Pick'em Pros
Pick'em Pros is a father and son dynamic duo who love talking sports. Their show "Who Ya Got" features their weekly sports game picks along with commentary of fantasy sports. 13 Year old Diego Thompson is a hit as he passionately makes his points and never backs down when going head to head with his father!
Pick'em Pros
SGA or Ant-Man: Who’s More Like MJ? | Pacers Respect | OKC 90's Bulls Comparison
The NBA is entering a new era—and it feels legendary. 🔥 In this episode of Pick'em Pros, we break down the future of the league and draw bold comparisons between today’s stars and the GOAT himself, Michael Jordan.
🏀 Main Topics Covered:
More Like MJ? – Is it Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Anthony Edwards? We debate who channels Jordan’s game more: SGA’s surgical precision or Ant’s raw explosiveness.
Respect the Pacers! – Indiana’s playoff run is no fluke. We explain why they’ve earned their flowers and why the Knicks weren’t ready.
OKC = 90s Bulls? – Too soon? Maybe not. The Thunder’s depth, defense, and draft assets have us seeing déjà vu from Jordan’s dynasty days.
AAU Causing NBA Injury Crisis – Are year-round youth leagues breaking young bodies before they hit their prime? We explore how early sports specialization may be shortening NBA careers.
NBA Finals Predictions – Who’s making it to the big dance? We make our picks and break down each Conference Final matchup.
Whether you're a hoop historian or just love the game, this episode is packed with bold takes, laughs, and deep insights from a father-son duo that lives for sports talk.
Pick'em Pros is a father son duo who enjoy talking sports, debating and having fun while doing it!
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I feel SGA is underrated right now, especially with all the hate and slander that he's getting from the free throws and whatnot. Man, people are not appreciating what he's doing. It's very similar to how people didn't appreciate what Joker was doing before Joker. Joker had to get the title. There's a whole bunch of revisionist history going on.
Speaker 2:A lot of people, myself included- didn't appreciate Joker until he got that chip. All right, don't care if you ready.
Speaker 1:All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back. You know who it is, I am Derek Thompson.
Speaker 4:I'm Diego.
Speaker 3:Thompson, I'm Mike Sims, I'm Christopher C Payne Davis, and who are we?
Speaker 1:We are Pick'em Pros. We are the Pick'em Pros coming back at you in the house with a special episode of who you Got. Oh man, episode 136 coming to you from the studio here. Thank you to everybody that makes Pick'em Pros go. We got a fire show as we talk about the NBA conference finals. So, man, we've got again. Like we said, we got our special guest here in the house. We got the man who was the first ever guest on Pick'em Pros, mr Michael Sims.
Speaker 2:That's right how you doing my man.
Speaker 1:I'm doing good. I'm doing good, excited to be back. I can't believe y'all waited so long to get the Detroit feel back in the house. It's all about the D baby. It's all about the D, that's right. All about the D man. Detroit baby, yeah, represent, shout out to all the Detroit fam and our guy Michael Sims, author Michael Sims, amongst many other things, and we'll be telling you about the book that he has here, leadership, a little later in the show. And then we got our other guests, c Payne, christopher, c Payne, davis, here. How you doing, my man Doing good, it's been a wonderful Friday.
Speaker 3:You feel me. I'm really excited for this game tonight and I wonder why you're still sleeping on the Pacers. You feel me? Yeah, and just remember who made the Pacers pick? And everybody looked at him like he was crazy. One game dude, all right, all right.
Speaker 1:We gonna get into that. And then Diego, my man. So you know clearly, cpain teed that up. We're going to talk about the Pacers. Are they for real? They had that. What some people are saying miraculous comeback in MSG, the other night no pressure win, that's what I like to call it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like that, I like that. So that's going to be a lot of fun. Great show, a lot of fireworks here. So to give you the rundown first we're going to talk about who is more like MJ. All right, is it SGA or is it Ant-Man? So we see that's a fun debate.
Speaker 1:Some people are trying to say, oh, nobody, you can't compare anybody to Michael Jordan. Oh, except Kobe, or nobody, all that kind of stuff. Look, I grew up in the Jordan era. I grew up seeing Michael Jordan play in the old Chicago Bulls stadium, so I'm more than qualified to talk about this. So we're going to talk about that. All right.
Speaker 1:We've got the Pacers again making their magical carpet run here. Are they going to make it to the finals? We're going to talk about that. C Payne thinks so, and we're going to see where Mike falls on that. We've got OKC. All right, are they the next 90s Bulls? All right. Again, some people think that's blasphemous, so we're going to talk about that, all right. Then we've got AAU basketball. Is that the reason why we have all these freaking injuries in the NBA right now? Let's talk about that. And then, last but not least, who's going to be in the finals. We've got the final four. Who's going to be in the NBA Finals? We'll talk about that. All right, y'all ready for a fire show? That's right? All right, all right. Well, let's get on into it. Let's start with our first one. We're going to talk about who is more like Jordan. Okay, is it Ant-Man or SGA Diego? Why don't you go on and kick us off on this one man? Well, it's definitely SGA.
Speaker 4:SGA is more like Jordan. First of all, it's the consistency. Last three years he's averaged 31 points, 30 points and 33 points about five or six rebounds a game in these seasons On over 50% shooting. All these seasons. Those are Jordan-type numbers and all of Jordan's MVP seasons with the Bulls and they were in championships he was averaging at least 50% at like 49%, 48%, stuff like that. So I like that and the killer instinct. I see the poise between them, both when they play and just the winning teams, how they're able to lead their teams to wins while still being like they're on good teams but they're clearly the leaders and the mid-range game just getting open for mid-ranges. I see a lot of the similarities in those two.
Speaker 1:I see it, I see it.
Speaker 5:Well, Mr Sims, let's go to you again.
Speaker 1:You grew up, bad boy Pistons. That's right you used to beat up the old Michael Jordan. That's right.
Speaker 2:We didn't beat him up, you raised him.
Speaker 1:We made him who he is today. We made him who that whole documentary. It wasn't even about Jordan, it was about the Pistons. He still got it in his blood. I noticed Diego gave the statistics or whatever.
Speaker 1:Right, but you got to take two things. It's the statistics, the numbers, but you also got to take the eye test. All right, and it's a little bit of actually both of them if you really look at it, especially how when ant go to the hole, when ant want to go to the hole and ant want to just flush this on somebody, you don't see that as much. You know you stay by to still do their dunks. When you still flush it on somebody, that's a whole different ballgame and that's one of the things that makes Ant-Man a little bit more like Jordan.
Speaker 1:The statistical numbers, where Alexander is there, but I look at Ant with the eye test and just how he carries himself his swag going around the floor. You know he don't get the tongue stuck out, but it's just a certain little you know movement in his body that he get, just like Jordan used to get when he used to start rocking back and forth and he started getting that and he come up on that back leg and stuff, or you see him cock back to go back with that step back.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, yeah, I think it's a little bit of both of them. A of them, a little bit of both of them. You know, the inside joke, of course, is that he look a little bit like Jordan. That's right, he does.
