Transcript of It's Always Sunny in the NBA Hall of Fame | Hour 2

You are listening to the Dan Levatar Show in partnership with the DraftKings Sports App, now live in all 50 states. Number 5: The gang runs for office. This is the one where Charlie writes Dennis's campaign speech, which goes as this: Hello, fellow American. This you should vote me. I leave power good. Thank you, thank you. If you vote me, I'm hot. What taxes? They'll be lower, son. The Democratic vote for me is right thing to do, Philadelphia. So do.

The best part about that is they revealed on the podcast that that script was actually just a bunch of stuff that got written down on paper beforehand, and Glenn Howerton just decided to read it. It wasn't a written script for him to do, but they had just written all those words down randomly so they had something on paper, and he decided, you know what, instead of doing something, this seems like something Charlie would write, I'm just gonna read it directly.

And that's why Charlie laughs. Charlie Day, the actor, breaks character and he starts laughing while he's sort supposed to be filming it.

Number 5: The gang tries desperately to win an award. Oh my God, that's one of my all-time favorites because obviously Sonny has not won awards, and the will they, won't they that they try to set up between Dee and Mac— like, there are so many funny moments where they're making fun of all of the other sitcoms that win awards over them. It's a perfectly meta episode.

Same note too, bro, because that was my number 4.

So number 4: The gang gets analyzed. Dee's seeing a therapist and she decides to help them, uh, settle a debate that's going on at the bar about who has to do the dishes, that they all need to go see the therapist because she can't handle how things are going anymore. And so they all go, and it has one of my favorite moments where Mac is sitting down with the therapist and he goes, uh, well, yeah, I recently gained and lost £60 over the course of like 9 months, which is a true thing that the character did. And she's like, that's impossible. And he goes, well, first of all, through God all things are possible, so jot that down.

Is that the same episode where Dennis talks about skinning someone and making—

Yep, yep, that's right.

It's like, D, what are you looking at? You haven't thought of the smell. The smell, you stupid. Number 3, the gang buys a boat.

Number 3, the gang buys a boat. All right, I also have that.

Both of you at number 3?

Yes, number 3.

You know about— about a boat, right?

I know about a boat.

You bring some girls on the boat and take them out, topsy-topsy, topside, and, and, you know, they have to— because of the implication.

Of course, everyone knows that because of the implication.

Because the implications of, you know what. Number 2, and this is— I'm cleaning this up because the actual episode title cannot be said on air anymore. Number 2: Sweet D's Dating a Yep, just the whole process of them being like, all of them, you know, he's— and, and she's like, no, he's not. And then they start observing him in his everyday life and she starts to realize, oh my God, it is a disaster of an episode in the best way.

It really is. And it, it's, it's the type of episode that it's rare that I say even a show like this that there are episodes that wouldn't be made today because it is done in such a smart way. Like so many of their episodes that you say like, oh, they wouldn't be able to do that. The ones that aren't on Hulu anymore, by the way, that they took away—

Lethal Weapon—

even that, I'm like, ah, I kind of feel like we reacted swiftly to some of those things.

It got taken down during the great reckoning of 2020.

Yeah, and they should probably be back on there. Uh, but that episode, I'm like, oh man, it's, it's great and would not get made.

Yeah, suck an egg.

Number 2, The Nightman Cometh.

Uh, Nightman. Number 1 Sonny episode for me, and I wrote this— the first one I wrote down because I knew instantly— The Dennis System. You had as an OLI. That offended me.

Yeah, I had it there partially to be a contrarian because I just had these other 5 and was like, you know what, these are all so great. I might as well exclude it for the fun of it, which is the same reason I had the Serial Defense there. But my number 1 you had is an OLI, which is Mac and Dennis move to the suburbs.

I've been hearing it the whole goddamn time.

By the way, we gotta gloss over Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award. That's the one where they're trying— they— where they go to the other bar and see how they have like—

yes.

A drink called like the Screaming Orgasm or whatever. And so they come over here and Mac tries to serve a woman a drink and say, it's better than busting a nut.

I love that show.

No Charlie McDenis. Wow.

So if I could transition here seamlessly.

All right, there you go.

