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00:00We got to let everybody hear all the stuff that Draymond said.
00:02So we played for you the fact that he called out the Kings for tanking.
00:07Here's where he chose to then take the conversation,
00:10and it was more with regard to the players having to suffer through fines
00:15as opposed to the teams.
00:17I get fined when I do wrong.
00:19Just fining the hell out of people.
00:21You know, we love taking money from players.
00:23Keep fining the teams.
00:25I've seen two fines, and we all know everybody taking.
00:28But you've seen two fines.
00:30You know, if it was players, we snatched that money in a heartbeat.
00:34Why isn't it the same?
00:35Everybody loves money.
00:36So, you know, the punishment for players is always let's take the money.
00:40Well, now it becomes time to punish teams,
00:42and all of a sudden nobody don't know what to do.
00:44Why not?
00:45We know exactly what to do when somebody gets a technical file
00:49or suspended for a game.
00:51We know exactly what to do.
00:52All of a sudden we got team issues.
00:54We don't know what to do.
00:55What happened to the whole take the money stuff?
00:58Everybody else trying to reach a quote or two.
01:00But when it comes to player discipline,
01:04we want to snatch the money as fast as we can.
01:06Come to team discipline, and we see 12 teams thinking.
01:09We've seen two fines.
01:11A math serves me correctly.
01:12That's a 10 that ain't been fined.
01:14Just some quick math.
01:16It could be wrong, so don't judge me if it's wrong.
01:18But we don't keep that same energy when it comes to teams,
01:22when it comes to officials, when it comes to everybody but players.
01:25We don't keep that same energy.
01:26But it's a player's league.
01:28Okay, so he's absolutely spot on.
01:31And that is what is personally hitting him about this issue.
01:36So I have no problem whatsoever.
01:38I loved that Draymond did that.
01:41I did, because he kind of did a mic drop after this thing was over,
01:45and he walked off, which, again, totally fine.
01:48But a piece of me is like, Draymond,
01:51you're getting triggered by the fine part of it.
01:56And I would have loved for him to even just throw in one sentence about the fans.
02:02Right.
02:03And the fact that right now we are struggling to know if your sport is legitimate.
02:12That's where my mind goes.
02:15That's a good way to put it.
02:16Is your sport legitimate?
02:20Do y'all, and I know y'all do, understand how many things are on the line
02:27with regard to the final score and the outcome of a basketball game?
02:32Yes, betting is part of what I'm talking about, but it's one of a hundred things.
02:36But it's a big thing.
02:37It's a big thing.
02:38And I thought about it last night when it came to the Seth Curry underdog prize picks over under.
02:44I don't know what it was, but it probably was in that six or six and a half range.
02:48And all of a sudden now he's getting these late free throw opportunities.
02:51And so that goes over.
02:53And so if you had a big wager on the less than or the greater than,
02:59you're now, your whole wager is corrupted by the fact that they are intentionally fouling him away from the ball.
03:05And that's the tip of the iceberg.
03:07The over-under.
03:08How about the season win totals for these teams?
03:11Yep.
03:11Good point.
03:12How about the stats the players are putting up and that they use them in contract negotiations
03:18the following year?
03:19How about just, I like my team to win and I don't even really know if they did.
03:26Like, it doesn't matter last night for the Warriors, but what if it did?
03:33And do you get to your car and turn on, you know, the post with Evan or if it's Grandy
03:41on a different night
03:41and you're literally driving home going, but did we win?
03:47Did we actually win?
03:49Or was it kind of, was it handed to us?
03:53There's got to be a very big, what did I just watch thing that goes through all of our heads.
03:59Yes, because when you buy a ticket and you were there with the lovely Christy and with
04:04the, with the kids, you're going there for a number of reasons.
04:06And one of them is to see if your team is going to win.
04:09And if they lose, you're disappointed.
04:11And if they win, you're a lot happier.
04:13But when it goes like that, it feels just a little unseemly.
04:17And the thing that just struck me is it was must've been like 89 or 1990 when I went and
04:23saw Milli Vanilli at a concert.
