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Brendan Tobin from Tobin & Leroy joins Hoch, Solana, and Zach Gelb to unpack LeBron James spurning the Heat for Philly.
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00:00I wanted to come out of the box and ask you, do you think Goran Dragic costs the heat, LeBron
00:05James?
00:05Because Goran's meddling in everything, and do you think he may have meddled in this?
00:10No, I probably didn't meddle enough.
00:12He'd probably get one call from Goran Dragic.
00:14Allow me to follow up.
00:16Do you think Kendrick Nunn is the new Goran Dragic, suggesting that he's got three to five people a day
00:23asking him about returning to the heat?
00:25Hold on, are three to five people a day are bumping into Kendrick Nunn, asking him to return to the
00:31heat?
00:31Do you think it's the same three to five people?
00:33We were asking today, like, does he go to Publix?
00:36And it's the same guy cutting his meat is the guy who's just like, hey, K-9.
00:43The door man at the building sees him every morning.
00:45Hey, we'd love to see you back with the heat.
00:47He counts that as another one for the day.
00:49I did learn today.
00:50He has very high EuroLeague credentials, Kendrick Nunn, since leaving the NBA.
00:55He balled.
00:55He balled over there.
00:57Explain to us the psyche today of Heat Nation.
01:01By your estimation, do you feel like LeBron pulled the rug out from under us because he led us to
01:08believe one thing?
01:09Is this a big, eh, who cares?
01:12Because we got Giannis, who was the real target in the offseason.
01:16I'm just wondering if you can encapsulate your feelings, Heat Nation's feelings.
01:20I think from my, I don't feel like the rug was pulled out for the, I am surprised.
01:24I didn't think it was going to be Philly.
01:26I was like, if he's going to go somewhere, my big hunch the whole time was I thought he was
01:31going to go to Cleveland.
01:32It was the press conference with Giannis on Thursday and all the market changing and the narrative.
01:37I was like, man, maybe there's something really to this Miami thing.
01:40I didn't think, I thought when Bob Myers went sniveling onto Rich Paul's press podcast, I was like, that's not
01:47a real thing.
01:47They're just kind of throwing that in the ether that he might go to Philly.
01:51So I think I'm just surprised that's the team that he picked.
01:54I think if Heat fans are bothered, my reaction to it is, well, because there's another really good team in
02:00the East.
02:01Like, I think Philly got better.
02:02There's no way you can sit here and be like, hey, Philly traded Paul George for Jalen Brown and LeBron
02:09James, essentially, and got a lot better this offseason.
02:12They obviously have to deal with Joel Embiid and those creaky knees and whether or not they're going to hold
02:17up, but you are right.
02:19The ultimate thing is the Heat had a great offseason.
02:21They got Giannis.
02:22They turned into a new era of their franchise, but I definitely think there's a little sting.
02:27Like, you feel like you picked those guys over Giannis and Bam, and so there's got to be a little
02:32bit of that.
02:33And also, you factor in, I just saw Levitard had out there that the Heat are annoyed because they offered
02:39him more than what the,
02:41the Sixers offered him was like half of what he eventually picked for by going to Sixers.
02:45Who knows what's true?
02:46I'm just wondering, because there was a need for him in Miami, and it felt like, at least from my
02:52view, the last week and a half,
02:54Giannis press conference, Pat's basically alluding to it like you were talking about,
02:57and then there was a lot of talk on social media, the scheduled press conference.
03:01It felt like he was coming here.
03:03Does that change the way you view LeBron's time here that he left him at the altar for a reunion
03:07tour?
03:08No, nothing's going to sting.
03:09Like, the way that he left and how hurt I was that he went back to Cleveland after the way
03:15those fans treated him,
03:17nothing's ever going to compare to that.
03:19Like, and at that point, I was left with Josh McRoberts.
03:23Here, I still have Giannis.
03:24Like, it's way different.
03:25So it's not like an F that guy, LeBron screwed up.
03:28It's not even close.
03:28I did find that funny.
03:29It's not a lot different than I am, Tobin.
03:30I would be screaming going nuts on this guy today.
03:33I did find it funny.
03:34I did see that clip from Levitard, too, where the Heat are miffed.
03:36It's like, you guys feel miffed that LeBron James chose his decision over $4 million.
03:42Like, he's a billionaire.
03:44I mean, he literally makes that in a day on interest.
03:47He sneezes it out.
03:47If that is true, I think if you guys wanted to make money the decision, you probably should have come
03:53with a lot more money than $4 million extra a year for LeBron James.
03:56I don't think that's going to – I don't think $4 million gets LeBron James out of bed anymore.