We had the Basketball Hall of Fame 2026 induction this weekend, and I got some thoughts. And I think, uh, I think my first thought is going to enrage Aminu Hassan.

Don't you dare.

I mean, I'm going—

don't you dare.

It doesn't mean—

don't you dare.

It doesn't mean that this is not a really good player, all right? But every really good player doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame. And it's important to point out, of course, it's not the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame. It's not the NBA Hall of Fame. It's the Basketball Hall of Fame. So it could be international play, it could be collegiate play, combination thereof. Yeah, it's the Basketball Hall of Fame. And I, I think of all the Hall of Fames, this one, it has been absolutely watered down the most. Now you got some really big names who made the Hall of Fame this weekend, okay? Candace Parker, Alaina Deledon, Shemeka Holdsklaw, Joey Crawford, my guy, uh, Amare Stoudemire, my guy, Doc Rivers, Mike D'Antoni, my guy, Mark Few. He has some big names.

Yeah.

All right. And I would tell you, I'll start— I think probably close to half those names don't belong in the Hall of Fame. And the first one, which is going to make Amin mad, but I am interested in Amin's thoughts. Like, I'm interested in Amin showing me that I'm wrong. Okay? I'm very open to it because I think he was a really— I know he was a really good player. But to me, Amar'e Stoudemire is not a Hall of Famer.

You're nuts.

Amar'e Stoudemire was a really, really good player. Amar'e Stoudemire was First Team All-NBA one time.

Okay, you wanna, you wanna list the other All-NBA teams he made?

Or would you just— He was Second Team All-NBA 4 times.

Okay. Okay, and a time where Kevin Garnett played, and a time where Dirk Nowitzki played, and a time where Chris Webber at the early end was playing.

Tim Duncan.

Tim Duncan. Like, Shaq. This thing where, well, Shaq was center and Amar'e was a forward.

Going forward still.

But, but, but no, but I'm just saying like when we look at all NBA—

back then center had a specific—

it was positional. And so two forwards One center. So couldn't be a center, even though he played a lot of center for us. And then you had again these great all-time, like the greatest of the greatest of the greats, and against whom he held his own. Someone's gotta be second team All-NBA in those scenarios. This thing where we're like, "Oh, it was just second team." Eh, there's a reason for that. It's not because he wasn't good enough.

4 times.

Yeah. 5-time All-NBA player. That's a, that's a really good career.

You're right, which is exactly what I said.

It's a Hall of Famer.

So to me, it's a really good—

he's a Hall of Famer when you combine it with everything else.

Well, what's everything else?

6-time All-Star, he's Rookie of the Year, and, uh, he was definitional in terms of how the power forward position is played. Like, if you look at guys now, what we're looking for, guys that can finish at the rim and shoot.

Well, he wasn't a shooter.

Yes, he was.

No, he couldn't shoot from 3.

Not from 3, but that's not what he—

He had a mid-range jump shot.

It was a mid-range jump shot, but that was just 'cause where the game was. But the ability to, hey, we're gonna run pick and roll, and like, wait a second, he's not rolling, he's popping, and he's hitting that 18-foot jumper, that was unheard of. That was unheard of for a power forward. So for him, and then to be that good at shooting that shot while also being one of the absolute best finishers, 'cause I know someone's gonna say, well, Dirk was there. Dirk was a great shooter. And Kevin Garnett. Kevin Garnett had that little, midrange pop out as well. Neither of those guys were finishers like Amar'e around the rim. And I'm not just talking about dunking, I'm talking about ability to finish different angles with touch, with off the glass, stop short of the rim, all those things.

It just, it feels to me like it's very, it's very black and white now. If you're a really good player, you get in the Hall of Fame. And then there's the— and if you're not in the Hall of Fame, it's because you weren't a good player. And it's like, there's no middle ground anymore.

But I don't—

you're either great, which means you're Hall of Fame, or you weren't good.

He was great. Like he was for not like 2 or 3 years, for a very strong amount of his career. We're talking about who's the best power forward in the game.

Oh, I don't think we're ever saying it was Murray, but it was for the reasons that you just mentioned. You got Duncan and you got Garnett and you got Nowitzki.