04:25It was one of those summer jam deals, 20 bands or so.
04:29And so they were on the bill and they had some hits.
04:31And so you're watching them perform and it's like, it's kind of entertaining.
04:34These guys are running around high-fiving and singing their songs.
04:37And six months later, it comes out that neither Milli nor Vanilli ever sang on their songs.
04:43And so, you know, you're looking at that going, you phonies.
04:46I'm not saying that this was Milli Vanilli, but you didn't have that same fulfillment of,
04:50you know what, the Warriors lost a tough one to Sacramento or, you know, the Warriors gutted
04:55that one out against Sacramento.
04:56It was, I mean, did they really win?
05:00Yeah, I feel dirty.
05:01A little bit.
05:01That was one of my favorite non-sports press conferences of all time.
05:06Milli Vanilli?
05:06Yeah.
05:07You were there?
05:08No, no.
05:09What do you mean I was there?
05:10No, it wasn't that the press conference.
05:11It was on TV.
05:12Oh, that's right.
05:13Like when the whole thing came out.
05:15And then, I don't know, I love that you call them Milli and Vanilli.
05:18I don't know if that was their name, so I don't know if it was Milli or Vanilli.
05:21Mike and Vince, I think.
05:22But one of them came to the microphone.
05:24He was all pissed off at the accusations.
05:27He just comes up to the microphone and instead of, you know, like taking questions, he just
05:32walks up and he goes, girl, you know, it's, yes, you know, it's true.
05:37And you're like, that's not what the song sounds like at all, actually.
05:41So that actually just made it worse.
05:43It was his way of being like, I can sing this.
05:46Yes.
05:46I'm like, not angry.
05:47You can't.
05:48No, and even when you're not angry.
05:51Let's take this in a different direction.
05:53But anyway, look, there was a piece of this, though, from Draymond that I didn't love.
05:59And it's an extension of the tanking conversation where I will totally admit two things.
06:04One, he's right.
06:05And two, I love that he did it.
06:08There are only so many players in the NBA who have the cachet to do what Draymond Green
06:15did last night.
06:16And so that I really like.
06:19The Warriors often take leadership responsibilities in ways that they know not everybody wants
06:27them to do.
06:29Draymond will do stuff like this.
06:31Steve Kerr.
06:31I want a shorter season, you know.
06:32Or even Steve Kerr in politics.
06:34Like they, Steph Curry has done so as well.
06:37Like they will come out and say, we understand our standing in this league.
06:41We understand our responsibility.
06:42We're not going to be shy away from that.
06:44So I will love that every second of every day.
06:47Um, but then I thought it got weird because Draymond started talking about the play in
06:54tournament and the play in tournament is on some level, an anti-tanking measure.
07:01It is a way to bring teams that are struggling, possibly even with a losing record into the hunt
07:09for the playoffs.
07:10So that's part of why the play in terms, not just to excite you.
07:14It's not just to make it harder when you're at the back end of the playoffs, but it's
07:18also a little bit of an anti-tanking measure.
07:21And Draymond says that's not working.
07:23I think it worked initially.
07:24And now to have a team stuck in 10th, it ain't working.
07:28So we could have lost our last 15 games and been stuck in 10th and it ain't working.
07:33But it works for a little bit.
07:35If you could be stuck in 10th and lose all the last 15 games of your season and you could
07:40be stuck in 10th, it ain't working.
07:42So, yeah, I think the play in was made for teams to not tank.
07:46Like that's, I think that's the part that everyone forgets, you know, like the play
07:51in came about to make teams like maybe through 12 or 13, keep going and keep going.
07:57They kind of slowed down and then they hit the brakes.
08:01So, okay.
08:02He still hasn't said anything that's wrong.
08:05I think he's spot on.
08:07And I've been anti play in for the entirety of it.
08:10Why?
08:10Because of kind of what he's saying.
08:13And this year really is an example where it got exacerbated because 11 is 10 games back
08:20at 10 in the East and 11 is 11 and a half back at 10 in the West.
