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Chris, when you think of Tony, do you think of someone who's like a thrill seeker?
Uh, I would fall right in the middle there. I'm not going to give you an answer. He's not not a thrill seeker, but he's not the guy I wouldn't think is a thrill seeker. He'd be like, of all the people in my life, right in the middle. Of my thrill-seeking friends.
Zazz doesn't know, does he?
You don't remember that one time where—
Nestled his head up against someone?
Got the violent— like, they pulled me.
Hey, relax, relax. It was self-induced. No pulling.
Basically, we had the opportunity to skydive once, and we went about 7 people down the list of, "I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that." Wait, hold on.
How did you get the opportunity? What is this?
The Red Bull team. The Red Bull skydiving team. They were in town. They were like, "Hey, do you guys want to go skydiving?" A lot of wimps here said, "No, no, I don't want to go. I don't want to go." Only two brave enough to do it, me and Chris Whittingham. So me and Whitty drove to the end.
You went skydiving?
Yeah, buddy. We have the video of it. We'll find it somewhere. So we drove down to Homestead.
We drove to 350th Street. So far from—
No, no, not only, not only did we drive to Homestead, we drove further than that, and we almost were in the Everglades of where we were. So this is me now.
This is the best part, is how he nestles his head.
The guy was like a spider monkey on my back, but he was like 5 feet tall.
He basically rests. See, right here he goes, all right, let me rest my neck.
That's what they tell you.
Now, why is that? So you don't get whiplash.
Exactly right. So when the guy tells me he's, he's the—
basically the guy said if you get scared, do this.
That's not true whatsoever. Scared from a guy that didn't want to skydive?
I would never do that.
Scared from a— from the Weenie Hut Jr. in the corner?
Okay, that's right.
So the guy told me, listen, when we get out to the plane, what you're gonna do is you're gonna have your feet over the airplane.
Were you first or Whittingham?
Uh, I don't remember. I think, I think Woody may have gone first. I'm not 100% sure. Okay, so he's like, all right, your feet are gonna lean over the ledge. And what you're going to have to do is, because your, your natural inclination is going to look down, but if you look down, the wind's going to kick your neck up and it's going to hurt your neck. So what you want to do is, I'm going to have my shoulders right behind you. Again, the guy was like 4'11". He was like a backpack on my back.
He's like, you see this?
This is you. So he's like, put your, put your head where my shoulders are so that way when you fall forward, you don't have to worry about the wind snapping your neck. And I was like, okay, excellent.
Snapping your neck.
Yeah, because you got your neck snapped.
You're—
so I had to rest.
It was a very brave thing.
I had to rest my neck on his shoulder.
Just an unfortunate image.
Unfortunate image.
Some say rest, some say nestle.
Whichever. My neck is still attached to my body. And then I jumped, Zazz, 20,000 feet up or whatever it was. We were cruising and it was insane. So I've become—
was it scary?
Nah.
What do you mean nah?
Nah, it wasn't scary.
You weren't scared wondering, am I going to be the one where the parachute doesn't open?
No, I didn't think of that one time. Red Bull guys are absolute supreme pros. Did not think about the—
their strategy. They break you before you fall. Yeah, by pulling your hair back.
And it was in a hair—
you're too confused as to what just happened that honestly falling to your death might be like, oh, I guess this isn't so bad. So as you can see in the pictures behind me, because I already just underwent that unfortunate image that was on the internet, was unfortunate.
Um, those parcels of land are like 5 acres apiece. So as you're looking at him, you're like, oh my God, I am crazy high up here. And then we jumped.
So I've been trying to like do little things like that to feel something again and like feel the thrill outside of like you nestling your neck on him.
Yeah.
Everyone says there's nothing like it on the planet to go skydiving.
Yeah.
The adrenaline rush.
You're chasing that dragon still.
I'm chasing the dragon.
It was, it was awesome.
It was incredible. Like you, you don't feel like you're falling. You feel like you're floating. Loading because the wind— you're, you're falling at such a rapid pace that the wind is actually holding you up.
Did you try to do this at any point? Like the Mo Money Mo Problems, like, flossing thing?
No, I didn't. What, like, during your time?
It's just something that I would do naturally.