Speaker 5:Let's get it out on the table. He definitely looks like he could be.
Speaker 2:Jordan's son. Let's call it out.
Speaker 1:No doubt about that and I will say, before we throw it to you, c Payne, I hadn't been as excited about the NBA as I was in the first round last year when Ant-Man was losing his mind against Phoenix. I hadn't been that excited since the Jordan days, the way he was taking over. So I will just throw that in there, all right, cpay.
Speaker 3:So I will say that they're reminiscent of two different eras in MJ. I would say that Ant is more the rookie MJ before the dynasty, before the team is fully formed. For me especially, it's the okay, I'm going to do the best I can, but again, he's always running into teams that he might not necessarily be able to overcome. Then we get to SGA with a fully formed OKC team with a bunch of star players around him who can also assist him with a Caruso, with a Ch formed okc team with a bunch of like star players around him who can also assist him with a caruso, with a chet holmgren, with a jalen williams, and having that full team together.
Speaker 3:I think that that is more reminiscent of you feel me the of the 90s which we're going to talk about later but I think that shay is more indicative of being a leader of that type of team because he has gone through the laps With the Clippers and him learning who he was going to the Thunder, having CB3 really train him and help elevate his game, then just seeing SGA really grow and fully blossom into his own with a great team. I think he's more reminiscent of the Dynasty Jordan where it's like, okay, you're going to trust that he's going to kill, but there's a bunch of other people around him that can definitely help him out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a great, great point. Y'all make fantastic points, so you definitely did your homework. I love where you're all coming from and I agree with many parts of what you all have said. I feel that Ant definitely resembles the 80s Jordan. Yes, I think he's the 80s Jordan. Sga is more the 90s Jordan. You know, that's how I see it. Ant, the way he, you know, gets to the whole charisma, all of that. Ant definitely resembles early Jordan.
Speaker 1:But SGA, man, I feel it's funny. You know we've got the whole overrated, underrated conversation. I feel SGA is underrated right now, especially with all the hate and slander that he's getting from the free throws and whatnot. Man, people are not appreciating what he's doing. It's very similar to how people didn't appreciate what Joker was doing before Joker. Joker had to get the title. There's a whole bunch of revisionist history going on. A lot of people, myself included, didn't appreciate Joker until he got that ship. Oh, absolutely. And I feel that's what's happening with SGA. We want to discredit all that he's doing and say, oh, he's on a great team, oh, he's got this. Now for one. We're not giving the coach nearly enough credit of okay, see that coach is doing his thing. For sure, coach is doing his thing for sure.
Speaker 1:But to stay to stay on topic here, man SGA's poise, the way he, just when he gets fouled, just gets up, goes to the line, uh, the, the killer instinct, everything I'm seeing. I love what I'm seeing with his game right now. He's reminding me a lot. You're just seeing it in a slightly different package. You're seeing it in the same height, 6'6". You know like him, but he's more slender. So I think if he was a little thicker you'd see more of that. And if he was a little more demonstrative, like Ant, you'd see that with the leaping.
Speaker 1:But Jordan had more of the mid-range game, the fadeaway, all of what you're seeing in the championship years is what you're seeing with him. Yeah, to your point, if you think about it in the 90s, as you're saying it, I'm thinking about it a little bit more. He didn't. When he got in the 90s it had more to do with the longevity of his career, because he took a lot of pounders, pistons, yes, but he got to the basket more on twos, not as much of those thunderous dunks, a lot of those dunks where you see him on the nicks and all those. Those, like you said, were done in the 80s or whatever, when he got to the 90s and Jordan never got, you know. I mean, he gets credit for everything else, but just his ability to get to the basket Alexander SGA can get to the basket. I think it's just phenomenal Stat. It's just crazy how he's able to get to the basket.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes, yeah, he can get to the basket. It's just not like the dunks and like all that stuff and that's what people you know are kind of slandering a little bit, but he just gets there so smooth he does like that, yeah it does.
Speaker 1:It's not all that flash and excitement, so at the end of the day, because that's what we're used to seeing. But to your point, which I think is good, you know, once he gets that that award, you know, and that that that chip cause I, I I do think you know I ain't going to get on that right now, but they're going to get it at the end and stuff, right, that's going to put them. Put them up there For sure. I feel his at the numbers. His career is going to age amazing, just like Joker's career. His career has already aged amazingly just over the last couple of years. He's like a legend already. And again, this is not a shot. When you leave something, this is not a shot. Sometimes it's a shot. I don't feel like LeBron's career is going to age very well when we look at it. I agree with you.
Speaker 5:I actually agree with you and it's not a shot.
Speaker 1:Right, because you're speaking from please correct me if I'm wrong you're speaking from the expectations on a lot of that which he put out himself or whatever. So when you don't reach that, you know at the end of the day, that's what history kind of looks at, on what you didn't necessarily achieve and a lot of those expectations he put on. Because, let's be honest, we're supposed to be looking at all these chips with the lakers. It ain't happening, yeah, and also my muscle point that's a great point. With lebron, you're gonna look at, okay, what did he do? Well, what was he amazing at? Know, it was not a great shooter, it's not a great. You know he passing was his main thing. You know again, great leader.
Speaker 1:What I think he should get the most credit for is the expectations that he came into the league with. The expectations that he had was totally unreal and he surpassed the expectations so that you cannot give him enough credit for that. He surpassed the expectations, so that you cannot give him enough credit for that. But I just feel, when you look at it down the line, especially when the next generation comes, and then when we compare, we have to nitpick, and I feel that when we nitpick. There's going to be a lot to pick at, so that that's why I say I don't think it's going to age as well as some of the others.
Speaker 4:That's the only reason why I never want to be truly not a shot, never, never want a defensive player that you have either. Just things like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's all I'm saying yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree. That's all I'm saying. Yeah. So, yeah, great, great conversation. But yeah, definitely want to hear your comments on this. If you have any questions, let up, if we have anything, and we will, uh, definitely, uh try to attack those, but yeah, it's, it's going to be great.
Speaker 1:This is something that we'll come back and revisit. So I feel we're early on this, just like our conversation that we're going to have in the third block. When we talk about okc and then reminding us of the bulls, again, people gonna think that's crazy, but I really, really feel we'll be able to rewind this show and play this years from now. People are going to say, wow, they were really ahead of it on this. We will see. All right, well, let's get to another fun one. Let's get to the Pacers the team that's shocking the world. All right, let's get to Chris's Pacers here.
Speaker 1:So now, diego, you've got we're going to start with you. You've got some videos that are out on social media. You made a very bold take. It's gotten a lot of hits where you said that you were still sleeping on the Pacers. You said you hadn't woken up yet. A lot of folks have a lot to say there. And then, on cue, the Knicks looked like they had it and then just collapsed at the end and the pacers give them credit. They played well in the last few minutes of that game, decided to play and were able to, uh, get lucky and win that game, yeah. So then you, on cue, the very next day, said you woke up from your nap?
