On the latest episode of the Bob Ryan and Jeff Goodman Podcast, Bob and Jeff sit down to catch up during the dog days of summer. With the days continuing to pass by, the guys discuss the uncertain status of James Harden and Damian Lillard, two of the biggest names that seek to move to different teams this offseason via trade. In addition, Bob and Jeff discuss the Basketball Hall of Fame ceremony coming up this Saturday, as well as some of the inductees!
This episode of The Bob Ryan and Jeff Goodman Podcast is brought to you by Fanduel Sportsbook, the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network. Visit FanDuel.com/BOSTON and start earning BONUS BETS with America’s #1 Sportsbook! Because right now, when you bet on a Super Bowl Winner, you can GET BONUS BETS EVERY TIME THEY WIN IN THE REGULAR SEASON!
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This episode of The Bob Ryan and Jeff Goodman Podcast is brought to you by Fanduel Sportsbook, the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network. Visit FanDuel.com/BOSTON and start earning BONUS BETS with America’s #1 Sportsbook! Because right now, when you bet on a Super Bowl Winner, you can GET BONUS BETS EVERY TIME THEY WIN IN THE REGULAR SEASON!
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00:00 The Ryan Goodman and Tangway podcast is brought to you by FanDuel, the exclusive wagering
00:06 partner of the CLNX Media Network.
00:09 All right, welcome in to another episode of the Ryan and Goodman podcast.
00:13 Gary Tangway is off somewhere again, gallivanting and having fun.
00:18 I don't know.
00:19 Where is he this week, Bob?
00:21 Montana.
00:22 Montana, Montana, Bozeman, Montana.
00:25 Right.
00:26 With a little side trip to Jackson Hole, we said at the end of the trip.
00:29 Very nice.
00:30 Very nice.
00:31 I just got back from the Bahamas, Bob, taking my daughter to the Atlantis, which has kind
00:37 of fallen off a little bit since I went 10 years ago.
00:41 We get there and we were immediately downgraded our rooms that we had booked.
00:46 Downgrade.
00:47 No running water the first day, so we couldn't shower or brush our teeth.
00:51 Wait a second.
00:52 Yeah, no running water for a day.
00:54 How about that?
00:56 That's luxury.
00:57 Yeah.
00:58 That's luxury.
00:59 But again, listen, the bottom line was it was just me and my daughter.
01:04 My wife had to stay home with our elderly dog, which sucked for her, but it was a good
01:10 combination.
01:11 There were some teams there.
01:12 We didn't really go for the basketball, but Creighton was there.
01:16 We watched them for a little bit.
01:17 Iowa State was there.
01:20 Furman was there.
01:21 South Carolina was there.
01:22 Texas A&M and LSU got there at the end.
01:27 Then there's a new hotel called the Baja Mar.
01:29 It's about 10 minutes away.
01:31 We went over there and Xavier and Penn State were over there.
01:33 I just saw some coaches, gambled with some players.
01:37 A lot of players hitting the blackjack tables, Bob, with their new NIL deals.
01:42 It's a whole new world.
01:43 Oh my God.
01:44 It is.
01:45 A whole new world.
01:46 A whole new world.
01:47 We had fun, though.
01:48 The weather was great.
01:49 Food was good.
01:50 Overpriced, but good.
01:54 We just got back yesterday.
01:58 It's been good to be home.
01:59 We'll have Gary back next week.
02:03 Not a lot going on.
02:05 We'll talk a little bit here in a minute about the Hall of Fame inductions.
02:09 It's officially going in this year.
02:11 Let's start with the two unresolved storylines in the offseason.
02:16 I don't know where they're going to end, but James Harden first has made it pretty clear
02:21 he wants to go to the Clippers.
02:23 Darryl Murray has made it clear throughout his career he's not going to just give anybody
02:30 away.
02:31 He's going to wait it out.
02:32 He did it with Ben Simmons for a while and got Harden as part of that deal.
02:36 At least kept the Sixers competitive for the most part.
02:41 They never did what people thought they would do, but now he's got Harden and trying to
02:48 get him the Clippers and get enough back.
02:50 My question to you is, what's James Harden's worth at this point in his career?