No, no, I didn't, because I was just more focused on, like— because there's, there's also instructions that they tell you to do. They're like, all right, you can't floss, you got to do— no, you can't floss. At least, at least the first one. Maybe the second one you can floss.
You were focused?
I was focused.
Of course, because you were scared.
Because I'm— because I'm being intentional. So he told you, all right, when we get out there, right, you got to put your legs between my legs like a scorpion.
Wow.
Because he's gonna have his legs spread open, and then I gotta put my legs like this.
Are you guys in a relationship now?
I don't even know his name.
Just tell us where he finished.
So we finished on the ground. So we're scorpion together, scorpion style, like that. Right. And then he's like, you got to put your arms out at an angle like this because you can't do this because then it messes with the trajectory.
Take your right hand and reach behind.
No, it's like, you remember when classic guys— you remember when Henry Cavill jumps off the— jumps off the plane in Mission Impossible?
Yeah, do I ever.
And he's going, right? All of a sudden, boom, the thing snaps off. He loses oxygen.
Remember when Henry Cavill loaded his arms?
Yeah.
Yeah. He loaded them up so much that the pocket Disappeared.
Yeah.
And then Tom jumps off.
Yeah, he's like, I gotta save him, right? And then in retrospect, if you're familiar with the, the lore events that unfold, he shouldn't have saved him. Let him die. Yeah, we could have, but then the rest of the world would not get anything that happened.
Exactly. And Ethan would have had to pay for something. So either on the front and the back end. So Ethan has to go get Henry Cavill, and he's doing like the things to like fly and get him faster. So he's like, opens his arms, closes his arms. He's like, if you do that, yeah, if you do that will take us on a different trajectory. So you can't have your arms like floating. So you got to have them like this.
So many rules. It is.
And it's split second that you're doing it. So you're thinking, all right, I need to do what he's telling me to do. And then he's just having fun. And how long did it last from jump to ground? Maybe like 3 minutes.
All right.
It was—
it's longer than you think. You're not falling like, oh my God, 30 seconds, I'm on the floor. It's like you're like floating like a piece of paper would.
So initially you're all tense. Yeah. And then you're like, how soon do you settle into like, all right, let me—
once, once we jump out of the— the toughest thing is jumping out of the plane.
Yeah.
Like once you're like, yeah, once you're like, I might die here.
When you sit at the edge of that plane, you look over your bottom of the plane and you're like, all right, I can't go back now. Like there's no going back.
You're a bigger man than I am.
This guy's done 10,000 jumps. This is my first one. He's like, yeah, we'll be good.
Don't worry.
Put your neck here. Ah, once you jump out, you're good.
All right. So you're a thrill seeker now.
So I've been a thrill seeker ever since that point. And the, the, the latest thrill was this weekend. It was my sister-in-law's birthday. We have a boat down in the Keys. My in-laws do. And, uh, we got to a point where we were trying to chase some dolphins on the Gulf side of the Keys. They have dolphins and it was sunset and beautiful. We're trying to chase some dolphins around, see if we can see them breaching and kind of swimming around, which is, uh, usual for this time of year over on that side. Sun starts setting. I'm the one driving the boat.
Nice.
I'm not usually driving the boat, but this time I'm driving the boat. And, uh, sun starts setting, they're like, all right, um, yeah, we gotta get back to the marina. It's gonna take us about like an hour. And I'm like, okay. So I start doing the math in my head. I'm like, it's gonna be pitch black in about 15 minutes.
Yeah.
So I start driving and it's pitch black. Luckily we have like a bar light on top. But Zazz, have you ever been in a boat at night?
Yeah.
Not like cruise. I'm talking like a regular, like a fishing boat, like a regular boat that there's not massive lights on it.
I think so.
Yeah, you think so? Have you ever been able to not see your hand in front of your face?
No.
That's what we were driving in.
I imagine boats have headlights.
They do, but it's not like cars.
And when—
when—
It should be.
It should be, but the thing is, like, in a street when it's dark, the headlights work. The problem is that when it's pitch black outside, there's nothing reflecting back.
So this is the kind of stuff you're trying to do now. This was exciting to you.
