewhere else. Shaq came from somewhere else. Will Champerly did. But you got to win. Right. Yeah, absolutely. But their model of four success is bringing No, you got to win.

And like I'm saying, even in Dallas, like, Luka could have went his whole career never winning a Championship, beloved, no matter what in Dallas. If Luka spends the rest of his career in LA and they don't win, he's not going to be a beloved Laker.

Oh, of course Yeah.

He was a mercenary at that point. He just got lucky. Look how long it took Dirk to get a championship, right? How old was Dirk?

But he'd have been beloved no matter what.

32? Yeah. So it was 2011, and he got drafted in 1998. He was 18 years old at that time.

So yeah, 14 years. 32, 33, wherever it was. That could have been Luka's trajectory, and Dallas would have been okay with that, knowing at some point, maybe the Cooper flag thing happens if they don't trade Luka. All of a sudden, Luka is there. They get lucky enough to get the number one pick. Now it's Cooper and Luka, and all of a sudden, you have this revolutionary thing at the position or at the team for Dallas. But it's like, now, what are you going to do?

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Dan Lebetard. Baker Mayfield tearing up Tampa Bay, 38 for 45. Stugatz.

This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugats.

So I do wonder if the conversation in LA is going to begin to take a little bit of a different turn. And Grant, look, he's been there for a minute, all right? He was there for half of last season, and we're halfway into this season. And I do wonder if the conversation in LA is going to shift a little bit because give this a listen, this is from the Laker television broadcast last night, all right? This is the home broadcast. This is the Lakers broadcast here. Give this a listen. This is one of those plays where Luka doesn't score doesn't get a foul. He's on the floor arguing with referees. Here it is.

Luka, a little one hand. Again, he's complaining, got to get back on defense. It's five on four. Underneath, they're going to put it up and in. And one. And the foul.

That is a home broadcast, tired of watching that.

He's aspirated. It's happening again.

Five on four. This is me talking to my kids. You better get that thing. If you don't clean up, you're not going to be able to have any dessert. And then I'm going to eat it all myself, and then you're going to be upset because I'm going to eat. That's how you do that to a kid to let them know the consequences are coming.

Can we play the previous clip again? Now that we all know what to listen for, you're going to hear the exasperation in their voices. This is the Lakers television call. It's not the other team, it's the Lakers television call.

Luca, a little one hand. Again, he's complaining, got to get back on defense. It's five on four. Underneath. They're going to put it up and in. And one.

And the foul. Yeah, that was a tone of voice that said, This defense has been bad. We've seen this before. We've seen this play before. We've lost like this before. Crazy. Don't we want to wish our way? Basically, what we're talking about here, this has all been an exercise to try and ignore reality, which is your big three or however you want to couch it, Luka, your star, your primary, and your 1A is a LeBron, again, they can't defend their positions. Lebron used to obscure that with the Cavs even before the heat days. He would not just defend his position, he could defend pretty much any of the five spots on the floor. He also would rebound his position at a wild rate compared to his peer group. None of those three guys are doing anything on one side of the floor. That's what dams them forever, right?

Got to get back on defense. All right, you can clean your room. I'm McDonald's. I'm walking to the door. Underneath. I'm opening the car door.

I'm starting the car. Zaz, that's right, right? I mean, isn't it accurate then? This was a foolish proposition to begin with.

What was the foolish proposition?

Yes, you get Luca. If Luca is available to you, you absolutely make that trade. Every time. But now him and LeBron and Austin Reeves, the idea that that team would win a would win the title was never in play.

It was never in play unless you live in the greater Los Angeles area, in which case, oh, my God, we got a great player when everything is going to happen to us. Everyone gives us everything because that's been the experience of Laker fans for their entire life. But the reality is, it was the moment when they brought in DeAndre Ayton, all of us in basketball were like, Good luck with that. And all the Laker fans were like, We got a former number one overall pick, and this is how we're going to pick, man, now. That's the The problem is the expectation is not commiscerate on day one, let alone like, Oh, somewhere along the lines, expectations got out of hand. Like, day one, you should have known it wasn't good enough, but they didn't know. That's why when Rich Paul said, If I were the Lakers, I'd trade Austin Rees with Jared Jackson Jr. Everyone fainted, and I was like, That's a pretty good deal. If I'm the Lakers, I would want that deal, too.

But you're suggesting that management is playing to the fan base? That's what you just insinuated, which I don't think is the case.

I'm suggesting that building a Championship caliber roster is a lot harder than just getting a great player.

I know, but you said everyone in Los Angeles is, though, what the fan base is pining for when they're not the experts making the personnel decision.