04:00It's a rounding error for him.
04:03Are you surprised he went to Philly, though, Tobin, because he had never played there?
04:07Because I always felt like if there was the team he was going to go to that he hadn't played
04:11for yet.
04:11And I don't know if it's a legacy thing.
04:13I don't know.
04:14It was just my gut feeling it'd be Miami or Cleveland because he's been here already.
04:17It was going to be Golden State.
04:19Is that why you're surprised that it's Philly?
04:21Because from a non-Heat fan perspective, I get it.
04:24I mean, the roster's stacked now.
04:27Yeah.
04:27I was definitely surprised because of an unfamiliarity with a lot of guys there, I guess, except for Maxie.
04:32He's got a good relationship with because of Clutch.
04:35But the idea that Jalen Brown was taking pot shots at his kid and Joel Embiid.
04:40I mean, I couldn't imagine hitching my wagon to him knowing that every time the spring comes around,
04:46he's going to have some new injury.
04:48I mean, no big man falls more to the ground than him.
04:51And I just kind of, because I do think that if you let, like, if you kind of read all
04:56the Cleveland's he leaves,
04:58seemed very much like he didn't want to trust playing with James Harden if he wanted to play for a
05:01championship.
05:02I kind of feel like Joel Embiid's the next step to that as far as, like, biggest disappoints for being
05:07as good as they were.
05:08But, yeah, it definitely was the one.
05:11If I had to rank all of them, Philly, to me, would have been picked last.
05:14I would have thought Golden State because he wanted to play with Steph and stay on the West Coast.
05:19But, you know, I guess if you look at it and he's like, that is the best roster, there's definitely
05:24on paper an argument for it, no doubt about it.
05:26And I think if you're a Heat fan bothered by it, for me, it's just, damn, that's a really good
05:32added team to the East that Heat has to go through now.
05:35To me, more so than he didn't pick the Heat.
05:38Now that it's all over and he's made his decision, do you believe what we heard for the two, three
05:46weeks leading up to it?
05:48Because we did hear over and over from Rich Paul he had not made a final decision.
05:54And I wonder if you think last night LeBron went to bed, still didn't know where he was going to
05:59play,
06:00and decided around 11, 11.30 this morning, I think it's going to be Philadelphia.
06:03Philadelphia, we heard it was going to be for the enjoyment and the love of the game and for his
06:09family.
06:10And then we read LeBron's statement and he says, I didn't do it for family.
06:13And I didn't do it for anything other than I want to compete at the highest level and feel like
06:18I'm competing for a championship.
06:19So it really was a basketball decision more than anything.
06:24So do you believe anything that we heard leading into what we found out today?
06:31And did we not really hear anything?
06:34And they're going to say, no, no, no, you guys created that on your own.
06:37We never said anything.
06:38Yeah, I think there is an element.
06:40It dragged out so long that you can't help but have your mind wander if you're the media and your
06:47fans and you're all this and you're Kalshi and Hard Rock and you get all this influence around like and
06:53someone's going to hear something about how confident they are.
06:56I just think that it dragged out so long, Hawk, that inevitably, like all these narratives are going to come
07:01through.
07:02But if you just go by the way LeBron's really conducted business, they usually have their decision pretty in the
07:10bag.
07:11And yeah, maybe you hear some other pitches because you like to make it feel and maybe you want to
07:14see, are there other better better options out there?
07:17I'm not saying that there was no shot that Miami was in the game for him or got a got
07:22a real talking to at it.
07:23But if you also hear what they said, like they didn't do the whole pitch me like, hey, give me
07:29your thoughts.
07:30Give me a voice note.
07:31And that's it.
07:31We're going to make the decision.
07:32So I kind of feel like you knew what Philly was bringing to the table.
07:36I just think we're all a little surprised that that ended up being what he what he wanted to pick
07:40just because of how unfamiliar he was with it.
07:43So hypothetically, Tobin, if you could have the option of getting Jalen Brown and LeBron or just Giannis, who would
07:52you rather have?
07:52I would have to imagine still Giannis, right?
07:54Yeah, it is still Giannis.
07:55Like, and I think that that's the thing is I want I think he's the better player than both of
08:00them.
08:00And especially at this age, you know, I do wonder, you know, with with Jalen Brown having to fit in
08:06there with Tyrese Maxey, which is he kind of wanted to go do his own thing.
08:09And now this is going to be the least amount this is even less than Boston of Jalen Brown having
08:13his own team that he used to.
08:15I'm sure they're all say the right things and buy into it.
08:18But Giannis is still a monster.
08:19He seems very motivated.