It was exciting because I was like, what am I gonna do, tell my father-in-law, "No, can you drive?" Yes. No, absolutely not. I was like, I will drive, right? So we did the entire 45 minutes or whatever in pitch black, but I was at the edge of my seat. My entire family, everybody's there, my daughter, and I'm like, I gotta make this thing happen. Yeah, my daughter's in a life jacket 3 feet away from me, a mere 3 feet, and I can't see. But we made it home, made it here in one piece, and at the end of it, I felt happy.
Yeah.
I was like, you know what, I did it. So I'm trying to put myself in positions.
What's next?
I don't know.
That's what I'm trying to find out. I'm trying to put myself in positions that seem scary, but then I overcome them and then I'm like, ah, wasn't that bad. So we got skydiving, we got driving the boat at night.
Listeners, send my boy Tenday, tell me stuff. Yeah, more ideas for thrill-seeking events right now.
There was one thing that I don't know if Cynthia is there, but I don't know if she can hear me or if I don't know if I'm supposed to say this. Somebody a, a specific, you know, company was looking to possibly do something with swimming with sharks, and I was going to jump in with that.
Oh my God, sharks!
Can I say that, Cynthia?
I don't know.
Give me a thumbs up.
I've done that.
Yeah, she said okay. She said it was okay.
I've done that in the open water. And were you in the cage? No, no, no, I was open water diving. Oh my God, open water diving. And also did so at Epcot, but then I started bleeding.
What?
Yeah.
From what?
So like, my fin broke loose while I was underwater and I was at Epcot and I like try to get the snap back in so I can continue swimming, but I cut open my hand. What? But those sand tigers were so docile.
Oh, okay.
But they have like a little air pocket there where people usually go up for like a photo opportunity and they film it. And mine was just like sucking my hand like, Jesus Christ. I was pretty scared.
I don't do things that involve danger.
Why?
Why not? Because, because it's dangerous. I don't do things that involve danger.
But then you beat it and then you're like, oh, it wasn't that bad.
No, but I'm doing just fine without doing any of that. Nah, I don't do danger.
What do you do, Tony, to danger? You beat it. I beat it.
People are suggesting rock climbing, cave diving.
Rock climbing with no harness.
Rock climbing with no harness.
Chase that dragon, dog. That's a no for me, dog.
Dan Levitar.
Analytics have/are ruining the game. We're playing AI hoops.
That's his team!
His team's in the forefront of all that! Damn, Zazz, don't steal my thunder!
I'm sorry!
I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Jonathan Sasslow.
I get carried away!
This is the Dan Levitar Show!
Let's bring aboard Amin. Let's get to our weekend observations.
It is time for Amin to share his game notes. No one in the media will tell you what happened better than my boy Amin.
What'd he do to Danger, Tony?
He beat it off.
Zazz beat it off.
Weekend Observations is brought to you by Miller Lite. Legendary moments start with a Lite. Beat it, huh?
Zazz!
Yeah, I tried to warn you guys, man. I tried to tell y'all. Mark Walter sold the Lakers 14 months after buying it. What'd I say? I said we're letting the Lakers basically be a condo on South Beach. Well, Mark Lore said, hold my beer, I'm about to sell the studio in Miramar. Mark Lore sold 5 years after agreeing to buy the Wolves and less than 2 years after his ownership group assumed full control. Mark Laurie sold to Mark's dad. Mark Walters sold to somebody else. That's what the problem is. We got too many Marks, too many Marks in the NBA ownership group. Get the Marks up out of here. All they're doing is buying and selling. Deshaun Watson played in Cleveland for the first time since rupturing his Achilles, got booed by the home fans. Afterwards, he said, it has nothing to do with performance, it's a little more personal than that. One, I never thought you could pull the uno reverse card on getting hit with 27 accusations of sexual misconduct, right? It's always, it's their fault, they're making it personal, right? But two, nothing to do with performance, dog. You went 5 for 12 for 35 yards and an INT.
Like, what are we talking about? You think they would have cheered you for that shit even without all that other shit? Zazz is right, you don't understand sports. Deshawn Watson. Tua, losing his job to an injured Michael Penix is like the guy who ran for office in Michigan and lost to a dude who had already dropped out of the race. Geno Smith, 7 of 7 for 65 yards and a tutty. My boy Geno. Is Jameis Winston a pro football player who moonlights as a TV personality? Or is he a TV personality who moonlights as a pro football player? Put that in the things to ponder. If you look up the word automatic in the dictionary, you'll see a picture of Kelsey Mitchell. 23 consecutive games of 20+ points scored. The last time she scored under 20, we still had the privilege of seeing Cabo Verde fans celebrate. Why is that the picture? What's wrong with you? That's the picture of Cabo Verde fans y'all got? Is that even from soccer? It's like a basketball game. Good Lord, you had one job. Pep Guardiola basically told his team they played so bad he divorced his wife.
