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00:00You have a bad feeling about something else people have been excited about.
00:03My social media has been buzzing.
00:05There was apparently an Instagram story.
00:09I don't follow him on Instagram, sorry.
00:11There was apparently, though, an Instagram story of LeBron playing golf at Firestone.
00:16He said playing baseball at Firestone.
00:17Playing golf at Firestone.
00:19So everybody's getting excited.
00:20You're going to throw some cold water on us.
00:21Well, remember, Zach Jackson had come on our air about three weeks ago
00:25and said he had heard rumblings that LeBron had become a member at Firestone,
00:32and then here he is in town, and so people are starting to see LeBron
00:36at some various things.
00:40Unfortunately, then, Kevin O'Connor overnight says that the Golden State Warriors
00:45are trying to do everything they can to assemble their version of the Avengers,
00:50some old super team, that they are going after Anthony Davis and LeBron,
00:56and the LeBron stuff to Golden State, I remember Bill Simmons was the first person
01:01to kind of float that out there.
01:02People were wondering, does Bill have info?
01:04And here we are, you know, getting close to the time where these moves
01:09who already had the honest trade, the league kind of waited on that.
01:12I know the Cavs can't really do anything until the James Harden stuff is announced
01:17because that's their only route to flexibility, is him reworking that contract.
01:22But all's been quiet with Kobe Altman and the Cavs.
01:26It's been more about who are we trading out than who are we bringing back.
01:30You've heard Struis, Schroeder, Ellis, Wade, either going somewhere else.
01:36It's like, well, how are we getting a talent drain from all this?
01:40And yet, the LeBron, the Golden State stuff seems to be gaining legs.
01:45And it's leading some people to wonder if this was always, always in the cards.
01:50Like, did Simmons know something?
01:52It annoys me, not just because, like, it'd be an ice story if he came back to Cleveland,
01:56but I am starting to feel more and more like if he came back to Cleveland,
01:59I think it feels like it has to be a retirement ceremony,
02:02or a retirement season where he doesn't come back.
02:05The Golden State thing.
02:09All right.
02:10Like, yeah, it would make sense, obviously.
02:14But I think for him, how serious do you take Golden State as it is?
02:21Um, not for a championship contender.
02:24How serious would you take the Cavaliers with LeBron as a championship contender?
02:28I know there's some things that have to iron out,
02:30so maybe I'm asking a longer question than I'm trying to make sure.
02:33Probably more about Eastern Conference contender than championship contender.
02:36Lakers with Luka, LeBron, and X.
02:40How serious do you give them a better chance out of the West than you do the Golden State Warriors?
02:44I'm fishing here.
02:45Yeah, it's hard.
02:46I just think San Antonio and Golden State are going to be a cut above.
02:49Because you're, okay, so San Antonio, Oklahoma City, you mean?
02:51Yes.
02:52Okay.
02:53You see, that's what I'm trying to fish out here.
02:55If he's there, like, do you go back for one year, or do you have to guarantee,
02:58if you're going to Golden State, are you there for one year,
03:01or do you have to guarantee two years?
03:03Because I don't know if you can just, like, he knows better than anybody.
03:05It just doesn't happen overnight.
03:07Like, he went to Miami.
03:08It didn't happen overnight.
03:09Went to Cleveland.
03:10Didn't happen overnight.
03:11Like, goes to L.A.
03:12Did not happen overnight.
03:13He knows that better than anybody.
03:15It's going to have to be two years.
03:17The closer ones that he has, like, the Lakers are kind of there.
03:21The Cavs are there.
03:23I don't know if it would happen in one year.
03:26It would probably be the same, honestly, the same thought.
03:29But it's like, man, the Lakers are a part of your history.
03:31The Cavs are obviously a big part of your history.
03:33So would the Heat.
03:34The Heat would make more sense to me.
03:36It's just, I think a legacy, and I just, maybe I'm the only person who cares.
03:39I think I'm the only guy who cares.
03:41Like, from a basketball.
03:41I don't know if anybody else cares.
03:43Well, just, well, I would push back a little bit, like.
03:45As much as I do, maybe.
03:46Maybe I'm making too big a deal about it.
03:48From a basketball, just getting to watch some of the best to ever do it.
03:52But, and, and, quite frankly, to see rivals, you know, that at one point seemed that they
03:58never, it wasn't a hatred between Steph and LeBron.
04:01But there was definitely, there was definitely a LeBron putting Steph in his place when LeBron
04:06had to hear that, wait a second, I'm not the most popular player in the NBA.
04:09People are talking about that dude, and he's the unanimous MVP.
04:13His team wins 73 games.
04:15Just supposed to be a foregone conclusion they're going to win the title.
04:17Like, there was that rivalry going on.