02:57 That was going to be my question.
02:58 He's up there in age.
03:01 There's occasional bursts.
03:02 I think he's a classic aging athlete.
03:06 There are nights when you go, "Oh, it's there."
03:09 But there were far too many nights when you're talking about what used to be rather than
03:13 what is.
03:14 I think that's the category he's entered into.
03:19 If you're counting on him to be an integral part of getting you to a championship, no.
03:24 If you're counting on him to be an auxiliary part that maybe will help you in spots, then
03:30 yes.
03:31 What's that worth to somebody?
03:32 That's it.
03:33 Don't delude yourself into thinking you're getting to James Harden six, eight years ago.
03:40 Yeah, that's the biggest thing.
03:42 He's not that.
03:43 Like you said, he'll show moments in the playoffs when it was like, "Oh, okay."
03:48 That's the old James Harden because the one benefit of James Harden, he was never an elite
03:53 athlete anyway.
03:54 No.
03:55 At 33, it's not like he's lost the burst.
03:59 I think when the rules changed a little bit, that hurt James Harden as well.
04:04 But give him credit.
04:06 He's been able to adapt as more of a playmaker for others.
04:11 Oh, it fooled me.
04:13 Just as a scorer.
04:14 Absolutely.
04:15 It impressed me and fooled me.
04:16 I'm not a fan.
04:17 I didn't like the peak ball control.
04:20 He's 19-second dribbling out of 24-second clock and then either even step back or then
04:27 reluctantly give the ball up.
04:29 That guy I didn't like.
04:30 But the fact is that his assists, and I keep kidding about this, the game's over and he's
04:34 got 12 assists.
04:35 I said, "I don't remember him."
04:36 But they were there somewhere.
04:40 He has become far more of a facilitator as the first thing than you realize.
04:46 But still, it's not an all-star.
04:48 It's not an all-star.
04:49 Well, he's making over $35 million this year.
04:52 Oh yeah, there is that.
04:54 There's that.
04:55 And to me, you send him to the Clippers with Kawhi and Paul George, who are hurt every
05:02 single year it feels like now.
05:04 And I feel bad for Kawhi.
05:05 I really do.
05:07 You kind of have the "what if" game a little bit with Kawhi.
05:11 And if he had ever stayed healthy, because he was at the top.
05:14 He plays to get the right game the "right way."
05:17 He's at the top of the list of modern, last 10, 12-year players.
05:25 If you're a high school coach or a college coach and you want to show somebody, "Here's
05:29 how you play basketball," he's that guy that you want to show somebody how to play this
05:34 game properly.
05:35 He's a throwback, Bob, because number one, he was a terrible shooter coming out of San
05:41 Diego State and he turned himself into a pretty good shooter.
05:44 Number two, he's an elite defender.
05:46 Number three, the throwback part of Kawhi is he just wants to play ball.
05:51 He doesn't want to talk to the media.
05:54 Not like he's not nice.
05:58 That's not part of who he's ever been.
05:59 Right.
06:00 Not as part of his personality.
06:01 I remember telling you this story years ago, I think.
06:04 But first interview he ever did nationally was with me at Fox Sports when he was a sophomore
06:10 at San Diego State.
06:12 He showed up 45 minutes late just because he didn't care.
06:16 He didn't care.
06:17 He was with his cousin at the Department of Motor Vehicles and just was basically like,
06:23 "I'll get there when I get there."
06:24 It was great when he got there.
06:26 He was great.
06:29 But yeah, I don't think Harden, Kawhi, Paul George is going to scare too many people because,
06:37 frankly, the odds of those three being on the court come postseason.
06:41 Yeah.
06:42 Is minimal.
06:43 Minimal.
06:44 The other guy that's kind of hanging around right now is Damian Lillard.
06:50 And what's going on there?
06:51 I mean, obviously, he's made it pretty clear through his agent that the 33-year-old wants
06:56 to go to Miami.
06:57 Miami specifically, yes.
06:59 Which how do you feel about that?
07:02 I mean, I know a lot of players come out there and give a list of three, five teams, but
07:07 to come out there and basically say, "No, no, I just want to go to the Miami Heat."