Your move, Joe Mazzulla. You don't want that shit this bad. Pat Riley follows up his successful whale hunt of Giannis with a successful remora hunt of Klay Thompson. The Godfather is back. Does you know about the remora?
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
What's a remora, Zazz?
I know what it is, but tell Chris.
Well, Chris, A remora is that little fish that swims around the whale and it picks off the little meat and leftovers kind of stuff. It's almost like floss for whales.
Delicious.
I finally saw The Odyssey.
Hell yeah. What a movie.
Top 5 observations of finally watching The Odyssey. Oli. It's a loud-ass movie, dog. That shit is loud. Why is it so loud? I don't know. It didn't need to be. Oli, that was Juno? I thought it was Evan Cohen the whole time. Put up a side by side, you'll see what I'm saying. Number 5. I said this to my kid midway through the movie. How do they know their way around town? You're in the Trojan horse, you sneak in, everyone's asleep, you get out, you kill the first few guards. Like, all right, let's go open the gates. Which way are the gates? I've been in a horse for like a week shitting and pissing on everybody. How am I supposed to know? Oh, it's that. I'll make a left here. Wait, hold on, let me get Google Maps. Oh no, no, we made— we gotta go back that way.
That horse must have been so stank.
Oh my God, they're throwing up on each other and stuff. It's crazy. But you ever hate that when you got like the Google Maps open, you're walking and it takes like 6 to 10 paces before you're like, oh, I'm going in the wrong direction. You got to turn around, but you can't tell because the dot doesn't move fast.
It like spins on you. You're like, whoa, this way or that way?
At no point a Trojan was never like, shit stank like shit. And me or you, this is leaking.
Every— everyone smelled like that back in the day. Number 4: who could have ever watched The Pest and thought one day John Leguizamo will be in this Oscar-winning movie?
He's gonna win, he's gonna win an award.
Yeah, and all I could think of was the opening rap from The Pest. Terrible. Pestario, what's his name? Fistario something. Number 3, I didn't mind everyone having an American accent, even the English accent actors. The only part that took me out of the story was when Tom Holland would say, "Dad!" I can deal with everything else. I can't deal with "dad" existing in ancient Greece. My dad's coming back! Oh my God. Number 2: How horny do you have to be for a song to make you want to kill yourself? Everyone gives the credit to the sirens. I'm like, no, no, no, no, these guys are horny. They've been chased, they've been escaping, they see a big giant dude with one eye trying to kill them. Any Ah, I forget we're not, we're not, we're not, uh, taped anymore. This is live. I said they need some cat, if you will. And the number one observation from finally watching The Odyssey: I only had one big regret. I couldn't see more of the sky or more ocean on the side of the picture because I saw it on a regular screen. Get the fuck out of here with that 70mm bullshit.
What'd I miss? Oh, what'd I miss, huh? Oh, some more sheep in the cave? What are you talking about? The biggest scam in Hollywood, the biggest scam going right now is them trying to convince you you need to watch a movie in a screen that's bigger. It's all the same, dog. Just watch it. You know what? And if you're one of those people like, I'll wait till it comes out on home streaming, guess what? It's a great movie. I think you'll enjoy it. I think it's worth the price of admission. Go to the theaters if you can, but if you can't, it's no big deal, dude. You see it on the movie, you gonna get it. It's amazing. You don't need to see, oh, there's a bird over there, look at that cloud over there in the corner, oh, you would have missed that if it was on a regular size screen. Shut up. Harrison Butker, 69-yard field goal in preseason versus the Bucs. Afterward, he told all the wags to get back in the kitchen. Still can't believe you went to Georgia Tech. Really? Now it's time. That pin drop on that one. Laugh, you cowards.
It's a joke on him, not on us. Because he's a, you know, remember he had the whole speech where he's talking about women staying at home and all that.
I remember.
We got it.
He said what?