04:20I never, I never got the sense that they hated each other or anything like that.
04:23To see them on the floor, I do think even at this age would be kind of cool.
04:27But I wouldn't, as a Cavs fan, like, I don't think that would be right.
04:31Him finishing his career.
04:33I don't either.
04:33With Steph just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense in terms of legacy and all that stuff.
04:39But I also think that I'm making, am I going to talk about this in 20 years?
04:44Am I going to say that this takes away?
04:45Does Jordan re-enter the conversation if he goes to the Golden State Warriors?
04:50Like, we've talked about his greatness.
04:52I've already put away that, you know, Jordan ended up, I know Jordan played for two teams,
04:55but really his entire big career was played with one team.
05:00Everything else was just a little bit of icing on the cake.
05:02I mean, when you're averaging 20 points a season at 40 years old,
05:05when you're Michael at that time in basketball, that was a hell of a feat.
05:09But I think that the argument of one team versus three throughout your entire prime,
05:18I don't know, I think that's gone by the wayside.
05:19I think I've made that, I think I've made my own amends with that,
05:23and I've put LeBron as the greatest.
05:25And so, what am I going to put Michael back there just because he went to the team that I
05:29didn't,
05:30because he went to a team that I didn't think he should go to?
05:32I don't think that that really counts.
05:34So, now I think that I'm the one making too big a deal about his legacy here
05:37because I don't know if he really cares about it.
05:39If he's going, I don't think it's as big a hit as I make it out to be
05:45if he's thinking about going to Golden State.
05:46He certainly cares about his legacy.
05:48It's a very important thing to him, one of the most important things in his life.
05:52But I don't think it has the effect on him the way that I think it might
05:56if he ends up going to the Golden State Warriors.
05:59Like, I brought up Franco Harris before.
06:01Nobody thinks of Franco Harris with the Seattle Seahawks.
06:03You know, nobody really thinks of Joe Namath with the Rams.
06:06You think Kim Olajuwon finished with the Raptors?
06:08Yeah, you really don't.
06:09You think of guys in their prime.
06:11Like, when you think of Patrick Ewing, you think of Patrick Ewing with the Knicks.
06:14When you think of...
06:18How about Carl Malone with the Lakers?
06:20That's a different thing.
06:22That's a different...
06:23I don't know if I really think of him at all anymore
06:27in any sort of a positive light after all that stuff came out.
06:31Jimmy Kibble doing Carl Malone.
06:32Anyway, you know, it's not Friday at 9.45, so we're going to move on from that.
06:36Daryl Ryder, 8.22 this morning.
06:39All right, are you getting a good or a bad...
06:40So you got a bad feeling about LeBron?
06:42Right now, I'd have to say I don't think he's going to finish his season...
06:47Or finish this season, which I thought was going to be his last weekend.
06:50So you don't feel good about the possibilities of him coming back?
06:53It's all right.
06:54You're allowed to have that opinion.
06:55I feel like right now he's just...
06:57He's having some fun doing the flirting.
06:59You know, kind of back and forth.
07:00Same thing he did, by the way.
07:02When was he...
07:05Was it during the season?
07:07When was he in Cleveland that we started trying...
07:10Oh, Dave McMenamin had texted me after I tweeted.
07:12I'm like, streets are talking.
07:13And he goes, nope.
07:15Like, he just gave me a one-word, nope.
07:18And that was, I think, before the season.
07:20We're trying to cobble anything together just to...
07:22Just part of it is, I can be honest,
07:26LeBron comes here, it's not about the championship.
07:30It just isn't.
07:31Like, I think he helps.
07:33It doesn't make them the favorites,
07:35especially at his age.
07:37Like, how many games is he going to be able to play?
07:39You know, you feel like every year,
07:41even know how his body defies everything we know,
07:43just like kind of Tom Brady did in the NFL.
07:46Yeah.
07:46Like, you can't use your typical numbers
07:50and workload data.
07:54It's just different with LeBron, obviously.
07:57But I referenced the Kobe Bryant last season.
08:01I think people can say what they want now,
08:03but to actually experience it,
08:06I think a LeBron final season in Cleveland
08:08would be something you would remember
08:10for the rest of your life.
08:11I think it would be that big of a deal.
08:13Oh, I think it would be absolutely unforgettable.
08:14I think anybody who's from here says it wouldn't.
08:17I think they're either denying themselves
08:18or they just don't know the game.
08:20And it hasn't happened.
08:20Or they don't know the scope of what he represents.
08:23You might have said,
08:24if you were a Laker fan for Kobe's last year,
08:27going into it, you'd been like,
08:28oh man, this is trending downhill.
08:31This isn't going to be pretty.
08:33They won like no games that year.
08:35They were horrible in Kobe's last year.