08:21I think my early read on it is I still think the heat are going to be an enormous big
08:27pain in the ass to play in the regular season because they're going to be nothing but defense and hounding
08:32people.
08:33And I think Giannis is going to bring that every single night.
08:35Right. My questions are going to come in the playoffs, like, do they have the ability to really knock off
08:40these teams?
08:41Do they have a go to guy?
08:42Can Giannis be that guy?
08:43But I almost think that this heat team is set up to be surprisingly good in the regular season with
08:49all of the pieces they have around and their defensive mentality.
08:52So I dig that.
08:53I think that that's still I still think that that's a more impactful ad for the regular season.
08:58It'll just be a matter of, OK, kind of like Philly with with their health questions.
09:03But, you know, that they have go to guys and closer guys and guys who have done it because Jalen
09:06Brown's done it.
09:07LeBron's done it.
09:09But Miami, you know, the question is going to be, all right, can Giannis lead that and do that in
09:13the playoffs anymore?
09:14Jalen Brown's done it.
09:15LeBron's done it.
09:16Joel Embiid still wants the ball late in the game, too.
09:18That's going to be fun.
09:20Tobin, I hate to go down this road, but I think it's a fair one to at the very least
09:25just ponder.
09:27Did the Miami Heat ruin their chances at LeBron because of the YouTube post?
09:31No, I don't think that's I don't think that's what happened at all.
09:34I think the I think the Miami Heat, obviously, if they're thinking they were in the game for LeBron, they
09:39probably were planning some things for LeBron.
09:42And somebody had fat thumbs and accidentally hit hit public instead of posted.
09:47But no, I don't think LeBron seeing you guys think there's going to be a press conference.
09:51I'm changing my mind.
09:52No, I don't think that happened.
09:53But here's what I don't get with that whole thing.
09:54Like they clearly thought there was a good chance he was coming.
09:58Why even schedule this?
09:59It's like you could schedule something an hour or two before it happens and they will get an incredible amount
10:04of views.
10:05I never understood scheduling and having that date selected.
10:08It made me think that they thought it was a definite that he was coming to Miami.
10:11I think it's this is like very inside the scene.
10:14But I think like any of us in media, I think that departments in sports can get run thin because
10:19you're asking one person to do.
10:20Clearly, they're very much looking for people to do those jobs.
10:23So you're probably asking somebody who that's not their job to do that job.
10:27And that's how mistakes happen.
10:29I'm going to say, by the way, I don't know.
10:31But I think that I think that's what happens.
10:33I think I think it's as dumb as, hey, our television person is now our social media person until we
10:39hire a social media person.
10:40And a TV person made a social media mistake because they're not a social media person.
10:44Wow.
10:45So you're blaming Jason Jackson for this?
10:46I'm not blaming it.
10:47I'm blaming Crazy Andy.
10:48We talked about this yesterday.
10:49Crazy Andy was given the YouTube password and that's what happened.
10:54Unfortunately, it was Uptown Dale.
10:55No, but let take take me through your own personal reaction.
10:59So I'll tell you, someone sent it to me on text, the Shams tweet, and I immediately thought my buddy
11:11just got fooled by an account.
11:14Scam Sharania.
11:15In fact, Jimmy got fooled by a fake Shams account a couple days ago and sent me in Solana and
11:22Crowder that he was going to Philly.
11:24And then, you know, we jumped all over Jimmy for getting fooled, the good old Shams Tarana.
11:30Yeah, but you can buy the blue check mark now.
11:33Like, it's so easy to get fooled.
11:35So I thought my friend got fooled and then I click on it and it's 4 million followers.
11:43And I'm like, holy hell, this is real.
11:46Like, because Philly for me, I thought if it's not Miami or Cleveland, because I was so under the belief
11:52that it was about happiness.
11:54I was certain it was going to be Golden State.
11:56I thought if there was a surprise team and it wasn't Miami or Cleveland, it would be Golden State because
12:02he loved playing with Steph during the Olympics.
12:04And he wanted to replicate that for NBA fans and himself for a season.
12:07So it took me a couple seconds to process it.
12:12Not that I want to use process, but it took me a couple seconds to process it.
12:16And then I was like, wow.
12:18And I was trying to figure out what my emotions were at the time.
12:22Like, I was a little bit disappointed because I was almost 99% certain he was coming to the heat.
12:29I wonder when the news broke during your show, what were your initial reactions and where are you now with
12:37it?
12:38Yeah, I was definitely stunned.
12:39I definitely was stunned.
12:40I didn't think it was going to be Philly.
12:41And you mentioned comfort.