The WAGs are— the WAGs are a big thing going on right now. Now, I don't know if you guys noticed, NFL's really pumping the WAGs from the WAGs out on the sideline. That quarterback's making out with WAGs. These WAGs are wagging off everywhere.
Take it easy.
Just figure like Harrison Bucker would be like, what are they doing here? Why aren't they making me a sandwich? 69 yards. You see, because Harrison Bucker comes from another time.
Yeah, we get it.
His sensibility. Okay, I just— I didn't know if it landed or not. Or maybe perhaps a little bit more exposition about his opinion on the place of women in the modern American society versus juxtaposed by the NFL's kind of about-face on wanting to promote the women because of what happened with Taylor Swift. You guys know about Taylor Swift, right? Taylor Swift is a big, huge celebrity singer, one of the biggest, uh, you know, touring artists out there. And she got with this guy named Travis Kelce. Now his name is actually Travis Kels, But everyone keeps mispronouncing Kelce. Now, I know this because I'm in the inner circle.
Did I go to the wedding?
No, I didn't go to the wedding. I had things to do that weekend. But anyway, because of Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift's marriage together and the big kind of attention that's come to the NFL as a result, the NFL decided, hey, maybe we should do this with more of these hot young women that are dating or married to quarterbacks. And so they're doing that. And by the way, meanwhile, Harrison Buckner had kind of a commencement speech a couple of years ago, was like, women need to be in the kitchen and just take care of babies. So in my mind, I was like, oh, if he kicks this big field goal, everyone's like, yeah, that's great. He's like, why are all these women and girlfriends out here, man? And I was like, oh yeah, that's a great connection to make. And it'd be like, yeah, it's like I'm making a societal, uh, observation, but Harrison Bucker is the butt of the joke. But I'm worried some people think that I think that women and girlfriends should remain in the kitchen making sandwiches and stuff. And obviously I don't feel that way. I felt like my joke was way more about Harrison Bucker than it was about women and girlfriends.
I just felt that they were a vessel for me to expose the hypocrisy and idiocy of Harrison Bucker, who, by the way, went to Georgia Tech. I still don't know how he went to Georgia Tech. What was his major, by the way? I guess I could look it up, but that's neither here nor there.
Thank you.
Wow.
I still don't get it.
Kettle Marte spotted at a casino at the roulette table while the D-backs played a home game a few miles away. Afterward, D-backs manager Torrey Lovullo— I think that's his name— Says, "It's not a choice I would make." To which I say, "Tori, clearly you never had a hot hand at the roulette table. You gotta keep going." "Well, I gotta get to work, I like—" Bullshit. Let it ride. Erling Haaland buzzed off all of his hair. Zlatan said, "Block me and delete my number." I wish that was a joke. He actually said that. Here's the Science, a Bar Rescue podcast hosted by Chelsea Reynolds, a real-life bar restaurant consultant, Colin Cassard, a real-life veteran of the commercial kitchen and food truck scene in Portland, and two guys who absolutely make the same choice Kettle Marte made— me and Zach Harper. Here's the Science, wherever you get podcasts. Anus canter. Get this bum out of here. He's a bum in the truest sense of the word. He has no home. He has no job. And he's reduced to doing the most ridiculous acts to garner what little attention he can. Because when you lack any real love in your life, you'll do anything for a stranger's touch.
The guy at the intersection approaching cars with a "wai lai"— I need a beer sign— he isn't being rewarded with loose change because of his comedic genius. Remember that, Enes. Speaking of Enes Kanter, I stepped in dog shit at the airport. Not on the sidewalk. In the airport. Not in the parking garage.
Sure, that went over well with you.
In the middle of the goddamn concourse, steps away from the gates.
I can't pick a funnier person for that to happen to.
I, I, I want this message to go loud and clear to every single dog owner. I'll say in America, I, I can't speak for how they do in other countries. I'm going to say right here in these here United States, go fuck all of yourselves, every last one of you. At no point did you think that, Ryan? Michelle Beatle, Zach Harper, every mother— Dan Levitar, every single one of y'all go fuck yourselves, go to hell. Speaking of hell, Argentina. Those are the weekend observations.
I came away more impressed with the dog shit. Wow.
