00:00right now we bring to you our Mavs insider NBA insider 105.3 the fan alum it is Kevin Gray
00:07good
00:07morning sir Kevin Corey good to talk to you Alex Medford appreciate the time guys how are you
00:15absolutely we're doing well I had a quick WNBA question I have more WWE questions oh great
00:22hold on hold on all right do you think that maybe Angel Reese should have been named the
00:30grand marshal of the Indianapolis 500 since the races at the brickyard oh wow that's cold
00:38that was unnecessary that's a fastball that's a fastball to start off with uh
00:43Caitlin Clark's fans let's just say wouldn't have been happy with that decision yeah I think that
00:49is fair so were you I have to admit when Ujiri came in and he was like yeah you know
00:55everything's
00:56on the table and I was like yeah yeah we're not getting rid of Jason Kidd and here we are
01:00last
01:01night were you surprised did you think this was a possible evolution especially given kids
01:06interest in moving up to the front office to begin with yeah I thought this was a very real
01:12possibility I mean I discussed this when he was hired just a couple of weeks ago that normally
01:18when you hire someone of this caliber and someone with this type of cachet they're going to want to
01:25make their own decisions on personnel direction of the franchise and most importantly who's going to
01:31be aligned best with the vision that he wants to execute and normally that means removing the head
01:39coach that was there because that general manager that president of the basketball operations has no ties
01:46to the person who was previously coaching the team or running the team so Masai Ujiri clearly wanted a
01:54clean slate with this franchise uh Jason Kidd you know reportedly wanted to become the president of the
02:01team and we've seen in previous stops that power plays for him have not gone well and yet this is
02:08another case where a potential power play if that were true did not work out for him and here we
02:14are
02:15well in the in the vein of having a clean slate I know it's a little bit different but you
02:22have a ton of
02:23young players and you also have Kyrie Irving do you think I think Kyrie and Cooper flag can play great
02:32together but do you think having a clean slate whether it's moving out some longer con or some
02:38bigger contracts or older players do you believe that could still include moving on from Kyrie
02:45well Masai just a few moments ago sounded very very clear on the idea that he wants Kyrie Irving on
02:52this team and the curiosity the word he used about seeing Cooper flag and Kyrie Irving play together
02:59is still very much there for him and for a lot of us I think Kyrie Irving and Cooper flag
03:04could play
03:05well together Kyrie Irving's a basketball savant Cooper flag is a young talented player that I think
03:10the game is malleable to anyone that he plays with the question being do the timelines line up together
03:18Kyrie Irving's 34 years old he's gonna be 35 next March coming off a torn ACL and by the time
03:23he steps
03:23onto the floor you know in October wouldn't have played basketball for 18 19 months
03:28how much does he truly have left and how effective is he going to be given where the Mavericks are
03:34from a
03:35organizational perspective while trying to get younger and cheaper while Kyrie Irving may be in
03:40a situation where he wants to compete for championships as he starts to get toward the
03:44back end of his career but Kyrie's comfortable here in Dallas he loves being here in Dallas you know
03:50he has become a fan favorite obviously here so it would hurt to see him go but at the same
03:55time that
03:56would be a tough decision that Messiah has to make if he feels like whether Kyrie Irving gets on the
04:01floor to become healthy and play to rebuild some of that trade value or if teams like Houston
04:07Minnesota you know Detroit come calling the summer and desperation looking for a second star to pair
04:13with the ones that they have potentially so it's gonna be a very interesting summer on the Kyrie Irving
04:17front well the other thing about that too I think I think most coaches should be able to coach
04:21anybody but there's not a lot of guys that have the kind of cachet to be able to do that
04:25anymore for
04:26some reason and but when you're looking at the next guy for this team you're looking at the guy
04:33that can really coach Cooper Flagg and work with him and help grow and develop him but he also you
04:38know
04:38he would have to be able to accommodate Kyrie and those things at the same time that's kind of a
04:43tough