12:42Like, God, that's such a miserable fan base to want to go play for.
12:46And I just think to myself, he is still going to be 42.
12:50And at some point, he's not going to be this unbelievable god of basketball.
12:55So, like, I think about if he would have come to Miami, okay, there's still a soft landing here.
13:01You have fans who are going to be happy to have you.
13:03Cleveland, obviously, you're going to have that soft landing.
13:06Should it get to the point where, hey, Father Time actually taps him on the shoulder and he's not the
13:11same?
13:11Whereas Philly's going to be ruthless if he's not the same.
13:15I actually disagree with that.
13:16If it was the Eagles, yes.
13:19In Philadelphia with the Sixers, it's a very how they're doing kind of on the court product.
13:24The fact that they get LeBron.
13:26I have a lot of friends in Philadelphia.
13:28They're going to be like pigs rolling in doo-doo the next two years.
13:32Oh, yeah.
13:32They were so notoriously soft with Ben Simmons.
13:35They really were supportive of him when he was going through tough times.
13:39Well, Ben Simmons deserved it.
13:41I'm telling you, they were LeBron's biggest haters yesterday.
13:45Today, they will become unapologetically the biggest fans until LeBron says he's done in Philadelphia.
13:52Because ever since Kawhi Leonard made that shot, they have had no belief that they could win a championship.
13:58And this is the first time in like six or five years, Sixers fans wake up thinking they could actually
14:03win a championship.
14:04Which look, is there right to think that?
14:06Because again, the roster looks loaded.
14:08But again, it goes to, it's nice to think that now.
14:12But what if LeBron, by the time we get to March, doesn't look like the force that we all have
14:17come to know.
14:18And then all of that goes out the window.
14:20You're still the bum that I never liked.
14:22You know, like they just, you're right.
14:24Look how they treat Jalen Hurts.
14:26They threw snowballs at Santa.
14:28Like, they're miserable.
14:29And so, I do wonder that.
14:31But, you know, as my whole process went through, it's like, yeah, you allowed ourselves to kind of dive into
14:37it.
14:37Because I was very, he's going to Cleveland.
14:38He's going to Cleveland.
14:39This is all going to make a documentary.
14:42And then it just kept going.
14:44And you just allow yourself to think.
14:46And so, it's like, yeah, there's a sting.
14:47But I almost wonder, you know, from the Heat's perspective, it's like, damn.
14:51All right.
14:52He doesn't want to go here.
14:53There's got to be a little edge of like, okay, you got to take that personally if you're Bam and
14:58Giannis.
14:59For sure.
14:59Because it's like, you picked Joel Embiid and Jalen Brown and Tyrus Maxey over us.
15:03And I think that's going to make for a juicy season.
15:07Because, you know, as much as we've been excited about the duo, LeBron James obviously looked at that and said,
15:13no, that's a better basketball situation.
15:15And so, I wonder how they're going to take that as players.
15:19Here's the other thing, Tobin, that I wonder.
15:21Because there was so much made that the relationship is restored between Pat and LeBron.
15:25I wonder if LeBron called Pat to let him know that he wasn't coming.
15:28Like, I'm curious how Pat found out in this whole scenario.
15:32No shot.
15:33I don't know.
15:34I don't know.
15:35It's a bad job done by LeBron.
15:36I would doubt it.
15:37I would doubt it.
15:38It's just, I think the Heat were very, here's the thing with the LeBron pursuit, though.
15:43They could still go, like, it didn't hold up any business for the Heat.
15:47I think that's the difference.
15:48It's like, when this happened, Pat Riley's going to tell you, I had Pau Gasol on the line.
15:53I had other guys to add to you.
15:55And you just kept me in the dark.
15:56And you were doing sneaky meetings with Dan Gilbert back in the day.
16:00I just don't think he's going to be cut as deep this time around.
16:04He's got his guy.
16:06He was very, very happy that he was able to land Giannis.
16:09Will, does it, you know, do you feel anything?
16:12Maybe anybody's going to say that they didn't get picked.
16:14No, he's got to be missed today.
16:15I just don't think it could be anywhere close to where it was 10 years ago.
16:20Brendan Tobin, you hear him middays on this very radio station.
16:23Have a great weekend, Tobin.
16:25I'm guessing you'll post some content on your YouTube channel and work out all your emotions throughout the weekend.
16:31Thank you, buddy.
16:32Take care, and please apologize to Goran.
16:36Well, I'm sure when you're vacationing with him this weekend, you can mention it for me.
16:40Brendan Tobin there from Middays.
16:41We'll take it.
16:42We'll take it.
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