07:11 And I don't know if he said that.
07:12 I don't know if he said just Miami, but it's been reported out there that that's kind of
07:17 the team that he's locked into.
07:20 Well, fine.
07:21 He can wish all he wants, but he can't make it happen specifically.
07:27 I'm sure they'd love to have him.
07:28 I'd take him for a year or two still.
07:31 But he's still a terrific player.
07:33 No, it's an interesting one.
07:37 Portland, they don't have to do anything they don't want to do.
07:40 He's not going to sit out a year, right?
07:42 No chance.
07:43 No.
07:44 So it's a staring contest.
07:46 They will win in some regard.
07:49 He'll win.
07:50 He'll win.
07:51 He'll win.
07:52 He'll win.
07:53 He'll win because he won't be there.
07:54 The bottom line is, if you're Portland, you can wait, wait, wait.
07:59 And I think Murray did this pretty much with Ben Simmons, if you remember.
08:03 He waited, waited, waited.
08:04 I think he waited half a season.
08:05 You're not going to wait that long because ultimately you're going to say to yourself,
08:10 we've got to get some guys in here that want to be here that can help us with the next
08:16 chapter.
08:17 And you've got to figure out, too, who's going to be gone out of that young group.
08:20 Are you going to keep all those guards?
08:23 They've got some good young guards in Anthony Simons and Shaden Sharp.
08:27 Who are you going to put with those guys?
08:30 They need a big.
08:31 I've said this for years.
08:32 They need a good big if they can get one.
08:34 But I don't know what Lillard's going to command at 33 years old.
08:39 I'll tell you this.
08:40 If you put him in Miami and you just get rid of Tyler Hero and Gabe Vincent and you team
08:48 him with Jimmy Butler, boy, I just think Lillard and Butler complement each other so well in
08:55 their strengths and weaknesses on the court and then off the court.
08:58 They're both tough.
08:59 Oh, that would be a really formidable duo.
09:03 There's no question about it.
09:04 So one more thing before we go to Hall of Fame.
09:08 Are you going to be paying any interest to our US Team USA who had their first exhibition
09:14 game against Puerto Rico?
09:17 What I read yesterday is about their bonding.
09:20 They like that.
09:21 They're really taking this as a group seriously.
09:27 It's one for all and all for one.
09:29 Everybody's going to have to dinner together.
09:31 There's no cliques.
09:34 It's really a bonding experience so far.
09:37 It's an interesting team.
09:38 You know, a name caught my eye.
09:39 It was on the team.
09:41 And then I did a little personal research.
09:44 Oh, God.
09:45 I like him.
09:46 I wanted to like him.
09:47 He's better than I thought.
09:48 Walker Kessler.
09:49 Yes.
09:50 Walker Kessler had a damn good year.
09:52 And he is a shot blocking guy.
09:55 He's our resident.
10:00 Two elite bigs.
10:01 So we're not in bad shape.
10:03 Defensive bigs.
10:04 We're in good shape with bigs with those two.
10:07 Yeah.
10:08 They're very different defensively how they do it.
10:10 But they're two of the better.
10:12 You know, the roster doesn't blow you away.
10:15 But it's young.
10:16 It's a B plus roster.
10:17 Yeah.
10:18 I mean, listen, they got a bunch of young guys.
10:20 I'm curious.
10:22 Again, you know, these things don't until they start getting to the games that matter.
10:27 Yeah.
10:28 Generally, I'm not paying attention to these these friendlies and exhibition games at all.
10:33 But when the games matter, yeah, I'll watch out.
10:35 Part of the reason I watch Bob is because there's nothing else on football season is
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11:14 That's FanDuel.com/Boston.
11:15 No, no, it's a they fill a void for the basketball fan at this point.
11:24 So anyway, it's 25th of the month and in.
11:28 All right.
11:29 Who's the guy looking down that roster?
11:33 If I'm asking you to put your house, get that.
11:38 I can read you the names if you want.
11:39 Go ahead.
11:40 All right.
11:41 I'm going to read you the names and then my question to you is put your house on one guy
11:45 getting to the Hall of Fame out of this group.