Speaker 1:yeah, went and you went and looked like on social media. You went and bought a Hellcat car with all the money that you're about to make, because you're saying Nixon 5.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, the lines have swung so much. You know, I just figured that was a very well way to spend my money.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, alright. So what's your take on the Pacers man? Are you still sleeping on the Pacers?
Speaker 4:I'm still asleep. Actually, I just woke up to do this show. I had to do that for the fans, but you know, yeah, other than that, I was still asleep. So, yeah, they got lucky. You know, when they're down like 50 points towards the end of the fourth quarter, they're better than the Bulls, you know. So that's just, that's just what they do. A knee smith with his jump man threes uh, I call him max. You know he kicks his legs out super wide. Look at jump man logo. Yeah, uh, hallen burton uh, they will not win another game. Nixon five nicks got clutch player of the year. Jalen brunson he's gonna show out again. He's gonna get some help from the rest of his supporting cast. They're locked in because they know that when they're up a lot, they've got to hold on to it. The Pacers will play with no pressure, amazingly.
Speaker 4:They've just got to hold on to the lead. Now they know it's learning. That's why Nick's in five. Give them a game.
Speaker 1:Now all they have to do Knicks in five, you know, yeah, yeah, give them a game. Okay, all right, game and game. And now, you know, and all they have to do is just protect the ball at the end of the game.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and it's easy money at this point. Yeah, easy money. Okay, all right, okay, defense too.
Speaker 1:All right, mr Mr Sims, what you, we didn't even know. We're going to be here, but we're going to give it all. We got right on to the end and that's what happened. Now, what has happened even more and I hate to say this as much as I hate to say this, I see Indiana coming out of this, because now it just gets tighter, tighter, tighter. What is that? What is that? Is that my hands going up around my throat? Oh, oh, oh. Is that a? What is that? Is that my hands going up around my throat? Oh, is that? Is that a? Reggie Miller? And I just think that, and I'm gonna tell you what Jalen Brunson done to my Pistons gave me a lot of respect for him, but it's so.
Speaker 1:Can you imagine, can you imagine, being Madison Square Garden right now, in New York period? It's bonkers right now. In New York period, it's bonkers right now. They got so much pressure on them. Did you see all those Hollywood and old sports elites in there? Everybody, everybody was in there. And that pressure starts going. Eh, eh, eh. Because there's no way in the world what was it?
Speaker 2:70-point lead that they had right there, I believe, 17-point lead.
Speaker 1:There's no way they should have lost that. There's no way. And now guess what? Indiana said even more hey, we good to go, we all loosey-goosey, we can just go on and play, and I just think that's what's going to help them out even more. And I just see Indiana as much as I hate to say this, not an Indiana fan Nothing for them, nothing against them, but I think they're going to come out of this. Yeah, you make a great point. I mean, it was definitely the who's who in Madison Square Garden the other night. There were people that I didn't even know were still alive. They were there after the game, so it was pretty impressive. So when they come out of the grade, they had some legends in the building expected to win now, so they're gonna fold.
Speaker 3:That's what they did, okay, yep well, listen, I'm very excited with what the spacers team did and again we can say that the next collapse they like felt the pressure. But again, when you're playing with house money, your entire playoff run and nobody thinks you're there, it does give you an unbridled, reckless confidence, like you know. Obviously, having a layup and then running back out to try to hit a three, you think you hit the three and then you hit the Reggie Miller choke while Reggie Miller points at you, which again, all-time basketball moment. And again, if we're on certain players that I'm a fan of not being willing to take that shot, I think that we should give a certain player more credit for being willing to take that shot in Tyrese, halliburton and he's really been performing and elevating this team. And really there's games where he's not the best scorer, but again what he does as a facilitator, as the engine of that team Not the best score, but again what he does as a facilitator, as the engine of that team, is something that we have to commend.
Speaker 3:But we also have to think about how well Pascal Siakam plays Aaron Neesmith, literally getting them to that moment with five straight threes, which again that's an all-time heater. I don't think we've ever seen in basketball ever. So I do think that they're so well-rounded and because they can bring you to the ground and, of course, because Tibbs doesn't go to the bench. You know that those players get dog tired if they're getting run over and over and over again because he's not stopping anybody out. So the only way that the Knicks can really win the series is if the bench scoring does happen, does help out, does improve, because I feel like, again, with pacers they had, they could go so deep that you don't really have to like you can rest your a bunch of your starters versus them.
Speaker 1:They're relying on their five, six guys and that's not not a successful way for them to win well, you know, what was interesting about that run in the fourth quarter was that the knicks made that crazy run when Brunson went to the bench. Yeah, he got in foul trouble, he got in foul trouble.
Speaker 3:That's true he had, I don't know if it was four or five, five fouls, five fouls. It was five.
Speaker 1:Went to the bench which I thought they should have kept him in, and then I think they were up two, three points right around there. So it's like, okay, let's just keep it, try to keep it even, and that's when they extended it to the huge league. But then it got too good to them, because then you got Cat.
Speaker 3:God bless him.
Speaker 1:God bless him Talk about Cat being Cat looking at his hand, looking at his veins, looking at the crowd standing up against all the antics. That did not help. They got a little help from the refs there. Shout out to coach Rick Carlisle, one of the best in the business. He did a masterful job with his challenges. He is a great coach. A lot of respect for him. What I will give them? I feel that I feel the Knicks still win this. I think they win it in seven. I feel that the Knicks take care of business tonight and then they split in Indy and then I think it's just home, home, home. I think the home team wins will play out. So it's going to be game seven, madison Square Garden to go to the finals, and the Knicks pull it out and that's going to be their championship. They might as well just have a parade and just lose their mind. And you know what? I wouldn't even be mad at them If they're so long and again that Knicks crowd.
Speaker 1:you can see that they're going to celebrate that just by going to the finals they already named. They named uh streets after some of the players after winning.
Speaker 2:That's crazy, that's crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, yeah. So just ride, ride that out, go ahead and have parade, because we already know what's gonna happen when they? Face okc. So, yeah, just have your parade. I would not. You're probably getting swept. Yeah, yeah, I do. I do think that everybody knows what Indiana who's who's as far as high as shooting percentage right. Is Indiana right now for the playoffs?
Speaker 2:Okay 50%.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm saying that to say they're never out of any, any game. If you look through this, this playoff series, with all the games, and I think they've only lost two, but they've never really been out. So I'm saying that your seventh game could probably be a real scenario here. It's just going to be a matter of again you're going to see another launch up and hit the back of the rim and it drops in. Then they win in Madison Square Garden. Now, thank goodness. My only thing with that game is thank goodness that his toe was on the line, because if that shot actually won the game and it was in that fashion, then I would have been devastated Because for a second, if I'm real, I was devastated for a minute Because I was sitting there. Like I know, this didn't just happen.
