00:00And Kyrie brings it up. Two-point game. Right side of the floor. Left hand. Push the flag against Eason.
00:07To his right. Spin left. Hang. Scores! As he hits the deck with 24.2 seconds remaining.
00:16Chuck Cooperstein, voice of the Mavs on your new home for Mavericks basketball. Sean, RJ, and Bobby with Coop every
00:24hump day. At this time, Bobby's cooked up his George Pickens trade possibilities and be loathe about at 840. Is
00:32this a week you wish you were back doing Sports Talk Radio?
00:37Well, Monday was.
00:40Not yesterday interviewing Jerry?
00:43Well, that was pretty good, I must say. Yeah. Okay. I'll grant you. This is a good week. This is
00:49a good week to do.
00:50How long was your show?
00:54Well, at WBAP.
00:55And how many calls? Yeah.
00:57Well, at WBAP, it was four hours. And I was alone.
01:02Wow.
01:04Pretty much every show I did prior to my going to ESPN, when I worked with Newey Scruggs, and even
01:11after, you know, I stopped working with Newey, my shows were all solo shows.
01:18So it was just me, myself and I.
01:21Would you have rather done Cowboy Radio Monday or News Radio 1080 today?
01:31Well, which station would I would rather have? It doesn't matter.
01:35No, would you rather done Sports Talk Monday or News Talk today? You have to do one.
01:40Oh, no, no, no. I'm not qualified to do News Talk.
01:46I was like, oh, he's about to jump in this. He's about to go.
01:49I mean, some might say I'm not qualified to do Sports Talk either, but at least I think I'm closer
01:56on the Sports Talk side.
01:59All right, Coop. Some people were upset. I think they were just disappointed, you know, that Kyrie wasn't playing the
02:04other night.
02:05And it's like, yo, this is the way that it's going to be.
02:07Like, what do you think the plan will be for him off the injury, with the age, to knock off
02:14all the rust, to preserve Kyrie Irving, just so Mavs fans listening can get used to it?
02:20It's a really good question, Sean, and I really don't know the answer to it.
02:24And I'll admit that I was disappointed and, frankly, surprised by it.
02:28You know, understanding that the Mavericks are playing five games in eight nights, starting with the game on Monday night.
02:34But there is a back-to-back in there, Sunday and Monday, home back-to-back with Brooklyn and Indiana.
02:40And I thought that that would be the game that he would take off in this stretch of games, especially
02:48when you consider that there were two days off prior to the Sacramento game.
02:55Yeah, he played a lot of minutes in the Houston game, but there was plenty of time to rest and
03:01recover and then go play the game.
03:04But the bigger concern, even coming out of all of this, is the two games that Kyrie has not played
03:12are the two games that the Mavericks have scored their fewest points.
03:16So, you know, what is that telling me about his overall importance to this team and how much they can
03:23actually afford to have him sit as much as I think he's probably going to sit?
03:30Again, this is a guy that has not played 60 games in a season in this decade.
03:35So, you know, it is important to manage him, for sure, but, you know, given the nature of the Western
03:43Conference and what we've seen early on, you know, you're playing with fire.
03:47And especially, you know, against a team like Sacramento on Monday night, that was winless, that had been awful, but
03:54was certainly desperate to win.
03:56And, you know, I think that the modern game may have gotten the Mavericks on Monday night.
04:04The idea of, you know, resting and, you know, thinking that, you know, their depth would be able to handle
04:13things.
04:13And maybe, I don't know if Dusty May knew this or anybody else knew this, but, and we talked about
04:21this on the broadcast, that Sacramento is to the Mavericks as Arizona is to the Cowboys.
04:27I mean, Sacramento's now won six straight games in the American Airlines Center.
04:32That's the longest, that is the longest winning streak by any team right now against the Mavericks.
04:38And they've won six out of seven now against the Mavericks.
04:41And the only game the Mavericks won was a game back in January where they were down by as many
04:46as 12, and I think they led for about a minute and a half in that game.