But by that, by that time, some of those guys start to come down. Garnett starts to come down after basically after going to Boston, he becomes a reduced player. Uh, Duncan also had already started his—

Amare had how many great years in New York? Just the one, really, when he was an MVP candidate. So that was in what, 2013? So it's the same time that Garnett was starting to go down.

No, no, Garnett, when he got to Boston.

Oh yeah, you're right. Garnett got there in '08.

'08, and it was all— that's— it started.

I've seen this comparison made on social media. Do you think Philip Rivers is a Hall of Famer? Yes. Because I do.

Yes. And I think it's borderline.

I think Philip Rivers is a Hall of Famer. I think, I think it's a fairly easy call too. And he just so happened to exist in an era where Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger and Peyton Manning and like if Eli Manning was in a different era, Eli Manning's career look is looked at differently. So I think with the context applied there, yeah, this guy's had like a Philip Rivers type of career and Philip Rivers is a Hall of Famer.

Closer to home, is Bosh a Hall of Famer? I mean, he is a Hall of Famer, but should he have been a Hall of Famer?

Yes, because— and when you're a starter on a multi-time champion, it makes a difference. But— It's a big deal.

But— Pretty similar.

Like, come on.

It's not, because I just gave the context.

No, but you're assigning credit for the championship.

It matters.

No, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It matters to me that— It matters in that sport more than any other sport. No, no. I'm explaining why. If you— if Bosh had won a championship and he's the man and I was comparing him to Omari, I would still say rings aren't everything, but I have to concede. Yeah. Like, by that virtue, Kevin Love is better than Omari Sodomire. He won a championship. No, you could just—

Serge Ibaka, Hall of Famer?

No.

A Basketball Hall of Famer?

No, I still say no.

No, because I don't— even his international play was not story enough, but like, I'll give you another example, uh, where someone is not quite the driving reason of success, but it's like, we're gonna call that person a Hall of Famer. Someone like, for instance, James Worthy, right? He's a Hall of Famer, no doubt in my mind.

And incredible collegiate career.

Incredible collegiate career, yes. But also other than those, like, the last tail end of the Lakers, like, he was a guy that was benefiting by playing with some great players. Not say he wasn't great, let me be clear, James Worthy obviously absolutely is a Hall of Famer, but he benefited from the fact that he played with a bunch of other great Hall of Fame players. And Amari did not have that quite the same benefit. He played with Steve Nash, that was great. He played with Carmelo Anthony later, that was great, but the reality is what he contributed to Phoenix and that first year in New York, I would say outweighs the contribution that Bosh had, but Bosh's contribution came in the light of a championship. Dan Levitar!

The Packers win or the Bears lose? Bears lose. Jonathan Sasselow! Shitty, you wanna know how that— what were the kids doing? This is the Dan Levitar Show!

Is Peja a Hall of Famer?

Peja? So that's a tough one.

That's a good one though.

Because then you start going into the international stuff.

He is in the FIBA Hall of Fame.

Yeah, I say no.

He did win an NBA championship. He wasn't the man on it.

Yep, yep.

Great player though.

He was on Dallas?

Yeah, he was on Dallas.

Dallas, yep.

3-time All-Star. That's probably not enough.

See, but—

Any All-NBA?

But when you start to factor in Peja's international career, that's what bolsters it. Which, by the way, That's what Omari also has because he went to Israel and he won a championship there with a club that was not known for being one of the powerhouses.

'04 second team All-NBA, just, just once, number retired, was a EuroBasketball MVP.

Yeah, it's like that's where it gets dicey.

EuroLeague top scorer.

But that's, that's the stuff that, that, that matters. It adds to the resume. And Omari, his international play added to his resume there in a way that, by the way, Stephon Marbury should be a Hall of Famer because he had a great NBA career, maybe not team success-wise, but then he went to China and he blew the game up over there.

But you wouldn't— you, if Marbury never went to China, which by the way in China he's considered like Michael Jordan, if he never went to China, he's not a Hall of Famer. You just said he had a great career up until— not even close—

up until The last 2 years of his career, there were 2 players in the history of the NBA who averaged 20 and 8. 20 points, 8 assists for a career. It was him and Oscar Robertson. The last 2 years, he got into it with Mike D'Antoni in New York, and then he goes to Boston, and he's just kind of like a— and those—

I don't even remember him in Boston.