Speaker 4:My whole body like went numb.
Speaker 1:It went down to Madison Square Garden, Lord, and then his toes. I was like thank you, Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Then, of course they still didn't pull it out, but at least it wasn't on the show.
Speaker 6:It wasn't like that.
Speaker 1:Oh man, with him doing a choke sign too. Yeah, that would have been yeah yeah, yeah, that was good, that was good, that was good.
Speaker 4:Very Duke-ish.
Speaker 1:Yeah, very much, very much. All right, all right, cool. Well, let's move on to the next one. Y'all let's go to again, again, back to OKC here. All right, are they the next 90s Chicago Bulls? Diego, we've been talking a lot about this at home, off camera, in the car. You know I've just throughout your childhood, you've seen countless videos of the Jordan Bulls Scottie Pippen, horace Grant, phil Jackson, all of them. So even though you're young, I mean you've been doing this for four years, been doing this since you're 11. You're very well-versed with the Bulls. Hold on, let me look at the comment here, professor. Let's read this here. So Professor says OKC is the total package. The championship is signed, sealed and delivered by Motown. Ok, all right.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes, sir, yes shout Child to professor on that. All right. So, diego, go ahead and tell us man, yeah, okay, see, they're definitely the next Chicago Bulls. I mean it's like SGA. Sga more resembles Jordan Jalen Williams. Now he's really the perfect small forward. You know he's tall, long, wingspan, strong, you know, can really do everything shoot, pass, get points in the paint. Do everything, shoot, pass, get points in the paint. You add a 7'1 center with a quick step and a shot, which is just a total boost to their team. I see, definitely. I wouldn't predict 6, because that's pretty crazy. I'll say definitely. 3. 3 championships for sure. Definitely the next dynasty of the NBA and SGA will be an all-time great by the end of his career, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, with the West being so loaded, because when you look at those old dynasty teams, when you look at the Lakers, the West was weak back then. They had a cakewalk every year to the finals. It was a shock that Houston beat them that one year and played the Celtics that year. That was Elijah Wong wasn't it yes, yes yes, I think when they had the Twin Towers.
Speaker 2:That's right, right, right, ralph Sampson.
Speaker 1:But a lot of people say they just didn't want to play that Celtics team that year, right, right. People say they just didn't want to play that Celtics team, right. And then now with the east, with the Celtics now the Pistons came of age a little later and then you know, you have the Sixers, wouldn't I say? I'd say, if anything, the Celtics had a rougher run during their reign and that's why they got three. So I think that more, I think the Celtics reign resembles more of what the um, uh, okc Thunder will be and that's why they got through, because the East was a lot tougher. But yes to your point.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's a big part, because you know the West is loaded. Some of these other guys probably like Cooper flag, maybe when B you know some of the guys coming up and get one. Yeah. So, but yeah, clear dynasty of the frontrunners. And if they get three in this era I think that would be big. Just the roster construction, the defense, the coaching, the general managing.
Speaker 1:It's all about the eye test. It's all about the eye test and I'm quite sure you young bucks have got to look at the video. I think two of us up here qualified to see it live. Yes, they do look a lot like the 90s, and we're just going to talk about the team construction Bulls more from a defensive standpoint. If you watch them and if you're seeing what's happening with Minnesota right now, minnesota hasn't been able to score. Where did most of their points come from? Inside the paint. They haven't been able to score the. Did most of their points come from Inside the paint?
Speaker 1:They haven't been able to score Right, right, the reason, if you watch them, if you watch them and it's so much, you're on point, like the Bulls, they actually are playing the man to man, but it's a cheat man to man. What do I mean by that is, if you watch them, watch the next game, they don't get right up on their man, right? They're waiting for somebody to come in to the paint and the minute they come into the paint they collapse. Now different ones, outstanding coaching, they they know who collapses when, whatever, so nobody, all right. That's why, when ant does that little move and he goes to turn, somebody's already there on the other side. They already know who's supposed to. They have done it enough in practice.
Speaker 1:If you go back to the 90s Bulls or whatever, it was the same thing. That's why you would see and even with the Pistons, pistons did. That's why you would see the you remember this the scoring would go way down during the playoffs Right now. I know, I think Indiana Pacers are. I think they're the ones leading there like average of 119 points a game right now. In the playoffs. You didn't have that. You had 80, 80-something, 90-something averages back there, but that was because of the defense and Oklahoma is showing. I got to give it to them that they're playing defense. They are playing defense. They are Great point.
Speaker 3:Great point and with everything you guys said, I really think that, with the way the West is and the fact that they have so many picks where, even if something goes wrong on their quest to a dynasty, they could still try to swing a big star, because I mean, shoot where you gotta wait for a middle schooler for real.
Speaker 3:so if there's like a team with a superstar and they're like desperate enough, they'll just be like hey, like we'll just give you this pick and like you know, maybe 2030, so that we can, you know, keep this thing rolling. So that's the scary thing about this team is, even though they're already constructed really well, if they were like, hey, even if we win the championship, let's take a big swing. And they're a bunch of big fish out in offseason this year, which does scare me, and there are certain people who I don't want to go to the west, namely, honest, on tata cupo. I think that there's so many players, they have so many good assets who've like already proven themselves and again, because they're such a young team, there's so much young talent. If there were a trade package for like a bigger star, let's say they like somehow mess around and lose the conference finals. What if they're like, hey, maybe what we had isn't good enough, let's just try to take a swing, which again is more scary. So, with what they already got, I mean shoot.
Speaker 3:Apparently last night they like tied the katie warriors for the most double digit wins, like playoffs and regular season come back. I don't know if anybody understands how scary that is, because outside of the 90s pools, everybody considers that 17 warriors team the greatest team of all time. So if they're having that type of history, one of the greatest teams of all time. I saw your face. I saw your face. Listen, I'm just saying.
Speaker 1:Just saying, we all know that it was 88, 89. Pistons was the greatest.
Speaker 3:But yeah, I think that when it comes to the fact that that's still a potential thing, even in the midst of their dynasty, that does make them more interesting and scary for the long run in the future, especially in the West.
Speaker 1:Okay, great in the West, Great points. Before we switch to the next topic and I'm going to talk on this, let's talk about the freak for a minute and where he's going to go. Let's talk about that. Before we go to AAU, let's talk about that. Did you have something you were going to?
Speaker 4:say I was going to say I don't think OKC needs a new star. I think they want to keep the roster, construction and defense and that whole thing. The cap isn't going to get messed up. You got Chet, you got Jalen Williams. They're going to get paid too, just like SGA. I think they're just going to keep it rolling in this crew.