08:24So I think that it's gotten to a spot where if you fight for the 10, now you got to
08:30beat
08:30the nine, you got to beat the seven, eight loser and you play either a 63 win team or
08:35a 57 win team.
08:36The likelihood of you as the eight beating the one is not great.
08:40And the likelihood of you being in the bottom five and getting a high pick is greater than
08:46the likelihood of you beating the one seed.
08:48I'm going to say that there are multiple reasons for the play in and that aspect of it, I'll
08:53agree, doesn't work.
08:55However, I still think, and this is where my focus always is, I think it works for the
08:59fans.
09:00And the reason it works for the fans is it creates, it creates dynamic games with urgency.
09:06It creates elimination scenarios like we love in March Madness.
09:11And I don't want to hear that, oh, but like, who cares if you get the 10 seed or who
09:15cares
09:16if you, well, we, we watch games that are the 16 versus the one and we like it because
09:21it's an elimination game, even though there's next to no chance that it's going to go a certain
09:26way.
09:26Two times in history.
09:28Right.
09:28And then I, what I love about it is I think that if you are not in the top six,
09:34you should
09:35have to work harder to get to the playoffs because you haven't earned a free trip to play
09:41the one seed.
09:42So I love those two aspects of it, but now let's get, this is the piece that got me.
09:48This is the piece that I felt like.
09:50I thought that was the piece that got you.
09:51No, because I still, yes.
09:53Because right now he's, he's having a perfect game in my eyes.
09:55He is.
09:56He is.
09:56But, but, but then he said this.
09:58It's not exciting.
09:59It's not.
10:00But, you know, I'm a competitor.
10:02So going to the game, I'm going to do all I can to win, but it's not that exciting.
10:06Do you think he'll be excited next week when you have two do or die road games that, you
10:09know, they'll be on big stages.
10:11Well, listen, you go on the road in a game that you need to win.
10:14I think, you know, as a competitor, you're going to rush to the challenge, you know, but
10:19I'm not going to sleep tomorrow night.
10:21Like, man, we got to play in next week.
10:23Got to get my rush.
10:24Like, no, it ain't that exciting.
10:26So here's what bothers me about that.
10:28And again, I know where you're going.
10:29It's not that he's lying.
10:30There's no lying here.
10:31No lies were told.
10:33Draymond's never, at least last night, he was never, quote, wrong.
10:37But I didn't have to love it.
10:39And I'm willing to bet plenty of money that the Warriors didn't love it either.
10:43So here's the deal.
10:45We're out here.
10:46They're out there in the streets doing warriors.com.
10:50Get your tickets.
10:52Click and roll.
10:53The best player that your franchise has ever known has been in a gym.
10:58He has been in Celebrity's office.
11:01He has been chatting with nutritionists.
11:03He has been working on what he calls a new normal.
11:07And he has been doing this for weeks and weeks on end so that he could fight like crazy to
11:13wrap his knee in a brand new wrap that will probably be with him for the rest of his career
11:18so that he could fight his ass off to get back this week in order to get ready for next
11:24week.
11:24Because he and the organization have referred to next week as meaningful basketball.
11:30And Draymond Green walked to the microphone last night and spit on all of that.
11:35Because he understands that playing games are not the same as playoff games.
11:39And so will he be up for it?
11:41And will he play hard?
11:42Of course he will.
11:43But in this moment where you get gifted a win by a tanking Kings team and you're at the end
11:49of the season, he's just speaking his truth.
11:52And he's played in 169 playoff games.
11:55He's fourth among active players.
11:57He's been in almost more than 30 NBA Finals games.
12:01And so I think that he was speaking relative to what really, really matters.
12:05It's totally authentic.
12:07I'm not questioning the authenticity of it.
12:09What about, like, for me as a guy who works for the flagship, I don't want people to not listen.
12:14Okay, then let's turn it on us.
12:16How many radio shows have you and I done in our careers?