08:37Nobody talks about how horrible they were.
08:39They talk about what a special season it was.
08:41Everybody that got a chance to see him
08:42one final time in the Lakers.
08:43I mean, any of his options are still good options.
08:48Like teams that could be competitive.
08:49Like if you get, they just got Giannis.
08:52If you get LeBron, you're a better team.
08:54You're a playoff team.
08:55I don't know how far they go.
08:57I mean, I made a joke about them.
08:59Did he go from one play-in team to another play-in team?
09:01I mean, it might not be in that way,
09:03but you're a playoff team if you're in Miami.
09:05And if you have LeBron,
09:06you're definitely a playoff team if you're in Miami.
09:08Lakers, same thing.
09:09Warriors, same thing.
09:10Cavs, same thing.
09:11I think that he has great options there.
09:14So I don't think that he's worried about anything
09:15of this lackluster last year.
09:18The only other concern that I would have,
09:20or not concern, but theory that I would have,
09:23is that he may think if he comes back to Cleveland,
09:26it's a retirement.
09:27And I'm telling you,
09:28I do question whether or not every night he goes out there
09:34and he does something that reminds him of the old days.
09:36Like, he's not going to put together a full 48 the way he did
09:39in 2017 or anything like that.
09:42Like, those days are probably,
09:43he might be able to do it once or twice in the future.
09:46I'm not going to count him out,
09:47but those days are now fewer and fewer far between.
09:51But when he does something like when he goes court to court,
09:54or when he goes baseline to baseline, I should say,
09:56when he does some of the dunks that he still pulls off,
09:59when he still has the knowledge of the game,
10:01where he probably has, I mean, now,
10:02he was already a smart basketball player.
10:03He has an encyclopedic knowledge of the game by now.
10:06I think it's very hard to tell yourself
10:07that this is your last season.
10:09And I know that that's what he's going to want to do
10:12to pay back the NBA, to still be that guy in the NBA.
10:16He'll do it.
10:16It'll make him money.
10:17It'll make the team's money.
10:19It'll make the league money, the whole thing,
10:20other players' money.
10:21It's a way of giving back to the game
10:23that's given him so much.
10:24I fully think he plans on doing that.
10:26But I think it's hard for him to admit that.
10:28Like, as sick as this is, like, Kobe had a bad injury,
10:33and then it was like, all right, that's it.
10:37If LeBron, if Kobe doesn't have that bad injury,
10:40is that still his retirement year?
10:43If LeBron doesn't have that injury, I mean, God forbid,
10:47but it's like, how long does he try to hold out?
10:49Like, he's not going to go out there
10:51and just be a shell of himself,
10:52but he might just be denying it,
10:54because if you can still do it at 41 when other guys,
10:59it was like, no, there's no way you can still do
11:01these things at 41, then why put a cap on yourself?
11:04I think it's very hard to walk away from something like that.
11:06I know, and it's hard.
11:07It's hard to conceive, like, would he go to Golden State
11:10this year and then go to Cleveland the following year?
11:13And at some point, I do wonder, like,
11:14there's going to be a fatigue in talking about his last year.
11:18You know, we're going that with Aaron Rodgers.
11:20Aaron Rodgers, certainly, yes, great example.
11:22Now we're to the point where people are like,
11:25dude, go, whatever.
11:26I'm sure some Steeler fans are like, dude, go.
11:29Well, yeah, because it holds up their future.
11:30I mean, they don't know, give or take, which one.
11:33He's back now, but there was some angst in April and May.
11:36Like, what are you doing here, guy?
11:37What's going on?
11:39Yeah, overall, I just, I don't have the same feelings.
11:43Remember, we were reading the tea leaves like crazy,
11:45you know, last time around.
11:47And even, like, in the week, the last week,
11:50we were trying to piece together anything,
11:51and I don't know, I just, I have this feeling in the back of my mind
11:56and then seeing the Kevin O'Connor report overnight
11:58that this is not happening.
11:59And, you know, you're wondering, what are the Cavs going to do here?
12:02Because I mentioned before the break,
12:04you're hearing about potential Strews trade.
12:06You're hearing about a potential Schroeder trade.
12:09You're hearing Dean Wade will,
12:12there will be no hometown discount.
12:14And by the way, if you're Dean Wade, why would there be?
12:16Like, you only have this chance to make the most amount of money possible.
12:19No, he's got to go make money.
12:20He's not taking a discount.
12:21Yeah, he's a good defender.
12:22At this stage.
12:23And then, you know, Keyon Ellis, too.
12:25So all we keep hearing is that the team is going to be,
12:28on paper, worse than last year's team,
12:31which was Easter Conference Finals.
12:34Nobody seemed to be happy about that.
12:36So it's just eerily quiet.