You know what, I was so mad because I, I was walking, I was ordering the Uber on my phone, I'm looking at my phone, and then I I did that little slip. I'm like, oh, what? I just step in and I turn around and I see some brown. I'm like, someone probably dropped a brownie or chocolate cake or something like that. I'm sure it's fine. But like, I kind of wipe it off somewhere on a carpet and then I go, I get an Uber. I don't put my foot on the Uber, like I have my heel up so that the, the part with the missing part or whatever. And when I get home, I'm like, I'm taking my shoes off before I go inside. I go Go through around the backyard to the patio. I lift it. Unmistakable order of dog shit. And I was like, you motherfuckers, you filthy, disgusting— this is why. Because none of you, none of you— I don't care. Well, I'm one of the good ones. No, you're not. None of y'all are good. None of y'all are good. Leave the goddamn dog at home.
It's terrible.
Put them in a kennel, leave them with a friend's house. Do not bring them in public. Don't bring them around here. This is not a dog airport. They have dog bars, right? Go to the dog bar. You all— but I want to go see my manana in Seattle. Okay, well then guess what? Drive. Drive to Seattle. Drive. Or start your own airline of pup airlines where everyone just shits and pisses where the fuck they want and I ain't got to deal with any of it.
So mad. Pair lines.
Down, Avatar.
I ain't never met nobody in the world that's gonna hate on Blue's Clues. Great nomination. Like, who don't like Blue's Clues, bro? If you don't like Blue's Clues, you You're a loser.
Juju Gotti.
Look, you get one paw print, that's the first clue. You put it in a notebook. Now what do you do? Blues Clues, Blues Clues. Sit on the chair and think about it.
This is the Dan Levitan Show.
Amin, Klay Thompson signed with the Heat over the weekend. Like, does this change your opinion of what maybe you previously thought the Heat were going to be this year? Like, how much of a factor is this?
No, it's a huge factor. You know, we guys think about— he had the worst, the worst year of his career, right? The worst two shooting years of his career. You know what he shot from three in the worst two, three shooting years of his career? 39% and 38%. And I know like three-point shooting has gotten better over time, but when you look at people who shot 40% from three last year who were qualified, basically played enough games and played enough minutes, now we're not guys who shot like you know, 1 of 2 and that was it. There were only about 30 players in the NBA who shot 40% or higher, uh, from 3. So it's still a rarity to have a shooter of that caliber come in. And now he— those 2 worst shooting years that happened with Kyrie hurt for most of it, with Luka hurt for some of it, and then traded midway through, uh, the team overhaul and all that stuff. Klay Thompson comes here, there's gonna be a ton of attention on Bam, a ton of attention on Giannis. He's going to be wide open for so many catch and shoots.
That already is going to pay for itself. But then when you start talking about Erik Spoelstra, uh, you know, putting his offensive mind and, and having Klay moving around off screens and all that stuff, it gets so much better. I, I think this is a great pickup for, for Miami. And I think, Mike, you were right. If it had worked out that LeBron signed first and then the Heat got Giannis and Klay Thompson and Tim Hardaway, everyone would be over above the themselves. They're like, oh my God, it's the, the greatest offseason ever.
So I understand the point that you made, two worse shooting seasons, but— and there were mitigating circumstances. But you could also say, given his age and injury history, this is a trend. What do you say to those that are worried about, like, he's kind of cooked perhaps, and he's just going to keep this downward slide? Yeah, well, I mean, he's not Golden State Klay, that's clear.
I mean, if you want— if we're saying cooked Cooked by a comparison. Absolutely. I think he'd be the first one to tell you that. But I think the flip side is like, you don't need Golden State Klay. I mean, it would be nice to have Golden State Klay, but like, what you need is some version of Klay. And some version of Klay shoot still, like I said, 39%. Oh my God, he's so off. That's literally one of the best 3-point shooters in the league at 39%. His worst is so many shooters' best day in this league. Number one, Number 2, again, those mitigating circumstances of playing with not a good team versus where he is playing for coaches that are not as creative versus who he's going to be playing for now. And then the third part is, man, this guy has such a strong reputation as a shooter. Reputation shooters, you could miss 10 in a row as a defender, I'm still hugged up over there. I'm not going to leave him because I have YouTube and I have League Pass. I've seen what this man can do versus some guys who might be shooting bad, like Duncan Robinson misses a couple, guys are starting to sag because it's like the book is out and that Duncan Robinson can go through these peaks and valleys of confidence, whereas Klay, you know, that's not happening.