11:48 Who would it be?
11:49 Ready?
11:50 Yeah.
11:51 Paolo Bencaro, Mikael Bridges, Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Halberton, Brandon
11:57 Ingram, Jaron Jackson Jr., Cam Johnson, Walker Kessler, Bobby Portis, Austin Reeves.
12:05 Okay.
12:06 Long projection.
12:07 Yeah.
12:08 Edwards.
12:09 Going to have a great career.
12:10 And the other one, Paolo.
12:12 Yeah.
12:13 Yeah.
12:14 The long shot projection.
12:15 He could have a terrific career.
12:17 I think I'm going Paolo.
12:19 So Paolo.
12:20 Yeah.
12:21 And speaking of Edwards, by the way, you know, you saw he's in the news for not a good reason.
12:26 Find 50 grand.
12:27 It's a 50 grand for throwing two chairs after hurting somebody by accident.
12:31 You know, reckless, stupid, you know.
12:34 Anyway.
12:35 Yeah.
12:36 So we're going to be.
12:37 I was wavering.
12:38 But Paolo.
12:39 Yeah.
12:40 I mean, his tools are outstanding.
12:42 Let's face it.
12:44 He's like Chris Webber, but a bigger Chris Webber, you know, than than than Webber.
12:50 And I just I trust him a little bit more than I do Anthony Edwards.
12:54 But but, you know, the part is and we'll transition here to the guys and the coach going in into
13:01 the Hall of Fame this year.
13:03 When you look at it, all these guys that are going in, Bob, have one thing in common.
13:08 They've all won titles.
13:10 They got rings.
13:11 They've all got rings.
13:12 And you look at Anthony Edwards and Paolo and they got a long way to go.
13:15 Oh, yeah.
13:16 But they're probably not winning titles with the current franchises they're with.
13:22 Could we agree there?
13:23 Right.
13:24 Well, you know, that would only I was going to project to be, but but probably not.
13:28 But but a long way to go to get back.
13:30 Orlando, a long way to go.
13:32 Minnesota not banking on it again.
13:35 They've both got 10 plus years left in the league, probably.
13:38 So who knows what can happen?
13:39 But I would say with the way the league is now and guys switching teams, if either one
13:46 of them wins a title, it'll be with a different franchise.
13:48 All right, let's let's start.
13:50 I'm going to give you your choice here.
13:52 I'm going to give you a choice.
13:53 But I want I want it to be in order here of.
13:58 Because there's a lot of good players that are going in, you know, for really, really
14:02 good players.
14:03 It's a nice class.
14:04 In order, the most accomplished was who?
14:07 Dirk.
14:08 Yes.
14:09 Dirk's one of the all time great forwards.
14:11 He's on the short list of greatest forwards of all time.
14:13 A big.
14:14 And there's more.
14:15 But he was, you know, he was a forward.
14:18 He's seven foot.
14:20 Here's my order of the guys.
14:21 Dirk, Wade, Powell, Parker.
14:25 Yes, 100 percent.
14:27 Now I'm a huge fan of Powell, but I'm not going to be so so, you know, self-centered
14:33 or self-centered here to ignore Wade's great accomplishments.
14:37 But that's my order.
14:38 And I'm a little surprised.
14:39 I think Parker is very borderline.
14:42 Me too.
14:43 Me too.
14:44 I'm sorry.
14:45 And I'm not I'm not begrudging him.
14:47 And I like him.
14:48 I always like this game.
14:49 But I was a little surprised that he got in.
14:51 But it was stop.
14:53 I would have made the plea for Powell.
14:55 I love Powell.
14:56 And of course, Wade's a no brainer and Dirk's a no brainer.
14:59 No, no brainers there.
15:00 They're clearly worthy.
15:02 So Parker, I mean, Parker, Parker was again, he was a piece.
15:07 He needed other guys around him and he had great guys around him.
15:10 He was he was not a great athlete, not a very good shooter.
15:14 Couldn't really guard, you know, obviously ran the team, grew up, you know, obviously
15:20 coming from France, came in.
15:22 I think he made the All-NBA or All-Star team five or six times, won four titles, again,
15:29 played a long time, was the finals MVP in 2007, which was huge for him.