I guess, let me be clear here. I'm not saying, Oh, Rob Palinka, you messed up. I think he's done the best with what was available to him at the time. Remember, they couldn't trade picks and all. They were really hamstrung up until this point. They're moving into next offseason a ton of cap space and at least three first-round picks to play with. They're building to a point where they can build around this. But as far as going into this year, Tony, I don't know how much better they could have done.

No, absolutely not. But also when you look at what they were trading, obviously, when you have somebody of Luka's caliber, you trade for him no matter what. But you had just seen Luca drag a Dallas team that was not that good through the Western Conference into the NBA Finals. I know there was a lot of nuance. There's a lot of new guys got there. I know there's a lot more nuance to that take. But when you get the guy, you figure he's good enough to drag you to a Championship, even if you don't win, to at least drag you to a Western Conference Finals and to an NBA Finals.

The reality is You get the guy, and then you say, well, figure it out. In the same way that Miami got Jimmy Butler and everybody on this show is like, Where are we going to him? I'm like, When they got Jimmy Butler? When they got Jimmy Butler. I wasn't on the show. I just realized. There was a lot of like, Oh, what's the big thing? I'm like, First of all, he's a superstar. Second of all, this is the first step. You can't just say, Well, I'll be awful until everything comes to me all at once. It doesn't work that way. Got to get back on defense.

It's five on four underneath. The narrative, I feel like it's sending in a little bit of a different direction right now for the first time with Luka on the Lakers. No, you don't agree with that? No.

Look, let's be clear. The new direction is, LeBron won't be here next year. That's the direction, right?

I just mean the conversation around Luka.

No. I mean, look, this is an example of, and a lot of people are victims of this. Particularly if you work for a team in broadcasting, but even if you're a fan of a team, a lot You just watch your team. You watch other teams. You're like, Oh, he's really good. He's really good. But it's like when... I always say, when you're in college, you be friends with somebody like, That's my boy. That's my boy. And they're like, We should be roommates. And then when your roommate is like, He clips his toenails on the coffee table. Oh, my God. He never does dishes. You start to notice all these idiosynchrosies that were never hidden. It's just you weren't around them all the time. Luca complaining to refs. Since day one. We talked about it Yesterday on the show, he's always been this. But for them, it's like, at first, I got Luca. Yes, Luca does this place for us. Oh, my God. And we got him for nothing. He's amazing. Oh, my God. He had 50. Oh, my God. And he's like, he really is complaining to rest a lot. And then after the 10th time- He hasn't gone back on defense in a month.

It's like, Oh, my God, stop doing it because now this thing becomes very top of mind in a way it wasn't when you saw him four times a year.

Well, you're right. And now you have national broadcasters, podcasts, what have you. Everybody knows Zack Lo, right? Zack Lo, formerly of ESPN. Is he with- The Ringer. The Ringer, yeah. Okay. And here is Zack Lo, apparently freaking out about Luca.

What do you say? The winding is back at just peak/ Nadir, Dallas levels. It's every fucking play. Just play, man. Not everything is a foul. And it's almost like, are you playing to draw a foul? Or are you playing basketball? Which one are you doing? Are you playing one-on-one with the refs? Or are you playing a game? It's every single possession now. It's completely out of control. It's back to Dallas levels. It's just unwatchable.

So you hate playing with that guy that in pick-up games or in a or whatever. He's always trying to call the foul.

What are you doing? The guy who calls offensive foul.

The guy that calls any foul whatsoever just every single time down the court.

I wasn't a big, as you can tell by the way, not a big streetball guy, but I played some rec basketball. Dad, you remember those days? I would love... I was a shooter. I could shoot a little bit, but if I went to the hole, I was just looking for contacts. And I had so many missed layups where I was driving to the hole and like, I'm going to get fouled. And then I just don't get fouled and I missed the layup.

You were just trying to draw foul.

I'm not a finisher at the hoop.

Wait, Chris, I got to ask. Charge. Because that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the guy that does what you did.

No, I never call fouls in pickup.

But in pickup ball because you have a ref. We're talking about the guy that... Tony, you know this. The guy will go up for a layup, he'll miss it, and then we're running back. My ball. Sometimes he doesn't even say anything. He just stands there and we're like, Okay, 5-4. No, I call foul. What? You're waiting for the ball to go out to call foul? Give me a break. But also the assumption that everybody knows it was a foul. I don't even have to- Is that you did, Demi-Scher?