12:19We've probably done, man, almost 1,000, I'd say.
12:22I mean, just together, 1,000.
12:23What if I was like, I mean, this one's just a Wednesday.
12:25I don't really, eh.
12:28It's just, eh.
12:29It's like, there's nothing big going on.
12:31Yeah.
12:32I mean, you'd be speaking your authentic truth.
12:35Right, but would y'all.
12:36Wouldn't be great for the audience.
12:37There you go.
12:38Say that again.
12:39I don't want to.
12:41Again, please.
12:43It wouldn't be great for the audience, Mark.
12:45And that's what I would tell Draymond.
12:47The only thing that was missing from his very clear, authentic truth last night was anything about the audience.
12:56So what I got was, I don't care about the play-in.
12:59And the other thing that we got was, hey, tanking's really bad.
13:05And the reason tanking's really bad is I, Draymond, get fined and they don't.
13:11And he's right.
13:12He's right.
13:13Everything is right.
13:14But everything is also completely missing the fan experience.
13:18I want it.
13:19Like, to me, Draymond Green getting fined and the Sacramento Kings owner not getting fined is sort of like less
13:27offensive than my friend who spent $800 for him and maybe his kid and his kid's friend to go to
13:36the game last night in the 200 section and realize that what they're watching is a scripted performance.
13:42That's more offensive to me than the quarter-billion-dollar man got fined and the uber-duber billionaire didn't get
13:50it.
13:50So that's all I'm saying.
13:51Not quite scripted, but just, you know, the end of the game.
13:53I don't think it was scripted, but, I mean, Sacramento probably didn't think that they were going to be up
13:5810 in the fourth quarter.
14:00They flirted with it.
14:01They flirted with that word.
14:02I do think that, you know, when you look at entertainment, the entertainment dollar, and this is why my cockamamie
14:08idea about exit pricing is such a good one.
14:11Because if you were there last night and it ended that way, you might get 10% back off your
14:15bill.
14:15But you look at what we saw last night.
14:18You saw Utah score 137 points, and they got blown out, 156 to 137.
14:26And you go around the association, and this time of year, all of the top 50 players, they don't all
14:32play.
14:32You've got injuries.
14:33You've got management.
14:34You've got guys making plans for Cancun.
14:37And that's where the league has got to figure out a way to get more entertaining games more often.
14:43Because this time of year, especially, it gets pretty rough.
14:47Yep.
14:48Even for the good teams.
14:48Nobody's playing defense.
14:50Right.
14:50Nobody's playing defense.
14:52Look at these scores.
14:53137 points, and you lost by 20?
14:56I mean, nobody's playing any defense.
14:58Yeah.
14:58The Thunder were against the Lakers, but that's because the Lakers had pretty much nobody who could score.
15:04And the Thunder are still trying because the Spurs are right on their heels, and they need to make sure
15:08that they access the one seed.
15:10Brownie James, a minus 25 off the bench.
15:13I'm going to try to do this a number of ways today.
15:15I don't think Draymond lied.
15:17I don't think he said anything that was wrong.
15:20I just think there were a few things that were missing, and it would have been great if Draymond had
15:26actually even thrown a sentence or two here or there in this whole thing about, and what about these people
15:33who pay for these tickets, and we don't even know how legitimate what they're watching is.
15:38And then, oh, by the way, Draymond, if possible, let me not speak as a 95-7-the-game host
15:45here.
15:45Let me speak as a Warrior fan.
15:47I'm actually this bananas.
15:49I am excited about next week.
15:52I am.
15:53I don't think that, but you know that.
15:56Yeah, he will be when you get time for the game.
15:58I'm not questioning whether he's going to play hard.
16:01I'm just saying you kind of just put out a crappy commercial.
16:04That's basically what I'm accusing him of.
16:06And I get that.
16:07I think he understands it, but he doesn't.
16:10I don't think that he thinks in terms of, what should I say right now?
16:13No, he doesn't.