04:49So they, they have been their kryptonite.
04:53And, you know, with all the good feelings coming out of Friday night with two days off, I was really
04:58surprised that he didn't play.
04:59I would have thought that they would have gone later in the week, you know, because every, there are no
05:04back-to-backs until the Sunday, Monday, Brooklyn and Indiana.
05:08And then made that decision.
05:10But they made, they made their decision.
05:11That was, it was theirs to make.
05:13They did it.
05:13And you live with the consequences.
05:15And now you go on to a much more difficult task tonight.
05:19Coop, is it, is it pretty clear and obvious that, that Cooper flag gets a much different shot quality when
05:26Kyrie's not on the floor?
05:29Well, I thought it was interesting.
05:32And again, you know, a lot of early season basketball is about experimentation, but, you know, they did go back
05:40to playing a bigger lineup.
05:43They started Caleb Martin.
05:44They basically put Cooper at point guard.
05:48And without, without the spacing that Kyrie does create, yes, it makes it more difficult, not only for Cooper, but
05:56it made it more difficult for everybody.
05:58I mean, there were some good looks early in the game for the Mavericks.
06:01They missed their first 10 from three-point range.
06:04And I dare say that eight of them were wide-open threes that were missed.
06:07So the looks were there, but then as the game went on, really kind of the looks went away and
06:13they really didn't do very much.
06:15And, you know, their, their biggest success was when they got the ball inside the Gaffer and Johnson.
06:21They were combined 14 of 15 for the game.
06:24Coop, you know, Mavericks to start off the season have had some issues with turnovers, but, you know, Dusty May
06:30had talked about transition defense being a big focus for them all off season.
06:35And they've come out and they've been really good in, in transition, uh, defensive this year.
06:39I think they're fourth in points allowed per game in transit, fast break points allowed per game.
06:44Uh, how big is that going to be tonight against San Antonio, which is a team that does like to,
06:48you know, when they generate turnovers, get out, run a little bit and score on the fast break.
06:52Well, again, that's, that's the biggest issue of being able to, uh, take care of the ball.
06:59So you don't create those live ball turnovers, uh, you know, outside of the, the three-point line.
07:04And, and, uh, you get, uh, you know, real runouts and things like that.
07:08Um, that was certainly a problem in the game that they played back on, uh, October 24th in the home
07:14opener.
07:15I mean, San Antonio forced 21 turnovers and they got, uh, I think 32 points off of those turnovers.
07:20Um, that's, uh, you know, that's not sustainable.
07:23I mean, you're, you're, you're just not going to win, uh, you know, when, when that happens.
07:28So, uh, it's absolutely huge tonight, strong with the ball because they're going to hack and they're going to whack.
07:35And the officials, you know, they dare the officials to call fouls.
07:38Officials, even though they're calling more, more fouls early in the season, don't necessarily want to call those types of
07:44fouls.
07:45Uh, so, uh, you've got to be, uh, you know, you got to be strong with it and make sure
07:50that, uh, you take care of it and give yourself a chance.
07:52Chuck Cooperstein, voice of the Mavs, every hump day at this time here on Sean and RJ.
07:56Did the finals change your mind about Wemby in any way?
08:02The only thing it changed was, uh, my concern about how he is used during the regular season.
08:10Uh, that, you know, they've tried to limit his minutes and make him a, you know, a 30 minute player,
08:16uh, if you will.
08:17Um, you know, you get to the playoffs, you're not playing 30 minutes anymore.
08:21You know, you're playing 36, 37, maybe even more, uh, per night.
08:26And, you know, you, you have to be able, uh, to build your body up.
08:31I think, I mean, again, I've never done this.
08:34So, you know, I, I, I'm speaking with a 30,000 foot view here, but I think.
08:39You run them with your dog last week, but not, but not like that, but, uh, body up to be
08:47able to
08:48take that, that type of contact.