There you go. Those years—

Appeared in 23 games.

Lowered his averages just enough to under 20 and 8, and now I think since then I think, uh, maybe Russell Westbrook is in the 28 club, and maybe, uh, obviously what's his name, Jokic.

But again, doesn't there have to be— like, it's like there has to be a middle.

But, but I, I think you're saying the middle, and I'm saying there's plenty of middles, but the middles aren't people who are 5-time All-NBA, 6-time All-Stars. That's not the middle. That's all already puts you in a crazy light in terms of how great you are. Basketball Reference has this really cool tool. It basically says, hey, we don't look at international, we don't look at any of that stuff. Okay. We just literally take your stats and your accomplishments, those awards that we're talking about, those superlatives, and we run it against what everyone else who's in the Hall of Fame has. And then we say what your Hall of Fame basically likelihood is.

They have a percentage, yeah.

Right? Iguodala.

Iguodala to me is a no.

Oh. Finals MVP.

Finals MVP and one of the smartest players.

Just one All-Star though.

But would you— exactly.

And probably never All-NBA player.

He was a great role player.

I mean, that's along the lines of guys like Robert Horry. I mean, Robert Horry's got 6 championships, not a Hall of Famer.

Robert Horry's got 7, he's got 7. Not a Hall of Famer.

Yeah.

Amari's Hall of Fame probability, 73%.

Rondo.

Rondo. Rondo had— hold on, Rondo had some good years. He had some good years. Title, 2 titles, one, one with the Lakers as well.

That's right, I forgot about that.

Um, and the, the numbers I feel like are there, but his awards though, not All-NBA a whole lot of times, not All-Star a whole lot of times.

Lowry, I mean, he should be a no, but he's going to get in.

Is he?

He's absolutely gonna get in. He should be a no.

Iguodala is an interesting one.

Iguodala, because Iguodala is— I'll tell you why he's interesting. Because Iguodala is the conversation of, which I would say about Bosh as well, ironically, as I was arguing— again, I wasn't really arguing against him, he's a Hall of Famer— but Iguodala and Bosh are the classic example of what are all the things we preach about in basketball, like what coaches preach about, team, and these guys are like, cool, I'll do it. And they're like Yeah, but you weren't that good, CEO.

But that doesn't make you a Hall of Famer. It's okay to be that guy and not be a Hall of Famer.

No, no, but like, the point is they could have been dickheads and say, no, no, no, I'm great. I should be— I should get all these shots.

Well, that was one part of each of their careers.

Does Omari Sotomayor deserve to be in the Hall of Fame more than Shawn Kemp?

Yes.

Yes, I think Omari's stretch is longer than Kemp's.

Yes.

6-time All-Star.

You look at Kemp's numbers, Kemp was a really good player, but you go back and look at his numbers, they weren't great.

Like 3 second-team selections.

I mean, look, and that's—

but he was not a dominant player. He was flashy.

He's doing it in a great era for fours.

He was, he was. But, but if you're saying—

because I think Kemp is a really good—

I think if you're asking me, do you— whether I take Amari or take Kemp, I'll take Amari. Amari's better because he's just better, number one. Number two, again, influential on how the game is played, and that's a big part of it too. If you had an impact on how basketball is played, you absolutely get a bump up in terms of your Hall of Fame.

Let's move on to another couple of guys.

Ben Baker. No.

What? Gold medal? No. I mean, the gold medal. Let's— 4-time NBA All-Star.

No.

Mike D'Antoni.

Yeah.

Is D'Antoni getting in because of international?

No.

He's getting in because of his NBA credentials.

Dude, he influenced the way everyone plays basketball.

We don't really love that, but we don't really love that influence today.

And he's got to— but he's also got to be up there in the wins list.

Yes. Won a shit ton of games, right?

But like, I know what you're saying with the innovating and all the 3-pointers. Yeah, we don't necessarily love innovation.

You say we don't love that innovation, but I guarantee if we went back to '75, '72, you're like, what is this?

No, not me.

You sound just like him.

I know.

Not me.

I've been doing— I've been practicing.

That's a great fake, Sazh.