That thing's going up and he's going to start making.
What do you make of Zazz's claim that Andrew Wiggins now will step into that aggressor role more than he's been in the past?
Well, it was— and to give it some more context, what I was saying, I mean, was you know, if you need that guy who late in games is going to create shots, you know, like a guy like DeMar DeRozan would, uh, I think Wiggins like kind of needs to be a little bit of that.
Yeah, but is that a good shot? Wiggins off the dribble, you want that? I, I still think that they need a guy to create his own shot and be a threat. I'm not scared if I'm a defense. Wiggins crunch time, creating his own shot off the dribble, Ah, that's good for me.
Yeah, so the reality is there are no options available, right? Who you have is who you have unless you're gonna swing a trade, and most teams at this point, I think they're out of the trading business. Uh, in a funny way, Dennis Schroeder is a very interesting guy that just went to Charlotte in that Cleveland deal. Like, Dennis Schroeder would have been a nice player to have for the Heat, uh, in terms of someone who can do some of that, but you don't have any options, Mike. You got 2 roster spots left and you can only sign minimum guys with it. They're talking about maybe Nick Richards as one of those guys, which I kind of like as a backup big. But like, they need— they definitely need that. And there are none available at this point. And so what it comes down to is one of 3 things. Number 1, give it to Giannis, get the hell out of his way. And again, hoping that Spo can come up with more creative ways of getting Giannis the ball closer to the rim so that he can be your closer, uh, in that fashion, in an area of strength, as opposed to what we all dread, which is the Giannis 20-foot pull-up, because that's what they're giving you.
Option 2 is, and I really like this option, is remember when Bam used to be like their main playmaker? Like, they would throw the ball to him, he was averaging like 4 or 5 assists a game because they were running the offense through him. I kind of want to see that come back, you know, with no true point guard on the roster. I want to see more Bam take that step back up. I thought he was really good in that role. Obviously he's an improved shooter, so it's not like people can just sag off him. So I think there's some creativity and some go-to stuff there that you can do, especially when you know, hey, Bam, it's not just you with Hami Håkes on one wing and, and, you know, whoever on the other. It's you got Giannis on the low, on the— in the dunker's box over here. You got Klay Thompson here, Tim Hardaway there, like you can pick— make people pick poison and make your life a lot easier. Option 3 is what Zass said, which is Andrew Wiggins. Now, this is a tale as old as time because the Warriors once thought that he would ascend and be that guy, and he didn't.
And for that, the Timberwolves thought, yes, he's going to be a cornerstone, and they gave him a max and all that stuff. And he has a career of kind of like getting your hopes up and then probably letting you down. I think honestly the best thing for Andrew Wiggins is to be in a role where there's no expectation. That's just kind of been his his career. When you don't expect much from him, he actually plays really well. When it's like, come on, man, we're counting on you, that's when he kind of comes up short. So I would say I would rank him in that, in that order. Giannis, Bam, and then Andrew Wiggins.
Did you guys see this video from over the weekend? There was a high school football coach who was fired after this video was obtained where he's yelling at a player And you see he's forcefully yelling at the player, and then he kicks the football in frustration and hits the player directly in his balls. And dude is on the ground, like, had to be helped off the field. He was hurt. He got hurt. The coach kicked it straight in his balls. Coach is fired.
Yeah, I think fired because of he didn't even go over and check on the player. Didn't care. He just walked off and stayed mad.
Yeah. Yeah. I don't think— Yeah. Well, from repeated viewings, it does look like he's kind of aiming in that general direction. I'm sure he wasn't going into it like, I'm going to kick this football directly at that guy's balls.
But if— But he is trying to kick it directly at him. He is.
And those are the consequences of it. But if it hits your player there and you show zero remorse or compassion in that moment, then it's an easy call.
Yeah, Mike, that video's a lot longer and he never comes back around. It's like, never.
I thought you can maybe hear like a wayward, like, I just kicked it around him, but like he doesn't ever check on him.