08:50And, uh, you know, we'll, we'll see what happens here early in the year.
08:54Um, you know, and as they, and as they go through and get ready for the playoffs, you know, do
08:58they build
08:59him up, um, to, to where he, he occasionally does play 36 minutes.
09:04Now the other night against Utah, they didn't have to do that.
09:07Uh, they really, if you look at the box score, they beat nobody, I think played more than 26
09:11minutes on in the earth, in their entire team, uh, when they, they rather Utah and that, and that's
09:17fine.
09:17But like, if the, if the games are closer, um, you know, maybe not necessarily doing it
09:23now, but certainly by the time you get to March, uh, it's time to start thinking about
09:28things like that.
09:29Coop, there started to become a little bit of a social media, Walter Clayton Jr.
09:34fan club, specifically after the other night with his hot shooting, he's a, he's a Florida
09:38guy and, uh, you know, former first round pick last year.
09:41What are your thoughts just in general on how Walter Clayton fits into this team and what maybe
09:45can realistically be expected?
09:47I think he's fit in extraordinarily well.
09:51Uh, I'm, I'm quite surprised, uh, that, uh, without training camp, without playing with
09:57these guys a little bit during the summer that, uh, he's been able to, to do what he's
10:02done.
10:02Now, the one thing I always knew Walter Clayton could do was shoot the ball.
10:06Uh, now he didn't shoot the ball well last year and I don't, I don't know why that was,
10:09but that clearly seems to be an outlier with him.
10:12Um, but he also knows how to handle it.
10:14Uh, and he does seem to be able to make pretty good decisions with it.
10:19Uh, and so I think, you know, for the moment anyway, it appears that, uh, you know, he's
10:26moved past Marcus Sasser, um, and that he is the first guard off the bench.
10:30Um, you know, what that means, like when DeLorea comes back, cause DeLorea looked really good
10:36in the, certainly the San Antonio game, uh, when he had the chance to play and then he
10:39got hurt in the next game against Miami.
10:41You know, what does that mean?
10:42I don't know.
10:43Uh, but I think what we've seen is that he is an NBA player and that he is worthy of
10:50a full-time NBA contract.
10:51Now, the Mavericks don't have to worry about that for a while, uh, but they're probably
10:56going to have to worry about that at some point.
10:58Is he, what did he not do in his previous stops in Utah that, that he is doing now?
11:03Is he that much better of a player or those teams aren't good enough to get rid of, you
11:08know, quality rotational guys?
11:09Well, he was in Utah and he was in Memphis and, uh, you know, both of those teams were,
11:16let's face it, they were, they were trying to lose.
11:19There was a lot of really bad basketball being played and, uh, he wasn't playing with players
11:26who necessarily were always playing the right way.
11:29Um, and, and then, you know, he's, he struggled with, uh, the, the, the shot and especially,
11:35you know, a lot of, and a lot of college players struggle with the move back from the short,
11:39the shorter three point lines in the NBA line.
11:41Uh, but it doesn't seem like he is, uh, struggling with it now.
11:44It seems like he's made the adjustment.
11:46Uh, Chuck, yesterday we got the news, uh, report that Patrick Dumont had gone ahead and
11:51purchased, uh, Miriam Adelson's shares now owning 69% of the team controlling owners of
11:57the franchise.
11:57Is any, anything you think comes out of that?
12:00Or is it just more sort of a, a, a change on the books rather than a change in the
12:05way
12:05they actually operate?
12:06Yeah, I think that's bookkeeping.
12:08I mean, I think I saw Miriam Adelson at two games since, uh, since the, she bought the team.
12:16Uh, this is not her thing.
12:18This is, this is definitely a Dumont thing.
12:21And, uh, I mean, it's pretty evident that, uh, he's, he's throwing serious money at it,
12:26uh, you know, to try to get the Mavericks to where he wants them to be, what he believes
12:30them to be.