Speaker 1:Yeah for sure. Okay Now, Summer King, can you put Dwayne's comment back up? This is Dwayne. Now, this is the ultimate. There's no bigger Bulls fan than this man right here, dwayne Thompson. Dwayne Thompson, my brother. All right, so again he says OKC needs to win six titles in eight years to be the Bulls. Because, again, you don't want anybody to come and be compared to them. So I get that. But no, no, no, no, see, dwayne, you again. You weren't old enough to go to the games right, so you couldn't go all right.
Speaker 1:I got to go All right, so I was there, shout out to you I'm also a fan coming off a.
Speaker 4:Dynasty team, and that's just saying that this era is over and it's going to be OKC.
Speaker 1:But yeah, man, these guys, again they were groomed, so again they were groomed. So again we've got to give credit to the old bulls for how this team is being constructed. Sam Presti actually was groomed under Jerry Kraus, wow, yes, yes, so there is some connection there, right? And so it all starts with him, man, the way he's constructed this. And so with the picks and all the assets that they have, again I don't see them taking a big swing because they want to stay relevant and have that long dynasty. What's going to happen is but when some of the role players get priced out, that's where all those picks are going to come into play.
Speaker 1:So, they're just going to stay ahead, so they're just going to stay loaded and he's going to continue to draft.
Speaker 1:well, and continue to draft to keep that bench deep. That's how he's going to do it and that's also why I see the comparison. That's why so many other people don't see it yet, because again, you've got to see the three, four titles in, but if you just look at the construction, it's all there. It's pieced perfectly. Like Diego said, you've got SGA the MVP, a 30.50% field goal shooter, that's Jordan Ness. Again, kobe shot 44%. Kobe was more of a volume guy. You look at Jalen Williams. What his makeup, the way he plays defense. He's long, lanky, can handle the ball. He doesn't get ripped in traffic like Tatum and Brown do. He's able to control and go into traffic and whatnot. It's not just one-on-one. You've got again the amazing pitch. You've got Chet. We're sleeping on Chet man, chet dude, he's what. 23 maybe.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God Again injury is the only thing that can derail this dude man. He's quick. His first step is lightning fast. You watch him. There's about three or four moves. He makes every game where I go dang. You know what I mean. At that size it's ridiculous. So I'm just looking at where he's gonna be because he's just scratching the surface. Oh my gosh, um the coach to then the city, only city in town. Um, that fan base is rocking. They've got the loudest stadium, like the bulls did. Yeah, it's like I say, if there's so many similar, if you just go, boom, the GM, the coach, the construction, the city, everything. I'm telling you, I'm telling you I've seen it. I'm telling you it's a lot there. So we're going to be coming back to this.
Speaker 4:Curry and LeBron. Better retire, man. It's about to get rough. Man Well, it's got to. I'm a Warriors fan. He's got to retire. It's just over.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I think he may want to stick around only because I really think the Warriors are going to get the freak. Really, I really think they're going to get the freak. I mean, I think they're going to get the freak.
Speaker 4:Even if we get the free, it's over what?
Speaker 5:What happened?
Speaker 4:In that game seven, my whole mindset just changed. I just totally saw the changing of the guard right there on the TV screen. It was just like I lost all hope when I saw that. I actually agree with you. It's just a new era, man.
Speaker 1:I actually agree with him to some extent. I kind of saw that I just felt like that Curry one thing about Father Time, as everybody knows, he's undefeated and I just think that Curry, because of his size and his body, I just don't think he can take another 80-something game season. The pounding that he takes, I just don't think he can take another 80 you're talking about another 80 something game season the pounding that he takes, I just think that he's going to be once that injury thing starts happening it starts going boom boom boom just like Kyrie.
Speaker 1:I think Kyrie is just about.
Speaker 4:I worry about Kyrie a little bit. I do think they would have beat the Wolves if they had Curry, but it does say something that he did get hurt and like that he did get hurt and like that he probably just can't do it anymore. Like like make these deep playoff runs.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, kind of reminds me again. It was a totally different injury, but I reminds me when Isaiah got hurt. Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And that that's a, that's a, that's a and it's funny, I didn't think about that. That's an outstanding example, because again you go back and you know it was that ankle and everybody was like at first. They were like oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, they're going to come back. And Isaiah, he talks about it. He couldn't, it's just, it's just something because of that age you start getting those injuries at that. You know, at that age or whatever, that's us. Yeah, yeah, that 80, you know they got 80, that 80 something game season ain't no joke. 82.
Speaker 1:It ain't no joke and normally once you well, it depends. I mean, they've got the best doctors and whatnot, so he's really, he's really going to have to have a great stretching regimen. But what I work, pull it again.
Speaker 4:You know if you can get through and not pulling, and was it a one-time thing or is it going to be a reoccurring? Yeah, it could, with hamstrings. That's definitely how it could be, but I think, since he's had one, he it might just like because you won't really understand how it is when you actually get one, like I had one. It was like that was tough, yeah, yeah, okay, you can just look at me as just look at you, just like that, yeah, yeah that tailbone.
Speaker 4:At the end of the regular season he came back, but then he had another one, so that was all right stuff okay all right, I'm just surprised diego's giving up on the words he was talking about spicy we've
Speaker 6:got to win the championship we've had it.
Speaker 3:You know stuff's gonna be the goat.
Speaker 4:All that what?
Speaker 3:happened? Man wow game seven versus actually I actually might come ahead.
Speaker 1:I do rank him ahead of LeBron, though.
Speaker 4:Curry yeah, I won't even do that, but I mean, I definitely like it.
Speaker 1:What do you think? Cpan Do you think?
Speaker 3:Curry or LeBron. I'm buying that because that dude got injured a lot and did have. And regardless of how y'all feel about Kevin Durant being with the Warriors and Steph's gravity, I get it. I get it. Kevin Durant is still one of the greatest scorers of all time and he joined a 73-9 team. And they say that this team, which was supposedly needed to be better than the Chicago Bulls because they lost 3-1 to LeBron, were like hey, let's hire this mercenary.
Speaker 1:And then. But if you're going to do that, lebron, going over to with deep weight in the rest of the year after we do that.
Speaker 4:Lebron's hopped around all over the league east west yeah, everywhere.
Speaker 1:That's why I give curry over lebron, because he wants to play with like he does, he does.
Speaker 4:That's why I give Curry over LeBron, Because he's saying LeBron handpicks who he wants to play with.
Speaker 1:He does, he does. That's why I put him over LeBron. I'm not just counting LeBron, he's running around. Lebron's running around, curry, right, wrong or indifferent. Again, he can't help it that what's-his-name came to him or whatever. So it ain't like LeBron, lebron, he's running around, so we're in the way of the Miami Heat to the Lakers who were in a rebuilding phase.
Speaker 4:They just got Luka.
Speaker 3:No, before we got Luka Before we got Luka. We were terrible before we got LeBron and then we were like, oh, bring an AD in.
Speaker 4:But again we're comparing that to a 73-19.