But it's like, stop it. Oh, everyone says the NBA— no, it doesn't. This is better. This is better than the rock fights. This is better than arm wrestling. This is better than MMA with a— with a— with two hoops. This is better. And we get to see great performances and we get to see the talent be talent as opposed to the talent be combat specialists.

Doc Rivers.

Doc Rivers is— oh, first of all, you got to start with he's made the top 15 coaches of all time list, which a lot of people had a problem with at that point. He made the list. He made— look, I made the list. You could look at my credentials. Hey, I took the Clippers and I made them into a respectable franchise. I mean, how about that? Does that count for anything? And you know what? It wasn't Blake's fault. Not Blake's credit either. It's my credit. It's my Hall of Fame.

How many people get into the Hall of Fame who, when they are brought up in basketball conversation, is routinely used as a punchline? Because that's Doc Rivers.

I'm trying to think who are the guys that were punched.

Chris Paul is going to end up—

like, am I wrong about that? Like, like Doc Rivers is used as a punchline.

Chris Paul will be one of those guys, right?

Ironically, together.

Yep.

And I would tell you, I think Chris Paul is a short-fired Hall of Famer, but he should be.

But he's going to be— what, to answer your question, it's going to be a guy like that?

I don't agree.

You don't think people ridicule Chris Paul?

Chris Paul, definite Hall of Famer.

No, I know people ridicule him, but I think there's also a, a general understanding that he's one of the greatest ever.

Presently, you get more jokes about him than you get admiration.

It doesn't matter. Uh, he, he's, he's getting in.

Oh, that's not, that's not the conversation.

We're not talking about should he get in or not.

He's 100% deserving of being a Hall of Famer.

The question he asked is, can you be a Hall of Famer if you're a punchline of jokes? And we're saying Chris Paul's going to be a Hall of Famer and he's a punchline of jokes.

Yeah. Doc, does Blake Griffin deserve to get in the Hall of Fame?

Well, you know, that's a tough one. You know, because Blake, you know, and it's not his fault he kept getting hurt, but he was, he was tremendous for us. And, um, you know, my voice didn't used to sound like this. I actually was a falsetto, and then I started coaching. And I wish I was making this bit up, but this is a little bit of Doc's routine from his speech.

If you were to see like on NBA Classics, old NBA on NBC games, and Doc Rivers is, is on the call, his voice is like this. It's a different person.

It's a different—

Oh, Jeremy, you know, I never heard what Doc sounds like. It's a different person. Really?

Okay.

All right.

I'm looking at TNT. He was working for TNT because that his first job was going to Orlando straight out of TNT.

Yeah.

Had never coached a game. And so his voice is really like it was just like a regular voice.

Yeah.

And then over the years, it gets a little bit more raspy, raspier and raspier until one day it ends up like this. And I told Jason Jackson yesterday, Jay Jaxx, if you're nasty, um, at some point I'm gonna have to retire the Doc voice and I'll have to make it the Mitch Johnson voice, which is close, but it's different. Mitch has a lot more trauma in his voice than Doc does, and it's come a lot sooner. Oh, there he is. There's young Doc.

There he is. That's Glenn Rivers.

That's a big-ass '90s suit right there.

What's wild is Luka could retire today. He's a Hall of Famer.

Of course.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

6-time— what he did in Euro was crazy.

Yeah, as a kid, EuroLeague MVP. It's, it's, it's not just his NBA resume, it's his EuroLeague MVP, EuroLeague title, uh, Spanish League MVP, Spanish title, and EuroBasket winner, gold medalist with Slovenia.

Like 16 years old, he was like the MVP of the league.

He could have retired, he could have retired 2 years ago and he's a Hall of Famer.

He could have stopped playing in Dallas and would have been a Hall of Famer.

Juju, put it on the poll, should Doc Rivers be in the Hall of Fame?

This is a— what, what is your, what is your deal today?

What do you mean, what is my deal?

Are you gonna say Mark Few isn't a Hall of Famer now?

I think Mark Few is a Hall of Famer. For, for you to have the success— and the success being relative because it's Gonzaga— for you to have the success at a school like Gonzaga, yeah, that's Hall of Fame to me.

He also does Team USA stuff, right?

Mark, he's an assistant coach here. Yeah, but Doc Rivers I think has done Team USA stuff as well. Uh, does Mark Few get credit for beating up on St. Mary's and like San Diego and stuff like—

he's got several Final Four appearances.