15:35 But yes, he was probably the least accomplished and a borderline guy.
15:39 But I think he got in largely based on the overall accomplishments of his franchise and
15:47 them winning at such a high level.
15:49 I was maybe disproportionately in this argument and discussion influenced by Powell and because
15:58 of the Olympics in '08 and '12.
16:01 And I saw them play a lot in Spain and, you know, they pushed us twice.
16:07 They were very legitimate games for gold medals.
16:10 And I maintain that circa 2008, '09, '10, '11, that era, he was the most skilled big
16:18 man in the world.
16:19 He was the best skilled.
16:20 His range of, I mean, I can picture him, left hand shots, turnarounds, anything you needed
16:27 and an excellent rebounder, just an efficient player.
16:33 And I'm screaming to the rafters every day.
16:36 It was jobbed out of all MVP in 2010, Kobe Bias, I'm sorry.
16:44 The best player for the Lakers in that series was Powell Gasol.
16:47 And I had a vote.
16:49 I voted for Powell Gasol.
16:52 But Kobe won.
16:53 Anyway, I'm so happy for him.
16:55 Plus, he's an interesting guy.
16:57 You know, he's interested in medicine and all that.
17:00 And you know, he's a-
17:01 >> His parents.
17:02 >> Yeah.
17:03 >> What did that have to do with his parents?
17:04 >> He used to go, his recreation was going to operations and watching operations.
17:10 But he's a Renaissance man, a true Renaissance man and a worthy guy.
17:14 I mean, I'm going to Springfield for the weekend.
17:19 And I don't know if I'll get to interact with any of those guys or not.
17:23 There's other people I know I will be, but it's a fun, I look forward to it.
17:27 I go to enshrinement most years.
17:29 >> Yeah, I haven't been in a while.
17:31 >> We'll be going.
17:33 >> I'd like to go, you know, this one, I think, again, all right, so of-
17:40 >> And of course-
17:41 >> We talked, right, we talked about the players.
17:44 The speech you probably want to hear the most is Pop, no?
17:48 >> Pop, who, now they all have presenters, you know, and the presenters have to be Hall
17:53 of Famers.
17:55 And Pop's quartet is David Robinson, Manu Dinovoli, Tim Duncan, and Tony Parker.
18:02 That's not bad.
18:03 >> Didn't he say he didn't want to go in?
18:05 Bob, I think he said he didn't want to go in until all those guys were already in.
18:10 >> No, good.
18:11 >> Powell's is interesting.
18:12 You know who's Powell's presenter is?
18:15 >> No.
18:16 >> Tony Kukac.
18:17 >> Ah, Tony Kukac.
18:18 >> Fellow European.
18:19 >> Yeah.
18:20 >> Parker is Manu and Duncan.
18:22 Here's one, now you can tell me maybe, because my daughter keeps asking me and I don't know
18:27 the specific personal connection that would cause this.
18:30 Dwayne Wade, now it has to be a Hall of Famer.
18:33 So the first possibility could have been, of course, Shaq.
18:38 >> Right.
18:39 >> Alan Iverson.
18:40 >> Ooh, interesting.
18:41 >> It's just selection.
18:42 >> I don't know.
18:43 Yeah, I don't know what that is.
18:44 >> It must be some personal relationship.
18:45 >> Yeah, I mean, he might have grown up watching Alan Iverson.
18:48 >> Yeah, I mean, who knows?
18:50 >> Dwayne Wade was an interesting one because I just remember at Marquette, he was Prop
18:57 48, couldn't play his freshman year at Marquette.
18:59 >> Oh, yeah, right.
19:00 >> Right?
19:01 >> I forgot.
19:02 >> He had a great career there.
19:03 He was drafted in that unbelievable draft class in 2003.
19:08 He was drafted fifth, won three NBA titles.
19:13 I think Pat Riley just recently called him the best Miami Heat player ever, which makes
19:18 sense because LeBron only played there four years.
19:21 So like to me, that makes a Dwayne Wade played his basically his entire career in Miami.
19:30 Won three titles with him, was maybe not the best player on the 2012 and 2013 teams.