Speaker 3:That's just all I'm saying. We're comparing. Every time LeBron team hopped to KD, going to a team that is supposedly better than the greatest team anybody's ever seen.
Speaker 4:So Steph gets hate for bringing in one all-time great. He's brought in Luka AD Prime D Wade Prime, bosh Prime, kyrie Prime.
Speaker 1:Kevin.
Speaker 3:Love he's right. Steph gets hate for bringing one guy, he's right. He's getting behavior for bringing one guy.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to hypocrite, I don't care For that one guy at that specific time when he lost 3-1.
Speaker 1:to those guys, yes, he is getting behavior LeBron couldn't get over the hump in the East, but like Stephen A Smith said LeBron did get a stimulus package.
Speaker 1:So, with them suspending Draymond, yes, yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, oh man, this is great. This is great. This is a fun one, oh man, all right, so let's move on to the next one. Y'all Great, great stuff here. So let's talk about AAU basketball. We got about 15 minutes left here and we've got our man, brandon, joining us at the end. Okay, so AAU All right, there's been a lot of injuries in basketball, as we know, but yet we're in the load management era. So, being in the load management era, why are there so many injuries? And I think in our last episode, we were like you know what? It must be due to AAU basketball. So, diego man, what's your thoughts? And again, you're currently playing AAU right now. Do you think there's any correlation between AAU and all the injuries that we've seen over the last several years? It's not like it's just happened this year.
Speaker 4:Yeah, definitely, I definitely see that Guys like LaMelo Ball. He had his reality show back when he was in high school. He played so much AAU, so much high school basketball, went overseas when he was just a high schooler, just played all those reps and I think that's the injuries he's gotten in his career. Tayden played a lot of A like a. You saw him just tears achilles at only like 27, 26 years old. Um, you know just all these. Yeah, I.
Speaker 1:So I definitely definitely see it with the guys in the league now and so, and mike, you know you again had a son that played basketball and I know you he did not play a you, but you've been around coaches. I know a lot of people wanted him to play AAU. So what are your thoughts on the correlation? Yeah, I got some strong opinions about AAU, what it has become, and it's really funny to me because I look at it as you know, everybody knows Venus and Serena Williams. Venus and Serena Williams and if you know the story real quick about their dad and tennis has for you to come up in the ranks in tennis. They not only have AAU, they have these circuits, but they play these phenomenal amount of matches. I never knew that and again found it through the story from their father. He didn't let them play. That was his big thing and everybody said to him when he started getting them in you know, playing in what's called a pro circuit a lot of people said well, they haven't had enough time, they didn't play. You know enough matches, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And the realities of it is they were good and he concentrated on their fundamentals and look how long they lasted in tennis. I mean a long time. Yes, they did.
Speaker 1:Aau is does not anymore practice or they don't do anything. As far as fundamentals, the number one thing they are they're looking for is everybody trying to look for that one top person to be on their aau team, whatever so they get that coach can make them a star. They don't teach these guys the you know you, your kid, could be on the aau team and literally barely get any touches because that one or two stars that they have on there, they you know, the coach and all of them is trying to focus on them. And uh, the money you shell out as a parent is insane. I hear these numbers and these are like like real numbers between like eight, nine, ten thousand dollars or whatever, and you think a lot of where these kids are coming from and a lot of them don't have that you know money to shell out and they doing you know they selling chicken plates and and they're doing little fundraisers and fish plates and stuff like that to play AAU basketball.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I was a proponent and wanted my son to. I got to give credit to my wife, she really didn't want him to get into all that and mostly concentrate on school, because it takes a lot of that. When you're doing high school, you're doing AAU and all that. It. Concentrate on school because it takes a lot of. You know, when you're doing high school and you're doing AAU and all that, it can really take a lot out of it. But I just think that AAU now has missed its mark and it's just more of a marketing tool for certain players. Gotcha, yeah, yeah, one thing, and give it to you c pain. So with diego, you're playing au right now. I think it was two weeks ago. I paid 25 to see you play one game and I was like okay, something, 25, am I getting bucks? This is covered with a parking pass.
Speaker 2:Right, am I getting you know some food, some popcorn coming, whatever Right T-shirt.
Speaker 1:And they escorted you to the bleachers right.
Speaker 3:You didn't get in no seat, they said here you go right here.
Speaker 2:This is a really hard seat.
Speaker 1:And it was so funny. And then, you know, I pushed back, I was like'm not even, I'm not even fussing, I just think it's more funny. Right, you know? Right, so right, but yeah, yeah, it's really gotten out of hand.
Speaker 3:But see, pains, oh, my other thing and you were talking about the cost is the amount of barrier of entry for really talented kids who just don't have the money. That's another issue, because how many talented kids who could be superstars, because they're in adverse situations, aren't able to make it as well? And again, with the whole wear and tear it does on your body because again you got AAU and then you got them trying to go to a D1 college or be nice at a mid-major and they still have to like go through that journey over and over and over again. And it's just like then you get to the nba and you're like, okay, 82 game season with all this practice, all these reps, and if you get, let's say, you're a high draft pick, you're gonna be drafted to a bad team. In order to sell seats you're gonna have to be playing all 82. So it just builds upon itself over and over and over again where it's like, okay, are we going to really taking the players concerns at this point, you know, when it comes to adjusting to the back to back? So, like, what's going on with you know, cause sometimes, like with the finals, like with this playoffs, I thought it was crazy that, like you know that.
Speaker 3:Okay, see, and what was that? What was that OKC and Nuggets game where they play like 36 hours after and everybody's like, oh, why did OKC come out and the Nuggets come out flat? And everybody's like, well, it was 36 hours ago, they just played it overtime. Why are we just like throwing them out here right now, like nobody's probably got any good sleep? It's just like, oh, we got to lock in again.
Speaker 3:So I think that we just I feel like there has to be a time where we can just like let the players like settle in and let them grow over the years, instead of just immediately rushing them and be like okay, we need you to be our next franchise guy so that their injuries don't start piling up when they're young. Because, again, you want these players to be at their best and you, I know you want to infuse your team with youth, but you still have to make sure that they're able to adjust to all of this. Because of the because again, it's the tires and treads thing you can't keep running these kids over and over and over again and expect them not to end up hurt.
Speaker 1:We had some conversation earlier. Could you talk, derek? Could you mention a little bit about I hate to say this word or whatever, but back in our day where you had the guys that were paid three sports, four sports.
Speaker 4:You know, could you talk about something about that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's a lot of it as well. So the players are not having a chance to recover in the offseason because they're being forced to pick their main sport and because you're seeing injuries in all the sports. It's the NFL, it's all of them. You're seeing more ACLs and everything now Achilles and it's because they're playing one sport year round and they're not having a chance to rest. And back in the day, right, they would play.