I know, but it's just like there's a lot of that stuff that's just— I'm not— again, I'm of the school of thought there's no such thing as someone who shouldn't be a Hall of Famer. That's nuts. If you got to that stage, you're a Hall of Famer, dude. Like, there's, there's not a lot—

I know, like, I'm factually incorrect. I, I understand.

No, no, I'm just saying, like, the fact that the resume got to this stage, not just all factually is all the fame.

My cheeks.

Mochis, the Hall of Famer.

I know, but should he be?

Yeah, Mochis, Hall of Famer.

Never averaged more than 15 a game.

I mean, you see how he helped roll the national anthem.

Yeah, honestly, that boosted by 15%.

One of the best defensive guards of all time. And again, for a sport that was like, oh, there's two sides of the ball, when someone comes along and says, yeah, I'm great on the other side of the ball, like, no, you suck. It's— we are the biggest hypocrites. We are the biggest hypocrite. The number of people who are like Ben Wallace shouldn't be a Hall of Famer. I'm like, in what world? Like, all you guys do is bitch and complain about who doesn't play both sides and da da da da da. But we'll give a guy who doesn't guard anybody—

you're right—

doesn't guard anybody, we'll put him in the Hall of Fame. But we do the opposite, a guy who locks out, who's the centerpiece of one of the great defenses of all time and was a champion.

Yep.

And it's like, nah, man, because he wasn't getting buckets. Dan Levitar.

I don't think it's strange for me, but like— Mike Ryan.

Oh boy.

This is the Dan Levitar Show.

The Avatar Show.

Zazz, is Cooper Kupp a Hall of Famer?

Come on now.

Is Cooper Kupp a Hall of Famer?

Yeah.

The football player?

Yeah, it's football time.

Oh, all right. Uh, no. Wow. Really?

Triple crown winner?

Not in the Hall of Fame?

We need to have a Zazz Hall of Fame to figure out who's in his Hall of Fame.

How many?

Jerry Rice and that's it in your Hall of Fame?

How many Hall of Fame caliber years did Cooper Kupp have? Uh, 3 or— yeah, that's enough for you.

Yeah. Like, especially with the Super Bowl where everyone knew where the ball was going and the, and the march to the Super Bowl, the huge pass against Tampa. Yeah, dude. And he just won another Super Bowl.

Does it take— and I know he was good in that game. Does it take anything away that the guy they replaced him with immediately, immediately is putting up the same numbers?

The guy that replaced him is one of the greatest wide receivers receivers I've ever seen. JSN is remarkable.

No, we're talking about, um, who's also remarkable, right? The guy who replaced him in the exact same system. Does that mean anything? I don't know, I'm asking.

They can both be great.

They can be, you're right.

Pro were great. They both put up numbers together. Pro Football Reference has about 39, uh, the average score is 101 for a Hall of Famer.

Yeah, so I'm gonna be right. He's not— he's not—

I think he should. He was so That one year, incredible, insane for them, especially in that Super Bowl.

I don't know, longevity means a little something to me when it comes to these conversations, and there's no right answer, but I, I think longevity matters. I don't think it's there for a guy like Cooper Kupp, but I do, I do like to see it with some injuries.

No, at top, top end though, he's 145, 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns.

What if we made just like a peak Sports Hall of Fame so it encompasses all of the— like Josh Hamilton would be in the Hall of Fame.

This—

I like that.

Like just like the highest point of your career?

Just like you didn't have any longevity.

Congratulations to uh... Is Jeremy Lin a Hall of Famer in the Peak Hall of Fame for 2 weeks?

He's in there! He's in the 2-Week Hall of Fame.

Do you have to have a full season?

A full-season peak?

So Brady has to have at least a season or 2 right because that's an aberration. There's a difference between—

Oh come on!

No no it can't be a one-hit wonder.

I've got a large sample size of Brady Anderson and there's one fluke season. There's a difference between that and Brandon Roy.

Okay, no, but Brandon Roy is not a peak. Brandon Roy is just, I got hurt.

Josh Hamilton is the same thing. That's, that's kind of— well, Josh Hamilton's a variety of things.