No, no, no. That's the second worst guy to play pickup ball with, the guy who every time he goes up with it. See, my experience is not so much you're running back the other way. It's the guy who, while the ball is still in the air. Got it. Got it, got it. Whether it goes in or not, it's already a foul established. The worst guy remains, though. The guy who's a little bit older than everybody else there, who pulls his socks all all the way up high and defends you 32 feet from the rim. Will you get out of my face? What do you think I'm going to do? I'm not going to do anything.

That guy's turning back the clock.

Get away from me. The second worst guy is not that guy. The second worst guy is a guy I like to call Basketball Marter, which has clearly got mauled on the play. And then we're like, Hey, man, that's a foul. He's like, No, he didn't foul me. I'm like, I didn't call foul. Dude, what are you proving?

I mean, now you want both sides. You're complaining about the guy that calls all the fouls and the guy that doesn't-Yes, exactly. Because they're too sick for guys. You'd rather have the guy that doesn't call I'm complaining about the North Pole and I'm complaining about the Sahara.

Wow. It sounds like a complaint about the weather all the time.

That guy also does it at the worst possible time. It's 10: 9, game 11. You get killed. We're at game point. No foul. What do you mean no foul?

You guys are talking at it both sides.

Then they go back and hit a three, and the game's over.

I got to wait six games. Give me a break. One of the worst guys is the my bad guy, because the my bad guy never my bads on something that's ambiguous. It's always like, Hey, we're playing three on three, and two of the three foes are defending you, again, 28 feet from the rim, and for some reason, you decide to look it and jack it up from there instead of passing it to me under the rim, and you airball it. My bad, guys. Yeah, it wasn't in doubt who's bad it was. You jackass, we all knew. My bad. You want some credit? You're a great guy. You're being a good fella to everybody. I just want everybody here to know this is officially my bad. Yeah, we already made that decision. Okay, I have a solution for all your problems. Challenge system and instant replay and pick up basketball.

That's all you need. That's all you need. That's all you need. You set up a phone right there at the edge of the court, and then you record everything. Hold on, let's go.

Wouldn't it be amazing if there was a rec park wherever you lived, where that specific park has the challenge system.

No, it wouldn't. Every game would last 17 hours. Exactly. It's already bad enough.

Why are you longing for this? You know what? You don't want it in MLB, but you want it here.

That's my point. We have a challenge system in basketball. It's called shoot for it. The ball will tell us. No line.

Defense shoots. That's interesting. Yeah, see, Greg Cody, the fear mongering that you're doing is because of people like Luka. If it were left to Luka to decide, I have been violated here, then the game would take 17 hours. You're right. Well, that's why the players cannot be the ones turning to the officials. I wish to challenge that because if you were letting Luca unlimitedly challenge things, the game would take seven days to play.

Another terrible guy in pickup, the tunnel vision guy, the guy who's just putting his head down, driving to the hoop, and it's like, buddy, there's nine guys in the lane. How about you kick out and actually play basketball? It's like, no, I'm going to have to lay up.

If I decide I'm going to the hoop, I'm going. But that means you're a bad player. I know. What about the guy that thinks he's a great point guard? You're playing in a game, and so he's just running around trying to do no-look passes or behind the back because he thinks that he knows how to run an offense, and he's playing with you for the very first time, but it's just constant turnovers.

Just play basketball.

How Hard foul guy, too. We don't need you. If you want a hard foul, stay home.

Prison rules guy. That's prison rules guy.

Prison rules guy. Fast break. Going to find me on a fast break to try and pin the ball. It's like- Worst.

Undercutting you on the press break.

Exactly right. That's prison rules guy. To kill somebody out here.

If it doesn't draw blood, it's not a foul. I didn't show up here for that. I'm not looking for any blood to be drawn.

What are you showing up there for?

Collegial vibes.

I miss pick up basketball.

I was looking up Michael Douglas because you guys said I reminded you of him with the V-next sweater. But it's not the only thing about Michael Douglas that's similar to me.

It pissed me. Coxman? That's awesome.

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Mike, you know I have one rule to live by, right?

Don't place parlays on multiple long shots. Don't say a game is one when it hasn't hit triple zero.

Always drink your Jägermeister ice cold. That's the rule. Everything else is merely a suggestion.

Everything else? Everything else.

Wearing clean underwear every day?

Well, that's just a personal decision.

Brushing your teeth?

Obviously smart, but not a rule.

Never PP on an electric fence.

Okay, maybe there are two rules, but the one that is 100% that I insist on completely, Jägermeister must be drank ice cold. Or don't drink it at all. Damn, that's cold. Exactly. You're finally starting to get it.

Drink responsibly. Jägermeister L'Core, 35% alcohol by volume, imported by Mass Jägermeister US, White Plains, New York.