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00:00I just want to explain what I was saying earlier with regard to the idea that it would, I could
00:05make the argument it would be better if the Warriors lose tonight.
00:09I know I can make the argument.
00:10In fact, I know that the argument has already been made.
00:13I don't even need to make it.
00:17Anthony Slater came on the roast earlier today and already made the argument.
00:22Listen to what he said.
00:23So they had to pack for an 11-day trip when they went to Houston because theoretically
00:27if they win through here, so the cup finals, they got to go Houston straight to Vegas,
00:31Vegas straight to Memphis, Minnesota.
00:34But yeah, like you said, they lose a night, they're home tomorrow.
00:36They get like three days off, probably two good practices and they get a worse Mavericks
00:40team than the Thunder team they'd play in Vegas and they don't have to play that extra
00:43game that doesn't actually even matter to the regular season, the final.
00:46So there's definitely an argument considering age that, you know, losing tonight might be
00:51suggest, you know, suggestible, whatever you want to say.
00:54But you know, like they're not going to actually want to do that.
00:57Yeah.
00:58Like I'm not a tank guy.
01:00And that's not what I'm suggesting.
01:01This would be a straight lay down.
01:02Yeah.
01:03I'm not suggesting that.
01:04And Steve Curry already said to us multiple times that this actually matters to the players.
01:07Great.
01:08Good for them.
01:09I'm telling you from my perspective that they have not, the NBA, I've said this to you before,
01:14the NBA has still done a horrific job in making the NBA cup matter to the fans.
01:19This is only year two and it's already, I think more, it matters more this year than
01:24it did last year.
01:25How?
01:27Because players are more invested in it and the coverage has been greater in it and fans
01:31are more aware of exactly what it is now.
01:34I mean, that's just sort of the organic understanding of what's going on, which I still don't even
01:38think is at that high a level.
01:39But again, that doesn't speak, at least to me, that doesn't speak to it mattering to
01:45fans.
01:46That's fans understanding it more.
01:47But I, I have no idea why you would root for your team, especially an older one to get
01:55an extra game.
01:56That doesn't do anything for you in the standings.
01:58I just don't get it.
02:00But does it do anything for you from a chemistry standpoint?
02:03If you were to win a cup, you win a contest, you win a tournament together, you go to Vegas
02:09together and you win the NBA cup.
02:13You think that that doesn't like do a lot to, maybe not a lot, maybe it does a little
02:17bit to engender chemistry and that feeling of we actually won something.
02:22Windy Waters, the fourth, third, fourth, you win, you win something.
02:28You're a young player and you go out there with your brothers and you, you get a trophy,
02:32you get a cup.
02:33I think that that matters.
02:34Just not worth it to me.
02:35I'm not going to say that you're wrong.
02:36I'm just saying to me, that's a, that's a bad trade.
02:39It's just a bad trade off.
02:40So again, to help sort of like illustrate the point, Anthony Slater did a great job
02:45of making it.
02:47But if you win this game tonight, now you play on Saturday in Vegas against Oklahoma
02:52City and you're looking at a road trip that is going to be potentially incredibly long,
02:57as much as 11 days.
02:58And if you do win that game against Oklahoma City, now you're playing an extra game for
03:03the NBA cup.
03:04Understand does not matter in the standings.
03:07It's not even in the standing.
03:08What if you lose on Saturday?
03:10Do you not then come home before you go to Memphis or do you go to Memphis and you sit
03:14there for three days before you play the Grizzlies?
03:16Randy, what happens?
03:17He said that they have an 11 game road.
03:19They're packing for an 11 day road trip.
03:20You just have to be ready for that.
03:22They do.
03:23If I would imagine if they lose on Saturday, they fly home and they at least spend a day
03:27or two here and then they go to Memphis.
03:29I don't know.
03:30I don't know exactly how.
03:31Yeah, the Memphis game is Thursday, so they would probably travel home for a couple of
03:36days.
03:37I would imagine that they would.
03:38They would travel home.
03:40The point being is, is you can get that rest right now and play a worse Mavericks team
03:46on Sunday.
03:47Now, listen, understand when I sit down to watch the Warriors tonight at any night, I'm
03:52a Warrior fan.
03:53I'm rooting for the Warriors.
03:54But if I take the view from 10,000 feet in terms of what's better for their rest, also
03:59baked into going into that game Saturday is the idea that they could win it.
04:02And then you're playing an extra game that does nothing for you, in my opinion.
04:07I do think it does a lot for you, but you and I, we're going to have to agree to disagree.
04:12It's not even my largest point.
04:13The largest point is why doesn't it do anything for us?
04:16That's what I don't understand.
04:18Why are you playing these games?
04:19Are you not entertained by a quarterfinal matchup in the NBA Cup against Houston?
04:23I am a lot more.
04:24No, I'm entertained by this.
04:26This is a regular Warrior game, as whatever happens this weekend is.
04:30My point is, I am not entertained by the idea of, let's gather around the NBA Cup.
04:36Let's see if Brandon Podjemski can be a half million dollars richer in a game that you
04:39get nothing for.
04:41We've talked about this so many times.
04:43I find it to be the easiest thing for a league to do.
04:47Make that game mean something in the standings.
04:51If you win the NBA Cup, have that be, at minimum, some sort of a tiebreaker in playoff standings.