Hamilton's not in, right?

Hell no, definitely not, definitely not. But that's my point, is you have these guys that were like a, a gust of what— OBJ, OBJ, another one where like he ended up getting hurt, but it was more than one season. It's like your peak of 2 or 3 years was unbelievable.

So that's not a peak of 2 or 3 years. What you're actually saying is My career would have been awesome if not for these factors that had nothing to do with my ability to play.

All right, but that's part of the equation.

Injury, off-field. But I'd still like there to be somewhat of a character clause.

Well, then Josh Hamilton has to take a seat.

Yeah, drugs, you know, addiction's tough.

Drugs? In the Ronald McDonald? You guys know that one? No one knows that one.

You don't think Philip Rivers is a Hall of Famer?

I think it's— I, I, I—

look, you don't think he actually like boosted his chances?

I do think he's crazy.

Yeah, I do think this last season I think he definitely boosted his chances.

I do. You know, there's conversation where it's all, but then he's going to push the clock back another 5 years. No, I think he helped his chances in a very big way.

Yeah, we got, we got Doc Rivers' original speaking voice for Jeremy Tashae. Lock in here. That's a major concern for the Bulls. They're going to do it.

No way.

Let it back one more time. Run it one more time, please. We're going to miss Luke Longley. Obviously, that's a major concern for the Bulls. They're going to do it.

That's like if you, if you had your eyes closed and you're like, who is this person? You would never, you would never get it.

Right. I never would have guessed in a million years that that's what Doc Rivers sounded like. He had a totally normal voice. Yeah. So this really is a case. I didn't actually think that a coach was crushing his voice like that. You think it's a put on? He's like a tryhard. He could actually speak like that normally, but he just wants to show you how much effort he put in.

He comes out like, hey, honey, how's it going? Yeah, no, my day was all right. Hold on. I got to take this call. Hello? Yeah. No. Yeah, I'll be down there in a bit.

Yeah, you heard that.

All right, wait, hold on. I got someone on the line. Hello, Austin? Yeah, I know. Yeah, pick up some groceries. Wait, hold on, Austin, I got someone on the line. Hello? Oh, yeah, okay, yes. Thank you. Thank you. That was a Hall of Fame. Oh my God. I mean, that was Hall of Fame. Oh my God.

So is it as bad as John Lucas after his stint with the Spurs?

John Lucas's voice?

Yes.

John Lucas's voice is pretty rough. But Doc, I think, is number one. But I'm gonna tell you right now, Mitch Johnson is coming for that crown.

Oh boy.

Mitch Johnson's so young in his career and his voice is so shot. Dawg, and you've had Wemby. That's the greatest thing, like, how much screaming are you really doing? Right!

I know you have a young team, but I feel like they all rally.

No, but that's very much a Spurs thing. Like, didn't Popovich treat Duncan terribly?

Yeah, he didn't have a messed up voice though. Pop would just talk like this.

Just walk up to him with a look of disappointment and then walk away.

We live in a racist country.

But I do think that we're underplaying that if Doc is putting this on, that means he's one of the great actors of our time. Because he never breaks character. He's been doing this for years and we've never seen a crack in the voice.

I, I, man, there's a path that I would love to follow here, but not on his Hall of Fame weekend. I'm going to say congratulations, Doc. Much love to you and the family.

Wow. How about that?

Wow.

Level of respect.

Doc, great actor.

Oh, it's like calling him coach.

Oh, man. You're chumming the water right now.

So the NBA schedule came out in full this past week, this past Thursday.

Yeah.

And Tyrese Halliburton is going to return to the Indiana Pacers after missing all of this past season. Everybody remembers he got hurt Game 7, tore his Achilles in the 2025 NBA Finals. So he's going to return and he looks good recently, by the way, because I remember you're a little bit worried because throughout this past season you would see him, he was suffering from shingles and his face looked pretty blown up, you know.

Yeah, he's been through it. He's out. Yeah.

Yeah, he looks good now. He looks back. He looks like Tyrese Halliburton again. And so he'll, he'll make his debut. But he's upset because not only— he was on a podcast and yes, you know, everyone's got a podcast because if you don't have a podcast, you're a huge loser.

And it's not his podcast.

No, he's on a podcast.