Yeah, you gotta go back and you gotta like, look, because it— I look, I'm gonna— I'll say this, I'll go out on a limb. I don't think he meant to strike the kid. He was frustrated. He was cussing him out. He kicked the ball in the general direction. You did not expect to hit him, but because you did not expect to hit him, that's why you got to be like, I'm still upset, but man, are you okay? I didn't mean to hit you. Yeah, you got to do that. And that lack of empathy— because remember, this is high school. So if you're a parent, like, I'm letting my kid be around this dude who sees—
not only sees a player get hurt, well, it's a school employee.
Yeah, well, sees a player get hurt as a result, a direct result of your actions, and you do nothing about it. Like, as a— forget school employee, forget whatever the laws, the rules are. Like, as a parent, I don't want my child around someone who would witness that, let alone be the cause of it.
It happened to me once at practice in high school.
You got kicked in the balls?
Uh, I played, I played varsity basketball at NMB, okay? And there was, there was one practice where, like, me and, I don't know, 3 or 4 of the other guys were off to the side, like, on the other end of the court, and, and we were talking. Like while the coach was obviously giving instruction. Now I loved this coach, let's be perfectly clear, loved him. And yeah, what was his name? I, I don't want to do that, okay, because people may say, oh, you know, he shouldn't have done that, but he was a state champion coach, great coach, I loved him.
And this was the Down years, uh, a little bit.
Yeah, yeah.
And I mean, Zazz made the team, okay?
And, uh, and, and he flung the ball like across the court in our direction to— because he told us to shut up and we didn't, and hit me right in the balls. I mean, it hurt very bad.
I was okay. I was okay. Not a shooter. Shooter would have been— Tony would have been ready. He would have caught that shit and shot.
I wasn't paying attention.
You're in the pocket right here, Zazz. You're waiting, waiting, waiting. He's driving, driving.
Boom, you're up and you're going. I wasn't paying attention. That was the whole point. And he, like, he definitely didn't mean to hit me in particular. Hit me right in the balls. Did he check on you? I don't think so. I deserved it. I deserved it though. I deserved it. Old school. I deserved it.
And you didn't run home crying to mommy? Nope.
No, I did not. No, I did not. And I was okay. And again, because it's not hard to find out who was my coach, you just go back and look at the years, and he was a famous coach here in Florida. Loved him. Loved him. Great coach.
I don't blame him, man. Those, like, when you're a championship level coach and then all of a sudden The talent pool, you're dealing with me, and not only you, like, it'd be dealing with you if you were like, coach, I'm so locked in, but I was not. You got the nerve to be out here talking, chittering in the corner.
If you can dodge this wrench, you can dodge this damn ball.
I mean, that's just a hula hand.
I've still never seen it. Whatever. That's just—
that's Coach O hula hand.
Good job, Amin. We'll see you, man. All right, see you on Thursday.
I guess I want Bam doing it now.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why can't it be Bam?
Of the guys shooting off the dribble, I think he's probably the most, most threatening of the group.
I'm getting excited now about the Heat. I am. I'm into it. It's certainly going to be— I'm into it.
It's certainly going to be interesting to watch that unfold and see what kind of style that they do, because I know they're going to be like on your ass defensively and they're going to be a big-time effort team. They'll be so good. And we saw in the NBA grind— it's kind of funny I'm using a team that no one thinks factors into this East anymore. It was the number 1 seed, Detroit. But Detroit, night in, night out effort, on your ass.
You play hard in the NBA, you win a lot of regular season games, win a lot of games, and especially in a league where a third of the league is—
on top of that, the Miami Heat are fairly talented and they have pretty obvious questions, and I'm sure they're trying to address that. They're hoping they can get lucky and address some of that with what they have on the roster right now.
You know about that buyout market?
That's another place where they can improve. I do genuinely think— and have you seen like the Duncan Robinson stuff that's out there? I don't think we need to do that, but—
oh, that they may get rid of him? That— that—
yeah, that the Heat might be in.
I feel like that would have already happened though. Yeah.
Yeah. I'm curious to see how it goes out. Big Davion Mitchell guy too. Off night.
"That's the picture of Cabo Verde fans y'all got?!"
Tony is a thrill seeker and has the latest story from his adventures, this time with no nestling. Amin is here with his weekend observations, including his takeaways after he finally saw 'The Odyssey', his story of stepping in shit at an airport, and his explanation of why Enes Kanter is a bum in every sense of the word.
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