19:37 But arguably the better player when he was playing with Shaq in Miami.
19:42 >> Now there are other people, of course, we have to pay homage to.
19:45 Becky Hammond is going in.
19:46 >> Yeah.
19:47 >> And she shouldn't need any introduction to people who are basketball fans.
19:50 Two coaches that people don't know well, of course, or three actually, Gary Blair, Gene
19:55 Bess, and the one that has resonance in New England, Dave Hickson.
20:00 Years and years and years and years in Amherst.
20:02 And his presenter will be Jim Calhoun.
20:06 And there's one more coach that college basketball fans will know, and that's Gene Katie.
20:10 But Jerry Colangelo and Tom Izzo are those who will be representing, speaking for Gene
20:15 Katie.
20:16 >> Yeah, obviously an unbelievable coach.
20:23 >> He came off in a way, gruff and all.
20:25 He's a big teddy bear, personally, when you got a little bit.
20:29 I was exposed to him socially and he was very like, hey, the funny thing is all those years,
20:37 he was a hell of a coach.
20:38 He really was.
20:39 And of course, he was up against Knight for so many of those years, and that battle for
20:46 the state of supremacy in the state of Indiana.
20:48 And he held his own, damn it.
20:50 Look it up.
20:51 He held his own.
20:52 >> Give me your, the most interesting thing of this class to me is still Dirk and how
20:59 he changed the game.
21:01 Because when I talked to Kevin Durant a few years ago, I asked him, I said, do you ever
21:06 think about how you change a game for a seven footer for a big guy?
21:10 And he looked at me and he was like, no, no, Dirk was the one who changed the game for
21:14 a big guy.
21:15 He's, KD kept it going and probably to a point where more kids wanted to be KD than
21:22 Dirk, because KD was a little more athletic than Dirk was.
21:26 But really, Dirk started to change it as a seven foot.
21:30 >> Well, yeah, I agree.
21:32 All right, listen, there's one, there's one that I got to pay.
21:36 It's Kevin Garnett.
21:39 Kevin Garnett was a seven footer who adamantly refused to be pegged as a five.
21:44 But he wasn't skilled like Dirk offensively.
21:48 That's the difference.
21:49 >> Well, he could pass better.
21:50 Dirk's offense, no, Dirk, Larry, Larry was obviously a great three point shooter, but
21:58 the game is evolving.
21:59 It wasn't the whole game for him.
22:00 That was just icing on the cake in this game, but Dirk made it a staple.
22:05 And also I'm very big on people leaving, I hate to use the word legacy, an image.
22:13 And I think, what are we going to think of?
22:16 He owned a shot, the step back.
22:18 >> That's right.
22:19 >> That one foot off the step back.
22:21 So people, and today in this game, if you're going to do it, everybody will say, you're
22:25 taking a Novitski, you're taking a Dirk.
22:28 He owns a shot.
22:29 To me, I love that.
22:30 When you can think of a guy and you can think of a thing he did that was maybe not so unique,
22:38 but where he specialized.
22:40 And he left the game with that.
22:41 I'll tell you another quote unquote legacy.
22:47 And by the way, he's going to be, oh, you know who's presenting Dirk?
22:55 >> Nash.
22:56 >> Jason Kidd and Steve Nash.
22:58 >> Yeah, yeah.
22:59 >> Nash resurrected the floater.
23:04 And now everybody's doing floaters.
23:07 Everybody, I mean, but I'm telling you, if you go back, if you could research Steve Nash,
23:11 that's something out of the 50s.
23:12 I took floaters, I'm telling you.
23:14 And 40, 50 years ago, and then they float, they were out and Nash brought it back.
23:22 All the women are doing them.
23:23 Everybody's doing floaters.
23:24 And it's all because of Steve Nash.
23:26 And when you have, so when I think of Steve Nash, that's what I think of.
23:30 But anyway, that's- >> Here's the thing with Dirk too, Bob.
23:33 Not only Dirk changed the position a little bit, but he also, he was kind of the start
23:39 of all the international guys coming over.
23:41 >> He's the best.
23:42 I'm glad you brought that up.