12:39Eerily quiet right now from the Cavs,
12:41because you're not hearing about additions.
12:43You're only hearing about subtraction.
12:44Well, because I think they've got to be careful about it,
12:46because when you bring LeBron in, there's probably big pieces that have to go.
12:50Because if LeBron were to go,
12:52I think it's probably going to be this way with anything.
12:53I think they'll probably try to work a sign-in trade of some sort,
12:56whether it be with Golden State, whether it be with Cleveland,
12:58whether it be with Miami, whatever.
13:00So I think the Cavs have to be quiet,
13:03because, I mean, you're seeing what's going on with this Jalen Brown stuff.
13:05I mean, Jalen Brown's upset.
13:06It's gotten to the point now over the weekend
13:08where I see some of the opinions that Jalen Brown has had,
13:11and I wanted to talk about this just a little earlier,
13:12but I'm going to do it now.
13:13It's made me want Jalen Brown a little bit more.
13:17Because I see a player who can play MVP-style basketball.
13:20I think he's way better than some of this stuff
13:22that's being thrown out there about him.
13:24I think he's a really good player.
13:27We've argued whether or not that he could be the number one on that team,
13:29whether it was really him or Jason Tatum.
13:31I think that he feels that the championship that they won
13:33in so many ways proved that he was the number one,
13:36but I think that that's a big conversation there.
13:38I think he feels legitimized by that,
13:40and I think he's very upset that he's being doubted.
13:43And when you're talking LeBron,
13:46one of the greatest things we've ever seen in sports
13:49is angry LeBron, who's played the game mad
13:53and has just went out there when he's really upset and goes,
13:56I'm just going to prove to everybody I'm the best person on the floor.
13:59I'm the best person on the planet.
14:01None of you people can touch me.
14:03Now, Jalen Brown doesn't have that type of power.
14:05LeBron's a one-on-one.
14:05But a mad basketball player like that might exactly be what we need.
14:11A guy who's really, really angry at the world for doubting him
14:15might be what we need on this team.
14:16Apparently, I'm at odds with the analytics community,
14:21which came up over the weekend.
14:24But Jalen Brown already is the quintessential guy
14:28who is fearless of nobody.
14:31If the rap of a lot of dudes in the NBA is,
14:33oh, they don't play hard all the time.
14:35That guy plays as hard as anybody.
14:36It's making me want him.
14:37Oh, these guys are buddy-buddy.
14:39He's not even buddy-buddy with his own teammate, apparently.
14:41And it's not like I never would want him before.
14:44It wasn't like that last week.
14:45Like, I listened to you.
14:46I had it out with you.
14:47I had it out with Jason.
14:48I had it out with Daryl, even.
14:49Daryl was the only one who kind of came close to agreeing with me.
14:52I think Jason was a little bit.
14:53But as we may play coming up here later on in the show at about 8 o'clock,
14:57my memory gets a little bit fuzzy about who I do shows with
15:00and what they said because I might have accidentally stepped on Lima's toes
15:03at 8 o'clock.
15:04We're going to play that for everybody
15:05because I might feel bad about something like that.
15:07I might actually apologize to Lima.
15:09But, you know, going back to Jalen Brown,
15:10it's not that he's not a great player.
15:12He is a great player.
15:13I worry more about fit now than I've ever worried before.
15:16I think 10 years ago, if there were a player like Jalen Brown,
15:19it's like, hey, we've got to do this.
15:20We've got to make this trade.
15:21Let's get going.
15:21But when I worry about fit,
15:24it's still something I'd be concerned with.
15:25However, one of the things that we keep getting thrown in our faces
15:29and Channing Fry brought it up on road tripping last week
15:32is you keep getting told you don't have enough dogs.
15:35And I think it's an annoying thing for the fan base.
15:39I think it's annoying to players themselves.
15:41But just because it's annoying doesn't mean to some degree it isn't true.
15:46And if you get a guy like Jalen Brown,
15:48if you can make something like that work,
15:51you're getting an agitated player
15:54that I think could probably do some great things for you
15:58because of his overall talent.
15:59Like, the angrier he gets,
16:02the more interested in Jalen Brown I become.
16:04And this is just what is so crazy
16:08about the spirit of NBA discourse right now
16:11is that there is like a full-fledged debate
16:13on how good Jalen Brown is
16:16and whether he's completely overrated or completely underrated.
16:19For somebody who's been an NBA Finals MVP
16:22and just put a Boston Celtics team on his back
16:25last year that, on paper,
16:28wasn't supposed to even make the playoffs
16:29or if they were, they were going to be a play-in team.
16:31And before you knew it,
16:32they were one of the best seeds,
16:34top seeds in the Eastern Conference.
16:35Exactly.
16:36Exactly.
16:36Exactly.
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