04:43spot to be in yeah it's a juggling act a balancing act I mean the greats have been able to
04:49manage the
04:50personalities while tactically being able to put their players in the best positions you know to
04:55succeed and you're trying to figure out what's the best way to move forward and helping Cooper Flagg
05:01continue to develop while also still appeasing and coaching veterans who are at different stages of
05:07their careers trying to figure out what's best for them in terms of they want to help and continue to
05:12move forward with a younger franchise in terms of the direction that they're going in or you know
05:17wanting to go somewhere else to potentially compete for you know for titles so that coach whomever
05:23that's going to be is going to have a very delicate balancing act to make sure that all of these
05:29everyone's pulling in the same direction as inside you clearly you know wants everyone to be pulling
05:33it at this point you have anybody in mind then that you're already kind of going all right I would
05:38like to see that guy walk through the front door probably Kenny Atkinson right
05:42uh no no no no no he's got uh bigger things to consider right now after blowing that lead last
05:50night against uh the Knicks um call a timeout you know what I'm saying I mean hello Jason K call
05:57a
05:58timeout like these man um like Sean Sweeney comes to mind um Mike Anori who's a terrific assistant
06:07uh with Minnesota has Masai Ujiri ties has been a hot coaching assistant name uh for the last couple
06:14of years and he might be in play in Chicago given uh their situation there but uh those are the
06:20two
06:20names that immediately come to mind obviously he has familiarity with Nick Nurse won the title with him
06:25you know in Toronto could he call Philadelphia because they're going through it right now with
06:30the firing of Daryl Morey could Nick Nurse would be someone he tries to coach from there as well
06:36uh but those three names immediately come to mind I think Sean Sweeney's done a terrific job
06:40he did a great job as a defensive coordinator here in Dallas before ultimately going to San Antonio to
06:45become the associate head coach with Mitch Johnson there and we've seen the kind of defense that
06:49they've assembled uh with Victor Webinama being the you know the guy there so those are the three
06:54things that immediately come to mind when I think about this job for sure is what happened last
07:00night any more proof that you can't have a dude that guys hunt on defense after uh after your boy
07:06went after James Harden so much last night well that was crazy wasn't it like I mean I mean give
07:13Mike Brown credit he recognized that look man we got a chance to hunt a guy in James Harden 36
07:18years
07:19old at this point not great defensively and we have guys that can exploit him and he just went at
07:24him over and over and over again and Kenny Atkinson and the Cavs just could not stop it so
07:30yeah Harden gonna have to man up and find some pride in order to uh not allow that to happen
07:35but yeah I
07:35thought it was um a terrific plan by Mike Brown he said look man we're gonna go hunt him and
07:40if
07:40we can't stop it we're gonna just spam it over and over again do you think that or the Dan
07:46Dan Housen curse is the number one reason that this series is over
07:52yes
07:56look man and it's funny because you know you bring up the WWE you know reference to it because Dan
08:02Housen obviously is doing what he's doing but you know watching the way the Masai Uchiri has
08:07operated over the first couple of weeks and being the president of basketball operations
08:11I mean you two and Alec can appreciate the reference I mean he's the final boss like he's
08:17literally the final boss like he has come in rock style and said I'm going to run this exactly the
08:24way that I want to and nobody's finishing their damn story around here I'm the one that's going to be
08:30making sure that everyone going forward is uh moving in the same direction and I think that's one thing
08:36that we've heard very clearly from you know Masai Uchiri in the first couple weeks is everyone
08:42in this organization has to pull in the same exact direction and that's forward and anyone who is not
08:51willing to do that or he believes is not capable of doing that given what he wants to do for
08:56the vision
08:56of this team he's removing them and for someone of his success rate in this league you have to give
09:04him the benefit of the doubt that what he's trying to do here will ultimately be successful
09:09because he's done it wherever he's gone whether it's Denver or in Toronto and now trying to do the