And this show's on ESPN, I think, right? Numbers on the Board. Am I not right? I believe this is an ESPN show.

All right.

It's a podcast, but it's also—

All right.

A show on ESPN.

And so Tyrese Halliburton, after the NBA schedule release came out, not only are the Pacers not on national television game number 1, but he's also mad that they are not at home.

Schedule comes out tomorrow. I know the schedule. So yeah, this don't come out till Saturday. Okay, okay.

So let's say the schedule's out already.

Okay. If— name any other person that you, that you compare to my level of a basketball player, wherever you have me ranked.

If they tore their Achilles and missed 16 months, do you think that game would be on national television?

Yeah.

Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Yeah. You probably think so. Sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Okay.

Do you think that game would be at home if not on national television?

For sure. Yeah.

Do you think that that game would be at New Orleans?

Wait, what?

Oh, your first game.

Oh, that's crazy.

Oh, that's crazy.

That's crazy.

That's crazy. When I saw schedule, I was like, oh, wow.

So not on national television, and their first game is at the New Orleans Pelicans. And I would say, Tyrese Haliburton's a really good player, but I would say that Tyrese Haliburton has a little bit of an inflated sense of worth when it comes to what other people think about the Indiana Pacers. Not even necessarily him, but what people think about the Pacers. Like, I don't— I have no issue with the Pacers not being on national television in game number 1. I would say it'd have been nice if it was at home where the Pacers crowd— and granted, preseason, he'll play preseason games— but if the Pacers crowd can welcome him back his first game as opposed to maybe it's game 2 or maybe game 3 after they're on the road. I would have probably liked to have seen him play at home, but national television, hey everybody, Tyrese Halliburton's returning. Like, I don't know, I think it's— I don't think, I don't think he or that team are what he thinks that they are.

Look, there's a couple of things. I actually had the privilege of interviewing Jean Lee, who does the scheduling for the NBA for the broadcast games, the national TV broadcast games. The number of things that go into this— are there events going on in your building, travel, limiting back-to-backs, limiting 4 games in 5 nights— they have 8 million factors going in before we even get to who I like, who I don't like. That's just logistics. Then you get into the national broadcast partners. They get a say. Hey, we want so-and-so. We'd like so-and-so, right? Then you get to, these are the games that start the NBA season this year. Celtics at Pistons. That's, right, let's see.

It's a no-brainer.

No-brainer. Celtics, big brand, move numbers, move units. Pistons, Best team in the East last year. Sixers at Knicks.

No brainer.

LeBron versus the champs.

Huge.

Thunder at Spurs.

Huge.

Conference Finals matchup of two of the best teams in the league. Wednesday, T-Wolves at Heat. New look T-Wolves with LaMelo Ball, and they've been great without him, versus Giannis and Bam, right? Warriors at Lakers. Steph versus the Lakers.

No brainer.

Right? Thursday, Cavs at Sixers. LeBron versus his former team, right? Nuggets at Thunder. Best player in the league versus perhaps the best team.

Like, yo, and so like, as I'm saying, who's bumping, right? He has a little bit of an inflated sense of what the Pacers are.

He certainly— what the Pacers— he has no idea what the Pacers are because they don't bring in numbers. They don't bring in numbers. And when you talk about national TV, you're talking about that, right? Him, inflated sense of himself, maybe not. If he was coming back in the middle of a season, like, okay, oh, it's December 1st, Tyrese Haliburton's coming back, then I think it's different. Then it's like, okay, we've got the original jitters, big first week thing out of the way. This is a big tentpole event. Great player returning from injury. Dog, you coming back on opening night, guess what? There are more interesting storylines than you and your team. And that's not to say the Pacers stink or whatever. I'm talking about how national TV scheduling works, right? And so then you say, well, at least would I start at home? Okay, maybe that's a thing. But again, there's so many logistics at play here. Sometimes it's just the way it works because there's a concert somewhere, because if not, someone's gonna be on an 18-day road trip. Whatever it is, they're trying to make good with all that stuff. The thing I don't like is he goes on the show and all the guys are like, damn, no way, no, you're not at home.

Like, come on, push back a little bit, push back a little bit. Like, yeah, come on, man, there's a lot of great teams.

We live in a racist country.