23:44 It's a fine argument.
23:45 It's a bar room argument.
23:46 There's no right, there's no wrong, except when you always stick with.
23:50 Who's the greatest non-American?
23:51 I don't think he's the greatest non-American.
23:56 I think born, I'm talking about born and raised, and that is a larger one.
24:03 I think is the one.
24:04 >> I would agree.
24:05 >> He did play college here.
24:06 So now we got a new category.
24:08 Dirk is the greatest non-American purebred, totally European bred.
24:16 Totally European bred, did not come play prep school here, did not play college here.
24:20 He was bred in Germany.
24:24 And he's the greatest of them all.
24:28 >> That's the other part.
24:29 You got three guys here, Dirk, Parker, and Powell, that none of which played college
24:35 basketball.
24:36 >> Right, and then we've got, I always loved this about him.
24:40 We got Tim Duncan, who's an American citizen, naturally, born and raised in the Virgin Islands,
24:44 but who was not corrupted by AAU basketball.
24:49 He has the mentality of a European.
24:52 It wasn't all this insidious nonsense of AAU basketball, those genes were not implanted
24:57 in him.
24:58 So that was always interesting, I thought, about him.
25:02 But Dirk is the greatest European of them all.
25:05 And there's some great ones, but he's the greatest, no question.
25:07 Now we have a challenge.
25:11 And the book is being written in Milwaukee right now.
25:16 And it's being written in Denver right now.
25:19 That's fine.
25:20 But until their careers are done, Messrs, and to DeCuompo and Djokic, okay, the winner
25:29 and still champion of greatest European is Dirk Nowitzki.
25:32 >> Well, listen, here's what I'll tell you.
25:35 14 time All-Star, won an NBA title, the franchise's only in 2011.
25:44 His whole career with one franchise.
25:46 >> Yeah, that's- >> Scored over 30,000 points in Dallas.
25:52 Finals MVP.
25:53 Yeah, both Giannis and Djokic have a chance here, they do.
25:59 It's not like Dirk's won four titles.
26:02 But they could certainly do it if they can win multiple titles, I think they could surpass.
26:10 And they're playing 12, 15 years.
26:12 They don't necessarily have to go to 14 All-Stars.
26:16 But I think they'd have to win three titles, which both of them have a chance because of
26:21 how wide open it is right now.
26:23 >> Yeah, I just, a name just crashed across my head as we were speaking.
26:27 I think it's a 20th anniversary in 2023 of the great what if of all the Europeans.
26:34 And that was Drozden Petrovic, who I believe died in '03 in that automobile accident, but
26:40 right around there.
26:41 But he was on his way to Hall of Fame, there's no question about it.
26:44 And we don't know where that would have taken us.
26:47 So we're speaking about great Europeans, I wanna pay homage to the memory of Drozden
26:50 Petrovic.
26:51 >> All right, we will get a recap from Bob next week on the Hall of Fame-
26:56 >> There'll be some speech that'll be not knockout,
27:00 there'll be something will happen.
27:02 And always, it's a prepared basketball fans, if you're ever thinking about it, it's public,
27:08 you buy tickets, it's open to the public.
27:11 And if you're a basketball junkie, you might consider that as a belt notched.
27:15 >> I love how you go with your daughter every year, Bob, that's awesome.
27:19 >> Yeah, she's a great fan, great fan.
27:23 >> So she'll sit there and love all the speeches.
27:26 >> Yeah, and yeah, I mean, she's still talking about Chris Bosh's speech.
27:30 We are talking about it, his kids stole the show.
27:33 >> [LAUGH] >> He was-
27:35 >> Somebody will do that, yeah.
27:36 >> Something will happen.
27:36 >> Somebody will do that this year.
27:37 >> Something will happen, yeah.
27:38 >> All right, listen, thanks for watching.
27:41 We will see you next week, and we will have our sidekick Gary Tangway back from
27:46 Bozeman, Montana.
27:47 >> Tales from Montana, yes.
27:49 >> That's right.
27:50 >> [LAUGH]
27:51 >> Sign up at fanduel.com/boston and
27:54 make every moment more on America's number one sportsbook.
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