04:59Make it jump a seed wherever you are in the standings.
05:04Jump a seed.
05:05That would be a reward for the fans, for sure.
05:07We can come up with a hundred different ways to do this that I don't think are that hard.
05:12But that game has got to mean something to the fans in the standings, or else all it
05:17is is rich people playing for more money and getting more tired, and therefore lessening
05:26you for your other games.
05:28I just, like, I don't know, man.
05:30It's mind-boggling to me that they haven't done something because it seems easy.
05:33This is year two, and it's evolving, and I do think that they're doing a good job of
05:38evolving it, and they put this early in the season.
05:41These are games that are not being load-managed, which tells me that the teams actually care
05:45about these games.
05:47You've got Atlanta coming up in their quarterfinal in just a few moments, and if you're Atlanta,
05:53this is probably the high-water mark for your year.
05:55You're probably not going to make the playoffs, and if you do, you're not a threat to do anything
05:59in the East.
06:00For Trey Young and a group of younger Hawks players, this is exciting, and this is something
06:05you're going to compete for.
06:06Again, I do not challenge the idea that the players are into it.
06:12I would like us to be into it.
06:13Well, some of us are, and I'm certainly into it.
06:16Yeah, but that's because you've decided that this side show is interesting to you, and
06:21that's fine.
06:22Right, so I'm into it because I enjoy competition, and this is competition that they actually
06:27care about.
06:29Honestly, the NBA Cup, if you make the finals, is no different than the Bay Bridge Series
06:35when the Giants play the A's.
06:36Completely different.
06:37No, it's not.
06:38The Bay Bridge Series, you get a hunk of concrete, which was concocted by Brody Brazil and Amid
06:45Farid.
06:46This was created by the league.
06:48That's concocted by the league.
06:50This is not a make-believe Bay Bridge Series, which no longer exists.
06:55This is an NBA Cup that the league has put out that players actually get money for.
06:59Do the players win the Bay Bridge Series and get $500,000?
07:02I don't care.
07:03No, you get nothing.
07:04You get to hold up a piece of concrete from the Bay Bridge.
07:06Why do I care if players get money?
07:08Why do I care about the Bay Bridge Trophy?
07:10I don't.
07:12That's why I said they're the same thing.
07:13They're completely different.
07:15What would you call a game that doesn't count in the standings?
07:18They have names for that.
07:19Go ahead.
07:20It's called the play-in tournament.
07:21It's called an exhibition.
07:22A play-in tournament is a game that doesn't count in any standings.
07:25That's not true.
07:26You move on if you win it.
07:27Go to Basketball Reference and find a play-in stats anywhere on the list of games.
07:31Doesn't matter.
07:32It's not a postseason game.
07:33It's not a regular season game.
07:35It has playoff implications on the line and you know that.
07:37It does.
07:38You know that.
07:39And this has...
07:40You advance.
07:41This has emotional implications for the players.
07:42I mean, that's...
07:43You're projecting onto them.
07:44Ask any Warrior player.
07:46They've all said they're into it.
07:47Because they have to.
07:48They don't have to.
07:49Yes, they do.
07:50And you can think that it's disingenuous.
07:51There's one player who's criticized the NBA Cup.
07:54It's because they're all into it.
07:55No.
07:56It's because, A, they're financially incentivized.
07:58You're saying that players don't speak their mind?
08:00D-Va goes to Twitter and complains about not getting touches.
08:02Right.
08:03You tell me that Steph Curry doesn't have the gravitas to come out and say, yeah, I'm
08:07just not that into it.
08:08Of course he does.
08:09He can do it.
08:10Yes, but he won't.
08:11Because why?
08:12He's incentivized.
08:13He knows his teammates are incentivized, especially the young ones who don't make $60 million
08:18a year.
08:19They're incentivized.
08:20They're incentivized.
08:21And they've got internal memos going around about their product.
08:24Internal memos.
08:25Of course they do.
08:26Right.
08:27Like, of course they do.
08:28This is their product.
08:29They're NBA players.
08:30So Adam Silver is sending them emails saying, guys, whatever you do, don't talk bad about
08:34the NBA Cup or else.
08:36They'll be fine.
08:37I have no doubt that NBA teams have been told it'd be good to say nice things about this.
08:44And if you genuinely believe them, all the better.
08:47And maybe they do.
08:48You probably don't need a memo to not say bad things about your company.
08:52It still does not answer the question I'm trying to ask.
08:56What's in it for us?
08:58What is in it for the fan?
09:00And why is it so hard to bake that in there?
09:02That's all I'm asking for.
09:03What's in it for us is a game tonight that the players on both sides are going to be
09:08more interested in.
09:09It's going to be more of a competitive game because it matters to them.
09:13We're already playing this game.
09:14I'm talking about the final, which doesn't count for anything.
09:19It seems so easy.
09:20It's going to be an entertaining basketball game.
09:22If your team's in it, then I'm all in.
09:24I'm locked in.
09:25I'll even tailgate.
09:26It might be a watch party.
09:27So are the Warriors versus the Lakers next October 6th.
09:31Entertaining.
09:32Doesn't count for crap.
09:34Depends because Anthony Davis will probably not play.
09:37And LeBron's not even going to show up.
09:39Exactly.