16:14Not that he just fires off wild thoughts, but he's just out there speaking his truth, and I thought what
16:21he said was a little bit of a, yeah, I mean, it's too bad because you want everyone to be
16:26excited, and I think fans will be.
16:28And, you know, Steph Curry really wants a playoff series, and it's unfortunate that they would have to win two
16:33road games in three days to get that done.
16:36I don't think that come tip time that Draymond's going to be thinking, ah, boy.
16:40But at the same time, like, every show we do this year, this calendar year, if we do, I don't
16:46know, 180 shows together, 200 shows, there's one that's going to be the best and one that's going to be
16:51the 200th best.
16:52And that's kind of, I think, the way Draymond looks at the play-in.
16:55Like, you know, it's going to matter, but this is not, like, a playoff game.
16:59It's not a final game.
17:00It's not a game seven.
17:01I'm not asking for him to blow sunshine up my wahoo.
17:05I'm not.
17:05You're just asking for him to not douse it with water.
17:08Just right.
17:09Right.
17:10Do you know what I mean?
17:11I do, yeah.
17:12So what do you say if you do come out of the play-in tournament and game three when the
17:20Thunder are on their way here and people are like, ooh, like, that's an expensive ticket.
17:27And, you know, honey, should we go?
17:30Well, Draymond's like, eh.
17:32Well, he did say that when those games come around that he's going to play as hard as he can
17:38for it.
17:38I'll never question.
17:41I'm not questioning Draymond's effort.
17:43And I am not calling this inauthentic.
17:47Like, in other words, it's okay that he said it, but it's also okay that as a Warrior fan, I'm
17:52like, I didn't love it.
17:54I don't love that.
17:55And I do bet the Warriors didn't either.
17:59I bet.
18:00I bet, I don't know if they even paid.
18:03I'm sure they're less annoyed because they're road games.
18:05If it was going to be a home game, I think that they'd be more animated about it.
18:08But I also, like, I don't know, Steph Curry just worked his ass off to get ready for these games.
18:14And you're like, I'm not excited?
18:16Like, if I were Draymond, at minimum, just out of respect for Steph, I might have put a little bit
18:23of a different tone on it.
18:24Did you hear what Steph said when he was asked if these final regular season games is meaningful basketball?
18:30No.
18:30Steph said, he paused, and he said, we're building to that.
18:35Yeah, they're not.
18:36They're not, but they're meaningful solely from the perspective of him being healthy.
18:41They're just ramp-up games.
18:43They're preseason games.
18:44Right.
18:44These are preseason games this week.
18:45Go out there and run around and get fit.
18:47And when you get to the play-in, which I guess will be, what, Tuesday, Thursday, or maybe Wednesday, Friday?
18:53I don't know if we've got a schedule yet.
18:54I don't think we do, but they will either play Tuesday or Wednesday, and then if they win that game,
18:58they'll play Friday.
18:59Right.
19:00Both are on Friday.
19:01That's right.
19:01Yeah.
19:02Okay.
19:02Well, hopefully it's Tuesday.
19:03That way, if they win, they get that extra day of rest for the older club.
19:07Look, I get it.
19:08I've convinced myself of this, as many of us have.
19:11It's not a great season.
19:13It's not going to end up in a championship.
19:15It's not going to be, I don't think it's going to be anything special.
19:18But Steph worked his butt off to be here for this, and I've convinced myself, hey, this could be interesting
19:24next week.
19:26It'll be fun, but of the other, I guess, three play-in games, I'm not going to be super locked
19:33in.
19:33No.
19:33I'm into this one because it's my team.
19:35Sure.
19:35And he's on that team, too.
19:37And that's where my bigger problem with this and the March Madness comp, like, I watch those games because I'm
19:43a college basketball junkie, and I love it all and the threat of an upset.
19:47And for this, I love the NBA, but the 10-9 game in the East, I mean, I'll probably have
19:52it on.
19:53No, yeah, I'm not suggesting that.
19:55I'm just suggesting don't tell Warrior fans that this is kind of lame to you.
19:59It just doesn't feel great, that's all.
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