09:15same in Dallas but yeah that's I'm gonna start referring to Masai Uchiri as the final boss because
09:20that's the way he's been operating over the first couple of weeks of his time here in Dallas for sure
09:24well Cooper Flagg is clearly Cody Rhodes then so I don't know how this is all going to work
09:31they'll figure it out they'll figure it out all right the uh all right the draft is the next thing
09:36though what is what is the right piece and obviously in these other discussions of trying to figure out
09:42how to uh maybe move up maybe that is an option at some point but if you're at nine what's
09:47the best
09:48piece to add next to uh Cooper Flagg you know it kind of depends on what flavor of ice cream
09:55you like
09:56when it comes to a lot of these guards to be honest I mean I tend to like Graydon Burry's
10:01from
10:01Arizona you know a guy that's 6'3", 6'4", you know 215, 220 got an NBA body who can
10:08shoot
10:08from three good defender uh smart player had to play the really night in a really nice system uh in
10:16Arizona and I think is NBA ready right now do you potentially look for more upside with a guy like
10:23Michael Brown um who at his best and when he's healthy you could argue could go as high as five
10:31in this NBA draft he's that good he could he could score he could defend um the question will be
10:38how concerned are you about his back issues that basically ended his you know college season the
10:44last six seven games he missed of his uh you know his year in Louisville so I mean you have
10:49Kingston Flemings you know who you know obviously in Big 12 country you saw what he was able to do
10:54with Houston come from a tough program with Kelvin Sampson um athletic can score be able to find guys
11:03and be able to be the kind of point guard that you would want potentially for the future um you
11:09know
11:09there's a lot of guys there Keaton Wagle from Illinois yes he gives me Tyrese he gives me Tyrese
11:13Halliburton vibe a little bit uh a little longer point guard six five six six um still an emerging
11:20player as he continues we saw what he did Illinois this past year so it really kind of just depends
11:24on
11:24what you want you know uh I tend to want the two-way guy that can shoot defend uh and
11:32can really come
11:33in right now to give you real contributions and I think Brady Burry is the guy that can do that
11:40for
11:40Dallas if he's there at nine I I'm I really like Kingston Flemings though I do think Wagler could
11:46pair along well beside Irving if he wanted to go in that direction so I'm excited to see how
11:54how this entire draft scenario plays out all right do you have any other big uh NBA predictions for us
12:01whether it's the Mavs or the playoffs because things just keep on happening here in Dallas
12:08it really feels like the NBA finals is happening right now between the Thunder
12:12and the the Spurs I mean a double overtime game in game one where Victor Wimanyama because the
12:20youngest player to go for at least 40 points and 20 boards in a game is kind of nuts
12:25oh I think the uh the NBA finals is happening right now between those two teams but I mean it's
12:31exciting time you know if you're a Mavericks fan to see that the slate appears to be fully cleaned
12:37out obviously fans the guy who owns the team right so in the side we trust and we'll figure out
12:45over
12:45the next few weeks what he's going to do in the draft and then ultimately uh in free agency and
12:52beyond
12:53to figure out what the team will look like going into next year so yeah I'm excited but I think
12:57the
12:57NBA finals will happen right now between the Thunder and Spurs man I appreciate the time we miss you I
13:02know we still text all of the time but really glad to have you back on air we got to
13:06get you up in
13:07studio next time for sure for sure and look I tell Alec uh you know quit throwing up the tiktok
13:13videos him at the gym putting everybody's shame okay relax on the tiktok gym video putting them up
13:18yeah like we get it like we get it so that means I gotta put three up today right that's
13:23what I got
13:23to do now that's right like we get it oh my gosh I'm young I'm strong I got a girlfriend
13:28I work out
13:29at the gym and the producer the hottest mid-morning show I gotta get it we get it Alec like
13:33we like we
13:34get it man like we got it all right you might have just broke some news to Alec there too
13:38all right
13:38thank you thank you very much good sir we'll catch up with you again very soon love you KG all
13:44right
13:45love you guys
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