Speaker 1:Your top athletes would play three, four sports and you're working different muscle groups while you're playing those different sports. So if you're playing basketball, you're working a certain set of muscles and then, when you switch to another sport, your basketball muscles are resting while you then work in other muscles. So that also is another reason why there were less injuries back then and more now, because you're specializing in tennis and then just playing that 24-7. Or if you're football, even though you've got a short season in the fall, now you've got to freaking play 7-on-7 year-round. It's like spring Every single time we drive by Clayton High School okay, we're coming at you, north Carolina, we're in Clayton, north Carolina, all right. Every time we drive by the high school, there's a group playing 7-on-7.
Speaker 4:Right Like right when basketball season ends.
Speaker 1:Exactly, I'm like man. It's you know, may, why are you playing 7-0-7 right now at midnight? It's the craziest thing. So, yeah, it's just everyone's, you know, trying to make it to the league and just focusing on one sport and playing that sport year-round. That's why you have that. Then with AAU, you've got the politics and the corruption there that's leading to them traveling all over the country and playing a whole bunch of tournaments and trying to be seen. There's laziness from the school standpoint because they just want to go to a tournament and see all the All-Stars play and pick their players from that. When, again back in the day, you had to travel and go to all the different high schools, it was a big deal.
Speaker 1:it was oh man, dean smith it was gonna be at gardner high to see donald williams play you know that was a very big deal and you just don't have that. You don't see these college coaches going to all these high schools anymore.
Speaker 4:Even these, like prep schools, like, are creating, like many aau teams during the winter. That's true, it's like you got, like you had cooper flags, team montverde you had five you had four guys that are gonna. They're gonna go first round in the nba. Another guy could have gone, but then they went another year in college. So yeah, it was it was.
Speaker 1:Uh, it was funny because in high school I ran track and cross country. That was my thing, track and cross country and every cross country season, just when we were just getting started at the beginning of the season, the basketball, the cross country season started a little bit before basketball season, but the basketball coach would make the basketball players join the cross-country team and run with us or whatever. Right, someone was pretty good. Actually, we got a little little man and just because you know, someone was taking some spots and stuff, right, right, but they would always drop off because basketball season would start.
Speaker 1:But you know, now, looking back on it and thinking about how they would get them in in shape, and you're talking about the different muscles and things like that, again, I just think constantly, I mean, look at how many games by the time that you know, uh, and you hear a lot of these basketball dads, now nba dads, who got these sons in these. A, it's a big deal now, that's playing all of these. You know carmelo anthony's son and um, it's a bunch more and that's playing all of these. You know Carmelo Anthony's son and a bunch more and all that. But they got them playing so many games before they even get. I still think that's what happened to the Ball sons and stuff. No doubt, no question, no question, no question, yeah, yeah, no question. No coincidence that you know none of them can finish the season from day one.
Speaker 1:It was from day one, and it's publicly known how much ball they played before.
Speaker 4:everybody played astronomical amounts of basketball and then you know in Europe how physical they are, like LaMelo ball going over there. It's just a 16 year old like that had to take a toll on him too.
Speaker 1:That's a great point, all right, all right, all right. Well, we got a few minutes left here, so let's uh talk about the finals. Who's going to be in the final two? And then we're going to bring brandon on for his three-minute recap. Uh, get big shout out to lexi's bus and bacon. You can see your website, lexi's bus and bacon, on the show right there. Check them out. They have amazing cookies treats. You definitely want to get all your goodies there, especially this weekend, so please check them out. Much love to Lexi's Bussin' Bacon, our sponsor. All right, so let's talk about the Final Four here. Nba Finals All right, so Diego.
Speaker 4:No doubt, just two teams OKC New York, both in five. Yeah, they'll have a lot of rest actually for the first game, so yeah, A lot of rest.
Speaker 1:Ok, yeah, quick work, because game one of the NBA finals is Thursday, june 5th, no matter what. Oh, wow, yeah. So if both teams finish up, then okay, quick work. That's what you said. I'll go. Kc Indiana, kc Indiana. I think I'm going to take Oklahoma, yeah.
Speaker 3:I have KC in Indiana as well. I do think that Indiana is going to. You know, listen, I was sticking with the Knicks, but I'm ah dang. You know I didn't switch my pick. I've been flip-flopping since the Lakers have been out Not gonna lie. But I'm OKC, you know. It's just I like switched right before, but yeah.
Speaker 3:I do think that when it comes to the Knicks, I am concerned because of how Tibbs runs up to the ground, and again when it comes to like him having moments of being outcoached in the big spots, that gets a little bit concerning.
Speaker 3:So I do have, okay, so the Pacers, I do hope okay. See when's it, though, Because again, I do think it's going to be a bit more boring finals for everybody, but at least one team you know gets to end a drought, championship drought. So that's what I'm glad for for the parody for the NBA is that we're getting. We're on seven years of being able to have a new champion, so a new champion, so that's been really fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it would be good to have a new champion. And you know the Thunder. They remind me a lot of the Bengals. With the standpoint of when the Bengals made their run to the Super Bowl, everyone's like, oh, the Bengals, same old Bengals, nobody wants to see the Bengals. And then the very next year everyone was excited to see the Bengals and I was baffled by it because I'm looking at it. I'm like the Bengals are stacked offensively.
Speaker 2:You got.
Speaker 1:Joe Burrow, you've got the receivers, you've got Chase, you got Higgins, you got the tight end. I'm like why don't y'all want to see the Bengals this team?
Speaker 2:is stacked.
Speaker 1:And in the very next year, of course, once they made the Super Bowl, everyone wants to see the Bengals. It reminds me of the Rams, the greatest show on turf Right With Warner and them. Everybody thought snooze fest, because they just came out of nowhere and made it to the Super Bowl. Nobody wants to see the Rams. And then the very next year, everybody was hyped about the Rams Marshall.
Speaker 2:Falk, torrey Holt you know all them.
Speaker 1:It's just funny. So I think that's the same thing with OKC they haven't been to the finals yet, Even though they're loaded with talent. They've got all these highlights. It's just that mentality. When they win the chip, then next year, watch, it's going to be a totally different sentiment. Just like how it's so funny with Denver. Everybody felt this way about Denver when Denver was big. Nobody wanted to see Denver. Now, all of a sudden, Joker's the best player in the world and the most exciting player in the world to see.
Speaker 2:Nobody was saying that about Joker when they were making their run and playing the Lakers.
Speaker 1:It's like you got to win it before. People then give you that respect and then all of a sudden think that you're an exciting team to watch. Like I said, the only exception to that are the old Spurs. The Spurs just stable. That's true. That's true. I don't know why. I don't know why, and it's because Duncan, you know again nickname is fundamental, fundamental, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And it's kind of funny too that I'm not talking about, you know, above Jordan, or, but it's kind of funny that his name is not even mentioned. But statistically and championship wise, he in there, he in there, he got five easy. Never talk about it why because?