12:31Uh, you know, obviously the biggest, the bigger issue is going to come, uh, within the next
12:35year, uh, with, uh, Patrick Dumont having said that he wants to buy, you know, 20% of
12:40Mark Cuban's, uh, remaining 27%.
12:43That's a, that's a bigger thing.
12:45Uh, but I think the bottom line ultimately is that, you know, Patrick Dumont is the, is
12:50the owner of the Dallas Mavericks.
12:52I saw you doing, you got to follow up on it.
12:55I saw you doing sports talk radio on Twitter yesterday over the possibility of 48 minutes
13:02to 40 minutes from Adam Silver.
13:05Your thoughts.
13:07Oh, listen, you know, it's like in, in, in, you play 32 minutes in high school, you play
13:1440 minutes in college, you get to the NBA, that's different.
13:19It's a 48 minute game, man's game.
13:21No reason why, you know, it, I mean, FIBA, FIBA plays 40 minutes.
13:27Okay.
13:27That's been fine on them.
13:29But I mean, I don't know why, uh, you should be playing the same game as a 17 year old
13:33that
13:33you're playing as a 27 year old when it's an entirely different game.
13:37Are the big counterpoints to that, you know, uh, injuries and player maintenance and guys
13:43not sitting that that would help there?
13:46Well, guys get hurt in 40 minute games.
13:48I don't know if it'd be, but if I play, I'm just playing devil's advocate.
13:52If I play 50, 40 minute games versus 50, 48, you know, the wear and tear on, I think what
14:01you would see is fewer, uh, fewer bench players playing, I think, you know, and then, and then
14:10that becomes a finance and then that becomes a financial issue for the union when you're
14:14not getting guys paid.
14:15So, I mean, that, that, that wasn't my, that, that's not my first, uh, my first thought,
14:23uh, but it's clearly a thought that's been brought up, but ultimately it, it, it, it, it
14:29wouldn't, it would take jobs away.
14:31Uh, but it would make the game, I think much more interesting.
14:35Now in, uh, in FIBA ball, you watch the European teams play, their guys don't play many minutes.
14:42You know, they're not, they're not playing 32 of the 40 minutes, uh, basically 80% of the
14:49game.
14:49Uh, you know, in the NBA, if you play 36 minutes out of 48, that's 75% of the game.
14:55Uh, so again, what's the percentage of the game that you're playing?
14:59And when it comes to what you're charging fans, uh, certainly what, uh, you want to be
15:06able to get out of an individual night in the building, as far as, uh, your concessions
15:11and your, uh, your sales, your merch, your, you know, all these other things that go
15:16into that, um, it's, uh, it's, it's, it's a, it's a much larger issue, but I think ultimately
15:22at its, at its most basic, uh, mature players, mature body players should be playing 48 minutes
15:31of my thing.
15:31Is this 830 or 845 tonight?
15:35Uh, probably 845.
15:37There it is.
15:38Awesome.
15:39Mavs?
15:39Well, now, now I understand that, uh, even on normal nights that the tip comes at 10 minutes
15:46after the hour, we, that we have tried and the Mavericks have tried or Mavericks TV people
15:51have tried to tell the NBA with everybody doing pregame shows already that there's no reason
15:59for an extra 10 minutes or an extra 15 minutes in the case of ESPN.
16:03We were already doing this.
16:05So let's, let's, let's go at the top of the hour.
16:08And ironically, you know, when TNT had the games, you know, the first game would always
16:12start at, uh, at 32 if after their half hour pregame, instead of going to 40 or 45, this
16:18is an ESPN thing.
16:20And it's become a, um, a lesser thing on, uh, with NBC and Peacock, but, but ultimately,
16:26yes, Sean, you're going to have to stay up late.
16:28You're not going to get a lot of sleep.
16:30That's, that's just the way this thing works.
16:31Great stuff, Chuck.
16:32Thanks.
16:33So do it again.
16:34Appreciate you.