Speaker 1:you're right, you know. Oh gosh, I forgot who it was, but I'm looking right at him too. Steven Jackson, yeah, he talked about how you know. If you know how he was, he had a lot of mouth when he was on the court and he talked like he used to always try to say stuff. He said Tim Duncan never would say anything back, and then he said he was trying to and Tim Duncan did one of those moves and stuff and he said good try, good try. He said good try, fella. And he said he just never. But again, because he didn't bring all that flair talking trash going at. So I do think Tim Duncan need to be getting a little sprinkle in that conversation. Yeah, absolutely, no doubt I've got OKc. Oh yeah, um, nicks, I think nicks winning in five. No, sorry, not five, now you're getting caught up. I've got okc nicks and I see okc uh winning the, winning the title.
Speaker 1:so that's all right, I see that see all the way around see that going down. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, so it's going to be wild.
Speaker 4:They just will not mess up the finals.
Speaker 1:No, please don't, Please don't See it, please don't.
Speaker 3:I'm an agent of chaos. Let's see it. Let's see the mess up.
Speaker 1:We're going to get to Brandon's three minutes and then, before we go, we've got to mention your book. Let's bring Brandon on. I know he's got a lot to say for this three-minute recap, so let's get Brandon's minute here. Let's bring him on. What's going on, my man?
Speaker 5:What's going on everybody?
Speaker 1:All right, all right. Good to see you, man. I know everybody's excited to see you, as always, so we know we got our three-minute recap. Now we do have to. We're on a tight time, so at three minutes we do have to grind, so we're gonna have to cut you.
Speaker 5:Right then, my man. But let's go, let's hit the clock. What, what's your take on everything we talked about? What you want to hit? Um, obviously, uh, I do have thunder and nicks in the finals. Hopefully, okay, nicks, don't mess it up and make it a thunder bases finals, because growing up, the last one I've seen that was kind of boring was the net spurs finals in 2003 so yeah and I was like nah, never again. But uh, then the bubble came, so I'm like we need great finals matches.
Speaker 2:That's a real hit in your heart.
Speaker 3:That's a real hit in your heart.
Speaker 5:This is how you know when it's a snooze fest in the finals. When they broadcast the finals, you be like wait a minute, it's the finals, that's a great point. That's a great point, man. It's like they broadcast the finals. I was like, oh yeah, so here's the finals, oh okay.
Speaker 5:That's how smooth-spaced it is.
Speaker 5:I think it's just like I respect the Thunder Don't get me wrong, I respect them.
Speaker 5:It's just I think it's like when you play in a small market environment, it's tough to win over the national media because they look at like the location that you're in and be like, eh, I mean, you got a great player, but the city don't.
Speaker 5:It's not a glamorous city. So it's like if you're playing, you know, if you're like a reggie miller, indiana, or chris weber in sacramento or tim duncan in san antonio, they had the pressure of trying to have success in a non-glamorous city. Where it's like they try to win championships in nine glamorous cities. So it's like I think the environment feels that and they feel like, hey, it's us against the world. So, whatever the paces and the thunder feeling, they kind of feel the exact same way where it's like, hey, the national media, no matter what we do, they're never going to give us respect. We could win the title and the very next season we could not be even on the list of teams to win it. All Right, because I remember when Milwaukee had won the title and the next season's championship was Phoenix, nor Milwaukee was even on the list.
Speaker 2:That's true, that's right.
Speaker 4:That's right.
Speaker 5:So I think, like I think OKC Indiana is looking at like hey, nobody expected us to win or nobody expects us to be in this position. Let's try to shock the world and, like you know, let's prove all errors. I mean, pistons did that three different occasions, whether it was the 80s or the late 2000s, and they all beat the Lakers. So it's like I think it comes down to like just understanding the expectations, and they love to be the underdog and overtake that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree with that, Alright, brandon. Well, we're at our time. My man. Well, hey, thank you Again. We're taking next week off. We got one more thing to hit here, but we'll see you in a couple of weeks. My man, we'll see you Friday, june 13th, alright, alright, alright, my man, thank you, alright, cool, friday, june 13th. All right, all right, all right, man, thank you, all right, cool, cool. Well, we're going to get out of here. We are at our time, but before we do that, two things that we want to mention. First, we've got man Michael Sims here. It's great to have you back, you again. You were the first guest here.
Speaker 1:All Things Detroit, big deal here locally as well, but you are one of the best leaders I know, and so it's fitting that you've written a book on leadership. It's about to drop soon, but why don't you put that in the camera and tell us a little bit about the book that you got dropping? Yes, so appreciate it, especially to call out for leadership. I am huge big on on being you know, people being good leaders, so I was last for years to write a book. I've been extremely blessed, blessed. I spent 21 years in the United States Marine Corps. Nine months of that I spent in Iraq. As far as combat, I work for Pepsi as a senior account executive, um mayor pro tem for the town of clayton. Um, I've literally ran a walmart as the store manager. Um, I've been citizen of the year, so I've been in a lot of leadership positions, um, a lot of them. I haven't even mentioned, uh, some other ones, but from that, um, I approached this book from a lot of them. I haven't even mentioned, uh, some other ones, but from that, um, I approached this book from a lot of different leadership aspects what it takes to be a leader, how you can be a leader. In a lot of stories that I've gotten over the years and stuff. And, uh, I really appreciate the fact that, because some of my leadership stuff I've even learned off of you. And uh, you got one of the comments in the forward in the book there too, so it's on amazoncom.
Speaker 1:It's called Leading from the Front. The reason why I picked that out is because if you see on the front, there's birds on the front. Every year birds go down south. The birds know they're going down south, but there's always a bird out front. Out front Leaders have to be out front just like that bird, even though everybody know where they're going. Somebody got to be out front. So yeah, it's on the, it's on your shelf there. It's a good quick read and something that you can actually use at work. So, if you're a leader, want to be a leader. Everybody's a leader. Somewhere You're leading somebody. Even if it's yourself, you're leading somebody somewhere. Absolutely, absolutely, yes, yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 1:Yes, on Amazon. Cop that on Amazon. Yes, yes, support the family, definitely want to get that. So, yes, much love having you here. And then one last item Make sure you go to vpickinproscom. Go to vpickinproscom, get your merch. Got new fire items dropping all the time, so you definitely want to check that out and get all of your gear there. All right, well, y'all man, it's been a great show, great to have all y'all here. So good job, good job.
Speaker 1:We'll be off next week, the week off, and then we'll be at Kings. Yes, we'll be at Kings. Raleigh, north Carolina Fire show Fire lineup. We'll all be there Saturday, saturday June 7th. We will be at Kings and then we've got our final two in-studio shows for the season Friday June 13th and Friday June 20th, as we wrap up the NBA Finals, and then they will be going into the summertime. It will be back for season four in the fall and it's going to be something got a whole lot in store for season four. So getting ready for that, all right, well, much love, much love to y'all. We're going to get the outro going here and we will see y'all in about two weeks. All right, until then, pick'em Pros, we'll see you later. We'll see you later.
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